Movie Reviews

I checked up Ashley's blog recently and felt inspired enough by her fabulous entries to follow her footsteps and take a stab at reviewing some films I recently saw. Of course, my aversion to dark subject matter and violence really cramps the number of movies I can actually review, but here's my stab at it anyway.

Movie: Be Kind Rewind

Premise: A magnetized Jack Black deletes all the contents of a VHS rental store and teams up with Mos Def to recreate the contents for the customers - aka "Swede" the movies.

My expectations: Genuine clever humor involving the swede-ing of the films. Laugh-outloud performance from Black, every-man likeability from Mos Def, and innovative filming/story-telling style from Michel Gondry (being of Eternal Sunshine fame).

What I got: Innovative went too far into random and weird. The quirky characters with underdeveloped motivation, random conversations, and editing consistently felt at odds with the mainstream humor of watching Jack Black and Mos Def re-enact classics (and not so classic) movies. The delving into smaltz for the latter half of the movie (with the intention of feeling for characters I didn't GET) made the distinction more palpable. So while Michel Gondry's really scored some genuine laughs and "wow, that's really clever!" moments during the swede-ing processes, the rest of the film...not so much. In addition, Jack Black (popping up to wreak havoc and yell) and Mos Def (quiet, mumbling around) were defintiely under-utilized.

Conclusion: If I could just youtube the 15 minutes of the low-budget takes on the movies, I'd be perfectly content.

Score: 2.5/5

Bay Area Dining

I just got back from another trip to LA, where as usual, Jessica treated us to plenty of delicious SoCal goodies. As an homage to her hospitality (and as a buffer blog to potential Veronica Mars spoilers listed bellow), I figured I'd compile a list of the various tasty restaurant up north.


1. A&J's in Cupertino Village. Hand made, high quality Taiwanese food at its best. Personal favorites: Beef Noodle soup (with the thick noodles), Fried Chicken over Rice with picked vegetables, potstickers...okay, the list goes on. The food is great stuff.


2. HC Dumpling (also in Cupertino Village). NorCal's version of Din Tai Fung. Fresh, steaming Shanghai dumplings galore.


3. Zachary's Pizza in Berkeley, Oakland, and San Ramon. Chicago style pizza with hands-down the best tomato sauce around. Yum.


4. Faultline Brewery in Sunnyvale. Delicious variety of (American?) foods with the chef's personal twist and regularly rotating menu. Personal favorites: Walnut ravioli, Black Pepper Calamari pasta, and the pale ale.


5. Uncle Yu's in Livermore. I'm not generally a big fan of fusion because it usually results in a half-assed attempt to Americanize Chinese food, but Uncle Yu's really got it down right with the vineyard influences. Personal favorites: honey calamari, Lettuce wraps.


6. Mahalo in Pleasanton. High-end Haiwaiian food. Personal favorites: Kobe Beef sandwhich on a sweet roll, the sampler platter.