08th Nov2014

Chef – DVD

by timbaros

851433-chef-movie-posterChef, now playing in cinemas, is a real treat, from start to finish.

Jon Favreau, who also wrote, produced and directed, plays Carl Casper, a chef in a popular Los Angeles restaurant. He’s in control of his kitchen, and proud of the food that he makes for his customers. However, one day a restaurant critic (Oliver Platt – who actually looks like a restaurant critic), eats in the restaurant and then proceeds to give it a bad review, lambasting Casper’s cooking, Not happy with this, Casper, at the urging of his son Percy (Emjay Anthony), opens an account on Twitter and starts tweeting bad things about the critic, picking up hundreds of followers in the meantime. Casper decides to give it another go with the critic, so via Twitter he invites him to the restaurant to eat a new menu he plans to prepare. However, this doesn’t go well with the owner of the restaurant (Dustin Hoffman), who says they will stick to the menu they’ve got and that if Casper doesn’t like it, he can walk away. Casper does walk away, much to the dismay to the rest of the restaurant staff, including Martin (a very well-cast John Leguizamo) and sous chef Tony (Bobby Cannavale). But Casper can’t stay away from the restaurant for two reasons, he’s dating the restaurant’s hostess (an unglamorous Scarlett Johannson) and he feels the needs to get even with the restaurant critic. So Casper decides to go to the restaurant the same night the critic is there, and, in front of all the customers and staff, yell at him and tells him he doesn’t know what good food is. After his rant, he is banned from the restaurant forever.

Deciding what to do next, besides spending lots of time with his son, his ex-wife Inez (an always good Sofia Vergara – who’s becoming quite the screen goddess) urges him to come with her and their son to Miami while she is on a business trip to take some time away and mellow out. While there, he comes up with the idea of a new business – a food truck selling Cuban food. He buys a run down and dirty food truck, and with the help of his son, fixes it up and calls it ‘El Jefe.’ Martin flies in and wants to be a part of the new business so together they create delicious Cuban food, especially Cubanos – a Cuban Sandwich of cheese and ham. With his son, they take the food truck on a road trip back to Los Angeles, stopping in various cities along the way. Thanks to Emjay, they have quite a following on Twitter and Instagram and it’s with social media where they pick up loads of customers along with way, with queues stretching down blocks in every city. Arriving back in Los Angeles, they’re a hit and have a new business.

While the story of Chef is very predictable and could’ve been guessed without me writing about the entire plot, it’s, of course the food that plays a starring role in the film. Beginning in the restaurant to Casper making a delicious meals at his home, the food looks vibrant and succulent and delicious. And the Cuban sandwiches want to make you have one after the movie, so if anyone knows where I can get one in London, please write in! The cast is very good, and credit is due to Favreau who wore four hats in the movie (5 if you count his cooking in the film, well I presume it was him cooking) and for creating what is a simple film into such a delight. The rest of the cast is fine, with Leguizamo and Vergara bringing a va va va voom Latin spice to the movie. All in all, Chef is a pretty good movie. Please go see it, and you will definitely want to eat after.


Category : DVD
Tags : , , , , , ,
0 Comm
29th Jun2014

Chef – Film

by timbaros

images-194Chef, now playing in cinemas, is a real treat, from start to finish.

Jon Favreau, who also wrote, produced and directed, plays Carl Casper, a chef in a popular Los Angeles restaurant. He’s in control of his kitchen, and proud of the food that he makes for his customers. However, one day a restaurant critic (Oliver Platt – who actually looks like a restaurant critic), eats in the restaurant and then proceeds to give it a bad review, lambasting Casper’s cooking, Not happy with this, Casper, at the urging of his son Percy (Emjay Anthony), opens an account on Twitter and starts tweeting bad things about the critic, picking up hundreds of followers in the meantime. Casper decides to give it another go with the critic, so via Twitter he invites him to the restaurant to eat a new menu he plans to prepare. However, this doesn’t go well with the owner of the restaurant (Dustin Hoffman), who says they will stick to the menu they’ve got and that if Casper doesn’t like it, he can walk away. Casper does walk away, much to the dismay to the rest of the restaurant staff, including Martin (a very well-cast John Leguizamo) and sous chef Tony (Bobby Cannavale). But Casper can’t stay away from the restaurant for two reasons, he’s dating the restaurant’s hostess (an unglamorous Scarlett Johannson) and he feels the needs to get even with the restaurant critic. So Casper decides to go to the restaurant the same night the critic is there, and, in front of all the customers and staff, yell at him and tells him he doesn’t know what good food is. After his rant, he is banned from the restaurant forever.
Deciding what to do next, besides spending lots of time with his son, his ex-wife Inez (an always good Sofia Vergara – who’s becoming quite the screen goddess) urges him to come with her and their son to Miami while she is on a business trip to take some time away and mellow out. She also urges him to have a business meeting with her ex-husband (a perfect Robert Downey Jr.). While there, he comes up with the idea of a new business – a food truck selling Cuban food. He buys a run down and dirty food truck, and with the help of his son, fixes it up and calls it ‘El Jefe.’  Martin flies in and wants to be a part of the new business so together they create delicious Cuban food, especially Cubanos – a Cuban Sandwich of cheese and ham. With his son, they take the food truck on a road trip back to Los Angeles, stopping in various cities along the way. Thanks to Emjay, they have quite a following on Twitter and Instagram and it’s with social media where they pick up loads of customers along with way, with queues stretching down blocks in every city. Arriving back in Los Angeles, they’re a hit and have a new business.
While the story of Chef is very predictable and could’ve been guessed without me writing about the entire plot, it’s, of course the food that plays a starring role in the film. Beginning in the restaurant to Casper making a delicious meals at his home, the food looks vibrant and succulent and delicious. And the Cuban sandwiches want to make you have one after the movie, so if anyone knows where I can get one in London, please write in! The cast is very good, and credit is due to Favreau who wore four hats in the movie (5 if you count his cooking in the film, well I presume it was him cooking) and for creating what is a simple film into such a delight. The rest of the cast is fine, with Leguizamo and Vergara bringing a va va va voom Latin spice to the movie. All in all, Chef is a pretty good movie. Please go see it, and you will definitely want to eat after.

 

Category : Film
Tags : , , , , , ,
0 Comm
29th Dec2013

Lovelace – DVD

by timbaros

images-26Linda Lovelace was the star of the highest grossing porn film of all time – Deep Throat. Linda Boreman was a woman who wanted a normal life – a good husband and a kid. Lovelace tell Boreman’s story, and not Lovelace’s story.

Now in theatres, Lovelace actually tells both stories. In an unusual way of storytelling, Lovelace shows how the young and innocent Linda went from being the girl next door to the girl who would become the biggest porn star of her generation. And about halfway through the film, Lovelace rewinds the story and tells how Boreman actually saw it happen.

Linda Susan Boreman (an amazing Amanda Seyfried) lived with her parents in Florida. Her father was a retired NYC cop who worked part time as a security guard. Her mother (played by an unrecognizable Sharon Stone), as domineering as any mother could be, was very strict with Linda and always told her to  please her man. It was when Linda was 20 that she met Chuck Traynor, an owner of a bar and a very intimidating figure. Him and Linda fell in love and with increasing debt, they needed money, so Chuck videotaped Linda performing oral sex on him and showed it to a couple producers. They liked what they saw and Boreman was soon to be top billing for the movie Deep Throat. It went on to earn millions of dollars and made a star out of Boreman/Lovelace. Was she a willing participant in the film? The second half of the film says that she was not. It goes on to tell the actual story, according to Boreman (who would go on to become Linda Marchiano in 1974), the abuse she suffered at the hands of Traynor, the many times he forced her to have sex with other men for money, and how unhappy she was in the relationship (she asks her mom if she can move back home, but in this poignant scene her mom says that no, she should do as he says and to obey him, probably like she did in her own marriage). This second half of Lovelace is her side of the story in that she claims that she was not responsible for acting in porn films, that she was forced to do so and humiliated by Traynor. It goes on to show her crying at times, trying to run away from Traynor, and being forced to have sex with six men. Which half of this movie are the actual version of events? This is the question that Lovelace the film does not really answer. While it appears that Lovelace actually loved being a star and being in the limelight during the Deep Throat era, perhaps a few years down the road she regretted ever getting into the porn business (after an emotional phone call with her father who says he had seen the movie).

Seyfried is the perfect actress to play Boreman/Lovelace. With her large eyes, beautiful curly hair and 1970’s looks, Seyfried perfectly embodies the life of this confused or mentally immature woman.  Peter Sarsgaard plays Traynor with fury, anger, and aggression – another domineering figure in Boreman’s life, just like her mother. Stone doesn’t get much to do as Boreman’s mother, just give hers a couple lectures and withholds any emotion. If this were a bigger part, Stone’s performance could’ve made a bigger impact. Hank Azaria and Bobby Cannavale are perfect as slick hollywood producers of Deep Throat, and Chris Noth plays the investor who finances the movie. No doubt he was picked for this role because of his role as Mr. Big in Sex and the City. Rounding out the all star case is the great Debi Mazar as Lovelace’s co-star in Deep Throat, Adam Brody as Harry Reems, Linda’s male co-star in Deep Throat, and James Franco, who, of course, plays Hugh Hefner.

Category : DVD
Tags : , , , , , , , ,
0 Comm