TV Binge: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner (Season 1, 2019)

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner (Season 1, 2019)

Host: David Chang

Guests: Seth Rogen, Chrissy Teigen, Lena Waithe, Kate McKinnon

Chang accompanied by a different celebrity guest exploring a single city, its culture and its cuisine. As the pair travels through each city, they will also uncover new and surprising things about themselves. – IMDB

Hosted by David Chang, Breakfast Lunch & Dinner is a new Netflix docuseries, much like Ugly Delicious, exploring food and culture. The structure of this series is different in this 4-episode series. Each episode sees David Chang going to one city accompanied by one celebrity  that may or may not be from the area to explore the food offered there. In some places, its about authenticity and in others, its about reflecting the place itself. The episodes span over Vancouver, Los Angeles, Morocco and Phnom Penh where the pair will go for a day out in the city eating the different meals throughout the day and talking about the city, the culture and of course, the cuisine which eventually goes to talking about their own lifestyle and more.

Four episode seasons are always a quick binge. It almost feels like this one should have been paired up with Ugly Delicious Season 2’s four episodes to create a full season. However, there is nothing to complain about. This new structure is very refreshing. To a certain extent, this one is more lighthearted to watch. Its less about those societal issues that are often linked in Ugly Delicious but takes a more entertaining level as they talk about the celebrities career and living in the city or other more casual friends hangout topics. It does touch on the societal topics every once in a while but overall, its a rather fun discussion most of the time to see the dynamic of David Chang and his guest celebrity and each one of them brings something new to the table.

Its really hard to expand too much on this show since it is not only short but also with a rather straightforward concept. Breakfast Lunch & Dinner is a pretty fun show. It would definitely be nice to see where they can take this and what other guests will join David Chang as he explores a city in one day and all the food that he tries (especially since I have some foodie friends that I’ve travelled with where our trips are like that as well). Its a nice snapshot of a city experience and in some ways, its almost like a casual hangout or interview that gives space to discuss a wide range of topics. There’s a lot to love about this show and is much more focused on one place and culture and cuisine that gives its a lot of substance as well. Its a different approach to a food docuseries and while I like both this structure and Ugly Delicious’ structure, it would be nice to see this one have more episodes if they manage to get a Season 2.

If you haven’t seen the reviews for Ugly Delicious, you can find it below:

Season 1
Season 2

Remembering James Horner Blogathon: The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

As always, hitting the brink of the deadline, here is my entry for the 2nd Annual Remembering James Horner Blogathon hosted by Film Music Central. Last year, I took a look at Once Upon a Forest for this blogathon and it was a great one to revisit. You can check out the review here. This year, I decided to check out another family fantasy film adapted from a children’s book series that I haven’t read called The Spiderwick Chronicles. I’m a huge fan of Freddie Highmore as a child star, even now in Bates Motel. I think he’s fantastic and for a while, I did take the time to catch up a lot of his movies a few years back and this was one of them. I’m excited to have a reason to revisit it and hope that the magic is still as charming as I remember.

Let’s check it out!

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

Director: Mark Waters

Cast: Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, Sarah Bolger, Andrew McCarthy, David Strathairn, Seth Rogen, Martin Short

Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures. – IMDB

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a fun little fantasy adventure children’s movie featuring a double dose of Freddie Highmore as both Jared and Simon Grace who along with their sister, Mallory (played by Sarah Bolger) are taken to a home that their mother inherited from their great aunt while she goes through a separation. Jared takes this the hardest and after a fight realized that there is something in the walls. As he chases it down, he finds a secret room accessible by a dumbwaiter and there he finds a book that warns him to not open it. Being a child, of course, he does. Whether it was an act of rebellion or thoughtlessness or curiosity, this opens up a realm of fairies and other more dangerous creatures that have been seeking this field guide of the magical creatures to use it as a way to control the world. This one dangerous individual is a giant ogre, Mulgarath (voiced by Nick Nolte). Some of the gentler creatures who create quite the comedic relief is Hogsqueal who looks like a hog and is obsessed with birds (voiced by Seth Rogen) and the protector of the book, Thimbletack (voiced by Martin Short). Its fun adventure with some pretty cool CGI effects and an all around entertaining story. While the start might show some over acting in Freddie Highmore, he soon settles quickly as they put away the family and sibling rivalry and jump fairly quickly into the meat of the fantasy world and its just a quick ride to the end.

As this is a blogathon for James Horner, its important to discuss the score. James Horner makes some of the best orchestral scores that help build the atmosphere. Here he carries mystery and suspense when the world is first discovered, then takes us on a musical journey that aids as the adventure picks up where these siblings bond together and truly find their courage as they plot their protection for their home. The score compliments and accentuates the adventure particularly. Adding onto a well-executed film to begin with, this makes it even more engaging to watch. Its hard to ignore the seamless score that James Horner puts together for Spiderwick Chronicles.

Sarah Bolger is a familiar face now. While I have yet to check out Into the Badlands, I’ve seen her as Princes Aurora in Once Upon a Time and especially in Emilie, a psychological thriller released last year that was very well put together. I can’t remember if I had actually written a review but its a great movie that truly showcases her acting skills and the potential she has. Her sister role as Mallory brings a sense of balance, not because she’s a girl but also because she’s very tough as she wield her fencing sword in all her fights. Its an impressive character.

In terms of the double Freddie Highmore, Jared and Simon have relatively different personalities and it gives them a more unique character and lets us see the difference other than how they dress. Freddie Highmore wasn’t great in the Jared role when he starts but it might just have to do with his difficult child act and once it was dropped, it was really fun to watch, even though Jared is more of the central character here.

 

In terms of voice actors, we have Nick Nolte as the baddie. For a children’s movie, it worked really well. I was pretty invested into the movie and the villain even if he didn’t really show up that much and there was one part where he was human and the transformation was pretty cool. Other than that, Thimbletack (Martin Short) and Hogsqueal (Seth Rogen) are really fun to watch in a silly way. Their creatures themselves are rather creative and in a somewhat adorable way, they are pretty appealing. I have to say that Hogsqueal could have had more screen time although as a non-Seth Rogen fan, I actually thought this was a great performance but it had to do with this silly character that added a lot of entertainment value.

Overall, The Spiderwick Chronicles is a fun and fast-paced fantasy adventure movie. It has great performances all around and a good balance of comedy and adventure, making it incredibly entertaining and engaging to watch. The CGI is done very well and not to mention, a well-executed story that is accentuated by a great score.

Have you seen The Spiderwick Chronicles? 

Steve Jobs (2015)

Biopics? Man, I watch so little of these and they appeal to me even less that I always go out of my way to avoid it.  It feels like Steve Jobs has had a lot of biopics over the last few years. Or maybe its some other influential tech “giant” thats been around and done awesome things. However, Michael Fassbender is up for an Oscars nomination and if you read my review on Fish Tank, well, you know I’m a huge fan of his. Plus, it was one of the few movies with the Best Male Lead for Oscar nominations available.

Let’s check it it out! 🙂

Steve Jobs (2015)

Director: Danny Boyle

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg, Katherine Waterston

Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution, to paint a portrait of the man at its epicenter. The story unfolds backstage at three iconic product launches, ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac. – IMDB

Who remembers the iMac? I was using an iMac in high school.  I remembered our computer lab one day filled up with these little weirdly shaped transparent-like computers.  They didn’t look like the PC I had at home.  I even did my computer class learning HTML codes and binary numbers and designing cutesy colorful labels with those.  When I used those computers, I didn’t know who Steve Jobs was.  Do I know his history any better as I grew up, even with the explosion of Apple products? Nope. That’s all to say that I don’t know how accurate these depictions of his character is and I’m not one to go digging into his history either. What I am saying is that Steve Jobs is an enjoyable biopic.  The idea to focus on Steve Jobs and the people around him highlighting the events of his life and how he faces them differently (or similarly) each of these times is what makes it focused and well done. It shows character development, adds some drama and creates a well enough balance for us to understand this man a little more each time.

What was great about this is that they don’t try to paint Steve Jobs as someone who is perfect.  This biopic works hard on focussing on his flaws actually.  Steve Jobs is influenced in many ways by his past and the choices he makes are based on one view that he has and his obsession with having control over the end-product. He made mistakes and he actually isn’t afraid to be that person who makes the tough decisions.  Just like most successful entrepreneurs, they aren’t exactly glorified human beings.  They make ruthless decisions and maybe throw a few people under the bus or whatnot to make sure they succeed.  They are extreme at times and stubborn at others and the people around them don’t quite understand what is going on in their minds. The story of Steve Jobs through his three product launch focuses on revealing his character from that first launch, what has changed in the second one and finally who he is by the third one.  Michael Fassbender captures that aspect of the character full of observations and monologues very well.

While we see a lot of Michael Fassbender’s Steve Jobs, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen and the three girls that play the daughter at different ages play also a big part in amplifying the character development of themselves as their roles also show the importance that they have in his life regardless of how he treats them.  It brings out that humanity that we don’t often see in biopics.  While the girls that play the daughter’s role tugs on very much the emotional strings and make us see especially that there is an emotional tie that Jobs may not admit but it also makes him susceptible to having feelings as well.  However, the show stoppers that really seem to appear in the background but actually are rather central to this story is Kate Winslet’s Joanna Hoffman who is absolutely fantastic in this one and Seth Rogen, playing his innovative friend Steve Wozniak who started this endeavor with Apple II with him.  While having a small role, Jeff Daniels deserves quite an applause also.  Its nice to see him back in action doing some serious roles.  I appreciated his role as John Sculley, who is a pseudo father/mentor in some senses.

With my limited experience of biopics, there isn’t much left to say.  Steve Jobs is an excellent movie.  Its choice to highlight on 3 significant events of his life while showing his character through his interactions and decisions in those hard-pressed situations while flashing back remotely to some other past scenes makes for a well-paced film.  It retains his humanity and that he is also a real person with flaws despite being gifted in many ways. With a powerful cast like Kate Winslet and Seth Rogen and even Jeff Daniels, a well-written script and great directing, Steve Jobs exceeds my every expectation.

Have you seen Steve Jobs? What do you think of it? Are you a fan of biopics?

This is the End (2013)

Continuing with my 2013 movie viewing! I have a few more to go before the year ends, probably even heading into 2014.  Lets get the show on the road since the next few days might be more 2014 plans rather than movie reviews.  My boyfriend wanted a comedy the other night and honestly, I don’t own a lot of those so This Is The End was the first to drop into the DVD viewing. Despite everything, I’m still a bit skeptical since I don’t like a lot of similar humor to others and I have a hard time being able to laugh at something that actually looks ridiculous stupid. Lets see if it did manage to give me some LOLs 😉

Director: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogan

Cast: Seth Rogan, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson

Good buddies Jay Baruchel go to visit Seth Rogan in Los Angeles.  After a day of hanging out, Seth convinces Jay to go to James Franco’s housewarming party where a bunch of celebrities are also.  Reluctantly, Jay goes and during the night, the apocalypse hits them.  Jay, Seth, James along with Craig Robinson and Danny McBride are now barricaded in James Franco’s house until help arrives.

First of all, I’d like to make it clear than when I see Jay Baruchel on screen, I can’t help but cheer a little and hope he does good because he represents Montreal, my beautiful city.  The first shot when he arrived, he was sporting a Habs cap and even though I’ve given up on hockey, it does represent the city very much. I did a little ” You go, Jay” plus fist pump while my boyfriend shook his head and smiled.  And then by the end of the movie, I started thinking that I really can’t wait for How To Train a Dragon 2 and I wanted to see some more of Hiccup….

Second, I honestly enjoyed this a lot more than I expected.  James Franco doing funny is something I haven’t quite grasped yet and Jonah Hill really doesn’t tickle my funny bone (or maybe he does because the funny bone doesn’t make me laugh either).  Anyways, I’m not going to get technical with my terms.  You get what I mean.  And then Craig Robinson and Danny McBride is who again? I’ve never seen these dudes before so okay, the only guy fairing any form of humor for me was Jay and Seth.  But, this was funny in a stupid, shut off my brain sort of way.  And I was in one of those moods, so it all worked out.

The BEST part of the movie though was not possibly the six guys but rather all the cameos from the other celebrities.  Emma Watson was hilarious and awesome.  Channing Tatum was a huge OMG LOL moment, if you know what I mean.  I haven’t decided if I really liked Michael Cera’s cameo but it was a bit weird in my opinion.  Rihanna did get a few moments and Jason Segel had one also (and I spent a few moments trying to remember his name).  I’m sure there was a whole bunch of other people that I was naming as they popped up but I can’t remember them now.

I’m going to have to be extremely honest and say that some parts of this movie did have me yawning and I think, it just has to do with not really enjoying the humor they wanted me to like.  Still, I had a blast in the beginning and at the end.  Plus, its like a comedic way of setting out a story about bromance and at the very end, redemption/selflessness.  Whatever you want to call that.

All in all, I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as the bunch of reviews that I did see when it first came out but surprisingly, a lot of it worked for me also.  The cameos were extremely memorable and hilarious and the guys sported some nice comedic moments as well.  Not my favorite comedy but it was a very different experience and a pretty enjoyable one at that! 🙂 Comedy is something I don’t want to say I’d recommend or not, its so personal so if you like these guys, you’d want to give it a shot. If not, well, what can I say, maybe you want to see Emma Watson, not as Hermione but still being pretty bad ass? 😉

What did you think of This Is The End? Are you a fan of any of these six guys?

Christmas Marathon: Christmas Classics Vol.1/Kung Fu Panda Holiday

What better way to start a Christmas Marathon than with Christmas Classics, right? Thats what I did at least! This is on Netflix and its 9 short Christmas animated films about 15-20 minutes each, I believe.  Some were even 10-12 minutes.

Christmas Classics Vol. 1

1. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

2. Somewhere in Dreamland

3. Santa’s Surprise

4. Hector’s Hector Life

5. Snow Foolin’

6. Jack Frost

7. Christmas Comes But Once A Year

8. The Shanty Where Santa Lives

9. The Night Before Christmas

There’s the list of the movies.  The only one I’ve ever seen before was Rudolph and The Night Before Christmas however, the other ones are rather cute as well.  Plus,  its short and sweet.  Its a straight forward little story and it covers values.  There’s not much to actually review for this.  My favorite has to be Santa’s Surprise and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  Those were really fun 🙂

Since I don’t want to be cheap and short, I added on another one I saw this weekend:

KUNG FU PANDA HOLIDAY (2010)

Director: Tim Johnson

Cast: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross

Po is given the task of hosting the annual winter feast by Shifu and he struggles to meet the expectations of his friends and make the choice between spending time with his father and dealing with his responsibilities to hosting the Masters of Kung Fu.

This is a little 20 minutes animated flick.  I love Kung Fu Panda so this was one that I jumped on in Netflix.  Plus, it was quick to watch. Its nothing special but there are a few laughs.  Po and Mr. Ping are always fun to watch.  Great for a short family viewing to bring in the holidays and to talk about the importance of family and the things that matter during the holidays.

Just like each of these flicks, I’m going to keep it short and sweet 🙂

Super Sweet Blogging Award..Take 2!!

Having a partially baking blog, its always nice to get this Super Sweet Blogging Awards! Huge THANK YOU to DJ Matticus from The Matticus Kingdom for giving me this a few weeks ago.  Sorry for the late reply…I’ve been kind of in a funk…I’m out now! For the most part at least! Its taken two weeks to sort out the mess in my brain.  Happy stuff though! I have never been more proud to accept this award because last week, I did make some awesome Hamburger Cupcakes! Thats about the most creative I have EVER been, granted I was following instructions 😉

The star here is DJ Matticus! If you haven’t visited his blog, well, you’d better head on over.  I have the link right up there on top with his name.  He has an ongoing story that he posts up chapters every week. He writes witty and fun posts and he’s just totally awesome in general!

These are the rules for accepting the award:

1-Answer the 10 random questions or those of your own choosing.
2-Nominate 10 other bloggers for the Award and link their blog sites.
3-Notify the bloggers of their awards.
4-Ask the award winners to answer the 10 questions when they accept their Award.

10 Random Questions

1.  Do you think it’s weird that the Breakfast Club ate lunch rather than breakfast?

Now, we have a Breakfast Club too and I go there for brunch..maybe thats what they were having 🙂

2.  If you had Breakfast at Tiffany’s would you order the eggs or the diamonds?

I’m not really into diamonds but how about some other gems?

3.  Have you watched the movie Layercake?  Thoughts on that experience?

There is a movie called Layercake? I’m not sure I ever want to have that experience….

4.  If you boarded the Pineapple Express, which stop would you get off at?

Wherever James Franco and Seth Rogen get off, I guess.  What is Pineapple Express? haha!

5.  Do you prefer American Pie over pies from other countries?  What is your favorite?

Any pie but American Pie…Life of Pi sounds remarkably better from the looks of it.  I can deal with tigers..we’re buddies! Or how about Minny’s pie in The Help? My fave to watch being consumed but I wouldn’t personally.

6.  If the forecast for the day was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, would you stay inside?

Hell no! I’d be out there with a huge bowl (maybe bucket) and my fork and knife…okay, okay, my chopsticks 😉

7.  Do you slather Space Jam on your toast in the mornings?  Or do you prefer something else?

No Space Jam..not much into eating basketballs.  Some simple peanut butter would do! 🙂

8.  Have you ever had to Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

I hope not! Although, with the right arrangement, that could be fun, to a certain extent…

9.  Do you drink a glass of warm Milk before bed?

Sorry, lactose-intolerant! Skip!

10.  Have you ever had a Chicken Run away from you before?

 Usually I’m the one running away from them! Although, there was once when I was 2? My dad bought me a bunch of little chicks for Easter and they all grew up to roosters…guess what happened to them afterwards…

 

I’m still amazed at how he managed to stick movie titles in all those questions! How do I match up to that…can I just reuse them? Fine, fine, I won’t be lazy 😉

Lets get those nominations out first! DJ Matticus nominated 10 so I’ll follow his lead 😉

 

Serenity Sometimes

More Sprinkles

Scrummy Yummy

Mandy <3s Food

the Goodie Plate

Papaya Pieces

Thistle and  Maize

The Kat & the Falling Leaves

Life is Short. Eat hard!

at350degrees

 

Check them all out! Amazing blogs with wonderful recipes of meals or sweet delicious desserts!:)

Now for my questions to the nominees!

Which one do you like more:

1) Muffins or Croissants?

2) Cake or pie?

3) Chocolate, vanilla or marble?

4) Butter or margarine?

5) Almonds or hazelnuts?

6) Dark, Milk, or White Chocolate?

7) Frosting or defrosted?

8) Coffee, tea, milk to go with your desserts?

9) Pancakes or waffles?

10) Final question: Cooking or baking?

 

Easy, right? Just have to make a choice! If you don’t want to play along thats alright as well! Just wanted to show how much I appreciated all of your blogs!

 

Have a fun, sweet and fantastic weekend! 🙂

 

If you’re in Quebec, lets all wish this province a happy birthday! Although, Montreal is kind of looking mighty bad right now (if you’ve heard about it you’d understand)…Still! Its the provincial birthday and I get a day off on Monday! Its all the better reason to celebrate! 🙂 Plus, we’re getting some crazy hot and humid weather this weekend!

Horton Hears a Who! (2008)

After almost a week break from movie reviews, I’m ready to bring it on again.  I have a few more to write but at least now I’m a bit more charged up. Here we go! 🙂

Based on the children’s Dr. Seuss book Horton Hears a Who!, this animation is one of the first Dr. Seuss to be made in animation again.  I watched it on Saturday since I knew from a few posts floating around saying that it was Dr. Seuss’s birthday.  I had to celebrate it in my own way and seeing that I had already reviewed The Lorax before, this seemed to be a good choice.

Director: Jimmy Hayward, Steve Martino

Cast: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Dan Fogler, Isla Fisher

In the jungle of Nool, Horton the elephant (Jim Carrey) is minding his own business with his own day when he heard a little yelp coming from a speck floating around.  He imagines a man and his family in need on the speck so in case they will be in danger he runs after the speck to save it and ends up catching it on a clover.  When he says this story to the uptight and snobbish Kangaroo (Carol Burnett), she doesn’t hear anything and doesn’t believe him and warns him to not spread the nonsense to others.  He disregards her and then realizes that he needs to yell to allow these little people to hear him and he yells HELLO.  This one Hello travels down to the world on the speck called Whoville.  No one is aware of their tiny existence in the world until his one HELLO reaches the Mayor (Steve Carell).  The Mayor who is a slight goofball but notices that Whoville is incurring weird changes and when Horton confirms him of their tiny presence, Mayor goes to ask the scientist Dr. Mary Lou Larue (Isla Fisher) who predicts disaster if they were actually a small city.  It is then the Mayor asks Horton to help him move the speck and its clover to a safer location to help regain stability in Whoville.  As the Mayor tries to protect his city while convincing the Council about the dangers, Horton is also with his own problems as Kangaroo does everything to remove the speck from him because she believes all this is nonsense.

This animation is wonderfully adapted.  Its funny and awesome entertainment.  To start off, we have really good vocal talents, which is possibly one of the most important contributing aspects to a great animation.  We have Jim Carrey in the lead role as Horton.  I’m a huge fan of Jim Carrey and his voices along with his humor.  It probably all began when I first saw him in either Mask or Ace Ventura.  But then, we’re not to discuss that, but point being, in this one, he’s crazy fun and enthusiastic.  In his opposite lead, we have the Mayor voiced by Steve Carell.  I haven’t seen a lot from him but this man is quite comedic as well.  In this role, he’s just a super good goofball. He has funny reactions and exclamations.

I love the way they spiced up the dialogue but kept the book dialogue with a narrator in the back to help coordinate between the two worlds.  Its really funny most of the time and whenever I watch this, it puts a gigantic grin on my face and I start laughing out loud in a lot of parts.  It never hits the too serious area which is awesome because this is aimed towards children.  The colors are also fantastic because they are bright and sharp.  It helps keep the movie in the uplifting mood even if there is some dangers lurking about.

This is absolutely great family fun! Its great for all ages and guarantees lots of smiles and laughter.  It has amazing actors doing the voices aside from just Jim Carrey and Steve Carell.  Everyone does a fantastic job in their roles.  Its heartwarming, endearing, fun, comedic, enjoyable. I think this trailer captures it perfectly and its also the song I love renditioned a la Horton Hears a Who! Style 🙂

Before I let you go, I’d like to recommend this movie (if you haven’t realized yet) 🙂 And also as every Dr. Seuss story, we always have a little lesson to be learned so I’d have to share it here to end this off: