Hacksaw Ridge

Hacksaw Ridge

Cast:
Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, Vince Vaughn

Director:
Mel Gibson

Genre:
Drama

Release:
19-01-2017

Running Time:
139 minutes

Language:
English(Sub: Chinese)

Synopsis
HACKSAW RIDGE is the extraordinary true story of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun. He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon, as he believed that while the war was justified, killing was nevertheless wrong. As an army medic, he single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers, and was wounded by a grenade and hit by snipers. Doss was the first conscientious objector awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A very moving film! I didn't know it was based on a true story and thought it was a little exaggerated until towards the end they showed the interview of the true hero and his comrades! Truly deserving the Golden Globe nominations! We were also glad that we watched this in Gold Class.

I was looking at how the late man, who was a man of God, put his trust in the Lord to enable him to save 75 soldiers single-handedly without weapon during WWII!

It was a deserving medal of honor for him, and he proved that by firmly believing in God, miracle could happen!

Invited To At An Art Show

Gunthers gave me a complimentary ticket for 2 for an art show the other day. Actually we had not planned to be there but coincidentally found ourselves around the area!

Sensing that we still had some time, we decided to pop by the exhibition hall for a tour. What's more, there's complimentary drinks there!

Much to DC's amusement, the gallery wasn't boring at all, he found some of the art pieces interesting. :) There were photography exhibits too!

Much to my satisfaction, we managed to cover quite a lot of art pieces in that limited time we had!

Bonus was the free cocktail that was served!

Quite an eye opener this quick little tour, nice experience!

Related Posts:
Drawsome
How art thou Rome'o?

The significant other's birthday

I decided for tried and tested. Also, the set lunches here were too good to miss ... $38++ for a 3 course set lunch, coffee included! So for CP's birthday, we decided to celebrate the occasion back at Gunther's.

Today, we indulged a little. Ordered wine off the menu ... a very fruity red from France, 2011 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Clos St. Jean. Priced at $35++, I doubt we will always order such. Anyway, I read later that the best vintages are 2016, 2015, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2003. (Read more at: http://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/rhone-wines-cote-rotie-hermitage-chateauneuf-du-pape/chateauneuf-du-pape-wine-producer-profiles/clos-saint-jean-chateauneuf-du-pape-rhone-wine/). Probably best to drink at home or order house wines.

We have also come to order (carefully) from the tray for some of the more "exotic" options. Today, I had the conch, roasted with garlic and butter. $55++ for this. Good, fragrant and "crunchy". I dipped the bread into the butter sauce to slurp up every last bit.

Conch

CP had two Irish oysters. $12++ each.

Irish osyters

Of course, their signature cold angel hair pasta with oscietra caviar is a must. A $60 portion is good for two people to share but I relish finishing it all on my own!

Cold Angel hair pasta, Oscietra caviar

Foie Gras from the set lunch menu. Did get a bit rich towards the end.

Smoked Foie Gras, apple compote

Beetroot salad for CP, also from set menu. Slight tinge of sourness, I find it quite good, what's with all the heavy stuff coming up.

Braised beetroot, salad, orange dressing

For mains, I had meat. Grilled smoked pork belly.

Grilled smoked pork belly, forestiere

CP had black ink rice, sautéed squid.

Black ink rice, sautéed squid

Birthday celebration for CP.

Pana cotta for dessert, also from set menu.

Coffee and petit fours to finish off.

It was indeed an enjoyable lunch. Cheers to many more :)

Related Posts:
Anniversary at Andre

Passengers

Passengers

Cast:
Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Laurence Fishburne. Michael Sheen

Director:
Morten Tyldum

Genre:
Sci-Fi/ Fantasy

Release:
22-12-2016

Running Time:
116 minutes

Language:
English(Sub: Chinese)

Synopsis
On a routine journey through space to a new home, two passengers, sleeping in suspended animation, are awakened 90 years too early when their ship malfunctions. As Jim and Aurora face living the rest of their lives on board, with every luxury they could ever ask for, they begin to fall for each other, unable to deny their intense attraction... until they discover the ship is in grave danger. With the lives of 5000 sleeping passengers at stake, only Jim and Aurora can save them all.


========================================================================

There's no reason not to indulge in a movie on my birthday, right? :) And so we went for this one!

It's amazing how the film turned out, given the little cast (and budget) that they have! The actress and actor were eye-catching enough... what's more, there was also the stunning outer space for your admiration.

Despite the unfavorable rating given by the international critics, DC and I felt that the film stood on the side of our local rating (4.5 popcorns out of 5), that it was a worthy one for us!


Related Posts:
The Martian

Tsuta

Seeing that there was no queue, my colleagues and I went in to try out this restaurant dubbed as the "World's first (and the only one) Michelin Starred Ramen Restaurant".

It had a small seating capacity of only less than 20 (18 to be exact), all counter seats. I like it that the cost of one bowl of ramen was comparable to the other common ramen restaurants outside including our favorite ramen restaurant!

There were only 2 types of ramen available - Shoyu (soya sauce) or Shio (salt). Easy choice enough for me, I chose the Shoyu - broth contained beef, veg, clams, etc.

Truffle Shoyu Ramen with egg, how about that?

PS: Did you see the black truffle in the picture above? I gulped that up first, haha..

Just look at my satisfied look! :D

The other I later found out contained chicken, seafood and salt. The former was already quite salty, I couldn't imagine how the latter would taste like with Okinawa sea salt, Mongolian rock salt and green olives (instead of truffle!)!!

My colleagues didn't seem to enjoy it very much, some were neutral about it but I thought I might want to return for another bowl! Maybe with DC? :)


Related Posts:
I love that Ramen
Tampopo
Can't Get Enough

Cousin's ROM Lunch

A joyous occasion! :)

One of DC's little cousins, one whom I had known since he was only 10 years old, got married today!

B wanted to be prettier than the bride. Look what she wore:

I told her that she might or might not be the prettiest but definitely the shiniest haha... cos she was wearing a glittery silver dress, glittery headband and glittery shoes! I joined in the fun too! :P

The couple and us:

The ceremony was held at a café and we had our lunch there. Love the relaxed atmosphere and the rainbow cushions! B had her ice-cream fill there too! Big cuppa vanilla!

Related Posts:
CP's cousin's wedding
DC's cousin's wedding
A meets the cousins

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Cast:
Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Mads Mikkelsen

Director:
Gareth Edwards

Genre:
Action/ Adventure

Release:
15-12-2016

Running Time:
134 minutes

Language:
English(Sub: Chinese)

Synopsis:
From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” an all- new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nice one! Too bad, everyone in the Rogue One sacrificed during the fight against survival in the space arena.

And, Donnie Yen was really funny (and good!) in the film, different from his portray in the serious Yip Man films. Amused by his quote from the film: "I'm the one with the Force. The Force is with me!" :)


Related Posts:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
A Star Wars Party!
Movie Time With Family
Ip Man

The Great Wall

The Great Wall

Cast:
Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Andy Lau, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, Hanyu Zhang, Eddie Peng, Lu Han, Kenny Lin, Junkai Wang, Zheng Kai

Director:
Zhang Yimou

Genre:
Action/ Adventure

Release:
29-12-2016

Running Time:
103 minutes

Synopsis:
Starring global superstar Matt Damon and directed by one of the most breathtaking visual stylists of our time, Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers), Legendary’s The Great Wall tells the story of an elite force making a valiant stand for humanity on the world’s most iconic structure. The first English-language production for Yimou is the largest film ever shot entirely in China. The Great Wall also stars Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe and Andy Lau.







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Being Matt Damon and Andy Lau fans, we wouldn't have missed this movie. :)

We wanted to experience Gold Class again but didn't expect the tickets to be sold out! Gold Class till the next time then.

Never knew the movie was about war with some monsters! It was an action packed film nonetheless. Love the cinematography - was great! And the Chinese actress (or Commander Lin in the movie, later General).. wow, her English pronunciation was crystal clear!

Love the way they assembled everything together - the West meets the East, the war between the human beings and monstrous beings, greed vs trust and some suggested romance.


Other Matt Damon films we've watched:
The Martian
Elysium
The Bourne Series
And, of course not forgetting one of DC's old time favorites:
Saving Private Ryan

Updated Blog header with new staycation photos

Another 3 images added to the new animated blog header! :)

Oh, how we love staycations! :D






Related Posts:
New Blog Header: Staycation 2016

The Hunt gets better each time

After sending B to her nanny's, I just had to visit the park next to the block and strike off a to-do item on this annual holiday leave!

With the map, I was able to identify exactly where a specific type of Pokemons that I needed was... however, I realized I didn't even have to refer to the map much, as every few steps that I took, there was surely something for me to catch! I just love to hunt in Pokémon nested areas! :)

Caught many Jynxs (ice-type Pokémon) which lead me to my bronze Skier medal. :) Also saw many others... it was a fruitful experience.

Clockwise from top left, meet the jumping (excited) Santa Hat Pikachu, the shocked (possibly at identity being exposed) Jynx, the sleeping baby Abra and the little blue kid practicing his punches:

Of course, I also took my time to stroll around the 2 parks enjoying the scenic views and remembering the times when DC and me used to go running years ago... until it drizzled. :)

Related Posts:
My Pokemon Adventure Continues
My First Pokemon Go Hunt