Every movie we see #63 and 64: First get shredded by The Rover, then relax with Chef.
The Rover, the second feature from David Michod (Animal Kingdom), is a western-style revenge thriller that asks the audience to define what a human being is. Set in a wasteland after an apocalyptic event called “The Collapse”, it stars the always-excellent Guy Pearce as a man who sets out to retrieve his car from the men who have stolen it. Robert Pattinson does good work as the carjackers’ halfwit cohort.
We wonder if The Rover has anything to do with the Harlan Ellison novella A Boy and His Dog, which is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and was going to be expanded into a novel called Blood’s A Rover (not related to the James Ellroy novel).
Rating: Drop everything and watch this in the cinema before it disappears.
Chef is so low-key and pleasant, it’s like having a meal with friends with the TV on, tuned to the Food Network. Why was it even filmed, except as an excuse for friends to hang out? Writer and director Jon Favreau (Iron Man) stars as a chef who does his work not for the critics but for the people. He achieves mainstream success but what he really wants is the freedom to pursue his personal projects. Now replace “chef” with “filmmaker” and you know what Chef is really about.
Favreau’s character has a meltdown following a bad review in a food blog, and after an unfortunate Twitter exchange over the article, he takes a break. The most unbelievable thing about Chef is not that women who look like Sophia Vergara and Scarlett Johansson would go for him—he is a celebrity chef after all—but that his ten-year-old son would volunteer to help him clean and refurbish a grotty food truck so they can spend time together. You may enjoy seeing Robert Downey, Jr playing a variation on Tony Stark.
Rating: Food porn. If you’re on a diet, you should probably avoid it. It gave us a hankering for Cuban food. Could someone recommend a Cuban restaurant? A place that sells Cuban sandwiches and carne asada?
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 3rd, 2014 at 10:45
I enjoyed both movies. Chef was a good to take in for a Father’s Day bonding activity a few weeks ago.
My brother didn’t like The Rover. To him it seemed like an elaborate joke–down to the “A man walks into a bar…” Setup. The punch line that was the end of the movie seemed to arrive too late for him.
Fox Pictures should pick David Michod if they have plans of filming an Old Man Logan Wolverine adaptation.
July 3rd, 2014 at 13:08
The market at leviste sells good Cuban sandwiches though 3 yrs ago these were already going for 300 a pop!
July 3rd, 2014 at 14:21
It’s not really a Cuban restaurant, but El Chupacabra near Polaris Street in Makati has excellent (and affordable!) Carne Asada. It’s from the same owner of Mexicali and Cafe Mediterranean. In fact, I believe Chupacabra is located at the commissary of Mexicali. Been there a few times and if you don’t mind the heat and the hole-in-the-wall ambiance, it’s pretty decent.
‘Scuse me while I find someone to drag along to go see Chef…
July 3rd, 2014 at 19:18
greeneggsnham: Where did the Cubanos at Salcedo Market go? And why didn’t we think of Havana? True, we don’t associate it with food.
July 4th, 2014 at 00:57
I’ve never met the cubanos at Salcedo Park – only the “angry” French men selling galettes(?sp) – someone must have told them what their product sounds like in Tagalog.
Ooh now I’m craving for a galette (?sp) complete (?sp?!) at 1am in the morning!
July 4th, 2014 at 01:00
Haha I actually took a field trip to Havana on a recent payday Friday with a couple of friends. No one was eating anything. Just exchanging..uhhh…pleasantries.
Pleasant girl: “Hi sir good evening…”
Me: “Miss mas girl pa ako sa iyo!”
PG: “eh sir yung kasama nyo?”
Me: “mas girl pa sya sa ating lahat!”
PG forgets I exist.
July 5th, 2014 at 01:55
Brasas for latin american food
October 18th, 2014 at 04:53
YES, all you need to do is fly to Miami and you can choose from:
1. Latin America (open 24/7)
2. Sergios
3. La Caretta
at iba iba pa… Lemme know! Your Cubano Pan con Bistek y Colada are waiting for ya.