Film review: The Hunger Games

(release in Australia: 22 March 2012)

I must confess that I hadn't heard of The Hunger Games books when I saw a trailer for the movie at the cinema. The trailer made the movie look very teen/tween-esque, so although it starred the wonderful Jennifer Lawrence, I didn’t think much of it.

Then closer to our screening date, there started a pitter patter then thundering buzz on the interwebs. I usually head in the opposite direction of hype, but was curious when I found out it was a dystopian sci-fi tale.

Going into the film, I’d achieved a state of ‘mild and tentative hypement’. I was still mostly clueless about the books and plot apart from a general idea.

If you’d trained a camera on me for the two and a half-ish hours of watching the film, you would have seen a face full of fascination and trauma.

I really identified with the spirit of the main character, Katniss, a strong heroine, as she was forced into playing a Lord of the Flies type game to the death with other teenagers from the poor districts for the TV reality viewing amusement of a rich Capitol populace, in a future post-war America re-named Panem.


I was with Katniss all the way, which meant I was scared all the way! Some comments about the film have been that it shies away from overt images of violence, thereby lessening its impact, however I found the idea of intent scary enough without seeing anything graphic.  

I felt this not too distant future world that the books and film creates is very believable. Our current understanding of morals are very much dependent on the acceptance of everyone, however even now we seem to accept not treating all humans with respect by creating the ‘us’ and ‘them’ division.

I think not reading the books was an advantage as in my experience seeing a film based on a well loved book is often a let down. Movies can’t seem to capture the feeling of time and character development that a book can. Although, The Hunger Games movie is visually stunning.

So now I'm excited for the sequel. At least this franchise seems more thought provoking than some of the other teen movies we’ve had lately. Although I shouldn’t really be one to comment as my tween obsession was Sweet Valley High (soon to be made into a movie by Diablo Cody). 

I was very impressed with The Hunger Games movie, and may even hunt down the books to read, excuse the pun!

I give The Hunger Games a very hungry 4 marshmallows out of 5.

(PS - Read another review on The Reel Bits: http://www.thereelbits.com/2012/03/22/review-the-hunger-games/)

Film review: Margin Call & This Must Be The Place

I saw two movies last week which I just really loved.

So much so that I give them both 5 delicious fluffy marshmallows out of 5!

Margin Call:

(release in Australia: 15 March 2012)

Margin Call is 24 hours in the life of a large US investment firm in crisis. I loved that it was like real life. There wasn’t any need to create way out espionage or shoot ‘em action into the plot, because this film simply recognises that the corporate merry go round that is our world economy is twisted and scary enough, oh boy. This film is a bit reminiscent of the West Wing tv series, with that same tense slow vibe, and is almost play-like in its long dialogue structure.

The acting was superb. Even Jeremy Irons as head honcho may have seemed overacted to some, but characters like this really exist, people!  Kevin Spacey was also good as a mini honcho grappling with some pesky feelings of right and wrong, and Demi Moore is just plain cold in the most perfect way. But wait, there's more: Simon Baker, Paul Bettany, Stanley Tucci, and Zachary Quinto...the ensemble cast just seems to go on and on.

If you want to hear some home truths about how billion dollar companies and their million dollar men and women treat money, employees and the world economy like a monopoly game they just have to win, this is a movie for you. Otherwise, you may be bored. I loved it.

Read my partner’s review at The Reel Bits: http://www.thereelbits.com/2012/03/14/review-margin-call/

This Must be the Place

(release in Australia: 5 April 2012)

This is a film that is striving unambiguously for that whimsical bizarre effect. It’s essentially a character piece that turns into a bit of a thriller half way through, with a surprisingly serious subject matter.

Your enjoyment of this movie will depend on how you take the main character, Sean Penn in drag as jaded retired rockstar Cheyenne. I would say to think Robert Smith crossed with Ozzy Osborne, but I think the pic here says it all. Luckily I adored his character and the delivery, yes even that laugh. What starts out as a potential to annoy turns into positively endearing, as we watch him struggle with emotion hidden in a deadpan soft voice.

Combine this with perfect quirky acting turns by Frances McDormand, Harry Dean Stanton and Judd Hirsch, as well as a great song performance and bad acting (so bad, it’s good) by David Byrne of Talking Heads. Recommended!

Review - Mandala Nepalese Restaurant

Mandala Nepalese Restaurant

http://www.nepaleserestaurant.com.au/

Mandala restaurant in Randwick is a local favourite which offers both vegetarian and many gluten free options. In fact, most items on the menu are gluten free!

This time when we showed up at Mandala restaurant, a sign informed us that the restaurant was now under new management with a ‘new menu’. My heart sank – will they still have gluten free food? Luckily yes!

The two of us shared two entrees and two mains. Usually we have the black lentil pancakes (Massko Bara) as entrée, but this time tried Aloo Chop (fried potato patties in a spiced chick pea flour coating) and Bhanta Poleko (char grilled eggplants stuffed with onion). The potatoes were perfect comfort food - crispy skin, only mildly spiced and were my favourite because hey I just love potato comfort foods. The eggplant was spicier, smaller, a tad too grilled (I won’t say burnt!), and too onion heavy for me, still good though.

                                Entrees - Aloo Chop (potatoes, back) and Bhanta Poleko (eggplant, front)

For mains we choose Chips Chilly, new on the menu, and Rajma, which is red kidney beans with herbs and spices. The Chips Chilly were exactly what it said on the menu – chips with a chilli sauce stirfry (capsicum, greens, and…tomatoes!). It was an interesting combination, like homemade good old chips and good old stir fry – but together. I'm not too sure about it. The kidney beans were standard kidney beans in a curry type sauce, very mild, perfect with the rice and yoghurt cucumber accompaniment.

A close up of those chips, yeah!:

Mandala provides delicious traditional homemade style Nepalese food, not overly spicy and quite simple so don’t expect grand complex cuisine, and it’s not too expensive. They definitely cater to allergies and dietary requirements. Vegetarian, dairy and gluten contents are marked on the menu. I'm a coeliac and never gotten ill from eating there. As if to illustrate this point, while we were there a vegetarian gentleman listed his gluten, soy, garlic, mushroom, tomato and onion allergy to the manager, and then ran into the kitchen to declare ‘I forgot to mention – I’m allergic to eggs too!’.

There was a thunderstorm while we were in the restaurant. Along with the hypnotic chanting music they had playing on a loop, this gave an other-worldly effect.