Movie Review: Escape Plan

Image from here.

The first real team-up of Stallone and Schwarzenegger! God knows we've waited long enough!

Alvie and I were killing time at MOA one weekend and with nothing to do between a nostalgic lunch at El Pollo Loco and Rafa's graduation party at night, we figured we'd watch the best of the movies available. Luckily or unluckily, that movie happened to be Escape Plan. The team-up was cool and all, but the fact that I never heard or saw anything about this film prior to today concerns me.

Stallone plays a professional prison escape artist, hired to check the security of the facilities. In one particularly daunting job, he finds help from his cellmate who happens to be Schwarzenegger.

Image from here.

It was an okay action film but unfortunately not more than that. I wish I could say it was at least non-stop action, but I fell asleep through a part of it. Despite some of them being well-known, the supporting cast was quite forgettable. Not a total waste of cash and money, but I really wish there was a better movie that week.

Other Notable Cast:
Jim Caviezel as Willard Hobbs - I was surprised to find out he's Jesus from Passion of the Christ.
Amy Ryan as Abigail Ross - Holly Flax from The Office!
Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson as Hush - 50 Cent is in da club.
Vinnie Jones as Drake - He's the Juggernaut, B*tch!
Sam Neill as Dr. Kyrie - *cue Jurassic Park theme*

Verdict: 2.5/5 - A potentially awesome team-up that is sadly too little, too late. An interesting watch for hardcore fans of the two legends.



Here's the trailer!

Chuck's Deli: Buffy the Sandwich Slayer

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce one of my favourite sandwiches ever: The Buffy by Chuck's Deli.

The Buffy (Half Slab), P295.00

Chuck's signature massive slab-like sandwiches... not for the faint of stomach. Served with home-made chips or onion rings.
Slay some vampires with this buffalo (a.k.a. Buffy) chicken and garlic sauce.
This zesty, spicy, sour (and I usually don't like sour food) sandwich will ruin all other sandwiches for you. Believe me, it will be twice as hard to swallow your healthy, dry, wheat bread tuna sandwich. Who knew that buffalo chicken fillet on crispy, chewy ciabatta would make such a perfect combination? It'll be difficult not to order this again on my next visit.

Also great with the onion rings is their variety of normal and spicy garlic sauce.

Although they are both great, not to be confused with this Buffy.
Image from here.

Chili Fries, P195.00

Home-made double-fried fries, topped with no-bean chili, diced jalapeños and grated cheddar cheese.
What kind of a sick joke is 'no-bean chili'??? Haha. This was okay but it's nothing special.

Buffy Challenge Winners

One fine day, I will express my love for this sandwich by beating the Buffy Challenge, which requires you to finish it off in less than five minutes. One day, I really will. I just need to beat the damn Ridiculous challenge first. Third time's the charm, maybe?

Menu: Main Page

Verdict:
The Buffy: Excellent!
Chili Fries: Good

Quant little place on the side of Serendra.

You know a restaurant is good when it's right next to Mexicali and you still choose to eat there! Next time you're in the area, I suggest dropping by and trying their delicious slabwiches!

Love Chuck's Deli? Hate it? Let me know by commenting below, or just tweet me!



Other Restaurants in The Fort:
Good Earth Roasts (GER)
Gyu-Kaku: The Time is Ripe to Grill Some Tripe
IHOP: The Latest Pancake Craze
Jollibee: Ultimate Burger Steak and Flip Float
Kasbah: A Moroccan Lunch
Kebabers: Cheese Kebabs
Órale!: The Best Quesadillas
Pancake House: Cookie Butter Pancakes Surprise
The Best Pasta of Pasto
SM Aura Premier: Pepper Lunch Express under the Sky Park
Racks: My Favourite Ribs
Red Garlic Bistro: Trotting the Globe, Clove by Clove
S&R: My Favourite Pizza
Saboten: Enjoyin' Some Loin
Saint's Alp: Taiwanese Chicken Goodness
Sbarro: Rolling in the Deep Dish
Seattle's Best: Sea Salt and Salad
Stacy's: The Sweet Kind of Retro
Stella Wood Fired Bistro: Nothing Less Than Stellar
Sunshine Kitchen: Second Dawn
Tapeo: Spanish Surprise at the Fort Strip
The Cheese Steak Shop: Philly Cheese Steaks in the Phillyppines
Toast Box: Going Goreng
Tokyo Tokyo: Burgers and Chopsticks
The Kebab Factory: The TKF Trilogy
URBN: Dining with Style
Uncle Cheffy: A Piece 'a Panizza
Wildflour's Cronut: The Doughnut and Croissant's Love Child
Wrong Ramen: The Weirder, The Better
Yabu: Bed of Rosus
Let Me See That Zong

CHUCK'S DELI
Serendra Piazza, 141 C McKinley Parkway
Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City
(02) 576-4210 / (02) 846-1734
/ (0923) 398-6378
Operating Hours: 11:00 am - 10:00 pm
Facebook: Chuck's Deli
Website: http://www.chucksdeli.com.ph/


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Jollibee: Cheesy Bacon Mushroom Champ

I'll just come right out and say there aren't many options for me in Jollibee because I only like the Champ, occasionally the Jolly Hotdog, and recently the Ultimate Burger Steak. That short list might just be added to with the release of a new Champ right out of Asgard. Now with three very delicious words preceding it, we have the Cheesy Bacon Mushroom Champ. Is it as good as it sounds? We'll see!

Cheesy Bacon Mushroom Champ Meal with regular fries and drink not in picture, P115.00

Blessed by the power of Thor and the power of bacon, the burger stood ominously before us. The small amount of fries we had didn't even reach the burger because we couldn't wait to eat. Is it just me or is this Champ cheaper?

Is it sad that Champs look like Yums with decent patties nowadays? It was wide but thin.

What dost thou bear within thine buns, Champ? Okay, that sounded wrong. It was fun enough to eat because the bacon, while not heaping in quantity, had good crispy juicy texture. These cheese was very cheese whiz-ish (not a good thing) and the patty was the usual. I'd say it's good and worth it for the price, but I missed the delicious crunch of lettuce and tomatoes. I'd still rather go with the classic one next time.

Verdict: Good - I definitely enjoyed this meal but I know I wouldn't shout for 'ANOTHER!'.

What's next Jollibee? More!

Love Jollibee's Cheesy Bacon Mushroom Champ? Hate it? Let me know by commenting below, or just tweet me!



Jollibee's Ultimate Burger Steak: http://savvyaboutnothing.blogspot.com/2013/03/jollibee-ultimate-burger-steak-flip-float.html

JOLLIBEE
Website: http://www.jollibee.com.ph/
Facebook: Jollibee
You don't really need me to tell you where it's located, do you?

Movie Review: Gravity

Image from here.

Don't let go.

Alvie and I were looking to have a good, relaxing time at SM Aura, and how else to do that but through movies, right? No matter what anyone says, shopping is not relaxing. Quite the opposite! Haha. It was a particularly cold day in the mall, and especially in the theater, so that set the mood quite well for immersing ourselves in the darkness of space. We chose to watch this movie because we heard good things, and let's face it, there aren't too many good movies these days.

I hadn't watched the trailer prior, so I had no idea what I was in for. The movie impressed me and disappointed me for surprising reasons. It starts off very well and really gives a great feel of the characters and their environment. The pace at which 'shit gets real' is amazing. I was awestruck from seeing the scenes unfold in what seemed to be very realistic and interesting outer-space physics. I don't think the concept of anti-gravity has ever been portrayed better on film. Everything in vacuum, down to the sound, made me feel I truly was able to experience it, to a point. Some of the scenes are breathtakingly beautiful. Seeing the earth from so far away in this new and tantalizing light gives you a renewed appreciation for the usually boring ground we tread.

Image from here.

I try not to pay too much attention to acting because constantly assessing it ruins my experience of being in the story. I only usually notice great acting when it is screaming at me in the face. In this case, it was. I never really liked Sandra Bullock since Demolition Man, and since most of you probably won't even know the film, you know that's a while back. In this movie, she did a spectacular job of bringing life to a character fighting for her life. Just like that, I'm a fan again.

Better special effects than this, anyway. Haha.

The only thing I didn't really like was how the story progressed. Despite the action, it felt very slow at times. I realize this is most likely intended, to get you to feel it all through the character's eyes, but as far as being entertaining goes, it doesn't do the trick for me. At the end of the movie, I was left wanting more, but not in a good way. I found it to be too focused on a specific, rudimentary chain of events, and I was hoping for something infinitely more expansive, especially since they already set the groundwork for something so brilliant.

Other Notable Cast:
George Clooney as Matt Kowalski - His acting was also quite good.
Ed Harris as Mission Control - This Apollo 13 actor is just a voice here.

Verdict: 3/5 - Many loved this film and some hated it. Considering everything above and since I rate movies based on how entertained I am, I'm right in the middle. Perfect execution to something I wish was much bigger. One other thing I do regret is not watching this on IMAX. I bet it looks amazing.

Loved Gravity? Hated it? Let me know by commenting below, or just tweet me!



Here's the trailer!

URBN: Dining with Style

Warm and cool at the same time.

URBN has long teased me with its huge misspelled sign since it was put up on Fort Strip a while back. Almost every day I passed by, I see party after party and line after line entering URBN, and I never knew what the hell was up there. It was great that Alvie and our friend, Nikki treated us there as a celebration of entering a new chapter in their careers. Big time! We ended up tasting everyone's orders (Haha), but here's what we got.

Chicken Fried Steak, P390.00

Sirloin coated in a buttermilk batter with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy.
My order was this steak and boy, do I know how to pick 'em! It's basically steak in chicken-ish(?) batter. The meat was thick, tender and flavorful. I don't know if there really was chicken essence in the batter or anything, but I did taste a hint of chicken. The others found this to be weird, but I really enjoyed it. Our opinionated friend, Jie, said it looks like porkchop, tastes like chicken, but is actually beef! Haha.

Truffle Cream Linguine, P320.00

Lemon zest and shaved Parmesan.
Our other order was this pasta dish, which went perfectly with the steak. What better to go with steak than addictive delicious truffle pasta? I loved the texture of the noodles, and well, I enjoy all truffle cream pasta. The rest are dishes we stole bites off of throughout dinner.

My Aunt Litzie's Lasagna, P360.00

A classic family recipe.
This was delicious but not as amazing as it looks.

Crispy Skin Salmon, P350.00

Caper cream sauce and bacon and leek potatoes.
Anything salmon is good, right?? This was no exception. Delicious, delicious salmon. However, I can't help but think that every piece of cooked salmon is wasted salmon sashimi. Haha! Everyone still had room for dessert. The generosity of our gracious hosts knows no bounds!

Chocolate Love-ah Cake, P250.00

with rock salt and extra virgin olive oil.
It was quite good and I did taste a bit of the rock salt and olive oil before it was ravaged into a chocolatey mess. The cake part was a bit too cakey for me, but the lava wasn't bad. Yes, that vanilla ice cream in the back is a part of the dish. :)

URBN Cheesecake (Salted Caramel), P200.00

Salty dessert night, huh? I liked this one more than the messy lava cake. There's just something about salted caramel I can never get enough of. and cheesecake. This is a classic good marriage of two great things.

Verdict:
Chicken Fried Steak: Great!
Truffle Cream Linguine: Very Good
My Aunt Litzie's Lasagna: Good
Crispy Skin Salmon: Good
Chocolate Love-ah Cake: Good
URBN Cheesecake (Salted Caramel): Very Good

Styln' and profiln' at URBN.

Yes, the food is expensive, but even without a special occasion or a voucher, I'd be inclined to drop by every once in a while for some really good food. The snazzy ambience is a plus, too! Along with BRGR: The Burger Project and RUNNR, URBN continues to wage war on poor, oppressed vowels.

Love URBN? Hate it? Let me know by commenting below, or just tweet me!



Other Restaurants in The Fort:
Good Earth Roasts (GER)
Gyu-Kaku: The Time is Ripe to Grill Some Tripe
IHOP: The Latest Pancake Craze
Jollibee: Ultimate Burger Steak and Flip Float
Kasbah: A Moroccan Lunch
Kebabers: Cheese Kebabs
Órale!: The Best Quesadillas
Pancake House: Cookie Butter Pancakes Surprise
The Best Pasta of Pasto
SM Aura Premier: Pepper Lunch Express under the Sky Park
Racks: My Favourite Ribs
Red Garlic Bistro: Trotting the Globe, Clove by Clove
S&R: My Favourite Pizza
Saboten: Enjoyin' Some Loin
Saint's Alp: Taiwanese Chicken Goodness
Sbarro: Rolling in the Deep Dish
Seattle's Best: Sea Salt and Salad
Stacy's: The Sweet Kind of Retro
Stella Wood Fired Bistro: Nothing Less Than Stellar
Sunshine Kitchen: Second Dawn
Tapeo: Spanish Surprise at the Fort Strip
The Cheese Steak Shop: Philly Cheese Steaks in the Phillyppines
Toast Box: Going Goreng
Tokyo Tokyo: Burgers and Chopsticks
The Kebab Factory: The TKF Trilogy
Uncle Cheffy: A Piece 'a Panizza
Wildflour's Cronut: The Doughnut and Croissant's Love Child
Wrong Ramen: The Weirder, The Better
Yabu: Bed of Rosus
Let Me See That Zong

URBN BAR & KITCHEN
3rd Floor, Fort Pointe II Building, 28th St. BGC (Formerly Pier One),
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
(0917) 564-9333
Operating Hours:
Mon - Tue: 6:00 pm - 2:00 am
Wed - Sat: 6:00 pm - 4:00 am
Sun: 6:00 pm - 12:00 am
Facebook: URBN Bar and Kitchen
Twitter: @URBN_BGC


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