It’s a Steak (R)evolution, A Movie Review

After watching Steak (R)evolution, I’m never buying my beef from a grocery store ever again. Sorry Thrifty Foods but I’m going to a butcher instead!

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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After watching Steak (R)evolution, I’m never buying my beef from a grocery store ever again. Sorry Thrifty Foods but I’m going to a butcher instead! I’ve often gone to them for bacon and burger patties, but for steak, I never thought about the differences in what gets sent to market or to what I like to call a meat broker. Yes, prime sides of prized bovine do go to auction, and the education does not end there about humanity’s relationship with the cow.

This movie not only provides a look in what makes for a perfect cut of beef but also shows how regional bovine can impart a special taste upon the product that gets eaten by humans. I’m not talking about Kobe Beef, to which I’ve sampled once in my life (I do want more, but the prices were the primary deterrent). At the same time, just how I want to cuddle my favourite cow (one species, the highland cattle with their winter coats are too adorable to consider slaughtering) might lead me to giving up the meat altogether. Some subspecies are just that darned cute (alpaca like if I had to draw comparisons) and they should not be considered for slaughter. To realize that they are bred to feed connoisseurs is difficult to fathom, but yet, to understand the intricacies of how these beasts are raised to being brazed on the grill or pan needs people to have more than an iron clad understanding of why we, as humans, have gone from a hunter-gatherer species to an agriculture-based society.

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A Fitting Finale For VFF’s Feast: Food & Film

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

img_0646With one hungry bloke who loves the taste of steak, the only prime pieces I’d eat has to be from a wood fired or charcoal grill. As the movie Steak (R)evolution showed in its finale, I’m glad my thoughts are echoed exactly in what was presented as the most delicious mouth-watering segment — to imagine a woodsy flavour permeating over a slowly braised full rack of beef that would only come off like pulled pork had my jaw in the bucket and my drool factor going on overdrive. Thankfully, the sampling experience before this film sated part of my desire to take flight directly to Corsica, France in hopes another BBQ will take place.

I’m glad the Victoria Film Festival people saved the best for last. While I missed a a fair number of films, hopefully Finding Gaston, will be offered on its own in the coming months at The Vic Theatre so I can see this movie. The feast to film pairings are great, but not even my starving artist’s budget can allow for me to attend every night of this festival and stay sober with the alcohol offered.

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San Andreas Loves to Shake It Up! A Movie Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is ready to shake, rattle and roll in San Andreas. His charm is what carries this film and for fans of his works, this movie is no different from watching, for example, Race to Witch Mountain, which reunites him with Carla Cugino.

This disaster movie is going to change the California coast line and Roland Emmerich cannot be any more prouder. In a plot that’s fairly cut and dry, just what can anyone expect out of this movie that will most likely not get seismophobics out to see? Maybe the story: as with most films in this genre, the tale has to focus on uniting a family who’ve been separated by some domestic squabble. In Ray’s (Johnson) case, it’s with what he could not do to rescue one of his two daughters when he decided to take her on an wilderness outing. As a pilot for Los Angeles Search & Rescue (L.A.F.D.) team, he should realize that he can’t rescue everyone. Since that incident, he’s been wrestling with his demons, and that caused a riff between his wife, Emma (Cugino). The two share a good on-screen chemistry so that may be why they are working together again. Their surviving daughter, Blake (Alexandra Daddario), has forgiven daddy, but that has not helped this family stay together.

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Feast You Eyes on “The Dream”, A Culinary Movie Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

af-el-somni-poster-cat1Plays Sunday, May 31
Oak Bay Beach Hotel
Victoria, BC

Brunch: 11 AM
Film: 12:15 PM

El Somni (The Dream) is one of those films that is more of a visual exposition than a by-the-book style documentary about brothers Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca. After taking home the first place award in the 50 Best Restaurants in the World ceremony of 2013, just what can they do next is explored in this film. These siblings desire to create a new artistic culinary movement to engage the five senses — if not six to create a spiritual awakening — of a dinner can make or break their established careers. They’re reknowned chefs from El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Spain.

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Where is Tomorrow in Tomorrowland? A Movie Review

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E: I’m fairly sure I’ve heard a certain orchestral riff before in Tomorrowland’s soundtrack. It’s inspiring enough to make me want to soar to new heights, to explore the imagination, to dream of brighter tomorrows and well, quite simply, not to give up hope. Director Brad Bird has a good idea to work from, and I appreciate where he wants to go with this somewhat chaotic film, but is it enough to get that darned musical mosaic out of my head?

J: While Ed is haunted by music I am more haunted at how long it took to get this movie started. Too much time was spent on the origin of our two protagonists, Frank Walker (George Clooney) and Casey Newton (Britt Robertson). That slowed parts of the film down, when they really should have focused more on chase scenes involving the robots who were after them.

E: A lot of time is spent on Newt (that’s my nickname for her) and her obsession with finding Tomorrowland.  That place is almost like Jurassic Park in ruins when she finally makes it there and no, that’s not where the song is from. Instead of being faced with terror (well, there are those robots), they need to find answers as to why the future is doomed.

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How to Scare Up a Poltergeist, a Movie Review

Poltergeist2By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Even poltergeists have trouble vying for attention these days. We’re not talking about how the ‘remake’ compares to the original Steven Speilberg produced and Tobe Hooper directed film but instead, the Enfield haunting (the basis for the next The Conjuring film) suggests that targeting paranormal enthusiasts to earn box office coin is a good way to manifest dollars. Next year’s ghostly themed product has the potential to do far better than this rehash of a familiar tale.

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