One Piece Film: Gold, Kimi no Na wa, Death Note: Light Up the New World and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Movie Reviews

Well, well, I watched quite a few movies so I thought I'd review them since I had some time. Maybe I'm in a movie phase right now since I went to the cinemas more times in the past few weeks than the whole of last year lmao. Nevertheless, these are my opinions, even though they may not be the most positive. Well, I sound rather negative about them but I enjoyed them to an extent. I think the underlying reason still remains with the fact that movies are not my preferred medium but I do want to watch them more to see the magic people can create in the time of around 2 hours.

One Piece Film: Gold
Rating: 6/10

I think the easiest way to describe this would be that it's a standard typical OP movie. It has all the elements you would expect in a OP and does it quite well in fact. It follows a simple storyline of our Straw Hat Crew going to a gigantic casino island but the top guy is a villain oppressing the poor and stripping them of their rights as he does with the people who come to this island. He maintains his power and control through his ability with gold and money and no one is able to defy him until the Straw Hats come of course.

Nevertheless it was rather enjoyable because it's always great to see the Straw Hats kick some ass and make some friends in the new place and motivating them into saving themselves from the oppression and to fight for themselves. Gotta say, not enough Zoro screen time though hahaha. I did get a free Nami casino chip for watching this though, it's so cute hehe! Overall, it's a classic OP movie, not good, not bad.

Kimi no Na wa (Your Name)
Rating: 7/10

With the hype going on in Japan with this movie right now considering it has passed Princess Mononoke in how much the movie has earned, it was hard to pass up watching this. My score for it may seem low but I did enjoy it. Most of all, I'd say the visuals were absolutely amazing in the colour and detail that it was hard to take your eyes away from it and focus on the characters because they were so much more captivating LOL. There was a scene with raindrops on a cobweb and omg that was so detailed and beautiful. It's hard to watch this movie without being in awe of the beauty of it. Songs and music were great as well.

Basically, the story follows our two main characters Taki and Mitsuha with the guy living in Tokyo and Mitsuha living in a rural area deep in the mountains. Suddenly, every now and then when they fall asleep, they swap bodies and live the life of the other's until they go back to sleep again and so they keep up a diary on each other's phones after realising this weird phenomenon until something bigger happens that causes Taki to have to find out the mystery of this whole thing.

Personally, I'd say I wasn't too into the plot or the romance. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. The story telling was done quite nicely with how cute the two were since they would do funny things in each other's bodies and this helped their relative situations. But yeah, I wasn't really into the whole string thing and converging timelines etc but I did enjoy their little adventure and quest into trying their best efforts into doing what they can to change their lives but I couldn't feel the romance I guess.

Like, I know about the red string of fate that twists, tangles but never breaks is a central element since the red string is always either with Mitsuha or Taki meaning that they'd eventually be together no matter what, even if there is a disparity in time, place and circumstance but maybe I'm just not a romance person hahaha. I'm more of a realistic person rather than a red string of fate kinda person. I like the idea since it is deeply entrenched in culture and I have seen the red string of fate appear many times through my years of reading manga etc but yeah. I did think it was cute when he was supposed to write his name on her hand so that she would remember him but he instead wrote I love you haha, that was sweet.

I'm not saying it was bad though, I really enjoyed the movie, just not as much as other people did I guess. I would still recommend people to watch it because it is good but just don't expect it to blow your mind away. Also, not sure how they're going to English dub this without losing some focal points of this movie but oh well~ I mean, the boku, watakushi etc joke was funny :')

Death Note: Light up the New World
Rating: 5.5/10

This one for me was a disappointment, although I guess I should have expected it. The movie is a sequel to the other two previous movies and it follows (mostly) two people who have received the DNA of Light and L. To be honest, I don't know why that DNA thing was necessary but whatever, I wouldn't have minded randoms going on a rampage with death notes but I guess they wanted to hit some notes on nostalgia. Have to say, I didn't really like the guy with L's DNA, I felt like he was a rather dodgy version of L hahaha, sorry, didn't like him.

I guess the biggest disappointment was that I heard the story was going to revolve around the rule that only six death notes can exist in the human world at one time and so I was anticipating this full on battle royale with the 6 of them but instead, it was really one of them collecting four of them in like the first 10-20 minutes of the film and then the rest is just the three of them doing whatever they need to do to find each other. Gotta say that female white Shinigami was really pretty~

But yeah anyway, maybe like my friend said, the story was there but the execution was bad. I'd say they were pretty bad on both ends because they built up 3/4 of the whole movie to this sort of big reveal that wasn't very mind-breaking enough for me to have enjoyed the other 3/4 of the movie. I was also disappointed that Misa didn't have much of a role considering they brought her back.

The characters weren't something I could really connect with either so it was hard to feel emotional for any of them. Overall, didn't like it.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Rating: 6/10

Hmmm, I'm still unsure how I feel about this movie but I guess it was okay. Music was nice and the beasts were amusing and fun especially the Niffler since it was adorable haha but I think that's all there is to it. It basically revolves around Newt Scamander in New York finding his beasts again because some of them got let out of his briefcase because of a series of events with the people he encounters. I guess that is the point of the movie so it is good but I still think the movie was lacking with the amount of connection between the characters and the viewer. A lot of people may disagree with that haha but the only ones I like would be Kowalski and maybe Queenie but that's really only because they were entertaining to a certain extent.

Tina was definitely not a character I liked. I understood what kind of character she was supposed to be but nah, don't like her. Newt I have mixed feelings for, not sure if I like him or not, might have to see how it goes but if I can't like him in the first movie, there's not much motivation to watch the next. To say the least, movie was enjoyable I guess but I'd say the main focus for the film (in my opinion) landed on seeing the different beasts, a bit more background on how the wizarding world was like in those days and the appearance of Grindelwald for like one scene haha. Oh and I guess adults using magic instead of kids haha.

Chimichuri, Chatswood

 I went to watch Death Note: Light Up the New World at Chatswood the other day (probably been a week at least LOL). So, I looked around Instagram to see what's good in Chatswood hahaha.

This was when I came across Chimichuri (6 Help Street, Charswood)  and saw some good photos! But you know, Instagram is always deceiving so you've gotta try it yourself! We probably arrived around 12-12:30 on a Thursday and there were a couple of people but not packed so that was great~ Service was pretty quick. Got my drink in ~5 mins and food around 10. The staff were also very friendly and helpful.

French Toast ($16)

Warm soaked brioche toast, pomegranate, meringue, fresh berries, grilled banana

I think it's a standard that my friend will order the French Toast and I'll always order the Big Breakfast every time we go to a cafe hahaha! This was actually pretty yummy! Sweet and soft but not soggyand that gtilled banana was actually reallyyy good <3 I'd recommend this one from that one bite I had hahahaha!

Big Brekkie ($18)

Eggs your way. crispy bacon, charred corn, baked beans, chorizo, roasted mushrooms, grilled tomato baked sweet potato & served with toast

Unfortunately, I couldnt' say the same about the Big Brekkie. It's the return of the hard bread!! I think I'm cursed with this LOL, everywhere I go I get hard bread where I'd hit it with my knife and it'd literally resound beautifully like a rock. Or maybe I just have weak gums but yeah, I can't deal with hard bread. I have also realised after this that I am not a big fan of chorizo either haha, a little bit is fine but I couldn't eat two slices! Bacon was a bit hard more than crispy as well so that was disappointing.

However, the eggs were really soft and fluffy with this bit of lemon juice sorta sour refreshing after taste. I guess that made it easier to tackle the other heavier foods on the plate. Beans were also nice. The mushrooms were so yuum! Soft, and juicy! I gave the corn to my friend who said it was averagely sweet, nothing special. 

Gotta say though, the baked sweet potato was so good!!! It was so sweet and super soft! Literally like melting in my mouth but retains that lovely texture of sweet potato but sort of mashed kind of feel. It was so delicious, easily the best thing on the plate. I left it for last to enjoy happily lolol. But yeah, that was the only thing I really liked on the plate hahaha.

Tropical Sunshine ($6.50)

Mango, raspberry, pineapple

This sounds so good right?! Too bad, it was pretty dang sour and watery LOL. Yeah, I was disappointed :( Couldn't really taste much of the fruits either since it was rather watery.

Overall, I'd say this is a nice out-of-the-way place to chill. Not too far from Chatswood Station but far enough that not many people would especially go there and find it unless they know about it or work/live close by. It's a nice little cafe with good French Toast so I think it's worth a try if you're around but nothing spectacular enough to trek all the way if your'e from the West like me~ 

Chow Bella Cafe, Lidcombe

Hellooo! Yes, yes, I've been MIA (again) for like 2 months b/c of exams and stuff as I always am lol~ Apologies. It was just hard to really find some time to feel like going out to eat and writing up a post. I guess time isn't always the biggest issue since motivation plays a big part but yeah, anyway~ My life isn't important. Let's just say... 我回来了~~~ lol

Located in Lidcombe Shopping Centre (26/92 Parramatta, Road, Lidcombe) is a nice place for brunch in the West. It's very convenient if you want to do some grocery shopping and stuff in Woolies, Daiso Japan etc as well as have a nice brunch catch-up with friends.Surroundings are busy but not too loud and so is great for a bit of chitchat. The wait for food wasn't very long either (~10 mins)

Big Breakfast ($18.50)

Baco, eggs, confit tomato, sour dough, beef sausage, house made beans, hash brown

I haven't had a big breakfast in soo long! So I just had to get this one haha. Scrambled eggs are my fave so that was nice and fluffy. Bread was rather soft but crunchy as well so really liked it! However, it was a tad too salty but that was easily rectified with spoonfuls of beans or a tomato slice. Biggest gripe would have to be the sausages since they taste like those cheap beef sausages that do not taste much like beef at all lol. They're great with bread when you're lazy but not what I want in a big breakfast so that was disappointing. But it was pretty okay overall, I'm just glad I had a coffee on the side since it did get rather salty since there's added salt on the hash brown etc which I really didn't want hahaha. I'm a 'less is more' person hahaha. (P.S that little wok for the beans is toooo cutee! I want one T_T)

Eggs Benedict ($15.90)

Bacon, poached eggs, sour dough, spinach, hollandaise sauce

My friend chose this one and really enjoyed it~ I wanna say more about it but I didn't eat it LOL so I really just put the photo here for reference if you were curious as to what it looks like hahaha.

Regular Mochas & Latte ($3.50)

My mocha wasn't too sweet at all and was more on the bitter side which was a good pick me up for the day since I was so tired (like I always am) and that extra itty bitty cookie was a plus! Cookies for life pls <3 

All in all, I think it's a pretty nice and convenient place to catch-up and have some brunch but don't expect anything extraordinary. It's an average little cafe that does its job well, which I'm all for so why not~ It's not too far from my house either so that's a plus hahahaha. Oh and I forgot! My other friend ordered the Signature Crispy Skin Salmon Risotto ($24.90) and there was plenty of salmon and it was quite a big serving! I stole some and I thought it was really good even though I don't generally enjoy risotto. I'd say that's definitely a dish worth trying here!