21 Jump Street - Movie Review

21 Jump Street – US Release March 16, 2012

Screened on February 15, 2012 at Regal Parkway Plaza

CHANNING TATUM. I think I start my movie reviews with my thoughts (or feelings) for the lead man. I think women everywhere will agree with me when I say he is a gorgeous man. He WILL draw crowds to the movie even if its crap…just for the 2 hours of eye candy.

Luckily, that’s not the case for this movie. Based on the late 1980’s television show that starred none other than Mr. Johnny Depp himself, 21 Jump Street is a very witty, clever, and action packed film. It’s penned by Jonah Hill and Michael Bacall (who co-wrote the screenplay of one of my faves, ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’ with Edgar Wright).

The story revolves around 2 newly graduated police officers, Jenko and Schmidt, played by Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill. One being a nerd and the other a jock, they forge a bond that started at the police academy to help each other with their strengths; Jenko’s being physicality and Schmidt’s being academics. After a snafu during their first arrest, they are sent to work on a revamped program from the ‘80’s and are to report to 21 Jump Street. Led by Captain Dickson, played by Ice Cube, they are assigned to go undercover at a local high school to infiltrate and bust a drug ring.

21 Jump Street is filled with hilarious moments and pretty packed with action. It also includes a few surprising cameos. Overall, it’s a great movie. And it stars Channing Tatum. That may just be enough of a reason.

Lemon Cake with Speculoos (Biscoff) Frosting

As of late (due to my addiction to Pinterest), I’ve been finding recipes and having the immediate urge to try them. This was the one that caught my fancy on this particular day.

lemon speculoos layer cake

I L-O-V-E lemon and anything that has lemon in it, so I do enjoy experimenting with different lemon recipes. When I saw that this recipe paired up lemon cake with speculoos…actually I had to look up what speculoos were before I was intrigued by it, haha.

Speculoos wiki - Oh! They’re Biscoff cookie spread basically! I love Biscoff cookies and I’m a noob Biscoff spread fan too. So NOW I knew I had to try it.

The recipe is simple enough. I did however use All-Purpose flour instead of the whole-wheat pastry flour that was included in the recipe. Besides the switch of the flour, I pretty much stayed true to all the other ingredients. I added a bit more than 2Tbsp of lemon juice because I squeezed the whole lemon and I’ll be honest, I like when lemon cake actually tastes tart like lemon. The cake had a good consistency of moistness but still holding it shape.

The frosting recipe was also pretty simple. I used Biscoff spread that I bought from World Market since Trader Joe’s was out of their version of cookie butter. I only made half of what the recipe called for since I was using it to frost cupcakes rather than the 3-layer cake that it was originally made for. This is a good frosting to top on any kind of cake. I think Biscoff spread is like Nutella in that it complements everything it’s paired with.

Since I didn’t really plan on posting this as a blog, all the pictures were taken with my iphone. Enjoy!


-Ris

This Means War - Movie Review

This Means War – US Release February 14, 2012

Screened on January 26, 2012 at Regal Parkway Plaza

Reese Witherspoon. Tom Hardy. Chris Pine. Those 3 names alone should have you wanting to watch this movie. Reese is a great actress in (almost) everything she does. If you liked him in ‘Inception’ or ‘The Warrior’, then this will just add to your collection of Tom Hardy movies. I know a lot of people are just gaga over Chris Pine and his sparkling blue eyes or think he’s awesome because he was the young Captain Kirk, but personally, I just think he’s aiiight. I’m a Tom Hardy lady myself…those lips and that accent….sigh. But I digress…back to the movie review.

Tuck, played by Tom Hardy, and FDR, played by Chris Pine, are CIA operative partners and best friends. Tuck is a divorced father and FDR is a single playboy. One day Tuck decides he wants to get back into the dating world to find love. Along comes Reese Witherspoon who has managed to turn the heads of the best friends. In order to win her love, Tuck and FDR pull out all the stops (using the CIA resources).

I really enjoyed this movie. Not only did it have an ample dose of eye candy (for me, in the awesome form of Tom Hardy) but it was filled with a good amount of laughs. It also had enough action to keep that boyfriend you dragged to see a Tom Hardy Reese Witherspoon movie entertained =D