After the debacle of Mangal Pandey, Aamir returns with RDB. As does Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra after the "far ahead of its time" Aks.. and this one is a winner all the way..
A young Britsh woman, Sue, comes to India to document on video the heroism of our freedom fighters.. she strings up with a gang of college misfits - DJ (Aamir), Karan (Siddarth), Aslam, Sukhi and Sonia (Soha Ali Khan) in order to achieve this.. the guys are all easy going "we-dont-care" types just taking life as it comes and living for the moment.. just like the majority of today's youth.. but as they get involved with Sue's project, they slowly relaise that they need to do something for the country.. but the final push comes when Sonia's finacee dies in a Mig crash.. and the corrupt government blames him for the mishap..
The entire first half is fun, mainly showcasing the antics of the gang.. the second half is filled with purpose.. slowly igniting the light of patriotism into the characters and the viewers very effectively.. the entire movie is leisurely paced.. Mehra takes his time to unfold the story and to drive home his point.. and he does a very good job of it..
Aamir shows that given a good story, he doesnt mind sharing the limelight.. all the main protogonists have weighty roles and they all deliver perfectly.. AR Rahman is brilliant in the BGM and with the songs which play behind the movie.. cinematography is also very good.. overall, its a slow movie.. but very well delivered.. I am not sure if the message it gets across will be implemented.. but I am sure it will get some people thinking..
Please note that my comprehension of Hindi is limited.. if I was following the dialoges 100%, I would have enjoyed the movie evn more..
Score : 75 - dont miss
Friday, February 03, 2006
Zinda - Alive!!
Sanjay Gupta is back with his next offering starring Sanjay Dutt.. and this time its supposed to be a direct lift from a Korean movie.. but since I have not seen the movie in question.. I must say that I really enjoyed the movie..
The story is quite interesting.. Dutt plays a software engineer.. who seems to have all that he wants in his life.. a great job.. lots of money.. a beautiful wife.. expecting a daughter.. and a great childhood friend.. suddenly, one fine day.. out of the blue, he is kidnapped and locked away for 14 years.. his only contact to the outside world being the food he gets and the TV in his room.. which shows him how he himself is suspected of murdering his wife and other inportant world events...
Dutt dedicates his life to revenge.. biding his time and waiting for his chance for revenge.. the chance comes when he is released suddenly one day.. and the hunt begins.. he is helped in his cause by Lara Dutta, who plays a cab driver who can speak Hindi and the local language.. she may or may not have been planted by his rivals..
finally, he realises that the man behind his imprisonment is John Abraham, who is now a high profile businessman.. and the fight begins.. there are lots of gruesome scenes. making this a movie fit for only the young guys.. but in all other technical aspects the movie excellently made..
The story runs along fairly well.. and I really liked the way it all came around 1 full circle in the end.. but the last couple of minutes spoil the whole effect.. they seem added on to satisfy the Indian audience..
Overall, worth watching.. if u like this kind of style movies..
Score : 71
The story is quite interesting.. Dutt plays a software engineer.. who seems to have all that he wants in his life.. a great job.. lots of money.. a beautiful wife.. expecting a daughter.. and a great childhood friend.. suddenly, one fine day.. out of the blue, he is kidnapped and locked away for 14 years.. his only contact to the outside world being the food he gets and the TV in his room.. which shows him how he himself is suspected of murdering his wife and other inportant world events...
Dutt dedicates his life to revenge.. biding his time and waiting for his chance for revenge.. the chance comes when he is released suddenly one day.. and the hunt begins.. he is helped in his cause by Lara Dutta, who plays a cab driver who can speak Hindi and the local language.. she may or may not have been planted by his rivals..
finally, he realises that the man behind his imprisonment is John Abraham, who is now a high profile businessman.. and the fight begins.. there are lots of gruesome scenes. making this a movie fit for only the young guys.. but in all other technical aspects the movie excellently made..
The story runs along fairly well.. and I really liked the way it all came around 1 full circle in the end.. but the last couple of minutes spoil the whole effect.. they seem added on to satisfy the Indian audience..
Overall, worth watching.. if u like this kind of style movies..
Score : 71
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Narnia : Fantasy Rocks!!
Quite inexplicably, "The Chronicles of Narnia" had an highly delayed release in India.. and since I wanted to see this one on the big screen I was able to watch it only this week.. but boy it was well worth the wait!!
The story is simple.. the World War forces parents to send their children to foster homes where they will be safe.. and so our main characters, the Pevensie siblings -Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter are sent away by their mother to the house of an old professor who doesn't seem to be much fun going by what his housekeeper says..
While playing Hide And Seek (aahhh.. those days!!), little lucy discovers a wardrobe which actually opens out into a new world called Narnia.. her siblings dont initially believe her.. but then they too finally enter the magic world!!
In Narnia, it turns out that a evil white witch has taken over the land and that according to prophecy she would be killed by 4 humans (the Pevensie's fit the profile!) with the help of Aslan, the great king.. This sets the stage for the engrossing movie!!
As expected, the great plus for this movie is the sheer novelty of the things we are seeing.. the graphics are excellent.. and the kids.. especially Lucy deliver great performances.. but for me personally the second half didnt quite match up to the wonderment feeling we have while viewing the first half..
For fantasy addicts, this is a "dont miss" movie!!
Score : 73
The story is simple.. the World War forces parents to send their children to foster homes where they will be safe.. and so our main characters, the Pevensie siblings -Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter are sent away by their mother to the house of an old professor who doesn't seem to be much fun going by what his housekeeper says..
While playing Hide And Seek (aahhh.. those days!!), little lucy discovers a wardrobe which actually opens out into a new world called Narnia.. her siblings dont initially believe her.. but then they too finally enter the magic world!!
In Narnia, it turns out that a evil white witch has taken over the land and that according to prophecy she would be killed by 4 humans (the Pevensie's fit the profile!) with the help of Aslan, the great king.. This sets the stage for the engrossing movie!!
As expected, the great plus for this movie is the sheer novelty of the things we are seeing.. the graphics are excellent.. and the kids.. especially Lucy deliver great performances.. but for me personally the second half didnt quite match up to the wonderment feeling we have while viewing the first half..
For fantasy addicts, this is a "dont miss" movie!!
Score : 73
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
F.E.A.R.
First Encounter Assault Recon - a special unit to deal with extra-terrestrial forces.. this FPS starts off just like a lot of other similar games do.. no foreworks.. just a simple intro.. and straight into the story and the game..
But as I progressed I realized that this was no ordinary shooting game.. it actually freaked me out on a number of situations and the way in which the story plot is laid out is also very engaging.. the slow-mo feature which is now a std part of most games is used very effectively here..
graphics are up to the mark.. and AI is EXCELLENT - the enemies actually plan out methods to kill me.. absolutely stunning..
the climax is a bit of a let down.. but the last last shot is chilling!!
Score : 84 - great game.. dont miss!!
But as I progressed I realized that this was no ordinary shooting game.. it actually freaked me out on a number of situations and the way in which the story plot is laid out is also very engaging.. the slow-mo feature which is now a std part of most games is used very effectively here..
graphics are up to the mark.. and AI is EXCELLENT - the enemies actually plan out methods to kill me.. absolutely stunning..
the climax is a bit of a let down.. but the last last shot is chilling!!
Score : 84 - great game.. dont miss!!
Of Kanda Naal Muthal, 15 Park Avenue, Aathi and Paramasivan..
I caught a few movies over the last few days.. but as usual.. didnt find the time to update here.. so heres one blog with all the reviews!!
Kanda Naal Muthal : Excellent movie.. good potrayal of a soft romance.. good performances by all of the lead cast.. Prakash Raj gives a great offering to Tamil cinema again!! The only real downer in this one would be the duet songs in the 2nd half.. but Yuvan has ensured that the songs are good enough to overlook the intrusion on the story.. Dont miss!!
Score : 76
15 Park Avenue : Aparna Sen is back and this time she has Konkona Sen Sharma playing a schizopherniac.. The film is somewhat slow and though it has its moments I didnt really empathise with the central character.. All the actors give commendable performances but the climax completely spoiled the movie for me.. this is a movie for godsake.. not a short story!!
Score : 64 - skip the climax
Aathi : This one actually starts off quite unlike a Vijay movie (he is not in the first frame.. and there is NO intro song).. even the Script is quite decent.. but as we progress the normal Vijay elements come in.. amazingly huge logic loopholes.. useless songs.. unnecessary dialouge banter.. heavy fights with the Matrix BGM..
Vijay is getting better and better as an actor.. but the films he chooses to do leave a lot to be desired.. he better choose carefully if he wants to be a strong future top star!!
Score : 54 - average
Paramasivan : This is supposed to be Ajit's comeback vehicle.. and P.Vasu's great offering post-Chandramuki.. and it was quite disappointing.. the only saving grace was the lean and fit looking Ajit.. otherwise, there is little that really stands this movie up.. can be missed!!
Score : 52
Kanda Naal Muthal : Excellent movie.. good potrayal of a soft romance.. good performances by all of the lead cast.. Prakash Raj gives a great offering to Tamil cinema again!! The only real downer in this one would be the duet songs in the 2nd half.. but Yuvan has ensured that the songs are good enough to overlook the intrusion on the story.. Dont miss!!
Score : 76
15 Park Avenue : Aparna Sen is back and this time she has Konkona Sen Sharma playing a schizopherniac.. The film is somewhat slow and though it has its moments I didnt really empathise with the central character.. All the actors give commendable performances but the climax completely spoiled the movie for me.. this is a movie for godsake.. not a short story!!
Score : 64 - skip the climax
Aathi : This one actually starts off quite unlike a Vijay movie (he is not in the first frame.. and there is NO intro song).. even the Script is quite decent.. but as we progress the normal Vijay elements come in.. amazingly huge logic loopholes.. useless songs.. unnecessary dialouge banter.. heavy fights with the Matrix BGM..
Vijay is getting better and better as an actor.. but the films he chooses to do leave a lot to be desired.. he better choose carefully if he wants to be a strong future top star!!
Score : 54 - average
Paramasivan : This is supposed to be Ajit's comeback vehicle.. and P.Vasu's great offering post-Chandramuki.. and it was quite disappointing.. the only saving grace was the lean and fit looking Ajit.. otherwise, there is little that really stands this movie up.. can be missed!!
Score : 52
Thursday, January 05, 2006
The Matrix : Path Of Neo (PON)
This one has been a long time in development and has finally hit the shelves this year.. a video game which ACTUALLY allows us to play in the shoes of NEO!!
Straight away the game introduces a novelty.. in choosing the game difficulty setting.. we are allowed to play the lift lobby scene and based on how well we play the difficulty setting is chosen!! COOL..
From this point on, the game follows the oh-so-familiar storyline of the movies.. allowing us to play all the interesting parts!! One major change from "Enter the Matrix" (ETM) is that the special moves are much better defined here.. we can actually choose XYZ key combo to bring about that cool looking move!! Also the graphics and sound are much much better... one thing which is worse compared to ETM is the cutscene scenario.. in PON we basically have the film footage very hastily edited and put together for effect while ETM had exclusive video footage..
Also Neo acquires more and more powers as the game goes on.. and towards the latter stages.. we can pull off some really awesome link combos.. where Neo thrashes 4-5 guys at a time!! One thing which irked me was that as soon as the "reloaded" architect scene got over.. we r pushed to the grand finale "Smith" fight.. sure "Revolutions" has almost nothing going on inside the Matrix. but the game guys could have put something here..
Overall.. very interesting game.. even though u already know the story.. it is worth playing just to see all those cool stunts which Neo does..
Score : 79 - dont miss it if u plugged into the Matrix!
Straight away the game introduces a novelty.. in choosing the game difficulty setting.. we are allowed to play the lift lobby scene and based on how well we play the difficulty setting is chosen!! COOL..
From this point on, the game follows the oh-so-familiar storyline of the movies.. allowing us to play all the interesting parts!! One major change from "Enter the Matrix" (ETM) is that the special moves are much better defined here.. we can actually choose XYZ key combo to bring about that cool looking move!! Also the graphics and sound are much much better... one thing which is worse compared to ETM is the cutscene scenario.. in PON we basically have the film footage very hastily edited and put together for effect while ETM had exclusive video footage..
Also Neo acquires more and more powers as the game goes on.. and towards the latter stages.. we can pull off some really awesome link combos.. where Neo thrashes 4-5 guys at a time!! One thing which irked me was that as soon as the "reloaded" architect scene got over.. we r pushed to the grand finale "Smith" fight.. sure "Revolutions" has almost nothing going on inside the Matrix. but the game guys could have put something here..
Overall.. very interesting game.. even though u already know the story.. it is worth playing just to see all those cool stunts which Neo does..
Score : 79 - dont miss it if u plugged into the Matrix!
And so we start again...
Not very long back.. there were almost no matches (cricket or otherwise) being played between India and Pakistan due to political reasons.. this in turn led to big value being placed on any such match which did take place.. so finally when we started playing each other on the sub-continent the marketing gurus took over and ensured that the potential mega-bucks were realised.
There is no doubt now that the entire cricket world is dependent on Asia, and India in particular for its revenue.. lot of recent events incl India dictating schedules being evidence of this.. the Aussies play the best cricket but wherever we turn, ad revenue is from India, so everyone wants more Indian matches!! This is also the reson why we are having so frequent tours of Pakistan.. and so few tours of the Windies!!
Another recent phenomenon on the rise is the so called "mental wars" before a series with evry other player sounding off their verbal abuse on their opponents.. as can be expected, the Aussies indulge in this activity heavily.. but India-Pak? Surprise.. surprise.. Shoaib says he is better prepared (forgot the World Cup - ur career almost ended there man), Afridi says Sehwag is the only real prob (so what abt Sachin, Dravid and Laxman - BTW is Afridi going to be in the playing 11?), Inzi says we have "plans", bouncy pitches, we will stop Sachin (man u r going to eat ur words).. of course, the Indians are also mouthing off these days - but atleast they are not tall claims.. but I say that Saurav Ganguly has the best chance to emerge as the dark horse.. to make his critics eat their words..
So who is better prepared? The Pakis actually murdered the English team who just came of a historical Ashes win.. while the Indians are continuously notching up very very competitive victories under their belt..
My prediction : based on sheer talent .. India shld win 2-1.. lets see how it unfolds!!
There is no doubt now that the entire cricket world is dependent on Asia, and India in particular for its revenue.. lot of recent events incl India dictating schedules being evidence of this.. the Aussies play the best cricket but wherever we turn, ad revenue is from India, so everyone wants more Indian matches!! This is also the reson why we are having so frequent tours of Pakistan.. and so few tours of the Windies!!
Another recent phenomenon on the rise is the so called "mental wars" before a series with evry other player sounding off their verbal abuse on their opponents.. as can be expected, the Aussies indulge in this activity heavily.. but India-Pak? Surprise.. surprise.. Shoaib says he is better prepared (forgot the World Cup - ur career almost ended there man), Afridi says Sehwag is the only real prob (so what abt Sachin, Dravid and Laxman - BTW is Afridi going to be in the playing 11?), Inzi says we have "plans", bouncy pitches, we will stop Sachin (man u r going to eat ur words).. of course, the Indians are also mouthing off these days - but atleast they are not tall claims.. but I say that Saurav Ganguly has the best chance to emerge as the dark horse.. to make his critics eat their words..
So who is better prepared? The Pakis actually murdered the English team who just came of a historical Ashes win.. while the Indians are continuously notching up very very competitive victories under their belt..
My prediction : based on sheer talent .. India shld win 2-1.. lets see how it unfolds!!
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