airanand

The Gaming capsule!!

2010-09-30T22:59:00.000-07:00

The last few months have seen some hectic gaming... I now have the rig to run HD gaming and it is a real pleasure to be able to play at 1920x1080 with AA turned on.. who says PC gaming is dying? The consoles are not looking at a refresh for another 5 years (with all the new motion control devices), so PC graphics will be the peak for quite some time...

All right then, let me proceed with the "capsule" summary for the games I've played in 2010 till date... as always, contact me if you want more details on the game or on locations where you can purchase said games..

Far Cry 2 : 81 - Very different from FC1. Set in Africa with stupendous graphics and a huge open environment. But, inanely boring driving-around, with redundant clashes in between makes finishing missions a chore sometimes. "Buddies" routinely send the player to opposite ends of the map to get something done. Feels like a first-person version of GTA, without some of the fun!

Halo 2 : 84 - Continues the fast, fun and furious first-person-normal, third-person-vehicle gameplay of Halo in a story arc which sets up the final part of the game.

Call Of Duty - Modern Warfare 2 : 89 - Short play time, but a superbly current storyline switching between various hotspots in the world and a wide variety of mission "types" set in near-real graphical maps make for an enthralling experience.

Prototype : 91 - A "biological weapon" with superpowers (read parkour over anything, amazing attack and defense abilities) is the protagonist setting about finding how this happened to him in a big open-world set in New York city. Varied missions, side-plots and an ever-developing storyline lend solid effect. Being in control of such power in a world with lots of things to do makes for a lot of fun!

Resident Evil 5 : 87 - Another solid "RE" offering, filled with all the things which make this series a success (specifically RE4). Full length co-operative gameplay (a partner plays alongside) and an attempt at on-vehicle shooting are the new additions. Good graphics and a competent storyline add to the effect. Limited ammo and constant challenges keep the player at an edge through-out, adding to the thrills.

Assassin's Creed : 86 - Set in parallel timelines, with a present day commoner acting out the memories of his ancestor, a member of the Assassin's Creed. The story develops in both timelines, making an otherwise repetitive game a gripping one. Missions involve planning and executing high-profile targets.

Assassin's Creed 2 : 94 - AC2 is required to show that AC1 was just a simple and repetitive game with an abrupt yet interesting ending. Better in almost every way, with a great storyline linking up fact and fiction (past and present) to give an immersive feeling. Has an absolutely stunning climax which sets the stage for the third (& hopefully final) part.

Bioshock 2 : 90 - Very similar to part 1 (except towards the ending), but the plasmids and the strong father-daughter sequences, along with an interesting storyline revealed in tidbits along the way , ensure that the game remains as entertaining as ever.

Section 8 : 81 - Meant to be played as a multiplayer, but has a short single-player campaign which demonstrates the fast and furious gameplay on all the built-in maps. Swoop down from the sky for some combat!

F.E.A.R 2 - Project Origin : 86 - Back to the good old FPS genre! Continues the story from the original, providing solid and entertaining gameplay, though the scares are not that good in this game (except for short durations, like in the school). Slow-mo shooting is as fun as ever.

GTA IV : 90 - Yet another interesting GTA offering, with enough activities apart from the main storyline to keep things really interesting!

The Chronicles of Riddick - Escape From Butcher Bay : 89 - A "rare" game, having surprisingly good usage of a movie license. It has the stars, it has the voice acting, it has the graphics and it really has a good game! Combining FPS elements with stealth and adventure, leaving Riddick on the edge with no gun power for a majority of the time as he tries to escape from the high security Butcher Bay prison.

The Chronicles of Riddick - Assault on Dark Athena : 82 - Carries on the neat gameplay from the first game.. introduces a couple of new features and a better storyline, but still somehow lacks the "playing-at-the-edge" feeling of EFBB. Solid FPS never-the-less.

Metro 2033 : 85 - A FPS set in a richly detailed post-apocalyptic world, with very little "computer game" type help.. leaving the player to take stock and figure out situations. A nice mix of challenges - shooting, stealth, riding.. Different enemies - humans, aliens, ghosts. AI is sometimes flawed with enemies spotting the player even when they shouldn't be. Nothing really original but a solid experience never-the-less.

Mass Effect 2 : 91 - Scores over part 1 in almost every way.. better graphics, more action, more engrossing storyline and sheer variety of gameplay easily provide over 40 hours of gaming. Captain Shepard returns from the dead to re-build a crack team to take on a new threat to the Universe.. and the mix of various alien species, different weapons and biotics makes for a heady experience!

Mirror's Edge : 82 - An interesting new take on gaming, with the main protagonist being a "runner" moving across a city, using the rooftops, parkour-style. Every level is an adrenaline rush, with some spectacular stunt jumps thrown in for good measure. But, the underlying storyline is not very strong.

Soldier of Fortune II - Double Helix : 83 - Considering the time when it was released, this is a very good FPS, with a wide variety of locations, mission types and scenarios to play through.

Left 4 Dead 2 : 82 - Continues with a package very very similar to the original L4D setting up a team of 4 people to fight against hordes of "infected" in order to survive. Would probably get a much better score if the multiplayer components (the main offering) are considered.

Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands : 83 - Yet another solid Prince offering, with puzzles, magic skills and combat spiced up by a simple storyline arc.

Singularity : 85 - Introduces an exciting new gameplay mechanism, the TMD (Time Manipulation Device). It is also coupled with an interesting base storyline which gives it the potential to be the next Half-Life! But then, the TMD is used only for routine FPS maneuvers save for a couple of awesome pre-set sequences. It still makes for a very good shooter, but how much better it could have been...

...thats it for now... I will retreat into my lair again to make use of the latest hardware on the latest games...

Until next time... happy fragging :)

Inception - Blows your mind!

2010-07-17T10:21:00.000-07:00

A movie review from my side after a very long time.. This is one movie I have to document in case I lose my mind in the future and need to re-visit the art of Inception :)

From the time the buzz started building for Inception early this year, the question on everybody's mind (mind, not dream!) was : Can Nolan match the staggering achievement which was "The Dark Knight" (not to forget his filmography leading up to TDK)? The answer is a resounding yes.. with quite a margin!

I first watched the movie on opening day.. and I was highly impressed. I am a sucker for parallel story-lines which interact with each other and this movie takes that genre to a completely different level. But, after the credits rolled, even after discussions with friends who watched the movie with me, there were a lot of open questions.. I watched the movie a second time today, and now I am left with only a few questions... almost everything fits in and is explained at some point in the movie..

And for people walking in to see the movie without being corrupted by a lot of internet reviews and spoilers (it is some experience to watch the unexpected concepts unfold), I would firmly recommend a second viewing.. it reveals so much more than is immediately apparent..

Right, it is now time to document my interpretation of the story... so, if you haven't seen it yet - TURN AWAY.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

This is not going to be in the exact order shown in the movie.. I will attempt to put things in a way they can be explained..

Extraction is the art of getting into a persons dream in order to obtain some top-secret information.
An architect is the one who builds the dream.
A target is made to enter (or voluntarily enters) this dream and the target "populates" the dream with his thoughts and sub-conscious.
A host (not actually defined in the movie) is the one who is actually hosting the dream. A host cannot dream in his own dream.
Other "extractors" can enter a dream and influence the target and also go further levels down a dream. They are also responsible for actually getting the secret information.
The architect (initially) and then the host (when active) can modify a dream. But, if there is too much modification, the target's sub-conscious will realize that something is wrong and it will attack the host/architect/extractors who are causing the modifications.
In a dream, the brain works faster, meaning time runs slower. This effect is compounded as the level of the dream increases. So, 10 seconds in real time can amount to hours in a dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream.
If anyone "dies" in a dream, they wake up in the level above.
A person can also come out of a dream with a "kick" which is some designated action (like sudden jerk) which will break his/her sleep.
A person will come out of a dream if they are "timed out" too.
A totem is an unique object with unique properties that only the owner knows about. It is used by the owner to ensure that they are not in another persons dream (with too much extraction and seeing real-world objects in dreams, people may no longer know which is real and which is not).
Typically, the architect will build a bank/safe in the dream where the target automatically places his/her most secret thoughts. The job of the extractor then is to get to and open this safe.

Ok.. this is enough "concept" for describing the first half of the movie..

The movie opens with a shot of Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) talking to an old man.. Some wild theory can link this to the next scene, but I am going to ignore the scene for now..

The actual start shows Cobb & Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), his associate, making a pitch to Saito (Ken Watanabe). Cobb is the world's best extractor and he offers to help Saito protect himself, provided Saito reveals his mind to Cobb. Saito says he will consider this and exits. Meanwhile, Cobb meets Mal (Marion Cotillard) who seems to have some sort of hold on him.
Cobb finds the location of Saito's safe and steals the documents there. But, Saito and Mal interrupt him. Mal has alerted Saito that this was a dream.
(Dream Level 2, Target - Saiko, Architect - architect1, Host - most probably Arthur - but not shown clearly)

Now, we know that this entire episode was a dream level.. The group is actually "dreaming" in an apartment somewhere in the Middle-East. In addition to Cobb, Arthur and Saiko, the architect1 is also present here. For the return, Arthur and Saito are killed, while the architect1 makes Cobb take a kick. After a short fight, Saito realizes that this is also a dream level, as the material used on the carpet was not the same as he had put in his mistress' apartment (which was their location).
(Dream Level 1, Target - Saiko, Architect - architect1, Host - architect1)

Then, we finally get back to reality, where the entire team is sitting on a train somewhere (& dreaming) in east Asia.

Cobb and Arthur were thinking they were working for Ceilo Corp (I didnt catch the name properly), with the aim of ransacking business secrets from Saiko's mind. but in reality this was a test which Saito had conducted to see their capabilities. They manage to impress Saito but as far as Ceilo Corp is concerned, they had failed. They attempt to escape, but the architect1 betrays their location and Saito catches up with them and makes a proposition : Make an Inception in return for Cobb's freedom.

Some story catching up here : Cobb is accused of killing his wife (who is Mal) and so is on the run from US Law Enforcement.. He has 2 kids back home, but is unable to return to them. To earn a living, he is now involved in the illegal activity of extraction. Saito's offer is to make all the charges against him disappear.

More concept time :
Inception is the art of planting an idea in another person's mind (as against stealing it). It is much more difficult to do (many think it impossible).
The only way an inception will work is if the idea is put in deep enough and it is simple enough for the target to think that he/she came up with the idea.
Positive emotion will work much better than negative emotion for inception.
Inception would require 3 levels of dreams and with the kind of sedative needed to get so far, a person killed in a dream level actually enters a "limbo" state (& doesn't return to the real world).
Limbo state is the deepest level of dreams and a person can get stuck there for years and years. A person can return from the limbo state by dying (but they dont know that) or by "time-out" at the real world level. But the "time-out" works out to be so many years of desolateness at the limbo level that the person would have lost his/her mind.
Limbo is kind of "shared". Anyone who dies in a dream enters the same limbo. Limbo is totally desolate except for things built by the people who have been in that state.
A kick will bring a person one level up.
Music can be used to warn extractors that a kick is coming and allows synchronization.
External elements (like leaning, water) can penetrate dream levels, typically only 1 level. For example, if a person is pushed into water, the next level is flooded. This is not always true.. similar to how some (not all) real life elements penetrate dreams.

Back to the movie..
The "inception" Saito wants done is to convince the son (Fischer, played by Cillian Murphy) of a business magnate to break up the business empire after hisfather's death. This company is going to run Saito's company out of business - and hence the request.
To get this done, Cobb assembles a team. A new architect Ariadne (Ellen Page) - the brightest student of the man Cobb learnt from, a forger Eames (Tom Hardy) with the ability to disguise himself as someone else and a chemist Yusuf (Dileep Rao), who makes special chemicals which allow 3 levels of dreams.

Ariadne is not supposed to be part of the actual "Inception" action, but she learns that Cobb has created a world of his memories (acting against his own advise) wherein he is keeping Mal alive and this is the reason he can no longer be an architect. Whatever he knows, she also knows, being his own creation. Mal was now bursting through his sub-conscious and disrupting any plans he was making - in an attempt to keep him in limbo with her. So, Ariadne also joins the action.

The team studies Fischer and notices that he has a godfather Browning who was also his dad's right-hand. Fischer's dad didn't really love him and Fischer considered Browning to be someone close to him. So, the team decides to use this angle - make Fischer believe that his dad loved him and Browning was actually trying to take over the company. Also, because the dad loved him, he wanted him to be his own man.. which meant not taking over the company, but splitting it into smaller parts and starting afresh.

The "inception" team is 6 members : Cobb, Arthur, Ariadne, Saito, Eames and Yusuf.

When Fischer's father dies, he takes the body from Australia to the US. Saito buys out the plane he travels in so that the team gets a clear 10 hour window to work in (this translates to about 10 years in level 3).

This they plan to achieve in 3 dream stages (most of this plan is made up as the events occur, but I will present as a block) :

(Dream Level 1, Target - Fischer, Architect - Ariadne, Host - Yusuf)
In this stage, the Inception team kidnaps Fischer and demands the code to a locker from him. Eames impersonates Browning and says that the dad had created an alternate will asking for the empire to be split. Fischer doesn't believe this since he thinks that the dad thought he was a disappointment. He also knows of no locker. They force Fischer to spew out six random numbers as a combination. In an unexpected twist for the team, they are attacked. It turns out Fischer has been trained against extraction and his sub-conscious was trying to save him from the Inception team. They get on a to a van (driven by Yusuf) to escape and enter level 2 while on it.
Sidenote : It is raining here because Yusuf forgot to pee before the inception started!

(Dream Level 2, Target - Fischer, Architect - Ariadne, Host - Arthur) (Yusuf cant enter)
In this level, Cobb attempts the risky proposition of telling Fischer that he is in a dream and being attacked. Cobb makes him believe that Browning was not really kidnapped at level 1 and might have hand a hand in it. This creates enough doubt for Fischer's sub-conscious to bring Browning into level 2 and admit guilt. Cobb says that Fischer must now enter Browning's dream to understand what his dad really wanted. This level is a hotel and the 6 numbers Fischer told are used for 2 rooms where most of the action takes place.

(Dream Level 3, Target - Fischer, Architect - Ariadne, Host - Eames) (Arthur cant enter)
This is set in a snow station. Fisher is told to crack open a safe here. The safe has the same combination Fischer told in level 1 and contains a paper-fan he made when was a kid. His dad also says he was disappointed that he "tried" to be like the dad, instead of being his own man. This would plant the seed that the dad really loved him and wanted him to split the company. And this would successfully complete the Inception.

But before this can happen, there are a lot of problems coming from Fischer's sub-conscious attacking them at every stage. Also, Mal tries to interrupt and Cobb is able to resist until the point when the team misses the proposed first kick (the van going off the bridge in level 1, room floor bombed off at level 2). At this point, he realizes things are getting crazy and asks Ariadne to reveal shortcuts in the architecture added by Eames. Once he knows this, Mal enters the picture and shoots down Fischer before he can get to the safe. Cobb has an opportunity to stop her but is not able to pull the trigger. Also, Saito had got hurt in level 1 and it finally catches up to him and he dies in level 3, sending him into Limbo.

So now, the van is off the bridge which means level 2 has become a zero-gravity space. Cobb realizes that there is another opportunity available in about 10 seconds at level 1, when the van hits the water. Arthur would have to come up with a way to get a kick in zero-gravity level 2. He rigs up everyone into an elevator and plants explosives which would force a drop and hence a kick. Meanwhile, Fischer is killed by Mal and Cobb is dejected thinking the mission has failed. But then, Ariadne comes up with a plan - go into limbo and revive Fischer. This means that they would need a kick at level 3, so Cobb asks Eames to set up explosives to collapse the building they are on.

The inception team on the plane (real world) actually has a lot of time, but the events at the other levels leave them with very little time to return to level 1.. so the kicks at all levels need to be synchronized.

(Dream Level 4/Limbo, Target - no one really/Mal is closest, Architect - Cobb/Mal, Host - Cobb) (Eames cant enter)
Cobb and Ariadne enter Limbo. They know that Mal would be hiding Fischer knowing that Cobb would come after him. They find her and Cobb finally confesses his guilt. While experimenting with Mal, they had entered limbo. They lived a long life there.. but Cobb got frustrated as time went on. He wanted to get back to reality, but Mal didnt. She locked her totem away in her "safe". So, Cobb "incepted" the idea that this was a dream (this was how he knew Incpetion was even possible) by getting into her safe and spinning her totem, permanently. But this simple idea was magnified and Mal felt that she was in a dream even when she finally came back to the real world. She wanted to die at every level and get back to reality, even when she was already there. So, she had committed suicide believing it to be escape.

Cobb offers to stay back in Limbo if Mal tells where Fischer is. She does that. Ariadne gets Fischer and pushes him off the building just as Eames uses a defibrillator on him at level 3. This brings him back to level 3 and he completes opening the safe. The "Inception" is successful.

The synchronised kick is started (van hits water in level 1, Arthur uses bombs the lift in level 2, Eames detonates charges in level 3) and Ariadne jumps off the building in level 4 so that they all return to level 1. Ariadne shoots Mal just before she jumps, helping Cobb to finally close the chapter on her.
Cobb stays back in Limbo saying he will find and save Saito. We now go back to the first scene with Cobb talking to the old man. This old man is Saito. It is implied that many years have passed in Limbo. (there are some contrasting old/young shots in Limbo... best suggestion is that people who realize that limbo is not reality dont age as much as those who dont). When they meet, seeing Cobb's totem reminds Saito of the original mission and seeing Saito helps Cobb to remember that Saito was supposed to get charges against him dropped in real time. Saito kills Cobb then himself and they both return to real life.. both having gone very close to losing their minds in Limbo, but saved just in time and returning just before the 10 hour deadline in real time.

The plane lands in the US. Cobb is able to get back to his children. The open ending then questions if this is reality (or) another dream level!

In summary:
Top notch acting, the best technical aspects and a superb musical score which just seems so apt.

It takes quite a visionary to actually put up a story like this on screen, keeping audiences interested and also have them follow the time-tracks, and Nolan delivers big time.

As the credits roll, the brain is numb trying to process all that it has seen (last experienced with "The Matrix") - so there are probably some slip-ups that got glossed over (one phone call from a foreigner can get murder charges dropped in minutes?).. if I find enough, I will update this blog.. but for now, I think this movie is one awesome effort advertising original content!

Whew... that was quite some experience... here are the things which I still had doubts about after my second viewing (further thinking could lead me to answers -or- more questions too!) :
1. When the van goes off the bridge (first kick, level 1), why didn't Arthur wake up?
-> Hypothesis : Maybe a "trained" extractor can resist the kick? But then, the same Arthur was used to demonstrate the kick working everytime.
-> Best answer I've read till now : Inception requires a "synchronised" kick.. meaning, to return from level "y" to level "x", the person should get a kick in both levels at the same time.
I'll have to listen to the dialogue where the music piece in introduced to confirm this.
2. Limbo comes only when people die in a dream. How could Cobb and Ariadne just enter it as though it were Level 4?
-> Hypothesis : Cobb was the only one who had been in limbo before. So, he could just enter it even when alive. Hmm... but limbo is projected as being an "end-all" - if Cobb could get in & out so easily - maybe it isnt so bad after all.

Score : 89 (Deserves to be seen in the theater, at least TWICE!!)

Gaming rig - Fresh 2010 Load!

2010-02-14T10:29:00.000-08:00

After all the HDD turmoil of 2009 and what with new games not running at high resolution on my PC, it was time to get a new machine... I was waiting for the new LGA 1156 architecture to go mainstream so that I could get a non-prohibitively priced system for myself.. and 2010 was the time to do it!

These are the specs on my new rig!

Intel Core-i5-750 @ 2.66GHz
4GB DDR3 @ 1333MHz
DP55WB Intel original MB (with DMI)
GeForce 9800GT with 1GB DDR5 memory (mid-range substitute till Dx11 cards go mainstream)
1TB Seagate HDd (yeah.. Seagate - even after my last post.. there are no real options)
BenQ 22 inch LCD monitor with full HD (1080p) support
.. and the other usual stuff (I still have the 5.1 Creative speaker system from last time)..

And just like that, I am all set to play the latest games at very high resolutions :)

So, after a bit of free time which led to this blog frenzy (yeah, 3 posts is quite something), I will be back into my favorite pasttime..

So, until the next post, whenever that happens, keep fragging.. get a life!!

Seagate HDD woes

2010-02-14T10:06:00.000-08:00

2009 was made a bit woeful for me by Seagate, though I dont think it was their specific intention to target me...

Early in the year (or it was end 2008 - the memories are so tragic that I probably blocked them out!), my old 200GB HDD crashed.. fair enough.. it had been heavily abused for about 4 years..

So, I went out and got a shiny (hmmm.. just a figure of speech) new 500GB drive.. the 200GB drive was full of unrecoverable sectors, but at least it was still detected on the BIOS.. so, I revved up some data recovery tools and after a painful 1 month, got back almost all the data I needed to recover from that HDD..

Then, after about 9 event-free months, the big bolt happened.. the 500GB drive crashed.. and this time it was not even detected on the BIOS.. which means I had a dead piece of magnetic storage in my hands.. there was no backup available.. I googled, in vain.. the only new piece of information I got was that the Seagate 500G drives had an alarmingly high failure rate (~18%) around the 1 year mark in case they didnt get a firmware update!

I went to the service center (my reseller, not Seagate direct).. and Seagate policy is : "we will replace/repair the drive with some other drive.. no data warranty".. what??!! "in select geographies, you can pay extra money for data recovery, but not in India".. this was my primary HDD - there is so much data on it that I can never get back.. but Seagate couldn't care less.. "get a USB solution for backup"... now, I can see where this is going.. more business for the company.. I was so frustrated I became a conspiracy theorist... "put out some faulty drives in the market and drive the backup solutions business to big bucks"..

Well, in Seagate's favor, all of these policies which shocked me are clearly stated right when the product is announced... its just something which very few people will bother to find out.. it would be nice if they had atleast auto-rolled out the firmware update for the faulty drives.. this is the age when Toyota is recalling cars.. the least Seagate can do is roll out a software patch..

So, all said and done.. I got a "repaired" 500GB HDD which was wiped clean (full format)... this time, I was more savvy and after the initial OS setup, I started running tests on the drive.. and sure enough, this was a "damaged" drive which someone else had returned... (aaaaaaaaaarghhhh!!)

so, back I went, with evidence of what the Seagate guys had done... its been over a month now and I still haven't got a replacement.. 2 months of downtime, tons of data lost and the travails are not over yet...

I got a new system in the interim, so I atleast have a computer now.. but will there ever be a day when hardware and software companies can be held accountable for "unrecoverable losses" in time and data? Ever?

Some of the games of 2009..

2010-02-14T10:00:00.000-08:00

Once again, after a looong gap, an update about the games I played in 2009 (& unlike what the title seems to say, this is not a list of games released in 2009)..

.. the "some" comes about because of some hard disk woes, which I will detail in a separate blog entry..

as always, this is a "summary" review.. contact me if you are interested in more details..

Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box : 86 - Nice racer, with challenges popping up at every street corner. Impressive graphics and car collection. Can get a bit tedious having to drive to every single challenge, especially when only a few are left to do.

Manhunt : 80 - The Old GTA engine is used to setup a simple game which requires violent killings and stealth elements. Can get repetitive after a while once all the killing "styles" are discovered.

Sherlock Holmes - The Awakened : 84 - Complex puzzles in a very good 3D environment make for a very good detective game. Well worth all the frustrating minutes spent looking for that one clue which would take Holmes to the next step.

Prince Of Persia 2008 : 85 - Another classic PoP game, this time in the company of a princess who keeps things very lively. The stunning graphics gameplay as we eliminate the darkness is very satisfying. Has the usual minor glitches in terms of combat and use of console controls in a keyboard.

Fallout 3 : 92 - Post-apocalypse, Washington DC is the setting for an engaging game with the protoganist going in search of his father. Great graphics and gameplay elements in a wide-open world make for hours of engrossing gameplay. The DLC's are above average and add a few more elements to the game.

Resident Evil 4 : 87 - Has a very simple concept of "zombies" attacking the lead character wherever he/she goes. Add in a huge number of diverse and exciting gameplay elements and we have this great game in hand. Interesting storyline progress also helps keep things moving.

Batman - Arkham Asylum : 90 - Wonderful use of Batman's strengths means having a game with the lead character sans a gun, yet provides top notch combat with the escaped prisoners of Arkham. The Bat swoop from high altitudes is an exhilarating graphical experience. The story is also strong and the gadgets get more and more interesting. Dont miss!

Crysis : 85 - Starts off slowly, like a normal FPS but with gorgeous graphics in an open world, and then picks up pace towards the middle as aliens enter to make things interesting. Solid entertainer.

Crysis Warhead : 86 - A parallel story to the main Crysis game, with better managed graphics, faster action and more "cool" dialogues to keep the game moving. It is also a bit easier, and so can be completed in a much shorter timeframe.

Dead Space : 89 - Simple setting of a spaceship which gets infested with alien life, but very well utilised with a futuristic "projection on visor" HUD and an interesting selection of powers and puzzles.

The Games of 2008!!

2009-02-16T11:51:00.000-08:00

.. or rather, the games I played in 2008.. between my last game blog update and now...

I am putting up only short comments on each game, and please do contact me if you want more..

Splinter Cell - Double Agent : 86 - Very good game where we play both on terrorist side and National security side. Great graphics and good gameplay elements. But crashes for every reload in the "kinshasa" level - developers could have fixed this to make a V. Good game a GREAT game!!

Vampire - The Masquerade Bloodlines : 79 - Nice RPG where we play as a vampire - learning the ropes and then making choices to exist and help innocent people.

Medal Of Honor - Allied Assault : 81 - Old game, but given the time it came out, excellent graphics and lots of innovative gameplay.

Portal : 95 - Superbly innovative puzzle-solving game involving creating portals - takes a poor executed concept in "Prey" and gives it a super spin with GlaDOS as an amazing instructor and the best game ending song - ever!!

Gears Of War : 86 - Absolutely awesome graphics, and a very interesting "fight from cover" system, but that can be a drawback sometimes against multiple enemies. Also, a little bit frustrating "checkpoint" rather than a "save" system. Frustrating becoz we just get rid of a big enemy and then some small fry comes and hits us by accident then we have to replay everything again. But, overall very good game.

Call Of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare : 81 - Great concept, super fast action that keeps coming - no time wasted here. Checkpoint system used much better here. But, downside to all this is that game is pretty short and pretty easy to finish. No real stuff to explore or think and do.

SWAT 4 & SWAT4 Expansion - The Stetchkov Syndicate : 84 - Pretty interesting take on SWAT action. Feels realistic and rewards solid thinking and teamwork. Expansion pack adds to the same kind of fun.

HL2E2 : 92 - We continue on this fascinating adventure with Gordon Freeman and Alyx and it is as fun a ride as ever!! Great graphics, interesting puzzles, rivetting commentary and above all the one standout aspect of this series - great storyline development make this an all-out winner!

Bioshock : 90 - Very interesting premise of an under-sea city and cool "plasmid" gene modifications make for some great gameplay. Also good storyline development keeps the player hooked!!

Rainbow Six - Vegas : 80 - Another standard Tom Clancy offering. Involves team fighting and taking "cover" - good graphics, neatly done.

GTA III : 82 - The first of the GTA third-person view super-interactive series - seems a bit easy after checking out later GTA offerings, but very entertaining neverthless.

Beyond Good And Evil : 81 - really cool and interesting game - has a lot of "wacky" elements which keep the game going at good pace. Only small drawback is it has usual camera and movement problems seen in console ports.

Deus Ex : 91 - A really ambitious game (considering it came out very early this decade) trying to incorporate a number of unique and interesting features, each of which I have seen become USP's in future games. Has only some minor drawbacks like repetition of character models, which can cause confusion. A superb FPS/role-playing combo.

Deus Ex - Invisible War : 89 - More of the kind of gameplay seen in part1. Better graphics. Story nicely interwoven with elements of part1. Some gameplay improvements too, but there are other irritants (long dialogues, etc) which ensure there are still some minor flaws we need to live with.

Mass Effect : 86 - Nice mix of action and RPG elements. Story driven with game adapting itself to many decisions we make.

Grim Fandango : 74 - very interesting storyline and hilarious dialogues, but dated gameplay sometimes makes it a pain to play.

Left4Dead : 76 - Interesting game which pits a group of friends against a big gang of zombies. A smaller, smarter version of "Serious Sam" with a creepy horror twist. Would probably play much, much better on multiplayer.

So then, thats it for now from me... The time is fast approaching when I have to upgrade my system (or else) no new games will run on it :(
I will probably wait till QuadCore and a GTX (Dx10) card get into an affordable rate range before I take the plunge..

As always, till next time.... HAPPY GAMING!!

Kuselan - P. Vasu messes up... again!!

2008-08-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

I can only say - this should have been a "good" movie - meant to showcase that even a "larger-than-life" Rajni can do meaningful roles ; but believe me, it isn't.

The film starts off ok introducing a barber (Pasupathi) who lives life with morals and a smile on his face. But even before he can be set fully, starts a round of crass comedy scenes which in turn lead to the introduction of the super-star who was a school-time friend of the barber.

From this point, until about 15 minutes from the end is sheer crap - punch dialouges, songs, etc. meant to potray this film as one where Rajni (and not Pasupathi) is the hero..

Why have a song dedicated to 75 years Tamil cinema when only photos of some 5-6 heros are shown? Is that all Tamil cinema had to contribute in this timeframe?
Whats with having Chandramukhi-2, Padayappa-2 when the shoot bus has "Kuselan" on it?
How come Nayantara is the heroine in all the movies?
An actor gets Z-category protection while on a shoot? (oh yeah, terrorist threat)
Why do you need to have songs, period?
.. and the list goes on...

The movie ends ok, but then the overall effect is not very good.

Vasu (and Rajni) should have had the guts to stick to the original movie storyline instead of messing it up for the sake of money by trying to project this as a "superstar" movie.

Score : 52 (Disappointing end for a promising project)

The Dark Knight - Dark and Gripping!

2008-07-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

One first impression - AWESOME!!

Christopher Nolan returns with a superb sequel to what was an interesting (& most required) restart to the Batman franchise. Teaming up with his brother, he delivers a dark and brooding story, which keeps the audience engaged thru' out.

Batman keeps doing good for Gotham, but not everyone perceives him to be a hero... meanwhile a while knight is emerging, DA Harvey Dent who seems to have the best interests of Gotham (and Rachel!!) at heart. This seems to be the perfect setup required for Bruce - let Dent take care of the criminals and end his taxing double-life as Batman...

....until of course The Joker turns up ; a man with no morals and a sheer mission to give the people a "better class of criminal", he shows Gotham how terrorizing a person can be, holding an entire city hostage to his antics.. brilliant!!

I wont discuss the story any further becoz it would be "spoiler-time", but suffice to say it packs in a lot of bang with dark themes and moral dilemmas, every major character has a part to play and is left to question their basic ideals..

Performances are all top notch with Christian Bale and Heath Ledger deserving special mention.. It is indeed a great achievement that Nolan managed to get this much of a good screenplay into what is essential a comic-book summer blockbuster without compromising on the big-setpiece action sequences...

My only real grouse is the ending (which I dont want to reveal) and also possibly using Two-Face pretty lamely (though his story arc lends a lot credence to the Batman-Joker rivalry)..

All said and done - a real gem and possibly the best comic book movie ever (possibly, only because I havent seen all the comic book movies)...

Edit : This came about during discussions on Muhi's reply - Now that Ledger is dead (but the Joker isnt) (spoiler in white), I am really interested to see what Nolan does with part 3. "The Dark Knight" is going to be very very difficult to live upto!!

Edit 2 : I am notching up the score by 2 more points after watching the movie again. Given the way the story goes, the ending is really very well done. Its just that when I was watching the first time, Nolan was setting the bar higher with every sequence and I expected a "bang" at the end. Of course, one question remains : How & when did the Joker rig up the bombs on the yachts, without anyone noticing? Fans have already answered on imdb saying he used the 1 year period from part1 to do this, but while this can explain everything else, it doesn't explain the yachts. (spoiler in white)

Score : 84 (DONT MISS IT!!)

Dasavatharam - mesmerising yet exasperating

2008-06-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

Kamal does it yet again - just when you think he has a gem of an idea and and the implementation is also going brilliantly - something happens which makes everything a bit disappointing.

I felt a sense of Deja Vu after finishing watching Dasavatharam (same feeling after Aalavandhan) - at intermission time, I was thinking this is absolutely awesome, what a screenplay, what acting, what dialogues... but everything had unraveled by the time the movie was done!!

The movie starts off quite promisingly showing a caste conflict in the 12th century and then quickly switching to a chase in 2004.. A cold hearted killer is chasing a scientist (both played by Kamal) - the reward being a bio-weapon... The chase moves to India where we encounter a lot of other characters played by Kamal - I wont put any spoilers here and say who the characters are and what happens with each.. but it is an interesting mix.. Kamal also shines in the extra "11/12th" roles of story/script in the first half with lot of heavy and interesting dialogues..

But post the interval, in a over-zealous attempt to define 10 full characters (which is one of my big grouses - this movie would have been great with maybe 6-7 of the characters alone, why add unnecessary flab?) the story goes haywire with no logical or coincidental (the movie relies a lot on this) links between scenes, just one special effects scene after another till a big finish with quite a few things left unexplained... not the kind of expectation the movie set up at the beginning..

Kamal is of course brilliant in all the roles, even in a couple where the make-up doesn't fit him properly at all.. As Fletcher, he is absolutely lip-smacking-enjoying-himself-brilliant-bad; as Balaram Naidu, he provides a number of laughs; as the script writer, some very sharp lines on the presence of God are delivered; and as Bush... does he have some fun there!! Asin is competent (though to call hers a double roles is stretching it).. Mallika Sherawat has a short eye-candy presence.. everybody else is basically a special appearance which they manage well enough..

Direction, Camera, Background score are all top-notch. Graphics are very good at most places (considering almost every scene needed graphics, only the really big effects look a bit tacky), songs are very average (only a couple stay hummable)... I just wonder how great this movie would have been if 3-4 avatars were cut and the running time added just a bit more for story development.. All said and done this is actually a pretty good movie but it should have been a bit better for the kind of expectations it set up!!

Score : 64 (Worth a watch, but oh it should have been special)

The Games people play!!

2007-10-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

...errr... in this case, the "people" refers to only me :)

In any case, I am putting up this huge blog after months of non-updates on the gaming side - the excuse of course being - "its easy to play, but not to write about a great game"!! So, here goes, all the games I played after the laaast update, which was "F.E.A.R." way back in Jan 07..

Just a early heads-up, some of the games I mention in this list might be difficult to find on a store shelf near you. If you are really interested, check the net or ask me for more detailed reviews, and then you can place a special order for that game!!

Syberia and Syberia 2 : 84 - this one came out of nowhere, an adventure, puzzle-solving type game which just blew me away. We follow a New York attorney Kate Walker as she follows the childhood dream of a eccentric inventor as seeing live mammoths!! Long live automatons!!

Far Cry : 82 - a very famous FPS, it does live up to its reputation. It has everything we can ask for from a game of this genre and then some more. Guns, vehicles, AI, blasts and stunning graphics - dont miss!

Prey : 74 - Prey has a lot of potential - trying to mix some ancient cherokee "magic" skills with some interesting gameplay. The concept of using portals for getting between areas is also really good. But, this game gets a few basic concepts and repeats them over and over. Worth playing, but after seeing this - I cant wait to find what Valve can do with "Portal"..

NOLF and NOLF 2 : 86 - No One Lives Forever is one of the few games whose main protagonist is a female - and she grows to become a very good super spy ala Bond, James Bond - yes, I am referring to Cate Archer. This is one well rounded game - good action, good graphics, great locales all over the world, challenging puzzles to crack and one really mean sense of humour - dont miss the dialouges - they are worth stopping the action for!

Call Of Duty : 81 - The original Call of Duty - places us with various teams (American, British, Russian) in the push to capture Berlin during World War II. And it is one "realistic experience". Fans of "world war" themes will absolutely love this..

Psychonauts : 84 - Another game I hadn't heard much of - but was an absolute delight to play. A stunning 3D - platformer, we follow the adventures of Raz - training to become a psychonaut - people who save the world by fighting demons in peoples minds!! Yeah - really!! This gives rise to some really quirky and fun concepts and great dialouge too makes this a must-play. It looks like a kiddies-game, but believe me - everyone will enjoy it.

Condemned - Criminal Origins : 81 - whew!! A creepy horror game, where we battle for survival against some unknown but powerful entity.. There is pretty gruesome first-person fighting and an unrolling mystery.. a dark game which harcore gamers will love - but keep away from the very young..

GTA - San Andreas : 92 - I really dont have to say much about San Andreas - you are not even a bit into gaming if you haven't heard of it. This is a great game well worth the money you pay for it - there are some minor irritants, like forcing us to eat and exercise, but there is just so much interesting stuff to do here that we dont mind at all.

Prince Of Persia - the Trilogy : 91 - Really awesome, Sands Of Time, Warrior Within and Two Thrones combine some stunning gameplay with good dialouges, great graphics and a classic prince storyline. As I mentioned before, I loved the "time sands" concept - and thats jsut one of the great things in the game. A very minor irritant is the fact that sometimes we get the feel that this was meant for teh console - given the key combinations and camera angles we get to use and see.

Hitman - Blood Money : 82 - Another classic Hitman - where you can choose to be a "all guns blazer" or a true "silent assasin" on a number of interesting locales and missions - the ending is also good - with the seeming Hitman "death". Fans - dont miss!

Indigo Prophecy : 81 - Not sure if I have written on this before - but it follows a "movie" like look and we play along as detectives trying to solve a case. Lots of new concepts implemented here and there is a great "impending crisis" atmosphere.

Painkiller & BooH expansion : 79 - A straight FPS - has all the usual frills and all done very well - a new addition is the capture of "souls". Good one for FPS folks..

King Kong : 76 - A short but excellent game following the same track as the movie - and it allows us to play as King Kong too!!

NFS Carbon : 75 - Yet another in the NFS stable - I wouldnt say this is as good as the earlier "Most Wanted", but its worth the ride. All the usual NFS stuff with the new canyon fights - but it is a bit irritating to restart the canyons from start if we fail even at the very end.

Liquidator : 50 - err - why was the game released when all that was meant to be in it was not put in? Only the "options" screens are impressive looking..

Ok folks, thats all the games I remember playing over the last few months - hope you enjoyed reading about it (and wished you could play them too!!). I will update again sooner (or later) on new games I play and anything else I might have missed here.

Till then, have fun - and KEEP GAMING!! (The Orange Box is here - YIPEEEEEEEE)

Transformers

2007-08-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well - talk about a rollicking fun ride on a blockbuster Hollywood summer movie!!

This one is a straight "formula" movie, uses all the usual "big" movie tricks but still impresses thanks to a great and "simple-at-heart" screenplay and some wickedly stunning visual effects!!

Adapted from the age old (for me atleast) comic and TV series, the movie features a group of "alien-advanced technology" machines/robots which are looking for something called the "cube" and can transform themselves into the shape of any machine which they observe. There are some good robots (Autobots) here and many are bad (Deceptions) and one teenager called Sam holds the key to finding the cube.

From here on its the standard story - if the bad bots win, the human race will be destroyed, Sam joins up with the good bots and starts the chase for finding the cube - interspaced with efforts to impress the girl of his dreams (from his childhood) who doesnt even know he exists..

But what makes the movie work is the warm, human touch to the screenplay - the robots used the "world wide web" to learn about humans and speak with human voices!! There are many simple and funny moments - a great example being the scene where the robots try to hide from the sight of Sam's parents lest he be grounded!!

The graphics/visual effects are of course ASTOUNDING! Right from the beginning when an army helicopter turns into an attacking machine, there is no letup to the amazing sights we see on screen!!

The acting is par for this sort of movie, but it must be said that Shia Labeouf (Sam) fits his role to a "T".

Overall, my only grouse with this movie is in the climax which is not really as entertaining as the rest of the movie and doesnt seem too inventive but well the graphics more than make up for it.. and of course, the logic leaves a lot to be desired, but hey this is a "comic-book" movie!!

Score : 73 (Dont MISS this on the big screen - its a lot of bang for the buck)

Tagged by Naren - 3 themes/ideas for Tamil cinema

2007-08-08T06:30:00.000-07:00

Ok here goes - fulfilling a tag by Naren quite some time back. BTW, all tag trail followers - unfortunately "the buck stops here" for this one!!

Idea 1 : The "book adaptation" - I mean the "real" one - not the kind where songs and fights are inserted into a perfectly good book to make it seem perfectly bad!! I think we did have few, very few of these in the early part of last century - but I cant recall anything which was more recent.

Idea 2 : The "courtroom drama" - again this has been "mildly" (to put it mildly) tried out before - "Naan Avanillai" being a recent example - but a classic courtroom movie could work wonders for the intellectual viewer..

Idea 3 : Hey, you guys took all the "good and easy" ideas and left me to wonder here :) - in any case, here goes my final idea - the "mental movie" - yeah - you read right
"mental" - a classic example would be "A Clockwork Orange" - where we really plough into the "psyche" of a protaganist..

Well - thats it from me and remember this tag trail stops right here!!

meme:tamil.cinema.themes.ideas

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2007-07-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

I just completed the long and eagerly awaited book 7 - and it was one racy read... Gone are the intorduction of "new & fun" magical things that makes these books all that interesting to read - but then this is war and the tone has been set in book 6 - there are short spans of humour, fun and even romance but its about the final war between good and evil. Yes - there are casualities ; yes - some unexpected heroes arise and no - nobody could have guessed EVERYTHING this book throws up and so yes - JKR does deliver a "unguessable and well-above par" (not like Matrix 3) final book. You are going to read this book only if you have been following the story so far and in that case you are going to read it anyways!! :)

Have fun - its a must read.

Oceans 13, Die Hard 4.0, Harry Potter - the "multi"quels

2007-07-20T02:39:00.000-07:00

Quite a pleasant change - I liked all 3 of these "biggies" - compared to the disappointment of the previous releases!!

Oceans 13 - not many would consider this one too good - but the flow and the dialouges and the "ideas" are just too good - its obvious the cast is njoying itself - as I did - and Oprah - oh Oprah - was absolutely awesome - esp at the climax!! If u liked Oceans 11 - dont miss it!!

Score : 71 (must watch if u liked the first movie)

Die Hard 4.0 - to say the truth, I didnt expect much out of this one - but boy this is another super-fun ride. We have a series of outrageous stunts and actions sequences intersperced with wacky one-liners from the "one-and-only-McClane-Willis". Add to this a "futuristic" storyline, a nerd as a sidekick and a spunky daughter who gets kidnapped - and you know its a worthy movie experince.

Score : 70 (but you may not remember much afterwards)

Harry Potter And The Order Of the Phoenix - I am kind of pre-disposed to like this one - but even then its a very good adaption of what is considered the "most boring" of the Harry Potter books.. A lot of liberties are taken with the story to ensure that the length of the movie is managable, the visuals are really awesome, the mood is darker and overall its a good watch in anticipation of Book 7.

Score : 73 (you are going to watch it anyways)

Sivaji - the "boss" is back!!

2007-06-17T02:53:00.000-07:00

Just got back from watching Sivaji - and I must say that the "too-much" hype leaves the feeling that the movie should have been a bit better...

First things first - Rajni is back with full vigour and looking several years younger thanks to some "cool" costumes and makeup - Shankar sticks to his usual formula - though the main theme this time is black money and corruption...

I wont bother with writing the story here because either you already know it or you dont want to know it - (u dont care/u wanna see it live in a theatre).. The film starts with what is a feeble introduction by Rajni's standards and then continues along very light lines..

The entire first half is a fun-riot, nothing really serious happening - with just the establishment of the characters and their relations - Vivek is quite equal to Rajni here playing his "mama" and they evoke quite a few laughs..

Then, tragedy falls just before the interval - after this the Rajni "formula" starts and the adrenaline rush never stops till the very end - with the "motta" MGR finishing things off!!

The fights are way better than "Chandramuki" but still the intermediate scene where Rajni bashes up some 20-30 people doesnt always look too good - the opening "comic" fight though is a classic!

The songs are all good and well-shot - a couple are really fun too - but they inevitably act as speed-breakers - they hold you attention by their sheer lavishness but I dont think - but if you have already seen the songs then you will feel irritated when the break the swiftly moving movie..

Shreya has a pretty good role considering this is a "superstar" movie - but still she is involved only in the songs and in the scenes which set up these songs primarily - she looks good and does her part well - All the other characters are adequate - Suman as the villain looked like a good concept - the underplayed bigshot - but I had the feeling that casting such an unknown here reduced the effect quite a bit - imagine if one of the long list of actors who refused to do this role actually accepted!!

The overall script is good - esp the comic parts - but there are some unbelievable things too - like when Shreya saves Rajni, the way the entire legislative-judiciary system seems to work and so on..

I think you have noticed by now from my writing that my overall impression was that this was a pretty good movie but there are some minuses which stop it from being the "great" movie expected from the stellar team working on it..

Rajni fans - they will surely enjoy this one - even though the "glorification" is not that continuous ; Others - can see it once too - its quite an entertainer!!

Score : 70 (Would have been a lot lesser if not for Rajni!)

PS : BTW, Pirates 3 too didnt meet my expectations - too little Jack, totally unnecessary story complications and leeeeeength bog down what should have been a great movie. Score : 64

Hoping to be back soon!!

2007-05-20T12:51:00.000-07:00

Yeah - I know its been a long while, but it took today - when I had to "claim" this blog in order to move it from blogger1 to blogger2 - to make me finally enter an update - with some massive movies and games coming over the next few months - I hope to have some updates here..

I suppose the biggies started with Spidey 3 - but I was really disappointed with it - my score : 62/100

More on movies and games in the near future..

Rang De Basanti - what the nation wants!!

2006-02-03T02:15:00.000-08:00

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

Zinda - Alive!!

2006-02-03T00:18:00.000-08:00

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

Narnia : Fantasy Rocks!!

2006-02-01T01:09:00.000-08:00

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

F.E.A.R.

2006-01-24T02:44:00.000-08:00

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!!

Of Kanda Naal Muthal, 15 Park Avenue, Aathi and Paramasivan..

2006-01-24T02:17:00.000-08:00

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

The Matrix : Path Of Neo (PON)

2006-01-05T03:53:00.000-08:00

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!

And so we start again...

2006-01-05T02:48:00.000-08:00

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!!

PoP - SoT review

2005-12-16T03:58:00.000-08:00

As promised, this is my review of "Prince of Persia - The sands Of Time".. and boy is it good..

once in a while a game comes along which has the ability to change the face of computer gaming.. Doom and Half-Life being cases in point.. and I think we can add this game to the list!!

The original Prince game was an icon.. but was followed by the very very disappointing and clunky "Prince 3D".. so Ubisoft was under pressure to deliver a hit with this game.. and deliver they do!!

There are many many innovative features in this game which make you go "wow - thats cool" even as you play it.. the usual Prince palace defence mechanisms involving blades, knifes, et al are all there.. the rope and pole tricks are aplenty.. sword fights are now looking even better and then we have the SUPERB "Time Dagger" - it actually has a "rewind" feature where we can go back a little in time.. if we feel we need to replay what we played just a moment back.. this is an unbelievably COOL feature
.. and is supported by an awesome storyline which actually makes this seen possible..

The dialouge is also quite witty and brought a smile to my lips on more than one occasion.. Farah ordering the Prince around is quite hilarious really!! Gameplay wise.. the 3rd person perceptive gives a lot of scope to to acrobatics and has been used well by the developers.. the puzzles to solve are also interesting enough..

The one really irritating feature of this game was the camera angles.. they have this uncanny knack of changing when we are trying to do some tough task.. just when we are jumping back and forth trying to scale a hiiiiiiigh wall.. the camera changes its angle.. which means that the ky bindings also change.. so unless we adjust very very quickly we are going to jump in the wrong direction.. most probably into a deep chasm!!

But this is a minor flaw in an otherwise fine game.. one more blip : this is actually the first of a trilogy - following up are "Warrior within" and "Two Thrones" - both are already out.. and I am eagerly awaiting tackling these 2 games!! ... assuming of course that I get a copy!!

Score : 88 - DONT miss it

PS : I also played Postal 2 - share The Pain in between.. its a pure time pass violence game like Serious Sam.. with the only real aim being inflicting pain.. which the game does amply well!!

Score : 74 - for the violence addicts!!

Coming up next : "The Matrix - Path Of Neo" - keep watching this space!!

Aaru - Hardly reaches the boundary!

2005-12-16T03:39:00.000-08:00

Quite differently from all his recent films, which have all been "different", comes "Aaru" where Surya plays the normal tough-on-outside, good-at-heart action-rowdy hero. The first 45 mins of the movie are very disappointing going thru' the usual motions of song-character intros-comedy sequences in a predictble and jarrring manner.. I was left wondering what had got into Hari..

But then the movie picks up about 10 mins before the intermission and we realize that the director has started working from this point on only.. there are a number of "Hari" touches after this point.. and the movie maintains a rivetting pace till the very end..

Story : bad rowdy.. good at heart.. betrayed by his gang leader.. turns against him.. and wins.. side-story - romance ; even far away side story - Vadivel comedy track..

Surya plays his part well.. he has put in his full effort.. but there is only so much you can do to a character like this.. Trisha plays his love interest quite convincingly (though the reasons for her falling in love with him are hardly convincing).. interestingly she has a number of looong dialouges to mouth.. and she carries them off well enough... Aishwarya plays his "sister" and loud-mouths it thru the character..

There are 5 villains.. 4 of them brothers of the usual kind.. and the last one a cop (I really liked this part).. who can actually think.. He thinks and acts fast.. the way police are supposed to do.. Vadivel gives the comic breaks.. some ok. some falling way flat..

Music is by Devi Sri Prasad.. and he keeps it as loud as possible.. but most of the songs are ok and kind of fit into the movie.. so it all works out for him..

Overall.. a very routine action-violence flick with a lot of profanity which might serve well as time pass... but other than a few moments.. nothing special..

Score : 56

Games I played - the reviews!!

2005-11-29T01:51:00.000-08:00

here is the list/review of the games which I have enjoyed in the last 1 month..

NOTE : All of these are on the PC Platform only.
NOTE : This scoring scale is COMPLETELY different from my movie rating scale!!

Mafia : Very very interesting mafiaso story line with a huge city map and a number of intersting story taks to complete.. full entertainer.. but those who have already sampled the GTA series will be disappointed that it doesnt offer the sheer amount of interactivity and hidden missions that GTA does!!

Score : 74 - worth playing

Quake 4 : After a long 6 year gap, ID has finally released the sequel to the super famous "Quake 3 Arena". And is it worth the wait? Maybe..
The single player mode is back with a aliens vs. hero superbash storyline and it does well throughout.. the graphics are of course outstanding.. downers.. nothing really new in the multiplayers format.. if u play Quake only for mutiplayers anddont enjoy FPS single player games.. stay away.. stick to Q3A itself!!

Score : 77 - play if u like single player FPS's

Enter the Matrix : Of course, this game was released long ago.. around the time that the movie 2 was to come out.. but even keeping this in mind, I was a little disappointed.. we follow the course of events around Niobe / Ghost and the storyline really adds to the matrix movies, and this game has the most impressive set of cutscenes ever, but gameplay wise it is just above average.. but if u r a Matrix fan, dont miss it!!

Score : 71 - play if u r logged into the Matrix, otherwise u can give it a miss!!

Thats it for now.. of course I keep playing Q3A, no need to really score that.. it is a classic.. coming up next is "Prince of Persia - Sands Of time" and boy is it cool!! It is defenitely better than the games I have mentioned above!! Watch this blog for more!!

The pleasures of gaming!!

2005-11-29T01:04:00.000-08:00

Even normally. my blogs are very erratic and infrequent but now I think it is even more so.. and there is a very good reason for it..

That is of course that I have now acquired a PC built solely for the purpose of gaming.. within some budgetary constraints of course.. my comp doesnt have the latest dual display adapter "SLI" technology but it packs enough of a punch to run todays games smoothly and thats saying a lot!!

Heres the config.. budget gamers.. take note..

Intel P4 3.0 GHz (2MB L2) with xtended 64 bit memory (save Rs. 2k by going for same chip @ 2.8GHz)

512 MB DDR RAM @ 400 MHz (save Rs. 1k by going for 333MHz RAM)

200 GB SATA HDD (save Rs. 3k by going for 120 GB non-SATA disk)

Intel 915G MB (u can only get a better board than this.. so if u want one.. it will ADD to ur bill!!)

DVD Writer - sony (save Rs. 1.5k go for DVD\CDRW combo)

nVidia 6200 wTurbocache Technology (this is the best bet for budget gamers - if u have money to splurge, choose 2 7800 cards with SLI tech!!)

Creative 4.1 surround speakers (save Rs. 3k by choosing 2,1 speakers, add Rs. 1.5k for 5.1 speakers and REAL surround sound!!)

UPS (absolutely essential!!)

17" Flat CRT Monitor (save Rs. 2k for 15" flat - add Rs. 10k for TFT monitor)

thats it.. choose a proper table/chair combo to go with this.. nad you are all set for full entertainment :) It cost me abt 43k.. so u have an estimate now..

Which is what I did, now I am enjoying abt 5-6 hours of gaming everyday and it jacks up to even 12-14 in the weekends!! Of course, this means that all my other work (whether planned or current)suffers but who cares !!!

Harry Potter 4 - the best HP movie yet!!

2005-11-21T02:53:00.000-08:00

HP is finally here.. and boy is it good!!

First of all, a note of caution for muggles - especially for those who have no ideas about the characters / background info / theories built into HP.. you dont stand a chance with this movie.. there is no attempt to introduce/familiarise the regular cast in this movie.. even the openinig credits have been done away with.. we see a blob with the movie name and we join he action right away.. Its upto the viewer to come prepared for the movie.. If you still haven't started reading HP.. no point in really seeing this movie :)

I always thought part 4 was best suited for onscreen adaptation and the movie doesn't disappoint.. The TriWizard Tournament with its tough tasks, Harry growing up and adolescent issues with girls and of course the parallel rise to power of Lord voldermot .. It all unfolds with rapid pace and the viewer is enthralled from the word "go"..

The screenplay writers (Steve Kloves & co) have impressed in shrinking this huge pillow of a book to its current 2.5 hours version.. of course a lot of lighter moments which add to the charm ut not to the plot, have been removed. Also suffering is "THe Quidditch World Cup" which really looks grandeously fabulous but is restricted to just a couple of minutes of on-screen time..

Also finally a director (Mike Newell) has restricted himself from religiously following the book.. he has taken some liberties (like the intro scenes of the other school students) most of which work out.. but some of them really miss out (like the always shouting Dumbledore - huh? y on earth would a calm old guy keep shouting?)..

I will refrain from telling the story.. as we all know what this movie is all about.. being a big budget production.. there are no problems with the graphics here.. the performances are also good.. the music score is kind of irritating at the beginning (the "Krum" theme).. but then as we near the end.. it becomes flawlessly suited to the situation..

All in all, this is as good as a HP movie can get.. but I think part 5 is going to suffer in this retrospect.. it is to be made on an already weak book.. also the cast is getting older.. u can see it on the screen.. they are outgrowing their screen ages.. but then.. we can always keep hoping.. cant we??!!

Score : 74

The Legend Of Zorro - huh?

2005-11-08T23:35:00.000-08:00

I also caught "The Legend Of Zorro" this weekend.. and surprisingly.. it was like a Bollywood movie.. lots of emotions.. some sword fighting scenes.. which very really very poor.. some very bad graphics.. a family which is torn apart by circumstnaces coming together at the climax to vanquish the villains.. well.. is this Zorro or what?.. the only saving grace is of course CZJ.. whp looks as lovely as ever..

AS is the case with many many movies, the original is far far better..

Score : 53

Sivakasi - fireworks?

2005-11-08T23:33:00.000-08:00

Sivakasi.. is Std (not the fireworks) Vijay fare..

Vijay is poor guy, an orphan, running a welding shop.. very violent, but good-at-heart.. after some atercations.. rich girl (thats Asin) falls in love with him (some real goofy logix used here).. he in turn loves her after trying to steer her away from him as every poor but good hero must.. and after another completely irrational sequence.. it turns out Vijay has a family whom he ran away from 15 yrs back.. and the girl tells him he must win back his family to win her back.. and so he goes back to his hometown..

All that is the first half.. and the entire half goes thru' with nothing really happening in terms of the story.. there are a lot of "hero-worship" scenes.. unfortunately Vijay is not yet upto the Rajni level.. so unless u r a fan, most of this will fall flat!! also, the director has included audience response (whistles, applause, etc) in the background score.. so even if no one is appriciating the scenes, u will feel that the theatre is enjoying watching it..

Anyways.. when vijay goes to his homeplace, he finds that his brother (PrakashRaj) is ill-treating his mother and sister and also that he was responsible for the death of his father. Then, project vendatta starts. The film, very literally, picks up pace from here. how he overcomes all odds forms the rest of the engaging second half.

Really, the movie is quite entertaining if you are willing to overlook a number of glaring logic failures.. scenes have been strung together because they look good.. but how did the story move from Point A to Point B? Thats upto your own creativity.
Performances.. are more or less ok.. Asin plays the lively girl to the hilt.. PrakashRaj is impressive as the villain.. Vijay too plays his role well.. but it really pains me to see him playing this sort of role again and again.. he seems talented enough to do much more varied roles.. only time will tell this.. music is really loud.. and all the songs have the "that-tune-I-know-from-somewhere-else" feel..

Overall, normal Vijay masala, and really njoyable if u r a Vijay rasigar..

Score : 56

Ghajini - worth the hype?

2005-10-03T01:47:00.000-07:00

After a long incubation period.. supposedly for post-production work.. AR Murugadoss' Ghajini is finally out.. First of all, let me state that I HAVE NOT seen "Momento".. so this review will not take any influence that that cult classic could have had on Ghajini..

The film takes off quite well.. with a murder and the subsequent follow up scenes which show the killer to be our hero.. with the peculiar problem of "short term memory loss" (the mandatory 'doctor explaining to students' scene is also there.. he cant remember anything for more than 15 mins.. so he resorts to some useful techniques like photos, notes on the walls of his house and etchings on his own body to remember all the stuff he has to do..

the story : Villain kills hero's lady-love (Asin) and also injures him in such a way that he has this memory loss prob.. hero in spite of this obvious handicap decides to wreck vengence.. the entire film is about how he achieves this.. The movie adopts the by-now commmon forward-backward timeline using the hero's diary to show us the events in his past which has got him to the present.. The frothiness of the past story contradicts well to the moody proceedings in the present..

Surya is growing by leaps and bounds.. he gets into the character well.. be it as the top flying businessman Sanjay Ramasamy who romances Asin and the biz world simultaneously or as his own shadow self struggling to remember that he has to avenge his love.. but there are some scenes where his own past performances peek out.. he is yet to even come close to the levels of Kamal Hassan..

Asin sparkles with her spontanity, and obvious screen presence.. a very good performance here augurs well for her future.. Nayantara is wasted (or maybe she wastes it herself) in what could have been a significant role.. the others all do their jobs well..

Harris Jeyaraj has done a commendable job with the BGM.. though the songs are just above average with song placings as usual either unwanted or unwarranted..

Drawbacks.. the film is not always taut and clever.. there are many sequences which require leaps of logic possible only in Tamil filmdom.. these could have been avoided when taking on his sort of a subject.. songs are there just for the commercial element.. Nayantara costume designer needs a small break.. and the director needs to realize that multiple villains must mean some twists and not a well choreograohed fight sequence!!

Overall.. what could have very easily beena brilliant movie is just a very good one in the end!!

Score : 69 / 100

"Totti Jaya" review

2005-09-13T06:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend, having nothing better to do, I actually went to the theater to catch "Little Super Star" Simbu's latest offering, "Totti Jaya". and boy was I surprised!!

First up, the irritating "S-U-P-E-R-S-T-A-R" powerpoint animation accompanied by the "Little" seal was missing (only Rajni is entitled to have this one!!) although self- nnamed title still popped up in the credits..

then Simbu came in after a not-so-grand entrance and actually kept his mouth shut and his fingers in the normal positions that human fingers are supposed to be in!!

and the movie was also quite watchable!! Well.. well..

getting into the movie.. the story is really simple.. Totti jaya (Simbu) is a rowdy.. who will beat anyone up as long as he is given some money for it.. an unnecessarily long but well shot young guy sequnce shows this at the very beginning of the movie.. he finally ends up working for Seena Thana (come again??) who is the usual Tamil villain.. a comedian-buffoon who keeps shouting at the top of his voice.. god only knows y ppl r afraid of him..

Simbu leaves town to escape his "hot" status with the police.. and there by chance comes to save Gopika's life.. she says she loves him.. he hesitates initially and then he reciprocates.. all seems hunky-dory till it turns out that Gopika is Seena's daughter (is that a twist of what?).. and he is not happy.. after that it is the usual.. dad vs. couple fight.. with some interesting insights thrown in..

What makes the movie watchable is first up the cinematography, the taut script and the background score.. Harris rises again after his Anniyan BGM debacle... in some places the movie is slow, unnecessarily repeating flashback scenes when we can perfectly understand what is going on without their help.. but the restrained performances want you to continue watching the movie..

Performances.. almost all the principle characters are well done out except the villain who doesn't have much to do.. music is also good.. though the makers have buried the best song (Uyire En Uyire) in the background.. y didnt they do this with all the other nowhere-in-situation songs as well?

well.. all in all.. I am getting bored of writing so much on this movie.. but the point is.. it is once-watchable!! so njoy!!

Score : 61 / 100

The "Ashes" are won again!!

2005-09-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

Finally, after an absolutely enthralling series, the Ashes return to England after 18 very long years...

Great scenes broke out in England following the victory.. you could be forgiven for thinking that football was just a local game which few people enjoyed in England.. the players were taken on a open-top red bus thru' London cheered on by thousands and thousands of fans.. "Crickit" dominated all the major newspapers AND the tabloids.. many many ecstatic fans were collecting their wagers from unbelieving bet-takers.. beer was and still is flowing freely all over as England celebrates its re-emergence from the depths of Ashes humiliations..

Flintoff was of course the hero.. playing with his heart, giving his full 100%, he showed all and sundry how the game of cricket must be played.. he has finally come of age.. realizing his full potential.. glimpses of which he has been showing for a long time now.. Pieterson also did very well.. but I think he is too arrogant and showy-off for his own good.. lets see what the future holds for him.. The pace trio has also forged what could be a lethal combination for the future.. Vaughan has suceeded where all his precedessors failed.. and I am sure great glory awaits this team of great heroes.. any guesses on how many of them are going to be knighted??

The drawbacks.. G. Jones, the keeper.. he really needs to improve.. his performance can be compared to that of india's Parthiv Patel.. he is performing a little with the bat.. but he really needs to keep much much better than this.. the failure of Ian Bell also was surprising but I am sure he will hit back soon enough..

for the Aussies.. Shane Warne and Brett Lee shone through with fine whole-hearted performances.. both with the bat and the ball.. Warne especially proving why he is considered to be the worlds best leg spinner.. but ironically.. and rather cruelly.. he put down the once simple catch which could have allowed the Ashes to remain in Australia!!

I am sure a lot of questions will be asked of the Aussie team when they get back home.. but Ponting should stay on top.. he just claims that his team is not performing at full potential and that they would get back to their best soon.. and that these are just bad times for the Aussie team..

Talking of bad timing.. very very ironically.. it is at this juncture that the Super Series starts.. wherein the entire world combines to try and defeat the Aussie team when Team England alone would do!!

but all said and done it was a great contest and I am eagerly looking forward to England's next tour of Australia.. sometime in 2007... till then.. happy cricketing!!

JKR is the "Queen" and HP is the "Prince"!!

2005-07-26T05:26:00.000-07:00

This is yet another review from my side (my place shld be called airanand.reviewspot.com) and this is again a little bit delayed.. mainly to get over the sorrow caused by the climax of the latest in the Harry Potter Series..

It has been a week since I finished the book.. and I still haven't started a second reading and dont plan to do so any time soon.. the message which the book states is clearly put across.. Harry is alone now and ready for the inevitable final battle..

BTW, this review will be filled with SPOILERS so hop away to the next blog (mine or any one elses') if you haven't read the "Half-Blood Prince" yet.. and by now if you haven't deduced that this blog is my review of the sixth book in the Harry Potter series you dont deserve to be on this planet..

HP6 starts off in an unnamed Prime Minsiter's office in UK.. the Death Eaters are now fearlessly attacking Muggles as well.. JKR follows this up with an amazing chapter which fuels further questions into our mind - is Snape really a bad guy, in spite of Dumbledore's trust in him?

We finally move to the familiar Pivet Drive address and we get back in sync with a much grown up Harry Potter.. JKR has no pretensions here.. she doesn't even try to make this a stand-alone book (this tendency has gone down with each succeeding book).. every reader had better know before-hand all there is to know abt each character..

Dumbledore says : "And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.".. and we are ready for the wild - ride that is HBP..

We are introduced to a new character "Horace Slughorn", a highly partial and neither likeable nor unlikeable kind of teacher who it turns out holds the key to Voldemort's immortality or lack of it.. another is Cormac McLaggen.. who plays the arrogant student to the hilt..

We also quickly catch up with the changes in the others.. Dumbledore is no longer omnipresent.. he is hurt and doubtful of his deductions.. but ready as ever to fight evil.. Harry is more mature and in control of his feelings.. the Weasleys are ready to face danger at all times ("Mortal Peril" - their clock reads).. Fred and George have made a big success of their joke shop.. Bill has brought Fluer home as his fiancee.. Snape has got the DADA class atlast.. Ron gets into some long overdue romance.. Hermione seethes with jelousy at this.. and most unconvincingly.. Draco Malfoy has become really evil!!

One glaring aspect is the lack of many new 'magical' stuff (I mean the kind of passages which we feel refreshed just to read).. which makes the HP books such a big pleasure to read.. of course there are flashes like in the Weasley twins joke shop, the use of the lucky potion and in the concept of Horcruxes.. but I guess the story is too well set by now to keep coming up with new stuff that amazes the senses..

so we have the normal school time activities going on.. Quidditch, classes, friendships, romances.. and in due course of time.. Harry comes across a book belonging to the "Half-Blood Prince".. which gives him unfair (Hermiones word, not mine) advantage in Potions class..

there was a slip up here (was it one - I have to go back and read to be sure).. Harry thinks his father could have written on the book but then it seems to be dated before his time.. but in the end it turns out that snape is the HBP.. and Sanpe was of course in James' timeframe.. so was this an error?

Meanwhile.. Ron hooks up with Lavender and involves in some heavy duty snogging (theres too much of it there in this book really).. driving Hermione wild... but soon enough he snaps out of it and finally Ron-Hermione make up much to the relief of the reader (thats me).. Harry also has some "friend - or - love" brainstorms before finally linking up with Ginny.. all this is the side-track of course..

The main events are occuring in Dumbledore's office where he is using the Pensieve to tell Harry about the Evil Lord's past as Tom Riddle and hopw he came to acquire as much power as he has.. It turns out (Slughorns memory comes in help here) that Voldemort could have split up his soul and stored them in 7 different Horcruxes and so can be destroyed only if all of them are destroyed..

We enter the dark and serious territory here.. and the book moves along at missile-speed here on (it was already on jet-speed!!).. Dumbledore and Harry go in search of a Horcrux, in the quest of which the former is severely weakened and finally when they get back to Hogwarts.. are confronted by a group of Death-Eaters.. and finally.. Snape flays down Dumbledore.. and escapes away.. just after revealing that he is the "HBP".. all this right in front of Harry Potter's eyes..

This section will and has already created a lot of debate.. why did Dumbledore immobilise Harry? He could have held on to his wand and saved the both of them easily enough.. in fact Harry might have had some inspiration and saved his principal.. why did Dumbledore plead with Snape? why did he believe Snape in the first place? The sudden death of Dumbledore has left a lot of unexplained facts.. how will JKR bring them out if he dead? Since when did Malfoy become brilliant? hell.. why did the "D" have to die???

This ending though tragic is exactly what was needed to make book 7 the most eagerly anticipated book in the history of literature.. but there are a lot of loose ends to tie up in 1 book.. Neville's part.. Harry's parents.. the cause of Dumbledore's trust in Snape.. the identities of the remaining Horcruxes.. and so on and so on..

So, as in OFP, we are left with a somber ending.. but this book also leaves us with expectations.. now Harry is alone.. and as in all classical good vs. evil clashes.. he has to face his great adversary by himself.. the stage is perfectly set for the grand climax.. the only question is.. how well will JKR deliver??

PS : coming soon.. post HBP what now? and HBP is not my favourite book in the series.. (hehe.. just to make you think I am gonna be updating this soon.. though I may never do that..)

Infrequent blogging

2005-07-26T05:12:00.000-07:00

So why is it that I dont blog frequently or at least periodically or regularly?

well, there are probably many possible explanations for this but I think it would effectively come down to laziness. Who wants to sit and type in so many words which potentially millions of people could read but only a couple really do?

and also there is another big problem.. and that is of finding some subject on which you are interested enough to write about and which others will be interested enough to read.. it is not as easy as you think.. you might argue that a blog is a persons personal space and he/she can put in whatever he/she (please forgive sudden usages like this.. this is my dekko at feminine equality) wants.. but then there must always be a target audience..

So now that I have made up a blog and given myself excuses for not blogging regularly (man.. I was really vetti today).. I will sign off on this one.. ;)

War of the Worlds - huh?

2005-07-26T04:46:00.000-07:00

So I went to PVR (thats the mega multiplex place here) full of anticipation.. to catch, somewhat delayed though, the latest offering of Steven Spielberg - one of my favourite movie makers.

Fully armed with Pepsi and popcorn, I was ready for a grand offering.. and it did start off well.. going against all the Hollywood stereotypes.. the hero Cruise is just a regular dont-care loser, the aliens come from "UNDER" the earth, and our hero actually runs away from them - he has no intentions of "Saving the World". Really promising, I thought, things can only get better from here.

And visually, they did.. some spectacular special effects serve well to tell the story of the machines from outer space demolishing earth. And unlike what many many reviews are telling abt there being no 'human' touch.. there is lots of it.. but put in the context of the situation in the movie..

backtracking a bit : the story.. Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a dockyard worker (believe it) who children Rachael (little girl) and Robbie (teenage guy) are left in his care by his former wife. And the children are not particularly happy with this arrangement. But then, they put up with him, what with him being 'dad'. The alien attack starts right away.. and Ray is left bearing the responsibility of keeping them safe.. using the only working car in the neighbourhood (how come no one else thought of it?) he flees to his former wifes' house.. Robbie is idealistic and wants to fight back.. Rachael is just plain frightened and Ray is at his wits end.. how this family escapes the terro and how their inter-relationship cahnges as they go on forms the crux of the story..

Cruise fits the bill as the small time American guy trying to save his family. Dakota Fanning (thats the kid) gives a powerhouse performance.. what all will she achieve when she grows up, I wonder!! Spielberg, I think, already had the next project on his mind when he was making this one..

The sudden climax left me feeling really bad.. does Spielberg think that the audience is stupid? Accepted - the brilliant "Minority Report" from the same team didn't fill the BO coffers but then the sudden and unbelievable ending of this one leaves a lot to be desired..

Overall : Spielberg has failed in only 2 movies (of the ones I have seen), one is AI coz of a too lengthy climax, the other is WotW coz of an abrupt one..

Score : 57 / 100

Anniyan - my review

2005-06-22T04:04:00.000-07:00

So, after making audiences wait for a long time, Shankar finally unveils his much hyped masterpiece.. and does it live upto expectations? To large extents, yes!!

The next 2 paras is full of spoilers as it has my story summary.. so skip it if you want to remain in suspense. And also sorry abt the English. I caught the night show and so am kind of groggy..

The story starts off potraying Vikram as "Rules" Ramanujam, a lawyer who ALWAYS follows the rules and tries his best to ensure that others do too. But then he finds that the general public doesn't really care for minor rules if their work gets done properly. So he becomes highly disillusioned and tensed up and thereby is born his "alter ego" Anniyan, who gives the capital punishment of death to all wrong doers based on the kind of punishment assigned for their crimes in Hell.

Sada is Rules' neighbour whom he has loved in silence for 7 long years. Finally after much prodding from Vivek (who plays his friend), Vikram proposes to her, only to be rejected. This almost drives him to suicide, thereby leading to the rise of Remo, a catwalk model who successfully woos Sada.

What is the connection, I can hear u asking. Well, Shankar says MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder). Intense mental tensions like that experienced by Rules leads to this, says Naser, playing a mind doctor. This is where logic starts breaking from reality. So now we have 3 personalities crowded into 1 guy and then its full steam ahead to the climax.

Vikram has done an excellent job of the task given to him. Personally, I felt that he doesn't look like a young model as Remo, but neverthless, he ahs come up with a good performance as all 3 avatars. I wouldn't say he has quite reached the heights Jim Carrey did in M,M and I but still he has done a good job. Sada does the job required of her quite amicably. Vivek is back to his best... with a lot of natural comedy. PrakashRaj as usual is brilliant, but I didn't quite accept the logic of his using different getups to investigate.

Shankar's direction is also excellent. A lot of innovative (some innovatively lifted from Hollywood) are used throughout the movie and the yadd a good touch. Songs are all picturised well but with unnecessarily extravagent sets. Choreography and cinematography were excellent as were the use of slow motion frames and the action sequences.

I was disappointed only with the BGM score by Harris Jayaraj. It rarely adds to what is going on in the movie. Also another drawback is the positioning of the songs. Man, in how many movies r u gonna make these same mistakes??

I realize that the above review is kind of disjointed, so I blame it on my sleep hangover.

Overall, forget the obvious logic and this is a brilliant movie. Include the flaws.. and it is still easily watchable at least once on the big screen. so go out and njoy!!

If only Kamal and ARR had been involved in this project!!

Score : 69/100

First blog

2005-06-21T14:31:00.000-07:00

well.. here we get off to yet another beginning.. lets see what this will come to..

Just to let you know the kind of guy I am..

Fav sport (to play) : Basketball (outdoors), Chess (indoors)
Fav comp game : Half - Life (till date)
Fav movie : The Matrix
Fav author : Michael Crichton

So what does this all amount to?? Nothing much you say?? well.. just wait and see!!

2005-06-21T02:40:00.000-07:00

This is me