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?
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Some of the games of 2009..
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 "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.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Games of 2008!!
.. 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!!
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!!
Friday, August 08, 2008
Kuselan - P. Vasu messes up... again!!
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 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)
Sunday, July 20, 2008
The Dark Knight - Dark and Gripping!
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!!)
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!!)
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Dasavatharam - mesmerising yet exasperating
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)
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)
Monday, October 15, 2007
The Games people play!!
...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)
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)
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Transformers
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)
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)
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Tagged by Naren - 3 themes/ideas for Tamil cinema
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
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
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
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.
Have fun - its a must read.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Oceans 13, Die Hard 4.0, Harry Potter - the "multi"quels
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)
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)
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Sivaji - the "boss" is back!!
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
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
Monday, May 21, 2007
Hoping to be back soon!!
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..
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..
Friday, February 03, 2006
Rang De Basanti - what the nation wants!!
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
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!!
Sanjay Gupta is back with his next offering starring Sanjay Dutt.. and this time its supposed to be a direct lift from a Korean movie.. but since I have not seen the movie in question.. I must say that I really enjoyed the movie..
The story is quite interesting.. Dutt plays a software engineer.. who seems to have all that he wants in his life.. a great job.. lots of money.. a beautiful wife.. expecting a daughter.. and a great childhood friend.. suddenly, one fine day.. out of the blue, he is kidnapped and locked away for 14 years.. his only contact to the outside world being the food he gets and the TV in his room.. which shows him how he himself is suspected of murdering his wife and other inportant world events...
Dutt dedicates his life to revenge.. biding his time and waiting for his chance for revenge.. the chance comes when he is released suddenly one day.. and the hunt begins.. he is helped in his cause by Lara Dutta, who plays a cab driver who can speak Hindi and the local language.. she may or may not have been planted by his rivals..
finally, he realises that the man behind his imprisonment is John Abraham, who is now a high profile businessman.. and the fight begins.. there are lots of gruesome scenes. making this a movie fit for only the young guys.. but in all other technical aspects the movie excellently made..
The story runs along fairly well.. and I really liked the way it all came around 1 full circle in the end.. but the last couple of minutes spoil the whole effect.. they seem added on to satisfy the Indian audience..
Overall, worth watching.. if u like this kind of style movies..
Score : 71
The story is quite interesting.. Dutt plays a software engineer.. who seems to have all that he wants in his life.. a great job.. lots of money.. a beautiful wife.. expecting a daughter.. and a great childhood friend.. suddenly, one fine day.. out of the blue, he is kidnapped and locked away for 14 years.. his only contact to the outside world being the food he gets and the TV in his room.. which shows him how he himself is suspected of murdering his wife and other inportant world events...
Dutt dedicates his life to revenge.. biding his time and waiting for his chance for revenge.. the chance comes when he is released suddenly one day.. and the hunt begins.. he is helped in his cause by Lara Dutta, who plays a cab driver who can speak Hindi and the local language.. she may or may not have been planted by his rivals..
finally, he realises that the man behind his imprisonment is John Abraham, who is now a high profile businessman.. and the fight begins.. there are lots of gruesome scenes. making this a movie fit for only the young guys.. but in all other technical aspects the movie excellently made..
The story runs along fairly well.. and I really liked the way it all came around 1 full circle in the end.. but the last couple of minutes spoil the whole effect.. they seem added on to satisfy the Indian audience..
Overall, worth watching.. if u like this kind of style movies..
Score : 71
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Narnia : Fantasy Rocks!!
Quite inexplicably, "The Chronicles of Narnia" had an highly delayed release in India.. and since I wanted to see this one on the big screen I was able to watch it only this week.. but boy it was well worth the wait!!
The story is simple.. the World War forces parents to send their children to foster homes where they will be safe.. and so our main characters, the Pevensie siblings -Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter are sent away by their mother to the house of an old professor who doesn't seem to be much fun going by what his housekeeper says..
While playing Hide And Seek (aahhh.. those days!!), little lucy discovers a wardrobe which actually opens out into a new world called Narnia.. her siblings dont initially believe her.. but then they too finally enter the magic world!!
In Narnia, it turns out that a evil white witch has taken over the land and that according to prophecy she would be killed by 4 humans (the Pevensie's fit the profile!) with the help of Aslan, the great king.. This sets the stage for the engrossing movie!!
As expected, the great plus for this movie is the sheer novelty of the things we are seeing.. the graphics are excellent.. and the kids.. especially Lucy deliver great performances.. but for me personally the second half didnt quite match up to the wonderment feeling we have while viewing the first half..
For fantasy addicts, this is a "dont miss" movie!!
Score : 73
The story is simple.. the World War forces parents to send their children to foster homes where they will be safe.. and so our main characters, the Pevensie siblings -Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter are sent away by their mother to the house of an old professor who doesn't seem to be much fun going by what his housekeeper says..
While playing Hide And Seek (aahhh.. those days!!), little lucy discovers a wardrobe which actually opens out into a new world called Narnia.. her siblings dont initially believe her.. but then they too finally enter the magic world!!
In Narnia, it turns out that a evil white witch has taken over the land and that according to prophecy she would be killed by 4 humans (the Pevensie's fit the profile!) with the help of Aslan, the great king.. This sets the stage for the engrossing movie!!
As expected, the great plus for this movie is the sheer novelty of the things we are seeing.. the graphics are excellent.. and the kids.. especially Lucy deliver great performances.. but for me personally the second half didnt quite match up to the wonderment feeling we have while viewing the first half..
For fantasy addicts, this is a "dont miss" movie!!
Score : 73
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
F.E.A.R.
First Encounter Assault Recon - a special unit to deal with extra-terrestrial forces.. this FPS starts off just like a lot of other similar games do.. no foreworks.. just a simple intro.. and straight into the story and the game..
But as I progressed I realized that this was no ordinary shooting game.. it actually freaked me out on a number of situations and the way in which the story plot is laid out is also very engaging.. the slow-mo feature which is now a std part of most games is used very effectively here..
graphics are up to the mark.. and AI is EXCELLENT - the enemies actually plan out methods to kill me.. absolutely stunning..
the climax is a bit of a let down.. but the last last shot is chilling!!
Score : 84 - great game.. dont miss!!
But as I progressed I realized that this was no ordinary shooting game.. it actually freaked me out on a number of situations and the way in which the story plot is laid out is also very engaging.. the slow-mo feature which is now a std part of most games is used very effectively here..
graphics are up to the mark.. and AI is EXCELLENT - the enemies actually plan out methods to kill me.. absolutely stunning..
the climax is a bit of a let down.. but the last last shot is chilling!!
Score : 84 - great game.. dont miss!!
Of Kanda Naal Muthal, 15 Park Avenue, Aathi and Paramasivan..
I caught a few movies over the last few days.. but as usual.. didnt find the time to update here.. so heres one blog with all the reviews!!
Kanda Naal Muthal : Excellent movie.. good potrayal of a soft romance.. good performances by all of the lead cast.. Prakash Raj gives a great offering to Tamil cinema again!! The only real downer in this one would be the duet songs in the 2nd half.. but Yuvan has ensured that the songs are good enough to overlook the intrusion on the story.. Dont miss!!
Score : 76
15 Park Avenue : Aparna Sen is back and this time she has Konkona Sen Sharma playing a schizopherniac.. The film is somewhat slow and though it has its moments I didnt really empathise with the central character.. All the actors give commendable performances but the climax completely spoiled the movie for me.. this is a movie for godsake.. not a short story!!
Score : 64 - skip the climax
Aathi : This one actually starts off quite unlike a Vijay movie (he is not in the first frame.. and there is NO intro song).. even the Script is quite decent.. but as we progress the normal Vijay elements come in.. amazingly huge logic loopholes.. useless songs.. unnecessary dialouge banter.. heavy fights with the Matrix BGM..
Vijay is getting better and better as an actor.. but the films he chooses to do leave a lot to be desired.. he better choose carefully if he wants to be a strong future top star!!
Score : 54 - average
Paramasivan : This is supposed to be Ajit's comeback vehicle.. and P.Vasu's great offering post-Chandramuki.. and it was quite disappointing.. the only saving grace was the lean and fit looking Ajit.. otherwise, there is little that really stands this movie up.. can be missed!!
Score : 52
Kanda Naal Muthal : Excellent movie.. good potrayal of a soft romance.. good performances by all of the lead cast.. Prakash Raj gives a great offering to Tamil cinema again!! The only real downer in this one would be the duet songs in the 2nd half.. but Yuvan has ensured that the songs are good enough to overlook the intrusion on the story.. Dont miss!!
Score : 76
15 Park Avenue : Aparna Sen is back and this time she has Konkona Sen Sharma playing a schizopherniac.. The film is somewhat slow and though it has its moments I didnt really empathise with the central character.. All the actors give commendable performances but the climax completely spoiled the movie for me.. this is a movie for godsake.. not a short story!!
Score : 64 - skip the climax
Aathi : This one actually starts off quite unlike a Vijay movie (he is not in the first frame.. and there is NO intro song).. even the Script is quite decent.. but as we progress the normal Vijay elements come in.. amazingly huge logic loopholes.. useless songs.. unnecessary dialouge banter.. heavy fights with the Matrix BGM..
Vijay is getting better and better as an actor.. but the films he chooses to do leave a lot to be desired.. he better choose carefully if he wants to be a strong future top star!!
Score : 54 - average
Paramasivan : This is supposed to be Ajit's comeback vehicle.. and P.Vasu's great offering post-Chandramuki.. and it was quite disappointing.. the only saving grace was the lean and fit looking Ajit.. otherwise, there is little that really stands this movie up.. can be missed!!
Score : 52
Thursday, January 05, 2006
The Matrix : Path Of Neo (PON)
This one has been a long time in development and has finally hit the shelves this year.. a video game which ACTUALLY allows us to play in the shoes of NEO!!
Straight away the game introduces a novelty.. in choosing the game difficulty setting.. we are allowed to play the lift lobby scene and based on how well we play the difficulty setting is chosen!! COOL..
From this point on, the game follows the oh-so-familiar storyline of the movies.. allowing us to play all the interesting parts!! One major change from "Enter the Matrix" (ETM) is that the special moves are much better defined here.. we can actually choose XYZ key combo to bring about that cool looking move!! Also the graphics and sound are much much better... one thing which is worse compared to ETM is the cutscene scenario.. in PON we basically have the film footage very hastily edited and put together for effect while ETM had exclusive video footage..
Also Neo acquires more and more powers as the game goes on.. and towards the latter stages.. we can pull off some really awesome link combos.. where Neo thrashes 4-5 guys at a time!! One thing which irked me was that as soon as the "reloaded" architect scene got over.. we r pushed to the grand finale "Smith" fight.. sure "Revolutions" has almost nothing going on inside the Matrix. but the game guys could have put something here..
Overall.. very interesting game.. even though u already know the story.. it is worth playing just to see all those cool stunts which Neo does..
Score : 79 - dont miss it if u plugged into the Matrix!
Straight away the game introduces a novelty.. in choosing the game difficulty setting.. we are allowed to play the lift lobby scene and based on how well we play the difficulty setting is chosen!! COOL..
From this point on, the game follows the oh-so-familiar storyline of the movies.. allowing us to play all the interesting parts!! One major change from "Enter the Matrix" (ETM) is that the special moves are much better defined here.. we can actually choose XYZ key combo to bring about that cool looking move!! Also the graphics and sound are much much better... one thing which is worse compared to ETM is the cutscene scenario.. in PON we basically have the film footage very hastily edited and put together for effect while ETM had exclusive video footage..
Also Neo acquires more and more powers as the game goes on.. and towards the latter stages.. we can pull off some really awesome link combos.. where Neo thrashes 4-5 guys at a time!! One thing which irked me was that as soon as the "reloaded" architect scene got over.. we r pushed to the grand finale "Smith" fight.. sure "Revolutions" has almost nothing going on inside the Matrix. but the game guys could have put something here..
Overall.. very interesting game.. even though u already know the story.. it is worth playing just to see all those cool stunts which Neo does..
Score : 79 - dont miss it if u plugged into the Matrix!
And so we start again...
Not very long back.. there were almost no matches (cricket or otherwise) being played between India and Pakistan due to political reasons.. this in turn led to big value being placed on any such match which did take place.. so finally when we started playing each other on the sub-continent the marketing gurus took over and ensured that the potential mega-bucks were realised.
There is no doubt now that the entire cricket world is dependent on Asia, and India in particular for its revenue.. lot of recent events incl India dictating schedules being evidence of this.. the Aussies play the best cricket but wherever we turn, ad revenue is from India, so everyone wants more Indian matches!! This is also the reson why we are having so frequent tours of Pakistan.. and so few tours of the Windies!!
Another recent phenomenon on the rise is the so called "mental wars" before a series with evry other player sounding off their verbal abuse on their opponents.. as can be expected, the Aussies indulge in this activity heavily.. but India-Pak? Surprise.. surprise.. Shoaib says he is better prepared (forgot the World Cup - ur career almost ended there man), Afridi says Sehwag is the only real prob (so what abt Sachin, Dravid and Laxman - BTW is Afridi going to be in the playing 11?), Inzi says we have "plans", bouncy pitches, we will stop Sachin (man u r going to eat ur words).. of course, the Indians are also mouthing off these days - but atleast they are not tall claims.. but I say that Saurav Ganguly has the best chance to emerge as the dark horse.. to make his critics eat their words..
So who is better prepared? The Pakis actually murdered the English team who just came of a historical Ashes win.. while the Indians are continuously notching up very very competitive victories under their belt..
My prediction : based on sheer talent .. India shld win 2-1.. lets see how it unfolds!!
There is no doubt now that the entire cricket world is dependent on Asia, and India in particular for its revenue.. lot of recent events incl India dictating schedules being evidence of this.. the Aussies play the best cricket but wherever we turn, ad revenue is from India, so everyone wants more Indian matches!! This is also the reson why we are having so frequent tours of Pakistan.. and so few tours of the Windies!!
Another recent phenomenon on the rise is the so called "mental wars" before a series with evry other player sounding off their verbal abuse on their opponents.. as can be expected, the Aussies indulge in this activity heavily.. but India-Pak? Surprise.. surprise.. Shoaib says he is better prepared (forgot the World Cup - ur career almost ended there man), Afridi says Sehwag is the only real prob (so what abt Sachin, Dravid and Laxman - BTW is Afridi going to be in the playing 11?), Inzi says we have "plans", bouncy pitches, we will stop Sachin (man u r going to eat ur words).. of course, the Indians are also mouthing off these days - but atleast they are not tall claims.. but I say that Saurav Ganguly has the best chance to emerge as the dark horse.. to make his critics eat their words..
So who is better prepared? The Pakis actually murdered the English team who just came of a historical Ashes win.. while the Indians are continuously notching up very very competitive victories under their belt..
My prediction : based on sheer talent .. India shld win 2-1.. lets see how it unfolds!!
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