People
Signup
Login
Movies
TV Shows
DVDs
Music
Books
Games
Profile
Reviews by abhijeet
Sharp witted Star Wars spoof
Posted : 8 months, 3 weeks ago on 19 April 2008 02:05
(A review of Robot Chicken: Star Wars)Star Wars will always have a special place in movie history. That makes it a target for all kinds of spoofs, it's almost a cottage industry. It takes something special to stand out of the crowd. I was surprised to learn that Seth Green co-wrote the material. He's a very talented comic writer.  0 comments, Reply to this entry
Engaging in some parts, mostly just blah
Posted : 8 months, 3 weeks ago on 18 April 2008 04:42
(A review of The Thomas Crown Affair)The movie has some clever and engaging parts. For most of it, it's dull, the acting is mediocre and it's just not very interesting. I really wanted to like it but by the time it ended, I was glad it did. Maybe the original is better, I've certainly heard better things about it. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Oh, what a voice!
Posted : 8 months, 3 weeks ago on 17 April 2008 01:36
(A review of Rockferry)She sounds like the saner younger sister of Amy Winehouse, except Duffy is Welsh, not English. She has a beautiful voice, deep and rich. The debut album is awesome pop music, tinged with a little 60s style soul. The songwriting is varied and the production is immaculate. The album just *sounds* so great. The best new album of the year so far. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Los Angeles never looked so good
Posted : 8 months, 4 weeks ago on 16 April 2008 12:17
(A review of Blade Runner)Ridley Scott's imagining of a dark, multicultural and ugly/beautiful Los Angeles in a dystopic 21st century world is brilliant, right from the very first scene. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Underwhelming re-edit of TV series
Posted : 9 months ago on 14 April 2008 07:10
(A review of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - The Laughing Man)The OVA is a re-cut version of the first season of 'Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex' anime series that follows the major story arc of the series about the hacker, 'Laughing Man' and his motives. The editing cannot hide the disjointed nature of the story, which is inevitable given that almost all the footage is from the original episodes which had their individual emotional crescendos. Unfortunately, the character development has been almost completely edited out of the movie since those episodes generally did not form part of the main story arc. All in all, it's a poor substitute for watching the original anime series and works only as a recap of the main plot, rather than something that can stand on it's own. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Quite boring
Posted : 9 months ago on 13 April 2008 12:44
(A review of The Unbearable Lightness of Being)The book was a dry read but what the movie also lacks is most of the intellectually engaging parts. So it is interesting at times but for the most part is dry and un-engaging on an emotional level. Good acting cannot save this either. It reminds me of 2001: A Space Odyssey, in that the movie was hard to completely understand without having read the book. However, 2001 was still a very good movie. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Expected more than what I got
Posted : 9 months ago on 12 April 2008 02:03
(A review of Smart People)The premise of the movie isn't the most original. Dennis Quaid plays a widowed professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He is pompous, acerbic and having a hard time moving on from the death of his wife. He doesn't have much of a relationship with his son and his daughter is an isolated teenager who tries very hard to fill the gaps in their life by being the perfect housekeeper of sorts. The characters in the movie are 'smart people', smart as in intellectual and brainy, but not very good at the social lubrication that is very much a part of everyday life. This makes them isolated and lonely. Life forces some changes on them and brings in new people into their lives. What I really like about the movie is that none of these characters have any epiphanies or life changing revelations and suddenly become 'better' people. The characters gently come out of their shells and try to become happier people. The movie traces the several months of the story with good humor without going overboard and the acting is top notch. However.... I liked the premise so much that by the midway point, I was expecting a little more than the rushed climax. It was a little incongruous considering the languid pace of the rest of the movie. So, I came away a little disappointed. 'Smart People' is a mostly smart movie. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Thoughtful and thought provoking
Posted : 9 months, 1 week ago on 7 April 2008 01:24
(A review of The Left Hand of Darkness)From the summary of the book: "On the planet Winter, there is no gender. The Gethenians can become male of female during each mating cycle, and that is something other cultures find incomprehensible. The Ekumen of Known Worlds has sent an ethnologist to study the inhabitants of this forbidding, ice bound world..." This book speaks at different levels. It is a tale of politics and war. It is a tale of contact between two species, It is also a commentary on gender and gender roles. Being science fiction, it talks about technology and other scientific aspects of the tale such as biology and evolution as well. There is no romanticising of any of these aspects in the book, which makes it something less than a breezy read. Le Guin takes her time to flesh out the landscape and characters (the landscape could very well be considered a character in it's own right). However, the same quality also makes it intelligent and thought provoking. Unsurprisingly, the last quarter of the book is the most rewarding as the story rushes to a climax. Even in that, it never sacrifices the harshness of the writing, one that edges on brutality. The harshness is reflected in the permanent winter of the planet where the story is set. This is what all great science fiction should aspire to be. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Unsatisfying
Posted : 9 months, 1 week ago on 6 April 2008 02:49
(A review of And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen...)Vague plot and poorly fleshed out end left me unsatisfied. Seems like most of the movie was either a dream or a red herring. With the cast, production values and a pretty decent idea for a plot, they could and should have done much better than this. 1 comments, Reply to this entry
Bonus disc is a hidden gem
Posted : 9 months, 1 week ago on 6 April 2008 02:29
(A review of The Essential Bruce Springsteen)The third bonus disc should be called the third disc of the set and packaged with every box of this release. It's filled with some absolute gems that I've not heard anywhere else, particularly 'Trapped', 'Missing', 'Lift me up' and 'Code of Silence'. Oh, and for the casual fan, this is a generally a better intro to Springsteen than the misleadingly named 'Greatest Hits'. Unfortunately, this misses some of the gems from that album, especially 'Secret Garden' (which was a new song on that one) and to a lesser extent, 'Better Days'. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
|
