All reviews - Movies (46) - TV Shows (14) - DVDs (11) - Books (21) - Music (32) - Games (17)

Underwhelming re-edit of TV series

Posted : 4 months, 2 weeks 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.

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Quite boring

Posted : 4 months, 2 weeks 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.

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Expected more than what I got

Posted : 4 months, 2 weeks 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.

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Thoughtful and thought provoking

Posted : 4 months, 3 weeks 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.

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Unsatisfying

Posted : 4 months, 3 weeks 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.

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Bonus disc is a hidden gem

Posted : 4 months, 3 weeks 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'.

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Face melting acoustic music!

Posted : 4 months, 3 weeks ago on 5 April 2008 03:25 (A review of These Cold Winds)

This local Seattle band describes their music as 'face melting acoustic music'. Their debut EP contains six excellent tracks, the standout song being 'Guilty Hands'.

They are a string-only band, no drummer accompanies them. However, one of them is pretty good at churning out vocalized beats in their concerts (none of that on the EP, unfortunately). They're only three years old and still developing but already are electric performers on stage along with being very skilled. To really break through, they need more quantity and quality in their songs to go with their virtuosity on the instruments.

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We take what we can get

Posted : 4 months, 3 weeks ago on 5 April 2008 11:04 (A review of Contraband)

So, Guns n Roses is dead because Axl Rose can't get off his ego high horse. To fill the gap, we have Velvet Revolver consisting of most of GnR with Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots on vocals.

These guys sound awesome, just awesome. The only problem is that they did not bother to write very many songs. Most of the songs on here are junk, miles away from the best songwriting Axl Rose could produce. He produced some junk as well, but we loved GnR for the great stuff.

Still, this gets four stars, just for sounding so great. The band still rocks and Slash's guitar still wails. We'll take what we can get.

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WTF??

Posted : 4 months, 4 weeks ago on 1 April 2008 11:47 (A review of Love Me If You Dare)

Both of them had to be in absolutely DIRE need of therapy.

Sophie and Julien play a bizarre game starting as kids where they try and one up each other, one that keeps increasing in intensity as they grow up. Refer to last paragraph.

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Still rocking after 34 years

Posted : 5 months ago on 30 March 2008 08:17 (A review of Magic)

It's hard not to compare any of Bruce Springsteen's new albums with his vast body of previous work. Does it measure up or not? Is he in decline or does he still have it? Which is why it takes a couple of listens to get to the songs on this album.

Compared to the rest of his work, this isn't the best. The production is too heavy handed on a few tracks and his voice only really shines when the production is scaled back, but it does shine like it always did. He's still a great storyteller, like he always was. He's still mixing the political and the personal, making a sweeping universal comment by exploring a personal story. I'll cut this short and say, he still 'has it'.

Another 34 years is unlikely, but at 58, he still rocks.

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