Reviews by Abhi

I liked the first season of the show a lot. It was an interesting idea, the characters were complex and the writing was good. After watching the second season, most of the main characters have started to grate on me, starting with Bill himself. They are petty, short sighted and frankly, plain stupid pretty often. The other half are assholes. Are people really like this? Maybe all the lies, cover-ups and suppressed jealousy do take their toll on good people, despite every attempt to feel normal and happy.

A man falls in love with the girl of his dreams but his ex-lover doesn't let go so easily and he ends up with a grotesquely disfigured face in the process. The rest of the movie is his quest to overcome his disfigurement. Sounds like a conventional against-all-odds kind of story, doesn't it? Well, it isn't. There are bizarre occurrences, paranoia, violence and murder. The movie examines the nature of memory and our dreams. Finally, it throws in a interesting twist in the drawn out and satisfying climax.

(If anyone cares, this was made into the mediocre 'Vanilla Sky' with Penelope Cruz reprising her role.)

Mediocre sci-fi thriller revolving around a murder investigation. With shades of 'Vanilla Sky' (or the much preferred Spanish original, 'Open Your Eyes'), the movie veers into bizarre territory involving the nature of human memory. The action sequences are intense and the acting is pretty good. Despite all this, the movie lacked any emotional impact though it was interesting.

Hayao Miyazaki's environmentalist streak is apparent again in this post-apocaplyptic action adventure. The young Princess Nausicaä searches for the cause of her land's suffering and teaches us a thing or two about saving our planet along the way.

Suspenseful and twisted detective drama movie set in 1960s Los Angeles. I am a big fan of detective movies and this is *the* best movie in this genre. A stellar cast (two of whom - Kevin Spacey and Russell Crowe - would win Best Actor Oscars later in the decade), brilliant direction coupled with outstanding set and costume design make this one the best movies ever made. It got swept aside at the Oscar's by Titanic but is a true masterpiece notwithstanding.

George Orwell's dark dystopia comes to the big screen. Richard Burton gives a magnificent performance and the rest of the cast isn't shabby either. Shot in the exact time frame Orwell set the book in. The world he imagined might not exist but his ideas and warnings remain as powerful as ever and even more relevant today.

An entertaining movie revolving around time-travel and the trouble one man gets into because of his accidental time traveling. The direction is very very good. If you can accept that the protagonist can travel back in time, the plot and the script are exceedingly clever. There's drama, suspense and a bit of dark humour in there as well.

Works with just the Wii remote and you don't even have to move your hand while playing. It's basic blackjack, so replay value is basically infinite, Blackjack has probably not changed since it was invented. The game adds 'achievements' which are milestones you achieve while playing like winning a number of hands on the trot or getting a certain sum of money in the bank. They don't add to or detract from the game. The only gripe I have is the sluggish dealer, wish there was an option to turn that off.

The control scheme for Super Smash Bros is excellent. You use the A key for a normal attack, B key for special attack. The nunchuk direction controller is used to move and it's direction also changes the type of your attack. It takes about 10 minutes to learn and gives you about 6 different moves. Nothing complicated like pressing half a dozen buttons in sequence. The control scheme has the hallmark of genius - simplicity.

The arenas are awesome, they can be sprawling as well as dynamic. The wealth of characters with varied abilities is also impressive. There is a story mode (in addition to the standard tournament mode) that I'm playing through and it seems to be fun as well. Nintendo never ceases to amaze me with the quality of their releases.

This is the first 'Death Cab for Cutie' album I've heard even though they've been popular for many years now. I heard 'I will possess your heart' on the Radio and decided to take the plunge, and I'm glad I did. The radio version of the song is actually edited to about half it's length and removes the awesome bass dominated instrumental intro to the song. It's the undisputed highlight of the album. The rest isn't shabby either. The album starts off strong and the first four songs are varied and brilliant. These guys have amazing song craft for an indie band. I guess they're not indie anymore since they're signed to a major label now.

The song writing is uniformly excellent. The slightly obsessive love song 'I will possess your heart' reminds me of the Police classic, 'Every breath you take'. 'No sunshine' is dark and bitter but set to peppy, swinging music. There's also the Springsteen style story-telling of 'Your New Twin Sized Bed'. The music is varied as well, highlighted by the use of Indian percussion instrument 'tabla' in 'Pity and fear'. It ends with the beautifully written 'The Ice Is Getting Thinner', an excellent song to round the album off.