Reviews

Hikaru no Go is truly an amazing anime, with a unique and original storyline, which captures the hearts of it's viewers. The basic plot is as follows: Hikaru is a middle-school student who is found prying through some of his grandfather's antiques in order to find something valuable to sell to make up for his non-existent allowance (taken away from him because he failed his social studies test). He then finds an old Go board and having touched it, he begins to hear voices belonging to an ancient ghost who loves to play Go. From this point onwards, the ghost whose name is Sai, enters into Hikaru's consciousness and they sort of become one, making it impossible for hikaru to avoid Sai and vice-versa). *Although Hikaru can hear Sai's voice, nobody else can*. Sai then dedicates his efforts into persuading hikaru to let him play Go by using Hikaru as the one to place stones on the Go board on his behalf. The anime sort of shoots up from this point onwards and the plot begins to thicken. I will not say anymore ;) In general, the story underlying this anime is very gripping. By watching this show, you will be putting your emotions through a massive roller-coaster ride..u will feel happy, sad and angry at different time points throughout the show. I honestly recommend ALL anime lovers to watch this one..it is definitely in my top 10 list of anime and im sure it will end up being in yours too. It's like nothing you have ever seen before.. I rate Hikaru no Go 9/10 and recommend it to all anime fans..

Before I begin to discuss SF2V, I must first start this comment by saying that Capcom are legendary solely on the basis of the fact that they developed the best fighting game in the world; street fighter 2. The question now is, did this anime do justice to the original Street Fighter 2 arcade game? There is a part of me that wants to believe that it did. After all, SF2V is not bad at all. The art was quite impressive (resembling DBZ), the characters were well developed and the plot was interesting. For those of you who have not seen it yet, SF2V is an anime based on the game and the plot goes as follows: While Ryu is training in Japan, he receives a letter from his best friend Ken, containing a plane ticket to America and a letter saying "Come to America"..Ken. After giving some thought, Ryu decides to go to America to visit Ken. From then onwards, the adventure begins. Having encountered the skills of a warrior stronger than them (Guile), they both decide to travel the world together in search for warriors that have superior fighting skills. I will not say anything else in terms of the story..Coming back to the review, I enjoyed this anime quite a lot. Initially, I found it to be trite in some regards mostly due to the dialogue, but even though I still believe that SF2V is corny, at the same time I love it and would recommend it to all street fighter fans. To a certain extent, it did justice to the game quite well, but the game will always remain a symbol of animated perfection for me. I rate SF2V 7/10 and recommend it to all SF fanatics.

If I was to say that Bunty & Babli is the product of a genius, I would be telling a lie. However, if I were to say that B & B is utter nonsense, I would then again, be telling a lie. The truth according to how I see it is that B&B lies somewhere in the middle of this spectrum and can be described as an "adequate" movie. Rani mukherjee's acting performance is "adequate", just as "abhishek bachan's is, although the latter being slightly better than the former due to rani's slight over-acting performance in the "crying scene" when they first meet each other in the movie. Amitabh bachan was also "adequate" in his performance, although I thought there were times when his "bad acting" shined through. The parents were OK on both counts..

To those of you who do not know the story, Bunty & babli is a narration of 2 twenty-something year old male and female individualists who have a strong dislike for societal conventions. They have ambitions of their own, but are not taken seriously. They live in a small and impoverished town somewhere in north India which fails to complement their ambitions. One night, acknowledging that the only way to fulfil his dreams of becoming rich and famous is to escape from this claustrophobic town, Abhishekh bachan runs away from home. Co-incidentally, Rani mukherjee does the same because her parents were compelling her to marry against her will. Both embark on their own autonomous journeys, which eventually leads them to each other. Because both were in the exact same boat, they had several commonalities which allowed them to relate to each other, eventually spawning a question in both of their minds "how can we get money to go to Mumbai?". Abhishek had a desire to go to mumbai because he had a business proposition to discuss with potential investors, and Rani wanted to go to mumbai because she wanted to become a contestant in the miss India contest. Trusting their instincts, both decide to con a local man into giving them the money they needed to go to mumbai. They succeed and leave with 15,000 rupees. From this point onwards, they are known as Bunty & Babli (fake identities). However, as their needs become bigger and bigger as they walk their journey, their cons begin to develop both in terms of quality and quantity and eventually, they become "con artists". They become so commercialised that every newspaper begins to write about the mysterious duo. Then, they both fall in love with each other and get married..

Following this, somewhere near the interval of the movie, Amitabh bachan is introduced as a cunning police officer who embarks on a mission to catch bunty & babli. However, after several failed attempts to outsmart the duo, Amitabh realises that catching B&B is not as easy as he had anticipated. As a result, he accepts this as a challenge and vows to catch them at any cost.

In the meanwhile, B&B become so engaged in their acts of con that they fail to realise that they have become criminals. The movie then follows a cat and mouse game and in the midst of this, rani becomes pregnant with Abhishekh's child. This is the turning point of the movie because now, their priorities change and they both decide to give up this con-life, as the aftermath may affect their child. Ironically, amitabh bachan catches them at a time when they had repented for their sins, but unfortunately, nothing is to stop amitabh from bringing them to justice. Luckily with time, Amitabh develops a soft-spot for the trio (baby inclusive) and decides to let them free. Bunty and Babli go back to the small town where this story began and live normal lives.

The final segment of the movie begins with an unprecedented visit from Amitabh bachan. He hires the duo to solve a complicated police case, and they happily become con-artists once again; their task being to con criminals this time.

I would recommend this movie to be watched on a Saturday night, when you do not really have anything important to do. However, it isn't a total waste of 2.5 hours.

I rate B&B 6/10

"Gayab", as it was made, was a reasonably well-crafted piece of work, but I believe that it could have reached higher lengths, had the writer spent a little more time planning the movie. What I liked about this movie was that it used appropriate camera angles, and the characters were well developed (Tusaar did a good job with his acting which was rather surprising) and finally, the initial theme was great. As the movie starts, it succeeds in compelling its viewers into experiencing an interesting series of events (i.e. the movie being about a salesman who is ignored by his parents, harassed by peers, feels inadequate etc etc). The climax of this movie for me was when he becomes invisible. I felt that this was executed very well in the movie. However, the downfall of the movie was the ending. In my opinion, this would have been a better version of the movie:

1.... Tusaar is a middle-classed salesman who hates his job and hates his life even more.

2..... He has been ignored by his parents ever since he was a kid, and although he is now 25 years old, nothing has changed.

3..... He does not have any true friends, as all the kids in his neighbourhood make fun of him, making him feel even more inadequate and complexed.

4..... The only thing he finds to be worthwhile in his life is a girl who he often fantasizes about. He observes her everyday from his window without her acknowledgement. He loves her.

5..... One evening, having been frustrated the entire day as usual, he prays to God to make him invisible.

6. He turns invisible. And begins to live his life the way he wants to, free from societal conventions.

7...... As he continues to live like this (i.e. being invisible), he begins to inadvertently embark on acts of crime, as a quest to accomplish his dream (i.e. the girl he loves). However, as he further indulges in crime, the more his crimes get noticed by the police, which leads to a cat and mouse game between the police and tusaar.

8..... Eventually, under the influence of the girl he loves, tusaar decides to give himself to the police and he is taken to prison and sentenced to be hanged.

9..... Tusaar is hanged.

10..... Tusaar wakes up and realises that whatever happened was all in his mind. It was an escape from his mundane reality. He was not invisible, neither did he ever get to talk to the girl he loves, neither was he brave enough to accept being hanged.. he was plain old himself.

The movie should have ended here...

If the movie was shot this way, I believe it would have been much better because it's message would be that we all are victims of societal conventions and fail to live the way we want to live because we allow society to control our lives.

Anyway, just my opinion...nothing else. I rate this movie a 6 however, if it was shot the way i wanted it to be shot, i would have given it a 8

Thanks for reading

When I first rented out American desi, I expected it to be an excellent movie. The commercials portrayed the movie as being excellent, so I made the mistake of watching the movie with a pre-defined perception of it being awesome. But when I watched it, I was not impressed. Here is my critical analysis:

1. Comedy Components: 6/10 There were some parts of the movie that were quite funny. For example, when that Indian T.A urinated in M.C Hammer's (or at least his re-incarnation's)sneaker. That made me chuckle for half a dozen seconds or so. Also, when they went to the undergrad party and that geeky engineering student began talking about how difficult it would be to meet the curve. Aside from these two scenes, I was not amused. The rest of the scenes were average. Because the rare well performed comedy elements were overshadowed by an abundance of average comedy scenes, I give the comedy aspect of the movie a rating of 6/10.

2. Acting Performances: 6/10 Lets face it people. The acting was not brilliant. The girl who meets and falls in love with the American wannabe (Kris - or whatever the main star of the movie was called) unintentionally revealed several flaws in the essence of her acting performance. Her lack of skills shined throughout the movie. Also, this Kris dude wasn't brilliant. His friends however, did a good performance which is why i am rating this aspect of the movie a 6/10.

3. Originality: 4/10 This movie was far from original in its theme, and the way it was directed as a whole. There was nothing new to learn about the conflicts between the eastern and western cultures that exist today. Such reality has been exhaustively exploited in past movies. Overall, there was very little originality in the movie.

4. Extent to which the movie was realistic: 3/10 There were several unrealistic scenes from the movie which crated flaws in the movie. The inability of fara's parents to see that salem was dressed up as a girl when he was caught in her bedroom, the fact that one minute fara was wearing provocative clothes and the next minute she was professing to be a practicing Muslim by wearing a veil in the mosque, the unrealistic fight at the end of the movie etc.

Overall rating as far as i am concerned = 6+6+4+3/4 = ~ 5/10.

If you guys want to watch good comedy with a similar theme, consider watching east is east. That is a masterpiece.

I see everything around me, but nothing that really matters.

K-Pax explores the lives of a doctor (jeff bridges) and patient (kevin spacey) who meet one another for the first time when the patient is brought into the psychiatric institute of Manhattan due to his claims of being an alien from the planet K-Pax, belonging to the constellation lyra. Upon meeting each other face to face, the alien patient known as "prot" is psycho-analysed by the doctor known as Dr Powell, who is intent on proving to prot that his claims of coming from a distant planet are nothing more than a result of his insanity or false delusions. However, prot is not an ordinary patient. First off, he is much more intelligent than Dr Powell is and most important of all, he is convincing in what he claims to be and where he claims to come from. After a few sessions of psycho-analysing, Dr Powell is no longer sure what to believe in and what not to believe in. But there is one way to find out once and for all..Prot claims that he will be beaming back to K-Pax on July the 25th and he will be able to take one person from the hospital with him..The ultimate testament to his claims lies here..if he goes back to k-pax, then he was indeed an alien..if not, then he is just an ordinary human being exhibiting confirmed signs of delusionary behaviour.. But when the time comes, does he succeed even if his body is lying on the floor unconscious when he should have gone??? Judging from what i have read in this forum, there seems to be some unnecessary controversy as to whether or not prot was an alien..The answer is simple..yes! he was an alien...the reasons are as follows:

1. His ability to see wavelengths of light up to 300 angstroms...impossible for a human being.. 2. His astounding level of knowledge and understanding of the planetary systems in the constellation lyra..something which even the best astrophysicists failed to understand?? 3. His ability to accurately interpret Dr Powell's dog's barking sounds??? 4. His ability to add spirit to the previously pesimistic hospital environment by curing the patients by making them cure themselves??? 5. And last but not least, His ability to beam back to K-Pax..This is evidenced by the fact that bess was missing from the hospital..she could not have escaped because she was a solitary patient who never had a history of escape attempts or regulatory infractions..why would she escape at the same time when prot was heading back to k-pax????..

Although it is clear that prot was an alien, this is not the focal point of the movie.. This movie is about change..it is about making a new start with the people we love but were never able to do so before..it is about doing what we "believe" is right and acknowledging that this is the only time we have to make ammendments because the mistakes we make in life will be repeated forever...its about understanding our duties in our world and taking liability for them...

Hope this helped guys...

I rate this movie a 7..

I started watching DBZ about 3 years ago because of my 2 nephews who were DBZ fanatics at that time and probably are even more fanatic about it today. As I began to keep up with the episodes,i began to understand that beyond all the fighting, talking and humor depicted in the show, the focal point of the show is something more intangible. It gives us some insight about ourselves in a spiritual way. The force fields surrounding the saiyans for example can be interpreted as a symbol of our own possible extrinsic electrical field,instigated as a result of our more deep rooted soul. I personally can sense an element of spirituality in the show, especially just before fights take place. It is almost as if the bad vibes and good vibes can be sensed from the characters. Aside from this, the show also emphasises on wisdom vs arrogance, knowledge vs ignorance and above all, good vs evil. This is one animated show that can be happily watched by both children's and adults..if you haven't yet started watching DBZ, i think you should consider watching it.. the most common complaint about this show from viewers is that it takes 2 or 3 episodes for the fight to excel..rather than seeing this as a bad thing, i rather see it as insightful because the reason behind why the fights are so slow is that the fighters tend to spend time understanding each other by exercising their curiosities towards each other..this adds that extra energy into the fight when it begins to take its course..

I rate DBZ 7.5/10

Donnie Darko should be a great experience for viewers who look for originality, entertainment, obscurity, eccentricities, romance, horror, intense thrill, all in a single movie, because Donnie darko successfully provides all. The most beautiful aspect of this movie however, is that it goes beyond the conventional film-viewing dimensionality. Usually, movies are able to be interpreted by the viewers based on everything that is provided in the movie. Therefore, after watching the movie several times, the viewer may be able to fully understand what the movie is about because every little fundamentally important detail is within the remits of the movie. Donnie Darko transcends beyond this because the movie itself is a mere tool illustrating the events that take place in the movie, with the rest of the information being somewhere beyond the movie. This gives the viewer a feeling of being somewhere in between the land and the sky. The info which is not provided in the movie is very important if one is to understand DD because it ties together the events shown in the movie and helps one to construct their own perception of its ultimate reality.

THIS IS FOR THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE SEEN DD AND CANNOT EXPLAIN IT. It is not my style to give out spoilers. Therefore, although i have understood DD completely, I will not make an attempt to explain it. There are however, a few steps which will help you to make more sense of the movie: 1. Watch the movie once. 2. Straight after watching the movie, go to www.donniedarko.com and complete the website (it should take you no more than 1 hour). The website has some very important information which will be slowly retrieved after solving basic puzzles and passwords to do with the movie. Thats why it is important to watch the movie at least once to view the website. 3. After going through the website, Construct your theory of the movie either mentally or on paper. 4. Watch the movie again (hopefully, you will be uttering "ahaaa" after every 10 minutes of the movie). 5. Watch the directors cut version of Donnie Darko. 6. Watch DD for the third time. BINGO. It will all fall into place for you.

Overall, I would have to say that DD is a one-of-a-kind movie which charmingly breaks the boundaries of conventionality to yield a very intriguing product that will stay with you in your conscious mind upon solving it and weeks later will channel itself through to your sub-conscious mind.

Rating For Donnie Darko = 10/10