no no, he's not off moving to Birmingham, however if he really wanted to go there to hear the soothing sirens, he could just drive up. Thas right, upon merely second attempt (i took a whopping six pack), this tall youngster has passed his driving test. Bravo Ozwin, you've managed to make me like a fool once again, bravo.. hehe. Though in fairness at least we both know how to drive stick, (that is shift gears), Demon was telling me its standard in the US to only drive automatics. Well talking of gears, (note the strenuous link here, to try and make some connection that leads to this) You can really tell a Gear of War when you meet one, just don't go driving off to 'nam or summin, without telling anyone, there is much sand there & little food (perhaps??!!)
November 2006 Archives
Too many video games can lead to addiction... but don't worry, it is not necessarily a bad thing, scientists have discovered. Getting hooked on playing online games can improve hand-to-eye co-ordination, reaction time and brain speed as well as helping hospital patients forget about their pain. 'Many gamers play excessively and display few negative consequences,' said Professor Mark Griffiths, who oversaw the research at Nottingham Trent University.
In the survey of 7,069 gamers – most were men aged around 21 – one in nine who played for long periods showed signs of addiction. The remaining gamers, who played less frequently and for shorter periods, displayed fewer signs of withdrawal symptoms and cravings, said Prof Griffiths last night in a lecture that was part of the British Science Museum's Game On exhibition.
Source: Metro
It wouldn't surprise me at all if this 'research' was funded by the blu-ray/hd rivals in a one-time battle against the non-gamer world so that both their profits could increase. Kinda like those instances where Blade and the Vampires joined hands to fight the new oober-vampire breed, or maybe i'm talking too much and should start gaming, or do some work. Yea, that was it, that's what I'm meant to be doing. Kool ...
Sometimes days just go well, today for example, I woke up at 6 had a shower, had a cup of tea, made a decent salad mix, with cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, chopped lettuce, a sprinkle of black pepper & salt, which I then used as filling with slices of cheddar cheese to make sandwiches to take in to work. I then had a shave, synchronised my iPod so that I had the most recent podcasts setup, washed the dishes and set off to work (on time). I get the 08:22 Haslemere train, calling at Woking and a bunch of other places before reaching its final destination of Haslemere. I get of at Woking. the time is 08:46 and I have completed the Soduku puzzle in the free Metro newspaper and read the comic strips & horoscopes.
Getting in I realise that Lestat wouldn't be in until 1 as he was on the uber-late shifts, this meant any FTW work that came in before 1 was directly assigned to me. I then trawled through the 1600 odd emails that were in my Inbox and the 20 odd sent directly to me, thankfully no issues required urgent attention. At this point I realised my team leader was still on holiday (away for a weekend in Madrid) and Ricky Bobby who sits two seats down from me was on holiday too, Speadie (now 23) was on the London shift, I knew this as it was one of the many emails I had now deleted. So, since the remainder of the team are busy, have a power complex or are plain lazy, *shrugs*, I know nobody else will so I grab the intra-day checks and return to my desk realising that all the seats surrounding my comfy windows-seat corner are empty. Awesome!
Since half my team was absent I took on more checks than I usually would and this got past my usual lunchtime of 12:30 without caring too much, When Lestat is on uber-lates, it usually pisses me off because I can't go on lunch until he gets in, since we're the only 2 FTW specialists, one must be there at all times they say. (its total crap really, if things went out of shape and all hell broke loose, neither of us would be able to do anything, besides the FTW always works. The only time it doesn't work is if you're being stupid or you're screwing with it, neither of which is recommended. - but all that said if it makes someone feel they have some backup plan with one of us there, so be it).
I see an email telling me he's going to be late due to train difficulties, followed by a discussion thread of emails covering whether there were any train issues or had he just slept in. Like it really mattered. Normally I'd be a little disapproving if he was late on a late shift due to my head ready to pop and me wanting to get out, not today though, It's okay, I don't feel the need to get out into the open to feel free.
13:15, Lestat arrives and I have a moment of realisation that I am actually hungry & for a change, I have food. I get myself a can of Five Alive (am avoiding fizzy drinks) and a can of Coke Zero for the Vampire. Open up my sandwiches & dig in, the vampire comments that my vegetarian sandwich looks well made - I look at him surprised as all the salad is falling out of the sides.
14:30, finally I deide to nip out for a half hour, getting myself a Grande Xtra-shot Latte from Starbucks, using my recently acquired Starbucks card ofcourse. My balance is 6.10 after this transaction.
15:00, i come back, do some of those things they pay me for *chuckle*, I also have a chat with Bulky Bob about soundcards with optical outputs, iPods, music keyboards, Gears of War on the xbox & recommend Call of Duty 3 to him for possibly the millionth time. He had been on the early 6am shift and is ready to go home, before I know it the time is 17:00 and so am I.
I get a train back listening to the Halloween Ricky Gervais podcast (numero uno on iTunes podcasts & free, so get it if you haven't already), I'm looked at by random people as I fall into hysterics every few minutes. I get off the train and wonder whether to go catch the 17:40 showing of Hollywoodland .. seeing as I could have got a train 6 minutes earlier had I tried and it is 17:40 now, I decide to refrain and hold that venture for another day, so I go home & hit Gears of War for an hour, Charlie joins me on xboxlive and we shoot some aliens and say things like Sweeet and Kickass as we watch each others backs like true soldiers of fortune.
19:00, Charlie tells me the dead farmer is waiting outside and that he is going to the gym, being inspired I do the same, I do a 45 minute run on the treadmill and listen to the Ricky Gervais Thanks Giving Podcast - also free, been available 4 days now. I hangout in the sauna for 10 minutes and then go for a swim, shower up & drive back home listening to the Don soundtrack once fully thrpugh the journey there and back.
21:00, Could check my blog and see if anyone has commented, could play on the xbox again, nope, I decide on making a curry to take into work tomorrow, Soya Mince, Potatoes and Peas. I finish the remainder of Cherry tomatoes in the process too. Cumin, Coriander, Cloves, Chilli, Turmeric, Pepper, Salt, Cinnamon, more Chilli - turns out when I can be bothered I do make a decent curry.
21:45, I decide the curry would go well with Khichdi (a rice and split lentil dish), so throw on the pressure cooker and get that done. I take a small sample with the curry and I am overly impresssed with my cooking, usually its plain crap, but today with some patience I've done a damned good job, I treat myself to an innocent yoghurt smoothie, prepare my packed lunch for tomoroow and at about 23:00 after washing all the dishes I write this huge pointless post about my supposedly perfect day. Next time I'll do a post on a crappy day for y'all to compare and contrast with.
-- this last paragraph is for the Demon pedantic, feel free to ignore if you don't fir the bill --
It did all happen & it has been a very good day however I guess I did lie about the perfect part, since perfect would mean there would be no room for improvement, but there always is really isn't there? :)
Silent Salutes'
_ram-jaane
Well there you have it, only a while back were we celebrating the birthday of that psychotic scottish speadie ickle one and now she's turned 23. After the viewing of Pan's Labyrinth which had that Alice in Wonderland feel about it I tell you this, if Alison ever was that innocent little Alice at some point .. no more.. see for yourself...
Laberinto del Fauno, El
(Pan's Labyrinth - more acccurately Labyrinth of Fauno)
UK Rated: 15
Runtime: 119min 31secs
Tagline:Innocence Has A Power Evil Cannot Imagine.
Written & Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Plot Outline
"Pan's Labyrinth" is the story of a young girl that travels with her mother and adoptive father to a rural area up North in Spain, 1944. After Franco´s victory. The girl lives in an imaginary world of her own creation and faces the real world with much chagrin. Post-war Fascist repression is at its height in rural Spain and the girl must come to terms with that through a fable of her own.
Overall Impressions:
Having seen the trailer I expected this to be a complex fairy tale of much special effects and aimed a little more at the children within adults. Partly I was right - where I was wrong is that the fairy tale was not as in-depth as I had imagined & this is a plus. The visuals are stunning and what I feared of overuse of effects, thankfully is not the case, in fact quite the contrary. There are places were the effects are subtle and it works a charm.
Beneath the fairy tale we can also see the pain that causes the imagination of the child to remain within their own fairy tales, the pains and sadness of the civil war is clear and the way the two layers interweave is a stroke of penning genius. There are moments that remind me of classics like Oliver Twist and Alice in Wonderland, but with both the mentioned being masterpieces - clearly this is no bad thing.
If in mood for a magical & deep film, thoroughly recommended (7 out of 10)
 DHOOM:2' - UK Rated: 12A - Runtime: 151min 45secs - Tagline:Back in Action |
Plot Summary
Ali's [Uday Chopra] dream of becoming a police officer has come true. He is now ACP Jai Dixit's [Abhishek Bachchan] right hand man. Together, they are trying to keep a tight leash on the crime in India. Little do they know what they are going to be up against.
Enter Mr. A [Hrithik Roshan]. A hi-tech international thief. After pulling off a series of impossible heists all over the world, his next target is Mumbai, India. The case is given to ACP Jai and Ali. Helping them put the pieces of the puzzle together is ACP Shonali Bose [Bipasha Basu], Jai's college mate, now a police officer in her own right. For the last two years, Shonali has been tracking these amazing thefts and is now an expert on this thief, who no one has seen. Once in Mumbai, Mr. A finds his match in Sunehri [Aishwarya Rai], a petty yet clever thief. She makes him an offer he finds very hard to refuse. A partnership! Aryan gives it some though and chooses to accept. And so the game begins, a game of cat and mouse, a game of good v/s bad.
Music:
Listening to the soundtrack before the film, in honesty with the original Dhoom soundtrack to compare to, it didn't really capture me - the only plus was hearing the Dhoom theme music again, That said, Krazy Kiya Re manages to etch into my memory as I find myself humming it the following few days. The rest held little to no impact on me.
'Dhoom Again' as the opening credits picturised on Hrithik is superb and watching it I can revoke the above statement with regards to it. Thankfully it falls inro the category where once in a while its the visual to a song that makes it so much more than its audio avtar. Bravo to the choreography of Shiamak Davar, definitely one to watch out for.
The same once more with 'Krazy Kiya Re' picturised on Aishwarya Rai, this time it is Vaibhavi Merchant's choreography that makes her sizzle on the silver screen much to contrast with her most recent appearance as Umrao Jaan, this one shows that she certainly isn't limited to being glamorous in traditional attire.
'Touch Me' is just plain annoying, plain passable, in that you don't remember it for its audio, but thankfully the narrative is moving along as you watch it so the time has not been a total waste. 'My Name is Ali' resembling 'Dilbara' from the orginal Dhoom picturised on Uday Chopra, again passable, less irritating.
And then we have the surprise number 'Dil Laga Na', its just hard not to tap your feet to it and enjoy how colourful it is, even though from the narrative perspective - totally pointless. Going back to the soundtrack after having seen the film, 3 out of 5 are now likable which isn't bad going.
Review
Right from the word GO as we see the start of the film, Hrithik's first heist in Namibia; the robbing of a crown from a moving train to his next target (robbing a precious diamond from a museum in Mumbai) to the theft in Jamnagar where Hrithik and Aish come face to face for the first time, the film sets the mood. These thieves mean business and that they are ultra cool ding what they do.
That said, what worked for Dhoom was the fact that the cat and mouse chase seemed intense. In this sequel I found no real such tension. The thieves here were far cleverer than the cops leaving them miles behind at every step. Its only at intermission point that you feel the cops may have an upper hand, and even if you study that carefully afterwards, its a huge screwup on the cop's part.
Also, Abhishek was cool in Dhoom, whatever happened here? They managed to maintain Ali's character with the dreams of him his wife his many children and his motorbike, but Jai no longer is clean shaven, no longer wears cool shades, no longer really intimadates Ali or anyone else for that matter.
If the first hour focuses on the cat-n-mouse game, the second hour changes tracks as it transforms into the love story. This is no bad thing since the scenes between Uday and Bipasha #2 are cute, the ones between Hrithik and Ash build up slowly and are integral to the overall crux of the climax.
The final showdown seemed a little out of pace, after the huge gaps between the cat and mouse, when this super-thief manages to get away clean each and every time, how come this time there is a chase and they come face to face, (would it be because we've hit the pre-climax and its been 2 hours already??) .. but this is forgivable I suppose.
The one and only reason is the interweaved scenes of the intense relationship between Sunehri and Mr. A which are well penned and executed superbly that it outshines the blemishes to quite an extent.
Performances:
Just as director Sanjay Gadhvi recently said on a live chat, the USP (universal selling point) of this flick is the chemistry between Hrithik and Aish' and he's absolutely right. Can not fault these two. I personally am a little unsure about the tanned look but - who am i to judge?
Uday Chopra plays the comic relief & slightly annoying Ali to the Tee just as he did in the first, I wouldn't have thought I'd have to say this but its a shame how small a part he actually got in this. Perhaps he should see to not taking the Salman Khan route of rippping up his shirt at every opportunity though.
Rimi Sen is merely there for the continuity factor I guess, her small bitpart as the pregnant wife of Jai reflects continuity & nothing else, since we see no chemistry, in fact we are led to believe there is more chemistry between Shonali and Jai as opposed to this husband and wife pair.
Bipasha is just about okay as Shonali (the cop), but is livelier as the twin sister Monali and Ali's love interest, both pointless characters in my opinion and so its no surprise the actress has little scope to excel.
Overall Impressions
The plusses: From the deserts of Namibia to the backwaters of Goa, the mean streets of Mumbai and the ancient forts of Rajasthan and finally to Rio, Brazil, the locales are stunning. The performances are top-notch as far as their scope can be.
The negatives: The writing. The heroes Jai and Ali are rellegated to the back seat for most of this. Its simply a showcase for Hrithik to be cool.
Do the plusses outweigh the negtives??
I'm not so sure. I would say, if this is your first hindi flick, know that there are better ones out there. So ..sure go watch it, its a decent enough brainless action flick of the john woo ilk - just don't expect more than that, else you're likely to be disappointed. 6 out of 10
A snippet of another review that I agreed with:
Hrithik's casting as the antagonist can be accurately called a masterstroke. He's the actual star of DHOOM 2, the real scene stealer. In fact, you can't imagine any other actor enacting the cool robber with such precision. If there's anyone who's bound to benefit the maximum from DHOOM 2, it's Hrithik. ~ IndiaFM
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-14-71-bn-49-en.html
If it says no region protection & PAL with a green tick, it will work in UK … I ordered Splinter Cell: Double Agent (works fine, no problems, delivered within a week, shipping under two quid). No random asian writing on the cover or in game. Looks good all-round. There is no UK classification saying this isn’t suitable for children under 15 but you probably won’t miss that too much.
PAL is the UK standard, but most newer TV’s these days can handle NTSC anyway, if you are using a PC monitor this shouldn’t even be an issue. Main thing to look for is the ‘No Region Protection’
For those suckers that have xbox 360 games & no console ... (yep Demon) .. Shame on you!!!
Okay, so I finished this book like in a week, which is really fast for me, I mean it took me over 4 years to finish a book called the 4th hand, and then there is 'Kafka on the Shore' which I need to go back to at some point, only got 2 or 3 chapters left, but its been almost a year.
Overall, pretty damned impressed I must say. It has a very Usual Suspects feel about it. Smart-ass focker getting interviewed by some professional, but thing aren't all they seem. Tis certainly one I'd recommend.
Casino Royale ' - UK Rated: 12A
Runtime: 144in 7secs
Plot Outline
Casino Royale introduces James Bond before he holds his license to kill. But Bond is no less dangerous, and with two professional assassinations in quick succession, he is elevated to '00' status. Secret Service intelligence reveals that Le Chiffre is planning to raise money in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro at Le Casino Royale. MI6 assigns 007 to play against him, knowing that if Le Chiffre loses, it will destroy his organization.
Overall Impressions:
After Batman Begins, Smallville and Don - the Chase Begins again ... The trend of remakes and reintroducing old iconic figures for a newer generation continues as Bond Begins Again. With this beginning the big question people are asking is if a blonde Daniel Craig can fit the shoes of the Licensed to kill agent 007? In my opinion, "Yes" is the short and simple answer. At no point did I feel he did any injustice to the part, if that isn't a good sign, what is?
So here he is 40 years and 20 movies later in his first days working for the Agency. Going back to basics will probably do this franchise a lot of good. The women were stunning, the action superb, the stunts, all nerve capturing stuff, the gadgets high tech but believable unlike some previous instances (remember the invisible car?).
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the film, though I had a slight disapproval of the lack of bond-theme in the background, to my glee it was played right in the final scene where we see recent starter at the Double-O status become the 'Bond .. James Bond' that we all know so well. It was a great moment - already looking forward to Bond 22 :)
Later in the evening I got a message on my fone:
"Where can we learn this free-running thing then?" ~ Demon
Best Quote: -- in response to shaken or stirred sir?
Does it really look like I give a damned? (7.0 out of 10)
Following a near fatal overdose of painkillers, Daniel Fletcher is resuscitated in a Los Angeles emergency room and detained for psychiatric evaluation. Through a series of questions and tests, the psychiatrist must ascertain whether the patient intended to kill himself, or whether he can walk free. What the psychiatrist doesn't know is that 'Daniel Fletcher' is actually John - Johnny - Dolan Vincent, a brilliant young forger who continually changes his identity to save himself from a lifetime of incarceration. Johnny has done such assessments before - many, many times. As he creates an elaborate bluff for the evaluator, Johnny reveals the true story of his traumatic past - a broken family, descent into the sinister world of forgers and criminals, and his one chance of salvation in the beautiful and elusive Molly. But time is running out; as his underworld clients lose patience and the psychiatrist's net closes around him, Johnny has to negotiate the escape act of his life.
Chapter Eleven
Maybe you're a woman and God was too good to you, and people - men pay serious cash to look at you. Sometimes when you're naked, sometimes not. Sometimes you know it, sometimes you don't. Maybe you smiled at one of them while serving cocktails or waiting for an elevator and now he knows where you live, where you work, your phone number, and your cat went missing a week ago, and the police tell you that the note saying I want to take you with me to the afterlife doesn't implicitly threaten you and anyway, you don't have any proof that he wrote it. So you have to make what you need, whatever papers or documents to say who you want to be. Just don't expect thm to stand up to scrutiny unless you're good. I'm good.
The Contortionist's Handbook is the debut of writer Craig Clevenger and I thoroughly recommend it. Chuck Palahnluk, the writer of Fight Club said "I swear to God this is the best book I have read in easily five years. Easily. Maybe ten years". Irvine Welsh, the writer of Trainspotting said "One of the most interesting writers to emerge in years. This book deserves to be massive.". Richard Kelly, the director of Donnie Darko said "An extraordinary debut. Craig Clevenger has crafted an unforgettable anti-hero"
Just doing a bit of research for this post I realise there is a possibility that a movie adaptation is already in the works. Good stuff, wonder who they'd cast?? .. I say possibility because the iMDB states nothing under Richard Kelly's name about this.
Though from an interview with him at movies.about.com:
I heard you'll be 'supervising' the adaptation of “The Contortionist's Handbook.”
Yeah, I'm probably not going to be doing the adaptation myself. It's a matter of having the time. We would like to get a draft sooner rather than later. I'm excited, actually, to work with another writer, but I'll be very involved.
Who is the writer?
We haven't decided yet. We're still searching.
Being a fan of the "caffeine high" and the corporate providers of it, naturally I subscribed myself to what the average person may call a cheap gimmick. The new "Starbucks card" is a slick looking credit card sized 'card' (made of plastic). The great feature of the card is that you can top it up with ChiChing $$$ and then use the card as opposed to cash to pay for your caffeine fix uh, coffee.
Hmmmm ..Caffeine - a white, crystalline, bitter alkaloid, C8H10N4O2, usually derived from coffee or tea: used in medicine chiefly as a nervous system stimulant.
You can also register your card online at starbucks.co.uk and check your balance at any point you like, the resgistering process allows you to subscribe to (or not) what the average person may call junk mail or in some instances 'spam', but really its simply a way for the corporation to make a personal connection with the average joe, with advertisements, special offers that save you money as long as you spend enough. This is NOT a gimmick, the corporations are offering us a supporting hand, who are we to decline them?
Breaking and Entering' - UK Rated: 15
Runtime: 118min 37secs
Tagline:Love is no ordinary crime
Plot Outline
A Landscape Architect (Jude Law)'s dealings with a young thief cause him to re-evaluate his life.
The story follows Will (Jude Law), an architect who lives with Liv (Robin Wright Penn), a documentarian and her behaviorally challenged daughter. After a series of break-ins at his office, Will begins staking it out in order to find the culprit. This puts an extra strain on his already tenuous relationship with Liv. One night, he sees a young man breaking in. He shouts to him, and when the kid runs away, Will pursues him.
Will follows the kid, Miro (Rafi Gavron), to his apartment in a rundown area. At once he becomes entranced by Miro's mother Amira (Juliette Binoche), a refugee from Serbia who works as a seamstress. Will invents reasons to keep coming back to see Amira. How things go from here become the crux of the story.
Overall Impressions:
Firstly I want to say the kid in it reminded me of cross between Heath Ledger and Edward Furlong (John Connor from T2) the resemblence was uncanny. That aside, enjoyable and realistic thinker, with top notch performances all-round. It had a similar feel to The Last Kiss that I saw a week or so back .. thinker, but the climax this time is a little cliche' that I must admit I almost didn''t want when watching it, but fairly justified.
Wouldn't rush out to see it in a hurry, but would see it. (6.5 out of 10)
This is probably the first game I have ever pre-ordered, ever. I enjoyed COD2, I guess I have a deep inner need for shooting up troops with a snipe rifle every now & then. Its normal, I mean who doesn't, right?? Hehe .. Yes. As the picture suggests, this game is based around the world war and involves being a part of an emulation of it, a pretty realistic, in-depth emulation I would say. The single player goes through a story of sorts following teams and gaining merits for completion of tasks, also there is a multiplayer part, which is what I enjoyed most about COD2. The basic premise is run about shooting people, (thats right, not zombies or aliens or robots that turned bad, just people, just like in modern day America).
The options include a Deathmatch where every man is for himself, a Team Deathmatch where strangely enough you're part of a team, there are also other games like 'capture the flag' and 'defend headquarters' but they are a bit too tactical for my liking.
The major differences between Version 2 and the new one are that now you have a number of different ranks of soldier with specific roles and tools/weapons that aid those roles. Eg; A medic carries a shotgun (and medicine) for closed quarters shooting, a scout carries a snipe rifle and arranges air strikes, this makes the game more interesting but also harder. There are also now vehicles to climb into, fun but pretty dangerous.
Other smaller differences include soldier promotions based on their number of kills in a given game, having to shoot somebody multiple times for them to die varying on your weapon and aim. The snipe rifle in particular is much harder to get a precise aim from compared to the old game, though this is probably a good thing, it will take some getting used to.
Official Website: www.callofduty.com
If you decide to play on Xbox Live: my gamertag is Jun6lee, feel free to message me and tell me how crap I am at it.
 
Prestige, The' .. Runtime: 130m 27s - UK Rated: 12A - Tagline: Are you watching closely? |
Plot Outline
A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy -- full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences. From the time that they first met as young magicians on the rise, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) were competitors. However, their friendly competition evolves into a bitter rivalry making them fierce enemies-for-life and consequently jeopardizing the lives of everyone around them. Set against the backdrop of turn-of-the-century London.
The synopsis had me sold. The trailer looked pretty damned cool. The starcast simply kicked ass! (it can't be only me thinking ... sweeeet its Batman Vs Wolverine ..with Magic). Throw in the mix Scarlett Johansson and stunning as she is, I began to get worried, they won't take away the focus from Batman and Wolverine and make it a love story will they??
Overall Impressions:
Thankfully we can trust Christopher Nolan to make a good script out of a so-so book, and make a great film out of it. This film captures the intensity of the rivalry to the tee. The obsessive nature of wanting to learn the ropes of each trick was easy to relate to. Without adding any spoilers I will say some things were more obvious than others, but don't let that deflect your perception. Keep watching closely :)
Smart film. Definitely worth catching at the cinemas!! (7.5 out of 10)
Romanzo Criminale' - UK Rated: 15
Runtime: 152min 45sec
Plot Outline
A criminal known as The Lebanese has a dream: to conquer the underworld of Rome. To carry out this feat without precedent he brings together a few close friends that soon become the ruthless and highly organized gang. Their progress and changes in leadership take place over twenty-five years, from the 1970's into the '90's, and are inseparably intertwined with the dark history of modern Italy: terrorism, kidnappings and corruption at the highest levels of government. Throughout these years Police Lieutenant Scialoia sticks to the gang's trail, trying both to bring them to justice.
The story is about the crminal life of the friends that began one day and didn't stop until they simply burned out. Over the years, we follow how the characters change, for the better and the worse, betrayals between them and the inevitable demise of the criminal empire with them all.
Overall Impressions:
This Italian flick oozes 'cool'. It has a very Tarantino feel about it, which makes sense as Tarantino has a knack for plaigarising cool from wherever he sees it, Hong Kong, Comic Books, Jupiter, - why not Italy. It has a certain raw feel about it that makes it work. I do feel a little lost in Translation even with the English subtitles. There wree moments where I could tell the scene was amusing, but the subtitles just weren't having the correct impact. I could appreciate this happens with the Bollywood flicks too (without me noticing). This minor glitch aside, it was an age old story of the demise of a crime empire. Thankfully in this instance it was fair to say the term old is gold 'does' apply. If I must crticise, I would say it ran a teeny weeny bit slowly, a slight trim would give a better impact.
Scarface style gangster flick done without the brutality being so visual. More Human. (6.5 out of 10)
Since Charlie has a keen interesting in 'soon' following suit, I thought I should put up a pic or two of the event .. so that he has some guidelines to follow.
The hotel was pretty Swanky, less apparent from the above displayed exterior, apparently we saw some famous footballer when lounging in the hotel bar, as you probably would guess, I didn't recognise him or care to.
This was my room, even though I'm pretty HUGE, I only used the one bed, (really).
The actual event was much fun too. I got to show off as the all-knowing geek who knew what the front end actually does. Vwala .. see, isn't it pretty? (My hair I mean :)
Borat - Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan ' - UK Rated: 15
Runtime: 83min 42secs
Tagline: Come Watch My Movie Film
Plot Outline
Kazakhstani TV personality Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) is dispatched to the United States to report on the "greatest country in the world." With a documentary crew in tow, Borat comes accross an old episode of Baywatch on TV & instantly becomes more interested in locating and marrying Pamela Anderson than on his assignment.
Apparently the principal character is based on a TV personality that he had created, amongst others like ALI G. I had never seen it however I now would be interested to.
Overall Impressions:
A perfect example of an instance that proves simplicity really works. A simple feller from some coutry you've probably never heard of has a different style of talking, walking, humour & life. The whole process of his encounters with the typical American wolrd is hilarious to see. I will keep this one short and simply say, go watch it! ... & no you haven't seen it all in the trailer (thankfully).
Funny to the rotten core of it. Very Nice, How much? (7.5 out of 10)
Need i say more ... ?
Saw III' - UK Rated: 18
Runtime: 108min 08sec
Tagline: Every game has its loopholes.
Plot Outline
After eluding the cops, psychopathic killer Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) turns an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town into a gruesome torture chamber in this third installment of the horror series. Jigsaw's new protégée Amanda (Shawnee Smith) kidnaps a doctor (Bahar Soomekh) who's forced to keep the evil master alive. Barely clinging to life, Jigsaw begins to carry out his gruesome plans for the lady doc and another helpless victim (Angus Macfayden who you'll remember as "The voice of Father" from Equilibrium).
Overall Impressions:
The first two films in the series did progress the realms of Jigsaw's game plan. Each time it also had a surprise or two in it for us. This instalment is no different. I've heard arguments stated saying this messes with what the first two films were saying, but having thought it iver a little, this isn't the case. Its smart in that it selectively gives you information with loopholes which when the time is right are filled giving you the full picture. It also ties up smartly the previous films which you probably wouldn't have though needed tying up. The only criticisms I can state are firstly it seems they're competeing with themselves with how much gore they can incorporate in a film & lastly that it takes for granted that you know what happened in the first two, as an independent venture this may make little sense.
Up to what you would expect from a Saw film & more (gore). (7 out of 10)