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Reviews
Gettobakkâzu dakkanya (2002)
I love this show
I started watching this show by accident but fell in love with it soon enough. Every episode is a revelation.
The GetBackers are Ban Midou and Ginji Amano. They are retrieval experts, getting back lost things... for a fee...which they never manage to get. But these are no ordinary guys. Ginji can generate electricity with his body like an electric eel and Ban has an extremely powerful grip called the SnakeBit and he can make a person hallucinate with his 'Evil Eye' or 'Jagan'. Their past is very mysterious and although you get to learn something of Ginji's, Ban's is still shrouded in mystery.
Along with Ginji's friends (all of whom hate Ban. Actually almost everyone who meets Ban hates him. Unless you're one of his countless fans watching and sighing over him in front of your TV) from his younger days when he was part of a gang called the volts, the GetBackers have a lot of adventures.
The animation is very beautifully done, with some scenes having breathtakingly detailed art. There is, of course, a lot of BL slash fanfiction based on the show and the show itself does have enough fan service to warrant it. What is interesting is that when I tried reading the manga (there was too much of it and I did not have the time), the fan service always seemed more heavy on the T&A, targeting male fans. The show, on the other hand, while featuring several well-endowed women, clearly prioritizes slashy service more.
The series may start off slow, but picks up quick enough. Every episode gets funnier and funnier. My fav. would have to be the Venus Di Milo ones (or should I call them the Statue of Liberty ones?!!).
Anyway, I hope I've made everyone who has read this want to see it at once. And I hope the Animax version of the series (and NOT the ADV version) will get released soon in my country.
So, how long will it take you to like this show? Just a minute!
The Village (2004)
Promotion mistake
The major fault of The Village is not in the script, or acting, or direction. It is in the promotion. Because I do not want to reveal all all I'll say is that people should watch the movie without seeing its posters, taglines, trailers, or should disregard them completely.
If you watch this film with an open mind, with no preconceived notions (on account of the director), I think you'll like it a lot.
The actors are very good, but the directors' imprint is seen very clearly in the dialogue delivery as well as the expressions. The direction and cinematography are both good.
Finally, everyone complains that this wasn't scary at all. I don't think that was the point of this film. It is one ofthose that make you think. But more than anything, it is a love story, and thats all.
Samay: When Time Strikes (2003)
Rip off
This film is a rip off of Seven, right down to the surprise intro of the villain.
However, that doesn't make it a bad movie. In fact, amid all the trash that Bollywood just unleashed, this is a pretty interesting Indianized version of Seven. Instead of the sins, they have put in a different sort of a motive, which is actually well thought out and laid out.
Acting is pretty good, especially of Sushmita Sen. So is the direction and editing.
On the whole, I would recommend it, as it is a good thriller and it does not lose its thread and sink into melodrama, as how Hindi thriller movies usually do.
Kaakha Kaakha (2003)
Pretty good
I wanted to see this film ever since I saw the promos cos I thought it looked diffrent from the countless other drab similar Tamil movies that were releasing.
And I was right. Of course, there is quite a bit of violence, but after seeing all those Hollywood action movies, it is quite easy to accept it. The actors are very good. I've seen Soorya only in Nerukku Ner and wasn't very impressed, but I think he does the tough cop-shy guy routine pretty well. Jyothika is as good as always. The villian is ok.
Music is really good. I've always thought of Harris Jayaraj as a poor man's A.R., but this one is a sparkler. Camera's good, so are action sequences (surprisingly get to see a fit hero who can actually swing his legs) and title graphics.
Story goes like this...
Anbu is a conscientous cop in the anti-drugsquad, with 3 of his friends, but due to their excessively violent methods they all get transferred to other units. Then he meets Jyothika who catches his fancy, and he hers. She pursues, and gets him to agree. Then problems arise, as the four are transfered back to the Anti drug squad, and take out a drug lord. His brother swears vengence, and the remaining story is about that.
***Spoiler***
Hate the ending. Hope they change it. I hate tragedies.
***End Spoiler***
K. Everything said, movie very good. Watch it.
Bhoot (2003)
Scary one
I went to see this movie expecting to find another dumb "chaitan" story. But found that this one is actually pretty darn good, even without qualifying it as a Hindi horror film.
Hindi horror films are awful. I am yet to see one that is really scary, and most of the time, when the *scary* part comes, my friends and I burst out in laughter. The make up leaves much to be desired and the story is always the same.
The story part is pretty much the same here too. This is not exactly a never-seen-before sort of storyline. However, other things make up for it. The movie completely belongs to the actors and the technicians, mainly the sound editor and the cinematographer. They have done away with grotesque make up and stuck to minimalistic approach, which is actually scarier.
The actors are brilliant. The have not given in to the urge that many Bollywood stars have, of going into the rhetoric by making loooong speeches and show extreme expressions. All the parts, except Urmila's and Rekha's have been portrayed very subtly. Urmila is pretty good, Ajay Devgan is very believable. Tanuja gives an excellent understated performance. Rekha is truly amazing. She manages to creep you out even more than the ghost in some scenes.
The one complaint I have, is that the movie loses some of its fear factor after the intermission. It just isn't that scary anymore. Also, there isn't any particular twist. However, there is one part which could have been the twist, but was downplayed. But on the whole, I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who likes a good scare. The movie is not for people who see the same for stories.
Overall - 8 / 10
Riders (2002)
Awful movie
This is one of the most horrible movies I have ever seen. It tries to use the presently-in vogue formula of smart bad guy getting the gold. The plot is very twisty turny. It goes like this...
Three guys and a girl are out stealing banks using extreme sports talents. Action is okay, but after seeing movies like XXX, too much action has become somewhat boring. (A case of "If I see another idiot jumping over a two deck bus..."). Somehow they get into trouble with the police (gee, how is that possible?), a guy who stands in shadows and tortures them by keeping them in a really cold room, another guy who seems to be a cross between Elvis and a preacher (Horrors!).
I seriously don't know what Natasha Henstridge is for, oh wait.. I do. Those semi nude scenes. Even the love scenes suck cuz there is absolutely no chemistry.
The dialogues are cliched, the plot is cliched, the characters are cliched and the ending is cliched.
I loved Ocean's Eleven, but a hazard of its success seems to be the proliferation of crappy heist flicks that suck big time.
I used to really like Stephen Dorf, and thought he was doing weird but interesting movies. Then he did this one, and I don't think I'll ever be able to see that Aerosmith video again without grimacing.
Stay away from this one if you can't take boredom very well.
Overall rating 1/2
The Colony (1996)
Ok
It's basically a thriller set in a Silk Stalking like scenario.
Starts off with a guy in a bus, who hits on this girl. Then, they both get off in the same station, and move their separate ways. The girl is gonna be a nanny to her friend's kid. The friend has married into a very rich family. The guy goes to this place to work as a mechanic. But he is actually a cop.
Then u get introduced to the girl's friend's husband, the brother of the husband, the sectretary, a guy who races cars and loses, and so on.
It is basically a shorter soap with a very obvious twist in it.
If u've got nothing to do and do not expect to see only grade A movies, I'll recommend it.
Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1990)
A classic
This was a movie that made a certain style of story extraordinarily popular.
It starts out cliched enough with the background of a happy couple separated, the wife being pregnant, by the evil bro of the rich husband. Wife gives birth to 4 babies. Bad guy who is going to kill her takes all four. She escapes.
One baby is left in a temple and picked up by a Palakkattu cook. Another is left in a car, which by coincidence gets picked up by its own father. One is left in an orphanage, and the bad guy adopts the last one.
The story, then picks up, and follows various twists and turns.
It is a very good movie, and is really funny. Great acting all around.