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Reviews
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
A fantastic experiment
Just like Tarantino's previous few movies, Kill Bill has been divided into chapters that relay a small portion of the overall movie to the greatest detail. But for Volume-1, it all ends there and there's little more in common with other of Tarantino movies. A lot of people may question his style of movie making but I'm glad that Tarantino has decided to try something new and prove that he knows what hes doing for sure. If you want a more traditional Tarantino flick, then watch Volume-2. If you want style, action, gore and an out of control fun fest that has been brilliantly implemented, then watch Volume-1. Every scene or every chapter of this movie, irrespective of it having the advertised action or not, is extremely memorable. What you cannot expect from this experiment in movie making, is the actual story and connected explanation of events, which are done only in the second volume.
Extreme Ghostbusters (1997)
A Superlative series
I've followed the Ghostbusters from the very first day they started and kept myself on par with developments throughout the decades. The movies and the 1986 cartoon always had something special and were always charming. But it also fell short just a slight bit when it came to realism and emotion. These missing elements have successfully been implemented in this new series titled XGB, which takes the franchise to a whole new level and introduces a magnificent bunch of new characters who are truly amazing and unrivaled. As expected, the production levels are extremely high, with matchless animation and atmosphere. As I've mentioned, the characters are also very profound, likable and realistic.
Combine that with very scary and realistic villains and threats plus august writing and brilliant screenplay and you end up with something truly out of this world. I would call it the best animated series ever made if it weren't for other development houses who have done fantasy epics whose base content is slightly more difficult to come up with creatively. Even so, watching this is utter rapture.
It also very strange that this series is the Sony production house's only good one, with MiB perhaps being passable. The rest of the cartoons produced by Sony have been extremely bad, especially low in production values, in my humble opinion, despite their popularity. Ironically, this one, XGB in contrast, is world beating.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
Interesting
One thing that I expected from this movie was a lot of marine life and related marine biology but not much of that was found and a lot of the marine life is actually second rate CGI. -1. Despite not being up to my expectations in that regard, this movie was extremely interesting and while not offering anything greatly new or original, it managed to keep my eyes stuck to the screen till the very end. This was mainly due to the performance of all the actors especially Bill Murray who puts on a fantastic performance despite being mostly himself. Now coming to a few action scenes, there appears to be an inexplicable invincibility of Bill Murray's character in fighting Pirates. It seems as though the director simply wanted to get over with the scene. Then, very little emotion is shown when a life is lost. -1. But despite all those glaring flaws, this movie is very interesting if not entertaining.
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Very well done
While the first attempt at the remake of Spiderman itself was quite excellent, this movie does go even further and what one would normally think as being a huge task and something very difficult to achieve, has been fully done in this movie. Perhaps the only area where it was slightly disappointing is that the villain is actually a good guy and his tentacles supposedly control his brain which is somewhat unrealistic and looks tailor made to fit the story and situation. Even so, it must be mentioned that the same is relatively minor compared to the overall goodness of the movie. Action = 10/10, Cinematography = 10/10, Screenplay = 10/10, Acting = 10/10, Story = 8/10, Music and Sound Effects = 10/10.
Bacheha-Ye aseman (1997)
Fantastic
So simple yet so sophisticated. This has to be one of the most heartwarming and heartbreaking movies ever made. Western societies who take so much for granted will receive a real eye opener when they view this movie. The storyline is so straightforward and simple yet at the same time, puts you so close to the characters and makes it all so realistic that you will be completely drawn in. The performances of the two children, the brother and sister, are absolutely incredible, yet so disciplined. With all this political nonsense about the US going to war with Iran and all, people should see more of films like these and gain a proper perspective of things around the world. I'll be looking for more Iranian films like these.