rajveerdhanak's Reviews

Open Season (2006 Video Game)

6/10

15 June 2020

Note: This is the review for the Nintendo GameCube version of "Open Season".

It's common knowledge now that one shouldn't expect too much from a movie-licensed video-game that's developed solely to promote the movie itself. "Open Season" is one such game: average, slightly underdeveloped, yet simple, easy and fun for children.

In fact, the game is so easy, that there isn't any form of a "game over" other than in the mini-games. When losing all health bars, the only thing you'd have to do is tap the 'A' button to revive your character, and you're back on your feet with full health! This 'easy-breezy' gameplay may be a fun experience for some, and extremely unchallenging for others.

The single-player campaign doesn't take more than 3 hours combined to complete, after which the player is given the option to replay levels and the multi-player mini-games. However, this 'replay-value' feels pointless, since there isn't any new challenge or difficulty to motivate players to revisit the levels - and all the collectibles have already been collected in the first playthrough.

The multi-player mini-games aren't any fun to play either. The concept is clearly derived from family party-games like Mario Party - without any of its zest or vigour that makes those games entertaining, nor adding any value to the experience of this particular game.

As a platformer, there are times when the controls feel underdeveloped and clunky, and the camera being wonky to navigate - leading to momentary frustrations when the player tries to perform simple actions like jumping between platforms or attacking an enemy.

The game offers the ability to upgrade your character's skills through the tokens you collect. Unfortunately, I hadn't come to realise this until after I had finished the single-player campaign. The game doesn't notify the player of this upgradability, which renders this feature unnecessary and wasted - especially since the campaign is so easy to beat without having to upgrade your skills at all.

In spite of coming across as another uninspired and formulaic movie-licensed game, the overall experience of playing "Open Season" can prove to be fun for its younger audiences.

2 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Extraction (2020)

6/10

An Exciting but Forgettable Action Flick.

14 June 2020

"Extraction" follows a black ops mercenary Tyler Rake (played by Hemsworth) who must rescue an Indian drug lord's kidnapped son in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Being an action film, the strength of this film comes from the director being a stunt coordinator himself, which is evident in the film's excellent action. In addition to the fight choreography and action sequences being riveting and gripping, the stunt-work and physical performance by Chris Hemsworth and Randeep Hooda is the highlight of this film - who manage to convince the audiences of them being skilled and trained military men.

The films opens on its strength of great action and close combat sequence, hooking me within the first act itself without spending too much time in the exposition. However, the midpoint slows down in pace, in an attempt to build on the relationship between Tyler Rake and the kid he has rescued. The relationship doesn't come across as genuine - but rather a sentimentality that seems falsified, contrived for narrative purpose, which makes this portion all the more boring.

The weakest aspect of this film are its subplots. Particularly, the plot-line with David Harbor's character ends up being inconsequential, without revealing anything important about the character or his past with Tyler. Another plot-line - about the kid's father being a drug lord - establishes an arc of their relationship that ends up abandoned and unresolved. Overall, the story of Extraction feels incomplete, with its resolution rushed for the sake of finishing the plot - which makes the screenplay of this film weak and forgettable.

"Extraction" makes for a good casual watch, with exciting action but an unremarkable story that you probably won't remember in the coming weeks.

1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom (2003 Video Game)

9/10

You don't have to be a SpongeBob fan to enjoy this game.

4 June 2020

"Are you ready kids?" "Aye Aye Captain!" Screams an adult me who's never watched SpongeBob as a kid.

"SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom" follows SpongeBob as he attempts to defend Bikini Bottom from an invasion of robots created by Plankton with a machine called the Duplicatotron 3000, with the help of his friends Patrick and Sandy.

The core gameplay involves collecting items and defeating robots across various areas in Bikini Bottom, whilst crossing platforms and avoiding environmental hazards like spikes and flames. Some areas require different characters to beat, as each playable character - SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy - have their own unique abilities.

The game is a 3D platformer collectathon, requiring players to collect three main types of items. 'Shiny Objects' are the game's currency and can be used to pay tolls within game areas or to buy golden spatulas from Mr. Krabs. 'Golden Spatulas' are used to grant access to new areas, being hidden throughout the game and can also be earned by completing tasks set by several characters from the cartoon.

This isn't the only SpongeBob game that I've played, but it's the only one that kept me engaged for more than an hour and finish the storyline of the game. This game is immensely fun, possibly even addicting - as I spent hours and hours immersed into exploring the levels, collecting and solving challenges by jumping, beating and swinging my way through the levels.

What makes the game so tempting to revisit, is its sheer diversity of level design - varying from a downtown city and forest, to a beach, ski hills, etc. It's refreshing to play a visually and tonally 'light' themed level after coming from a 'darker' themed level, and vice versa. This variety adds to the colorful, fun visual aesthetics and sound design that has made the show itself popular for years - ultimately making this a faithful game adaptation.

The ability to play as Patrick and Sandy, who each have their own unique abilities, keeps the gameplay experience fresh and distinctive.

There are a few chuckle worthy moments that carries the wit of the show - with its humorous dialogues, character exchanges and their dynamics (it's always funny to see Squidward getting annoyed by literally everything).

Honestly, I love a game when it's not too difficult to play through, or at least when it provides difficulty options for me to choose the easiest from. It's easy to complete the storyline of this game, which made it pleasant enough for me to keep playing despite some rage quit moments. The boss fights are challenging yet beatable in 2-3 tries, and the game's mostly non-linear with its levels - meaning that you can skip a task if it's too difficult, and collect the required Spatulas from some other task or level (or even buy them from the ever-greedy Mr. Krabs).

If you're a collectionist, the game offers a good replay value with the ability to go back to previous levels and collect remaining items.

The cons are few. The camera becomes an issue at tight spaces (a common problem among platformer games), and the platforming aspect itself can get frustratingly difficult - especially with lack of frequent checkpoints, forcing you to start a challenge from the beginning.

I recommend this game not only to kids or fans of the show, but to gamers who like good platformer games with unique aesthetics. I played the GameCube version of this game using the Dolphin Emulator for Mac, which works amazingly.

2 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Phantom (I) (2015)

4/10

A poorly-written, illogical and boring wish-fulfilment.

17 April 2020

Phantom is a political action thriller film that follows a disgraced ex-soldier Daniyal Khan - who is hired to execute covert assassinations against the men who planned the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

As the film's tagline "A story you wish were true" implies, this film is a wish fulfilment that's poorly written, shoddily paced, illogical and worst of all - boring. This review (or 'rant' for lack of a better word) won't make sense unless you've watched the movie, because the movie itself doesn't make sense as it is.

I've realized that because I wasn't hooked by the story at the first act itself, I started noticing and nitpicking the general imperfections of this film movie - purely out of boredom. These imperfections range from unbelievable green screen replacement, choppy and incoherent editing, and weapons looking like toy guns.

Given that this is a fictional film, there are bound to be creative liberties. However, these liberties end up becoming extremely nonsensical without adding anything to the story or characters.

The level of basic cultural realism also goes to the extent of being grossly overlooked by the filmmakers. In a scene where Daniyal and Nawaz (played by Kaif) are tailing a possible terrorist suspect in a London subway, the suspect (clearly a brown man) openly starts talking to another brown man in Urdu - in a public subway filled with white people seated so closely that they could have clearly heard the Urdu conversation. Just for the sake of making it easy for our protagonists to hear them from another compartment.

Think about it: A city that has faced several terrorist attacks at the hands of Islamic extremists, whose citizens are known to have immense Islamophobia to the extent of reporting brown people to the police for showing even a small hint of being Muslim - those very citizens are shown here to not even turn their heads to this, let alone be alarmed like they would in reality.

Also, apparently the source of classified non-public information for RAW agents is... a simple Google search. And they find the exact information they're looking for through a 'news report' without even having to go to page 2 of the Google search results!

The film also suffers from terrible story continuity - contradicting the information it establishes in one scene with the next. A few examples are:

1) The RAW officials who decide to perform a covert operation against the Pakistani terrorists, try to convince Daniyal to carry on the assassinations - which he continuously refuses to do. The reason they want Daniyal is because in their words, he's a "phantom" - not having any paper or digital trail to him.

Their attempt to hire Daniyal seems futile, until out of nowhere they bring up his father - pressing on an old wound of Daniyal's that immediately convinces him to do the job without any contemplation. If Daniyal is a supposed Phantom on whom finding any data is next to impossible, how did they find this detail so easily?

2) Before the mission, Daniyal is briefed to meet Nawaz - who is clearly referred to as a woman. Yet, he's surprised when he meets Nawaz and finds out it's a woman.

Occasionally, the antagonists prove to be stupid merely for the convenience of the hero's sake. In a suspect's apartment, Daniyal hides in the closet as the suspect enters the room. The suspect - armed with a pistol - knows that someone is hiding in the closet. Instead of shooting right through the wood closet and kill Daniyal without any risk to himself, the suspect chooses to dramatically open the closet and point his gun at Daniyal close enough for him to be countered.

There are the obligatory sentimental scenes, where the message gets too heavy-handed. In a scene where Nawaz tries to convince a grieving mother to help their quest, she has a monologue about how no mother should ever have to lose her son to extremism. The monologue itself comes off as preachy, delivered by Katrina Kaif - whose low-par acting skills makes this message come off as incredibly insincere and hence, unimpacting.

Another factor that makes the film so boring is its inconsistent pacing. A lot of screen-time is spent on subplots that are either really inconsequential or abandoned prematurely.

Ultimately, the film falls flat and feels pointless because of the weak motivation established for the characters to make them do what they do in the film. Particularly, Daniyal's motivation to accept the mission was to regain his father's respect. However, this subplot of Daniyal's relationship with his father is abandoned in the 1st act itself, and never referenced for the rest of the film.

On a positive note, the film does have its merits.

Unlike other jingoistic Indian films that portray Pakistanis as incompetent pinheads who fart and burp throughout their appearance, the Pakistani enemies in this film are shown to be competent enough to be taken seriously as forces of antagonism for our protagonist.

The film does get progressively better with each act, starting with the 1st act being slow and clunky, the 2nd act showing potential of entertainment, and the final act being tense, engaging and emotional.

I admit that this movie - like other Indian spy thrillers - aren't made with the intention of being logical, but rather to entertain and engage the audiences. The problem is that Phantom failed to do either, which made the illogical parts more apparent for audiences.

0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

9/10

Lingers in your mind long after watching it...

11 April 2020

"Gone Baby Gone" follows two Boston area detectives investigating a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.

This film cemented Ben Affleck's career as a director and a storyteller, and very rightfully so.

Long after I had finished watching the film, the main thematic question lingered in my mind, which is a merit to how much of an impact the film makes on the viewer - especially with strong imagery used to portray these theme-defining moments.

Mainly, the choices that we consciously make - what is right and what is wrong? Or are they just choices that we have to make, then live with the consequences (which is easier said than done) ...

Set in a run-down Bostonian environment, the milieu feels very authentic in the way it shows the people living here and their short tempers - which is obviously influenced by Ben Affleck's own Bostonian background. It was refreshing to see him having translated his experiences of the borough onto the film so well.

The performances of Casey Affleck, Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman are most commendable in this film - allowing the audience to empathize with their characters' actions despite the shades of grey we see in them.

The scenes that unfold the plot succeed in conveying the sense of suspense, distrust and ultimately disturbance that would come from investigating a case such as this - and make excellent use of the characters to make these situations tense and unpredictable.

Unlike my usual habit of thinking about a film's flaws after watching it, the only flaw I could think of here was the prominence of Michelle Monaghan's character (or lack of it). Being one of the two detectives mentioned in the premise, we never really see her do any detective work. Casey Affleck's character does all of the investigating, leaving her character sidelined, hence severely underused. Her only importance comes at the end where the protagonist has to make a major choice which would affect their relationship.

But this flaw comes nowhere close to hampering the experience of watching this appreciable film.

1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

The Gentlemen (2019)

7/10

All Style and Little Substance.

10 April 2020

"The Gentlemen" follows an American marijuana kingpin in England who is looking to sell his business, setting off a chain of blackmail and schemes to undermine him.

This film is a mixed bag for me. I hadn't watched any of Guy Ritchie's films prior to this - but being aware of his trademark directing style, I can understand how this film had connected with fans of Ritchie's work - many defining this as a return to his form after a few disappointments.

Hence, the following review is simply a biased account of my viewing experience, and not intended to comment on the merit of the film itself.

It took me a lot of patience to get through the first half, which spent its time establishing the players of the story and the intricate plot. After a while, I kept the film playing in the background, listening to it while solving a puzzle or doing some other pastime. The second half is where the film picked up, the point where the current ongoing plot connects with the hooking prologue of the film.

The tone is the traditional trademark style of Guy Ritchie - which prioritizes style over substance. The style here being the cockney-accent heavy cussing, violence and contrived twists and turns in the plot. The substance - depth in character, theme explored, etc. - are all things I personally look for in a film, and I must admit I came looking for it in the wrong film. My bad.

The highlight of this film are the performances and chemistry between the actors, especially Matthew McConaughey - playing the suave leader who keeps his cool until triggered, Charlie Hunnam (the dependable and resourceful right-hand man), Colin Ferrell (the foil characters who comes across the primary players and cooperates with them to be on their good side), and finally Hugh Grant (the unreliable narrator and a weasel who sides with the highest bidder).

The 'twists-and-turns' nature is most prominent at the climax, which can have a polarizing effect on the audiences - depending on whether its ending feels satisfying to the audiences. I personally wasn't satisfied - given how little I connected with the characters in the first place.

I can conclude that I'm not the intended audience for this film. I do like the gangster-thriller genre, but this one failed to resonate for me. However, I'm sure the target audience will have a great time watching "The Gentlemen", and I rate this film 7/10 out of respect for the filmmakers and their hard-work on this.

0 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

The Terminator (1984)

8/10

A low-budget start to a high-budget franchise

27 January 2020

After years of procrastinating on starting the series, I finally got around to watching 'The Terminator' - a relatively low-budget film that spawned a series of high-budget films, which I plan to watch in chronology. Not to mention how this film had very successfully launched the directorial career of James Cameron and solidified Arnold Schwarzenegger's acting career.

'The Terminator' follows Kyle Reese, a human soldier tasked to stop an indestructible cyborg killing machine - both sent from 2029 - from executing a young woman, whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.

It becomes clear from the basic structure and narrative elements of the film that Cameron was inspired by horror-slasher films like 'Halloween' and the dystopian sci-fi films of that era such as 'Escape from New York' and 'Mad Max', as the similarity becomes more apparent with time.

Though the world-building and mythos-creation of the film is excellent, the plotline is quite predictable, emotional moments feel forced and contrived for the plot, and the 80's cheesiness is apparent through the dialogues and performances. Even the romance subplot feels sudden and contrived for the sake of establishing the predestined fate of the movie's plot.

Personally, the story of how this film came to be is more interesting than the actual film - and I don't mean that as a detriment to the film's quality. The noticeable prosthetics and dated visual effects that may hamper the initial viewing experience eventually becomes more fascinating once you find out the amount of hard-work, rejections and creative problem-solving it took to make this sci-fi film in the 80s - an era that hadn't yet developed visual effects as we now take for granted.

0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

9/11: Phone Calls from the Towers (2009 TV Movie)

8/10

A Humanising Experience that Evokes Empathy & Gratitude.

9 January 2020

"9/11 Phone Calls from the Tower" explores a few archived calls and messages made by the people - stuck in the World Trade Centre towers during the September 11 attacks - to their loved ones, with emotions varying from panic, hope, assurance, to unfortunate acceptance and final goodbyes. The documentary includes interviews with the loved ones (family and friends) of the victims - recalling the day they received messages and talked with the latter before their tragic deaths, and their reactions to the collapse of the towers.

I've always been personally interested in stories about the experiences of different people during the devastating 9/11 attacks, especially the stories that delve into what happened inside the towers and planes. The world has only witnessed the catastrophe exterior to the towers (through news footage), and the only archival material available to show the emotional and physical hardships of the people trapped inside are the archived calls and messages of the people associated - which this documentary sheds light on.

The documentary shows different points of view and reactions of individuals in both the towers, separate floors (some above and some below the floors of impact) through these audio archives, and how they perceived what was sadly their last moments.

Seeing that the world immediately recognizes the attacks with the image of the attacked towers in mind, archived media such as calls and messages, combined with the interviews of survivors and acquaintances of the victims - is what humanizes the events and reminds us that there were several, thousands of people inside the building whose sufferings and demise has led to countless families and friends grieving. It's especially heartbreaking to see how many of the victims and/or their loved ones were hoping and praying that those trapped would somehow make it out of the towers safely, but ultimately have had to accept that their lives were going to end.

The film also conveys the poignant feeling of the people watching the events from news coverage of the towers and being unable to admit that the situation was much worse than what the trapped people thought of it. Some of the interviewees also express their regrets of not having picked up the calls of the victims during the distressing situation, until they listened to the messages left by them when it was too late to say goodbye. We also see the pain of the people inside and/or outside the towers to admit to their loved ones that they weren't going to make it out alive.

I appreciate the sole focus of this documentary into the individual stories and reactions of the tragedy, and how the victim's relatives had been coping with it ever since.

My only issue with the documentary is the lack of adequate visuals to accompany the archived audio and interviews. Most of the shots in this film are of empty living rooms and bedrooms with a television set playing the footage of the towers and their collapse. Though I understand that the point of these shots is to replicate the dread and horror of witnessing the attacks through the news, these overly repetitive shots end up feeling bland and ineffective.

Overall, this film gives an insight into how we humans understandably react differently to what could be our or our loved one's final moments - and it attempts to make the audiences more empathetic, mindful & grateful for the ones we are fortunate to have in our lives.

6 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Ghosts of Sugar Land (2019)

3/10

A pointless and inconclusive documentary on a serious and sensitive topic.

22 October 2019

"Suburban Muslims have to learn to live with the consequences of a close friend's actions." That's the official synopsis, yet the documentary is purely just a pointless discussion among uninformed individuals speculating what happened of the 'close friend', without even exploring anything substantial.

The only thing interesting about this documentary is that the interviewees wear superhero masks - supposedly to 'protect' themselves. That too is rendered pointless as it's not like these people are divulging any sensitive information that would affect themselves negatively. Plus, the ill-fit masks are poor disguises and ultimately ineffective without any voice-modulation.

The whole mask thing just seems like a gimmick to incite our inherent excitement and intrigue of controversial topics.

The documentary fails to inform us audiences about what really happened (how and why the friend became involved with ISIS and its extremism), and the whole topic is guided by the interviewed subjects who themselves are very uninformed and are pointlessly speculating about the friend and his fate.

The filmmakers glossed over several aspects and information that would've made this documentary more interesting, especially about the involvement of FBI informants in American Muslim societies and the possibility of the friend being an informant himself.

How this ended up being a winner at Sundance, I have no idea. At the end, this uninformed documentary doesn't attempt to look deeper into the truth or reveal anything pertaining to case. Neither does it really show how the Muslim Americans are affected by the incident discussed. It'll just make you scratch your head at what the point watching this incredibly short documentary was.

14 out of 21 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (1999 Video Game)

9/10

A great improvement over its already excellent predecessor

21 September 2019

Warning: Spoilers

After playing the fun-yet-frustrating Spyro The Dragon, I jumped straight to Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage without any knowledge of how the game would be. Seeing that the game was released just a year after the original, I assumed Spyro 2 would be another formulaic, episodic entry where all gameplay element and structure would be the same - only that there'd be new levels and enemy NPCs. That was not the case.

Much of the game plays like the original, where we control the eponymous character as he fights against various enemies and obstacles using his flame breath, charge attack, and glide abilities. Instead of rescuing frozen dragons, the player must acquire a talisman from each realm, which is awarded for reaching the end of the level. Each level also contains a certain number of orbs, which can be earned by completing secondary tasks for NPCs.

The gems gathered in this game are used to pay for opening portals, granting access to certain areas, and acquiring new abilities that allow the player to reach hidden areas for additional gems/missions/orbs. In addition, each level has a power-up gate, activated after defeating a specific number of enemies in a level, which grants Spyro a temporary super-ability. The power-up can grant invulnerability or the abilities to fly, supercharge, super flame, breathe ice, or super jump to reach high up areas.

The story follows Spyro and his dragonfly Sparx, who decide to take a vacation at Dragon Shores but are unwillingly transported to the fantasy realm of Avalar. The inhabitants there live in fear of an warlock called Ripto and his henchmen, Gulp and Crush - whom Spyro must defeat with the help of Elora the Faun, Hunter the Cheetah, and the Professor.

Spyro 2 has several new and much improved features over the original, including several more levels that are more open-ended and a good variation of missions and challenges. The new cast of characters, including fauns, satyrs, anthropomorphic animals, and robotic businessmen, among others makes for a fresher sight than the dragons who were the only friendly NPCs in the first game.

Not only is the art direction fantastic, with each world and its characters given their distinct personality and life, but so is the simplistic-yet-innocent humor delivered by the writing and the voice-acting.

The gems collected in this game are actually of a gameplay use compared to the first one, where you simply collected them to acquire a 100% completion without using them as currency. Even the checkpoint system has been improved where at every gradual interval, there's a fairy who 'zaps' you to save the game automatically.

Still, the game does have its limitations, some of them owing to the limitations of the PlayStation One. The camera control could have been easily fixed with the use of the right analog stick on the DualShock controller, which had been introduced for a while before the game's development. It becomes a hassle when navigating small spaces or pulling sharp turns on the flying missions without being able to properly look around.

The checkpoint system - though improved - still causes frustration during boss fights, especially the final one. Certain boss fights have multiple stages and dying in either stages forces the player to repeat all the way from the beginning in stage one.

At the end, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage is a fun and excellent game and a great improvement over its predecessors. It's a must-play classic for kids as well as adult gamers. Though there are moments of frustration when playing through some of the mini-games and challenges to achieve 100% completion, the game delivers an entertaining experience on a casual play-though.

1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (2007 Video Game)

9/10

Extremely fun and engaging!

21 July 2019

I vividly remember my first time playing this game on the PlayStation Portable, I was 10 and infatuated with the PSP (which I didn't own yet). My cousin lent me hers, and this was the only game she had. I never got past the 1st level at that time - but thanks to today's emulators, I have been able to revisit this game and finally experience it fully.

To be clear, I haven't played any other Ratchet & Clank game to compare this with. This is my first game in the series and hence will be reviewed as such.

First off, the most appealing aspect of the R&C series is the aesthetics. The character and level design, the armors, gadgets and weapons are all really visually attractive. Same goes for this game, with each armor, weapons and levels different from the other, making the game aesthetically wholesome. Even the soundtrack is catchy and goes with the gameplay experience of each level.

Despite the game being made for a portable console, it definitely packs a punch - providing not just a fun story campaign, but also amazing replay value with all its collectables and upgradable armors and weapons.

On the less-positive side, the game becomes occasionally frustrating due to the unforgiving difficulty (especially the final boss) and the awkward camera and controls (especially in confined spaces). However, I feel you can't really blame the developers on the controls, given that the limitations stem from the PSP's lack of dual analog sticks.

In fact, I think the developers really made the best out of the limitations, where the gameplay still manages to be really fun and engaging. I've played other PSP games where the camera and controls were unnecessarily complicated, and this game fares much better in this regard.

Overall, the game is extremely fun for both kids and adults, and easily garners a 9/10. I'd highly recommend playing this, especially since the game's now available for free (along with million other games) due to easy-to-get emulators for both Mac and PC.

2 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Toy Story 2 (I) (1999 Video Game)

7/10

A flawed-yet-fun game.

8 July 2019

I remember watching a gameplay video of Toy Story 2 at age 11, really wanting to play it but unable to because of its unavailability in 2009. Now (ten years later), having gotten a PS1 emulator, it was finally the time to give the game a try.

To be clear, I wasn't expecting the game to be great - but simply thought it'd be cool to try out as a fan of the series. Hence, I wasn't disappointed by the flaws of the game, instead simply grateful that I finally got this chance - and I actually had fun playing it.

The game consists of 15 levels, each filled with consistent types of tasks to complete in order to proceed to the next level. These levels are mostly platformers, getting from mission to mission by jumping and swinging through objects. Though the tasks may get repetitive, the varying level designs keep the game fresh with each level.

A major flaw of this game is the camera, awkwardly moving around the character as the player struggles to align the camera to the environment. This is mainly due to lack of camera controls (the ability to move the camera around with joystick). This leads to several other problems which could've been avoided by incorporating the then-recently released Dual Analog controller's analog sticks - allowing players to move camera around freely.

First off, since the game is a platformer, the awkward camera made it all the more difficult to be able to grasp the depth and distance of objects our character would have to jump and latch onto. There are several levels in the game where the players (as the toy-sized Buzz) would have to jump and climb tall structures - such as a building under construction, an elevator shaft, and the baggage area of an airport.

With the lack of adequate checkpoints, it gets annoying when the players fall down due to a misstep and have to climb all the way to the top again and again. Even the playable character becomes unreliable in having to latch or hold on to objects despite several jumps and falls, aggravating the frustration.

In spite of its flaws and frustration-inducing nature, the game is addicting and fun to play - easily a 7/10. The platforming difficulties aren't restraining, as players can proceed to the next level even just by completing 1 out of 5 tasks in a level (with some revisits needed). This structure is great for kids who may not be able to complete certain tasks in a level but still want to move ahead.

3 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Medal of Honor (1999 Video Game)

10/10

A pioneer of modern FPS-war gaming.

6 July 2019

Having just recently installed a PS1 emulator on my MacBook, I've explored the opportunity to explore an era of classic games that lasted before my birth. After watching Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan", I became interested in exploring more content based on World War II. I had come to know that Spielberg had conceived the original Medal of Honor game as a hybrid of the classic FPS game "Goldeneye N64", with the setting of WWII Europe. I had immediately gotten hold of this game and haven't been able to set it down until I had completed the entire story campaign.

This is one of the few games that I felt was worth completing the entire single-player campaign, given my reluctance to waste time playing dispassionately-developed games. The passion Spielberg has for WWII stories and experiences, radiates in this game as it does in his films.

Speaking of experience, the game combines its well-constructed elements of game-control, sound-design, level-design, Artificial-Intelligence and musical score to deliver a thrilling and memorable experience for the player. The atmosphere in this game ranges from suspenseful stealth to powerful intensity, especially with the realistic sound-design of guns and explosions and the excellent mood-setting musical score.

Needless to say, this is a 10/10 game. I have no complaints with this game, as it's well made with no bugs or glitches. Given how innovative this game was at the time, I highly suggest avid gamers and WWII enthusiasts to check this game out. I'm glad that games like these are immortalised with the help of emulators, and I honestly can't wait to play the next installment: Medal of Honor: Underground.

1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

No Pressure (2010)

1/10

Would give this a zero if I could.

18 June 2019

I can't even call this a short-film or an advertisement, as it would be slander to both the art mediums, which are usually entertaining and/or have a story that is interesting to watch no matter how short they may be.

All this is, is a piece of visual awkwardness - made by people deluded into thinking they were making something "edgy", "clever" and "revolutionary". Instead, they've managed to make something not only disgusting, crass and tasteless, but also excruciatingly boring, unfunny and cringe-worthy.

The makers have achieved the opposite of their intent -- turn everyone off from the idea of 10:10 and reducing carbon-emissions, possibly even tainting the idea and charity's name itself.

3 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Men in Black (1997)

7/10

Still holds up after 20+ years

14 June 2019

This was my first time watching this film, as I'm intending to binge on the series before heading for the new MIB: International. I knew what to expect as the knowledge of this franchise always existed in my head.

First off, the chemistry between Tommy-Lee Jones and Will Smith is really charming and appealing - almost accomplishing an unmentioned father-son bond. The contrast between Jones' deadpan delivery and Smith's energetic and hyper performance is what makes it all the more entertaining.

Speaking of entertaining, the humor and wit managed to genuinely make me laugh - especially with the experienced comedy-chops of Smith and his improvised quips throughout the film. The film manages to understand its tone and bring everything to contribute to that tone - especially casting and production design.

The world building is very interestingly done, with props, sets and alien design obviously influenced by the alien-craze of the 60s - when such fiction and theories about 'men in black' arose. The filmmakers established the world and the MIB agency as much as we audiences need to know in order to follow this film, while leaving a potential for more exploration in the future and sequels.

Oddly, the cheesy 90s VFX of the aliens works with the weirdness of the tone of this film, and the absurdity of the concept of aliens hiding in our normal world.

Not so much

I feel the film downplayed the reactions of unsuspecting humans to discovering the existence of aliens, which normally would somewhat traumatize someone and make them question their beliefs -- before finally being used to the concept. This definitely applied to Will Smith's and Linda Fiorentino's characters, who don't really seem surprised about seeing aliens for the first time ever.

The plot was very convoluted, and it's almost as though there was no substantial reason as to why things were happening the way they were. The stakes were extremely elevated, but we audiences could not feel the urgency of the matter as the film didn't clearly establish why a particular McGuffin (prop of great importance) was really important to save/protect - and especially why the antagonist needed it.

Will Smith's character 'J' - though entertaining - felt shallow as a written character. No backstory or any motivation for joining the MIB was explored, which would add more resonance and relatability to the character.

Overall, it's a very entertaining family-friendly watch, and has gotten me excited to watch the sequels.

0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Live by Night (2016)

4/10

Sadly Underwhelming and Forgettable.

1 June 2019

Starting with the pros of this film:

The best (and most visually pleasant) aspect of this film is its cinematography, which is done by the same DP of The Hateful Eight, another recent period-piece. The exterior shots are absolutely stunning, and other shots are very creatively choreographed and filmed. My only gripe is that since the film is set in the 1920s-40s, the visual tangibility would be much more accentuated if the movie was shot on film instead of digital.

This may not be an issue at all for layman movie-goers, but being a filmmaker and movie-buff, the effect of photo-chemical film would've been totally worth it.

Watching this film with a bass-heavy headphone simply adds to the intensity of the gun shots, along with other incidental sounds and foley such as the ambience of the time-period. Even the sometimes-unnecessary narration of Ben Affleck is pleasant to hear due to his satisfyingly crisp voice quality.

Speaking of gun-shot intensity, the action sequences (particularly the car chase scene and the climax shootout) are very well directed and edited, making them another highlight of this film. It's apparent that Affleck's direction interest lies more with the intense moments of the film than the dialogue-driven scenes.

One of the most important elements of a period-piece is its set and costume design, and fortunately the production design department of this film recognises this importance. Everything in the frame (a.k.a. the mise-en-scene) that is the sets, costumes, vehicles, buildings, props, etc. enhances the feel of the period piece and sells the time-period very well.

Elle Fanning's appearance is short but most noteworthy among the other cast, which is not only benefited by her gifted talent in acting, but also in the casting. Her character was the most believable among the others, possibly from the lack of any caricature/exaggerated accents. She shines in a scene where her character (a preacher of Christianity) expresses depressing doubts about the existence of God and the criteria for Heaven and Hell after death, which itself was a well-written and noteworthy scene.

But unfortunately, the film ends up becoming underwhelming due to the incredibly weak screenplay and unfocused direction.

The screenplay poses several problems, ranging from pacing, intent, focus, dialogues, and characters. The dialogue scenes are very uninteresting due to most of the dialogues being mere info-dumps, especially in the first act. The characters too are very dull, being written simply to serve a particular purpose to the main character without any sense of relationship dynamics.

I honestly couldn't care much for Affleck's character, which primarily stems from being badly written, but also a seemingly uninterested and bored performance from Affleck himself. Like the other actors, his accent too becomes exaggerated and inconsistent.

Coming to the focus and intent, I couldn't help but notice Affleck taking advantage of being the auteur of the film in attempting to display himself (as Ben, not the character) in a certain light of artificial charm and charisma. He's written his own character as a ladies' man though he is clearly not convincing as such, and a disturbing thought stems in mind about the incorporation of the sex scenes - considering him being the sole writer, director and actor.

Speaking of the relationship aspect, the chemistry between his character and Saldana's is almost non-existent. Saldana's character is written to be a 'perfect' woman, instead ending up becoming very shallow due to the lack of any flaws in her and their relationship.

Though the film is intended to be character driven, it has resulted in a failure due to the characters (including Affleck's) not really having any weight (in writing and in performances), excruciatingly lacking in any adequate characterization - including relationships of other characters with the protagonists, the protagonists' flaws that would ideally increase the drama, and the scrubbing-though nature of the film.

Seeing the vastness of the character's story in the novel, the film ends up becoming another tragic example of adaptational trimming - hence unable to deliver justice to the character and the source material. This may have been solved by adapting an episodic format of storytelling as a TV show instead of a film, but it still remains that Affleck and many of the cast members have been clearly miscast.

At the end, even the gorgeous technical aspects couldn't save the film from becoming shallow, depthless and unengaging. Despite speculations that Affleck's personal problems of divorce and alcoholism may have affected this film, the truth is that the film is simply a product of a weak directorial intent and unrefined skill stemming from an unpracticed craft.

0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019)

6/10

A faithful-yet-flawed adaptation

18 May 2019

I'm reviewing this game as a casual viewer, as I'm not a Pokémon fan, although I have played and enjoyed the earlier games and series a few years back. As all most casual viewers, I too ended up in the cinema seats as a result of the brilliant marketing of this movie. And also, Deadpool voices a cute fluffy animal.

Keeping in mind that I'm not the target demography for this film -- which is primarily Pokémon fans and children in general - which will factor in how I review this.

The best part about this film is that it's very focused on its own world-building and plot. This makes me glad that Warner Bros. has definitely learnt to keep the focus on the story of the film itself instead of desperately try to set up sequels for an extended cinematic universe.

The VFX and cinematography are the best parts of this movie and are incredibly stunning. Not just the photorealistic Pokémon, but even their movements, mannerism and skin/fur textures and the way these interact with the environment, is very well done. The visual beauty of the film has partly to do with the fact that this movie was shot on photochemical film, it's also about the incorporation of colours through the environment and lighting, which also helps in a distinct world building.

Speaking of which, the world building is well done. It does get exposition-heavy at times, but several things are definitely conveyed through showing things in a subtle manner that give you good idea of how Pokémon and human relationship is like with animals - either you capture them, or you work with him.

Ryan Reynolds carries the film, not just voice but facial expressions too - thanks to facial motion capture. He's not just great at conveying the sarcastic, wise-crack nature of the character, but even emotional and flawed nature as well.

Speaking of other characters, I couldn't really care about Justice Smith and Kathryn Newton's characters, the latter who is simply another foil character and a romantic setup for the sequels. Part of it as to do with the performance and how they're directed, but primarily is an issue stemming from a rather bland and unrefined screenplay.

Ken Watanabe - playing a detective -- is a great actor, having seen him in the Batman films, Inception and Godzilla. But his dialogues were too exposition-heavy and unnatural, which had affected his performance and how much audience can be convinced by it.

Coming to the pacing, the film gets bland and boring in several scenes in Act 1, especially where Pikachu and Tim start investigating the latter's father's disappearance. The problem mainly stems from the fact that we never really see why Tim wants to search for his father, considering that we see him as a character who tragically had stopped caring about anything.

Though the weakest point in the film is its exposition, where it's another blatant exposition-through-dialogue. The problem is that it's very clear that the characters are giving exposition, which makes it all the more unbelievable and fake.

Understanding that the movie is made for kids, but even basic comprehensible things are spoken out to the audience, as though the audience is stupid and inattentive. It often becomes less of "show, don't tell"

The ending is indeed "a twist, very twisty" in the words of Pikachu. At face value you understand it, but the more you think about it, it just doesn't make sense and is plain stupid.

But I may be looking too deeply into a film made for 12-year-olds. At the end, it's definitely an entertaining film and a fun watch. I'd suggest giving this film a watch without any great expectations from it.

0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Tuca & Bertie (2019–2022)

8/10

Not BoJack Horseman, doesn't need to be.

5 May 2019

Tuca & Bertie is a creative endeavour by Lisa Hanawalt, the art director of BoJack Horseman. But I think we all know that, considering most of this shows' viewers consisting of BoJack viewers.

With that said, its important to keep in mind that this show isn't meant to be compared to BoJack Horseman, but rather an entity of its own. Besides, Hanawalt confirmed they're not in the same universe. (Sorry Mr. Peanutbutter, no crossover episodes here!)

The art direction and the blend of comedic/serious tones are probably the only similar elements to BH. And they're absolutely spectacular on this show. In fact, its clear that Hanawalt had much more creative freedom on this show, considering the increased 'wackiness' of the style synonymous to her original style of anthropomorphism with both flora and fauna -- evident in her self-published books.

Another refreshing element was the pure-feminine aspect of the show, which big and small lifestyle tropes that would be relatable to most women -- a lot of them very intimate. Even the friendship between the two characters is well established and explored, part of the credit goes to the amazing cast.

Despite being a male, I myself could relate to some things the characters go through, and for the others -- I could definitely understand if not relate, which is another testament to the writing and performance.

It took time to get invested into the characters, since the beginning episodes seemed to lack focus and an appropriate balance between style and substance, but it definitely picks up soon. The latter episodes is where the show truly shines.

All in all, this show is definitely worth checking out. It's a binge-worthy show that won't take more than 4 hours to do so. Though the show is promoted as a companion piece to BoJack, we owe it to Hanawalt, the creators and the cast to not callously compare it with the show, since both are unique in their own ways.

87 out of 109 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

4/10

A heavily-glittered Greeting Card with no Meaningful Text.

24 March 2019

Warning: Spoilers

I'll be candid, I didn't watch this movie at one go - which may be an argument against the movie itself. Having just watched the first film, I wanted to see how the 2nd one continued the story. Watching it in 2019, my expectations from this sequel were at bay as I had already known of the mixed response to this film.

Things started off okay as the opening scene with spider-man came along. The visuals were much brighter than the first one, the suit much more faithful to the comics, and the spider-man seemed more quippy.

Of course, Paul Giamatti's character (who wasn't Rhino yet) already gave me a sense that the villains in this film were not to be taken seriously - given their somewhat-nonsensical actions, the motivations thereof, and even just the dialogue delivery being synonymous to the 'pure evilness' of villains - who did things just to 'be evil'.

The opening scene was further intercut with a scene where Peter's high-school batch were graduating, and Gwen giving a speech as the valedictorian. The way these two scenes were intercut felt incoherent and without motivation other than to show these two events occurring simultaneously.

This incoherency also gave me a sense that the film and its plot were to follow the same suit.

There's no denying that Electro's character had really no development or motivation to do what he does in the film. The character went from being a caricature of a nerdy Spider-man admirer straight to becoming a caricature of being a Spider-man hater without any formidable reason other than "Spider-man did not remember my name."

Speaking of which, all the villains in this movie are just caricatures of the evil, up-to-no-good villains prevalent in action movies before the 80s, comic books and even story books written for children.

Everything about them was unfortunately repulsive - the performances, their non-existent arcs or character development, and their insignificant relevance to the protagonist, story and plot.

I stopped watching the movie right before the Electro boss fight, as I already knew by that point what would happen in the story later on. There was no reason for me to continue watching the film, as I wasn't keen on watching Electro (given his character's poor development and execution), neither did the film make me care enough to see Spider-man defeat him.

The role of Gwen felt rather ambiguous and vague, as though her only purpose was to be a token romance character for Peter to care for. Her motivations for doing certain things had no weight for justifying her existence in this film other than to simply set up her (SPOILER) death at the end.

Coming to Hans Zimmer's score, I actually liked the dubstep score of the Electro fight - despite the fact that Electro 'making' that music made absolutely no sense. But the score did add some needed tension onto the CGI-heavy fight between Spidey and Electro.

On the other hand, Zimmer composed a special theme for Spiderman which rightly gives off a 'hopeful' vibe, but the theme itself is overused in the movie to the point that its' impact diminishes with every use of it.

On a positive note, I have a somewhat special connection to the final few scenes (except the futile Sinister Six setup). Being in a dark moment of my own life, I could somewhat relate to Peter going through his period of grief and finally getting over it. This credits solely to Andrew Garfield's performance, since the screenplay added nothing to make me feel for him.

In a scene where Peter watches a video of Gwen's valedictorian speech, a particular line struck a chord with me:

"It's easy to feel hopeful on a beautiful day like today, but there will be dark days ahead of us too. There will be days where you feel all alone, and that's when hope is needed most."

Although, the way the speech ended up in Peter's laptop made no sense, since there weren't any cameras shown to record her speech in the graduation the way it was shown in the laptop.

The ending scene with Rhino had only one good thing - Peter finally getting up from his state of grief to fight back.

Other than that, the scene was terrible overall - Paul Giamatti's 'crazed' performance, the way it was shot with shaky cam and abrupt zoom-in shots, the CGI of Giamatti inside the Rhino suit, and the convenience of no casualties suffered (especially among the cops) despite the enormity of Rhino's attack.

Even Peter's motivations of becoming Spider-man again was very sudden and poorly shown, intercutting between him looking at his suit, smiling and the Rhino making an appearance. Peter conveniently became Spider-man at the same time as the Rhino wreaks havoc, having no correlation between the two.

In my opinion, what would have made the scene better was to show the escalating tension of the Rhino wreaking havoc, and this resulting Peter in having to return as Spider-man to save the city that relies on him.

Apart from that, the film consists of several sub-plots and setups that are incredibly futile in the primary plot-line - the pointless and shoddy set-up of Sinister Six, the disappearance of Peter's parents, the inclusion of Norman & Harry Osborn and the possible separation of Peter and Gwen.

Overall, I can say that the film is somewhat like an insignificant greeting card - all shine and glitter without any valuable or meaningful text to it. The characters and overall story lacked depth and relevance that had potential to the film more compelling, resulting in the audiences not being able to care about anyone or anything in the story...

..which explains why Sony decided to move on and finally collaborate with Marvel on the character, a move we're all grateful for.

0 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Johnny English (2003)

3/10

More Excruciating than Entertaining.

19 March 2019

Going into this film, I knew well enough to not expect anything but entertainment and humour - being a fan of Rowan Atkinson's hilarious Mr Bean series. I was aware that the humour would be of a similar caliber, being more of a parody of the popular spy genre - even possibly being pitched as "Mr Bean becomes James Bond."

Surprisingly (and sadly), the film could not even come close to my already-low expectation of it. The performances were sub-par, the humour was witless, and the plot was painfully crass. Realism isn't something one should expect from this film, but it's almost as bad as a child attempting to write a James Bond fan-fiction - with an absurd portrayal of how the government, the secret service and 'criminals' function in this world.

Atkinson is the only element in the film that manages to deliver a few chuckle-worth moments, while the rest of the humour just does not deliver at all - perhaps because Mike Myers has already exhausted the spy-parody genre with "Austin Powers" that this film tries to replicate.

I usually enjoy silly and unserious movies as long as they're entertaining. Unfortunately, this film proves to be more excruciating than entertaining to watch. Hopefully the next two films in the series at least manage to entertain, if nothing more.

1 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Turn Up Charlie (2019)

8/10

Short & Sweet.

18 March 2019

I went into this series without knowing anything about it, not even watching a trailer of it. The show is quite easy to binge in 3-4 hours, not only because there are only 8 episodes (each episode being only 24 minutes long), but also because each episode manages to keep you fulfilled while making you want more.

First off, the performances were great -- not to mention the chemistry between each of the actors. Idris Elba's character 'Charlie' felt most genuine and believable (also likeable) primarily because the character is somewhat based on certain aspects of Elba, and it always feels like Elba has the freedom to be himself during each scene (which is a refreshing thing to see, honestly).

The other actors were good too, particularly Frankie Hervey who plays the little girl 'Gab' -- a character who 'Charlie' is assigned manny to. Despite being a spoilt brat, the character manages to not get on the viewers' nerves but rather make get them to empathise with her.

The screenplay is nothing extraordinary, but doesn't need to be. It's surprisingly to the point, while covering each characters' point of view and leaving enough intrigue for possible future seasons. Despite disagreements among every character, you can still understand that they're somewhat right in their own way -- which is a rather difficult spot to hit while writing drama.

I'm glad that the show avoids certain clichés that I had predicted, clichés that you'd often find in series/films of similar genre.

Other than that, I was hoping the show would also delve a bit more into the protagonist's backstory and the reason for his passion of being a DJ, along with incorporating music more creatively into the visual storytelling instead of merely being a plot tool to further the story. I'm hoping they delve more into the backstory and the DJ aspects of the story in future seasons, along with being a lot more creative in its cinematography and editing.

49 out of 56 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

rajveerdhanak

Reviews

Tell Your Friends

Recently Viewed