Ok folks, It is done - I have finished reading book 6.
When I started reading this morning I had visions of writing a kewl review for all of you. However now I realize that it would be impossible to do that without divulging stuff and this book really really needs to be read without any pre-knowledge of what's in it.(Thanks Ojas for giving me a first look - the experience was truly extraordinary)
So please forgive a lame attempt.
1. Size of the book.
I take back the complaint about the size of the book. It is a tad small for my taste - took around 8 hrs for me to finish it - but it is full of stuff. So it will surely keep you entertained - especially as it builds to the climax.
2. Characters.
Characters have matured and it shows. Harry gets frustrated but has stopped whining about it:) I personally have liked the character development.
3. Plot.
The plot has come back to the main track. Most of book 4 and 5 were used in giving lots of details of branches to the story, which was supposed to help us get a feel for why things are the way they are. However I felt that after reading the two tomes I had hardly moved ahead in the story. Well this book takes you ahead, real quickly.
4. Suitability for Children:
Parents be warned. Just like the last book this book is quite dark in patches. Add to that the fact that everyone is in their teens and hence when the atmospere is not dark everyone seems to be snogging(n : (British informal) cuddle and kiss) all around:)
My personal take is that the book is quite suitable for children provided the parents read it first and make the decision about themselves.
{I repeat that the climax is strong. It is taking all my effort to not be bawling.}
So all in all a must read. Please avoid all Harry Potter sites till you read it. Will not be half as fun if you come to learn the plot.
The only minus point:
Have to wait some time before the next Harry Potter book will be out.
Happy Reading:)
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Got HP: The Half-Blood Prince!!!
Yup!!! Got it first day first show!!!(in other words I was one of the first persons to pick up a copy at 8am)
First impressions:
1. Don't like the cover that much. Normally all of the HP(Harry Potter) books have two kinds of ocovers. A children version and a more adultish version with the children version being much more colorful and simpler than the adult version. The cover I got was the children version according to me.
Unluckily I have no idea whether there is any other version for this specific volume.I checked at Amazon - there is indeed a more sedate cover which I like better:)
In fact there is a third cover too which I like the BESTest.
2. The book is not that long. Close to 600 pages.
3. The story still has the same vintage. I am the half-point mark and like this one as much as my fav volume - The Prisoner Of Azbakan. Will try to put up a review by tomorrow.
4. The price sucks! INR 895/- is quite a lot. I think it is even more costly abroad!!! The problem is that with such a high price it will not take too long for people to prefer buying the pirated versions, which I am sure are under production as we speak.
{Luckily for me I had a deal with a friend of mine. I pick up her advance copy and I get first rights to read the story;)}
Anyways, apart from meeting Nitin Madan (great fun!!!), this was the only other major news for the day.
Have fun - try not to buy the pirated versions. Wait for the paperbacks instead.
First impressions:
1. Don't like the cover that much. Normally all of the HP(Harry Potter) books have two kinds of ocovers. A children version and a more adultish version with the children version being much more colorful and simpler than the adult version. The cover I got was the children version according to me.
In fact there is a third cover too which I like the BESTest.
2. The book is not that long. Close to 600 pages.
3. The story still has the same vintage. I am the half-point mark and like this one as much as my fav volume - The Prisoner Of Azbakan. Will try to put up a review by tomorrow.
4. The price sucks! INR 895/- is quite a lot. I think it is even more costly abroad!!! The problem is that with such a high price it will not take too long for people to prefer buying the pirated versions, which I am sure are under production as we speak.
{Luckily for me I had a deal with a friend of mine. I pick up her advance copy and I get first rights to read the story;)}
Anyways, apart from meeting Nitin Madan (great fun!!!), this was the only other major news for the day.
Have fun - try not to buy the pirated versions. Wait for the paperbacks instead.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
"Batman Begins"
All debates end!
Simply fantastic.
Stupendous!
No radioactive power.
No responsibility talk.
Only angst and action.
Gritty like the Dark Knight should be.
Watch it!
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Star Wars - Revenge Of The Sith
The short review:
Why, young Padawan, lack of patience you have! Still if know you must what to do then let me advise you. See the movie, you must. A great event, it is. Now go your way, you can. May the force be with you!
The "fan in me" version:
Go, go to your theatres immediately. Watch the movie make Lucas richer. The movie is great, in fact it is stupendous in its scope of the Star Wars Universe. Well worth the watch. Well worth buying the DVD. So what are you waiting for!!!
The long version:
Story:
Well no great surprises here! The story is exactly as we expect it to be. However there is one problem. At times it feels that the movie could easily have become two movies. Many parts of the movie seem to have been rushed through. Maybe some of it should have been put into Attack Of The Clones. Well! Whatever! The end result is that the story sticks to the canon, is not overtly complicated and is as expected. So it gets a 5/10. {After seeing all the parts I think storywise the best movie seems to be The Empire Strikes Back - especially with it's "I Am Your Father" twist in the tail.}
/////
Technical:
This is where the movie really shines. Were you amazed by Coruscant, the Kamiya system and the Gungans underwater city in the last version? You have not seen anything yet. This time around Coruscant really comes to life. The buildings, the vehicles, the space battles, the opera everything is at a completely different scale this time around. Not to mention the details in which other planets have been rendered. This one factor is the main reason you want to watch the DVD version. Believe me you will never catch all the details without having the ability to playback:) Well done Mr. Lucas, well done. I give this a score of 9/10
//////////
Sound/Music:
As expected the sound is Superlative. The background score is rich as ever. Add to that the climatic sounds and you have a winner. One of the best parts is when Anakin slowly moves to the dark side and you hear the heavy breathing of Vader in the background. Really really spooky. This gets an easy 8/10
////////
Action:
The space battle scenes are very well detailed and executed. Please watch out for the cannons firing on the battleships, reminds you of pirate movies. All the action sequences is a pleasure to watch. Many of the clone squads remind you of the SWAT or the Navy Seal movies. Actionwise I would give it an 8/10
////////
Lightsaber action:
Action scenes of lightsaber duels deserve a rating of its own in any SW movie. This movie has some of the best one-one action sequences. Some of the highlights are the Jedi fights with Count Dooku, Capt. Grievous and Palpatine.
Again one more reason to get the DVD when it comes out as the action is so intense that there is no chance of getting it all in on the first try. Easily takes the rating of 9/10
/////////
Script:
Not the greatest! There are some cool lines for Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi has some humorous stuff but on the whole not the best of scripts. I give it a tepid 5/10.
/////
Acting:
I cringe to write about this. Yoda is cool and Palapatine is great. But that about 90% of the acting right there. Surprising really considering that Lucas had Samuel L Jackson, Ewan McGregor and Jimmy Smits to work with. Granted Ewan has his moments, some of them really funny but he has largely been reduced to an action figure. {The ladies might say that he makes quite the sexy action figure but that is another story. Aside: All the ladies were rooting for Obi Wan Kenobi throughout the movie;)} Also granted that Jimmy Smits really did not have much screen time but what happened to Samuel L Jackson. The only time he seemed to have some life was when he went into his Shaft overdrive to whoop some Sith Ass. Mace Windu's character was a disappointment to me.
However all of the above were still acting. Which brings us to people who weren't? Spot Quiz: What is more boring then watching grass grow? Answer: Watching Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman "act"!!! They were appalling. And considering that the whole movie revolved around them it is a wonder that Lucas managed to captivate us inspite of this. Bad acting by Hayden and the hurried script did cause the move of Anakin to the dark side quite unbelievable to the new entrants to this universe. It took my full mastery of the Force to convince them of the logic behind it all .... I don't think they bought it all. Damn you Anakin and Amidala! Damn you! {Aside: Hayden was quite OK as an action hero and looked positively evil after embracing the dark side}
Of course all is not bad. R2-D2 and C3PO are excellent as always. I must say I have sorely missed a figure like Han Solo in the prequels.
Please check out point 2 in my review of Clone Wars to get a persepctive about the acting.
So for overall acting the movie gets 5/10 thanks largely to the animators of Yoda and to Ian McDermid as Palaptine..
/////
Conclusion:
Despite the bad acting and the hasty script the movie still rocks. As a Star Wars fan(atic) I really love this movie. The defects I point out above does not take away from what the movie is - if it were not there the movie would just have been that much better. If you like Star Wars, if you like Indiana Jones and if you hate George Bush(;)) you will love this movie.
For those of you who are not Star Wars fans, I will still recommend watching the movie. Just make sure you do see it in a good theatre and don't buy tickets in black. Approach it as an action movie and you will not be disappointed.
Now having taken a very measured look as a normal person I can now revert back to the fanatic that I am. How to convince my better half to see the movie once again? Any advices:)
P.S: Don't miss the Harry Potter shot at the end:)
Why, young Padawan, lack of patience you have! Still if know you must what to do then let me advise you. See the movie, you must. A great event, it is. Now go your way, you can. May the force be with you!
The "fan in me" version:
Go, go to your theatres immediately. Watch the movie make Lucas richer. The movie is great, in fact it is stupendous in its scope of the Star Wars Universe. Well worth the watch. Well worth buying the DVD. So what are you waiting for!!!
The long version:
Story:
Well no great surprises here! The story is exactly as we expect it to be. However there is one problem. At times it feels that the movie could easily have become two movies. Many parts of the movie seem to have been rushed through. Maybe some of it should have been put into Attack Of The Clones. Well! Whatever! The end result is that the story sticks to the canon, is not overtly complicated and is as expected. So it gets a 5/10. {After seeing all the parts I think storywise the best movie seems to be The Empire Strikes Back - especially with it's "I Am Your Father" twist in the tail.}
/////
Technical:
This is where the movie really shines. Were you amazed by Coruscant, the Kamiya system and the Gungans underwater city in the last version? You have not seen anything yet. This time around Coruscant really comes to life. The buildings, the vehicles, the space battles, the opera everything is at a completely different scale this time around. Not to mention the details in which other planets have been rendered. This one factor is the main reason you want to watch the DVD version. Believe me you will never catch all the details without having the ability to playback:) Well done Mr. Lucas, well done. I give this a score of 9/10
//////////
Sound/Music:
As expected the sound is Superlative. The background score is rich as ever. Add to that the climatic sounds and you have a winner. One of the best parts is when Anakin slowly moves to the dark side and you hear the heavy breathing of Vader in the background. Really really spooky. This gets an easy 8/10
////////
Action:
The space battle scenes are very well detailed and executed. Please watch out for the cannons firing on the battleships, reminds you of pirate movies. All the action sequences is a pleasure to watch. Many of the clone squads remind you of the SWAT or the Navy Seal movies. Actionwise I would give it an 8/10
////////
Lightsaber action:
Action scenes of lightsaber duels deserve a rating of its own in any SW movie. This movie has some of the best one-one action sequences. Some of the highlights are the Jedi fights with Count Dooku, Capt. Grievous and Palpatine.
Again one more reason to get the DVD when it comes out as the action is so intense that there is no chance of getting it all in on the first try. Easily takes the rating of 9/10
/////////
Script:
Not the greatest! There are some cool lines for Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi has some humorous stuff but on the whole not the best of scripts. I give it a tepid 5/10.
/////
Acting:
I cringe to write about this. Yoda is cool and Palapatine is great. But that about 90% of the acting right there. Surprising really considering that Lucas had Samuel L Jackson, Ewan McGregor and Jimmy Smits to work with. Granted Ewan has his moments, some of them really funny but he has largely been reduced to an action figure. {The ladies might say that he makes quite the sexy action figure but that is another story. Aside: All the ladies were rooting for Obi Wan Kenobi throughout the movie;)} Also granted that Jimmy Smits really did not have much screen time but what happened to Samuel L Jackson. The only time he seemed to have some life was when he went into his Shaft overdrive to whoop some Sith Ass. Mace Windu's character was a disappointment to me.
However all of the above were still acting. Which brings us to people who weren't? Spot Quiz: What is more boring then watching grass grow? Answer: Watching Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman "act"!!! They were appalling. And considering that the whole movie revolved around them it is a wonder that Lucas managed to captivate us inspite of this. Bad acting by Hayden and the hurried script did cause the move of Anakin to the dark side quite unbelievable to the new entrants to this universe. It took my full mastery of the Force to convince them of the logic behind it all .... I don't think they bought it all. Damn you Anakin and Amidala! Damn you! {Aside: Hayden was quite OK as an action hero and looked positively evil after embracing the dark side}
Of course all is not bad. R2-D2 and C3PO are excellent as always. I must say I have sorely missed a figure like Han Solo in the prequels.
Please check out point 2 in my review of Clone Wars to get a persepctive about the acting.
So for overall acting the movie gets 5/10 thanks largely to the animators of Yoda and to Ian McDermid as Palaptine..
/////
Conclusion:
Despite the bad acting and the hasty script the movie still rocks. As a Star Wars fan(atic) I really love this movie. The defects I point out above does not take away from what the movie is - if it were not there the movie would just have been that much better. If you like Star Wars, if you like Indiana Jones and if you hate George Bush(;)) you will love this movie.
For those of you who are not Star Wars fans, I will still recommend watching the movie. Just make sure you do see it in a good theatre and don't buy tickets in black. Approach it as an action movie and you will not be disappointed.
Now having taken a very measured look as a normal person I can now revert back to the fanatic that I am. How to convince my better half to see the movie once again? Any advices:)
P.S: Don't miss the Harry Potter shot at the end:)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)