sparkymat

Rating - 9/10 (absolute) .. 10/10 (for a Bond movie)

Daniel Craig - Potrays perfectly the transformation from a rough-edged rookie into the perfect suave, cold-blooded spy.

Plot - Engrossing. Despite apprehensions, the Poker game was quite engaging.

Style Quotient - Departs from the gadgets, girls and cars formula of the previous Bond movies. Instead, we see a darker, grittier potrayal of 007. In short, amazingly stylistic in a new direction.

Dialogues - Definitely above average.

Bond Girl - Eva Green plays a different kind of Bond girl. Finally we know why Bond never bonds with anyone anymore. “You don’t trust anyone, do you?” “No.“

Direction - Finally, a Bond movie that can stand on it own without needing any support from the 007 brand. Brilliantly directed. Almost at par with the giants of the year.

New Urge - Keep a close eye on the rest of the Daniel Craig movies. Especially Bond-22, Bond-23 etc.

Locations - Gooooood. Good. Gooooood.

Overall view - Finally, the first chapter in the life of Agent 007 is brought to the silver screen. Dark and gritty, it shows the steely loner transform into the refined, suave gentleman. For the first time, he is more than the sum of his parts (which include mostly gadgets and cars). We see why he is Agent 007, the best agent MI6 has. I never used to be a big fan of the Bond movies. Thanks to Daniel Craig, now I am (I can’t say why I liked Daniel Craig so much without giving out spoilers!)

Yesterday, I lost 3.5 hours of my life in one of the most horrible ways imaginable - by watching one of the most pathetic movies of my life. I left the cinema hall feeling thoroughly disgusted with the movie and it’s director. The saddest and most depressing part is, this movie is gonna make a lot of money, thus encouraging the director to churn out more rubbish like this.

To be fair, the theme of the plot was good. Well, not good good, but decent enough. The characters were good. They were believably real, to an extent. No superhuman heroes here - just plain, flawed human beings. Almost everything else about the movie was dismal. The only saving grace were the songs, which Radio Mirchi had drilled into my brain, and the Bs. Big B and Little B were the only ones worth watching, especially Little B. His character had a emotional depth that resonated well with me, and he actually managed to provide some respite in, what is otherwise, the most horrible movie I have ever seen.

I was slightly affronted by the almost-trivialized potrayal of the institution of marriage, though I must admit that the alternative climax would have been too cliched to bear.

This movie does carry a very VERY powerful message. In fact, two of them.

1. Karan Johar must not be allowed to direct anymore. His repeated “successes” with movies like this, will forever cripple the movie industry and prevent it from providing us with more gems along the lines of Swades (don’t get me started on Swades losing out to Veer-Zara at the awards)

2. Move over ‘King Khan’, Abhishek ‘Lallan’ Bachchan is here.

There was one more high point in the movie, or rather, before the movie. The trailer for D2. I had loved Dhoom and was looking forward to the sequel, and judging from the trailer, it’s gonna rock - John Woo style!!!!!!!

Which would be a better hand-held for playing games/music/movies? Here’s a head-to-head feature comparison. Tell me what you think.

Display size

• GP2X: 3.5 inches
• PSP : 4.3 inches
• Winner: PSP

Display resolution and color-depth

• GP2X: 320 x 240 x 20
• PSP : 480 x 272 x 24
• Winner: PSP

Audio Formats supported

• GP2X: MP3, OGG, WMA
• PSP : MP3 and Sony’s ATRAC3 plus
• Winner: GP2X

Video Formats supported

• GP2X: MPEG-4, XviD, WMV, DivX
• PSP : H.264, MPEG-4 Part 2/3 in .mp4 containers with AAC audio
• Winner: GP2X (possibly due to extensibility)

Image Formats supported

• GP2X: JPG, BMP, PCX, GIF
• PSP : JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF
• Winner: Neither

Physical size

• GP2X: 5.7 x 3.3 x 1.3 (inches)
• PSP : 6.7 x 2.9 x 0.90 (inches)
• Winner: PSP

Weight

• GP2X: 161 (gms)
• PSP : 280 (gms)
• Winner: GP2X

Connectivity

• GP2X: USB 2.0
• PSP : Wi-Fi(IEEE 802.11b), USB 1.1/2.0
• Winner: PSP due to Wi-Fi

Storage

• GP2X: NA
• PSP : NA
• Winner: Neither

Storage expandability

• GP2X: SD Card
• PSP : Memory Stick PRO Duo, 4GB Hard Disk (not yet out), Read-only UMD
• Winner: PSP

Non-media uses

• GP2X: Is primarily a gaming console. However, due to the linux operating system and an already established graphics library, the amount of games/emulators/applications dwarves that of the PSP.
• PSP : Is primarily a gaming console. Also, tonnes of home-brew applications provide a wide spectrum of applications. Can even be made to boot up Linux/Windows, though in a limited way.
• Winner: GP2X

Price

• GP2X: $190
• PSP : $280-300
• Winner: GP2X!

Interface

• GP2X: Standard handheld direction pad and action keys
• PSP : Standard handheld direction pad and action keys
• Winner: Neither

Looks

• GP2X:
• PSP :
• Winner: PSP

Which would be a better hand-held for playing music/movies? Here’s a head-to-head feature comparison. Tell me what you think.

Display size

• iPod : 2.5 inches
• PSP : 4.3 inches
• Winner: PSP

Display resolution and color-depth

• iPod : 320 x 240 x 16
• PSP : 480 x 272 x 24
• Winner: PSP

Audio Formats supported

• iPod : AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Music Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3 and 4), Apple Lossless, WAV, AIFF
• PSP : MP3 and Sony’s ATRAC3 plus
• Winner: iPod

Video Formats supported

• iPod : H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats
  MPEG-4 video: up to 2.5 mbps, 480 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats
• PSP : H.264, MPEG-4 Part 2/3 in .mp4 containers with AAC audio
• Winner: iPod

Image Formats supported

• iPod : JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only) and PNG formats
• PSP : JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF
• Winner: iPod

Physical size

• iPod : 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.43 (inches)
• PSP : 6.7 x 2.9 x 0.90 (inches)
• Winner: iPod

Weight

• iPod : 136 (gms)
• PSP : 280 (gms)
• Winner: iPod

Connectivity

• iPod : USB 1.1/2.0, composite video (with AV cable, sold separately) and audio through headphone jack or line out on the iPod Universal Dock (sold separately)
• PSP : Wi-Fi(IEEE 802.11b), USB 1.1/2.0
• Winner: possibly PSP due to Wi-Fi

Storage

• iPod : 30 GB
• PSP : NA
• Winner: iPod

Storage expandability

• iPod : NA
• PSP : Memory Stick PRO Duo, 4GB Hard Disk (not yet out), Read-only UMD
• Winner: PSP

Non-media uses

• iPod : NA
• PSP : Is primarily a gaming console. Also, tonnes of home-brew applications provide a wide spectrum of applications. Can even be made to boot up Linux/Windows.
• Winner: PSP

Cost of content

• iPod : Music - $0.99 / Videos - $1.99
• PSP : Movies - $10-$25 / Games - $20-$50
• Winner: Not sure - Not comparable

Price

• iPod : $299
• PSP : $280-300
• Winner: Both!

Interface

• iPod : Clickwheel - Very intuitive and easy to use
• PSP : Standard handheld direction pad and action keys - Semi-intuitive
• Winner: iPod

Looks

• iPod :
• PSP :
• Winner: PSP

Please find my reviews on UT and UT2004 @ mouthshut.com

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UT2004

Here’s my review on Gmail at mouthshut.com

Link

“There are no rights and wrongs. Only power…”

Sarkar touches heights of brilliance that few Indian cinema have managed to attain. With a stunning cast, brilliant music and excellent camera work, RGV has managed to elevate his directorial skills to deliver one of the most captivating movies I have ever seen. Both Bachans scintillate but its Bachan Jr who stood out, giving an almost perfect performance. I especially loved his last line, the “that’s what i want too..” one. Also commendable is the performance of Ravi Kale as the Sarkar’s lieutenant, Chander. The scene in which he and his goons beat up the college guy in the beginning of the movie, totally took my breath away. The flow of the movie was also good, not once boring the audience and yet without falling into any cliches. The realism with which the entire movie is potrayed is highly praiseworthy and takes the viewer on an emotional roller coaster ride, as we see the fall and the subsequent rise of Sarkar (oops! spoiler!).

This movie is a major achievement for RGV and the Indian movie industry as a whole and proves that we do have good movies among the Veer Zaras and Kya Kool Hai Hums.