The Kite Runner Movie Review
Posted by Kushal | Filed under Uncategorized
I‘m almost at a loss for worlds. Almost. Every now and then a film comes along that evokes more emotion than I’m sure is medically safe to experience within a two hour period. The Kite Runner is one of those films. Not melancholy or depressing, yet deeply moving, it follows the story of Amir, a writer from Afghanistan that lives in San Francisco, CA. The film spends the first half exploring Amir’s upbringing in pre-Taliban Afghanistan with his best friend Hassan. And that’s where I will stop. I don’t want to paint any image that may bracket such a beautiful film into a class or genre or category. I will instead jump to the end where Amir has to travel back to visit a childhood friend and travel into Taliban controlled Afghanistan. The location is almost secondary to the depth of the film but it is still an added experience to see the change from 1978 to 2000 in Amir’s Homeland. This is another masterpiece in movie making from Marc Forster, the Director of the phenomenal Finding Neverland. I my opinion Marc is become legendary with his ability to reach out to the audience and evoke deep compassion for his characters. Yes, credit is due primarily to Khaled Hosseini for writing such a landmark novel but I feel that many directors attempt the novel-film conversion and screw it up to the point where the audience is under-whelmed by a film that doesn’t deliver the depth and experience of a novel, and left so disappointed that they don’t read the novel either. Not Forster. I have put off seeing Atonement because the novel is sitting on my shelf, waiting for a read. I took a risk with The Kite Runner and, honestly, I would still read the novel to experience the story again. A word of warning to people that don’t like / can’t read. Most of the film is in Dari – the Afghan dialect of the Persian language and hence subtitled.
Verdict:
A truly moving experience.9.5/10
Tags: English Movies, Middle Eastern Reviews, MovieReviews
Trigun Review
Posted by Kushal | Filed under Uncategorized
I don’t think there’s a single Top Ten Anime list which doesn’t include Trigun. As with any series it’s difficult to review without giving away major story points.
The series follows the adventures of a pair of err… well insurance assessors I guess. As riveting as that doesn’t sound I’m happy to say that this is one of the best anime series I’ve seen. The Insurance girls are on the trail of one Vash the Stampede, the most wanted outlaw on the planet. They are joined by this bumbling happy go lucky gun fighter on the left as they follow the trail from city to city.
The story takes place on a desert planet with sparse human settlements, apparently at the beginning of colonisation. Due to a lack of governmental organisation, each town’s legal problems are dealt with by the local sheriffs. In that way the towns and cities develop an old west type of structure with a wonderful mixtures of old and new technologies and weapons.
The characters are rich and clear and the bad-guys aren’t too 1 dimensional. Everyone has their own deep story and episode after episode the stories weave together and build up to the final confrontations and discoveries. Some say it’s better than Cowboy Bebop, some say it isn’t. The visuals are old and jump, even lazy in places, nowhere near the glamour of Bebop. Some of the acting is a little over cheesy and the main story develops a little slowly for my taste. But somehow it all mixes together to form a very addictive and entertaining animated series with some classic and unforgettable characters.
Wikipedia reports that Trigun X: The Movie is finishing pre-productions. Can’t Wait!
Tags: Anime Reviews, MovieReviews
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