Review Update...

Again its been sometime since I have posted some reviews. This time though, I will include some games as well. So here goes...

Category : Game
Name : Half Life 2: Aftermath
Cast : Gordon Freeman, Alyx Vance, Barney Calhoun...
My View : The game continues with the story of Half-life 2 and talks mainly about the characters at the end of HL2 and the events that occur as a result of their actions in HL2. As far as the game is concerned, it is on the same engine as HL2. So the graphics and gameplay are, undoubtedly, top-notch. The only downer is that there is no new aspect to gameplay. There is one sequence where Gordon and Alyx are in a basement of a building and hordes of zombies etc... come from all directions. And since it is dark, there is extensive use of the flashlight which, discharges very fast...so you end up in the dark with just voices and flashes of light. Interesting sequence but for me the only high-point of this episode. Hope the people at 'valve' can come up with something more creative in the next episode.

Category : Movie
Name : United 93
Cast : Christian Clemenson, Trish Gates, Gary Commock...
My View : With all the hype that has been surrounding the movies about 911, I was really looking forward to this one. And it paid off. The movie is, simply put, Amazing. The way it depicts the whole turn of events on September 11, 2001 is awesome. On one hand, it raises serious doubts about the military preparedness of the States. But, on the other hand, if the events depicted in the movie even honestly resemble what happenned on that day, Afganistan was totally justified. And I think it was too less...much more should have been done. All in all, a truly heart-rendering movie and a must watch.

Category : Movie
Name : X Men : The Last Stand
Cast : Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Sir Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen...
My View : A typical comic-book adaptation. A lot of High-flying, Gravity-defying, Superhuman stuff. Typical X-Men. Nothing very surprising or interesting in this one. A good thrill for once. And I seriously doubt this being the last one in the series.

Category : Movie
Name : Being Cyrus
Cast : Saif Ali Khan, Nasseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia, Boman Irani, Simone Singh...
My View : I did not know there were people in the Indian film industry capable of pulling off a film like this. The movie is damn good. With actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Dimple Kapadia...I would not settle for anything less. The storyline is very dramatic...with events unfolding every 15 minutes or so. Another good thing about the movie...No Songs...and for a bollywood production that is a very-very bold thing to do. Maybe this is the scene of things to come. Maybe. Well I hope so. We need more movies like this for sure.

Category : Movie
Name : Running Scared
Cast : Paul Walker, Cameron Bright, Vera Farmiga, Alex Neuberger, Ivana Milicevic...
My View : First of all, this movie is rated 'R'. So that tells a lot about the content. The movie is about a guy who is caught up in the underworld. But he wants to keep his back covered by keeping some 'pieces' of the crimes so that he has leverage later on. All hell breaks lose when one of the 'pieces' is lost from his possession and the movie follows him trying to retrieve this missing 'piece' before his gang-friends find out about it. The movie is extremely graphic, violent and uses abusive-language. But the plot-twists are well held together. A good watch, I suppose, just not in front of the kids...or even parents for that matter. ;)

Category : Movie
Name : Flight 93
Cast : Brennan Elliott, Ty Olsson, Jerry Wasserman...
My View : Told on similar lines to United 93. The movie focusses more on that particular flight and the lives of all people affected by that. A similar story told in a slightly different way. But I felt that the characterization was weaker in this one. Anyhow, a good watch.

More later.