Reviews by Duodora

I checked out this show because a couple of my friends kept talking about it, and I got curious. They said they didn't think I'd like it (I tend to go for fluffy, or at least cheery--and a show about the US getting blown up by a nuclear holocaust probably isn't in that category). But I started watching it, and I'm hooked!

No, it's not cheery. The first couple of episodes are downright buggy. They really are--I'm in SD now, but I go back to Baltimore for school soon, and it makes me not want to go anywhere near big cities (read: DC).

But it is incredibly well done. Period. The characters are well developed, and each episode gives you a new and tantalizing bit of information about them. They're intriguing and likable--you want them (well, some of them anyway) to pull through.

Jericho also does an excellent job of showing how things play out--the characters experience problems initially with nuclear fallout and general panic, followed by electricity and food shortages, followed by general anarchy. But throughout the whole show (well ok I'm only half way through the first season), they do a scarily good job of making in believable. Sure, maybe the main characters are "too" brave--and know a little bit too much, but the whole sequence, or timeline, is very believably portrayed.

Anyway--if some random person on the internet told me to watch Jericho--I probably wouldn't listen. But maybe you're different--so some random person on the internet is telling you to check it out. Yeah, it's a little bit buggy, and might give you some chills. But it's worth it.

ttyl!

Ok, to be honest I started watching this show when someone told me I looked like Ugly Betty (sigh...oh well I think I can still live with myself). And plus I read all those crap magazines, like People and US when I work out, and the cast kept being featured...so I got curious.

It's fun. I think season 1 has kind of a nice spirit to it--and it's nice to see a more realistic heroine, one who is frankly a bit "un-cool." And ironically, and predictably, she's the one "ugly" person working at a fashion magazine, but she's the only one that's "pretty" on the inside.

Season 1 is light hearted and fun, you can't take it too seriously--there are a lot of ridiculous side plots with the exploits of Betty's boss, and with Betty's Dad's case worker. Anyway--the show does an excellent job of mixing sheer entertainment with more serious issues--weight/beauty, gay rights, immigration--and putting it in a warm fuzzy package.

Season 2 (well, pre-writer's strike season 2) is more addictive in the sense that you can't stop watching it, but I feel it loses some of what makes it a good show.

It turns significantly more into almost a soap opera--Betty's having issues with her boyfriend, who is having issues with his ex (I'm trying to keep this vague and spoiler free), people get pregnant, have sex changes, and there is a constant and somewhat ridiculous struggle to take over the magazine where Betty works. All of this makes it hard to stop watching, but it also makes it...well, just not as "good" of a show.

One thing season 2 does that I do appreciate tho--season 2 takes some of the more minor characters (like the lovable Marc) and builds them up, makes them more "real" (although with some of these characters, you can tell they're still working at figuring out exactly who they are). In the first season you see Marc sheerly as the "bitchy assistant" to Willhamina, but in the second season you see him built more into a real person--one who, under all of that bluster, is struggling to have a real relationship, who still hasn't come out to his parents, and who will go out of his way to make someone feel better (as long as no one else will find out).

Spoilers: But I feel that the show is losing a lot where Betty is concerned--a lot of what makes the show appealing is that the main character is not a cut out girl, is not perfect, has curious blind spots and flaws, says the wrong things at the wrong time, etc. But this whole Henry thing--she went straight from one boy friend to another--and I'm guessing now, sooner or later, she's going to turn to Gio (who I absolutely love, as a side note). And this is where the show starts really losing something. She's supposed to be this real character, and yet I feel like she's just going to keep trucking through boy friends.

(spoilers, cont.) And I honestly think the whole thing with Charlie and Henry is just pushing it. I'm sorry but if Henry's ex is going to have a baby...then let's see, Betty and Henry shouldn't date. It's just sort of a way to make the show more dramatic than it already is. And the whole interlude with Charlie and Betty's dentist? Ugh! Unless it turns out to be relevant (ie Charlie was lying to Henry about the paternity test and the baby isn't his) I don't want to hear about it. And Henry is turning into such a jerk...I'm sorry if Henry is jealous of Gio, but he doesn't have any cause to be jealous, under the circumstances.

(/spoilers). In conclusion, I think that Ugly Betty is on slippery ground...they're going to need to work out some of the soap opera components, and go back to making the characters grow or mature, or they are going to lose a lot of their fan base (I know ratings have already been dropping).

As a final unrelated side note. I have to say I've decided that I'm in love with Marc. In the episode with Patti LuPone as his mother...I seriously fell in love with him. He just has those big dark eyes...

*sigh* Why is it always the gay ones that are the most attractive? ;)

Aight, so first of all, I tend to like light, cheesy, fluffy entertainment, especially during the school year. That being said, SG1 is perfect, sort of.

Basically it's a little bit like star trek or something, except for the most part there aren't space ships--instead your four main characters bop in and out of this worm hole ring thing, and that's how they get around.

I'm about half way through the 2nd season right now, so I know there's a long way before the end--but that's all to the good, at least for now.

One caveat--at least now the show is pretty repetitious--you're not going to be able to really use your brain, and each episode isn't going to give you something new and exciting. But it's entertainment, pure and simple, with sort of a dry sense of humor.

And, well...I feel that this is a show that is um, greatly enhanced if you can manage to be obsessed with one of the main characters. For me, I really can't get enough of Daniel and his floppy hair. Which is getting cut soon. And then he's getting muscles *sob* not that there is anything wrong with muscles. Just muscles on Daniel.

Aight, so basically, if you like Star Wars/Star Trek/Firefly, etc. and want a light hearted sci-fi show, SG1 is a good place to start :) If you're up for anything more in depth, well you're probably not looking at sci-fi stuff anyway.

So I went into this movie with pretty mixed feelings. On one hand it's SRK so I'm inclined to like it, but on the other, I'm really sick of underdog team sports movies.

But I basically liked it. They went a bit heavy on the "Indian patriotism" there are no states only one India--it got really irritating about half way through the movie, but then they seemed to back off on that theme a little bit.

One thing I really liked though was the actual field hockey players--the movie makers did a really good job of portraying all the different personalities of the players, as well as their different backgrounds/cultures. As one friend remarked, the movie is really about the girls--and I do like that. This movie could have so easily turned into a SRK show, and they mostly stayed away from that.

However, I did really think SRK was good in this. It was kind of fun to see him in a non-blatantly-cheesy roll, and I have to say I was impressed :)

But I guess I didn't rate this movie higher just for the sake of what it was--sort of a very typical, predictable sports movie. I guess I kind of rate movies based on whether or not I'd want to see them again. I liked this movie, but I definitely wouldn't buy it or plan to see it again.

I was a bit skeptical about this movie, but a friend told me it was good, and they were screening it on campus, so I decided to swing by.

First off, I don't usually like Kareena Kapoor--but she was really great in this movie! She played her character perfectly, and was a lot of fun to watch.

This movie is one of those movie that you need to completely leave your brain behind, but then again, that's usually what I'm looking for. But it's simply hilarious. Even with atrocious subtitles (I can understand some Hindi, but not enough to do w/o them...sigh...) the movie was absolutely hilarious--and that's really saying something. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Basically the two main characters keep getting into odder and odder situations. You have to ignore the fact of how they GET into odd situations, but once they're there, just sit back and laugh. I'm also not trying to say that the humor was "high class" or anything like that--but it was better than a lot of movies. I definitely plan on watching this movie again--and I think it will be just as funny a second time.

I really liked Shahid Kapoor too. I'd never seen him in anything before, but he was yummy! Not sure he was the most dynamic actor of all times, but he did have really good facial expressions, and played his character really well.

Pseudo Spoiler: I really didn't like the kiss at the end tho. I really LIKE the fact that bollywood doesn't show much of that stuff, but it's obviously changing. More of Bollywood becoming westernized :-\

But definitely check this one out :)

Well, basically...it just didn't work for me.

I usually like zany strange offbeat movies (Eternal Sunshine, Garden State, Lost in Translation), but this one just went a bit overboard.

There were definitely some cool moments in it, but I thought overall it just, wasn't really a story I could get in to. I couldn't relate to any of the characters really at all, and I couldn't really justify any of their actions.

I thought the people who make the movie were working too hard to make the movie nuts. Most strange movies have at least shades, or scenes of normalcy, to kind of orient the viewers. And this movie was lacking that, so I spent the whole movie just being kind of lost.

The one thing this movie did well tho, was make you feel sympathy for all of the characters. They really did a good job of convincing the viewers that the characters were all messed up, and all doing what hey cood, in their own strange ways.

Overall tho, I'd skip it, and see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind instead.

So, no, this isn't a "good" movie. It's not full of deep meanings and themes, and it won't make you cry. (I don't think a movie has to be good to make you cry, but other people seem to think so...)

But you know what? It's fun! It's one of those movies that no matter how many times you've seen it, you always find yourself sitting forward in your seat, waiting to see what will happen.

So no, it's not lastingly meaningful or anything like that, but it provides good entertainment :)

And Keanu Reeves is attractive like WOAH in that movie. I don't really like his later stuff, and I'm not actually convinced he's a good actor...but...Yummy!

(and Sandra Bullock is amazing, as always!)

"Almost." That's the best word to describe this movie.

I guess I'm not sure quite what they were going for. It wasn't "quite" funny, and it wasn't "quite" inspiring, and so it ended up not being much of anything.

I guess I'm a big environmentalist, and I felt that the movie "almost" had a good environmental theme, but it wasn't really developed. To me it seemed that the writers wanted to make it sort of a pro-environment movie, then they just sort of backed off at the end.

And I suppose I'm a little bit...I don't know anti human? (except not) but I kind of wanted the flood to actually come and destroy the country. It just seemed that there was all of this build up, and then it was just this dam broke, and so they went sailing across DC and then it's like..."well, that was fun"

And it "almost" had a theme about corruption, but the movie sort of backed off that one too.

However, all that being said it was good for a couple of laughs, and maybe an entertaining hour an a half. That's about it.

I wish I could rate the two halves of the movie separately. The first half was kinda bad--and I almost just kind of shrugged and turned it off, but the second half definitely more than makes up for it.

In the first half of the movie, Priety Zinga and Abishek Bachchan meet in a train station, where both are waiting for their "fiances." They both embark on somewhat rambly, pointless,unbelievable tales of how they met their sweethearts (filled with some really bad song and dance routines).

I don't want to give away the rest of the plot, but let's just say the second half is better. The highlight of the second half is a dance off, filled with some pretty awesome dancing, and it's just plain fun. I almost dare you to watch it and not grin, it's just silly and fun.

As a side note, it's almost worth it to watch this movie just for the sake of seeing Amitabh Bachchan dressed as a half punk rocker, half hippie. [Link removed - login to see] By the way. And fyi, he doesn't have a character or anything like that, he just dances at random interludes...it's strange (except at the very end, I think they were trying to go for something important, but I missed it, ahh well).

Finally, on a total side note from the movie, it honestly saddened me to see how much weight Preity Zinta had lost. I'm used to her in Veer-Zaara-where she looks like a gorgeous, healthy person. Here, she was just tiny.

I have to say I hate how westernized bollywood is getting. I mean, some of it's all in good fun, but the girls are shrinking in size. Up until a few years ago, I think girls could watch bollywood, and see gorgeous, healthy women (ones that it would be OK to aspire to look like), but now bollywood actresses are getting more and more "westernized" (ie overly skinny). And that's too bad.

Well, anyway--JBJ is worth a couple hours, but you've got to make it through a rather boring first half before it gets fun!

So, my first, and most important comment would be to just forget the movie and read the book instead.

I don't think the movie makers did a bad job with it--they definitely tried hard to keep the movie in the right spirit as the book, but I think the movie was sort of doomed to...not succeed (I don't want to say fail b/c that's just too strong).

Basically, as one of my friends pointed out earlier today, Hitchhiker's Guide doesn't really have a lot of plot. What holds the book together is sheer randomness/hilarity. A lot of the details that made the book work just plain had to be cut out for the movie.

So basically, the movie ended up just being a set of random scenes--without the "glue" that held everything together in the book.

All that being said, Alan Rickman is just fantastic as Marvin, and I'm noot sure the actor's name, but the person who played Ford was fantastic :)

All that being said--it honestly won't take much longer to read the book than watch the movie (the first book in the series--which is what the movie covers--is only about 120 pages, but it's really really fast read), and the book is just so much better!