MOVIE REVIEW
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
By Neshmeen
“Why do the Decepticons always get the cool shit?” Sergeant Epps.
Almost everyone knows just how lousy “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was - what with its robot heaven and whatnot. Transformers: Dark of the Moon had promised to the audience to more than make up for its predecessor's faults and attempt to fix things. While Michael Bay's last Transformers has actually been called the best of the lot by some, that's not saying much, considering the previous installments.
The basis of the story is a conspiracy theory, showing NASA's first moon expedition to have occurred because of the detection of robots on the moon where an ancient Autobot ship had crashed, with Sentinel Prime and his 'pillars' in it - machines with which time and space could be warped through and planets could be recreated. With Chicago as a base, the Decepticons finally unfold their plan of bringing Cybertron, their destroyed planet, back, not caring about the millions of human lives that were going to be destroyed (as usual).
The movie returns with Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBoeuf) and his never-ending girly screams. Megan Fox has been replaced by Victoria's secret model Rosie Huntington-Whitely as Carly Miller. Characters like Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Sergeant Epps (Tyrese Gibson) actually let humans attain some level of coolness in this movie and Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy, anyone?) featured as Dylan, the villain.
Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) finally came back as the ass-kicking super robot warrior we once knew and loved in the cartoons, with an addition of the great Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nimoy), the former leader of the Autobots. Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving) is back again, disfigured and ugly, yet ever the mastermind. The additions of Ken Jeong (Senor Chang from Community) and John Malkovich gave moments of comic relief, sort of.
We all know that Michael Bay has always been accused of only being able to make his movies work with special effects and large amounts of explosions. The plot usually goes like this: BOOM! BOOM! Lots of running around. End of plot. That theory stands true here as well. Though relatively better than the previous installments, the plot was still weak and confusing, with too much going on at the same time.
The lead couple lacked chemistry. And it filled you with annoyance at how Carly's white coat remained sparkly white throughout the entire movie as she ran for her life in high heels while poor Sam was left all dirty and bloodied. Patrick Dempsey did not pass off as an awesome villain and left you wondering about the casting. And again, you could never differentiate between which robot was which during the fight scenes, which resulted in unwanted misunderstandings at times.
Overall, Dark of the Moon wasn't the best of movies but it was fun to watch. After stretching on for more than two and a half hours, it was amazing how the last bit, which contained most of the astounding action scenes, made you forget all the flaws for a while and wowed you enough to actually make you sit through the credits (or maybe it was just Linkin Park's 'Iridescent' that did that). Nevertheless, Dark of the Moon isn't one to make you regret spending two and a half hours of your life on it, as long you're ready to overlook a few things.
Celebrity Bands
By Alvi Ahmed
Whenever we talk about celebrity bands, we immediately come to the conclusion that it's incomprehensibly terrible. Mostly because we believe that there's only so much room for artistic talents in one person and also because of the fact that most celebrity bands ARE incomprehensibly terrible. While some only join bands to satisfy their crippling desire for more media attention and to appear cool, some of them aren't all that bad. Here're some of both.
She & Him
(Celebrity member: Zooey Deschanel)
Zooey Deschanel is pretty cool and the fact that her movies are not vomit-inducing also helps. On top of that, her band, She & Him isn't half bad either. Along with song writing partner M. Ward, She & Him makes warm retro-country, feel good type of music. Zooey, very wisely, aligned herself with respected people from the music industry (for example Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie). She also doesn't put herself ahead of the band, like a lot of people in this list did. It seems the only thing that's not cool about her is the way she spells her first name.
Dogstar (Celebrity member: Keanu Reeves)
Keanu Reeves described his now defunct band as a “mistake”. However, the odd thing about Dogstar is that, Reeves used to play the bass. It could mean that Keanu was smart enough to keep himself out of the limelight and let the more capable members of the band deal with the major stuff. But there's just one thing wrong with this otherwise clever idea. None of the members of Dogstar were musically talented. It's like Keanu Reeves got super wasted and decided to form a band and randomly picked a few people in the vicinity as his band mates.
Wicked Wisdom
(Celebrity member: Jada Pinkett Smith)
Jada Pinkett is famous for being Will Smith's wife and also for starring in low budget films which we are sure none of our readers have ever seen. Except for The Matrix sequels and Madagascar. But Matrix sequels are notorious for ruining a brilliant idea and Madagascar, well, that's voice-over, and hence doesn't count. So, when she's not spending her husband's money or starring in movies that even critics feel sorry for, she's screaming her behind off on stage with her “band”, Wicked Wisdom. Not surprisingly her non-musician band mates also try to make what they think is “music” by violently harassing their instruments. They are supposed to belong to the “Nu-metal” genre, but after listening to their music (yes, it was a painful four minutes) this writer is not so sure.
The Bacon Brothers
(Celebrity member: Kevin Bacon)
We are sure that our more cynical readers are probably laughing like lunatics, but The Bacon Brothers aren't exactly that bad. They keep the music simple and play to their strengths and their brand of country-folk goes down very well in southern US, where the band still tours and also has a pretty good following. They have four studio albums, which were decent and not as bad as you'd think. The band members consist of Kevin Bacon and his not so talented or good-looking brother.
Steven Seagal & Thunderbox
(no points for guessing the celebrity member)
Whatever Steven Seagal does is automatically awesome. Along with his band, he has released cool sounding album names like “Mojo Priest”, which blends blues with electronic influences. Pretty awesome, eh? The band undertook a successful tour in the UK where they received positive reviews.
Reference: askmen.com and youtube.
ANIME REVIEW
MUST TRY: SPORTS ANIME
By Padya
Sports anime is a genre not yet fully in the hearts of many people. Mostly because people think card-based anime like Yu-Gi-Oh falls under the sports category. One person even considers Dragon Ball Z a sport anime. Neither of those, action-packed and tense they may be, are remotely close to fill up a list of great sports anime. So here are a handful from a variety of sports, that will grab your attention, get you cheering for the heroes' team and leave you on the edge of your seat!
Slam Dunk (basketball) - Once you learn to get over the fact that it is quite old, Slam Dunk is awesome. Hanamichi Sakuragi, "the red-haired monkey" a.k.a. our hero, begins playing basketball to impress, well, a girl. Bit by bit, this complete amateur helps his team reach the national level by overcoming various obstacles, honing his balling skills and making friends and enemies along the way. Full of superb basketball action and funny dialogue, this is a great place to learn your basketball terms.
Prince of Tennis (tennis) - 13-year-old tennis prodigy Ryoma Echizen arrives in Japan from the USA and takes tennis courts by storm. This is the story of his school team's progress to greater heights. The animation is as good as the story and this one is one of those anime that has attracted female fans due to being overcrowded with cute guys.
Captain Tsubasa (football) - An anime that ran for a very long time. Somewhat pretentious - okay, very dramatic, but despite all the fancy names for shots, Captain Tsubasa aka Flash Kicker was one of the biggest influences on Japanese football! And now they are Women's World Cup Champions! Anyway, this is the story of Tsubasa Ozora as we see him and his friends from their elementary school days to the days they play for clubs like Barca, Juventus and Bayern to them representing Japan in the World Cup.
Eyeshield 21 (American football) - As pointless as you may find the sport this is about, Eyeshield 21 is worth watching. Sena has always been a bully-magnet and this has helped him gain running skills like nobody else. This rare ability catches the attention of the football team captain and Sena has to wear an eyeshield to protect his identity since everybody would want such a fast runner on their team. Geek-turned-hero plotline meets good drawing and great soundtrack with some education about a sport you never liked - that's Eyeshield 21 for you.
Fighting Spirit (boxing) - Also known as Hajime no Ippo, this is the tale of Ippo, another bully-magnet, who is rescued by professional boxer Takamura on one of his bad days. Takamura takes him to a gym and it is here, that Ippo's talent for boxing is discovered. Thus begins Ippo's journey to become a pro. This one has a simple but enjoyable plot, great humour and it's cool how Ippo's eyes turn green when he goes to beast mode.
Over Drive (cycling) - The plot is similar to Slam Dunk, but only about cycling. Mikoto joins the bicycle club to impress a girl, but, he doesn't even know how to ride a bike! The best part about this is how it lets you enter the mind of a cyclist and feel what he has to go through when pressurised.
You can also try out Whistle (football) and Dan Doh! (golf). Sports anime, along with being an easy guide to a sport, are definitely a break from regular anime which can sometimes wear people out.
