Reviews
The Simpsons (1989)
The greatest animated TV show of all time.
Over 24 years of air-time and more than 500 episodes. The feat this show has achieved is unmatched. The Simpsons is the longest running animated TV show and longest running prime time TV show. It has won 115 awards and been nominated for a further 150. The show has received so much praise, being named as the greatest TV show ever. The influence this has had on other TV programmes has been incredible. Animated shows once considered dead was single handedly revived by The Simpsons. Its unmatched success also carved a niche for adult "cartoons", leading to other great shows such as South Park, Futurama (created by Simpsons creator Matt Groening) and Family Guy.
I began to fully watch The Simpsons 5 years ago and i have seen every single episode, most of them probably two or three times. I watched it a few times as a kid, many years ago, and played several games but never understood the sheer genius of the show, until one day i flicked through the channels and Bart the Daredevil was on, seeing Homer fall down the ravine twice, i laughed so hard and was instantly hooked to watch another episode. The Simpsons also generated my interest in animated programming, which is literally all i watch today and i'm currently studying.
The are so many reasons to watch The Simpsons, wacko larger than life characters, the pop culture references to everything including music, books, TV shows and mostly films. The parodying of nearly everything. So many celebrities have made an appearance or given their voice, which gives it the record for the most guest appearances. There are hidden references and messages in every episode, some that may be only be seen after watching one episode 5 times. Every character has a gag, a catchphrase and a background story, which many shows and animated programs do not. In each season there's a clip show special, three part anthology episode and of course the great Treehouse of Horror series, which has influenced many other shows to make their own anthology specials.
Having been running for 24 years straight you would expect that there would be a decline in quality, which many people have criticized. Fans have been noting that there's been a decline in humor since season 9/10. I think it started when Seymour Skinner was shown to be a fake. Many fans have abandoned the show since the early 2000's. Being a long time fan i think it was still funny until mid season 22 but since the end of season 23 the show has begun a sharp rise again in humor, writing quality and touching moments that have not been seen since the earlier seasons.
Main Characters include:
Homer - the father of The Simpsons, the most beloved TV character, is the overweight lazy slob meant to represent the average labour worker in America. He is known to say D'0h, (which even made it into the English dictionary), after doing something stupid which he is always doing.
Marge - the housewife who keeps the family together, usually supported by Lisa in stopping Homer and Bart in their crazy schemes, which can be annoying at times. She represents the typical American mother and wife. Her laugh is her so funny and annoying.
Bart - Originally the Simpsons was all about Bart in the first few seasons, but Homer became more popular and more episodes began to feature about him. However Bartmania still rules. A notorious prankster, who's doing all sorts of crazy stuff, Bart is an extremely fun character that any kid can relate to. Bart has so many catchphrases such "Ay Caramba", which also made it in the dictionary, "Eat my shorts", "I'm Bart Simpson who the hell are you". Bart's recurring gag is causing trouble for Homer and prank calling Moe in the early seasons.
Lisa - An 8 year old highly intelligent kid, who loves to play the saxophone, is always rebelling against the town. She is also convert to Buddhism despite only being 8. In the early seasons she was more fun character, supporting Bart in his pranks but sadly over time she has become serious, unpopular and in my opinion extremely annoying and selfish.
Maggie Simpson - Don't let the child fool you. Famous for shooting Mr Burns, she has also saved homer's life on more than one occasion.
There are so many more great characters that started as background/supporting characters, who have gone on to become major characters, some even having the whole episode devout to them such as Willie, Chief Wiggum, Mr Burns, Nelson and Ned Flanders.
The Simpsons is no longer a cartoon it's a philosophy - BBC.
Natural Born Killers (1994)
A crime against humanity and the result of several copycat crimes.
I recently got to watch this film due to my class study of the violence and crime in films and their impact of society, with this film being the result of several copycat crimes. Even though i got to watch it for free i still feel ripped of about it. It is a utter and complete piece of trash and a total time waster, which by the end of it i was so mad i lost my temper (and sanity) and ended up punching out the poor fellow who recommended this to me. I have seen several Tarantino and Stone films and none of them is worse than this.
The story starts with Mal and Mickey, 2 loony physco's who start shooting people in a cafe after the police officer flirts with Mal and is beaten the sh*t out of by Mal, with her bare hands and feet (yes a woman) who looks more like a "Broomstick" (as her father calls her). Right from there i knew this was one of those films i was not going to like and i wish i had just stopped the DVD right there.
As the story goes further random people, thoughts and images are flying about on screen alongside the current day image which not only makes you lose interest in the story and only wonder what the f*ck is happening. The director repeats this several times which is rather annoying and no doubt this was picked up from Tarantino.
Afterwards during the prison riots (the most annoying part) they escape from help with Wayne (News reporter) who's friends and crew are all shot dead by Mickey. Just before the escape about 10 to 15 armed to the teeth officers are shot and killed at once by an injured Mickey and Malorie and the news reporter who's never held a gun before.
The escape so easily despite being surrounded by dozens of armed officers who cant shoot because they care about the stupid news reporter (they think he's an innocent hostage) who in the end goes crazy and is eventually killed by Mickey.
During the credits they are shown still on the run (Yup two of the most notorious widely known murders who killed over 50 innocent civilians and sh*t loads of police officers are never captured) and to make sure it had the worst ending ever the director even threw in two of their kids (who presumably must have been born on the road somewhere or in the back of their car and the surgery was performed by Mickey).
One thing i didn't and wont ever understand is that was the audience supposed to like these two maniacs??. Well if yeah then i can totally see where the violence comes from in today's society and can definitely blame it on films like these.
1/10.. Sorry it couldn't get any lower.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)
Awful piece of trash
I am a huge Bollywood movie buff and recently got the chance to watch this movie having heard so much about it. I was expecting a classic right from the beginning especially with the pair of Shahrukh and Kajol who i loved in K3G. I kept waiting for something exciting or special to happen but nothing happened and the ending was so ridiculous because he just lets her go.. just like that for no absolute reason into the hands of a stranger who just lied to him and cheated him. The only good scene in the whole film came just before the end when they beat Raj up. My conclusion is that this is undoubtedly the most overrated disappointing piece of time wasting trash ever made in Bollywood/Hindi film industry which has strangely set a new trend for Bollywood. One wonders how?.
Players (2012)
Mind blowing
Great thriller with lots of action, beautiful cinematography and some pretty good songs. From the heist to the painting to the cars made of gold, everything is utter brilliance. What more can you expect when Abbas- Mustan are the directors. Abhishek is a great actor and plays the main character with pride just like he did in DMD. I think he is getting better with every film he does. Lots of eye candy including Sonam and Bipasha in their item songs, both look very hot and glamorous in their respective roles as well as Shweta Bhardwaj. Omi and Johnny lever provide relief with their humour but Neil Nitin Mukesh simply steals the show with his villainous character. Overall very enjoyable movie that has everything you could ask for from a good Bollywood film.