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DEATH NOTE

Genre: Mystery, thriller, detective

This series is considered one of the finest ever anime due to its brilliant pacing, engaging characters and sharp twists and turns. It all begins with Light Yagami, a misanthropic teenage genius, finding a magical notebook called the Death Note whose power is to – surprise, surprise – kill anyone whose name is written in it. The notebook corrupts Light, who believes himself to be a savior of the world, and he aims to eradicate those he views as ‘evil’ and become a ‘god of justice’ and rule over the new world. Alongside the original owner of the Death Note, the practically immortal god of death Ryuk, he begins his crusade under the name Kira. But standing in his way is the equally intelligent and infinitely more eccentric detective who calls himself L, who has the backing of every law enforcement agency on the planet.

This show really makes you question your morality, and what is good and what is evil. You’ll see many characters clashing over their different ideals of what justice should be, and you’ll have a heck of a time watching them do so.

COWBOY BEBOP

Genre: Neo – noir, space western

Where to even begin with this anime? There’s just so very, very much it has going for it: its characters, animation, voice acting, soundtrack, and its episodic story telling style. The show is also lauded for being a combination of many cultures around the world. Its set a few centuries from now in space, and follows the adventures of a group of space bounty hunters: the ever cool Spike Spiegel, his loyal friend Jet, the flirtatious femme fatale Fey Valentine, and the weird but engrossing Ed. Each episode tells its own story, and one of the most appealing factors of the show is its stylishness and mixture of genres. When you think of it, the word ‘cool’ comes to mind a lot, and the series is notable for being a very western rather than eastern one. The soundtrack is heavily influenced by jazz, and it really feels a lot like a gangster flick set in space.

Cowboy Bebop is an anime that should be one everyone’s watch list and it really does go out with a bang.

THE DEVIL IS A PART TIMER

Genre: Action, comedy, fantasy

Ever wonder what it would be like if Satan, the ruler of all demons, became a part time employee who serves burgers and fries? If you have, then this anime is for you. It begins in an alternate world, where demons and magic exist. Satan is about to take over said world, but is forced to flee to our modern world when his arch nemesis, the great hero Amelia, overwhelms him. Alongside his second in command, Alciel, he makes a life for himself on earth as he’s lost most of his magic. This anime hits the humor chords quite regularly, and you’ll burst out laughing at least a few times every episode. Imagine the devil standing in line to buy cartons eggs in a supermarket sale.

The animation, action scenes and voice acting are top notch as well, so you’ll have a hell of a time watching it (no offence intended).

Make the historical story better: The story of Unity, Black Flag and to an extent AC III, were disappointing. The games before that had deep ideological as well as physical battles between Assassins and their natural enemies the Templars were something to behold. Then, beginning with AC III, the two factions actually started cooperating, damn their differences. If it had been done well, I would have been fine with it, but they weren’t handled all that well. Black Flag was more a pirate story than an Assassin’s Creed one, and that was what many people enjoyed about the game. But let’s face it, even for a pirate story, it was quite poor. Unity told a story which was part revenge, part redemption and part romance. The story was ok at best, but the characters in it were not. Some things missing in the story were a connection with the background of the French Revolution, as well as characters from that time period. I hope that in future games, they make more likeable characters and tie it in well with the setting.

Make the modern story matter: From the very first game, the modern day story was told from the point of view of Desmond Miles, and while he wasn’t the most intriguing  protagonist, he at least provided a narrative and a sense of purpose. But then – spoiler alert – he died. And the story has been pretty much pointless since. Unity in particular was lacking. It needs to become relevant again.

Open world: Black Flag gave one of the best worlds to explore in recent times. You truly felt like a pirate, roaming the high seas, plundering ships, exploring wrecks and harpooning. All this gave a grand sense of freedom, and you could explore whenever you felt like it. There were so many cities and islands waiting to be discovered, and you couldn’t help but marvel at the game’s scope. You also felt a compulsion of sorts to do everything in the game. There was a huge variety in the gameplay, and enough noticeable differences to set each location apart. In Unity, however, you’re just limited to Paris, and you see Versailles early on. That’s it. And both the cities look exactly the same. While there were enough side missions to keep you occupied for a long time, there just weren’t enough reasons to do them. With future games, I hope that we can explore more than one city and even the wilderness if possible. Also, I hope there are more gameplay options, as Unity was found lacking in that aspect.

The protagonist of the film is a young girl called Riley. In her mind, five emotions manifest themselves: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger. The emotions live in Headquarters, which is actually Riley's conscious mind, where they influence Riley's actions and memories via a control console, akin to a video game. Her new memories are housed in coloured orbs, the memory representing each of the emotions depending on the colour which are sent into storage at the end of every day.

The most significant memories, appropriately dubbed as "core memories", are housed in a secure hub in Headquarters and power five "islands" that each reflect a different aspect of Riley's personality. These islands are Friendships, Family, Honesty, Goofiness and Hockey. Joy, being the most desirable emotion, is the commander of Headquarters to ensure Riley stays happy, but she tries to keep Sadness away from the memories because she makes them sad instead of happy, thus affecting Riley in a way that Joy views as negative.

The animation of this world is gorgeous, especially within Riley’s mind; the personality islands, the memory tubes and how the orbs move through them, and the physical shapes of the emotions all are wonderfully done. You can just imagine that Anger would have flames coming out of his head, Sadness having a melancholic blue, and Joy bring colourful and vibrant. They also explore different aspects of Riley’s mind, with some tending to her childlike fantasies of French fries forests, a 2D plane of existence, and a theatre performance which are actually Riley’s dreams.

Plot wise, there are elements that we are all familiar with: dedication to a child, learning the value of teamwork, and ultimately the importance of family. But these tried and tested aspects have never been given so much free reign before, with their being major psychological effects to everything, yet it’s done in such a way that even children will be able to grasp the ramifications and significance of it all. There are also emotional storylines in the film as well, such as how the relationship between Sadness and Joy evolves and an imaginary friend from whom Riley has no use anymore.

Humour wise, the film hits all the right notes, and you can expect to keep chuckling throughout the movie. Brief scenes where the psyche of other characters is explored, with the setup being similar to Riley’s mind, are particularly funny. Add to that some spectacular voice acting, and you can’t go wrong. Some of the emotions sound so good, in fact, that you get guess which one they personify solely by audio.

Inside Out is a gorgeously animated movie in addition to being innovative, creative and humourous, while also featuring themes and characters which are unheard of in children’s movies.

Jurassic Park, released in 1992, has been regarded to be one of the greatest action and thriller movies of all time. The sheer impact it had, especially for its visual effects, let Peter Jackson to create The Lord of the Rings, and George Lucas to the Star Wars prequels. So does Jurassic World follow up that movie while at the same time introducing a new generation to it? In a word, the answer is “yes.”

22 years have passed since the original catastrophe on Isla Nublar, and it has been all but forgotten. The dream of creating dinosaurs has now been fully realized, with a fully functional dino theme park on a secluded island, with hordes of tourists coming every day to take a peek.

However, it soon becomes obvious that attendance is dwindling, and that people are starting to think of Jurassic World as nothing more than a mere zoo. To reinvigorate public interest, a new dinosaur called the Indominus rex is created, with it containing genetic features of other organisms. Predictably, this is where everything goes devastatingly wrong, and the dinosaur escapes and goes on a rampage.

This movie is not all senseless carnage, though, which is surprising given what the audience demands these days. It’s a character driven story, with each of them having a unique, understandable and realistic personality and motivations. The lead characters, Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, are portrayed by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard respectively. Both of them shine in their roles, with Pratt being the laid back yet badass park trainer, and Howard the uptight, bossy yet well-meaning park manager.

Claire’s nephews come to visit her at the park, with Nick Robinson starring as Zach, the bored and seemingly apathetic teenager and Ty Simpkins as the geeky and enthusiastic younger brother. As the movie progresses, it’s heart-warming to see how the relationship between the brothers evolves, and how they come to appreciate Claire as well.

The other supporting characters, though, are quite poor and actually hinder the plot, with the chief culprit being Vic Hoskins, played by Vincent D'Onofrio. He has ideas which borders on the insane, and how InGen, the company of scientists who originally created the dinosaurs, has become a private military contractor is utterly ridiculous. Since we Indians love it when one of us stars in a Western thriller, it’s worth mentioning that Irrfan Khan is in this movie as the billionaire who funds the park, though he doesn't really do anything and is ultimately irrelevant to the main story. 

Thankfully, the movie does not fall victim to action movie clichés too much, and it even subtly mocks said clichés in a humourous way.

Lastly, the visual effects: in modern cinema, there aren’t any action movies which don’t have good effects, and this one is no different. While I can’t say that the dinosaurs look realistic, they certainly do look amazing, and the human aspect of the action is also choreographed well, something which should be lauded given the movie’s premise.

Despite some truly awful secondary characters, Jurassic World is an enjoyable summer blockbuster with a decent lead cast, excellent visual effects and a character driven plot.

The original cast from the series reprise their roles; Tom Kenny as SpongeBob, Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick the starfish, Rodger Bumpass as Squidward the squid, Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy the squirrel, Mr. Lawrence as Plankton the plankton, and Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs the…well, crab. The live action star in the movie is Antonio Banderas as Burger Beard the pirate.

The names of the characters are enough indication that the show is, plot – wise at least, silly to the point of ludicrous – and that’s exactly why SpongeBob is one of the most popular characters and franchises in cartoon history. There’s always been a general lack of story, depth or even the most basic logic – the setting of the series has been at the bottom of the sea (Bikini Bottom) with not a single human character, just marine life. They light fires, drive cars, have cell phones and even a squirrel that got bored of living on land and decided to move to the ocean.

The plot begins with Burger Beard finding a book in which whatever he writes becomes true in the SpongeBob world. He steals the secret recipe of Krusty the crab’s “Krabby Patties”, which are apparently all that keeps Bikini Bottom from becoming a lawless, post - apocalyptic world, and it’s up to SpongeBob and his pals to get the recipe back and save Bikini Bottom. Oh, and there are also singing seagulls, time travelling photo booths, and inter dimensional rapping dolphins who haven’t been to the bathroom in ten thousand years. It’s a packed madhouse with only the smallest semblance of a story.

The film is consistently hilarious, and you find yourself chuckling every couple of minutes for so many reasons; SpongeBob’s annoying laughter, Squiadward’s deadpan dialogue, Mr. Krab’s obsession with money or Patrick’s general lack of intelligence, all of it will set you off. The sparkly, bright and colourful animation is useful too as it puts you at ease and spreads a general feeling of joy – at least for its target audience. The voice acting is also as great as ever, and there are certain lines which will make you laugh just because of the way it was said. Of course, it also helps that the line itself is quite funny.

However, the film does encounter certain problems as it progresses. Burger Beard’s sequences are short and disjointed from the rest of the film, and it’s almost like a different film. This is not really a major flaw, but breaks the flow nonetheless. In the final acts of the movie, the style of animation changes drastically as the characters make their way to the real world, and it certainly takes getting used to. One of the children in my row started crying when this happened. Still, these are only minor gripes I had with the movie, and some people may not even notice them.

In a nutshell: SpongeBob’s return to the cinemas results in an insane, humour filled movie which nevertheless encounters some problems along the way.

There aren’t many films which have as much fan hype as Avengers: Age of Ultron did. After the tremendous success enjoyed by its predecessor, people expected the second movie to top the first. Does it? No. But it comes very, very close.

The film assumes that you know the events of all Marvel movies since the first Avengers movie, specifically Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and to a lesser extent, Guardians of the Galaxy; however, it is not necessary.

Unlike the first film, the team is together from the very first scene, kicking ass and wiping the floor with the bad guys. The team, which consists of Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Natasha Romanoff/ Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Clint Barton/ Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), is together hunting for the sceptre used by Loki in the first film. They find it, and it’s in the possession of a scientist who uses it for human experimentation.

This introduces us to the two newcomers in the movie, the Maximoff twins, Pietro/ Quicksilver (Aaron – Taylor Johnson) and Wanda/ Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), both of whom have superpowers as a result of the experimentation. Pietro can run at superhuman speeds, while Wanda has telekinesis. However, Wanda is definitely the more dangerous of the two as she also has the power to warp reality – meaning she can make anyone withdraw into their minds and show them there worst fears coming true. This particularly disturbs Stark, who decides to create an artificial intelligence program called Ultron to protect the Earth from any external threats it might face. However, this is where things begin to go wrong – Ultron, being motivated by rage at what he perceives as the destruction caused by The Avengers, decides that he must end them and ultimately the human race so that he can rebuild the world from scratch.

The film takes a noticeably darker tone from this point on, with each and every character battling their own inner demons and dealing with tension within the team. Since Stark kept the creation of Ultron a secret from the rest of the team, there’s a lot of suspicion and distrust in the air. Captain America in particular is furious with Iron Man, and the entire team even fight with each other briefly. Despite all this, humorous scenes are laid out throughout the movie in the form of one liners, brief monologues and even some action scenes.

This isn’t the only thing brewing within the team. Black Widow and The Hulk also have feelings for each other, leading to unlikely but strangely appealing romance because of both of them essentially being monsters; Black Widow as an assassin and Hulk as an actual, green monster. This is intriguing to watch also because it ultimately adds to the misery each of the characters face because of their past.

Coming to the acting, every actor is spot on with their respective characters; Robert Downey Jr. with his wit, sarcasm and humour; Chris Evans with the honesty and inherent goodness and desire to protect people, as well as showcasing himself as a man out of time. Chris Hemsworth retains the majestic, godlike aura of Thor, Scarlett Johansson the vivacious and flirtatious nature of Black Widow, and Mark Ruffalo with the gloom of Bruce Banner.

But the true star of the show is James Spader as the titular antagonist of the film: Ultron. Being controlled by a god complex, he wants to save the planet by eradicating humanity. In his own twisted, diabolical way, he sees himself as some sort of saviour. Ultron is clearly in pain throughout the movie, and the way it manifests is truly amazing. Spader was the perfect choice for the role because of his mesmerizing, hypnotic voice and how eerily calm and yet compelling it can be.

The movie does have its share of flaws, though, the first of which is the dream vision of Thor shown to him by Scarlett Witch, which severely detracts from the flow of the movie and does nothing to add to its plot, though I suspect it was setting the scene for the third Thor movie. Also, some parts of the movie seem to be obligatory, just checking them off a list. Still, these are relatively minor flaws, and the second one will not even occur to you for some time.

Visually, the film is easily the best Marvel movie, and one of the best of all time. The action sequences are stunning, though by now, you’ve come to expect that from most movies, especially superhero ones.

The movie provides us with great action scenes, captivating character interactions and a great mix of humour and darkness.

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Cap, whose real name is Steve Rogers, discovered that S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) was in fact run by Hydra, a Nazi organization, who made their debut as the antagonists in the movie Captain America: The First Avenger. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s main task was to defend the Earth from any threats it may face, both internal and external. They did a good job, even planning on a team up of certain talented individuals to protect the planet. We know them as The Avengers. All was good.

Then, in The Winter Soldier, we find out that Hydra wasn’t really defeated – rather, they just planted themselves into S.H.I.E.L.D. Turns out S.H.I.E.L.D. was being run by Hydra all along, to achieve their goal of world domination. Almost every major S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is Hydra. Don’t worry, though – fan favorites Black Widow and Nick Fury are still the good guys. Captain America manages to defeat Hydra, but just barely. Nick Fury and Black Widow go undercover to infiltrate and destroy Hydra cells across the world.

Everything I’ve written up to this point is what’s happened so far in the movies. What follows is an educated guess as to what happens in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the creation of the super – villain.

After it is revealed that Hydra is S.H.I.E.L.D. (mostly), Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Bruce Banner (The Hulk) create an artificial intelligence robot to protect the Earth…Ultron.

However, Ultron is a little too smart. He feels that The Avengers are part of the problem, and aims to rid the world of them. He’s a robot who’s “genuinely disturbed”, according to director Joss Whedon.

In James Spader they have the perfect actor for playing Ultron. He’s got this eerie, mesmerizing voice. When he talks, you’ll stop and listen.

Now, back to the opening line. It was originally spoken by Pinocchio in the film of the same name released in 1940. As you know, he was a puppet who became a real human boy. Hence the line “there are no strings on me.” It’s an innocent line, no doubt meant to spread happiness and joy. Which makes it all the more creepy when Ultron says it.