Reviews by khan amir

A movie drenched in sentimentality, but it's supposed to be. There's something brave about the way "August Rush" declares itself and goes all the way with coincidence, melodrama and skillful tear-jerking. I think more sensitive younger viewers, in particular, might really like it.

Are you incharge of your life? Or are being swept away by things that are seemingly out of control. Anthony Robbins in the book shows the reader how to take immediate control of their mental, emotional, physical and financial destiny.

Gene Hackman as Dr. Lawrence take course of inhumane ways to quench his thirst of passion to save the suffering humanity. A thriller worth watching, reminder of how precious and how meaning human life can be.

Quite interested in Sci-Fi's, Limitless though a Sci-Fi, but it could not captivate me. Even the presence of Bradely Cooper & Robert De Niro, didn't do the trick for me.

The Adjustment Bureau' starring Matt Damon & Emily Blunt is a riveting sci-fi thriller. Actually 'The Adjustment Bureau' is not wholly sci-fi, nor is it wholly a thriller. It has hints of both and is captivating for viewers.

Although Charles Dickens isn't credited, Oliver Twist obviously served as the source of inspiration for this hyper-romanticized, musical overhaul of his beloved literary classic. To refresh your memory, the novel's protagonist is an innocent young lad raised in an orphanage who runs away after being ostracized by the other kids.

Oliver then makes his way from the country to London where he's befriended by a street urchin nicknamed the Artful Dodger who, in turn, brings him to a den of pint-sized thieves under the thumb of the diabolical Fagin. The naive newcomer is welcomed into the lair and is unwittingly manipulated by the duplicitous ringleader into partaking in the gang's shady shenanigans. Although Oliver eventually wises up, he still finds it hard to extricate himself untl his plight comes to the attention of a relative in a position to help.

A paranoid detective journey into the world of sound and conversations. Possibly the most chilling films ever made in the 70s 'conspiracy theory' genre. The Conversation frightens with its grim, gripping view of the surveillance world.

The Director of a large anonymous corporation hires surveillance expert Harry Caul to record a young couple's private conversation. The film opens with Caul and assistants eavesdropping the said exchange in a busy square with an assortment of concealed mics.

Haunted by the bloody consequences of an earlier assignment, Caul becomes convinced that his ingenious invasions of privacy will put the young couple's lives at risk. The tapes contain the phrase "He'd kill us if he had the chance", and it is this which Harry obsesses over. Finally, in taking action to prevent further bloodshed, he shatters his own deeply private world.

The film depicts Lawrence's experiences in Arabia during World War I, in particular his attacks on Aqaba and Damascus and his involvement in the Arab National Council. Its themes include Lawrence's emotional struggles with the personal violence inherent in war, his personal identity, and his divided allegiance between his native Britain and its army and his newfound comrades within the Arabian desert tribes.

The historical accuracy of the film, and particularly its portrayal of Lawrence himself, has been called into question by numerous scholars. Most of the film's characters are either real or based on real characters to varying degrees.

Sudoku, where this rapidly developing fad and brain twister leads to, no one can tell. What is clear though is that Sudoku is a fun and challenging way for people of all ages and cultures to hone their logical and deductive abilities.
If anyone has not experienced the fun of Sudoku yet, they are invited to join the bandwagon.
Sudoku has a fascinating history. "Su" means number in Japanese, and "Doku" refers to the single place on the puzzle board that each number can fit into. Although its name is Japanese, its origins are actually European and American.
The 18th century Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler apparently developed the concept of "Latin Squares" where numbers in a grid appear only once, across and up and down. In the late 1970's, Dell Magazines in the US began publishing what we now call Sudoku puzzles using Euler's concept with a 9 by 9 square grid. They called it Number Place, and it was developed by an independent puzzle maker, Howard Garnes.
In the mid-1980s, the president of the Japanese puzzle giant Nikoli, Inc., Mr. Maki Kaji, urged the company to publish a version of the puzzle that became a huge hit in that country. Nikoli gave the game its current name, and helped refine it by restricting the number of revealed or given numbers to 30, based on grid size and having them appear symmetrically. Afterwards the game became increasingly popular.
Sudoku's future development is unknown. While the 9 by 9 grid is the most common form of Sudoku, there are many variants of the game. Four by four (4 x 4) Sudoku with 2 by 2 subsections are simpler. There are 5 by 5 games, 6 by 6 and 7 by 7 games. For the truly addicted, there are even 16 by 16 grids, not to mention a 25 by 25 grid apparently offered by Japanese game developer Nikoli. Sudoku puzzles using letters and symbols, some even spelling words in their final solutions are also becoming available. Other variants require basic computational skills.

Hubble 3D was shot over several years by three different NASA flight crews, documenting both the launch and subsequent repairs of the Hubble Space Telescope. The repair footage is interesting, especially to a space geek.

Really an amazing story of human marvels.