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Juno is an independent-minded high schooler (Ellen Page). A romantic liaison that goes a bit too far has her pregnant with her buddy, Bleeker (Michael Cera).

Luckily she has a father (J.K. Simmons) and a stepmother (Allison Janney) who do not kill her on first news. They love her and decide to support her throughout. This supportive group also includes a real best friend (Olivia Thirlby). Juno has access to a safe and legal abortion but chooses to continue with the child along with Bleeker's unwavering support. But she wants to give the baby up for adoption but that's for much later.

While there are laughs a plenty and at times it seems that that is what it's all about the movie does hold a surprise. The grownups are handled and played exceedingly well by especially by Jennifer Garner as Vanessa, one-half of a childless married couple looking to adopt. She's a successful corporate type woman who wants to leave it all for the love of a child.

The movie is a charming and humourous tale that pulls no punches regarding teens and unprotected sex. While life is difficult and maddeningly frustrating at times, it can have its glory moments even at the bleakest hours.


“27 Dresses" stars Greys Anatomy star Katherine Heigl.
She plays Jane, who has become a bridesmaid 27 times and is waiting for a wedding of her own. Jane has a very practical and single-minded approach to getting her desired desire. She's a big romantic and spends all her time attending to her friends who are getting married but hers remain elusive.

Jane starts off going to two weddings at once or so it seems. She hires a taxi to shuttle between the two weddings while all the time being at the centre dealing with the hustle, bustle and myriad screwups. She might as well have been a wedding planner but J-Lo has already taken that title.

Now Jane while performing so much for everyone else, is a bit of a wallflower. She is secretly in love with her boss, George (Ed Burns). To make matters worse, Jane's sister, Tess is also after the man Jane loves but hasn't told.

Soon George is engaged to Tess and misery abounds. Into mess comes James Marsden as the wedding planner in the form of a cynical reporter with a secret agenda. He dons't like job at all but figures there's a story here to get him out of his rut. He is working on a story about a certain doomed bridesmaid who just can't get married.

Complicated? Not really. It makes for a good simple romantic comedy. Heigl and Marsden are make for a good duo with each smoothly complementing the others punchlines. Marsden has romantic appeal while Heigl easily portrays the girl-next-door one could fall for.



By Tareq Adnan

The coolest thing about a video game, other than the graphics and the game play, is usually the character. And over the years, long rosters of memorable characters have all graced this profound medium of entertainment. And the characters have all, in their own ways added to the industry, some shaping the way the industry would later shape up. And some of those characters are undoubtedly still burned into the mind of the ardent gamer. This here article is an attempt to list the ones that we think are plain cool and awesome.

Lara Croft: First up, a female candidate (see, games aren't sexist). Croft is memorable. Period. The games may have fallen flat and the movies were success due to the hotness of the actress but it's undoubtedly true and Lara Croft is one of the more memorable characters that come to mind whenever games are in question. The Indiana Jones of the games world, Lara has won herself a place on the Walk of Game and a Guinness World Record. Her generous endowment, her acrobatic skills and penchant for over the top adventures all over the world have won her a place on this list.

Duke Nukem: In plain jargon for the uninitiated, this dude here is the Arnold Schwarzenegger of the games world. He's also the Stallone. This is one of the characters who can literally say he's seen it all. From aliens that invade the worth only to take away all its women to critics who've bashed the games because of its mature content this game is insane, great and a little bit more insane. Nukem gives the normal lazy gamer his daily shot of adrenaline. Toting that signature gold Desert Eagle, this guy blasts all them crazy aliens into gaming history.

Kain: The Dark Vampire, the one who in a jealous rage tore from the back of Raziel the first wings ever to grace vampire kind. Those who have followed the series all know the mythical story. Kain is one of the few characters in gaming history who is not only the hero, but the anti-hero and the villain as well. The noble man Kain risen from the dead to avenge his own death develops over time a certain hatred for humanity but later on ends up saving the realm he inhabits. Very few games have stories that are as well rounded as the LOK series. And very few stories have characters like Kain in them. This one vampire is beyond cool.

Kratos: Chained to his own swords and with a past so haunting it drives to near madness, Kratos redefined the badass anti-hero in games. With a goatee and that kilt this dude manages to be quite stylish as well, at least when he starts killing people. Defying death itself he has the audacity to go against the ancient Greek Gods and this makes him infinitely cooler. The thirst for revenge was never this great in any character and his dogged determination to get what he wants no matter what the odds earns him a place here.

Agent 47: He wears a suit; he's bald, wields twin pistols and has a barcode on the back of his head. How cool is that? Over the whole series the story of the number named silent hit man has been told and its one heck of a story. And let's not forget the baldness. Trained for his whole life to kill, he never fails to do so and he does so with style. An urban legend in the gaming community, this guy is undoubtedly the coolest guy to ever wear a tux on the gaming front and kill a billion people without spilling a drop on his suit.

Dante: White haired, toting Ebony and Ivory, his twin guns and his faithful sword Rebellion ready to slash; this is one of the flashiest guys to grace the gaming scene. With a sarcastic tongue in cheek humor and flair to his demon slaying he's one of the first to introduce into the world of gaming the stylistic fast paced combat style associated with Devil May Cry. Son of a demon, this guy displays awesome acrobatic, shooting and slashing kills, racking up complex attacks that inspired a slew of similar combat styles in later games to come. A mercenary demon slayer Dante regularly rates in game characters lists and he truly deserves a place here.

Max Payne: With bullet time at his disposal and a curiously human touch to otherwise vengeful exterior this one of those characters that has gamers actually wishing that they were being shot at. You want to imitate the slow mo action going on the screen. A raging detective who's lost it all and who decides that redemption is only possible through revenge this one character that won't long be forgotten. A hard broiled, brooding detective with touches of insecurities, a struggle against his own internal darkness, Payne is one of the most fleshed out characters in the gaming world today.

Solid Snake: A pack of ciggies, a binocular and his two way radio and this guy's set to conquer the world. Undoubtedly he would have done so if he were so inclined. However, being the cool guy he sticks to saving the world from the dreaded Metal Gear. This is a man with a story so complex that it would be sacrilege to just write it down. A man who could have shown the ninjas of the past what stealth is all about. This dude can kill without being seen, can kill without a weapon and that too without being seen. How cool is that?

Mario: The plumber, the first true character in gaming history that nearly everyone fell in love with. Paired with his brother this is one dude who took everything by storm. Hailing from the Mushroom Kingdom with those solid color overalls and that Italian accent he gave exactly what gamers wanted. A guy they could laugh at. Yep, we laughed at him and at some innocent point of our lives when schools and studies hadn't taken over we actually wanted to be like him. Plumbers in the media never get much attention and certainly Mario has brought forth to the world the curios mushroomed world of the plumbers. That he has.

(If readers agree or disagree or there's someone else to be mentioned, feel free to vent your opinions)


Game Review

By Sadman Alvi

The football gaming community has always been nearly equally divided between EA Canada's FIFA and Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer/ Winning Eleven series. While some prefer the more fast paced arced style football with plenty of licensed teams to go with it provided by FIFA, others like the more realistic simulation style football experience offered by PES. And this year both games have come up with refined gameplay mechanics and next gen visuals in an attempt to outdo each other. However, unfortunately for PC gamers, EA have chosen not to release the next gen version of FIFA on PC and instead have released a game which is not even worth talking about. So basically what I'm going to do is talk about PES.

So how is the game? There are notable improvements in terms of visuals, as the game looks much smoother and sleeker than ever before. Most famous and even semi-famous players are almost instantly recognizable and overall the graphics is good enough to bear the next gen label. But once again PES is lagging way behind when it comes to real licensed teams and players. Many EPL fans will be disappointed to know that except Tottenham and Newcastle none of the other EPL teams have their real names, jerseys and stadiums. Manchester United is “Man Red”, Arsenal is “North London” and Liverpool is “Merseyside Red”. Although you can edit and change them, it just doesn't feel authentic without the real jersey, logo and stadium.

The audio system has also gone through some changes, the crowd reacts realistically to everything going on in the pitch, the commentators have also become slightly less annoying, as they higher or lower their voice in excitement. And like FIFA, there are also some songs from different genres to keep you occupied while you r browsing through the menus.

But where the game scores high is in gameplay. And just like all the other games of the series the game manages to feel very close to the real experience, you can nearly feel the weight of the ball as a player receives it, or hits it, or as it swerves through the air, the player movements is also very fluid and realistic and less robotic. And there is enough room for flexible formations and tactical ingenuity, which could be very rewarding for players who are willing to spend time on them. Some of the star players have their signature moves and movements that remind you of their real life counterparts. The new addition to this year's game is the Teamvision AI system, this system supposedly makes the AI study the player's playing style and adopt a counter approach based on its evaluation, and it also takes different strategies, formations and tactics in different stages of the game. However these improvements might go unnoticed since the previous installation of the game also boasted quite good AI. But it's when you play against a human opponent that the game can sometimes become very annoying, as defending is frustratingly difficult. A fast player can be deadly with the ball at his feet, as he can basically just run around the defenders without even having to take them on and just run into the penalty box without even facing a tackle. Even against the computer in the first three difficulty levels this can be done successfully 80% of the time. So sometimes when playing against human opponents it's actually better to play really fast wingers and strikers as defenders, just to keep up with the opposing attackers. Needless to say this makes the game quite unrealistic.

But what disappointed me is the lack of improvements and changes in gameplay from the previous games, the subtle changes that I've described above (the good ones) isn't nearly enough to keep returning players of the series happy. Apparently Konami believes in the saying “If it ain't broken don't fix it”. Which is also a valid argument I guess, since the game has already reached such heights it's understandable that finding new features for the game is difficult, in fact such attempts could even have spoiled the ingenuity on the series. So all in all I would say it still is the best football simulation in the market. I've also read somewhere that PES is finally going to be in this year's WCG (World Cyber Games). Let's just wait and see what happens.

 

 

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