Reviews

Going into these movies is always daunting as you get overexposed to so much inorganic media hype and build up nonsensical expectations, which most of the time don't even align with the vision of the director, leaving you praying for it to live up to them.

Yet, the most gratifying moments come when the credits roll, and you realise the film surpassed all of them.

When Nicole Kidman said, "We come to this place for magic", this is what she meant.

Monkey Man isn't a product of people in suits sacrificing creativity to maximize profits. It's a product of a man willing to go the distance to chase his dreams.

This might be marketed as a bloody action thriller, which it is, but at its core, it's a heart-wrenching character drama set in the corrupted underworlds of India.

Dev Patel manages to do things, especially with music, which I have never seen any director even attempt before. The culture and the passion he has for it ooze through every frame.

Taking into account the infamous stories of the production of this film and how the film industry works in general, it's nothing less than a miracle this got to see the light of day. We might not realise it yet, but we are very much witnessing the rise of the next biggest action franchise. Don't take this movie for granted, real blood was spilt to make it.

23/7/23 - When the credits rolled on Oppenheimer, I found myself in an ironic melancholy as the thought settled - "I may not see something as great as this for years to come."

Well Denis Villeneuve said "Lmao bet", cuz mark my words - In the near future, Dune 2 will be not only be helmed as an exceptional sequel, but also one of the greatest films of all time.

Dune 2 is the epitome of "epic," a convergence of the best minds in the industry crafting a timeless masterpiece.

While commendations will rightfully pour in for the compelling narrative, stellar acting, captivating cinematography, and flawless CGI, I wanna shed some limelight on the soundscape of the film - it's unsung hero.

Hans Zimmer, a maestro in scoring legendary fillms for north of five decades, delivers what may be his magnum opus. This film will fall flat without the grandeur of its score, which heightens each scene to orgasmic proportions. The amount of artistry that went bend this production is unfathomable. An achievement in cinema.

Every penny invested in this experience is worthwhile. Films of such caliber emerge once in a decade, so do yourself a favour and make your purse a bit thinner to experience it in IMAX - not for the sake of extravagance, but because Denis Villeneuve envisioned this cinematic marvel to be savored in that format. This isn't a film to be casually torrented and watched at home.

It's a hat-trick for King Khan and another worthy addition to Raju Hirani's unbeaten track record. It's hard to recall if I ever laughed this hard in a theatre, to a point where I was choking on my own breath.

Raju Hirani approaches his comedic scenes like Quentin Tarantino - instead of throwaway one liners, he dedicates upto 10 mins to set up a single joke before landing it perfectly, while maintaining the pacing - not a single downtime throughout.

He doesn't shy away from showing the opposite side of the spectrum, when the script demands the movie to go dark, it goes all the way without hesitation, sometimes even testing it's PG-13 rating.

It's hard to hold ones ground when you are beside the overwhelming screen presence of SRK, but Vicky Kaushal does it effortlessly - standout performance.

When the credits roll, you really feel like you have gone on a journey with these characters and shared the highs and lows of life with them.

Only flaws I can point out is there are a couple of forgivable tonal inconsistencies and, this isn't a flaw, rather a personal preference - I would have liked if they shot this movie on film rather than digital cameras, the asthetic of the script demanded it.

Summing it up Dunki is an emotional rollercoaster, an absolute winner and the most satisfying conclusion to this historic year for SRK.

What could have been one of the best films of the year feels like a microcosm of Ridley Scott's career due to disjointed visions towards the source material.

The screenplay feels malnutritioned, as if a 4 hour epic has been forcefully cut short to 2h40mins. Entire acts are not fleshed out, scenes end abruptly and the editing is jarring and unpleasant to look at.

Although it's surprising valleys, Napoleon has its fair share of peaks - much like the great Emperor himself if you may. A stellar performance by the entire cast, applause worthy set and costume designs, cinematography that makes it look like a mediaeval royal painting has come to life - a treat to experience in a theatre.

Features rivetting and jaw-dropping war sequences with some of the best crowd directing I have seen in recent years. There's a lot of CGI here, that you will never notice - the best type of CGI. The final act is definitely the strongest, the first 2 needed more time to breathe.

The Killers is an experimental addition to one of the most impressive and iconic filmographies of all time, that will be studied by filmmakers for generations to come - David Fincher's.

I personally find a lot of parallels between him and Wes Anderson - 2 extreme perfectionists with the most narrowest yet concrete vision of what they want to potray on the silver screen. Every scene, every cut, every dialogue, every shot blocking, every musical and lighting cue has been directed to utter precision, as they serve their own miniscule roles and combine in harmony to form these gigantic orchestral presentations. Despite its flaws, this film emerges as an extraordinary piece of art, reflecting an unparalleled commitment to perfectionism.

The Marvels present a lot of ideas that on paper lays the foundation for a strong charecter driven sequel, but it's "action-over-charecter" approach boggs it down to another unmemorable and unsatisfiying entry to the MCU.

The movie peaks in its opening 20 mins where the director plays with the charecter-swapping mechanism to set up some uniquely choreographed and exciting action sequences, with a few iffy CGI moments.

The chemistry between the main 3 leads, with Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel (undoubtedly the best part of the film, she is an absolute gem) at centre of it, is the heart and soul of the film, but the overarching narrative that surrounds them feels rushed, repeative and messy.

The villain is it's weakest aspect - has a great motive, but extremely underdeveloped and generic. Emotionally heavy scenes are cut short, that results in the point being made but not hammered home. It has an exciting post credit scene, so do stay for that.

In a 5-second-attention-span world, where the genre "slow-burn" has become synonymous with the word "boring", this reminds you that even a slow-burn movie can provide a soul-stirring experience, keep you at the edge of your seat and rattle you to your core.

Triumphant, in every sense of the word. Seamlessly blends that classic Scorsese crime drama with a harrowing romance to create something bold and profoundly tragic.

Lily Gladstone gives a riveting, soul crushing and undoubtedly Oscar-winning performance. Robert De Niro spanks the living hell out of Leonardo DiCaprio. Thank you Martin Scorsese for this cinematic gem.

It's a film without any dialogue, a cliche genre I have a soft spot for. It mostly takes place in a house, forcing a director to get creative with his camerwork and lighting, as there are so many ways one can film 5 rooms. It repeatively restricts it's makers to claustrophobic deadends, which kudos to immense talent behind the camera, turns it into its biggest positive.

The film is not scary as the thing that is meant to scare you is a product of CGI, and being a low budget film, it looks hilarious. Being self aware of this fact, the director plays to his strengths, diverting expectations to genre shift it into a rather engaging sci-fi mystery thriller half way through, with an ending that is so ethically messed up it made my jaw drop.

It's not the greatest horror movie, not everything has to be, its a good one, a clever one.

It's an unapologetic celebration of the myth, the man, the legend that is SRK. Atlee not only shines as a director in his ability to present SRK in his 'mass-iest' avatar yet, but also in his knowledge of how to use colour,his sense of pacing a sequence kudos to some masterful editing and where to put his actors in a given frame, some topnotch cinematography.

Though having exhilarating action sequences with some applause worthy VFX work, some strong, repetitive but neccesary social commentary, the heart and soul of this film has been kept grounded in its script - the films strongest yet most problematic part, let's talk about it.

There is an attempt to fit a web-series worth of story in a movie, which results in the people behind the camera having to juggle it's characters, handpicking ones to give love, resulting in others getting absolutely nothing.

There are moments when the script demands to sit with the charecters in a moment of silence, but it just moves right forward which results in the point being made, but not hammered home. Easy way to fix this? Take out the 25 mins worth of songs and use those valuable 25 mins to build up your charecters.

Credit to the filmmakers, they are doing their best to accomodate the story in the given runtime and the decisions, the shortcuts, the sacrifices that were made are understandable, and hey we are here to see SRK and it more than delivers.

Prepare to embark on a mesmerizing journey through the enchanting world of Barbie! This handcrafted ball of serotonin is an absolute delight, leaving your heart brimming with joy from start to finish. Trust me, my cheeks were hurting too, but it was a small price to pay for the unbridled happiness that ensued.

In the magical realm of Barbieland, Oscar-worthy set designs work like portals, whisking you away to a realm of imagination and wonder. The chemistry between Margot and Ryan is nothing short of spectacular, radiating an irresistible charm that leaps off the screen and captures your heart.

Beyond the surface, the film's plot weaves a tapestry of surprises, defying predictability with cunning twists that keep you guessing throughout. Amid the laughter, "Barbie" serves as a brilliant mirror, reflecting upon society's norms, dismantling stereotypes, and fearlessly confronting issues of gender inequality and toxic masculinity. Such clever social commentary adds depth and meaning to this seemingly carefree adventure.

As for the comedy, prepare for a sidesplitting experience! Joke after joke lands perfectly, leaving you in stitches and gasping for breath. However, the true comedic gem is none other than Will Ferrel, who delivers a performance that leaves a lasting impression. With impeccable timing and wit, he steals the spotlight in every scene, creating comedic gold that will resonate with audiences of all ages.

While the movie does wear the hat of a toy advertisement, it walks the tightrope adeptly. Balancing appeal to the younger audience with engaging entertainment for adults, "Barbie" strikes a perfect harmony that caters to both ends of the spectrum.

With all the praise deservedly sung, there is only one minor drawback - the movie ends too soon! As the credits roll, you'll find yourself yearning for more of this delightful and captivating experience, a testament to the film's greatness.

A spectacle in every sense of the word. Tom Cruise ensures that you get every pence worth of entertainment throughout the runtime of the film, which never feels like 2h50 mins as it cruises (pun intended) through, in what is the boldest installment in the franchise.

Lets get the negatives out of the way : first on list is the story, which is the simplest and most predictable in any MI movie. Story-wise, its nothing you haven't seen before and the abnormal amount of expository dialogues did get on my nerves.

But where the script thrives is creating unique, thrilling situations for the charecters where they are forced to choose between moral dillemas, and the drama surrounding it leaves you at the edge of your seat.

Talking about the edge of your seat, make sure its comfortable as you will find yourself revisiting it in all of the jaw-dropping, mind-blowing, spectacular, thrilling, awesome-ing ??!? ( I am running out of adjectives here) action sequences. The action in this movie is a work of art and you should watch it in the biggest screen possible. The ending could have been executed better, but I will give it the benefit of doubt as this is part 1 of 2 movies.

Directed by the makers of Spies In Disguise, Nimona is a film that had to face a lot of roadbumps before it saw the day of light.

To say that the fact this movie got released is a miracle, would be an understatement.

But I am glad to say that even after all those hiccups, they delivered with the end product. It's funny, heartfelt and everything you want from a movie about a shapeshifting-sadistic-sarcastic teen. Though the plot is somewhat predictable, the way it is directed and executed does leave you wanting more. The "2 and a half D" animation style that this movie features, might be my new fav artstyle.

Rare Netflix W.

The Flash is an over ambitious project that had the capability to be one of the best superhero stories ever told, atleast on paper, but fails miserably in execution in all departments leading to a final product that feels rushed, incomplete, unsatisfying and mediocre.

Ezra Miller delivers his career best performance, yet it's not enough to keep the viewer engaged as everyone surrounding him feels like a robot rather than characters, who are programmed to deliver nostalgic and crowd pleasing dialogues.

I am pretty sure there is a 3 hour cut of this film, with less humour and more fleshed out character arcs that does justice to this script, because there is something truly special in this movie, that gets buried under a series of crowd pleasing but mediocre decisions.

With all that being said , the events in the last 15 mins are actually executed really well and will be a treat for any DC fan to watch on the big screen.

Ps- This movie features the worst post credit scene I have seen in my life.

Spider-Man : Across The Spiderverse is a magnum opus when it comes to the world of animation.

This movie achieves the impossible by exceeding its predecessor in literally every department - storytelling, character development, emotional beats, action choreography, sense of stakes, comedy, visuals, yes the visuals.

Any amount of praise for the animation team wouldn't be enough as they have achieved a milestone in the history of animation with this. I am just gonna say this, when this movie releases on Digital and Blu-Ray, the wallpaper market will be booming.

In a time where Marvel has been hit or miss recently, as it crumbles upon expectations built by its own, this movie reminded me what Marvel is capable of when they focus on telling a "character's story" rather than a "franchise's story".

This is genuinely one of the best animated movies I have ever seen in my life, it is a "perfect" Spiderman movie in every sense of that word, and I will confidently go as far as to say that this is also one of the best superhero movies ever made, yes it deserves that pedestal.

Do it justice and experience it on the big screen.

John Wick Chapter 4 is a love letter to action film-making and every action cinema lovers wet dream. The cinematography is oscar worthy, the neo-noir genre has never looked better on the big screen as the bold and vibrant colours makes each scene of this film a bold underlined statement that what you are experiencing is something special.

The action choreography utilizies 100% of each and every set design used in the film to incorporate drama, thrill and also comedy. This movie has everything you could ever ask for - guns, knifes, nunchucks, katanas, martial arts, cars, flamethrowers, bare hands etc. The stuntwork is jaw-dropping and adrenaline inducing, specially a stunt that was performed on a staircase on the later half of the film, left me wondering how did the stunt coordinator get that Tom Cruise-level life threatening stunt greenlit.

But what truly makes this story special are the characters and the drama surrounding them as they manoeuvre their way through this twisted world of crime where each person is their only friend. There are a lot of new characters introduced and none of them feel throwaway as each and everyone of them bring something new and exciting to the table and moves the narrative forward. And the centre of this narrative, Keanu Reeves who plays John Wick, a loving husband proves once again why his contribution to this role will be remembered forever as something that revolutionalized action film-making.

This was the one of the most satisfying experience I ever had inside a movie theatre and it leaves you with the question that how many times are you going to return to experience this once in a lifetime masterclass in action film-making.

10/10 - John wick Chapter 4 is a a modern day classic.

Michael B. Jordan didn't disappoint with his directorial debut. The first sports film to be filmed in IMAX looks magnificent on the big screen. There are a few many ways to film a boxing scene, and being the 9th installment in the franchise Jordon still managed to keep the fights fresh and entertaining. If you weren't on the train of " This is Jonathan Majors year" you surely will after watching this movie. The entire cast puts up an A-tier performance that takes the emotional depth of this movie to its heights. Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa was surely missed, but this film does more than enough to stand on its own. I had a really great time in the theatre with this film, can't wait to see what more Michael B. Jordan has to offer behind the camera in the future.

After Qala and now with this, it feels like Netflix India is actually trying these days. From the trailer and quite honestly from the title of this film I thought it would be disappointing, especially considering this was Netflix India's first release of 2023 an companies are infamous for dumping their garbage in early January so that people forget about it as the year goes on..but this movie is actually amazing lol.

It didn't have a single "Bollywood cliche". The romance and patriotism were there but there were extremely well executed and not shoved in our face or cringy.

The action sequences are riveting, especially one on a train had me on the edge of my seat.

The cast delivers and amazing performance.

Siddharth Malhotra is a star.

I honestly did not expect this film to be as good as it was even with its flaws.

So I watched this movie 2 times in theatre today, the first time I watched it I got so distracted by the sheer amount of visual insanity being put up on the screen, honestly couldn't focus on the story at all. On my 2nd viewing tho, the movie got even better for me.

Ok let's get the elephant in the room out of the way first. The Visuals - y'all know already this is a gorgeous looking movie. Anything I say will not justify how good each and every frame of this movie looks.

Any scene that showed the underwater lands of Pandora looked unlike anything I have seen before. There are legit some shots in this film that I have no idea how they achieved, I didn't knew a shot that complex was achieveable even with morden technology, don't wanna think about the render times it's scaring me. From a visual standpoint, it's flawless. But this is the obvious stuff.

What I wanna talk about is the plot. It's not the plot that I expected. Now that I have seen the movie 2 times, I realise that the story itself is actually really on a small scale. It is a very personal self contained story painted on the biggest canvas humanity has ever seen. The best way I can explain it without spoiling stuff, from a story stand point it felt like I was watching a really good episode of TV show.

A majority of this film is all world building and honestly the story of this movie can be easily shown in like 2h 20 mins. There is about 30-40 mins that could be cut as they don't contribute anything to the story but I am glad they weren't because I will take all the time James Cameron allows me to stay in the world of Pandora.

A major negetive I had with the first Avatar was everytime the movie focused on the humans, it got boring. But to my relief 90 percent of this film is blue people. There are barely any humans and there wasn't a point where I got bored, the pacing was better than its predecessor. The last 1 hour of this movie is absolute insanity, that's the only way I can describe it.

Overall, the first time you watch this movie its an experience and it should be inside a movie theatre. Watching it on a small screen will absolutely not give you the same "eyegasm". From a visual standpoint it's flawless, but from a story standpoint it has its flaws but still it's an enjoyable ride. What it lacks in story, it makes over in ten folds with the visuals.

I am not over exaggerating when I say this episode was probably the best 1 hour of Televesion I have watched this year. Firstly the CGI looks like a high budget movie and the story,the acting, the screenwriting, everything is so on point, just can't wait to binge the rest of the season.

Carter is a very ambitious film and the entire film has been shot as a "oner", thought sometimes the cuts are easily visible I appreciate the effort. The camera work is absolutely insane, and though the plot gets overshadowed by the action in this movie, the main reason you will be watching this movie is for the action and it absolutely delivers. Kudos to the entire team who worked on this cuz as a filmmaker myself it is absolutely clear that this was not an easy movie to execute and film and personally I think though this movie has its own share of flaws, they pulled off something incredible here.

I love just how fun and creative this show is. The way the directors have made the world so colourful and innocent showing it through the eyes of Kamala is so entertaining. And how they are using CGI to enhance the story through all those small animations is so creatively refreshing.

One of the best legacy sequels ever made. The gritty down to earth Action sequences were done so right it puts you in the cockpit of the jet yourself and the adrenaline rush is insane.

The Northman is a visually stunning and extremely ambitious and visionary film. Robert Eggers as usual does not disappoint with the cinematography and outstandingly directed long takes. The use of colours in this film is also extremely asthetically pleasing and adds to the story. Every actor puts on their A-game and the pacing of the film doesn't let you release your breath. The fight scenes are extremely well choreographed and feels real and brutal and gory. Overall a visually stunning period drama that is absolutely worth your while.

A very though provoking and disgustintly scary truth portrayed to the world after decades. Big ups to Netflix for greenlighting this documentmary and making this horrid truth heard by the world because the crimes committed by the doctor should never be replicated. Some parts of the docu were dragged a bit but overall an absolutely worthwhile addition to Netflix's original docu catalog.

Sam Raimi is back in the MCU and it is exciting as ever. Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is an crazy emotional rollercoaster through the multiverse with Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff absolutely stealing the show.

The emotional charecter arc Wanda goes throughout the runtime of this movie is some of the most mature and dark MCU has ever been. She owns ever second she is in this movie kinda overshowing Dr Strange despita an all out performance from Benedict Cumberbatch as always.

America Chavez is also an exiting addition to this movie and brings a lot of heart and soul into it. This movie has the classic Sam Raimi signature stamped all over it, specially the horror sequences and action sequences are extremely well executed.

There is a 20 min de-rail from the main plot in the middle act of this movie that I felt was handled bit messily with a certain team of charecter, other than that it's an exiting, unique and emotional addition to the MCU and absolutely should be viewed on the big screen in 3D.