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Tubelight (I) (2017)
7/10
Why it works, and Why it doesn't.
23 June 2017
The Story has been credited to be based on The Little Boy and adapted to Hindi by Kabir Khan and Parvez Shaika with the help of Manurishi in the dialogues department. For me the story is about an over-grown man- child Laxman Singh Bisht's tussle with his low self-esteem and lack of confidence. Well, that's like Forrest Gump who is going through an identity crisis, and instead of people saying 'Run Forrest Run…', this one has 'Jal Ja.. Jal ja…tubelight… jal ja…'

After the first act, the film starts echoing with the whole theme of Yakeen ki taqat (Faith can move mountains) which instead of inspiring, might end up depressing the viewer by the end of the film. However, the picturesque location and amazing cinematography and background score will keep you glued to the seat. This is the whole issue about the movie. While writing Tubelight Movie Review, I am really not going to give away what is in it, because if you leave out the Chinese family, the film will still be alive, because they are just there. The film falls flat in the second act, and the rest of the thing is just predictable.
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6/10
Oz Perkins' The Shining
16 November 2016
Movie Review

The Story

Lily, a young hospice nurse, arrives at the old house where yesteryear's horror writer, Iris Blum, was living her winter days. What follows is Lily's first-hand experience of living in claustrophobic conditions with an old woman in a house that echoes with her terrifying stories.

The Screenplay

In an attempt to keep the narration slow and subtle, Oz Perkins has intelligently packaged three parallel time-lines without giving away anything to the viewer. Now this has worked both in favor of the film as well as against it. The movie doesn't give away anything, but lets the viewer come up with his or her own interpretation of the whole story. This made it very interesting for me but I am sure that it is the reason why people have rated it 4.7 on IMDb.

The inconclusiveness, thus, is the movie's plus and minus! The other facts are the slow pace of narration and absence of any jump-scares. The dialogues are mostly haunting voice-overs, and the makers have successfully created an atmosphere of eeriness just with that!

The Shots

One of the best things about this movie are the shots taken. I think most of the time, they have not used any big lights, and cinematographer Julie Kirkwood has made perfect use of symmetry and geometric patterns throughout the film. Editing is as subtle as the cinematography. The movie reminds you of a bygone era of classic horror films, with faded transitions and often distorted ambiances.

The Performance

Ruth Wilson plays Lily and she does a decent job of playing the part of a cute isolated and bit confused nurse in a haunted house. The fact that Lily takes 80% of the screen time demands presence of the actor, and she gives it well. Paula Prentiss does her part as the unstrung writer. But it is all about Lily, from start to end, after all, she is the pretty thing in the house.

Verdict

I am the Pretty thing in the House is Netflix's own Shining sans Jack Nicholson.
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4/10
Paul Blart Mall Cop meets John Rambo
15 November 2016
Warning: Spoilers
This Kevin James movie begins as if it was a Jason Statham flick- in style (that is over-the-top). Oh yeah! James taking on a bunch of goons and then we come to know that it was just part of his imagination when the characters from his figment of imagination start breaking the fourth wall multiple times in desperate attempts to tickle the viewer's funny bones.

This is the story of Sam Larson who has the same old backstory, a loser who has a dream and blabbers in front of the hot gal from next door, has a terrible boss and blah blah (You know the routine, right?) However, the good thing is that the makers haven't spent too much time on establishing our protagonist's sorry life. Instead, they almost immediately move to the second act which makes you feel both uncomfortable as well as saves a lot of boredom. Of course, you know who the 'mysterious' ghost is right from the beginning, no biggie there (at least, you didn't surprise me, Jeff Wadlow & Jeff Morris)!

The story has little to offer, but yes, it does keep you away from boredom successfully. Zulae Hanao looks ravishing as Rosa Bolivar and looks too hot for Kevin most of the times. Andy Garcia as El Toro really makes one wisp out a 'wow' here and there. While the rest of the cast is just about good. Kelen Coleman manages well to irritate you as that is what she does to Kevin in the film, land him in trouble, so she scores a 10 on 10 for her performance.

As for the technical aspects, I find this Netflix original far better made than previous ones, and I felt like it was an actual film (which it is)! The cinematography is really good and they have used some of the best tropical locations on Earth! I felt that the editing could have been better, and those hanging on the chopper sequences could have been much better (Chroma my friends!). Dialogues are as ordinary as the protagonist. The plot that keeps twisting between 3 antagonists is interesting but still doesn't save the story from being predictable.

Verdict

Overall, a nice watchable movie. I would give this film a nice 2/5, which is what I rated on Netflix.

True Memoirs of an International Assassin is Paul Blart Mall Cop in a stale Rambo sausage!
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Fan (I) (2016)
2/10
A Blunt thriller
19 April 2016
After watching this movie every SRK fan would want to go after the star's life for making them watch this unnecessarily long 'thriller'!! Really? You call this a thriller? I bet Sawariya was a science fiction then!

If you take away SRK, then the movie has nothing and therefore they have added a double dose of SRK so that it would fill in the void made by the lack of story (or structure). But try to understand, you cannot take fans for granted!

Pros- Cinematography was impressive and Editing was smooth, performances were good. Cons- No effort in screenplay, its like they didn't even try! The forcefully Dillivala launda angle (just like the forcefully tamilian angle in RaOne... please, stop pleasing fans!!! rather give us a good story to watch), music is not effective, sometimes it is too intense and at other times it goes flat. The story simply doesn't work. It does not bind you, there is nothing that will excite you. 60 Minutes into the film and you are still waiting for that one good edgy punch... nothing! And even worse was SRK's ever changing facial features while playing the part of Gaurav Chandna. You wont even realize that we reached the climax or the ending until the titles show up... just like MAry Kom!

Overall, a very disappointing film. Its definitely a waste of money especially if you are planning on a lounge show this weekend.
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Theri (2016)
1/10
Waste of time and money!
18 April 2016
I would have given this film zero, that is, ignore it totally and leave it without rating. However, given the time and money that I spent on this movie... it is my duty to warn others. There is no story, whatsoever, just random action and emotional gimmickery! Music is bad, action sequences are good, Samantha looks like a puffed up rice plate and the Amy jackson is forcefully there to play the malayalee (she doesn't even look like one!) to woo Vijay's fans in Kerala!!!

Direction has flickered from time to time, with actors breaking fourth wall occasionally! Screenplay... oh wait... in Mass Tamil movies, we look over this particular word... because Screenplays do not exist in Mass brainless tamil revenge thriller cop action whatever it is!!!

Overall, a very disappointing movie which could have been a 20 minute webisode but lasts for 3 hours!!! ESCAPE! Worst movie of the year...
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1/10
I would rather watch Twilight & Underworld!
16 January 2015
Wow! Frankenstein. No wait, son of Frankenstein. Garr... It's It and It is called Adam. Really, adam? I had gone into watching this movie with lot of expectation that included few clichés as well but instead this movie turned out to be disastrous collection of clichés, dead ones. The screenplay is like a corpse that has been stitched back to make a movie with no soul in it. Incidentally, that is exactly what Frankenstein stands for. Here, we see a vigilante running around looking for a purpose in a story that itself lacked a purpose. I mean first of all, the 'queen bee gargoyle' takes away the journal of Frankenstein and lets him go, and then he is looking for the demon 'prince' (who by the way is too old to be a dead king, but he is called a prince nonetheless). Now, the demon prince Neberius has been collecting corpses for centuries and this 'Adam' thing is first caught by the demons, but he refuses to go with them, and then ends up looking for them for the next 200 years in lonely corners of the earth. OK, were you retarded, Oh yea, you are... you don't have a soul, right? Now, when this Adam is back, it is some modern city that looks like London without people. Just two doctors! The rest of them are gargoyles who are still wearing those metallic armours of yore (didnt they get take shower for 200 years or what?) while the demons are all trendy and dressed up like Agent Smith from the MAtrix (They all belong to the same clan, don't they?) I mean this is such a pointless movies, that at one point you just want to rip your hair apart. I really did not understand why the Queen Gargoyle bitch did not do anything at all other than blaming herself for making faulty decisions for centuries (just so that we know that she is a useless tramp). The tramp's only purpose was to save Adam and the sexy doctor from falling into the portal to hell which had been existing there for ages (but they were not aware). I would rather watch Twilight and Underworld!

Only saving grace - VFX!

Story - 0/10 Screenplay - 010 Cinematography, Editing & Vfx - 7/10 Performance - 4/10
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Enthiran (2010)
10/10
The biggest Indian entertainer is here!
1 October 2010
1. Performance - RAJNI sir was AWESOME...THALAIVAAAAA!....Aishwarya was gorgeous..she plays a college student...and she's gives Katrina a run for all her money....Danny isn't really the antagonist...he has a small but important role and he does it very well.....Santhanam & Karunas pull of the funny bone perfectly with Rajni Sir. 2. Music ----- Hahaha! AR Rahman...the name is enough.......The music is simply mind blowing! 3. Cinematography --- Brilliant....usually it's just the songs...but here, the entire movie has been shot brilliantly... 4. Special Effects --- THE BEST PART OF THE MOVIE...except for the baby birth scene...everything else was perfect.....the best ever in an Asia! The climax fight sequence was brilliant...and so is the initial fight scene with the local Goondas..... 5. Action---- AMAZING!..no match...MATCHE ILLA! 6. Story --- Funny first half...as you keep laughing every other second......while the second half is quite serious as the Villain is revealed......overall.....the story is GOOD vs EVIL and Good prevails in the end type....but nevertheless, it's entertaining. In short, everything is perfect. There is no overdose of anything. Performances by everyone is apt! The music is brilliant, the songs and scenes are perfect, the story and the EXTRA ORDINARY action fits perfectly in the plot! It's an out an out entertainer, nothing of the sort can be seen in Bollywood, it's pure Kollywood style....with a Hollywood touch.......South Indian Sambhar in Western sausage!

MY VERDICT - It's an ultimate entertainer....****1/5
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