Reviews

The one line preview Netflix intrigued me and made me keep watching before I realized I reached my personal record time in continuously watching without a break.

The plot, at once, connects to all those warring nations being played by bigger interests. Not a scene is wasted. The plot and narration brings about the internal dynamics of the nations in that region (bigger and smaller) in such a nuanced way that it is an eye opener of sorts.

Performances are just awesome. Tough to single out any one but the lead characters are just top grade.

I so much wanted to give this series a 10/10. I finished all seasons (upto 4) in a couple of weeks. The characters and the concept were developed so well. To me the series peaked by the time Chuck and Sarah could express their feelings.

The show amazingly blended the involuntary special talents of Chuck with tense build-up of relationship between the intersect and the handler. The chemistry between Chuck and Sarah was just electric with Casey being equally effective. I could (and would) watch those again and again.

However, for me, by end of season 4 the show was pretty much over. There were so many avenues that could have been exploited in Season 5. Morgan's character could have been evolved so well while keeping some of Chuck's special talents intact (after all its only suppressed). Shaw should have been done with way earlier.

I would love to watch the movie sequel (if at all it is being explored as rumored).

The movie is essentially a one room act/drama revolving around set of academics that gradually spins out of control over an astounding claim made by one of the academics - that he has been a Cro-magnon human surviving for the past many centuries and that can never die. Greeted with sneers and jeers, the discussion hits the rooftop when he claims his participation in key historic events of mankind. This leads to animated discussions surrounding those events and the viewer is led to a demystification of them by the professor narrating the experience. On one hand the script manages to hold the viewers attention to the last word, while on the other movie suffers from quite a few liberties and under-the-carpet push-over explanations to drive home the main theme. Overall the movie is worth a one time watch and post movie argument on the movie contents.

7 for the efforts at screenplay and script and that its an independent movie production.

A brilliant plot has been utterly wasted in the second half that culminates in a series of f***ed up events. As one comes away from the movie, one is led to ask 'what did the kids die for'? What was the take home message (kill the minister and give a half baked justification)? Clearly the purpose of Sue's visit is lost and so is the message that could have been given. The pre-independence Bhagat singh & Co had a clearly defined enemy (Brits) and a solution to that (freedom). What parallels could be justifiably drawn in the modern day 'Bhagat singh & Co'?

To me the movie can be conveniently divided into two parts? The 'Pre-Madhavan' half and the 'Post-Madhavan' half. While the build-up of the storyline in the first half was nothing short of fantastic (until the death of Madhavan's character), the plot fails miserably after the news break of his death. The storyline breaks down completely after the TV episode and what happens thereafter is a bunch of disgruntled youth showing their ire on a bumbling 'defence minister'(who becomes a hero anyway). The movie also takes convenient potshots the saffron-brigade as if the vast majority in that gang were a bunch of trouble seeking goons.

The story had an excellent chance showing a new breed of revolutionaries who could have made the faulty system PAY for its actions and bring the government down to its heels. Instead of literally assassinating the minister (who conveniently reflects the faulty system), they could have systematically gone about assassinating the character of the bad minister and senior officials whose shady deals often cost the lives of invaluable fighter pilots. The movie 'Tango Charlie' and 'Lakshya' perform admirably in this regard where the climax is smooth and makes an even landing.

In the end the movie looks nothing more than piece of good documentary. The first half is really natural and thought provoking. The second half degenerates into a hurried climax, thus insulting the great performances by the entire cast (not one excluded).

Rating - Frankly anything above 7 is over-rating.

...is a trend setter. I wont review the storyline since many have done a better job.

Making a comedy, yet a contemporary message oriented, movie has not only been a challenge to Indian movie makers but also been a disaster. Such movies were always the strongholds of trained movie makers or new art film directors from Film Institue in Pune.

The movie is strictly not a sequel in the sense that the storyline is completely new. However, the Munna-Circuit duo is kept very much intact and the punchy dialogues distributed evenly among all characters. This time Munna meets Mahatma Gandhi and makes a disastrous yet a hilarious attempt to reform himself (and an others!). What starts of as an innocent visit to Gandhi library to impress his heartthrob ( a radio show host) spirals into a Gandhian struggle to reclaim the land of a small old age home. How Munna manages to come through this is the whole story.

Of course, Munna is incomplete without Circuit who combines the devotion of Lakshman (to Ram) and naiveté of Sancho Panza (of Don Quixote). Their pair is likely to be exploited commercially in the time to come. At times the movie risks the glorification of 'Goondagiri' but manages to steer clear of it with the help of Gandhigiri. The satire that drips through every line of the story nails home the point of Gandhi's relevance in modern times. However his main strength of 'Satyagraha' is never emphasized as much as the spirit of forgiveness (which is amply demonstrated).

This is a MUST-WATCH movie even for the movie audiences in the United States and the Hollywood Industry. In fact the sequel is worth a remake in Hollywood than its prequel that has 'patches' of "Patch Adams".

For a documentary, this movie is simply great combined with a powerful narration from Morgan Freeman. I got this movie from the video store without any expectations but I was totally surprised as I started watching it. At no point could I afford get up and say "Oh! just a documentary". The movie is certain to lift the spirits of the most depressed because if these penguins can survive it all, mankind can! One sentence I thought I heard moved me "the ones in the center take turns to stand in the outer ring to let the existing ones come in for warmth". I really wish people in the world had that feeling today and life would be worth more celebrating.

A true Manmohan Desai film tot he hilt...

This was one of the late '70s movies whose mega success defied the logic of all movie pundits. A typical lost-and-found formula of three brothers (brought up in three different religions); the movie stands out for brilliant individual performances and "seeti"(whistle) comedy and dialogues. Besides the All-Time Amitabh in his memorable role as 'Anthony' and star-studded cast, it is the crispy one-liners and dialogues that lifted this movie above all. Practically every song in this movie was big hit e.g. 'Anhonee ko Honee' 'My name is Anthony...', 'Tayab Ali', to name a few. Don't miss to catch all the patented dialogues by the Villains - Pran, Jeevan.

Back in my school, I remember my classmates reeling out dialogues at the back of their mind.

A must have "Timepass" collection

All the violence mean nothing if the actual purpose for which Christ suffers is not distilled into the viewer (at least I could not feel it). Resurrection could have been dwelt upon for a minute or two more after enduring all this gruesome ordeal and would have been more fitting end. I expected a heavy intellectual duel between the Devil and Christ besides the neccessary gut-wrenching violence. I wanted to see the grit determination by the Son of God who defies the Devil and endures for the mankind to come.

Richard Attenborough did something like this very effectively in 'Gandhi', wherein Mohandas Gandhi bears the brunt of brutal beatings just crawl up and burn the 'papers'. The stubborn determination of a frail man was there for everyone to see