Reviews

Pathaan is a pure Bollywood movie made for the masses. But its as generic of bollywood blockbuster as it gets. Its a wanna be mission impossible esque cinematic universe with big stars that misses what made those movies special.

The action is loud, flashy, over the top and not realistic by any means. But you are a fool if you went into this expecting realistic looking action. Its dumb action flick that is kinda fun. It has its entertaining moments and some funny dialog. Thats just about the things I like. SRK carries the film with his presence and Deepika Padukone is way too attractive to take eyes of her. John Abraham had some deadpan dialog delivery in serious situations that was amusing. While the actors carry the film their character writing is unfortunately way too one dimensional.

Maybe I just have seen too many movies to be entertained by this flick. An example is a tragic flashback backstory of a spy where a pregnant wife is tortured. Its a scene that made me giggle on how painfully generic this writing is to generate sympathy but at the same time making some of the rest of the audience gasp in visible disgust.

In the end this movie is the definition a generic Bollywood action blockbuster. After you come out of the theatre and think about some of the logistics, none of it makes sense and all the 'smart' characters come out looking stupid.

I've always not been a very big fan of such Bollywood blockbusters so my review is more on the negative side but if you enjoyed films such as Bang Bang, Ek Tha Tiger, Tiger Zinda Hai and War(2019) then I suppose you'll love this move. Its a movie for those who love SRK and Bollywood.

5/10.

This show has always kept me excited for Saturday mornings.

I had only mainly followed Gigguk for his anime content before this podcast and only landed here as one of his videos with regards to shopping in Akihabara had a sequel in a Trash Taste episode. And from there on I fell into this rabbit hole that I never knew I needed.

The boys have great synergy and chemistry with each other which make the 2 hour episodes fly by. Its also a great way to keep up with internet, Japanese, British, Thai and Australian culture.

Who knew two degenerates and a monkey are all you need for banging time that hits different.

Manikarnika, the movie about the legendary queen of Jhansi is unfortunately a completely crap film. Its an utter failure from a narrative and direction standpoint with the writing feeling childish and one-dimensional.

There are no characters in this film and only caricatures of cliches. The British antagonists are portrayed as these absolutely evil monsters and its absolutely hilarious to see the ways this film makes you try and hate them. The attempts at emotional manipulation are painfully cringe-worthy and laughable.

The only positive thing I have to say about the film is that a couple of battle sequences were decent. Although the film is littered with poor CG, the action choreography was decent and had a few impressive shots. But you'll be better off watching them on YouTube than suffering through the whole film to get to them.

There appears to be a lot of praise for Kangana's performance. While its her screen presence that mostly carries the film, her acting boils down to nothing more than widening her eyes to glare angrily hence looking like a strong female. It appears that people are eating into the jingoistic attitude of this film to mistake for it for good filmmaking.

Odiyan is an incredibly dull film. It has a paper thin plot that can be written down in four sentences presented in a convoluted out of order manner to maintain a sense of mystery. But this simply feels dragged out and overlong. The fantasy aspect is not much focused on to keep things more realistic. But not focusing on the myth and the film eventually boiling down to dull love triangle drama does not do the film any favors.

At the end this film feels like a waste of a concept on petty drama.

There is no denying that Aquaman is a damn fun visual spectacle of a superhero action adventure film even if its a flawed one. Its worth watching on IMAX for its fantastic underwater visual effects and action sequences alone. A lot of visual imagination is put into the underwater city of Atlantis. The action sequences are beautifully shot and you have a lot of different action set pieces that are a marvel to watch at the big screen.

Aquaman is an ambitiously large scale film, that tries to go through a lot of world building and backstories. Even at 2 hours 22 minutes, it feels like the film rushed up some of it by mere exposition to save time. The large scale nature of the film makes it feel a bit messy at times even if its basic story is simple. The age old story of two brothers fighting for the throne one may have seen or read multiple times. This one done in a reverse of the way Black Panther did. Jason Momoa is perfect as the macho hero and has his roguish charm that carries the film. Amber Heard as Mera is jaw dropping smoking hot rocking the red hair sharing a nice chemistry with the hero.

The climatic final battle is pretty epic. Comparisons to Avatar are warranted in regards to its CGI and world building. Its kinda sad and ironic that the Aquaman movie in DCEU feels the more grander and epic than Justice League.

Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse is an amazing film. The animation style is phenomenal and its easily one of the best looking animated films ever. It literally feels like a comic book in motion, popping to life. The art and cinematography oozes with style hence there are a lot of amazing action sequences and breathtaking trippy visuals in this film. But its not just merely a visual spectacle. It also is a really heartwarming origin story for a new Spider-Man.

With witty dialog poking fun at superhero tropes and past Spider-man history and visual inventiveness, there is a lot of heart, humour and character development in this film. Miles Morales has rightfully earned his place as Spider-Man alongside Peter Parker. The only flaw of the film is that its too short. I want to see more of this Spider-Man or more multiverse Spider-Man animated in this style.

I never thought any other Spider-man film would top the OG Raimi Spider-man film. But Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse just did.

Its the film that is the team up of the most iconic heroes of all time so naturally it should have been one of the most iconic movies of all time right?

But its just a mediocre movie. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the movie a lot, even if it has a lot of problems. I enjoyed it because I am already a fan of these characters. Watching them come together had the inner fanboy in me squealing in joy added to the plenty of DC fan-service. But if you watch the film as a non fan who has no knowledge of any of these characters and their back story, you may or may not find it entertaining but would forget the entire film just as it ends.

With WB putting a mandate of having the film be less than two hours, you can see easily that something feels missing. Its not exactly plot because the plot is nothing more than aliens invade, team assemble, save Earth. The thing that's missing is a natural flow. Editing feels chopped, the pacing feels rushed and the film lacks any sense of tension.

This film had a rushed production and it shows. The CGI feels unfinished and wonky at times, especially Superman's face. They used CGI to remove Cavill's mustache during re-shoots but didn't do a very good job at it as his face looks distractingly weird a lot of times. It also seems like most of Superman's scenes were re-shoots. The villain Steppenwolf is one ugly CGI monster and a rather unmemorable one for the League to be facing. Hence the stakes don't feel huge even if the world may be ending. But the strength of the film that is entertaining is the team chemistry and watching them come together.

Danny Elfman's music is more forgettable compared to the more grandiose and electronic themes Zimmer used in Man of Steel and BvS except for a couple of spots where he reuses the classic 78 Superman theme and his own 89 Batman theme. The music orchestrates the tone from the classic Justice League animated series which I personally liked since the animated series is amazing. This film overall does feel like sort of an episode of the series to its credit.

Ultimately it seems like WB wanted to react to the criticisms of BvS. You thought BvS was too long, here is something short. You thought BvS was too dark and serious, here is something light and fluffy. You thought BvS was too convoluted with too many subplots, here is a simple story with no subplots. In the end this delivers an entertaining and accessible film that is unfortunately forgettable which is disappointing. But given the troubled production history of the film, I had expected worse.

In the end what should have been an iconic film ends up being a wannabe second rate Avengers film.

Even if it has some supernatural elements, Clannad After Story is very much like real life. This series is a continuation of Clannad which is a romance drama set in a high school like many other anime. Clannad on its own is a decent but not great anime and is comprised of certain arcs where the main character Tomoya helps each girl until we finally get to the meat of the story near the end which is his romance with Nagisa. Clannad ends there and then we get the masterful continuation of the romance that is After Story which is unlike any other anime.

After Story spans multiple years and we see our characters grow up and subtly change from their previous selves while still being the same person. Its story is simplistic but extremely powerful. The later half of the show especially will make one bawl continuously for episodes. After Story offers a great mix of joy, sadness, nostalgia, depression and euphoria like life itself. The soundtrack deserves a special mention to accomplish all this, since it is so moving.

Its ending might be confusing, but paying more attention to detail or researching about it online will clear it up. While Clannad on itself is a decent experience, its the combination of Clannad + After Story makes for a riveting roller coaster of varying emotions. It is a necessary experience that could change ones perception of life.

Clannad on its own is a fun if unremarkable anime. Due to it being adapted from a visual novel, it plays of like a game with each girl getting their own arc while the main female character Nagisa's story is side stepped only being fulfilled late in the story. It has its funny moments and some touching or sad moments. Clannad is set in high school like many other anime.

It has a conventional albeit quite satisfying and touching ending after which we get the masterful continuation that is Clannad: After Story which is unlike any other anime. Ultimately Clannad does a decent job of letting you know and care for the main two characters Tomoya and Nagisa and setting up the world before you enter the emotionally turbulent and rewarding experience that is After Story.

While Clannad on itself is a decent experience, its the combination of Clannad + After Story makes for a riveting roller coaster of varying emotions.

Anarkali of Arah is a film with a strong message regarding consent. Anarkali is a strong and well written character delivered by a tour de force performance from Swara Bhaskar. Anarkali is a singer who isn't ashamed of singing lewd songs that wouldn't garner respect in the civilized society. She sings because of her love for the art and garners a fanbase in her town. Things get rough after she is publicly molested by a person of power.

While the film does hit every beat you'd expect from a typical story where an underdog fights against a powerful person, it is so well done that you find yourself completely immersed in the situation rooting for the protagonist. The supporting characters all feel real and well developed with little quirks of their own, the sexist thinking of the villains feel realistic instead of being cartoonishly evil. Inspite of tackling a serious issue, it retains a sense of humour quite often due to its colourful characters. The plot never meanders and its crisp direction delivers an enthralling experience.

Philauri is a film that has a neat concept but isn't as well executed as it could have been. It begins well with a strangely psychedelic and interesting dream sequence. This is then followed by string of satirical comedy sequences about a person trapped in a bombastic Indian marriage with strange customs that result in him finally getting haunted by a ghost (Anushka Sharma). It seemed like a decent set up for a fantasy story about an escapist coming in terms with reality. It all seemed good but then the story starts to lose focus when we begin the second story in this film.

That is with the backstory of the ghost where the film ends up being a period musical romance drama. This secondary story takes up a lot of screen-time and pretty much takes over the present day story-line (during the second half). This backstory doesn't have any interesting parallels to the present day story-line and is something that feels generic and predictable. Its mostly reliant of a string of musical sequences and poetry, so the romance also feels under developed even if it felt overlong. The fact that the music and poetry didn't work for me would be my subjective problem that other's need not necessarily share.

Ultimately the present day story-line resolves itself by unexplained ghostly logic (pardon the pun). The elongated extended climax of the film feels kinda inspired by Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But the emotional experience that the viewer is supposed to feel doesn't feel earned here. Its overall a well acted film but the biggest villain of the film is the unfocused narrative.

Even though K-On! is supposed to be about the light music club in a Japanese high school, 80% of the show is the characters drinking tea, eating cake or simply having fun with the music part gracing us rarely. There is no plot and is mostly about cute girls doing cute things. But then, why does it work so well?

Its the characters and the completely relaxed atmosphere. Even if the characters live in their exaggerated anime land tropes, they feel real and honest. There is nothing to worry about while watching this show, watching these characters have fun, be carefree and work hard when they need to makes us have a wonderful time. This show is the equivalent of being served hot chocolate after being invited to a warm cozy home in winter or cool ice cream in summer. Its the ultimate anti- depressant.

There is great sense of escapist nostalgia while watching this show, its self aware with the fact with characters who never get fat while eating so many sweets, or having successful shows even though they barely practice and goof up something near the last moments. One would wish if real life were like K-On!

When the series ends you are left with a sense of melancholia that is bittersweet on seeing the characters graduate and move on with their fun phase of school life. But you know they will never stop having fun till the end.

Although Hugh Jackman was at his best in his final outing as the clawed mutant and Patrick Stewart's was great in his tragically powerful performance as a demented old Prof X, it is Daphne Keen as Laura Kinney (X-23) who stole the show. She was a cheeky little bad- ass.

While the action sequences with all the bloody slashing are intense and entertaining, the film mostly shines in its smaller character moments. At 2 hours and 21 minutes I never really felt the length, if anything I think it would have improved with more moments regarding the bond created between Logan, Charles and Laura. The film is atmospherically grim, quite bleak and the stakes here are more personal. This is purely an action drama in a western setting that never feels familiar with any other superhero film with some world ending beam to the sky scenario.

Although the film isn't without its flaws, the villains in particular are generically boring. But it doesn't matter too much in retrospect with Logan's journey. This is probably the best film to come from the X-Men verse.

8/10

One of the most insanely creative and original film ever. Its often strange with crude humour about farting corpses and boners, but there certainly is a deeper meaning to it rather than being crudeness for the sake of it.

This film is truly a magical experience that dares to defy conventions. Its a thought provoking film that would make you question our conventions and need to be normal while exploring loneliness. With beautiful cinematography, powerful performances by Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe, well paced with an excellent soundtrack this certainly is my favourite film of the year (so far).

Its certainly not everyone, it wouldn't be surprising if most people dismissed it saying 'What the hell'. Certainly recommended if you are into quirky, offbeat and creative films.

9/10

Raman Raghav 2.0 is absolutely brilliant. Nawazuddin Siddiqui brings out his A-game as a creepy and scary psychopath. Both the leads, Nawaz as the unhinged serial killer and Vicky Kaushal as a drug addicted misogynist cop aren't likable and aren't supposed to be. There is no character you can root for but the film manages with great effect for you to root for the story to play out.

This film has incredibly tense scenes crafted fantastically. It feels often like a horror film creating an uneasy feeling of dread as to what will happen. Most of the grotesque violence happens off screen which leaves most of the gory details to our imagination.

The use of seemingly inappropriate music at times works very well. The camera work, editing and screenplay is fantastic. This is one of the best Indian thrillers made. By far my favourite film of 2016.

9/10

So much after the critical disappointment of Batman v Superman, the next film in the DC universe Suicide Squad had gotten a similar thrashing of negativity from the critics. I disagree with the critical consensus of Batman v Superman (Love the Ultimate Edition, which is a much superior film to the original theatrical cut) but I don't think the critics are very wrong about Suicide Squad.

Starting off with my problems with the film. First is Jared Leto as Joker. He wasn't Jokery enough for me. He looked pretty serious most of the time. But the amount of screen time and the kind of role he had wasn't enough to make an strong impression. Secondly, it tried too hard to be like Guardians of the Galaxy. I know some people made this comparison before the film was released but I never believed it or cared about it except then until I saw it. From the tone, the soundtrack, the brand of humour, a bland villain and the relatively simple nature of the plot. Except this one didn't work as well as Guardians. Thirdly, a rushed change in Dynamic between the Squad. For being untrustworthy bad guys they turned into a Fast and Furious like 'family' pretty quick. It feels like a lot of scenes were chopped up sacrificing the storytelling. The final fight has a 'been there done that' syndrome. The villains looked interesting visually though.

As for what I loved- The Suicide Squad, the cast did a fantastic job. Margot Robbie's performance as Harley Quinn single-handedly saved the film for me. She was absolutely brilliant and reminded me of the 90s Batman, the animated series from where she originated from. Will Smith has some funny dialogues. Character development for Deadshot, Harley Quinn and El Diablo was well done. It also contains Jai Courtney who is an otherwise a very bland actor give an entertainingly energetic performance as Captain Boomerang. I found it to be well paced and events occurring in real time added a sense of danger. It also has a unique sense of style.

It contains a ton of DC related fan-service and Easter eggs, which may it tough for a DC fan to dislike the film. The film is pretty darn entertaining. There are a lot of flaws but none of them prevented me to walk out with a smile in my face. But when you think about it, it falls apart and feels like a missed potential to do something great. Overall, a disappointment.

6.5/10

I've never played the games, know nothing about them so any Easter eggs and references would get lost on me.

The film directly puts you in the middle of this fantasy universe from the start, some people may need some time to get used to it but I dug it. The special effects and CGI are mostly excellent (except for a couple of spots). The action is pretty intense. The lore and the world building of this universe I found quite interesting.

The acting was fine, it was cheesy and over the top but I think that was the point, I dug it. Inspite of the CGI and action the film is mainly character driven. Garona and Duraton are the most interesting characters in the film and its their arc that carry the film along with that of an immature magician.

The story is straightforward, decent enough. It could have had a normal cliché ending but it ends on a rather interesting note which overall makes it feel like a chapter of a much larger story-line. Inspite of ending on somewhat of an incomplete note, I had a lot of fun watching it.

7.5/10

After years of anticipation, We finally got to see two cultural icons share the screen together. Back when Man of Steel received a mixed response, I ardently defended it since I found it to an amazing action film and an effective re-introduction to Superman. This time Batman v Superman has received a harsh critical mauling but I disagree with them yet again. While this film isn't as amazing as it could have been but its a solid entry for the DC Universe.

It begins with Snyder's Watchmen-esque opening credits that portrays the origin of Batman in a surreality effective manner. It doesn't show what we already don't know but this sequence is beautiful to watch. With the opening title 'Metropolis: The day the world is introduced to Superman' we get to see Bruce's perspective of the battle between Superman and Zod in metropolis. This brilliant sequence itself sells us Bruce's grudge and fear of Superman, to be honest I think this Metropolis sequence is maybe my favorite part of the film. Maybe its one problem that the rest of the film isn't as great as the recreated destruction of Metropolis from Bruce's perspective. After this sequence, the pace of the film during the first half is slow yet absorbing, it speeds up during the second half as it becomes more comic bookish.

One of the flaws of the film is that it tries to pack up too much into it. It feels like a solo Superman film, a solo Batman film, A Batman v Superman film, a Dawn of Justice film and spoilery arc that involves Doomsday. While for the most part it worked effectively as a solo Superman film who is struggling with the question whether the world needs a Superman? A solo Batman film who is aged, tired and beats up criminals like a horror show and the final spoilery Doomsday arc. The Batman v Superman arc feels underdeveloped. While Bats seemed to have a decent reason to fight Supes, the reason Superman fights Bats is flimsy. Their fight is relatively short but pretty cool. I was kinda disappointed with the lack of banter between Supes and Bats, Affleck and Gal Gadot had a better chemistry than them. The Justice League set up part is few and consists of only two or three scenes where one of it is edited in an inappropriate area hence it feels jarring.

I had mixed feelings on Jesse Eisenberg's portrayal of Lex Luthor, he plays a crazy billionaire whose only motivation is that he hates Superman. Ben Affleck is great as Batman, I would personally wait to see more of to call him the best Batman yet. Henry Cavill is serviceable as Superman. I don't think Batman steals the show as its equally Superman's film and he gets to shine in places. Jeremy Irons does a good job as Alfred. Although with the little screen time she has its safe to say that Gal Gadot is the highlight of the film and maybe the most fun part with respect to the otherwise rather bleak tone of the film.

The action scenes in this film are great with Batman's solo fight in a warehouse and a one take fight in a dream sequence, the title fight and the final one. There is one bat-mobile chase sequence which is maybe the weakest action scene of the film and doesn't touch the chase sequences of the Nolan films. Trinity vs Doomsday is personally one of my favourite fight sequence in a superhero movie.

Worth watching for the pure stylistic visual spectacle it offers with an effective score by Zimmer and Junkie XL. It takes itself quite seriously with an operatic grandeur that makes a good change from your typical fun Marvel movie.

With the director's cut clocking at around 150 minutes, this film never felt long. Mr. Nobody is a puzzle, a moving puzzle with dreamlike imagery and astonishing visuals. This film is certainly not one for the those who demand mindless entertainment as its a profoundly moving journey.

Ever feel like how different your life would have taken a different choice? This film moves along alternate timelines, every timeline is a result of a different choice. Each choice is difficult and life changing. A boy has to choose between his mother and father. We get a glimpse of how his life would have been for every tough choice he makes. A glimpse of how tough life is, we learn no choice is a bad choice. This film is in its core a fantasy and a romance with science fiction elements which are debatable.

Its a spiritual journey with an great soundtrack, amazing cinematography and acting by Jared Leto. As the film ended I silently pondered in amazement of everything I just witnessed. Its a thought provoking gem of a film by Jaco Van Dormael. It will surely be recognized as a masterpiece in the future.

10/10

A group of people around the world are suddenly linked mentally, they are sensates.

I completed the first season and found it brilliant overall. It had a slow start but once you get used to the environment, the diversity of the cultures and atmosphere of the show it feels brilliant. The writing and production values are fantastic.

While not entirely devoid of action, don't expect an action packed sci- fi TV series, its a pure character drama about human connection. Although the few action scenes it has are exciting and intense and feels brilliant overall.

The diversity of visuals of all the different places from Bombay to streets of Nairobi to Berlin, London, Iceland, San Francisco, Seoul, Mexico City and Chicago are beautiful and the soundtrack is amazing.

The characters are of diverse nationalities and sexual orientations as among the main 8 characters one is a homosexual while another one is a trans woman. I loved it every time a sensate interacted with each other and worked together. You manage to care for every single one of the eight sensates and their relationships. No individual story feels like a weak spot. The core themes deal will freedom of choice and love.

Looking forward to season 2 very much.

10/10

Its a dark and brutal world, its the world of Max. The film opens with the dialogue

"My name is Max. My world is fire and blood."

The film begins. You are in for a ride as you enter this ugly yet visually breathtaking world.

The themes of slavery, the objectification of human beings and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are prominent throughout. The medium of storytelling an action film. This film is primarily one long epic car chase with maddening insane visuals and brilliant action sequences.

It was a solid thrilling ride that moved at a very fast pace with twisted dark humour. There is never a dull moment. Furosia(Charlize Theron) is a brilliant character who caries the film. Nux (Nicholas Hoult) was a pretty awesome character as well.

My only complaint is that the lead character Max doesn't have much to work with. He is reduced to a side character in his own film. Tom Hardy was okay as Max although he was no Mel Gibson.

8.5/10

P.K (2014) is a very good film but arguably its Rajkumar Hirani's weakest. The film asks bold and daring questions but the resolution of the debate in the film is underwhelming and leaves too much to be desired. The film makes you laugh a lot especially in the first half, which is its main strength. There is never a dull moment in the film as it is thoroughly entertaining. Aamir Khan made a pretty believable Alien.

The social commentary the film offers is both insightful and something to ponder upon. Although the questions asked in the film aren't unique but been has been asked many times before. You are required to suspend disbelief that Aamir is the first guy living in India to ask these questions which were asked before by Paresh Rawal in the film Oh My God.

The execution is well done which makes this not so original film(its a mix of K-Pax and OMG) quite entertaining. Although I do think it could have had a better written climax.

A solid 7/10