Reviews

The only thought I had in my mind after watching Rog was why Irrfan did this movie. Rog is so bad that even Irrfan Khan's acting looks average. It's quite evident that most of the supporting cast, including the lead actress, are not full-time actors. The dubbing of the lead actress is simply pathetic. Other actors didn't even require dubbing artists to ruin the act, they did it themselves. If you can turn a blind eye to all that is bad in this movie, then you may enjoy the music, which was surprisingly much better. Overall, it's just a forgettable pseudo-erotic thriller, like many others made during the 2000s. Just go watch Laura, the 1944 film starring Gene Tierney.

Glass onion is the sequel to one of the best detective mystery movies of recent times. And it certainly misses the predecessor's quality by some distance.

A billionaire steals ideas to build an empire. And now his life is in danger as he has invited his mistrustful friends to a remote island. The setup of the movie is decent; the mystery is not really baffling, and, well, there is detective Blanc being detective Blanc. Most of the characters are just loud caricatures and never seem well developed. But this is the first half.

The second one is the real letdown. The plot moves in the direction of social commentary. And there is a lot of commentary on contemporary topics, but the mystery gets dissolved in the verbose chaos. But if you were astute, you may have realised there was never any mystery at all. The climax is another typical good-versus-bad fight without any deductive knockout punches.

The Director draws inspiration from Hollywood films, however, his attempts to add a twist to the story ends up making it too melodramatic. The best part is Irfan Khan playing Krish, one of the three wronged kidnappers, who has a mix of desperation and cool reserve. The rest of the characters are not great, the pace is slow and the story is a bit predictable. However, there are some thrilling sequences between actor Irrfan and director Konkona which are worth watching. The movie works in bits and pieces, but it ends up being unbelievable. This is a movie that tries too hard to have a conscience and it's a big mistake.

~ P. X.

This Netflix special has a great sense of purpose, but it's not as focused as it could be if it was. It's a bit like a Spit -Take or Montage mode, and it's full of all the crazy facts that come from a fake scare called the Luton Bus, as well as the story of Willem's screams. It's not as thoughtful as it could be, but since it's only an hour, you can probably still watch it on your free weekends and pass it along to your cinema-loving friends. The problem is that it's not as funny as it should be, and it's not as irreverent as it could be. It's got the same lazy familiarity of the Hollywood movies it's trying to mock.

~ P. X.

A movie that attempts to make the case that bullying is a terrible thing that destroys the lives of those who are subjected to it. However, it is a futile attempt. The downside to the action-comedic formula is that it is likely to have little or no impact. The risk of the form lies in the fact that, instead of complementing one another, action and comedy cancel each other. Despite these issues, the film manages to work almost perfectly due to the undeniable charisma and rapport between Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Kevin Hart. However, the problem is that problems with the film continue to surface. It is much simpler to do variations of the same cliché than to turn horn-locking exasperation into genuine conversation.

~P. X.

Rather than tell a story that will remain fresh in the minds of audiences for many years to come, each Percy Jackson film takes a mythology that has been around for centuries and staggers it to the present, almost guaranteeing that it will be outdated by the time a sequel is released. None of the actors are bad or wooden, however, the film becomes tedious when the teenage cast members are asked to perform a scene. Consequently, a silent boat ride in the midst of the film seems to drag on, and a lengthy heart-to-hear before the climax feels excessive. The contrast between the plucky hero and the villain is lost. The villain is reduced to a two-dimensional villain with daddy issues. All in all, Sea of Monsters is mediocre at best. It just doesn't fit together.

~ P. X.

Hubie Halloween is a film that is not worth watching. It is lazy and idiotic, similar to other Happy Madison projects over the past decade, and it also wastes the talent of a talented cast, whose salaries I do not resent. I do not resent Sandler taking a large portion of his income from Netflix to make atrocious films and spend time with his cronies. When it comes to the actual spookiness of Hubie Halloween, it is a story that is more interested in watching how Sandler interacts with the cast than in actually revealing any supernatural villain overseeing the events. Kindness is at the core of the film, and surprisingly, everyone in Salem (with the exception of a few others) is cruel to him for being so strange. However, the film's eventual spirit is much more inclined to act kindly towards others than to be cruel, which is a pleasant surprise at the end. When compared to many of Sandler's other films, Hubie Halloween remains watchable without being particularly good.

~ P. X.

The story of Dahaad is based on Cyanide Mohan, a South Indian serial killer. Firstly, the series is well thought out and well constructed. The cinematography is top grade; the set design feels very authentic; scenes of Rajasthan are as fantastic as this land truly is. The dialogues are well written, and the actors' delivery sound very Rajasthani except for a few (you know who).

The integration of present-day communal and religious tension in the series is intelligent. It provides a different flavor compared to the usual Serial Killer Thrillers. But the social issues get too dragged in the show. Highlighting issues like casteism or misogyny is a good thought, but making it one of the main themes in a crime thriller has tediously lengthened the series.

Another point in question is that though the story is set in present-day Rajasthan, some scenes in Dahaad feel like scenes in some American crime series. The reason being the excess of typical American series elements directly borrowed and put into Indian settings. Such American elements feel artificial to Indian policing, which is at the centre of the show.

The climax and all the later episodes are very predictable, quite in contrast to the first 2-3 episodes that fully grip your attention.

P. S. - A shoutout to Gulshan Devaiah and Vijay Varma for their awesome performances.

If you love daily Hindi TV soap operas, this movie will be a feast for your eyes. Else you will question the existence and purpose of this movie, just like me.

Ghar Sansar is a hotchpotch of emotional drama. The story borrows repeated themes from popular Hindi movies of that era- poverty, unemployment, family values, wedding, dowry, and you can guess the rest of the list. The music is average, and the dialogues are cringe-worthy, to say the least. Kader Khan's acting is the only positive.

There is no point in critically analyzing anything else here. If any day you feel like you are losing your good old family values, simply watch this movie (in ultra fast-forward for your brain's safety).

The story of Anand Kumar and his Super 30 classes is simply extraordinary. The story has been given quite ordinary film treatment, something which has become very common in most of the contemporary Bollywood biographies. The movie undoubtedly entertains, and the acting by the cast is good, but the overdramatization of the events along with the overwhelming flow of emotions is a let-down.

What this movie nailed is the accurate depiction of modern educational institutions becoming more and more profit-hungry. Although the poorest section of society now has more opportunities to move up the social ladder, the path to those opportunities is not at all easy. Anand Kumar will inspire many coming generations, but the movie may not.

One of the first horror-comedy TV series in India, Bhootwala Serial was a creative attempt by Sab TV to add a new supernatural dimension to an otherwise tried and tested Indian sitcom script. The tropes are all too familiar but most of them are thankfully still funny. Some of the episodes simply stretch the plot. However good acting by most of the main characters is a relief. The show was worth watching, but it's a pity it only aired for some months.

Jaya Ganga is an apparent tribute to the great river Ganga. The film narrates the story of Nishant, an Indian writer from Paris, and his journey on the river. He undertakes the pilgrimage of the course of the river in search of his fantasy woman Jaya, but he meets Zehra. Nishant falls in love with her and asks her to accompany him for the rest of his journey.

The good parts of the film are the photography and locations. The journey of Nishant starts from the Gaumukh and ends at Banaras. The river and all the sceneries are photographed with pleasing authenticity. But I'm slightly disappointed that the plot could not infuse the rest of the river's course. The secondary Indian characters' appearances and dialogues look and sound genuine.

The not-so-good parts are the very common cinematic elements and tropes that are trademarks of tragic romance and independent art films. The spiritual journey, the mysterious woman and her charm, the beautiful courtesan and ambiguities in her life, the tragic romance, and other allegories galore. You always feel like you have seen this tale somewhere before.

Jaya Ganga has allegorical poetry, but, in the end, it is a rather ordinary film.

A beautiful movie that perfectly captures the feelings of an innocent child living in the Kashmir conflict and a soldier who is helpless yet sympathetic towards the people there. The unbiased representation of the situation and the touching innocence of a child trying to comprehend everything around him makes this story exceptional.

'How to stage a coup' draws parallels between the rise of historical figures like Caesar, Napoleon, Mussolini, et al. The parallels are interesting but too simplistic. The target audience of such documentaries is usually history buffs. But most of the facts and theories shown here are well known, and history buffs may not find them interesting. The documentary is too short in length to cover a topic as intricate as a coup. And few of the coups referred to in the documentary are arguably not even coups.

In conclusion, if you have an hour to kill or if you just love watching montages of your favorite dictators before bed, then you can find this doc on Netflix.

Spotlight is the most mediocre part of an otherwise quite engaging and entertaining series. The story is a satire on the blind faith in society and the insecurities of stars. Although inspired by Satyajit Ray's eponymous short story, this Spotlight is heavily modified.

It is hard to deny that a potential clash of two famous insecure individuals in today's technology-powered world can be anything less than entertaining, but here it is. The execution was not up to the mark, and perhaps the writer and director are to blame. The script does not look very developed, the humorous undertones are below par, and the quirky dialogues (and the quirky "Look" of the main character) are usually dull. Many reviews have accused Harshvardhan of giving a poor performance, but given a poor plot and array of stereotypical characters, his performance should be called decent.

But there are some good things as well. The production design was brilliant, like the previous three episodes. The vivid imagery- the use of blue around Didi's character, the display of spiritual elements, the palace hotel set- deserve lots of praise. In conclusion, Spotlight is a moderately entertaining one-time watch (not as bad as many have called it).

X is "not an anthology" movie directed by 11 directors, an achievement in itself. The movie is a collection of 11 short films tied by one common link- K, the protagonist. K is a self-righteous, little psychotic, and lonely director who's ready to forego real-life experiences to find inspiration for his movies. In the first section 'Past is Present' K meets a girl who reminds him of his first girlfriend. And as he spends the rest of the night with this mysterious girl, he has flashbacks of some unforgettable experiences he has had with different women in his life. Every flashback, directed by separate directors, is entangled with the first section. In the beginning, the movie is a little complex and puzzling, but it disentangles gradually. The film's editing is quite impressive especially considering the film is a fusion of works of 11 directors, each having different working styles and mindsets. A big issue with the movie is that there are so many interwoven tales to tell in only around 100 minutes. It does not allow the viewer to explore the more engaging encounters of K's past. At times K's character shown at different phases of his life seem like distinct individuals altogether. Perhaps the reason is that four different actors play K at different ages. Although the story is of a film director visiting the ghosts of his past, the ghosts seem quite relatable. There are also elements of magic and surrealism present in the story as the director's journey is explored. The performances of Anshuman Jha in the part "Knot" and Swara Bhaskar in "Summer Holiday" are remarkable. X: Past is present is an experimental abstract film and, understandably, many viewers might find it confusing and unsavory. Nevertheless, the movie is, for the most part, entertaining, and the character K is likely to arouse one's curiosity.

This documentary analyzes how the Assad family has ruled Syria for the last five decades. After coming to power in 1970, the Assads have managed to overcome every obstacle that threatened their reign, including the ongoing civil war which had almost brought them to their knees. The power dynamics within the family have been well explored. The tale of the deadly family, undeniable and unbiased.

The Last Seduction, a conventional neo-noir from the 90s, can be called a thriller with unsurprising twists and turns. The plot is very standard and the viewer should not anticipate a mind boggling narrative, unless one has never seen a movie of this genre. The protagonist or the anti-heroine, depending upon the viewer's discretion, is a devious seductress, who has run away from her husband with their drug money. She is playing cat and mouse with her husband and also conning gullible men in the small town of Beston. The story is very comparable to other similar Femme Fatale-led erotic thrillers, like the 1981 classic Body Heat. The character of Bridget Gregory bamboozles imbecile men with fabulously unconvincing ease that seems to transcend human logic. The highlight of the movie is the acting of Linda Fiorentino (playing Bridget). Her portrayal of a egocentric, greedy and despicable woman with a dry sense of humour deserves admiration. Sadly her performance could not get an Oscar nomination because it premiered on HBO before the theatre release. It was initially planned only as a low budget erotic thriller, but it did really exceed those expectations and ascend to the classic neo-noir status.

Although I do not often watch indies, I was certainly impressed by this movie. I came across this movie while reading an article online, and the title got me curious. This movie is really ultra-low budget and really hard to find anywhere which is not unusual considering how little known it is and was also released some years ago. Luckily I managed to find it, and it was worth a find. The story is about David, his relationship with his family and his sister who returns home after a long absence. How relationships burden the choices we want to make has been explored well. The title 'Fighting Fish' describes both David, played by Val Emmich, and Alice, played by Anna Moore, who are fighting with their inner self and are struggling to cope with the responsibilities. The story seemed really earnest to me and I was particularly impressed by Emmich and Moore's performances. I do recommend this and wish that good low-budget movies are appreciated by the public. Making a good movie with a very low budget is a tremendously difficult job, these filmmakers deserve appreciation and better reception at box office.

'Wazir' showcases a beautiful analogy between the life of a chess player and the game of chess.

A wheelchair-bound chess grandmaster/Panditji (Amitabh Bachchan) befriends a traumatized ATS officer Daanish (Farhan Akhtar). Daanish's life is falling apart after the death of his daughter and the subsequent separation from his wife. Panditji is himself grieving the loss of his daughter who died in a mysterious accident. Panditji believes the Welfare Minister has murdered his daughter. As Wazir enters the game to eliminate Panditji, Daanish fights to protect him.

The plot's central focus is on the battle of the weak pawn, Panditji, with the mighty king, the Welfare Minister. The pawn seeks the help of the rook to defeat the king. The story takes twists and turns as the battle for justice transforms into the hunt of Wazir.

The friendship between the Panditji and Daanish, and the emotional state of a grieving father are the highlights of this movie.

Watch this movie for the climax.

Few things you probably already know about 'The Shawshank Redemption': it was nominated for 7 Oscars, yet failed to win any, it failed at the box office and it is one of the best movie ever made.

I felt mesmerized watching this movie, and I believe everyone who has watched it must have felt the same. A perfect adaptation of Stephen King's novel 'Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption', this movie stays faithful to the plot of the novella with very minor alterations. Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins have given stellar performances. Freeman's eloquent narration throughout the film provides the description of the events happening over the prison and his friendship with Andy Dufresne over a number of years from his character's perspective.

The main themes of the movie, hope, self-worth, integrity and friendship are beautifully interlocked with the prison-drama. The climate of Shawshank State Penitentiary is painted gray and dull to amplify the intensity of every event. The depiction of institutionalized life and emotions of the prisoners, who aren't only trapped inside Shawshank physically but psychologically as well, are very precise. The character of Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, displays extraordinary courage and self-worth in the hopeless walls of Shawshank prison. The climax is intricately woven with poetic justice.

This film is Frank Darabont's Magnum Opus. A well deserved #1 on IMDb's Top 250.