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Murder in Mahim (2024)
Average at best
The book was not the best work of Jerry Pinto and the series is a reflection of that. It has great actors like Vijay Raaz and Ashutosh Rana, but there is a limit to how much they can sweat the basic story. Shivaji Satam is completely wasted (a far cry from the powerful CID kind of roles you have seen him in)
While the focus is on Mahim, there isn't much of Mahim in the series. And the script meanders before coming towards the end to tie up the loose ends. LGBTQ is a central part of the theme, but that part is slightly overcooked.
If you find something better to watch, this is a good 8 hours you can save.
Premalu (2024)
Love with modern warts and all
It is such a clever movie. It's the age old story of unrequited love (at least till the end), about class (being settled or not) and about having a purpose (or not) which ties in nicely with prevalent lives.
Marrying three states into the script just makes it applicable to three different southern states and the actors do a decent job of carrying the script through. It's not loud or melodramatic. The tone and conversations are relatable and so are the situations.
Well told film which was totally enjoyed in a mixed household and some of the scenes are completely hilarious or could also be taken on a straight bat.
Great effort by the Director and crew. What a year Malayalam cinema is having.
Bramayugam (2024)
Mammootty continues to surprise
What a brilliant movie!! Watching it in Malayalam, my non-mal speaking wife, loved it movie (with subtitles). Despite the movie being in B/W, you get over that quickly and along the way, it adds to the whole charm of the movie, making it the 4th wheel. The three protogonists are brilliant with their own motivations and drivers. It is the acting and the slow unfolding of the mysteries that keeps you hooked throughout the movie but it packs and brilliant punch.
All three characters are played flawlessly, led by Mammootty, Arjun and Siddarth. The narrative does not lack any pace and clicks on at a rapid pace, keeping us on the edge, wondering which way does the story turn. I started watching it, thinking it will be a horror film, but that it is not. It is a great thriller and just goes on the enrich the reawakening of Malayalam cinema in the last few years.
Maestro (2023)
Looking at you, Oscars
Start with an honest confession.
I hadn't heard of Leonard Bernstein till the movie came out. Not into classical music but the introduction to that and the pieces of work depicted in the movie got me hooked. Bradley Cooper was convincing in his act and the hard work gone to get into the skin of the character showed.
Talking about skin, the make-up in the movie is so good that it looks like a definite winner in that category for the upcoming Oscars. Reading other reviews of Maestro was a bit confusing as the reviewers came into the movie expecting facets of Lenny they thought was important and they believed that this movie had the most unimportant parts of the musicians life showcased just to prop up for the awards season.
I thought otherwise. I believe it was an outstanding film. Bradley Cooper blows it out of the water and after the credits ended, scenes, dialogues and parts of the movie stayed with me. Especially the scene in the apartment during the parade and the entire exchange between Bradley and Carey with the camera staying still. The frame of the shot, the actors and their movements and the dialogues. It's outstanding.
The double life of Lenny and the normalcy of it without the melodrama was refreshing. Yes, of course, the fact that it is scandalous is accepted in the movie, but it is death in a matter-of-fact edly manner. And let's come to the performances. Both Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan are brilliant. But none of the other characters stand out, which is one bone I have to pick. It is a showcase of an actor wanting to stake claim to all functions of the film and that make the proceeding of the movie very unidimensional. It does not have layers or characters who move the narrative forward. And the whole movie breezes through like episodes amongst the main two characters. They did a great job but a movie is always more about that.
Will it win? I think it will. With Killers of the Flower Moon being the other strong contender for the top honours. But considering that America is not particularly proud of its sordid past, maybe the academy will ignore the monumental work of Scorsese and go with the more palpable story of bisexuals and promiscuous American hero's.
Jawan (2023)
Mindless overhyped movie
The characters are all over the place, the plot is wafer thin and the hype around the movie is so loud that it has drowned all those real voices that are tearing their hair apart.
Riding purely on the status appeal of SRK, the movie tries to build on 90s theme. Not sure what was the Director Athlee trying to achieve but this might end up his weakest movie in the last few years.
Great actors like Vijay Sethupathy and Nayantara is totally wasted. Sanya Malhotra becomes a side kick when she is currently doing lead roles and the songs are the worst from any SRK movie. It sounds like a reverse dub of South songs being literally translated to Hindi.
Adults and kids slept through the movie as it become a hachet job by SRK and he started Hamming badly in the second half. After the high of Pathan, this takes him backwards and he ends up doing crappy movies.
Dahaad (2023)
Gripping storytelling with great performances
You need to have a strong idea - check. Seriel killer
You need to have layers - check. Caste, marriage, insecurities,
You need good actors - check. Sonakshi, Vijay Verma and Gulshan Deviah.
And with the right combination of all three above factors, with a strong production house of Excel behind the series, they have pulled out winner. The writing, direction and pace is top notch.
They have packed these little nuances of loneliness, love, supporting children while there is fear about whatever is happening in the world and a mother affection which rises above everything else. These are stewed around in ample measure to break the overarching dreadful theme.
All three lead stars stand out. Sonakshi proves that she can do so much more. Her equation with her mom, her booty calls, her relationship with her colleagues and most interestingly, her reporting officer - Gulshan Deviah. She says a lot with her body language and her eyes. Gulshan on the other end plays an understated role. He is a man of principles and takes a stand, even at home. Could he have crossed the line with a colleague to further complicate the story, maybe the writers didn't want any shade of grey to go to other cast members, which is why they chose the straight path, but how the feelings come out, sometimes at the perils of other relationships is really good.
Vijay Verma does nothing special. He is not violent but manipulative and a sociopath and this he bring out greatly. Using a playbook of prying on others weakness, words chosen to evoke specific reactions, he plays the part convincingly and that keeps the series going. Great watch and wonder if there is a second season and what direction will it go?
Does the thakur class make the murders into a class battle and get Verma out, does Gulshan and Sonakshi break the boundaries and how it sets them up or does the story pick one character and move it to another case/ another region with those nuances that befit the second chapter - we'll just have to wait and watch.
Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022)
Stellar cast in a period movie
There are times when you think the scene is a bit too big for Alia to pull off, but her growth as an actor shines through as she does a damn good job of carrying the movie through. Thoroughly enjoyable and brought us back to the cinema hall after two years. Well done SLB.
Succession (2018)
Brilliant show
Shows like this are rare. It's real, the actiing is top notch and the best part of the show - is the writing. The writing need should be given an Emmys for the brilliant lines and interactions. Can't stop watching the show.
Tamasha (2015)
Brilliant but underrated movie
With career best performances by all the lead actors, for some unexplained reason, the movie was underappreciated.
Just get into the narrative and met the movie flow with you. You'll be left with striking images of the well crafted screenplay, direction and camera work that is top notch.
Scenes from movie will stay with you long after the end rolls have ended.
The 2nd (2020)
Outdated action film
No secret that terrible movies still get made on the basis of a wafer thin plot but what's strange in the high rating of 6.5 at one point for this film. Good to see Ryan Phillippe back on the screen, but that's about the only good thing over one and a half hour.
The film is a ham of many parts of action movies, really bad action sequences and some deplorable acting and dialogues that belongs to the 80's. Avoid best as this film has nothing new to offer
C U Soon (2020)
What a cracker of a film!
For those who love films, Malayalam movies has been the gold standard of movie making. Talented actors, storytellers, directors and DOPs have raised the benchmarks in the last decade or so, weaving in a natural lifelike method of stories that are easily identifiable. As the standards have grown, a breed of performers stand out such as Fahadh Faasil, Roshan Mathew, Dalquer Salman, Anna Ben, Soubin Shahir, Chemban Jose, all of whom have led the renaissance of a new era of film making.
CU Soon takes the industry into the 21st century, with digital technologies and social media (both the positive and negative aspects of it) woven into the script as it's backbone. It touches on many aspects of modern living. The global aspirations of Indians, technology that connects, irrespective of geography, love and romance in today's world, human trafficking and exploitation and many more. But these flow into the narrative seamlessly and the entire cast is in terrific form to live up to the characters played by them. It's convincing with their little quirks and side stories that doesn't override the key plot.
For those familiar with the Hollywood movie - The Searching, the visual representation of the film is quite similar where as audiences, we're watching the film through the filter of the characters screen. Thanks to COVID and social distancing, we all identify with living in a fishbowl and Mahesh Narayan (Story and Direction), makes good use of this style to make the most of the lockdown. Despite the constraints, the film does not drop the ball for a single second and one cannot take their eyes of the screen. At 1 hr, 38 mins, the movie is taut and well put together. Up to the half point of the movie, the suspense is kept on the knifes edge, and we're wondering on which direction will the story go, making conjectures in our own minds.
Once the story starts unravelling, it still does not disappoint and holds its interest right till the very end, leaving behind a huge moral question for Roshan Mathew to answer and the audience roots I'm for it to be the right one.
A great watch and kudos for the entire team for this and specially for Fahadh for backing this creative product.
Dark (2017)
Watch Season One and skip the rest
Dark is one of the most overrated shows on Netflix with reviews gushing about the series across all channels. I rank season one at a 7 and the other two at 4 and 2 respectively.
I spent the 20 plus hours required to go through three seasons, hoping that there would be something new and interesting, but it remained gloomy, depressing with a linear storyline that is completely predictable. The novelty lasts in season one and comes to a drag towards the last few episodes. By then, the folks of Winden are crossing between time portals like they are taking a bus between two cities and fancy words like Higgs particle, time travel and fight between two forces - the good and the bad - takes over, and their motivations are pedestrian at best.
Throw in multiple timelines, increasing number of time machines that many of the characters lug around, love & lust in-between the characters and one becomes annoyingly irritated on how the episodes drag. Season three is the worst of the lot. It feels like the makers of the show ran out of ideas so they decided to interchange clothes, relationships and dye their hair in a different colour, throw one of the key protogonists from another timeline into the mix and go through the confusion all over again.
Very clearly, the makers had the concept and relevant material for just one season and this is a case of milking the galaxy for what its worth with two other worthless seasons clumped over the core idea. You can spend the 20 plus hours watching the flowers bloom in the garden which would be a more joyful experience.
The Last Days of American Crime (2020)
Pointless movie going nowhere
It's got an interesting premise but completely squanders it through bizarre sequences, terrible acting and badly written lines.
At over two hours, its not worth the time and is very predictable at every turn. There is nothing original to offer and the motivation for characters is base and shallow. The bad acting is what finally caves the below par writing and dialogues.
Better watch the traffic out of the window rather than this snore-fest
It Chapter Two (2019)
Great cast totally wasted
The second iteration of IT is between a bad joke and kitschy horror, the kind one laughed at in the 90's. It completely unravels the good work done in the first outing and will go down in history as another of those movies, milking its former glory with a huge cast, thinking that movie watchers will fall for it.
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
Why? Just why?
Pointless 2.40 hours waiting for something to happen and nothing really does.
While Leonardo DiCaprio embodies his role and he brings a lot of empathy to his role as a fading leading man, Brad Pitt's role does not have depth or a character arc which gives him nothing much to do till the end of the movie.
The period of the late 60's is captured well and money can do that. What was missing was depth to the narrative and one goes to a Tarinto movie expecting the twists, turns and dark humour which is absent in this movie. Rabid fans lap up anything and i can also shake my head in disbelief at some of the reviews of the movie. Well, the master tanked and the believers are yet to wake up to it.
Joker (2019)
Jokin (Joaquin) all the way
From the first shot onwards, you're drawn into the world of Arthur Fleck. The slow descent into the madness, the history in his family, the world thats constantly pushing you and finally, when he snaps, the feeling of liberation. The music is a fantastic accompaniment to the mood of the film as Arthur from being pushed against the world, breaks free and takes control of his life, albeit in a manner thats totally destructive. Joaquin Phoenix is phenomenal. Up against the obvious comparison to the benchmarks set by Heath Ledger, Jaoquin holds his own and sets the stage for the origins story. Obviously, the two story arcs don't exactly match but the narrative is close and the mood is soberly set. There aren't the typical Marvel/ DC movie large action sets and mayhem taking place with the camera moving all over the place. The movie is set closer to the characters, showcasing the flaws, cracks and choices one makes - either by design or by forced by circumstances larger than yourself. This year, no other actor has done something this remarkable and clearly, this is the year of recognition for Joaquin. It is a joke that is having the last laugh.
The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)
Totally rubbish
Insipid storyline, humdrum acting, loud hamming - this movie has all the ingredients on how not to make movies and for audiences - movies to avoid even when you're bored out of your skulls.
House of Cards: Chapter 66 (2018)
Wish they had left it alone after Season 5
This is a generic review of the entire season 6 of House of Cards. It was such a disappointment and at the end, just undid the great work done by the previous 5.
Kevin Spacey was like that ingredient in a popular cocktail which by taking out, the limitations of the other ingredients got exposed. The audacity of his scheming mind, the easy banter when he spoke directly to the audience and constantly pushing himself against mounting odds was the glue that kept the series together. I did feel Robin Wright was perfect as the thinking woman, playing along with her husband but burning with ambition. But once you take Spacey out of the equation, she did not have the gravitas to keep the series together nor the depth to make any of the absurd situations convincing. The whole series crumbles under the brilliance of the previous five and this remains just a shadow, watched by fans wanting to find closure.
It was also not going to be easy for the writers to find a new narrative. So, instead, they narrowed the world, making it one woman's ambition Vs the desire to control of the Shepard's. The other players flinted in and out, some walking in with hackneyed lines and absurd sub-plots which remained poor attempts to reach scale. In the acting department as well, the show fails and limitations of Robin Wright and her misplaced expressions throughout is painful to watch.
The suspense of what could have been was probably a better idea that what was finally delivered through the 6th season and for heaven's sake, I hope everybody moves on to better things, including the audience.
Satyameva Jayate (2018)
Worst movie of Bollywood since year 2000
Terrible movie, horrible script, bad acting, lousy direction - this movie is only for the brave or people super bored with thier life.
Milan Zaveri beats the worst of the hackneyed scripts of the 80's and 90's with this OTT, inspired by hindi teleseriels kind of a movie where it is clear that the actors are in it purely for the money. What a waste of time and energy to watch the movie. Please avoid and also save yourself the trouble when it hits your television set pretty soon..