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Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Delayed hyperspace
Through the years, the telling the story of a galaxy far, far away has struck people with wonder, hope, enjoyment, and love for the franchise. Each subsequent episode adding something innovative and daring to its belt which ranged from blasters to death stars. This Star Wars story is neither innovative nor daring, and probably for its best. We have no deep revelations regarding the Force, there is no Death Star or secret facility to extract codes, there are no lightsaber fights, and most importantly, not even a mention of the Empire, First Order or the Resistance. For once, it felt like it did not have to use posterior elements to rehash and yet, be set completely and fit magnanimously in the Star Wars universe.
The story takes off with Han (Alden Ehrenreich) escaping his enslaved slum planet, Corellia. Alas, he is forced to leave his girlfriend Qi'ra(Emilia Clarke) behind and vows to come back for her. He joins the Empire military in the hope to become a pilot for their cavalry but ends up being reassigned to the infantry. He eventually crosses paths with Beckett(Woody Harrelson), a thief of dubious ambitions in a fix with Dryden Vos(Paul Bettany), a well-dressed, scar-faced galaxy warlord.
What unfolds from this point is a heist film. A fun heist supported with elevating characters, voiced by Jon Favreu and adding further charm by Thandie Newton. However, as much as the stakes are pushed forward, we are left with less of a suspense towards its conclusion. This fatigue can be termed as prequel fatigue, mainly because the future of Han Solo has already been unfolded to us numerous times in the upcoming episodes. For a heist movie, there is a head guy who makes the legs of our protagonist jelly, just like Oceans Eleven, we had Andy Garcia, a not-to-be-messed-with personality on screen. There was a lack of such a personality on-screen making the heist seem strenuously predictable and have a tremendous lack of suspense overall.
The performances are memorable, a well-cast feature which probably was enough for a movie of such ambitions. Alden as impeccable as he was in "Hail, Caesar!" knew well to not imitate Harrison Ford on screen and went on to sketch his own version of Han Solo. A proud moment for him, proving wrong a considerable amount of people based on his appearances in the trailers, Alden proved himself more than capable of convincing us he is Han. Emilia Clarke proved she can shine out of the show of Game of Thrones as well, that too without playing the generic damsel-in-distress role. Woody Harrelson was well inside his comfort zone and still managed to pull off a memorable performance. Donald Glover comes out the most charismatic of all as Lando Carlissian, with his casino tricks and charming smile and is perhaps the standout of this movie.
Solo is filled with fan catering moments which prove to be flirty winks to most of its fans across the world. Starting with Han and Chewbacca's accidental meet to Han and Lando maneuvering the Millenium Falcon at 12 parsecs. Nevertheless, Solo ends up feeling more of a cash grab milking the cash cow desperately dry. The small scale of the film surprises as a Star Wars film and yet after everything, it manages to draw a hesitant smile on us. Ultimately, it's the colorful story that Han Solo deservingly brags about with a twinkle in his eye. It is after all, for the fans, numbered in millions around the world.
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Darkest Hour (2017)
Political by little
In the era of military operations, evacuation missions and sentiment injected war dramas, we have often failed to realize that another side of a coin that makes a currency whole. Rewinding back to 1940, World War 2, to peril inflicted locations mainly Britain and France, "Darkest Hour" showcases the retelling of the parallels of the Dunkirk evacuation. This movie boasts from a grounded point of view, exploring the very basic human emotions like regret, self-doubt, and courage embedding them all together in a beautiful mixture of political fiascos. Parliament debates, votes, political thrills all stuffed inside the same hat, particularly the hat happens to pertain to Sir Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman).
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The film explores Churchill's early controversial days while being surrounded by the close-to-the-chest rivals in his cabinet. There is a constant threat of the Nazis being precariously close to annexing the United Kingdom at the backdrop, leading to a linear increase of the anxiety till the end of the film. The hopelessness of Chamberlain's perspective, the edginess during cabinet meetings and Churchill's eccentricity form the backbone of the movie.
The atmosphere of the movie is inculcated in the very first scene, where Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) is accused of being incapable of leading the parliament. The typical scenario of a house packed political debate replete with grey haired individuals making Klaxons sound futile unfolds smoothly. When Winston Churchill assumes the position of Prime Minister in the very beginning, it's the balance of the modern world resting on his shoulders which he realizes soon enough.
When peace seemed to be crucial to be attained at any cost, Churchill's opposite perspective creates a rift among the members and the Prime Minister. His clear struggle to establish a balance between the crisis and the tempting desire to yield to surrender is beautifully depicted adding a human ground to an eccentric roof.
When wars are waged, the swords and guns are the ones which are eagerly taken out initially. We fail to acknowledge the presence of words and oration that can truly make a difference sparing the arms and ammunition to a far greater extent. The way diplomacy, when done right can play an important role is slightly highlighted which pinpoints modern-day leaders. The powerful speech cementing their unbreakable faith to protect their Homeland, "We shall fight on the beaches", is a very testament to the finest degrees of oration, and how language can change the course of action. Indeed, "Churchill just mobilized the English language and sent it into battle."
Gary Oldman's performance is perhaps one of his lifetimes. Buried under deep prosthetics deeming him unrecognizable, he submerges himself into the grumpy character of Churchill making us live his very experiences. The tantrum throwing man-child, the fierce but emotionally frail carrying the weight of the world was depicted as a fascinating historical figure cementing that history wouldn't have been the same without him. Supporting characters were adjusted here and there, like King George VI(Ben Mendelsohn), downplaying his stammering defect, was a surprising but satisfying casting. Elizabeth (Lily James), the typist girl was depicted as a victim of Churchill's eccentricity and was more of an onlooker to the events around her. Winston's wife, Clemmie (Kristin Scott Thomas) was perhaps the most underused yet useful additions in the script. Her unbreakable faith in her husband was an homage to the fact that a man under pressure needs nothing but love and support from his loved ones.
The game changer, however, was the London tube sequence where all the boundaries of caste, race, religion, and prejudice were demolished. A narrative device perhaps meant to moisten the eyes was perhaps the most defining sequence of the film out of the deck. However, the credibility of such a sequence was questionable as the fact that a decision could be taken just through an interaction between civilians quite briefly was borderline cringe-worthy.
As historical and peril stricken this movie claimed to be, there were a few melodramatic moments that did pull it down. The over-saturation of Churchill's presence in every frame felt moderately claustrophobic; especially when the necessity to show him taking a dump was considered. It didn't end up being a gem, as it was masqueraded but more of a significant watch. Perhaps the multiple takes on the World Wars have stagnated its genre, or maybe because of Christopher Nolan's recent take on Dunkirk. Many parallels can be drawn from both films that cross cut at various points considering that one of them is a behind the scene story and the latter a war ground drama (prequels anyone?). Churchill's courage and determination throughout is something commendable that not many world leaders would warm up to today. It's a queer disappointment that the narrative was lost somewhere in the fumes of war and Winston's vices. Nevertheless, a political drama that prolifically combines human nature, the war inside and outside themselves and a bearable history lesson for all prove more informative than your basic history lesson. Towards the end, we'd end up surprised how many times the phrase- "We shall never surrender" can hum in our ears.
The Shape of Water (2017)
Beating the flow.
The possibility of rejection from a significant other, or perhaps the fear of losing them creates a distrustful and a devoid of love atmosphere. The very ideals of us not being fitful in someone's life could haunt us more than what we expected to. The Shape of water is a 120-minute poem to the transformative form of love and a masterpiece of compassion adding the fantasy element to spilling proportions. A clear blend and synthesis of influences layered over the morals of how kindness evolves love even from extreme prejudices. The established world inside the screen emanates an idiot box ambiance which catches us off guard and encourages us to throw caution and all senses of notion out of the window.
Elisa (Sally Hawkins), is a mute cleaner in a covert government agency cooped up with Zelda (Octavia Spencer), a chatty co-worker with marital issues. Enter; the man-amphibian (Doug Jones) often called "The Asset", is a creäture with amazing capabilities pulled out from the Amazon where it was worshiped as a God by their natives. I'll leave the abilities to amaze the viewers without further spoilers. The asset forms the main crux of the story; unlike other mindless creatures, this one is capable of perceiving human emotions. Elisa's naked innocence and kindness lead her heart to make a somersault of emotions towards the creäture fading the rest of the world behind her. The head of security of the facility, Strickland (Michael Shannon) a ruthless agent determined to terminate the Asset for study purposes is introduced as the monster who tries to pull both of the lovers away with a Zod-esque performance. Such circumstances led Elisa, her close-to-the-heart neighbor, a closeted homosexual and struggling painter, Giles (Richard Jenkins) and Zelda to orchestrate an amateur but surprisingly slick heist operation to extract the creäture from the facility. The events that follow after the heist dispatch a frenzy of unaccounted accidents and longing love from the characters.
With a clear World War backdrop, the tension between the USA and the USSR fumes in every laboratory and strategic scene. With creature-human love themes, it certainly evokes memories from King Kong and Beauty and the Beast. However, it rises from the generic stereotype and varnishes its own color into the frame painting a picture with such vibrant colors that will make you wonder about the contents of the palette. With a tinge of B-grade romance backdrops, it does make you wonder its sanity and agenda midway aiming to make you swoon at every possible chance. The motivations and purposes of each character were beautifully folded from the deck it was presented artistically adding several layers to the otherwise simple story. A visage of masks and false fronts added by racial slurs with a pinch of religious devotion were the streaks adding to the structure of a farfetched story for the non-believers or the naysayers who proved incapable of opening their hearts to a queer romance. Clearly, this movie had no target audience, it either made you exalt at the belief of love through kindness principle or made it further absurd for the believers. After all, its beauty was an ambiguity left to the viewer to shape which varied alternately and perhaps drastically with shapes that were aesthetic for some while unpleasant for some.
The trending shared universes remind me of the recently launched Universal Studio's "Dark Universe" shortly canceled after the bombing of "The Mummy" (2017). Director Guillermo Del Toro utilizes his most used theme of monsters, outcasts, and freaks, takes a relatively generic relationship and twists it and adds his own brand. The Shape of Water is the realism of how gods and monsters fit into our mainstream world, where the supernatural elements are downplayed for good. Something that the "Dark Universe" tried to forcefully stuff down our throats was the possibility of mythology existing in our daily lives with an approach so absurd that made it forgettable. An extravagant thematic element like this is far more welcome when it flows through the minds and hearts rather than stomp right in our faces. The break-up of studio agreements and creative visions clearly made the difference it was supposed to make for Del Toro. With a queer cake blend of monsters, love, acceptance, and devotion, The Shape of Water can be deemed as a coming of age story. It is a fairy tale for grownups that delves into deep waters, the once taboo interspecies ardor breaking your heart and haunting your dreams.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Blood for tears
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri is a profane poem that stares genuinely in the face of grief, despair, and vengeance. It is ideally viewed as a complex meditation of a mother's most primal pain and path of redemption. The film squats into vile pain, the very burning embers of grief and derogatory assumptions that shape the very narrative of the movie while unchaining small realities and profound realities through its course. We get a rather intricate painting painted mostly in grey which specifically decorates on the cruelties born within societies and how immortally they tend to last.
Mildred (Francis McDormand) lost her daughter when the girl was raped, murdered and set ablaze. A trio of old, battered and dusty billboards stand in the misty morning fog on a sparsely traveled road which piques Mildred's interest to take a stand to pursue justice for her departed daughter. She displays no dubiousness to adorn the billboards with the words- "Still no arrests?", "How come, Chief Willoughby?" Topped with "Raped while dying". The billboards were a clear attack on the complacency Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) and his police force displayed on her daughter's case, leading to Willoughby losing his mind over it, and that is where the movie leads.
Woody Harrelson carefully tailored his character to have the "tough-but-tender" outlook, which is something we don't see often from him. The dying, conflicted cop attitude simply added depth to his character when his sympathy projected towards Mildred and his futile efforts to find the culprits responsible for her daughter's death. Francis McDormand's character confidently stood its ground, with a very relatable embodiment of a woman on whom the walls of grief have zeroed in, which seemed unbreakable and impenetrable. Her fluent approach to shifting between comedy and tragedy even in the most disturbing situations makes her performance a soulfully convincing one, a standout. Nixon, a low IQ, mama's boy, the racist cop has perhaps one of the most interesting character arcs ever witnessed. His periodic transformation throughout the film was remarkable, even non-feasible seeming at times yet never crossing the lines of credibility. The showcasing of how his path converges with Mildred proves there's hope for humanity after all.
The movie often plays its violent delights alongside dark comedy twisting laughs that kindle the dark humor in us in depressing and surprising ways. The juxtaposition of these two raw elements provokes us to question the very losses we have faced in life and adding a layer of reality. The obscure narrative simply overrides any form of clichéd theatricality which is something very fresh in the genre considering it is a movie mainly driven by emotions (even though it is of a singular person).
The premise never vacillates to unfold its seemingly simple plot with different subsets, be it racism, male chauvinism, acceptance, incompetency or even disregard of civil rights. The lightest of colors of hope successfully manage to deceive and fade into black and white and eventually feeding most of the grey. All of its plot, elements, characters, and arcs are painted in big, bold black letters in a blood red background in the bleak but beautiful fictional town Ebbing.
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri is masqueraded by the vague outline of a revenge film, yet it kaleidoscopically manages to shift its ambitions and emotions leading to a less reckless ending. It is a carefully choreographed tribal dance around the fire about female righteousness and masculine power. One of its successes is owed to the testing of your very perspective about how we tend to judge people unknowingly of what truly drives them. A food for thought watch owing to its provocative subject matter and eclectic performances.
The Hangover Part III (2013)
Underrated but still....
OK, I'm not a really big fan of the hangover series but I like it for the entertainment it provides to the audience.let's coffee top the point:
This movie started off like any other typical comedy movie, wait did I say comedy? Well that's not actually the word to use here. Being a part of the hangover series one would definitely expect comedy but I must say this movie made me think thrice whether it belongs to that genre or not...This movie was centered more on the characters and action that it barely seemed to belong to the series, they tried to use a different formula which the character didn't get a hangover...reminds me, this movie should even be called the hangover part 3 , maybe just The Return of Chow or something.
However, if seen from another point of view than a comedy(which is quite difficult) , the movie doesn't seem as bad as it is made to look...if we can forget the previous installments, then this movie could be enjoyable as well. Something that bugged me was that, Mr.Todd Phillips was trying to create something memorable or nostalgic but it didn't quite seem to work out(their return to Vegas, jade, Carlos etc) . It's just not that bad as it seems, nothing great to blow your mind but just a few laughs with nothing new to offer but entertainment and satisfaction. Watch out for the great performance of Zach galifianakis, John Goodman and Melissa McCarthy.
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Edge of Plainness
I stepped in the hall with a confidence that i was going to witness a great movie of Tom Cruise after a long time and that it would spice up my holidays....I was so brutally turned down.
The movie seemed to have quite a bit to offer in the starting, its just a regular alien fight movie, nothing we have never seen before. Tom Cruise was great in the movie, Emily Blunt didn't quite convince me, neither did Brendan Gleeson. The story seemed quite dim even during the time loop Tom Cruise experiences and it wasn't a very interesting concept either,maybe it had but wasn't properly executed.
What could have been a masterpiece for a scifi movie lover turned out pretty plain and boring with nothing much to offer.The movie disappointed me in every way, not even the action, acting or the characters could save this 'movie'. Once again, Tom Cruise is great in it, but it isn't his fault the movie is blah....I walked out of the theaters and realized the movie had nothing to offer and had wasted my money.....Being a sci fi fan, this was a brutal let down,and even though i racked my brains trying to find some logic in the movie...i failed. This might be whats called a time-pass movie, and might surprise many video game fans based on the rating I've seen in IMDb. This is Highly overrated......Disappointed in every way. Saw such a bad movie after a long time. I considered Amazing Spider-man 2 and Godzilla to be average movies, but solely Godzilla seemed like an Oscar winning Film in front of EOT. AS2 and Godzilla combined would be a masterpiece in front of this. I wish i watched 22 Jump Street instead.
Sherlock: Many Happy Returns (2013)
Teasing the audience
Well, this is more of a jumbo trailer type thing. You don't get to know what is gonna happen in the coming episodes but it only informs you that sherlock is coming back.(As if we didn't know about it, duh). Its 7 minutes and 12 seconds long....what did you expect? Watch out for John Watson though, he can catch your eye. Again, Benedict Cumberbatch does a great job by teasing the public watching the video....all his winking , smiling at the camera..... It just made me more eager to watch the coming episodes.For me it was the perfect Christmas gift :-) Catch it on you tube! The next episode is on new years eve making it my perfect new year gift again. The game is back on people!