Saanwithhisstupidthoughts Reviews

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Movie: Mugen Train (2020)

Not really a movie and apart from the last act nothing really worked for me

[5/10 · 29 July 2023]

Watched both the movie and the Mugen train arc ep's back to back and yeah obv prefer the series over the movie coz of the very slight but effective improvements caused just alone by the first ep wherein Rengoku's character got more build up as well as the arc got a context involving the setup of the upcoming mugen train adventure.

I felt it okay that the writers wanted me to care very much about the flame hashira even if he wasn't someone who has been there from the start through the first ep and as well as with the ending preview but damn the emotional outbursts and melodrama in the movie was weirdly not as effective as it was when I watched the 2nd season.

It offered more and somehow made me feel bad for the characters very early offing.

The third act/the last two ep's even though if it was the best part of the movie/series was also a bit of an odd one coz of it's initiation being done through a puzzling arrival of Akaza(it's understandable but still very awkward) who also battled with the Hashira like he always had known him coz of battle experience with him earlier on or something.

I know this maybe that little something that's gonna be later explained with focus on the Akaza or maybe more in the backstory of Rengoku or maybe not but still I hate in when anime does these.

Anyways the movie had attractive animation, definitely ubercool fight sequences and scores but beyond that it's not something that's a gem of a movie especially when considering that this is the highest earning Japanese flick liveaction or anime of all time.

That's a hell of a title and to see that's it held by this movie just feels not really deserving.

Ps Why is Tanjiro such a pure human being it's kinda annoying tbh lol.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (2019– )

Engaging & emotionally effective

[27 July 2023]

#season1

Not one of those anime that i instantly came to like upon.

This took some episodes to be properly absorbed and enjoyed by me.

Tanjiro's tragedy evoking debut ep of Kimetsu No Yaiba wasn't that effective to me only because i had already passed through expressing my emotions when i read almost 20-30 chapters of it way before(I stopped after that though) So basically reexperiencing those manga chapters again through the anime didn't do much to me though I did find the action sequences to be engaging and I found the Tsuzumi one to be very clever and engaging, the concept ie.

I found the Worldbuilding to be interesting with the fantasy based periodical setting, plenty of interesting, intimidating & amusing characters, strong emotion fused storyline as well as the elemental styled breathing techniques.

Sure it's cliched in many aspects but idk it was all presented out in a very engaging and attractive way that I just forgot about the negatives completely while binging it.

I loved the entire scores that this one had, especially the one ones with that grand vibe on it and obv the OP, a total banger though not much the ED.

The humor was a bit too loud, overstretched and overplayed as well as annoying at times but effectively funny for the rest of it.

The characters were interesting as well as entertaining(at least most of 'em) and yeah obv most of those characters goals and behaviour would definitely remind you of once again how cliched the whole affair is but that didn't change the fact that they were all that I said above for me personally.

The coming of age arc began with a heartbreaking and traumatic event and then step by step with the birth of a reasonable and empathetic goal, lots of obstacles and conflicts, hardcore training, meetups and teamups Tanjiro's character developed and got stronger both physically and mentally and these were all structured and showcased in an engaging way.

Okay so the best part of this arc/season for me have to be the familial themes that was primarily showcased through Tanjiro & Nezuko's strong bond but wasn't limited to just those two characters as it was scattered all over the season through various different charcters both human and demons.

Thus the strong backbone, crust or whatever of this season has to be the strong emotionality and familial themes spread all over, that and this being way too talkie(in an engaging manner) is what made this a great watch for me.

#SEASON2PART2 ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT ARC

The Entertainment District Arc had a slow paced first part that toyed with it's flashy setting and looked into the residents of there and had more beefed up action sequences along with the usual infliction of depth delivery in characters through their actions and backstories in the later half.

It's a levelled up arc in every way you look but with the exception of not being as talky as compared to the first season.

But idk for some reason(and it wasn't coz it wasn't talky) I found most of the arc to be boring, even the prolonged fight sequences too if not in it's entirety.

The Hashira Tengen Uzui characterwise, his story, fighting style and all too didn't entertain me much so I wasn't really invested in that character in any way.

The only positives I could honestly say I found for me has to be the refreshing setting, some of the humor and the upped brutality along with Nezuko's power development, the upper 6 demon duo's backstory and obv the OP.

#SEASON3 SWORDSMITH VILLAGE ARC

I personally liked this arc a bit better than the previous one as here I felt almost the same level of emotional effectivity that I experienced in the first arc.

Every characters, their character development and backstory were all engaging as well as emotionally effective except that of the vase demon and it's fighting style and those slimy creepy 3d fishes, the ones with the vase and the claws which stuck out badly.

The EDA had better animation works and choreography in terms of visuals and battle sequences respectively.

It also had a smooth storytelling even if the pacing was off on the first half whereas SVA's storytelling was full of interruptions.

But still I guess it's coz of the multiple Hashira involvments, Muichiro & Genya's backstory, everyone's character development, showcasing of swordsmith village and it's inhabitants and making their importance relevant along with an intense as well as very much moving finale(the best for me currently) that helped me in enjoying this arc a bit more than the previous one.

Don't know when the next season would drop so I am just gonna go ahead and finish reading the manga now.

Ps As usual this one too had a banger OP.

Anek (2022)

Liked it for the subject it showcased

[6/10 · 1 July 2023]

6.5/10

Anek dived into North Eastern politics and conflicts, which I wasn't aware of much and thus made for an interesting watch from the start to the end in that sense.

But keeping that point aside, Anubhav Sinha presented a very uninteresting central lead along with voiceovers that felt out of place for some reason.

He also severely underwrote Aito making it hard for her character or her goals to create a genuine impact on me.

Like Khurrana's presence was seen and felt throughout but his character felt very much invisible to me and while Keivichüsa's character sparked a bit of interest she was mainly present at the two very end sides of the movie while being ghosted out for most parts.

The rest of the NE artists did what they could in a good way with the its and bits most of them got.

The dialogues were another thing that felt underexpressive and way too straight forward and the movie was with many a scenes that were both setup and executed in a poor manner but at the same time there were some brilliant shots and likeable sequences here and there.

The runtime and pacing were something that didn't bother me much.

Anyways even with the loads of problems that came with the movie, I still thought of it as a very atmospheric movie with A piece of heart if not whole and with a subject(no matter if it was explored in a surface lever manner or not) that i personally found interesting and these maybe the reasons that made me like this movie.

The Flash (I) (2023)

Fun watch

[7/10 · 18 June 2023]

The Flash opened with an absolutely uninteresting title sequence with try hard attempts at humor and acting and it continued with some more atrocity for the next few minutes with an overly exaggerated Flash slow mo sequence with forced humor in between, of which just one or two worked for me well with the redeeming scene in all this being just the Batfleck's intro.

The movie got it's proper footing when Barry learned that he could timetravel and then it all actually started being properly engaging after the entry of freshman Barry.

This was where Ezra Miller showcased his acting abilities and i thoroughly enjoyed the mentor Barry and the effectively annoying but funny younger Barry.

Keaton's reintroduction as Bruce Wayne and later on as Batman felt nice but it wasn't supercool or anything though I did enjoy all the action sequences involving him along with hearing the Danny Elfman's Batman theme score even if there wasn't anything else memorable about his character.

Sasha Calle didn't impress me much and she too didn't get an elaborate screen space to shine as she felt just like another side character even while being a superpowered alien with her only memorable sequence being the one that was almost similar to that one sequence from the Flashpoint Paradox movie.

Now for the cameo appearances, it felt 100% forced and for me personally the Nic Cage one was the only cool one among the lot and a very surprising one at that but the rest(almost all) of it felt like WB promoting its IP rather than a wholesome fan service.

The CG doubles shown during the chronoball scenes were the only weird or bad ones for me as I wasn't really bothered by the rest of the CGI works.

The final battle sequence being set in the desert made sense but then again bad choreography and lack of creativity made it all seem so bad and so messy that it all felt like a pointless and rushed clash.

Anyways I still found the movie to be a fun and entertaining watch coz of Ezra Miller's dual role performance and Barry Allen's arc involving his inner conflicts and him finding the resolution to it by accepting the change and letting go of the past in the end.

I also liked how this acted as an origin story as well as a multiverse story.

Overall The Flash offered me a fast paced fun ride along with delivering the emotional core of the storyline with full effect and thats it.

Puss in Boots (2011)

AN ENJOYABLE RIDE

[7/10 · 7 June 2023]

I am so glad that i forgot this movie almost completely as it helped in making this rewatch a fresh viewing that offered solid entertainment throughout with not many dull moments.

I absolutely loved the way they spinned the Jack and the Beanstalk story and characters along with many other nostalgic characters from poems and stories and incorporated it into making a part of the legendary outlaw's arc.

With fantastic and mesmerizing visuals and visual style, engaging screenplay & voice performances, energetic action sequences and gripping adventure this little pussycats tale was a perfect entertainer for me.

I really wanna revisit the shrek series now coz I am convinced I don't remember a damn thing about it now.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

NAHHH... I WASN'T FEELING THIS ONE.. AT LEAST NOT WHOLLY.

[6/10 · 6 June 2023]

June 5 2023 , liberty cinemas kannur

Across the Spiderverse pushed and pulled off the visuals, the comic style and aesthetics much better than it's predecessor (except for some of the painted bits showcased during the opening sequence which felt overdone and oversmooth) and delivered some really exciting linkups and solid entertainment through it's multiverse exploration and possibilities along with a vibey soundtrack even if it wasn't anywhere as cool as the one we got to rock with through Into the Spiderverse.

But the scattering of the storyline with focus on the individual life and events of a handful of spider people aside from Miles Morales...... even if that gave each of them a breathable space which also felt appreciable btw, I just didn't feel the emotional connectivity it brought in and their storyline and the conflicts they were facing too didn't interest me much apart from the central conflict that Miles was facing, the one involving his dad and his questionable superhero existence.

The cliffhanger too felt disappointing as the final and shocking new character appearance wasn't that at all coz of the predictability running around it and so i am not really hyped up for Beyond the SpiderVerse.

This was by no means a bad movie, it's actually definitely an above average one and objectively obv currently being hailed as one of the best/the best comic book movie but i was expecting for the storyline to be more exciting and fresh along with being hyped up for the visual style and spider society.... Well I guess I shouldn't have wished for to get them all as it satisfied me with the visual style but for the rest of it... I definitely can't say the same.

Love Today (2022)

Entertaining

[7/10 · 13 February 2023]

It's the interesting, engaging and very much inviting and fresh concept and the enjoyable soundtrack, the overall presentation, the mix of cheesy, cringy and quirky humor bits and the way they got played out that made this a really fun but also a tiring watch for me.

Everything went on smoothly except for the very end portions,it was predictable that it was gonna take that text book route but it still felt cliched and at the same time the actors performance graph also went from mid and above average to downright artificial cheesy and bad in those climax portions.

The lead actor cum director felt like he was inspired a bit too much by Dhanush's way of acting, not a bad thing, but for me, that made me think only of Dhanush's attitude and dialogue delivery and not the lead actor or a performance that could be differentiated out much.

It's a movie that's targeted towards 2k kids and that shows very well with the meme machines presence throughout as well as the immature and overly sentimental way of handling the conflicts and resolutions.

App(a) Lock il irundhu Love Today ku ulla antha jump was fun to watch tbh and i loved the way he restructured and improvised several of those scenes in that short flick.

Kooman (2022)

Enjoyable one

[7/10 · 13 February 2023]

Kooman, in it's first half showcased the fictional tale onscreen through the character Giri in its first half that most of us must have imagined once or constantly in our head and wanted to play out in real life but restrained ourselves from playing it out coz we know it's against the morals.

Ego and Pride along with a revenge driven mindset we sometimes have courtesy of some situations or characters in our life is within almost all of us but it's the moral policy and more we have in ourselves that keeps us in check but it was a delight to watch how it would have played out almost accurately or more logically from small to big situations in this Jeethu Joseph flick.

Kooman though had a watered down second half.

The tonal change that happened from showcasing the character study of a egoistical & revenge driven police officer (with a later kick in from the introduction of kleptomania to spice things up) in a very compelling way to later an uninteresting black magic fueled mystery thriller with superstitious themes felt snoothly done though it's the content the director chose for to materialize and form the payoff that felt like an eyebrow raising one and made me think it'd have been better if Giri's conflicta were just the simpler ones rather than the one that later turned into a black magic based one.

I guess i could rewatch the entire first half one too many times if not the whole movie as everything was so insync in that.

Still a good one with probably the most enjoyable performance from Asif Ali and also forgot to mention in earlier para...a fab soundtrack...just luv'd it.

Saudi Vellakka (2022)

Good one

[7/10 · 12 January 2023]

8 jan 2023

Interesting beings.... These humans.

I had an emotional connectivity to the main plot as well as the elderly character even if that was just to an extent only and when coming to the subplots it had some good ones but some really artificial and emotionally exploitative moments which didn't sit well with me.

The emotional factors, human sympathy & empathy is what drove this movie alongside the main plot and socially relevant themes that was showcased and the performances of Binu Pappu, Devi Varma, Sujith Shankar, Gokulan and a few more others in total made for an interesting watch.

The humor worked in some parts in an effective manner while some of the humor that derived from supposed realistic situations felt really flat.

It maybe coz of the existence of a bit of misanthrope in me but i felt the statements made regarding humans & humanity a bit hard to digest and while I was in sync with most part of it idk why two of it felt like a "agreed...nope I disagree" kind of situation in the case of the quote focused on at one point, which felt kinda agreeable but the ending dialogue just put me off.

Phone Bhoot (2022)

Horror spoof but not an entertaining one

[12 January 2023]

4 jan 2023

Two wannabe ghosbusters idiots and their somewhat funny but mostly cringy and cheesy ghost busting adventures.

This was basically old wine in a new bottle like the template it had was a rehashed, amateurish horror comedy one with an uninteresting and unoriginal narrative but was crammed with self referencial humor so i liked it a bit.

From memes & ads to horror/horror comedies in general and some iconic horror characters, it has spoofed quite a bit but not all in an effectively enjoyable manner.

The cameraderie bw Chaturvedi & Khattar was enjoyable at first to some extent but as the movie progressed the focus on the duo started to drift apart and moved on to the uninteresting plot so that's that.

Kinda Watchable but tbh this was very much meh for me.

KKN di Desa Penari (2022)

Not worthy of the hype it had going

[5/10 · 12 January 2023]

Apart from the cinematography, decent scores and that striking costume of the djinn & intimidating scenes and makeup of the protective spirit this didn't satisfy me much.

Suryadi unnecessarily stretched out the whole thing just for showcasing nothing.

The characters were in no way with depth or interesting at all.

The focus stayed on Nur all the time and tbh she didn't even still felt like the leading character here and since none of the characters were fleshed out the later overly done emotional sequences felt weird, pointless and merely there to exploit the human sympathy.

The folkhorror part and the characters and narrative piece surrounding it was decent enough, it didn't go into extreme depth but i still felt like I gained some decent knowlege of the dancer's village.

Anyways I saw the uncut version as I couldn't find the extended version anywhere but if I get a hold of that I'd be rewatching it with the hope that during that extra 40mins it's offering, I get to see some fleshed out character arcs or more of that red eyed creature or the djinn instead of aimless wandering once again.

Will adjust this one's rating after watching the extended cut.

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Immersive cinematic experience

[7/10 · 28 December 2022]

This obv had better visuals and a tad bit better narrative but i felt that was mainly coz of the introduction of more than a handful of new characters, creatures and new environment and while Cameron showcased an immersive new Pandora region he also did utilize those newly introduced characters as well as the environment in a well if not in a complete manner and that along with the emotional & familial elements(all worked out well by those compelling & effective performances from the actors involved) of the movie made the narrative a bit better and watchworthy.

Cameron's worldbuilding is just class, for me and i appreciated and made somewhat the same statement in my thoughts on the first one but his storytelling's just unoriginal and not at all impressive.

It's a different world, it's a different species, it's a whole lotta different culture, yet it all felt always so damn familiar and that's just not something I can praise in any way. To create seems easy for Cameron but to actually make everything he created run to it's maximum potential and in a fresh manner seems almost impossible coz of the dryness in the creative jucie flow involved in the stuffs apart from worldbuilding.

It's a bit of a disappointment that coz of this same reason I found myself immersed in just the world of pandora, looking all across the screen throughout at the various different vegitation, the sky, the creatures and characters, the detailing and designing of them and all more than the narrative as even without focusing on it, it was pretty much easy to come to an exact conclusion to a major or minor plot point, thus a complete nobrainer on the narrative part.

I just hope Cameron's not planning to deliver the next 3 sequels having Sully & Quaritch playing the cat and mouse game throughout the various different regions of Pandora while staying with different Na'vi clans.

I so much want atleast one of the next sequel to be limited on action sequences and more on an original plot, character development, world exploration at it's finest and such (lol the demands a casual movie watcher makes....smh)

I don't think I'd find the rewatch better than i did the first one as idk this was more action oriented I guess than it's predecessor and i think even while being better than it's predecessor it's still somehow didn't impress me any better than the original, except for the visuals part, that is.

This was the best 3D movie viewing experience and the only one where I found the Dolby Atmos to be something that I found for the first of the many times I have experienced it, to be actually effective rather than just loud ( made me feel the impact every time chaos occured onscreen as well as made me feel present in the world throughout) and that's what the .5 (6.5 + .5) extra rating is for.

Last Life in the Universe (2003)

A wave of tranquility

[26 December 2022]

Melancholic, immersing, mostly relatable and just comforting for some reason.

It had themes of suicide, loneliness, Life, guilt & grief, love and maybe more idk .

The narrative had a beginning, middle and end but not fully connected but it also felt like it was just a wave of tranquility and nothing really more as this was very laid back, somewhat static and silent at times, had calming background scores, effective atmosphere and environment that felt like that of a still wasteland, was less talkative, but very much attention grabbing and comforting to me.

I haven't still and yet given much thought to those surreal scenes, which I found to be weird as well as interesting or that dreamy ending/endings(ifkyk) sequences.

I didn't express anything when I saw the poster from "Ichi the killer" first but when takashi miike appeared it felt like a surprising reunion with the actor, director and poster....hehe of that film being present in this film.

Anothet one added to my comfort movies list.

Odd Taxi (2021)

A Gem of a series

[9/10 · 25 December 2022]

ODD TAXI was a pure gem of an anime I can across early on this year.

I binge watched it today and it was really one hell of an odd ride.

Although I wasn't initially interested in watching an anime that was set in Tokyo and had animal inhabitants as the clear replacement of humans.... But boy that finale ep was a tight smack to my face and had me counting stars.

I am certainly looking forward to watch BEASTARS that I have avoided watching for quite a bit of a time now.

Anyway ODDTAXI was this insanely detailed neo noir mystery thriller anime that also had the occassional humor moments coming into play from time to time to ease the serious tone of it.

The anime apart from having a solid BASE and a well written MAIN STORY also had this detailedly written and extremely intriguing SUBPLOTS and equally interesting supporting characters that had dedicated arc to themselves....

Remember the fact that this was a 13 episode anime with each ep's duration being 24 mins or so and they filled in this much details in it and pulled it off so wonderfully while also making it hard to predict where all this "TAXI DRIVER WAS DRIVING OFF TOO".

ALMOST all the important character aside from ODOKAWA also had a unique and important role to play.

And I guess that's the main reason that the interweaving of the main plot with its subplot went on to play out in an absolutely smooth,convincing and easy to understand manner.

Apart from the beautiful animation work Two of the other positive points of this anime was it's OP which felt so nonchalant and calm and the ED that had the oh so cute factor to it.

And yeah the big reveal/twist that played out in the end felt super fresh to me coz I guess I have never before seen a character with VISUAL AGNOSIA... so that felt as very astounding to me.

Another overly cold twist was there that revealed the answer or rather the idol of whodunnit subplot with further implications from the murderer itself who playfully was telling her mother how she was thinking of just "ditching" (eliminating) her partner and going all hard for being a solo idol in the music world.

Guess I will have to wait for if she'd get caught or not but as I mentioned those podcasts earlier and if you remember the girl did had a pen in her hand So maybe after all she might get caught in the second season if it ever happens or maybe it was there to give the viewer the idea that ofc she will not escape the eyes of justice.

Anyway ODDTAXI was the best anime of this year so far for me and my fav one of this year and well I do have some more animes that I have and haven't yet watched and they all look cool so let's see if anything new can surpass ODDTAXI this year.

4 Years (2022)

Before Trilogy lite(x3)

[6/10 · 25 December 2022]

First 10mins kandappo cringe adichu marikumennu vicharichu but pinne pinne angot interesting aayi thonni.... cringe okke koranju... Avasanam okke aayappo disaster onnum allannu thonni...

This had a zen vibe to it and i guess that's why it worked for me, I completely forgot the convo's the two leads had soon after finishing this one as that wasn't what kept my interest.

It was the atmosphere, the music & background scores, both of which were good and carried a zen vibe to it.

But Edakku maduppokeundarnnu and wanted the duration to be like around 90mins.

Sarjano Khalid gave a watchworthy performance.... Priya miscast aanonuchoyicha idk mahabore aarnilla but Sarjano aayitulla combo verumbo valare weak aayi thoni.... Theere intensity illatha performance pole okke, Sarjano mallittu oru sidil perform cheyyumbo orutharam bland emotional expression(like nonactors usually have) ittu aa pair performance ineffective aakiya pole.

Director Before trilogy kandu inspired aayi edutha padamanonnu oru doubt und... Ath koreyokke interesting,realistic as well as amateurish conversation kondanu progress cheythathenkil ivde convos ne kaatum songs and bgm aanu kuthinarachirikunnathu but surprisingly athonnum athra bore aayi thonilla.... Writing lu nalla intensity undarnne this would've been a real good one but avde almost completely flat aarnu.

Ini Utharam (2022)

Generic Thriller

[6/10 · 25 December 2022]

An unoriginal and predictable but still watchworthy revenge & justice driven thriller that depended a hell lot on misleadings through characters and one or two situations to like hide the predictability a bit but it didn't work as the film had an old school twist riddled thriller template with an absolutely nonspicy screenplay to it which made the guessing game uninteresting and almost weak.

Hareesh Uthaman felt like the lead irrespective of the gender here as Aparna Balamurali's character felt underwritten as well as underperformed... yes even with the lesser screentime that she had.

The movie was touted to be an emotional thriller (certificate il anganau achadichitullathu) but i don't know if they meant it as an emotionally driven thriller or as a gut wrenching thriller, either way it was not....not even close.

Good for timekilling..... I guess.

The Teacher (2022)

Chumma kallu pole irunnu kanan pattiya padam

[4/10 · 25 December 2022]

It didn't work for me as a movie with an impactful social commentry Or as a commercial movie capitalizing on a socially relevant concept and the bland writing and screenplay made it a not so interesting watch.

The subplots were annoying, with powerful characters being introduced,which felt like cameos and there just to move the plot points or to help the lead character in some way.

When the film put the main plot to rest many a times to allow the subplot to breathe, it always backfired and felt pointless as it rarely connected back to the main plot in a satisfying way.

I liked the chaotic action sequence in the end with a lot of wood being broken but massifying lessened the effect of the serious tone the movie was travelling through and thus the revenge aspect too didn't create any noticeable impact.

Violent Night (2022)

The tones just didn't blend

[4/10 · 24 December 2022]

Got to see a funny and mildly interesting concept take a nosedive through a chimney and burst into flames with the lame execution and annoyingly bad screenplay.

The tone of it was confusing even with the preknowledge of it's rating.

The tonal changes just didn't blend... It was like watching Home Alone & Bad Santa featuring movies getting mashed together with the pg13 rating being covered with a thin R rated filter or somethin.

The only watchable part of this Christmas action comedy was those last 30mins.

The sledgehammer powered action sequences were decent and i liked the home alone style booby traps getting that gory payoff.

But the only interesting and takeaway kill for me was the "Scrooge's". That was plain oof and awesome :)

Harbour did a good job but the writing did him real bad here and his version of savage Santa felt weakly written, not praiseworthy or memorable and definitely not that entertaining.

The Fabelmans (2022)

ART & FAMILY

[8/10 · 24 December 2022]

Passion for filmmaking peaking and being driven to the fullest with talent & creativity at an early age along with familial, primarily subtle and later out loud conflicts that left later for crucial decisions to be made, for the good of one's own self and future and for a better future of the others as well.

Just mesmerizing and immersive storytelling from Spielberg.

The narrative just flowed like water without any blockage in sight at during any intervals and had me completely immersed in it coz of THAT and by staying grounded.

A very emotionally connecting coming of age dramedy with films and filmmaking as just one of the many key themes(although it felt like all of the film revolved around it throughout) along with a bunch of other familial, personal, moral & immoral and religious ones almost all of which felt crucial to the narrative, with the familial one being on parallel with the moviemaking one or maybe it's the other way around.

Loved the arc of Sam and thought LaBelle gave a very compelling, likeable and engaging performances like all the other wonderful actors and their splendid performances present in the film.

I loved that horizon sequence with Lynch so much and obv found the visual gag that followed soon after and thought it was a really smart and humorous way to finish it.

A real good delight for a casual viewer like me.

Just hoping I don't find it any less immersive or gripping upon a rewatch though as almost everything I find brilliant or wellmade and told just doesn't give me the same satisfaction or even close to it most of the times upon a rewatch and it's just infuriating :(

Declaration (2022)

Not everyone's cup of......

[7/10 · 19 December 2022]

ARIYIPPU explored the rifts and difficulties that got created in the form of anger, physical & sort of sexual abuse, shame, mistrust & doubts in a married couples life over a scandal video leak.

It's one of the few and pure slice of life dramas I have ever seen that didn't feel exploitative at all, was very focused on the narrative of it and also didn't have any kind of loud distractions in the form of music, stretching of unwanted sequences or anything else.

The performances felt really raw so kudos to Kunchaks and Divyaprabha for giving a controlled and balanced as well as engaging performances.

The same could be said for the supporting cast too.

The subplots regarding the injustice, murder coverups? And the illegal practices going on in the glove factory were intriguing too.

The climax though felt like lacking in completion and making it open ended didn't feel effective or maybe it was coz I adamantly wanted a close ended climax.

The background scores in this one also has to be Sushin Shyam's tamest scores from the works of his I've seen.

It's a slowburn directed in a style that I have often seen foreign filmmaker's prefer that are popular choices for prestigious critical awards and I mean it in a good way and while I felt it not to be laggy even while being a slowburn I must say that this would not be most people's cup of whatever they'd prefer.

Kumari (2022)

Mediocre

[5/10 · 10 December 2022]

A tale of a woman, demigods, rituals, curses, Tradition & Power all fueled by black magic.

Oldschool storytelling & screenplay enhanced and elevated a bit by modern technicality That's it, that's what Kumari felt like to me.

Not an appreciable something akin to that of Anandabhadram(The last actual popular, noticeable and widely appreciated folk fantasy flick from the malayalam film industry) and also even if it looks like it was influenced by TUMBBAD, can't be kept anywhere near it.

Shine"s performance was good and compelling in a way too but his dialogue delivery was way too dramatic... kinda Like that of a play.

Might have been to give the character a varied touch but it just didn't go beyond the boundaries of dialogues.

I think he did a good job speaking as DHRUVAN in the interviews than he did in the film.

The visuals weren't anything mesmerizing, just good but i did like the color grading a lot.

Perfectly suited for the atmosphere and the tone of the flick.

The scores were good too.

Overall apart from Shine tom chacko's DRUVAN and that too just to some extent, nothing really turned out to be effectively spooky,interesting or intimidating to me.

Didn't like the creature makeup or the rubber suitted amphibian monster/demigod called Gari Devan.

Also this one offered one of the cringiest, unintentionally funny and awfully executed and awful in itself climax & climatic faceoff.

Those annoying songs could've been cut out.

They did nothing but just stretch out the duration of the movie and push it beyond that 120 min mark.

Watchable but not really appreciable.

Kantara (2022)

OG soundtrack version

[5/10 · 8 December 2022]

Overrated asf

A simple and worn out cliched screenplay with stereotypical characters & cliched predictable twists along with a misleading fantasy touch to it just to coat and overshadow it's uninteresting narrative.

KANTARA turned out to be the most overrated flick of this year for me and one of the most overrated movies of all time.

Maybe this must be my inability to understand art & music but VARAHA song, be it in there or not did nothing at all rather than the fact that it was suitable for those opening & ending scene.

Idk why people were so damn disappointed with it's removal/altercation smh.

Rishab Shetty was fantastic in that last act though.

And some of the bhoota kola scenes were aesthetic but there ended the positive points I have for this flick.

I really wished and kept on hoping while watching the flick that it would change tonally and go deep into its fantasy and mythological themes but it just never went there even quarterly.

It felt like just a mere plot device to give the lead character that power drive at the end and to induce curiosity and create a connection regarding his nightmares and the demigod.

Nothing more.

I really liked the way Shetty showcased the demigod scenes and the rituals.

Wish he had written a mesmerizing and immersive folkhorror Or folklore instead of a typical masala movie coated partially with mythological elements and technical goodness.

5.5/10.

Keramat (2009)

Laidback and chill found footage "horror" flick

[4/10 · 8 December 2022]

This has to be one of the few horror flick I watched completely laid back and like a stone.

KERAMAT, to me was a half baked found footage flick with usage of teleportation,realms, cults? & spirits just to push the plot a little bit further and to fuel the conflicts but with not even okayish depth or information & explanations.

There was absolutely no effective jumpscares, tension and anxiety existed, but never felt effective and never got the feel of being pulled into the movie at any point during the runtime.

The only thing that played with my curiosity and brought my attention back to it was the teleportation scene but it lasted for just a few seconds only.

The pocong scene was awkward as I kept on staring at the cam in hope of a face reveal jumpscare Or something but dude just hopped past the cam after being idle in front of it for a good loong time lol.

It's a really good one for timekilling but dont expect anything scary.

Monster (III) (2022)

Ukri back with a new installment in his ukri spy verse

[4/10 · 8 December 2022]

Ukri spyverse is improving and getting better :)

Aaraattu was just cringefest and even considering it as a spoof didn't help at all, for me.

But when looking at Monster, the intentional humor,mostly laced with double meaning & sex jokes, mohanlal's get up, slang and all were cringy but the dialogues, it's delivery, awkward scenes and twists present in this one turned it into a laugh riot for me and i also liked the fight sequences and the background scores so two stars for all that.

Lucky singh..sorry sivadev/?(Agent X) looking awkwardly here and there while those ladies were kissing was comedy gold to me lol.

"Laughter is the best medicine" so waiting for even more superior installments in this "marvellous" universe to healthify myself.

RIP in advance to CHRISTOPHER.... mammookka pavam :(

Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)

Obv awful

[2/10 · 8 December 2022]

This should've had a short film's runtime as only the last 30mins of it was actually worth watching.

They could've simply just made quick character introduction and a half baked plot setup and then jumped straight into the commencing of the invasion and the activation of booby traps and i would've liked it a bit better.

I didn't like the kid but I liked the wholesome moments in this surprisingly and i really felt bad for those couple getting bullied and hurt bad by the kid and those traps respectively.

Kinda okayish for timekilling i guess or maybe not coz this one did drain my energy and literally had me feeling drowsy in parts while sitting through the first hour of it.

I guess I could still make it up to a 10th home alone remake/softreboot/sequel before ending up in a coma fs.