JamesWilkin55 Reviews

Gully Boy (2019)

All Bad Ratings On Here Are Spam And Fake! This is an INCREDIBLE film!

[10/10 · 14 February 2019]

As an American who watches a lot of amazing Hindi films (thank goodness for subtitles), I find it absolutely appalling how Indians will go through the most ridiculous lengths to bring down a film (such as pretending to be a foreigner online and bash the film delusionally) due to: fanbase hatred (a fan of Actor X despises Actor Y so he will spam imdb, youtube, etc with bad ratings and trash talk Actor Y as if the fan gets paid to do so), political leanings, religion, and other nonsensical reasons.

Anyway, this movie is based on the real lives of Mumbai's underground rappers and their rise from their heavily underprivleged background to underground sensations. The film is terrific in ALL aspects. The acting was wonderful (Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt and the supporting cast were OUTSTANDING), music (amazing rapping and lyricism in the rap songs, as well as the soundtrack), the cinematography was A+ and it really felt like I was in the Mumbai slum witnessing the characters' livelihoods. Direction was stellar as Zoya Akhtar proves yet again she is one of the best in the businesses. Emotionally it was VERY impactful and very raw and real throughout. Describing the film as inspiring would be a large understatement. It also has very strong feminist themes and values, and offers strong commentary on the life of Mumbai society's disenfranchised people and groups.

The negative reviews you see here are by jobless clowns. Do some netizens in India have nothing better to do? Study? Work? Have a hobby? Jeez. Oh, and it is far better than 8 Mile, which it also has zero similarities with other than the rapping part (sorry, jobless spammers!)

This film premiered at the Berline Film Festival, which is the world's largest film festival that showcases over 400 films and has over half a million people in attendance. And Gully Boy received a thunderous response and ovation and widespread love and acclaim. Art Director Cameron Bailey even tweeted that he had never witness such appreciation for a film in 20+ years there. It was by far the most talked about film at the festival. And for good reason! IT IS NOTHING SHORT OF AMAZING. Do yourself a huge favor and watch it, you won't see a film like this for a very long time.

Tiger Zinda Hai (2017)

Ignore The Delusional and Biased Anti-Salman Reviews. Here is the Real Truth.

[10/10 · 25 December 2017]

I watched this film today as recommended by my colleague. Being American and a huge action junkie I have seen every big American action film since the 80s. Every single one. And in 100% honesty, this is better than all of them. Here is why. This is as perfect of an action film as you can ever get. The action (fight scenes and stunts) are INCREDIBLE. Tom Struthers (who directed the stunts for the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Saving Private Ryan, XMen First Class, others) directed the action here in Tiger Zinda Hai, and this is his best work! For sure! It has action that you will have never seen before as well. Salman Khan was awesome! He has an enormous screen presence, and my theater went so loud for him throughout the film! He performed his action incredibly well, could you guess this man is 52 years old? Miss Katrina Kaif performed the craziest fight stunts I have seen a woman do, and she did the stunts herself! Arguably, her fights were the best part of the film along with Salman's. Somebody should give Katrina a stand alone action film!! Tiger Zinda Hai is extremely entertaining from start to finish, and the is often very gripping as well. The film also is more than just action: it has political commentary on what's happening in today's world with war and corruption, and strong messages about humanity and acceptance. I'm not fully aware of how big the hostility is between India and Pakistan but I'm sure it's huge. And this film promotes acceptance, love and peace between these two countries, which obviously won't go well with many people. Above all, it encourages humanity over blind nationalism. And well, in today's right-wing obsessed world, you can see how that would anger people. And if you are wondering why people are attacking it on here and Rotten Tomatoes, I have discovered this: 1) Shah Rukh Khan fans and fans of other big actors are attacking the film's ratings online (these fanbases are idiotically huge rivals, for the dumbest reasons. Can't we just appreciate both of these superstars' films? It's really easy actually). 2) Indian critics are attacking the film to get attention for themselves and regional critics of India's other industries are doing it to deter people from watching Tiger Zinda Hai because it is ruining the business of their own industry's films. Look at this: Tiger Zinda Hai is smashing box office records as we speak. It just set the record for highest single day, one of the highest opening days ever, and highest weekends ever, among other records (my source is the various sites and Twitter). And in a country like India where nobody gets along, you can see why people vent their frustrations in a delusional manner online. Go watch this. You will thank yourself.

Ittefaq (2017)

Very good suspense thriller!

[9/10 · 3 November 2017]

This movie is a really good suspense thriller, and in my experience Bollywood films are generally much longer than this, usually 2.5 hours or more, and this one wasn't even 2 hours. I don't know much about suspense films in Bollywood, this is the first one by the industry that I have seen and I really enjoyed it. The acting performances are all great, especially by the police officer, played by Mr. Akshay khanna. I watched Sidharth in a lovely film called Kapoor and Sons and he was great in this one as well. The background score was terrific too. I read that it is actually based on an original film from 1969. Interestingly I recognize the lead actor in that one by the name Rajesh Khanna, as he was mentioned frequently in the amazing film Neerja that came out last year in 2016. So I will make sure to watch the original Ittefaq soon as well.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Not worth the time or money.

[3/10 · 21 October 2017]

Okay its not the worst film ever made but it's definitely not good. Film movies at a snail's pace, is overall terribly boring, the acting was pretty bad if not just awkwardly shameful, literally zero likable or memorable characters, but hey- of course it had some good effects! After all, an enormous budget and forcing this film into everyone's throats guarantees the return in investment so they can continue to churn out garbage like this for eons to come! I'll say the Darth Vader scene gave me goosebumps for sure, they won my old man's mind on that regard, but that's really the only good moment in the film and many of my friends agreed, and they grew up idolizing star wars like I did. And back to the acting, I get it that sci-fi films don't usually have any good acting, but you'd think with the money they're putting into these films and getting back from them, they'd hire some people who can actually act a little bit? Come on.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

A big win for the comic book genre

[9/10 · 21 October 2017]

Great film. Worth my time and yours. I had a lot of fun with this one, the characters are neat, Chris Evans does a great job as Captain America, the effects and fights are nice, the film goes at a very nice pace, and was overall enjoyable. In Marvel we trust, they know how to make these movies.

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)

Not a terrible film, but not much good either.

[5/10 · 21 October 2017]

I grew up on Star Wars, I idolized Star Wars characters as a kid, and owned just about any memorabilia I could get my hands on. This film's new characters just couldn't cut it. The VFX and CGI were good though, and it really bought goosebumps to hear the title theme again, but eh. Storyline was rather weak, no good characters, just feels like this film exists to continue ripping money out of nostalgia. The film had no great moments, nothing that I would want to talk about years from now or even right after the film ended. The original trilogy was greatness, would honestly just rather see 100% remakes of those with modern technology.

Mersal (2017)

Super fun & adrenaline pumping! Yet also really emotional, great experience centered on a strong social crusade.

[9/10 · 20 October 2017]

I went to this film after a colleague recommended it. I'll be frank I wasn't fond of the really random dance sequences (as an American they're a bit too random for me, though Mr. Vijay can dance really well) but the film got those out of the way early. I was told a couple things about this film before going in- it is a huge "mass masala" so it fuses many different genres together. And that the actor, Vijay, is an enormous superstar in the Tamil state who the people really adore. As soon as the film started, the audience whistled and cheered at just his name appearing on the screen! And then when he first appears in the film, the audience was overjoyed and so many cheers, I've never been among a crowd like that. It's crazy I hadn't seen a film by Vijay yet but I got chills seeing how much the audience loved him. And throughout the film, it was too easy to see why: spectacular performances as 3 different people, and he nailed them all. Especially the village role, was a terrific and moving performance, he has a huge screen presence and powerful flair about him. I've noticed that the Indian superstars are really a class apart in this, I can see these select few are at that level due to these certain intangibles that have won over the audience, its an trait I don't see in even the biggest of Hollywood actors. Anyway about the actual film's story, the beginning had more comedic elements, I didn't understand some of the jokes, but that's okay because there is tons more to this film. I felt the first female character was completely unnecessary and the second one was acceptable but also not needed. The third actress, however, was GREAT! Nithya Mennon is her name, she and Vijay in the second half brought tears to my eyes repeatedly, I didn't expect to be so moved! I had similar reactions to some really heart-wrenching scenes in the first half as well, the film had lots of emotional power at its core. The film was unique to me in that Vijay's characters stood up so strongly against corruption, malpractices and deception by the medical industry, especially against the poor people- the people who need it the most but end up also losing the most in these scenarios. A new subject for me, handled so well. I'm not aware of what the medical policies for patients in India are like, do people always pay before the treatment or is that just certain types of hospitals? Some questions I would just ask my colleagues on Monday. Another thing was when Vijay's characters said certain dialogues, the crowd cheered and clapped a lot, especially during his speech scenes where he criticizes many injustices in front of large crowds in the film. Not only did the crowd in the film cheer strongly, so did my audience! It was as if I was in the film. And the action!! It was tremendous, lots of intense fight scenes with nice use of wire-work. Every hit by Mr. Vijay felt powerful with lots of emotions to it: these aren't your normal "beat up the bad guys because they're against you" fight scenes but rather they felt like a man who has had to go through so much emotional pain that every punch and kick roared of justice. And wow was the crowd happy and loud during these fights! Wonderful experience really, I laughed, cried and was also really fired up during the film. I'm interested to watch more of Vijay's films now and I will definitely anticipate when his next film releases.

Secret Superstar (2017)

Terrific Film with Powerful Emotions and Entertainment, An Inspiration!

[10/10 · 19 October 2017]

WOW. This is easily one of the best films i have seen this year, period. My colleague told me about it and seeing that it was an Aamir Khan production, why in my right mind would I miss it? Terrific acting performances by everyone, and those who saw the gigantic hit Dangal wouldn't be too surprised by the stunning performance by the young newcomer Zaira Wasim! Also an amazing performance by the actress who played her mother. And of course, the ever so powerful Mr. Aamir Khan plays an eccentric, sort of creepy but hilarious character which is the complete opposite of his last outing. The way he disappears into each and every one of his characters is beyond greatness. The film has it all- it's really emotional (I'm not Indian so maybe I'm not used to emotionally strong films but this one really had me crying...), it's entertaining, funny, and just not even a single part of the film dragged. Wonderful gem of a film! Must watch!

Judwaa 2 (2017)

Fun, goofy entertaining film!!

[8/10 · 29 September 2017]

There is a user named Takethispunch who is clearly an Indian trying to look cool by going around on IMDb and trashing every single Bollywood film on its release day (often without even watching it)... this has to be spam? Either delusional or extremely try-hard for attention but unfortunately people like this hamper the film discovery experience for Americans like me.

Anyway:

Had a fun time watching this one. Varun Dhawan is a great performer, both on the acting front and the dancing front, and has a strong screen presence. The film is quite silly, so leave your seriousness at the door before coming in. The songs are really catchy! And the girls (unfortunately are pretty dumb characters) do provide added eye candy and silliness.

Watch to chill out

A Gentleman (2017)

A Fun, Entertaining Film

[8/10 · 25 August 2017]

Being an American who obviously grew up on Western tastes, Bollywood has a lot to offer for western viewers. What makes it VERY difficult is Indian Bollywood watchers irrationally trash their films and for some reason they enjoy even the GARBAGE that Hollywood makes. this makes it hard to know whether to watch a film or not. some user review here said that Killers with Ashton Kutcher was better than this? SERIOUSLY? that movie was complete trash... oh the irony. Anyway this film is definitely a fun one, the fight scenes are fun and action packed. and the handsome gentleman Sidharth Malhotra and the ever so attractive Jacqueline Fernandez are a nice pair. Songs were catchy, cinematography was great, it takes place in Miami, I feel Indian movies make America look prettier than our own Hollywood does ha ha. This isn't an action-only film like John Wick 2 (which is amazing) but one definitely wouldn't mind the sexiness factor that Jacqueline brings in.