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Kingdom (2014)
Kingdom is right up there .. on the top
For once it would seem like that this show is about MMA, well it is but it is not.
This show is built around mixed martial arts but it is more about the daily struggles of a family owned business. How the characters are struggling in their present life and their past. How they are trying to come out of the struggles to be submerged in one temptation or the other.
Kingdom is a beautifully directed and acted series. The cast is exceptional and the details in every single scene are just phenomenal.
The cast is as if it was made for this role. Jonathan Tucker as Jay is as impressive as Kiele Sanchez as Lisa .. everyone has their own depth and they have totally owned it.
I don't believe in spoilers so would end here by saying that if you love and appreciate the art of making a good TV series .. Kingdom is right up there .. absolutely.
No questions asked.
Bandish Bandits (2020)
salute to Indian classical music
Doubt if I would have anything to say which hasn't already been shared.
All i would say is that if this TV show "Bandish Bandidts" doesn't make the Indian moms send their daughters/sons for classical training nothing will. :)
(like when IPL started and everyone was going for cricket coaching) :P
On a serious note .. absolutely fantastic .. *with folded hands* Shankar Ehsan Loy and all the associated musicians .. the actors with lip sync .. never ever seen anything like it .. original, mesmerizing, hypnotic .. totally the best
Breathe: Into the Shadows (2020)
if only
If only AB junior could have acted a teeny weeny bit better this could have been so much better.
If only the story line was comparative to the R. Madhvan's Breathe in terms of gripping factor.
If only the focus was more on a logical story and not on the background score, especially in the major scenes.
Breathe: Into the shadows could have been so much better.
Even the critics (paid) who are hired to write a good review could manage to give just 8 or 9 .. hehe.
Nothing against AB jr but he was looking like an eggplant and acting like one too :D
Gulabo Sitabo (2020)
quite a boring movie to be honest
It is tough to carry a movie without a good story line .. no matter if you have Big B, Ayushmann Khurrana and other famous side actors.
Gulabo Sitabo fell flat on so many levels.
I wonder if the focus was on Big B's nose more than anything else.
I think the best part was Big B's dialect and delivery .. he was born and raised in Allahabad so that might have come naturally .. it looked natural.
Otherwise, it was boring at its best.
The Man from Earth (2007)
absolute class
Never thought a movie with such a budget .. a small movie set .. and just a running conversation could be so gripping.
Surely the first few minutes could be a bit boring .. might make you wonder what is going on.. and these are the minutes where people mostly quit watching. But let it be, a few more minutes, and the story will start latching on to you.
The story is an absolute genius .. and that is what this movie is all about.
I don't want to pen any spoilers here but if you like movies that make you think, make you wonder, make you say whatttt and make you widen your eyes more than a few times "The man from Earth" is the one you watch and watch right now :)
One of the best I have seen.
The Lobster (2015)
what the hell was this
Man .. I don't know .. may be I don't have the wits to understand such movies or may be whatever .. I just didn't get anything except the plot.
The plot was not so tough to understand to be honest. In a dystopian society any single person has 45 days to find a partner else they would be converted in to an animal of their choice.
And that is it .. that is it of the horror that "The lobster" was.
I don't care if there were hidden meanings in there or black comedy or something which I overlooked .. I don't care .. All I know that this movie is nothing but a frustrating watch.
Please do not and save yourselves.
The Office (2005)
'The Office' tells you to take it easy :)
I know a movie or a show is great when you laugh with it but it is even better when you weep with it.
I doubt if I have something to say which hasn't already been said, especially by the people who adore this show. So, I have been thinking .. and thinking as how do I convey what I feel about The Office.
Here it is -
When "Goodbye, Michael" came S07E22 .. it felt it and I felt it with all I had in me.
It was tough to see Michael Scott leave, as if it was my life.
His sadness, his wet eyes, his aloofness .. it just got on to me .. for a good few days .. still does.
When he says "why am I so sad, am I doing the wrong thing"
And then you see a small tear in Jim's eye you just know this show is going to end right there.
And then right there, good or bad, I just stopped watching.
Panchayat (2020)
if you are an 80's kid
Yes !! I am an 80's kid, born and raised in a small town and I don't think anything on screen has jolted my memories so consistently than TVF.
Don't get me wrong, these jolts have been ever so pleasant.
TVF has given me some moments which were buried deep inside in my memory files and they just spring back with every other series.
With "yeh meri family" TVF made me remember my entire childhood .. and when I thought if anything would even come close to it .. here is one more - "Panchayat".
TVF, with panchayat, has somehow bought out the innocence of an Indian village which just keeps on gripping you with each passing moment.
I do not want to share any spoilers, so I would just end it here by saying -
TVF is the quintessential middle class India .. which is what is India :)
Hell House LLC (2015)
far better than the overall rating .. far better
Found one more of a movie where the ratings just do not justify the reality.
I think that for a "found-footage horror" genre Hell House LLC is right up there.
Just because it is not a mainstream movie genre doesn't mean it has to be bad. I think the people who did not like it were probably watching it with a bit of a pre conceived notion of the movie being 'not good'. I quite liked the movie to be honest, it was intense.
Hell House LLC definitely had THE moments .. all the ones you would expect from a horror movie - scaring you, making you say wtf is going on, telling the actors to not go there or move out from there, just saying oh no under your breath, saying are you a fool and cursing movie a few times.
Overall I think it was a good watch. A pleasant surprise especially in these hard times (social distancing days) and I wouldn't want to say much but to ask you to go and watch it and decide for yourself.
Room (2015)
it made me remember my very first home :')
Our mind is one fascinating organ .. it stores memories deep down somewhere only to resurface them ever so slightly with that smell you seem to recognize or that song you used to hear or that color pattern which resembled like the kaleidoscope you had as a child or your first home where you were born and raised as a kid.
This movie made me remember so many things I had somehow forgotten of the best time of my life. No I wasn't put in a room but I had a way of talking to the non living things .. telling them stories and caring for them as if they were living beings. And there were countless moments that I could somehow recall.
Well, about this movie .. the less that is said the better as it is a journey to experience yourself. Everything about Room was absolutely brilliant.
The first phase where the focus was on something else and then the 2nd where the story turned course altogether to a different issue. It is so good that it is unsettling but it still carries a lot of innocence.
I think if you are ready to go for a emotional journey .. this, right here, is the movie to watch.
It will make you believe that courage has no appearance.
It will make you think that we take small small things for granted which we should be grateful about.
It will make you wonder what a great movie it is.
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
massively better than the rating
I am not sure who has given Sonic anything less than 7 stars as it meets every single criteria of being a family movie.
May be the critics are just off that the company redesigned the hedgehog, listened to the uproar across the globe and then gave us such a fun movie.
The movie had everything and Jim Carrey .. a good story line (may be a bit generic) which will certainly make you relate to Sonic. Sonic has a certain flow to it which is not that common these days (specially with the new superhero movies)
I am yet to find someone in person who has said that this movie wasn't fun .. because it is 100% fun .. go watch it.
Nanatsu no taizai (2014)
absolutely the best
I don't have much to say but Seven deadly Sins has to be right up there when we talk about great anime series.
The first few episodes are a bit tough to grasp but I will suggest to just wait for the anime to get in to you. And once it does, it will make you read the manga (it is that good .. 100%)
The animation is great, story line is even better and the characters are the best.
Sit tight and watch it.
Suits (2011)
not a native of United States .. yet it is enjoyable
Well, I am not a native of United States so I have to google (read internet search :P) a lot of things .. right from 'subpoena' to what not .. he he
And I am sometimes still assuming of what is actually happening in there. Assuming. Yes.
May be it is the lingo or may be I am not the only one, but one thing is for sure; this TV series is extremely enjoyable.
I am hooked.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
one of those movie; after a long time; which you would want to see a 2nd time and more
I haven't written a lot of movie reviews but I have penned down my share of restaurant reviews which means I do understand how this paid publicity works and all of that.
And I am starting my review from this statement as I did see some negative reviews here, initially and I was like " may be all these niners are publicist's reviews"
But then after having watched the movie I would say that may be the reviews which are in tune of less than 6 are from the "bad publicity" fraternity. :)
Like good & bad, ying & yang .. when there are paid people to write excellent reviews the vice versa is also true.
For the very first time I felt that the reviews giving them a 3 or a 4 saying "meh" are really not the true reflection of Avengers : Endgame.
The movie was extremely well made .. the story knitted very well .. a mix of the past and present .. and all of those perfect comic moments as you would expect ..
I enjoyed it from the first scene to the last and everyone present in the theater did too .. when there are laughters and gasps and cheers and sobs and people wanting to stay back after the movie .. in a 3 hour movie .. in America .. it means it is absolutely a beast of a show.
Endgame is a perfect saga .. which will go down as one of the best of the best.
Sacred Games (2018)
good ?? yes 100% .. but
First episode and I was like "wow this is a revolution for Indian cinema"
Second episode and I was "for sure it is a revolution"
.
.
Fifth episode (in as many days), now I have started using my head and not just the heart .. and then it comes to me .. (after seeing bunty's ding dong) .. that may be just may be Sacred Games has been made in this intention of giving people a feel of revolution becoming ..
And by the end of it I felt that there were one too many scenes which could have been avoided to be equally as good and still leaving a room for imagination.
People might argue that it is based on a novel but I bet, anything you want, not more than 5% of the viewers knew this before the series.
Mind you guys .. I am a young Indian with the capacity of almost the same number of abuses as Mr. Nawazuddin (gaitonde) in a day .. and I am okay when he says "maa ka bho***" in a typical North Indian way .. though he is "gaitonde"
I am okay to see boobs and intercourse and all
I am okay to see Bunty's posterior .. but his ding dong ?? .. oh there was just no need. And if someone says it is for the direction .. Man !! you need help.
Similarly, showing the organ of the third sex rather leaving it for imagination .. nope .. the other way round could have been even better.
These are those few of the few reasons where Sacred Games is more like a 7 for me.
Closing this review and I might draw a lot of flank here, in all honesty I feel that albeit Sacred Games is a really nice watch there are a few over the top things which, knowing Anurag Kashyap, are expected.
And then how the public has a part of cattle's herd for quite a few years .. and just binge watching it .. there is no wonder it is 9 point something and not 5 point something :)
Isle of Dogs (2018)
maybe it was just for the critics ..
Don't jump on me guys, hear me out please.
As a layman I think the Isle of Dogs was just another animation, to be more precise let me say this (to tell that I know) - "stop animation" movie .. a bit dull on that part too. Dull as in the movie, animation was good.
Even the kid on the seat next to me predicted the things with 100% accuracy right in the beginning and then he slept. I am not saying that bring me unpredictable everytime, no .. predictable is just fine but I think the movie gave us something which we have seen in one form or the other. A lot of times. With half the pace of those movies.
I may not be that familiar with Wes Anderson's work and all but that doesn't stop anyone to enjoy a good movie. I think this is how we pick up things and build references. And I didn't enjoy it this time. Sorry critics.
I think the characters were flat and somehow it was more about the style of animation rather than story telling.
And what was that all about making it a long 5 hours affair, oh wait was it just 2.5 .. he he .. time just didn't pass :D
Yet there were people who gave a standing ovation and I know they have to agree to critics and all to be in the same league .. but deep down they were sleeping like half of my theatre was ..
Gurgaon (2017)
in a fix with this one ..
First things First -
To be honest for people who haven't lived in Gurgaon might feel that this is what Gurgaon is .. hot headed, rowdy, instilling some sort of fear in you all the time .. well, this is where I am in a fix .. because Gurgaon is definitely this when you read or hear about it .. and Gurgaon is not that when you live and work in here.
The layman is busy earning the daily bread and is just unaffected from hooliganism and all ..
Now to the 2nd thing -
The problem started when the farmers literally became rich overnight .. filthy rich by the way, not just casual rich .. The native of Haryana had always been worst when it came to things like girl child, honor caste systems and no remorse come what may, among 100 other things which are not good for a healthy society.
With such notions give a person unattainable wealth .. this is what happens ..
Now to the movie :)
well the movie in itself is alright .. I wouldn't call it gripping because somehow things were not stitched together really well .. there were moments where you feel that it wasn't necessary .. and those moments are highlights by the way ..
The moments were merely added to show the lawlessness about Gurgaon and had nothing to do with the story line.
Also, the eeriness was kinda forced .. you would know in the moment what is going to happen ..
So, Gurgaon as a movie might depict Gurgaon but only a smallish subset of Gurgaon which has little or nothing to do in the life of a layman.
So .. it is unwise to say that Gurgaon is what Gurgaon is .. No .. it is about this particular story and how it is projected on screen.
And when it comes to this .. I think the movie was alright .. and when it is streaming on netflix these days .. better see it than not. :)
Raazi (2018)
Alia is just 25 !! wow .. and we got another Independence Day song :)
Well .. Alia Bhatt knows how to cry in the reel world and boy she does it really well, like really well .. amongst all other 'acting' things ..
And Meghna Gulzar surely knows how to direct a movie .. to be honest, there was no question after talvar but yeah raazi did put a stamp once again ..
The dialogues have been really thought and worked upon when you could hear the "kh" from the epiglottis :D
Also, I am loving this age of cinema where not just the star kids or the prodigies are coming to play hero or, let us say, act .. but people have started taking it as a profession and they are getting breaks too .. Vicky Kaushal is one such example ..
Movie brings life to a book titled 'Calling Sehmat' by Harinder S Sikka and never through the entire length would you find a need to go back and read it .. you know what I mean .. it is stitched quite beautifully. I did not notice any gaps in there.
Would not want to add any more details as they tend to become spoilers more often than not .. but Raazi should be certainly given some of your time, in a theater.
This is the best way to appreciate a good movie.
And yeah .. we have got a new independence day song .. badly needed and is a good one after a long long time :)