Recently Seen Movies - 11 - Page 112

96 : Film surrounded by so much sweetness and simplicity a creepy concept that shouldn't be celebrated.

Vijay sethupati plays a character who is still in love with his high school crush after 20 years , and they meet and have a reunion , they come across and spend a night together around the city basically talking about their life like before sunrise.

The acting is good , technically the film has no faults , as script wise you juggle between older and their high school characters , it also have certain nostalgia , that sweet puppy love and ethos of romanticism ,by the end you understand the plight and have a good sweet moments and enjoy the film , but after the movie you realise what you just saw , you saw a fourty year old man who remains virgin all his life for a girl in school who actually he never get to date much ,by the age 16 ,by age 19 girl rejects him (albeit a miscommunication) , he still stalks her , attends her wedding anonymously, keep information about her and waste his life for someone who he is never been on a date once.

To showcase this bizzare and disturbing behaviour as one true love ,look at his love is weird in this day and age.

I'm gone for a few weeks and the entire forum changes. Why does the new IF feel like a bad trip?

Flying means lots of movies. I watched movies on my jetlag recovery day too. Anyway here is a long list of reviews.

Get Out

This is definitely the most clever and innovative imaginations of the horror genre. There are no gory scenes, ghosts, jump scares or monsters in this flick. The film does not use any of the usual horror tropes. Yet it delivers a chilling and frightening movie. Who knew race relations could get so terrifying?

A Simple Favor

This is a mediocre thriller with a contrived plot. The only reason this generated buzz is clever marketing and the chemistry between Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively.

9 to 5

A hilarious comedy that deserves to be seen. The workplace has come so far. This movie served as a nice bookend to Mad Men. It is that transitionary era when women went from being mere secretaries to career women. Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, and Dolly Parton are a riot as three secretaries trying to survive the schemes of their "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot boss." This film deserves a modern day remake.

Aquaman

I immediately regret not seeing this on the big screen. While Aquaman is a mediocre origin story it is a visual treat. IMO this is the most visually engaging superhero flick, almost on par with Avatar for visuals. Jason Momoa makes it a fun ride. While not on par with Wonder Woman, Aquaman shows that DC is trying to break its doom and gloom approach to superhero films.

Manmarziyan

I have mixed feelings about the movie. The acting is perfect. I like the concept and the narrative attempted. The music and lyrics were spot on and used appropriately. Yet something feels off. Rumi and Vicky are just too selfish. Robbie comes off as too naive. There are way too many movies of women accepting flawed men as rehabilitation projects. I liked the idea of a man undergoing similar emotional labor for a flawed woman. I think the execution was a bit off. It could have been much better.

Bumblebee

This film seems to have slipped under the radar. Bumblebee is extremely redeeming for the Transformers franchise. Instead of loud noises and explosions, the film goes back to the basics of storytelling. You have some nice character arcs, bonding, and backstories making this an endearing film. A good balance of heart and action, Bumblebee can be the stepping stone for a better Transformers universe.

Colette

The plot and characters are surprisingly progressive for a movie set in the early 1900s. Willy, of course, is a giant dick. But Colette is fierce, passionate and perseverant. I didn't expect such a frank exploration of open relationships, gender play and homosexuality in a 1900s period film. Keira Knightley is an absolute delight as Colette.

Manikarnika

A potentially good (if not great) film has been ruined by overindulgent filmmaking. Kangana Ranaut delivers a fiery performance as always. Some of the shots and sequences are promising. The women in navvaris exude a lot of badassery. Unfortunately, the final battle sequence is shoddy and garishly done. It is such a departure from the mid-film sequences that are so good. The film also falters with editing and the caricaturish treatment of British.

Kangana Ranaut, like Brie Larson is a fine actor and perfect to play characters of mythic proportions. But like Brie Larson, Kangana Ranaut the director has a long way to go.

Simran

The movie is not half as bad as I thought it would be. The critics trashed it so much that I was expecting more of a hot mess. The film fails because it just gives us a narrative without picking a point of view. Are we supposed to love or hate the main character? Are we supposed to feel pity, anger, amusement, shock? If only the directors decided to frame the narrative with a point of view it would be a great film.

Think of movies like Scarface, Catch Me If You Can, Wolf of Wall Street, American Psycho. These are all films on grey or dark characters. All criminals of varying. Instead of a dull narrative of life events, these movies frame the story with a point of view. Tony Montana is a criminal but you feel for his scrappy rags to riches story. Frank Abagnale, on the other hand, evokes sympathy and amusement. Jodan Belfonts antics make you laugh but there is a sense of shock over all the callousness. Patrick Bateman appeals to our morbid fascination with evil.

There are moments where Simran evokes our sympathy, but mostly it is just a narrative of events. A sharper sense of humor and some framing like either Catch Me if You Can (if we ought to root for Praful Patel) or Wolf of Wall Street (if we are to be shocked or dislike Praful Patel) would have made this a good film.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Surprisingly, this film suffers the same flaw is Simran. It is a narrative of Ted Bundy's trial. But there isn't any framing. At some moments it comes dangerously close to admiring/idolizing Ted Bundy. It glosses over his gruesome crimes focusing on his charisma. Apparently, the movie is meant to depict the point of view of Liz Kendall his girlfriend who had a hard time reconciling Bundy the loving boyfriend and father with the loathsome serial killer. But the execution is botched.

Zac Efron as Ted Bundy and Lilly Collins as Liz are near flawless. Zac is bone-chillingly charming while Lilly represents the shock and grief of a woman coming to terms with the truth.

Avengers: End Game

Obvi - spoiler alert

So I finally saw the most important movie of the year. End Game is the action-packed finale to a story arc that has spanned over a decade and 22 films. The movie is a fantastic pulse-pounding superhero movie that has all the thrills and chills you need. But to be honest, its success lies mostly in the hype, tension, and need for closure rather than quality. In my opinion, Ragnarok, Iron Man, Captain America: Civil War, and Black Panther were superior movies.

The Good

- Fitting narrative conclusions to the original Avengers
- A well-defined balance between hard-hitting emotions and humor
- One of the best cinematic battle sequences, the sheer scale of characters makes this an epic feat
- setup for the narrative evolution of Spiderman, Falcon (Captain America) and Doctor Strange

The Bad

- Captain Marvel was wasted. The end credits of Infinity War made it seem like Captain Marvel had a big role to play, but it seems all she was good for was tearing up ships
- Thanos was shafted. I think Thanos deserved to be more emotionally layered and complex like Killmonger. Infinity War did that, but End Game seems to undo it.
- The pace was off. I know its a long movie and it does well to keep you vested every moment. But the pacing needed to be better

Questions

- So does Gamora from the past replace Gamora of the present?
- I am assuming Loki has an alternate timeline now that he escaped with the Tesseract
- Disney announced a Wanda Vision show. Will Vision be rebuilt?
- Where was Monica Rambeau?
- Does Morgan Stark mean young Avengers?
- Is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 going to be Asgardians of the Galaxy?
- Does anyone else feel like they missed the boat to establish Jane Foster Thor?
- Multiverse!!!!!

In the past week, Uyare (Malayalam), Avengers: Endgame and Aashiqui 2.

Amazing movies!

Kaagar ( Rebirth ) marathi movie

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The movie is set in the political heartland of Maharashtra---the sugarcane growing region of western Maharashtra . Many of the scenes occur among fields of sugarcane crops---the budding romance and lovemaking of the hero and heroine , political murder , and hiding of murderer among tall canes of sugar . The dialect spoken in the movie is rural Marathi which is the forte of Rinku Rajguru , the lead actress of 'Sairat' movie fame .

The small town of Virainagar is setting to political rivalry between two politicians---Abasaheb ( Suhas Palshikar ) and Bhayyasaheb ( Shantanu Gangane ) . Abasaheb represents the old political hierarchy who has manipulated the sugarcane factory that is economic mainstay of the town to his own benefit but to the detriment of the townsfolk's interests . Bhayyasaheb is tall and strapping and is the challenger to Abasaheb .

The advisor to Bhayyasaheb is Guruji ( Shashank Shende ) who dreams of bringing political revolution in the town . He has big dreams for his daughter named Rani ( Rinku Rajguru ) to become a leader of the masses . But his dreams are ground to dust by Rani , who falls in love with Guruji's right hand hot tempered strongman Yuvaraj ( Shubhankar Tawde ) and wants to settle down in holy matrimony with him .

But guruji is hell bent on making his daughter a political leader and not a housewife , and weaves a web of intrigue that sets Rani on a path of political popularity that she cannot shake off even if she wants to . He takes advantage of an ancient blood feud between Yuvaraj and Abasaheb to engineer bloody death in such a manner that Yuvaraj is out of the way and so is Bhayyasaheb , thus opening the way for his daughter Rani to have no choice but to become a rising political star as successor to Bhayyasaheb .

In the end Guruji achieves his aim....or does he ? For he has to contend with the passion of a woman in love---his daughter Rani who else . And she cannot dream of a future without Yuvaraj by her side , nor does she want to rest until Bhayyasaheb's murderers are brought to justice . And the whole saga leads to her rebirth ( Kaagar ) in more ways than one . Just how ? Watch the movie for that....

The first half is the love story of Yuvaraj and Rani in the backdrop of political conspiracies in small town Maharashtra . It is Shubhankar Tawde as Yuvaraj who dominates that part with his broad shoulders and strong arms giving him punching power against political rivals . The second half shows effortless blossoming of Rani from college going girl to a mature adult . And Rinku Rajguru has done justice to that role while Yuvaraj goes from confident young man to quivering youngster who gets caught in a web of deceit and assassination spun by Guruji .

The scenes of Yuvaraj and Rani being forced to flee gangs unleashed on them by Guruji remind one of the elopement scenes of 'Sairat' , and the ending scenes of the movie are even more 'Sairat' like . Acting by everyone is appropriate for their roles and background music and songs are okay . Photography is decent and colours are okay too . The movie does succeed in creating the flavour of rural Maharashtra upto some extent .

Verdict---Very decent .

Three stars out of five .

movie review---Blank

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Maybe the image of Sunny Deol fighting terrorists in an action thriller could help boost his image for elections . After all , he is standing for elections in Gurdaspur and the movie has been released at the right time . He plays Mumbai ATS ( anti terrorism squad ) head SS Dewan , who is so scrupulously honest that he refuses to bail out his own son when the son gets caught in a drug raid .

But the people Dewan is against are extremely committed terrorists who want to wage war against India and it is not easy to deal with such a threat . The movie does show honestly how small boys are encouraged to become suicide bombers by promises of paradise made to them by radical preachers . They vow to wage eternal war against India .

One such boy caught by Mumbai ATS is Hanif ( Karan Kapadia ) and he has turned into a unique suicide bomber ; he has a suicide bomb directly connected to his heartbeat in such a way that it will explode when his heartbeat stops . So the challenge is to keep him alive till he is taken to an uninhabited location where he can be killed without loss of other lives . But his mentors are after him to save him , and Dewan does not know another deadly fact about the bomb . Also there is someone working in ATS who is in league with the terrorists and who keeps them one step ahead of Dewan .

So will Dewan be able to prevent the terrorists from bomb blasting Mumbai one more time ? The movie gives some interesting answers to that . I went to see Sunny Deol's famous temper erupt into a burst of anger and was rewarded on a couple of occasions . The movie does show some action scenes of ATS officers storming underground cells of terrorists and full scale fighting between terrorists and the officers . Bursts of automatic rifles and explosions of bombs rent the air . The movie is too sophisticated for Sunny's 'dhai kilo ka haat' ( two and a half kilo forehand ) to be used too much ; we have to make do with Sunny firing guns . But there is enough action to keep an action movie aficionado happy , and enough terrorists being sent to hell to keep a nationalist happy .

Background music and songs and acting and colours and photography is all decent enough. And there is a twist in the end to make things even better . Sunny is older than his 'Ghayal' and 'Gadar' days but he still has some firepower . Ishita Dutta is good as his lovely female assistant , and Karanvir Sharma is able as his other associate in fighting terrorists . Karan Kapadia is impressive as Hanif and his acting steals the show .

Verdict---Good .

Three and a half stars out of five .

Uyare ::::: Review |

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Uyare is a heartwarming movie on all levels. What could have been a heavy handed treatment laced with melodrama has been instead taken with a light, deft touch by Manu Ashokan and Bobby-Sanjay, yet the portrayals of the principal characters leave us haunted for a long time to come.

The movie's positivity is what endears us the most, the never-say-die attitude of Pallavi, encapsulated best by the soaring 'Pathinettu Vayassu' song. From the beginning the movie brings a smile to our faces with the innocent, natural wish of a child, who just wants to have a glance at the cockpit of a plane.

For the most part, the casting and performances are top notch. Parvathy, Asif Ali and Tovino Thomas, all stars in their own right, deserve kudos for taking up such challenging roles. I have not hated a character so much like I have in Govind and that speaks to the triumph of Asif Ali's performance, surely his career best. Each time he appears on screen one feels such disgust. Tovino's is the most underrated performance. It's not exactly a hero oriented portrayal but an intriguing character, misunderstood for what he actually is and treated as a joke by those around him, though someone who wants to do the right thing. I thought the Samyuktha Menon-Tovino combination scene was one of the most powerful moments in the film. Siddique is not acting but living as Pallavi's comforting father. Anarkali Markar is that friend we all need in tough times. And finally, Parvathy should get that National Award that she missed so undeservedly in Take Off. I have no words to describe her performance. It should be watched on screen to really highlight how much she has brought to the table. Incredible is simply an understatement. A special mention to the makeup team who have brought her physical disfiguration so realistically in the second half.

Uyare at first glance is all about how to break free from abusive relationships and how you can rise from physical disfiguration. But at a deeper level, it is a cautionary warning to society on the downside of judging people based on first impressions. Now if one were to judge Govind, you know theres something wrong with him from the outset. Then Pallavi narrates a tale to his father that makes us realise his good side. Vishal at first seems like a bit of an arrogant dude just living off his father's inheritance. On the other hand you explore more of his character and then realize there is more to him than meets the eye. He has failed in his relationships, his father doesnt respect him and neither does his colleagues. In one respect he is as alone as Pallavi is during the movie. The realistic nature of Uyare makes us note there are many Govinds and Vishals in society, not wholly evil or wholly good, but grey by nature.

Ultimately, Uyare is the power of fulfilled dreams. Dream even when you are down in the dumps. Dream even when you feel all hope is lost. It's by no means a perfect film, the aircraft landing scene has poor production values, the courtroom sequences are rushed and some of the supporting cast do not make an impact.

Uyare is not a story of a feminist as it may look like. Its the story of a female who had a dream to become a pilot. An incident in her life changes things for her.

After Kayamkulam Kochunni, this is definately a consecutive super hit for Bobby and Sanjay. Their writing skills have aways been brilliant.

Manu Ashokan has done a great job as director

The three songs by Gopi Sunder are good. The background score in the beginning and in some other parts of the movie are really brilliant.

Performances of Parvathy, Siddique and Asif are great. Tovino and Anarkali have also done a good job. Samyuktha Menon, Pratap K Pothen and Prem Prakash have also given good performances.

The movie has story, drama, sentiments, a bit of romance and thrill. The movie also talks about a serious social issue.

I would seriously recommend people to watch this movie in theaters.

Uyare is the movie we do not deserve, but the movie we all need right now.

Go WATCH IT!!!

Verdict: Highly Recommended

Rating: 3.35 / 5

Badhaai Ho ❤️, Maatr, The Martian and 2 States.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

The plot of Solo doesn't appeal as much as Rogue One because the events are completely unrelated to the movies we know. Of course, Solo is a beloved character and drives interest. But that is what works against the movie. Alden Ehrenriech has barely any of the charm and charisma Harrison Ford had.

So here you have a character who disappoints and a plot that doesn't drive interest. Had it not been the expectations, this would be a good movie.

Donald Glover as Lando is on point though. Best part of the movie. Woody Harrelson impresses as always.

Killing Eve- season one

It is about a serial killer Villanelle who is killing high profile people and has not been traced till now because no one can see any pattern. But Eve a MI5 agent is following the cases.

I love Villanelle. She is just so good in this psychopath role. I enjoyed her every scene. Sandra Oh is also gud as Eve. The suspense, thrill of chase, the fear, how she will kill her next target, Every scene with Villanelle is a treat.

Comer deserved this Bafta award for this because she is awesome as Villanelle.

I didn't get the title though because Villanelle doesn't want to kill eve. It's opposite.