Recently Seen Movies - 12 - Page 8

^^ahh Betty, finally! I've been waiting for your reviews☺️

want to watch Ex-Lady now :)

Once upon a time in Hollywood

This one is to be liked only by those immersed in cinema. The whole movie seems somewhat pointless and the violence that we associate with Tarantino comes only at the end . Were the hippies taking revenge for the character played by Brad Pitt's visit to the ranch where they stayed six months before when he questioned the owner of the ranch about them or it was just a coincidence that they came barging in to kill some Hollywood people six months later ? I was entertained since I am immersed in cinema. But not sure lay public will enjoy the film because basically nothing exciting happens in parts of the film . Just life of Hollywood folks in late sixties. The action comes at the end and is pretty violent with an entire hippie woman getting burnt to cinder by flamethrower . And the Male characters then act cool as if it was a normal day out for them .

The two huge stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt enjoy real chemistry with each other in the film with the character played by Pitt playing chauffeur to Leonardo DiCaprio's character. Leonardo is a reel life tough guy but brad is the real life toughie ; beats up a character playing Bruce Lee in a scene smashing him in a car denting it....I mean he just smashes Bruce Lee , THE Bruce lee !! Wait till lee wakes up from his grave hearing this !!

But the film falls short of action I felt . More a tribute to Hollywood of the sixties with shootings of westerns and all , and the character played by Leonardo crying out over his spent career....he's a has been and gets drunk a little too much. Also is shown drug intake with the warning about drug intake being dangerous flashing on screens in my country India.

Margot Robbie plays Sharon Tate , a murder victim in real life . However she just prances about in miniskirts in this film and goes to watch her own film in theater to watch audience reaction to her scenes . But I thought the hippie girl who enticed the character played by Brad Pitt to the ranch was sexier and wore even more exposing clothes and moved her body more provocatively .

Three stars out of five .

Veronica Mars S3

After graduating from high school Veronica Mars continues her private eye pursuits in college. Despite having dreams of leaving Neptune to go far away, she finds herself going to the local Hearst College and staying at home with her dad. This means that the drama of Neptune continues to haunt her.

Unlike the previous seasons, there is no season-long arc. Instead, the show focuses on the mystery of the week format. Old favorites like Mac, Wallace, Weevil, Logan, and Dick return. New castmates like Parker, Piz, and more are added. The season does develop a longer mystery arc partway in though. But it is resolved before the finale.

It also has an arc that featured in one episode of S2. The Hearst serial rapist. And it is perhaps the most compelling arcs about sexual assault in a teenage show. In light of the incessant rapes, Veronica finds herself in the middle of a battle between college feminists and the Greek system. The feminists are convinced one of the frat boys is behind the horrendous crimes and try to shut them down. Veronica who is not impressed by the frat boys is unwilling to make a judgment without evidence. When Dick Casablancas hires her to prove his frat's innocence, it makes Veronica persona non grata with the feminists.

Veronica herself is the survivor of date rape as unfolded in the past seasons. So she is empathetic to the trauma and confusion of the victims. The show does shed a light on the emotional trauma and the varying reaction of victims. But it also punctuates the fact that conviction needs evidence. And while Greek culture on campuses is notorious for its binge drinking, hazing, and sexual assaults it is a dangerous thing to make accusations willy nilly.

The series also explores another form of sexual assault in the final few episodes with a Veronica Mars sex tape - she and her boyfriend have been filmed without consent and the perpetrators release the tape online. How her fellow students slut-shame her but her boyfriend is able to walk around as if nothing happened is a testament to double standards in society.

Another aspect I liked was the softness of Dick Casablancas. He is a douche bag no doubt about it. A total Lothario with no moral compass. But this season shows his soft side as a friend and his regrets over his brother's death.

I am shocked that the series was canceled. The quality didn't go down and the transition from high school to college was smooth. Everything about this show is impeccable. I will never understand the cancellation. It is frustrating. The late cancellation forced the makers to create some last-minute edits shortening the season. And the ending is half baked and dissatisfactory.

Veronica Mars (2014)

So the Star Wars fans who tried to raise a Kickstarter to fund a remake of the Last Jedi may not be crazy. Veronica Mars is a Kickstarter movie. Post the cancellation the makers wrote a film script but Warner Bros refused to finance it. In 2013 Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas turned to crowdfunding to finance the film. Thus in 2014, we get Veronica Mars the movie as a limited release. Although unlike The Last Jedi, Veronica Mars is not a high end sci-fi blockbuster and is backed by a cast and crew committed to making it. Good luck Star Wars fans.

The movie takes place 10 years after the series cancellation. She is living in NYC with her boyfriend Piz. She has passed Law School and has an offer from a prestigious law firm. But a plea from ex-boyfriend Logan Echolls who is being charged with the murder of his pop star girlfriend brings from Neptune. Initially, Veronica comes home only to help Logan find a good defense attorney. But Veronica being Veronica is compelled to try and solve the case.

Basically, the movie is two episodes of a Veronica Mars show. There is lovely growth in all the characters. Wallace now teaches at Neptune High. Mac has a flourishing software career. Logan became a Navy lieutenant. Weevil is a reformed family man. And everything that unfolds is classic Veronica Mars.

The most important aspect of the movie though is the Veronica and Logan reunion. When S3 ends Veronica has decided to cut all ties with Logan. Now sucked back into the vortex of Neptune Veronica loses the job offer, fails to return to NYC to meet Piz's parents - and worst of all cheats on Piz with Logan. But Logan and Veronica are inevitable. They have shared trauma that has bonded them. But more than that they have a very destructive sense of vengeance that drives their chemistry.

Overall, the movie is a very satisfying bite for fans who have been craving for another taste of Veronica Mars.

Veronica Mars S4

I am on a Veronica Mars kick. After catching up, I simply had to binge through S4. S4 is a mixed bag for me.

This season has Veronica Mars investigating a series of bomb blasts during Spring Break in Neptune. Neptune is no longer unincorporated. It has a proper police department now. And the biggest struggle is the rich gentrifying the boardwalk.

It is compelling and exciting. It has the classic Veronica Mars twists and turns. There are characters with hidden lies and motives. There is always one more thread to unravel. It introduces a great enterprising character in the form of Matty, who is just like Veronica in her teens. And the chemistry between Logan and Veronica is scintillating. Now that its not a network show, things get steamy.

But something is missing. I hate to admit it part of what made Veronica Mars fun and unique was the teenage drama. There are many crime investigation shows out there - but Veronica Mars selling point was teenage noir. Without it, the show seems off. I also miss the Mystery of the Week. The original series always had a mystery of the week. Sometimes the mystery did stretch a few episodes but it was there. An entire season focused on only one crime also seemed off. I think we needed a taste of Veronica Mars solving multiple cases. There are also many many loose ends.

Finally, I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate, LIKE REALLY HATE the final twist. UGH. It put me in a depressive funk. Now I know why some people don't watch the last episode till the new season is out.

One thing that stood out for me was Veronica's sex dream and its aftermath. It is just a reflection of some great character development. It explores the inner turmoil of characters and how some conscious wants trump subconscious desires.

*spoilers follow*

Can we take a moment to reflect on what a great character Logan Echolls is? When he was first introduced, I hated him. He was a selfish and entitled rich brat. He was demeaning to Veronica Mars and treated poor people with disdain. The bum fights in S1 were the final straw. A cocky teenager who made money by making homeless men fight each other was irredeemable.

But then some great character development happened. We saw a teenage boy suffering a lot of rage and resentment over his girlfriend's brutal death. We saw his bitterness as his murdered girlfriend's best friend stood by a man who botched the investigation. We learn how unhappy his parent's marriage is. His mom commits suicide in time. And we got a glimpse of the abuse at home as his father whipped him for being disrespectful. Eventually, he has to discover that his own father was sleeping with his girlfriend and murdered her.

And who knew he would be this decorated Naval Intelligence Officer far hotter in his thirties than his teens. But most importantly be this man who does to therapy, is self-aware of his anger issues and working on it. It goes to show that being an arse as a teen does not mean people grow up to be one too.

I never understood why J.K Rowling made James Potter and his friends such bullies. I never understood why Lily fell for a bully. But that is perhaps because most fiction tends to give us black and white characters. Even the grey characters are distinctly darker or lighter. We never got to see much of James Potter's growth. But seeing the growth graph of Logan makes me see how teenage bullies can grow and make people fall in love with them.

That is why I was beyond shocked when they killed of Logan at the end of the season. I actually shed a tear for a character I had vowed to hate just a few weeks ago. RIP Logan Echolls. I hope they write a twist to revive you.

Batla house.. I infact had been waiting for this movie since long..

John Abraham has performed one of the finest performance of his career .. perfect casting.. Each and every character has performed brilliant.. gripping story and fight sequence.. No overdose of action scenes.. its commedable the way they have shown the dilemma of cops to wriggle out of batla house controversy and at the same time making plans fr catching terrorist frm biggining of movie till end .. absolutely loved it..

Please suggest any good movies

A Very good Review of Movie Batla House

but in Gujarati.

He is so right-on-Money, that I could not resist the temptation of posting,..

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ફિલ્મ "બાટલા હાઉસ" જુઓ તો સમજાશે કે, સોનિયા, ચિદમ્બરમ, દિગ્વિજય, કેજરીવાલ એન્ડ કંપનીએ રાષ્ટ્રીય સુરક્ષાની કેટલી હદે પાળ પીટી છે

ભારતમાં મુસ્લિમ ક્રિમિનલ્સ અને ટેરરિસ્ટને પાપીઓએ જે આળપંપાળ કરી છે, તે જોઈ ને ગુસ્સાથી ઉકળી ઉઠશો

સંસ્થાના મેમ્બર્સ માટે, પોલીસ સ્ટાફ, વિદ્યાર્થીઓ માટે આ ફિલ્મના ખાસ શો થવા જોઈએ

કિન્નર આચાર્ય, લેખક-પત્રકાર

"આતંકવાદને ધર્મ સાથે લેવાદેવા નથી!" આવો સુફિયાના કલામ આપણે અનેક વખત સાંભળ્યો છે. પણ, વાસ્તવિકતા શી છે એ આપણે પણ જાણીએ છીએ અને મોટાભાઈનો કુર્તો, નાનાં ભાઈનો પાયજામો પહેરી ને ફરતા, દાઢીધારી-મૂછમુંડાઓ પણ જાણે જ છે. "શાંતિદૂત" જમાતના ત્રાસવાદી યાકુબ મેમણને ફાંસીએ લટકાવાયો એ પછી હજારો શોકાતુર પારેવડાંઓ ધોળાં લૂગડાં પહેરી ને સડક પર આવી ગયા હતાં. સમજો, આતંકવાદનો ધર્મ કયો છે, શા માટે છે. હંમેશા Denial Mode પર રહેવું એ કેટલાક શાંતિપ્રિય શાંતિદૂતોની તાસીર હોય છે. સતત ઇન્કાર. પોતે કરેલા પાપોનો ઇન્કાર, પોતાની વિકૃત મનોવૃત્તિઓનો અને કટ્ટર કલુષિત વિચારધારાનો ઇન્કાર. જગત આખું લાખો પુરાવાઓ સાથે મુદ્દો સાબિત કરે તો પણ ઇન્કાર.

બટલા હાઉસ એન્કાઉન્ટર થયું ત્યારે પણ શાંતિપ્રિય ધર્મના પારેવડાંઓનું ટોળું અથડામણની બીજી જ ક્ષણે Denial Modeમાં આવી ગયું હતું. ફિલ્મની શરૂઆતમાં જ એક દ્રશ્ય છે: એન્કાઉન્ટર હજુ તો માંડ ખતમ થયું હોય છે ત્યાં શાંતિદૂતોના ટોળાંઓ પોલીસની હાય હાય બોલાવવા ધસી જાય છે, પડખેની મસ્જિદના લાઉડ સ્પીકરમાંથી મુલ્લાઓ ઝેર ઓકવા માંડે છે કે, નિર્દોષ મુસ્લિમ વિદ્યાર્થીઓને ઇરાદાપૂર્વક નિશાન બનાવવામાં આવી રહ્યા છે, દિલ્હી પોલીસનો આ અત્યાચાર છે...! આવા આક્ષેપો પાછળનું કોઈ લોજિક? ના. એન્કાઉન્ટરમાં મરનાર શાંતિદૂત યુવાનો પાસેથી કેવી-કેવી સામગ્રી મળી? કેટલા હથિયારો મળ્યા? એમની પ્રવૃત્તિઓ કેવી હતી? આવી કશી જ વિગતો જાણ્યા વગર જ ટોળાં એકઠા થઇ ગયા, આરોપો કરવા લાગ્યા અને બળજબરી પણ કરી.

આટલી હિંમત અને આવી નફ્ફટાઈ, નાલાયકી આવે છે ક્યાંથી? એ આવે છે દિગ્વિજય, ચિદમ્બરમ, રાહુલ, સોનિયાના નિવેદનોમાંથી અને તેમના દ્વારા અપાતી હુંફમાંથી. શા માટે છેલ્લા છ વર્ષમાં ભારતનાં એકપણ સ્થળે બૉમ્બ બ્લાસ્ટ્સ થયાં નથી? કેમ હવે સિવિલિયન્સ પર મુંબઇ એટેક ટાઈપ હુમલાઓ થતાં નથી? કેમ કે, વિષવૃક્ષને ખાતરપાણી મળવાનું બંધ થઈ ગયું.

"બટલા હાઉસ" આ જ વાત બહુ સરસ રીતે સમજાવે છે. નક્કર પુરાવાઓ ધરાવતો એક મજબૂત કેઇસ પોલીસ પાસે હોવા છતાં સોનિયા એન્ડ કંપનીએ ત્રાસવાદીઓને છાવરવા અને મુસ્લિમોને ખુશ રાખવા કેવા પેંતરા રચ્યા તે જોઈએ ત્યારે સળગી જઈએ ભીતરથી. શાંતિદૂતોને રાજી રાખવા કોંગ્રેસીઓએ, સમાજવાદી પાર્ટીએ, આઝમખાન, શિવરાજસિંહ, સિબ્બલ, દિગ્વિજય જેવા લોકોએ કેટલા ઉધામા કર્યા એ પણ ફિલ્મમાં દર્શાવાયું છે. મજા એ છે કે, ફિલ્મમાં થ્રિલ ભરપૂર છે, એ કોઈ બોરિંગ ડોક્યુમેન્ટરી નથી. પોલીસનું પરફેક્ટ પેપરવર્ક અને ફાડું ફિલ્ડવર્ક કેવું હોય તેની રસપ્રદ વિગતો તેમાં છે. બીજી અને સૌથી અગત્યની વાત એ કે, ફિલ્મમાં હિંમતપૂર્વક સત્ય રજૂ કરાયું છે. શેહશરમ વગર. પક્ષાપક્ષી વિના. હા! કાણાને કાણો કહેવાયો છે. કોર્ટરૂમમાં હીરો આખી વાતનો મર્મ બે જ વાક્યમાં કહી દે છે: "આ લોકો (મુસ્લિમો)ના દુશ્મન અમે નથી, બીજા બે લોકો છે: એક તેમને ઉશ્કેરતા લોકો અને બીજા તેમની સતત તરફદારી કરતા લોકો"

બૉલીવુડમાં ગોધરાકાંડ પર અર્ધો ડઝન ફિલ્મો બની છે, ડાબેરી ફિલ્મ સર્જકોએ તેમાં ટ્રેનમાં ભૂંજી નંખાયેલા હિન્દુઓનો પક્ષ રજૂ નથી કર્યો, શાંતિપ્રિય ધર્મના ભોળા પારેવડાંની સાઈડ જ મૂકી છે. બૉલીવુડ યા તો બેલેન્સ કરે છે અથવા શાંતિદૂતોની તરફેણ. "બટલા હાઉસ" જેવા સુખદ અપવાદો જવલ્લે જ જોવા મળે છે. કાશ્મીરી પંડિતોની કત્લેઆમ અને અમાનવીય હકાલપટ્ટી જેવી ઘટના પશ્ચિમમાં બની હોત તો તેનાં પરથી એક ડઝન ફિલ્મો બની ગઈ હોત. આપણે ત્યાં એકપણ બની નથી! કારણ શોધવા જવાની જરૂર નથી. શાંતિદૂતો એક મોટી અને સંગઠિત મતબેન્ક છે. "બટલા હાઉસ" એટલા માટે પણ જોવી જોઈએ કે, ભવિષ્યમાં રાઈટ વિંગના કે તટસ્થ ફિલ્મ સર્જકોને બેખૌફ તથ્ય રજૂ કરવાની હામ રહે. સંસ્થાઓએ પોતાનાં સભ્યોને દેખાડવી જોઈએ, પોલીસ સ્ટાફ માટે અને હાઈસ્કૂલના વિદ્યાર્થીઓ માટે શો થવા જોઈએ. આપણાં દેશમાં કેટલું ધુપ્પલ ચાલતું હતું અને રાષ્ટ્રીય સલામતી સાથે કેટલાં ખતરનાક ચેડાં થયા છે, તેનો ખ્યાલ દરેકને આવે એ જરૂરી છે.

Batla House- nice movie. 3.5/5

Sarvam Thalamayam (Tamil)- Netflix

A perfect potion of passion and music. A story about a Vijay fan who has nothing more as a goal in life but worshipping his idol, contributing his honesty towards the fandom etc. His father is a mridangam maker. The movie is about his raw talent getting transformed into a professional induced by his thirst for rhythm. Pure passion and dedication can create devotion to achieve success and even win over egoism, jealousy by withstanding the manipulation of the reality shows. Passion has no boundaries, goes beyond different forms, cultures and binds the sound to the magical moves of the maker of the instrument. In short, the creative hand which makes mridangam can also own its rhythm. Beautiful casting and a simple story amazingly narrated.

Jalebi

A disturbed soul sets out on a journey in search for the answers to her questions. The director puts forth the story in a combination of the past with the present in a smooth way and makes us wait till the last frame to know what future holds for the characters. The protogonist is set out to forget her disturbing past and seek the answers to her emptyness in life. She meets her past who has a family now and gets to know her answers. What conclusion she draws ... whether she lets go her past...starts her life on a fresh note learning some life lessons forms the conclusion of the movie. Beautiful movie, excellent narration, amazing music and good casting.

Jalebi stands right for its title...the layers of the story r all tangled which still looks beautiful , bright and leaves a sweet lingering flavour in our minds.

Thanneer Mathan Dinangal(Malayalam)

Just released the previous week, it’s a light , breezy movie about the students who have just joined College. Movie is a very simple narration of the various day to day incidents of a group of boys. Hilarious approach to the characters and the narration makes it a must watch in theatre. Fresh faces in casting adds to the tale’s freshness . Vineeth Srinivasan as usual adds his comical flavour and plays an important role.

Glow S3

In its third season Glow tries to break the mold. It expands from just being about female wrestlers into their lives, emotions, and aspirations. It finally addresses the stereotypes, racism, insecurities, and struggles of working women. The transition isn't smooth. OITNB (before it went off the rails) handled the transition from Piper to highlighting the problems with our prison industrial complex well. Glow sputters, falters, and tends to lose interest.

But it picks up again as the season progresses. The final 2-3 episodes brilliantly explore several arcs.

*spoilers ahead*

Debbie finding her calling as a businesswoman. Bash struggling with his repressed homosexuality. Carmen questioning her place. Sheila embracing her humanity. Sam becoming a supportive father. Cherry and Keith disagreeing on starting a family. Arthie embracing her homosexuality. It unfolds so well and holds so much interest that the show deserves an S4. At least to tie up all these arcs before the end.