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Intense and Insightful!
Dunkirk Movie Review:
From his very first film (Memento) Chris Nolan has been obsessed with using TIME as his narrative tool. From Batman Begins, The prestige to Interstellar, he has used this tool effectively many times.
So his effort in contributing to the WAR film Genre also uses this narrative tool.
THIS is NOT A Spoiler….
The movie runs in three separate stories.
1. The beach – Plays out over a week.
2. The Boat – Plays out over the course of a day
3. The Place – Takes place in the span of an hour.
If the viewer misses this important cue about the film, the rest of the film can feel like a jumbled mess. Which it is definitely not.
So now we have events taking place in on story which overlaps another story and so on…
This and using strings and a clock beat to the background music, makes this film unique in this genre. The pacing is super tight and very very tense. The film tries very hard not to slow down at all, so even the slower scenes have a rhythmic clock tick sort of music to it.
The plot is quite simple. The British and French armed forces are stuck at Dunkirk and they are waiting for rescue / evacuation on a large scale.
This story could have become a melodrama fest with lots of sobbing and teary eyes. But instead Nolan keeps it matter of fact, no jingoism, no needless British patriotism (he IS British, least people forget). This is film is all about showing the horrors of war and the toll it takes on a person without going down the drama route. The tense is felt in the music, the atmosphere, the acting and the pacing. Not in the dialogs of emotions.
But that is not to say the film is devoid of emotion, it just SHOWS you a scene and lets you feel the emotion rather than dictating what you are supposed to feel.
These above things, make this one of the best war genre films ever made.
Not to mention, all of the film barring maybe 1 or 2 scenes is all practically shot minus CGI. That hugely adds to the film’s authenticity.
The aim of this film is to tell this story of the biggest civilian helped evacuation of an army in all of history. It doesn’t show the war fare, the gore, just the plain and simple facts.
In the acting department, everyone is pretty good as is expected in a Nolan film, but other than Tom hardy, no one really stands out too much, mostly that is intentional, this is about a group effort, but films need a few central characters to narrate a story, or it becomes a documentary.
Kenneth Branagh is good as the admiral (or some high rank) of the Navy and his is the role which shows the gravitas of the British forces and their dignity under fire.
Rating: Just as a WAR FILM, I would rate this a 9.5/10. But compared to this director’s masterpieces over the years, as a NOLAN film, this would come somewhere in at 8/10. Pretty good, but not his film till date. But a GREAT change from Sci-Fi and super heroes to a real incident.
Final Rating : 8.5/10.
From his very first film (Memento) Chris Nolan has been obsessed with using TIME as his narrative tool. From Batman Begins, The prestige to Interstellar, he has used this tool effectively many times.
So his effort in contributing to the WAR film Genre also uses this narrative tool.
THIS is NOT A Spoiler….
The movie runs in three separate stories.
1. The beach – Plays out over a week.
2. The Boat – Plays out over the course of a day
3. The Place – Takes place in the span of an hour.
If the viewer misses this important cue about the film, the rest of the film can feel like a jumbled mess. Which it is definitely not.
So now we have events taking place in on story which overlaps another story and so on…
This and using strings and a clock beat to the background music, makes this film unique in this genre. The pacing is super tight and very very tense. The film tries very hard not to slow down at all, so even the slower scenes have a rhythmic clock tick sort of music to it.
The plot is quite simple. The British and French armed forces are stuck at Dunkirk and they are waiting for rescue / evacuation on a large scale.
This story could have become a melodrama fest with lots of sobbing and teary eyes. But instead Nolan keeps it matter of fact, no jingoism, no needless British patriotism (he IS British, least people forget). This is film is all about showing the horrors of war and the toll it takes on a person without going down the drama route. The tense is felt in the music, the atmosphere, the acting and the pacing. Not in the dialogs of emotions.
But that is not to say the film is devoid of emotion, it just SHOWS you a scene and lets you feel the emotion rather than dictating what you are supposed to feel.
These above things, make this one of the best war genre films ever made.
Not to mention, all of the film barring maybe 1 or 2 scenes is all practically shot minus CGI. That hugely adds to the film’s authenticity.
The aim of this film is to tell this story of the biggest civilian helped evacuation of an army in all of history. It doesn’t show the war fare, the gore, just the plain and simple facts.
In the acting department, everyone is pretty good as is expected in a Nolan film, but other than Tom hardy, no one really stands out too much, mostly that is intentional, this is about a group effort, but films need a few central characters to narrate a story, or it becomes a documentary.
Kenneth Branagh is good as the admiral (or some high rank) of the Navy and his is the role which shows the gravitas of the British forces and their dignity under fire.
Rating: Just as a WAR FILM, I would rate this a 9.5/10. But compared to this director’s masterpieces over the years, as a NOLAN film, this would come somewhere in at 8/10. Pretty good, but not his film till date. But a GREAT change from Sci-Fi and super heroes to a real incident.
Final Rating : 8.5/10.
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Good, but not great, worth a watch!
When this movie first came out in 2014, I initially didn’t like this much. Not that it wasn’t good or well made, but it was very different from the first part and it took me a while to get used to that idea.
Recap:
Caesar and his apes are now living in the wild far away from the humans whose society has been decimated by the ‘Simian flu’ a virulent drug released in the previous film known as ALZ113. With the humans gone, Caesar is looking after his family and the apes who follow him.
Chaos ensues when caesar’s son comes across a group of desperate humans trying to restore power to the nearby dam.
One thing leads to another and Koba, an ape who has undergone lab experiments previously, tries to dethrones Caesar and then start a war with the last remaining band of humans.
Caesar is almost killed and then he has to fight back in his weaken state against Koba to establish his supremacy and regain control of the apes.
Review:
I did not love this movie as much as the first part, but this is still a damn good movie. It’s not on my all-time favorite list, but as a sequel to this Ape-Trilogy, it’s a solid entry. Lots of action, great scenes and very good direction makes this movie a must watch. Caesar’s words, although minimal, are very powerful when he uses them. This is a credit to the film makers.
Not to mention the CGI is now almost flawless. A close up of Caesar’s digitally rendered face shows no signs of any CGI. He looks and seems fully real.
The plot is not fast paced, but the implications of the story are very dramatic. The action scenes are really solid and then climactic fight in a half-finished tower is quite satisfying.
But the reason I didn’t like this film is because it is only HALF a film. They leave the end open for the next part which I am about to see today. Without the next part, this sequel ends on a wobbly footing. Possibly the sequel will make this film much better. That is yet to be seen.
Rating: 7.5/10. Pretty solid film, with an open ended climax which leaves you wanting for more. I honestly did not want to re-visit this film before the sequel released as it always leaves me wanting for more and a closure on the story. Now 3 years after release, that’s possible and that let’s me enjoy this film a lot more.
Recap:
Caesar and his apes are now living in the wild far away from the humans whose society has been decimated by the ‘Simian flu’ a virulent drug released in the previous film known as ALZ113. With the humans gone, Caesar is looking after his family and the apes who follow him.
Chaos ensues when caesar’s son comes across a group of desperate humans trying to restore power to the nearby dam.
One thing leads to another and Koba, an ape who has undergone lab experiments previously, tries to dethrones Caesar and then start a war with the last remaining band of humans.
Caesar is almost killed and then he has to fight back in his weaken state against Koba to establish his supremacy and regain control of the apes.
Review:
I did not love this movie as much as the first part, but this is still a damn good movie. It’s not on my all-time favorite list, but as a sequel to this Ape-Trilogy, it’s a solid entry. Lots of action, great scenes and very good direction makes this movie a must watch. Caesar’s words, although minimal, are very powerful when he uses them. This is a credit to the film makers.
Not to mention the CGI is now almost flawless. A close up of Caesar’s digitally rendered face shows no signs of any CGI. He looks and seems fully real.
The plot is not fast paced, but the implications of the story are very dramatic. The action scenes are really solid and then climactic fight in a half-finished tower is quite satisfying.
But the reason I didn’t like this film is because it is only HALF a film. They leave the end open for the next part which I am about to see today. Without the next part, this sequel ends on a wobbly footing. Possibly the sequel will make this film much better. That is yet to be seen.
Rating: 7.5/10. Pretty solid film, with an open ended climax which leaves you wanting for more. I honestly did not want to re-visit this film before the sequel released as it always leaves me wanting for more and a closure on the story. Now 3 years after release, that’s possible and that let’s me enjoy this film a lot more.
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This Ape Rises really high!
Recapping the Ape Movies. First up.
Rise of planet of the apes
Released in 2011, I had exactly ZERO expectation when this movie was announced and finally released. But I was surprised at how good this film was and how non cheesy its Ape-centric plot was.
Recap:
Obvious Spoilers Ahead…
The story starts with a female ape being caught in the wild and then being tested upon. The drug ALZ-112 is given to this ape. She becomes smarter and our leading man, james franco is very enthusiastic about the drug he developed, as he thinks he might be able to cure his father’s Alzheimer’s with it.
But chaos ensues and this ape is killed. Later it comes to light that she gave birth. This small chimp is adopted by franco’s character and is genetically smarter and almost human like in intelligence and behavior.
The plot unfolds and Caesar the ape sees the cruelty of humans and the suffering of apes and decides to do something about it.
This all culminates in Caesar releasing a new experimental drug ALZ 113 which is (unknown to him or the ones who created it) deadly to humans but makes the ape smarter and able to speak in human tongues.
Caesar and his apes then proceed to rampage across the city in search for a safe heaven, which results in some great action scenes with gorillas charging horses and jumping on to choppers.
Review:
This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Especially in the sci-fi / drama genre. Caesar’s story is a coming of age story along with an allegory of slavery and meaning of freedom. The direction is top notch, with the audience immediately feeling a connection with the lead chimp. In 2011 the Visual FX were ground breaking in creating a fully CGI chimp which was more or less real looking.
Even 2017’s beauty and the beast had worse VFX than this movie.
The music, the atmosphere is all engaging as well as emotional.
The only sore point of this film is female lead. Played by Freda Pinto she is sorely miscast and an eye sore in the acting department. Luckily though, she doesn’t have a big role.
IF you haven’t seen this film in fear of too much monkeying around, worry not. This film treats its ape subject matter very seriously and makes you, the viewer feel for the ape’s plight.
Rating:
9/10. A more or less perfect Reboot/Remake/Prequel in the apes franchise and a total surprise when it released due to high quality CGI and great direction.
Rise of planet of the apes
Released in 2011, I had exactly ZERO expectation when this movie was announced and finally released. But I was surprised at how good this film was and how non cheesy its Ape-centric plot was.
Recap:
Obvious Spoilers Ahead…
The story starts with a female ape being caught in the wild and then being tested upon. The drug ALZ-112 is given to this ape. She becomes smarter and our leading man, james franco is very enthusiastic about the drug he developed, as he thinks he might be able to cure his father’s Alzheimer’s with it.
But chaos ensues and this ape is killed. Later it comes to light that she gave birth. This small chimp is adopted by franco’s character and is genetically smarter and almost human like in intelligence and behavior.
The plot unfolds and Caesar the ape sees the cruelty of humans and the suffering of apes and decides to do something about it.
This all culminates in Caesar releasing a new experimental drug ALZ 113 which is (unknown to him or the ones who created it) deadly to humans but makes the ape smarter and able to speak in human tongues.
Caesar and his apes then proceed to rampage across the city in search for a safe heaven, which results in some great action scenes with gorillas charging horses and jumping on to choppers.
Review:
This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Especially in the sci-fi / drama genre. Caesar’s story is a coming of age story along with an allegory of slavery and meaning of freedom. The direction is top notch, with the audience immediately feeling a connection with the lead chimp. In 2011 the Visual FX were ground breaking in creating a fully CGI chimp which was more or less real looking.
Even 2017’s beauty and the beast had worse VFX than this movie.
The music, the atmosphere is all engaging as well as emotional.
The only sore point of this film is female lead. Played by Freda Pinto she is sorely miscast and an eye sore in the acting department. Luckily though, she doesn’t have a big role.
IF you haven’t seen this film in fear of too much monkeying around, worry not. This film treats its ape subject matter very seriously and makes you, the viewer feel for the ape’s plight.
Rating:
9/10. A more or less perfect Reboot/Remake/Prequel in the apes franchise and a total surprise when it released due to high quality CGI and great direction.
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This Homecoming is a bit Lame!
After a disastrous Amazing Spiderman 2
(A movie which I personally liked for some odd reason), SONY had an uphill battle to re-introduce Spiderman. They did so with the help of MARVEL and integrating him into the MCU.
Did they succeed fully? Is Spiderman redeemed?
Well. Not entirely.
Tom Holland playing Peter Parker does a great job of showing the difficulty of being a teenage superhero. Only issue is, like it or not, Toby McGuire did it better in Spiderman 1 and 2.
Even if I stop with the comparisons, this Peter Parker hardly has any human connection other than his one best friend. MARVEL promised this to be a part 80’s John Hughes film and Part action blockbuster. They tried to adhere to that, but didn’t fully commit. Unlike John Hughes films, the principal cast doesn’t come together towards the end, nor does Parker have 1 single moment or scene with his lady love or with his aunt. Everything is shown as background noise and everything which made him relatable is now pushed to the background to make way for TONY Stark and his IRON man.
Coming to the big selling point of the film, IRON Man. I didn’t expect him to be in the film much and he isn’t, but instead we are stuck with John Favraeu. The director of Iron man 1 and 2 and the actor who plays Happy Hogan. Who is given WAY TOO much screen time. He starts to get on the nerves.
Coming to the villain. The casting of former Batman Micheal Keaton was a good move, he can be menacing and deadly, but that part hardly comes out, he is portrayed as one more victim of the Avenger’s Fallout, trying to make a living, HARDLY that villainous. More like desperate. Heck none of the villains felt evil, maybe that was the point, but at least they could have been menacing!
The direction of this movie is VERY by the books, with sort of new comer John Watts not really managing the same flair which Sam Raimi had. This film looks like it was made for teenagers and made BY A teenage. But there are SO MANY made for Kids films which are and should be good given the budget and creative team behind the film.
The score itself is fine, it’s more like a rehash of older Spiderman themes and nothing as iconic as the original theme.
My biggest issue with the film and its marketing is, (SPOILERS AHEAD- SORT OF) They showed EVERY SINGLE dramatic beat of the film in the trailers. EVERY scene was spoilt and there is NOTHING to surprise you except a small twist in the end. Not to mention, coming to the story itself, BOTH the major disasters in the film is caused by Spiderman himself and not the villains. Which is SORT of appropriate as he is trying to be like IRON Man (who got entire SOKOVIA sort of killed/Destroyed). But seriously, Spiderman actually makes things worse at every point and doesn’t even manage to fix it as such.
Rating: 6/10. A good one time watch for Spiderman / MCU fans. For NON MARVEL, only Spiderman fans, this might be a bit disappointing. Depends on your age and taste really. This film is NOT meant for everyone. It’s no IRON Man 1 which any age group can enjoy.
P.s: I KNOW the poster looks like it’s something FAN made and done in great hurry. BUT this is the REAL poster of the film. Sort of rounds off the issues with the film itself… too many characters, nothing falls together organically, the story goes sort of nowhere and it’s all messy!
(A movie which I personally liked for some odd reason), SONY had an uphill battle to re-introduce Spiderman. They did so with the help of MARVEL and integrating him into the MCU.
Did they succeed fully? Is Spiderman redeemed?
Well. Not entirely.
Tom Holland playing Peter Parker does a great job of showing the difficulty of being a teenage superhero. Only issue is, like it or not, Toby McGuire did it better in Spiderman 1 and 2.
Even if I stop with the comparisons, this Peter Parker hardly has any human connection other than his one best friend. MARVEL promised this to be a part 80’s John Hughes film and Part action blockbuster. They tried to adhere to that, but didn’t fully commit. Unlike John Hughes films, the principal cast doesn’t come together towards the end, nor does Parker have 1 single moment or scene with his lady love or with his aunt. Everything is shown as background noise and everything which made him relatable is now pushed to the background to make way for TONY Stark and his IRON man.
Coming to the big selling point of the film, IRON Man. I didn’t expect him to be in the film much and he isn’t, but instead we are stuck with John Favraeu. The director of Iron man 1 and 2 and the actor who plays Happy Hogan. Who is given WAY TOO much screen time. He starts to get on the nerves.
Coming to the villain. The casting of former Batman Micheal Keaton was a good move, he can be menacing and deadly, but that part hardly comes out, he is portrayed as one more victim of the Avenger’s Fallout, trying to make a living, HARDLY that villainous. More like desperate. Heck none of the villains felt evil, maybe that was the point, but at least they could have been menacing!
The direction of this movie is VERY by the books, with sort of new comer John Watts not really managing the same flair which Sam Raimi had. This film looks like it was made for teenagers and made BY A teenage. But there are SO MANY made for Kids films which are and should be good given the budget and creative team behind the film.
The score itself is fine, it’s more like a rehash of older Spiderman themes and nothing as iconic as the original theme.
My biggest issue with the film and its marketing is, (SPOILERS AHEAD- SORT OF) They showed EVERY SINGLE dramatic beat of the film in the trailers. EVERY scene was spoilt and there is NOTHING to surprise you except a small twist in the end. Not to mention, coming to the story itself, BOTH the major disasters in the film is caused by Spiderman himself and not the villains. Which is SORT of appropriate as he is trying to be like IRON Man (who got entire SOKOVIA sort of killed/Destroyed). But seriously, Spiderman actually makes things worse at every point and doesn’t even manage to fix it as such.
Rating: 6/10. A good one time watch for Spiderman / MCU fans. For NON MARVEL, only Spiderman fans, this might be a bit disappointing. Depends on your age and taste really. This film is NOT meant for everyone. It’s no IRON Man 1 which any age group can enjoy.
P.s: I KNOW the poster looks like it’s something FAN made and done in great hurry. BUT this is the REAL poster of the film. Sort of rounds off the issues with the film itself… too many characters, nothing falls together organically, the story goes sort of nowhere and it’s all messy!
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This one MOVES FAST!
Yesterday I saw one of the most ridiculously titled movies of the year. Most people might stay away coz of the title, but going past it…
The movie in question is of course BABY DRIVER.
This movie is a crime heist drama with some elements of a musical integrated into it.
HOW THE HECK? you might ask. How do you take The Transporter and sort of combine it in essence with LA LA Land?
Well you have to see the movie to understand HOW they pulled that off.
But the point is, not only did Edgar Wright (of Shaun of the dead fame) manage to pull it off, he does it in such style and brilliance that this becomes one of the BEST movies to come out in this year.
I SO miss NON super hero, NON Huge action blockbuster, smaller crime action dramas like Die Hard or The Transporter. This movie perfectly manages to satisfy that itch.
The direction is TOP NOTCH here. One of the best directed films of this decade, the score and the editing and the direction all go hand in hand to create something unique, magnificent, with a good pace and lots of amazing action sequences.
The acting my Ansel Elgort is damn good as the sullen Baby. Who speaks less, but drives fast. The cast has some heavy hitters like, Kevin Spacey, John Hamm and Jamie Foxx and they are all REALLY good in their roles, perfectly casted and great performances.
This is one heck of a rare film which has cars, guns, heists, shootouts and songs combined.
Rating: I am hard pressed to find a reason to NOT give it a perfect 10. But The film did lack a bit in the story department, which they made it up in the acting, direction and editing. So …
9/10. An almost perfect film. Definitely a cult classic in the making.
P.s: The movie has a 97% on RT and 8.4 on IMDB. So it’s lesser known but is being appreciated by critics and audiences both.
The movie in question is of course BABY DRIVER.
This movie is a crime heist drama with some elements of a musical integrated into it.
HOW THE HECK? you might ask. How do you take The Transporter and sort of combine it in essence with LA LA Land?
Well you have to see the movie to understand HOW they pulled that off.
But the point is, not only did Edgar Wright (of Shaun of the dead fame) manage to pull it off, he does it in such style and brilliance that this becomes one of the BEST movies to come out in this year.
I SO miss NON super hero, NON Huge action blockbuster, smaller crime action dramas like Die Hard or The Transporter. This movie perfectly manages to satisfy that itch.
The direction is TOP NOTCH here. One of the best directed films of this decade, the score and the editing and the direction all go hand in hand to create something unique, magnificent, with a good pace and lots of amazing action sequences.
The acting my Ansel Elgort is damn good as the sullen Baby. Who speaks less, but drives fast. The cast has some heavy hitters like, Kevin Spacey, John Hamm and Jamie Foxx and they are all REALLY good in their roles, perfectly casted and great performances.
This is one heck of a rare film which has cars, guns, heists, shootouts and songs combined.
Rating: I am hard pressed to find a reason to NOT give it a perfect 10. But The film did lack a bit in the story department, which they made it up in the acting, direction and editing. So …
9/10. An almost perfect film. Definitely a cult classic in the making.
P.s: The movie has a 97% on RT and 8.4 on IMDB. So it’s lesser known but is being appreciated by critics and audiences both.
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Outdone by the Book!
I haven’t done a bluray/dvd review of films for a long time and after much trepidation I saw one of my most UN-Anticipated films of 2016.
Inferno is based on a Dan brown novel of the same name with his main character Robert Langdon as the hero, so obviously Tom Hanks makes a return in his iconic yet much critically panned role.
This movie is notable for how Hollywood managed to screw the pooch on a GREAT and VERY suspenseful story.
This is the best novel Dan Brown has written post Da vinci Code and somehow the Hollywood screen writers thought, that they are smarter and more intelligent.
So they changed the VERY thing that made the book unique.
Since this is a year-old film, SPOILERS ahead.
The books ending is BLEAK. The plot Robert is trying to stop already took place a week ago and they can’t stop anything. The virus is released and makes half the population infertile.
Amazing ending twist. This could have made a very Chris Nolan type of film with twists and turns and then finally. A huge surprise in the end.
But the movie goes for a fanatic terrorist sort of angle in the end with bombs and knives and stabbing and shootings. It just doesn’t work.
This shows in the critical response, the box office and the audience rating.
I am glad this shit show of desecration of Dan Brown’s books is over and glad he made some movie from it and MOSTLY glad I didn’t spend my hard earned bucks on this film and instead caught it for free on a streaming service!
Rating : 5/10. Starts out well, then muddles up midway and then loses the ending totally.
P.S: Let’s not get into the acting. Everyone was pretty horrible including our Irfan Khan and an overblown badass,
Inferno is based on a Dan brown novel of the same name with his main character Robert Langdon as the hero, so obviously Tom Hanks makes a return in his iconic yet much critically panned role.
This movie is notable for how Hollywood managed to screw the pooch on a GREAT and VERY suspenseful story.
This is the best novel Dan Brown has written post Da vinci Code and somehow the Hollywood screen writers thought, that they are smarter and more intelligent.
So they changed the VERY thing that made the book unique.
Since this is a year-old film, SPOILERS ahead.
The books ending is BLEAK. The plot Robert is trying to stop already took place a week ago and they can’t stop anything. The virus is released and makes half the population infertile.
Amazing ending twist. This could have made a very Chris Nolan type of film with twists and turns and then finally. A huge surprise in the end.
But the movie goes for a fanatic terrorist sort of angle in the end with bombs and knives and stabbing and shootings. It just doesn’t work.
This shows in the critical response, the box office and the audience rating.
I am glad this shit show of desecration of Dan Brown’s books is over and glad he made some movie from it and MOSTLY glad I didn’t spend my hard earned bucks on this film and instead caught it for free on a streaming service!
Rating : 5/10. Starts out well, then muddles up midway and then loses the ending totally.
P.S: Let’s not get into the acting. Everyone was pretty horrible including our Irfan Khan and an overblown badass,
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This Last Knight Stands ALONE...
Transformers: The Last Knight : Movie Review
I was really hesitant to see this film. So hesitant infact that although the previews started on Wednesday, I hesitated to see this till Sunday.
The previous one was a total snooze fest and I rated it four out of ten.
So with zero expectations I went into this film and maybe due to those less expectations, this film actually entertained me. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great film by any stretch of the imagination. BUT, this film does a better job as a sequel to the franchise than the previous entry for sure.
The good parts are the action is very different from previous parts, bay as a director has put in EVERYTHING he knows from his ‘The Rock’ to ‘Armageddon’ he has used every single movie making trick he knows into this film.
Despite some lame acting, useless characters, long exposition scenes, this film fares in the lore and mythology much better than previous parts and for the fans of the franchise it has a lot of Easter eggs.
This movie in a way bring the whole franchise together and binds the story together.
The music is same as the previous parts, though there is a scene where they make fun of themselves for using overly dramatic movies.
This film has become very self-aware of what it is and this shows.
Overall if you like the transformers franchise, this is a must watch.
Rating : 6.5/10 . Enjoyable, especially the finale.
P.S: No clue why the critics hated this. Wasn’t as bad as part 2-3-4. Infact this is the best transformers film after the first one.
spoilers : Certain things were questionable at best in the film. why was there a 14 year old girl in the film? she didnt NOTHING plot wise. she was simply there to make the film relevant to kids. Also the token black dude was a terrible actor and I wish he had died!
I was really hesitant to see this film. So hesitant infact that although the previews started on Wednesday, I hesitated to see this till Sunday.
The previous one was a total snooze fest and I rated it four out of ten.
So with zero expectations I went into this film and maybe due to those less expectations, this film actually entertained me. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great film by any stretch of the imagination. BUT, this film does a better job as a sequel to the franchise than the previous entry for sure.
The good parts are the action is very different from previous parts, bay as a director has put in EVERYTHING he knows from his ‘The Rock’ to ‘Armageddon’ he has used every single movie making trick he knows into this film.
Despite some lame acting, useless characters, long exposition scenes, this film fares in the lore and mythology much better than previous parts and for the fans of the franchise it has a lot of Easter eggs.
This movie in a way bring the whole franchise together and binds the story together.
The music is same as the previous parts, though there is a scene where they make fun of themselves for using overly dramatic movies.
This film has become very self-aware of what it is and this shows.
Overall if you like the transformers franchise, this is a must watch.
Rating : 6.5/10 . Enjoyable, especially the finale.
P.S: No clue why the critics hated this. Wasn’t as bad as part 2-3-4. Infact this is the best transformers film after the first one.
spoilers : Certain things were questionable at best in the film. why was there a 14 year old girl in the film? she didnt NOTHING plot wise. she was simply there to make the film relevant to kids. Also the token black dude was a terrible actor and I wish he had died!
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Doesnt beat the 1999 Version! wow...
The Mummy has been made and remade several times.
Once in 1932, then again in 1999 (the one we all have seen) and now in 2017.
It’s ironic that the 1999 version was grander in scope and had more (if not better) visual FX and thrills and spills than the new version.
Lets go for the postives first.
This movie is not unwatchable. Its an OK movie which isn’t a barn on fire Aka a complete mess.
Some scenes are decent and the villainous mummy played by the gorgeous Sofia Boutella is (once fully resurrected) quite hot to look at!
Having said that, this film fails at almost every thing else.
The characters are half baked. The plot does a bad job of explaining the universe they are set in (the dark universe) Tom Cruise’s character is being either controlled by the heroine or the mummy or Henry hyde, he doesn’t do anything of his own till the last scene.
There are no fight scenes or anything even remotely cool happening in a mummy film!
My advice, Re-watch wonder Woman and then see the 1999 mummy at home. It was much better!
Rating : 5/10. Difficult to see even one time. Die hard fans of the Mummy trilogy will also not enjoy this film.
P.s: Good luck with the DARK universe after this barn burner.
P.P.S : Next time don’t give away EVERY single scene in the trailers. Like EVERY scene of any note is shown in the trailers. Including the climax. Also the poster is bullshit, london doesn't get disintegrated , only the GLASS breaks... geez.
Once in 1932, then again in 1999 (the one we all have seen) and now in 2017.
It’s ironic that the 1999 version was grander in scope and had more (if not better) visual FX and thrills and spills than the new version.
Lets go for the postives first.
This movie is not unwatchable. Its an OK movie which isn’t a barn on fire Aka a complete mess.
Some scenes are decent and the villainous mummy played by the gorgeous Sofia Boutella is (once fully resurrected) quite hot to look at!
Having said that, this film fails at almost every thing else.
The characters are half baked. The plot does a bad job of explaining the universe they are set in (the dark universe) Tom Cruise’s character is being either controlled by the heroine or the mummy or Henry hyde, he doesn’t do anything of his own till the last scene.
There are no fight scenes or anything even remotely cool happening in a mummy film!
My advice, Re-watch wonder Woman and then see the 1999 mummy at home. It was much better!
Rating : 5/10. Difficult to see even one time. Die hard fans of the Mummy trilogy will also not enjoy this film.
P.s: Good luck with the DARK universe after this barn burner.
P.P.S : Next time don’t give away EVERY single scene in the trailers. Like EVERY scene of any note is shown in the trailers. Including the climax. Also the poster is bullshit, london doesn't get disintegrated , only the GLASS breaks... geez.
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Magadheera LITE Aka Bhag Jaa!
What happens when you take,
1. 2 plot points from Magadheera (& the basic general idea)
2. 1 Character (khal Drogo) from game of thrones
3. Add in a bit of modern age Bollywood rom-com
4. A half baked script with multiple dead ends.
The answer is obviously Raabta.
I LOVE reincarnation stories, from Karz to Magadheera I must have seen them all.
This movie although takes elements from the most common clichés, it doesn’t manage to put them in place properly.
The good parts of the movie is Sushant singh rajput’s modern day avatar’s acting. It keeps the film going. Kriti Sanon is really good looking, her acting is a bit lacking, but so is her character.
Spoilers ahead.
The villain is like a mix of Joker from Dark Knight and Shah Rukh Khan from Darr, and he is REALLY bad.
The acting is so over the top that it looks like he is in a different film from the other two leads.
Plot wise, the film tries to do what magadheera did, but SO halfheartedly that it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.
Some things make no sense, proving the director is a class a moron. In one scene towards the end the hero and heroine are bantering while on the run, when suddenly they are shot at with automatic guns. But 2 scenes ago, the villain shot dead one of his henchmen for shooting a gun at the heroine, because he obviously wants her alive. So why will the henchmen now shoot hundreds of bullets at the pair?
The climax is sudden and half-baked too. They intercut the past’s ending and present repeatedly as if the audience has forgotten that they saw those scenes barely 15 minutes ago.
Coming to the part of the film which shows their previous lives:
OH boy is this embarrassing. They try to go more game of thrones than Mahabharat, everyone is shown as savages, the war scene involves 10 people fighting near a waterfall. The dialogs trying to show olden times is complete gibberish and the audience started leaving in those scenes…
I tried hard to not compare this film to Magadheera, but they are two VERY similar subject films, but with totally different treatments. The reason magadheera worked was because it was over the top, it was grand and the past scenes were simply amazing (i.e before baahubali came out).
This film is SO lacking that it doesn’t even use it own title track properly, the background music is lacking, the title theme is not used at all dramatically. All in all, the theater was empty on a Saturday afternoon. This film is a flop and deserves to be one.
Verdict: Lack of imagination, awkward romance, over the top idiotic villain, does not a good reincarnation movie make…
Rating: 4/10. Hard to see it one time. DIE hard fans of Magadheera and KArz and other such films might be interested to see it, but my advice:
SKIP IT and watch it on DVD or HOTSTAR, or Netflix or amazon prime. Whatever.
P.s: the two songs ik baari aaja and the raabta title track are really amazing songs. Sad that they are wasted on such a bad film.
1. 2 plot points from Magadheera (& the basic general idea)
2. 1 Character (khal Drogo) from game of thrones
3. Add in a bit of modern age Bollywood rom-com
4. A half baked script with multiple dead ends.
The answer is obviously Raabta.
I LOVE reincarnation stories, from Karz to Magadheera I must have seen them all.
This movie although takes elements from the most common clichés, it doesn’t manage to put them in place properly.
The good parts of the movie is Sushant singh rajput’s modern day avatar’s acting. It keeps the film going. Kriti Sanon is really good looking, her acting is a bit lacking, but so is her character.
Spoilers ahead.
The villain is like a mix of Joker from Dark Knight and Shah Rukh Khan from Darr, and he is REALLY bad.
The acting is so over the top that it looks like he is in a different film from the other two leads.
Plot wise, the film tries to do what magadheera did, but SO halfheartedly that it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.
Some things make no sense, proving the director is a class a moron. In one scene towards the end the hero and heroine are bantering while on the run, when suddenly they are shot at with automatic guns. But 2 scenes ago, the villain shot dead one of his henchmen for shooting a gun at the heroine, because he obviously wants her alive. So why will the henchmen now shoot hundreds of bullets at the pair?
The climax is sudden and half-baked too. They intercut the past’s ending and present repeatedly as if the audience has forgotten that they saw those scenes barely 15 minutes ago.
Coming to the part of the film which shows their previous lives:
OH boy is this embarrassing. They try to go more game of thrones than Mahabharat, everyone is shown as savages, the war scene involves 10 people fighting near a waterfall. The dialogs trying to show olden times is complete gibberish and the audience started leaving in those scenes…
I tried hard to not compare this film to Magadheera, but they are two VERY similar subject films, but with totally different treatments. The reason magadheera worked was because it was over the top, it was grand and the past scenes were simply amazing (i.e before baahubali came out).
This film is SO lacking that it doesn’t even use it own title track properly, the background music is lacking, the title theme is not used at all dramatically. All in all, the theater was empty on a Saturday afternoon. This film is a flop and deserves to be one.
Verdict: Lack of imagination, awkward romance, over the top idiotic villain, does not a good reincarnation movie make…
Rating: 4/10. Hard to see it one time. DIE hard fans of Magadheera and KArz and other such films might be interested to see it, but my advice:
SKIP IT and watch it on DVD or HOTSTAR, or Netflix or amazon prime. Whatever.
P.s: the two songs ik baari aaja and the raabta title track are really amazing songs. Sad that they are wasted on such a bad film.
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Superb Action, Great Solo Film !
Wonder Woman…
Female led super hero movies are few and far between, in this day and age, this movie along with everything else is also a statement, which says, if a talking tree and racoon can be huge hits, (Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2) then isn’t it time for Wonder Woman, one of the Founders of the Justice League to have her own solo film, which is good, shows her depth and doesn’t cash in on her sexy outfit.
This movie manages of the above and a bit more.
Acting:
Let’s start with the casting. Unlike Marvel movies, DC hasn’t gotten its actors right in a lot of instances. Gal Gadot was not a fan favourite for the role, she is a bit too skinny and not the wonder woman body type, (ideally someone like Xena Warrior Princess’s Lucy Lawless type).
BUT, Gal Gadot has managed to perform rather well in the film, from her innocence to the sense of power radiating from her, she manages every aspect of the character perfectly, the emotion she extrudes is that of compassion and power. Both are crucial aspects of the character.
Chris Pine, famous for his role as the new Captain Kirk on star trek plays the male lead and he carries a lot of the film on his shoulders. He works well with Gadot and their chemistry is believable without being cheesy.
The rest of the team whose picture we have already seen in Batman V Superman, do their role perfectly, though their characters get a bit short changed and as this is not an ensemble film, that’s not too much of an issue.
As for the bad guys, this film has them, but doesn’t really use them too much, which is fine, the subject of the film is Wonder Woman and the story serves her in every turn.
Direction:
Now coming to the direction, this is one of the few super hero films directed by a woman, somehow that shouldn’t be a factor in the quality of the film, but only a female director could show wonder woman in her skimpy outfit as powerful, without making her look silly or sleazy. That Is one of the big factor in the film, this gorgeous looking female warrior does turn heads everywhere, but she amazes with her powers and her dignity and not by showing off her legs (not that there is anything wrong with that)
Also, the fight scenes, the way they are shot is simply amazing. Something that BvS totally lacked, a dynamic quality to the way the action has been shot and choreographed, much like Captain America (2 and 3) this film REALLY manages to show off the character’s super human abilities convincingly.
Speaking of Captain America, this film is very similar to that character’s solo film. Including an unstoppable (Spoilers – Minor) Plane with bombs which the bad guys have devised to blow up London. If that sounds familiar, well, it’s a old trope of action films, stop the car/plane/ship with the bombs.
Score:
Last but not the least, the score, the wonder woman theme is really good and the way it’s used in the action scenes, makes the scenes even better. We have heard this theme before in BvS, but it only gets justice in this film.
Overall:
This film manages to mix magic, war and greek mythology together, which is sort of difficult to get. Along with a fish out of water story of Diana Prince is new to the world of men. The movie is slow in bits, some parts are very similar to other super hero movies, but the female lead, the action scenes and the last fight sequence really make up for the slower bits of the film.
Rating : 8/10. This is a film recommended for most people who like super hero / action films. Unlike other films, this is not made just for the fans, it can be seen by someone who is new to the DC universe and still enjoy fully.
Female led super hero movies are few and far between, in this day and age, this movie along with everything else is also a statement, which says, if a talking tree and racoon can be huge hits, (Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2) then isn’t it time for Wonder Woman, one of the Founders of the Justice League to have her own solo film, which is good, shows her depth and doesn’t cash in on her sexy outfit.
This movie manages of the above and a bit more.
Acting:
Let’s start with the casting. Unlike Marvel movies, DC hasn’t gotten its actors right in a lot of instances. Gal Gadot was not a fan favourite for the role, she is a bit too skinny and not the wonder woman body type, (ideally someone like Xena Warrior Princess’s Lucy Lawless type).
BUT, Gal Gadot has managed to perform rather well in the film, from her innocence to the sense of power radiating from her, she manages every aspect of the character perfectly, the emotion she extrudes is that of compassion and power. Both are crucial aspects of the character.
Chris Pine, famous for his role as the new Captain Kirk on star trek plays the male lead and he carries a lot of the film on his shoulders. He works well with Gadot and their chemistry is believable without being cheesy.
The rest of the team whose picture we have already seen in Batman V Superman, do their role perfectly, though their characters get a bit short changed and as this is not an ensemble film, that’s not too much of an issue.
As for the bad guys, this film has them, but doesn’t really use them too much, which is fine, the subject of the film is Wonder Woman and the story serves her in every turn.
Direction:
Now coming to the direction, this is one of the few super hero films directed by a woman, somehow that shouldn’t be a factor in the quality of the film, but only a female director could show wonder woman in her skimpy outfit as powerful, without making her look silly or sleazy. That Is one of the big factor in the film, this gorgeous looking female warrior does turn heads everywhere, but she amazes with her powers and her dignity and not by showing off her legs (not that there is anything wrong with that)
Also, the fight scenes, the way they are shot is simply amazing. Something that BvS totally lacked, a dynamic quality to the way the action has been shot and choreographed, much like Captain America (2 and 3) this film REALLY manages to show off the character’s super human abilities convincingly.
Speaking of Captain America, this film is very similar to that character’s solo film. Including an unstoppable (Spoilers – Minor) Plane with bombs which the bad guys have devised to blow up London. If that sounds familiar, well, it’s a old trope of action films, stop the car/plane/ship with the bombs.
Score:
Last but not the least, the score, the wonder woman theme is really good and the way it’s used in the action scenes, makes the scenes even better. We have heard this theme before in BvS, but it only gets justice in this film.
Overall:
This film manages to mix magic, war and greek mythology together, which is sort of difficult to get. Along with a fish out of water story of Diana Prince is new to the world of men. The movie is slow in bits, some parts are very similar to other super hero movies, but the female lead, the action scenes and the last fight sequence really make up for the slower bits of the film.
Rating : 8/10. This is a film recommended for most people who like super hero / action films. Unlike other films, this is not made just for the fans, it can be seen by someone who is new to the DC universe and still enjoy fully.
128 views
