Month: Sep 2020

Raatchasan (2018)

its always nice to go back to your roots, and when it comes to movie crime triller is a genre i find most comforting to watch, yes mostly simple liner and formulaic its still some of my easy binge content.

this tamil crime thriller was very highly praised, and recommended to me. thus going in with bit of a skewed expectations i had wanted a masterpiece, though never touching that mark for me its is nonetheless a very competent thriller worthy of being praised so highly.

on paper the film about a aspiring crime film writer becoming police officer getting involved in serial killer targeting school girls might seems tried and generic in many ways. but the film advantage i will say is its seemingly similarity to a lot of films in theme and aspects yet having its own identity to separate itself.

the greatest aspect of this film is its tension built up fueled by the gut churning soundtrack that keeps itself in the background like a good boy but always having the effect to your gut. especially in the more serious and close hitting scene the soundtrack has the unique effect filling the sense of dread easily.

the only minor point i had with this film was its length though the film tries real hard to keep me invested 3hr run time is a hard task for any thriller to fully hold me down, but being able to do so for the majority of the run time is pretty good i say.

96 movie down………..404 to go

see you soon

Piriyavitai (Tamil goodbye)

Chaplin (1992)

the Man, Charlie Chaplin holds a very special place in my heart, way before i got a interest in movies and all i consumed was films that very generalised masala films or cartoons. Chaplin was name i knew for being a great actor of the black and white films nothing more nothing less.

Till one school day of my 9th standard when all our batch was taken to the auditorium for a impromptu movie session, the Audi filled with kids talking and shouting definitely wasn’t the environment for any film as i sat bored, trying to guess what movie out esteemed teachers selected to show us rowdy kids. to my immense surprise it was a black and white film….with a title THE KID flashed forward, the Audi was still rambling but i didn’t care for the next hour my eyes never left the screen my ears ignored all disturbances. to this date it has been one of my most cherished film viewing experience.

sitting down to watch Chaplin was a odd experience i knew the life of Chaplin and was curious how its gonna be portrayed, how various aspects of his life be addressed. unlike many of the biopics i have seen i knew a a lot of facts and info about the person prior to the viewing the film itself maybe thats what made it odd for me.

the film is like any normal biopic formulaic in its structure yet in aspect less to do with script but more to do with feel this film was engaging, with Robert Downey Jr. performance being such a enjoyable act, removing any odd doubts i had if Iron man had in him to be Chaplin. though it never wowed me it was a simply put enjoyable film to watch weather you are a fan of the man or not.

95 movies down……………….405 to go.

see you soon

goodbye

Godzilla King Of The Monsters (2019)

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there few things that are just dope, cool plain exciting………2 giant kaijus fighting each other is one in that list.

yup just dope

think about it for past few years the tread of the final big bad guy is just the same concept like that kaiju fights invented, films like Avengers and Avatar have their own similar diluted kaiju to hype up action, films like Pacific Rim goes all-in into the idea and Anime adores this format. so no wonder people think of this as cool. yet the OG of this genre is obviously GODZILLA.

i know this film is bad, writing, tone concept all seems a bit forced and dry to a point it’s obvious to even people that just went to watch big beast fight just for the heck of it. the human element of this film though a good attempt seems a bit lacking. also the same point about big cgi fights that have become such a common place that it has diluted the excitement such scenes now muster and this film is just kinda filled with them………some were really cool and some were there to pad the time. the intention of the series was obvious from the beginning something everyone whats to do create a connected universe, monster verse and i am really spilt on it ya i will watch it but when their eyes are so far ahead i fear they gonna miss whats right in front and in front is unhappy or unexcited people that what more from these kaijus.

  • blue dope boy
  • looks blue.green dope girl
  • so red dope boy
  • just looks super dope boy

now points i liked…..Ken Watanabe seriously the only person i was enjoying in the movie (except the kaijus), when ever the two Godzilla and King Ghidorah fought basically what i sat down to watch anyway.

I would be lying as hell if I don’t acknowledge that I enjoyed this film just for the fact I never had an ounce of expectation from this film, I wanted a monster fight I got a monster fight. I was a happy camper.

94 movies down……………….406 to go.

see you soon

goodbye

Student of the Year 2 (2019)

there are some films that are shit, you know they are so, you have no expectation of them being anything else and nor did the creators have interest in serving anything else. welcome to SOTY2.

its been a while since i watched something bad willfully, no i wasn’t hit in the head i just had this film in my drive for a year now and thought might as well watch something bad to rinse my ought of the good films like i always do, i will be clear i didn’t like anything in this film good for you if you find but i grinned through this.

now many out there might say i am harsh calling this film bad multiple times and i see your point its definitely not bad if you have been watching a lot of bad films back to back i guess.

the film has no real reason to be called part two when it lacks any connection to its predecessor that is the the worst type of sequel as its becomes clear as day why the used the name just to make gullible nostalgic hungry people watch it but the film they are sequel to is not so great to begin with, among all the nepotism fiasco currently in full heights in India this film sticks out as a sore thumb. you know what the one thing that connects the 2 films is that both were made to bring new faces to screen and most of those new faces are stars currently under light for the N word fiaso.

fundamentally this is a film that is all the same as the hero worshipping masala films that i have watched many times not really new to offer but has enough of many things to seem entertaining and pass time, still i dont recommend it EVER.

oh ryt i didn’t mention anything about the film and its plot nah its not worth it watch anything else……..

93 movies down……………….407 to go.

see you soon

Allvida

Gold (2018)

in my opinion sports and biographical films are the simplest films to watch for most part they have known aspects or a generic structure to them that allows for a easier viewing and sure this aspect can be stated for many genre and also exceptions exists.

well Gold isn’t a biographical film its based on true events and individuals that very the part of the 1948 Olympics hockey team representing independent India for the first time winning the gold medal, but definitely a sports film.

the film by its self seems to lack the cohesive tone needed for scene to work with a lot of song and dances and comedic lines thrown in, nothing that is a bad thing yet lets be clear the film was greatly praised and it did good in box-office, my opinion here would be in a minority maybe but this film seemed to miss the mark in my book with a lot or alterations to facts and tone being here and there the film lacked to generate any tangible tension into me as i watch it.

the real good aspect of the film was how a touching subject as partition as carried out, people action and justification never seemed outlandish nor was any side favoured in its outlook, this neutrality without a feeling pandering gave me a nice smile.

i couldn’t call this a bad film mostly my own expectations due to it being a historical sports film that might shed new information and light onto a time and aspect of Indian history i wasn’t aware of, were the reason for the disappointment i had to the film.

92 movies down………………408 to go

see you soon

Allvida

Baby, we keep falling down…

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i have been suffering from random stretches of insomnia for many years at this point and one thing that i have realised is that the wackiest dreams always conjure out of thin air after or near the ends of my insomnia spells, and would you know it last week was one such day where i had 2 dreams in successive nights and i felt like sharing…

i have a lot of fears and my fears then to take part in my dreams in a way makes them memorable not eggactly in a good way . one such theme in my dreams since childhood was the fear of falling from heights. i do have a fear of heights but it isn’t as acute as others that i know, i would say about above average amount of fear. yet during the dream sequences i nearly shit myself whever it remotely close to the concept of falling the 2 dreams last week weren’t any different.

lets start with the simpler one, a bright sunny day perfect for a round on the bicycle i was cycling around my neighbourhood only to get bored feeling something off i go to the garage and pick-out a bigger cycle, ride it around and still suffer the lack of excitement, again back to the garage pick another bigger cycle alas only to repeat the loop, to a point i was now on a cycle bigger that a mountain towering over the city lines, (dont ask me how it made sense it was a dream), but as i was enjoying this monster cycle, my lack of concentration caused the cycle to trip now i was in free fall on my way down the only thing i was thinking oddly was i didn’t get to ride a bigger cycle.

as i woke up i realised what i had to do lock my cycle.

the 2nd one is odd in the sense i was exercising, yes thats a odd scene anyways as i was i felt myself getting lighter which i totally bought as the exercise working, to my astonishment the exercise seemed to effective as i started to float, at first it was so much fun looking at the houses and the city growing smaller much the same as looking down from a plane but as soon as i hit the clouds boy oh boy i remembered planes know how to land and i dont, and at this peak of paranoia and altitude my dream controller felt its right time to negate my weightlessness and i stared terminal velocity decent.

unlike last dream i had a lot of time to myself in this fall and i wasted them to trying the same exercise routine in misjudged attempt to have same effect as last, flapping my arms to fly, trying to think of something clever as my last words…….and baam too late

i woke up regretting not having thought something clever, need to type it down or tattoo it in case of emergency now.

my subconscious sure laughs

well now just have to wait for the next insomnia spell for a new installment into my weird dreams.

good night

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

if there is a film that i knew about have had the chance to watch it many a times yet missed knew the actors involved, but just left off for no real reason u get the tile of this essay

Kung Fu Hustle

during my young naive child-days when i thought Jackie Chan was the only Chinese movie star (yes i was super naive), a pleasant surprise in the form of Shaolin Soccer came into my life it is still one of my most chill relaxed re-watchable movies watched enough times for my mom to have noticed and commented about me watching it again. thats when u know u went to the deep end. thus i had high self placed expectation on Stephen Chow next film.

i never went actively searching for his new works, being more of a fall to my lap from heaven mentality, by the time i found it my interest had diluted yet i sat to watch bits and pieces only to leave in between this was a pattern of years to a point i knew very thing of the movie yet never watched it completely thus yesterday i sat gritted my teeth used my valuable excess time provided my the global cough cough.

this scene has been done so many times but i laughed hard here.

and how was it very good it had been around an year or two since the last time i saw any scene of the film, i had a fear my knowable about the scripts might ruin my enjoyment and i am happy to announce nope its still fun it had me laughing an few times and many chuckles. honestly watching it was unique in the sense it was both nostalgic and new.

it is a pretty popular media by itself and i dont find many who haven’t seen it before but if u haven’t do watch it. i didnt do much of a review as i went more down the memory lane.

such a fun badass….

lets add some good points fun dialogues and subversion of troupes, yet really enjoyable fight choreography. the biggest plus for such a wacky film is the self established narrative is supported or believed to an extent we also buy into in to the wacky notion. as for bad points the ending was a bit generic yet was fun in itself so no complain.

91 movies down………………409 to go

see you soon

再见 (Zàijiàn) (See you again in chinese)

Badla (2019)

this is a mystery thriller a fun one at that, not an original script but an official adaptation of a Spanish film which i haven’t seen by the name  The Invisible Guest.

the gist of the film is the interaction between a business women (Taapsee Pannu) caught for the murder of her lover and her lawyer (Amitabh Bachchan) who wants to know the truth to help defend her. so much of this film is inits dialogues that happen between the main cast as they talk in one room only for revelations to happen and flash backs to start.

the good thing i like about this film is the ability to set tone, the film never tries to underplay the thriller aspect and keep us on edge with many twist both as character development and narrative changes. Yet it falls to the feeling of something off as many a times a lot of the twist seems to aline to our ideas reducing the impact of the tension created, which left a bit of a mixed after taste for this movie.

i will plead guilty to have not seen the final twist coming, i knew something like that was gonna happen but i was way of with the execution. it feels more stupid as i was on the right track most of the film.

another helpful thing about this film was the acting, Taapsee Pannu making me root for both her escape and capture the whole film and the lawyer Amitabh Bachchan who just owns the stern old man character so well. the last time i was these two together was in another film where they acted to same role of defendant and lawyer. it is hard to even discredit the supporting cast that play out their role so well to keeps us second guessing where the story is trying to lead.

hard part of this film is the its a fun watch yet i wont go out of my way to recommend this film, only those interested in the actors or this genre check this one out.

90 movies down…………….410 to go

see you soon.

Allvida

Radio Days (1987)

charming, nostalgic and out-right simple is what i can say for this woody allen masterpiece imo.

as i sat to write this review, nah feel blog makes more sense i wanted to know how good of a film this is in allens own filmography only to shocked to find that it wasnt his best or close best by most people, which just hypes me up regards to watching his other films now.

now whatever i said doesn’t discredit the brilliance and impact of this film on me. i had been on a drought of sorts with regards to viewing films recently and found it hard to sit and watch and then write something about it leading to an misplaced hiatus again. but it cheers me up to think my return film was this spell-bounding to me.

wasn’t expecting this scene but a pleasant surprise.

if you havent watched this film, i heavily recommend for a simplicity of this film, being among the last generation that have used radio, my level of nostalgia might not be similar to that of my parents to this film yet i and many others can find the sense of charm that older times had when looked with a nostalgic lense.

the film depicts the life of a family and their interaction with in a world, with the background radio being on all times, showcasing the near universal attachment and necessity of it to everyone for their own reasons. the way the film grounds its narrative helps the story never feel to outlandish and break our attention while keeping the whimsical level above average to engage us by evoking memories.

like i mentioned earlier i am old enough to have used radio but unlike even older members of my family that remember it before the normalisation of television and internet. my clearest and most endearing memories of radio got invoked, the long road trips my family used to take in a small car filled with people talk and snacks passing hands to the background sounds of the various shows and songs on the radio that changed it tone and languages as we got out of the range of one channel to a new one. till date i remember those days yet no film about road trips have brought it out but a simple film about radio just made me so damn nostalgic even with out showcasing a road trip.

not me………but similar

the saddest part of watching film that evoke such a film is that you inherently know that these are past memories and life has moved own and things have changed better or worse, nostalgia just pinches you whenever it subsides.

89 movies down…………….411 to go

see you soon.

goodbye