Movie Analysis : Knives Out

Directed by : Rian Johnson
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8946378/

Just the thought of lying makes me puke..

Spoilers ahead.. 


Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate right after his 85th birthday. Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) gets a anonymous letter from some family member to investigate as slowly we learn who killed and why through some hilarious dialogues and sequences.

I enjoy dark crime mystery thrillers more than the comedy ones which 'Knives Out' falls under, yet I did end up enjoying the movie for most part. The suspense level about the death is actually revealed very early with 30-40 mins into the movie, but you know there's more to it and either something is not what is it being told as or someone is hiding key details.

With a dysfunctional family, the suspect goes to everyone, and we have seen many films like that before. Also the staff that works there could be involved too. The film takes a while to get going though, needs your patience to pass the interrogative first 15 mins.  Its the moment character of Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas) comes the proceedings start to get fun to watch. Reason being Marta who has been one of nice helper and used to give Harlan medical dosages, has a wierd condition, she always pukes if she speaks a lie. Now in a story where killer is to be found, Detective Benoit uses her like Watson (Sherlock way) and it helps lots of things getting revealed.

Its super fun to watch Ana de Armas play that role, specially love a scene where she holds the puke after lieing to get the confession out of somebody.

In the family, Ransom Drysdale (Chris Evans), Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis), Walt Thrombey (Michael Shannon) and Joni Thrombey (Toni Collette) standout in the performances. Though I felt most of them could had been given more screen-time, but thats the problem you have when you try to have a big ensemble cast. Its a joy to watch Chris Evans play a spoiled son mouthing out plenty of bad words at his own family.

Daniel Craig, who is plain observer for first 10 mins, gets into the act, playing a detective who doesn't seem to be going right direction until the climax where we see him decode every event.

Knives Out works for its good humor, some hilarious dialogues, interesting situations characters land into and twists that keep you guessing till the end even though you feel you have got the story in your mind.


My Rating : 6.5/10

Movie Analysis : Mardaani 2

Directed by : Gopi Puthran
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5668770/

Asthma hai na tujhe, le paint khaake marr..

Spoilers ahead...

Shivani Shivaji Roy (Rani Mukerji) gets appointed as new DSP of Kota and soon gets to know about the rape and brutal murder of a young girl. She assures to the media that she would bring the killer down to her knees. And that hurts the ego of the psycho killer Sunny (Vishal Jethwa) who now will challenge her to the limits and in process hurt more girls.

What I loved about last film in this series was that you were quite involved with the antangonist Tahir Raj Bhasin to an extent that even though he was always wrong, yet the cat and mouse chase was a lot fun to watch and ofcourse he gave a brilliant performance as well which then made Rani Mukherjee's act even more to applaud and you actually let the 'heroic' act she gets to have in the climax work.

But in Mardaani2, everything is different, here we got Sunny who is pure evil to an extent that he would eat flesh (possible Hannibal fan) and breaks fourth wall to talk with us directly, an idea that gets irritating after a while. Then we see Shivani in Sherlock mode easily identifying the crime and people involved. Infact leaving asides 2-3 moments, her act is shown as a superhero cop who is just failing to catch the culprit because that would happen in last 5 mins since its a movie.

There's a big speech Shivani gives at one point to a news channel interview, telling the lifestyle of a woman and comparing it to a guy, and I have no problem with that as most of it was truth. But, how does that help the movie and the narrative, or if they could had altogether kept focus on the troubles a female faces even after been DSP, and let the guy get caught without all the drama.

Being such a serious topic, its strange how the director and writer duo mess up so much that the emotions that certain scenes should have brought just don't because it just feels like you aren't watching something real.

Vishal Jethwa is good in his performance as debut, slightly one note to my liking though. Rani Mukherjee just overplays the character this time but more of that is to blame the writing team.

Mardaani2 isn't unwatchable, its just a disappointment after having seen how well the franchise (I expect more films in future) started.


My Rating : 4.5/10 

Movie Analysis : Pati Patni Aur Woh

Directed by : Mudassar Aziz
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9680136/

Sense of humor.. 

Spoilers ahead..


Chintu Tyagi (Kartik Aaryan) is  middle class man who is not much happy with his life that lacks fun and has become boring, whether its at work or his wife Vedika Tripathi (Bhumi Pednekar) who herself is a teacher. She keeps telling Chintu that she would love to live in Delhi than Kanpur. And then enters Tapasya Singh (Ananya Panday), who has come from Delhi, on a work basis and meets Chintu. He is immediately attracted towards her and ends up lieing about Vedika having an affair to get sympathy and be able to spend more time with her.

Its a remake of the well known movie by same title in the 70s that starred Sanjeev Kumar. I haven't seen that movie, but knowing the story, there's definately one change, in that one it was the secretary at work he had affair with, and here its a client who meets regularly for finding a plot and thereby develops a bonding. In a way its more progressive, the melodrama even in a scene when Vedika finds out the truth, is very underplayed which was good to see.

But I just felt the comedy kept falling flat with most of the punchlines not really working. Kartik Aaryan is in his usual 'I have a fucked up life mode', and a monologue again thankfully shorter one this time. Its become tiring to watch him, maybe Imtiaz's movie would bring some change. Also it doesn't help when actress is Bhumi Pednekar who I somehow find not interesting enough even though she acts well. Maybe its the effect of her last few films. While Ananya Panday looks great, actingwise found her wooden throughout.

Shubham Kumar who plays 'Rakesh', a student in Vedika's class, in a somewhat of spoof from 'Main Hoon Na' was best part of the movie, albeit it was a small role. Also, Aparshakti Khurana playing best friend of 'Chintu' gets some good scenes, he is getting typecasted however in similar kind of roles everytime.

Pati Patni Aur Woh fails for me, despite it not taking a vulgar path which most other movies would having the affair story, if only the punchlines were strong and a lead cast was different.

My Rating : 4/10 

Movie Analysis : Hotel Mumbai

Directed by : Anthony Maras
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5461944/

Here at Taj.. guest is God.

Spoilers Ahead.. 


Its a movie that would be a different experience depending on if you were in Mumbai during those attacks day, or watched it unfold on TV in some other part of India, or you are a non-indian having Taj Hotel as one of the places to visit in future.  I myself been in Mumbai for almost 10 years, but in 2008 I didnt live here, ended up watching on T.V how horrendous and painful it was to see the terrorists do havoc.

Director Anthony Maras begins the movie with the boat scene on which Kasab and rest terrorists came into Mumbai, they are on a call where their boss is reminding what they have to do and basically brainwashing them which he must have done while making them join the training.  Maras builds the narrative 2 way, the arrival of the terrorists onto the Mumbai streets/cabs as you know where its heading and on other hand the head chef of Taj Hotel, Oberoi (Anupam Kher) telling the chefs and waiters how the guests are God and there shouldn't be any mistake from their sides.

You are literally waiting for the misery to start, how the happy faces at the hotel busy in their routine life will turn into 'Will I make it out alive?' There's a chilling sequence where the lady is hiding inside a closet with hands on mouth of the little kid so that he doesn't cry, and you wonder if he could die due to loss of breathe instead. Not much focus is given to the VT Station attack which is good in a way or it would had been a lot to watch. Having said that, Maras does show a nice detailed look at the attacks with good use of camera, something that Rgv's film some years back couldn't do.

We see terrorists knock on doors as room-service guys who then shoot down the guests as they open door, the lives meaning nothing to them like its a video game, you just kill the people on other side. Its very brutal and tough to watch knowing it had happened in real.

Oddly, the main leading actors don't really get enough scenes to shine through, Armie Hammer especially as the tourist american guy is totally wasted. Dev Patel also should had got few more scenes whether before or after the attacks. Nazanin Boniadi who plays wife of Armie Hammer, gives a good performance, love the scene where she tries to save herself through prayers not letting the terrorist kill her.

Hotel Mumbai mainly works because its well directed, and tries to not divert away from the main plot at anytime, it could had been lot better though if the main characters were written efficiently to make us care more about them. Definately not a easy watch and probably I won't see the movie again but its always nice to see how in such a situation there were some brave people who cared to keep others around them alive.

My Rating : 6.5/10

Movie Analysis : Frozen 2

Directed by : Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4520988/

When will you see yourself as I see you ? 

Spoilers ahead.. 

A mysterious voice leads Elsa (Idina Menzel) to find the place its coming from. Anna (Kristen Bell) isn't keen to let her sister go alone which means Olaf (Josh Gad), Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and Sven join in too. The adventure takes all of them to an enchanted forest covered with mist, as they all try to find the answers.

I personally liked the first part mainly for the bonding of the sisters, Olaf part and the music.... story wise it wasn't that special. Frozen2 very much delivers the same pattern!

Except for Kristoff musical number, everyone else was good though none as good as 'Let It Go' was.. 'Show Yourself', 'Into the unknown' and 'When I am older' were my favourite tracks.  Kristoff whole sub-plot was probably the weakest in the film. Instead I would had liked to see more of Elsa and her adventures that I felt weren't too many this time.

Totally adore Olaf character, but the best moment was when he enacts all the events of first movie. Also, when he talks about change which is basically the theme of the movie. Not much to savour in terms of emotional moments, and the story for most part is predictable including the mysterious voice everyone is after.

Even though the screenplay at some places isn't tight enough, its the great visuals that still keeps you engaged along with the Elsa-Anna scenes with the funny Olaf bringing smile on the face almost every time his character is on screen.

Frozen 2 may have its problems, and won't be my pick out of the two films.. but its still good enough to sit through for its duration of 1 hr 40 mins.

My Rating : 6/10

Movie Analysis : Pagalpanti

Directed by : Anees Bazmee
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9495690/

Tera bimaar mera dil, mera jeena hua mushkil.. 

Spoilers ahead.. 


Raj Kishore (John Abraham) is considered to bring bad luck to anyone he tries to work with.

Thats basically the main one line plot around which director Anees Bazmee and the writers tried to construct a 2 hr 30 mins long movie which not to my surprise fell flat right from the first firecracker sequence that tries to be funny but isn't, just like the rest of the movie.

If I had to count the number of times I laughed at the comedy scenes, then I would struggle naming 5 such instances. Pagalpanti just fails to deliver, lacks good punchlines and tries to use 'madness' to escape the fact that the film didn't deserve to be made once the writing team (whatever mood they were in while writing) got it done. Makes me wonder why don't such films ever get shelved and interesting ones usually do.

I totally felt like banging my head somewhere when in a scene out of no-where Patriotism comes out of every character, as if saying we are failing in the comedy department lets try this out to let the frustrated looking audience in theatre cheer up, well better luck next time!

Looking at the positives, there's Arshad Warsi who gets some laughs in few scenes specially that singham lion pose. Then, the glamor quotient was good, clearly both Kriti (plays a irritating dumb girl role) and Urvashi (another aatma role) were casted for that and not anything else. And Urvashi's 'Bimar Dil' (re-created version from Sridevi's 'Chaalbaaz') was actually quite likeable, guilty pleasure I guess I will call it.

When you got nothing to say about Anil Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla's performance, then that itself sums up a movie! Ileana is totally wasted in a nothing role and a very less screen-time, maybe she declined to be glamdoll like other 2 actresses and paid price (good one I would say) for it. I don't think John Abraham has ever worked for me in comedy roles, and this film proves it again.

Anees last movie Mubarakan despite how bad it looked from trailer was still a decent watch with some laughs, but with 'Pagalpanti' he has just made what could easily be his worst film (No Problem would be a close 2nd to it). He's got 'Bhool Bhullaiya 2' next, so he better get his mojo back or the angry akki fans are coming.

My Rating : 2/10

Movie Analysis : Bala

Directed by : Amar Kaushik
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9420648/

Badalna kyun hai, kyun badle .. 

Spoilers ahead.. 

Balmukund Bala Shukla (Ayushmann Khurrana) is balding prematurely and takes on every possible remedy on earth to solve the problem and lead a 'hero' kind life he used to had during school days that included mimicking actors, having girlfriends and roaming on streets with style.

Such a good concept and Ayushmann who's been on fire in last 2-3 years, with director who's last film Stree was very entertaining, and a brilliant trailer, all had me in high hopes which Bala couldn't fulfill at all.

Where did it go wrong? Hate to say it but for once Ayushmann performance didn't work for me, it just felt like a long chain of sameness coming out in the character, and the fact that after a while there's a sense of overdose of 'how to solve this hair loss problem' that it gets tiring and boring to watch.

If there's something to love in the film then its Pari Mishra (Yami Gautam) who in the best scene of the film tells why she loves the fact that her usp is her looks and she won't shy away from admitting that her looks gets her comments on social media and she dreams of marrying a good looking guy. That monologue you could totally buy it, and also it was fun watching her tik-tok sequences with Bala where they do plenty of 90's hit songs, mine favorite being Ram Lakhan's 'Tera naam liya, tujhe yaad kiya'. Oh I wish the movie's main character was Pari and we were told the story from her point of view.

On the other hand there was Latika (Bhumi Padnekar) a dark skinned girl who hates society's take on 'good looks only matters' and has constant fights with Bala who during childhood calls her 'kaali'. Now my problem isn't with what she thinks, because she is right but the fact that Bhumi was casted to play this role where in many scenes the overdose of paint made her dark skin hard to look it plus the irony that they couldn't cast a dark skinned lady for the role.. Already her character wasn't strong enough and this just made you want her scenes just end quickly. Also, I ain't much of a Bhumi admirer minus her debut film.

There are few fun moments involving the supporting cast of  Saurabh Shukla, Seema Bhargava, Javed Jaffery, and actors playing Bala's brother and Bala's grandfather.

'Bala' to me is the most forgettable Ayushmann movie since 'Hawaizaada' which was a long time ago so thats a positive if any I can take away from this film apart from Yami's performance. It tries hard to give the message of 'why should we change ourselves for others, and not just love ourselves for the way we are' but sadly the route taken to this message doesn't work at all.


My Rating : 4/10 

Series Analysis : Stranger Things S1-S3 (Netflix)

Directed by : 

Matt Duffer/Ross Duffer (14 episodes each, 2016-2019)

Shawn Levy (6 episodes, 2016-2019)

Andrew Stanton (2 episodes, 2017)

Uta Briesewitz (2 episodes, 2019)

Rebecca Thomas (1 episode, 2017)

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4574334/


Spoilers ahead... 

Season 1 :

Something is coming. Something hungry for blood.

Its November 6, 1983.. at a place called Hawkins where a young boy, 'Will Byers' (Noah Schnapp) suddenly disappears leading to speculations if he is alive or not, while slowly all doubts about what happened to him leads to a government Hawkins Laboratory.  Chief 'Jim Hopper' (David Harbour) starts the search, but at the same time, Will's friends, 'Mike Wheeler' (Finn Wolfhard), 'Lucas Sinclair' (Caleb Mclaughlin) and 'Dustin Henderson' (Gaten Matarazzo) go their own way to find him and end up meeting 'Eleven' (Millie Bobby Brown) who is a mysterious girl and has a past associated with the Hawkins laboratory. While Will's mother 'Joyce Byers' (Winona Ryder) believes Will is alive and is present in a supernatural way trying to communicate from a place called 'Upside Down'.

First season takes time in getting going, took me atleast 3 episodes before I was totally involved with all characters, but one of main reason was the similar plot to 'Dark' i.e a young boy gone missing and everyone slowly discovering the sci-fi behind it. I was happy though that the similarity ended there with no time travel. 

Another reason why I was wanting to see the story pickup pace was because, there was too much of one character believes in some kind of spirit, and rest are in the 'are you out of your mind?' mode. Which is why when Will's elder brother 'Jonathan Byers' (Charlie Heaton) asks Mike's elder sister 'Nancy Wheeler' (Natalia Dyer) if the bear she saw had no face, I knew this is where series going to get the move on and there's literally no stopping from this point.

What I love about season1 is how the characters are not one-note, they are developing on with every episode even if its at a slow pace. At one stage I was thinking how cool it would be if 'Steve Harrington' (Joe Keery) would go and join Jonathan-Nancy in monster killing and it actually happens, and boy what a complicated fun scene that was when Steve out of nowhere learns existence of Demogorgan (creatures from Upside Down).

Joyce is another great character, that unlike everyone else is correct from the start and is willing to go to any extent to find her son, not caring how crazy she will look to others. 

Lovely use of 'Should I stay or Should I go' song. Also, despite not been fan of D&D (I didn't knew it even existed), the dialogues like 'Something is coming, something bad' or 'The Demogorgan, it got me', right at start of season was super writing as we are told in advance what's going to happen to this character. 

Dustin is a fun character, love his interactions with 'Mr Clarke' (Randy Havens), specially when he's getting info out whether its about how to reach Upside Down or creating the sensory thing for Eleven. The 'curiosity door' or pretending to be sad scenes were fun to watch. 

Great choice made on when to show Hopper's past story related to his daughter Sarah, pretty much got me emotional with the parallel cutting of 'breathe in, breathe out' scene. Also, the use of 'Upside Down' theme at many places was very well done, my fav being when Eleven tells Mike and his friends who Will is hiding from. 

Ending on Will still infected reminded me of Insidious Part1 where Patrick also came from a place called 'The Further' along with the spirit attached to him. Despite being slow in pace, the season picks up very well, engaging enough with some interesting characters and also keeps you interested for Season2.

Season 2 : 

Do you wanna be normal ? Do you wanna be just like everyone else ? Being a freak is the best, alright ? I am a freak!

Unlike last season, here the episodes are pacy, with good use of Halloween backdrop in initial episodes. The story of new monster 'Mindflayer' which is linked to Demogorgan, is very smart writing and there were many gem of scenes based on it.

Very much like Steve in S1, it took me time to like the new characters, i.e  'Max Mayfield' (Sadie Sink) and specially her stepbrother, 'Billy Hargove' (Dacre Montgomery), who was irritating to watch. Its still an interesting character that shows off the kind of parenting he got from his dad being the reason behind his abusive behavior towards Max. Chemistry between Lucas-Max is great, and also fun watching how Dustin keeps trying to impress Max through wierd ways. 

There's one major hiccup, which is the entire 'The Lost Sister' episode. The initial introduction of 'Eight'/'Kali' (Linnea Berthelsen) with which the season begins was thrilling because you felt maybe Kali would have a important role to play, then we get nothing at all for next 5 episodes. Finally, they decide to show a whole episode on Kali at such a poor time because the ending of previous episode has most of main characters at Hawkins Lab in a death kind situation. This totally ruins that effect, plus the significance of Kali episode is only that it makes Eleven finally return back to Mike and Hopper to help them out, which she could had done without going to meet Kali. The only takeaway from the episode was the reveal of 'Dr Brenner'/'Papa' (Matthew Modine) being still alive.

Even though Hopper-Eleven plot gets little boring at places, I like the parallel it draws with how Papa treated Eleven at the Lab, and despite being not allowed to go anywhere, Hopper's intentions all the time is to keep Eleven safe. I didn't understand though how Hopper came to know Eleven was alive, or was he keeping those Eggos intentionally there to let Eleven reveal herself ?

Heartbreaking moment ofcourse was watching Bob Newby (Sean Astin) die, it just looked like happening all the time when he decides to help Joyce find Hopper. I was just hoping Eleven would just reach in time and save him but guess you gotta kill few characters as part of getting 'oh no' reactions from us. Why did he have to breathe for a moment, just go out of the door and be fully safe first, sigh! I love his car scene with Will, where he tells his childhood story of being scared of someone. How Will listens to his advice to not run away, and thinking it would help him, it rather ends 

up doing the total opposite as the shadow monster/virus gets hold of Will's body.

One of the key moment of the entire series happens this season when Steve goes to Nancy place mumbling to himself to say sorry to her and then telling himself what the hell I am sorry for, and ends up meeting Dustin which is start of their extremely lovable bonding. 

Love the scene where Joyce does the crazy yet essential thing, making rooms of her house look like a map with all the drawings she uses from Will who is trying to tell everything he can see (a condition he has got now) ever since he returned back from the 'Upside Down'. She did something similar in 1st season too, that time it was the use of bulbs to communicate with Will. Also, great use of Morse Code too, felt like checking what messages Will was saying in S1 with those bulb blinking. The music used in the scene also slightly reminded me of 'The Things' theme whose direct mention they actually had in S1 when Mr Clarke is watching the movie with his wife at home.

Another great addition to the cast, is Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman), who even in the few scenes he gets, shows off his good comic timing. Dr Sam Owens (Paul Reiser) is a tricky new character, you are just never sure for most part if he is really on the side of Joyce-Hopper, or he is another one out of Brenner's camp. 

Nice to see Nancy and Jonathan together, whether it lasts for long or Steve comes into picture again is the question. I didn't like Mike's constant disapproval to not have Max part of the group, specially when he never thought same way about Eleven who was rather more dangerous as a stranger. I do however enjoy how Mike always acts smart, knowing what trouble is approaching like the whole 'The Spy' angle, same for whole group though, which is why its fun to watch this series. 

I can't make up my mind if I liked this season more or not, there are days I will choose S1 and then there will be days when I go with S2. 

From next season, I want Will not to suffer anymore and probably Billy character to become more likeable. Maybe little about Dr Brenner too, how did he survive when we were clearly shown he was attacked by Demogorgan in S1. 

Season 3 : 

Make mistakes, learn from them, and when life hurts you, because it will, remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means you are out of that cave. 

Expected this season to be high on struggle when it comes to beating the monster. And there's no disappointment in that regards even though I will admit this version of Mind Flayer (human/rat flesh melting) was very gross and tough to watch of all the monsters so far. The inspiration clearly was 'The Things' and  a direct reference too happens in this season in a very awkward 'Coke' advertisement scene.

Some good new additions again, with Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke) and Dr Alexei (Alec Utgoff) standing out. Robin has amazing chemistry with Steve and also would make for a great pairing with Nancy, given her very sharp mind. Alexei on the other hand provides some fun moments, and you do feel bad when he dies, even if it doesn't have same impact like say Bob had. 

It did took me a rewatch of the season to like it, the main issue still remains which is the handling of the Russian starcourt plot. The comic tone puts me off a lot because being trapped in that lift and then trying to find a way out, the situation calls for a desperation and when eventually they would manage to escape without dying it would had made for a great watch. Also, it makes the entire Russians look so silly, as if their army can't even deal with kids. Good thing is, this is just a sub-plot so I tried to dismiss off as much as I could using the famous 'keep your brains away' theory. Also, I totally disliked the Nancy workplace harassment mainly because by now she has become one of bad-ass characters always ready to take the lead and win against monster, so to watch her obeying others orders felt very odd to me.

The Hopper-Eleven-Mike situation is fun, at times it does irritate but overall I enjoyed specially the song 'Hopper' happily hums to, think it was the same song in S2 too when he and Eleven were cleaning the house. Max bonding with Eleven is great to watch, and also I liked what they did with Billy because it was one of very unlikeable characters and in the end you feel for him in his vain effort to defeat the monster but bought the much needed time to save Eleven.

Dustin is again fun to watch, and the addition of Erica Sinclair (Priah Ferguson), Lucas's sister to the gang provides some good sarcastic fun moments. Hopper-Joyce story expectedly develops well, they make for a great pair, infact personally I prefer them over the much hyped Mike-Eleven pairing. It was good to see Will not suffer this time around, and I could somehow connect to how he felt being sidelined by Mike and group because not everyone likes to grow up fast, Will probably wants to still keep playing the silly D&D games all the time. 

The finale was very good and so were the last 2 episodes leading to it, even the song Dustin sings at a very precarious situation made me laugh despite it being silly. The whole idea of Eleven not strong enough to fight off a stronger monster was very well executed, also leading to a question 'why did she start losing her powers?' 

The final teasing scene is again spot on, brilliant use of 'Upside Down' track to reveal how we maybe getting parallel monster stories, one in Russia and other in Hawkins. I also enjoyed the use of 'Rats remix version' too, which is used first during the cinema blackout and then the field where Dustin is taking gang to talk to his girlfriend Suzie. No mention of Dr Brenner in this season was a surprise and also no part of Kali, maybe we would more on that in Season4.

Overall, this season had flaws but its the power of strong characters that kept me not get bored at any moment.   

My Rating : 7.5/10 

Movie Analysis : Ford v Ferrari

Directed by : James Mangold
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1950186/

Look out there. Out there is the perfect lap. You see it?
I think so.
Most people can't. 

Spoilers ahead..


Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon), an american car designer who once was a well known race-car driver is hired to get Ford company the kind of sports cars which could win them races against Ferrari, but he has to face the various challenges that includes getting Ken Miles (Christian Bale) as the main driver, but the biggest headache is to handle the constant interference by the Ford executives.

I am not into cars or racing at all, and yet 'Rush' was a film that I loved a lot. 'Ford v Ferrari' may not have reached that same level but there was a lot to like in the movie for me apart from learning about some racing history being another biopic.

What I totally enjoyed was the breathtaking racing scenes, the noise of the cars, gear change and the strategy used to win the races.. and great performances by Matt Damon and specially Christian Bale who once again looked completely the part of his character of Ken Miles. We get to see how slowly but gradually friendship between Shelby and Miles blossom, and to be honest I would had liked more scenes between them.

Miles and Shelby fighting like kids while Miles wife quietly sits and watches them, Miles telling his son about the perfect lap and how most racers ain't aware of it, Shelby locking out Ford executive so that he could give a test run himself of the new built car to Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) and Miles being told to slow down when he actually does the fastest lap of his career were some of the best moments in the movie.

It was kinda of irritating watching the way director of Special Vehicles Ford, Leo Beebe (Josh Lucas) made that controversial decision to ask Miles slow down knowing that way Ford will have 3 racers on the podium. It was a real incident and I wonder how the fans of Miles must have felt during that 24 hours 1966 Le Mans race. I didn't even knew a event existed then (not sure if it does now) which lasts whole 24 hours. Did Shelby really steal those stopwatches or threw that nut making Ferrari guys doubt if was their driver's car? It did make for a great viewing even if it was fiction.

I felt scenes after Miles death were underplayed, there was a scope of more emotions involved in there.

Ford v Ferrari will most likely keep you engaged and involved in whats happening even if you aren't into racing and cars. Yes, there are some cliches involved, but they very much get overshadowed by the performances, direction and a story that you may not know much about until now.


My Rating : 6.5/10

Movie Analysis : Doctor Sleep

Directed by : Mike Flanagan
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5606664/

I don't know about the magic. I always called it 'the shining'. 

Spoilers ahead..


First thing, I don't love 'The Shining', while watching it few months back I strongly felt the character of Jack Nicholson should had been developed properly before going into the mad isolated zone and yet at times he would try to help his family but gone too far away to do so. While googling I did find out that the book of Stephen King actually shows him the way I wanted. Kubrick's direction and Jack's performance still made it a very good watch though minus the problems I mentioned.

Coming to Doctor Sleep, went in with less expectations as the trailers didn't quite suggest it would be good. But, it indeed was pretty good if you don't mind slow moving first 30-40 mins.

The story revolves around Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) who has grown up far away from that dreadful one year spent at Overlook Hotel. He gets a job at a nursing home where he uses his 'shining' powers to help people die with comfort in their last breath where he is aided by a cat that can tell whose time has come. Abra Stone, a young girl (Kyliegh Curran) communicates with Dan through her own 'shining' powers and then meets him one day telling what awful thing she saw and how she wants his help. It all leads up to the cult 'The True Knot' who uses the steam that the children with 'shining' powers produce when torturing them to death and thereby help themselves remain immortal. Dan has to save Abra and himself from this cult, and it all eventually connects with Overlook Hotel.

Movie begins with that super haunting background score in opening credits from 'The Shining' before we dive into some scenes of young Dan who is still haunted by the event that happened at Overlook Hotel, and gets help where he is told a way to shut those spirits trying to reach him locked inside the boxes of his brain. Its clear right then, this scene would play a key role in the finale.

We jump to the grown up Dan, it takes a while to get used to his life, and the narration is done in slow pace probably in sync with how his life was going nowhere until he got that job at nursing home and started to feel a happy change. Things do speed up when 'The True Knot' get to know about Abra stone as it becomes a battle between them before Dan joins in.

I was amazed to know that 'Rose the Hat' was played by Rebecca Ferguson, maybe something to do with my aging eyes or did she look and sound different in the movie.. whatever it is she just lifts up the movie to another level with her super acting in a very negative role. Ewan McGregor also provides the character of Dan, the kind of vulnerability or you can say not at ease with himself with the kind of childhood he had. And that gives the movie a great finale even though its the predictable part of movie including a extended nostalgia scene where Dan explores the entire Outlook Hotel remembering that one year he spent here when he was young.

And boy the goosebumps I got when Dan tells Abra they have to drive to the Outlook Hotel to win against 'Rose The Hat', and starts that background score again, and happy that it was a long sequence just as it deserved to be with some brilliant captured extreme wide shot visuals.

It may sound odd, but to me Doctor Sleep works more than 'The Shining', its hardly a horror movie as you get around 2-3 scenes that aims to scare you, mostly it pans out as a drama thriller and it was very engaging till the end. I don't know if there's any possibility of a further movie in this franchise with the ending they had it may not happen or maybe a prequel would be nice as long as the director is same because he certainly has become one of the director's whose future films/series I would be looking forward to.

Kind of under-rated movie, Doctor Sleep is going by the buzz..for me its  one of the best of 2019.. slow in parts but if you are patient then most likely you would end up liking it atleast.


My Rating : 7/10

Movie Analysis : Eli (Netflix)

Directed by : Ciaran Foy
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5294518/

Take a deep breath in. Blow out all your candles. Make a wish. 

Spoilers ahead..

Eli (Charlie Shotwell), a young boy is taken to a facility-home handled by Dr Horn (Lili Taylor) where she assures that his auto immune disorder will be cured, but with time he realizes he is only getting worse at this new place.

If you had seen the trailer, then it was visible that Dr. Horn isn't what she appears to be, and thats how the 1st and 2nd act goes too. Only difference is we discover an altogether different answer to our questions in the 3rd act. Basically whether you love the 3rd act or not decides your opinion about the movie. I couldn't digest it, mainly for how badly it was executed, watching doctors suddenly turn into church nurses doing exorcism that felt funny.

In the 3rd act, Eli is told to be son of devil, and he never had any disorder, but then question arises what were those red rashes he gets or is afraid of getting always. He surely must have tried going out once to confirm it. We are given a hint that Eli's Mom, Rose (Kelly Reilly) wasn't faithful to his Dad, Paul (Max Martini) in one of their private conversation. Also, I didn't get why Eli was getting haunted if all the time it was about him getting to know the truth about himself.

I do wanna like the twist, but thinking about the story shown before the 3rd act, it just becomes hard to not feel kind of cheated. Performances wise, Charlie was great while I expected lot more from Lili, she just felt too much one tone. Kelly Reily was decent, while Max Martini was way below average. Also, a cameo from Sadie Sink was likeable though again the real identity when revealed made less sense.

Eli is a decent one time-watch for most of its runtime, definately better than the ones that released lately on Netflix. It falters in the final act for me. Scare wise there are few moments, not too many.

My Rating : 5/10

Series Analysis : Unbelievable (Netflix)

Directed by : Lisa Cholodenko, Michael Dinner and Susannah Grant
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7909970/

Even with good people, even with people that you can kinda of trust, if the truth is inconvenient and if, if the truth doesn't, like, fit.. they don't believe it. Even if they really care about you, they just.. they just don't. 

Spoilers ahead..


True story about a teenager Marie, who is charged with lying about having been raped and how two female detectives find out the truth.

First episode is hard to watch because as a viewer you know Marie Adler (Kaitlyn Dever) isn't lying and yet the abuse and trauma she had dealt with all life has taken a toll on her and you see how she keeps changing her statements. Ofcourse the blame has to go to male detectives who didn't do their job well. Specially the scene where instead of giving hope to Marie to let her do the polygraph test, they just scare her off citing potential jail time if she was lying. And that results in her life getting affected badly after she is forced to accept that she was never raped.

2nd Episode shifts story from Washington 2008, to Colarado, 2011 and we get introduced to Detective Karen (Merritt Wever) who meets a rape victim and on the spot we can draw parallels on how she investigates and talks to the girl, and how Marie was asked questions in 1st episode. No, I am not referring to the instant thought that would come to mind 'woman did it better than the guy', what this says is how one person did a better job than the other,  and in this case the better one was woman.

Detective Karen happens to meet Detective Grace (Toni Collette) after being told by her husband how her case resembles the one Grace was dealing with where the victims happen to go through similar procedure by the rapist. Grace is total opposite of Karen in the way she walks, talks, total fierceful character which clearly was done by writing team so that they would look a great pair. Though found through google, the real Grace (different name) was more of a calmer person. So bit of fiction but it made for a great watch, I don't mind it.

The performances of Meritt, Toni and Kaitlyn all standout, but I personally loved Meritt most, the kinda of laidback and yet I want to find this motherf***** attitude, and the emotional attachment she shows towards the people she meets. Also, love the slow gradual bonding she develops with Grace. And also enjoyed watching Kaitlyn who had a tougher role, the vulnerability and trauma she showcases and also the urge to get a 'sorry' from the male detectives. The other actors who play intern and the desk old lady give in a good supporting acts.

Love the scene of the counselor with Marie where a zombie film 'Zombieland' is used in conversation to discuss the thoughts Marie has about the world and people. Also, love how they show Marie story, dedicating 1st and last episodes fully on her, and keeping the rest 6 with fewer scenes. Starting with how tough life Marie is about to live, losing out on friends with the false rape charge, both her foster moms not trusting her and losing her job too. And then ending with the phone call to Detective Karen, for once I wanted Karen to talk more than she does in this phone conversation but then maybe thats how she always is as per the series.

I read some reviews suggesting how this series tries to show 'girls power, and every man is bad', and it made me wonder did those people not see the behaviour of both foster moms of Marie, or did they miss watching husbands of Detective Grace and Detective Karen who always kept supporting them, one even went out of way to get the file on a person Grace wanted, or did they miss the help Special Agent Taggert gave? Or did they expect sympathy shown to Detective Parker and Detective Pruitt who clearly were at faults and they were main reasons why more rapes took place. I mean seriously how blind some people can be, yes there's some fiction but this is a real story shown in as solid manner as it can be, so just avoid watching the series if you believe guys have to be portrayed as good not matter what they do!

Unbelievable for me is near perfect series, my only complaint would be lack of surprise but then it went more for getting the guy caught angle and not that element of 'oh no, he is that person' surprise. And other marginal problem was editing that was at places not tight to my liking. But I could easily ignore these small hiccups, as I just felt it was a very good gripping series from start to finish, shown in a very realistic manner, top-notch acting from main leads and a certain emotional tone to the way it finishes. Would love a 2nd season with same cast, and probably a different real life based story!

My Rating : 8/10

Series Analysis : Haunted Season 2 (Netflix)

Directed by : Jan Pavlacky
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9077192/

Be quiet, don't wake him... If you wake him, you are gonna be sorry. 

Spoilers ahead..


Based on 'true stories' as is told before every episode though its not easy to believe that in some of the cases. I had seen 1st season and hardly liked 1 or 2 episodes, with one of main problem been the narration. The person who is/had been haunted, sits in a living room setup along with the people who mean a lot to him/her (family/friends/relatives/lover) and then begins to narrate the story with them giving the reactions of 'oh no, oh my god', so you know why this gets irritating. Coming back to 2nd season now, yes the same narration is repeated sadly, but were the episodes, or the reaaal episodes good or not.. lets see.

The Mimic :
A young woman starts hearing her friends voices in the house she just started living. And those voices come when they ain't there.

It was likeable minus the part where they show the spirit physically in that disgusting gross look. If you love jump scares which I don't, then you may love this episode even more as there were I think 4 major jump scares (provided I counted right) that to be honest were forced upon us. My only question is, why didn't she leave the house when her boyfriend confirmed there was something wrong in the basement of the house. Too adventurous or money issue?

Ward of Evil
A nurse works with dementia patients at an assisted living facility comes to terms with a new patient who she discovers is possessed.

This one was in middle kind in terms of believing its true. Sometimes I felt it might be, and sometimes I didn't. Decoding on basis of fiction, what didn't work for me was why would nurse or the owner of the place let that possessed patient (Jackie) stay even after they discover she can't be cured by them. I mean they are having routine trips to her room knowing she is dangerous even after what was done to arm of a new assistant who immediately quit the place. Another theory is that Jackie was just hallucinating and the nurse tells story from her point of view so just exaggerating.. Either way, there was nothing much to like about this episode, even the exorcism scene isn't shown in detail. The end is good but only if you believe Jackie or that room did actually had something evil.

Cult of Torture
A man shares his experience from pre-teen to teenage times when he was made to go through a religious conversion therapy.

I liked this one but then I hated it too, and that was for what the guy goes through. Let me clear, this episode has no spirits involved, its the horror of having the kind of parents you shouldn't have. In a scene when the priest arrives home and spanks the guy's brother while their mother stands silently, it gives a hint how horrible she must be, and what hell the guy will go through who is considered to have feminine traits. There's the disgusting 'Gay demon, go away' ritual done, originally I found it silly and funny but then the physical trauma they do after that was hard to watch. It was like those torture movies of slaves you may have watched. Believable story, yea this one was very much so!

Spirits from Below
Traumatized siblings tell the story about the terrible things that happened in their family home when they lived there.

This was the least believable story, specially the way it ends where their Mom tells about the ghosts. But as a fiction (thats what it is for me), there are some good scenes, like the red boy one or the one where the little girl one by one starts throwing things down. As always the narration breakup by the ridiculous conference kind re-tell of story breaks whatever interest had developed.

Demon of War
A U.S Marine who has gone to serve in Afghanistan, is confronted by a demon with glowing eyes.

For like 10 mins there was no demon, and I was thinking maybe the haunting here would be about 'war' as how it affects people sometimes while knowing enemy could kill you anytime. But my bad luck, they show a stupid demon more like a creature look that does nothing but warns 'you are not welcome in here'. It was the funniest of all the episodes so far, unless ofcourse you are a jump scare lover, have fun then.

Born Cursed
A young boy is convinced that he was born cursed and there's a 'hangman' always following him.

As if the jump scares aren't enough, there's plenty of jump cuts (editing term if you aware) used in here. Same was done in 2nd episode too. Talking about this episode, its bit of middle way, the demon encounters are fun to watch, but they just didn't show much or give it a proper end as I was expecting. In terms of believability, its 50-50 for me.


So, yet another poor season of 'Haunted' it turned out.. Didn't love a single episode, liked two and rest were either mediocre or plain bad.

My Rating : 3/10 

Movie Analysis : Wounds (Netflix)

Directed by : Babak Anvari
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5913798/

People look so normal on the outside, but on the inside, its all just .. worms.

Spoilers ahead..


Will (Armie Hammer) who is a bartender at Rosie's starts to experience creepy mysterious disturbing things happening ever since a group of teenagers left a phone at his place.

Yet another movie that may work more while reading the book it is inspired or adapted from. Infact for the 1st 30 mins it had me engaged, making me think its just one of those case where I differ from the majority of people who rated it as pretty low at imdb.

There's a great atmosphere created right from the 1st scene at the Rosies's where the fight takes place involving a important character, Eric (Brad William Henke) who I assume is a regular customer of Will, or maybe an acquaintance. Then there's Will and his live-in girlfriend Carrie (Dakota Johnson) who aren't in a happy space together. And another plot involves Alicia (Zazie Beetz) who comes at Rosies with her new boyfriend Jeffrey (Karl Glusman), and she appears to be friend or more than a friend to Will.

All these sub-plots play well initially, with the horror limited to mainly some cockroaches who are at Rosie's and also at Will's apartment. The moment Will tries to get physically involved with Alicia, to cheat on his girlfriend, thats when for me the movie started going downhill. There's nothing told about the whereabouts of the phone, why was Will chosen as the perfect vessel as per the ritual of the portal those teenagers had opened, I am assuming they did it curiously which would involve 'The Translation of Wounds' book they must have got in touch with. A simple theory is ofcourse Will was easy to feed on since he was something else than he initially shows himself to be, and the version of his true self he does become by the end. Talking about the end, again they leave it too open, with the entity that Eric had present in him (he probably got during the fight) getting transferred to Will, who has by now broken up with his girlfriend. Alicia not wanting to be in touch either making him willing to go on a path that may not be right but then thats how he is probably is.

One thing for sure, Wounds isn't a straightforward movie, it makes you think about the plot, very much reminds of 'It Follows', where the origin details are never given. Wounds is like a sequel to a movie that would had been about a group of teenagers and their adventures leading to the first scene at Rosie's. I love creepy atmosphere with a good background score but the insects/worms kind horror doesn't interest me.

Most would find it a bad and irritating movie, which I felt too at times, but at same time I was always interested in knowing where the character of Will is going to end up at. What could had made the film better? Some explanation to what is happening, not everything though, I prefer the ending but I wanted scenes like Carrie sitting staring at the tunnel pic on internet to lead somewhere.

Lot to complain about 'Wounds', still not a terrible movie in my opinion and I may well give the book a read in future when I get time. The movie is strictly a one time watch.

My Rating : 4/10  

Movie Analysis : War

Directed by : Siddharth Anand
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7430722/

Jai jai shivshankar, aaj mood hai bhayankar.. 

Spoilers ahead..


The basic premise is about a patriotic soldier  Khalid (Tiger Shroff) who is given a mission to kill Kabir (Hrithik Roshan), his former mentor who has suddenly gone rogue.

Till the 1st half, I was quite happy with the movie, managed to somehow ignore the many irritating elements that are still part of this 1st half, namely the over-use of slow motions (I will get tired of referring to this stupid love affair our filmmakers have). I get it that you need the entry scenes of superstars get whistled so slow motion gives more time, which again is pretty stupid but whats bizarre is when you keep doing it again and again, even in the action scenes. Also the action sequences weren't impressive and at times gave repetitive feeling. 

But I was still fine with all those problems, it was Naina's (Vaani Kapoor) character and the plastic surgery plot they bring in 2nd half that just makes me lose all my interest. Only scene of Naina that was likeable was when she says 'mera dil tootne wala hai na' but that too doesn't totally work as I was never invested in her character, it comes out as something added just for some glamor. Why would you build half of movie based on Khalid's loyalty for his country, showing his past where his dad was a traitor and got killled by Kabir. And now we are shown Khalid is dead and another traitor, from Kabir's team has plastic surgery to have same face as Khalid. Whats funny is, he has same mannerisms, same kind of fighting style, almost a ditto copy of Khalid, because its a film based on suspension of belief I assume. 

Now to the best part of movie, which is undeniably Hrithik Roshan, and I don't mean just his performance, but he just makes you adore him every time he is in the frame even if he is given a average/bad dialogue or he is asked to dance in a song that was never needed to be inserted in narrative (Guilty pleasure, I did love Jai Jai Shiv Shankar, it still was a song only meant for end-credits). In short, with all the flaws around the story, narrative and other actors, Hrithik holds his own and never gives me a reason to criticise him.

Tiger Shroff is wonderful as always in his dance and action sequences, his acting is still here and there. His character getting killed off, does give him scope to perform the grey side for a change in that plastic surgery act and he does it pull it off quite nicely.

War would appeal certainly to Hrithik-Tiger fans (thats a given), but for neutrals like me, its just a decent one time watch, full of loving as well as cringeworthy moments. 

My Rating : 5/10

Series Analysis : The Family Man (Amazon Prime)

Directed by : Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9544034/

Inhe bas ek baar jeetna hota hai, aur humhe har ek baar.. aur woh bhi sahi tareeke se. 

Spoilers ahead..



Story of a middle class man Srikant (Manoj Bajpayee) who has a field job working for NIA along with his partner JK Talpade (Sharib Hashmi). They find out about a mission called 'Mission Zulfiqar' and start tracking clues that lead to it. But Srikant also has to manage his family, a wife and two kids, whom he has been giving very less time.

Series begins really well with the starting four episodes engaging you throughout, there's a question lingering over mind what exactly this 'Mission Zulfiqar' is, and there's Moosa (Neeraj Madhav) who appears to be always more than he is trying to show. But I started losing some interest when the narrative shifts to Kashmir. A special mention to the excellent visuals and the use of kashmir folk song 'hukus bukus' (You may recall it was used in 'Hafiz hafiz' of Laila Majnu movie).

Usually the answers to the questions in mind from earlier episodes should make you happy  but in here it felt like a let down. Also, Sajid (Shahab Ali) been a main character, never worked for me which was a miscast issue, rather the short role Kareem (Abrar Qazi) plays worked brilliantly. I did like the open ending, with lives of some officers unknown whether they will survive or would Delhi as a whole survive the attack, which hopefully a better season2 will tell us.

Liked how they used the 'national anthem' and 'anti-national' sub-plot without going overboard. And same with the 'beef incident' or the sarcasm at the tourists in kashmir referred with the police all over.

What fully worked was Manoj Bajyapee's performance, his scenes with his kids, Dhriti (Mehek Thakur) and Atharv (Vedant Sinha), both of whom acted wonderfully and gave some lovely comical moments. Priyamani (Suchi, wife of Srikant), Sharib Hashmi and Kishore Kumar G were solid too with their given screentime. Suchi's character has lot more scope in next season, keen to see where they take it. Would had liked more scenes of Darshan Kumar who was effective in the role of Major Sameer.

'The Family Man' is certainly better than the total disappointment 'SacredGames2' was, but the way this series starts and builds up to a great finale, it can be said that the series just misses out to be a lot more.. I did like it, but the high ratings at Imdb gave me a feel of something really good which it wasn't. Still a enjoyable series, with solid performances from Manoj (he is just too good) and rest.

My Rating : 6/10

Movie Analysis : In The Tall Grass (Netflix)

Directed by : Vincenzo Natali
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4687108/

The field doesn't move dead things. It makes them easier to find.

Spoilers ahead..


Becky (Laysla De Oliveira) hears cry of help coming from a field of tall grass, of someone who appears to be a young boy. She immediately asks her brother Cal (Avery Whitted) to check who's in there, only to get trapped and find the mystery that lies in that place.

I liked the premise, but the loop that keeps playing in the narrative gets irritating after a while. When you are constantly checking the remaining time of the movie, its a bad sign how the movie is failing to engage you. Some stupid things that happen here are, why would a brother let her pregnant (6 months) sister come with him in what was easily visible a tall looking grass field. And then why don't they call the cops first even if they go in for adventure thinking they can help the boy.

Leaving those problems aside, the narrative still keeps you interested as there's the urge to know what exactly is happening in there, and the revelation is pretty good too that covers plot of your life sins, a rock that acts as a judge, whether you get redemption or not for those committed sins. And if you do get the redemption then there's a church where you get transferred to, if you don't then you remain stuck in form of grass after death.

They could had added different scenarios in every loop and also have extra cycle shown with parallel scenes running at same time, could had been confusing but more engaging that way. Also, I didn't get why the boy was acting so creepy in the initial scenes and then normal (the last loop I am comparing with) later.

In terms of 'Is it scary enough?' Not Much! There is some good use of mantra chant kind music at places that show grass spirits (if I can call it that) moving. Also, a gross scene involving eating flesh that I just hated. Patrick Wilson gives a nice performance as dad of the young guy, a somewhat grey character.

To be honest, I have a strong feeling I will enjoy reading this novel of Stephen King much more, because its the detailing that this film lacks and ofcourse the repetitive of events that visually don't work but as a read might well do. Still a movie that may work for those who like different concept horror, for me it was just a one time watch.

My Rating : 5/10