Movie Analysis : Brahmastra Part One : Shiva (Hotstar)

Directed by : Ayan Mukerji

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6277462/

Tum andhera laa rahi ho Junoon, lekin roshni aayegi.. aur Brahmastra ki har ladai mein jeet hamesha roshni ki hogi.

Spoilers ahead..

Some events and hallucinations makes Shiva (Ranbir Kapoor) realize that he's got some powers and is somehow connected to a Brahmansh Community lead by Guru (Amitabh Bachchan). There's Junoon (Mouni Roy) who is seeking the 3 pieces of Astras that will combine to make the Brahmastra eventually destroying the world. And Shiva along with her new found love Isha (Alia Bhatt) wants to stop her by finding the Ashram where Guru lives. 

I didn't watch the movie in theatre but could sense the VFX and all the eye catching visuals would have been lot more fun to watch. But it won't have changed any of the other experience when it comes to the story or acting. 

With Ranbir-Alia chemistry I was expecting lot more, but it clearly lacked spark (that vibe I felt in trailer itself that was underwhelming) and most of that has to do with how dull their initial scenes were that never really engages you in their love story specially when very late on film she is going to be the button or reason for the powers he has. Also, how poor the dialogues are throughout the film, at times even cringeworthy. 

Cameos were equally disappointing, the whole purpose of Anish Shetty (Nagarjuna Akkineni) felt of no use and so was the way he gets killed, rather I would have preferred him do more to help Shiva-Isha reach Ashram. And then there was the ever so not-reliable Shah Rukh Khan (playing Mohan Bhargav) who irritates with his un-necessary comic dialogues, and irony is that his dialogue was one of the fewest that I actually liked in the entire movie. 

Amitabh Bachchan is good minus again the poor dialogues, I however  felt his narration scenes were too long specially at the start or rather could had been totally avoided and let us slowly learn about Astras and Brahmastra through the character of Shiva. Mouni Roy in a negative role is pretty good but little one-dimensional with not much to her story apart from seeking the 3 pieces. I feel antagonist always must have more to their character, than just being evil for the sake. 

The biggest disappointment was Ranbir Kapoor, he was the sole reason I had high hopes (apart from Ayan) despite not loving the trailer but he just never for once felt like Shiva to me. Even the entire orphan angle felt staged rather than bringing any connection to his character. The only part of his story that worked was his fear for fire and way he overcomes it. 

Alia Bhatt has very few good moments, other than that she was irritating with the constant 'Shiva Shiva', I can't recall last time someone would call your name endlessly. This is first time since her debut movie when I couldn't enjoy her performance. 

Music was average, with a song  'Dance ka Bhoot' that just didn't make any sense whatsoever. Was that the only way Ayan could find to introduce Isha ? The rest songs atleast were used effectively with the screenplay specially 'Deva Deva' and the themes, I however couldn't love Kesariya like everyone do. 

In the end, Brahmastra Part One : Shiva is a very mediocre movie because when you see Ayan-Ranbir duo work together, you surely expect much better than this. It doesn't explore all the possible mythology it could had, and on the lines of entertainment it fails too. Didn't even feel invested in the long final action sequence. The ending does give hopes of a better 2nd movie involving Dev (is it going to be Ranveer?)

My Rating : 4.5/10 

Movie Analysis : Red Notice (Netflix)

Directed by : Rawson Marshall Thurber

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7991608/

I am big on forgiveness. I always have been. But I am not so big on forget-ness. 

Spoilers ahead... 

When FBI agent John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson) catches the much sought after thief Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds), he isn't aware that The Bishop (Gal Gadot) is going to double cross him. The whole plot revolves around assembling all 3 bejeweled eggs from ancient history when Cleopatra had got them as a wedding gift from her husband. 

The comic timing of all 3 leads makes it watchable but the story is too ordinary and also the twists specially the climax one makes you question what you saw so far. I didn't even bother to remember if they cheated in some scenes. Actually one comes to mind, didn't John came to the back of van to check the Egg while The Bishop is hiding as if she needs to be afraid of him!

Some of the action setpieces are enjoyable specially the 1st Nolan-John chase, the flashback story of Nolan is nice. Then there's the gorgeous Gal Gadot performing action along with Dwayne and Ryan. All this is not enough to hide the fact that the story has no emotional connect and even fails to entertain as it could had if the writing was good. Ryan Reynolds is fun but getting little repetitive. What's ironic was the person for whom so much trouble was done to get those 3 eggs and be gifted for her wedding.. she actually cared more about an Ed Sheeran singing performance. 

Overall, Red Notice is very below average that entertains in patches. 

My Rating : 4/10 

Movie Analysis : Doctor G (Netflix)

Directed by : Anubhuti Kashyap

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9054970/

Mujhe bahut bahut khushi hoti hai tumhe jeet-te huye dekhke,

aur usse jyada khushi hoti hai tumhe ladte huye dekhke. 

Spoilers ahead... 

Uday Gupta (Ayushmann Khurrana) secures a low rank in competitive medical exam and has to take a seat in Gynaecology rather than his preferred Orthopaedics. He joins the work at Bhopal Institute of Medical Sciences 10 days late and meets the fellow doctors that includes Dr Fatima Siddiqui (Rakul Preet Singh) while senior most Dr Nandini Shrivastav (Shefali Shah) wants Uday to get serious or leave the department. 

If there was any other actor in place of Ayushmann Khurrana, this film might have been more engaging because in parts it tries to convey 2 plots some of which does work, one is ofcourse about how it feels for a male to take up Gynaecology (I am unsure about the facts if in reality very few males take up this field). And other is about the struggle of understanding what a girl is trying to say because Uday never understands all the women that are part of his life, whether its the girlfriend he just broke up with being too possessive about her, his mom (Sheeba Chaddha is too good in this supporting role) who wants to be a famous chef but her interest in Tinder irritates him or his new building friendship with Dr Fatima that he feels is more than just that. 

With a very mediocre music, its just 2 actors who really standout in this movie, one is Shefali Shah and other is Abhay Mishr who plays close friend of Uday. I also liked Rakul Preet Singh, good to see not the routine ending where she would had cancelled her wedding with fiance and gone with Uday instead. Indraneil Sengupta playing brother of Uday was highly irritating. 

Overall, Doctor G is just an average movie, its fun in parts, but hard to overlook when it gets cringy and preachy. I like that Ayushmann keeps taking up taboo topics, but his roles have to get some variations, so far there are some films that I haved liked and some like Doctor G I couldn't. Give me AndhaDhun anyday!

My Rating : 5/10 

Movie Analysis : Chup - The Revenge of an Artist (Zee5)

Directed by : R. Balki 

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15654262/

Audience ki aankhein khol.. unka taste upgrade kar.. Entertainment ki quality badha, its your bloody job.

Spoilers ahead... 

Inspector Arvind Mathur (Sunny Deol) reaches the crime scene of a building where a film critic has just been found dead having many cuts on his body including an inverted triangle drawn on forehead. When more such brutal killings of film critics takes place, Arvind realizes its work of a new kind of serial killer who kills critics. On other hand, a parallel track runs involving a florist Danny (Dulquer Salmaan) also a Guru Dutt fan, as he meets an entertainment reporter Nila Menon (Shreya Dhanwanthary). She is a huge bollywood lover and aspires to be a film critic. 

It doesn't matter whether you have seen the trailer or how much you know about the story before watching the movie. R. Balki isn't interested in narrating the story in form of suspense, from the very first scene of Danny you can make it that he is the killer. The focus of screenplay stays on 2 aspects, one is the running commentary about Critics vs FilmMakers/Actors basically stating how important ethics are while critiquing a movie, and the other is the homage given to Guru Dutt's 'Kaagaz Ke Phool'. Both in my view is done very efficiently without going overboard. 

There's no direct references or namecalling done but if you follow critics closely (not literally) then you would most likely be able to connect dots, for instance the scene where Danny calls out the critic for his 4 star rating to a movie stating he must have got good sum of money or a vacation package for some nights or a good present. Another scene where Nila refers to a dead critic telling whenever he would rate a film high would mean she won't like that film and vice-versa. 

Another very important point the movie makes is about the personal attacks that some critics do and are still doing in the name of reviewing a movie thinking they have become God and can say anything they want even if it has no relevance to the movie. There's actually 2 points that Balki missed out keeping in the script that could had been part of Danny's frustration over some idiotic critics, one is the famous 'Tweet while watching film on the go' (Like how the hell are you watching the movie then?) and other is some critics I have noticed like to write a long paragraph on what people were doing in their show, their talks or even own life talks or just some other random stuff. Just because they didn't like the film they feel they have to entertain the readers with gibberish!

The topic of what matters more - Critics Rating or Audience Views (Boxoffice Results) is taken up subtly through a small cameo scene of Amitabh Bachchan (can there ever be a Balki movie without him?) where he without much hesitation chooses Boxoffice, however he doesn't deny that Critics are very important to be there in the film industry so that everyone can learn about their mistakes. 

The screenplay of movie keeps shifting from dark to romantic to dark to dramatic and its never ending, usually I would not really enjoy it but here it had a very good effect and special thanks goes to the way music and background score is used. Many classics are brilliantly inserted, whether its the theme of 'Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam' (Kaagaz ke Phool) filmed on Danny who is cutting a body in the style of using brush over a painting. The lyrical version is also aptly used when Danny just gifts Nila paper flowers on Guru Dutt's birth anniversary. 

There's 'Sar jo tera chakraye' (Pyaasa) used in such a clever dark humor way over how Danny just fooled Arvind. Then there's 'Jaane kya tune kahi' (Pyaasa) which essentially forms the romantic track of Danny's life, however its catch tune is used throughout wonderfully. Also, I like how this very romantic track turns into a psycho-tic version when Dulquer sings the lines while telling the person he is about to kill what did that person write wrong in the review. 

Sneha Khanwalkar's emotional version of 'Yeh Duniya' (Pyaasa) is very haunting with the visuals of Danny's past life and I really liked that they added the original version's famous lines 'Tumhari hai tum hi sambhalo yeh duniya' for a perfect end to the movie. 

Its not just the old music but I found the original songs also very good at a time when we hardly get much quality music these days. The romantic track 'Gaya Gaya Gaya' is very well sung by Rupali Moghe and Shashwat Singh, and also beautifully picturised on Danny and Nila. Love those 2 small mistakes Danny does, firstly that direction of sunset through bicycle frame and then trying to have his routine two cups of tea by himself. Also, the track 'Mera Love Main' has some lovely lyrics, even though it is rightly not used in the movie. 

I really don't know why Balki movies in past have always been mixbags, they would always have one underwhelming act to not make me love the movie. For a change, that doesn't happen in 'Chup'. The  final twist is really good because for a moment I fell into the narrative that 'Oh no, is Danny going to kill her despite knowing she wrote fake review', but that foreign film copy idea was a super one. By the way I didn't understand the reference of Woody Allen, what was Balki trying to say there ? 

It would have been a perfect movie if they didn't include Pooja Bhatt's character in the movie who helps Arvind in the case in just one way informing him that the killer attacks those critics whose review has a particular script with catchy lines. I rather would had wanted Arvind himself to brainstorm and learn about this aspect very much how he decoded the traingle on forehead or how the review lines are being brought to life in his killings. Or they could have let Pooja help him right from the 1st killing. Another thing that came to my mind was the reason behind Danny being like this, they went the cliched route of a troubled childhood, how would have it been if Danny did it because he was tired of the poor critic system, much like Naseeruddin Shah in 'A Wednesday' who took it to himself because he felt someone had to do something. I am not 100% sure if this version would have worked more or not, but it would have been less routine than the chosen flashback. 

Dulquer Salmaan plays the serial killer exceptionally well, whether its the double personality or his growing closeness with Nila. Love his hilarious dialogue referring to 'Nalasopara ke baad agar Churchgate aa jaaye toh kaisa lagega?'. Shreya Dhanwanthary as a reporter again didn't really feel repetitive as her role plays more around her being a movie buff and also her chemistry with Dulquer is very good. I like the scene where she gets hyper realizing how her bravery act might actually result in her death. 

Sunny Deol in a very restrained role keeping his anger limited to just one loud shout scene was also a delight to watch. I like how he slowly understands the case, afterall someone killing critics for bad reviews doesn't happen everyday. Saranya Ponvannan playing the mother of Nila was very sweet and lovely to watch in a supporting role. 

Chup works for me both as a sort of tribute to Guru Dutt and also a very good take on how critics can misuse their profession resulting in ruining life of a filmmaker/actor.

My Rating : 7.5/10

Movie Analysis : The Good Nurse (Netflix)

Directed by : Tobias Lindholm 

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4273800/

Why ?

They didn't stop me.

Spoilers ahead... 

Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain), a single mother with 2 daughters works at the Parkfield Memorial Hospital as a night nurse in ICU. She has a heart condition but can't let anyone at hospital know or she will lose the insurance she badly needs. When Charlie Cullen (Eddie Redmayne) joins her as the male nurse, they form a good friendship but she isn't aware of Charlie's past and what kind of person he actually is until some patients begin to die. 

If you are told the basic premise and the true events on which the film is based then it would bring a very chilling effect just to think how dangerous your life can be even when you are safely in the doctor's hands just because a male nurse wants to kill you for no reason at all. He was charged for 29, but it is believed that he actually killed around 400 patients. Also, you can't help but think how poor the health system is if they allowed this guy to shift jobs from one hospital to another 9 times. 

In the film however, this feeling never comes across fully as I felt it should have. We do get some great scenes involving both Jessica and Eddie (who are really good in their performances), but they never culminate into more than that. There's always a creepy kind of feeling hanging whenever we see Charlie come into the frame especially after the moment Amy learns his truth. Or how afraid suddenly Amy feels when Charlie is at her home with her daughters. I liked both the confrontation scenes, one at the restaurant and other in jail, though I still don't understand why he did it or maybe we will never know.

One reason for the slow pace of movie could be to set up the moody feel while showing the life of a nurse at hospital. I still would had preferred tight editing, some scenes just meander along way too long serving no purpose. 

If like me you had never heard about Charlie Cullen, then 'The Good Nurse' is going to be worth a watch as you realize that such kind of 'serial killer' (if I can call that) exists too. Despite a weak screenplay and loose editing, the story and performances make up for it to some extent. 

My Rating : 6/10 

Movie Analysis : The Adam Project (Netflix)

Directed by : Shawn Levy

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2463208/

When a bad idea is the only idea, it becomes a great idea. 

Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds), a pilot who time travels from the future into 2022 accidentally meets his younger 12 year old self (Walker Scobell) who is still mourning the loss of his father Louis Reed (Mark Ruffalo) having lost him in an accident a year ago. Adam wants to travel to 2018 and find what happened to his wife Laura (Zoe Saldana). In his way is an obstacle of Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener) who was once partner of Louis at work but in the future she became greedy to be in total control of Time-Travel.

Having directed some of the episodes of 'Stranger Things' and also 'The Free Guy' that I enjoyed a lot, have to say this movie turned out to be a little disappointment. The whole time-travel plot I understand wasn't meant to be complex and rather used in entertaining way, yet it never appeals or draws me towards the storyline. 

Some of the scenes that actually worked were the non-comedy ones like Adam's interaction with her mother Ellie Reed (Jennifer Garner) at the pub, or younger Adam giving advice to Adam about their dad, or Louis just pondering over if his busy professional life has lead to very less time given to his own son.

The entire romantic angle of Adam-Laura felt too rushed to my liking, it would have actually worked lot better had they kept Laura completely out of story and just introduced her in the last when that story Adam told his younger self happens again. 

The Adam Project with a weak core story and irritating villain ends to be quite a bore despite some good performances and the usual Ryan Reynolds laughs. 

My Rating : 4.5/10

Movie Analysis : Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (Netflix)

Directed by : Anees Bazmee

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6455162/

Mere ghar ka toh phone na tring tring nahi karta, conjuring conjuring karta hai.

Spoilers ahead... 

Two strangers, Reet Rathore (Kiara Advani) and Ruhaan Randhawa (Kartik Aaryan) meet at a bus stop, they visit a music festival and become so friendly that Reet asks for a favor from Ruhaan to come along to her hometown in Rajasthan while she pretends to be dead to her family so that her fiance gets married to her sister. The only issue is they decide to hide in that very abandoned mansion that was shut down 18 years ago with the spirit of Manjulika trapped inside a room. 

Watching the movie I was wondering if forced humor is the new norm and do today's youth enjoy this in name of entertainment? What happened to the genuine laughs we would get over films a decade or so ago. The original directed by Priyadarshan and starring Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan was miles better than this. 

Anees Bazmee films have in past worked for me, even that guilty pleasure movie 'Mubarakan'. But here, I kept searching for the moments when I would really say 'Oh yea, this was a very good punchline'. There are so many un-necessary parts that if edited out would atleast had made for a shorter movie even if it wouldn't still have made any difference to the poor humor thanks to the writing team. For instance, both the tracks involving Reet and Ruhaan, firstly does nothing to narrative, and secondly they were so average to listen to. Then that entire 'RoohBaba' angle was not required, complete waste of time it was.

There's Bade Pandit (Sanjay Mishra) who keeps using yester year movies songs/dialogues to talk while having an hearing issue. Normally, Sanjay Mishra would be very reliable but here even he felt so irritable, very few scenes worked like the one where he asks Manjulika to translate in hindi as his bengali is as poor as french. Both Rajesh Sharma and Govind Namdeo are under utilised. Ashwini Kalsekar was good, and the Rajpal Yadav 'Big Boss' dialogue was hilarious. 

The best part of the movie was Tabu, in the double role she was so good. There's a scene where she kills her dad, the way she behaves there slightly reminded of 'AndhaDhun'. The flashback scene telling the story of Manjulika, the entire black magic and then the twist at the end was very well done. 

Kartik Aaryan's comic timing is pretty good which is a reason he was able to get some laughs out of silly moments or poor writing too. I also liked his dance over the male version of 'Ami je tomar'. While Kiara did really nothing except being a glamour element, and I was really happy that they didn't go the route of Manjulika possessing her body because that prank scene where she mimicked Manjulika was extremely poor acting. 

In the end, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 falls way short when compared to Akshay's movie in 2007, is it watchable for Tabu's performance alone ? Not really. 

My Rating : 4.5/10 

Movie Analysis : Enola Holmes 2 (Netflix)

Directed by : Harry Bradbeer

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14641788/

No matter how lost you feel, if you stay true to yourself, the path will always find you again.

Spoilers ahead.. 

Opening up her own Detective Agency in London, Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown) is super excited only to find no clients at all as her age and the fact that she is sister of Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill) often comes in way of her getting new cases. Just when she is about to close the agency, a little girl Bessie Chapman (Serrana Su-Ling Bliss) comes for help to find her missing sister Sarah Chapman (Hannah Dodd). Enola soon learns about a matchstick factory where Sarah worked and there the girls were dying from Typhus disease as she tries to dig deeper into the case.  On other hand, Sherlock Holmes  himself is busy in a case involving corruption soon realizing he is against a very clever rival named Moriarty.  The question is, are both the cases interlinked ? 

Its a much better film than the 1st one (Enola Holmes), the pacing is good, very less meaningless interactions (already introduced characters before, helps in that regards) and we get lot more of Sherlock in this part in a supporting way making sure it still stays Enola's story. The use of breaking the 4th wall is again done exceptionally well without overdoing it, the feminism angle is still there but at the core the movie focusses very well on how Enola solves a new case with all the difficulties she faces. Liked how the nepotism angle is subtly played out where Enola is frustrated to be in the shadows of her brother Sherlock, while trying to create her own identity. Also, a lovely scene involving her mother telling her that its not compulsory to be great on your own, she can still accomplish a lot by seeking help of the ones that are close to her. 

I however still did not like Henry Cavill as Sherlock, for the same reasons.. just hard to see anyone else in this role other than Benedict or Robert, even though he does a fairly decent job. 

The star of the movie is Millie Bobby Brown who is delightful and perfectly suited in this character full of energy, ready to take on the world and even her own brother. I would love to see her get a tougher next case to solve. Special mention to David Thewlis (playing Grail) who is efficient in a negative role. Other cast involving Louis Partridge, Sharon Duncan-Brewster and Hannah Dodd also chip in with good performances. There's a end credits scene involving the introduction of Dr Watson, slightly skeptical about it but hoping the actor chosen would be good in this role. 

I would have personally loved next part to have Sherlock and Enola together solve a case from the very start. But the scene where Enola refuses the offer of 'Holmes and Holmes' from Sherlock probably suggests we may again get them on different cases and meeting each other's paths along the way. 

Even though the case may not look that complex, Enola Holmes 2 screenplay holds itself very well and turns out to be a pretty good entertainer full of adventures.

My Rating : 6.5/10 

Also, DO READ - Mini Review : Enola Holmes (Netflix)

Movie Analysis : Dhokha Round D Corner (Netflix)

Directed by : Kookie Gulati

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10644708/

Main farebi nahi hoon Gul, aazmaa ke dekh lo.

Spoilers ahead..

Yathaarth Sinha (Madhavan) at work catches a glimpse of a news running on tv describing a terrorist Haq Riyaaz Gul (Aparshakti Khurana) in Springshine Aparments and soon realizes its his own house he is hiding where his wife Saanchi Sinha (Khushali Kumar) would be all alone. ACP Harishchandra Malik (Darshan Kumaar) has the whole building sealed trying to negotiate with Haq Gul. But, none of these 4 main characters could be trusted as we keep on getting their perspective stories one by one over what happened in past. 

Usually a film like this that keeps testing your brain is an immediate thumbs up for me, but here the issue is that firstly it tries to overdo it as a result it gets so much tangled that you no longer care who is telling the truth until everything is revealed in the climax. And then there's little hard to believe scenarios happening specially how Haq Gul having got betrayed by Saanchi, still falls for her 2nd time around. Thats too much even if at that time you are willing to trust his story on being innocent regarding the alleged hostel blast attack.

Also, having a talented actor like Madhavan and keeping him in more of a supporting role wasn't really a good idea. Having said that it was a delight to watch Aparshakti Khurana in a non-comedy role even if he had to go through a very below average writing and cringy situations at many places. Khushali Kumar too does a decent debut job as a housewife trying to seduce and having a personality disorder that makes the whole situation a deeper mess.

There's 2 really laughable moments (not sure if intentional or not).. first is when Haq Gul is so frustrated that he can't understand who the real Saanchi is, he directly asks her 'Tum goli (medicine) se pehle wali asli ho ya phir goli ke baad wali.' And then there's a spoof on Arnab Goswami, who actually in entire film gets trolled a lot but this one was unmissable as it was a direct take on that famous clip 'mujhe drugs do, drugs do' if you seen it.. its cringeworthy but hard to not laugh at. 

Talking of the twists, there are many.. most of them you would be able to guess, except for the last one that actually is good because that negates those scenes where I felt why the hell is ACP Malik all the time chilling with Yathaarth, having cups of tea or smoking like he is so sure nothing is gonna happen.

A dark ending always makes me happy but in this case, it didn't really move me which was more to do with how mediocre the 2nd Act was, that it made me run out of the patience to know what happens to all these 4 main characters.

In a way this is unofficial adaptation of Ittefaq with many additions done, if only it was tightly edited and the feeling of repetitivity didn't come after a while. Still an okay one-time watch!

My Ratings : 5/10 

Movie Analysis : The Gray Man (Netflix)

Directed by : Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1649418/

Six is an odd name.

Just, 007 was taken, so.

Spoilers ahead...

Six (Ryan Gosling) signs a deal with Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton) to work  for CIA in exchange for freedom from the prison for the murder sentence he was in for. Its been 18 years now, Fitzroy retired and his position taken up by Denny Carmichael (Rege Jean Page). On a mission given by Denny, Six comes across another guy named Four from the same program who reveals some dark secrets and hands him an encrypted drive having all the information. Denny hires Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans) who is known for his sadistic methods to eliminate Six, while Six has very little time to uncover the truth behind the drive with suitable help from colleague Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas). 

The movie has everything you would expect from a spy thriller, lots of international locales, action set pieces (that rail tram sequence was amazing), attempt to not let a valuable drive go into wrong hands, an all out negative character and a foreign actor cameo which in this case is Dhanush (very well done action scene, and its good to see him not die). There's not much dull moments, the pacing is very good, even with very less character developments and a predictable plot, the film achieved to keep me engaged. The issue is when you have Russo Brothers and starcast of Ryan, Chris and Ana involved, just keeping you interested isn't enough, you are expecting lot of 'wow' moments which are very few here. 

Can't deny it was so fun watching Chris Evans in this negative role, total opposite of what he did as Captain America, all the bad mouthing and plus way he is acting it feels like how much he was enjoying playing this character, I do wish he had some better dialogue lines. On other hand, not that I find Ryan not suitable for these roles, just I personally prefer him lot more in comedy or romantic roles. His best parts actually are the conversations he has with either Fitzroy niece Claire (Julia Butters), that Bond 007 name reference,  or with Dani Miranda, specially the feeling ego hurt scene or handing her unloaded gun. Ana De Armas I felt was a very weakly written role, she still gets 1-2 scenes to shine through. 

The Gray Man is one of those films that despite being underwhelming is likeable and most likely I would be re-watching on tv to pass my time. 

My Rating : 6/10 

Movie Analysis : Ek Villain Returns (Netflix)

Directed by : Mohit Suri 

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11947158/

Marna chalega, haarna nahi...

Spoilers ahead.. 

A famous singer Aarvi Malhotra (Tara Sutaria) gets attacked at her flat and her ex boyfriend Gautam Mehra (Arjun Kapoor) becomes the prime suspect. One of the last people who called Aarvi before the attack was a cab driver Bhairav Purohit (John Abraham), who also has a past story with a salesgirl Rasika Mapuskar (Disha Patani). The plot deals with how these 4 get involved in each others life leading to very nasty situations. 

The movie is full of issues, goofups and silly acts (which I won't even waste my time to talk on). The two positives that I could somehow find were, firstly the music is very good even though it still falls short of the awesomeness 'Ek Villain' album was. My personal fav was 'Shaamat'. And then I loved that final twist, the whole idea of Bhairav falling into the belief that Rasika is the one telling him to do things was a very good one. Its however not original, reminded of Bates Motel a lot. I wish they used this twist at the interval and explored more on it post that, it surely would have made atleast one character more enjoyable i.e Bhairav. I don't know how did he survive that tiger attack but it does give a very nice final scene with special guest appearance of Riteish Deshmukh. 

Both stories of the couples told through 2 flashbacks was neither engaging nor likeable. I am not even sure if this got to do with poor casting or poor writing or combination of both. Just Tara Sutaria looks part of the film to some extent and also I like her voice in the songs she sang herself. Disha is hamming all the while, if not for that final twist you would even question why she behaves like that. I don't think John could had done anything more, too much limited scope with the role he has, while Arjun is lets say not that unbearable that I usually find him. 

Could had easily done away with the character of J.D.Chakravathi who basically does nothing but to inform us the audience the very basics of how serial killers work and he likes to call them 'Villain'. 

Overall, Ek Villain Returns looked like a really bad movie from the trailer so much that I wasn't planning to watch it, so in that regards I feel it was okay enough to sit through, its still a very below average movie. Do watch at your own risk.

My Rating : 4/10

Mini Review : The Big Bull (Hotstar) and Dhamaka (Netflix)

The Big Bull

Directed by : Kookie Gulati

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9614452/

Aadmi unchai ki taraf dekh raha ho toh usse tokna nahi chahiye.

Based on real events involving Harshad Mehta (whose name and all other characters related to him are changed here, I am guessing copywrites issue or plain laziness). 

If you had seen the trailer, then all the problems you could notice in it are present in the entire movie too. There is the obvious comparison you would do with Scam1992, but I personally knew there's no way The Big Bull or any film in future could do what that series did. Its like you read an excellent novel and hope its movie adaptation does 70% justice to it because that's the scope it will have at the best. Unfortunately, The Big Bull falls way short of that mark, one issue is the fact that its trying to include a lot of things, the main problem however is that the unwanted changes or directions it takes, for instance Hemant Shah (Abhishek Bachchan) greed is given a personal reason wanting money so he could stop marriage of the girl he loves Priya Patel Shah (Nikita Dutta). Hemant's brother Viren Shah (Sohum Shah) is also someone who needs help from Hemant, again leading to Hemant needing urgent money. Meera Rao (Ileana D'Cruz) the journalist who goes after Hemant, is easily the most poorly written character of all. Then there's scenes where we see Hemant continously laugh in an evil manner, for no apparant reason. 

Abhishek Bachchan at some places will remind you of his Guru performance, but apart from that he does his very best and is the main reason I managed to keep my interest in the movie. On one hand we had a series where each character was used perfectly, and here we get to see all the characters apart  from Abhishek getting wasted, specially Supriya Pathak and Saurabh Shukla.. In the end, its a one-time watch movie if you haven't seen Scam1992, and if you have then skipping this would do no harm at all. 

My Rating : 4/10 

Dhamaka 

Directed by : Ram Madhvani

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13510660/

Anchor kya hota hai ? Anchor actor hota hai.

Actor ko kya chahiye ? Actor ko audience chahiye. 

Audience ko kya chahiye ? Audience ko drama chahiye 

Unofficial remake of Korean movie 'The Terror Live', story is about Arjun Pathak (Kartik Aaryan) who one morning gets a call on his radio show from a person who says he would blast the sea link of Mumbai. Once Arjun realizes its not a prank call, he sees a wonderful opportunity in this moment of crisis, something that could get him his TV anchor job back. 

The whole angle of news channels hungry for TRP, news sold as masala rather than facts and how easily viewers fall for these fake news is very well captured atleast initially. Where the movie falls apart is the character of Arjun Pathak, that felt too greyish to my liking and it was a clear struggle for Kartik to play this part at many of the key scenes. Also, the entire terrorist plot didn't really kept me engaged or feel worried for people stuck at sea link, again part of it has to do with how inhuman Arjun Pathak character is. 

I myself hate news people to the core, but watching the film specially in 2nd and 3rd act, almost felt like they were treated like super villains specially the boss of TRTV played by Amruta Subhash. There are some good moments, like when she tells what news anchors are, or the initial montage covering the entire personal life of Arjun Pathak minus that irritating style of singing by Prateek Kuhad. Overall, Dhamaka promised a lot through its trailer but delivered very little. 

My Rating : 5/10 

Also, DO READ - Series Analysis : Scam 1992 (SonyLiv)

Mini Review : Radhe (Zee5) and Chehre (AmazonPrime)

Radhe

Directed by : Prabhu Deva

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10888594/

Tere hisse ki biryani hum sab mil baant kar khaayenge, aur bolenge Eid Mubarak.

Spoilers ahead.. 

In Mumbai, youngsters are getting addicted to drugs and taking their lives resulting in officer Radhe (Salman Khan) called upon to clean the city and trace the druglord Rana (Randeep Hooda). Its a remake of 'The Outlaws' and also termed as sequel to Salman's 'Wanted' which is a pity because that was a time when Salman was on the rise with his swag and action combo on which he could carry a film through. Not anymore!

This is a film where Radhe tells Diya (Disha Patani) that if he had a sister he would name her 'Na-Diya', Radhe imagines Diya's brother Avinash (Jackie Shroff) dancing with him in a silk dress (like seriously), a Flash kind superhero moment where Radhe slows time down, later he even back tracks time to show how he killed men of a mafia boss, Diya restricted to dumb scenarios and actions everytime her scene comes and lastly, there's Salman Khan who is sleepwalking through the entire movie. Maybe the washroom action scene between Radhe and Rana was the only tiny decent moment of the film or the average 'Seeti Maar' track also felt like something special. And I felt for Randeep Hooda who was trying his best to get something out of his character for us to enjoy.

In short, Radhe promised a bad movie from the trailer, and it delivers. 

My Rating : 1/10 

Chehre

Directed by : Rumi Jafferey

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10309902/

Aaj imaandar woh hai jiski beyimaani pakdi na gayi ho, aur begunaah woh hai jiska zulm pakda na gaya ho.

Spoilers ahead... 

Sameer Mehra (Emraan Hashmi) heading to Delhi from a hill station during snowy weather gets stuck when a tree falls right down his car. A stranger Paramjit Singh Bhuller (Annu Kapoor) helps him and offers shelter to one of his friends place nearby. Soon Sameer learns that this place is full of retired law professionals, Paramjit being the defense lawyer, Latif Zaidi (Amitabh Bachchan) is prosecution lawyer, Jagdhish Acharya (Dhritiman Chatterjee) is the Judge and rest in a way constitute court structure. They all are fond of playing mock trials game where they pick up a case and the person who comes to their house plays accused. The story develops as Sameer tries to defend he has never done any crime in his life. 

I am always glued to a setting that involves rain/snow backdrop, it just makes me feel so nice. This is a very that kind of movie that for one moment is good and then is silly and then again good then goes the average route, it just never stays on one side. The opening credits will bore you to death with that un-necessary Amitabh rendition of title track. The next 20-30 mins are very fun despite the mock trial game having its own flaws, the main one being it felt like Sameer was forced to play it which he should have avoided. All the talented cast together in same room creates some lovely scenes, but the moment Sameer begins the flashback the inconsistency of screenplay and the writing begins to overpower the talent of the actors involved. 

The entire plot involving Sameer, his boss and boss's wife is predictable from the starting point itself. Also, the ending scene felt very odd, why would you give death sentence to someone who didn't even kill the person on his own entirely, and then you are making that person get killed in a very poorly done CGI scene. There's also a very irritating scene leading to that judgement, where the prosecutor lawyer Latif starts lecturing/preaching about old cases that has not a single reason to be referenced here, and his speech got so much tiring to sit through. Rhea Chakroborty playing a little mental sort of character also was very mysterious, for how she acts like totally normal at places and then goes total mental whenever butterfly scene comes. 

In the end, Chehre could had been lot better movie, the scope was always not that high for the kind of mock trial game they were putting the whole story based on.. still a good execution would had given a fairly decent movie. Still a watchable movie.

My Rating : 4.5/10 

Series Analysis : Stranger Things S4 (Netflix)

Directed by : 

Matt Duffer/Ross Duffer (5 episodes each, 2022)

Shawn Levy (2 episodes, 2022)

Nimrod Antal (2 episodes, 2022)

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

Season4 

You see, humans are a unique type of pest, multiplying and poisoning our world, all while enforcing a structure of their own. A deeply unnatural structure.

Spoilers ahead... 

If the 3rd season showcased how tough it is to beat the monster, this season goes a step ahead in that direction. The story is now set in 2 places, one is Hawkins ofcourse, while other is Lenora where Will and Eleven/Jane study in the High School, a place Dr Owens chose so they could live peacefully. But when a teenager dies from Hawkins School and its learnt the monster is someone named Vecna, one can't help but feel Vecna has a link with Demogorgan/MindFlayer. 

All episodes are 1 hour long (the finale is a massive 2hr40 mins long episode) and yet I never felt bored, very engaged and I would say most of them were way too good. Some hiccups are there, its the ones where you can understand what the writers were trying, for instance how the whole bullying act of Eleven at Lenora reconnects later to how she had a history of it at Hawkins Lab. I didn't mind Eleven smashing the skate at that bullying girl. Also, the entire Lucas wanting to be popular plot I didn't want to happen but good thing is its really a very tiny screentime before he joins back the gang where he belongs. 

I felt disappointed with what they did to Jonathan's character, apart from the scene where he comforts Will, he's actually not doing anything in this whole season. That brings me to Nancy-Steve possible re-unite angle which is hinted numerous times and I feel its little forced. They did however listen to my demand as we got the Nancy-Robin pairing, that entire Asylum sequence was so terrific. Also, I love how Nancy is the boss when it comes to the final showdown, though frankly she's been the leader always in the past of all the heroic acts she's been part of. 

There are some characters that you start to love instantly, Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) is one of them. Even with his odd behavior in the first scene, I knew I would want more of him throughout the season. And I like how they equate him with Steve or his bonding with Dustin specially with that scene 'Never change'. One of my fav moment is when Eddie shouts at Robin 'This is Music' as she doesn't consider his taste of music good.  Argyle (Eduardo Franco) on the other hand provides some good comic relief specially when he shouts 'Nina Nina' or his comment on 'St Mary', and the reactions he gives to everything Eleven does in the final episode will make you laugh. 

Two episodes totally standout, and are probably among the best of the series, 'Dear Billy' and 'The Massacre at the Hawkins Lab'. The former keeps building towards possible death of Max, and the absolutely unforgettable scene involving Kate Bush's track 'Running Up The Hill' which you will keep humming for weeks atleast (months in my case). The latter is brilliant for firstly the Hopper-Joyce re-union happening, and then how the mystery regarding Vecna is solved with a reveal that some might have seen coming, I personally couldn't so it worked perfectly. 

Even the penultimate episode is very good. Much early in the season, Eleven outbursts at Mike for never saying how much he loves her, which makes sense because Mike's behavior has been very odd ...more on that later. In this episode too, Eleven has a much longer outburst, this time at Papa/Dr Brenner and again she talks sense letting Papa know he is the monster and also a reveal that Papa was all the time sending her to look for One and not any Soviet Union Projects. Also, it finally ends Eleven's dilemma she's been having since S1 that what if 'she is the monster'. I also enjoyed how the episode ends on a high with the use of 'Seperate Ways' track, its pretty short but the way they edit it over Henry's house gives a very chilling effect.

It's impossible to turn blind eye towards all the flaws the finale has, even though it still has so many highs which you frankly expect with a 2 hr 40 mins long episode. Eddie's death was a given because the moment his name was given out by police, it looked impossible for him to prove his innocence. But the execution was just terrible, he dies doing something that was un-necessary, there was no way Nancy-Steve-Robin needed any help when it was clearly told to not be a hero and get 1-2 mins of bats distraction which Eddie-Dustin had done. This just felt like one of those countless times you see a character do a total stupid act in a bad horror movie. Just compare it with what Billy did in S3, that death didn't go waste, and felt he was doing it for a good cause, but here this was plain stupidity and poor writing.

Then that '2 days later' felt like a total copout, even if you don't have to show everything, here it just seemed like a way to get out of this entire scene. This does give the writing team a chance to either bring back Eddie (possibly negative role by being a part of Vecna) or there's something Dustin and rest knows which is why they didn't look that sad later on. 

Even the final ending scene felt odd to me, the way everyone slowly walks to the garden and notice half flowers are Vecnaed, just lacked that 'Wow' feel all previous seasons ending scenes had.

Easily would had been the best perfect season, if not for all the inconsistencies of finale. Other than that, Mike's character is on decline.. just consider him in S1 and S2, how enthusiastic and eager he would be, now some would say love changes person but in his case the change feels very odd, even the attitude he shows towards Eleven when they meet at airport or his reaction at her chosen place to hangout feels like he is just not interested. Yes, he has got this feeling that he isn't special like Eleven is and she would dump him but that's not strong reason enough to ignore friends way he does, can't even notice Will crying next to him, and when Eleven has to save Max, thats the wierdest time he chooses to tell what he's been feeling off-late, I felt really pissed off watching him or for that matter the whole Mike-Eleven story. 

On the other hand, Lucas and Max pair was lot more enjoyable, that lovely card writing moment they share which could possibly their last happy memory together, or when Lucas asks her if he is part of the happiest memory she is going to go to deceive Vecna.  Infact among all the old characters, it was Max who very much stole the show this season. Also, great to see Joyce and Hopper together, I just hope none of them dies in final season, they both I feel have suffered the most due to Upside Down. And Joyce is probably the smartest of all the grown-ups in entire series. Two fav moments would be, one where Hopper is talking about how he feels he is the curse, and other when Joyce has a recap of Bob in her mind when Hopper is about to risk his life fighting a Demogorgan. 

Jamie Campbell Bower (One/Vecna/Henry) was simply exceptional, from the very first scene I was glued even though I wasn't aware who he was at that point. Love that moment when he wishfully asks Eleven to join him or how he dismisses Humans narrating their time on this planet should be over. 

The monster in this season was much more likeable and not gross, one minor issue I had was his constant breathing noise which sounded like 'hmmm' a lot. His killing method very much felt like reference or homage to 'IT' movie where the evil targets the teens bad life memories/events. 

Mason Dye (Jason), was a character that like everyone else I enjoyed watching die in the manner he does, yet in some ways I had sympathy for him because he didn't knew Upside Down Monsters exist so the conclusion of Satan cult and Eddie being main part of it wasn't really wrong. What did make it hard to support him was way he and his friends started treating firstly Eddie's friends (all that beating) and later on Erica too. Tom Wlaschiha (Dmitri Antonov/Enzo) was another great addition, his Russian dialect was very good and also his habit of bringing odds into situation (team up with Dustin maybe in S5?). Andrey Ivchenko (Grigori) despite all his funny laughters and jokes including the Katinka scene, won't have worked for me if not for his U-turn in the end thanks to the talk from Enzo that hits him hard. 

I like how they work out Martin Brenner's character, season starts with him leaving us in a mystery if Eleven is actually the monster (for a brief moment I did bought that idea). Later, how Martin brings her powers back but the reveal of how he was always looking to find One through Eleven was a good one. And I love how Eleven simply says Goodbye to Papa who in his dyeing moments too doesn't admit how abusive he always was.

Will much like S3 has so less to offer here, and at this point I don't even know where the writers can take his character. They could go the emotional route by killing him, or he could help everything get better.. either way it feels like he will much like S1 and S2 be the main character of the final season. 

Love the choice of music in the entire season, one of my favs was 'You spin me round like a record' (heard it in Dark previously). Apart from the tracks I have already mentioned, there's one that can't be left out without talking on it, Metallica's 'Master of Puppets', that guitar performance of Eddie, the parallel edit showing Max trying her best to defeat Vecna and those final moments where the music piece ends with Max back to the SnowBall event of S2, simply masterful editing and among best moment of entire season. 

Talking of the background themes, little disappointed to see no use of 'Upside Down' theme this time. I did love how they use 'Planck's Constant' over Eddie trying to run away in boat. My personal fav was 'Portal Drill' which was used before in S3 but here you could listen it much more properly and it almost feels like a theme of Vecna in a way, I particularly enjoyed how the happy memory 'Snowball' of Max gets Vecnaed with this theme running alongside.

Some other fav moments include all the sarcastic talks Steve and Dustin have, the funny lines Murray says while fighting Grigori inside the plane or way he reacts to Joyce in the plane about her worry regarding kids and also the funny reference to a 1 year old child. Erica's reply to Eddie at their first meet, Max learning how she is next possible victim of Vecna and Eleven when she blows up the helicopter with that loud scream felt really bad-ass.

Special Mention to that monster sound addition to the Tudum in all the episodes.

With the makers saying there will be no new additions in final season (if they are saying truth) then you can hope they will correct some mistakes and also not spoil anything with un-necessary circle acts, please I dont want Nancy-Steve together even if I love them both a lot. Rather give me a Nancy-Robin love angle.

Stranger Things for me is one of those comfort shows (very much like Money Heist) that I can watch again and again, despite the fact that it's not my top3 favourite show because I just cannot ignore the flaws or issues it has. The main reason is that the show has the sci-fi fantasy elements with backdrop of horror/creatures and lots of 80's nostalgic references, its just impossible not to enjoy.  Hoping for a very good conclusion in Final Season. 

My Rating : 8/10 

Also, DO READ : Series Analysis : Stranger Things S1-S3 (Netflix)