Mini Review : Richard Jewell, The Grudge and Dial M For Murder

Richard Jewell
Directed by : Clint Eastwood
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3513548/

I am sorry, the world has gone insane. 

Another event I wasn't aware of, based on 1996 olympics when a security guard who aspires to be a police officer, stumbles across a backpack that was lying under a bench with no one around. Unlike other guards, he felt it needed to be checked, and as it turned out it had explosives and thanks to him he ended up saving many lives. He gets lot of media attention, becoming a hero but the irony is that the FBI decides to question the bravery thinking it could had been an act of fake heroism to get the atttention. As a viewer you just feel sad with the way Richard Jewell is dealt despite having done nothing wrong. Since its a real incident, I just feel how bad he must have felt to fight the case and get the bad image from same media that presented him as the hero. Paul Walter Hauser is very good in the lead role and so his Kathy Bates who plays his mom, while Sam Rockwell playing his lawyer is hilarious in a supporting role, deserved a oscar nomination in my view. Another winner by Clint Eastwood as director, after his film 'The Mule'.
My Rating : 7/10


The Grudge
Directed by : Nicolas Pesce
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3612126/

What do we do when we are scared? We close our eyes and count to 5. 

Spoilers ahead.. 

Not seen the previous versions, so went blind knowing very little about the story. The premise is about a detective who tries to track past files about a particular house to which a lady found dead recently is related to.. only to find out about a vengeful ghost that attacks everyone who enters that house. The narration uses three different past stories along with present. Yet it fails, one reason is its shown in bits and pieces rather than linear, and other is the detailing its lacking in all of them. I did feel for the guy, the one where he gets killed by his own wife (played well by Lin Shaye, but still wasted in the role). Same is the case with John Cho, who gets very less scope, the only scary shower scene was already shown in the trailer itself. Muldoon and Goodman who get most of the screen-time have some scenes going painfully slow, and its a pity that Goodman's past with the case and the encounter with ghost isn't explored much at all. At the end, with the twist of ghost having not been defeated trying to kill Mulldoon (or does, not shown), actually didn't effect me one bit.  Nothing to talk about in terms of scare or atmospheric tension. The Grudge turns out to be my 1st horror movie of 2020, and completely forgettable one.
My Rating : 2.5/10


Dial M For Murder
Directed by : Alfred Hitchcock
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046912/

How do you go about writing a detective story? Well, you forget detection and concentrate on crime. Crime's the thing. And then you imagine you are going to steal something or murder somebody.

Spoilers ahead.. 

May not be my favourite among the Hitchcock's movies that I have seen so far, yet its another great edition to his well directed movies. At one stage I almost felt that Ray Milland's character might get away with the kind of accurate planning he had or maybe I somehow wanted him to get away with it. Loved Ray's performance, and specially the long sequence where he blackmails his friend to murder his wife. Nearly 90% of the movie takes place in the house and yet its gripping and intense watching how everything pans out. Quite a enjoyable movie, with some very good humor, and upto the point performances.
My Rating : 7/10

Mini Review : Bombshell and The Informer

Bombshell
Directed by : Jay Roach
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6394270/

People don't stop watching when there's a conflict. They stop watching when there isn't one. 

It deals with the Fox channel CEO Roger Ailes who gets accused of sexual harassment but no one before dared to come out openly. Charlize Theron specially gives a hardhitting performance, and so does Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie.  Love the scene where Roger tries to present the lying side of himself even when the proofs are out and then is told that no one is gonna buy his crap anymore. I felt there could had been a lot more to it though, maybe Trump angle could had been cut-off a bit if not entirely, because somehow proceedings happen at a pace, with the editing already quite crisp, making me long for detailing. Still a pretty good watch, and fact that I learned about this story, being a very non-political and away from daily news happenings kind of person.
My Rating : 6/10


The Informer
Directed by : Andrea Di Stefano
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1833116/

You go back inside.. you will never get out.

Whats good about the film is that the first scene is of the undercover ex-convict who is trying to help catch Polish druglord. So, there's no time wasted in the past life and how he got into this, instead we see how he fails and then signs up for another attempt which would put his life to even a bigger risk. The story is very cliche, tried many times before yet The Informer is engaging for most parts, because it doesn't waste time on any other plots, and the main actors Joel Kinnaman and Rosamund Pike deliver. There are moments that feel like stretching for too long mainly in the 2nd act, while the scene before the climax involving Pike felt hurried up and not convincing. Definately a one-time watch movie, though I may not mind rewatching it, one of those films that you don't love but still don't mind watching it, or I should say 2 hours don't feel wasted.
My Rating : 5.5/10

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