Mini Review : Judas and the Black Messiah

Directed by : Shaka King

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9784798/

It's not a question of violence or non-violence. Its a question of resistance to fascism or non-existence within fascism! You can murder a liberator, but you can't murder liberation. You can murder a revolutionary, but you can't murder revolution. And you can murder a freedom fighter, but you can't murder freedom!

Spoilers ahead.. 

Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) a young activist who becomes Chairman of the Black Panther Party, making him a very unlikeable person for the Police, FBI and the government as they want to stop out the revolution that would create loud noise.  Bill O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) gets hired (or blackmailed) into working as a spy for FBI as we get to see the rise of Fred Hampton and also how brutal the end is. 

In 'The Trial of the Chicago 7', we got little glimpse about Fred Hampton but we get to know him more here, though the story is told from the point of view of Bill O Neal. Some may complain that we get to see less of Fred Hampton, but I didn't felt so, maybe a reason of it is Daniel Kaluuya makes a deep impact in every scene he is present in the film portraying Fred Hampton brilliantly. By now everyone including me love his special speech as Captain Fred, the kind that would motivate people easily, for the passion and energy and most importantly belief he spreads in the people. Little angst mixed in for how Jimmy Palmer (Ashton Sanders) was killed off. I think for that scene alone, Daniel deserved the oscar. Also, love Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback) expressions changing in that speech. 

LaKeith Stanfield act is enjoyable to watch too for all the various emotions he has to put in that character who is at one side betraying his own people but you may argue if he had any options, because any other black guy in his place would had done the same than preferred going to jail for long term. He's always afraid of getting caught, there's 2 wonderful scenes, one involving Judy doubting him to be involved with FBI and other where he is stuck in a gunfire happening at the Black Panthers headquarter when Fred is in jail. His scenes with Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) are fun to watch, at times I was wondering if he was just using him for his purpose or maybe there was a decent bonding between them, maybe it was just occasional though he did help him out in the end only after making Bill commit something he didn't wanna do. 

The ending is ofcourse brutal and depressing.. Judas and the Black Messiah works both as a narrative about some of the main events of Black Panthers Party very well handled by the director Shaka King, and also the performances from both the leads. One of my top favourites from 2020. 

My Rating : 8/10

Movie Analysis : Onward (Hotstar)

Directed by : Dan Scanlon

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7146812/

Long ago, the world was full of wonder. It was adventurous. It was exciting. And most of all, there was magic.

Spoilers ahead...

Two elf brothers, Ian Lightfoot (voiced by Tom Holland) and Barley Lightfoot (voiced by Chris Pratt) go on a quest to get their dead father back for one day as they battle against the time, obstacles on the way, curses that comes with the magic spells while finding themselves bond like never before.

There's tiny things that makes this a better movie then it would had been. For instance, Ian and Barley's mom is included as part of adventure and plays key role. We never get to hear their father talk, not even in that last scene of his with Barley, rather we are told through Barley what he said when he talks to Ian. It starts off as a routine 'another story' where guy is missing father who passed away long back and will go to any extent to just have one talk with him through magic, but the screenplay is all the time building towards an entirely different storyline which makes it fun to watch.

The scene where Ian is ticking off all the 'to do things with dad' and suddenly remembering how he already did all of that with Barley during their failed quest was easily my most favourite. Also, enjoyed most of the magic spells, loved the disguise one where one has to tell truth or disguise would get revealed. Barley giving up on his favourite van when Ian's magic fails and the chase scene of those tiny (whatever they are called) when Barley was shrunked were other fun highlights. 

Had two problems with movie, felt the starting took too long to get going, though it was made up with 2nd act full of lovely adventures and an even better final act that gives some nice touching moments. Also, many creatures (its a fantasy world with no humans) ended up playing total sides, leaving asides Manticore and those tiny things on bike, would had liked some more involvement of them either as help to Lightfoot brothers or more obstacles. 

Tom Holland and Chris Pratt were perfect choices for the brothers voiceovers. Barley at start would feel irritating but as the movie goes on, his character develops really nicely. I would say Onward is very much for guys what Frozen is to girls for the sibling (sisters in their case) bonding and the magic resemblance too. 

In the end, Onward is a very good watch, more than just a timepass, its an adventurous fun ride full of emotions. 

My Rating : 7/10

Mini Review : She Dies Tomorrow

Directed by : Amy Seimetz

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11614912/

There is no tomorrow for me.

Spoilers ahead.. 

Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil) believes she will die tomorrow and the belief is contagious slowly spreading to her friend Jane (Jane Adams) and to more people through Jane.

The premise has a little vibe of 'It Follows', and feels interesting because we all are gonna die someday and what if you are told its the next day for it to happen, how will the next 24 hours pan out, what exactly you will do or your thoughts revolve around? So much scope but exceution was so damn poor that I kept waiting for either some answers by end of film or for this movie to just end. And the answers never came, we only learn how Amy got affected with death idea through the guy she was with earlier, who himself got it from the pizza guy. But how it first came into existence is something we are never told. To be honest that's okay if they didn't wanna tell, its just that the idea of mortality, deep depression etc are explored in a painfully bizarre way.

Maybe people who are into art films will like this, as the cinematography often goes in that way. Also, editing was very odd, with loud shots suddenly cut with wierd sudden silence. Not a single conversation felt interesting enough for me and same goes for the performances. Yes some good visuals, but I don't watch movies for it. 

This is just a bad film. 

My Rating : 2/10 

Movie Analysis : Gunjan Saxena (Netflix)

Directed by : Sharan Sharma

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10350626/

Tere bhai ko kya lagta hai ki yeh sab mujhko nahi pata ki duniya kitni mushkil hai aurton ke liye. Par beta uska hal, pinjre mein qaid ho jaana nahi hai, pinjra todh ke udh jaana hai.

Spoilers ahead.. 

Always dreaming to fly planes as a young girl, Gunjan Saxena (Janhvi Kapoor) grows up to opportunities and with her determination and hardwork she gets into an IAF camp to get pilot training. She overcomes all the difficulties and discrimination she faces amidst a male dominated camp and becomes famous for her 40 rescue missions at the 1999 Kargil War. 

Another biography, where you can't say what is truth and what is fiction. Its totally your pick, I went in with the narrative and was very satisfied. 

My only complaint (a regular one with biographies) was would this be a perfect film if they kept 15 mins more for the war scenes or would that had ruined the excellent father-daughter narrative the film has? But didn't Neerja succeed at it too, did we need all the comedy about doing 12th/college and then the montage only to get rejected for the weight and height issues. I am not entirely sure because I can't deny those scenes were entertaining but at the cost of what more we could had seen about Gunjan Saxena's brilliant efforts at the Kargil War which we get so little to see.

The treatment Gunjan gets at IAF camp reminded me of Hollywood's 'Hidden Figures', no bathroom for women or been treated lower because the Flight Commander Dileep Singh (an excellent Vineet Kumar Singh) believes you need to be good at arm wrestling and defeat the guys, only then you can call yourself worthy of been a pilot along with the men. I did enjoy when he does the same arm wrestle with Gunjan himself at the end, indirectly conveying how wrong he was. 

The war sequence was the major flaw, firstly its not filmed with great details, doesn't look convincing enough and its too little screen-time, I would had liked more of Gunjan's rescue missions shown. 

There's Gunjan's brother, Anshuman Saxena (Angad Bedi) who is so protective of his sister that he often tries to stop her from achieving her dreams, at young age he mocks her telling women are made for air-hostess jobs, and later he tries convincing his father she won't be able to handle the harsh reality of the world dominated by men. While Gunjan's mother also ain't supportive and would rather love her daughter get married and lead a regular life until ofcourse she makes her proud. Both characters in their own rights work and are just following how the world works until someone dares to go against it. 

Love the entry scene of Gunjan, heroic but not something most actresses get. Its fun watching young Gunjan with those black chasma saying 'pilot ki eyes kharab nahi honi chahiye', you know she would go to any extent to achieve her dream. Another great scene happens when a powercut at her home party for celebration of her topping 10th results, as she shouts she wants to become a pilot and not study further. Complete contrast to the way she dances on Anil Kapoors '1 2 ka 4' before that and later when her father agrees to her. 

Gunjan's father, Colonel Anup Saxena (Pankaj Tripathi) just makes you smile everytime he is in frame because you not only love and adore him but also want to have such a father in real specially for a girl. He always listens to what Gunjan wants and never tries to tell her that she is thinking of something that would lead to struggles, rather motivates her with full support. He uses Rekha's magazine to help Gunjan get inspired for her new daily routine telling she must do what she can do and leave rest to the luck, rather than giving up hope and doing nothing. The best scene comes when he sarcastically tells her to boil potatoes and make paranthas, mocking her as he shows his restrained anger on Gunjan for trying to give up on her dreams. 

Pankaj Tripathi just excels at every role these days and this one seems to be tailor-made for him. How he would with minimal dialogues emote everything out is always a key aspect of great actor, and his chemistry with Janhvi is amazing. Janhvi Kapoor has been a name taken often in the Nepotism debate, but my question to all those people is, do you guys even give someone a chance or have you already made up your mind that every Nepo kid can't act? I have from her first film felt she can act, just needs more films to grow up as an actor and Gunjan Saxena is her best performance so far, ofcourse its still far from perfect but she never gave me feel of 'Oh no, why did they cast her?' Infact I personally felt she matched some of great actors like Pankaj, Vineet and Manav Vij (love those 'Sorry and Joker' intereactions including the pilot test he makes her go through) very well in many scenes. 

Gunjan Saxena works very well for me, again I am not going with how accurate it is, I just see it as a inspirational drama rather than biography, about a young girl who had dreams and her father helped out rather been a hinderance. A very good debut as director for Sharan Sharma, would be keen to see how his future projects work in case he can join my list of favourite directors. 

My Rating : 7.5/10

Movie Analysis : The Devil All The Time (Netflix)

Directed by : Antonio Campos

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7395114/

Some people were born just so they could be buried.

Spoilers ahead.. 

Set in Ohio and West Virginia spanning over 20 years, the story revolves around many families, there's Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgard) who returned from his military exercise after end of World War II but is haunted by a crucified marine he killed. Willard meets Charlotte (Haley Bennett) at a diner and falls in love with her, they eventually get married as story moves to their son Arvin (Tom Holland) in mid 1960s when he's grown up and has similar traits of his father. There's Carl (Jason Clarke) and Sandy (Riley Keough) who also meet at the same diner, and in future years become the deadly husband-wife combo of psychopaths. There's Roy Laferty (Henry Melling) who believes God is testing him leading him to experiment something on his wife Helen Hatton (Mia Wasikowska). And then there's Lenora (Eliza Scanlen), daughter of Roy and Helen, who also falls for a preacher, Reverend Preston Teagardin (Robert Pattinson). Lastly, there's Deputy Lee Bodecker (Sebastian Stan), brother of Sandy, who desires to win the future elections making him want to keep a good image even at expense of getting corrupt. 

A great ensemble cast as always brings the issues of characters not getting enough screentime, had same issue here with only Willard and Arvin ending out to be the ones that appealed most to me. The non-linear narration is done very much in the 'Pulp Fiction' manner which at times I felt didn't work, because unlike Tarantino movie, this one aint dark comedy, rather its a dark drama. 

What I enjoyed was the various themes played out, one was Luck. We see Willard and Charlotte meet only because Carl gave his seat at the  diner which in return makes him meet Sandy, had this not happened maybe their lives would had turned differently. Or when both Roy and Arvin during their times end up taking a lift from Carl and Sandy, like their fate was decided. Or how Arvin's fate was actually decided by Carl who had replaced Sandy's pistol with blanks citing she may betray him which in return ends up for her death rather than Arvin's. Also, how that german 'Luger' Willard brings and gives to his Uncle only to end up in hands of grown up Arvin at his 17th birthday which he uses to kill people who had wronged his sister and later some other people when left with no choice.

Almost every character (male specially) commits sins in the story and also gets appropriately punished for it. Both preachers stories felt very hurried to me, specially Robert Pattinson character didn't work at all. Bill Skarsgard and Tom Holland are excellent, love the tension filled scene when Arvin realizes who Carl-Sandy are and his life is in danger. Also, I like how they end the movie, almost a suggestion that Arvin's life would go totally his dad's way, it maybe a non-ending cycle. Something of that we see in Helen and Lenora's stories, both get killed in different decades due to their love for preachers who weren't what they looked like to be. 

The Devil All The Time is a decent watch, but I feel it needed to be a 7-8 episode series rather to be lot more engaging and let all characters have their due which the film fails at as I ended up craving for much more than what I got. 

My Rating : 6/10

Movie Analysis : Drishyam 2 (Amazon Prime)

Directed by : Jeethu Joseph

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12361178/

His mind has taken a pledge to protect his family. We cannot win.

Spoilers ahead.. 

Six years has passed since Georgekutty (Mohanlal) saved himself and his family from the incident that lead to the death of Varun - Prabhakar (Asha Sharath and Siddique) family's son. Georgekutty is owner of a movie theatre now and also has been working on script based on his own life for past some years. But things haven't changed yet, the police are still looking for clues that may lead to the body of Varun and Georgekutty's family living with the threat looming large over them. 

My first malayalam movie, had to watch due to the kind of reviews it was getting and for first 30 so mins I was wondering what made people love this, the proceedings were slow and not leading anywhere. But that was so intentional, if you stay patient then everything gets connected in many twists that follows, a good 2nd act and just brilliant final act specially the final 20 mins. 

I am guessing the 1st movie had same storyline as Hindi one as I had only seen the latter. Majority of the 1st act is about how Rani (Meena) lives with that night incident trauma so much still effecting her that she has to ask her neighbour Saritha (Anjali Nair) to come over for sleep everytime Georgekutty stays out. Also, the elder daughter Anju (Ansiba) suffers from seizures and the dreams about what happened to Varun. We also are introduced to Saritha's abusive husband, Sabu (Sumesh Chandran) and Jose (Ajith Koothattukulam) who happened to kill his brother in law on the same night when Georgekutty was busy burying Varun in the police station.

The moment the reality of some characters is told, is when the movie's pace picks up and never really stops after that. We are on edge of seat thinking, will the trap work and the body will be found, and if they do find the body, will Georgekutty survive or does his mind workout a new plan? All these questions get answered with some very good surprises. 

The writing team really did well, putting in 'luck' and 'copyright' angle so that you can't argue how the hell is this possible because Georgekutty himself thinks it might not work, he's just taking a chance and hoping God is with him. Also, what works is how he feels about Prabhakar's family's loss - guilt he can't let off. Personally I never felt anything over Varun's death so I was always on Georgekutty side in both films. 

Love the reaction on everyone's face when Jose tells where the body is. There's also two resembling scenes from earlier film, one is the interrogation where Georgekutty family is standing in a line and he again tries to narrate same story of '2nd and 3rd Aug'. And other is the final scene of his slow walk having survived yet again but will still live in the shadow of what if something might come up again. I am not sure if Drishyam3 is possible, maybe would be too much of extension of same case, but would be something if director Jeethu Joseph could pull it off again. 

My fav moment is the look on Georgekutty face when a body is discovered and without saying anything Rani learns about the truth. And then the entire guesthouse sequence where Prabhakar family and the Inspector are joined by producer of Georgekutty's film and he reveals the script while we keep cutting to the court scenes, 'I fear this is start of something' dialogue uttered as we slowly realise the sharp mind of Georgekutty at work again (might give a great competition to Professor from Money Hiest). 

Apart from the slow 1st act, which I won't really say is a problem, it very much plays a big part to how much we end up enjoying the rest movie. One issue I had was with overdose of reaction zoom in shots, I don't know if thats a regular thing in Malayalam industry, but its something I don't like. Also, I was thinking if Sabu and Saritha could had a moment or dialogue or something when Georgekutty walks past them in the end. They clearly despite betraying, had the kind of emotions neighbours of Georgekutty had for his family when they beat the constable in end of last film. 

Love the use of only track 'Ore Pakal', a soft slow song that beautifully highlights the kind of traumatic life Rani is living these 6 years, not able to come out of the past.

Everyone chips in with good performances, with ofcourse Mohanlal stealing the show, specially everytime he emotes with those eyes and stares. 

Doesn't quite get that 'What the.. Wow' moment when we learnt where Georgekutty buried the body in 1st film which was always going to be hard to beat, yet many times in this sequel we cheer up finding how he is going to avoid a jail term with his plans. Drishyam2 is a wonderful sequel, makes good use of new characters connecting to the previous film, plays out the trauma family lives and how Georgekutty is always calm and few steps ahead of everyone yet again.

Please tell me, hindi version of it, starring Ajay Devgan would be coming out by next year or so. It has huge hit and plenty of taalis in theatres (if corona is gone by then) written all over it. 

My Rating : 8.5/10

Mini Review : Wolfwalkers

Directed by : Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5198068/

Why do you want to be a human? Being a wolf is way better. I will show you.

Spoilers ahead... 

Robyn Goodfellowe (voiced by Honor Kneafsey) wants to help her father Bill Goodfellowe (voiced by Sean Bean) to hunt down the forest and kill the wolves, as task given to him by Lord Protector (voiced by Simon McBurney). Despite been told to stay away, Robyn is stubborn and quietly sneaks outside following her dad but ends up by chance meeting Mebh Og MacTire (voiced by Eva Whittaker) who is a Wolfwalker, meaning she is a wolf when asleep at night and a girl in the day. Soon Robyn becomes good friend with Mebh and realizes a truth about herself that leads her to ensure her father and Lord Protector don't succeed in their mission.

I am not a fan of 2d animation which is one of few other reasons why I found this movie just about decent despite its high rating. Felt the cliches and stereotype scenarios were too much to ignore, for instance the story is predictable knowing where it will be heading, then there's the annoying father-daughter relationship where Bill keeps ignoring what Robyn wants to say and forcing her to do chores, or an evil Lord Protector whose hatred for wolves is never explained and oddly he has put gates to avoid children out or wolves in, when they both can easily run through it for the pattern gates have.

I liked the friendship Mebh and Robyn form, their first meeting is fun to watch and so is the my fav moment when Robyn learns her true identity with lovely background song of 'Running with the Wolves'. Mebh character worked for me most, while Robyn was mix of good and annoying, more for the way her character is written. Would had been nice if Bill learned the reality and teamed up with Robyn much earlier. Also, doesn't quite explores the Human vs Animals angle.

Some touching scenes, beautiful visuals and fun moments aside, Wolfwalkers turned out to be okish one time watch only. 

My Rating : 5/10