Mini Review : Finding the Way Back (Amazon Prime)

Directed by : Gavin O'Connor

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8544498/

The little things add up. Lets do all the little things right. Loose ball gets us 2 points. Tip pass gets us to 4. Steal gets us another 2. Now we are at 6. Turnover out of our press gets us to 8. All this shit adds up. Every box-out, every hustle, every loose ball, every trap. Put all that shit together, all of a sudden we are pretty fucking tough to beat.

Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck) walked away from basketball forfeiting his future despite being a high school star and certain to go big in college or even be a pro. 25 years later he gets a coaching job offer at his alma mater which he reluctantly accepts. But he is an alcohol addict now, just split recently with wife Angela (Janina Gavankar) owing to the tragedy of their son Michael passing at a young age. The question is how will Jack cope with his addiction and yet coach a team of high school boys that he is told aren't good having missed playoffs every of those 25 years.

There's two narratives going here, one is about Jack leading the boys to playoffs with right coaching, tactics and strict discipline. And the other is Jack's personal life that has fallen apart where he feels alcohol is the only way out. The basic premise in a way resembles 'Warrior', but unlike that movie, here I felt both narratives failed both seperately and together. For the basketball scenes, the growth of boys from nothing to so competitive felt rushed. Also, I wanted more intereactions between Jack and them. The alcoholic scenes are little overdone in a sense that it wasn't gripping enough to see how badly Jack was struggling with the abuse of alcohol. In short I felt a lack of emotional connect with Jack despite Ben Affleck chipping in such a good performance which is ofcourse inspired from his real life.

I did like the movie, there's some fun scenes where Jack is trying to not use foul/cuss language as one of Father Mark Whelan (Jeremy Radin) alongside the coaching team believes it will have wrong effect on the boys. Like how Jack tries to convince Brandon Durrett (Brandon Wilson) to be a leader and believe in his abilities for being best player in team. Also, way he tries to get Brandon's father to come to the games, having his own history with his father during his playing days. And the scene where Jack would fake call head Priest numerous times at the school about him not accepting the job offer, as we learn thats how he was calling Angela too before.

Finding the Way Back is a good watch, just doesn't work as much as for me I feel it should have whether it was as a sports movie or redemption in life with a second chance.

My Rating : 6/10

Movie Analysis : Toofaan (Amazon Prime)

Directed by : Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11045422/

Yeh Azzu bhai, Yeh Aziz ali.. boxer... Kya banna hai? 

Spoilers ahead... 

Aziz Ali (Farhan Akhtar), a gangster from Dongri meets Dr Ananya (Mrunal Thakur) who changes his life by making him realize he has a better choice of becoming a boxer than continue his current way of living. Coached by Nana Prabhu (Paresh Rawal), Aziz soon reaches heights of success but an incident changes his life with a ban on his boxing. Many years later, much older with an unfit body, Aziz faces the task of returning back to the boxing ring and earn the respect he lost back again.

The film follows every sports movie cliche, which was visible from the trailer itself. There's the training montage, Aziz spending time with orphan children a way to melt Ananya's heart, a very manipulative temple scene to bring Nana Prabhu closer to her grand-daughter and a competitor Prithvi out of nowhere shown in detail to tell who Aziz would be facing in the Final. I won't say Nana Prabhu's prejudice is wrong, I mean most people without a reason hold such thoughts and here he atleast had lost his wife in the blast to form that opinion and have the hatred inside. 

The Hindu-Muslim love angle gave the movie something different despite Mrunal Thakur acting her part little too over-excited way at places. Some songs are poorly forced in, and also except for title and Arjit's track are forgettable.

You can't really keep interest of a viewer with same 'hero will find motive, train hard, make mistake, get the glory back with a comeback'  - this formula is overdone now. That is one of main reasons I felt surprised why would Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra want to make this movie. 

Even if the movie was trimmed by 30 so mins, it would had made very little difference to me. While the 1st act felt very regular bollywood drama, 2nd act felt rushed specially the life after the ban went by too quickly.

Farhan Akhtar shines in the act, mainly the Aziz Ali the boxer, while in the Azzu bhai he was so-so for me. Commendable effort in the transformation he did for the role unfortunately the movie isn't good enough to remember his act like say Vineet for Mukkabaaz or Aamir in Dangal. Paresh Rawal I felt needed to be given more dialogues at the boxing matches, that might had made atleast the bouts enjoyable which despite been shot well didn't work for me. Vijay Raaz is wasted in a nothing role, while Darshan Kumaar felt comical in that semi-final revenge bout as the judge.

I felt invested mostly in the romantic track of Farhan-Mrunal and the final bout of State Championships was the only one that was well executed. Overall,  Toofaan is an average movie that just lacked in the writing department and asked too much from the actors to deliver in the end. 

P.S - A wierd positive was from food scene as I learnt Vanilla ice-cream and Gajar ka halwa is a good combo. Thank you, will try soon to confirm!

My Rating : 5/10 

Movie Analysis : Mumbai Saga (Amazon Prime)

Directed by : Sanjay Gupta

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10483386/

Agar tumhare paas woh Dubai wala hai na, toh mere paas Dadar wala hai. 

Spoilers ahead...

Loosely based on real life Amartya Rao (John Abraham) who from a lower middle class status rises up to become a famous gangster taking over the areas Gaitonde (Amole Gupte) rules, thereby having the control over Mumbai becoming Bhau's (Mahesh Manjrekar) main man. Encounter specialist Savarkar (Emraan Hashmi) takes it upon himself to finish the chapter of Amartya Rao. 

Off-late most of the gangster (real or fiction) based hindi movies follows a similar template, lots of punchlines, many one to one fight sequences, item number and eventually cop triumphs over the criminal. Almost all of these films lack one thing, no connection between the events, same happens in Mumbai Saga, there are few seeti maro kind dialogues delivered by leads or even other cast, Amartya vs Savarkar fight scenes specially the well edited washroom one but none of these make any impact because the characters aren't layered. No work is done on any of them because the story just moves in one note which is Amartya has to become the top gangster and then Savarkar has to kill him. Infact it felt funny how Savarkar character out of blue gets introduced after more than half film is gone and starts killing Amartya's men one by one. We know nothing about Savarkar's past life, even his motive to earn money by killing Amartya is challenged by his own long Singham kind speech making you wonder did he change his stance and become a police officer who is bound by the duty or was he faking it earlier. You never would find the answers because the writing team didn't bother. 

The only plus point apart from Emraan Hashmi's acting (its hard to not like him even in a bad film) was that the loud screeching dialogue scenes we saw in trailer were thankfully the only ones in the film too, so we do get saved from that torture. However, the use of slow motion and extreme close ups is done in excess, no respite on that front. 

I would even have loved some backdrop on why Bombay became Mumbai, with Bhau who clearly was playing Thackeray in here. Aneways, Sanjay Gupta just wanted to show non-stop action and even have a character of Seema (Kajal Aggarwal), girlfriend of Amartya who would in whole story support him in every violent act. Even the brotherly act of Amartya and Arjun (Pratiek Babbar, I almost struggled to recognise him) didn't work because again you didn't bother to develop these characters. Amole Gupte seemed to be enjoying his performance which felt like an extension of Bhope Bhau from Kaminey. And there's a blink and miss scene involving Sunil Shetty, no idea why they needed him for this scene. 

Mumbai Saga is a very tiring watch in the end, more so because there are tiny places where it works and entertains too only to be totally let down by the characters as you just don't care for them.

My Rating : 4/10 

Movies Analysis : The Half of It (Netflix)

Directed by : Alice Wu

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9683478/

Love is messy and horrible and selfish... and bold.

Spoilers ahead.. 

Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis), a shy introvert Chinese American high school girl reluctantly begins to help out a jock, Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer) who loves a popular girl of the class Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire) through letters. But Paul ain't aware, Ellie herself has got feelings for Aster. 

Even though its a different kind of love triangle with gay angle involved, the premise still gives feels of a cliched routine rom-com but that isn't the case, we get a really good enjoyable movie. Lovely animation story at starting credits to pull you in instantly and then Ellie Chu's narration throughout with her daily routine life and the unusual friendship that develops with Paul. They both make for a great pair, both helping out each other on what they don't know about wooing a girl. 

There are  fun moments when Paul gets impatient and Ellie finds ways to rescue situation everytime, specially the dining scene where Aster and Paul talk to each other through text despite sitting in front of each other, with Paul pretending texting which is ofcourse done by Ellie watching from outside in car knowing Paul is gonna mess up. 

The use of various quotes like chapters of movie is done well too including the final quote with Ellie's own take on 'Love'. And I loved that 'Ek Villain' scene where Ellie is making remarks on how guy's speed always matches with a running train. How Paul tries to do same and fails at end scene was funny too. I also loved every scene of Paul hanging out with Ellie's father. And Paul helping out Ellie first in dress choice for the school stage act and then later on guiding her to sing the song with guitar when the piano was ruined by some of her daily bullying gang.

Leah Lewis and Daniel Diemer are both perfectly casted and deliver great performances. Alexxis Lemire adds to the glamour and isn't limited to it as she gets plenty of scenes to shine mostly in the 2nd half of the movie. Specially enjoy the scene where she spends a day with Ellie. Also, all the scenes with Paul are awkwardly (in a comical way since Paul struggles to talk) fun to watch.

The ending is good in a way it doesn't try to say everything will work out, rather gives hope of it might. That guy who Aster is been forced to marry was the only one that irritates throughout the movie, but its tolerable as he gets very minimal screentime.  

The Half of It is definately worth a watch, a rom-com that rarely goes the cliche route, some interesting thoughts and emotional at times. More than the love, its the friendship between Ellie and Paul that stands out bringing a smile on your face. 

My Rating : 7/10

Mini Review : His House (Netflix)

Directed by : Remi Weekes

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8508734/

Many of us, we end up in places we never thought we would be.. but I think that's life trying to show you what kind of man you are. 

Spoilers ahead.. 

A refugee Sudanese couple, Bol Majur (Sope Dirisu) and Rial Majur (Wunmi Mosaku) who lost their daughter an year ago while crossing the sea, gets a probabational asylum to live in Britain on some very strict conditions that involves them not working and not leaving their house as they adjust into the new community. But they are unaware there's something else that lives in their new house with them. 

Starts on a good note, and for a good amount of time I thought maybe its another racism angle where that haunted house was given so the couple's life becomes dreadful. Was more of a love-hate kind movie, that talks about immigration and guilt leading to demons and finally redemption. The creature based horror doesn't appeal to me, so that was a minus and also I felt the final half was too dramatic.

Horror elements was well filled in though, even the jump scares were well executed. Also, liked how we see Bol trying to adjust and change to new setting, while Rial is rooted to her own culture, leading to conflicts. Some nice dark comedy involving Bol-Rial and the guy, Mark Essworth (Matt Smith) who is caretaker of the house. 

I just never felt satisfied with the revelation of main story, or maybe I was never in the same wavelength to what director wanted to show off here. If you like the twist about the story that leads to the ghosts in the house then you may enjoy the movie, for me that didn't work. 

Still a decent one time watch movie. 

My Rating : 5/10

Mini Review : On The Rocks

Directed by : Sofia Coppola

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9606374/

Women, you can't live with them, you can't live without them. That doesn't mean you have to live with them.

Spoilers ahead.. 

Laura (Rashida Jones) wife of Dean (Marlon Wayans) with 2 young daughters, suddenly gets suspicious about her husband who might be having an affair going behind her back. While having lunch with her dad, Felix (Bill Murray) she casually tells about her worries, not having an idea of how involved he will get to find out the truth about Dean.

There were some decent laughs but mostly I felt the screenplay was very dull. Its like that character Laura meets at school daily, who will tell about her feelings for some person while Laura listens with fake interest. Similarly, you just wait for Felix scenes to come so we get atleast some pleasure out of this film. 

The major issue was the movie does nothing really with the characters development, the relationship between Laura and Felix stays right where it starts initially. And even the truth about Dean isn't shown properly, making you wonder maybe he actually has affair but hiding it. 

Bill Murray is super fun for the playboy character he plays with uttermost ease and ofcourse his charming screen presence, despite the writing not giving him enough scope.

On the Rocks is strictly okay film, I don't think I can reccommend to watch it just for Bill Murray. 

My Rating : 5/10 

Movie Analysis : The White Tiger (Netflix)

Directed by : Ramin Bahrani

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6571548/

For the poor, there are only two ways to get to the top, crime or politics. Is it like that in your country too?

Spoilers ahead..

Based on Aravind Adiga's best selling novel 'The White Tiger', Balram (Adarsh Gourav) who is a lower caste halwai at his village, plots his way into being a driver for a wealthy rich family of The Stork (Mahesh Manjrekar). A tale of how he makes out of there and becomes one of top entrepreneur by committing some crime.

There's clear similarity with Parasite, how Balram fools around to get close to the Stork and eventually becoming driver of The Stork's son Ashok (Rajkummar Rao). We get to see the divide of upper and lower class, many times Balram is ridiculed and treated like a trash by the Stork or his brother Mukesh 'The Mongoose' (Vijay Maurya). In one of best scenes, Mongoose and Stroke are behaving like sweet masters much different to their routine way, as they are keen to get signature of Balram for a car accident which was rather fault of Ashok's wife Pinky (Priyanka Chopra) drunk driving. It is also the main point of the plot when Balram realizes no matter how much he devotes to his masters like every other servant does, he would get replaced one day.

Poverty, upper class ruling over lower class like they aren't humans, politics, corruption etc are some of the topics that the narrative goes through with the story told direct by Balram who tells us how he made it this far. And Balram has a family that never really supports him, rather his grandmother wants his earned money every month. So, he is mostly on his own, trying to lead a normal life which isn't easy when everyone wants a piece of you in some way. 

Adarsh Gourav is excellent, whether its how he showcases the clever intelligent mind he has got, or how there's a constant anger building inside him for not really getting what he should despite being loyal always. I specially enjoyed the scene where he looks in the plate just after Pinky had given him important advice, or the scene where he feels his mind was going crazy letting his anger out. Happy they showed less of his scenes when he's successful now, they weren't totally convincing for me, maybe because the idea of never getting caught  looked odd even though its justified by referring him as the 'White Tiger' considered to be one of rarest. 

Love the dig Balram makes indirectly at Slumdog Millionaire, as unlike that film, he has to get dirty and kill his master Ashok, only then he could dream of becoming a big person. Though in the end he also turns out to be like Ashok, bribing police to setup his business. The only difference however is, Balram is friendly to other drivers and doesn't see them as someone low or insignificant as Stork's family would do. I wish he killed Mongoose or Stork instead of Ashok, just didn't feel right, and they even have a dialogue where he is thinking the same. 

RajKumar Rao is strangely a weak link, not just the accent but his character comes across confused, always changing sides, almost dominated by his father Stork. Priyanka Chopra is decent, as only person who almost in entire role supports Balram planting the idea how much Balram deserves more than be a driver only, though her accent also was little irritating. 

One thing I kept wondering, having all the money why would Balram not travel in an AC Class. 

Certainly a better movie than the very hammy Slumdog Millionaire but doesn't reach the level of Parasite for me, yet 'The White Tiger' is a pretty good watch with Adarsh Gourav performance stealing the show. 

My Rating : 6.5/10