The mission impossible series of movies has been ongoing since 1996 and most of the movies so far have been stand alone. Not Mission Impossible Fallout. It has threads connecting to at least 2 previous films if not more.
After 5 films, this one could have been mediocre, resting on the laurels of the previous hits, but this movie is the exact opposite… it does rest some of its plot points on the previous films, but this is the best damn M:I film till date.

Imagine if Chris Nolan made a spy flick. Sure, inception was pretty damn close but Mi:Fallout is exactly how he would have done it. In fact, a lengthy sequence in the film seems to be shot at the same locations where inception was shot (in paris) making it seem all the more a Chris Nolan type film.

Acting :
Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt. His most successful character till date. His usual team of Benji, Luther and the leader of IMF is also with him and for the first time in a Mi Film the leading lady is back. The lady from Rogue Nation is back to settle her plotline.
The Mi films are not meant to or known to have Oscar worthy performances. They are primary high octane action films. BUT the actors have gotten pretty good in their roles and they are believable and convincing. By this I mean, the lead Ethan hunt has a haunted look in his eyes from all the things he has seen and has done over the past at least 22 years since we have been seeing him on his missions. He is no longer self-assured and confident, he is now afraid… that he will make a mistake, lose his team and blow up the world!
This shows in the acting and that is what bring a believability to the characters and the film. That is NOT easy to do. They have also earnt it over the years. Film by film Ethan hunt is more and more damaged. It shows in the natural aging of the actor as well as his acting.
Why am I praising this aspect so much? Because this simple thing is what a LOT of action franchises forget. Take for example ‘Die Hard’ series. It has been going on since 1988 till 2013. However, by the last film, forget about haunted or damaged, bruce willis barely seemed to be playing John McLane. He seemed to be salman khan-ing it.
Mi films have till now avoided this. The side roles of this film are also convincing. The new addition is Henry ‘superman’ Cavill. Playing his second spy role after the disastrous 2015’s Man from U.N.C.L.E. here, he sports his infamous mustache, which became the fuzz of all jokes in justice league. (JL had to do reshoots and they digitally removed Henry’s mustache grown for this film).
Henry Cavill is a capable actor and he is Good in his role. But nothing exceptional. Just good. They could have another actor to play his role. It wouldn’t have made any difference to the film.

The Plot :
To fully understand the plot the viewer HAS to have seen the previous film. Otherwise it is all meaningless action and running around without context. Like the last James Bond film (Spectre was a sequel to SkyFall) this is more or less a direct sequel to Rogue Nation. But unlike James Bond’s spectacular flop, this movie is well written with a plot that keeps things flowing. It doesn’t get too convoluted, but its complex enough to keep the audience engrossed without confusing them.
A few references might go over the viewer’s head if he or she hasn’t seen ALL the previous 5 films recently. There is a lot of references to Film 3 (Mi:3), film 5 (Rogue Nation) and one throwback to the First film.

The Action :
This movie has the second best action sequences after MI: Ghost Protocol. But overall the way its edited and shot this is the best movie action wise in this genre. That’s because unlike other action films, the sequences DON’T cut rapidly to excite the viewer, instead they have much longer scenes where the action is fully coherent, we can SEE what’s going on and it’s thrilling. In addition, it is exciting beyond belief to see long shots of tom cruise on a bike in between hundreds of cars missing them by inches. It looks real. Michael bay needs to learn how to do action right by seeing this film.
And… this film is NOT in 3d. Thankfully. This makes it easy to see in the darker parts of the film and doesn’t distract from the great action sequences. Thank you producers.
While the Burj Khalifa sequence from movie 4 (Ghost Protocol) is the best thrill sequence in any MI film till date, this film tries to match that, doesn’t quite get there but the excellent plot more than makes up for this. The action is a bit more realistic than previous films and only the end sequence goes past the, ‘a man can probably do this’ believability. But what is a Mission Impossible film if the stunts and sequence all seem Possible?


Overall :
This film adds something to the genre other than just new ways to do action. The plot adds a very personal stake to Ethan Hunt’s mission and makes it all the more do or die for him.
This film is a must watch for fans of the series and action movie buffs.
This is more or less as good as this genre of action spy films will ever get. James Bond move aside, Mission Impossible is unarguably the better action – thriller – spy franchise.
(p.s: This is with reference to the last 4 Bond – So called modern Bond Films. Doesn’t NOT count the Brosnan films)
Don’t forget to brush up on the previous film Rogue Nation before seeing this one…

Rating :
8.5 / 10. The director & writer from the previous film makes a return to direct this film and although the previous film was decent, with a second chance the writer and director of Rogue Nation has knocked it out of the ball park with this film. The action, plot and everything comes together to make this the best entry into the series till date.

Went in for a Morning Show of ant-man and the wasp… the theatre was HALF-empty. EXACTLY half. Perfectly balanced. It got me thinking… was it thanos’s snap or the world cup?
Either theory is valid me thinks….
But I am going with thanos snapped half of movie audiences into oblivion… and we didn’t EVEN noticed. Oh gosh… what a rabbit hole! Maybe that’s why RACE 3 made half the money it was supposed to make… I mean Baaghi 2 was a huge hit right? This leads me to think… maybe THAT’S why Solo-A Star wars story made so little! Damn… mystery solved.
With that let me get to the review of this film.
Ant-man was last seen in Captain America – civil war. He was missing in infinity war and this movie does explain why.

The Acting :

Paul Rudd is such a good choice for this MCU version of Scott Lang. He is funny, mostly goofy but sometimes he manages to do well, action wise that is... I so want to see an Ant-man and Spider-man team up film. Two goofballs with insect names and advanced tech, one by tony the other by hank pym.
Speaking of Hank Pym, Michael Douglas is de-aged again for the opening scene of the film and they seem to have pretty much perfected the method. Overall he is VERY solid as Hank Pym and has a LOT more to do in this sequel than the previous movie. Which is a great thing. They recognised that Hank Pym is an interesting character, a bit reminiscent of Howard Stark (Tony’s dad) and he is still around and kicking unlike other fathers in the MCU. (Fathers have it ROUGH in the MCU. Count off ALL the dead parents, especially Dads in the entire MCU.)
Speaking of fathers, we come to Hank’s daughter. Hope. Played by Evangeline Lily, she is also much better in this film simply by the virtue of NOT having that god awful wig she had on in the first film. She looked horrendous in that film and here she is the co-lead and looks much more natural. She plays the Wasp effortlessly and has no struggle with using her suit and powers. She is not like Scott Lang in that regard. She is well trained and it comes across on screen.
The rest of the cast who repise their role from the frist film, especially Micheal Pena and the two other friends, are in this film, but their role is severely reduced. But… that is also not a bad thing. They got the time they needed and didn’t overstay their welcome.
Hank Pym’s daughter has slightly more to do in this part as well and she is rather good as the very cute child who is the main reason for her father to stay out of trouble.

Story & Plot :

The plot of this movie is rather simplistic. It deals with one single topic which is very personal to Hank Pym and his daughter and the whole movie revolves around that. But unlike Gaurdians 2 OR Iron man 2, this movie doesn’t fall down the sequel hole. Those plot points FROM both those previous MCU films are recycled in this one, it doesn’t feel stale or boring. New characters emerge, challenges ensue, fights happen and it all leads towards one big and satisfying climax. The second half of this film is actually much better than the previous ant-man film which sort of felt had let off too much steam and had lost its momentum. But this one charges through and doesn’t slacken the pace at all till the ending scene.
But if you expect a world is peril plot. This movie is not it. The world is already enough in peril by Thanos, so this is a much more smaller and personal story.

The Direction :

When Edgar Wright left the first film’s directorial position, many fans had lamented that fact. But peyton reed has found the ant-man vibe rather well. Mixing comedy with action is a marvel main stay and this movie has loads of that. A torture scene is turned into a comedy exposition by micheal pena. An action is made hilarious by how murderous seagulls keep eating ant-man’s ants… the director of this film is not as famous as Iron man’s Jon Favreau OR guardian’s James Gunn, but he has consistently delivered two good movies which both the other two famous director’s couldn’t achieve.
So in that regard Peyton reed, while under rated has managed something which marvel RARELY does. Make a GOOD part 2 of a successful Origin film. Iron man 2, SUCKED. I don’t hate it, but its very subpar compared to the first Iron man. Guardians 2 also didn’t come out too well. Thor 2 was a flaming mess. Only Captain America 2 was good, but that was with a change of directors, setting and plot.
So enjoy ant-man. The only marvel sequel, which manages to not go too big, doesn’t underwhelm and comes across as a genuinely entertaining and good film.

Music & Misc :
MCU has finally learned to re-use the best parts of the music from the previous film. Music is what links the movies together apart from story and plot. The music in this one re-uses the main ant-man theme and for the finale that rocked.

Rating :
This is a solid 7/10 film. Slightly better than the previous part but doesn’t try to overachieve and spoil the tone of the film.

P.S : there are TWO end credits scene. The first one is VITAL to the film and is actually the film’s real end scene. The one AFTER the credits is skip-able if you are in a hurry.
P.P.S : Here is a list of dads who died ON-Screen in the MCU.
1. Howard Stark.
2. Odin
3. Ego the Living Planet (Star lord’s daddy…)
4. Anton Vanko (Ivan’s father from Iron man 2)
5. Frost Giant King, Laufey (Loki’s REAL father)
6. T'Chaka (T'Challa’s Father)
7. N'Jobu (Killmonger’s father in Black Panther)
8. Yondu Udonta (Star lord’s Adoptive father) (Bit of a stretch but… he was a father figure.)
9. Jarvis (Vision and Ultron’s digital father) (huge stretch, but had to make my list count… he he)

I normally don’t review TV shows, but this one is an exception. Directed by Anurag Kashyap and his regular partner in crime Vikramaditya Motwane , Sacred Games is based on a novel by Vikram Chandra. This review is for the Hindi Version. I haven’t yet seen or plan to see the English dubbed audio. Also I haven’t read the novel yet, so I am review the series based on its own merit.

A Note about other reviews/Opinions. It seems most if not all the reviews are just first impressions and the people reviewing and writing about it haven’t actually seen all the episodes instead basing it on the first two episodes. Which is a pathetic way to review a show. Which can only be talked about after seeing all the episodes.

So here is my review based on ALL the 8 episodes of season 1.

Sacred Games is a thriller mixed in with a rise to power story of an ex-Mumbai based gangster. Peppered in are elements of real history of our country. This show is made and designed very much to be an Indian Narcos. Which is great. It’s about time India’s seedy criminal underbelly got the non-Bollywood treatment. So we have lots of swearing of the most filthy kind, nudity of men and women and lots and lots of blood and violence. It’s sort of refreshing to see the extreme portrayal of gang violence which can’t be shown in Bollywood films due to the censor board.
The Acting :
Saif is really good as the Sartaj Singh a sort of down on his luck rookie type Cop. He plays his role with conviction and realism. There is none of the fake Bollywood sheen to his acting; it’s a very raw portrayal of a cop. Probably due to the content, I would say this is saif’s career best performance. It’s nice to see how a main stream star has taken a Web Series role which has none of the usual things that stars do, such as singing, dancing or romancing.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Ganesh Gaitonde is an ex-gangster of the Arun Gawli kind. He has played this sort of role before for Anurag’s own Gangs of Wasseypur. Therefore, this isn’t such a departure for him, but he too plays his role with a strength and conviction which lends credibility to his larger than life gangster persona on screen.
Radhika Apte looks convincing as a RAW agent, but she is also the weakest part of the lead casting. Her acting is fine, but somehow her body language is far less convincing. Maybe real life RAW agents are like this, but as far as other actors are concerned in the show who look like they are REAL people, she stands out as the one with the least convincing portrayal.
Rest of the cast is pretty good and as I mentioned before, everyone manages to be convincing in their acting and you forget these are actors and see the performances as if they are real people. Which is the best thing for a project like this.

The Story :
Since I haven’t read the novel, I don’t know where the story is going. But so far it’s all about cops, ministers, gangsters, religion and a murder mystery. On paper, that’s VERY standard fare. It’s the typical collection you expect from any political thriller.
But what REALLY shines about the story is the parts about how the gangster Ganesh came to be. His origin story as it were. These sections are shown in flashbacks and Nawazuddin Siddiqui is in his element during these scenes. In addition, this part of the story, to me is much more interesting than the thriller that is unfolding during the present time.
Saif’s cop thriller story isn’t bad, but it is a by the numbers thriller. Offering nothing-new story wise. Only great performances make these sections more bearable.

The Direction :
As mentioned before this series is divided in two sections. Saif’s cop story is directed by Vikramaditya and the Gangster story of Nawazuddin Siddiqui is directed by Anurag.
Both the sections have some tonal variation which works well for the series overall as one is a Story narrated by the gangster and the other is of events unfolding in the present day. The tonal shift is not jarring but rather works well somehow.
By far anurag’s directed sections are far better than the sections of saif. It’s more appealing, bloody and in your face. It’s like he got three or four times the budget of his previous films and he went to town with the blood and violence. Rather satisfying to see. Direction and tonally, this is the closest he has come to Martin Scorsese’s style.

Overall :

This is a series produced by Netflix and it is aimed at a worldwide audience. So even though there is some smatterings of a song and dance, some cheesy dialogs, most of it is designed to compete with the rest of the world’s best.
The good news is. This show doesn’t disappoint. It is not artificial. People speak in all sorts of different languages and they haven’t tried to make them speak fake English. Which is a big departure from how previous foreign funded Indian projects have turned out to be.
The action and violence is raw and gritty. It shows how the city of Mumbai / Bombay in the 80s and 90s really looked like without demeaning the city. The dialogs are very realistic.
It remains to be seen where the story leads as this is only the first season. So more on that when season 2 arrives.


Rating :
8/10. If you like, gangster movies and thrillers this series is right up your alley. Fans of the director’s previous works will NOT be disappointed.
This is the content Anurag Kashyap The director of Paanch, Black Friday, Dev D and Gangs of Wasseypur deserves and should be making instead of bull crap like Lust Stories and Bombay Velvet.

Conclusion :

Minor Spoilers. VERY Minor.
The show ends on a cliff-hanger. So be warned. If you want to see something with a satisfying conclusion, odds are… you will have to wait for the better part of this year or the next for the next season. Most of the questions raised in this season are not answered and only a slight hint is given to the rest of the story. I don’t know how many more seasons are planned. But this one does it job. Which is leave you with sort of an anticipation for the next season, not quite satisfied but not left hanging so midway that it will anger you. A perfect job by the makers and Netflix to make sure audiences tune in for the next season.

Sanju Movie Review :

Sanju is a love letter from Sanjay dutt to his now deceased father Sunil dutt. This is done via the film maker Raju Hirani, who is a master at crafting films. It is also a film, which attempts to show Sanju Baba’s side of the story. Unfortunately, that is where the film falls a bit short.
Let’s talk about it more, because as said in the film, no topic is so simple that it can be understood, judged and a verdict given in a few sentences.

Story :
The film is presented as semi-autobiographical and semi fictional. Real names are used but in conjunction with fictional characters. So for people who are going in to see the real story behind the man, might be a bit disappointed. As its more of a fictional retelling of sanju’s story.
However that does not dilute the powerful father son bond shown in the film and the trials and tribulations of a famous person’s life.
The story does its job in trying to clear the name or failing that at least give an alternative view of sanju’s life.

Acting :
The trailers showed off how good Ranbir Kapoor is at slipping into Sanjay Dutt’s shoes. The full film doesn’t disappoint in the acting department. Ranbir Kapoor deserves a best actor award for his portrayal of Sanjay Dutt. He is really good in the role and doesn’t miss a beat.

Supporting him is Vicky Kaushal. Who Plays Sanju Baba’s loyal friend. It is said that he is the amalgamation of 2 or 3 of sanjay’s real life friends. Vicky is REALLY good in this film, he starts out as an over the top Gujju Caricature but soon fills his role with heart and warmth. His role is the third most important role in this film about a father, son and his friend.

Which brings us to the father. Sunil dutt is played by Paresh Rawal and although he is a really great actor, he cannot hope to match up with the real Sunil dutt who is a legend. Rawal tries really hard and mostly succeeds but still remembering the real Dutt Sahib and his acting, this performance falls a bit short. But that is not the actor’s fault. Not many can film Sunil Dutt’s shoes. Infact currently no one in Bollywood can act and convince an audience that they are watching Sunil Dutt on screen.

Manisha Koirala, Dia Mirza, Anushka sharma, Sonam Kapoor and Boman Irani round of the rest of the notable casting. Everyone of them has done justice to their roles, but none of the side characters have a standout performance. There is a nice cameo by Arshad Warsi which made me miss his Circuit character even more…

Direction & Editing:
Raju Hirani is credited as the director-editor of the film. He is one of India’s best directors and he doesn’t disappoint in the least. But the subject matter lets him down a bit. This is not munnabhai or PK, this is a real life story and has to be dealt with sensitivity and there is not much of the classic Raju hirani comedy. Which is fine, but it does make the film a bit boring and slightly dragging in parts.
Regardless, he manages to outshine the writing and somehow turn this simple story into something better.

Overall :

In this film, Sanjay dutt has told his side of the sotry, but it is missing important details of his life such as his first marriage, his fallout (supposed) with his own sister and how he met his current wife. Maybe all of that would have diluted from this script but these omissions do seem to try and show Sanjay as a different person than he might be in real life.

Not to mention the message of the film is given as,
1. Sunil Dutt was a great man who did a lot for his wife and children
2. The press is a horrible thing, almost a daily consumption drug of masala news and sensation (the movie’s words… not mine)
If you would find such a thing offensive, then this film is not for you. But dutt and hirani have taken a LOT of pot shots at the press and the only pervasive villain in the film is looming specter of the press. This is not going to make the press happy.

Rating :
This is a solid 7/10 film. Not as good as Hirani’s previous films. But an important film for Sanjay Dutt, the misunderstood star.


Conclusion:
This film DOES address the whole, is he a terrorist thing. In fact a LARGE portion of the film is all about that. I don’t have any personal opinion on the same, but it is part of the film.
In the end, will it change the minds of those who think he is a criminal and making a film about him is not ok ?

NOPE.
The film also addresses it via a dialog by Anushka sharma. They know it won’t change the minds of the haters, but it does give Sanjay a chance to say his two words.

Only question is… are you curious enough to spend your money to hear his side of the story ?

After a long weekend of keeping ill, I finally saw the Salman Khan Epic, Race 3…

Maybe it’s the fact that I didn’t spend any of my own money (got a free coupon) to see the film, or maybe it was a 2d screening… this film only gave me a partial headache and I had to walk out of the film only twice… which is SO refreshing!

Especially after Baaghi 2, seeing which had led me to have a semi mental breakdown and it had taken me an entire day to regain my coherence back.

Glad to Report, Race 3 only kills HALF of your brain cells… guess they left the remaining half for RACE 4 !

Now on to this review…

Unlike Ahmed Khan who takes too many stupid pills, Remo as a director is on Rohit Shetty Steroids… so we have amazing sequences like Anil Kapoor shooting at a person which sets him on FIRE. (can be see in the trailers too) Awesome…

Lets go for more… since this film has a LOT of characters, they sort of go via the corporate presentation route of giving a voice over and explaining who these people are… which is FINE overall, no issues… we cant have 30-40 minutes wasted on characters alone. Speaking of which, for a Salman Khan film… the starting 15 mins has very little Salman and more of Anil Kapoor. Which is TOTALLY fine in my books, Kapoor is infinitely more watchable and a much better actor than all the rest of the cast combined…

But when Salman Khan IS introduced… he has now transcended the Matrix and become NEO. Using a wing suit to fly for miles and miles through the city and into the desert/outskirts. Till he suddenly drops down like a STONE (hopefully the box office collections will drop down just as fast) getting Sallu Bhai into his FIRST action scene. In this scene, Daisy shah has time to get weapons to fight, but not enough to get a pair of jeans or shorts instead of a dress. But how else would we see the awesome dress slitting scene (shown in trailers as well) and her manly macho legs.
As of right now, I feel daisy Shah has more macho legs than bobby deol and salman combined.

Along with miss shah is the generic indian actor dude. A Fellow SO generic, I forgot his name already. (If I ever knew it…) So generic indian actor is Miss shah’s twin. His idea of female empowerment ? keep calling his twin sister bro… ALL the god damn time. Sometimes before, after and during a sentence. In-fact he says BRO so many times, now his name is BRO.

Bro, Miss shah, Sallu and Deol are all part of anil Kapoor’s mafiaso type family. btw in a later scene, Diasy's slit up dress is now whole... such is the power of her family and sanskar...

To be honest the story isn’t too god damn awful, its just plain bad, nothing headache inducing. Which is umm... ok I guess.

This all leads to a song, which I skipped for a well deserved bathroom break.

Now... as the movie picks up, we get into more of a typical RACE type formula, with 100s of meaningless twists, turns and double crosses. Which is ALL fine, I am not complaining. They have kept up the name of this so called franchise which the audience will expect to have an overcooked and way too complicated plot for no good reason. But that’s what these sort of films are like. Just like my previous para, the plot is also long and confusing. Enjoy...

Lastly Miss Sri Lanka gets added into the mix and forget what I said about daisy shah’s manly legs. Jackie got more masculine legs than sallu and sunny deol combined…

Cool…

The rest of the film is not bad. It certainly isn’t groan inducing like Baaghi 2. It’s stupid but not moronic, the action is silly, but it moves swiftly and nothing much hurts the brain, till Salman flies out of a truck in ANOTHER god damn wing suit and now he miles from Cambodia to the Saudi Arabia-ish location in a wing suit… geez.
Either the director has NO clue what these are or he has played way too much of Just Cause 3. Not to mention, when bikes fall into bamboo huts, they all explode… in a huge 200 feet fireball. What was inside that bamboo hut? The Pompeii volcano?

Now easily the MOST laughable scene is where Salman hand aims two rockets and they hit their targets. this scene has been shown 1000s of times on TV. this one scene made me cringe a LOT. but Surprisingly, maybe good sense prevailed, in the film itself, Salman uses a GPS to track the vehicles and satellite LOCK the missiles to the car and then shows his strength by launching em by hand, but they are guided missiles. of-course with such powerful missiles launching by hand any human will get blasted backwards, hence they are vehicle mounted, but you know... salman is neo now... so who even cares at this point!

This leads us to the end of film, which has the cast promise you an sequel… to melt the remaining half of your brains left over after this film…

Rating : 5.5/10. Its bad, but its not the worst film this year.

It’s a fine watch for Sallu fans, especially once Sallu decides that he has taken the TVF’s Parody video (TVF's The Making Of.. 'A 200 Crore Film') WAYYYY too seriously and proceeds to make the premise of that parody into a reality. when Deol's shirt comes off and so does his for NO reason. Wow... I was remembering the parody and laughing uncontrollably...

For that. I salute sallu bhai and his dedication to crafting nonsense and minting money.

Truly sir, seeing your talent in a film like RACE is like seeing a car run over our collective brains…

Oh wait… too soon?

Lust Stories
The title of this film is kept to raise eyebrows and capture attention. That is great. But does the film deliver on its premise and promise?
Let us find out in the review.

Short film 1:
This film is a compilation of 4 short films. The first one is directed by the great and over talented Anurag kashyap. Reviews are purely opinion based so, whatever I say, is just my opinion having said that… BY GOD! Has Anurag LOST his shit or what!
This short film is incoherent, badly edited, horribly acted, seriously badly written and has ZERO point.
The acting first, I don’t know who is seeing this and thinking, this acting radhika apte is Oscar winning crap… the acting is so make believe it almost looks like the rehearsal tapes of a cancelled play! She dominates the whole screen time and she is an eye sore to watch.
Next the GREAT direction by this so called Bollywood legend. The short film has entire long segments, which are in first person, as in interview types. If that WAS not enough talking to camera, the actress also RANDOMLY breaks the fourth wall in-between scenes like deadpool or like in house of cards. But the effect is not even 0.00001% of those amazing films and shows. If t he goals was the show how bad his direction skills are, CONGRATULATIONS. Anurag is now the new ram gopal Varma.
The editing is horrible; the cinematography is so terrible that BMM students with a cam phone can do better. Come to think of it... I am not entirely sure that this hasn’t been shot on a camera phone.
Lets not talk about the use of music and the film ends randomly.
Rating : 2.5 / 10

Short film 2:
Already disappointed by the first one, I tried to keep my mood in check for the next one which is by Zoya Akhtar.
This one has Bhumi Pednekar as a maidservant and the story sort of unfold from her viewpoint. This one was far better than the screechy and incoherent first short film. It has a morose and supressed sort of feeling in the narration, which is entirely on purpose to show how stifled this woman is in her work and life. I am not giving anything away story wise, but the ending could have done with a bit more of either a twist or a resolution. It sort of ends pretty much without any fizzle.
That is not to say this is not worth a view. The technical artistry is nice, with scenes of one character exiting from one side and entering from another in the same movement, adding to the narrative.
The acting is subdued and very natural. Believable and makes one sad to the inevitable nature of the story.
This one wasn’t too good or too bad. Just decent.
Rating : 6 / 10

Short Film 3:
This short film is directed by Dibaker Banerjee. I was expecting something a bit better than the previous two from this piece.
It has Manisha koirala in it along with Sanjay Kapoor.
The acting is very natural and sanjay Kapoor does his best imitation of anil Kapoor and it almost seems like they wanted anil but got stuck with sanjay.
The story deals with infidelity and with a slow start, this one drags out for a long time. Such a long time that I felt, how did they manage to make it SO long and boring.
Maybe that was the point! To show how the woman in the marriage feels, bored and tired of the proceedings, but unable to leave. Or maybe it was just boring.
The acting was decent, the director was average, cinematography also average. Nothing bad, but just so long drawn out and end again without any resolution.
Rating : 5 / 10

Now after Three of my favourite film directors of the past having let me down badly… I mean, I LOVE Gangs of Wasseypur, Khosla Ka Ghosla, zindagi na milegi doobara etc, but all three were fairly average and Anuragji’s film was just trash. So now the last one is Karan Johar. The most hated of film makers… Though as a kid I loved Kuch Kuch hota hai a lot…
I was expecting his film to be the worst, but…

Short film 4:
By the infamous Karan Johar. Kill me if his film turns out to be the best of this lot.
The film start with Neha Dupia looking terrible, moves on to Kiara Advani who looks much better and then I forget about everything else and the story takes over.
This film is about marriage and unfulfilled desires. How only love doesn’t cut it if one of the two people married is not fully satisfied with the physical aspect of the relationship.
The acting is a bit soap opera – ish but not too over the top to be totally unbelievable. The lead pair go a great job.
The direction is actually pretty decent, its shot pretty straight forward without any weird tricks or gimmicks. The cinematography compared to the previous three is of proper Bollywood quality. Rich colors and nice crisp and sharp images. In short NOT shot on a cell phone camera by BMM students.
So in WHICH world does the Karan Johar short film be the best one in the lot ?
The answer is… this bizarre world that we live in…
This short film has everything a short film needs. Good scripts need a beginning, middle and an end. An conflict or inciting incident happens and then it is resolved by the end. This story has all of that. Not to mention a some really funny comedy elements thrown in for good measure. But not bad that they would distract from the main story.
I want to discuss more about the topic of this film, but in the spoilers section.
Rating : 7.5 / 10 . Not bad at all ! It was worth sitting thru 1 bad and 2 average short films to see this one.

Overall : Don’t expect much of lust in these stories except the last one. The provocative title is mostly misleading and the stories mostly fall flat on their faces.

Spoilers :
Karan Johar’s short film is all about how a woman whose base desires and not fulfilled by her husband and when she tries some other means of getting satisfaction, the whole thing goes wrong.
The sad part is, once her in laws find out what’s going on, they try to punish her. So the topic becomes, it is such a crime for a woman/girl to want to get satisfaction in the physical act of lovemaking. This an important topic which the so far unmarried Mr johar has touched upon. It has a message and also some sort of resolution to the whole thing.
This frankly surprised me. I mean when does this guy make socially relevant stuff? As expected, his film has to show a marriage, but this isn’t a wedding video disguised as a short film.
So see this one if you feel like skipping the other ones. It’s definitely worth a discussion.

This is the 5th movie in this series and as expected the series is showing franchise fatigue. Every possible scenario with a bunch of dinosaurs has been already done.

1993’s JP and 2015’s JW both have the exact same plot of a Dino park gone wrong. So I expected this film to carry on the legacy and copy The Lost World. I wasn’t disappointed.

This film is sort of a remake of JP2 : The Lost world, but some new twists and story elements.
These NEW additions are enough to keep up the viewer’s interest and not feel like a lame retelling of the 1997 JP sequel.

The new film is a lot less derivative than Jurassic World and does have a few new ideas to explore. The chief among them is the power of genetics. THIS is a rather satisfying plotline as the original author of the book Jurassic Park (Micheal Crichton – who also wrote WEST World) had this very fear in mind when he started the book. How can genetics be weaponised.
This is the central theme of the film. Funnily enough, despite trailers now sowing the whole film, the marketing of this film has been surprising restraint and low key. They did not reveal that there is a VERY long movie post the dino island (isla nublar) volcano eruption.

Lets get to the PLOT :
The story is slightly reminiscent of the Lost world but it adds enough new elements to stay relevant.
Acting :
These films are not known for their performances, but both the leads are serviceable and just good enough not to be hooky… the rest of the minor characters serve the plot needs and nothing else. Ian Malcolm is back for a quick cameo and oh GOD how we have missed Jeff Goldblum! Thank god, he is making a sort of a comeback first in Thor Ragnarok and Independence Day 2. Although he never says his famous line: LIFE finds a way!
Music :
The real let down of this film is the music. The score is by Michael Giacchino who is a John Williams wannabe and the iconic theme is never used in the film (it only plays on the end credits). The ending scenes REALLY needed the iconic theme. That theme still gives me the chills… how they decided NOT to use it, is beyond me…
The dinos :
The VFX has progressed a LOT in the last 25 off years since the first movie but the dinos look far less real in this film. God knows why ! Overuse of CGI I guess. However, the range of dinos is rather nice. They are the real heros of the film and there is a LOT of dinosaurs in the film. They are obviously rather missing in the first half, but once they reach the island all sorts of dinos are seen and play a large role In the plot. In addition, when things FINALLY do go wrong, this time we actually support the dinos and their destruction rather than, hope someone will stop them.

Overall :
For a series fan, this a decent film, nothing great, but not too bad either. If you are NEW to this franchise, you HAVE to see at least Jurassic World to make sense of this film.
This film a LOT less bombastic and derivative than the previous film and does tone down things to make more sense and all a rather lot of character to the dinosaurs which is what this film and the previous one needed.
Although the ending leads on to a next film and THAT film is the one I am more interested in watching.
Rating :
A solid 6.5/10. This is worth a one-time watch for fans of the series.

BE-WARNED. This Review has some Spoilers. Spoiler advisory is given clearly, before they start.

Star Wars used to mean, adventure, a fun time and something new to see, to discuss, ponder and debate. That was star wars under George Lucas.

Then came the dark times. Lucas became a hated and despised filmmaker and he sold off the franchise to Disney.

Under the mouse, star wars episode 7 was pretty much a imitation (albeit a weak one) of episode 4. Rogue one was pretty solid and enjoyable. All seemed right in the world.

Then came episode 8. Pretty much panned by critics and not entirely loved by the audience, I didn’t hate it, but wouldn’t like to see it again and again like it is typical with the original star wars films.

And now this year we have SOLO, a star wars story.

The production of this film was severely troubled and at one time the directors were fired and replaced with good ole Ron Howard of ‘A beautiful mind’ fame.

But despite that, we had all hoped that this will turn out to be a good film.

Sadly that is not the case.

Solo is bad. I was expecting mediocre, maybe somewhat ok-ish film. But this was outright a disaster.

First off, the casting is terrible. The lead actor had 99% Less charisma and charm than Harrison ford who played the original Solo as recently as 2015. The supporting cast is disappoint with an equally bland actor (Donal Glover) playing Lando Calrissian, who was the smoothest and coolest dude in Episode 5. Now he is some sort of loser moron with a superiority complex. Rest of the cast is forgettable at best. Annoying and death worthy at their best.
The acting doesn’t do any favors to the film, the camera work, cinematography and action are all equally bland and boring. I FAIL to understand how an film like this which is about a series of heists can be so damn dull and boring.

(VERY MINOR Spoilers ahead)

A train action heist just starts with ZERO setup, no thrill and the sequence itself is so damn boring. Captain America had a similar sort of train sequence, but that was quite a bit better than this. After this rather boring arse sequence, the story moves to some random scene, its an mandatory alien cantina scene. ALL star wars films now need to have one…
Everything in this film is beyond boring. The introduction to lando calrissian is hasty and lacks any punch. The millennium falcon introduction is horrible! They did it better in episode 4 with less than 1/10th the budget!
Then there is an extremely badly edited and confusingly placed scene when han uses his blaster the first time, oh boy I wish one of our Telugu directors had gotten his hands on that scene. We have much better cool moments in Baahubali and Magadeera than this, when a hero decides to fight and the audience cheers.
The only halfway decent scene is when Han get to pilot the Falcon for the first time. But still episode 7 did that BETTER! Come on now! That scene in episode 7 had us cheering and clapping, it sends shivers at how cool that scene was. However, this film’s scene was barely decent AND they had Han and Chewie!

The music is more or less a bad rehash of episode 4 and we hear Han and Liea’s theme a lot, but its not rousing or entertaining.

Now towards the end of the film, one of the masked villains of the film REVEAL themselves. We have no idea who the heck this person is… and the reveal was so damn anti climactic, we started to laugh instead of getting more intrigued. The person shown looks as if they are a game of thrones extra and doesn’t belong in a star wars film at all! (I know emilia clark is in this film… the irony is not lost on me).
Not to mention they HAD to include a han and chewie slightly gay sort of scene and also show that chewie is jealous when han talks to girls. (which WAS there also in Episode 5, but the gay vibes were missing)

So, all in all, this film is not worth your time or money. Catch it on Netflix or amazon Prime…

Rating :
4.5 / 10. A Skippable movie for star wars fans and non fans alike.



(Major Spoilers ahead)
P.S : The only scene which intrigued me was when they revealed Darth Maul, half machine now, after being cut in two by obi wan in episode 1, as the main villain behind all of this film’s heist drama. I wish he was in this film more. Or they would make a obi wan vs darth maul film. That would be sort of cool. Maul was a damn cool villain who was extremely short changed in episode 1.

Okie…

So The father of all 4th wall breaking, cursing, murdering, mercenary of all time is back in Deadpool 2…
Is this movie as good as the first part?

The answer to that is a resounding yes.

Does it break new grounds and do new things with the character?

Well… YES and NO.

The thing with deadpool is that the film makers are more than aware of what made the first one tick and they have very diligently stuck to the same formula. The film is a bit disjointed and the tone shifts wildly in the middle. But are you really going to this film for the plot and story?

The star of this film is DEADPOOL, his one lines, the jokes, the comedy, the grisly action… this is why we go for a deadpool film as compared to a MCU film. This film has that in spades.

That’s not saying that the story or PLOT make no sense, they do, the plot is fine, if a bit derivative, but when it gets too predictable, Deadpool just cracks in a line about LAZY Writing and we are over the slump of a plot convenience.

The thing to watch here is an unflinching performance of a slightly sociopathic anti-hero and his antics.
This time he is not alone, other than the 2 x-men from the previous film, he is also joined by a new team, known as the X-Force. They add a much needed breath of fresh air to the predictable sequel.

The humour is top notch, the jokes this time are less topical and more movie references, which the worldwide audiences will be able to relate more with than some USA or Canada centric jokes.
The music works, but isn’t as good as the first part and this film’s action does seem like its missing Tim Miller’s touch. The action is more John wicky… which makes perfect sense, but its lost its special awesomeness. But none of that takes away from the film.

Overall, the comedy, the action and Ryan Reynolds aka Deadpool will keep you entirely entertained.

Rating : a Solid 7.5/10. Not the best superhero film, but the most SELF aware superhero film for sure!

p.s : To fully enjoy this film, it’s not mandatory but its recommended to have seen the First part, and also these following films. (Even if not seen recently, just knowing about these films will suffice)
1. Batman V superman
2. Green Lantern
3. Star Wars Episode 4 & 5
4. X-Men First Class / Days of Future Past.
5. Any Bond film from the 60s and 70s. (ANY)
AND MOST importantly, this IS more of less a mandatory viewing.
4. X-men Origins Wolverine.

I don’t like to give undue importance to movies. But in future, when we look back, there will be a time in movies which will be…

BEFORE Infinity War

And, AFTER Infinity War…

What this film has done, will change the film industry in some way. Same as with 2012’s Avengers, Marvel has somehow pulled out something so game changing that it will leave everyone else (DC) in the dust for at-least a decade…

Now, let’s get to the film itself…

The plot of the film is simple, (NO Spoilers)
Thanos is on the warpath to gather the Infinity Stones and there is no stopping him.


This movie started out VERY strong, like one of the best opening I have seen on cinema yet… The hall was totally house full, the audience cheering at the appearance of every hero and hooting at the cool moments.
The thrill of seeing every Marvel character come together in some way or the other, the crossing of spider-man’s everyday existence into Strange’s mystical one… what a rush… the aforementioned audience went totally bonkers at some of the more elaborate action scenes.
The Direction is top class, the way the action is framed is genius. Every fight is different, nothing feels repetitive. That’s a huge challenge in a film which has 90% of the fighting being hand to hand and somehow maintaining a thrill in every action scene.

Visually lets just say that this film needs to be seen in Imax with the loudest sound possible.
Now the standouts in the film, character wise.
Thor knocks it out of the ball park, his scenes with Rocket Racoon are some of the best in the MCU, we SO need a Thor + Racoon Road trip film!

Iron man is consistent and good, without ever chewing up scenery like he used to, that is left to the newer members of the Avengers, namely Dr Strange, the Guardians etc.
The most standout performance is that of Thanos himself. He presents himself as the best villain in MCU and generally, for cinema he comes across as a pretty well round, complicated Villain with a self-righteous agenda, which somehow makes sense despite how horrible it is!
Thanos chews up the film and spits it out like the most intergalactic bad-ass in history. He has been teased since 2012 and I had not expected him to pay off the way he did. He is no two dimentional Ronan the accuser of those forgettable Dark elf under Malakieth… Thanos is the best MCU villain till date. He makes Loki look like a child with a lollipop on the villain scale…

Now coming to the movie overall…

This film is NOT for new fans who haven’t seen any past MCU films. This film is specifically meant for Marvel Fans who have seen every single film in the MCU. To them this film is the culmination of 10 years of cinema and 18 films.

And, what a culmination… this films ending will make history. It’s not just shocking, controversial and debatable, it’s downright the most balsy move by any film company till date. The pay off for the next few films will be huge!

The scale of this film, the high the directors have taken it into, makes most other big budget blockbusters seem puny and tiny by comparison. Star wars episode 8 and 9 ? Seems like candy floss now… DC’s Justice League ? Kids playing with stones.

Not to put down other films, but Infinity War is an achievement in not just screenplay, visual fx, acting and plot. It’s an achievement of showing what cinema can do…

Its not just a film, it’s a change coming to the form of films that can exist in the future…

If you remotely like Marvel and its super heroes, this film is not miss able by any chance.

Rating : Can I rate it ABOVE 10? I want to… But since 10 is the maximum… This film gets a 10/10 for me.

Conclusion : The humour in this otherwise deadly serious film is also a standout, this is one of the few films which can throw a joke in while an whole planet is in peril and somehow it works. It has too many characters to make sense, but the screenplay DOES make sense of it, the viewer is never left wondering what is going on and who are we seeing. This film needs more than a one time watch.
And in the end I just want to say, I wasn’t around in 1977 when ‘star wars’ released and changed cinema. I wasn’t old enough when in 1994 ‘Jurassic Park’ changed VFX… I caught 1999’s ‘the Matrix’ much too late on VCD…
But I am right here, when Infinity War is happening. It’s exciting to witness such an event live and happening and developing right in front of us all… so what are you waiting for? If you haven’t already booked your tickets, do so now…

P.S: the Post Credits scene is important, you will want to wait for it.