amanmadan85 Reviews

Luke Cage (2016–2018)

Lost It's Momentum Midway

[6/10 · 15 August 2017]

To be honest, Luke Cage isn't a very charismatic superhero, so the series excelling to a standout one was going to be a tough task anyway.

However, it did start strong and stayed so till halfway with likable characters like Pop and most crucially the most standout character and actor, Cottonmouth played by Ali. His exit from the show midway gave rise to another villain who didn't have that same screen presence. Shades is a good character and an adversary but wasn't used enough.

Where the series started becoming weak was the point when the not so strong rationale and hatred against Luke Cage by Stryker became the focal point of the story. The not so charismatic antagonist always becomes the downfall of any superhero series/movie. This is the point where Daredevil absolutely hit the ball out of the park, raising the bar for Luke Cage, which it unfortunately failed to even come close to matching.

Doesn't seem like it'll connect much with Defenders universe so can be skipped, unless you're really bored and would watch it any way

Mubarakan (2017)

Harshly rated 5.3 on IMDb

[8/10 · 15 August 2017]

I saw this movie in the second week when rating on IMDb was already 5.3 and critics too had given it a lukewarm response. I tried using the ratings and reviews as an excuse to not watch the movie but saw it because my brother was really keen.

I came out pleasantly surprised after thoroughly enjoying the 2.5 odd hours of the movie. Sure, it drags at a couple of points during drama moments, but the movie offers plenty of laughs, and that is what my entire expectation from a comedy is.

There are some loose ends in the plot but to not allow a comedy movie some leeway is anyway an incorrect expectation.

Maximum screen time is divided between Anil and Arjun Kapoor who both do a very good job. The actresses don't offer much but that's also because the characters didn't need to have any depth and neither were they carrying the burden of pulling off the jokes.

I could have lived without a couple of songs but that's it, other than that I'm stumped as to why it's been reviewed poorly here. It's got a 7.6 on Bookmyshow which is closer to what I believe is the real merit of the movie

Freaky Ali (2016)

Stale, half hearted and just obnoxious

[1/10 · 10 September 2016]

**Generic spoilers on theme of the film**

I've given this movie a rating 1 out of 10. Not many movies deserve to be rated so low...this isn't just me overreacting but simply what a terrible waste of time this movie really is.

Everyone would know what the plot of the movie was going to be, the reason for watching it would be execution and humor. The film fails miserably on both counts. The humor is full of pathetic clichéd Mumbaiya tapori language and dialogues like that one sued to see in 80s and 90s bollywood trash...and it is relentless at that.

Rich snob man, poor guy with great talent...beautiful rich woman falling for a guy who lives in a chawl.

Gone is the era of the colonial hangover where rich were shown as extremely arrogant and snobs and the unrealistic pathetic romanticization Raja Hindustani like situation.

I laughed exactly once during the movie and cringed for most of the time as to how horrible and pedestrian the entire execution was.

First wrong movie choice by Nawazuddin since he became popular.

Please don't waste your money and more importantly time on this movie. Clearly no one worked hard at any aspect of this movie to try and make this movie a good experience for the viewers.

Skyfall (2012)

Is MI6 that rookie?

[3/10 · 1 November 2012]

Bond films are action entertainers and as action entertainers go, you must allow some leverage in terms of suspension of disbelief. But this movie took it too far

As I went to watch this movie, it already had an 8.3 on IMDb with over 15,000 votes. The critics reviews are also highly positive (some calling it one of the greatest Bond movies). I had higher hopes also given Javier Bardem was the main antagonist. Like I said, I don't mind pure entertainment for an action movie, I quite enjoy the Fast and Furious series as pure action entertainers.

My problem with this movie was it seemed like MI6 was being played for dumb throughout. There was one illogical scene and it was followed by another mind boggling where either MI6 would take a stupid call or the opponents would simply think them to be a bunch of useless amateurs and actually succeed with their plan. Now, the basic plot is completely fine and intriguing, it is the scenarios that were a complete let down. Sure, Bardem's character was intelligent, but it does not mean MI6 has to play dumb and let him get the best of the agency. Also, one generic point against most movies portraying cyber crime, you just show someone being a genius and don't even need to explain how one achieved his/her goals. But usually other such movies get canned by critics and viewers alike, strange everyone is looking the other way for this movie. Excessive romanticism with combination of Craig as Bond + Mendes is quite apparent, added no doubt by stellar performance by Bardem

For a series that projects adventures of one of the greatest spies in the world working for an enviable intelligence agency, the movie should have been slightly more cerebral, have some deduction or logic to arrive at certain conclusions rather than simply a series of action sequences wherein it never seemed like the bad guys were able to get one up against the best, but go one up because there were giant loopholes just waiting to be exploited.

Quite a disappointing movie with the only highlight being the title track and a few locales