erisedwitch45 Reviews

Fate: The Winx Saga (2021–2022)

Disappointed

[1/10 · 30 January 2021]

I am surprised at the 7.1 rating here. This show was disappointing to say the least and the biggest contribution was the character of Bloom. She is annoying, obnoxious and a very unlikable protagonist.

The rest of the girls are just 1 note - yes they have been given their own storyline but dig deep (or even scratch a little) and you realize their storylines are just fillers. They all are there 120% only to serve Bloom, to protect her, lookout for her and follow her. It's just annoying to watch this kind of character arcs.

Jawaani Jaaneman (2020)

Could've been better with that stellar star cast and different concept.

[2/10 · 31 January 2020]

The concept of a mature 21 year old daughter in search of her father who turns out to be an immature 40+ yo sounds interesting. The stellar cast of Saif, Kumud Mishra, Farida Jalal, Kubra and others deliver their very best in what the script demands from them but the overall product fails to leave a mark.

Saif's Jazz/Jassi is the most well fleshed out among all. Everyone else is there to add to his growth. Alaya's Tia is mature, non clingy but since she is the 2nd most important character, they should have fleshed her out better. For instance she has a great bond with one pivotal character - but why, they show in 2 secs or mostly glaze over. I was very excited for Tabu but she is in a special appearance, lasting for a few mins, at max. Other characters, who are all great actors, deliver their best.

The emotional connect, the depth is very surface level. It doesn't touch you enough to make you feel or root for the characters. The film fails to make you laugh (baring a few scenes), it's quite long at 2hrs 10mins. They could've easily chopped down a few more minutes. The conflicts (esp the main conflict) are very forced just to draw out the movie. There are many random club scenes injected in the first half (of random people dance), which just adds to it's length.

Also, notice the influx of duplicate high rated (9 and 10 star) reviews. These particular reviews are repeated- exact same body, exact same headline, only different usernames. For instance the ones with heading- "avant garde", "Jazz tia we love you", "new concept, fresh content" etc. And this I noticed while just glancing. It seems like the production house's endeavor to increase the rating/review of the movie. Which is sad because I look at imdb ratings before making a choice. I think I'll be cautious about the hindi movie ones from now on.

Ghost Stories (2020)

Disappointing

[2/10 · 3 January 2020]

Many Netflix original movies (esp in horror/thriller genre) are now being made which has a great start, an interesting concept but they cant seem to give a conclusion to it so the makers leave it open since thinking of a logical way to get everything together and wrapping up an interesting plot is difficult (something that a real filmmaker will intend to do).

Zoya Akhtar's (1st) story is shot nicely but is boring. It's starts of well, making us curious but by the time it ends, it's too stretched out.

Anurag Kashyap's story is very very slow. Feels like the material was only worth 5/10mins but he stretched it out to 40 mins. However the plot is something that you can talk about/discuss. (Although the motivation/backstory of Shobitha and why she is the way she is, is silly).

Dibakar's was the one I was most excited for and it disappointed me the most. It suffers from the bad/confused/"made to look intellectual" end that I wrote about earlier. There's quite a lot happening contrary to other stories and will keep you engrossed. But the conclusion is weird.

Johar's story is a typical commercial one. It's not great, it's not bad - just what you'd expect from him - an average story. It's way too generic.

Judgementall Hai Kya (2019)

Funny, quirky, thrilling.

[8/10 · 26 July 2019]

Judgemental hai kya is a good mix of comedy/thrill/fantasy. The story at it's core is quite straightforward but the way it's presented is very quirky and interesting.

Acting wise- Kangana is superb! She makes you laugh, she makes you believe that she IS the character. Rajkumar is good as always. The supporting cast does justice to their roles.

The 1st half is solid. It sets the tone of the film/the character arcs etc pretty well. If I had to nitpick, I would say that the pacing of the 2nd half could be fastened a little - a couple of scenes could be edited.

Overall I did enjoy the movie (the strong performance and the presentation). It's a refreshing take. But it's quite a niche movie which may not have a mass appeal.

Typewriter (2019)

Good start, unimpressive end.

[6/10 · 23 July 2019]

The premise drew me to the show and the start was really good. Since it's a Sujoy Ghosh creation, I was even more interested. It's something like Stranger Things meets IT (not comparing or negating the show).

The locations/sets are very authentic. The characters are laid out nicely. The actors all do justice to their roles and parts. The kids, adults etc have great chemistry with one another.

Story wise, the premise is interesting. The flashbacks are done nicely and dont drag the show down. The pace is good- not a dull or wasted moment. It has some jumpscares as well.

However the ending wasn't up to the mark. The end doesnt do justice to the initial story. It's just okay. I will probably tune in for 2nd season though,

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019)

Could've been so much better

[2/10 · 3 February 2019]

I was excited to watch this film since it deals with a same-sex love story- something I haven't seen in a mainstream bollywood movie. But I was disappointed. The concept, though good, fails in execution.

The main problem was Sonam Kapoor. She CANNOT act. A role which could've pulled you in, made you feel for her, for her struggles just feels... meh. She doesn't understand the nuances of the character, there is no honesty in her performance. It feels like she did the role just to do something "different." And that's a loss since she doesn't have the acting capability to shoulder a character like Sweety. I could easily name a dozen actresses who could have played Sweety with conviction. The film is also slow and the climax was a bit too dramatic.

The best part of the movie is the supporting cast. Be it Anil, the brother, the helpers, Regina, Juhi and the best- Rajkumar. Everyone puts their best foot forward to delve in their characters. But since the limelight is on Sonam, only having a good supporting cast doesn't solve the problem.

I am very disappointed with the film. At the hand of a better actress, it could've been so much worth it.

Cam (2018)

Waste of time

[2/10 · 1 December 2018]

I think it's a trend now to make "different" movies and not give any plot/conclusion to it. It's a good way to actually not come up with a story. This movie also falls in this category. The premise is scary and exciting. But the makers took a clever way out by putting all style and no substance.

Thugs of Hindostan (2018)

A very boring movie

[1/10 · 12 November 2018]

I love period/fantasy movies. Despite the trailer of TOH not being very interesting, I gave this movie a chance. It turned out to be a very dull one. There are action scenes but they are so repetitive after a point. It's the same- characters jumping off a cliff/rope in style with loud background music and turning in slo-mo. It's all style, no substance.

Amitabh B has done a good job as expected from an actor of his caliber. But everytime he is on screen, a loud background score plays out. Everytime! Like the makers know no moderation. Fatima has been given a good role- of a princess on exile. But she somehow fails to deliver. Her expressions are very one-toned. Aamir's character, his styling will instantly remind you of POTC's Capn' Jack Sparrow. His character Firangi tries to be funny but to me, it fell flat.

Katrina Kaif's role and her acting is a joke. In her item numbers she dances with an incredibly flexible body but the steps are so silly that instead of looking good, it's funny. I kid you not. Surraiya (her character) is supposed to be a seductress but her dance lacks grace. It's a lot of super-flexible jumping.

Zeeshan Ayub's character is introduced in a very mystic way (as someone who can "talk" to nature) but then nothing happens wrt it. In a post-interval scene, when Aamir's character does a thing to get rid of the villain's army, it will remind you of what used to happen in 70s films.

The writing, the ideas are that back-dated. The writing, the flow, the consistency is so bad. The script is super lazy. It seems like hardly any effort was put. With a budget of 300 crore INR, the CGI was not good. The entire film was a major disappointment.

Also- anyone notice that majority of the 10/10 reviews for TOH here on IMDB are from new users who just joined and has reviewed only this? Same happened with Veere di Wedding. IMDB is one site who's ratings influence my watching decisions. I don't approve of this tacky strategy of Production houses to bump up/manipulate the ratings.

Dhadak (2018)

Below Average

[2/10 · 23 July 2018]

This movie doesn't hold a candle to Sairat. This much is evident so I won't delve into the comparisons. However, Dhadak is not a good movie even as a standalone. The leads are atrocious. Ishan Khattar is still passable but Jhanvi Kapoor is just a pretty face with 0 expression or acting. The movie doesn't delve into the complexities. It's all glossed over just like a typical average Bollywood masala film. Here however even the typicality of it can't be enjoyed.

Race 3 (2018)

Bollywood "A-list" movies are getting worse and worse

[1/10 · 18 June 2018]

I understand the humungous fan following Salman has so no wonder this movie will be a major Box office hit, raking in the moolah and breaking records as well, despite of that I will write my review here.

Salman's acting (or lack thereof) is blatantly visible in this movie. I think earlier he used to try (at leats), now he doesn't even bother. An actor is supposed to be the character but here, his persona outshines and overshadows the character or even the story. Saqib Salim who is a decent actor made to say the word "bro" after each and every dialogue so much so that it becomes cringeworthy. Bobby Deol is average, Daisy, Jacquline are... like they are in their other movies - all glam no skill. Anil Kapoor is the only one who can hold his own.

The plot is contrived (which was true for earlier Race movies too) but this movie doesn't even put any effort. Be it pulling off a supposedly dangerous heist which is wrapped up in a song sequence with the actors just walking in slow motion to look cool. At least some effort should have been shown- some action scene, some nail-biting suspense but we get nothing. All the maker focussed on was getting Salman, getting the other actors to walk in slo-mo to look cool and blowing up expensive cars.

The songs... I don't even know where to begin. I was shocked that a big-budget movie couldn't even afford a decent lyricist till I saw that Salman has penned a couple of the songs himself. Just do a quick google search of Selfish and I found love - 2 "gems". Even the title track has been mashed and made bad.

I thought Race 1 was okay, Race 2 was going downhill but still bearable but Race 3 just touches the bottom of it. Non-existent story-lines, bad acting, "star" kids etc is what Bollywood has been reduced to now.

Veere Di Wedding (2018)

Bad movie

[1/10 · 2 June 2018]

My gripe with the movie is not because it has women spewing abuses. But that it's a bad movie in all sense of the word. The film is not on women empowerment, doesn't deal with women heroes. Fair enough. This has been made abundantly clear by the cast and crew and that is fine. Not every movie needs to be a serious women-centric movie. Some can be fun. And Veere is not even fun, not even close. It's plain bad.

Kareena looks real detached from the role, Swara is fine in acting department, Shikha is the best among them all along with Summeet Vyas. But Sonam Kapoor! Why why why is she an actress? She is unbearable in her dialogue delivery. Plain horrible especially in the scene where she is berating the arranged marriage guy. Half baked acting combined with bad and underdeveloped script and an overdose of abuses to look cool doesn't equal a good movie.

PS: Anyone else seeing the sudden influx of 10/10 reviews from 2nd and 3rd June? Most of these accounts were created just couple of days back and have reviewed only this movie. Smells fishy. Is this some sneaky move by production house? Wouldn't put it past them.

Pehredaar Piya Ki (2017)

Glorifying social-evil

[1/10 · 28 August 2017]

This show, for selfish financial gains, is glorifying one of the most prevalent social evil - child marriage, which physically and emotionally traumatizes numerous victims. The show has shown that child marriage is a cute relation, a friendship. The 9 yo boy is shown stalking and taking pictures of the girl unknown to her. Concepts of suhaag-raat (first night) and honey moon were introduced purposefully to grab eyeballs. It is sickening and morally disgusting to show take a crime and pass it on as cute. There is no scene of physical intimacy yet. Apart from the gross inhumane act by makers and defense by the lead actress, the show is the same old saga of submissive girl trying to get everyone in in-laws like her. It's a clichéd story with addition of child marriage to grab eyeballs. How can anyone find child marriage (even with no physical relation) cute is beyond me!

Mardaani (2014)

Bollywood "heroes" can learn from the heroines

[7/10 · 23 August 2014]

Nowadays when the so-called superstars of bollywood (Salman, Akshay, SRK etc) make such mindless & nonsensical movies in the name of leave-your- brains-at-home comedies (like Kick & Ready & Dabang & Entertainment & what not), Mardaani is a refreshing change.

I am not saying that it's a gem or the best movie out there but it is good. It has a good (although not many twists or turns) story, powerful acting by Rani and the supporting cast, no out-of-context songs and very nice ending.

I see a trend that Bollywood heroines are trying to come up with good movies like Kangana in Queen, Revolver Rani; Priyanka in Mary Kom, Fashion; Vidya in Kahani, No one killed Jessica etc where as the 40+ year old "heroes" are still stuck in the 90s; churning out stupid movies where the girl is mainly for songs. I don't have a problem with those kind of movies too if they are decent; which many aren't. I love a good comedy or action movie as much as I enjoy a serious one. But the movies made by the male "superstars" are not even funny or entertaining; though surprisingly, those movies are in the 200 crore etc club.

I hope we as an audience start to appreciate some diversity that movies like Mardaani portray.

Boys Before Friends (2013– )

Improves later on

[5/10 · 8 March 2014]

I had a lot of free time so I thought why not, lets give it a try. I have watched all three: Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese versions. This started out really weak. The 1st 2 episodes were not, well, good. But then it starts getting better.

The characters grow on you. My personal favorite is the actress playing Piper. Also I like Piper and Chase's story. Then again Ga Eul and Yi Jung were my favorite in the KDrama and so were their Japanese counterparts.

But the new re-casted Liam (the actor Kevin) doesn't fit the role at all. He is a miscast. He doesn't give off the vibe nor has the charm and personality that Domyouji, Gu Jun Pyo or Dao Ming Si had. The earlier Liam was much better.

I agree with the other reviewers about the volume. It goes from loud with blaring background music to low from one scene to another. So yeah, there are some problems but it is an okay time-pass given the budget and other constraints.

My advice would be to sit through the 1st 2 episodes till you get to the better part, relatively better that is.

Gharwali Baharwali (1998)

This is not comedy.

[1/10 · 7 May 2012]

This movie may fall in the genre of 'comedy' but it is just an insult to women. I'll tell you why:

1.Raveena (the wife) is infertile and so the father-in-law wants his son (Anil) to MARRY another girl! (Why can't they just adopt?) However Anil, being the "hero" has lied to Raveena that he is the one who can't conceive.

2.Anil marries another woman (Rambha) and later on Rambha is brought in their house as a MAID. Oh and she has also given her and Anil's child to Raveena.

3.Anil FLIRTS/has physical relations with both the women at the same time.

4.Raveena suspects something going on between Anil and Rambha but isn't sure. She talks badly to Rambha but the others (Anil and his father) scold Raveena for that! Because a wife should be absolutely okay with her husband flirting/hugging/kissing with another woman.

5.At the end, Raveena finds out the truth that Rambha is Anil's wife and the son is theirs (Anil and Rambha's). She shouts at them. The father- in-law then tells her that SHE is the one who can't conceive not Anil. This makes her REALIZE... I don't know what. At the end both the women live happily with Anil.

So this movie basically states that if a woman is infertile then her husband can marry another woman and she shouldn't complain. Since Raveena is infertile so she has no right to complain/feel bad when her husband remarries. Raveena is expected to treat the other woman as a sister (which she does by the way, at the end).

This is beyond pathetic. I am not a prude or something but I don't find the above things remotely funny. And I am pretty sure marrying another person while you are already married is a punishable offense (at least in this particular country where the crappy movie takes place).

Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl (2011)

Entertaining but could've been better with a little different ending.

[6/10 · 9 December 2011]

I am not a fan of either Ranveer Singh or Anushka Sharma but after watching Band Baaja Baraat I gave this movie a try and was pleasantly surprised.

The story is about Ricky Bahl played nicely by Ranveer Singh, who cons ladies for a living. Three of his victims band together to con him with the help of Anushka Sharma.

All the three ladies- Dimple (the Punjabi girl), Raina (the manager from Mumbai) and Saira (the Lucknow chick) {I don't know their real names} have played their part convincingly especially the Punjabi girl. Anushka Sharma is okay given what she had to do.

However the ending could've been a little better if they showed the ladies actually succeeding in conning Ricky Bahl by their wits and intelligence rather than him having a change of heart and giving them their money back. That's just something I thought would've been better since a large part of the movie consists of them working hard to accomplish their plan.

But still it's a nice and entertaining movie. Some songs are nice and some weren't that necessary as they only added to the length of the movie.

The Dirty Picture (2011)

Vidya Balan all the way!

[6/10 · 6 December 2011]

This movie is loosely based on the real life story of South Indian actress - Silk Smita. Ekta Kapoor (the producer) knows what "sells" and thus portrays that on screen- lot of cleavage and erotic scenes; which the movie has plenty.

The story is about Vidya who isn't heroine material and hence decides to be a sex siren in a male dominated film industry. Naseeruddin Shah portrays an aging superstar who develops a physical relationship with her but as she gains more popularity than him, he's jealous. Tushar Kapoor plays another love interest. Emraan Hashmi plays the role of a director who believes in doing serious cinema and thus finds Vidya's work vulgar.

The first half is more interesting than the second half. The relationship between Emraan and Vidya developed only in the last 30 minutes of the movie which I feel was not enough given the fact that the whole movie was from Emraan's point of view.

Vidya Balan is the only versatile actress in Bollywood (commercial cinemas). She can don various roles and acts beautifully. Other contemporaries (Katrina, Deepika, Kareena) may be slimmer, taller, prettier, younger than her (though I personally feel Vidya is better than them) but when it comes to acting, she is the best. (I am not even a staunch fan of hers but it's true).

Emraan Hashmi is another actor who isn't as popular as Ranbir or Imran but can play black, white and gray characters extremely well.

Decent story, nicely enacted by all, Vidya, however, is the show-steal- er.

Rascals (2011)

Bad and Cheap

[1/10 · 6 October 2011]

The story is really bad and nonsense. Yes, I know these kind of movies are supposed to be light-hearted and fun and not make much sense too but come on!

The comedy part is not funny at all (a man pretending to be blind looking at a girl change her clothes = comedy in this movie). Comedy nowadays in Bollywood means vulgarity and cheap jokes. Where are those good old funny movies which actually made you laugh. And pairing Sanjay Dutt with Kangana; seriously? Kangana was trying really hard to be funny but in vain. Ajay is okay.

Only good part (very little though) was Arjun Rampal's guest appearance. That's it. DOn't watch the movie (atleast not in a hall). Awful!!

Mausam (2011)

Doesn't live up to the hype and expectations.

[4/10 · 23 September 2011]

I don't think there's any love story that has been through so many wars/attacks starting from the Babri Masjid incident (1992), Bombay bomb blasts (93), Kargil war (99), 9/11 and Gujarat riots (02). (It's funny at times.

The movie tries to show love and separation of two young lovers. The plot is good but the movie fails to deliver. It starts out as a sweet story of young love but the second half is too lengthy and dull. Some scenes towards the end like Shahid saving the horse and girl etc weren't required and did nothing but add to the length of the movie.

Shahid, however, puts in a lot of effort for his character, Sonam is average- she can't act; though she looks pretty throughout the movie. The supporting characters are decent. Music is not that great. The Gujarat riot scene towards the end is nicely done.

What I felt is that you cant feel for the characters- whether it's the pain or the romance or the patriotism. The movie becomes boring towards the second half. Could've been better.

Bodyguard (I) (2011)

The ending?? :( (Spoiler in review)

[4/10 · 31 August 2011]

Hmmm... It's difficult to write a not-so-good review of a Salman Khan movie because of his fan-following but here it is-

Salman is indebted to Raj Babbar for saving his life. He gets an assignment to protect Babbar's daughter- Kareena, who at first despises him but slowly falls in love. They talk over the phone so Salman doesn't know who his lady love is (Kareena is aware of this fact). Thus the movie continues with some funny moments, few romantic scenes etc.

SPOILER!!! The weird part of the movie is the scene shown a few minutes before the ending. Why, why would someone write an ending like that? Out of NOWHERE, Kareena's best friend falls in love with Salman! They don't even show any such scene where the best friend pines over him or something before that. She hugs him once and falls in love! What a twist!

That didn't exactly ruin the movie for me because I am not a fan of Salman movies, however, the 'twist in the story' was really stupid.

There are good action scenes in the movie, some songs are nice. Kareena is good in the movie. I am sure this movie will do well in India because for some reason, people just love Salman. :)

Singham (2011)

Back to the 90s :)

[23 July 2011]

When I first saw the trailer of this movie, I thought it was the serious version of Dabangg (the Salman Khan starer; which I don't understand why people love so much!). But it's not like that. It's more like those movies in the 90s where 1 hero could fight with 50 people together, where the songs were evenly distributed throughout the movie, like there'll be a song-dance sequence even towards the end.

Ajay (the hero) is Singham, a brave cop in a small village where everyone adores him. He enters into an argument with the villain (corrupt and powerful) who decides to make his life hell. Ajay performs nicely but my favorite is the villain. The heroine (a new-comer) is okay. The songs are not good.

The starting is okay, picks up pace till the mid but the ending was a bit stretched out (and a little boring). However, an okay movie with some decent performances.

Murder 2 (2011)

Nice and Entertaining

[6/10 · 8 July 2011]

After a long time I have watched a thriller which I really enjoyed. The movie isn't that great but has a decent story line and some really frightening scenes (not much though).

Emraan Hashmi does a good job. Jaqueline Fernandis doesn't have much role in the movie. She is just in 2 songs and 2 scenes. (I personally don't like it when the girl is used only to increase the "glamour" quotient of the movie and has no proper role). The villain (don't know his name) is too good and scary. Music is okay.

A few minutes after the start, the movie picks up pace. Emraan Hashmi is a good actor. Don't know why he isn't considered among the top stars in India. Overall, a good and enjoyable movie.

Thank You (I) (2011)

Not that bad.

[5/10 · 8 April 2011]

I went to watch this movie with very low expectations thinking it to be another vulgar/cheap comedy that Bollywood has been making on cheating husbands. But I was pleasantly surprised. The story is about three couples where the husbands fool their wives and have extra-marital affairs and how the wives get back at their husbands using the help of a private detective.

Needless to say, Irrfan Khan is the best in the movie. He does a good job and has a good comic timing. Other actors (Akshay Kumar, Rimi Sen, Bobby Deol)have also done a fair job. Sonam Kapoor (whom I don't like much) is tolerable. It's fun to watch and the scenes between Irrfan and Rimi are good. Not a great movie but an enjoyable one!