sagar-swapna Reviews

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Endless Fun

[9/10 · 2 October 2023]

To all the haters yes it's a bit long, yes it has few extra one liners that are just ok, yes the pace dips for few seconds here and there but boy oh boy what a ride it was. It was such an breathtaking ride that even the cliffhanger ending did not spoil my mood. When the ending happened it just felt right it needed to stop to take a breath to reflect.

How did you plan for this I mean you have to give it to the creators such an incredible talent they are such imagination and then bringing it on to the screen marvellous. How do you beat this, I am worried now whether the next part can match up. They just elevened up in every department. The music always kept me in its verse, The animation was top notch I just can't stop raving about it.

I just watched it on Netflix in a 55 inch TV, I can't imagine the experience in theatres must be out of this world. Truly a marvel of a movie. Must get an Oscar highly recommended.

The Last of Us (2023– )

Somewhere between Excellent and Very Good show

[8/10 · 27 March 2023]

People say Curse has been lifted for video game adaptations now with Last of Us but I would say there is no need to jump the gun yet. I don't play video games so I can't compare it to the games so I ll only give my opinions of Last of Us as a tv show.

Well it starts of strong, love the chemistry between Joel and Ellie, visually the show looks amazing finally HDR is done right. BGM, costume, set design everything on point. The story has the heart. Violence is handled very well they don't show you the gruesome stuff but they let you know something bad was done. Episode 7 was at best a filler episode which we dont expect from a high profile HBO show. Finale was bit underwhelming it ends abruptly so there is no cliffhanger except you know there are few seasons coming so yeah what's next. One more thing, how did Joel get the strength to kill 3 people after he was injured ? He didn't eat, drink and just had one dose of penicillin some super human stuff or he got an instant medi pack.

Now we need to compare it to The Walking Dead. The first 3 seasons of TWD were pretty darn awesome after it went down hill. In my opinion first season of TWD was better than the first season of The Last of Us. It had the story, the the thrill, the zombies and the characters that you care for. The last of us fell short on the each of the above a wee bit. Sure Joel and Ellie were awesome but this needs to up it's game a bit. It needs to be better than first 3 seasons of TWD atleast to break the curse. Till then it's an 8.5 for me for season 1.

Pathaan (2023)

Borrowed victory for King Khan, John steals the show

[6/10 · 9 February 2023]

Pathaan is a mashup of old style Hollywood spy movies. The virus, the vault, rogue agent, Hot female lead etc you name it everything is there. Only thing missing was uniqueness in treatment.

Anyways jokes aside I am not at all convinced by the title of the movie as Pathaan. Shahrukh does nothing that shows he is a Pathaan. Even the backstory is very abrupt and seems convinient which adds no emotional angle at all. The movie tries to get from one plot to another without really building up on anything. Siddharth Anand's prime focus is action he is not bothered why it's done or how it's done. It's clearly visible that the Dubai fight sequence with John is done infront of green screen the backround looked like a poster. The train sequence when it starts the whole background looks like cheap animation even the water in the river is still no flow at all. I can go on and on and on about poor vfx some are at Adipurush level if you look at it. Shahrukh should have insisted on practical effects.

Siddharth can you please answer why every action piece needs to be at impossible level. Even video games are believable. It's not that hard to make an action sequence difficult and believable at the same time. Looking at Pathaan I felt Marvel movies were still believable given the circumstances. I am not even talking about loopholes which were plenty.

Coming to acting and screen presence John Abraham completely steals the show as he is given almost all of the best lines and he delivers them like a pro. He never looked so handsome, most dashing villian ever. Not convinced by his background story yet you can feel his anger. Clearly he is the best part of the movie, his end could have been better not in an animated Hut please. Dimple Kapadia's role is saved by her acting prowess she is a class act, I feel bad that her character is dead she could have added a lot of value to the franchise. I feel Shahrukh and Deepika only added star value. Their characters need a lot of ground work to connect with audience. Please hire some real foreign actors I guess Russians actors are not expensive. Terrible acting by all Russians

Pathaan feels like a movie that wants to show you the destination and forgets that the real magic is the journey. The movie rests on the laurels of huge fandom of its casts. People who have grown up watching Bond movies or mission impossible movies or Bourne trilogy will find it funny. The others have found it entertaining.

This is not a movie Shahrukh should be proud of. It's not unique or new or path breaking. It's just run of the mill average spy movie a huge hit in Indian context. Miles to go till we make a real spy movie. I'm going with 6 out of 10 for Pathaan.

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Must be seen in 3D on the best screen possible

[8/10 · 23 January 2023]

Avatar 1 was a cinematic marvel. It was unique a true experience of an outer planet never shown before. Star Wars and Star Treks were just dumbed down versions of outer space. No wonder it captured the world's imagination and went on to become the highest grossing film ever. How do you beat that experience ? Cameroon knew he has to deliver the audience with another new unique experience.

Smartly after long research he delivers the water world of Pandora. I bet you it's the most realistic under water shots you ll ever see in cinema, no one is even close well may be National Geographic or Discovery but not in 3D. The last 40-45 mins of action sequence is masterfully crafted and you cannot get anything better than that forget John wick. But is it enough ? Let's find out.

Just like Avatar 1, the story takes lots of inferences from events in real world and Cameroon's own films. Avatar 1 dealt with Mining and land protection, tribal rights, tribal uprising and climate change. Avatar 2 carries the same theme forward but now it's focus is towards the family as well as a little towards animal cruelty. While it adds emotional connect with family angle but it also disconnects us by not focussing on the more global pressing issues which affects humanity on Earth that first Avatar did. The first Avatar let us feel the pain and loss of a community caused by human greed and what happens when community fights back which the 2nd missed. Hence the emotional connect is somewhat lost or you may call it diluted.

The first hour of the movie was a little incoherent and long setup. They could have cut that by at least 20 mins. In the first movie the actual villian was not Col Miles but it was human greed however in Avatar 2 they actually made col Miles the villian which I felt was a downgrade from first one. He was a totally one dimensional character. I would not have minded that if Cameroon could have explored the diplomacy angle of Earth. No one gets to world dominion with all guns blazing. A huge part is played by diplomacy and soft power. You cannot just abandon it after one revolt.

The water world looks great but the details is somewhat kept secret. Whatever is shown is shown at the surface level. There are literally no conflicts shown except within the kids. Kate Winslet and water world had no major role in final showdown. The Titanic themed last 10 mins was unnecessary and felt like a forced nostalgia.

The last but not least, like in all Cameroon films the writing is borderline terrible. Most conversations end with a phrase or sentence containing the least words possible.

You must be thinking I have listed mostly negative points yet I gave it an 8 why ? The answer is the movie is long but rarely felt slow. The visual prowess of this movie is breathtaking. It can easily trick you to ignore the negatives. So why the negatives ? Because those points if not improved upon might haunt future Avatar movies. Reinventing visuals in every sequel will be very very difficult. Law of diminishing marginal utility will kick in. Good writing can enhance the story to next level with less incremental improvement in visuals.

Avatar 2 has now crossed $ 2 billion. I am predicting Avatar 3 to be under $ 1.5 billion as I don't see anything significantly new in this front. Cameroon needs to hire good writers he has the vision. He should take up the visual director role and let the good writers do what they do best. Avatar 2 was mostly a copy of Avatar 1 event wise. The movie could have been 30 mins shorter but the studios can't tell that to a successful Cameroon.

One more issue is that most audiences worldwide were not able to experience the movie on premium screens. Most theatres and by most I mean 80% are still on 2K 3D with very low brightness. It looks awful knowing that premium screens are in 4K and brighter.

Most negatives above are an after thought. It would have elevated the experience and probably let Avatar 2 cross the $ 3 billion mark if those issues were not present. I'm giving it an 8 as it still manages to wow you but you can see the faint cracks on the strong surface of $ 2 Billion.

The Menu (2022)

A different version of 2019's Midsomar but dumber

[5/10 · 4 January 2023]

If you have watched Midsomar you ll know that The Menu is less gory version of it and also a bit dumbed down version. Here you have a psycopath chef and in Midsomar you have cultist village. Point is you can believe that cult can unite people to do crazy stuff but its hard to believe a Psycopath chef has a united team of sou chefs, servers, guards who are ready to die for him just unbelievable stuff. Midsomar has great shock value which The Menu only tries and miserably fails. Comeon I mean how dumb can you be to believe a person blowing his head off as theatrics he was 2 steps away. Even the Background Score gives Midsomar vibes. They Burn at the end in Midsomar, They burn at The End in The Menu. Only The girl survives in Midsomar, The girl survives in the Menu too. The only difference is that you seriously root for the main character but The Menu fails to incite any emotion for any of its characters.

Nicholas Hoult as Tyler has been given the role of the dumbest person alive. He just has 10 mins and still shines but the role is stupid. The whole movie is written for the central character Ralph Fiennes no other character has any meaningful dialogue or play except Anya Taylor Joy for a few moments. We all know Ralph is amazing but the story doesnt rise to compliment his acting. Nobody tries, nothing happens in this movie there is no character arc there are no characters except Ralph as the chef. I didnt care if everyone died cuz their existence didnt mean anything.

The Menu falls short on taste yet it is very high on best movies list of 2022. Clearly they have not watched Midsomar. Im going with a 5 cuz the director hooked me for something interesting untill the sou chef shot himself and all believed it was theatrics. It took me out of the experience and never pulled me back.

Qala (2022)

A beautiful portrait with predictable colors

[6/10 · 16 December 2022]

Qala is a beautifully put together abstract painting that most critics will not dare to question due to the fear of them being sounding stupid. But Qala is an outright predictable movie with visual grandeur. Its so predictable that you can tell whats gonna happen next. You know its treading upon parents over expectation, you knew she is going to go to any lengths to prove herself, you knew her brother's fate and when her brother's fate was sealed you knew her fate was sealed too, its so easy that you feel Anvika Dutt thought she can make it interesting with visuals. No it wasnt. The film was flat throughout never engaging never peaking not even at the climax.

The film which deals with the music family, never explored music. Why do we not try to deep dive. The film excels in all technical departments as well as acting but the film suffers from lack of uniquness in script to explore mental illness or sibling rivalry or over expecting parents.

Qala is well presented dish with bland taste. Giving it a 6 for visualsand Priti Dimri's acting.

Govinda Naam Mera (2022)

Six for Vicky kaushal the film deserves not more than a five

[6/10 · 16 December 2022]

Bollywood cannot do comedies its a shame Directors think saying dialogues with weird faces is comedy. 3 idiots was the last amazing comedy film we got. Its been 13 years Bollywood has not produced that kind of comedy. Vicky kaushal gave his best in this mediocre movie you can see his sincerety but the film had nothing for him. Bad songs truly bad songs just because its bollywood they have to put songs. The film took 1 hr to set the premise what a waste of time who wrote the script and who approved it ?. A thriller comedy with no thrill and not a single funny scene. The climax felt like a 90's jasoos movie. Vicky must choose projects carefully.

Wednesday (2022– )

Definitely worth a watch

[8/10 · 4 December 2022]

I was not sure about Wednesday, never even heard about it but apparently its a well known character. Trailers were great so I checked in on the reviews and thought lets give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised. Its a good show, Jenna Ortega as wednesday shines. I have my fav and its the "Thing". I think Tim Burton did a good job fleshing out the first season. Wednesday's character was well written and equally well acted by Ortega. The trailers made me feel it was gritty, horror, witty series for adults but in some parts it ll give you that teenage drama vibe, some scenes were not particularly tight I mean it felt childish like the boat race. Story was also kind of predictable i mean always knew it was Tyler and prof thornhill. Never wanted Weems to die that speaks I was invested. Felt horrible like wednesday when Thing was stabbed. Just few kinks here and there but overall it was a very good show. Waiting for season 2. Its 8.5/10 for me.

The Peripheral (2022)

Fake Engagement

[7/10 · 2 December 2022]

The Peripheral reminds me of HBO's Westworld. While not as sophisticated or engaging as the first season it follows the similar path of Fake engagement i.e. Trying to conceal more and more as it moves on revealing just smaller bits of information trying to create mystery around almost everyone and everything. The more episodes you wait for the answers the more mysterious it gets. And when you get the reveal it is like meh thats it and then they add another layer of mystery over the reveal. Its called creating hype over a vaccum. The only reveal you get is that you're now frustrated.

While Westworld fell apart in 3rd season I must say first 2 seasons were almost spectacular. I read that The Peripheral is sure to get 3 seasons at least. My point is the makers must understand such story telling doesnt work unless you reveal the larger picture, who is trying to do what and what are the stakes. Im just watching without knowing whats the goal or the objective. Everyone is talking in codes no one trusts anyone, the whole season is devoid of emotion and character depth. 8 episodes and I dont know the set up.

It wont survive more than 3 seasons unless they change the story telling style. Audience must know the larger picture and what's at stake. There should be some satisfying pay offs in between as well. I am giving it a generous 7 cuz it looks polished in other departments but the story telling needs a big overhaul.

Andor (2022– )

Its My Star Wars

[9/10 · 26 November 2022]

I tried many times to ride on the Star Wars band wagon but it always failed to attract my appreciation. I didnt get the craze it wasnt my nostalgia I had none. Whatever star wars I have watched felt mediocre at best. May be I liked Mandalorian a little mostly because of baby yoda but nothing else. Here comes Andor and I had literally no hope for a lesser known character to give me any surprises and boy I am happy to say I got my Star Wars.

This series scores A+ on all departments of film making never trusted Disney to deliver on that. World building, characters, acting, cgi, Direction, background score, story telling, building tension you name it and it just delivers episode after episode. The Finale was tense all through, loved the pacing, may be the end could have been a little more satisfying still loved it. First time you can feel the real Empire and its evilness. Characters were not fancy but believable even the evil ones. Waiting for season 2 to expand the Empire universe a bit more. Its a 9/10 for season 1.

Kantara (2022)

Almost perfect

[8/10 · 24 November 2022]

Late to the party so is it worth the hype ? I believe yes. I went with lot of expectations after the hype engine and the movie still managed to keep me hooked. The world building to writing to acting to background score to costumes to lighting to cinematography and direction everything is perfect to the letter T. Rishabh shetty should win a National award for his performance.

I have some minor issues like why did the Forest officer all of a sudden had a change of heart ? One event of finding landlord is cheating shouldnt change his heart there should have been an arc around his change. Secondly I feel climax action scene was unnecessary it brought too much noise. May be Rishabh wanted to give it to the masses but the same could have been handled more smartly. It felt like we went from engaging drama mode to full on 300 mode such tonal shift distracted me from my experience. Can anyone tell me why did Shiva disappear in the end ? I understand his father did cuz he wanted to prove that he is the God who is speaking but what was the motto of Shiva's disappearance ?

Apart from the minor issues the movie is an experience which is not bogged down by the usual over the top acting and dialogue delivery or physics defying action. Everything is grounded yet elevated by its humbleness. Indian film industry needs to learn from this. This shows that you can also make a smart movie for masses where acting and story is the hero.

Brahmastra Part One: Shiva (2022)

Rough on all the edges needs quite a bit of sand paper rubbing

[7/10 · 8 November 2022]

I get it why Ayan wanted that love angle, he was setting up the payoff in the climax. Love Triumphs even the greatest of powers. First Amrita triumphs Dev with love and then Shiva Triumphs Brahmastra with power of love but there was not enough love story to make us care for their divine love. Ayan had too much to show in one movie so he trimmed down the love story which was integral to the climax.

I believe if he wanted the love angle he should have done part one as Shiva and Isha, built up a divine love story around mythical elements toned down on the action and vfx and ended with the current climax. Low cost, build an audience base for part 2, go big in 2nd movie. Or he could have just started with Shiva and Isha as already madly in love couple, save on that tiny no point love story and go big on astra storylines and some good adventure. Or the best one skip love angle altogether and build a more convincing climax payoff.

The movie had so many moments which acted like fillers. The big one being Nagarjuna's storyline. I cant believe it took so many years by Ayan to write such a simple story with filler dialogues nothing stands out. It seems they wanted the hero of the story to be the vfx. Vfx was good but monotonous when it came to showcase Astra powers all neon colorful lights and sparkles. I dont understand why use vfx for normal fire scenes it looks totally fake and costs money. Junoon had no back story or motivation. When your main villian has no story it takes out the fun. Action could have been lot better especially the car chase scene, too many close up shots ruined the fun felt like they were not happy and wanted to hide something. Whats with Bollywood's addiction with slow mo action shots we dont want to see every shot in slow mo I get it you have spent money but please dont use more than 20%.

Music was average so is the bacground score nothing great. Why is that in every climax the background score seems like a chorus ? Characters at Ashram were not really explored so when Tenzing died I didnt care. When shiva saved Isha from Brahmastra's fury I didnt care. I didnt want Mr Bachhan to die so rooted for him. Can anybody tell me why Brahmastra was trying to destroy Earth, whats the deal ?

Anyways all in all a good concept ruined by Bollywood's mindset of not going in depth on characters, stories and themes. I ll still watch the whole trilogy but im not wowed by the first one. Im giving it a generous 7 stars its a one time watch nothing noteworthy to remember. Neon vfx wont save it.

House of the Dragon (2022– )

It is not Game of Thrones

[8/10 · 25 October 2022]

As a standalone series this is good if not the best but it is not Game of Thrones. Since this is from the same world it is obvious that we compare. GOT S1 vs HOTD S1. From the very first episode GOT has set the game that it is not your conventional TV show I mean come on no one guessed that someone could push a child to save their arse. An element of surprise which HOTD lacks unprecedented consequence like Sansa losing Nimeria. Ned stark ? Dont tell me you saw that coming. Vast storylines with unique characters and personalities which HOTD lacks.

HOTD lacks that element of surprise, you can always guess whats gonna happen even Lucerys fate in the finale. Nobody cared for Lucerys anyways. Almost all characters deaths were not impactful as they were never really explored. Im not talking about Viserys he died of disease it was long time coming.

Very few unique characters like Viserys stands out so does queen Alicent, Rhaeneyra and Daemon. May be otto as well but rest are bland. Viserys should get an emmy for his amazing performance. The kids are awful I cant decide who is who such poor charecterization. The show is too dark I mean visually, will be difficult to binge lacks the fun element also. But if you dont compare it with GOT its a good show. The show runners went with a more hollywood style cinematic approach. You can feel that they went for style for eg when Rhaenys fled to get her dragon during Aegon swearing in she had time to find the dragon as well as armor, the dragon broke the roof while she was sitting and she did not break sweat not even dust on her face. There was no wood or iron supporting such large roof strange or its just they forgot logic. What is it with the episodes where dragon does anything its rated high ?

The whole season felt like a build up for something which never happened. No other kingdoms were explored. I get it its the Dance of the dragons but the role of other kingdoms should have been explored to a certain degree. So I am little disappointed but hey its not a bad show its a very good show but my hopes were sky high. There were some amazing scenes like Family dinner scene with Viserys emotional speech, Alicent trying to convince otto to not kill Rhaenerya, Laena after Funeral scene, Viserys convincing Rhanerya why she ll always be his heir etc etc. It had some amazing character moments in almost all the episodes none of the episodes were boring mind you but nothing wow happens either so I ll rate it at 8.5 for first season. Stop getting hyped for dragons.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022– )

Lesson - Visuals Isn't Everything

[7/10 · 17 October 2022]

I decided not to review this based on first few episodes even though it was pretty clear from the approach that its not gonna really improve drastically. Anyways I wanted to give it a fair chance. Apart from episode 6 nothing really stands out which proves that budget isn't everything.

The real issue with this season is that nothing really happens for the most part nor the interactions among the characters are interesting to keep you invested. Galadriel the protagonist speaks with 90% of her mouth closed. Other characters don't really stand out, you start to recognize characters later only because of the time spent not because of their uniqueness.

The visual department has done an excellent job but the writing department needs to step up so does the editing. Everything must lead up to something else its just a waste of the screen time. Do we really need such long harfoots storyline ? Why did the 3 ladies following the meteor man confuse him with Sauron ? I think only Elrond and Durin storyline was well handled.

Eight more than hour long episodes just for Sauron reveal is too much time lost for very little story. Just because of visuals and LOTR nostalgia it was watchable. The team has herculean task to convince that they can change that and add new life to this almost near to boring season 1.

Better Call Saul: Saul Gone (2022) Season 6, Episode 13

Was expecting some bangs instead got a banger

[9/10 · 17 August 2022]

I got emotional we all wanted it to end good for Jimmy but we also knew that wont happen. Perhaps the only thing thats gonna keep him in check is jail but Jimmy and Kim wont be together thats what made me emotional. I was rooting for them being together somehow. Kudos to the Team, 2 back to back masterpeices Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.

Darlings (I) (2022)

Dark Comedy without Comedy

[6/10 · 7 August 2022]

Kudos to the team for choosing such topic. Vijay Verma was excellent. It was nice to see a built up towards Badru's anger to to the point she wanted to teach Hamza a lesson totally believable not expected from Bollywood but nice surprise. Now to the story it was promoted as dark humor but apart from 1 or 2 scenes i didnt find any comdedy. It was pretty straight forward story. There was nothing extra ordinary to lift the movie. It felt like a TV movie nothing more. Comedy can be best said to be an extinct art in Bollywood. Zulfi and Badru's mom character could have been explored more. Tons of dark comedy could hve been added. Anyways good step forward but needs more polish.

The Gray Man (2022)

Russo Brothers duped Netflix

[5/10 · 7 August 2022]

Unbelievable Russo Brothers made this. Its horrible way to spend 200+ mill. How did Netflix clear this ? Is there anything called quality control in Netflix ? Or they just shut quality control and open the bank for big names. Only redeemable character is of Chris Evans that too can seriously improve. Poor action, Poor writing, No back ground work no character development what the hell was this movie. Netflix oh Netflix God save Netflix.

Ms. Marvel: No Normal (2022) Season 1, Episode 6

This is Childish

[6/10 · 14 July 2022]

Poor writing, poor directing I really dont know what Marvel was trying to achieve from it. This looks so amateur and childishly goofy in a bad way. The cast looks good but and a big but on rest of the team. Dont need a season 2.

Halo (2022– )

Halo was bit of a Hollow

[6/10 · 24 May 2022]

I gave it a chance to shine watched all 9 episodes it had few moments but very few and at the end it was disappointing. Such scope yet so little was delivered. Finale oh god it was terrible. I dont play the games but a superior species Covenant planet it felt like a small den with no one. Action choreography no plan at all there was no flow we are not in the game its a tv series remember. Acting, writing, action, cinematography was average to say the least. I didnt care for anyone's life. Not gonna watch season 2.

Halo: Contact (2022) Season 1, Episode 1

It was rushed at the end

[8/10 · 27 March 2022]

Good start to first episode, nice action little bit of spartan, CGI was good but character movements were patchy. Now why I feel the episode was a bit rushed at the 2nd half because creators did not give enough time for the visions to get control of a strong soldier like master chief it was instant there were no other supporting build up so we are like is it that easy ? Secondly UNSC before deciding to kill Kwan ha was like there was no back up plan for such a big organization. Killing her should have been the last resort and that should hve been built up. Thirdly master chief should not have taken off his helmet in the very first episode it just sounds so weird it takes away the mystery from the character. I hope they build this up strongly. Im up for some space face off.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Post PANDEMIC hit ?

[7/10 · 27 March 2022]

Sorry Im too late to the party. I think people were too itchy to go to theatres. This is just another spiderman film nothing new the same old Peter Parker who is still dumb. I mean after adventures with avengers you would expect him to become a bit smart but in the first half he acts so dumb and so does Doc strange as he lets Peter do his buffonery. I mean come on. The building where happy lives is not reinforced with steel bars, the slab just breaks from 1 floor to another and I see no steel. I get it the suit protects spiderman but his head was without the mask and still no injury to the skull after so many hits from hitting the floor its just bad direction. 75% of the film was dumb. It worked on nostalgia and.

Eternals (2021)

Eternals a 2006 Film released in 2021

[6/10 · 14 February 2022]

Mind you this film is not bad but an average considering how far Marvel has come up. May be if this came out in 2006 we would have all appreciated it but this film failed under Marvel's own weight. It had no real villian, some dog like creatures as its side kick, Bunch of eternals with minor character development and fighting dogs for ages and an Oscar winning director who probably never understood what comic book craze is all about. All in all made sure everyone feels this is just unnecessary. Chloe zhao just forgot movie making is all about character development, motivated 3 dimensional villian and a mission unlike the other. Im giving it a six but probably it deserves a 5.

Pushpa: The Rise - Part 1 (2021)

Allu Arjun and the rest

[5/10 · 30 January 2022]

Its understandable from the title that it will focus on the rise of the character Pushpa played by current craze of the nation Allu Arjun. But it baffles me that Director has given no thought on any other character, it felt like director is just fanboying here. By the end of the movie you remember no one except may be Pushpa's friend a bit even Rashmika's character wasnt memorable.

The movie involves red sandalwood mafia but there has been no research made on the intricate working and networks of the mafia everything is so over simplified that you really dont care for any of the mafia dons. Trust me when I say they were made to look cheap. The violence didnt have an impact cuz there was no real background established.

The meat was missing so when Faahd faasil came on screen you ll feel that all this mindless 3 hour waste of screenplay was to setup for part 2. A 3 hr prequel to actual wow you can get away with this only with south stars. I just wonder how the director convinced faahd faasil to get onboard with this mindless film. Some articles said the movie was made with 250 cr budget really ? Where did the money go Its an on location shoot in India with little vfx involved.

5 stars just for loyal Allu Arjun fans. I went through hell watching this.

The Witcher (2019– )

A step back from season 1

[8/10 · 23 December 2021]

With 2 year hiatus due to covid I expected them to polish their season 2 but I was somewhat disappointed. I think season 2 did not bring out the desired acting from the cast partly due to very incoherent screenplay. It felt like some noobie has written the script. Not the fault of the actors. Yennefer and Jaskier were used as props. How did Yennefer escape from execution of Cahir with all the powerful mages around is hard to believe Jaskier was borderline annoying to watch. Episode 1 was well executed I loved the start but rest felt like they were trying to rush the story without any wow moment in between. Finale tried to redeem itself by some monster marathon but all in all the fight scenes were poorly choreographed. Felt like everyone was watching each other with no meaningful dialogue. Makers must understand that Witcher season 2 was only watchable because of Henry Cavill his sheer presence as Geralt is amazing but I guess they diluted his character a bit this season. They need to up their writing game as the visuals and Henry can only take them so far. For season 1 I gave 9 I loved the pacing but season 2 im dropping it to 8 it had some major pacing issues and flow was not up to the standard expected from these high budget shows. Please up your game.

Loki: The Nexus Event (2021) Season 1, Episode 4

Last 10 mins ruined it for me

[5/10 · 30 June 2021]

Lets skip to last 10 min as until then it was a solid episode. The fight between lokis and time keepers at the end was very very poorly choreographed looked like some B grade stuff. I dont mind original loki getting pruned but it was so cringey very old style come back from an Antagonist a big LOL moment. This is just bad and I see this episode very highly rated. Its no match to first 2 not even close. For me first 2 are excellent 3rd is good but 4th was average at best.