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swathibal
Reviews
Red Notice (2021)
Giant "Meh!" fest
The movie is about the second best thief in the world (Ryan Reynolds) trying to outsmart the first best thief in the world (Gal Gadot) and vice versa. And there is an FBI agent (Dwayne Johnson) chasing both of them. That's pretty much what can be said about it without giving out spoilers.
Positives:
It's pretty. The cast is a bunch of beautiful people and it's visual spectacle. And that's pretty much all the positives.
Negatives:
Everything else. Acting and writing were the worst of them.
Let's begin with acting, it was just bad. But since I adore all the three of them, and their previous works, Im going to go out on a limb here and say that they weren't given much to work with, that is with their characters and the script.
Which brings me to the biggest issue of the movie - it's writing and screenplay. It was extremely lazy and underwhelming and frankly insulting to us - the audience. Example: Why is Ryan Reynolds a thief? Because daddy issues. What about Dwayne Johnson? Why is he FBI? Because daddy issues. Want to explain why the rich villain guy is the way he is? Sure, daddy issues! What about Gal Gadots character? Why is she a thief? Yes. You guessed it - because daddy issues.
The whole movie is just as lazy as this.
Here's another example where they are stuck in an underground bunker and need to run from someone who is chasing them through the main entrance - behold! There is an old car in the bunker (been sitting there for half a century, but apparently fully fueled), but how do u drive the car out of there? Oh wait! There was an old road from the underground bunker to the outside that just conveniently appeared.
So yeah! It solely runs on star power and is cashing in on their fame. Nothing entertaining, or memorable. Just Meh!
3 stars for the 3 stars in the movie - Gal Godot, Ryan Reynolds & Dwayne Johnson. Coz there is nothing else to see here.
Kanakam Kaamini Kalaham (2021)
Nonsensical!
With all due respect, it is difficult to fathom what the thought was that went behind making this movie. It's premise is outdated and nonsensical.
The movie revolves around a couple Pavithran (Nivin Pauly) who is an insecure junior artist and his wife Haripriya (Grace Antony) who is a dissatisfied ex serial actress. The duo take a trip to a hill station to rekindle their failing relationship where Haripriya loses her gold earrings in the hotel they are staying at. The rest of the movie is about the drama and confusion that occurs in the quest for the missing earrings between them, the hotel staff (Vinay Forrt, Vincy, Rajesh Madhavan) and their fellow hotel guests (Joy Mathew, Jaffer Idukki).
Sounds like a yesteryear Priyadarshan movie? Well that is kind of what it is, minus the occasional comedy that Priyadarshan was able to pull off. Don't get me wrong, the movie aimed to be funny, but fell short of it into the cringy zone.
The screenplay is such a mess. Nivin Paulys Pavithran was hard to watch, his character was essentially an adult person behaving like an annoying teenager. Grace's character was also grossly underwritten and suffered from a case of "female character written by a male person who has no understanding of the opposite gender". But her good acting and conviction made watching her somewhat bearable. The same cannot be told about Vincys character (the only other female in the movie), it was just painful to watch her rant and rile for no good reason. Oh wait! I said no "good" reason, there was a reason though, that was given in the movie, because her character was on her periods!
The whole thing is just a giant cartoon, which was irritating to watch and borderline misogynistic. The comedy was crass and most of the times the jokes didn't land.
I'm sure that there was a lot of effort that went into it, but the end product was overall just messy and nonsensical.
Kurup (2021)
This one will stick with you for a while!
For those of you are not familiar, the movie is loosely based on the life of a fugitive from Kerala, Sukumara Kurup.
To be honest, although I have heard of him several times (mostly through Malayalam movie references), I really had no idea who he was or why he became so notorious.
Enter the movie Kurup, threw some light on my ignorance and then more. The real circumstances surrounding Sukumara Kurup and his crimes in itself is so mysterious and curious that any form of portrayal of this story will spike your interest.
Now, coming exclusively the movie, one cannot call it an ultra realistic plot, there is a lot of cinematic liberty used in it. However, in the context that it's presented, it was quite engaging.
Acting wise, Shine Tom did a brilliant job, DQ, Indrajit and Shobita played their parts convincingly. Screenplay wise, the second half was much more fast paced and interesting than the first half. The first half could have benefited from some editing and cuts. Songs were kind of forced and unnecessary.
Overall, it is an interesting watch, and more than the movie itself, the premise, which is the mystery of Sukumara Kurup will haunt you for while after you leave the theatres (or switch off your TV).
Churuli (2021)
Brilliant piece of filmmaking!
LJP has an extraordinary talent of visualise the abstract. He brings these concepts to life in his film - Churuli. No one person can explain everything that happens in the movie, however, the beauty of it lies in the fact that each person watching it will have a different take on it.
What I find extremely interesting about it is that you can believe what you want about the movie. The movie never spoon feeds you, never even attempts to explain weird happenings. Rather it just shows you, and you can interpret it however you choose to. Some would say that the animation in the beginning of the movie is an attempted explanation, I would say that the animation raises more questions that answers.
It's a piece of art making that will inspire hundreds of discussions about it's possible interpretation. What is art if it doesn't inspire you to think, right?
In a way you could say that Churuli is a modern art equivalent of paintings. It's absurd and abstract, but it provokes you.
Personally, I would love to see vibrant discussions on the movie, which doesn't revolve around its usage of foul language, because that should be the last thing that we take away from it. The language is just a medium to create a conceptual reality. In other words, the cuss words are not just used for heck of it. It's actually used to show the crass, crude and the raw nature of the people in the village of Churuli.
At the end of the day, whether you like the movie or not, it forces you to think, to look inside you for answers and that is what I understand to be a brilliant piece of filmmaking!
Sarileru Neekevvaru (2020)
0 rating.. in fact -10 rating.
The movie has such problematic premises and dialogues and the sad part is that it is all promoted by the main characters.
It is an absolute slap on the audience's intelligence. They have promoted such outdated misogynistic ideas disguised as jokes that it's absolutely disheartening to know that this movie has been watched and loved by millions.
The women in the movie are portrayed as absolute cartoons, so much so that when the men in the movie abuse them, it is in a disturbing way, justified.
This movie just should not exist because it's so problematic that it openly jokes about r*pe, abus*, leading to subtly minimising issues such as victim shaming, glorification of the abus*r, promoting getting married to the perpetrator.. all in the name of comedy. It is just so unbelievably bad that it should not exist. Cannot believe these tropes still work in the 21st century. We should have been done and dusted with it in the 90's.
If you're planning to watch this movie, my humble request to you is, please skip this one. It will lead to the slow death of your braincells. At least other movies with no logic can be called entertaining. This one is just plain disturbing, a torture to sit through.
Minus 10 stars for this one, in fact the movie makers should give us stars for sitting through it.
Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012)
This one is cringe!
I'm usually a fan of Rom coms and romantic dramas, especially when it stars SRK, but this one is just nope!
Tried my best to give it the benefit of the doubt, but it was just a big disappointment. Let me tell u why!
1. It has a laughable plot! They breakup coz of a promise she makes to God? Is this supposed to be endearing? It just seems like lazy writing. If my partner told me this I would lose all love and respect for them, let alone yearn for them for 10 years. I'll run for my life. (read psycho- God knows what other ridiculous promises they'll make in the future).
2. To be fair, I'm ready to give the above point the benefit of the doubt, and believe that maybe there are people who may be like Katrina's character (not anyone I know, but okay). Then too, the next problem is how did a waiter become a bomb squad specialist? Coz his dad was in the army? ( that's the only reference given in the movie)
3. Fine, benefit of the doubt no. 2, I'm willing to believe that he somehow got into the army (may be he was the only candidate willing to diffuse the bomb without a suit and since they ran out of suits, they had to hire him). What's with their ages? Katrina - 21, Shahrukh - 25 and Anushka -21 ? They certainly don't look that age nor do they act that age. Whose so woke and talks poetry when they are 21 or even 25 for that matter? Aren't they fresh out of college if they're 21? Why do they look like they have everything under control? It's confusing
4. Fine, no big deal BFD 4 ( benefit of the doubt 4). It's a Bollywood movie, all the above don't matter. Agreed. But boss at least good acting should be there no? I cringed every time Katrina Kaif's face was shown in close up. She looks hot, but she has zero relevant expressions, like nothing! (Except an expression of mild discomfort - like when you get acidity). So bad!
No more BFDs. Bye bye JTHJ. Jab tak hai jaan. Jab tak hai jaan.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)
Not Convincing!
It's too preachy. It's great that they tried to tie in a lot of socio-political issues, but it could have used a lot of subtlety, a lot! If the aim was to be inclusive and make people aware of the societal discriminations, it was completely defeated due to it 'in your face preachy' nature. It just got annoying after a point and made the viewer not care anymore!
The idea behind it is appreciated, but the end product was just a jumbled mess. Starting with
The new cap (Walker) and his character arc establishing him as a hero, then a villain, and then a hero again without any proper explanation just plain confusing.
The falcon had too many arcs, none flushed out - with his financial struggle, his relationship with his sister, his reluctance towards the shield, his constant preaching - it was shabby and I as an audience did not empathise with him at all. I was rather irritated by him.
The winter soldier- I actually feel bad for his character, he was so under utilised, the show did not do justice to the title even a bit.
Also what's with Madripoor and power brokers? Just no!! It just seemed so very out of place in a movie that is trying to talk about racism and refugee issues. Such a mess
Finally, what I thought was the biggest failure - the missed opportunity to explore the world post Thanos, post Endgame - imagine all that they could have done? Instead they used the thread in such an underwhelming way tying it indirectly to the villains story (who is also underwhelming btw) - So unimaginative and disappointing!
A movie stretched into 6 episodes is what it is
It's not horrible, I would have given it 5 stars if not for the fact that it almost ruined MCU for me. I'm trying my best to isolate this from all the previous MCU movies!
Nishabdham (2020)
Absolutely mindbogglingly terrible!
It is a story about Antony(a cello artist), Sakshi (a painter), Richard D.. something (a cop whose last name the the movie makers were too lazy to make up their minds about), Maha(a detective in Seattle PD it seems) and Sonali (God knows what she does). This movie has too many problems! I'll go one by one
1.Lack of Relatability
None of these characters have any backstory except Antonys which mind you is so superficial, but at least he had one. All the others just exist out of nowhere..for example Sakshi and Sonali are orphans who were both raised in an orphanage in US and for some extremely random reason, have Indian names and know Tamil/ Telugu/Malayalam!! And one wonders why the detective in Seattle PD speaks with an Indian accent, if she's a migrant who recently went to the US and has not learnt to speak the way they do, how did she get a job in the Police Department?? In fact this movie has no relevance in being set in the US! Could have just been set in any city in India without altering anything- that could have made the movie more bearable, since they could have avoided subjecting the audience to the cringe worthy acting of all the foreigners in this movie (yes! Including Madsen.. I don't know what he thought while signing up for this). No movie could not be more unrelatable than this one!
I rest my case by saying this, there is a scene in the movie where an American cop translates the Tamil into sign language for Sakshi (she is mute). Seriously?? Are we unaware of some kind of Tamil education the people of US receive to become cops?
Plot
Its rubbish, it seems like the writers just wanted to add a few twists, thought out what they were and came up with most lazy and underwhelming story to connect the twists.
Characters
*Spoilers*
Don't even get me started on the backstory of Antony (Madhavan), it's absolute nonsense - he starts killing women who cheat because his wife cheated on him? I understand it if they showed that he had some mental issues and that his wife cheating on him, somehow triggered his psychosis..but noo, this movie wants to show him as the victim, poor guy only mangles women's heads because he thinks they want to cheat ..That's just super shallow, ridiculous and a dangerous message!!!
Also the glorified relationship between Sonali and Sakshi is just so toxic. Sonali does not like it when anything good happens in Sakshis life (when she gets s new job, or a boyfriend)? And they're best friends it seems, they show it like it's just so normal.
All in all the movie sucks big time! Don't waste your time or brain space on it. I have already wasted too much, watching it, writing a review on it, all so that you don't subject yourself to this torture.