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mihirviveka
Reviews
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
The Martian is better than this
Films and stories attract people based on one of four things. The first is extraordinary story as in the Sixth Sense. The second is extraordinary characters and personalities as in say Godfather. The third is the extraordinary elements in the story as found in all folk stories like Alauddin and even in the Intouchables (the paraplegic is a new story element).
The fourth type of films are basically about the extraordinary visuals and the setting to support and justify this. Star Wars, Avatar and Baahubali belong to this category. The great environments, buildings, amazing costumes and makeups, epic battles and so on.
This was what attracted people to the original Star Wars films. In each new film Lucas tried to explore the Star Wars universe even more and showed us new people, planets, cultures and so on.
This is where this film fails completely. The planets, costumes, people all are very dull and boring. The characters too are boring. No new ship designs, no new methods of fighting, no nothing.
We never get the magical or exhilarating feeling anytime during this film. The story could've happened on a single planet with the characters flying around in planes. It actually feels like that. There is no epic feel to it.
That it garnered only $2 billion compared to Avatar's 2.8 5, years ago shows how shallow this film was.
They also didn't take advantage of the new technology available. They could've added new Alien heroes and villains, new exciting planets with strange environments and creatures.
The original looks and feels better than this. The film showcases the lack of creativity of its makers.
Teacher of the Year (2014)
A great film
A great film. It is a comedy with a heart touching story. It feels absolutely real but keeps you interested for the whole length of the film.
Strange it's rating is so low.
You will laugh a lot and will also have things to ponder about at the end, unlike some crude comedy films with crude jokes that leave a bad taste at the end.
The film's style may not seem nice at first but later we realize that it's the style best suited to this film.
By the way the action is really great.
Dasavatharam (2008)
Great Acting by Kamal -- A Classic among Films
Kamal Hassan's Dasavataram.
First The Acting:
Kamal Hassan plays ten roles in this film and shows once again that he is one of the greatest actors in the world. Normally, good actors play roles that are similar to them. They do not have to change their body language. If we see different actors, their body language and expressions are the same in all the films. They do good acting but the same acting in all the films. But acting in a complete different body language and facial expressions is a very rare gift. Kamal Hassan is such a gifted actor.
It is sad that when we have such a great actor in India, we are not admiring him.
Another example of Kamal's great action is in the film Michael-Madana-Kama-Raju. In the climax the four characters appear in the same scene and with the same makeup and costume, but we can tell which character is which just by looking.
Chaos Theory:
Indian films do not incorporate scientific or philosophic aspects in them. But in Dasavataram Kamal incorporated "Chaos Theory" in the film. Chaos Theory tells that seemingly unrelated events are actually related i.e., one event exerts influence on another one. And due to the interaction of these events a resultant event results.
He showed this in a great way in this story. Out of the ten characters only two are involved in the destruction of the virus and only one is trying to steal it. All others are not at all concerned with the virus, except Bush, who also wants to protect the virus. The different characters do different things due to which the virus is just at the right time when the tsunami occurs at the beach in Chennai, due to which it gets destroyed.
Kamal did a great work in illustrating the Chaos Theory beautifully in his story.
Defects:
The story does not involve one emotionally. This is further increased by not showing us the danger of the virus. Also Kamal irritatingly refers to salt as NaCl all through the film. Nothing can be worse than this.
Watch the film to see Kamal's acting but not for any emotions.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
One of the worst films ever considering the story from which it was created
Before dismissing my conclusion please read the review. There are three aspects we should consider when talking about this film. 1. How good it is a film by itself.
2. How good it is as a part of the series. 3. How good it is as an adaptation.
BUT all these three cannot be considered separately because the story in the films is the story in the books. I am not talking about the various differences from the book in the film. I am talking about the gist of the story(emotions and philosophical concepts and story concepts) that are changed or misrepresented because of a lack of understanding and creativity, thereby ruining the story(and its potential)and turning the films into another cheap summer blockbuster which everyone forgets by winter.
A story is nothing but an emotion or emotions. We feel a particular emotion and then weave a story to convey this emotion(s). We create characters to feel and make feel these emotions. But the purpose of a novel or film is to elaborate these emotions and show them in a detailed manner with more anticipation and more effect.
Even if we think that these films are not adapted from any novel, even then the film is pretty bad. Let me explain it clearly There are 4 main emotional aspects in this story. 1. The extraordinary fantastical and wondrous things(Like Voldemort's history, horcruxes and search for them, The order, the ongoing fight and mainly Harry's relation with them all). These are the things that are uncommon and extraordinary even in the wizards world. 2. The escape from real world things(Like such close friends like Ron and Hermione, such a person and headmaster like Dombledore, Such dangerous people like Voldemort and all these things). Normally we do not come across such exceptionally good, great, bad and evil persons in real life. In any story these things are exaggerated to fulfill our fantasies. Like a bully like Malfoy does not really turn out to be linked to people like death eaters and attempt to kill a person like Dumbledore. In real life they are almost as normal as other people. The same goes for Snape(We all have a teacher we hate but when do they turn out to have such a history, character and connection with us in real life? In real life such teachers are just boring dung. But this is a fantasy), Dumbledore, Lupin, Sirius and all other characters. We just wish that the people we interact with and ourselves are really such extraordinary people and we are some kind of Harry between them. 3. The magical element. The magical world and the strange possibilities that can exist in it. 4. The school element. For everyone school and early college years are very memorable whether good or bad. Our wishes that the school and the people there be something really extraordinary is fulfilled very nicely in these stories.
All these fantasy elements are mixed with each other. The last two items are the basic settings in which the story takes place and in it this escape from real world situation theme is present. And in such an extraordinary setting the events the events and aspects of the first theme(or point) are even extraordinary. But without the basic three(lats three) things the first point is definitely pointless and not so exciting even though it is the main part of the story. It is the icing of the cake. But the icing is only special because we have the cake beneath it. And above all there is a philosophical discussion about death(mainly) and also about love and selfishness in the story(although not as great as in stories like War and Peace, LOTR).
But look what the film has done with this great story. Instead of enhancing all these elements and making them even better and wonderful look what they have done. a. They have destroyed the heart of the story by taking out the school element and they tried to make Hogwarts look as normal as possible not by showing the children, teachers, classes, studying and petty rivalries etc., but by making their dresses etc., just like those of muggles. b. In a similar way they destroyed the magical element by not showing us the daily life of students and wizards and how they contrast with muggle lives and just how wonderful they are. c. They have destroyed the escape from real world theme by assassinating the characters and turning them into parodies of their original selves. d. Finally they have destroyed the extraordinary fantastical things because of the above mentioned points and made it all look dull in a strange way.
To who come in the defense of the films: I am not saying that the film is worse than a C grade film. But it looks just like one of those light comedy, adventure and action films and stories that are released every year. BUT HARRY POTTER'S IS NOT JUST ANOTHER SILLY COMMERCIAL STORY. The film should have been made like a legend like LOTR. Not just another "Yeah enjoyed all the glitzy and puffy and gingo things and then ate some stuff in a hotel and slept like a log" film. For one week(or at least 2-3 days) one should constantly dream about how good the film was and how nicely you felt the emotions and relish remembering each moment like after one eats a great feast. The story has such scope.
This all is due to the lack of understanding of the producers, director, script writer and their vulgar and cheap imagination.
So in this the way they have mutilated and butchered the stories. Even as the series progresses the films are getting worse and worse. The first two films at least felt good because they did not try to change everything ugly, plastic and unnatural.