sidd275 Reviews

The Batman (2022)

Totally in love with Reeves - Pattinson's Batman!

[10/10 · 5 March 2022]

Lending a Fincher-isque touch to the tale of decades old comic character, Matt Reeves in The Batman has gone all out to skillfully portray the need of Batman as a saviour and superhero in the contemporary Gotham, which is marred by filth and corrupt politics.

Reeves's plausible vision is headlined by a terrific Robert Pattinson as the The Batman. Pattinson, with his radiant expressions amidst the dark world, manages to capture all your attention. His act is a restrained one, portraying an innate damage. You'll certainly cheer for Pattinson all along, as he struggles to fight his inner evils while tackling the bad guys of Gotham. The essential bad guy here is Riddler, who has set off to clean the filthy Gotham (remember Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver?).

Paul Dano's act as the shrewd and frightening Riddler is another highlight of the film, easily the second-best act after Pattinson's. Props to Reeves again for wisely playing along the good vs bad, drawing a line or blurring as needed. Zoe Kravitz is lovable too as the catwoman, and makes the scheme of things more interesting. Adding to the cast hype are Colin Farrell, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peler Sarsgaard, Jayme Lawson - obvious great actors, name's enough.

Some more props to Reeves and Peter Craig - who have co-blessed the film with a watertight screenplay. Despite running for 3 hours, it never comes across as an exhausting fest. Also blessing the film is Michael Giacchino, with a score high on goosebumps.

While Reeves portrays the figurative darkness of Gotham, Greig Fraser takes charge of the portraying the literal darkness of Gotham. In Fraser's lens, the sun never shines on Gotham. The dark knight always sets off in the dark night, fighting in lightless lanes.

Besides everything engaging, where Reeves - Pattinson's Batman appeals the most is for its realism. Our celebrated superhero goes through existentialism, to emerge as a personality transcending the 'mere vengeance guy' image. Fascinating!

Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022)

Alia Bhatt show all the way!

[8/10 · 26 February 2022]

Rarely have we seen Hindi cinema celebrating women with ample bottom shots, to amplify their towering presence. SLB's latest Gangubai Kathiawadi is a new addition to this list, feat. Alia Bhatt delivering her finest performance.

Despite the little hurdle of physical dissimilarity that comes in Alia's way of looking the part, she conquers it all with her act full of mastered mannerisms. The last minute of Dholida song is certainly the peak Alia moment, where she dances like a dream.

The significant figures instrumental in Gangubai's journey, to being the Queen of Kamathipura, have been portrayed by sheer stalwarts. Seema Pahwa is class-apart as the nasty Sheela, nailing a role so different from usual on-screen persona. Solid and massy are the words for Ajay Devgn's presence - those eyes, as usual, speak volumes!

Shantanu through his act adds to the lyrical beauty of the film. The songs feat. Him with Alia - Meri Jaan and Jab Saiyaan - have been mesmerisingly choreographed. I found Jim Sarbh's part as the concerned journalist little gimmicky, as if a tool for mere cinematic convenience. The best of them all is Vijay Raaz as Raziya Begum - menacing, unforgettable, impacting - with expressions pitch-perfect. His sequences are bathed in neon by DOP Sudeep Chatterjee, who never lets even the darkest sequences of the film be colored all-black.

Sudeep has visually depicted the Kamathipura nights in beautiful moonlit shower of white and grey, or poetic neon. His top shots celebrate SLB's idea of grandeur of Kamathipura. The bottom shots are reserved for the celebration of Alia as Gangubai.

Right from go, Gangubai Kathiawadi is an Alia Bhatt show all the way, who carries it all on her able shoulders - sharing the heavyweight with stalwarts who support her and exit the stage.

Best of Alia Bhatt? Undoubtedly.

Best of SLB? He's done better.

House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths (2021)

A must watch documentary.

[9/10 · 8 October 2021]

For more than a decade, an 11-member house in a North Delhi neighbourhood witnesses the subtle rise of an ordinary but mentally-ill (wasn't he?) man to the unquestionable numero-uno position. He becomes the emperor-o-tyrant of that house, with that house being his closeted empire. Though the people of that kingdom come across as perfectly socially interactive and "normal" humans, but every house has secrets, and so the tyranny goes ignored even if noticed by other people in neighbourhood. In a significant event that was about to break the social interaction rules of that empire, a female member gets engaged in obvious other family and so the idea of her marriage gets her close to leaving the empire of tyrant, who soon realises that the quality and quantity of his authority is in grave danger. Foreseeing the inevitable fate of fall, the tyrant convinces the entire empire to sacrifice their lives for the love of emperor and empire.

As close as it may seem, this is not an episode summary of Netflix's "How To Become A Tyrant", though it comes really close to it. The narrative I've written above in a personal-interpretation manner has been sensitively and well-documented in a much different way by Leena Yadav in her 3-episode limited series "House Of Secrets" on Netflix.

The horrifying tale about delusion of a mentally ill but influential tyrant in a North Delhi family deserves a watch.

Squid Game (2021– )

An instant classic

[10/10 · 2 October 2021]

Except for the VIPs acting and their embarrassing "jokes" - coughs *69,96* - Squid Game is one of the best shows ever being perfectly engaging and exciting.

Love Aaj Kal (2020)

An obvious atrocity.

[4/10 · 16 February 2020]

I've always believed that an Imtiaz Ali movie may miss every plot point intended, but even those worst plot points revolve around the mesmerizing silences, sanity, and vanity. The romance builds up subtly and the writing is layered - complemented by the sensible dialogues and the sparkling eyes of actors that do the talking. Imtiaz's earlier weakest 'Jab Harry met Sejal' too has its fair share of moments of romance that build over nothing and convey nothing. Love Aaj Kal traverses a step further to test one's faith in naivety. It punches the loud romantic moments straight in your face. Believing that the audience still won't invest, the actors keep on shouting the lines of love to convince you that they share a romantic bond. When one struggles to bear even one, the movie subjects us to two Kartik Aaryans - both acting the usual Kartik way. Imtiaz takes the actor to his sepia-toned world of Udaipur, beloved mountains and trains, urbane streets and cafes of Delhi - but Kartik stays consistent with his one-note acting. To compensate for playing his own self as Veer, he tries doing a Ranbir Kapoor man-child act while playing Raghu, both look-wise and acting-wise, but falls flat again. Sara tries hard to display her acting skills amidst this all hullabaloo, but comes across as a mere perplexed screamer, who struggles with her career while partying and hooking up. To add to the absurdity surrounding her, Sara is perpetually captured in some weird bottom and side angles. The much endearing female character in the movie is Leena, a sane and composed soul played wonderfully by Arushi Sharma. With little dialogues but thankfully several scenes, she emotes well through her eyes and shines bright with her conviction and confidence in the sepia-toned 90s, being exactly the freshness that the movie otherwise lacks. Unarguably, the strength of the movie that metaphorically and cinematically holds the big picture together is Randeep Hooda - with his one-man show as Raj, who was earlier Raghu. He shines clear out of the lot with his usual suave, playing the catalyst in confused Zoe's life. Marred by all hope in the acting and writing, Love Aaj Kal finds its heart in its soundtrack - just like every Imtiaz Ali movie. As a standalone, the movie is too loud for no reason, badly acted and written to my dismay, and futility personified of a big picture. The individual stories compete to emerge worse until finally, the present-day story takes the trophy proudly. Just when one thinks that Jab Harry Met Sejal is Imtiaz Ali's worst, new Love Aaj Kal stoops down to another level of bad filmmaking. It's not a disappointment, it's an obvious atrocity.

The Hateful Eight (2015)

Tries hard being the ala-Christie mystery thriller

[7/10 · 23 August 2019]

"A bunch of travelers inhibited by a blizzard, seek refuge at a lone cabin - 'Minnie's Haberdashery'. Little did they know how everyone there has a motive to fulfill."

The synopsis of this movie on paper does come across as a cinematic adaptation of any classic Agatha Christie novel, and is indeed intended to execute by Tarantino the way one would expect him to. It is a follow up of 'Django Unchained', set few years after the Civil War. The spoilsport is the editing, that perpetually gets the narrative freezing like the temperature outside the cabin, wasting a lot of time and the acting capabilities of its charismatic cast.

Relying heavily on a one man show by Tarantino's favorite Samuel L. Jackson, who delivers his best act post Pulp Fiction, this 'Who did it?' thriller spends little time in developing the characters to get me guessing the wrong doer. It rather gets repetitive and too indulgent perpetually to serve no purpose. The redeemer is its third act, delivering the signature neat Tarantino violence, but waiting a long 150 minutes for it to happen becomes boring, especially while revisiting the movie. It sometimes gets me wondering that the movie and its action could have ended straight, if the initial conversion were :

Major Marquis Warren - "Got room for one more?" John Ruth - "No."

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Entertaining only escaltes in Tarantino's debut movie

[8/10 · 23 August 2019]

"I don't know what to tell you, Marvin."

The above line from this movie is Tarantino's first directorial in a nutshell. If nothingness was entertaining, it would exactly look like this movie. A jewelry heist goes all wrong to get the mutually unknown gang members suspecting if one of them is an undercover cop. If you want to watch out for the heist sequence to use your grey cells and find the undercover, you would lose it all. Because no one cares. This is all about those dogs, and Tarantino ensures that watching them go witty and nutty for 100 minutes is all worthy an experience.

Straight from the first scene of his first film, his love for detailing in characters and nonsense conversations is out there. Being an alien to the style of Tarantino's storytelling, one would take his time to sink in, but you get little of it to absorb the insanity. The movie does barely proceed and changes gears from the laughs to the bloodshed, and the big picture is told in all flashback. If you have an eye for watching someone literally removing other's ear, this one's surely for you. Who wouldn't love to dance along with Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) to "Stuck in the Middle"!

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Tarantino at his Iconic best!

[10/10 · 23 August 2019]

Not the movie you will digest in its first viewing. You blink, and you will surely miss it. Extremely high on memorable moments and repeat value, this movie follows a circular narrative by Tarantino, who seamlessly blends three narratives and viewpoints in one, roughly changing gears of timeline midway your ride high on adrenaline rush. The characters are walking in long tracking shots, talking crazy, dancing like mads to randomly end up in blood. One has to buy it all, for the conviction with which it all is depicted by Tarantino.

Attaining the iconic status are also the objects here : the 'Bad MF' Wallet, the $5 Milkshake, Big Kahuna Burgers, Royale with Cheese, the Watch, the shining mysterious Briefcase - you too remember them all. The soundtrack is hard to get out of my mind, the dance sequence of Vincent and Mia is always fun, the Tarantino's cameo is his best one. Those charming eyes of Uma Thurman, the dialogues and wrongly told Ezkiel quote, the act by the primes John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis which still is their best one. These all strands make this movie a celebrated masterpiece, and it will continue to be. But what was in the briefcase? Forget it. What was the story? Don't even try deciphering it.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Everything's favourite here.

[10/10 · 23 August 2019]

This is not your history class, just an alternative history storytelling attempt by Tarantino, and how excellently executed! A vindictive theater owner in Nazi occupied France and a bunch of Jewish American soldiers called 'Inglourious Basterds', separately plan to destroy the 'Third Reich' on a movie screening night at that theater. Executing the death of them all at one place hosting the Fuhrer too, isn't much plainly easy as the previous line reads.

The movie has all my favorites from Tarantino's filmography - the long opening scene feat. the Oscar winning act by the master Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa, justifying his title of 'The Jew Hunter'. That opening scene is my favorite Tarantino scene, Christoph Waltz's act here makes him my all - time favorite actor from a Tarantino movie, and Col. Hans Landa being my forever favorite Tarantino character. Another unforgettable sequence features him against the Basterds (Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Enzo Castellari) faking as Italians - that conversation is impeccable. The movie throughout has the mingling of the languages of several countries of West and Central Europe, primarily pampering the Francophile in me with its setting in France : that charm of old France, with those cobbled streets and lovely cafes.

Django Unchained (2012)

Once upon a time...

[10/10 · 23 August 2019]

This one has Tarantino at his most melodramatic and linear narration, with the N - word being uttered atleast 100 times in its runtime of 165 minutes, precisely 110 times. Set in 1858, during the times of American slave trade, the story takes us through the horrors of the same. A black slave is freed by a mysterious bounty hunter who then help each other fulfill their personal motives. As it is a Tarantino movie, achievement of a motive isn't easy for anyone. Plans are bound to go wrong.

Despite the layered performances by Jamie Foxx and the prodigy Christoph Waltz, the show - stealer for me is Leonardo DiCaprio playing his evilest character, the Missisippi plantation owner with an ironic name - 'Calvin Candie'. The iconic dining table scene of him breaking the glass while confronting Django and Dr. Schultz is my clear favourite - that explanation of phrenology, and breaking of wine glass act! There is an air of romance midway and some comic relief too, with the climax being the obvious violent : gunshots everywhere and 'Unchained' by James Brown playing in the background. Not everytime can Samuel L. Jackson be the male lead for a black guy in a Tarantino movie, though he too plays his significant part being his usual audacious. Having watched this movie, 'Inglorious Basterds' for me still remains the best period drama by Tarantino.

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)

A slow-burning love letter to '60s Hollywood

[10/10 · 23 August 2019]

Tarantino's ninth film reveals his huge love for the Hollywood of 60s, and is heavily loaded with pop culture references of that era, has clever callback moments to his own movies, and several Easter eggs including signature Tarantino shots and brief cameos by legends. One may or may not get these references all the time, but realizing them does make the viewing experience richer, as Tarantino decides to randomly be nice or mean to several reel and real life souls, while neatly altering the history - he himself has never cared about it, so shouldn't you. The Fuhrer of Nazis was killed in a French theater owned by a Jew, remember? So, if something unexpected happens with Bruce Lee or Sharon Tate in this Hollywood world, don't worry about it.

The authenticity has been taken care of - the streets, the magazines, the pop style and the background score - these all make the movie constantly emanate the vibe of a grand movie set in L.A. The narration though slow paced, is compelling for the most part. It demands a lot of time to engage one, getting even stagnant at times. What work during these sequences are the amusing dialogues, Robert Richardson's lively cinematography and the apt acting by the entire cast - something not to worry about in a Tarantino movie. This cinematic slow-burner demands your attention. Expect less action and violence, except for the obvious climax.