Change Your Image
dash76
Avid Book Reader
Passionate movie watcher
Social Edupreneur
Life Coach
Reviews are a passion project
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Prasanna Vadanam (2024)
Above average thriller
Phonagnosia and prosopagnosia, difficult and complicated words for a couple of rare disorders. The first signifies a person who is able to hear but not able to distinguish voices or recognise whose voice it is and the latter is known as face blindness where a person can see but cannot identify a face.
The movie starts with a somber accident that leads the leading man and protagonist to suffer from the above maladies and which form the crux of the story and its continuous complications.
Prasanna Vadanam starts off with a fantastic concept and the viewer can well imagine the confusions that could happen and also the discomfort in life that this kind of malady/disability imposes on the victim.
Suhas does very well in this art and remains suitably confused and bemused throughout the movie aptly catching and highlighting all the critical points in the movie.
The story and the characters are well played by the actors. The story starts and stops on occasions but I liked the overall handling and enjoyed the story, which progresses into a thriller. I watched it on OTT.
One time watch is fine.
The Lost Platoon (1990)
War action with supernatural horror
Set during the Vietnam War, but with a twist-after a platoon gets ambushed in the jungle, they stumble upon a hidden vampire tribe. Suddenly, the soldiers are not only fighting for their lives against the enemy but also battling vampires who pick them off one by one.
The movie blends war action with supernatural horror, and while it doesn't do anything particularly groundbreaking, there's something fun about it. The war scenes are gritty, showing the horrors of battle, and then throw in a vampire threat, which amps up the tension in an unexpected way. The jungle setting makes everything feel even more intense-both the real danger of the war and the spooky, supernatural danger lurking in the shadows.
The acting is decent and the practical effects are definitely a highlight.
A quirky film that surprises.
All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
Heartwarming story
This is one of those animated films that sticks with you long after you've watched it. It's a bit of an oddball when you compare it to the more polished, family-friendly films coming out of Disney at the time. While Disney was busy creating whimsical worlds full of talking animals and happy endings, this movie was a little darker, a little edgier, and honestly, a little more emotionally complex. A story about redemption, friendship, and love. It's got all the makings of a classic animated adventure, but it's also about a dog learning to be a better dog and realizing that being good isn't just about getting into Heaven-it's about being kind to those around you.
The story has some very dark tones. The film deals with some pretty heavy stuff, like death, betrayal, and the idea of redemption. It doesn't shy away from showing the darker side of life. Heaven, for instance, is a bit unsettling, and the scenes in Hell are honestly kind of creepy.
This darker tone might seem a bit too much for younger kids but the movie which doesn't sugarcoat the realities of life and death but rather balances that with a message of hope and second chances.
The Lost Boys (1987)
Stylish vampire flick
I saw this movie within months of its release and loved it. Some of the arts have stayed with me for the last three and a half decades.
This is a movie that defined the era of movie making, a wild mix of horror, teenage drama in the quintessential 80's style that's still hugely influential today. The movie is a mix of genres, a vampire flick, teen comedy, and a rock 'n' roll style & attitude. It is another of the movies of that time that doesn't take itself too seriously, despite its fair share of scares. It a visual feast of neon lights, shadows, and vivid colors.
The movie has a blend of horror and humor in a way that makes the movie feel light and fun without ever losing its edge. It doesn't try to be a serious, gothic vampire story. Instead, it's playful, sometimes cheesy, but in the best way. And even when things get creepy or intense, there's a cheeky, almost campy quality to it that makes you appreciate the whole vibe.
Jaha Bolibo Shotto Bolibo (2024)
Underperformer
I have been watching some fabulous Bengali fare on OTT through Hoichoi for some time now.
The content that I have been filtering and watching has been quite good and my recent positive experience with Adv. Achinta Aich made me long for something similar.
Jaha Bolibo starts off aggresively with a front page news item being presented onscreen. The real life case had enough incendiary material to make a fiery blockbuster but some underwhelming writing, some off-colour editing make this a series that true fans of courtroom drama like me will complete but for most of the others it would be difficult.
The star performer here is Tota Roy with his Singha character who is often mispronounced. He puts a strong performance with a author backed role that falters and loses confidence in the last episode.
The weakest link of this series is Mimi, the starring character who has put in a lot of effort with her looks and presence but falters in the acting calculator. Despite a strong author backed role and probably her best effort in a serious role she falls short especially infront of Tota Roy.
The story has a lot of meat in it with police vs police, altercation resulting in death making it a murder case, political connections, corruption at all levels, manipulations and willful negligence, the list goes on. Everything that a solid courtroom dram needs.
The writing and dialogues could have been better and some of the frivolous plot points could have been done away with.
The last 2 episode appeared rushed to me as if the series time was up and they needed to finish in the last episode.
Overall it is an average fare and appreciate Mimi acting in a non-glamorous role.
Adv. Achinta Aich (2024)
Predictable but Engaging with Rithwick's standout performance
I am a great fan of movies from down south and watch selective Hindi movies and almost no current movies from Bengali, Marathi, etc. Languages that I am able to comprehend.
The Covid times changed my reading and watching styles. The long lockdown made me explore new authors on Kindle with a veritable abuse of Kindle Unlimited limits and movies and series in all languages on OTT. While browsing the apps I discovered Hoichoi, which deals with Bengali content and loved its all pervading strong content and collection.
Several Bangla actors from both sides of the border caught my eye apart from seasoned people like Prosenjit and Rituparno.
Rithwick featured in many of them and caught my eye with Macher Jhol and the superlative Vinci da.
This series is a courtroom drama based on a murder accused from a very prominent family and the usual family drama and blaming and shaming and controversies.
The fare s bland and is brought to high levels with a super performance by Rithwick who stands upto Saswata (a strong actor but somehow not very well written here) very well with equal doses of trepidation, dry humour, sensitivity and strength.
This is everything that Jaha Bolibo Shotto Bolibo 2024 should be but is so far not (watching 4th out of 6 episodes with Mimi no Rithwick).
This is a series that is worth watching.
Earth Girls Are Easy (1988)
Feelgood movie with stars
Some hot property from the 80's who became big names in the industry feature in this movie. This is a light feelgood film which sticks to its line of action blending equal parts of the 70's-80's era of slapstick comedy and showcases the american culture of the times especially the chill, pop culture which featured in much of the movies of this era.
The comedy with genius like Jim Carrey, Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis with Damon Wayans rounding off the mandatory color quotient in a series of incidents involving aliens on earth.
What comes through in this movie is a soft romantic love story between the characters of Geena and Jeff and something that will warm the hearts of people who remember the movie and people who would be willing to watch this one today. It could be dated but nevertheless is a great predictive story.
Geena also featured in Beetlejuice the same year.
Maruthi Nagar Subramanyam (2024)
Family entertainer
This is a feel good movie. A well packaged entertainer in the guise of a series of unfortunate events. The entire cast comprises of character artistes who have delivered well in this movie made with a moderate budget and not many frills.
I'm thankful to OTT platform Aha for prompting this movie and being somewhat of a fan of Rao Ramesh's style of acting, tried this movie.
Rao makes this movie tick and owns this role with a standout performance both poignant, comic, embarrassed, henpecked and solid. He has excelled in all the shades.
The entire cast supports him beautifully.
The story keeps throwing surprises till then end and the best part of this movie is that it never becomes negative throughout its nearly 150 minutes.
Story focuses on the importance of money and prestige. It also shows the negativizes of ego and showcases how a common man can descend down a slippery hole when financial situations change.
The end line dialogues of Rao was precise and heart touching having achieved his life's ambitions days after sacrificing his ego.