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John Wick (2014)
A revolution for one man army
John wick(keanu reeves) mourns the death of his wife helen(bridget moyhannan). Helen gifts john a cute beagle puppy before dying, so that he doesn't feel lonely. He starts his life with the puppy. But his happiness is short lived when he gets attacked by iosef and his friends who steal his 69 model mustang and murder his puppy. When iosef's gangster dad viggo comes to know about his son's deed, he confronts him and explains him who he messed with. Though viggo knows that john is unstoppable, he tries his best to protect his son. Rest of the film is how john gets his revenge.
On paper, this plot looks laughable. But directors chad stahelski and david leitch emotionally hook us within 10 minutes only. The puppy's death would probably be the most disturbing death ever in film history. After that, our blood boils for those guys to be killed. Keanu reeves was absolutely badass as john wick. The biggest highlight of the film is its action sequences where those days action scenes were full of shaky cams and jump cuts, john wick revolutionized stunt choreography with wide angle, single take shots. Even though john is invincible, if he fights with 10 people together, he would struggle to kill or defeat them. Only drawback i felt was its slightly weak climax.
Otherwise, john wick is a solid revenge thriller which revolutionized the one man army action genre.
Echo (2023)
Another disaster from mcu
Echo is a spinoff of the character maya we saw in hawkeye. First episode was mainly the recap of hawkeye. Also there is a cameo of daredevil. Seeing that fight its clear that there was a body double for maya. I don't know why there was a series for maya. She is such a boring character. And in the finale sucks like secret invasion, but unlike secret invasion it was not that over the top. Vincent d'onforio returns as kingpin and as usual he is great. He was the only one for whom you can watch this show. It was initially supposed to be of eight episodes. But kevin feige didn't like it. Then they reshot it for 6 episodes but ended up with 5. It's short runtime and no unnecessary humor like previous MCU projects are the other positives.
Sound of Freedom (2023)
Slow but powerful
Sound of freedom narrates the story of us secret agent tim ballard who sets on a quest to rescue childrens from human trafficking. His main aim is to save one particular girl. Hearing the story, you may wonder this to be an over the top action thriller like taken or rambo but you are wrong. Its based on a true story of former us agent tim ballard. Making wise you will be reminded of Argo.
Passion of christ fame jim caviezel plays tim ballard and he performed in a subtle way. The best performer was bill camp. Though the film is slow paced, it is very impactful and haunting.
On the whole, sound of freedom is a good watch.
Secret Invasion (2023)
Secret disaster
Olivia Coleman and Emilia clarke- two stars are for them only. Olivia coleman was so cool but badass and emilia clarke is like one gorgeous teacher in your class, whose teaching you are not bothered about but just want to stare at her face. That's how i felt watching emilia clarke in this show. Not bothered in what she is saying but just want to stare at her face.
Rest of the show is just disaster. Samuel l Jackson is old and weak, he can't do tom cruise or keanu reeves stuff. That's why he is just restricted to shooting during action scenes. They wanted to create a sympathetic villain like killmonger but ended up like that falcon and winter soldier one. And the finale was so pathetic.
Maamannan (2023)
Hatrick missed
The first half of maamanan was hard hitting. The initial scenes where fahadh faasil brutally murders his dog for losing the dog race which is shown in an aesthetic way and the stoning of kids in the well are very disturbing. Vadivelu was very natural as maamanan and fafa was simply terrific as the antagonist. He is not playing a psycho villain like his recent films but is a megalomaniac character and caste fanatic. The interval scene was also impactful.
All seemed like mari selvaraj is going to score a hatrick but it did not happen due to the flat second half. Second half is full of election rally where fahadh's character plays all dirty games for vadivelu to not do his election rally. And it gets solved where vadivelu does his election rally through a video recording. All these proceedings are shown in a plain manner. There is a forced fight in the climax. Also i expected fahadh's character to get arrested or killed for the crimes he did but nothing of that sort happened. Udaynidhi was just average(thank god, its his last film) and his character was one dimensional. Karthi would have been perfect for this role. There are no any impressive performances other than vadivelu and fafa.
On the whole, a natural vadivelu, terrific fahadh faasil and a hard hitting first half makes maamanan a one time watch.
Maaveeran (2023)
Underrated south indian superhero
Sathya(sivakarthikeyan) is a slumboy writing comic strips of the great maaveeran. Sathya is a nonviolent guy who tries to adjust with all the problems around him. Sathya and his family are evacuated from their slum along with other slum dwellers to a flat. All seems well, but soon they realise about its faulty construction and how they are cheated by mla mysskin. Sathya still tries to adjust but shows his frustration through writng the stories of maaveeran. When the engineer there molests sathya's sister and hurt his mother, sathya is coward to fight with him. His mom burns all his stories and sathya tries to kill himself but does not have the guts, but he accidentally falls from the terrace and develops superpowers from the raindrops. He starts getting a voice (vijay sethupathi) in his ears narrating his own story of maaveeran which leads him to involuntarily take actions against injustice around him. Rest of the movie is how he faces his main nemesis mysskin.
I watched this film with not much expectations because i heard good things about the film but nothing extraordinary. But oh man i was so surprised with its quirky take. Excellent story, very good script, well directed, great performances, superb comedy, well choreographed action scenes and minimal cgi heavy. SK was perfect as satya, this was a good comeback for veteran actress saritha, yogi babu was brilliant, mysskin was too good as the villain.
Only drawback, i felt was the ending where sk is shown dead and the credits start rolling leaving a bad taste. But, thank god in the mid credit scenes it is revealed sathya to be alive. It was a bad idea from the director to show it in mid credits because people would have walked out disapponited in the theatre after the credits roll.
On the whole, maaveeran turns to be my favorite south indian superhero flick which should have got more appreciation that it needed.
Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004)
David dhawan's best
Sameer(Salman Khan) is a very short tempered guy, who gets into fights for various reasons due to which his love life is also affected. For a change, sameer leaves to Goa for a job and there he falls in love with rani(priyanka chopra), but gets into trouble as he often unintentionally hurts her father amrish puri. Enters sunny(akshay kumar), as the new tenant who sets his eye on rani and smartly woos everyone including rani. He provokes sameer a lot, but sameer controls his anger for rani. Rest of the movie is who will marry rani- sameer or sunny?
Even though salman is the lead, its an akki show all the way. Akshay was having a blast playing this wicked sunny. Also another highlight is its beautiful locations of goa. Sajid wajid music is also brilliant.
There is a very sweet twist in the climax which would leave a smile on your face.
On the whole mujhse shaadi karogi is the best film of david dhawan.
Yeh Lamhe Judaai Ke (2004)
An embarrassment for SRK
This partially completed partially reshot abomination was supposed to be made in 1994 as jadoo with SRK and raveena tandon but got shelved in between due to some reasons, i read somewhere that its original director passed away. 10 years later, the makers decided to release this film to make some quick bucks, but srk and raveena won't return. So they reshot the pending portions with b grade actors and of c grade production values.
By watching the 90's portion, i was able to understand that dushyant(srk) is a poor guy who wants to be a singer. Jaya(raveena), a rich girl is his childhood friend. Dushyant becomes a singer but gets seperated from jaya. To add fuel on fire mohnish behl and navneet nishan creates misunderstanding between them. How dushyant reunites with jaya was supposed to be the rest of the movie. But what we saw was only the second half sequences of the film. What happened in first half, how srk became singer was not shot. Years later, they changed the plot where jaya gets murdered and police starts investigating the case where on the other hand, a killer is murdering mohnish behl, avtar gill and navneet nishan and its revealed to be jaya's dad and wants to also kill dushyant but by that time police catch him.
Only good thing about the movie is the songs of melody king kumar sanu. This film could have been decent if it was completed but released years later. But this shuffling between 90s and 2000s makes this film a mess.
Srk has definitely done many bad movies in his career. But if there is a film, which he doesn't want to include in his filmography would be this film.
Turbo (2024)
Turbo last act
Turbo jose(mammootty) is known for making fights in his town. Due to one fight, he escapes to chennai and the events there leads him to confront the underworld don vetrivel shanmugham(raj b shetty).
Turbo's first half is like a cliché Telugu movie. A side villain(kabir singh duhan) commits a murder, hero mass introduction, comedy, romance, villain's intro establishing him as a terror, amma paasam etc. The mid of the second half gets turbo charged from the police station scene. After that the film turns into a rollercoaster ride reminding us of lokesh films.
There is nothing challenging for mammootty as an actor. Director vysakh and writer Midhun manuel's aim was to portray him as an invincible action hero. Though there is nothing extraordinary in his fights, but considering his age its commendable. Anjana was perfect as indhu. Raj b shetty cakewalks in a typical villain character.
On the whole, i was satisfied with turbo because i expected it to be a larger than life mass entertainer.
Gulmohar (2023)
Hum saath saath hain+k3g÷kapoor and sons=gulmohar
Gulmohar narrates the story of batra family consisting of mother kusum(sharmila tagore), her adopted son arun(manoj bajpayee), arun's wife indu(simran), son aditya(suraj sharma) and daughter amrita. They are selling their gulmohar house and shifting to different places. On the last night at the house, kusum requests everyone to stay for few more days to celebrate holi. Rest of the film is the events happening before holi.
Gulmohar has a hum saath saath hain and k3g(foster son) kind of story. But its given a kapoor and sons kind of treatment. Arun is struggling with the feeling of being an adopted son, adi is struggling to be a self made man, amrita is a lesbian and is struggling to open up. All of these issues are shown in a refreshing way. All actors performed well.
Only negative, i felt was the maid reshma and watchman jeetu love track which i felt cliché. On the whole, gulmohar is a heartwarming family drama.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Technically solid Indy film
The second installment of Indiana jones series, Indiana Jones and the temple of the doom is called as a prequel to raiders of the lost ark. Temple of doom can be easily called as a visually spectacular film. But, this is the most underrated Indy film mainly because its notorious for its violence which lead to the birth of pg-13 rating. Also its portrayal of Indians are very bad especially the dining scene. I don't understand what Spielberg intended with that scene? If its comedy then it didn't work.
But still, i enjoyed the film mainly because its action packed and when they enter the temple of doom then the pace of the film gets unstoppable.
Entertainment wise my favorite would be the last crusade but making wise, it would be Temple of doom.
The Beekeeper (2024)
Perfect bee movie
Adam clay(jason statham) is a former assassin returns from retirement for revenge of the suicide of an old lady whose earnings were all taken from a scamming company.
Clichéd story, predictable screenplay and boring characters. But what makes this watchable is jason statham in action. Whenever he comes to beat the villains or kill them, its engaging. Plus it has a very crisp runtime. The guy who played child roles in zathura and firehouse dog is the main antagonist and he was great. Jason statham is as usual jason statham. David ayer direction is good.
On the whole, the beekeeper is a perfect bee grade action movie.
Ghilli (2004)
Fast paced remake
Ghilli, a remake of Telugu film okkadu has lot of differences. In okkadu, the dad character supports the hero in kabbadi whereas in ghilli the father is against his son playing kabbadi due to which he secretly plays kabbadi matches. The climax is also tweaked.
Vijay gives all the expressions mahesh babu failed to give. Prakash raj reprises his villain role in the original but with a twist. In okkadu, he was a serious villain performing naturally, but in ghilli he's slightly comical and over the top. Still i enjoyed him as muthupandi than obul reddy. Ashish vidyarthi for a change plays a positive role.
Vidyasagar's foot tapping music, dharani's fast paced screenplay without any dull moment makes ghilli far better than okkadu.
Indian Police Force (2024)
Cringe and pathetic
Rohit shetty's Indian police force is a disaster in every aspect. Rohit shetty's style of making is for frontbenchers in theatres. Ott audiences are classy and mature people. If you present such substandard product to mature audiences, they will outright reject it.
Siddharth malhotra is siddharth malhotra. Thanks to his tall and lean physique, he looks convincing in police/military roles. Vivek oberoi was stiff and artificial. The guy who played the terrorist zarar can be called anything but a terrorist. Only sharad kelkar was impressive. The only fresh thing about the show is mukesh rishi playing an indian police officer who usually plays a terrorist or Pakistani officer in these movies. Nikitin dheer who played a terrorist in sooryavanshi is a police officer in this. The girl aakruthi who was raped and murdered in simmba plays the terrorist's wife. The actress who played kajal's mom in singham and ashutosh rana's wife in simmba plays the terrorist's mother in law. So much inconsistencies in a cinematic universe.
The only plus point of the show is that it does not have any previous cop universe movie connections which would be convenient for rohit shetty to disown this from his cop universe.
Batman: The Animated Series (1992)
The best animated show
Some food is there when by just getting the smell itself, you would realize its going to be a delicious food. Similarly, before going to watch Batman the animated series, i felt that i am going to watch a great show and oh boy was i wrong? Not at all.
The tone is perfectly balanced. It has dark themes but presented in a kid friendly manner without going goofy or campy. Even adults can enjoy the show. If not animation, then i could say kevin conroy as the best Batman. In live action adaptations, we have seen many actors either being good Batman but not Bruce wayne and vice versa. But here kevin conroy captures the triple personality of Bruce wayne- one as bruce wayne the public figure, one with alfred and the batman perfectly through his voice modulation. Mark hamill gives a memorable voiceover as joker with his iconic laugh.
Only drawback i felt was the show format turns repetitive - a villain comes and Batman solves everything by the end. I doubt whether its worth binge watching due to the repetitiveness.
On the whole Batman the animated series is the best tv show of all time.
Saajan (1991)
Sweet and innocent
Aman(Sanjay dutt) an orphan and handicap befriends akash(salman khan). Akash's parents kader khan and reema lagoo adopts amar as their son. After growing up aman starts writing poems under the pen name sagar. While visiting ooty for a company work, he meets pooja(madhuri dixit). Pooja is a huge admirer of sagar and aman falls in love with pooja. But he sacrifices his love thinking of not being a burden for her. Akash who grows up into a playboy falls in love with pooja. Knowing this aman makes akash into sagar and introduce him to pooja. Both are in love and are about to get married. But what will akash and pooja do when they come to know the truth.
The main highlight of saajan is its innocence which today's urban romcoms in Bollywood is missing. Sanjay dutt who is famous for his macho roles was refreshing in a soft role like aman. Madhuri is beautiful and always brilliant in acting. Salman was very sweet and cute as akash despite playing the role of a Casanova. Nadeem-shravan's songs are all iconic.
On the whole saajan is a very sweet and innocent feel good love story. Its innocence helps you ignore any flaws it has.
Dhartiputra (1993)
Mammootty's decent debut in Bollywood
Kapil(mammootty) is a jailer in women's cell. A woman jeeva(jayaprada) enters the jail serving life imprisonment for killing yashpal singh(raza murad) who murdered her husband Shiva(rishi kapoor). In jail, she gets pregnant and gives birth to a boy munna. All the prisoners love munna like their son. Kripal singh(danny denzongpa), yashpal singh's brother swores revenge for his brother's murder by killing jeeva and munna. How kapil saves jeeva and munna from kripal singh is the rest of the movie.
Mammootty is presented in the same way as if suppose this film was made in Malayalam. He dubs for himself in this film. Though sometimes the Malayalam accent is evident, overall he handled the hindi language well.
Dhartiputra is strictly for frontbenchers and mammootty fans.
Poove Unakkaga (1996)
Bittersweet family drama
Sadashivam(MN Nambiar), a hindu and Stephen(Nagesh), a Christian once used to live happily as a family. But when their children fall in love with each other and elope, they turn into sworn enemies. Years later, their grandson raja(vijay) enters the village. Though their sons disown him, the grandparents secretly shower their love on him. When his grandma's plan for his marriage, he lies to them that he is married to a girl named nirmala devi. Later, a girl(sangeetha) enters as nirmala devi. It is later revealed that she is the actual grandchild. Who is raja? Why is he trying to unite this family is the rest of the movie.
The biggest plus of the film is its lighthearted tone which vikraman constantly maintains. The humor mostly works well. There is not any fight scene which is rare for a vijay film. Mn nambiar and nagesh were very sweet and cute as the Grandpa's.
But the main highlight is the climax, where the hero walks alone without getting the girl. A heartbreaking moment for one side lovers.
On the whole poove unakkaga is a light vein comedy family drama. Though the film doesn't end on a happy note, you won't feel upset or depressed.
Fighter (2024)
Decent aerial action film
I didn't have much expectations on fighter. Firstly because its an aerial action film whose director siddharth anand's previous film pathaan received major criticism for its poor vfx. Secondly, its made in a time where top gun maverick set a benchmark worldwide for aerial action films. Unlike top gun, which focused more on practical effects where tom cruise actually learned how to fly a plane, makers of fighter would have to rely more on vfx.
The plot is inspired from the 2019 pulwama attacks and balakot air strike. The script is predictable with lots of clichés and the climax was unrealistic where our hero lands exactly where the villain is. But siddharth anand's direction keeps you engaged. Vfx is good compared to indian standards.
What to say about hrithik roshan? Be it dance,action, body, looks, acting he is just perfect. Deepika padukone is nice but unlike pathaan or even jawan, she has nothing to contribute in action. She also has a generic plot of women empowerment. Anil kapoor was standard as the air force leader. The villain is okay but in the climax he turns into a caricature. Music by vishal-shekhar is average with some songs being unnecessary.
On the whole, fighter has nothing new to offer because of its template script but its all well made which makes it worth a watch.
Abraham Ozler (2024)
Jayaramettan is back
Abraham Ozler(Jayaram), a smart police officer's wife and daughter are killed by a drug addict arjun ashokan. Their body was also not found, which leads him to suffer from insomnia and premature aging. But, the police force still allows him to be in duty. A bunch of serial killings happen and the killer is presumed to be from medical field. Ozler and his team are hired this case and how they solve and catch the culprit is the rest of the story.
Midhun manuel made this film in a very engaging way. Making might remind you of anjaam pathira but unlike anjaam pathira which was a slasher thriller with lots of jumpscare moments, ozler is a medical thriller with lots of medical terms. I guess those terms will benefit common people in future. Performances of everyone is good. Jayaram as ozler performed very well. Another standout performance was jagadeesh with the most memorable scene is his conversation with Alexander where he throws back to back thug lines.
But the icing of the cake was mammootty in an extended cameo. Once he enters, you would forget that jayaram was the hero. The casting of the young actors in the flashback was perfect. Poomaname song was perfectly placed.
First half runs in an engaging manner, second half we get a very elaborate flashback of the killer which was pretty generic. The climax leads to a sequel.
On the whole, after several attempts jayaramettan finally registers a comeback in Malayalam through Abraham ozler. Though the writing offers nothing new, midhun manuel's making, performances and ikka's cameo keeps you engaged from start to end.
Garudan (2023)
Decent thriller
A young girl Theresa(Chaithanya) is raped and slips to coma. IPS officer harish madhav(Suresh gopi) with the help of the eyewitness salam(jagadeesh) arrests professor nishanth(biju menon). The court sentence nishanth for life imprisonment. 7 years later, nishanth is released from prison losing his family, career and dignity. Nishanth appeals to high court that the investigation was done hastily and wins the case by being the advocate himself. Nishanth wins back his family and starts working as a public prosecutor. On the other hand, harish who was retired is asked to pay compensation to nishanth for framing him. Where the whole world starts believing nishanth's innocence, harish is still adamant that he is not done a mistake. Rest of the film is harish trying to prove that he was right or not.
Story of garudan is interesting and first half was pretty good. But second half loses grip were suresh gopi turns alcoholic and stubborn to prove he was right. Climax was also a bit underwhelming as the killer could have been well explored. It could have been more creepy but makers tried to play safe.
On the whole, garudan is a decent one time watch.
Appan (2022)
Alencier supremacy
Itty(alencier) is a bedridden head of the family been taken care by his son njoonu(sunny wayne), wife kuttyamma(pauly valsan) and daughter in law rosy(ananya). Itty is an extremely evil person despite being waist down paralyzed, he verbally tortures his family. Even the villagers due to the misdeeds he done in his heydays. All this make everybody around wished to be dead. But itty has no plans to give up. Whether itty dies naturally, his family or villagers kill him or whether itty wakes up from his bed is the rest of the movie.
Since, my father is also physically not well and has some oldie tantrums (definitely not like itty), appan became highly relatable for me. Its a pure character oriented movie with nothing much of a plot happening. Initially, one would say alencier was not acting but living his character. But after knowing his off screen controversies, one could say that he was just being himself. Sunny wayne plays a very challenging character and he was fine. Another standout was the actress who played sheela, itty's mistress.
Appan is not a film one must watch, but one must experience.
Shylock (2020)
Onnum parayanilla first half adipoli
After rajamanikyam and pokkiri raja, its Shylock where we see mammuka enjoying in performing the role. Looking at his energy in the first half, it was evident that he was having a blast playing this cinema obsessed money lender. Though all the dialogues were borrowed from Malayalam, tamil films, its the timing of placing those dialogues which makes it enjoyable. First half was superb because of ikka. It was more like the second half of pokkiri raja where ikka each time defeats the villains using his wits.
But the second half gets ruined by a very clichéd flashback with a routine revenge story. After the flashback, it looked like ajay vasudev went short of ikka's date and rushed the rest of the film. It could have been 20-30 minutes where bose elaborately takes revenge on all the villains.
On the whole, Shylock would have been a huge blockbuster for ikka, if the second half was handled well.
Jawan (2023)
Jawan for north indians, buddhah for south indians
Azad(srk) is a jailer of woman's cell. He gathers a group of women prisoners and does several vigilante works mainly targeting weapons dealer kaalee(vijay sethupathi) and names himself vikram rathore. Special officer Narmada (nayanthara) is assigned to catch azad. Meanwhile azad's marriage is fixed with narmada itself who is a single mother.
On their wedding night, kaalee's brother attack and kidnap azad and narmada. While they are being tortured, the real vikram rathore (srk) saves azad and kill kaalee's brother. Who is vikram rathore and how is azad related to him is the rest of the movie.
Before watching the movie itself, i kept in my mind that the film would be extremely predictable and a mixture of various films. Atlee this time instead of copying other films copied his own films. But the problem is unlike atlee's previous films, jawan fails to pack an emotional punch. Only the aarariraro song evokes some emotions. Vijay sethupathi is wasted as the villain. Unlike mahendran in theri and sj suryah in mersal, vijay sethupathi's performance fails to evoke any hatred towards him. First half provided some decent entertainment but second half fails to emotionally connect us and gets very lengthy. Sanjay dutt's cameo doesn't make much impact.
On the whole, watching jawan gives you a feeling of a vijay film. But the hero is srk. Looks like atlee wanted to make this film with vijay, but since vijay was not available he went to srk. Atlee thought that north indians would not have seen his films so he mixed all his previous films into this one.
Jailer (2023)
Fan feast
Muthuvel pandian(rajinikanth) is a retired jailer, living a peaceful life with his wife, son, daughter in law and grandson. One day, muthuvel's son who is an ACP goes missing. After several investigation, everyone assumes him to be dead. Muthu comes to know that its varman(vinayakan),an idol smuggler behind his son's murder. Muthu goes on a revenge spree against varma using his underworld connections. But varma reveals that his son is alive and kept in an unknown place. To get him back varma asks muthu to steal a crown in Hyderabad for him. How muthu steals the crown and get his son back is the rest of the film.
First half of jailer is perfect with dark humor, mass elements, emotions blending well. We could see 80% of rajinikanth as an actor in first half. Interval bang was superb.
Second half goes weak due to the heist episodes. But the fan service in the last act backed by mohanlal and shivrajkumar's screen presence were a treat. The movie ends on an emotional note.
On the whole, jailer first half was like rajini acting in a nelson film and second half was like nelson directing a rajni film. Logic goes for a toss in second half. If muthu had all india underworld connections who can blast containers and kill people using sharp shooters, why didn't he try to trace his kidnapped son's location and save him? But, Nelson has rectified all the mistakes he did in beast with jailer.