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An error has ocurred. Please try againChinna (1994) Putnanja (1995) Baa Baaro Rasika (2004) Pakkadmane Hudugi (2004) Bhagawan (2004) Joke Falls (2004) Rakshasa (2005) Yashwanth (2005) Ayya (2005) Nava Bharathi (2005)
Reviews
The Convert (2023)
It's all about utu.
Thomas Munro is caught in between two warring factions of the Maori tribe and the British trying to benefit in the name of his majesty. Thomas Munro has a violent past as he was part of the military and has turned into a preacher, seeking peace but to his bad luck, he lands up in New Zealand and peace is a luxury here. He is forced to pick his side in the ongoing war among the Maori tribe and his choice sets the future, to stand up against the British.
The Convert isn't a bad film, it is just so blandly narrated, I couldn't help get over the typecasted characters that kept getting thrown in. The drama again is not well balanced as there isn't enough backstory to Thomas Munro and there is also very little to Rangimai. The story felt repetitive as it lacked freshness when it comes to establishing the need for dominance and ofcourse the British's games in pushing the Maoris into a war within. The action scenes too were routine.
The Bikeriders (2023)
Owning the streets!
The Bikeriders presents the story of Benny Cross who happened to be part of Vandals Motorcycle Club formed by Johnny Davis. As the club starts expanding, adding on several chapters, what challenges does the new joinees pose to the senior members of the club including Johnny, forms the story while Benny's wife Kathy narrates the lives of the club members who lived their lives, outside the societal norms. The Bikeriders paints the highs and lows of the motorcycle club and the impact it had on the lives of it's members.
The story, definitely was interesting considering it is based on real life motorcycle club and given their history. This fictional take on it, restricts itself to the main characters and glorifies the biker life while only showing the glimpse of the negative side to it. The narrative through flashbacks as Kathy shares the story, introduces us to Benny and I honestly wished for the story to be about him or his leader Johnny Davis. But the makers tried stuff in the entire journey of the motorcycle club and that is where it lost focus. We get mere episodes which were basically highlights and doesn't truly reach the emotional depth wants to. Thankfully the performances salvage the film and make it into a one time watch at best.
Paths of Glory (1957)
See that cockroach...
I will always be in for any sort of anti-war film and Paths of Glory is a near Masterpiece at that. It depicts the cruelty and inhumanity during war times with Stanley Kubrick not holding back. Kirk Douglas gives a Supreme performance as Col. Dax, trying to defend the three helpless soldiers under trial for cowardice during World War. The sheer audacity and power shown by Brigadier General played by stupendous George Macready, towards the French soldiers and the way it is portrayed was top notch.
The real highlight was the court room scenes and how one sided it was, building up for Col. Dax's outburst and another strong scene happens just before the powerful climax with an German singer. Needless to say, the film left me speechless. Right from the battle sequences with the shot selection to the much dramatic scenes that followed, Stanley Kubrick showcased why he was destined to be one of the greats. In the end, I was still mesmerized by Kirk Douglas's screen presence. Paths of Glory is a must watch classic for all.
The Killing (1956)
A bad joke without a punchline.
Johnny Clay has planned for one final heist, before he can marry Fay and settle down. He has a perfect plan in motion to rob the money at a racetrack and has assembled a team including a corrupt cop, a wrestler, a sharpshooter and a teller at the racetrack. The teller however informs about this planned heist to his wife and in turn she plans to double cross by getting her boyfriend involved. Will Johnny Clay succeed in his heist or the double cross eventually put him in the spot, forms rest of the story.
It's one of those rare films where I simply loved the voice over and it alone deserves an extra rating. Stanley Kubrick is in full control of his screenplay and the masterstroke is not in revolving the story around Johnny Clay or even the teller. The action for the most part happens quickly and the build up till the moment is what made The Killing worth sitting through. The better example is the sharpshooter on his target and the whole interaction he has with the cop. With a near perfect runtime of less than 90mins, the dramatic unfolding of the events is worth watching. Also, the dialogues stood out and not just the voice over ones.
Twisters (2024)
Taming a tornado.
Kate is storm chaser and along with her friends who are also fellow storm chasers, she wants to conduct an experiment to disrupt a tornado. Things go haywire when they encounter an EF5 tornado, causing a significant loss. 5 years later, she is carrying the guilt while she is approached by Javi, her team mater from 5 years ago to get her assistance to get a proper scan of a tornado. As she joins him for a week, she comes across other storm chasers, especially Tyler Owens and team who goes by tornado wrangler. How does Kate gather courage to get back to her original goal i.e. To tame a tornado, with the help of Tyler and Javi, forms rest of the story.
Twisters is pretty much the same as Twister minus the Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton's fun chemistry. Infact, I am not a huge fan of the first film but I definitely did enjoy it. I remember it for the cow caught in a tornado and non-stop banter between the couple. Twisters kind of stays predictable and though, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell were individually good, the chemistry wasn't upto the mark. Plus Katy O'Brian in a nothing role surprised me. Twisters still gets some of the fun moments right when it comes to the initial banter between Storm Par and Tornado wrangler before mellowing down. The final act is what that didn't work for me entirely as the focus shifted entirely on Katy and the drama slowed down the narrative. Twisters is still a decent watch, I just happen to prefer the 1996 film more.
Whiplash (2014)
Good job, Fletcher. Hats off to J.K. Simmons.
Damien Chizelle's Whiplash is his taken on the world of jazz music. Andrew Neiman is a jazz drummer wanting to make it big and live up to the legacy of his idol Buddy Rich. He joins Shaffer conservatory studio band to train under Terence Fletcher. Andrew joins as a replacement drummer but soon finds out Fletcher's strict ways of teaching and how he treats the students. Still, Andrew dedicates himself to earn Fletcher's approval, giving up everything including his personal life for the sake of his music. What is the cost Andrew has to pay before he truly realizes, Fletcher's way isn't the right way, forms rest of the story.
I regret taking a decade to watch this classic and I was speechless by the end of it. J. K. Simmons truly shines in his role of Fletcher and his performance is something which doesn't miss a beat. I could watch this over and over again just for the climax alone. Damien once again is in full control in showcasing how Fletcher's influence gets Andrew to be completely self centered. His jealousy, be it with his colleagues or with his own family and his attempt to he single minded to achieve his goal was perfectly executed. Giving Fletcher lines to justify his ways and countering his stance with Andrew's solo piece was outstandingly genius. I simply loved this film and I strongly recommended this to everyone.
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Celebrating the magic i.e. Cinema.
Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are stars of the silent era. For the fans magazines, the studio has run a publicity stunt of Don and Lina being in love which Lina still believes to be. While escaping his fans, Don meets Kathy and learns her to be a theater actress. He realizes to be in love with Kathy but an incident gets her to be in bad books of Lina. Meanwhile, Hollywood is making the big transition into talking films and The Warner Bros beat the rest with their film The Jazz Singer, which becomes a smash hit. As the studio rushes to make The Dueling Cavaliers into Don and Lina's first talking picture, they go through a lot of challenges starting with Lina's voice and technical glitches, eventually having Kathy come onboard without Lina's notice to save the film. How does Don and Kathy's love story thrive amidst Lina's hatred for her and the Hollywood's need to make the big transition, forms the story with multiple chartbusters.
This truly is the celebration of cinema as well as Hollywood in the most clean form possible, eliminating the dark inner world of Hollywood entirely. Instead what we get is an jovial take with the charming Gene Kelly and the hilarious Donald O'Connor. With them is Debbie Reynolds, where the trio give an unforgettable dance number. The love story is an instant hit and with Jean Hagen's Lina being the baddie, I thoroughly enjoyed the love story. Then there were the hit songs which ensured to be magical, be it the way they were picturized as well as the choreography. The other highlight was the humor which continued till the end and that alone made this an easy watch. Overall, I had a blast watching this and I would definitely re-watch it again. Needless to say, I would highly recommend this to everyone.
It Happened One Night (1934)
Let 'em walls topple!
Ellen Andrews is a spoiled rich brat jumps from a ship, after an argument with her father. She had eloped and married a pilot, whom her father disapproves of. On her way back to her husband, she meets Peter Warner and he thinks it could be the exclusive story that could earn his job back as a news reporter. He accompanies her and soon they both fall in love. What misunderstandings comes in between the two love birds and how do they overcome it before Ellen remarries her pilot husband, forms rest of the story.
Having watched the multiple Indian remakes, finally I made time to watch the 1934 original. It was indeed a fun watch with a charming couple in the main lead. For the film of it's time, ofcourse I would find the performances to be bit more dramatic but the humor was spot on and that is exactly what kept this one going till the end. They surely make an odd couple to fall in love and having stubbornness as their common quality. I wished there were more scenes or interaction between Peter and Alexander considering how terrific the limited ones was in the pre-climax.
Maharaja (2024)
The film should have been aptly titled as Lakshmi.
Maharaja is a barber and has been raising his daughter alone, after the death of his wife in an accident. The daughter was saved by a dust bin made out of iron, during that accident and since then, the dust bin is treated like a god by Maharaja. One day, an injured Maharaja shows up at the police station to lodge a complaint of robbery and that the thieves stole his Lakshmi. The case becomes irritating to the police who still take it up, hoping to find more stolen valuables. Will the cops actually find the thieves and return Maharaja his Lakshmi? To what length Maharaja has to go to in order to get his Lakshmi back, forms rest of the story.
Nithilan's Kurangu Bommai was about a missing bag with a picture of monkey on it and had a non-linear narrative with the father-son drama as well as friendship being the soul of the film. His second venture Maharaja has a missing dust bin named Lakshmi and a non-linear narrative that tries to narrate the story of a distraught yet focused father, who wants the stolen Lakshmi back before his daughter returns from the sports camp. On this front, Maharaja has a solid premise and care has been taken to provide Vijay Sethupathi a proper arc while the director tries to trick the viewers with constant timeline shift to maintain the suspense.
However, the problem with Maharaja is that beyond the initial suspense around Lakshmi and a physically strong Maharaja, the rest of the characters remain one toned and infact, both Mamta Mohandas's P. E. teacher, Abirami's Kokila and Bharathiraja as the grandpa, get royally wasted. I could figure out the main twist when there was 40mins left for the film end and it didn't help the film's cause. Not that Maharaja is a bad film as it still delivers in the end. With a better screenplay and rounded characters, it could have been a far better film instead it settles to generic tropes when it comes to the baddies and heavy violence, which reduces the overall impact. I am going with a lenient rating for the attempt and ofcourse Vijay Sethupathi's committed performance. I would still prefer Nithilan's Kurangu Bommai over this.
Karataka Damanaka (2024)
KD unite for a lost cause.
Nandikolur villagers are being tormented by a local MLA as they didn't vote for him. The village is hit by drought and MLA refuses to provide water supply in sufficient quantity whereas the one tanker he does approve, his goons don't distribute it. Much of the villagers have migrated to the big cities and the village head Ramanna challenges the MLA of conducting the village festival as well as bringing people back to their hometown. Virupaksha and Basavaraju are two con men who love their skills. They are currently in jail and have 2.5 years to serve. They are tasked by Ramanna's son to get his parents out of the village in exchange of suspension of their sentence. How does the duo find their purpose in the village and stand up for a cause, forms rest of the story.
Yogaraj Bhat along with his team has a decent story but the execution once again is largely outdated. A jailer sending two of his prisoners on a mission to the village might be the oldest trick which should have been executed better, yet the treatment these characters get along with the screenplay, takes the proceedings way too lightly. The issue of water crisis could have been handled better instead we get the same action set pieces and the scenes that build up to that followed by a comedy scene and two heroines in order to break into song and dance. The characters realization and subsequent transformation is ineffective whereas Yogaraj Bhat in a supporting role with a divine set up, didn't look convincing enough. The writing takes much of the things granted and it keeps getting convenient. If only it were to be that easy to get back everyone from the cities without any repercussions. There is a double meaning humor and a chartbuster song but as a whole movie, it stumbles big time. Shivanna and Prabhudeva can only do so much to save it.
Longlegs (2024)
Happy birthday Lee Harker!
FBI agent Lee Harker loses her partner when a random house checking goes wrong. It is soon revealed that Lee Harker intuition is derived from her psychic abilities. She is then put on the Longlegs case, who is a serial killer targeting families with daughters born on 14th and the killings happen a week before or after the birthday. He also leaves a cryptic message which Lee can decipher. As she goes deep in the case, she realizes there is a personal connection to Longlegs and she suspects he has an accomplice. Will Lee Harker be able to solve the mystery behind Longlegs and save the family in danger as well as herself, forms rest of the story.
Two best things about Longlegs - Nicolas Cage and the sound design. Nicolas Cage gets another unique role that brings the best of him and he gets unleashed in 3 most memorable scenes. The sound design is the other aspect which made this into a far superior film, compliment the slow narrative well enough to keep the suspense intact. The screenplay is narrated in 3 chapters - His Letters, All of her things and Birthday Girls. Honestly, the opening prologue reveals the characters and it is not much of a challenge to connect the dots. But the gripping narrative makes the wait worth it. The 2nd chapter being the lengthier one does drag slightly but it has the best Nic Cage moment. I was more satisfied with the reveal in the final act and especially that climax. This one is a feast to all Nic Cage fans like me.
Indian 2 (2024)
The film where Shankar turned into Atlee.
I missed the initial 15mins and arrived just before the trending of #ComeBackIndian. The barking dogs bunch are fed up of the corruption and they hit their limit after an youngster takes his own life. Unable to digest the fact that people don't want to change for better, so the group leader Chitra Aravindhan remembers Indian who became a sensation in 1996 and appeals to bring him back via social media which becomes a nationwide trend. He is soon informed Indian is sighted in Taipei and Indian who has been following up on the news, cannot stop himself from returning back to start a revolution. Back home, Krishnaswamy's son Pramod is a CBI officer and vowed to catch Senapathy aka Indian. Senapathy arrives with his two track mission - one having Gandhian principle and the other being Subhash Chandra Bose's. He urges the youth to follow Gandhi where he will follow his idol's. What happens when the youth mesmerized by the ideology, is not ready to face the consequences and how Indian becomes the most hated individual, forms the crux of Indian 2 whereas the major story is kept for Indian 3.
The problems are straight-forward. This is a genre which Shankar literally owned. Whenever other Directors made films within this genre, we were happy to point out that Shankar had already asked the same questions and tackled those issues 30 years ago. So now, Shankar's Indian 2 looks dated for this very reason as for 2.5hrs, whatever Shankar aims to showcase is something he only has done multiple times for last 3 decades. The scenes henceforth don't appear fresh and much of the emotions remain artifical. Add to that, the treatment Senapathy's character gets here, be it the physical makeover or the extension of Varma Kalai, becomes too much to accept as the humor simply doesn't work. Barring Kamal Haasan's Senapathy, no other character is remotely memorable and their respective arcs are highly predictable. The weak writing shows and the much of the emotional scenes look deliberate. This is an issue I find with Atlee's films and Shankar who had aced in covering up the deliberate addition of scenes, has turned into Atlee while handling those scenes. The physical appearance of Kamal Haasan, especially in the initial scenes leaves a lot to be desired and will be a troll material.
Still continuing on the nitpicking, the music is a big letdown and Anirudh was not going to match ARR but the songs and their placement simply look odd. For what it's worth, Shankar gets back in form in the last 30-35mins with the twist of Indians turning against Indian, which was executed well. Sadly, one has to sit through 2.5hrs of bland narrative for the good part. Here too the six pack abs fight scene, though good, feels forced just for commercial appeal. The film ends with the glimpse of Indian 3 trailer which showcases much of the meat in the story has been left out to be in the 3rd film. The characterization of Senapathy is the biggest hurdle as the legendary character was something else in the 1996 film and for him to be jovial during murdering people, simply didn't work for me. None of the actors register anything and one wishes, Shankar had stuck to one film and better screenplay, which gave proper arcs to supporting cast. Instead Indian 2 is just a money grab and the end product simply looks like an half hearted attempt, relying only on Kamal Haasan.
The Garfield Movie (2024)
Senior cat distribution system activated.
Garfield is living a happy life, getting spoiled each day along with Odie as their servant Jon is trying hard to please them. Garfield and Odie gets kidnapped by a Persian cat Jinx. They are soon rescued by Vic, the estranged father of Garfield which leads to the father-son drama with Garfield in no mood to forgive Vic to abandoning him as a kitten. Jinx wants them to pull off an milk heist as she too has unfinished business with Vic. They all aim to pull off the said heist with the help of a bull named Otto who used to be a mascot to lactose farms where the heist is planned. Will the trio be able to pull off the heist or Garfield's daddy issue come in the way? What ulterior motive Jinx has in store for them, forms rest of the story.
I am going to be lenient with this one as Garfield films have set an extremely low bar for themselves. This too has a very basic story and notable names in the voice cast. The writing issues are again glaring and beyond the three main characters, others aren't fleshed out well. It's a kids movie so the happy resolution to all the issues, big or small, is as generic as possible. The jokes partially work and they are placed far. The highlight will remain the Garfield - Vic scenes. I wished Cecily Strong had more lines. As far as Garfield goes, there are only specific set of jokes that get repeated and there is nothing fresh in terms of writing. Overall, it is strictly for the Garfield fans.
The Exorcism (2024)
Have mercy on the lord.
Anthony Miller is cast in an horror film tentatively titled The Georgetown Project, touted to be the remake. Anthony's daughter Lee is visiting him and she is cold towards him. After the death of his wife, he has turned to bottle for comfort and is now recovering. On the set, he is haunted by his past as he is a survivor of sexual abuse and the film's director is nastier than the demon Molech. Needless to say, the set is haunted and soon Anthony too starts acting violent. There is a priest/psychiatrist present on the set as a consultant. Will Lee be able to save her father with the help of the Priest, forms rest of the story.
Russell Crowe needs to do more movies but also needs to avoid signing such bad films. The film has zero scares and even with the lesser runtime, it bored me like anything. The narrative fails to make the characters worth connecting to and there is no proper build up to the demon possession. The film begins with a demon attack and that's about it. With Russell Crowe's Anthony having a painful past, he is shown to be moping throughout and despite the crew having sufficient members, almost everyone ends up being irrelevant. The daughter and an actress within the film, form a liking towards each other and yet that relationship too is underdeveloped. By the third act, I couldn't care much for the main character's predicament and the dull exorcism segment was as painful as the rest of the film.
Swing Time (1936)
Excellently choreographed songs and blackfaced Fred Astaire.
Lucky wants to marry Margaret but his dance troup doesn't want him to. He is a great dancer but also a gambler. As his dance troup gets him late for his own wedding via a trouser gag, the wedding gets cancelled. Lucky promises to earn $25000 to prove to Margaret's father that he is worthy of her and travels to New York where he meets Penny, a dance instructor. He lets her train him and they team up for the audition, during with they both fall in love. Will Lucky be lucky enough to marry the one he truly loves and whether is it Margaret or Penny, forms rest of the story.
The humor may not be consistent but the story is decent enough as the number of dance numbers remain the main highlight in this musical comedy. Plus, the trouser gag works both the times. The film started off well with back to back comedy scenes, as it started to drag only in it's second act as the writing took a toll giving way for the dance numbers. However, the excellently choreographed dance numbers do the trick. Then there was "The Way You Look Tonight", inserted at the right moment to build in the romance. While the twist with Margaret looked rushed, it was made up for by the humorous ending. Overall, Swing Time is a decent watch with memorable dance numbers.
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Hello Dexter. Hello George. Hello Mike.
Tracy Lord was once married to Dexter and they rather had an ugly breakup leading to a divorce. She is now engaged to George Kettridge and Spy magazine wants to cover this marriage as a national sensation. Mike Connor is the reporter assigned to cover the news and uses Dexter's help for the same. Tracy has a rocky relationship with her father, after his affair which caused her mother to live separately. With all of them arriving for the wedding, Tracy soon finds herself mesmerized by Mike, still engaged to George and the fact that either of them doesn't fully understand her, like Dexter does.
This rom-com is driven by the trio's performances with Katherine Hepburn once again owning the film whereas Cary Grant and James Stewart compete ably. No wonder the charming John Howard got overshadowed here. Katherine gets a role with varied emotions and not just an eccentric portrayal and the beauty of the script is revealed later when it all gets tied together. The throwback to the drinking causing the problem for Tracy, first with Dexter and now with George while Mike getting caught between was simply perfect. Add to that, Dinah's dialogues which made it all the more special. It was the dialogues the complimented these characters big time and especially the two scenes with Tracy and her father. I could go on and on, but The Philadelphia Story is better witnessed in full glory, featuring the legendary talents who owned the screen.
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Here is the story of Bonnie and Clyde...
Bonnie Parker meets Clyde Barrow when he is attempting to steal her mother's car. She talks him up and is impressed when he guesses Bonnie as a bored waitress, unhappy with her job and someone who wants more. She decides to become his partner in crime and soon aim at robbing banks. They are joined by C. W. as well as Clyde's brother Buck and his wife Blanche. Their escapades turn violent as well while enjoying their crime spree. After they end humiliating the Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, all 5 become most wanted criminals and police aren't just looking to capture them anymore.
Based on the real life characters, Bonnie and Clyde, notorious criminal duo from the 1930s, this romanticized tale is led by strong performances by it's starcast and the story is mainly narrated from Bonnie and Clyde's point of view. I could only imagine what a shocker it might have been for that time, though they go all out on violence, I could still connect to the main characters. Be it Bonnie's attachment to her mother, Bonnie and Clyde's love story, C. W.'s attachment to the gang and even Blanche's jealousy towards Bonnie. The narrative doesn't falter anywhere and the film rightfully ends considering Bonnie and Clyde already had their true moment before that.
Mother of the Bride (2024)
Everybody gets to jump in the pool.
Emma is proposed by her boyfriend RJ and they quickly decide to get married in Phuket within a month. This comes as a shock to Emma's mother Lana who is busy with her own work and adding to that, the resort Emma worked at is sponsoring the entire wedding. It is only when Lana arrives at the resort, she realizes that all of it are least of her problems as the groom's father turns out to be Will, her ex-boyfriend who once broke her heart by ghosting her. As Lana doubts this alliance, she seems to rekindle her relationship with Will but her doubts get the best of her. How does all this impact the wedding and how Lana + Will resolve their issues on time for the wedding, forms rest of the story.
Needless to say, with barely 90mins runtime, this film lacked entertainment or a single joke that worked from start to finish. The film was as predictable as it could get and one could easily expect which are the characters aside the main lead to be acting eccentric. The conflict never grows big enough to impact the wedding considering they would get married without their respective parents so the whole point of them resolving their issues simply gets dragged on, making the brand manager taking over the wedding an issue to be resolved instead. These small things would work only if the main plot is working, which isn't the case here. It is just the cast and crew going on a vacation to Phuket.
A Family Affair (2024)
Quite a dull affair!
Chris Cole is a superstar who doesn't get into serious relationships and ends them quickly. His assistant Zara is tired of handling him and decides to quit. As Chris tries to get her back by offering her a better job as assistant producer, he bumps into her mother Brooke who is a renowned writer and starts an affair with her. Zara disapproves this and to make it worse, Chris hires Brooke to write for his movie. Zara's grandmother is rather supportive of Brooke and bow does Zara's disapproval start impacting the relationship and will they be able to get over it, forms rest of the story.
This one is no The Idea of You and much of the emotions are strictly on the surface level. There is barely any chemistry between Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron, to make matters worse, the humor is largely hit and miss. It sticks to the template of rom-com with Christmas thrown in the middle too yet the narrative simply remains dull throughout. The conflict is Zara's disapproval over what she perceives Cole to be and that's about it. There is one scene where Liza's Eugenie mentions how everything isn't about Zara but that comes in way too late. The conflict gets resolved in a cheesy way as well. All it required was more sparks, more drama and balanced humor, to be a better film.
Babylon (2022)
A very chaotic ode to cinema.
It's late 1920s and Hollywood is making the big transition from silent to talkie cinema. Manny through his wits and contacts, gets a job at Kinoscope while growing quickly to become a studio executive. He falls in love with Nellie LaRoy who is a silent era star trying to adapt to the transition while battling her own drug addiction. Jack Conrad is another superstar who is on the verge of losing his stardom. Amidst them, there is a trumpeter Sidney Palmer and a singer Lady Fay Zhu who too go through the highs and lows during Hollywood's transition.
Damien Chazelle has made an ode to cinema and unraveling the dark world of Hollywood, he unleashes the chaos like anything. Apparently the big change demands bigger chaos and through his main characters, he explores the various emotional turmoil they go through while struggling to accept the new reality, driven by drug addiction to staying motivated to achieve big success, to facing rejection and what not. At over 3hrs, the film is definitely long and has a lot of depressing content. The performances however standout whereas Tobey Maguire as a gangster stands apart with his choice of appearance. Circling the story around Manny and how he witnesses the lives amidst the Hollywood's big change, worked well.
Srikanth (2024)
Others have sight, he got the vision.
This biopic of Srikanth Bolla, narrates his life story right from being born to a poor farming couple, who grows up fighting to be treated as an equal. He is refused to take up science as his specialization and fights it in court, paving way for other visually impaired students to select science. He impresses Sir Abdul Kalam and aims to be the first visually impaired president of the country till date. With the help of his teacher Devika, his girlfriend Swathi and business partner Ravi, he sets out to achieve his dream. What else he has to unlearn and relearn in his journey, after finding success, forms the entire story.
Rajkummar Rao as Srikanth is the savior of this lighthearted feel good biopic that focuses more on his journey clubbed with his genius yet stubborn attitude. The struggles are just on the surface level and isn't the main focus. What the script focuses on is Sri-can't to Sri-can, as the scenes are designed in such a way. This helps the titular character in some ways bur it is the rest of the characters who just become caricatures without individuality. They are just saviors in Srikanth life, prioritizing him, in fact dedicating themselves to him. After a point, this starts bringing down the film and even limiting Srikanth's character. Thankfully, there are scenes at regular intervals to hype up Srikanth and in those moments, Rajkummar Rao truly hits it out of the park. Overall, it's at best an average film and Rajkummar Rao's performance as well as Srikanth Bolla's story deserved a much better film.
Garudan (2024)
Soori's acting prowess isn't enough to save this weak film.
A corrupt minister eyes for grabbing an unclaimed land dedicated to a temple. He plans to steal the original land documents kept at a bank's safe locker. Meanwhile Inspector Muthuvel is tasked to gather all the information about Karuna, Aadhi and Karuna's loyalist Sokkan, as these three are the main hurdle for the minister. The main root cause for all problems - land, money and women. These causes rift between Karuna and Aadhi whereas Sokkan getting caught in between. His loyalty comes at a hefty price as the rift leads to betrayal and murder. How Sokkan rushes karma over the real culprits while protecting the victims, forms rest of the story.
This rural based story involving a temple's land being a main dispute has a decent premise but the screenplay falters big time. The attempt at narrating this story's conflict through land, money and woman suffers heavily from generic writing right from the beginning. We have a bunch of template baddies and to make it worse, the good ones too are one toned. Aadhi is righteous with anger issues, Karuna is the heir from once a rich family and Sokkan is loyal in an unbearable way. The pace is uneven throughout and the director resorts to unnecessary violence. The half baked love story doesn't help either. In the attempt to glorify Soori as Sokkan and Sasikumar as Aadhi, the scenes remain outdated.
In a Violent Nature (2024)
Creative but extremely dull.
The legend has it that there once lived a boy who was "slow" and he was the victim of a brutal prank. He was laid rest along with his mother's locket which kept his soul at peace. Decades later, a group of friends casually take away the locket and show the audacity of narrating the boy's tale to spook each other. Looking for the locket, the boy wakes up from down under and goes on a killing spree, to make sure the everyone knows that "Johnny" is back. Which soul gets to survive Johnny's onslaught, is for the audience to witness.
It is the typical slasher genre that the beloved Jason got to become world famous. What sets this one apart is the narrative and ofcourse picturization, which is from Johnny's pov. This unique choice somewhat kept me interested initially but soon lost it's steam as it becomes evident that following Johnny's character with several shots reminding of video game, becomes tedious. The problem is the rest of the characters who barely gets a character intro. Usually these slasher films makes it clear, who are the terrible ones in the group, deserving to die and who is the girl, deserving to live in the end. Sadly, that doesn't happen here as there is barely any attempt to humanize this story and I couldn't care for any of the humans trying to survive Johnny.
The kills were bad in the beginning as they were off screen until the gory ones appeared. The prolonged killings, I wouldn't call it distasteful as it is in sync with the genre but definitely not creative considering various films within this genre that had better killings. The tediously slow paced narrative succeeded to get on my nerve and that whole climax was a complete dud. Again, I couldn't care for the conversation between the two women, with only one going on and on. When there is no pay off to this prolonged scene, the attempt at creating any sort of suspense, fell flat.
Beomjoidosi 4 (2024)
Don Lee gets a new batch of punching bags to keep his promise.
The baddie resorts to murder a boy in Phillipines. He is running an online casino and further joins hands with another casino owner to target the rivals and create a monopoly of sorts. When the baddie is not given what he is owed, he decides to travel all the way to Seoul to make a brutal point. To his bad luck, Detective Ma Seok-do is teaming with the cyber crime team to take on the online gambling ring. How does the detective punches his way to the villain and get justice to the murdered boy, forms rest of the story.
The Roundup franchise by now has nothing new in terms of the story or even the action scenes. It relies heavily on it's main star and his punches followed up by a couple of comic moments. The fourth installment gets in the older films references and tries to introduce a brute villain but he is still no match to our hero. It is not surprising that the non-action scenes soon get tiring and honestly, I kept waiting for Don Lee to punch as many guys he can until the face off the villain - both the times. I am still going with a lenient rating because Don Lee's punches are still that good. If only, they truly value it enough to lend a good script to back the lead hero. If there is a fifth film, I just hope they work on the antagonist more and not just make him stylishly violent.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)
Eddie Murphy clicks, the new movie doesn't.
Axel Foley goes undercover to stop a robbery during an hockey game in Detroit and succeeds in arresting the culprits with enough damage to city property. He gets a call from Billy, after Axel's daughter Jane is threatened over representing a guy accused as cop killer. Axel makes it back to Beverly Hills and finds Billy to be missing. He continues to protect his daughter while uncovering the truth about corrupt cops involved with the pieces left by Billy. How does Axel Foley bond with his estranged daughter while solving the case that has put her life in danger, forms rest of the story.
The opening act, I honestly felt why this film was not released in theaters and it simply started that good with an in form Eddie Murphy in an entertaining action/chase sequence. It didn't take much time to realize, this film was better off to stream on Netflix. This is solely due to the threadbare story that drags on after a point with no twists. The antagonist is revealed early on and is not much of a threat. What the film pokes at is bringing back the nostalgia and Eddie Murphy's comic timing to do the rest. End result is a film that partly works and though it's better than that third film in this franchise, it is not much of an achievement.