Puroo Reviews

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

Yeah, yeah. Just mark this review unhelpful and continue scrolling.

[7/10 · 8 April 2024]

I just came back from watching Godzilla x Kong from the theatres. It is exactly what it was promised - there's no strong plot. Just action, because that's what we're here for. And yes, Godzilla and Kong also fight for a brief moment, but I will keep this review spoiler free.

Like many people have already said here, Godzilla only appears for a small time. You know like those anime where the hero's rival is shown to be on his own adventure doing his own little quest, until the hero calls him? That rival here is Godzilla, while the hero is Kong. And I mean that literally. Kong is the one who travels around Middle Earth and discovers an enslaved giant gorilla civilisation being ruled by an evil Skar King. He has also enslaved Shimo, a four-footed ice version of Godzilla who is being mind controlled by Skar King to threaten any gorilla that dares to oppose him.

Unlike what most people are saying here, I actually thought the human plot was pretty good this time around. There was less talking and more action. I also didn't mind the lack of story because let's be real, who goes to watch a movie of this franchise expecting a story anyway?

My problem was with the departure of the POV that was in the first movies. If you watch the 2014 Godzilla, you will see that the camera angle makes you feel like you're in Godzilla's world. You don't see the world from Godzilla's perspective, you see Godzilla from the world's perspective. And that's what made Godzilla feel so big and scary. Same goes with King of the Monsters. Here, however, the middle earth is seen from the perspective of Kong himself. Because of this, everything doesn't appear as gigantic as it is supposed to be. It just feels like a normal gorilla roaming around the forest.

Another problem was with the lack of 3D effects. I watched the movie in 3D, but there were barely any things that felt worth it. The title screen looked good, but that's about it. And no, my seating place wasn't a problem because I was sitting in the last row, so everything felt like actual creatures behind the screen. That effect was good, but the times the movie tries to make Godzilla or Kong lunge at the screen fails to make it believe that they will fall on you.

Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003)

Since it's 20 years old, we can officially consider it an all-time classic

[10/10 · 5 January 2024]

I had decided to watch every single Shah Rukh Khan film from the 2000s, which is when I decided to start from this one. Kal Ho Naa Ho is one of his most popular films and all for a good reason. It makes you laugh, cry and laugh while crying.

The film contains every single trope of Bollywood at the time. The one comedic character (played by Rajpal Yadav), a narrator saying one joke in the middle of a funny background music (Galat ghar, Kaanta Ben etc), a comedy of errors, and of course, the songs. This film has some of the most iconic songs of all time - It's the Time to Disco, Har Ghadi Badal Rahi Hai, Kuch To Hua Hai, Par Nar Ha, Pretty Woman and of course, the iconic title song performed by Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy.

What makes this so unique and charming is Shah Rukh Khan himself. His quirky personality as Aman Mathur makes every scene energetic. Anyone who is interested in Bollywood should absolutely watch this. It is a product of its time.

Freddy (2022)

Any movie where a nerd kills a chhapri or a gold digger in the end is an instant W for me. This one does both.

[10/10 · 5 January 2024]

Never in my life have I ever seen a Bollywood movie with a cinematography this good. Everything in this movie looks so good. The camera angles, the colour grading, Kartik Aaryan himself. The score also suited the scenes, the editing was seamless without any choppy sensation. The dialogues were well-written and the songs are pretty good.

The only thing that distracts me is that why will Kainaaz choose some ugly protein shake over the literal CEO of handsomeness? I don't think Kartik Aaryan has ever looked more good-looking in any of his previous films. But then again, his shy awkwardness and unappealing personality is what makes his character so engaging in the first place.

RIP Hardy.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

I can already see who will win the Best Animated Movie at the Oscars

[10/10 · 20 July 2023]

I don't think there could have been a better sequel than Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. I had been wanting to see the movie for the past one month, ever since it came out. But each time it was either houseful, or it wasn't being screened around me because who would watch "a children's movie", because that's what animated films are, right? But I finally got the opportunity to watch it at a screening which was early in the morning. And I'm so glad I did this.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse begins where the prequel left off: Miles waking up when Gwen calls his name from a portal. The difference this time being that we know the context behind the scene - Miles is grounded for not coming to his father's party on time. His father has become the captain, so he had thrown a party but Miles was busy fighting a new enemy, Spot. Spot has holes all over his body, which allow him to go through one place and come out of another. This power helps him transport into different places, including universes.

The movie began with Gwen and was getting very emotional, so I was scared this might not be as funny as Into the Spider-Verse was. But as the scene changes to Miles, it goes all-out hilarious. Since Spot has made into the multiverse and is upset that Miles didn't take him seriously, he vows to take his revenge. This will be done when he killes Miles' father after he becomes a captain. And now that there are many Spider-people out there, they will stop Miles from stopping Spot. Although I have marked this review Spoiler, I won't tell why because someone might have accidentally decided to read this review before watching the movie. One thing that I will tell you about it is that it ends on a cliffhanger, and the next movie's name is Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

Just about everything in this movie is perfect - the art style, the story, the action sequences, the comic timing, the fan service - literally everything. And the surprise in the end, although it was predictable that Miles is going to Earth-42, it still managed to create a doubt in my mind for a long time. Until of course, it was revealed that my guess was right. It wasn't even predictable actually, since it actually writes that on screen for a split-second when Miles is teleporting to his universe.

The addition of new characters and updation of the old ones was handled excellently. Pavitra Prabhakar was never shown in the first trailer, and yet he was shown a lot in the promotional videos. I was thinking this is only being done to promote the movie in India, but it turned out it was absolutely right. Pavitra Prabhakar has a minor and yet a very major role in the plot. Peter B. Parker's daughter was so adorable as the Spider-baby, I could very well understand why Peter wanted Miles to hold her before talking.

I really liked the movie very much and although it's a sad fact that we will have to wait very long for Beyond the Spider-Verse, I would like it to take as much time as it wants, as long as the end result is a movie that lives up to the same expectations and this one did. The prequel, this and the PS5 game are the reasons why Miles Morales has been accepted into the society so quickly; because he deserves to. I hope his quality remains intact like this for as long as I live.

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (2021)

I don't care about anyone's opinion. I liked it so it was good.

[8/10 · 19 April 2023]

This film was literally what anyone could have thought it would be. Samuel Jackson and Ryan Reynolds paired together once again, and Salma Hayek was given a more prominent role than the prequel. The comedy was hilarious, especially the plot of Michael Bryce losing his mother, or Morgan Freeman being Banderas' bodyguard, or Michael sending voicemails to his future self about the life he has been spending since he gave up guns. People here want a plot in the film but tell me, where was the plot in the prequel? Why do you expect a plot from this franchise? The top review says the film has some boring parts, but I literally don't remember a single boring part in this. Probably it's my own sense of humour, but I liked every bit of it and so I'm happy I chose to watch it inspite of having read the negative reviews beforehand.

Brahmastra Part One: Shiva (2022)

I had already read the reviews so I wasn't looking forward to the story. I just wanted to see the VFX and I got that, so I'm happy

[8/10 · 19 September 2022]

But to be honest the story wasn't as bad as the reviews made it sound. Only the acting was bad, but let's get real. In a visual spectacle acting isn't something you're concerned with. I went to watch this movie in 3D (which by the way is the first time I've done so), and I can guarantee you, even though the movie may be bad from a story point of view, you should definitely watch it in the theatre simply because of the 3D experience (especially the Deva Deva song), something you won't get once you see it on TV.

People have been talking smack about this movie years before it got released, and now they will come to mark this review Unhelpful for this reason (those illiterates don't even know what the word Unhelpful means). But ignore them, they can't stand seeing a movie in Hindi language be so successfull.

Teen Titans Go!: 365! (2022) Season 7, Episode 51

This was so cute!

[10/10 · 18 September 2022]

I used to watch Teen Titans Go about eight years ago, but never got to watch it again after I reached high school and my Asian parents decided watching TV will make me weak in my studies. Afterwards I forgot about the show and never saw it again until yesterday. The nostalgia made me like the episode until the part where Zack Snyder came in, and the references to his movies were also very clever.

Zack Snyder blended in so well with this show, I never thought the director of R-rated DC movies would seem so natural. The reference to him turning his office into a gym is also something his fans know well. The part where Robin dreams of the Snyder Cut is the big finale we were all looking forward to. In the end the Snyder Cut joke was funny but sounded more like a dad joke, although I will let it pass because of the "it's not salvageable" joke.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010)

Every shot can be a desktop wallpaper

[8/10 · 7 April 2022]

I had been planning to watch this movie for quite a long time. Three things really attracted me towards it. Firstly it's an animated movie about animals, and that rarely goes bad. Secondly its animation is so good, you can see every single fur on the owls and the leaves on the trees. Of course since it's directed by Zack Snyder, the visuals had to have a priority. And thirdly, the trailer. The music coupled with the slow motion shots made me wish I knew about this movie when it released. This looked like one of those movies which are meant to be watched in a theatre.

Yesterday I finally watched it on Google Play Movies. It was made with so much perfection, it almost doesn't even feel like a 13 year old movie. It looks like it has been made in the recent years. The story follows two owlets who are still learning to fly but accidentally fall from a tree and while trying to get back up, are snagged by two bigger owls. They are taken away to the Pure Ones, who plan to turn them into warriors. While the main character, Soren, escapes from the pure ones, his brother Kludd is left behind and gets trained by Nyra, the queen of the pure ones.

The animation of this movie, as I've said before, is phenomenal. I have never seen something so good outside of Disney's The Lion King remake. The colour palette is simply breathtaking, it almost feels like a video game. The environments in which they are present are also very picturesque. The way they fly while fighting or above the ocean is also very cool, it almost feels like a painting coming to life. The way Metal Beak is shown in a flashback of how Grimble became a part of The Pure Ones gave me goosebumps. The characters have both serious and light moments. There are many funny scenes in the movie, alongside the much darker ones.

But there are negative points too. First of all it's very hard to understand who's who because everyone looks so similar. I thought Grimble, Jutt and Ezylryb were all the same characters the whole time, and I figured out they're all different only while looking up the Wikipedia page as I was writing this review. Secondly many scenes end very abruptly and there is not enough breathing time. Like when they meet the porcupine who tells them to fly across the sea, and then suddenly in the next scene they are in a storm. The beginning of the movie also feels like they're just trying to get that part done away with quickly and get to the action.

Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is one movie I'm gonna recommend everyone to watch, mainly for its visuals and family friendly content (compared to other Zack Snyder movies). I haven't read the books but now I really feel like doing so. The author is really lucky to have such a beautiful book adaptation. It is surely one of, if not the most underrated animated movies out there.

The Matrix Resurrections (I) (2021)

Keeping it spoiler free, pros and cons mentioned for you to decide whether you want to watch it or not

[7/10 · 22 December 2021]

I am a huge fan of The Matrix franchise, and this movie just released today in India. My friends and I were deciding whether to watch Spider-Man: No Way Home or this. One of us is a big Spider-Man hater and so we decided we will watch this movie, and we will watch Spider-Man: No Way Home some other time. Initially I was very sceptical about this movie since I didn't exactly like Revolutions, but The Matrix: Awakens had given me hope that this is going to be some really good stuff.

In my opinion, this movie is going to be very divisive, as in the case of Black Widow or Man of Steel. Either you will really love it or absolutely hate it. It has some really good cinematography and action scenes. Unlike the previous trilogy which has too much green colour, this one is actually quite colourful. On the downside, however, it has nostalgia pandering, circlejerking (there's literally a five minute scene in which people are praising The Matrix Trilogy and saying how much Warner Bros liked it), quirky references to gaming, too much exposition, unnecessary flashbacks and overall the movie starts feeling very much dragged in the first half itself. I almost dozed off at the part where Priyanka Chopra comes as the adult Sati.

While the first half was pretty Meh, the second half was pretty dope, especially after Agent Smith and Agent Johnson come. So what happens over here is that Neo has been taking blue pills prescribed to him by his psychiatrist, which make him forget what The Matrix was. Instead he vaguely remembers them in the form of memories, from which he has created a video game franchise based on it. In this movie The Matrix trilogy is a game series, and Thomas Anderson is a game designer. Now Morpheus has to convince Neo to take the Red Pill and join The Matrix again. I can't speak more than this without giving spoilers, so I will just recommend you to sit till the end, after the roll credits there is a post credit scene that you definitely wouldn't want to miss out.

The movie does have a lot of references to the previous movies, but you don't need to rewatch them as long as you remember the basics, since most of the time the important scenes are just shown in the flashbacks. That even includes the iconic scene where Neo bends backward to dodge Agent Smith's bullets. Speaking of Agent Smith, however, he isn't exactly great in this movie. Most of it is carried by Agent Johnson instead. Neo was, once again, my favourite character in this movie. He actually feels like someone who is coming back after a long time to take what belongs to him. Ever since Keanu Reeves has grown his beard, he has been giving that kind of a look.

So overall I'd say while The Matrix: Resurrections has a better CGI and action scenes and is even funny at some points, it lacks the cohesive story or any ground-breaking visual that the first movie had. And that is saying something since it came out after 18 years so something new was expected. That, however, should not be seen as something completely negative since it is not supposed to be a reboot, but just a normal sequel. If I were to rank the four movies, I'd say The Matrix > Reloaded > Resurrections > Revolutions. So yeah, if you liked Reloaded and Revolutions, you will like this too.

Batman Ninja (2018)

The fact that they drew this frame by frame and still made it so smooth completely overshadows all the bad parts for me

[8/10 · 14 December 2021]

I learnt about this movie from Reddit, when someone posted a screenshot on Batman v Superman Ultimate Edition being available on HBO Max but since this movie was also in the screenshot, everyone started talking about it. I live in India so HBO Max hasn't reached me yet, but I did manage to find this on Netflix. Since my subscription was just one day away from ending, I decided to give it a try. And honestly I had no idea what I was going to expect, so anything would have been good enough for me. It has the Bat Family and a huge rogue gallery so that was a plus for me, and seeing how much Japanese appreciate Batman was also very interesting to see.

Batman Ninja doesn't exactly have a solid storyline. That's the biggest down point in the movie, and the reason why everyone here is giving it a poor rating. Gorilla Grodd has made a time machine that would send all the villains to the past, but Batman and his sidekicks also reach the spot thinking Grodd is planning something evil. As a result they all go back to Feudal Japan where Joker and Harley Quinn, Two-Face, Deathstroke, Poison Ivy and Gorilla Grodd have all prepared their own empires and are going to attack each other. Meanwhile Batman tries to gather an army of monkeys and trains to be a ninja so that he can fight them all. The movie uses all kinds of Japanese stereotypes you can imagine - Feudal Japan, samurais, the bamboo tapping playing in the background whenever someone is walking in a village, the giant robots (because why not?), speaking out Japanese accent English in a manly voice, Catwoman behaving like a cat-girl, and of course, monkeys.

Many people are also saying that the English dub is terrible, to which I'd ask, why were you watching it in English dub in the first place? I watched it in Japanese the way it was intended to, so I didn't find any problem there. The animation is what completely got me sold. Every frame is drawn by hand and still it is so smooth. The fight scenes are all very well done and as an animator myself I can guarantee you, it is really, really hard to show an action scene without a reference or motion capture, something most anime do nowadays. The characters were also very well drawn, unlike the weird things DC has been making nowadays (looking at you, Injustice and Superman: Man of Tomorrow). There were bad parts in it like less of Batman and more of Ninja, and I completely understand why this movie gets so much hate. I won't be surprised if this review gets bombarded to be unhelpful. But we should appreciate what it did right.

Since Batman Ninja is a standalone movie, we don't need to watch anything before and after this. Plus it is only a little more than an hour and a half long, so it's not like it will take too much time. If you want to see how Batman will look like reimagined as an anime, do check it out once. But if you're not, you don't really need to see it.

K.G.F: Chapter 1 (2018)

Pathetic first half, phenomenal second half

[7/10 · 9 November 2021]

I know, many people will mark this review unhelpful when Chapter 2 comes closer to release. But honestly those toxic fans are the reason why my hopes from this film were so high. When the trailer for KGF: Chapter 2 came, many people were saying that this film will mark the end of Bollywood. I saw KGF: Chapter 1 hoping that this film will be something like Baahubali (without the CGI of course). But no, this isn't any different from any normal South Indian film. In fact, it is pretty much what everyone hates about Bollywood. It has eve teasing, corrupt politicians, peaceful religion shown as good people and Hindus shown as bad people, unrealistic action and item songs.

The film begins by mentioning Rocky (of course, the most unique name for a hero) is the most wanted criminal in Indian history, and yet there is nowhere that his account has been mentioned. Now I have several questions. How come one book is the only source of the people knowing about the biggest criminal to ever exist? How come no one else wrote about it? I'm 99% sure there must have been some Ravish Kumars or Arnab Goswamis at the time who would write this down at least in secret. And what about the TV channels who must have accidentally aired it before it was announced that it has to be a secret? And what about international news sources? If they can write about Dawood Ibrahim, why not about this? But anyway, let's not get carried away by just one illogical thing. There are a dozen more to come.

Now, Rocky had been told in his childhood by his dying mother that he has to become the richest and the most powerful person in the world, and that's what he sets out to do. Except there is one problem - he doesn't even know what the most powerful position is. He goes in the side of the underworld and tries his best to establish himself over there, while the UN secretary-general probably laughs in the corner. Also keep in mind that the UN secretary-general is only the most powerful person in the world, not the richest. So now he has to get to a position without looking suspiciously rich. But don't worry about that, because Rocky is too busy singing Happy Birthday while killing bad guys.

Speaking of killing bad guys, everytime Rocky fights, there are always like, a dozen jump cuts and lights flickering. He can kill his enemies and his audience who suffer from epileptic seizures. And speaking of epileptic seizures, let's play the drinking game. Every time the screen blacks out, you take one sip. By the end of the film you won't have enough space in your body to insert more liquid. Good luck in the toilet. And speaking of drinking, of course no South Indian film can be completed without harassing or verbally abusing a woman till she gives in. So there is the villain's daughter who is drinking in the public after blocking the road (it looked like a cheap parody of Watchmen). Now I don't know if the Hindi dubbing was so horrendous or the dialogues were actually so bad, but our hero starts speaking gibberish while beating her henchmen.

But once the second half starts the film gets much better. Rocky goes inside KGF, and that is where the big story starts. At that point I have no complaints. In fact, it is where the film shows why it is so popular. However, there also some of the cinematography problems do exist, like the bad camera angles, quick jump cuts and of course, the screen going black. But the selling point of the film is the colour grading. That has been done very well, to the point that some scenes look like perfect desktop wallpapers. The ending looked very iconic, something that one will remember while leaving the theatre.

The ideas used in this film are very good. From showing how Rocky goes ahead to touch the heroine while ensuring that the henchmen don't shoot him, to arranging the gun for the minister's murder - everything seemed unique, even if it was predictable at some points. The action is pretty much the same as any other South Indian film, and that is what makes it fun to watch. This is one thing that I find very annoying about Bollywood; it is trying to look as realistic as possible nowadays, because of which it feels like a washerman's dog. And I guess this is probably what all those people were talking about when they said this is better than most of Bollywood nowadays.

I'd definitely look forward to Chapter 2 when it comes, because of how much suspense it built up in the end. It doesn't end with a question like why Katappa killed Baahubali, but rather one like what will happen next. Although it is pretty obvious what is going to happen next, let's be honest. None of us are in for the story. We just want to see some of that Yash.

Eternals (2021)

It's getting unnecessary hate

[6 November 2021]

First everyone says MCU movies are too much similar, and now when one is different they have problem with that? This is hypocrisy.

Personally I liked it. I will any day choose this over Black Widow. All the MCU haters are just giving it negative reviews without even seeing the movie, because they know they don't get this opportunity too often.

Loki (2021–2023)

The best MCU show for now

[10/10 · 30 October 2021]

Back when I watched WandaVision I was thinking there is no way MCU can make a show better than this. But even that show had some problems, the most notable being S. W. O. R. D. And the unnecessary exposition. Here, however, there wasn't a single problem I could point at. I just finished watching it, which I did in one sitting, so everything is still fresh in my mind as I write this review. I was expecting Loki to be just a quick cash grab meant to cater to the fanboys (looking at you Black Widow!), but that couldn't be far from truth. For me Loki outdoes WandaVision to be the best MCU show for now.

I'm gonna keep this review spoiler free, so that if you haven't watched it yet and you are just looking for reviews to know what all to expect. Loki is set around the titular character and his misadventures when he does something he isn't supposed to. The movie begins from the scene from Avengers: Endgame, where Loki picks up the Tesseract and makes his escape. He gets caught by the TVA (Time Variance Authority; I'm sorry if I spelt it wrong). At first they decide to punish him for messing with the sacred timeline, but then they decide to take his help to prevent another Loki from destroying the sacred timeline.

Loki has everything one would want it to have. The CGI is awesome just like any other MCU movie; until now I had been thinking The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has the best CGI among all superhero shows but this is way better. It actually feels like watching a long movie - the same entertainment with a more detailed lore. The comedy scenes are absolutely bonkers. There were many scenes where I had to pause the show to laugh, especially the scene where Loki uses the salad to explain the apocalypse timeline. The only thing that bothers me about this show is that after Loki gets captured in the first episode, he never wears his costume ever again. Sure it was disintegrated, but he could use illusions to create another one whenever he wants.

The best thing about this show is that it finally introduces the multiverse to the MCU, the one which will be shown in Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness and Spider-Man: No Way Home. And there's even going to be a Season 2, which is what makes me more excited about this. One of my friends is a toxic MCU hater and even he liked this show (he watched it before me and recommended it to me). That's how good this show is. I'd definitely get a Disney+ Hotstar subscription whenever the next season comes.

The Emoji Movie (2017)

It's not as bad as everyone says; I've seen worse

[5/10 · 30 October 2021]

To be honest, I saw The Emoji Movie only to understand why it gets so much hate. As a Redditor I understand why I am supposed to hate this movie (because...emojis?), but why does the normie audience hate it? Isn't this movie supposed to be like, their dream come true? Don't they always keep spamming emojis in all their sentences when writing a message or making a meme? When the movie hadn't come out it was being advertised a lot, so I thought people are supposed to be excited. Even the animation of this movie seemed really good. But I watched it and now I know the problem.

The Emoji Movie is very ignorant. It talks about emojis as if it is supposed to be something very cool. In reality only elders, women and children use emojis when they message (because they are the only ones we can't slap some sense into). But then again the target audience here is the children. So considering this movie is from their point of view, emojis are supposed to be shown as though they mean a lot to them. So let's come to the second point. The emojis are shown to have their entire personality revolving around their expression. Why can't they just be doing their job? Also how come so many emojis look similar? Is it like only one of them goes to the emoji keyboard while the others have no business? There are so many questions that the movie doesn't answer.

I don't know which problem plagues this movie the most. Is it the product placement? No, it just gives a feeling of adventure. None of the product placement looks as much on the nose as everyone describes. Like in TVF Originals they straight up speak out to advertise the things. Here at least Gene and Hi-5 are going to those places to see what is happening over there. I kinda found the Candy Crush part funny and relaxing at the same time. There was also the Just Dance part, and that was definitely cringy. But that was the only cringy one. Facebook, Skype, Drop Box - everything else was quite decent.

The jokes weren't half as bad, considering this is aimed for kids. Even I used to make many poop jokes when I was 13. If there even was anything bad, the animation and music compensated for it. The idea that there are so many emojis that we can establish and entire world using it is actually something I'm guessing everyone must have thought at some point. The one part that I surely felt was cringy was when the kid gets to ask out his crush because he sent her a custom emoji. Only if life functioned that easily. Hi-5 was also pretty disgusting. Every time he kept his hand (thumb) down it used to hurt me. Imagine bending your thumb down that much. Also when he ate the salivated candy I felt like vomiting.

The Emoji Movie is a bad movie, yes, but it's still better than many animated movies I have seen. Food Fight, Delhi Safari, Roadside Romeo, Geng: The Adventure Begins, Pangaa Gang, the entire Super Bheem series - there are plenty of examples of animated movies that are even worse than this. It does have redeeming qualities, even if they are not enough to make this a genuinely good movie. I can imagine the animators must have worked hard on this movie even if they didn't agree with the script. And that is the reason why I have massive respect for them.

Dhindora (2021– )

20 minutes of BB Ki Vines every week. What's not there to like?

[10/10 · 27 October 2021]

First of all, we all love Bhuvan Bam, and I'm really glad we were all there for him when he needed support. With that said, I was really worried about him, since I didn't know he was making this and I thought he isn't making more videos because he must be in depression. That is why when this web series was announced, I was not just excited, but also very relieved. I have been watching BB Ki Vines since 2015. Sameer Fuddi was the first video I saw. Back then I had never thought BB would hit mainstream popularity. Of course there are spam comments on his channel now, but I ignore them.

Dhindora is everything a fan like me could dream of. Bhuvan Bam being shown every week, and it's not just the selfie video. This time it is the full body. Although it does feel a bit weird, since this isn't how I am used to seeing BB Ki Vines so hearing those jokes feels a bit awkward. Right now only two episodes have been shown, so I guess in future I will get used to it.

With that said, let's take a moment to abuse those people who write "Aapki maa ki umar kitni hogi .. Ignore: INSTANT DEATH 1 SUBSCRIBED =130Years....................." in his comment section (removed the emojis since they're not allowed). They have absolutely no shame and just keep bullying him. Remember to report these insensitive comments.

Indian Premier League (2008– )

Was fun back when it began but now it feels too short

[6/10 · 23 October 2021]

What pattern do you often see in a league? There are around 16-20 teams which compete against each other. The top 8 go to the quarterfinals, then half of them go to semi-finals, and then the last 2 go to the finals. Here, however, there are 8 teams present in total. So basically this entire league is a quarterfinal! Have some shame, even Pakistan Super League has 6 teams even though Pakistan has only 5 states (or provinces, as they call it) while India has 28 states and 8 union territories, out of which not even all big demographics get covered.

The maximum population of the Hindi-speaking India lives in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. And none of these states has any team. Heck, many states like Kerala and Gujarat USED to have a team, but they all got removed because apparently this league is too poor to have 10 teams. There have been two teams from Pune (Pune Warriors India and Rising Pune Supergiants), so in total Maharashtra gets 3 teams but the entire Northeast combined? None. Even ISL has more diversity, and that's saying something because there isn't even a Delhi team in it (Delhi Dynamos has been changed to Odisha FC).

That was just the diversity for the states. Now let's talk about the colours. How many teams in IPL have red in their jersey? Delhi Capitals, Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore. How many teams have blue? Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and previously Deccan Chargers. Now, how many teams have green in their jersey? None (I have seen an RCB jersey but I don't know why it isn't used; it looks way better). How many teams have pink in their jersey? None (it would have been correct for Rajasthan Royals to have a pink jersey because Pink City, but whatever).

Many teams used to have such good looking jerseys but they ruined it. Deccan Chargers in pure black looked so classy. Kolkata Knight Riders was my favourite team when it had the cool black and gold jersey (sure they came last in Season 2, but at least they looked good while doing so). Pune Warriors India also had such a cool black and white jersey but they changed it to and ugly blue. KKR changed gold to blue because...reasons? Mumbai Indians' jersey used to look like India's jersey until they decided not to let it anymore.

And finally the rankings. Every single time the winner is always CSK or MI. Why can't we let Delhi or Bangalore win for once? Since there are only 8 teams it is so repetitive to see only two teams winning that I finally gave up watching a few years back. Now IPL is all about the Jio and White Hat Jr ads, so I'm not interested in seeing anything which doesn't have any diversity in it. I don't even have a favourite team at this point, although I still support Delhi Capitals since I'm from Delhi. But I do have a bête-noir team: Punjab Kings. The only reason why I'm giving this an above average rating is because that ugly red team has still not won. The day it wins, I will completely give up on IPL.

IPL was fun to watch back when it began, because back then we didn't have any league in our country, and just seeing 8 teams play for our respective cities/states was really refreshing. You know like how we think Simpsons Hit and Run is the perfect open world game until we see GTA? Similarly now we have much bigger leagues like PKL and ISL, which show us more teams and give us more time to cheer for our favourite teams. It is time IPL should also expand. There is no point trying to make a league if the opening match begins from a quarterfinal.

The New Mutants (2020)

The VFX editor's back must be hurting from carrying the entire movie

[6/10 · 9 October 2021]

I had heard of The New Mutants a lot, and seeing how awesome it looked I thought I should really give it a try. On top of that it was even going to be a horror movie so a superhero-horror could be a fantastic combination (Unbreakable Trilogy, Brightburn - it always works for me). And now that I have just seen it, I feel betrayed to levels I cannot even comprehend. The above average rating that I'm giving this movie is only for the awesome visual effects. The CGI is very well done and the colour grading is on point. But that's pretty much it.

The New Mutants is not even one and a half hours long. Normally I would have complained about it since I hate it when movies charge five hundred rupees and don't entertain us for even two hours, but since it was released digitally in the middle of a pandemic I will allow it, since it means I get more time to watch something else. However, this movie even lacks a plot. Not a cohesive plot or a good plot, but a plot itself. The only thing we get in the runtime is the exposition, kissing scenes, teenagers partying and occasionally back stories. In most of the scenes I would start laughing because of how badly the scenes were done.

The acting is done very badly, especially by Dani, which is ironic considering she's the main character. Her only personality is that she is a Native American. Her backstory concerns that, her being bullied concerns that, her character development concerns that, and heck, the opening and closing speeches also concern that! The score is also very, very bad. There are so many 'scary' scenes in this movie which could have legit scared me if the background music and camera angles were better. And this movie had so many subplots which were never talked about. I guess there was supposed to be a sequel to this where this would have been talked about more, too bad.

If you just remove the VFX this movie would become the worst in the X-Men franchise. One thing I really like about X-Men movies is that it can never be completely bad. I'd put this movie above at least Dark Phoenix and The Last Stand because of how good it looks. I read some reviews here and found out this movie had a lot of studio meddling, so I'd give it a benefit of doubt. Probably it could have been something better, but we will never know.

The Godfather (1972)

Wait, films like this used to exist in the 70's?

[9/10 · 7 October 2021]

I'm gonna be a little too honest here. I only watched The Godfather in peer pressure. I don't even like old Hollywood films. I always start feeling drowsy while watching them. Not only is the camera quality too bleak, but the accent of the time was also very illegible. But this one was fun to watch. I saw it on Prime Video and took multiple sittings to watch this. I finished it 6 months ago but I remember seeing it like it was yesterday. Being from India, I have always thought of 70's films to be very family friendly and musical. But this isn't one of them. This one, in simple words, is metal.

The Godfather is probably what has inspired an entire genre of crime films. It is like what Star Wars is to fantasy, or what Superman is to the superhero genre (man, all 70's films have been so revolutionary in Hollywood). The whole idea of two groups of mafia fighting out each other in the most brutal way possible gave rise to Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, Gangs of Wasseypur, the Mafia game trilogy, and even this film's two sequels. That is the amount of cultural impact this film has left. Don Corleone has become a household name now.

The action scenes, the music, the acting, everything is legendary. I legit screamed at the scene where they put the horse's head in that man's bed. We see many times people learning acting by watching The Godfather films. The only problem I had, however, was what I said in the beginning of the review. The sound is not clear at all. When Vito Corleone speaks he sounds like he is swishing saliva in his mouth like a washing machine. It almost feels like the captions are saying something completely different from what the captions are saying. I finally gave up and switched to Hindi because the English ADR was so bad.

I really wish The Godfather was a standalone film. It has one of the most satisfying ending in all the old films. It really didn't need those terrible sequels which don't even have a Hindi dub. Although it has been almost 50 years since it released, it still feels like it would spark outrage among certain sections if a Bollywood adaptation would be made. Definitely way ahead of its time. I would have recommended it to everyone, except everyone I know is either not interested in cinematography or has already seen it.

Gabbar Is Back (2015)

This film was most probably made to "cOnNeCt WiTh ThE yOuTh"

[6/10 · 29 September 2021]

You know, sometimes when I look at a film I can imagine exactly what the director had in mind while making it. This film was clearly made to "connect with the youth", the "youth" will find it relatable, and it will go very well with the "youth". I want to ask all these directors, have you ever seen a youth in real life? Do you even know what a youth looks like? No one is interested in seeing some random dude calling himself Gabbar Singh and doing extrajudicial killing for his country. Such an appeal is only good for connecting with the uncles with moustache and a bald spot.

So Gabbar is Back is about a man whose wife was killed because of corruption and now he is out being a vigilante, killing everyone who does corruption. First of all, WTF? And secondly, dude, you aren't doing something legal either. Killing is an even worse crime than corruption. If they were aiming to make something along the lines of vigilante superheroes like Batman or Daredevil then mind you, they NEVER kill. They only beat up, torture and scare their enemies so that they don't do such things ever again. Now to cOnNeCt WiTh ThE yOuTh they introduce Shruti Hassan to play a "dumb millennial" who always keeps looking at data from her phone. She is saved from a road accident while she's telling Gabbar that people die from road accidents.

And of course when Gabbar becomes famous the yOuTh starts talking about him. There's a GiRl who says she has heard Gabbar is very cUtE, to which a boy asks how she can tell if no one has seen him. Because that's how GiRlS talk like, right? The biggest character conflict comes when one of Gabbar's men learns his father has also been caught by Gabbar, and that conflict basically lasts for 5 seconds after which he says everyone whom they have killed was someone's father. In the end Gabbar gives a speech about corruption on top of the police van which was taking him away. And then he gets hanged and everyone lives happily ever after. It's not like corruption will never happen again, right?

But in all honesty I have given this film an above average rating because of two reasons. First, because I saw it when I was a dumb child. I didn't have much knowledge about filmmaking and cinematography. And secondly because I am a huge sucker for Akshay Kumar. This is probably his best look of all time. Sure this film looks like a carbon copy of those mindless South Indian films, but at least it does entertain while it lasts. The acting is quite decent, the songs are also very good (considering nowadays we only get garbage in the name of Bollywood music). The idea of a known villain's name being used wasn't good since Akshay Kumar looks nothing like Gabbar Singh in this film, but at least the references were pretty much on the point.

I don't think I will ever tolerate seeing this film any time again in my whole life. This is an "out of sight, out of mind" type film, so obviously a one time watch if you're a part of the casual audience. But in any other case, I'd prefer you stay away from this film just like how the director of this film stayed away from the yOuTh while wondering what they look like (this is a good running joke though).

Jurassic Park (1993)

I got what I wanted

[10/10 · 29 September 2021]

As a kid I often used to hear people talk about Jurassic Park, but since I didn't know English and I don't like watching old movies, I didn't really feel like checking this out. It was only after I gained interest in watching movies did I decide to give this a look. I just got my Prime subscription and had seen everything, so I decided to give this a try. And boy was I surprised! I didn't even know what I was going to expect and being a huge sucker for wildlife and natural environment, this movie made me delve into a fantasy world. Undoubtedly this is an iconic movie right off the bat.

Jurassic Park has some of the most iconic characters from the 90s science fiction. The reason being that in spite of being a movie about dinosaurs, it was able to put the human characters inside with such effortlessness. I really liked John Hammond. What he did in the movie is something I'd really want to see happen in real life. Ian Malcolm also made the side characters look very interesting, as though he alone carried the burden of the comic relief scenes. And when it comes to the CGI, I don't think we even need enough words. This was fire right from the start. Seeing dinosaurs just do something on the screen and behave like actual wild animals was so awesome.

The story was also pretty good. The idea that a scientist has created a wildlife sanctuary for dinosaurs where we travel using an self driven car is a fantasy for many Millennials and Gen-Z alike. If something like that happens in real life we will definitely want to give it a look. And seeing what all misadventures they had to go through, we have the uneasy feeling watching it. The T-Rex scenes still hold very well, especially the iconic part where the children are being driven away in the car.

I really wanted Jurassic Park to be a standalone movie, which could be remastered into 4K as time and technology gets better. Even today it doesn't look outdated, other than the fact that some dinosaurs have been discovered to look different like the velociraptor, and the camera quality is very 90s-ish. But watching it on a big TV really gives the feel of seeing it in a theatre due to the old resolution. A definite recommendation from me.

Chacha Vidhayak Hain Humare (2018–2024)

Good for the laughs but not good enough to be put on a premium streaming service like Amazon Prime

[7/10 · 23 September 2021]

Let's get real - we all came to watch Chacha Vidhayak Hain Humare because of Zakir Khan and his comic timing. And the web series absolutely delivered on that. This is one of the first things I watched after I got a Prime subscription. Zakir Khan used to be my neighbour when I was a kid so I've always had a soft spot for him. But even though this show is enjoyable while it lasts, it neither leaves behind good memories nor it feels like a web series worth paying for. It looks decent to say the least.

I've had this habit that I always call shows with this quality as web series, since whenever I hear the word "web series", I always think about the TVF Originals. Since then the word has stuck with me. And this web series looks exactly like that. There is no concern given to the cinematography or the ADR. It feels like a low budget drama, so low that they didn't even bother adding Hindi subtitles. And in protest I will also not bother writing a long review like I do for other shows. While the first season was pretty solid, the second season started dwindling a lot. The whole idea of Ronnie trying to be a bigger politician by completely disregarding everyone around him was actually a pretty bad move.

Although I don't exactly hold this web series dearly, I will continue to watch it further just to see where the story goes further. After all the second season has ended with many sequel baits, so I won't be giving up on it any time soon. Although I do feel that a web series of this quality is better suited on a free OTT platform like MX Player or TVF Play.

The Fast and the Furious (2001)

Cut the chit chat. We want to see racing!

[4/10 · 23 September 2021]

If I were alive in my full senses in 2001 and had seen The Fast and the Furious, there is no way I could have possibly thought that this film will turn into a full blown franchise in the coming years. I mean the whole concept of these films is basically the cutscenes of a Need for Speed game. But still since I thought probably this franchise is supposed to be about something other than that too, I decided to give it a watch just to prove myself wrong. And I was wrong. This franchise isn't just about the racing. It's also about talking, talking and even more talking.

The Fast and the Furious is not exactly a kind of a film that I would call memorable. The only scenes I remember from it are the beginning where Brian does the illegal street racing, the part where his secret identity is blown up and where the team is doing the truck stunts (I only remember that part because of the meme template). Other than that when it comes to this film, my mind literally goes blank. And wouldn't it be? I was watching it without subtitles in the metro while travelling for college. When I do this I only remember the most memorable scenes from a movie. From here I only remembered that much.

I really liked the character of Brian. It's really sad that Paul Walker is no longer with us. He's literally the reason why I decided to continue watching this franchise, otherwise I'd have given up just like I did for Stuart Little, Hotel Transylvania and Jurassic Park. Thankfully this franchise becomes better with the sequels and redeems the name. I also liked Dominic in this film (but just this one). His dialogue about not mattering whether we lose by an inch or a mile really made me ponder a lot.

Honestly this really goes above my head how a film with so much talking turned into what it is today. It's like if you don't give up on a bad film you can actually create an empire and then redeem your old films (looking at you Warner Bros). This film has gained a cult status among the fans and I respect that decision. I would have loved to rewatch this film to prove myself wrong, but remembering how much talking happens in it and the fact that it doesn't have the same payoff as a superhero or sci-fi movie really turns me off.

Hotel Transylvania (2012)

Fun but also cringy

[7/10 · 23 September 2021]

This movie was coming on the TV, so I was watching it with my mom. There were many scenes from this movie that were so cringy I felt like my mom would get furious (I will talk about them later). She didn't say anything, but I was feeling so ashamed I was trying to hide my face. Hotel Transylvania is one of those movies that are fun to watch while they last, but the moment they are over you will have nothing to remember them for. It's a generic comedy movie, similar to Minions, except this is not a cultural phenomenon. And that's not a bad thing.

The story of this movie is pretty straightforward. Dracula's daughter has her 116th birthday so he has arranged a party for her with all the other monsters. However, a human has also sneaked into the party disguised as a monster and let me tell you, he's really, really disgusting and insensitive. And of course Dracula's daughter and he fall in love with each other because they are teenagers and that's literally what teenagers always do. So now Dracula is very angry because his family has been hiding from humans. So finally when he drives that human away his daughter gets all moody, and he's forced to get him back.

There are many good things about this movie. The animation is pretty good. The comedy scenes also made me laugh, even though most of them aren't really clever jokes their references to the monsters and the comic timing make up for it. The storytelling is also not generic at all, but rather it is more focused on showing the good parts over the otherwise usual, boring "character conflicts" and plot twists. I really liked Dracula in this movie. The human was also very relatable.

The bad things, however, are also pretty overwhelming. First of all, like I said, it's very forgettable. You must have figured out by now that I have already forgotten the names of all the characters other than Dracula because he is a cultural phenomenon (not because of this movie of course). That's why I have been calling the characters "the human" and "Dracula's daughter" since I don't even remember what their names were. Secondly like I said, there was too much cringe. The parts where Dracula's daughter says that she will give up on her father, someone she has been with for over a hundred years, for a snobby teenage tourist she met a couple of minutes ago even though she can't possibly be with him. And Dracula actually decided to help her, instead of slapping her and getting her on the right path. My mom is strictly for arranged marriages, so seeing those scenes with her made me feel she will say this is propaganda. Thank Satan she didn't say it.

For me Hotel Transylvania is in the same leagues as Stuart Little and Jurassic Park. Yes it was fun and I liked it and all, but I don't have the courage to either rewatch it or see the sequels. It's too tiring to watch, so I guess I won't ever talk about it after having written this review.

Cubicles (2019– )

Yet another well made web series by TVF

[9/10 · 21 September 2021]

I had decided to take a break from TVF after I got a Prime subscription. And when I came back I saw that there was a new web series, which was this one of course. Cubicles is a pretty well made show that gives a social commentary on the life of a newly recruited employee in a software company. The web series is fun to watch because of its humorous and relatable content. I really think this one is among the better web series that TVF has made, and also one of the most underrated ones, considering I have never seen anyone talk about it.

Cubicles is a story about a man who has received a new job at a software company. He lives with his friend and together they try to earn their living and decide on the things they have to buy. In the first episode the man is shown to struggle with his job. His card does not work, he gets framed for plagiarism, no one wants to talk to him, he gets scolded by both his boss and his HR and he ends up sitting in the ladies' washroom. But as he decides to slowly adjust himself to the new lifestyle, he finds new friends, patches up problems between his boss and HR and makes friends with the same bald man who had framed him for plagiarism.

Cubicles has a pretty good set design. It seems like an upgrade from the previous works of TVF. One of the things that strike me the most about it is the new take on this drama. Unlike previous TVF Original web series, this one is not exactly a comedy, even though it does have its fair share of light moments. This one is more about the emotions, the score, the romance and the wholesomeness. The problem with this web series is, however, it is not very memorable. As you could have already seen by now that I have already forgotten the names of all the characters. The impact of this web series is very weak because of its lack of usual humour. Everything about this web series is very blurry as I try to remember it while writing this review. This is the reason why no one is talking about it.

Since Cubicles does not contain any cuss words, it is safe to say that one can watch it with the whole family. This web series is also a good thing to show to your parents if they ask what TVF is, and probably can interest them in watching this too. It is one of my favourite TVF Originals after probably only Kota Factory, and that is understood since that web series is so iconic. I'd definitely recommend anyone to watch this.

TVF Tripling (2016– )

Good for a casual watch

[8/10 · 21 September 2021]

I began watching this web series back when I started going to college. Since TVF Play was the first OTT platform I had on my phone, I always used to download TVF Originals episodes before leaving my house, and then watched the episodes in the metro while travelling. So TVF Tripling was the first web series I started watching, since I had heard about it back when it came, but since my 12th class was going on I didn't have the opportunity to watch it. I finally watched it and it was absolutely hilarious. Considering this was one of the OG TVF Originals, of course there were drawbacks.

TVF Tripling is the story of a nuclear family of five members - the father, the mother, their two sons Chandan and Chitwan, and their daughter Chanchal. Chandan is a very serious man who always takes his work seriously, Chitwan is a casual, happy go lucky guy who doesn't care about anything and Chandan is an erratic woman married to a prince from Rajasthan who basically has nothing but still behaves like a royal. All three of them come together to go on a road trip to meet their parents in their new villa.

In the second season, Chandan had written a book on the previous season's incidents, which as usual offended the subjects of Rajasthan. This isn't inaccurate at all, since just two reviews below you can see a 1 star rating given by shekhawats-33559 for the very same reason. The sibling trio joins for another road trip to find Chanchal's husband. The season introduces more characters, which makes the show just as much interesting. The comic timing of Chitwan is the best thing about this web series in my opinion.

The series is very funny in many places. It leaves many good memories. Considering it is made for free and that web series hadn't been successfully implemented in Hindi before, they have actually done a pretty good job. Other than Tata Tiago's ad, there is nothing that makes it feel like a regular YouTube video. However, there are many problems in it too. The abuses look very forced, as if they don't belong in those sentences or circumstances. The cinematography can also not be forgiven, since colour grading and aspect ratio can be done for free on any video editing software in at max two minutes.

Although TVF has been raising the bar with every next web series, this is the one that can be considered the OG. I personally didn't like Permanent Roommates as much, so this is the first web series which I actually thought was good. I'd say you should absolutely go for it, considering it has aged pretty well and has a good sense of humour. Although the content it has would have been more suitable for a family entertainment, if it weren't for all those abuses.