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Reviews
Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)
Wish it was a series instead of 2hr movie
If director Matthew could have taken the initiative to make it into a series, using all his footages, this might have made more sense and it could have been something beautiful. But his approach was probably... Everybody has already read the book, so they would know which scene means what and what was the backstory, lemme just put a teaser and move to next teaser.
When i first saw the promo, i became intrigued and came to know this movie is based on a novel, so i got the book which is quite a delightful read. And i was pretty invested in Alex and Henry's journey, like Zahra, i was rooting for them too for their happy ending. It's not easy to cram so much of a book into a movie, but what happened here is , everything felt like roller coaster ride. There was such a rush to go from one scene to another, it just didn't feel seamless.
What was seamless though, the leads and their acting. It was like Nicholas and Taylor were hand carved to play Henry and Alex. The movie was totally carried by their presence. Rest were just going over my head.
There were some scenes which were done brilliantly, especially the texting and calling part between Alex and Henry in the beginning which made me feel pretty giddy and thought oukay, the movie's in good director's hand. Then Alex and Nora's conversation about Henry kissing him and what it means for him. And Alex storming the palace to confront his man.
But what wasn't done brilliantly was the relationship progressed way too faster without much build up. They became lovers too fast.
Alex growing his hair in a minute in Paris.
Henry's awful fake hair.
Painful to listen Uma.
The obvious use of green screen.
Zahra and Shaan and a few more things.
After watching the movie, my feeling is like, looking at the stills felt better than watching the actual movie, at least my imagination was not running at 200 km/hr. I could peacefully imagine the scenes using the stills as references.
Nimona (2023)
Lets break some stuff!!!
One of the best animated movies I've seen lately, far better than some forced representation, family friendly drama. A heartfelt thanks to all the people behind this movie, especially the animators, the shape shifting scenes were done so seamlessly, made me wish to be a shape shifter! The voiceover actors were chosen perfectly, Chloe killed it as Nimona. Riz and Eugene were two other gems.
There was chaos, there was destruction, there was fun, but most important, there was heart too. In places i got so emotional cause it does hit u hard when u realize the depth of the situation. Love the movie, love Nimona and so sorry for myself for not being able to watch it on the big screen.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (2023)
I didn't expect to like this !!!
The two seasons of Bridgertons made me pretty disappointed and i didn't wanna continue the series. When Queen Charlotte was announced, i was thinking the makers are just milking the series. Didn't wanna see it. Then everywhere in social media, there was nothing but praise for this spin off which actually didn't happen with the first 2 seasons. I was intrigued. I binged it and i want to say i liked it so much !!! I don't care bout if it's historically correct or not because its fantasy fiction and it was well made, that's what matters.
The casting of the young Charlotte was just brilliant. India was just the younger version of Golda from every single way. The sass, the fearlessness, the twinkle in her mischievous eyes, so uncannily similar. Young George was no less. Who could say this is Corey's first time acting in such a role !!! And their chemistry !!! U feel invested from the very first smile George bestowed upon Charlotte because when they smile, u smile, when they are distressed, u feel it too. And that's what had been missing from the first 2 seasons too, chemistry between the leads and acting talent. There were better actors who just overacted. But here, stellar performance from Golda, India and Corey.
And i can't not mention the love story of Reynolds and Brimsley, i was so rooting for them. Both Freddie and Sam were so believably good as lovers, i was pretty invested in them. So when Old Brimsley was dancing on his own, reliving his dance with Reynolds, i did tear up.
But my most favorite scene has to be the under the bed scene, just you and me. Both times.
Good acting, good direction, good dialogues do wonders for a show and this show has proven that, unlike "i burn for u" "u r the bane of my existence and the object of all my desires".
Though i could have done without the Danbury drama/ Violet drama. Instead i would have loved to see more of Charlotte- George, Brimsley - Reynolds.
Ghosted (2023)
Is it the same Ana !!!
Is it the same girl who blazed through the screen of No Time To Die and made ppl yarn for more of her !!! She had more of a screen presence there as an agent than in this one and she was there only for a few minutes! I don't know what directors told her about expressions during intense action scenes, it can't be "pretend u r playing racing game sitting at ur own couch".
And Chris phoning through his performance was as bad as Ana. Ryan Reynolds might have done a better job because he is better at being goofy than Chris. Ana and him should play brother and sister but i don't think even then there would be any chemistry as bro-sis.
This is super sad seeing two good actors wasted like this.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)
I genuinely wanted this movie to work
I liked the first Shazam because like Thor Ragnarok, it was a breath of fresh air in the gloomy doomy DC Universe. But then like Thor Love & Thunder, Shazam Fury of the Gods turned out to be a total nonsense of a movie.
Zachary Levi implied Dwayne Johnson somehow has sabotaged this movie and blamed PR team for not promoting it enough. Dude, when the script is so bad and actors were doing over the top acting, and Lucy Liu not doing any acting, however much u want, u can't make ppl like something so mediocre.
My biggest issue is the same theme of destruction in a city and Superheroes trying to save the day. This same theme has been exercised in every Superhero movie. When Superheros bring nothing but destruction in common ppl's lives, why should ppl hope for a hero to save them? At least Tony Stark and Batman are rich, so they could help to rebuild a city. But no way these kids could be paying for rebuild their city anew.
Then the casting of three Goddesses. They might be renowned actresses, but they were not made for these roles. Helen looked so out of place, Lucy Liu was no way near being a menacing antagonist and her one facial expression throughout the movie was really mood killer, especially in the last battle. Rachel was also not very impressive. Its like Salma Hayek from Eternals, just because they would get Goddesses titles, they probably agreed for the movie.
Zachary Levi as a man child was perfect but Billy and Shazam's characters don't match. His Billy persona is not so jolly molly. Freddy was so annoying, the forced romance arc between him and Anne was just cringy. Rest of the cast were also not so impressive that u could remember what they were doing in the movie.
But nobody can beat Wonder Woman when it comes to cringe acting. Just seriously, what was that !!! The worst cameo acting ever !!!
There's nothing in the movie i could say yayyyyyy, go Shazam, instead u gonna wish gooooo awayyyyy Shazam, can't take anymore.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Banking on the emotions of audiences for Chadwick Boseman
Did the world need another Black Panther movie after Chadwik's passing? NO.
Did Marvel need another Black Panther movie to make more money? Absolutely yes !!!
So what should Marvel do that appeal audiences without making that intention obvious? Simple, make it like this is a tribute to Chadwik and he would have wanted this series to go on. Very clever advertising and a heart wrenching trailer which of course gonna pull the strings of his fan's hearts were made and i am not ashamed to admit that my tears were flowing freely in the funeral scene and it showed in the Cast faces that they felt the same emotion.
And from there, there was nothing but just conversation after conversation. Namor's back story was presented with perfect visuals but the reasoning for his aggressive behavior could have been stronger. Just from finding one machine he became violent and wanted to finish Wakanda and Surface World if Wakanda doesn't incorporate !!! Just shows how unhinged the leaders truly are.
If there was more damage to his people or property, it might have been believable. Makers wasted hours in conversation but couldn't add some more reasoning for Namor's destructive behavior!!!
The action sequences were brief and the final battle between Shuri and Namor was needed to be a bit more elaborate. The fight between Black Panther and KillMonger was so epic, this one totally fades in comparison. Also agrees with Okoye, the Midnight Angel costume was not very eye pleasing, especially the head piece. It looked like a Power Puff girl suit. But Queen Ramonda's costumes were top notch, no doubt about it.
Yes, establishing a new character takes time. Need to tell the back story, the origin, the purpose of introducing it in a new movie. When the situation is like this, do it properly, make it a Series because now they have the platform for releasing those, justify the purpose of the story they are telling. Banking on people's emotion for a beloved actor's passing ,just so that they can earn more money, this is not a justified reason to make a 2 and a half hour movie which is as boring as rest of the Phase 4 movies (except Shang-Chi). Though must admit, it's less pathetic than the others.
And the best scene of the movie was the grilling chicken at the end.
Also my 3 stars are for Chadwik, the funeral scene, the Marvel logo containing his pictures and the end credit with his footages from Black Panther. My tears wouldn't stop.
I guess, with Phase 4 ending, i am also serving ties with Marvel because i don't see how they gonna make anything logical and interesting than what they have been making since End Game even with big name directors and actors.
Feludar Goyendagiri (2022)
Feluda is Back
Feluda is not just a name, Feluda is an emotion which only the fanatics can relate to. Over the years there were many movies on Feluda with some new twists here, some new additions to the story there, some parts omitted from the books, and terrible side casts. But Sabyasachi made the movies work. He was nowhere near the Feluda Satyajit Ray drew, but he was the Feluda he wrote. The charisma Soumitra and Sabyasachi brought to screen as Feluda is really hard to match and Tota had a huge responsibility to fill in the shoe. When i saw him as Feluda the first time, i was pleasantly surprised cause he does resemble young Sabyasachi and he has been in the previous Feluda movies. But then i saw Chinnomostar Obhishap and royally disappointed with his performance. It was so stoic and unemotional, his nervousness for the role showed throughout the series.
Then came Darjeeling Jomjomat. As someone mentioned in his/her review that the fanatics already know the story, so what matters most is the execution. Tota RC was more at ease this time around and i liked the Jatayu & Topshe. Some might find Jatayu overacting but no one can top Shaheb in that department. The guy who was Topshe once upon a time came back as a villain and delivered such a sub-par performance. I liked this Pulok Ghoshal better than the ones in Sandip Ray's movies. In the book, Jatayu mentions Pulok as chokra, some young guy. So this casting was better than those ancient Pulok Sandip Ray cast. The story telling through Sepia tone was a nice touch. And it was a straight story just like the book, no fantasy addition which Mr. Srijit likes to incorporate in most of his films and ruin them. So i am very surprised he managed to make something decent.
But this series wasn't without any faults. The worst thing was the theme song. It was like a cheerleading song for Feluda. It should have played only once in the first episode, not in all 6 of them. The background score when Feluda did find some clue or saying something intelligent, very annoying. The makeup for Tota RC in places were so heavy, especially in one shot when he was standing near a window and sunlight falling on his face, the make up looked like it was melting. The wigs used in the series looked so fake that u can say it's fake. Shaheb got the worst deal. Lip sync was below average, especially for the Police guy. Also Tota bro. And that shot with the leopard was so unnecessary, what can i say.
Yes, it's hard to match the personality of Soumitra and Sabyasachi as Feluda, but Tota RC has done a commendable job in this one which i can't say for Chinnomostar Obhishap. And this series was very straightforward which is something Srijit has never done before. As a Feluda fanatic, i would say a job well done. Could have been better? Maybe.
Bridgerton (2020)
Prepare yourself for Featherington instead of Bridgerton
Side characters trump over the Main Leads in Bridgerton Season 2.
To say Jonathan Bailey was robbed could be understatement. Bridgerton Season 2 is based on the book "Viscount who loved me" where Anthony played by Jonathan Bailey takes the lead. But unfortunately the screenplay did the opposite with his character in the new season. He had more presence in season 1 than what he got in S2. Instead too many unnecessary characters occupied the screen giving Anthony and Kate less importance in the whole 8 episodes. It was like the show is about the Featheringtons, Anthony and Kate are just fillers.
Sometimes the adaptations are done with a twist to keep the audiences on their toes so that they can connect with the book but at the same time anticipating is there gonna be a twist. But this story got twisted so badly, was like watching an Indian soap opera. I don't mind the blunder of history as this is a fantasy show, but destroying the main characters like they did here, i do mind. As i said, Jonathan had more passion and presence in S1 than S2. He couldn't do justice to his lead role because of the poor screenplay, instead Luke Thompson stole the show every time he was on screen along with Claudia. Ashley did amazing with what she was given and she did somewhat do justice to kate but my biggest disappointment was the character Edwina. The cast was so bang on but the character, just out of an Indian soap. The Edwina of the book was totally erased and re-written as a whiny needy girl who just wanted to be the Viscountess, not the girl who wanted to marry a scholar and marry for love. Here out of nowhere she fell in love with Anthony and determined to get married to him. The love triangle was sooooooo unnecessary.
These 3 were supposed to be the stars of S2, instead u gonna find they are the after thoughts cause somehow the writers thought showing the stories of Featheringtons, the queen, Will and his gentlemen club are more important than building the love story of Anthony and Kate. 8 episodes... They had 8 episodes to build the story but such missed opportunity.
The on screen chemistry between Jonathan and Ashley is sizzling but audiences were also robbed from those cause there wasn't a lot of those steamy scenes in S2 like S1 when it was promised to audience that this season gonna be more bold and daring and scandalous, but it wasn't. Still the little screen time they got for showing chemistry, both Jonathan and Ashley nailed the longing for each other beautifully.
But my disappointment still remains cause out of all the Bridgertons, i loved the story of Anthony and Kate, story of two strong willed people and how they fell in love despite Anthony being idiotic in some parts. The writers, director took the lovely story and managed to destroy it with their "creativity". So people, a fair warning, do not expect anything similar as the book other than the names. And those who thought gonna see some couple actions like Daphne and Simon, forget about it. Instead, be prepared to see Featherington instead of Bridgerton.
Turning Red (2022)
What are Men doing "Reviewing" a movie which they don't go through like Women 🙄
I see a lot of negative reviews about this movie which say the topic of a girl's puberty is gross and shouldn't be showing so openly to the world. And most of them of course Men and i am guessing they are not parents of teen girls and not subjected to the hormonal changes of teen girls which was pretty down played in the movie than this current generation teen drama.
I wouldn't call it the best Pixar movie out there but it was good and i can see many relatable aspects from observing many teens around that era of 2000s. Some people related the Red Panda situation to a girls menstruation, they find it offending that a taboo topic of ancient time could be shown so openly. Wake up ppl, its 2022 not 1800. Just because u feel uncomfortable to talk bout period doesn't mean others should feel it too, this subject should be taught to everyone cause its not something to be ashamed of, this is part of a girl's life, its a inconvenience which they have to suffer through every month, and the mood changing behavior should be understood. Ignoring and not acknowledging this topic by men just shows how self centered they are.
Some other Men said this is the "Horniest" Disney+Pixar movie ever. Again they definitely don't have teen daughters. If drooling over boy bands make Mei and her friends horny, that too from the year 2002, what are they gonna call the teens of today who are posting half naked, sometimes naked pics of themselves on Social Medias for the whole world to see, and the said Men drooling over those pics. There should be a limit to double standards along with stupid comments.
My issue with the movie is i felt there should have been more. It was rushed a bit without establishing the back story. Though observing the Chinese ppl from near, i know how much pressure they put on their children to be best at everything, the children just don't get time to be children after they start school. So i would say characters of Mei and Ming were just on point, just wish Jin had some more input. Though his cooking scene in the beginning was very amazing.
Then comes 4towns, there wasn't enough of them to understand why Mei and her friends worship them. There wasn't much for the audiences to get connected with 4towns, just one song that too sounds like Coldplay's "Hymn for the Weekend". Just wastage of Jordan Fisher and the other one liners. Along with Anne-Marie.
Mei's attraction to boys were also spot on but came abruptly. Drawing pictures in notebooks and then trying to hide them from parents is pretty common and it was shown nicely in the movie. But then Ming's reaction was absolutely of a possessive mother's.
When Mei turned into the Panda, the only thing that could calm her down was her friends but as a typical teen, could never admit it to her mother cause it is typical parents trait that someone who is different than their child are not worthy of the friendship. Mei knew that and so she never protested her mom's rant bout her friends, also threw her friends under the bus cause she didn't wanna loose her good girl image infront of her mother. That's what the teens actually do, infront of parents they are the good kids and anything bad, blame it on the friends, and infront of friends they are the cool guys.
Though at the end all were good, still the movie felt incomplete. The animations were beautiful, Mei's Red Panda avatar too adorable, the voice acting good, but still it lacked something. Not the same way Coco & Up hit u in the heart. But nonetheless, it did show what changes when a girl hits puberty, and that's a phase where every negative comments on them feel like their world is ending, need to rebel. So this movie is for parents to prepare themselves to be supportive of a teen's change, and for Teens to accept the changes and be open to parents to discuss those changes out, the parents were teens too 😂.
But my question remains, why so many "Men Critics" are reviewing this movie? Why no Woman critic is given the job from their editor ???
Eternals (2021)
What a mess !!!!!
Usually i am not into writing movie reviews but Eternals made me to create an account on IMDb just to share my sheer disappointment 😞 and this review is from a normal audience's POV, not a comic book lover's.
First of all, no disrespect to Chloe but from the beginning to the end, the only credible thing from her direction is the documentation of the locations like we see in National Geography. Other than that i didn't find her pace of direction for a Superhero Movie anything mention worthy 😞 since 2008 we have been associated with the MCU through Iron Man and we have seen how the stories have been building with each movie. But for Eternals, till the end i wasn't sure what was their purpose and what Ikeris was trying to do and why he just flew to the sun 🙄 the screenplay was just rip off of X-Men, Transformers. Arishem's monologues were just like what Optimus Prime used to sprout about humanity, planet and bla bla bla but more monotonous that made you just skip it just because they were that boring.
The pace of the movie was like a turtle learning to walk. Chloe could have done a lot more in the time she wasted just on Ikeris and Sersi, could have given the others some more screentime to establish their stories but no, she wasted footage on Ikeris walking behind Sersi like a lovesick puppy, a love story of ancient times which was quite unnecessary because of the slow pace.
Let's talk about the acting. This movie is the proof that not all movies with A list cast are the absolute best. The only persons who showed some personality were Kit, Lauren and Kumail. Rest of them including Angelina Jolie spent majority of their screentime crying. A superhero movie with crying Superheros, i couldn't digest it. When Loki and Iron Man died there wasn't a single person without tears in the theater, could hear the gasp and cleaning runny noses. But for Eternals, when Ajak/Gilgamesh died no reaction, why? Because people were already fade up with the on goings. I still cannot believe Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie agreed to this script where the writers themselves didn't know what the hell they were doing including the director. Salma's role was of no impact on screen because she died in the beginning and the flashbacks didn't give enough justification to her character as a leader. Same goes for Angelina, all she did either cry or fight, that too in brief scenes. Lauren was the most efficient in her role and the little screentime she got, she shined. Same for Kumail but his Bollywood number was the worst thing that could be described as a Bollywood number, that too with 4 months of practice 😴. Throughout the movie all Gemma Chang did was put on worried expressions and cry. And Richard Madden's Ikeris was awesome when fighting but that's the only likable part of that character. Sprite was also there for comic relief but it didn't happen much. Druid somehow was at least given some justification for his behavior and all Gilgamesh did was punching Deviants. Then comes the most controversial character as per the MCU people, Phastos who is the first ever black and gay superhero. Marvel made such a spectacle over this and bam...in the movie there's nothing of that spectacle. People are already pretty used to gay couples so they haven't seen something new. This is something pretty normal. But the actors portraying that gay couple have made such a huge deal out of it that you gonna feel something monumental has happened.
Now let's talk bout the Deviants. Till date i haven't understood what they wanted to do. And how they were able to go to all the locations the Eternals were going. And they just looked like the dragon from Shang Chi, and one exactly looked like Toothless from how to train ur Dragon, and the boss deviant just looked like Voldemort. So the CGI team just took some characters from other movies, added brunches to their features and gave them the name of Deviants, that's it.
And the only mentionable fight scene is when Makkari was beating the hell out of Ikeris. Rest of the fights even the fighting with Deviants are so forgettable. And that UniMind thing, at that point of the movie, it looked more bullshitty. What a rubbish final showdown.
Another mention, the ancient peoples. They way Chloe captured all those scenes were like they were doing theaters as background actors, the people showed no emotions, i guess they were told just be there and do nothing.
The saddest part is that when i watched their press, none of the actors were even remotely aware about their characters, they only knew text book versions of their powers, didn't do any character study and after watching the movie, i realized why would they invest themselves into deep study when their script is rubbish. Only the name MCU and the title of superhero along with the paycheck was important than character developing. Also Kumail and Salma did most of the press because they could make comedy out of everything when it should have been Gemma and Richard. But every interview they did, all same, so boring. And their overpraise for Chloe Zhao now seems so shallow cause no one who knows good scripts would be praising this script.
I could go on ranting more and that shows how disappointed i am over this movie,