Change Your Image
garg4269
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Phone Bhoot (2022)
This movie makes Bhoot Police look like a masterpiece
This movie (if you can call it that) is an incoherent mess of unfunny scenes. I kid you not, the funniest scene in this borefest is the cameo of the guys from fukrey movie franchise.
This movie is only a poor attempt at comedy, and does not have an iota of fear-inducing horror. I doubt that even a 5 year old child would be scared by the few jump scares in this movie.
There is barely a story, which only gets like 15-20 minutes of the actual runtime. The script is almost non-existent. Looks like instead of a script, somebody just lazily jotted out notes for possible scenes in the name of script, and then asked the actors to perform them as they saw fit.
The acting is atrocious, and Katrina Kaif is the worst offender. To her credit, it is not for lack of trying. Jackie Shroff's character is more a caricature than a villainous character. Only Siddhant and Ishaan showed better acting chops, though that's not much to say, given how low the bar was for acting in this movie.
Looking at the imdb rating (5.9 at the time of writing), I thought to give it a try on OTT, but I honestly want my time back. It's not worth a watch even on OTT. I'd recommend you to watch any of the classific indian horror comedies (e.g. Bhool Bhulaiya, Stree) rather than wasting time over this.
I thought Bhoot Police (featuring Saif, Arjun, Yami Gautam and Jacqueline) was bad, but compared to Phone Bhoot, it now looks like a masterpiece. Sure, Bhoot Police had bad acting, cheesy dialogues, mindless story, but at least it had acting, dialogues and story. By comparison, Phone Bhoot is a directionless, storyless, acting-less, inconsistent piece of hot mess.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Unparalleled visuals, flawed storyline
For a film that had 13 years in the waiting, Avatar: The way of water is visually satisfying, but nothing more.
Given that it follows after Avatar, which was arguably the most awaited movie of its time and was also the highest grosser for 13 years (discounting the brief period that it was temporarily dethroned by Avengers: Endgame), the expectations were obviously through the roof for this sequel, and it delivered. Well, almost did. Well, at least in some departments.
First, let talk about the positives:
Visuals: If Avatar told us what 3D is, the way of water reminds us how powerful CGI, motion-capture, creative imagination, vivid colorful canvases are at creating breathtaking visuals. The movie, especially the ocean scenes are unparalleled in cinema history, and probably will remain so until Avatar 3. You lose yourself in the flora and fauna of Pandora and don't want to go back to the real world.
Character development: This is a big improvement since the first movie. There are tons of new characters, and this time the characters are more fleshed out and little more human and relatable. Though this improvement is limited to the Sully family and Colonel Quaritch.
Now, let's talk about the negatives:
Storyline: The story is flawed to say the least. All the characters motivations in this movie are either stupid or downright absurd. RDA's motivation to send a new mission to Pandora isn't Unobtainium anymore, but revenge for Quaritch. Seriously? Jake's motivation to join the sea clan. First, what convinces him that Quaritch won't just kill the Omatikaya people, and second Jake's just involving the Metakayina people in his war unnecessarily, signing their death warrants.
If I had to guess.. the only real motivation is Cameron's incessant urge to cash in Avatar's success and his obsession with the ocean.
Duration: The movie clocks in at 3 hrs 12 minutes, and yet the story is wafer-thin. For all the hullabaloo about it, the ocean first features in the movie 45 minutes in. There is one particular scene which goes on for 30-40 minutes and story barely moves forward; not saying it isn't beautiful, it's serene, it's pristine, it's like poetry in 3D. The final battle also drags on for about an hour, and yets feels repetitive, reminiscent of so many yesteryear movies like Titanic, Apocalypse now etc. Many a times, the movie feels like a documentary about how beautiful and varied ocean life is.
Underused characters: Apart from the Sullys and Quaritch are underused. Tonowari, Ronal and the sea clan are inexplicably missing from the final battle, which goes on for almost an hour. In the bad guys, it's Quaritch all the way, others are just there to make up numbers. General Ardmore is introduced as if she is going to be an important character, but disappears completely pretty soon.
My favorite characters from this movie were Kiri and Lo'ak. Spider is another important character to look out for, I have a strong feeling that he'll turn villain in movie 3 or 4.
I had a lot more to write about it, but most people won't read this far anyhow. I'd summarize it by saying that Avatar: The way of water is a worthy sequel, if a sequel was really required. I also think that this might just break Avatar's box office collection, though it's a tall mountain to be scaled.
Crash Course (2022)
Kota Factory: Game of Thrones version
As most reviews already say, this series is a darker version of Kota Factory. I would largely agree with that and would call it a depiction of the dark underbelly and the hard truths of the coaching institutes running in Kota, the coaching hub of India. Given the amount of politics, rivalry, numerous plot-threads, the show could easily be called: Kota Factory: Game of Thrones version. Though, there are no dragons or zombies here, at least not literal ones.
Before continuing, let me be upfront and confess that though I have cleared JEE and thus have experienced 4 years of hostel life at IIT, I have never studied or taken coaching at Kota. So my knowledge on the subject of kota coaching institutes is purely based on whatever I have heard from my batchmates and IIT aspirants, and not personal experience.
The story of the show is convincing, at least by Indian web-series standard, though not all of its subplots work. Some subplots are completely unnecessary (e.g. The relationship of Antara and Rakesh, Panther boys, Mayank Batra's murder), some are just stretched too far (e.g. Shanaya's pregnancy and abortion) and some are just underdeveloped (e.g. Shanaya's relationship with her uncle and aunt or that of Vidhi with her parents which would have been great insights into why they did what they did.). Mayank Batra's murder is so hurried and brushed under the carpet so fast that it makes me feel that it was written by a different writer altogether.
One big issue I have with it is that there is no almost light moment, every moment varies from serious to damn serious to WTF.
The acting is pretty good for a web series, something that Prime videos has now been consistent at for a long time now. Annu Kapoor is of course the captain of the ship who seems to be controlling the game, and he is complemented well by Udit Arora, Bhanu Uday, Pranay Pachauri, and Anushka Kaushik in other lead roles. All the kids have done well for what is the first major acting gig for most of them. Siddharth Kak is underused, and Bidita Bag's character is hard to understand.
Another notable acting failure to mention is that of Vidhi's father.. his acting makes me think that either his role was poorly written, or he is just a terrible actor; he doesn't any emotion other than a straight-faced angry old man even once, even when he's supposed to be grieving.
The background score is engaging, the cinematography is very colorful (one big clear difference from Kota Factory which is almost monochromatic).
The episodic length is being criticized more than it should be. In my opinion, the length was okay, but the number of episodes could be brought down to 7 or 8 by reducing unnecessary and overdrawn sequences.
The last episode leaves many questions unanswered and thus enough scope for a 2nd season, which I hope comes before people forget about this first season altogether.
All in all, this is definitely a one-time watch for anyone who has studied at Kota, or has ever been a part of hostel life, or is just looking for a serious drama about the cut-throat world we live in. 7 out of 10 for me.
Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana (2017)
Charming leads, but non-sensical storyline
This is a typical bollywood romantic movie, though some twists and turns. The leads (the most eligible new Hindi movie actor Rajkummar Rao and bubbly and drop-dead-gorgeous Kriti Kharbanda) go from lovers to enemies and finally back to lovers. Their chemistry is what carries this movie.
The story is non-sensical to say the least.
The boy is a lowly clerk in a govt office and the girl is a aspirant for a government officer post.
The couple fall in love after their marriage is arranged. They are all set to have marital bliss. But the girl leaves her parental home on the wedding night, just as the wedding procession arrives, fearing that her would be in-laws won't let her work after marriage. The groom's family is devastated and to make matters worse, the bride's family threaten to kill them over money matters. Afterwards, the groom's father goes into depression and the family goes through all sorts of difficulties and societal backlash because of this. The girl never bothers to even contact or apologize the her "loved one".
Five years later, the tables have turned. The hero is now an IAS officer, the DM of the area where the heroine is his junior officer. She is the prime suspect in a huge bribery scam and is being investigated by the same estranged lover boy, who warns her to take revenge for everything she and her family did to him and his family. She apologizes to him, tries to seduce him, threaten him and all the viles of a woman to try to get him to let her off the hook. He teases her, insults her, but finally saves her from the real perpetrators of the crime.
Eventually of course since it is bollywood, the boy confesses his love for her and desperately pursues her. She scares him at first by making him meet her fake-fiance, but finally accepts him and marries him.
And they live happily ever after.
The only saving grace of this movie are the leads, their chemistry and the music. Though the message they are sending out is wrong. This is another one in long line of the movies telling us that no matter what the woman does, her man will always forgive her. This is not true, and it just sets wrong expectations for all the women out there.
Radhe Shyam (2022)
An interesting premise miserably failed in execution
The writers had a beautiful premise: What if a perfect fortune-teller predicts his own future wrong or at least doubts his capabilities in predicting his own future. But that's where the beauty of the story ends. They couldn't develop the story well at all. They could have easily added subplots, flashbacks, backstories etc and could have also made the story a little more sensible. The ending is atrocious, too contrived and ridiculous to accept.
The only saving grace of this movie really is the gorgeous Pooja Hegde who outshines Prabhas in every aspect including acting in this movie.
A Thursday (2022)
An okay thriller turned feminist garbage
This movie is an unconnected sequel to the phenomenal 'A Wednesday' starring Anupam Kher and Nasiruddin Shah, which released back in 2008. So, expectations were high. But the film falls flat on those expectations.
Though there are very little positives about this film, let me start with what's good in this film.
1. Yami Gautam's acting and looks. She looks gorgeous as always. This is also her biggest acting, and best acting so far, which isn't really saying much.
2. Mounting tension and suspense in the first half. Even though the circumstances are ridiculous, at least the tension and the suspense are somewhat enjoyable in the first half.
Now, on to negatives (not an exhaustive list) which are a dime-a-dozen in this film, in no particular
1. Predictable ending.. since this is in the 'A Wednesday' series, it was obvious from the start whether Naina is a villain or just a victim. The only suspense was about her reason for doing what she's doing, and that becomes very clear early on in the 2nd half, ending any remaining mystery.
2. Ridiculous circumstances: A single petite woman (not specially trained or anything), suffering from PTSD, being able to kidnap 16 kids and 2 adults, holding the whole Maharashtra police department, and even the most powerful person in the country at the tip of her finger, despite everyone knowing her identity, her location and her background, only because of her hostages. This was well beyond even suspension of disbelief. May be Maharashtra police is really that incompetent.
3. Acting: Besides Yami and Dimple Kapadia who faulted occasionally, everyone else acted badly, acting in a very cliched manner, mostly over-acting, giving lectures to others. Even Maya Sarao, who usually plays the suave independent working woman very well seemed to be out of her depth in this movie. The crown of course goes to Neha Dhupia, who played the most annoying pregnant useless senior cop in the movie. The less said about the guy playing the fiance the better.
4. Writing: Like I said above, the writer possibly lives in a lalaland where holding people as hostage, threatening police, or even threatening big powerful people is a joke that anybody can do. None of the characters are well-fleshed out, even that of Naina's. We learn about her past, but never really feel it or experience it on screening. The two super cops are barely touched on the surface, while some flashbacks could have easily made their characters more interesting and believable.
5. The (minor) twist at the end was mostly unconsequential. It seemed forced and completely out-of-place or shocking.
6. The demand that Yami makes at the end, i.e. Make rape punishable by death, is laughable at best. Rape, along with murder is one of the only two crimes in India, which enjoy the privilege of capital punishment in special circumstances and that of zero-FIR. To ask death penalty for all rapists will only make the situation worse in a country where 90% rape cases are false and are reported purely for revenge and/or for monetary gain.
Enough with the feminazism that is so prevalent in India.
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
The mother of all crossover movies
This is by far the best spiderman movie in my opinion. I'm a big fan of spiderman for almost two and half decades since I was in school. This is also in my top 5 MCU movies. This movie brings together all the spidy villains featured in the Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield movies, except of course Venom who features in a post-credits scene.
The movie starts exactly where 'Far from home' ended. Spiderman's identity is out and the he's suspected of murdering Mysterio. The whole world hates him, partly fueled by our most consistent annoying Daily Bugel editor JJJ, who tells everyone that he told them so (i.e. That spiderman is a villain after all). This leads to MJ and Ned getting caught in the crossfire and all 3 of them losing out on their university admissions. Peter approaches Dr. Strange to request him to wipe the whole world clean of the knowledge that Peter Parker is Spiderman. Strange agrees to help, but the spell goes awry (because of Peter's many interventions as the trailer shows). Strange tries to contain the damage, but apparently some people from other universes have slipped into this universe. These include Doc Oc, Green Goblin, Electro, Dr Lizard and Sandman. But that's not all, there are two more unexepected characters who have come in.. Anyhow long story short, Aunt May dies though after repeating the age-old spiderman wisdom 'With great power ...' ; Peter and Strange nab and send all the villains back to their universes. However, it all comes at the cost of Strange having to wipe Peter Parker off the world's memory.
The acting is great. The humour is on the higher side of a typical MCU movie. The writing is very tight in first hour and then in last half hour. Though for an hour in the middle, it drags on for no good reason at all. The last half hour more than makes up for it though. It blew me up for sure.
If you haven't watched it in a theatre, don't wait and go now. This is an experience you just can't fully enjoy on a small screen, especially the final fight scene.
The most incredible part of this movie are its action and the emotions you go through, because it makes you feel spiderman's pain and dilemma. This is the same pain and dilemma that every teenager goes through at some point or the other.
Shershaah (2021)
Must watch for every Indian
This movie shows the passion and love (late) Captain Vikram Batra had for his country. It shows the extent to which a soldier can go to defend his country and to take back his country from his enemies. It shows that a soldier won't back down despite having completed his assignment and months of battle fatigue. It shows how a true leader will risk even his life to save his troops.
The movie Shershaah (Captain Batra's codename in Kargil war) is the life-story of Kargil-hero late Captain Vikram Batra, who played a great role in getting back important peaks from pakistani infiltrators/terrorists during kargil war. This is his coming of age story from a happy-go-lucky school boy to a lover, to a passionate soldier to great leader who gave his life to see the tricolour planted on the last barrack on point 4875 during Kargil war.
The movie isn't an out-and-out war movie. The movie is over 2 hours and the war really kicks in the last 45 minutes or so, but the movie is engaging throughout nonetheless. In fact there are plenty of action scenes before the war showing how Vikram was crazy and fearless from the get go.
The only boring scenes come when Kiara Adwani is on screen as Vikram's love interest. She hams through her entire role as she always does.
Siddharth's acting is effortless. In fact, he is the only character who will stay with you weeks to months after you have finished watching it. This is his best performance by a big margin.
The movie also does full justice to the war story. It does cut some corners in story and takes some liberties, but otherwise it tries to stick very closely to the real events and dates etc. The action is very realistic too, but something it makes you wonder how Vikram Batra never gets shot even once despite being in line of fire so many times, except until the last scene where he does get fatally wounded.
I am giving it 7 stars of 10. The things that could have been improved: The casting (all except Siddharth had better alternatives), music (could have been much better, remember Border?), movie's pacing (could have been cut short by 15-20 minutes by cutting some unnecessary scenes like love-related scenes, childhood scenes (which go on for too long).
Welcome Home (2020)
A good watch, though somewhat overrated
I finished watching this movie just now, and I gotta say that it's overrated. It's good no doubt, but not so so good that every critic should go gaga over it. It is very shocking, builds up suspense till about half-point, and in the end turns into a gore fest. Hollywood is swarming with such slasher gory movies. It may be new to Bollywood, but in no way original.
Another criticism; some critics are calling it a feminist movie, while this movie shows all women to be under men's thumbs be it a brother, father, husband, a fiance, or even a kidnapper. This movie is a bad example of feminism.
Here is a list of some things I didn't like about this movie.
1. The protagonists (the girls) are so stupid that they resemble the characters in a Ramsay film. They had their phones with them for a long time, but never bother calling police, friends or family. One of them even calls her brother, but just makes up some stupid excuse for not returning home in time. It's like she'd rather die than have her brother angry on her . I could give many more examples, but I don't want to spoil.
2. The gore is all mindless. There is no originality to it.
3. The villains are all just villains for no reason at all. I understand that the villains we fear are the ones who are mysterious. But we learn absolutely nothing (almost) about the villains in this movie. Sometimes understanding the villains back-stories' or motivations helps make things more realistic.
4. No major twist. I was hoping some major twist in the end. I even had a couple thought up in my mind. I was hoping the movie would top them, but it disappointed us by just giving a minor twist, which was like meh at that point given that we had seen more shocking things by this point.