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Reviews
Good Girls (2018)
Made for the Tik Tok Generation
I dont know what the hype and hoopla is all about.
I tried to like it, but this is one of the very few times that a series rated 7 above on IMDB is not good enough for me.
Maybe because its very cliched.
If you can go past the pilot episode then its for you.
One second its serious drama, next second its comedy time...it keeps shifting back and forth.
And you dont rob a store like, that was a joke. Drugs, gangs, murder, attempted rape, dying child, divorce, cheating husband...all in the pilot episode. This show is made for the tik tok generation.
The White Lotus (2021)
One Word - Brilliant !!
I dont know whats better - the actual show or its soundtrack.
The characters are brilliantly etched and well portrayed by the actors. Screen play fantastic and the locations are breathtaking. And the soundtrack...omg.... I never knew a background could add so much value, that it actually takes over the main product.
A must see !!
Romance (2020)
More people need to watch it
I am surprised to see only 53 people have rated this series.
Its well made and the performances are really good ( except jeremy ).
The ending does not make sense because Alice still looks the same in the future when she re-unites with Jeremy. They were careful not to reveal the year when Jeremy returns to the future, but it still does not make any sense because Jeremy was born in 1986 and if he met Alice in 1960, who mustve been at least 25 years old at that time, then that makes Alice 65 years old in year 2000. And remember, Jeremy goes from year 2019 to year 1960, but we dont know what year he returns to, but it has to be at least 2010 if not 2019, because Jeremy is a grown adult, and it could not be year 2000, because that would only make him 14 years old, so it has to be at least year 2010, even though he looks same and not any younger. So logically, Alice should be 75 years old when she re-unites with Jeremy in the future, but she looks the same as how he left her in 1960. Impossibe.
Breathe: Into the Shadows (2020)
Had Potential, but flawed and illogical
The series/ season really deserves 4 stars, but i gave 1 extra for the effort and attempt at trying something different by the makers.
Why only 4 stars ?
The problem plaguing Indian entertainment industry as a whole is poor scripts. They start their script fixated on one or two particular aspects, which cannot be compromised with and then they try to carve a script around it. This is different from writing a script around an idea, which can be explored and that allows for adjustments and is flexible.
Indian makers are not willing to compromise on anything but the script.
If you look at Sacred Games, it is based on a book, so the makers didnt need to do much for a script. In the west, many movies and series are based on books, which is why the scripts are super compact. India is however yet to understand that there is an untapped treasure in the form of Indian literature lying all around them which they can make use of since they are too lazy to write their own scripts, but that also requires effort to read, conceptualise and create, which they are not willing to put in.
With this series, i have not watched season 1, but i am aware that it was also about a father killing people to save his child. So, i believe this is the essential feature of this franchise, which was common to the 2 seasons and will be common to all future seasons. They will not tinker with that and this is where the problem arises in this season.
1. Avinash needs to kill to save his daughter sia, is one anchor of the series and Avinash also has a split personality is the second anchor. These anchors are immovable and they cannot be tinkered with, so they needed to write a script that incorporates both these anchors.
2. J says his job is to protect Avinash, which is very fine. But when J kidnaps Avinash's daughter and wants Avinash to kill people who have hurt him in the past, who is he protecting and how ? He is threatening Avinash with dire consequences for his daughter if he does not kill these people in the required number of days. Did he not realise he is putting Avinash in danger ? How do you explain this when it is embedded in his mind that his job is to protect Avinash ?
3. J has never once shown he suffers from any mental retardness or is physically incapable of carrying out the killings himself. In fact,he is so smart, he has successfully created his own crime sanctuary , with a room to keep his victims in captivity, monitors to observe them and ensures the whole place is locked up with zero chances of his victims escaping. He shows the finesse of a master criminal when he forges Avinash's signature, buys a car and rents a place for it at the salvage yard. His modus operandi of taking over Avinash at night, when his wife is at work, and then cycling to the Salvage yard and back home (how can cycling be so effortless with that limp ?) proves he never needed Avinash to carry out the killings. Reasoning says: he was the one who was angry at the victims, he needed to kill them and like he always says ... protect Avinash.
4. A more interesting and logical plot would've been to show J killing those who hurt Avinash, without Avinash ever knowing. And the killings shouldve started in his school days itself.
5. Even after Avinash has killed all three targets, J refuses to release Sia and absolutely no reason is given to us why. Even during the climax he refuses to let go of Sia..... why ? Was he planning to keep Sia there his whole life ?
6. Does J have complete control over when he takes over Avinash ? Is that even possible ? You see J take over Avinash for a few seconds when he has to identify a body. Did J personality get triggered, or did J wilfully manifest himself for those few seconds ? You see in the climax Avinash switches between J and Avinash multiple times, so that means Avinash can also take over J , and J has no monoply over when he hands over the body to Avinash. So, it makes you think why Avinash who was so desperately missing his daughter, never took over from J, when J when to visit Sia every night.
7. Around 7 years of marriage and Aabha had no encounter with J ?
8. Avinash has no memory of J or what he does with Avinashs body. Avinash never questions for unaccounted time when he is J ? He believes he was sleeping ? J goes out at night, returns in the morning. And Avi wakes up 1-2 hours later......feeling tired or refreshed? Thats almost 8-10 hours of being up the whole night as J. Avinash was not getting any sleep.... how did he not know it ?
9. And then the incredibly lack lustre performances that leave no impact on the audiences. Amit Saad is the worst cop i have ever seen. Absolutely zero impact. Abhishek Bacchan who is generally a good actor, fails to impress as well. The supporting cast has done a much better job than these 2 main protagonists.
10. Last but not the least, the dialogues are extremely bad. It seems they were made up on the spot or the actors were given freedom to engage in the conversation the way they liked. This was a big minus point. Do not ignore dialogues, they are like blood running through the veins of a body, they give life to a character.
In my opinion, there was no need to kidnap Sia, if there was, the split personality angle needed to be dropped. Having them together, ruined the entire script.
As i mentioned above, J killing without Avinash knowing wouldve been a better plot.
Ragnarok (2020)
Captivating
Its very well made and u wont find a single dull moment in the entire season 1. The scenery, the script, the performances all gel together to give u an enjoyable experience. Watched " Wisting" earlier this week as well, which was also a Norwegian series. Good job Norwegians.
Manifest (2018)
Poorly Developed Characters
The acting is bad and almost everyone agrees with that.
But i am also very perplexed by the poorly developed characters. For instance, take Grace.
She tells Ben that she hated him for 5 years because it was his decision to take that flight and because of him Cal followed him on that flight. At another point in the series you see her telling him she never stopped loving him for those 5 years.
And when this guy at her workplace tells her he feels like shes cheating on Danny, she says she feels a little like that too.
Now again, when Ben tells Grace something is happening to all those who were on that plane, they are hearing voices etc., she looks at him in disbelief as if he has gone crazy , that is impossible and an indication that Ben has a mental problem.
The most impossible thing has happened in the form of her husband and son coming back and not aging a single day in 5 years. Does she have any good reason to think what Ben is saying is impossible ? Especially after all the passengers ended up gathering at the same exact spot where the plane exploded. Was that possible and a coincidence for Grace ?
Magically, Cal leaves home and ends up going to where Ben was and guides him to the secret spot where they were hiding the passengers for their experiments. Strangely, Grace does not care to know whats happening and does believe her own husband.
I dont know whether the writers suffer from memory loss or they dont seem to care what Grace says or does as long as the story moves forward.
There are discrepancies in all the characters. But Grace takes the trophy.
This alone makes the series annoying and repulsive.
Batti Gul Meter Chalu (2018)
Batti gul aur paise gayab
Everything is gul in this movie not just the batti.
The characters are poorly etched.
Shahid kapoor takes buffoonery to a whole new level. Just when u thought he might stop during the climax, the court scenes actually make u want to commit suicide like Tripathi, only he survived but u dont want to.
As an audience i was confused about the purpose of this movie. Is it to highlight the electricity problem in UK or to cement Shahids place as the king of buffoonery in Bollywood ?
Poor exection and extremely poor conceptualisation.
The makers of such films should be banned from making movies for the next 5 years.
The locations are nice. Its good to see movies being shot in small Indian towns. Thats the only saving grace of the movie.
Mirzapur (2018)
Captivating
Sacred Games and Mirzapur. Two path breaking Indian series we have witnessed this year with hopefully more to come.
Indian audiences were hungry for something like this and thanks to ekta kapoor millions of Indians had nothing left to watch on TV for almost 2 decades.
There is not a single dull moment in this series.
There are r two anomalies.
1. The team of cops who r given the task of killing Guddu and Babblu are not able to inflict a single scratch on them despite showering their car with bullets while its stationary.
Guddu and Babblu injure a few of the cops instead.
The cops appear to more incomptent than Munnas gang of friends.
2. Akhanda Triparthi or Kaaleen Bhaiya is attacked by compounder at his house.
-Compounder is captured and Akhanda actually believes his motive of attacking him.
- The exchange between Munna and Compounder before munna slits compounders did not raise Akhandas eyebrows.
Akanda is a bahubali. Despite having spent years in this business and on being top of his game he could not see that compounder had attacked him only with the sole intention of killing him. Compounder couldve knocked him down and run away. But he wanted to slit his throat. Akanda actually believes compounders made up story which is surprising.
And its even more surprising that he does not or never suspects his son could be behind the attack. In his line of business , he presents himself to be the wisest of them all. It goes against his character to blindly trust his son when he can see that his son never seems to be happy with any of his decisions. Its almost as if the worldly wise Akhanda does not know this simple truth of his world - when it comes to power and money anyone can turn against you.
La casa de papel (2017)
Entertaining
If you are looking for logic and common sense.... this series is not for you.
Its still a big mystery how they are able to rob the bank. The script is flawed but its nonetheless entertaining and gripping at times.
1. They have trained for 5 months together and yet they cannot even get along without pointing a gun at each other every 10 mins or so. While in the flashbacks, they are one happy family.... during the robbery they are the opposite.
2. Its unknown when and how the Professor falls in love with Inspector Raquel and vice versa after two meetings. While viewers are mystified ... the Professor risks the whole robbery ( his goal in life ) because he has suddenly met the love of his life.
3. Tokyo is unbearable. One does not know if Tokyo's character is supposed to be mentally retarded because she switches from sanity to insanity every 5-10 minutes. There is no explanation for her behaviour given the fact that in the past she has exhibited responsible behaviour and realises the seriousness of the situation.
4. The last episode the police is ready to break into the bank, but Miss Nairobi wants to print more notes !! Berlin says no and what happens after that is something u see throughout the robbery....robbers attacking each other personally. Everyone is moving at snails pace while Rio and Tokya get engaged in a conversation about they will do at the beach etc etc. ( i skipped that... it was painful) This is despite orders from the Professor that the police is ready to break in and they should hurry up.
It all looks very forced.... because there was no reason for Berlin to stay there trying to hold the police back. Everyone couldve escaped comfortably. While the audiences can feel the urgency for them to hurry up.... the robbers themselves are in a world of their own. Even inside the vault Oslo asks Nairobi if they can share a flat...with the police a corridor away from the vault ! And then suddenly.. they switch to normal behaviour and realise they need to get the hell out of there..and Berlin decides to stay back to allow the others to escape. Unnecessary... even though they wanted Berlin to die... they could ve scripted it a lot better.
Its a bank robbery of 940( ? ) million Euros and we have been listening to their dreams of what they will do with the money. They trained for 5 months. This is the moment. This is it. Audiences can feel it.... but sadly the robbers cannot.
And there are other hundreds of flaws in the script.... the characters are not well defined....but its entertaining nonetheless.
Quantico (2015)
Hindus are terrorists
I have never in my entire life seen a Hindu planning a terrorist attack in a foreign land. What was the need to show something that has absolutely no basis ? The biggest Hindu organisation is probably RSS. Are they terrorists ? They havent even retaliated to terrorism emanating from pakistan.... they dont have to... we have an army for that.
This is just so unwanted. At least there should be a basis for this. I think this is the Padmavati controversy taken out of context. So many foreign channels beaming images of saffron clad men protesting and breaking stuff in the streets. This is the source of this idea.
Priyanka Chopra is brain dead. Its not her fault... but she couldnt care less. She has been acting American a lot of lately... doing stupid stuff. I hope she doesnt kill herself doing drugs or something.