The scale is undoubtedly going for epic, but not so much does the content. Beauty is realised in the solid vibrant performances of Khan and Bachchan, and their pleasing glamorous pairing on the big screen. Katrina Kaif's choreography is phenomenal while the music itself is subpar. The drama is well thought, structured, and performed though sometimes the symbolisms are over abundant, but the action is otherwise bland and feels helpless not to be executed in a clear amateur fashion with Bachchan's storyboarding as an old action star in particular being the most pathetic in his otherwise formidable repertoire. The characters of the two leads are dynamic and well-characterised while the villains side seem inexplicably silly. With so many missed bullets, the runtime drags the film down even more, but it's at the very least worth one watch for its few merits.
Reviews
16 Reviews
A great episode with strong dramatic weight
25 November 2023
- The episode presents a very well-realised mystery with more layers than usual for the procedural formula.
- The impact of the episode's mystery on Castle both enriches the character, gives Nathan Fillion room to score, and manages to present several strong and captivating themes between Fillion & Stana Katic.
- The relatively slow-burn approach taken by the episode enables it to brew more gracefully upon viewing
- Jason Wiles is a remarkable guest star as Damien Westlake.
- The somber tone of the episode is very welcomed and we'll-employed.
- Overall, this is a more poignant, darker, and stronger episode of the show.
The Most Entertaining Mission!
25 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Going through the 4th chapter in the M-i series, I can safely say as always that it does not need to be the most artistically accomplished entry in the franchise (a spot reserved for Fallout), but it's easily the most entertaining Mission. Brad Bird walks in with his Pixar style and comic-book affinity to put Ethan along with the best-rounded and most dynamic team in the series (I'm sorry Luther had to miss this one!) in a vibrant pop-corn thrilling adventure with amusing levels of humour (the prison break out scene & Anil Kapoor) along with giving a very welcomed first expanded capacity for Simon Pegg to show his glamour as Benji, and also introducing Jeremy Renner as the instantly-lovable (and later on foolishly side-lined) Brandt, we're still waiting for next time when he'll "get to seduce the rich guy!". The Burj Khalifa stunt remains the most satisfying, lavish, and extravagant in the franchise. Michael Giacchino's musical collaboration with Brad Bird on a live-action film carries no less brilliance than their wonders with Ratatouille & The Incredible. The late great Michael Nyqvist defies all odds of limited runtime to deliver one worthy unforgettable villain (who else in history fought both Ethan Hunt & John Wick). The action scenes are vast and colorful with Cruise at probably the peak of his kinesis. The final scene (uncreditedly rewritten by future series-game master, Christopher McQuarrie, remains, in my opinion, the most poignant and warm Mission: Impossible finale.
House's best dealing with fatherhood yet
24 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
- House's parents arrival is amazingly set, executed, and gives amazing insight towards this side of his life.
- House's relationship with Wilson brews more in this one in a benevolent manner.
- Hugh Laurie soars and roars even more in this episode; showing House's fragility in the most convenient obscured & masterful manner.
- The case of the week is smartly thought as a mystery, geniusly used for dramatic impact, and in itself is quite adequate for its realism.
- Guest performances in this episode is relatively excellent.
- The episode's dealing with its recurring "Everybody Lies" theme hits very hard in this one.
Because House has always been actions not morals!
24 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
An episode that deals with the theme of cheating at its core would carry very predictable implications in any TV show, but that's House where we don't make blunt poetic judgements; instead, we witness the actual justifications mankind holds in its underlying dark reality in a supreme way with the dialogue, performances, stories, characters, and, above all, the ever iconic Hugh Laurie.
- Cameron & Chase's dialogue about drugs carries the scene through with wit.
- The clinic case in the episode is light, efficient, and makes a platform for a great moment between House and Stacy.
- The case of the week is written in a very good ironic metaphor of its core subject.
- Taraji P. Henson carries through an otherwise thin-written patient sub-plot with her talent in one of her earlier roles. Kristoffer Polaha couldn't achieve a similar feat.
- House & Mark's rivalry is a joy to watch.
- Foreman's staying in the shadows in this episode shows depth about what subjects actually tackles this character to share his philosophies.
- House and Cuddy's moments are, as usual, delightful.
- Cameron's pairing with Wilson and the IN-depth look towards their characters gives a stage to shine for the former and further increases our empathy and admiration to the latter.
- The ending of the episode showing House's bleak motives is again all about what the show is actually about.
- The episode is relatively underwhelming though as a medical procedure mystery in itself, on the other hand, but that's on a House M. D. scale too after all.
A super solid season starter for a show that peaked at S4
22 November 2023
- Flashbacks are introduced in a suitable cue with powerful resonance.
- King's Landing is turning into a Shakesperean tragedy in a brooding chilling manner.
- Tyrion & Varys's pairing shows low-key acting at its best.
- The first scene in Mereen has a terrific build-up, an impeccable underlayingly toned exploration of the Unsullied, and forms a terrific plot-starter for the Daenerys ark.
- Emilia Clarke grew into her role by now to the TV-iconic level she deserves.
- While the Vale carries the least heated storyline for now, Aidan Gillen & Gwendoline Christie keep it afloat.
- The Wall's scenes definitely are the episode's highlights with the dialogue between Jon Snow and Mance Rayder being written in a flawless awe-inspiring way, and Ciaràn Hinds gives a performance for history to remember.
- Mance Rayder's execution scene will always be one of the show's best directed, performed, written, storyboarded, music scored and depicted in the Westerosi world. Can never be suited to deal against it's impactful unbelievable power.
A show past its prime... But not so much!
22 November 2023
- Arya's storyline has taken a somehow repetitive cycle now despite the mesmerising eye-popping world scenery.
- Jon Snow's ark is on the rise while several other storylines are not, and this does not stop at all in this episode.
- It's never in vain to delve into a Brienne & Podrick momeny; giving Gwendoline Christie the stage to shine. A dash of Baelish in the mix cannot help but make it better.
- The King's Landing Shakespearean drama makes for great dialogue and acting for all involved, though the plot takes it slow to brew maybe a little bit more than it should.
- A visit to Dorne is delightful though not monumental.
- Tyrion & Varys give a great existential deodrama
- Daenerys's Greek Tragedy story is delightfully gory but needs to be more in tune with the rest of the show, or perhaps it's the other way around.
You Get Hooked Since the Start!
11 November 2023
- You get hooked since the start!
- Nathan Fillion & Stana Katic are instantly iconic
- Nathan Fillion dynamic portrayal makes a key-ingredient for the show's essential freshness among cop procedural since the very beginning
- The exposition makes the best plausible execution of the show's pitch
- The pilot cases of the week is cleverly layered and written
- The pacing of the show is tight, and the editing is formidable
- The show has ever felt fresh, innovative, unique and light with a humourous twist. I believe that Castle held a territory for its own since its very pilot, and remained in it for years until something like Lucifer came around.
Decision to Leave
(2022)
Is this Park Chan-wook at his weakest?
11 November 2023
Decision to Leave
- Is this Park Chan-wook at his weakest?
- When Park Chan-wook is at his loosest most chaotic spontaneity, he's also at his weakest
- Cinematography & music are the key factors
- The plot is Shockingly similar to the Egyptian
- The supporting cast is bland while Park Hae-il is fairly good & Tang Wei is the most remarkable
- The film's ending is not anti-climactic, yet leaves you blandly vague
- The pacing is disruptive, and you're to choose whether to follow the romance or the mystery.
The acting is top-notch and everything else is in second gear
11 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The acting is top-notch and everything else is in second gear
- Despite a corny dialogue, Samuel L. Jackson and Charlayne Woodard deliver a stellar confrontation scene
- Don Cheadle is at his MCU prime with this episode
- Brian Tucker may be good at dialogue, but terrible at scripts
- All confrontation scenes are great, and all Fury scenes are delivered masterfully by Jackson with his confrontation with Rhodes being a show highlight
- The final battle sequence makes you wonder what's so secret about the invasion in the first place
- Ben Mendelsohn gives some moments to remember as Talos
- The VFX is poor to passable.
Acting is still the savior
11 November 2023
- Acting is the still the savior with "Harvest" The 5th episode of Secret Invasion
- Samuel L. Jackson takes every chance to show his best and supreme performance sides as Fury within the otherwise rehashed narrative of the series
- Same goes for Don Cheadle who properly seizes the opportunity to do something different with Rhodes
- Olivia Coleman is charming and magnificent; achieving wonders on her own terms
- The plot is bland, paint-by-numbers, and convoluted. Implausiblity is everywhere when you think of it, and Ali Selim's direction is so basic and cannot develop the show any further
- All the supporting cast provide iconic moments despite a stagnate script and stalemate operations; most notably, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Charlayne Woodard
- Nick Fury's theme finally grew onto my ears.
Mission: Impossible II
(2000)
The Series-Low Is Still So High
11 November 2023
Mission: Impossible 2
- The John Woo flavour provides extreme mindless fun action sequences with a martial-arts style that's unique to witness in the repertoire of Tom Cruise
- The John Woo flavor also undermines the dramatic structure as the film becomes the entry with the thinnest narrative and the most plot-holes
- The rock-climbing opening sequence remains one of the franchise's most iconic moments
- Thandwie Newton remains the best Mission Impossible leading lady
- Ving Rhames' best turn as Luther Stickell
- Sean Ambrose is such a formidable villain though it must be Dougray Scott's greatest tragedy to abandon Wolverine for it
- Hans Zimmer provides the best original themes. It's the same year he did Gladiator
- Anthony Hopkins is by far the best to play the role of the IMF Commander. He should've been back for each entry. It's also not too late!
- At its lowest and most nonsensical, the franchise remains better than most similar pictures and franchises like say.... Fast & Furious!
Simmba
(2018)
The best character in the Cop Universe is not Singham
10 November 2023
The best character in the Cop Universe is not Singham
- It's better than Singham and Simmba is a far more interesting character with charming fluidity lacking from the stone-cold lionine approach by Ajay Devgn.
- Ranveer Singh's energy & charm carry the film, and the musical numbers are to be watched on repeat
- Ashutosh Rana makes the best sidekick in the Cop Universe & Sonu Sood is its first proper villain
- The songs and dances are immensely fun and electrifying. Aankh Marey & Aala Re Aala are by far better than the whole music of the series's previous entries combined.
- The action is better than previous entries & the cinematography sees Rohit Shetty finally reaching a balanced direction.
Mission: Impossible
(1996)
A Phenomenon Starts
10 November 2023
- Iconic as it is, the film is still visually groundbreaking and delightfully eye-popping with its characters
- Tom Cruise at the prime of his prime delivers some classic action cinema moments. The infiltration scene is enough.
- The plot by Robert Towne is indeed over-convoluted and though time has passed on the issue, the film is undoubtedly an insult to the original series with Jim Phelps
- Brian De Palma delivers some exquisite and tight direction & cinematography
- Ving Rhames' first turn as Luther Stickell shows a somehow surprising development with the character since we first met him
- The Prague sequence is a visual wonder, and the supporting cast is staggering.
- Ethan Hunt is born and the history of action carries a new fundamental chapter. We should always choose to accept it!
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
(2014)
A Weak Forgettable Thriller
31 May 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Spoiler Alert A blunt disappointing American thriller, falsely advertised as an action.Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit fails miserably to benefit from its charismatic cast and promising director.It has its bright sides but it's far from satisfying for a Jack Ryan film.Tom Clancy must be cursing in his grave. After the great job Kenneth Branagh did on Thor, we expected him to helm the reboot of this troubled franchise to give something equal to a Bourne or Bond film.What we got instead is a poorly written thriller that sounds like something Schwarzenegger or JCVD would have done in their downfall eras. Branagh (the director) surprisingly directed a film that lacks the proper pacing and a suitable middle act.The script written by Adam Cozad , and rewritten by the great David Koepp is messy, non ambitious, weakly paced and full of plot holes (Why should they hire the newly recruited Ryan to face such a dangerous criminal as Cherevin, can't they just get an experienced agent ?).The music by Patrick Doyle is weak, unrecognizable within the film and by no means creative. The cast is the most prominent element in this feature.Chris Pine though an inferior comparison to Ford, Baldwin and Affleck but it wasn't his fault.The character wasn't strongly written to give him material of which he can build a three-dimensional role, and it's given very little time to develop.But Pine does great with what he has, and he made a good job portraying a character on the line between frailty and the ability,in addition to being a very charismatic hero.Cathy Muller didn't show anything new of Keira Knightley, and it made us feel that our beloved Elizabeth Swan was a second grade actress.It just wasn't a role that she could benefit from but it benefited from her due to her talent and star status.Kevin Costner was the real star of the film as the veteran agent Thomas Harper, he stole the scenes and gave us a great mentor to Ryan.I will be looking forward to see him play the role again in the John Clark film Without Remorse (and hopefully Tom Hardy will play Clark).Branagh (the actor) played the villain Victor Cherevin so amazingly well that it makes it impossible to believe that this incredibly talented person is the faulty director of this picture.With a trend of portraying foreign characters, he played this Russian mastermind perfectly and very much convincingly, and his death scene is the most remarkable scene in the film.The supporting cast hasn't done much to speak of except for Nonso Anozie who excelled as the Ugandian henchman/assassin Embee Deng, and gave us a good fight scene with Ryan. The action is surprisingly few in this film.Aside from the Ryan and Embee fight scene and the climax in the end, the film is more of a crime-thriller.Many parts are boring and elongated needlessly.Plot holes and errors are scattering all around the running time.And it's overall forgettable once you're done with watching it. Rating 6/10 just for the sake of its cast.I hope Branagh makes a better job with the upcoming Cinderella.
X-Men: Days of Future Past
(2014)
The Best X-Men Movie
28 May 2014
Warning: Spoilers
A screen extravaganza that we long waited for.X-Men: Days of Future Past, adapted from the Uncanny X-Men storyline of the same name, is about the mutants being in a dystopian future where they are wiped out by the Sentinels which are huge robots that are superior to them and have the ability to replicate their powers.They have to send Wolverine back in time (a la Terminator) to prevent Mystique from an act that caused the creation of the Sentinels and thus creating an alternate universe in which the last 50 years in their lives are altered (a la Star Trek). The film is superior to every other feature in the franchise on every aspect.Bryan Singer is back with a style of originality and creativity.The script by Simon Kinberg is very well paced and structured.The production design by John Myhre and set decoration by Louise Mingenbach are great.And John Ottman's score refreshes our memory with the old themes of the original trilogy and providing new terrific ones such as Hope (Xavier's theme). The ensemble cast of the film was a great eye candy especially for the devoted fans,and easter eggs were thrown by the characters at every chance possible (Quicksilver remarking that his mother knew someone who could do stuff like Erik).Hugh Jackman as Logan, arguably the main protagonist of the franchise, gave yet another down-to-the-bone characterization of the Wolverine.It was exciting to see him carrying such a life-threatening responsibility on his own. James McAvoys made a brilliant work as young Xavier with a performance drastically different from First Class, this alcoholic hairy desperate Professor X is unquestionably a new treat to the viewers.Fassbender is the same old Fassbender as Erik but I really believe that his role was a little bit overshadowed in this one, but he did an excellent job overall.Jennifer Lawrence excelled as Raven in the evolution of her character to emerge as Mystique , but the heavily CGI-based make-up didn't quite feel convincing as Rebecca Romijn's authentic one in the original trilogy.Nicholas Hoult was the perfect sidekick as Hank McCoy but didn't do much as Beast. But it was Peter Dinklage as Trask and Evan Peters as Quicksilver who stole the show.Dinklage, though an inferior villain to the mutants, was a very great threat as the cunning arrogant inventor, and Quicksilver's slowmo sequence accompanied by Jim Croce's Time in a Bottle is the most memorable part of the film.Josh Helman was amazing as young Stryker and though his role was comparably small, he did it with grace.It was great to see back Ian Mckellen and Patrick Stewart (who gave his best Professor X performance) and you'd wish to see more of them.Also in addition to bringing back Shawn Ashmore as the now mature mutant leader Iceman, Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde who is the connecting gear of the plot and Daniel Cudmore as Colossus.And also introducing interesting new characters such as Blink portrayed by Bingbing Fan and Omar Sy as Bishop.But there were a few letdowns: Cutting down most of Storm's role due to Halle Berry's pregnancy (she has only one line of dialog and 30 seconds of action), cutting Anna Paquin's role down to a mere cameo of Rogue with Bobby in the very end, and I was personally disappointed that Lucas Till had only a small cameo as Havok, I wished he could have a more significant role.We were compensated with surprising awesome cameos of Famke Janssen as Jean and James Marsden as Scott that even topped Jackman's cameo in First Class, and also a blink-and-you-miss-it moment of Kelsey Grammar as Beast. The action sequences were well choreographed, and edited perfectly to seamlessly flow with each other.You can hardly feel distracted when jumping from the future to the past, and it's a huge suspense when you could see how an action in the 70s could affect directly the protagonists in 2024. Overall, the film is nearly flawless and hits all the right points.Hold on till after the credits for a pacing scene to the next installment.By far the best X-Men film, rating 9/10
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