gk303007 Reviews

Mili (2022)

Everything still worked except Mili (Jahnvi Kapoor)

[4/10 · 28 April 2024]

People who are praising Ja*** **poor's acting, and how had she improved her acting skills, should also remember that this was her double digit attempt in film acting, and again a solo film focusing on her, and only her. But I have to complain that yet it didn't deliver up to the mark.

I was okay with the scenario, the situation in which Mili was stuck, and how a person would have tried her best to come out of it. There are tons of many such movies that had shown such unbearable situations. And mostly, what I look for in them is how the person/persons would come out of it.

Before proceeding further, let me take out some other movie names: Gaslight and Chhapaak. The common factors among these three movies were the woman as lead, story revolving around the woman, a tough and life challenging situation, and almost best side characters. One more common thing among them is the lead actor's unbearable acting, due to which a well crafted movie failed miserably. And this is something that I want to elaborate here.

Mili, as a concept, could have been a tearjerker, in-spite of its flaws. But it turned out totally different.

So one day, Papa **poor thought of making a movie (again) with her daughter. This time he would (again) launch her as a solo star cast with Theatrical side actors. And he launched her through this film.

Here's what I found that totally lagged in her acting:

1. The makeup. And frankly, when you look close enough, you would find that a person still wants to retain original look after 5 hours in -17 degrees. Yup, that's true. The lead actor just don't want to look bad.

2. No homework done. Suppose you have to act in a life threatening situation. You do the best possible homework to mimic like it was actually happening to you. I didn't notice it enough except her shiver and tears. Rest looked fake and over the top.

3. The time when lead actor was stuck in the freezer was a golden time for her to break all barriers and create chemistry between herself and the audience. Do something that audience were glued to the screen, waiting for the next action, and ready for goosebumps. ON the contrary, a little later i started getting bored seeing her. Her face had rigid and cardboard expressions. However, the other actors were just doing their job fine. And that was impressive.

I would never bank upon this lead actor. She is no less than other nepo kids.

Four stars only for some thrill and fine acting by side actors.

Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya (2024)

one word - stretched

[3/10 · 6 April 2024]

Available on Amazon Prime.

It started with sheer dullness that continued the whole time. I gave up half the way watching it and couldn't yawn more.

Pros:

Songs are fine.

Cons:

Amateur content/screenplay.

During the start of the movie, there was a scene where his whole team was waiting for Shahid Kapoor (can't remember the screen name). And they were waiting for sooooo long. After he came, the whole meeting finished in a minute. What was that?

Movie felt like imposing love between Shahid Kapoor and Kriti Sanon. Leave aside the whole robotics point of view, or even the word robot. Felt like the robot was only for the namesake, or force fed sometimes to viewers by showing her properties, and the whole time she acted perfectly fine, like any normal girl.

There were some jokes, but they were either silly or off the track.

3 stars.

Patna Shukla (2024)

sluggish court room drama

[3/10 · 1 April 2024]

Movie is available on Hotstar.

Before making up my mind to watch it, I checked out its IMDB rating which gave a negative perspective. However, i thought of giving it a try and to find out myself why so low ratings.

If it would have been released like 25-30 years back, or even before, it could have still worked out. Now i am not saying there weren't good court room Hindi dramas available that time, but now things are different; people watch more realistic approach, or if not, adrenaline filled bursts.

I am no lawyer, but whatever i have heard or seen or found, it is a very tough and protocol oriented job. There is a code of conduct and one has to follow it one way or the other. The court decorum has to be maintained, no matter what. This was something in the movie that bothered me the most. One of the lamest, unrealistic, and no-decorum-followed court drama that I ever watched. You need to watch it yourself to understand it in real.

The second problem came with the easiness of the way the prosecutor handled the whole situation. The dealing between a best and an amateur lawyer in the city felt lazy and sluggish. The writers should have watched other court room dramas like Jolly LLB to understand how the heat between lawyers increase tensions in the peoples mind watching it.

The movie already felt like shaping to provide justice to the student. We all know that at the end the outcome should have been what was shown, but the situations to derive it felt lame, boring, melodramatic, and one-sided.

Overall, i will give it 3.

Apurva (2023)

Below average...

[4/10 · 25 November 2023]

There are two points that participate in creating a good/very good movie: balance of direction and a good story. However, in one case, the movie has high chances to turn out trash. Meaning to say, a good story line but below average screenplay/direction. And this movie falls in this category.

Inspired by true events, and of-course when you talk about chambal dacoits, it is highly probable that such type of event/events would have happened. A kidnapped person who turns on the table to its side and releases itself -- a very good story with a perfect blend of horror, thriller, and mystery.

Movie starts great. Four dacoits overtake a car and kills all present inside, in a span of ten minutes. One dacoit is a sharp shooter - bravo. Everything was going all fine, these highly skilled actors are doing their part well, when enters the protagonist of the story - Tara Sutaria.

Till her kidnapping, she doesn't get much chance to show her skills. And neither does the director/writer. But after that, the movie starts downhill at a speed of 200 km/hr (just sarcastically). And what doesn't work, is something i am going to highlight:

1. She is barefoot, but runs like a skilled Paan Singh Tomar all around the deserted village with sharp stones and spokes here and there. She is even able to beat highly skilled dacoits (whose primary skill include running) in run race, not once but many times.

2. The place where dacoits stay, like Veerappan, is a place which is fed in their mind like knowing ABCD to an English language Professor. A simple chirm could warn them the position of the object. And yet, she is able to outrun Jugnu making him fall in the well. Just a pathetic dacoit.

3. I would have loved to know her past where she had shown her bravery, and skills, rather some melodramatic and unnecessary love scenes that only dragged. A mix of two would have been much better.

4. It felt like this movie is a mix of many hollywood/bollywood movies like 'I spit on your grave', 'lake placid', 'NH 10', 'Jungle (2000)' and may be many more. While those movies weren't also too good, this fell below them.

5. At last, she is moving bare foot on the railway track. And one dacoit is behind her who wants to know her name. Really!!! If i remember correctly, he was the one who talked to Sid like 6-7 hours back over a phone call, and Sid asked two three times about Apruva, taking out her name aloud.

Well, there are many more such silly and undeniable flaws that would take me another 2-3 hours to jot down.

4 stars for the first half, and nothing more.

Revenant (2023– )

A good one after a long time

[8/10 · 10 August 2023]

Korean series always experiment on genres and being a fan of Korean Cinema, I always look forward into getting the best from them.

Now this series was also good, but somewhere I felt it missed connecting strings in its complex web of mysteries and timelines. Now believe me, it is really tough to connect dots and extend it to 12 hours through 12 episodes. Bravo to creators for that.

Kim Tae-ri, as usual gave her best. I have seen her cinema from The Handmaiden to Twenty-five, twenty-one. Oh Jung-se is good but his acting always felt static to me; maybe it felt the same as he performed in Its okay to not be okay. Anyways, all actors were good to whatever part they were given to act.

I would still give it a eight as the whole twelve hour race could have been easily cut short to ten hours. And the mystery revelation in parts takes the viewer more time to understand the real math. This is also a reason that sometimes you have to repeat few scenes so that the viewer is aware as to what is happening. And that is the reason, when it came to the last episode, it took time for me to understand the complexity between the index finger and the five objects problem, which led me thinking as to why ghost didn't try her luck coming out in the world through earlier hosts, while she was always in control of them.

A good one time watch.

The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020)

Gimmick: if to describe in one word

[4/10 · 13 December 2022]

I had almost forgotten what was the first part; meaning to say that there are numerous movies already there in market based on the same theme, even the same name, so to differentiate one with another becomes tough. Anyways, the movie started, looked okayish type of effort even with stretched acting and wooden looks. And then the effects started, like the milk in the glass one, was again kind of above average. However, by this time, i got some motive to stick around for upcoming entertainment.

And frankly, my curiosity doubled when I found some characters whom I have already known through a common movie. And a little later I realised, that this was the sequel to the one already released on 2017 (i did some research when was the first part released).

Well, now this turned out a bit underwhelming. Like Bella Thorne with artificial acting, like the timid hero guy all of a sudden turned mambo-jambo and what not, like few other characters who got material in first part felt without soul of the script in this one, like "i don't really care" type of attitude you inscribe when director tries to show you a brief history of a reason, like typical and boring gore with lots of sauce and cheese but no special effects, and the list could actually go on - non stop.

And then, o God, the ending climax from Samara Weaving, who was really awesome in first part got no role in this one. And then all that hotchpotch melodrama with cliched moments. I just changed the channel, without a second thought.

So yaa, i felt at the end that McG made a gimmick out of his own good content.

Smile (V) (2022)

Nothing new, yet refreshing

[7/10 · 12 November 2022]

This is a horror + thriller genre movie - with its own scary moments and a back-of-the-mind tension as movie proceeds. And i really applaud those directors who also participate in writing good stuff.

What I did like in the movie:

1. How Rose loses control over her mind every next day.

2. Movie doesn't have any unwanted garbage. Set straight to the point.

3. All characters played their part well.

4. Above all, few jump scares but very effective.

Now, there were also moments that i have complaints on:

1. The climax. Well, the fact was known, the outcome was out there and yet, the way it resulted in the end wasn't upto the mark. And i have this complaint because the remaining movie was quite upto the mark.

2. When no one believes you, or you aren't able to make people believe in you. This was something that i have seen in tons of other movies, including this.

I rate it seven out of ten.

Barbarian (2022)

Regret my one hour

[3/10 · 30 October 2022]

The first half an hour had an interesting premise. And that's what scary is: you find clues, and are intrigued to find more. Now i was okay with AirBnB fault and all, and also okay if a girl thought to share space with a boy. The movie till that point of time could take any sharp turn, or leap anytime. That was like nail-biting effect, just at the edge of getting goosebumps.

And then, it took the most dumbest, idiotic and cliched turn; introduced The Mother. Frankly, after that, every scene, every anxiety to say so, or any sudden jump scare was for the namesake. Seriously, i regret that one hour watching the same script that i had already watched in tonnes of other movies, both good and bad. Every such movie has same story, and this wasn't any different, except the overhype that were already made facade.

Three stars for first half an hour, zero for the remaining.

You Can Live Forever (2022)

Above okayish

[7/10 · 19 August 2022]

The movie started and took top gear within matter of minutes. I felt few scenes were just for the sake, but that's okay. Eventually, all that hurry was to get straight to one point: the chemistry between the two leads.

Frankly, there was nothing new in this movie - be it storyline or the social boundaries against a critical subject - we have all seen tons of such stuff before and maybe watch more in coming time.

However that's what worked: the girls were sweet, they acted well, i felt that the evolving chemistry between them was realistic, and at last, an obvious emotional detour was bound to happen which held weight. I rate this movie 7/10.

One time watchable.

X (II) (2022)

Another timepass, with pinch of surprising humour

[7/10 · 11 May 2022]

Well, I knew what was in the movie: sex, gore, violence, and above all, everything already in tons of movies already there tasting dust. And yet, this came out with something that caught me, and hooked me to watch it all. Maybe the known yet startling moments, pinch of humour here and there, and the just perfect overall time. And yaa, the old couple were real mischievous characters and fulfilled their acts upto the mark.

Twenty Five Twenty One (2022)

To understand the meaning of Love

[8/10 · 4 April 2022]

There is a lot of debate over the last episode. It's either 0 or 1; meaning to say a reviewer either liked it or didn't. The other episodes have all same ratings; people loved them, if to say so in a short sentence.

I also wanted to understand the real intention of creators, when they showcased the last episode; where the primary purpose was to portray break-up in a bold and comprehensive way. Maybe the intention was good, but somewhere I felt few pieces missing or not given justice. I would like to elaborate that here.

The two leads: Hee-do and Yi-jin drifted apart, mainly due to their job and workloads. While Yi-jin had to fulfill his commitments after his family's bankruptcy, Hee-do never liked her mother's job, because she never spared anytime for her. Now when Hee-do faced the same challenges through Yi-jin, she thought best to part ways due to known/unknown situations she was already afraid off, rather diving into them again. I would say, yaa, a person in early twenties may think so, but that should not be the case.

Let me now jump to Yu-rim family. Her hard working father mostly remains outside driving his van. Her mother runs a restaurant. Inspite of poverty challenges, they live happily. Yu-rim waits for her father, sometimes for months, and even drinks with him behind her mother: that's called love, that had come after sacrifice and patience. The patience here personfies the trust, the family had on each other.

When Hee-do broke up with Yi-jin, the primary reason was the time that he couldn't offer her, as he used to. Yi-jin always knew about it, and yet he moved forward, thinking he could manage stuff, she would understand him.

Now I have a question here. Would it have been the same if the two had got married? Or after a child? That's where the echo of problems start resonating. It should be the trust that should have kept them together. Out of that trust, they should have worked up to find a solution of their nascent stage problem rather jumping into conclusion of breaking up. As per me, break up is never an option after you have met someone who stands for you, keeps you smiling, beckons you when it's wrong, appreciates your success and above all, with whom you feel safe. If a job was the crux of your breakup, then either your love fell short or it was always a crush.

8 stars for all the other episodes except last.

Twenty Five Twenty One: Episode #1.16 (2022) Season 1, Episode 16

What the... Duhhhh...

[2/10 · 3 April 2022]

You can't believe how eagerly I was waiting for this episode. And frankly, i gave no extra second but to watch as soon as it was out there.

But, but, but... Was it a finale? Or did it come out a filler? Or was it just to fulfill the contract of last episode. Did the creators think through what should have been shown? Seriously, i am totally disappointed.

2 stars.

It's Okay to Not Be Okay (2020)

Alot better than most of the current OTT dramas

[9/10 · 2 April 2022]

It's simple, moving, emotional, funny, and at times moral-oriented tv show, if to say so. A few points that really impressed me:

1. Never give up habit of Gang Tae. He goes well with his brother, his friends, colleagues and especially his crush-and-ultimately love Moon Young. At times he too gets pissed off with the situations but soon makes a come back.

2. Moon Young as Estella of The Great Expectations - where Charles Dickens have beautifully portrayed a cold and controlled girl - in here, she made the act terrific. Also, she is beautiful.

3. San Tae - o man, at times his act was too funny and cringey for the person, if in real life, to whom it imposed; mostly Jee So. But above all, he too acted really well.

Over all, i found the whole story gripping. You won't like to skip it to another day if once you started watching it.

Gehraiyaan (2022)

Average

[5/10 · 18 February 2022]

Sometimes I feel that OTT had really given a hard competition to monopoly in Bollywood; the great leading actors, producers or directors pushing dictatorship to some extent. They knew people would come to cinema to watch movies, where they already had a lot of control. And then came COVID, and any remaining bossing also saw fumes. OTT was a perfect medium for those, who deserved attention but somewhere were lost in void.

Why am I bringing all this up here? Because, that's what I felt after watching the great buzz movie called Gehraaiyaan.

With heavy starcast and budget, the movie had to somehow get the grip to showcase itself on television or electronic gadgets. Now I am not saying the movie was bad, but even not good as compared to the versatile content already available on OTT. You name good movies, series, any specific genre content, and it's all there. So how could Gehraaiyaan would have survived among humongous competition? Is it starcast? No way and there are tons of examples of failures from leading Bollywood celebrities in recent times. Something that would have flourished, say 5 years back, bit dust.

Now coming back to this movie:

1. Leading actors like Deepika Padukone furiuosly jabbing f word felt stretched and just for the sake. I didn't even like how she tried it so hard.

2. It's an adult movie, but what's adult in there, I got no idea. Kissing or a few intimate scenes? Really? It's like Ra-one trying hard to justify it was a sci-fi and tech oriented movie.

3. Normal acting by all the characters. Nothing that could auto emphasize by itself its greatness.

Overall, just an average stuff. Frankly, it was the movie team' totem to showcase great actors, a twitch in the end and marking A for a movie that people will watch it, i don't think that worked.

Gehraiyaan (II) (2017)

Skip this...

[2/10 · 16 February 2022]

Out Of the 10 episodes series, the first two had strength to scare and frankly, gave me shivers in couple of scenes.

But, the remaining episodes were all blank, cliched, pointless and boring. There wasn't left any horror left; and later, it felt like the writers stretched scenes to define their crappy logic.

2 stars.

Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui (2021)

A daring effort

[7/10 · 12 December 2021]

I think what makes this movie different from normal stereotypes, or even Ayushmann's other movies was that it was more for the actress but subjectively, Ayushmann gave all the proper support as and when required. And I would say, Vaani Kapoor did her level best, coming out of those cliche roles and side actress stuff.

But above all, it's the concept and its showcase that was the main feature of this film. If I leave aside the manly drama, the sub urban jokes and the sex, the remaining movie happened to be brilliant. Not that the other stuff wasn't good but no where close to this: the agony and assault that Maanvi/Manu faced in her day today life and how boldly she/he was able to handle those blows. And that was what both emotional and comprehensive. Again, it was just a movie and in real life, things are totally different. And they will remain immature, maybe even 20 years down the line whenever any such matter arise.

Overall, a good movie.

Preacher (2016–2019)

Lost in oblivion

[6/10 · 10 December 2021]

Frankly, when I started watching this show, it was intriguing, well defined and had some material. Things didn't just happen bizarre but revealed to some extent, it's obvious approach.

However, as it continued, it felt like stretchy, directionless, unknown at situations and cringy. I mean even if what the subject line told held its motive, yet I felt that the creators got themselves confused as to what should be done to atleast drag it if not move. And practically, that's when you start to fill the gaps with some different unique colors and it turns out a totally different picture against what you expected.

If you are confused to I am trying to explain, then so is the show.

Fringe (2008–2013)

Good, but not great

[6/10 · 2 December 2021]

Frankly, the start was awesome. And that's how I looked forward to continue watching it. It had all the elements that a sci-fi show should consist. So, not so fast and yet would keep you hooked. This continued till third season after which, I started noticing repetitions, boredom, over hyped hypothesis and unnecessary drama. And yes, too much of emotions without real factors.

Maybe, if this series could have been cut short to, like 75 or 80 episodes, its outcome definitely would have been a lot different.

Jai Bhim (2021)

Brutal, but reality

[7/10 · 15 November 2021]

The injustice and dictatorship showcased somehow prevails in every part of the world, not just India or its one state and its tribe. Yaa, whether it drills down to the level of torture shown in this movie maybe a point to debate, and I am not the correct person to judge all that.

Coming to incidents shown, power pack performance by leads or the spine chilling atmosphere is all on top and needs no explanation. I mean, I had seen Suriya's many films and this one is not behind any.

But, this being said, I still see few hiccups and those, as per me, should have been taken care of. Somehow, I tend to compare this courtcase with Jolly LLB. Even if both are totally opposite yet they ooze out same problem: injustice to lower class or below poverty line people. And that's when I see Boman Irani giving tight fight to Arshad Warsi. However, in here, the story seemed focused on solving the case and some how, inclined towards Suriya, as a lawyer. PP wasn't doing much, and Attorney General's entry looked gloomy, naive and just for the sake. I mean, if this story is based on real life incidents, then was that person unprepared to anything. And also, if that is the case, and he was a probable MP candidate, then who made him to whatever level he was. At this stage, people do their level best to win rather just mock around and at the end face the blow.

Anyways, if to keep aside that aspect, the movie is good and no doubt worth a watch.

Sardar Udham (2021)

Don't fall for the negative reviews

[8/10 · 18 October 2021]

I watched this movie on Prime and would say, it was worth an effort from director, creators and of course, actors.

It's slow burn but never fall short of the subject matter or the descriptions. Every character is given ample amount of time, every scene is elaborated and the whole focus remains upon the subject. The creators have played the dice to showcase the actual events in reverse order, however, keeping in mind that no sequence remains unsitched.

Moreover, I liked the depection of the first part of the 20th century, that is the locations, costumes, habits etc.

Saying so, yaa, I did feel that in some places, it could have been a bit fast in pace and skipped a few incidents so as to reduce the time from 2 hrs 45 mins to like 2 hrs and 20 mins here and there. And that's where I would cut 2 points. But, a very good film and definitely watchable. Keep your patience and time with you, and you won't regret it.

Malignant (I) (2021)

A different approach towards Horror Genre

[6/10 · 16 September 2021]

Frankly, after watching this movie i felt like James Wan had tried a different totem like Christopher Nolan does in his movies, but keeping in mind his style and methods: mixture of gore and horror. But, this also means that your experiment may, or may not, work. In here, it just worked, to be precise.

It wasn't scary, and without much gore. But it was original.

A one time watch. But, not as great as his earlier works like Conjuring, Insidious or Saw.

Kate (I) (2021)

Above average, and nothing more

[6/10 · 14 September 2021]

Most of the earlier reviews have already clarified about this movie: its known and predictable. And yes, the plot is borrowed from many such version movies, with a twist of Plutonium 204 and night life of Japan. Frankly, i already knew what was going to happen and so sudden outcomes aren't all true. Well, thats that and therefore to me, it is just an above average movie. But be sure, there are good moments in this flick too: like the action sequence techniques of camera stuck to actor, the one we saw in Upgrade by Leigh Whannel. I enjoyed that stuff and so did i here. Another one, that i kind of like these days, is the stick to the point portrayal. No extra cheese but enough to make stuffing good and Eatable.

A one time, for sure.

Don't Breathe 2 (2021)

Average

[5/10 · 8 September 2021]

I cannot rate this more than 5. And when i say this, my intention isn't anything against the movie or the creators, but only because to me, it is just an average movie: what i had already seen before and what doesn't make it any different than already made such horror/thriller movies.

Now, i like the bit haste in movie, nothing very explicit, and crisp in detailing what the writers intention was. Yes, you should know about the first part but nothing would lose, if you don't. Then of course, the gore and violence is above average, what you expect from Fede Alvarez. Remember Don't Breathe 1 and Evil dead?

What i didn't like is also on the same lines then. In the first part, it was the Blind man's territory, and i totally expect him to take over things easily. But in this, the later part of the movie seemed more heroic than genuine. The Blind man behaved like Daredevil in certain cases.

What i also didn't like was the reason of the whole hustle. You need a heart, a matching heart, okay, accepted. But a mother seeking help from her daughter, way beyond my boundaries to digest. I couldn't believe that.

Anyways, it could a one time watch. But definitely, I would suggest the first part was far better than this one.

Midsommar (2019)

Depressing

[3/10 · 25 August 2021]

There are numerous such occasions where you come across some cult, followed blindly by some group of people. This movie borrows some facts from the same theme. A group of people near Stockholm who worship bizarre.

The story starts with a depressing note and continues following the same tone. A group of friends, outsiders, fall trap to it, and they face unforseen circumstances, leading them to die except one.

Well, i have seen some movies where people on the name of orthodox protocols, may rape, assault or even kill others. But, the point is, those movies have something in it; substance that makes it watchable. However, in this movie, except the beautiful locations, nothing worked. I got bored, thought to wait and maybe something happen, but nothing happens. And i felt like wasted two and half hours in torment.

Three stars only, and only, for locations.

The Courier (2020)

Not the best, but elegant and upto the mark

[8/10 · 21 August 2021]

There are moments in this movie that are nerve wrecking and emotional. However, the beauty lies underneath where those moments are without excessive blood shed or violence. I mean, the moments and character portrayal describe the feelings rather gore or abuse. And that is what, as per me, the best part in this movie.

Acting by the leads, especially Benedict is beautiful and keeps you hooked. On top of that, creators and director knew exactly what and how much to show, so that went smooth too.