PeriSubhash Reviews

Kotha Poradu (2020– )

Bulli Thera Pai Kotha Poradu Achindu ... Soodurri!

[7/10 · 29 February 2020]

Sharp editing, racy screenplay, raw characters, and intrinsic music makes this one good web series. There's a high usage of profanity throughout the series but it doesn't feel forced. The characters of Nagma & Lachamma could have been explored a bit more. Dominant focus on Raju may make you feel this as another protagonist show as Anvesh portrays Raju's rustic antics very well throughout.

I remember watching a different trailer of Kotha Poradu back in 2018 during the 3rd or 4th screening of Nirudyoga Natulu at Sarathi Studios and that was an amazing cut, perhaps it was a pitch trailer. I wonder why the same wasn't used by Aha & the crew. If Anvesh or Mahi Illindra or anyone from the crew is reading this, do release that other trailer out.

K.G.F: Chapter 1 (2018)

KGF is Tumba Chennagide!

[7/10 · 22 December 2018]

KGF Chapter 1 has brilliant cinematography & is a hit at the BO. The story is a classic portrayal of waging wars against their oppressors. Few scenes made me draw comparisons to Aayirathil Oruvan & Mad Max Fury Road. The BGM along with the freeze frame action sequences worked out well. I saw the Telugu dubbed version.

The elevations given for Yash's character is a lot, more than what we saw Jr. NTR get in the Telugu movie Aravindha Sametha Veera Raghava, yet seems this one is plausible as it's a period drama. One big dud is the lead actress whose character was not at all needed & had no logical place in the entire flick. Maybe she was a key role in Chapter 2, we're unaware at this point.

Cliffhanger ending is given, making it open for Chapter 2, but with all the hype already placed for Rocky, will the next one live up to the hype? I hope they don't mess it up. All in all a good affair for the holidays.

Gravity (2013)

A beautiful walk into space

[8/10 · 12 October 2013]

Ever heard of the famous movie quote "Survival is the spirit, the soul"? - Well Alfonso Cuarón's "Gravity" more or less depicts the same. It's the story of two astronauts on a typical outer space mission and an out coming peril of a collateral event of satellite debris, loss of communication and face of death by lack of oxygen. Cuarón's selection for the cast – George Clooney and Sandra Bullock justify their respective characterization. It's more of Bullock's show than Clooney's.

The director portrays the turnaround events in a sumptuous way amidst the rapid screenplay that takes the viewer's experience to the next level. The plot is inventive and unpredictable. The movie flows smoothly from scene to scene with ambient effects. The mechanics of the movie were too good. The haul of microgravity, the wafts and drifts in space is something to be lost in as a viewer and every scene backs it up. It's like a beautiful dance in space.

"Gravity" not only offers you some of the most vivid images, but sound as well. Composer Steven price's score befits each and every moment from complete silence of space to the chaotic crashing of the shuttle and satellite debris. It feels as if your ear drums were going to blow and then the next moment you could hear a pin drop from the silence.

The story goes too fast that there's a slight lack of hoist to it all in that regard. Everything is so immediate that when it ends, it more or less just relieves the viewer feeling satisfied - not really left with as much as to stick with you. You don't so much watch the film as experience it.

Notable scenes: 1) The scene when bullock's tear simply floats off her cheek was brilliant. 2) The heart beat pounding in some intense scenes. 3) Bullock enacting the howl of a dog while inside the Soyuz space capsule and the same done by dog over the radio impart something bad happening. 4) The climax scene where Bullock tries to stand up on feet after spending a brief time in zero G can be related to a baby who tries to stand up on its feet.

A good 8 out of 10. Likely to win some Oscars.

The Wolverine (2013)

The Badass mutant and some Kung-Fu guys.

[6/10 · 27 July 2013]

Prologue:

With "The Wolverine" in theaters, what better time is there to look back on Hugh Jackman's portrayal of the character? He gave life to his first appearance as Wolverine in 2000's "X-Men." Now, he's on his sixth appearance in a movie as Logan. Hugh Jackman's outing as the clawed superhero is a better improvement over its predecessor X-Men Origins: Wolverine but doesn't have the charm of neither Bryan Singer's X-Men and X2 nor Mathew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class.

Plot Analysis:

The film unfolds from the after events of X-Men: The Last Stand – a wandering Logan living amidst a quiet life in the wild, tormented by hallucinations of loss of his lost love Jean Grey, giving him nightmares and questioning his existence but also of his time as a prisoner in Nagasaki during World War II. Logan meets a redhead woman, Yukio, who takes him to Japan to meet her boss, Yashida, a Japanese tech giant who is lying on his deathbed (a tech wonder) wishes to say thanks to Logan for saving him from the Fat man nuclear bomb during him time as a soldier in Nagasaki.

Yashida offers Logan to make him mortal, to feel what it's like to grow old, lead a normal life and a theoretically meaningful death. Logan refuses his offer and finds himself in the middle of family politics, protecting Yashida's granddaughter Mariko from a black ninja clan group 'Yakuza', followed by a few random action sequences, multiple disembowelment, and a ninja attack in the night, a funny feud on the roof of a bullet train speeding at 300 mph (seriously?). So far quiet good but the bland love story between Mariko and Logan - give me a break!

Viper, a mutant biologist injects a parasite to Logan, making him vulnerable to bullet shots and gives a taste of what it's like to feel pain, bleed, lose his healing ability and weaken his strength. Logan later operates himself and gets rid of Viper's parasite restoring his healing power. Casting of Viper was such a waste; guess the Director was confused whether or not to portray Viper who appears in only four scenes.

The casting of the ninja head Harada was just OK, it could've been better. The story concludes to the climax with a fight between Logan and the Silver Samurai, a giant robot built with adamantium, revealed to be Yashida who faked his death and extracts Logan's ability to heal and leaves Logan with bone claws, who eventually defeats Yashida. The fight feels silly but passable; at least it didn't end up in ripping apart places. Logan's exposure to nuclear radiation and the instant healing in CGI is good.

And wait for the post-credits scene, two years later at an airport Logan sees an ad about TRASK industries, he is encountered by Magneto (Ian Mckellen) now with his restored power, who warns him about a powerful force threatening to end mutant kind and to his shock sees Prof. X (Patrick Stewart) alive. This leaves the audience with few questions, Prof. X's survival? and Magneto's power restoration? With Peter Dinklage's (GOT fame) casting as Bolivar Trask into Singer's X- Men: Days of the Future Past, one can expect a decent flick in 2014.

Conclusion:

An eccentric storyline set in Japan, presence of only two mutants, makes Mangold's Wolverine a distinctive flick from those typical X-Men movies, sets itself as a standalone movie. A mild script, oddly shot action sequences, sloppy screenplay, it's just good enough but not great. You don't need to have seen the previous five films in which Hugh has starred as the brawny mutant, Logan. It's pretty tough to point out a fierce quote of the Wolverine's as they were from the previous movies, this one shall do "You wanted me to say goodbye to you personally? Well Sayonara!" Hugh looks more fearsome than ever and delivers good performance with ease. Be sure that you don't miss him. Go for 2D not 3D.

A generous 6 out of 10.

Man of Steel (2013)

A long lost hope on the franchise, finally revived

[7/10 · 15 June 2013]

Finally a Superman movie fulfilling the superhero's fame and all the fans' hopes around the globe. Before stating how the movie is, I'd like say this "Don't u give a F damn about the Critics". It's quite easy to sit down, watch a movie and criticize about it but it takes a lot of effort to make a perfect reboot and reviving a franchise that never a saw the dawn coming. Zack Snyder's redefines Superman in every aspect as the way it was originally. The plot-line is good, structural and simple, a frame by frame fast paced screenplay by David S. Goyer makes it more good. And yes thanks to Nolan, we get see the darker version of Kal- El. Considerable humor wherever necessary and many awe filled moments throughout.

Unlike previous Superman movies, Clark Kent is shown in a darker version, wilder and in a vulnerable way - more of an alien nature than one of earth's kind. Clark's realization of his strengths, abilities, controlling them and choice to hide his identity was shown to near perfection. Though u don't get to see a detailed transformation from Kent to Superman like the way we get to see 'Wayne to Batman' in Batman Begins, still too good for the "S". Henry Cavill succeeded in his role depicting the super natural being from Krypton. Yes, we all like Christopher Reeve yet Cavill gives u the thought 'Yes he's the Kal- El/Superman we have been looking for' (by far the only physically believable superman we get see). He suits the character perfectly replacing charm with character development.

Getting rid of the iconic costume and bringing a whole new suit worked out well. Zimmer's score once again was Epic. "An Ideal of Hope" an unofficial musical rip from the 3rd trailer is a notable one. A regal feeling throughout the movie, good casting, splendid performance by Crowe, Costner and Shannon. Cinematography was just good from Amir Mokri. We get a see a slight realism concept in this like as in TDK trilogy. Action and Violence sequences are commendable. The climax fight between Zod and Superman was awesome(throwing punches at each other, I felt like they were playing a vivid sport with each other).

If you're ever wanted for a good superman movie, this is one your looking for. As Man of Steel sequel is confirmed, it shall explore the relationship between Clark and Lois deeply and probably Lex Luthor as the villain.

Letdowns:

The casting of Amy Adams. I didn't like her as Lois nor did she have the charm to live up-to the character. No strong hold to back the theory of hers in finding a human with super natural abilities believed to be living among-st the people in our world. Some backed scenes to depict the same would have made it good. But still as there was a Pepper Potts in IM2 and a Jane Foster in Thor, so was a Lois in MOS. Ignore her and you can still watch the movie.

Zod's attempt to launch the world ship to terraform Earth to Krypton (just like as in Transformers 3, Sentinel Prime's attempt to make Earth, a new Cybertron). I mean Zod's seemed not to notice that his physical strength revived after spending his few moments on earth, then why the heck to terraform (Kryptoform) earth? You didn't get me? after his lil struggle to get used to Earth's atmosphere, Zod gets able to control his breath, gets used to Earth's relatively low in comparison with Krypton's gravity and smashes and goes bam! bam! on Superman. See could have just kept the objective to kill Superman and retain the codex containing Krypton's future.

The Superman 'S' suit is "gifted" to him by his dead father, as against in the comic, where if I remember correctly, his earthling mother stitches for him. I feel that had a more human feeling to it. And as always the way the antagonists do - when you have captured Kal-El, what's the logic to waste time and need to lurk around the genesis chamber, while Kal buys enough time to free himself and escape?. I just remembered this, they could have started their work to extract the codex and later moving the sequences with Kal- El's attempt to stop Zod's attempt in rebuilding the Kryptonian race.

Amir Mokri's principal photography didn't work out well, the movie being made in 2D format and later digitized to 3D especially the aerial view shots.

7 out of 10 :)

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

"To boldly go where no man has gone before"

[8/10 · 11 May 2013]

Director J.J. Abrams brings yet another adrenaline-filled sci-fi movie to the big screen. Abrams once again proves himself in each technicality of the reboot he took up of this wonderful franchise which erstwhile film makers couldn't work on. The previous 11 Star Trek were all good to watch nevertheless the TV series were way better, but this latest Star Trek movie is surely the best of all. This is a decent reboot for the franchise. So "Set your phasers to stun!"

True to Abram's panache, at 132 minutes, this film is fairly long. There wasn't a moment where u'll feel that the movie was lagging. The cast's performance was impressive. Explorers as they are (in role), the characterization of each role were exemplary.

Talking about the movie cast - more screen sharing time for each character not unlike the previous one, the antagonistic KHAN portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch (the guy from SHERLOCK) was the one I loved a lot. Cumberbatch has nailed his character and I loved every frame in which he was present.

The growing bond of friendship between Kirk and Spock was handled very well. The 3D effects were just awesome, and well executed. Film score by Michael Giacchino was fitting well in every scene. The cinematography was exceptional too - that and BGM is good enough.

"Live Long and Prosper \\//"

I give it a 8.5/10.

Iron Man Three (2013)

Suits, suits and more suits. Plot.. Plot.. what the heck was that?

[6/10 · 28 April 2013]

Iron Man 3 Review: This may contain a few spoilers.

Here comes another Iron Man movie, the 7th installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Director Shane Black who earlier paired with Robert Downey for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang has put commendable effort to make this one look better than the previous Iron Man movie.

Robert Downey Jr was once gain flawless as the billionaire tech guy Tony Stark. There were more suits in the movie, Mark 42 suit was the most concentrated one. Pepper Potts was good and so was Colonel Rhodes. Guy Pearce was too good as Aldrich Killian of Advance Idea Mechanics, but portraying himself as Mandarin wasn't that good. One shall not mess up with the comic plots just because you're making a movie adaptation. Good to see Guy Pearce in a fierce role.

Sir Ben Kingsley above all was just fantastic, his wits, humor.. everything about his role was just awesome. Him portraying as supposed Mandarin was too good until he was depicted as not the real mandarin, that made me sad. But on any day an actor like Kingsley can be the best villain especially for a Marvel character.

There wasn't much 3D effects and so it goes too good on 2D too. Worth watching twice but no more than that. And I still don't understand why the director/screen writers didn't concentrate on the terrorist group "Ten Rings" but yet chose mandarin as the antagonist.

There was so much room for deep heartfelt moments to bank on based on what was shown in the trailers and the film just passed these moments up to get a few cheap laughs from the audience. But the last 20 minutes were just awesome. And oh yeah.. Tony Stark gets the shrapnel removed from his heart, no more use of the palladium.

Expected more for a Iron Man movie but it wasn't. I hope in the future, screen writers don't depict their own comic plot lines. Perhaps they need to get some tips from Nolan bros or David S.Goyer or Joss Wheaon. Better improvement than the previous one but the first one remains the best. The Avengers was an Iron Man 3, this is just sort of a 4th one. Would like to see another IM film one after Avengers 2.

I go for a 7 out of 10.