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Reviews
Killer Soup (2024)
Justice for Kirtima !!
A great premise let down by plot contrivance and bad characterisation. Tried to do too much with too less and too convoluted for its own good.
Killer soup is a show that can very aptly be summarized by the quote: two's a company, three's a crowd.
The plot involves a "couple" who each have their own side chick/dude and hatch a plan to get filthy rich. Alas things are never THAT easy right ??
A whole lot of backstabbing, blackmailing, plot twist and subversion ensues and in the middle of the show you will rightfully think about how they're going to end it?
My take would be to have ended the season with episode 7, having A definitive "ending" with enough intrigue left for the next season. But instead they took the run to the finish line on the dirt road after having nicely paved a path with multiple episodes. The finale is underwhelming, filled with contrivances and cheesy.
Coming to the performances, the acting was stellar throughout, vastly elevating the show. Konkona Sen Sharma and Manoj Bajpayee are veterans and have to do the heavy lifting to elevate scenes with sub par written dialogue. None of them are particularly "Good" or even decent adjacent.
In fact the only characters you could sympathize with were Aravind and his "daughter" apeksha (pointless mother and Lucas twist was added to her story)
But the show stealers were Aravind Shetty (sayaji shinde) and inspector Hassan (Nassar) who nailed their roles mostly.
Kirtima sadly got the short end of the stick and would've loved to see more of her. Her end was very badly handled which is where the show tries to do too much in too less.
There were many twists, some good and many pointless, which brought the plot back to square one. Subversion is good, but subverting the Subversion makes the show unwantedly convoluted. Some things for the showrunners to look into if a season 2 is planned.
Mrs Undercover (2023)
A meandering yet fun comedy thriller with an unhealthy dose of feminism
Mrs. Undercover is a predictable but fun comedy thriller that shouldn't be taken seriously. Guess the director joined the "feminist messaging" bandwagon in movies a decade too late.
It shows the story of Durga, an undercover agent who's cover was "lost" in a fire in the special forces, therefore durga is the only agent who's identity is still a secret by some miracle (read plot contrivance).
The villain is the common man (sumeet vyas), who's a misogynistic serial killer who HATES, you guessed it - strong independent women .
You now know what to expect from the movie. Still, nobody expected the head banging messaging in the film, like it took itself as a serious social awareness program.
Radhika Apte, with her great comic timing puts in a good performance. Sumeet vyas was one dimensional and average.
The supporting cast held their own.
Overall, don't take it seriously and watch it with a calm mind.
House of the Dragon: Driftmark (2022)
The TWIST(s) !!
An eye for an eye would leave the entire world blind, but in HotD world, where one chooses to be blind, why lose an eye? . . . Especially when you can have it all ;)
Show is going from strength to strength, even the night scene is dimly lit, optimally mimicking the night light(unlike a certain battle episode. Guess Mr. Miguel did learn from his mistake) .
Matt Smith was great as usual. And Viserys(Paddy Considine) makes a good "kingly" statement for once.
Rheyneyra and aliment show their true colours, but only one gets to eat the cake, figuratively speaking *wink wink* whereas the other, plans the longer game.
The stakes have risen more now.
Westworld: Generation Loss (2022)
MIND . .. BLOWN!!
MILD SPOILERS only. Oh wow. Wow !! I did anticipate the "mindfreakery" of the show, it's westworld duh., but just not so soon . No secret that James Marsden is back, his chemistry with dolo-sorry Christina is off the charts, some heavy philosophical discussions, and then some . We're just 40% in people. The game is on.
Westworld: Well Enough Alone (2022)
And finally, the stakes are raising...
After the rushed and abysmal season 3, I had very low hopes for season 4. After a sedate premiere, the second episode FINALLY raises the stakes, creates a good, investing story, and gives a glimpse of the big picture planned for the rest of the season, especially the ending ( might relate to the post credit scene in s2).
Mind you, this show is still a far cry from the glory days of season 2, let alone even touching the near perfect s1, but it's still good to see the rise.
The Walking Dead: Rogue Element (2022)
Hornsby=Baelish??
To all those complaining it's slow, and not like walking dead, I'M GLAD IT ISN'T THAT. Some great performance by mcdermitt and Hamilton. Very mystery, noir like.
When 50,000 people feel safe at the Commonwealth, it is obvious that it's a good place to live. The constant fear of walkers and survival takes a BACKSEAT and new problems will come to the front. That's how life is. Do humans in the 21st century still worry about travelling at night and electricity?
Did humans in the 15th century worry about internet and being recorded?
The Walking Dead: On the Inside (2021)
best episode of the season . . is it??
Let's be honest, unless they explain why the humans in the abandoned house de-evolved to such a feral state, this episode is just a filler with a horror premise. And I thought wolves/ terminus/ whisperers were primal.
Lauren ridloff was amazing as usual and Kevin Carroll complemented her well. Virgil has better partnership with Connie than he ever had with michonne. The sheer fright and the horror of Connie almost being responsible for Virgil's death was amazing.
Greg nicotero who directed this episode (and the s10 ep16 pseudofinale) has made some great decisions with regard to the score and the camera angles.
The remainder of the episode was Daryl becoming Clint Eastwood playing both the sides but shows loyalty to our gang (obviously and gave signs that they luckily picked up, it would've taken 2 more episodes if we were in s7) and also loved him and Lynn Collins (leah) interactions.
Carver is an annoying dude like the Pope, who's either extremely confident that the remaining soldiers can wipe out our gang OR he's really stupid and screwed up .
Still, seems like it could have been done without padding the runtime.
And yes, some characters HAVE TO ACT LIKE MORONS AND Magna say her staple dialogue- what were you thinking? (Call back s10 ep9) otherwise no tension eh? That's lazy.
In the end, like stated, this episode didn't Need to exist unless the feral humans back story is told in a sensible manner. Or, it's just a glorious filler which is fine if it wasn't the LAST SEASON !!
Banshee: We Shall Live Forever (2013)
A great episode. If only . ..
The last 3 episodes could've been easily condensed into 2. Just a lot of fillers, the story stopped being naturally progressive and it goes into one impulsive decision leading to another.
Rebecca, getting banished and sent to banshee goes to Lucas for what?? A good time? No reason but just to get him out of the picture and concentrate on the Olek and Anastasia/ Carrie fight.
And that fight, though very destructive, was just passable since she WAS SO UNLIKABLE .
If only the hood and Hopewell had chemistry .
Oh well still better than a lot of other shows.
True Detective (2014)
Would rate it 1>3>2. Not a brainless action series
Season 1 was one of the best TV seasons ever. . . Better than GOT s4, BB s5, TWD s4/5 . Easily 9.6/10
Season 2, they tried to do something different, with a great cast, but not well executed. It became a generic cop drama set in LA like dozens of other movies and shows.
Good but nothing else. 7.5/10
Season 3: well some say it's a rehash of s1, which even I thought so initially. IT ISN'T.
As it progressed, it got better. Just didn't like the final few minutes, like is it closure or not?? Was that Julia purcell??
8.5/10.
The Walking Dead: Here's Negan (2021)
Ppl are giving a High rating for a good episode in a below avg bonus season 10c
This is an 8.4-8.5 /10 episode.
Positives: Hilarie Burton was amazing as Lucille. Loved the back story and the chemistry.
Surprised to see Laura (lindsley Register) and her "dad" who actually were OG saviours and gave Negan the baseball bat.
And yes, the "hero" JDM himself was great, no surprises.
Loved how he handled the real and the wooden Lucille. Tragic story.
Negatives: mainly the timeline for this episode. . . 12 years back, there were walkers already? Was ep22 set months after the whisperer war?
Also, predictable storyline, bad guy doing bad stuff, negan saves the day . . .
But, overall a great episode, best one since the alpha death and definitely BEST IN 10c.
Arishadvarga (2019)
A well written murder mystery movie
Dark, creepy and twisted.
Makes you question what's real and what's fiction.
Great acting by the cast, writing and direction.
Only underwhelming accuracy I found was the incorporation of songs into the movie which Didn't feel natural, felt more shoehorned.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond: The Wrong End of a Telescope (2020)
Don't forget to watch the FULL episode
This episode amps it up big time. There's more scares, but also more melodrama. Great visuals, CGI, masking the average acting.
Only thing bogging down is the sudden changes in tone from gloomy to happy and the simulated prom dance.
More things will become spoiler , so yeah good episode
The Walking Dead: World Beyond: Brave (2020)
Slow burn but really worth giving a shot
My 1st review. Julia Ormond steals the show IMO.
It is a decade into the apocalypse now and the campus County citizens are waiting to celebrate memorial day.
We then meet the characters- iris the groomed leader to be, her rebellious sister hope, with Elton, the baby face looking (but with a dark past) Nicholas Cantu and silas the apparent outcast.
Their mentors huck(Annette mahendru) and Nico tortorella's Felix( of scream 4 as Trevor).
Julia Ormond is a major of the cryptic civil republic military (CRM) And don't forget there's the meek connection with the TWD series.
Major spoilers-
Great cinematography, with some greatly designed walkers, sorry empties.
The editing was good, but towards the end, where they reveal that hope was somehow responsible for her mom's death, and that she had to shoot a pregnant and desperate women as a child could have been better edited.
Good performances by the cast, but not amazing.
Also, great twist that Elton's mother was the mother who was killed by hope, so that's sure to stir the pot.
And the last shot of CRM killing "empties" was very good and intriguing, but paired with an upbeat end credits music killed the tension in the air. Some places where the episode lacked.
But overall, a good setup for the following episodes.
The Walking Dead: A Certain Doom (2020)
Intense, yet anti climactic PSEUDO FINALE
A suspenseful, intense, pseudo finale. Maggie returns just briefly.
The plot of this episode is simple. And most of the story lines were concluded with very minor loopholes.
But on the action side, very,very anti climactic.
My rating would have dropped to a 4/5 on 10 if this was a finale, guess TWD producers made a good move announcing 6 more episodes.