Jithindurden

IMDb member since September 2013
    Highlights
    2020 Oscars
    Highlights
    2019 Oscars
    Highlights
    2018 Oscars
    Highlights
    2017 Oscars
    Highlights
    2016 Oscars
    Highlights
    2015 Oscars
    Highlights
    2014 Oscars
    Highlights
    2013 Oscars
    Highlights
    2012 Oscars
    Highlights
    2011 Oscars
    Highlights
    2010 Oscars
    Highlights
    2009 Oscars
    Highlights
    2008 Oscars
    Highlights
    2007 Oscars
    Highlights
    2006 Oscars
    Highlights
    2005 Oscars
    Lifetime Total
    1,000+
    Lifetime Name
    5+
    Lifetime Filmo
    100+
    Lifetime Plot
    10+
    Lifetime Trivia
    25+
    Lifetime Title
    10+
    Lifetime Image
    50+
    Poll Taker
    500x
    IMDb Member
    10 years

Reviews

Immaculate
(2024)

Lesser version of The FIrst Omen
After watching The First Omen, can't help but compare. The First Omen is definitely the better one of the two. There are so many similarities among both. The main problem with this film is it tries to cram everything under 90 minutes, whereas The First Omen had time to properly build everything in its two-hour runtime. Because of this issue, a few scenes and dialogues felt rushed and weird in the way it was shown. There could've been a lot more depth to a lot of aspects here if they had taken their time. But despite all that, this was still really good at what it was. The whole atmosphere and the cinematography were great. The need for control, bodily autonomy etc are very clearly explored. But the very ending that literally hits the politics on the face is what I loved about this movie. That part was what was a bit let down in The First Omen because it was part of a franchise. I felt like Sydney Sweeney was great and looked the part without really bringing her off-screen image. But the film had a lot of room for improvement too.

Aavesham
(2024)

A full-on entertainer with a wildly fantastic Fahadh Fasil having so much fun
A full-on entertainer with a wildly fantastic Fahadh Fasil having so much fun. He is so good in this that the other main 4 actors who have done a brilliant job might go underappreciated. If it was any other film, they would have gotten a lot of praise but Fahadh is just ruling the screen here. I even forgot about Sushin's score after a point, which has as much importance as a character here. The comedy and the action worked great but it even brought an emotional element that worked very well for me. Towards the end, when the theatre was filled with laughs, I was having a hard time choosing to laugh or cry as it was emotional and funny at the same time. And that emotional part that is working in this movie with such a character, is something only an actor with the calibre of Fahadh can pull off. It was such a blast when the Illuminati song started playing at the end.

The First Omen
(2024)

A thematically and cinematically superior prequel
It does follow the basic outline formula of the original and there's not much surprise plotwise. Even the supposed twist was very obvious from the very beginning. But even the original Omen worked more with how the mystery unravels to the characters than to the audience. The clear politics of this movie is where this truly surpasses the original. The true cult-like behaviours stemming from the belief that it is right, thinking control is very much needed by everyone at every level, which as an American film also clearly parallels the control of bodily autonomy being put into force currently. The idea that the ones who are working for the evil are different and "the others" are abandoned shows how it's the same people who believe in both sides and those outside don't even have a side in this.

The film also retcons some stuff and ties it up to the original which may not work for everyone but by the end, I was convinced with it. The ending setting up the franchise was more like a non-horror-type franchise building but I guess it works because this and the original is more psychological mystery than horror. Although this did have a lot of gore, some of it clearly homage to the original and some on the face gore clearly sending a political message for those who can catch it.

Nell Tiger Free has a great future. This and Too Old To Die Young are proof of that and I hope Hollywood utilizes it.

The Omen
(1976)

Silly but engaging
I'm not sure if I've seen this or the remake but I had seen it as a kid and had a gist of it, plus a lot of pop culture references meant, I know what most of it's gonna be. Even with that, this film was pretty engaging and the mystery element worked really well. There were some aspects of it that made it feel like this clearly has some inspirations from The Exorcist but this one's better for me. A lot of it felt pretty silly and I'd agree with the critics of the time of its release more than the people about how great or not great this is. It's a fun movie to watch. But the way it approached a lot of things in this movie makes it clear that the impact of this movie has been culturally negative, bringing out possibilities of cult-like mentalities. But that's kind of true for a lot of movies from the 70s and 80s which is not entirely their fault. At the end of the day, it's an entertaining movie. But in itself as a movie, this doesn't really have too many things standing the test of the time compared to what it created through its impact.

Crew
(2024)

Formulaic but fun
A formulaic but fun heist film. The three roles of the air hostesses from different backgrounds were tailor-made for these three stunning actresses and all of them showed why they are the stars that they are. The film had a lot of ridiculousness but the two-hour running time made sure everything went swiftly so we didn't stay on anything for too long. For all the "Vijay Vallya" character and parallels to the real events and the way the film tries to make it look like they are making these people pay, they also made sure to show that at the end of the day, even this film is just a corporate product to appease the people so nothing like this happens in reality by filling every single scene with product placements. If they were gonna use this much product placement, they could have at least not made it look like they are trying to take a stand against someone and such actions. These people would attend the parties hosted by those people abroad and joke about how this movie fooled people. But all that is not really about the movie which was always supposed to be just a fun caper and nothing more. But it could have certainly been better than this.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
(2024)

Dumb Fun. Better than the previous one
The Monsterverse films got progressively less serious in all aspects with each movie until Godzilla vs Kong in 2021 which became so completely ridiculous and fun that it was impossible to believe it was in the same universe as the 2014 Godzilla. It was mainly due to that I didn't like it much the first time but learned to appreciate it more on a rewatch for what it was rather than expecting a consistent tone from this particular cinematic franchise. Even though this one continues to be dumb fun it felt like a step up from the previous one. The central character here is essentially Kong and everyone else is a supporting character. Being the most emotionally available, that throughline itself was more than what the previous one offered. But here, the film is self-aware enough to call itself out but doesn't try to ram it too much.

Brian Tyree Henry was annoying af in the previous movie and would've changed nothing if he and the characters with him were removed from that movie. Here, he manages to be charming enough to fit into that comic relief role. The introduction to Dan Stevens's character made me feel like it would be another annoying character but he turned out to be one of the best things of this movie for me. A lovable hippy with great comic chemistry with Brian Tyree Henry.

The action and visuals were plenty and good for such a fun dumb movie. The writing is just there to justify the action and really nothing more. No point trying to find depth or logic in it. The inconsistencies in the franchise are growing but at this point, I don't think anyone really cares.

Every time Mothra has an appearance they subtly use the music from the original song of 1961 into the soundtrack without it playing out in the open. Give us the modern Mosra song already, please.

The Goat Life
(2024)

A neat adaptation of the novel
All things considered a neat adaptation of Aadujeevitham. I read the novel around 15 years ago and loved it. I don't remember everything from it but there were some standout moments from the novel that I missed here. Maybe those were the more fictional aspects of the novel and this could be closer to Najeeb's real life, I don't know. But it really felt like that in the first half there was so much focus on certain aspects that could've been shortened with more impact even if they didn't include the parts from the book that I wanted to see since it's already three hours. The initial portions of Prithviraj as the newly arrived immigrant were also not as convincing as I would've liked. But the film fully commits in every department in the second half and makes such a beautiful experience. Prithviraj's transformation and his suffering are portrayed as a person who is very normal and innocent in contrast to the similar character in Mariyan (which took a lot of inspiration from this novel) who was essentially portrayed as a hero. Periyone song was incredible but it was too short and didn't fully give the impact it could've. In fact, a lot of scenes suffer from this because of poor editing. Other than Periyone, most of the music is either too much or just not matching what is going on. Honestly disappointed with the music. Even the ending of the movie felt a little abrupt, especially considering how the flashbacks were set up but it ended without the full payoff.

Even with all the problems I had Aadujeevitham is a solid movie and a neat adaptation of the novel with incredible performances, especially from Prithviraj. As someone who had read the novel, there were a lot of things that were easier to understand and also other things that I was disappointed with. It felt like it would be an entirely different experience for those who haven't read the novel.

Anchakkallakokkan
(2024)

Great use of Style over substance where the writing could have been better
Anchakkallakokkan is one of those rare style-over-substance films where the style is very much blended with the rustic rawness of 80s Kerala that is not often seen. The most stylish characters here are the Gillappis who are presented with so much style and at the same time very rustic that if you think about how such characters with these specific qualities shown in the film would have been portrayed in the past, it would be either for comic relief or as pure villains unlike here which itself makes this worth a lot for me. The action set pieces are intricately designed to feel the rawness of it while being stylish. The shaappu fight in the middle was amazing, the only thing I would've wanted there was a little bit more blood because a lot of those would be way more damaging if it was real. I also loved the final showdown even if it felt like dragged just a little bit more than needed. Lukman's character is used for an introduction to the area and then we are moving through a lot of different stories contained in this village. Splicing his backstory a little bit more throughout would have worked a bit more for the viewers to invest in him more as a protagonist at the end because the gap between the focus given to him seems to have worked against having someone to really root for. Overall, there are a few issues with the writing which if they'd have done better, this movie could have been really great. Personally, Lukman's character was very relatable in a lot of ways and loved the ending so much and that end credit song slaps.

Even though it is understandable why they chose the title of the movie, it being a hard-to-pronounce word unless you have heard it before has been a major setback for the film as many have said it's too weird of a title to even try watching the film.

This movie could have been really great with better writing but even now it's a very well-made film that would benefit from a theater watch.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
(2023)

Had a lot more potential
Even though I really liked the show, the good parts of the show was really good and deserved to be part of a much better show. Kurt and Wyatt Russel playing past and future versions of a character was really charming. But it was Mari Yamamoto who stole the show every time she appeared on screen, so much so that her appearance was what I was looking forward more like the occasional appearance of the monsters. But for all those good parts and the monster mayhem, there's so much things that are handled very badly. The human drama might not have been that bad when it was conceived but a lot of the situations were very forced and a lot of the dialogues were utter trash. The first three episodes were consistently of great quality and it was after that the quality dropped suddenly. Even though in totality, I thought it was good, it's a show that had great potential that ruined itself.

Friday Night Sext Scandal
(2024)

Important
Even though the high school culture in this movie is not something I'm familiar with as someone not from the West, I've seen how it works through various movies. But the other side of it, the scandal aspect is something I've heard has happened even here. And you always get so surprised and disgusted with how it happens and not only that but how this many people can be involved with such acts. I thought this movie made a somewhat good depiction of how even the most unassuming people can turn into that. Although, if I wasn't familiar with American teenage movies and how the relationships work in such movies, I wouldn't have been able to think there was any truth in how things turned out in this. So, this felt real only because of my exposure to other movies, which could be totally wrong. The movie was still trying to make the main character more sympathetic than necessary by including a lot of things that are just in bad faith. The acting was really good overall and there were some things that worked very well but it also had a limited focus on what to tell which didn't really make it really good.

Another thing that this movie really made me think of is how especially these kinds of stories are undermined by having older actors. This movie could have had no explicit scenes at all and made the actors actually look like teenagers and the impact would've been huge. The horror and disgust would really bring out the point even if nothing explicit is shown. The fact that it shows a bit with the actors who are obviously older really negates a lot of impact and also makes the crime look lesser. The audience should understand that these are kids and not grown people which is a fact all the movies constantly try to erase. I really didn't think about it before that much but this movie kind of made me understand why that is important.

Crime of the Century
(1996)

Makes a great case of what might have happened
I have heard some references to the Lindbergh baby in some TV shows even though I don't remember exactly where. Here, the film mostly centres around how the police and the attorneys pin it on an innocent man. The debate on whether he was actually innocent or not is still going on but even if the movie is largely fictional, the fact that the police left so many loopholes and manufactured evidence and witnesses is pretty evident. The movie makes a great case of how a foolish immigrant man gets caught up in this because of his foolishness and the police exploit it and pin everything on him. This being a TV movie, Isabella Rossellini playing the wife is a surprise. But most of the cast were pretty brilliant. The sad thing is the various techniques used by the police to coerce so many people into different situations are still a very real thing that we can't escape. The belief of some people being the primary reason others suffer is always an evil that humanity can't seem to stop, whatever kind of belief it is. The confidence of people who are wrong is always what the world relies on to maintain the status quo.

The film could have been way better if it tried to be but as a TV movie, it felt it was limiting itself too much. Still, by the end, when the text appeared about what happened afterwards I really started to get emotional.

Kung Fu Panda 2
(2011)

Way better than I remember
I remember not really loving this the first time. The white peacock being the villain, a lot of red throughout the movie etc made me not so happy because I wanted a bit more of the first one. Now on a rewatch, I still have some problems with the colors and the animation. It is more detailed and advanced than the first I guess but it doesn't have the same charm as the first. But that's more of a personal preference maybe because of a bit of nostalgia too even when it originally came out. Three years was a huge time being a teenager, I guess. Now in a rewatch, I see that the story tries to have some depth and can maybe considered even better than the first. It has the action, comedy and great dialogue as should be expected from a sequel to the first part. Overall, it's as good if not better than the first.

Dune: Part Two
(2024)

How evil prevails in fundementalism
The first thought I had was that it was a bit underwhelming after seeing unanimous praise everywhere about this being way better than the first part and called as one of the best modern sci-fi. I mean, I do think this is a pretty great movie but only as good as the first part. While it does some things in the narrative more focused, that's mostly because those were just getting set up in the first part. The pacing is pretty off here and the way most of the action scenes are not really given more importance than simple narrative formula, it still felt unfinished at the end. It didn't really use the villains much either as it was all set-ups that felt anti-climatic. But even with all those problems, it was still effective in showcasing the evil that can rise from fundamentalism. The way Javier Bardem's lines were funny throughout the movie is also a reminder of how evil can spread through righteousness and earnestness when you are forced to be blinded by indoctrination that uses their rightful hatred. I really do hope the next part Messiah is still made, since this still feels very unfinished.

Manjummel Boys
(2024)

Technically brilliant and emotionally fulfilling
From Janeman itself Chidambaram's grasp in direction was evident but here he proves it again. The tone shift from an easy-going feel to a gripping emotional ride is so natural and effective. I never thought I would be this invested in it since I already knew almost what to expect from it. The script itself might have been pretty simple and on the point, not minimizing the craft there, but the direction is what really makes this stand out. Every single choice of what shot is used, the music used and what is to be shown at what time all made it so much more effective than what I would have expected from such a story. All the actors did great even though there's not too much space for any one person to shine more with such a big cast. But from the initial moments, the one I really noticed was Lal Jr, who was perfect as that loud obnoxious ahole in the friend group that most people hate. Soubin, Bhasi, Deepak and even Khalid Rahman did great in their roles.

Watching this right after watching Gunaa felt like the right choice right from the opening credits. But I wanted to make sure, I see that song in Gunaa first and not this. It was the right choice because this would've been the definitive point of that song if I had seen this first. Beautiful use and homage to Gunaa even though both are very different films.

The rescue scenes, the emotional weight they carried and the following events that allow the viewers to fully let their emotions out all worked brilliantly, For now, my favourite movie of the year. Ironic since among the theatre watches this year, this was one that I was least interested in.

Guna
(1991)

Psychological masala done right
From the one shot with which the movie begins, the one thing that kinda haunted me throughout the movie was how this really needs a restoration instead of this old capture for the VHS that doesn't do any justice to the technical mastery of this movie. The cinematography is outstanding with the use of so many long oners and other clever usage of shots which accentuates the themes as well as Kamal Haasan's brilliant performance.

The film also seems to be highly influential in Indian cinema as I can see the influence in films of various languages. Although, there are aspects I'm not too fond of it too.

Way too many people seemed to have interpretations that are closer to the trend of films this started where psychotic love was glorified. Here, they have tried to show how even the girl is broken inside, a bit like Alia in Highway but not that explicit. Gunaa's love is pure but that isn't pure love as many like to interpret it. The divine metaphors or Gunaa's delusions are there because of how the world treats people but at the same time, the film is also clear about not giving those delusions legitimacy. The existence of these thoughts itself is clearly shown as deliberate poisoning of his simpler mind. The film has some confusion here to confirm his victimhood or divinity because it wants to be both. But even with that, it was a pretty incredible film that tried to do a lot of things within its framework.

The Silent Twins
(2022)

Half baked attempt at an interesting true story
A very weird biopic about the twin sisters who remained silent to the outside world while creating their own imaginary worlds in writing. Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance give brilliant performances capturing their unique mannerisms as well as the inward and outward bursts of emotions. But while the story itself is interesting, the choice of an almost surreal narrative with interludes of stop motion animations of the stories by the sisters gives a fitting vibe of the sisters to the whole movie it still feels incomplete. The beginning itself is very sudden in terms of having no context of what's happening and yet not really putting the audience in the middle of the events. It felt more like they had all the ideas right but the execution didn't reach where it should have. This should have been a much longer movie but it doesn't seem there's anything cut down because the film just doesn't feel like it has much more to say even though the story feels incomplete at every point. If they wanted to reflect the way the sisters actually communicated with the world by not giving all the information, this should have been much more surreal than this. Otherwise, it should have been a more straighter biopic where there's a little bit more space for the other characters. Here it just feels like the makers didn't really know what to do with the material and made a half baked attempt at it.

Anweshippin Kandethum
(2024)

Well made but routine
A nice investigation film where they decided to not follow a lot of narrative cliches and tropes seen in this type of Malayalam film but follow that of the English episodic investigation series' like CSI. But they also made sure that it is very rooted and realistic with the 90s production design on point without making the audience pay too much attention to that. Technically this is very well made in all the departments. The choice of making it two cases for the two halves was a brave one but it seemed to have also worked. But the way so many recent films have been using this same kind of theme for crime is getting irritating for me. That's where the Ozler movie kind of subverted expectations at a certain point and made me glad even if it didn't really do anything great. Here, a lot of choices about character motivations, their hurdles and the image they were creating for them was very much like how something like CSI would do but without actually copying anything from there. That in itself had its positives and negatives but that was also kind of irritating for me at certain points. But among recent police movies where a team of them investigates this was pretty good and better than something like Kannur Squad.

Kimetsu no Yaiba Kizuna no Kiseki, Soshite Hashira Geiko e
(2024)

Not really a movie but still nice
The "movie" began with kind of a recap from the beginning and then showed the title of the movie, unlike the previous movie which basically started with the opening song of that episode. So even though then it proceeded with the last episode of the last season, it fooled me into thinking this time they have made a minimum effort to edit it as a movie properly. But no, taking almost an hour to finish up showing everything we've already seen, it started with the title and credits for the next season. Why can't they put in even that much effort?

The visuals and the story and characters that I'm already invested in made it a nice watch but it clearly not targeted to be played in theaters did affect my experience. At least the previous movie had a lot of great visual set pieces to present. Here it's more or less an emotional season finale and a lot of setting up for the next season for which there's not much to gain as a movie. It is so not meant to be a movie. But I can't help really like it because of how much I'm invested in it. The emotions do work big time even if they push it to your face a bit too much. Watching it with a houseful crowd is certainly a good experience even if it can't be really called a movie.

Deep Cover
(1992)

A 90s noir that had more potential
A 90s noir that touches upon everything wrong with America but kind of feels like didn't really commit to fully explore that. From what I've read it's commendable that such a film on this scale with a black protagonist being an undercover cop was made at that time. Maybe that is the reason a lot of it felt like it wanted to be even darker but compromises on being happy with the boundaries it stays in. It almost feels like the script was heavily censored so that they don't want it to look like they aren't afraid of/to criticize a lot of stuff but making sure not to go overboard as to actually explore the root causes. The way the drugs are kept in circulation using the people who want to stop it the most, all the while the real players always in control on both sides is clearly drawn out here but just doesn't spell it out. Similarly, there are so many things that are explored here that are not completely utilized in the narrative. Both Fishburne and Goldblum were fantastic and quite different from what I've seen them in before. The music and cinematography were great even though I had to watch it on a bad screen. Even though I really loved a lot of aspects of it, there's a lot of it that just makes me think this could've been so much better and a lot more hard-hitting if they would have chosen to.

Madame Web
(2024)

Bad and stupid but a little bit charming
The film is set in 2003 and it is shot like it is a TV pilot from that time too. Everything in it is so half-baked that it is really unbelievable that this is such a huge studio film. At the same time, for this exact reason, and maybe because even bad superhero movies are still comfort films for me, there was some charm to it. The simplicity with which a lot of it is approached, and the lack of real stakes really made this a very comfortable watch. It is still a bad film but I really didn't think it was one of the worst superhero movies. The last superhero movie I saw at the theater, Aquaman 2 was definitely worse than this in my opinion.

And I think the casting was done a long time ago because watching Syndey Sweeny as a meek-mannered teenager supporting character feels very weird when she's basically established as the new hot star in Hollywood.

Bramayugam
(2024)

Mammootty is devilish in this
Attempting a big-budget black-and-white horror movie in Malayalam itself is laudable. But using it to unleash the devilish side of Mammootty is where this movie really shines. As expected, Mammootty hit it out of the park. In films like this and Rorschach, we can see that the devilish side is used in a way that is so powerful but also charismatic in a way only he can do. We are in awe and horror of the deeds but also can't help but love it. And the director knows this, so the framing and music also evoke the same. Here, the story itself is pretty simple and uses an exposition sequence to fill in all the blanks. So, it's the atmosphere created and the performances that really carries the movie. Thematically there are a lot of obvious aspects to it but it felt like the focus on certain things could have made more impact instead of spelling everything out. Besides Mammootty, Sidharth Bharathan surprised me with his performance. The production design and some detailing in makeup were all fabulously intricate. Editing on the whole felt not as good as all the other technical aspects, as there were many moments where it felt like it disrupted the flow rather than immersing us. The black and white cinematography worked well but I wish they played with it more. Rather than just the usual black and white, the use of some darker black and whiter white etc would've been great, but that's just my opinion. Overall, it's an incredible attempt at folklore horror rooted in Kerala mythology, even though I do think there was some room for improvement.

The fans association people were celebrating with a bandset and everything at the end, so the repetition of a dialogue at the end of the credits wasn't completely audible but that was a really nice way to end the movie.

Premalu
(2024)

Relatable af laugh riot
A complete laugh riot if you're a Malayali. Premalu is so entertaining and so relatable, it's truly unbelievable how good this was using such a simple template rom-com story. Even though this is set in the city of Hyderabad, the two kinds of life they showed brought so many memories of my time in Banglore. I've experienced both those lifestyles even if not to the extremes this showed. The way so many dialogues and situations worked can only work with charming performances, natural dialogue deliveries and the details of the dialogue that are so close to how this generation of Malayalis communicates. All the performances and the specific vision of the director to bring out those performances really make an impact.

But what hit me the most were the subtle passing dialogues which, even if omitted from the movie wouldn't change the entertainment factor of the movie. What would otherwise be just passing situational dialogues are closely constructed to give depth to the story and the characters. There were a few moments there that were too close to home for me even when that was so quickly passed by. It is this attention to detail that makes Girish's films special and different from all the similar films that follow such templates.

Even though it was nothing more than small talk, I was able to talk to Girish and Naslen, while they were dubbing for this movie. Whatever portion they were dubbing, I'd like to believe it was some specific dialogues. That really makes this a special one for me.

Gojira shingyura pointo
(2021)

What I expected from a Godzilla from Hideaki Anno
Even though Godzilla and a lot of the kaiju from the Showa era are a huge presence, the series is not essentially about them, so naming it Godzilla seems to be a bad idea, especially looking at its reception. The series is essentially a mind-bending race to stop the apocalypse where the space-time continuum is in a mess. This could've replaced all the Godzilla universe elements with something else and still worked by using some other stuff in place. But at the same time, the love for the Godzilla universe, all the monsters, and I think a special place for the robot Jet Jaguar is pretty clear. The influence of all the different types of Godzilla movies is clear but that of Shin Godzilla was even more evident at times. When I first heard Hideaki Anno making Godzilla, I was expecting something like this more than what Shin Godzilla was and the makers might have been big fans of his work. Even the end credit song visuals almost like depicting a parallel universe with more traditional iterations of all the monsters felt more like a beautiful tribute without losing the mind-bending aspect.

Now, the sci-fi aspects were a bit over the top. It is intentionally made hard to understand because even though they have used a lot of real-world concepts, like the MD5 hash function very important in the plot, the way they integrated the more fictional aspect doesn't really make sense unless you give into the absurd ideas that conspiracy theorists come up with when faces with paradoxes. The outlook of the two main characters that are established in the first couple of episodes does paint them as too weird and brainy to justify their easy acceptance of absurd sci-fi puzzles they face. But if the series would've slowed down for the viewers to catch up with the jargon they keep on using, it would've made it clear it's mostly pseudo-science bullshit, so the fast-paced way they went where you don't really need to understand it, was the right way to tell this.

The use of the weird haunting Sanskrit song and some Hindu mythology references was nice to see. But some of the pronunciation of Sanskrit felt a bit American, not even Japanese which kinda threw me and wasn't easy to understand what the actual lyrics were. The Gita quote is used here too as Godzilla is a nuclear monster.

The animation is also incredibly well done and the CGI on the monsters worked really great too.

Overall, it's a pretty great series that kept me hooked throughout even though there was a lot of mumbo jumbo talk with science talk that only makes sense if we fully aspect that everything is a singular point in this world. The AI Pelops was too cute and made this a whole lot more enjoyable around all such science talk.

A Star Is Born
(1937)

Iconic
I've seen the modern Bollywood version, Aashiqui 2 from 2013 and and the modern Hollywood version from 2018 before, so I was already pretty familiar with what's gonna happen in this movie and maybe it helped me enjoy this more in some ways. This first version of A Star is Born is about actors instead of singers unlike most of the remakes, but it seems that this is a partial ripoff of What Price Hollywood?, which came out in 1932 which I couldn't find anywhere online. With the use of Technicolor in the 30s, I expected it to be a bit more flashy but it had enough moments of Hollywood grandness of the time to justify it. I was very surprised to see that there were many specific dialogues that are retained in what should've been the vastly different unofficial Bollywood version too. It really shows the impact this made even after all this time. But some aspects of addiction, even though modern films have a better way of showing the changes, just from the writing perspective, did a much better job in conveying the exact moments that affect people. Other than the famous ending shot and line, my favourite shot is when Norman Maine stands alone in the crowd of people who all have misjudged him.

In so many ways this felt very raw that it went on showing so many of the realities of the time without too much exposition even when it holds a belief of magic that can be found in life.

As a whole, it does feel very 30s in its execution. Maybe it's due to the time period but it felt like this script could've been made into a masterpiece with a truly great director of that time.

Argylle
(2024)

fun, tacky, colorful, overlong and with wrong marketing about the stars
From the posters, I was expecting a fun movie starring Henry Cavill and Dua Lipa but it turns out they were just cameos, Cavill's role can be said as an extended cameo really. The actual main leads are Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell and they could've used a little more chemistry between them. The movie is full of twists and turns and madness that can be expected from the director of Kingsman. But the worldbuilding is kind of all over the place and the movie runs 20 minutes too long. It would've worked way better under two hours or if they could've included more information, even exposition at times just to make the pacing better. The plot gets a little convoluted but we are not supposed to lose our heads over it, it is supposed to be all fun but, it doesn't always work. Despite all the problems I had with it, it was so much fun. The visuals were gloriously tacky as designed to be. The ending revealing even more twists and setting up sequels and prequels were done very smartly and didn't feel like adding just for the sake of it. So, even though not as fun as the Kingsman movies, this is an okay spy action comedy that manages to be fun even with all of its flaws.

I have to add that the chemistry between Henry Cavill and John Cena at the end was palpable.

See all reviews