SAMTHEBESTEST

Casino Royale (2006) : Brief Review -

The return of the Classic Bond after a decade. Daniel Craig has been part of all those billion-dollar James Bond movies, which convinced the entire world that Bond was, is, and will be the classiest spy on the silver screen. The most popular and most acclaimed Bond movies before this were Sean Connery movies from the 1960s, such as Dr. No, Goldfinger, and Thunderball, followed by Brosnan's Golden Eye in the 90s. For over a decade, there was no classy or highly acclaimed Bond movie, and then came Craig's Casino Royale, directed by Martin Campbell. I remember watching this movie on television in pieces, so surprises were fewer. However, the scale and the intensity felt much better in one-go viewing. Casino Royale totally convinced me that it could be argued to be the best 007 movie ever, only to slip a little in the climax. So, Bond wins the money, the villain is killed, and there are still 20-24 minutes left in the film's runtime. Even a kid can guess that the lady-love is going to play a femme fatale here. Like M says, "You should have picked on it," and I was scratching my head much before she said it. I mean, come on, a world-class spy like Bond can't be that typical. It's just unacceptable, and that also drags the entire anti-climax portion for a while. Rest, no complaints. It's a classy show, all the way. From sexy looks, hot chicks, bikini babes, dashing Bond, smashing action set pieces, fantastic background score, to thrilling narrative-you name it, and Casino Royale has it. Craig has redefined Bond's charisma-not that I am ever going to forget Conner, but in his own way, he has done a commendable job. Eva Green was born to play such sexy roles. Mads Mikkelsen has come a long way from playing Bond's villain to what he is now, but people do and will remember his part in this movie. Dench had a small role, but it was an apt choice. Martin's direction shows a new vision for Bond movies and how big they can be. All the next films in the franchise are even bigger, but this has its own magic of being the first in its category.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Howl's Moving Castle (2004) : Brief Review -

Hayao Miyazaki's fascinating world of war, love, sorcery, and curse. I enjoyed it more than his other works. Miyazaki needs no further introduction; he is a world-famous director for his animated films that have been hailed as universal classics (not that I agree). I personally didn't like those films-that is, as classics. That doesn't mean they were bad. That's one of the reasons that kept me away from Howl's Moving Castle, because I failed to understand the hype around his other films that I watched with high expectations but didn't reach that certain level. I get it; it's some kind of phenomenon in Japanese cinema and animation cinema, and rightfully so, but that isn't enough to get such high ratings. Anyways, I still made my way to watch Howl's Moving Castle, and thankfully, this one did not disappoint. Out of all the Miyazaki films I have seen, I enjoyed this one the most. It's fascinating, it's mystical, it's magical, and despite having all those theories of sorcery, demons, witches, curses, love, kisses, and time travel, Howl's story has something of its own. Maybe, heart. I am not being technical here, but logically, the story had a heart and moving drama in the right amount. The visual effects were great. That castle thing was really nice to see. Not just that, but those battleships, Queen's crystal globe, Howl's bird version, and Calcifer-we have a lot of things to cherish. The screenplay has a grip, despite some slow portions in the middle, and then there is an action-packed finale to enthral us with its cinematic appeal. The characters have been structured smartly. Sophie has three looks, sometimes mixed, and that's what we call the entanglement of multiple personalities in one character. The same goes for Howl's character. When you have so many things well established and constructed, it's too much for an animated flick, I guess. Miyazaki believed in the same.

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Perfetti Sconosciuti / Perfect Strangers (2016) : Brief Review -

7 Friends, 7 Strangers, Multiple Facts, Several Lies, Yet Pointless. Back in time, Hollywood attempted a similar idea in 1933 with "Dinner at Eight," but it was mostly occupied by the pre-dinner segments and social activities. "12 Angry Men" (1957) brought several men together for a roundtable and discussed different perspectives. The Italian flick Perfetti sconosciuti has the same set-up but a completely different story and screenplay. The idea is typical but really intriguing. You get 7 friends together on a dinner table (3 couples and 1 single guy) and play a weird game of keeping your mobile phone open for all. Mobile phones have updated our lifestyle, but they have destroyed our lives and the way we used to share things with our loved ones. You might have heard one or two dialogues, or even a monologue, on the same in many movies, but Perfect Strangers uses this point to define its entire narrative. Did that stop people from using mobiles, or even the characters in the film? No. Then faak it. Your point is useless. It happens with many socially important things, so that's okay. However, Perfect Strangers is not entirely about mobile phones, but about human nature and its insights. These 7 people think that they are friends and have nothing to hide from each other, but by the end, everyone is exposed, and to a very shameful level. It doesn't change anything, though. They are back to their lives with a lot of lies, so again, the point of the film is at fault here. Moreover, it's an extremely vulgar movie. They openly talk about booobs, sexual affairs, cheating, and whatnot. All the private discussion becomes open for a while, and the game turns into a serious reality. Now that's only until the climax, when they go back to their previous versions, as if nothing happened. That doesn't make sense from one point of view, but the other side of it makes good sense, as they all understand how cheap and bad they are. Overall, unique but pointless.

RATING - 5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

The Thin Man Goes Home (1944) : Brief Review -

Even the best detective in the business had to prove his worth to his father. This is a very common issue in families: a successful son has to showcase his skills to his father. Sometimes they don't understand, or rather, don't know, what their son has achieved. That cold war between what the father wanted his son to become and what the son wanted himself to become lasts for years, and that's why even the great success of the son becomes invisible. The Thin Man Goes Home shows that story again, applied to Nick Charles. His father wanted him to become a doctor and help him with his hospital, but Nick ran away and became the best detective in the business. Mr. And Mrs. Charles travel to Nick's hometown for a vacation, and there you have it. As the doctor says, "Every place he goes, he finds dead bodies." Yeah, we all agree. Hasn't it been the same for every Thin Man movie? However, this time Nick has to prove it to his father, even if he doesn't show that nervousness out. Nora is more concerned about it-verbally, I mean. Junior Charles and Lt. Abrams were missing, and I missed them a lot. Although the case is tricky and there are a lot of angles to it, Nick solves it alright. The one thing that he wanted the most in his life was that pat on his back from his father. Well, he gets it. Nora, as expected, stands for him, and you know her chatterbox nature when it comes to praising her handsome and intelligent husband. William Powell has done well once again, and he didn't get tired of it. The entire supporting cast was a good surprise, while Asta has very little to do again. A man knocks on the door, begins to talk, and is shot dead. Nick just looks at Asta, and that fury detective runs right outside the house to catch the killer. That's some understanding of the characters themselves. Writers had a sense, I believe. Richard Thorpe served as the first director to direct The Thin Man film after Duke's demise, and this was a humble tribute, I would say.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) : Brief Review -

Had I seen it as a child, this would have been a nostalgic and fascinating adventure for a lifetime. I remember hearing such fascinating fantasy stories from Granny in childhood, but I was born in the 90s. So, things like Aladdin and The Lion King are my nostalgia, even though the stories date back a long time. The same way, Sinbad's stories have fascinated those generations, and this Nathan H. Juran's fantasy adventure is a live presentation of the same on the silver screen. What a visual treat it is! Can't say pathbreaking since the likes of The Lost World (1925), King Kong (1933), and The Shrinking Man (1956) had already achieved those groundbreaking visual effects, but this was surely visually phenomenal. The giant monster, the little genie, the colossal two-headed bird, the dragon, and whatnot. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is a complete fantasy adventure course in itself. The same effects may look cartoonish today, but for 1958, they were simply gorgeous. The film lasts for 88 minutes and gives you no moment to get up and have a drink, even if it is water. Sinbad must go to Colossa Island to make his shrink princess normal again, but magician Sokurah has an agenda. It was expected to see Sokurah turning into a villain; otherwise, the narrative would have been pointless. Kerwin Mathews plays the iconic Sinbad, a brave, generous, courageous, and handsome swordman and captain. The gorgeous princess Parisa is portrayed by Kathryn Grant, and she looks cute all the time. Torin Thatcher's Sokurah was fine. He had that scary look and eyes that could make children fear him. Not to forget the cute little Genie played by Richard Eyer. This was a surprise for me. I never expected a little boy to play the genie, but here he was, proving me wrong all the way. Juran's vision was truly magnificent for a film made with a budget lower than $1 million at the time. It's just too good considering that, and it does have a nostalgic feel, and how strong.

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Another Thin Man (1939) : Brief Review -

Another multiple murder hunch, and this time Charles himself was suspected of one. WS Van Dyke, William Powell, and Myrna Loy's trio join hands for the third film in The Thin Man series, "Another Thin Man." This time they were accompanied by junior Charles, who also played an important role in the climax, if not throughout the film. Mr. And Mrs. Charles are invited to spend a weekend on an island where an old fella is murdered. The first theory is, of course, his property and will, but amidst the primary investigation, there is another murder. We don't have that old lieutenant Abrams, who is a friend of Charles and therefore wouldn't suspect him, so these two new investigating officers do make the mistake of suspecting Charles for the murder. Nick Charles wants to leave and go back to New York, but as always, his wife, Nora, keeps him there. The case takes longer than expected because there are no visible clues-not because Nick finds them anyway, but because it's all about tricks. Having a gun shot at a man and seeing things all over the floor gives a basic idea of struggle, but what if there was no struggle? Nick proves it at the end, and that too, with the help of science and electricity. The murderer is unpredictable here, for sure. In murder mysteries and detective movies, the actual fun is to see who the killer is and how the detective got to him or her. Another Thin Man lacks some of those trademark comedy scenes, even with Asta, and that's why the narrative does not look funny. However, the murder and trick parts are there and very nicely filmed too. Powell and Loy's chemistry works again, and the Jr. Was cute too. W. S. Van Dyke cooks another fine detective comedy with a new bunch, and having a female killer somehow adds something extra. You know what I mean.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

The Magnificent Seven (1960) : Brief Review -

John Surges makes a solid Western remake of Kurosawa's Japanese classic "Seven Samurai." Sturges had made several Western flicks before remaking Akira Kurosawa's cult classic, which particularly helped him to get the Western nuances right with this difficult story. Seven Samurai was almost 3 hours long, and Sturges' remake is a little over 2 hours. That was a good trick. He knew that people had already seen the Japanese flick, so let's not make a long film again. People are aware of the story and the climax, so let's give them entertainment without taking much of their time. The Magnificent Seve ln does not have long action sequences like the original Japanese film. It has only 2 or 3 action scenes, exactly the ones that are needed, so somehow it shrinks the impact you have in mind. It does have some classic Western segments, though. Kurosawa's film literally took the entire last hour to define the war scenario between the villagers and samurais, but here, Sturges managed all that within 10 or 15 minutes. The seven cowboys were pretty tough and rough. The narrative didn't give them enough time to form a bond of friendship or brotherhood, and that's why the emotional touch in the ending didn't feel very impactful. Yet, the idea of "victory belonging to someone else" has been captured very well here too. Instead of peasants, the word is farmers. Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Horst Buchholz, James Coburn, and Brad Dexter-what a fantastic selection of cast members! Not to forget Eli Wallach as Calvera, the main antagonist, and Vladimir Sokoloff as the old man in the village. Some of the dialogues give that kick the audience has been expecting, and the cinematography is excellent. This isn't John Sturges' best work, but surely amongst the top 10, or maybe the top 5. The awkward silence and acceptance of the pyrrhic victory are captured beautifully by the remake too.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Godzilla Minus One (2023) : Brief Review -

Japanese Cinama's tribute to the 1998 Godzilla with the powerful conflict of World War II. I don't know how many of you are fans of "Godzilla" (1998), but I always look at that film as a complete Godzilla film. We have a monster destroying the city, and the rescue teams finally manage to kill him. The recent Godzilla films have kept him alive and brought about some kind of peace treaty. I personally don't find it as fascinating as the 1998 flick. In my opinion, the Japanese monster flick Godzilla Minus One is like a tribute to that original 1998 flick. The same formula: We have a monster constantly attacking cities, and the rescue team kills it. What amplifies the narrative is the powerful conflict of World War II and how it made some humans become losers in their own eyes. "The war is not over yet," he says, because the Japanese had lost World War II after the atomic attack and had lost hope of a better and brighter future. This film is set in the 1940s, so it breaks all the contacts with mordern technologies and weapons, unlike the recent monster flicks. Having a disturbed and enraged protagonist who is seeking revenge after being a coward all his life is what gives it an emotional human touch. The film, however, lacks stupendous explosions and action scenes and somewhere feels dragged in the second half before coming to the finale fight. Also, it is hard to believe Godzilla having such destructive powers/rays back in the 1940s. I mean, the world had just met the atomic bomb then, so it was like an overly catastrophic thing to imagine. Nonetheless, the idea of an unbeatable monster is convincing, and that's all that matters in such films. The performances were pretty good, the cinematography and visuals were okay, and the direction was fairly good. Thanks to Takashi Yamazaki for going back to roots, and this is just the beginning. Remember? The 1998 flick left us with eggs, and this one's sort of on the same lines. Lips sealed.

RATING - 6.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Manjummel Boys (2024) : Brief Review -

A much-needed survival and rescue thriller for youth. Malayalam cinema has become a brand for content-driven cinema, and in the last 7-8 years, it hasn't been matched by any other cinema industry in India. Survival and rescue thrillers have been made for years in Hollywood, French, and German cinema, some of which include jailbreak thrillers too. Manjummel Boys comes as a new kind of thriller because it is made for the youth and is made from the youth. No unnecessary life trouble drama, no romance, no middle-class issues or blasphemy-just a pure rescue thriller with no other masala elements locked beside it. Recently, Akshay Kumar's "The Great India Rescue" (2023) came and met with a disastrous fate. Why? Because it was stuck to decade-old theories of human drama and impure social conscience. Manjummel Boys does not bother about any such things and gets straight to the point, and that is what's needed from those boys' lives. 40 minutes into the picture, and we still don't know what this film is about. After that, there is the first conflict, and then the entire narrative revolves around only and only that conflict. That's a simple and plain formula for sticking to the main point. Yet, the film takes 15 minutes more than what was needed, and maybe a few songs are responsible for that. To counter that, I believe those songs were needed to set the vibes going for youth, as they are all about friendship. So, maybe some 10 minutes of those haunting frames, dark score, and top views of mountains, caves, and gorges could have been trimmed. Also, the comedy factor, which was making the film very entertaining in the beginning, dies soon after that. That rope sequence was smartly designed. The boys aren't good at it from the start, but when it comes to saving one of them, the same lost-game category suddenly becomes their best weapon. Overall, a nice survival thriller for youth. Half a star extra for the top-class cinematography and nostalgic feel.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Khamoshi: The Musical (1996) : Movie Review -

Silences more than half of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's filmography. SLB's career will always be divided into two categories: content-driven cinema and larger-than-life spectacles. The content category will have Khamoshi, Black, and Guzaarish, while the likes of HDDCS, Devdas, Bajirao Mastani, and Padmaavat will lie in the second category. Khamoshi has to be his most close-to-tragedy conflict coming from a human angle because I feel that situations like Black, and Guzaarish are quite rare to find (that's what makes them better, actually). The metaphor in Khamoshi is pretty clear to everyone who's watching it, but SLB didn't present it verbally. "Beyond Silence" too suffered from the same problem, I guess. Having a normal child is the happiest thing for deaf and mute parents, but that can be the saddest thing too, because it separates her/him from their problematic world. So, sometimes it is better to have a disabled child because he/she can at least be with you forever, and they can carry on with life with the same problems. Khamoshi uses music and love/marriage to highlight the same issue, just like Beyond Silence; otherwise, it's a totally different and much more diverse movie than the OG German film. Indian films should always be superior because the use of songs gives them an edge. For instance, Hollywood and Bollywood can both make visual grandeurs. Let's say Hollywood has Ben-Hur (1959) and we have "Mughal-e-Azam" (1960). Both are huge, but MEA has evergreen music and video songs that Ben-Hur didn't have. That's one thing where we are ahead. With the right use of it, we can overtake any original film with a remake. Beyond Silence could use nudity, and Khamoshi couldn't. That's not my issue, anyway. The problem is that a film like Khamoshi, a story, which is set in a small village/beach/house, shouldn't go big with its scale. Now, that vision of SLB spoils the generalism and reliability of Khamoshi. The best scenes in the film don't have any big scales or sets. The musical touch boosts the metaphor further because it's a very sensitive human conflict perfectly matched with parental issues. The daughter wants to make a career in music because she is normal, but sadly, her parents can never hear her music. The idea of romance is quite different in Khamoshi than what we saw in Beyond Silence. This one's pure and slightly misjudged romance, and that too because we have such dramatic situations. Whatever flaws it has are covered by the emotional segments in the film-there are four major emotionally engaging scenes in this film, and that Nana's speech in the church in the climax surpasses them all. It's a genius idea to have the speech verbally delivered by another man. It can never create the same emotional impact when the character himself narrates it. What's overdone is the pregnancy routine of the girl, which has been too dated for Hindi movies. "Mujhse galti ho gayi.. Bachcha gira do." I mean, that stuff has been pushed even before Bhansali was born. Nana Patekar gives another striking performance. Nothing much challenging was left for him after the kind of films and roles he had done before Khamoshi, but still, he discovered a new soft side of him as an actor. Koirala is superb in those emotionally challenging scenes, while Seema Biswas did make me believe that she was deaf and mute. Salman looked young and handsome in a typical chocolate boy role, but somehow he got that one of the most important emotional scenes at the end of the film. SLB should work with talents like Nana, Seema, and Raghubir again instead of working with today's mediocre bunch of supporting actors, and he should also go back into that content-cinema zone again, even though his last three such films didn't do well at the box office. That's sheer bad luck, man. Let him earn money with big-scale movies with mediocre content so that he can save money to spend them on such high quality projects. I am always there, silently waiting for him to come back.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

The Human Comedy (1943) : Brief Review -

Another Clarence Brown trademark beauty! Childhood, teenagehood, manhood, and old age-4 steps of human life amidst war presented in a heartwarming manner. Brown has to be the king of human drama and coming-of-age dramas for some people, and you can count me among those "some." I was expecting The Human Comedy to be a comedy drama because of its title, but it came out as a moving human drama. This was a shock, but a pleasant one. Brown has given me another human drama to remember. Another human that I can relate to in 4 different age groups of my own life. Therefore, it's a film that can be watched by 3 different generations together in one family, and even in that last generation, you can see two categories, like teenage and childhood. The Human Comedy has a teenage boy taking on the responsibility of the family after his elder brother has left for war. Hia younger brother is living his childhood, and then we have a spirit of their father taking to us about life and how he is still alive even after his demise. The schooltime lesson is there. That small but life-changing conversation between the student and his teacher, who encourages him to be civilised and never forget him, touched me. The 5-year-old boy going to steal at a garden and that old man teasing them from the window/house brought tears of joy to my eyes. I could feel my childhood (past) and old-age days (future) in that one moment. The little one asking his mother about death and war and the way she answered him took me back to my childhood days when I used to ask a lot of questions to my mother, and she used to teach me many good things with her answers. Those young soldiers going to a movie with beautiful girls in the rain and then happily saying good-bye, without looking back and enjoying their own time, was a perfect way to celebrate youth. That's not all. There's more in the film. Just watch and feel it. I can't go on because I am in tears at the moment.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Heeramandi (2024) : Series Review -

Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Netflix's ambitious Heeramandi has been making headlines since Pandemic and finally got released on May 1, 2024. It's been 4 years or maybe more since SLB has been trying to make it happen, but sadly, his grand-scale story of the royal brothel had to go on the small screen. It's still a pleasure to see someone bringing such a large spectacle to a small screen in India because we have only heard of Americans doing so in Hollywood. Heeramandi has been blessed with SLB's usual grand sets, some amazing performances, dialogues, and enough masala, but where is the story and where is the soul? That's what this 7-7.5-hour series hasn't got, and that's the most essential part of a series or movie.

Set in the pre-independence era of somewhere around the 1920s and 1930s, Heeramandi tells the story of a place called Heeramandi-a famous brothel for courtesans. Mallikajaan (Manisha Koirala) is the queen of the area and invites all the rich nawabs to enjoy courtesan's singing and dancing performances at Shahi Mahal. She has a terrible past, a murder, which puts her up against Fareedan (Sonakshi Sinha), whose mother was killed by Mallika. Bibbojaan (Aditi Rao Hydari) is the most popular performer in Mallika's Heeramandi, who also works as a secret revolutionist against British rule. Lajjo (Richa Chadha) is betrayed by Zoravar (Adhyayan Suman), while Waheeba (Sanjeeda Sheikh) wants the mansion from her sister, Mallika. Tajdar (Taha Shah Badussha), a son of a rich nawab family, returns from Oxford and falls in love with Alamzeb (Sharmin Segal), Mallika's daughter. Tajdar also joins the Indian revolutionists and must choose between love and nation when Fareedan is busy playing her tricks to destroy Mallikajaan, which also involves Tajdar and Alam's love story. All these characters are linked to each other in one way or another, and we see a fair compilation of drama, suspense, love, emotions, betrayal, and revenge.

Heeramandi has a total of 8 episodes, counting for around 7 and a half hours (excluding end credits). Somebody should hang the editor for cutting 1-hour episodes (except two). This is much longer than a standard runtime, and it becomes tedious to watch those slow movements and tortoise-paced songs. I shouted, "Are Bhai ye toh khatam ho nahi ho rahi" (an exactly opposite reaction to what Circuit said in Munna Bhai MBBS). The concern of the Indian revolution during the freedom fight isn't shown the way it deserves to be. I mean, India's freedom fight can't be so related and dependent on someone's love story and family issues. The cops can do whatever they want and whenever they want, but when it comes to that particular character, a bunch of notes or sexual pleasure can solve legal things within minutes. Alam and Tajdar's first meeting is far from what they call pure love or true love. Just imagine that the boy has seen the girl from a distance, and the next moment he is trying to seduce her by smelling her neck. Mallikajaan speaks about respecting women, and there I saw lustful desires without any hi, hello, or formal introduction. Heeramandi suffers from several impractical and insensitive things like these in its screenplay and ends up being a soul-less series because it fails to generate feelings and empathetic gestures towards the characters, who are anyway not socially approved. On the positive side, it doesn't reach a headache level, but it's a long ride, I tell you.

Manisha Koirala has just shown the world what a late-age comeback means. Her attitude, body language, and that voice tone prove her own saying, "Mallikajaan tawaif KAAMAL ki thi." What a lady, and what a stunning performance with some exquisite looks. Nobody would have expected this earlier, but Sharmin Segal has the second-most screen space after Manisha Koirala. Segal's character is dumbly written, but her performance overcomes that fault. A wannabe poetess turns into a traitor for the British and then an impregnant woman with a tragedy. So many layers, so many shades, but no human connect. Sonakshi Sinha appears late but does a fine job in this unstable character full of grey shades. Aditi Rao Hydari is the cutest one, while Richa Chadha was seen mostly drunk in her cameo appearance. Taha Shah Badussha has had the best presentation of his career so far, and he was impressive. Adhayayan Suman and Shekhar Suman keep appearing for a few moments after certain intervals in fairly written and fairly performed roles. Indresh Malik, Jason Shah, Shruti Sharma, Vaishnavi Ganatra, Farida Jalal, Nasirr Khan, Nityanshi Goel, and others were decent in the supporting roles.

Heeramandi is indeed another visual spectacle from Bhansali. It falters on paper more than on screen. Basically, you shouldn't go ahead with the film or series unless you have a waterproof story on paper that can't be faulty at all. Bhansali could have worked on a story and made it better before spending so much time and money on this project. The motive seems missing here. What is it, actually? A drama about courtesans, a love story, a revenge story, a tragedy, or a freedom fight stuck amidst the Heeramandi area? Adding to the positives, the web series has fine cinematography, good music, and some fantastic dialogue. You might hate the vulgarity and the ideology of those characters since they lack purity, but those who have liked Gangubai Kathiawadi and Bajirao Mastani kinds of things shouldn't have any problems with that.

In reality, "Gangu R**n thi," but in the SLB movie, "Gangu Chaand thi." The over-purification of some characters and areas can be so fake and forced sometimes. The same way, Heeramandi characters constantly speak about themselves as "artists" and "respecting women," but in their lives, they are busy finding new saahabs, sleeping with different men, selling girls, and also being the top prostitutes in the area. Is that how they were going to teach somebody how to "respect a woman?" Or is that a part of their so-called "art?" Shockingly, the film has only two kinds of people in that particular society. One is Heeramandi, full of prostitutes, courtesans, and troubled women, and the other is Nawaabs. Where are the common people, by the way? The one that contributes the most to society, the middle-class working people? "Khuda mard ko Aisa husn de to aurat jo hayaa na de." Now, that's a very intimate and sexy dialogue, and it feels somewhat funny too, but the problem is that it comes from a 70-year-old grandmother to her grandson. That's where it loses its purity. Sonakshi Sinha's character is seen regretting about four men (dogs) raping a woman, but the problem is that it comes when she herself is sleeping with N...th new man. Irony is that those who talk about purity are impure in their lives. Now that's a big contradiction to the point you are trying to make. "Heeramandi me bhale hum jaise auratein ho par aulade to aap jaise nawabo ki hi palti hai"-now that reminded me of "Pakeezah" (1972), while many of the dialogues try to be as ethnic as "Mirza Galib" (1954). If you are trying to sell me old classics after 7 decades, then you definitely need to upgrade yourself.

In almost every film of this kind, we see a prostitute falling in love with a decent man, who eventually abandons her. Well, a highly creative genius like Federico Fellini and tremendously talented artist Giulietta Masina did that way back in 1957 with "Nights of Cabiria," when we were making inspiring woman-oriented films like "Mother India" and "Sharda." So, please stop selling the same shiit to us in 2024. You are too late, even with cinematic grandeur. I'd better watch those old films within the same time I had to spend on this new re-hash, and they will still feel 10 times better even after 10 decades. Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar could have been so many things, but it decided to be a crap adaptation of old ideas that have become classics for my grandpa's generation. Sadly, even my grandpa wouldn't show any interest in it today, so forget the new generation.

RATING - 4/10*

Exhuma (2024 : Movie Review:

Korean cinema is definitely redefining the horror genre for modern cinema lovers. Jang Jae-hyun's Exhuma is another fine example of it. The film has turned out to be a huge hit at the box office, and I don't wonder. Such new and intense attempts at story-telling deserve audiences' support. I am glad that Korean audiences and critics gave Exhuma what it deserved. Na Hong-jin's "The Wailing" received universal acclaim, and it remains the best horror flick in recent times, not just in Korean cinema but all over the world. Exhuma isn't that good, but certainly close to it, and believe me, it's an achievement in itself in today's time.

Renowned Korean shaman Hwa-rim (Kim Go-eun) and her protégé, Bong-gil (Lee Do-hyun), are called by a wealthy Korean American family to identify the mysterious illness of the family's newborn son, who is struggling in the hospital. Hwa-rim uncovers the curse to be a 'Grave's Call', a vengeful ancestor's spirit haunting them. The family's patriarch, Park Ji-Yong, entrusts them to relocate the grave to appease the ancestor, his grandfather. Hwa-rim enlists colleagues, a Feng shui master, Kim Sang-deok (Choi Min-sik), and a mortician, Yeong-geun (Yoo Hae-jin). The coffin is opened by mistake, and the soul is freed from it to take the lives of other family members. After burning that coffin, the team finds an even more vicious soul, which was buried at the same place and is guarding the place. It's neither human nor animal, and it can't be eliminated. Will the team be able to get a hold of this new Japanese soul/monster who is fighting a war for the land?

Exhuma is a little long if we have to consider the overall grip of the narrative. I would have liked it to be 120 minutes instead of 130 minutes. Those 10 minutes felt over. Rest, no complaints about the screenplay. It's chilling, terrifying, and damn intriguing. You don't get to see those ghostly faces again and again; you see them only two or three times, but they do scare the hell outta you. That's one reason to love Korean cinema. They don't overdo supernatural stuff and keep it to a minimum so that we value them more. Seeing the same monster again and again reduces the fear factor. Exhuma has enough surprises, such as folk horror, family curses, land issues, haunting supernatural stuff, etc. The dialogues could have been better, I guess. The whole idea of the monster, the killing, and revenge could have been more brutal verbally. They missed that chance. Rest, it's a superb narrative in a new-age horror zone.

I am not very familiar with the Korean actors and their previous works, so I'll only speak about this film in particular. Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun, Yoo Hae-jin, and Lee Do-hyun looked fantastic in their roles. Kim Sun-young, Kim Jae-cheol, and Kim Ji-an did pretty well in the supporting roles. In horror movies, the most important part is those frightening expressions, which were captured by these people in the film. There are no various shades, but one zone-horror. That's too difficult sometimes and too easy sometimes for some people. Exhuma's did everything they could with their characters, even though it takes time to get to the pickup point.

Horror movies are very much dependent on the sound design that helps build up the atmosphere and devilish scare around you. Exhuma has been blessed with a perfect score and sound design for the horror genre. That continuous background score in the last 15 minutes gets on your nerves, and there are some moments that get too loud to shake you from inside. The film has been blessed by another powerful aspect, and that's its terrific cinematography. Those cut-to scenes, blackouts, and shaking frames tell you what the real horror motion picture means. Just don't blink in those intense and terrifying moments. The locations of the mountains, old mansion, grave, and gorge are beautiful. Jang Jae-hyun has done a commendable job as a director. He has a solid grip on the whole narrative, and he doesn't really let you go out of that shaman and burial world. A few flawed and slow moments could have been avoided, but they don't hurt much to the overall viewing experience. As a whole, Exhuma is a chilling and phenomenal horror flick in new-age filmmaking that borrows old formulas only to redevelop them for modern audiences. If you are looking for a real horror thriller, then this one's the latest version of it.

RATING - 6/10*

Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) : Brief Review -

And the most humorous detective of all time solves another tricky murder case in style. Those who are aware of the Thin Man series need no further introduction to how humorous William Powell's detective, Nick Charles, has been in the previous three films. Shadow of the Thin Man comes as the fourth film in the series and manages to pull off an equally brilliant or on-par film compared to the other three films made before. This one's ahead in a few terms if we have to talk in details, but that'd cost you many spoilers, and you surely don't want that. So, Nick Charles is busy entertaining Mrs. Charles and Jr. Charles, when he comes across two murders. He doesn't want to get his hands on it but is forced to do so by Nora or circumstances. He begins to discover several facts, but the case still has a lot to unfold. In the climax, we have him bring all the suspects together in one room and let them talk more and more until one of them spills the beans. "There is one thing about murder. The more you let people talk, sooner or later, someone will spill the beans," says our beloved detective Charles, and he wins you all over again. The humour is not that high, but pretty enough. I liked the characters more than the comedy, which isn't high anyway. Asta, the dog, is damn funny. "The dog will fight the tiger for me," says Charles, and the next moment we see the dog running away from a cat. The same doggie hides underneath a cover when there is a gun threat in the end, and there are so many other instances where Asta makes you laugh. One more funny character is Lieutenant Abrams. He has that fake ego and fake reputation, but he is not ashamed to surrender in front of Charles. That voice tone and attitude he shows when Charles helps him, and the next moment he doesn't know that's happening? Too good! Powell and Loy sparkle the screen yet again with their charismatic screen presence. W. S. Van Dyke provides enough, or, better say, exactly what's asked.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Jenseits der Stille/Beyond Silence (1996): Brief Review -

A great conflict between blood relatives, but could have been more engrossing and tactical. Beyond Silence explores a great conflict between deaf parents and their music-loving daughter. The daughter wants to pursue a career in music (her instrument is the clarinet), but her parents can't hear, so it becomes difficult for her. Her main duty for her parents, which is to be their interpreter, somehow starts annoying her, and she begins to dislike her father. I remember watching a similar topic in "CODA" recently, but the humour and comedy were far better there. Beyond Silence is mute in the comedy zone and deaf in humor. The plot lacks dramatic sequences and engrossing moments, which usually lift such dramas. Remember what The Miracle Worker did with those intense moments with a child? I was expecting something like that from this movie, but it fell flat there. The love story, arguments, and family disliking all seemed rushed. It's not a long film, but it still has many slow films, and I was happy to use the fast-forward button time and again. The screenplay could have been faster than this, especially when you have fewer dialogues and more subtitles to read. Maybe that's one of the reasons why the film doesn't have heavy dramatic sequences. For that, you need long monologues, and here, two of the main characters couldn't have those verbal conversations and arguments due to disability. Also, I feel that the climax was too typical for the 90s. Sylvie Testud and Tatjana Trieb play teenage and childhood Lara, respectively, and both have done a great job. Howie Seago was amazing, and Emmanuelle Laborit looked so cute. I had a feeling that Sibylle Canonica was turning out to be a good villain, and then there was a fine reformation in the ending. By the way, she was too beautiful to become a villain. Caroline Link's story might not be that good, but her direction skills were notably good. Overall, a fine flick on a challenging conflict, but couldn't see its own potential of becoming a path-breaking film.

RATING - 6/10*

By - #samthebestest.

The Fall Guy (2024) : Movie Review -

David Leitch and Ryan Gosling flash on the screen in the very first frame and pay their homage to all the stuntmen who do the "real job." But does that all matter when the movie starts or ends? No. With The Fall Guy, David Leitch falls again. Back in 2022, he put a bullet in my brain and busted it with "Bullet Train," and now I just witnessed my creative fallback as his viewer. "It's high noon on the edge of the universe"-Thank god, Fred Zinnemann and Gary Cooper are not alive to see the "High Noon" word being used parodically like this. You don't have to love "Notting Hill" just because someone says so. Slap me for saying this, but I guess Leitch has cooked a mixed dish of Star Wars and Dune meeting Notting Hill to get the results of "Tees Maar Khan."

Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is one of the best stuntmen in Hollywood, and he primarily works as the stunt double for a famous action star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). One day, he gets severely injured while performing a "jump from high" stunt and quits the job. Colt quits his girlfriend, Jody (Emily Blunt), and abandons himself from social life and friends because he thinks that he is not special anymore. Cut to 18 months later, the same movie producer calls him and asks him to rejoin as a stuntman for a movie directed by his ex-girlfriend. To make things up with his ex, Colt comes back, and there begins a boring drama of two lovers trying to rekindle their lost romance. Halfway through, the boredom gets over as Colts finds himself stuck in the middle of a conspiracy, and now he must find a getaway to clean his name from this mess.

Just like Bullet Train, The Fall Guy also uses absurdity as the main tool for comedy and somewhat succeeds in it. It's the yawning romance that puts you to sleep, and you are like, "Come on, get over it. Let the film move forward." Even I asked myself, "Why didn't Leitch use absurdity in romance?". Imagine two lovers meeting after one and a half years, and the next moment they are back to the old days, hugging and kissing each other. This way, he could have made a comic caper or that old-school screwball rom-com, but no. He had to be stubborn enough to destroy his own film with a boring romance. The "happy ending" shiit ain't working anymore if the director himself isn't looking for other options. The Fall Guy lacks creative ideas in the script, but more harmful is the childish plotting in the second half that causes a big-blow extinction of your expectations. What happens in the last 30 minutes is totally out of context, totally rubbish, and highly irritating. Some extraordinary stunts are eye-pleasing, and a few comic punches hit the right chords. That "John and Amber" joke didn't get noisy laughs in the cinema hall, but I was cracked up alright. Maybe it went over the head for others. There are a couple of more instances like this that are too smart to catch, but otherwise, it's just a fairly entertaining comedy-nothing great.

Ryan Gosling plays a handsome fella who has every quality of a perfect boyfriend. The swag and looks have tremendous sex appeal, but the comedy part isn't that good from his side. Emily Blunt's accent wasn't appropriate, even though she felt innocent and cute with it on some occasions. Her chemistry with Ryan doesn't spark the screen, and that's the saddest part about this pairing. Those desperate, long conversations were only causing small headache attacks. Aaron Taylor-Johnson's cool and swaggery superstar was fairly good, but the role was cut short. The typical funny-friend-of-the-hero is played very well by Winston Duke, whereas Hannah Waddingham makes her presence felt strongly. Teresa Palmer, Stephanie Hsu, and the other supporting cast members didn't seem very visible here.

Watching the TV series The Fall Guy back in the 80s must have been a different experience, but for today, it's definitely outdated. With someone like David Lietch, who doesn't believe in intelligent cinema, it becomes even more problematic. The idea of absurd comedy works fine with today's youth, but there has to be some merit to it. Using some movie titles, star names, and PJ won't bring genuine laughter. The Fall Guy couldn't overcome its thin plot and dead screenplay, and moreover, David Lietch Touch (not similar to Lubitsch Touch for sure) makes it fall lower. Despite good efforts by the stunt, action, VFX, and camera teams, The Fall Guy fails to provide enough. Eight and a half rolls are always welcome, but we need a two and a half-star storyline as well. Overall, it's another dead game by David Leitch after Bullet Train, and I wish he finds some good air next time. Nobody hated him as a producer of "Nobody," but I hope, fast and furiously, he will find his "High Noon" and stay away from "Tees Maar Khan."

RATING - 4/10*

Ride The Pink Horse (1947) : Brief Review -

Most probably, the best work by Robert Montgomery, as a director and actor both. Finally, I have my most favourite film by Robert Montgomery. What's been missing in his other movies, I got everything right here. Much of its credit goes to the genre, I guess. The "film noir" genre has something alcoholic in it that makes you groove, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. Ride the Pink Horse is one more fine example of it. It starts gripping you in the 15th minute or so and never lets you get out of it. The dark world is really gritty and engrossing. There is no suspense or mystery, yet you are hooked on it and eager to know what's going to happen next. Lucky Gagin arrives in a rural town to blackmail a mobster as retribution for the death of his best friend. The mobster tries to kill him and get what he wants, but Gagin is protected by a cop and a young girl. That's all the plot you have here, and still, there is so much in the screenplay. Montgomery's smart story-telling is responsible for that. He compiles intriguing situations with terrific dialogue and serves you with classy crime noir. The climax of his trip may be predictable, but he added a nice touch of human feeling to the ending scene. It's true; it's very difficult to say "good-bye," even if you are a brave man. You sense a love story, but it can't be. It would have been childish then. So, Montgomery makes it a smart ending with the final goodbye, which becomes somewhat emotional. Robert Montgomery has done a brilliant job as a director and actor. Wanda Hendrix has totally surprised me. That reluctant smile on her face in the ending scene.. I can't forget that easily. Thomas Gomez as Pancho is delightful. Whatever, but this film belongs to Robert Montgomery's genius. The idea of disillusioned soldiers was getting mainstream then, and he used it so smartly. In short, a film noir for those who understand this genre.

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

The China Syndrome (1979) : Brief Review -

A nuclear catastrophe and a journalism thriller for people with stomachs and nerves. If you ever have to see just one film in James Bridges' filmography, then make sure you watch this. But before that, make sure you have the stomach and nerves to control the thrill factor and have enough brains to understand the basics of nuclear power. The China Syndrome is based on a possible nuclear threat that hasn't been taken seriously but can affect many lives. There is a journalism angle to it, providing the people's point of view on the same story, and they both make a solid combo. What makes this film special is the intensity of the scenes. We don't see many explosions or such stuff that really defines nuclear power or its danger, but instead, we see several tensed and chocked moments. Those conversations get on your nerves, and they test your nerves to see how much you can take. The background score fills the void between ordinary cinematography and a lack of disturbing graphics. Jack Lemmon plays the scientist and supervisor, who walks away with most of the best scenes in the film. The atmosphere around him and his expression do make you feel the insights and tension of those moments. The talented Jane Fonda gets to play the honest and wannabe investigative journalist, and she has done tremendously well. Only a few films have shown journalism in a bright light, and this happens to be one of them. If you remember Alan Pakula's "All The President's Men" (1976) and liked it, then I guess The China Syndrome is your kind of film. The Neo-Noir touch in the end only boosts the narrative and takes it to a new level. James Bridges makes sure that you are thrilled for two hours and don't feel bored. Not entirely, but a few scenes in the film really pump you up for a moment. I did the same to me, and I ain't an easy man to be pumped up by a movie.

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Monkey Man (2024) : Brief Review -

To hell with those who hailed it. Dev Patel's action thriller, Monkey Man, jumps like a dead monkey on the tree. It strikes decently as a dated revenge action drama but has nothing thrilling or special about it. Just a few weeks back, I saw foreign critics raving about it and was excited to watch it. But all I got was disappointment. The film is about an orphan whose mother was killed by a cop. He can't get over that childhood trauma in adulthood and is unable to make any success out of himself. He is burning inside in rage for revenge and has been planning for it for a long time. For his livelihood, he works as a dead monkey boxer who gets money for getting beaten up. He joins the kitchen staff at an expensive hotel owned by the wife of the cop who killed his mother. A few attempts to get even with the villain fail, and he is left injured. As expected, as we all know, the hero first gets the beating and then rises to victory. Monkey Man follows the same old formula, advanced by some dark atmosphere, obscenity, and vulgarity. The spiritual touch of Lord Hanuman was totally unnecessary here. MM is wild and vulgar, and that's definitely not the way to tell the story of Lord Hanuman. This match doesn't fit well, and it might hurt the sentiments of many people too. The screenplay lacks grip, as nothing holds you on the edge of your seat since everything has been seen before in many movies. Some action-set pieces are entertaining, though. Dev Patel as the underdog was more convincing than the action hero. Sobhita plays a sex doll, Makrand is a cheap villain, and Sikander Kher is still the same old villain from any OTT masala flick. MM's dialogues are suited for OTT audiences, not family audiences. Too many abusive words don't help in providing the context because, after all, it was just a regular revenge drama, not a film noir or hard-hitting realistic drama. Overall, a strictly average that's been hailed for no valid reasons.

RATING - 5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Abigail (2024) : Movie Review -

Abigail Review: Horror movies nowadays are either a total mess or a fine outing. Abigail's first half is what I call a fine outing, despite no horror material, as it only runs as a thriller till then, but then there is a messy second half, which I can slam for being too ridiculous at moments. It's an attempt at a new kind of horror cinema where comedy and radicalism try to mend themselves with devilish moments, but it successfully fails to get the expected results. It was almost a fine take on a horror thriller until we ran across the last 30 minutes filled with back-to-back twists and ridiculously entertaining moments that I feel will hardly get appreciated. That's where the entire show was spoiled, and so unexpectedly.

Lambert hires a group of six people (played by Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, Kevin Durand, and the late Angus Cloud) to kidnap a little girl, Abigail (Alisha Weir). The group is expecting $50 million as ransom money from her father and takes the girl to a deserted mansion at a remote location. The group learns who the girl's father is and gets scared of work, but can't be helped since they are left locked inside the mansion for the next 24 hours. Unaware of the fact that the girl is a vampire, the group members are pitted against each other and soon start getting killed. What happens when the remaining group members learn about the girl's true personality? Will they be able to stop her?

Abigail hasn't got anything to do with "Dracula's Daughter" (1936), except that it's a completely new re-imagination of the main character, who is "Dracula's Daughter." The film looks like a fine and gripping thriller until the moment group members are exposed to the fact that the girl is a vampire. After that, it becomes a mess. The film suffers from basic mistakes in the writing, and the writers should be held responsible for them. Dracula is scared of light; we all know that, and this film uses that notion to make us believe that again. But we have some scenes where the light is visible, yet it leaves no effect on the Dracula girl. Sammy's scene of turning into "one of them" will make you understand what I am saying. From here, a long boredom begins, and it becomes a terrible mess by the end. We can't figure out how some kidnappers are turned into vampires, are pitted against each other, and then form a sudden friendship with that girl vampire, and all that is totally rubbish. This is how a radical screenplay harms a basic, simple, and good-looking script.

Melissa Barrera looks hot in some scenes and mostly clueless in other scenes. She has become quite a horror-girl nowadays with the Scream franchise and this, while a significant work like "In the Heights" (2021) is rarely seen from here. Dan Stevens does well, and Kathryn Newton is your sexy girl from the next classroom. Will Catlett and Kevin Durand pass the time somehow, and the late Angus Cloud disappears after a few, oops.. many drinks. The head-cutting scene was left incomplete; I don't know why. Alisha Weir will frighten you for sure, and it's a great achievement for any teenage girl to make the audience scare a bit. And those dance moves were killer. This ballerina vampire will keep you on your toes. A couple of cameo roles by Giancarlo Esposito and Matthew Goode don't help much but are decent.

Abigail is a well-made film on the technical front. The cinematography is fine, as we get some horrifying close-ups-just what the horror genre needs. The sound effects are pretty effective. Some of them do give you jump scares. Coming to visual effects, there is too much blood and red-bath, which seems considerably well in terms of context, but the outline doesn't provide much to your cinematic experience. Those organ/body bursting into flour-like blood look childish sometimes. Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, Abigail makes a new-age attempt that works only on half measures. The directors duo totally seemed rattlebrained while accepting Stephen Shields and Guy Busick's storyline. This has so many things going wrong in those last 30 minutes that I'll need to write another separate review just to mention the flaws in those scenes. I can't do that here, though. No spoilers because it has that spoiler-filled experience. But even twists need to be handled with care and intelligence. Abigail lacks both.

RATING - 4/10*

Ruslaan (2024) : Movie Review -

After Antim, Aayush Sharma again gets into the mass zone to show some improvements, but gets a messy flick instead. This mass avatar of Aayush deserved a better script, a better screenplay, and a better film. Antim was saved due to the remake factor, which had something new for the Hindi audiences since they had not seen a masala flick made on farmers or their sons' issues. Ruslaan is way behind in time in that section. The same outdated ideas of patriotic movies from the terrorist's son prove his loyalty to the country. And if they think that the twist in the climax was really new, then they should have made this film in the 1990s, not 2024. It's startling to know that Hindi, or, for that matter, Indian cinema, is still holding onto those ancient theories when Adivi Sesh has already made a spy thriller like "Goodachari." Watch it and learn instead of wasting time, money, and talent on films like Ruslaan.

Little Ruslaan (Aayush Sharma) is adopted by ATS officer Sameer Singh (Jagapathi Babu) and his wife after he killed Ruslaan's terrorist father in an encounter. Ruslaan grows up to be a spy, trying to get a place in RA&W, but his madam, Mantra (Vidya Malvade), believes that he is not ready for it yet. He was given a mission to collect information from the college group of activists and provide it to other agencies. "Do not engage" is the only mantra he gets from Mantra. But his impulsive and aggressive behaviour always blows his cover. Therefore, Mantra sends a senior agent, Vaani (Sushrii Mishraa), to look after him. During one of the missions, Ruslaan finds himself in trouble as he is declared a terrorist by his own father and should be shot dead. There begins a new and personal mission for innocent Ruslaan to prove that he is loyal to his country.

What Ruslaan lacks is a good story, first of all, and then a screenplay that can hold on to that good story. It lacks both, and that's why I have to say that "there is no Jaan in Ruslaan." Exactly; there is no soul. You don't have a good story or engaging screenplay, and then you have over-the-top and low-grade action set pieces. How should one spend 130 minutes watching it? What are you giving us anyway? Seriously, they needed to look through the story before taking it to the floor. Paper work is cheap; filmmaking is expensive, you know. But did they know it before making the film? It might have suited decently in some low-grade cinema industries, but in Bollywood, you definitely need a production design of higher scale and quality. Ruslaan doesn't look like one, not from a distance. The same goddam chase sequences, the boring conversations between the hero and the villain, then the same old action sequences in slow mo and then there is that irritating twist. Please stop it, says the public with joined hands.

Aayush Sharma's performance is nothing special, but his mass image is definitely something. The presentation should have been better. In the first scene, you see his side angle in slow mo, then after 2 minutes, another slow motion from the backside, and then again another slow mo from the front, followed by slow mo action sequences. How many slow Mos were there, by the way? Somebody tell them one is enough. Sushrii again has nothing to do but be useful to make a good female pair. One bikini scene was mandatory, as per the 1960s rulebook, but sadly, they read it in 2024. A hot-looking intelligence officer like Vidya Malvade is the need of the time, but it can only exist in movies. The south dose of Jagapathi doesn't suit here in any way, but they had to have it to make a pan-India thing nowadays. Sal Yusuf, Beena Banerjee, Richard Bhakti Klein, and Manish Gaharwar get something to do and are grateful for it.

Ruslaan is about 2 hours long and still makes it look like a 3-hour ride. The editing by Rajendra Bhaat is at fault here. What are those songs anyway? Did I even look up at the screen once while they were playing? No, I didn't. Then why didn't he remove them? G. Srinivas Reddy takes you through his blink-and-miss frames in free time, while in busy time, he was looking for some free time, I guess. The production design of the film is bad. It never looks like a moderate-budget film that can be viewed as a decent entertainer. It's below what you call a "low level." Karan Butani is studying old books of masala flicks that don't help in today's time. The syllabus has changed, and he needs to buy new books now. Ruslaan is his mistake. He must admit it and move on to better projects in the future, because there can't be any explanation for making such a bad film. Better luck next time to Aayush and Karan both, and best of luck to those who are going to watch it.

RATING - 3/10*

Ghostbusters Frozen Empire (2024) : Movie Review -

Ghostbusters Frozen Empire Review: The team of Ghostbusters Afterlife reunites for the sequel, Ghostbusters Frozen Empire, adding ice and fire to it but lacking soul. Even though it is the story of soul-stealing, it still doesn't find its own soul. God knows from where the idea of recreating some of the locational scenes came, but it worked on the positive side. This sequel has a few surprises that are pleasant, but it's hurt by its overanalysing gesture. As expected, the finale comes to the rescue, which was anyway supposed to provide a visual treat. It does that part very well, though. Well, there is less freezing and less use of fire, which is an underwhelming thing to experience. On the soft side, it did manage to leave us with a slight touch of nostalgia.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is set three years after the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, as the old gang is joined by a couple of new members. Sadly, Callie (Carrie Coon) benches underage but her best Spangler, Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), to appease the opponent, and the rest of the gang continues to bust ghosts. During her boredom, Phoebe befriends a girl ghost, Melody (Emily Alyn Lind), who beats her at chess. However, Phoebe isn't aware of Melody's actual plan, which is to help Garraka in exchange for her free pass to the afterlife. Phoebe is fooled, and Garraka overpowers them all and arrives in style to take over the entire world. Therefore, the veteran ghostbusters must join forces with their new recruits to save the world.

The idea is generally predictable, as we have the same old methods of catching ghosts, and then someone's coming to destroy the world. Not just that, but even a practical presentation is dated too. The same car, the same Spangler, the same weapons, and the same locations too. We do have brass coming in as a new thing, but you'll see in the climax that it did not really help. "What's the worst part about being a ghost?" asks Phoebe, to which Melody replies, "I'll forever be 16." Well, that's typically girlish. But wait, the next moment is all that ghostly stuff when Phoebe asks, "And what's the best part?" and Melody just says, "Doing this." And disappears. Bang on humour, I must say. I wish they had added some more funny lines like this and intrigued us. Frozen Empire's villain is one such improvement that beats many previous films, but sadly, it appears in the last quarter of the narrative, giving us very little chance of becoming acquainted with it. The Firemaster comes with the same old theories you have seen in MCU and DCU movies for more than a decade.

Frozen Empire has a big cast, but teenager Mckenna Grace walks away with the maximum screen space and best screen presence. Emily Alyn Lind, aka Melody, wasn't there for a long time but has left a solid impact-i.e., more than many leading cast members. Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon could hardly find any scenes to stand out. Finn Wolfhard attempts to catch eyeballs, but it is Kumail Nanjiani who gets the eyeballs. No director wastes Bill Murray like this. That's a terrible injustice to his persona and the character we know from the beginning of the Ghostbusters franchise. Dan Aykroyd still had that one shot left, while Ernie Hudson suited up in old jam alright.

Eric Steelberg's cinematography takes you back to those frames of Ivan Reitman's 1984 blockbuster. The ending sequence is pretty similar to Reitman's evergreen flick. However, the unenthusiastic screenplay and dull dialogue fail to match the "Who you gonna call?" magic here. The visual effects are good in the finale episode and pretty decent otherwise. Nathan Orloff and Shane Reid cut a close to 2-hour film that lags in the middle and doesn't move forward. They could have trimmed 15 minutes here and there to make it gripping. The sound design, production value, and sets seemed okay for the time, in case you were expecting something mind-blowing. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is pretty much in the same zone as Gil Kenan's last Christmas comedy as far as entertainment for different age groups is concerned. Here he had to do a little fan service, and he did that fine. It's modern storytelling and new ideas that seemed missing. Nevertheless, Kenan doesn't bore you to death like others do. Frozen Empire is fairly entertaining in that sense, but a little lower considering the burden of reviving the franchise.

RATING - 5/10*

Dracula's Daughter (1936) : Brief Review -

A more of a mystical human-horror done right than devilish horror. Dracula's Daughter starts from nowhere but gets you right back to the dead body of Dracula in the second minute to have you seated. It does feel like a sequel to Dracula (1931), but it also does not. Somehow, we get off to a fresh start with dead Dracula and then professor Van Helsing surrendering to his crime (if you can call it a crime). Basically, we have the story of Countess Marya Zaleska, the daughter of Count Dracula and herself a vampire. She is cursed by Dracula and wants to live a normal life now. She takes Dracula's body and burns it to ashes, believing that it will free her from the dark magic and that she can be a normal woman. However, she is left disheartened to know that the curse is still alive. Zaleska then seeks help from Dr. Garth, who believes that psychiatric treatment can save a person from obsessions that sometimes take over their lives due to habit. We then see her trying to speak her heart out to Garth, who, anyway, learns the truth, but will she be able to remain calm in the meantime? Like I said, it's more like a human-horror drama than a devilish horror flick. You don't get to see those brutal biting scenes, tormenting scenes, or blood baths, but only dark swipes. It's all so not frightening. Gloria Holden's face has that fearsome image of Dracula's daughter, and she does well in some scenes with her desperate expressions. I would have loved to see her as a female monster, some spiky teeth and blood on her lips, but alas, it wasn't just that movie. I can understand the movie codes of the 30s but Dracula and Frankenstein have done so well with their monster characters in the pre-code era. Otto Kruger meant more Sherlock Holmes than Dr. Garth, and Marguerite Churchill was gorgeous. Irving Pichel was perfect in his role and, most probably, the best-suited personality amongst the entire cast. Overall, good fun by Hillyer, but not great.

RATING - 6/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Hondo (1953) : Brief Review -

Yet another charismatic western for the Duke, and this one had a smart female touch too. John Wayne, aka The Duke, has been a part of numerous Western flicks, and many of them have been great ones. It's difficult to choose which one's better sometimes since many of his movies are equally good, while some of them are underestimated. Hondo can be called one of those underestimated flicks. It has fantastic content, which derives its context to a full extent despite its short runtime. Those 80 minutes passed like a breeze in the air. Wayne plays another charismatic character here, and thankfully, a damn honest one. The truth is man's pleasure, he says, and our chest fills up by 2 inches extra. The woman speaks about truth and lies and how they differ from man to woman so elegantly and intellectually that you can't stop clapping at her at that moment. The boy stands tall against an Indian of his double height, and you surely get a hell of a kick from it. The film sees gunman Hondo stopping at a single mother's ranch, who has been waiting for her husband for a long time now. She starts liking Hondo for his manly qualities, and Hondo also finds her attractive. A platonic romance is formed, but extra-sensible Hondo has plans to leave it that way. Their fate brings them back together, but this time with Hondo at fault and the woman totally in love with him. Will they see a light through it? Wayne's dialogues are super entertaining here. "I let people do what they want to do." "A man oughta do what he thinks is best." (Maybe I have heard it somewhere before.) Even the gorgeous Geraldine Page has a couple of singular dialogues, especially that "woman only has a man she married." John Farrow has done extremely well, despite production and 3D issues, and thanks to Ford for that brilliant Circled Wagon battle sequence in the end.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

The Horse Soldiers (1959) : Brief Review -

Years later, it still leaves many of us modern cinephiles confused with its contemporary inferior take on Civil War, which feels much better than modern films. Legendary John Ford's "The Horse Soldiers" was panned by a critic at the time of its release and was also a commercial failure due to the high salaries of two superstars it brought together. However, if you can look at it as a simple civil war movie with no spicy romance or heroic action, then it looks underrated. Yes, there are reasons to call it a slow film and almost a film with no context. But think of the era it is set in and how an unconventional plot keeps you glued for two hours. You certainly can't believe it actually happened. The film is about a Union cavalry leader, Marlowe, who is sent on a raid behind Confederate lines to destroy a railroad and supply depot at Newton Station. He is joined by an army doctor, whom he despises for no reason. It is later revealed that he hates all the doctors since his wife died of medical malpractice. A beautiful lady named Hannah Hunter is taken by Marlowe as she was spying on them and could provide information to others that could destroy his plans. As expected, Hannah and Marlowe fall in love, but we don't see any hugging, kissing, or romantic ballades. Moreover, the action scenes during the war aren't two-sided. The other side goes all out, while Marlowe and his soldiers do not get into much action. That's one of the major shortcomings of the film, besides the overlong runtime. The film could have been trimmed by half an hour or 20 minutes, and I guess it would have been a much better experience. Wayne and Holden have done decent jobs, while Constance Towers does nothing else but look beautiful. Ford's tiresome flick emerges as a winner with a solid climax that leaves things unofficially complete, yet complete, be it a love story (Hannah), social work (by Dr.), or national duties (Marlowe heads forward with an injured leg). Half a star extra for Ford's belief in the story.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.