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Animal is an extreme movie. It crosses most limits for a Bollywood movie. It is safe to say it has given Ranbir Kapoor the Godly status among Bollywood Superstars. It is for these extremes this movie attracted several polarized critical reactions. However in the middle of the criticism, there is a central, rare message of the movie that gets overlooked easily. This is one of the first Hindi movies that dares to explore the vulnerable relationship of a father and a son. And not in a flowery, unrealistic sense. Animal doesn't hesitate in touching upon how far a son can go in his dedication towards the biggest superhero of his life, especially when that superhero has been neglecting and accusing him all life. The chemistry between Anil Kapoor and Ranbir is dynamite. Anil Kapoor is graceful and super strong on screen despite his age. The next big, bold thing Animal accomplishes is establishing a strong, masculine and determined ideal for the falling masculinity of today's age to emulate, in a time when Hindi cinema has been plagued by a stereotype of ruthless feminism as an easy commercial win. From handling childhood trauma of lack of fatherly reciprocity to handling his torrid relationship with his sisters, Ranvijay (Ranbir) never lets life become an excuse to thrive. The movie portrays the subtle idea of bonding among lost brothers. And then there comes the inevitable test of a married man where he has to choose between his woman and his family. And our protagonist naturally chooses his father. However this couldn't be possible without the sacrificial endurance of his wife (Rashmika). Now, she isn't a weak woman either, however the definition of strength she chooses is not blind empowerment but becoming a strength of her man in the bad times. She's the one to stand by him inspite of his criminal antecedent. The movie gives Rashmika a launchpad to superstardom. However, Trapti Dhimry steals the show with her limited screen presence as Zoya. Now, the director, Sandeep Reddy Vanga is wise enough to keep his Ace of spades, Bobby Deol as Abrar as the ultimate climactic delight to the viewer. As bad and merciless as bad and merciless guys can get! This antagonist haunts your intellect for days. There have been cries of misogyny against the movie, however the degree of badness that the antagonist demands justifies the female violence committed by him. The movie sports some unusually good action. The more seasoned watchers may recognise some sequences borrowed from South Korean Cinema though it all falls as quite entertaining. Surprisingly good Hindi and Punjabi soundtrack from a director that has come from a Telugu background. CGI and VFX could be better though still a step in the direction of progress. Shakti Kapoor and Suresh Oberoi deliver a stable character role. The cameo role of Upendra Limye was highly entertaining. This is a necessary movie for the demasculinized generation of today. Don't let the conventional pseudo feminist rhetoric stop you from realising its important message for today's boys. A definite 8/10 from me.

And as such one has to appreciate that the makers of this 2013 remake of the legendary original by Sam Raimi wouldn't have been easy. The creators of such movies are under the constant pressure of raising the bar of something that's already a cut above. The 1981 Evil Dead had a distinct personality among the horror genre basically owing to its unprecedented arrangment of eerie elements that relied more on in-your-face atmospheric horror than jump scares. The 2013 remake sticks to the basic skeleton of the original script while putting the gore and splatter entities on steroids. The casting is apt. Basically, with the movie set in 2013, the viewers expect way lot in terms of visual experience compared to the CGI devoid 70s and 80s. Brings to mind the same situation the directors of remake of 'I spit on Your Grave', another 70s horror gem must have encountered. Evil Dead (2013) doesn't give the viewer much time to relax right from the beginning. It's not a slow burn. This movie may not be as patient as its 1981 counterpart to form precise character arcs. From the disturbing prelude of the characters to eventually turning into a body horror, the movie doesn't leave any trick in the book to make its audience uncomfortable. Fans of gore fests will not be disappointed. Not a lot of change has been made to the original plot except the violence being more graphic. The one part that did let down was the end. While the original sported one of the most epic endings that yelled "The Evil Has No End", one longs to see a more sinister end to the current movie, something that would extinguish all hopes of any good happening. Basically, watch this for the shock factor and a unique blend of classic horror and modern gore.

Godday Godday Chaa presents a fun filled picture of a relatively unknown social issue from the yesteryears of Punjab. The movie is high on energy (like most Punjabi movies are) and has some peppy and melodious dance numbers too. Sonam Bajwa impresses as the pivotal protagonist to this comic representation of the challenges most women faced in the past in remote rural subsections of Punjab and their fight towards freedom from these unwarranted restrictions. Most supporting cast and the male leads were pretty convincing in their roles and the humor was well timed. The lines were well written. The casting was pretty apt and the picture of a typical Punjabi conservative Pind (village) is painted brilliantly. Tania who plays thr younger sister Nikko is a glam doll to watch and equally talented. Overall Godday Godday Chaa is one of those rare advocates of women's rights that does it without overdoing it, loathing feminism in any way, male bashing or spreading any form of toxicity. In fact for most parts, it's a pretty refreshing watch. You feel like getting up and tapping your feet to the Gidda towards the climax. I give it a 6.8/10.

In his last days right before his untimely demise, Rishi Kapoor gave us this fun filled performance that's going to serve as a fine memorabilia for the coming times. This is a unique movie where the character of Sharma Ji has been jointly played by Rishi Kapoor and Paresh Rawal. The movie presents a realistic Delhiite backdrop. The comic acts are well timed and are interlaced with dramatic moments. Juhi Chawla sprinkles her sizzling spice into the mix. Her pretty on screen presence proves she's every bit the diva as she used to be back in her heyday as Bollywood's leading lady. The remarkable thing about Paresh Rawal's enactment of the role is how he scaled his finesse to match that of Rishi. From his outfits to his upkeep to his dialogue delivery to mannerisms to facial expressions, everything was tailored to bring about a synchronicity among the actors. During the second half of the movie, one can sense the physical fatigue building upon Rishi. His adherence to the craft in those grave moments can only be appreciated by how he didn't let his delivery falter one bit. Satish Kaushik does what he does best as a supporting character. The movie sports a very dependable supporting cast. A very balanced direction from beginning to the end. Make Sharmaji Namkeen help your dull day end with a smile or a giggle in your face.

Many interpret Michelle William's character as a mature one while Ryan Gosling's as mere philosophical and disconnected in this masterpiece called Blue Valentine. Nothing can be further from the truth. Michelle represents a hedonistic young woman having a wild and colorful sex life who takes her medical degree to her head. It's only after she gets pregnant and abandoned by her last boyfriend that she rebounds into Ryan Gosling who worked manual jobs with a shabby pay. Ryan represents a true caregiver, kind and deep thinking male in whom Michelle finds the shoulder to rely upon. After their marriage, Michelle realizes she settled for less than she deserved. She is ashamed of Ryan's low paying physical jobs and even sees her ex while totally undermining Ryan's sacrificial life for her. Her constant undervaluing of Ryan's efforts to safeguard their marriage sends Ryan into a depressed state. Their daughter loves him more than her. Eventually Michelle's usual immature response to the marital issues sends everyone into a destructive state. Blue valentine is a tale of how eventually the ones who seem to be the perpetrators in a marital relationship are mostly the sufferers. It's also a lesson about exploitation of someone as a response to one's own spoiled past relationship. Finally, it's one of those rare mainstream Hollywood movies that portray how eventually a man has to bear the load of both a broken marriage and being labelled a monster by society and has to deal with it all alone, without enjoying the sympathy his spouse usually enjoys. And for this last reason, I render it a 9/10 . Astronomically great acting and on screen chemistry. Superior screenplay. Legendary direction. This is certainly not one worth missing.

The movie begins with a somewhat engaging murder plot and tries to stir it into a multi character story. Unfortunately, most of the movie beyond the first act seems like a drag. Many songs seem redundant. Shilpa Shetty's character should have been offered more to play in her role. Milind Soman did his best though the resultant on screen performance seems passable. Tabu has a pivotal role of the murdered lady and one is compelled to think she didn't realize her fullest potential here. She looks ravishing and exotic though. Ashutosh Rana is another actor who's vast talent as a strong protagonist couldn't be fully used. Which brings us to the saving grace: Nana Patekar. Nana does justice to his role as a CBI investigator along with his ally and delivers a strong and dependable performance with witty dialogues and his trademark capable body language. Tarkeib is a movie you can watch on a weeknight when you're bored and have nothing more to watch. The song sung by Jagjit Singh and Alka Yagnik is mesmerising. The script has too many holes for a murder mystery. The story tries to be realistic, still ends up having a predictable climax. Not bad for Bollywood in 2000 though.

While scores abound with movies depicting the suffering women face in life, this is one of those rare movies that attempt to accurately depict the unheard traumas in the life of a modern married man. Manchester by the sea is a melancholy tale of a man who has cards mercilessly not dealt in his favour by life in all the roles he plays. Casey Affleck stuns in this dramatic portrayal of Lee Chandler who's mourning the loss of his kids, an act of God for which he himself is blamed by a self-absorbed wife played by Michelle Williams. The cruel rejection leaving a heartbroken Lee rendered incapable to interact with or respond to females hitting upon him was one of the most realistic underlying themes of his character arc. The movie goes on to portray male aggression as an outcome of unattended trauma in a legally female biased world. Lucas hedges as Lee's nephew is a decent cast. The serene plot is complimented by a haunting background score that mysteriously heals the viewer. The final face off on the streets between Lee (Casey) and estranged wife Randi (Michelle) is a hair raising, tear jerking sequence that yells in our face what's exactly wrong with the way our society treats its men. I can't recommend enough this movie to every man (and woman) who support the cause of parental alienation of fathers and the stigma and legal abuse men face and never cry about.

Loads of novelty in this lesser known Argentine gem. Aterrados isn't a slow burn. You are excited and apprehend something unholy happening every moment. What's remarkable about it is it does so without a dozen jump scares. The casting is well done which translates to the realism evident in most sequences. The movie leaves a lot unexplained which becomes the key precursor to why it stays with you, the viewer beyond the credit roll. Most elements are drawn from what one might experience in a real house. Who knows it might be one we are in right now. Aterrados doesn't also rely on overly done CGI and hefty set ups. It also takes advantage of the viewer's deeper fears of the invisible and in unknown. Do give this a watch for a different horror experience than the mainstream Hollywood franchises. 6.7/10.

A beautifully atmospheric film with a hauntingly melancholic tone. The well-timed background music and Kate Winslet's stunning performance perfectly capture the complex emotions of the characters.

The film explores some taboo subjects, such as the intimate relationship between a teenage boy and a middle-aged woman, and the association of one of the characters with the Holocaust. However, it does so with sensitivity and grace.

The plot is well-paced and engaging, with some sharp turns that keep the viewer guessing. The romance between Michael and Hanna is both tender and heartbreaking. 6.7/10.

This movie is way ahead of its times. What it highlighted in 2007 is now emerging to be a dire commonplace headline, albeit still not discussed openly and frowned upon in private discussions. Undertrial takes the courage to demonstrate the plight of a common Indian man who's otherwise misunderstood to be a pervert opportunist who not only is alleged with voyeuring on bathing women, is also eventually slapped with a charge of raping his own daughters.

Every frame of the movie depicts a dirty truth about the way the Indian society would place an Indian common man into a trial for one charge or another. Rajpal Yadav doesn't have much to speak in this movie and still delivers a very apt performance. Prem Chopra didn't disappoint either as a veteran filling in an important role. The real star of undertrial though is the legendary Kadar Khan who is a real dynamite as the protagonist's defence lawyer.

The first half of the movie might take its time to build up the characters and might stretch a bit. Sometimes the plot gets deviated, though the able direction brings it back quickly before it gets lost. The second half is a totally intense courtroom drama which keeps getting more and more gripping as the layers peel off the unexpected truth.

Most subscribers of the typical feminist rhetoric might get triggered by the unusual truths at display here. Movies such as undertrial are a big necessity of the current times to bring up this often ignored societal anomaly. The only points I'm subtracting from the review are for the occasional foray of the script into a different tangent during the prison scenes. Spot on otherwise.

Beyond its more obvious fabric of a mysterious thriller around a young couple looking for a peaceful new house on the outskirts of the city and things turning the wrong way, Vivarium is basically a sci-fi satire on how modern married couples' lives turn up with all unplanned and unprecedented set of events like unnecessarily craving for new real estate, unplanned children, getting broke, fighting, depression, misbehaving kids, the Shattering monotony of urban lives, constant work and alienation from the family and eventually turning into a psychological mess that's always sad and never happy. Mostly a work of art (which should explain the seemingly slower pace) and could have done better with a little more explanation around the extra terrestrial element involved. I would have given it another star had the part about the alien organisms would have been given a little more shape towards the end.

The movie does get full points for originality of the storyline and concept. There aren't really a lot of characters at play here. The lead actors gave a much more than passable performance but that little boy emulating house parents' voices definitely outperforms everyone else.

It definitely deserves one watch, though not a re-watching material.

This movie was a huge leap up above its predecessor, the mini series State of siege: Mumbai Attack and releasing this in the form of a high octane movie is only one of the reasons, why so.

There's better attention to detail (a must in war and special forces movies), more realism in the action sequences, a careful study of the incident, a brief touch to the original course of events that only added to the interest in the viewing and did not digress from the plot much and the right amount of pace sufficient enough to raise adrenaline.

I'm eager to watch the next offering in this franchise with even better ramifications done!

I'm not sure if it was my room's bright lighting or the movie was actually very low lighted. So low lighted that the viewer unfortunately misses style of the most exciting moments of this otherwise creative and high on potential movie. I somewhat felt dizzy trying to make out what's going on in several scenes altogether.

The premise of the movie is quite powerful coming to the horror elements. An unknown dead body lying near you in a shadowy room all night raises the bar for possibilities of everything scary one can think of. The movie packs several slow burn horror sequences in a short time frame and the musical accompaniment to accentuate the scary build up doesn't disappoint either.

Not a bad watch for once keeping in mind the Blumhouse genre, though certainly could have been much better.

Though it lacked the usually chills packed with a typical horror production, Aatma did venture into an untapped territory for Hindi horror cinema, especially during the early 2010s. The ultra talented Nawazuddin could have been utilised better in a more sinister form that he's capable of. Bipasha looks sexy as hell, though is in her usual damsel in distress set of moves she's been doing in most of her erstwhile horror flicks.

The movie began well, transitioned okay into its second act though by the time climax is reached, the regular horror audience might expect some more intense plot twists. Some of the scenes during the first half show great innovation in terms of eerie camera angles and perfectly disturbing background score (something most Hindi horror movies are still working on). The ghost is wicked, cunning and merciless though we fail to be scared by it once we're out of the movie. The end has a big potential though it leaves us feeling unfinished and unsatisfied. It occasionally forayed into the territory of being a dark psychological thriller and in fact, it could have been a much better commercial success had it been released as a dark thriller more than a supernatural horror.

Overall, this was a step in the right direction, though a stronger script and a more evil end could have made it a better horror watch. A decent Ghost movie to watch with the family though.

This show was groundbreaking in how it jumped into the actual horror realm and drew a tangent from drama, comedy and romance that dominated the Hindi TV show universe during the early 90s.

Though there had been attempts to foray into the spooks department earlier such as Doordarshan's Quile ka Rahasya etc, nothing made the early 90s kids (including me) shake with utmost terror every Sunday (or was it Friday?) night when the show aired.

The episodes are vivid and often sourced from a theme prominent in one of the Ramsay movies. The production value of the show wasn't much from today's standards, though it was passable for that era.

Most of the episodes lacked much in the name of storyline and depended mostly on jump scares, body horror and borderline gore.

The show is still great in the way how it did pave the way for the future of horror in Hindi TV in the form of shows like Aahat, Sannata, Maano ya na maano and other cult classics.

Although it can't be said about Ram Gopal Varma's subsequent and recent works, especially in the horror genre, Raat is one of those movies that changed the tide of the horror cult in mainstream Indian cinema. It's a movie RGV made for which I can ignore every cinematic misadventure he has done otherwise.

It made directors bid farewell (albeit decades later since the movie was so much ahead of its times) to the cliched deformed bodies and disfigured faces as the only means to scare the audience and opt for more realism, focus on odd camera angles and focused music as a means of fear.

The movie makes you uncomfortable right from the word go. You feel the scares under your skin, even after rewatching it and it definitely stays with you for long; the hallmark of a great horror production.

A case can be raised that Raat can scare you even with your eyes closed, that's how eerily good the background score is.

I haven't seen her other work much but Raat puts Revathy in the orbital of magnificent acting.

Raat is a must have in a horror movie collector's library. Most modern Hindi horror movie directors should revisit the movie as a case study and learn the art of minimalism when it comes to perpetually terrorise even the most sceptical of the audience.

Simply stated, I was entertained. Very entertained! Unsure about how several of the audiences approached the movie, anticipating an Inception like dexterity in the script, I had it coming, never forgetting that it's a Salman Khan Flick after all. And speaking of Salman, a very vibrant reboot in terms of his de-aged look during the initial half as well as his very refined dance moves(way better than what he shows in his recent few movies) instantly tell you that Sallu Miyan means business. That connoisseur of Muscle residing in me couldn't help noticing a marked improvement in his build and apparently, the actor has also packed up decent physical conditioning preparatory to the movie, Now, understandably, the Sajid Nadiadwala Debut direction comes out with a very obvious set of glaring gaps in the overall course of events and a lot of otherworldly exaggerations. To the relief of the entertainment seeking viewer, Salman's presentation of almost all the recipes of expressions throughout the entire roundabout more than makes up for it and you seldom get the time to shut down your amusement gauge and pay attention to the plot. There's a marked richness in the cinematography and the stunts give even Dhoom 3 a run for the money(We are talking Bollywood here). However, the ace of spades in Nadiadwala's stack of cards remains the incarnation of Nawazuddin Siddique covering up for all the needs for a bad guy. The class of meanness and in-your-face SOB-ness played by him is simply unsurpassed, especially looking at that very small durations he is seen on screen. Ah, that morbid laughter oh his. Speaking of small presences, Jacqueline Fernandez's Jived up, near gymnastic dance might worry her Bollywood feminine counterparts. Randeep Hooda remains that usual nice-gray guy seen filling the space for an anti-hero(or should we call him an anti-villain). Music clearly disappoints and had it not been for the leg-ilicous Nargis Fakhri, the movie would get big time song-deficient. Kick still lands in the territories of Salman's worth remembering works, if not his best in the current decade.

It doesn't let you get off your seat, doesn't give you a chance to wink an eyelid, has a pretty meticulous attention to detail and a serious, no-nonsense fervor several espionage dramas might be devoid of. Based around the communist holocaust expansion intents of DPRK's covert agents embedded in Europe, the story portrays the protagonist a North Korean Spy Jung-woo Ha's journey of transformations in the unsettling backdrop of a Nuke arms deals gone wrong. Woo ha has an equally skilled spy wife involved with playing a double agent with South Korea betraying him amidst a situation of conflict among his commie allies. The revelation later about how the entire failed-deal was a set up to trap him ignites the turnaround to where his retaliation drives him into defecting to the South Korean agencies. This action drama takes turns swiftly until finally acquiring a high adrenaline makeover into an escape and chase sequence of events to finally acquiring a rather sentimental make-up. The climax renders woo Ha lose his wife succumbing to her injuries being shot from his ex-comrade. With the typical commie spices sprinkled throughout, what The Berlin File does differently is to present a very elaborate perspective from the North Korean agent's angle and the story has not been dragged a lot towards the South Korean characters being highlighted in any manner. Espionage tactics and close quarter combat techniques were uniquely impressive and the protagonist spy showcases a very distinguished trait mix of intelligence, stability and escape methods under fire. Although much of the flow goes like a template spy movie, director Seung-wan Ryoo (of 'Crying Fist' acclaim) has managed to put forward a thrilling work which creates a persona of very researched intelligence agency operations and rises above the usual North and South Korea conflict dramas. The plot has a significant twist, although being that peculiar Korean Cinema zealot that I am, I might have expected an even more disturbing twist during the final encounters, to the tune of Joint Security Area or Chaser. All in all, those in the usual purview of the spy-genre should witness what South Korea has grown to, which is nothing short of an Internationally colored, yet dark(ironically enough) canvas of reality presenting cinema. unique propositions to the movie would be precisely detailed modalities, negligible flaws in the script, a very slight yet pleasant drift away from the usual Korean treatment and that 'never-felt-a-moment-that-was-loose' effect!

Had it been the first of the 'Planet of the apes' franchise of movies that i would have been seeing, I'd attach a whole another level of merit to the movie. There ARE of course a few areas where the movie shines up above the previous slices of time presented in this legacy of ape-drama. The apes have been lent a deeper sense of human emotion drawing lines of gray wickedness and a dark demeanor that imparts an almost human like hatred with which the anti-human arboreal Koba leads a vendetta against Caesar and his followers, while the prominent, principle-led flow makes Caesar, the Ape-tribe leader represent almost a human visionary. But then, that's just it. At the outset of a new episode in this saga rolling out, I had anticipated a multiplied level of evolution of the apes with a boost in intelligence beyond what has been showcased so far; after all, it's this evolutionary drama and the constantly evolving and developing ape community that made the planet of the apes series create a solid stir in the seventies. Though the alpha males of the ape colony were the trend-setters, the others remained the followers of the pack and at some point, the need for a few more characters was felt. The mighty and ever-thinking orangutan was such a pleasant character and demanded more to be seen in screen. While darkness prevailed as one of the most fascinating shades of the human-ape encounter, the literal dark treatment and absence of any clarity-rendering light induced a feel of dullness during several moments in the movie. The climax duel of Caesar vs Koba atop the debris of the construction site towers was a potential adrenaline booster. So was the familial sense attached to the Caesar family and the growing enmity which makes Koba fire through Caesar's chest and igniting a mob of revolutionaries from among the hitherto pacified apes. It IS a good movie. It however missed a few niche areas of scoring only a movie like this could have bagged. Let's hope the coming movie in this series does give you a whole shocker value delivering more than what the audience has witnessed so far.