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mikhilsaluja
Reviews
Past Lives (2023)
Nice but is it Oscar worthy?
Nice simple story. BEAUTIFULLY CAPTURED. The cinematography, frames are just amazing. Long shots with no dialogues feel boring but I was so engrossed in the light, colours and textures of each frame that it wasn't a slow burn.
Story wise is a simple story well told. There isn't much to add in the screenplay so the focus is mainly on actors, their expressions and emotions which they performed beautifully.
Why this movie is in oscars I have no idea. Or maybe cause it's been made by a female , non white director and the language is foreign so it kinda falls under the diversity and inclusive category.
One time watch, only if you have patience are okay for a slow simple movie.
The end scene for me is the best. Perfect way to end and show how the main characters felt.
Beef (2023)
Parasite inspired concept.
Great show.
Amazing acting. First 5 episodes were engaging fun to watch. Then gets a little drag. The flashback weren't really required cause by that time the viewer already understands their character and nature.
I guess they wanted to make a longish series.
And 10th EPISODE wasn't required at all. Boring and what a terrible ending. Even if you watch 9 and just end you wouldn't miss anything. The last episode had nothing to offer.
But every twist and turn had me thinking about the movie parasite. The house, the characters, details etc are so heavily inspired from that movie.
Over all a great show and I really hope they don't revive the show and bring in season 2. Just end it here.
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
Watch it. embrace it and reflect it.
Poignant, wonderful narrative of two souls at a crossroads in their life. Both are correct in their own way, but they want quite different things. It's a simple and lovely way of demonstrating how you may grow together, be together for years, and still fall apart. The film makes you think about your life, your surroundings, and the people around you. It might be frightening at times to recognise what you want from your life going forward and what ties and connections you need to break in order to go on the rest of your life.
The acting is Outstanding. Despite the dense Irish lingo, the talks are so real and basic that anyone from anywhere may relate to them. This is aimed at the more mature, older generation, someone who has lived through and experienced various stages of life and events.
The film is set in a time before social media and dopamine, yet it speaks to a generation that is always looking to make a mark and leave a legacy.
Red Notice (2021)
Director dozed off while the movie was being shot
Damn. What a dumb movie.
Ryan Reynolds is the same on every movie. Same one liners. Random jokes.
I think this could have been a travel movie.
Gal gadot. Stereotyping herself with such roles.
Searching for Sheela (2021)
Sheela is chilling with page 3 personalities
What crap is this. Random page 3, Bollywood, fashion possibilities come together and click selfies and ask same redundant questions. Dressed in fancy clothes.
This is not a documentary. But a travel or trip to india video of hers.
Mirzapur (2018)
Brilliant season 1 And senseless season 2
Season 1 is damn good. More than the plot it's the acting of all actors which is flawless. It feels everyone was born to their respective parts.
Season 2. Have no idea what went wrong. Horrible screenplay. Horrible directing. Acting is the only saving grace. Introduced random new characters but made no sense. Towards the end Random killing. It became a Bollywood drama than a realty inspired story. The director was under pressure to give weightage to every actor I guess cause they were paid a huge sum. There were too many active characters And frankly not everyone were required. But if you want to continue making money out of the season 1 you have to build more characters and keep introducing more even if it doesn't make sense. Next season now kaleen will take revenge. Golu or munna or dimpy will die. Then next season this side will take revenge. This will go on and on
Aarrghhhh. We should only make mini series.
Utopia (2020)
Terrible. Blahhhh
Oh my god. Such a terrible show Horrible cast. Did they even audition these guys. Arby looks like a cheap copy of anton from no country of old men. Just good casting could have changed the outlook of the show. Clearly the budgets weren't enough.
D-Day (2013)
4 dumb raw agents
The movies pace is gripping and good. But how dumb can those for agents be. I happen to know some raw guys and if you speak to them then you'll know how smart and brilliant they are. The stupid mistakes and terrible planning of catching the terrorist. It's pure drama filmy to show all the stupid mistakes so the suspense remains. But that actually shows how terrible the agents were.
Abs irrfan khan. How can he do the same acting on every movie. You pick his dialogues for any movie and out a montage, I can bet you can never guess what movie or what role is he playing.
Good editing and frames makes it look real and interesting. The screenplay makes it Bollywood.
I wish they had seen greenzone by paul green grass and picked some ideas of directing.
Pareeksha (2020)
Simple story but contrived screenplay
This film has a good intention but like most Bollywood films it's a way too emotional, sympathetic and dramatic which makes it look contrived. I wish they would have approached this movie as a neo realism film style. It had all the right elements but it went a little overboard. The way the school kids, teachers, etc treat the kid and his father is way too dated and has been seen in a lot of movies where ever there's a power , class differentiation. Adil Hassan is brilliant in the movie. All the other actors are very raw and you can feel how badly the castings been done. Overall, it'll be appreciated by most Indians as it has all the masalas and emotional quotient for the Indian audience to like and connect with the film. If you've seen art house cinema you'll realise you badly it has missed that realism cinema style.
Ladri di biciclette (1948)
Simple and very moving
Great simple story told during the tiring times of post ww2 in italy. The story is so simple and the screenplay is very documentary style. The movie hits you at the end of how a person feels when something bad happens with him and he's fighting the society, family etc for basic things. How a person wants to live life and be a good example to his kids but after a point you just can't fake it. Your emotions take over and you give in. Must watch but be aware of the time this movie was made, why it was made etc. it might seem slow but there's a deeper meaning than the visuals you see.
Dil Bechara (2020)
Read if you are a rational cinephile and not emotional about SSR s death
If you want to be emotional, sympathise more than rational and logical then yes this movie is good. If you are a cinephile and rational then you can say this movie is just okay. But people are not gonna like this review. If you for one second forget that ssr is no more then watch this movie with an open mind and then you'll realise it's pretty average. Specially if you liked fault in stars. Ansel elgort was brilliant, amazing in his role. Ssr is good too but nothing compared to ansel. The direction is very average and the screenplay is exactly as it is in the original film so basically there are no surprises and you know what's going to come next and only rely on their acting to make it interesting. Ssr s role is supposed to be boisterous , affable and a little pompous. There is a prom night in Jamshedpur , really?? Ssr is wearing a tee with "killer" written on it. He's a flirt, boisterous , typical college heartthrob, pompous, exactly how shah rukh khan used to be in the 90s and we all complained in 2000s that how unrealistic it used to be. Just when you want writers and directors to use their brains in copying. Infant kizie s acting's is pretty good and convincing, I would say more realistic than SSR. Saif s role is like a guy out of a mental hospital. There's no logic in good dialogues and role. Peter vans role had a logic and sense in how he acted that way, here he's just trying to be crazy and random. There is a visible 10 year gap between ssr and Sanjana. Which looks very odd to see them falling in love. There was a certain innocence and youthfulness in ansel which made him more suitable for the role. I am a big SSR fan and I am also very rational in reviewing movies. There's no way this movie deserves more stars than shawshank, rather a lot of other Hindi movies. It's amazing how population can take over and quantity can defeat quality. But such is the case with most of things coming out of india. Quantity takes over quality. You'll see more positive reviews on this film but not cause of the film only cause of Ssr and the controversy around it. I could also feel he saw the movie before his demise and realised what crappy stuff i am being offered.
Now the music. If you have ever heard a r rahman from the 90s you'll realise how average this movies music is. I wish they could have just picked up music from saathiya and dil se and used it here instead.
Enjoy the movie and try to be honest in reviewing. It's important as a cinephile to not be biased. We can't repeat the same mistakes what the bias Bollywood lobby does with their favourites.
The Lovebirds (2020)
Random blah stupid
So random. Not funny. Like how bad can the dialogues be. Communication is so bad
Every scene has random dialogues and no one is able to explain or talk about the confusion they are all in.
Netflix the king of quantity not quality.
Paatal Lok (2020)
Good story. Good suspense but...
OK so everything was great. The pace, the way it's built up, suspense, conspiracy all bang on. Jaideep ahlawat is brilliant.
Now the main motive was to kill tyagi. The police knew where he was, the goons knew where he is, he's already a wanted man for 45 murders, could have been a easy shoot out, then why the hell do create a ekta Kapoor drama around it. Just to kill a contract killer.
Bollywood just can't do with out masala , then actual logic.
Escape at Dannemora (2018)
Interesting but super slow
Interestingly directed and shot. Good acting but there's not much content here. Could have been a movie or 3 episodes max. Lot of scenes and events just not required and not related to the story.
I kept forwarding while I binge watched.
Animal Kingdom (2016)
Super slow, little wannabe and dumb boys
How can the boys be so dumb with so many mistakes. Everyone is **cking everyone everyone. The twist of baz was good but then again too many characters who don't make sense and don't fit in the story. I fast fwded each episode and saw it in 12 mins. Per episode.
Smurf's " how are you, baby" 10 times in each episode is so annoying. So contrived.
It would have been good to shrink the entire season in 4 episodes. Would have been interesting and fun. Plus the boys are so dumb. It's so easy to betray everyone.
All the girls , girlfriends etc are so blah with zero acting skills. Most of the jobs they pull off are so random and so many loop holes. Writing is so amateurish.
Bastille Day (2016)
Wannabe action movie
Horrible acting. Idris trying to be a super cool cop. Everything is so contrived and unreal. Horrible screenplay. Ending is such a b grade action movie. Taking the federal bank as if it's a kindergarten bank.