Jug Jugg Jeeyo #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReview #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReview #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #JugJuggJeeyo Rating: * * Runtime: 120 mins Cast: #VarunDhawan #KiaraAdvani #AnilKapoor #NeetuKapoor #ManeishPaul #TiscaChopra #PrajaktaKoli Director: #RajMehta #DharmaProductions #HypePR #NilouferQureshi #KaranJohar

Aiming to work up a storm about dysfunctional marriages in a contrary conservative set-up, Raj Mehta’s film takes the long lonely road of needless (excruciatingly tedious for the audience) extravagance (big fat Punjabi wedding style) to reach his selling point. After childhood pranks meant to establish age-old love, the unnecessarily long-drawn narrative in the first half focuses on never-ending joyless wedding celebrations before sending the young couple Kuku (Dhawan) and Naina(Advani) to Canada where they reach an impasse as a couple and decide to end it after one last salvo at faking it. The dramatic bits are all in the second half - some of it genuine and earnest( Kuku and Naina’s face-off) while others – especially the father Bheem’s( Anil Kapoor) so-called asexually pure extra-marital affair, come across as rather toonish. Neetu Singh’s performance is dignified and entreating, Anil Kapoor’s is flamboyantly bordering on ridiculous, Kiara does well to channel Naina’s frustration affectingly while Varun ( even while overstating the petulance of Kuku), does manage to be affecting. Designated as a family entertainer there are hardly any comedic moments to laugh out loud at. The first half is so much a drag that it would be difficult for anyone to sit through long enough to partake in the spoils of so-called wedded bliss as played out here. There are far too many unnecessary sequences padding the narrative ( especially the Maneish Paul thread) and dragging it down to base theatrics. It’s certainly not ‘Good News’ that ‘Happily Ever After’ is beyond the pale for most couples here.

Ittu Si Baat #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReview #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReview #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #IttuSiBaat Rating: * Runtime: 110 mins

Director - #AdnanAli Producer- #NarendraHirawat Cast- #GayatriBhardwaj #RaviChauhan #BhupendraJadawat #FaridaJalal #NeerajSood #SonaliSachdev #AtulShrivastava #MuskaanKhubchandani #TikuTalsania #ButterflyCommunications #YashaChandra #LaxmanUtekar #NHStudioz Yet another vacuous love story set in the Hindi heartland, portraying small-town folks as either dim-witted or avaricious. The romance just doesn’t make sense because it’s between an aspiring 20-year-old, intellectually naïve, aspiring cricketer, Bittu, and a street smart, friendly neighborhood girl, Sapna, whose chance remark that she would say ‘I Love You’ to the guy who presents her with an iPhone sets Bittu off on a pursuit that is way beyond his means. A ridiculous storyline presented in a hackneyed and spurious fashion, this ‘ittu si baat’ makes you wonder what filmmakers are smoking nowadays!

Nikamma #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReview #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReview #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #Nikamma Rating: * Runtime: 144 mins.

Juvenile, a daft attempt at comedy action, this film has a terrible story, unintelligent dialogue, a pitiable screenplay, and is entirely too senseless to curry favor from an audience. The cast doesn’t have what it takes to make the experience any better. Best left alone… Director - #SabbirKhan #SonyPicturesInternational. #UniversalCommunications Writer - #VenuSriram Dialogues :#SanamjiTalwar Screenplay - #SabbirKhan Cinematography - #HariKVedantam Editor - #MananAjaySagar Music - #JohnStewartEduri #AmaalMallik #JavedMohsin #VipinPatwa #GourovDasgupta. Cast: #AbhimanyuDasani #SamirSoni #ShirleySetia #AbhimanyuSingh #ShilpaShetty

Bandon Mein Tha Dum #OTTDocumentarySeriesReview #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

#PicksAndPiques #OTTDocumentarySeriesReview #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit #BandonMeinThaDum Rating: * * * (4 episodes 45 mins each) Director: #NeerajPandey #ShitalBhatia #SudipTiwari #Fridaystoryteller #bootroomsports #viacom18 #vootselect #posthouse #dnbstudiosbeyonddecibels #HeenalShah #AvaianWE

An audio-visual memorial to the valour and grit displayed by the young inexperienced Indian side on their test tour to Australia, this compilation of match footage and candid conversations with #AjinkyaRahane, #RavichandranAshwin, #CheteshwarPujara, #MohammadSiraj, #RishabhPant and #HanumaVihari, their coaches, as well as journalists who covered the series, gives us an inside view as to what it took to win the historic 4 test series. The 4 episode 45 mins. per episode series aptly titled Skyfall, You only live twice, A view to a kill, License to kill, sheds light on how the team played tough and indomitable while navigating their way through injuries, inexperience, fierce, pacy, hostile Australian bodyline bowling - to go from a position of all out for 36 to a hard earned draw in the 3rd test and eventual unforgettable victory at Gabba where Team Australia hadn’t lost a Test match in 32 years. Suitable narration by #JimmyShergill lends definition to the retelling of the historic feat interspersed with interviews and live footage highlights of the actual matches. Unfortunately the pace of narration is rather lethargic and the presentation of highlights isn't as thrilling as what we are used to seeing as post match highlights. It’s an intriguing watch and would have been a thriller if only the pace of narration and editing were swifter.

Jana Gana Mana #MalayalamFilmReview #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReview #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReview #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #JanaGanaMana #Malayalam Rating: * * * Runtime: 162 mins #MamtaMohandas #OvaisSingstar #PrithvirajSukumaran, #Sari #SurajVenjarumoodu #Mammootty #VincyAloshious #DhanyaAnanya #TomKottackakom #Netflix Director: #DijoJoseAntony Writer: #SharisMohammed Music: #JakesBejoy Cinematography: #SudeepElamon Editing: #SreejithSarang #MagicFrames #PrithvirajProductions

As a college professor's brutal murder sparks student unrest, a cop launches an investigation while a lawyer seeks justice in the courtroom. A blisteringly paced, astutely crafted, twisty, gripping, socio-political-crime thriller drama, this one picks up every conceivable crime in current day history and loops it onto a politician’s sinister attempt to stay in power. It opens our eyes to how media, new media, police, administration, judiciary, and the system fall prey to the machinations of the man in power - to chilling effect. Sharis Mohammed’s expository script and dialogue connect the dots between numerous crimes that have occurred in India to show us that we are gullible fools voting for criminals in political garb. The Nambi Narayanan controversy, the Rohith Vemula suicide, politics of caste and color, encounter murders, mob lynching, hit-and-run revenge killing, and sinister Political media management all come in for a mention as the narrative unravels an expose that will assuredly leave you shell-shocked. The tone may be shrill, the cinematic style is mainstream generic and loud, and the sequence of events may not seem entirely plausible but Dijo Jose Anthony’s sharp-edged helming and Jake Bejoys music combine well to generate a cacophonic yet ensnaring rhythm that emblemizes the chaos that is current-day India - where human life has become the casualty of merciless goons occupying the political space. The film asks some pertinent questions and presents its politics and multiple perspectives rather powerfully and with conviction. It is hard-hitting and keeps coming at you with relentless never-ending truth punches. Watch it!

Samrat Prithviraj, Major, Vikram #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film ‘#SamratPrithviraj’ Rating: * Runtime: 133mins.

Self-appointed historian for the right wing, Chandraprakash Dwivedi’ s divisive, distorted take on history, this period drama fails to arouse sentiment or amiability. One-note Tarzan Akshay Kumar’s attempt to emote is laughable. The attempt to spread propaganda via fake history is contemptible. The only way Prithviraj could have killed Ghori was if his ghost appeared 14 years later to do the needful (Prithviraj died – 1192 & Ghori died – 1206) This movie based on Chandravardai's book takes flight from fanciful poems written in praise of the so-called last Hindu King(yet another phony claim) by a courtier. It would have been better if Dwivedi had a disclaimer before the film claiming it to be a work of fiction. And what a pity the love factory has begun to peddle hate… #AkshayKumar #ManushiChhillar, #SonuSood #SanjayDutt #AdityaChopra #ManavVij #AshutoshRana #SakshiTanwar #ChandraPrakashDwivedi #Yashraj #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit #Major Rating: * * ½ Runtime: 148 mins.

A flawed, gung-ho, version of a true story, this film plays to the gallery like any mainstream masala actioner. Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan deserved a far better posthumous salute. Advi Sesh has looks and screen presence while Saiee, though pretty, acts rather vapid. #AdviSesh #SaieeManjrekar #PrakashRaj #Revathi #ShobitaDhulipala #SashikiranTikka #UniversalCommunications #ParagDesai #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit #Vikram Rating: * * ½ Runtime: 173 mins

A near 3 hour runtime, meaningless badly orchestrated action and Kamal Haasan unmasking himself post interval puts you in a mood to walk away. The logic sucks, the storyline is pretty weird – especially when you have an elite force standing and watching kidnappers/ marauders/ murderers commit offences without any counter offensive. Watch and follow is the key word here. #PenMarudhar #RaajkamalFilms #Fahadfasil #suriya #vijaysethupathi #KamalHaasan #KalidasJayaram #SGayathrie #ChembanVinodJose #Vasanthi #Kumaravel #Santhanabharathi #SwathishtaKrishnan #LokeshKanagaraj #UniversalCommunications #ParagDesai