Holy Cow #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #HolyCow Runtime: 96 mins Rating: * * Genre: Comedy/Drama Cast: #NawazuddinSiddiqui #SanjayMishra #TigmanshuDhulia #SadiaSiddiqui #MukeshKumarBhatt Writer/Director: #SaiKabir #ReticPictures #TriggerHappyEntertainmentNetwork #YSEntertainment Producer: #AaliyaSiddiqui #KSeraSera #SukhSagarFilms

This could have been a great satire but the inept writing and the unviable plotting leave a lot to be desired. What happens when a Muslim living in ‘Lynching land’ finds that his cow has disappeared from his yard? Well, the narrative here is so uninteresting that you just wouldn’t bother to find out. Even the performances of some of the best actors in Hindi cinema seem a little tired and stale. Billed as a comedy, this film doesn’t even get to the point of amusing.

Liger #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #Liger (Hindi /Telugu/Tamil/Malayalam/Kannada) Runtime: 140 minutes Rating: * ½ Cast: #VijayDeverakonda #AnanyaPanday #RamyaKrishnan #RonitRoy #Ali #MakarandDeshpande #MikeTyson #ChunkyPandey Producer: #KaranJohar #PuriJagannadh #CharmmeKaur #ApoorvaMehta #HirooYashJohar Story/Sceenplay/Director: #PuriJagannadh Dialogue: #PuriJagannadh (Telugu), #PrashantPandey (Hindi) Cinematography: #VishnuSharma Editor: #JunaidSiddiqui Music: #SunilKashyap #VikramMontrose #TanishkBagchi #LijoGeorge #DJChetas #SunilKashyap #Jaani.

Karan Johar appears to be digging deep into the south for his Box-Office fodder but his choices are iffy at best. After all, not every film can be a #Bahubali at the BO. This one is total crass. There’s no story to tell and the lead actor, despite having an #ArjunReddy as his brand awakening, has been unable to score big in the role of an MMA fighter with an all-pervading Mother(steely-eyed one-note Ramya Krishnan) egging him on. The title tag – Saala Cross-Breed is unintentionally befitting in the sense that we see a south hero trying to don Bollywood pizazz to score it big, pan India. Not that it hasn’t happened before but Deverakonda’s personality is rather ‘Duh’ as seen on Karan Johar’s show. Despite all the pre-release publicity and the make-believe plugs of heroines like #JahnviKapoor, #SaraAliKhan, and #Ananya hitting on him publicly on #KoffeeWithKaran, Vijay Deverakonda ends up looking rather ‘Thanda’ on screen. The MMA action plays out in music video format so there’s really no build-up, adrenaline rush or excitement. The overall action is just not interesting and the performances are terribly caricaturist. The oft-retreaded, formulaic, stereotypical Bollywood plot, being rehashed in music video style, is just not entertaining for the viewer. And the long line-up of music composers has failed to score a single memorable number. A terribly disappointing watch this!

Do Baaraa #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews Film: #DoBaaraa Genre: Mystery/Thriller Runtime:123min Rating: * * ½ Cast: #TapseePannu #PavailGulati #RahulBhatt #SaswataChatterjee #ShashwatDwivedi #MediniKelamane Director: #AnuragKashyap Writer: #NihitBhave #SpicePR

Anurag Kashyap tries to immerse his audience in a loopy construct but fails to get any purchase out of a borrowed idea (originally from the Spanish film #Mirage). Nihit Bhave’s officially adapted screenplay takes us into parallel universes, murder, and several resolutions but none of them make much sense. The attempt to link an electric storm to TV watching and going into a portal in order to signify the space-time continuum doesn’t come off as believable. The plotting is rather convoluted and fantastic. Fancy edits are employed but it’s just not enough. Minimal use of VFX might have done the trick much better. The lead character Antara, a young mother who finds herself in a parallel universe with the same characters but in a different outcome, and accepting it without much ado is way too fictitious. The film is intriguing and interesting but there’s really no attachment to be had here. The performances can’t be faulted but the underdeveloped screenplay, unviable plotting, and lack of emotional heft hamper this experience dearly.

Sita Ramam #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews Film: #SitaRamam #Tamil #Runtime: 157mins Genre: Drama Rating: * * ½ Cast: #DulquerSalmaan #MrunalThakur #RashmikaMandanna #TinnuAnand #DalipThahil #MurliSharma #PrakashRaj Writer/Director: #HanuRaghavapudi Dialogue: #JayKrishna #RajKumarKandamudi #LycaProductions #Subaskaran #VyjayanthiMovies

A period romantic drama set amidst India-Pakistan strife, this film loses appeal as it tries for greater complexity. Its 1964, POK terrorist camp is putting the finishing touches of Operation Gibralter involving the Mujahideen crossing into Kashmir. A young Indian lieutenant who falls in love with a Hyderabadi Muslim Princess(later on, his wife), is tasked with destroying the Pakistani camp – but he gets caught and tortured while his wife goes from Pillar to post to rescue him. Shades of ‘Roja’ in the story but the plotting involves sequences with the Indian army in Kashmir. The narrative spends too much time in setting up the love story amidst strife and loses the romance of it completely. To add to the miseries, the casting is inappropriate – especially Mrunal Thakur ( though a wonderful and competent actress ) who doesn’t fit the character of Hyderabadi royalty, a princess betrothed to an Omani Prince, who instead, falls in love with an army officer. In fact too much detailing makes the viewing tedious and unromantic. The intermingling of timelines also make it a less than lucid experience. The cinematography, music and performances are fairly good though

Karthikeya 2 #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews Film: #Karthikeya2. Rating: * * * Runtime: 150 mins. Genre: Supernatural Mystery Adventure Thriller Cast: #NikhilSiddharth #AnupamKher #AnupamaParameswaran #SrinivasReddy #HarshaChemudu #AdityaMenon Writer/Director: #ChandooModeti Producers: #TGVishwaPrasad #AbhishekAgarwal Cinematography #KarthikGhattamaneni Music: #KaalaBhairava #CommuniquéPR #PeopleMediaFactory #AbhishekAgarwalArts

A sequel (not in the real sense) to the 2014 hit mystic thriller Karthikeya, this Telugu language adventure thriller dubbed in 5 languages, has the lead character Karthik, a man of science and that too a doctor, inadvertently embark on a mythic-mystical journey in pursuit of a truth that exposes him to the power of an ancient secret that dates back 5,118 years, linked to Lord Krishna. Structured as a mystery with clues and seemingly impregnable challenges directing the quartet to a buried treasure that has supernatural powers, the narrative marries segments of animation with live action, and comedy, creating a bonhomie of myth and science that comes across fairly well in reactive lucidity. The narrative spiel is ambitious and succeeds in crafting a convincing set-up of myths with facilitative VFX. Even though not sophisticated, it manages to inveigle the audience into its mythic-religious-fantasy world without losing pace or momentum. A small budget film compared to the biggies in current circulation, this film, in spite of its illogic and scriptural faults, realises its potential without making a to-do about it.

Raksha Bandhan #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews Film: #RakshaBandhan Genre: Comedic Family Drama Rating: * * Runtime: 108 mins Cast: #AkshayKumar #BhumiPednekar #SadiaKhateeb #SahejmeenKaur #SmrithiSrikanth #DeepikaKhanna #SeemaPahwa #SahilMehta #ShivamGaur #PankajRajput #AbhinayRajSingh Director/ Co-producer: #AanandLRai #RaindropPR Producer: #ZeeStudios #AlkaHiranandani Writer: #HimanshuSharma #KanikaDhillon Cinematography: #KUMohanan Editor: #HemalKothari Music: #IshaanChhabra #HimeshReshammiya

Lala has to offload his four unique, unconventional sisters in the dowry based marriage market before he can knot-up with his childhood sweetheart – a vow he took at the deathbed of his ailing mother. Except for the oldest, the rest don’t fit into the conventional stereotypical concepts of beauty or brains. Crass, degenerate, and totally unpalatable, this film celebrates the popular #ChandniChowk variety of #Punjabiyat before it rushes into a sermonising counter for all the regressive ills that plague the narrative for most of its runtime. #AkshayKumar is loud and trying too hard to emote (though one must give him brownie points for sheer effort to win over the gallery), Sahil Mehta does well as his assistant, the actresses essaying the role of sisters appear to be enjoying themselves, and the efficient Seema Pahwa gets back into an oft-repeated role of wedding planner/broker. Anand L Rai appears to be delving into Jeetendra’s 70’s playbook to help Akshay Kumar lift up his sagging career but it’s to no avail. His helming has pace and momentum but the tone is way too lurid, the script is a little too outdated to curry favor, genuinely comedic moments are rare, the heavy-duty emotions on display here are rather hard to stomach and the nasal sounding, shrill songs meant to render relief don’t fit in with Akshay Kumar’s persona.

Lal Singh Chaddha #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews Film: #LalSinghChaddha Rating : * * ½ Genre: Drama Runtime: 164 mins Cast: #AamirKhan #KareenaKapoorKhan #MonaSingh #NagaChaitanya #ShahRukhKhan #KaminiKaushal Director: #AdvaitChandan Cinematography: #SatyajitPande Music: #TanujTiku #Pritam Editor: #HemantiSarkar Producer: #AamirKhan #KiranRao #JyotiDeshpande #AjitAndhare #RadhikaChaudhari #SpicePR

‘Sincerity and perseverance can go a long way – while the story here heralds that aspect, the making of it feels rather fake. A gimmicky attempt at official adaptation ( by #AtulKulkarni of #EricRoth’s screenplay of #ForrestGump), this film plays out like a comic strip with #AamirKhan going over-the-top and inconsistent (more #Chaplin-like than real) in his attempt to portray an autistic man whose ability to run gives him an entry into the army and takes him all over India - touching on strife-ridden and seminal moments dotting India’s contemporary history while traversing across picturesque locales, unspooling his inspirational success story along-the-way. His life takes incredulous turns (and gets forgotten along the way), the narrative is strip-happy and intermittently poignant and affecting, and some performances (especially #MonaSingh, #KareenaKapoorKhan) are luminous while others are stereotyped and inconsistent. Aamir’s performance appears toonish, largely a mash-up of #PK and #MyNameisKhan. Cameos by #KaminiKaushal and #ShahRukhKhan are likable but not surprising. Music/Songs are ameliorating but not memorable. Post-production, VGX & CGI look patchy despite the time, effort, and money (officially Rs.180 crore but rumored to be somewhere around Rs.300 crore) spent on this much delayed (10 years in the making) product. It's more a case of feeling let down rather than this being a bad product. The humongous weight of expectations has taken the mickey out of this experience.

Vaashi #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #Vaashi (meaning: Persistent vow) #Malayalam Genre: Courtroom Drama Runtime: 120 mins Rating: * * * Cast: #AnuMohan #KeerthySuresh #TovinoThomas #KottayamRamesh #MayaVishwanath #Nandu #Baiju #MayaMenon #RonyDavid Director/Co-writer: #VishnuRaghav Story: #JanizChackoSimon Music: #KailasMenon Cinematography: #RobyVargheseRaj Editor:#MaheshNarayanan ArtDirection: #MaheshSridhar CostumeDesign: #DivyaGeorge #UrvasiTheatres #Netflix

A courtroom drama that exposes the schisms in the concept and perception of ‘consent’ for sex before marriage while juxtaposing that aspect with an ego and courtroom drama between two opposing lawyers who happen to be recently married to each other. While ‘Vaashi’ sloganeers on feminism that is equal for all genders (as appealed by advocate Madhavi in defense of the accused in a 375A charge) it fails to go beyond that tokenism. Nevertheless, the narrative is a neatly drawn, swiftly enacted drama that finds resolution in a courtroom rather than outside it. The courtroom arguments are rooted and deeper than the dissonance between Madhavi and her husband Public Prosecutor Ebin Mathew. Both Keerthy Suresh and Tovino Thomas perform with convincing amiability and make this half-hearted attempt more appealing than it deserves to be.

Odd Couple #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #OddCouple Rating: * Genre: Romantic/Comedy/Drama Runtime:114 mins Cast: #DivyennduSharma #SuchitraKrishnamoorthi #VijayRaaz #PranatiRaiPrakash #ManojPahwa #SumitGulati #SaharshKumarShukla #SatyakamAnand #PradeepSinghAdhikari #VinayKumar #NehaNegi #ChunmumKumar #NipramCreations #ShemarooEntertainment #PanoramaStudios #AltairMedia #AshwaniShukla #AmazonPrime Producer/Story: #PraneetVerma Director/Screenplay/Dialogue/Lyrics: #PrashantJohari Music/BackgroundScore: #JayRajeshArya Cinematography: #SrijitBasu Editor: #PrakashJha

Weird is the word. The way the screenplay and plotting play out, it feels as though the couples in this drama were out of their mind rather than forced by circumstances. The narrative is stilted, there’s nothing funny here even though this is billed as a romantic comedy and the performances by hitherto good actors come across as inept and pretentious. The writer-director is basically clutching at straws conceiving this farfetched, totally unpalatable narrative. His idea of using a registrar’s error to enforce mismatched conjugal relationships falls flat and rings totally untrue. The pity is that he couldn’t make better use of the talents he had at his disposal.

Haryana #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #Haryana Rating: * * Genre: #RomanticFamilyDramaComedy Runtime: 151 min Cast: #YashTonk #AshleshaSavant #RobbieMairh #MonicaSharma #AakarshanSingh Story, Screenplay, Dialogue, Lyrics, Direction, Co-Producer: #SandeepBaswana Cinematography: #JohnyLal Background Score/Music: #GuruDhanoa #MohitPathak Editors: #SanyukaKaza #JitendraDongare #AltairMedia #AshwaniShukla #RajaBaswanaFilms

As the title suggests this film is about 3 brothers from Haryana –the oldest Mahinder played by Yash Tonk-Supposedly in his 30’s ( but looks 50), the middle brother- Jaibeer (Robbie Mairh) is the quite, silent vindictive college boy lover type who makes restitution for his past sins and the youngest Jugnu (Aakarshan Singh) a petulant, spoilt brat, an irresponsible teen who gets his way all the time. Their parents are long gone so it’s up to Mahinder to play the father figure. And it’s not an easy task as his brothers make demands on him that no human being can possibly fulfill. But in this film, they get their wish. Sandeep Baswana manages to get his casting right with amiable performances from the three leads lending heft to the character arches, but the wayward, overindulgent narrative is a thorn in the flesh that cannot be ignored. The lack of humor and disastrous musical interludes, alienating, totally unnecessary songs and loose editing stymies the narrative momentum. It’s an exhausting and overly tedious watch.

Darlings #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #Darlings Cast: #AliaBhatt #VijayVarma #ShefaliShah #RajeshSharma #RoshanMathews #VijayMaurya #KiranKarmarkar #PoojaSwaroop #SantoshJuvekar Director: #JasmeetKReen Runtime: 134 mins Genre: #BlackComedy Rating: * * ½ #ShahRukhKhan #GauriKhan #RedChilliesEntertainmentLtd #EternalSunshine #AnilMehta #Gulzar #VishalBharadwaj #Netflix #ZeeCinema

A young lower middleclass housewife living in a chawl community suffers through domestic violence before she builds up the courage to reverse roles. The incidents here are mostly farcical derived from black humour - women are presented as dimwits ( in an attempt to garner laughs) - yet suddenly turn smart enough to turn tables on their oppressors, crime is presented as an easy option to get rid of injustice and accessories to the crime are just as easily available to do the needful. The tone jumps from serious to fanciful as the mother-daughter duo start gaining the upper hand. Director Jasmeet K Reen may not be able to sway the audience with frayed plotting but the narrative is populated with actors who can command attention with their craft and presence. That’s what makes Darlings fairly attention-grabbing. Alia, Shefali, Vijay Varma, Roshan Mathews, Rajesh Sharma, and other supporting actors are supremely efficient, likable, and convincing!

Goodluck Jerry #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit

Goodluck Jerry #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #GoodluckJerry Genre: Crime /Comedy Runtime: 120 mins Rating: * * ½ Cast: #Abhimanue #DeepakDobriyal #JaswantSinghDalal #JahnviKapoor #DeepakDobriyal #MitaVashisht #MohanKamboj #AvarBrar #SushantSingh #SahilMehta #SandeepNayak Director: #SiddharthSengupta Producers: #SubaskaranAllirajah #AanandLRai #MahaveerJain. Story & Screenplay: #NelsonDilipkumar #PankajMatta #RaindropMedia #LycaProductions #ColourYellowProductions #Disney #Hotstar

The remake of the Tamil film '#KolamavuKokila' (which starred #Nayanthara and was a decent money-spinner at the Box-Office), gets an OTT release. Obviously, considering the star cast (Jahnvi has no real draw at the Box-office and the rest of the cast are character artists and newbies who we’ve hardly heard of leave alone seen) and helming by a debutant director, it was a smart choice. Attempting to remake a dark crime comedy with a new setting and a different lingo has its own limitations. The writers do a fairly good job of rooting it in a Punjabi-Bihari milieu but the story and plotting doesn’t quite work up a storm, as desired. The narrative should have been plot driven rather than character driven especially since Jahnvi as the central player Jerry aka Jaya has little to offer as an actress other than a patented vulnerability that we see in all her performances. She has yet to develop a range as an actress - which she will undoubtedly do over time. Jerry’s reason for becoming a drug courier after her stint as a masseuse in a massage parlour because her mother has lung cancer isn’t convincing. And the entire group of motley hanger-ons and three women family going all-out to out-do the drug runners doesn’t make sense at all. The plotting and treatment is at fault. There’s hardly any humour to be had even though the supporting cast do a valiant job to shore-up this iffy crime comedy.

V R / Vikrant Rona #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #VikrantRona / #VR Genre: #HorrorActionAdventureDrama Cast: #NeethaAshok #NirupBhandari #KichchaSudeep #RavishankarGowda #JacquelineFernandez Director: #AnupBhandari Writers: #AnupBhandari #JohnMahendran #SSRajamouli #SalmanKhan #ZeeStudios #KichchaProductions #ShaliniArtsProductions Rating: * * 1/2 Runtime: 139 mins

This big-budget action, horror, a period film with fancy sets, absurd ideation, and a marketing boost from SS Rajamouli and Salman Khan, has been released Pan India dubbed in multiple regional languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, German, Russian, English, Arabic and Mandarin in addition to Kannada. The film delves into superstition and mystery before finding a heroic resolution for the death of children and several other murders that take place in a remote village policed by Vikrant Rona. The narrative is clichéd and fanciful – relying on deliberate confusion to criss-cross the paranormal and real. You might get a rise out of the spiffy tech on display here but the narrative is slow, etched with stylized acting, and lacks tension. The horror sequences have no follow through so there’s not much to fear here. It’s only the cinematography, FX, and production design that lends the film some gravitas.

Ek Villain Returns #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #EkVillainReturns Rating: * ½ Cast: #DishaPatani #ArjunKapoor #JohnAbraham #TaraSutaria #RiteshDeshmukh #JDChakravarthy #ShaadRandhawa #KarishmaSharma #BharatDhabolkar #PankajRajput #ShanuKumar Director: #MohitSuri BackgroundScore: #RajuSingh #RaindropMedia #BalajiTelefilmsPvtLtd #TSeries #ShobhaKapoor #EktaaKapoor #BhushanKumar #Spotify

Another serial killer with a twisted self-rationalization in this ‘Ek Villain’ returning franchise installment - but this time it’s ridiculous, half-baked, altogether facile, pea-brained and entirely obvious trickery. Warped, perverse, and sick characterizations abound here. The script revels in throwing up psychopaths and sociopaths while anointing them as heroes and villains as per convenience. Throwing up obvious red herrings appears to be Mohit Suri’s treasured trick so he uses it quite liberally here and consequently loses the plot entirely. It’s really torturous having to sit through absurd rationalizations justifying the utter depravity on display here. Customer ratings, smiley masks, hoodies, and twisted and materialistic love are some of the tools he uses to fashion his silly cover-up of an entirely debauched mindset. Even the music has nothing likable to recommend it. Why would anyone go to see this sorry sequel just to hear the theme song ‘Teri Galiyan’ replayed time and again?