IB 71 #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #JohnsonThomas

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #JohnsonThomas Film: #IB71 #Ibrahim #PearlMedia @everyone Cast: #VidyutJammwal #AnupamKher #DannySura #VishalJethwa #DalipThahil Director: #SankalpReddy Rating: * * Runtime: 119 mins #GulshanKumar #TSeriesFilms #ActionHeroFilms #RelianceEntertainment

The trailer of this film had remarkable allure. Slickly cut, it alluded to some intriguing moments in the film. Unfortunately, the film does not work the same magic. A sedentary pace with no surprise elements and a distinct lack of tension puts paid to any interest. The narrative was also imminently predictable. Also, the story of the hijack was not presented with as much mystery and thrills as it deserved. The action is also not elaborate enough and the background score is just terrible. The attempt to show Pakistan in a poor light and going with a comic villain as the chief antagonist also kills the tone and temper while hampering the overall engagement!

Citadel International OTT Series Review #PicksAndPiques #filmmoviedocumentaryreview #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #filmmoviedocumentaryreview #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit International OTT Series Review #JohnsonThomas @everyone #everyone Title : #Citadel #AmazonPrimeVideo #MoesArt @everyone Cast: #PriyankaChopraJonas #RichardMadden #StanleyTucci #LesleyManville #AshleighCummings #MoiraKelly #RolandMøller #OsyIkhile #CaoilinnSpringall Director: #AnthonyRusso, #JoeRusso Rating: * * 1/2 Runtime: 4 Episodes/ 36-45 mins each #MikeLarocca #AngelaRussoOtstot #ScottNemes #AGBO #DavidWeil #JoshAppelbaum #AndréNemec #JeffPinkner #ScottRosenberg #MidnightRadio #NewtonThomasSigel #PatrickMoran

The first two episodes of this globe-trotting spy thriller series head-lining desi girl Priyanka Chopra Jonas have been pretty much run of the mill. Launched as a big, multi-series spy franchise Citadel is just one of many planned shows set in the same fictional universe, with Italian and Indian spinoffs already in the works. At $300 million it’s second only to Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power in terms of costliest series ever produced. The series has a lot of flash and dash but little in terms of ‘involving content’ to show for it. The idea of an amnesiac man discovering that he’s really a secret agent is not new ( remember Jason Bourne?). The intrigue is hokey and vacuous. Even the representations of good and evil lack weightiness. The makers seem to have some kind-of-a #BulletTrain (the Brad Pitt starrer) fetish. Most of the action in the first two episodes happens in a fast-track train with both the leads showing off their stunt skills to good effect. The action is brutal but there’s really nothing new to it. ‘Citadel’ Executive-produced by the Russo brothers, is colorful, has the latest techno displays to awe you, and twists and turns in every episode that makes you feel disoriented - yet it fails to strike a chord. It’s pretty looking no doubt. The camera work is flashy, the dialogues don’t really cut ice and the editing heaps showiness instead of highlighting real content. The expensive reshoots and heavy edits tell us a sliced-and-diced story that never really gets into a groove. It’s generic, lead stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden look glamorous together, and the supporting players Stanley Tucci and Lesley Manville lend respectability to a rather lackluster project. Chopra Jonas gets to show off her ass-kicking avatar to great effect but Madden fails to strike a chord with his conflicted screen persona. Citadel lacks tension, there’s no adrenaline rush to be had here and the edginess you expect from a spy thriller is sorely missing. Even the 3rd and 4th episodes fail to rise to the occasion. Bad writing and heavy spending don’t make a series great or engaging!

Bad Boy #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReview #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReview #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #BadBoy Cast: #NamashiChakraborty #Amrin #RajeshSharma #SaswataChatterjee #JohnnyLever Director: #RajKumarSantoshi Rating: * * Runtime: 123 mins #UniversalCommunications @everyone

Actor’s son Namashi and Producer’s daughter Amrin make their debut in Raj Kumar Santoshi’s antiquated romantic comedy riddled with passe comedic moments and Johnny Lever’s insufferable facial and bodily contortions. Namashi is a chop-of-the-old block, mirroring his father Mithun in his act. He has his father’s charm, screen presence, and acting style. Here he plays a sadak-chap Romeo while Amrin assumes the role of the fairly well-off brilliant girl student he romances. Though pretty looking, Amrin fails to make her presence felt. The script is rather woebegone and the film feels terribly out-of-date!

Corona Papers #PicksAndPiques #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews

#PicksAndPiques #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews Film: #CoronaPapers #Malayalam ( English Subtitles) Cast: #ShineTomChacko #FrancoFrancis #ShaneNigam #SandhyaShetty #Gayathrie #ManiyanpillaRaju #VijileshKarayad #HannahRejiKoshy #VineethSreenivasan #GeethiSangeetha #Siddique Director: #Priyadarshan #FourFramesSoundCompany Producer: #NMBadusha Cinematographer: #DivakarMani Editor: #MSAiyyappanNair Writer: #SriGanesh #DisneyHotstar @everyone #PictureNKraft #ParulChawla Rating: * * * Runtime: 155 mins

This cop-crime thriller with a totally misleading title ( the film has nothing to do with the pandemic other than the fact that it is set sometime after the first and second waves were done), a very loose remake of the 2017 Tamil film #8Thottakal, has director Priyadarshan in his element. He appears to have regained his mojo once again. A fast-paced, twisty, breathtaking, taut, suspenseful, and totally gripping cop-criminal chase around, this one has all the makings of a thrill-a-minute entertainer with good performances, spiffy editing, and shifty camerawork lending the narrative an edgy tension. The film is not without its flaws but the racy pace keeps you gripped enough to overlook them.

UnWoman #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews Film: #Unwoman Cast: #KanakGarg #SarthakNarula #BhagwanTiwari #GirishPal #KaranMaan #PramodDeswal Director: #PallaviRoySharma Rating: * * * 1/2 Runtime: 115mins #AltairMedia @everyone #GunjanGoel #SusheelSharman #ShalmaliPrakash

An unconventional tragic love story involving a transperson and a heterosexual male, this film is not only unique in its storyline, its also a harbinger of what could be - given the skewed gender ratio that exists in some regions in the north of India where the girl child is killed off at birth. Debutant Director Pallavi Roy Sharma makes sensitivity and emotional vulnerability her mainstay in depicting the plight of the transperson caught in a malevolent male world of ego and patriarchy. All the actors deserve kudos for wonderful heartfelt performances - more so Kanak Garg as Sanwari (who is trapped in a spiral of exclusion and marginalisation) and Sarthak Narula as Bhanwar, (the conventional male as an unconventional lover) - both of whom are caught in the cross hairs of convention, conditioning, conservative beliefs and stigma relating to gender diversity. The film hits you hard with its expose of how Gender-diverse and trans people are subjected to levels of violence and discrimination that offend the human conscience. This is powerful stuff!!!

The Kerala Story #PicksAndPiques #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews

#PicksAndPiques #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews Film: #TheKeralaStory #Hindi #Telugu #Tamil #Malayalam #SunshinePictures #StudioUnneesEntertainment @everyone Cast: #AdahSharma #YogitaBihani #SoniaBalani #SiddhiIdnani #VijayKrishna #PranayPachauri Director: #SudiptoSen Producer: #VipulAmrutlalShah Writers: #SuryapalSingh #SudiptoSen #VipulAmrutlalShah Rating: * * Runtime: 138 mins

After peddling blatant lies and half-truths in an effort to stoke rabid hindutva passions all through its pre-release publicity campaign the filmmakers suddenly cut down on their fake whatsapp university driven rhetoric and whittle down the narrative to a mere 3 women reciting their ordeal of radicalisation by ISIS (from the 32 thousand the makers were initially tom-tomming about). From the antecedents of the filmmakers its quite clear that they are taking forward the political narrative put forward by their political fathers. The attempt to malign a state(Kerala) whose growth index has been exemplary in comparison with the rest of India and has never allowed religious polarisation to take root despite extreme provocation from the saffron terrorists, is quite glaring. The assumption that this story is true is also quite questionable. But that’s not to say that this film isn’t passionate about its fake storyline. It also has Adah Sharma’s blatant gallery rousing performance and Director Sudipto Sen’s hackle-raising treatment to aid it in further stoking the embers of Islamophobia. It is clear from the strident narrative that this film, like #KashmirFiles, is made-to-order propaganda meant to aid one political dispensation in their divisive politics.

I am Unused #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #Internationalfilmfestivalcircuit #OTTseriesreviews

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #Internationalfilmfestivalcircuit #OTTseriesreviews Title: #IAmUnused Cast: #RamitThakur #DeepikaCharak #AasmaSayed #Hiten #MushtaqKhan #RajkumarKanojia Director : #DushyantPratapSingh Platform : #MXPlayer #AltairPR #DushyantCorporation #AnujGupta #PiyushRajan #VinaySinghBaghel #SanjuV @everyone Rating: * Runtime: 4 Episode/ 20- 26 Min each

The story here is opportunistic, unsubstantiated, and ill-informed. It gives the makers the opportunity to exploit the female body to some extent. Though a pivotal character is supposedly infected by HIV the makers keep parroting it as AIDS instead and when she infects someone else through sexual intercourse even that person is said to have AIDS …and all this even without the necessary tests being initiated? Even the cops are ill-informed and talk stupidly. Bad acting, terrible writing, and clueless helming round out this disastrous 4 part series. It’s a pity the makers did not bother to educate themselves before embarking on such sacrilege