Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Mark Antony #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #OTTFilmReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #MarkAntony (#ReliancePictures) Cast: #Vishal #SJSuryah #AbhinayaVedhavalli #RituVarma Director: #AdhikRavichandran Rating: * * Runtime: 120 mins #AyngaranInternational #everyone #everybody @everyone @everybody
Antiquated quirkiness buffooning around as a 70’s south- styled masala potboiler, this film has elements that can be laughed at but it’s a little hard to appreciate something that is so tacky and unaccomplished in structure and design. Toonish performances add to the misery here.

Monday, October 2, 2023

Fukr3y #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #OTTFilmReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #Fukrey3 #SpicePR #SpiceBhasha Cast: #PankajTripathi #PulkitSamrat #RichaChadha #VarunSharma #ManjotSingh Director: #MrighdeepSinghLamba Writer: #VipulVij Rating: * * Runtime:147 mins #FarhanAkhtar #RteshSidhwani #ExcelEntertainment @everyone @everybody #everyone #everybody
Distasteful, tasteless, irksome antics gets passed off as slapstick comedy in this threequel that plays out like a humourless comic strip and eventually comes unhinged in its attempts to score laughs. #VarunSharma gets tiresome, #PulkitSamrat continues to ‘pout’ nonsense, #RichaChadha and #ManjotSingh are bearable while #PankajTripathi is the only one who shores up the narrative with some wily timing and wit.

Sunday, October 1, 2023

The Vaccine War #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReview

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #OTTFilmReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #TheVaccineWar Cast: #NanaPatekar #PallaviJoshi #RaimaSen #GirijaOak #NiveditaBhattacharya #AnupamKher #MohanKapur Director: #VivekAgnihotri Rating: * Runtime: 160 mins @everyone @everybody #everyone #everybody #SpicePR #SpiceBhasha
This film supposedly based on the book by Prof #BalramBharghava of #ICMR is more interested in tom-tomming highly questionable Govt efforts than in praising the Medical professionals and researchers involved in preparing the indigenous #CovidVaccine. What else can one expect from the chief propagandist of the current Govt? It’s a long-drawn saffron wash all the way through and there’s no hiding away from the straightforward anti-media, pro-govt bias depicted here.

Tum Se Na Ho Payega #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #OTTFilmReviews

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #OTTFilmReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #TumSeNaHoPayega (#DisneyHotstar) Cast: #IshwakSingh #MahimaMakwana #GauravPandey #AmalaAkkineni #GurpreetSaini #ParmeetSethi #MeghnaMalik Director: #AbhishekSinha Writer: #NiteshTiwari Rating: * * 1/2 Runtime: 120 mins #StarStudios #RSVP #RoyKapurFilms #EarthskyPicturesProduction @everyone @everybody #everyone #everybody #ThinkinkCommunications
This feel-good light-hearted piffling comedy has a message for aspirational youth. With competent, likeable performances from its lead actors #IshwakSingh and #GauravPandey this film manages to make its conflict regarding challenges (career and love life ) youngsters face today, worthy, but the ‘Business’ end is a little flaky and simplistic. Worth watching for its amiable approach

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Kaala #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #OTTSeriesReview

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #OTTSeriesReview #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit #DisneyHotstar #Thinkinkcommunications Title: #Kaala Cast: #AvinashTiwary #RohanVinodMehra #NivethaPethuraj #TaherShabbir #JitinGulati #ElishaMayor #HitenTejwani #MitaVashisht #ShaktiKapoor #AjinkyaDeo Creator/Director: #BejoyNambiar Rating: * * * Runtime: 8 Episodes/ 30-50 mins each Producers: #BhushanKumar #KrishanKumar #BejoyNambiar @everyone #everyone @everybody #everybody
Bejoy Nambiar’s busy crime series ‘Kaala’ is yet another attempt to milk the patriotism angle by intermingling the army within this so-called powerplay of money, crime, and corruption. It’s about the persistent investigation of a reverse Havala racket by an IB team. It’s not exactly intelligent but is immersive enough and has quite a few tense moments thanks to a bustling momentum, surprise reveals, plot twists, a contra-twist, and some standout performances by #AvinashTiwary #RohanVinodMehra and #JitinGulati. Gulati’s nuanced essay of a queer man owning up to his identity while wreaking havoc on the world around him/her is the best performance in that space, yet.

Saturday, September 9, 2023

Jawan #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #Jawan Cast: #ShahRukhKhan #VijaySethupathi #Nayanthara #DeepikaPadukone #SanjayDutt #SanyaMalhotra #PriyaMani #SunilGrover #GirijaOak #LeharKhan #SanjeetaBhattacharya #AaliyahQureishi #SeezaSarojMehta #EijazKhan #RidhiDogra Director: #Atlee Rating: * * Runtime: 170 mins #RedChilliesEntertainment #SpicePR #everyone @everyone #Everybody @everybody
This one is where ShahRukhKhan as Father and son apes the #VishalDadlani look and #KamalHassan’s chameleon act in #Indian while trying to rectify the ills of society by heading an army of skilled women who are in jail for crimes that were meant to save society. It’s his show all the way, the swag, the romance, the action, the dialogue ensures that its him hogging the limelight. Everyone else is just window dressing and even the villain comes across as a caricature. In fact Atlee’s film feels more like a comic strip than a cinematic adventure. The narrative is strip happy, the performances are stylised and unrealistic and the action feels contrived and fake.And the loud melodramatic turns are pitiably ineffective. Even though the film tries to address current ills like farmer suicides and electoral malpractice, there’s no emotional connect driving it forward. What’s with the bandaged look? Doesn’t make sense whatsoever. Atlee and S Ramanagirivasan’s screenplay lacks cohesiveness, Sumit Arora's dialogues sound vacuous and the songs are imminently forgettable. This film doesn’t have staying power!

Friday, September 8, 2023

Haddi #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #Haddi #ZeeStudios #ChaseIndia Cast: #NawazuddinSiddiqui #AnuragKashyap #MohammedZeeshanAyyub #IlaArun #SaurabhSachdeva #RajeshSharma #ShriidharDebey Director: #AkshatAjaySharma Rating: * * 1/2 Runtime: 134mins #everyone @everyone #Everybody @everybody #ChaseIndia #ZeeStudios #AnanditaStudios
A gritty but also grisly, gory, macabre tale of revenge and retribution boxed within the world of transgender people, ‘Haddi’ flirts around evil politicians and vicious goons who also appear to have some linkage with the ‘Kinnar’ world. Ultra-violent, bestial, and off-putting, the narrative devolves into confusion and mayhem as the Kinnars take on the Politician in a lesser evil versus greater evil fight for cadavers and human remains. #AnuragKashyap appears to be having a ball and #Nawazuddin makes a sincere effort to look and feel the part but the narrative’s obsession with the gruesome and the ghastly makes it hard to appreciate anything here. There’s neither subtlety nor nuance to be had here