Selfiee #picksandpiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#picksandpiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #Selfiee Cast: #AkshayKumar #NushrrattBharuccha #DianaPenty #EmraanHashmi #AbhimanyuSingh #MeghnaMalik #MrunalThakur #Akashdeep Director: #RajMehta Rating: * * Runtime: 143 mins #HypePR #DisneyHotstar #Starstudios #DharmaProductions #CapeOfGoodFilms #SupriyaMenon #PrithvirajProductions #MagicFrames #HirooYashJohar #ArunaBhatia #KaranJohar @everyone #PrithvirajSukumaran #ApoorvaMehta; #ListinStephen

This film opens with a deadbeat Punjabi song sequence that literally kills the interest and is then followed up by an outlandish, improbable storyline with some hyper-melodrama structured around it. This remake of the Malayalam hit #DrivingLicense does no one proud. It just makes a mountain out of a molehill and can’t even make the leads look like they are doing something believable.

Rabia And Olivia #picksandpiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#picksandpiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #RabiaAndOlivia #DisneyHotstar #AltairMedia Cast: #SheebaChaddha #NayabKhan #HelenaPrizenKlague #MustafaSheikh #ShadabKhan Director: #ShadabKhan Rating: * * * Runtime: 95 mins @everyone

A fairly compelling immigration drama that earns its affection from the drama that ensues between a troubled young Canadian girl undergoing grief from the loss of her mother and the wannabe immigrant, Indian caregiver/nanny who has applied for refugee status. Though melodramatic, the narrative manages to get the audience involved and empathetic regarding the hurdles the caregiver faces. Issues of racism, mental health, loneliness and brotherhood in a foreign land creep into the tender story about love being the best medicine for issues of the mind. Nayab Khan as the caregiver Rabia, Helena Prinzen-Klages as the troubled child Olivia and Sheeba Chaddha as Rabia’s mother put in affecting performances. Director Shadab Khan does well to restrain the narrative from becoming an all-out weepie. A decent watch this!

Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh #picksandpiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#picksandpiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film:#GandhiGodseEkYudh Cast: #DeepakAntani #ChinmayMandlekar #PawanChopra #TanishaSantoshi #AnujSaini #GhanshyamSrivastav Director: #RajkumarSantoshi #UniversalCommunications Rating: * * 1/2 Runtime: 110 mins

Mixing real events with an imaginary spiel of ‘what if Gandhi survived the assassination attempt by Nathuram Godse?’ Rajkumar Santoshi makes a sincere attempt to get rid of the cobwebs surrounding ideologies of the two people central to this story…but in the process the father of the nation comes across as diminished. It wasn’t a good idea to pit the architect of our freedom against a rabid ideologue with a terrorist’ mindset. Rajkumar Santoshi’s rather simplistic imagined arguments showcasing Gandhi’s magnanimity and humaneness in the face of Godse’s unforgivable act of treason, may be appreciated…But the subplot of two young lovers ( Tanisha Santoshi and Anuj Saini aka Sushma and Naren)being separated because of Gandhi’s rigid beliefs regarding sevaks from his Ashram leading a celibate life doesn’t ring true even though it becomes the instrument through which the Mahatma is being projected as a human being with faults of his own. Godse’s frequent rants regarding Gandhi’s fasts holding the nation to ransom doesn’t hold water. Pawan Chopra as Nehru and Deepak Antani as Mahatma give noteworthy performances and Rishi Punjabi’s cinematography lend weight to the period setting even when the screenplay and narrative make a vacuous attempt to portray Godse as more than just a convicted murderer.

Pathaan #picksandpiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#picksandpiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #Pathaan Cast: #ShahRukhKhan #DeepikaPadukone #JohnAbraham #SalmanKhan #PremJhangiani #DimpleKapadia #AshutoshRana #AakashBhatija #PrakashBelawadi #VirafPatel Director: #SiddharthAnand #YRF @everyone #AdityaChopra Rating: * * 1/2 Runtime: 146 mins Writers #ShridharRaghavan(screenplay) #AbbasTyrewala(dialogue) #SiddharthAnand(story)

A fast paced James Bond/ Mission Impossible style action extravaganza specialising in jump cut action sequences in a nation hopping narrative with its three main stars showboating their chiselled bods alongside their conspicuously cultivated international looks - this film has a great deal of marketing chutzpah behind its espionage thrills but no real story to tell. It’s brand positioning of the #YRF spy universe at its best with the magnanimous #SRK allowing #SalmanKhan to steal a march right from under his nose, #DeepikaPadukone looking lissome and hot and #JohnAbraham aiming for the sexiest villain ever tag. Even #DimpleKapadia looks years younger and slimmer…and there’s no stopping this money-spinner from overtaking all Box office records in sight.

Zindagi Shatranj Hai #picksandpiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#picksandpiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #ZindagiShatranjHai #AltairMedia #AshwaniShukla Cast: #HitenTewani #HemantPandey #ShawarAli #EktaJain #PankajBerry #AshutoshKaushik #BrunaAbdullah @everyone Director: #DushyantPratapSingh Writer: #MSalim Producers: #MrinaliniSingh #AnandPrakash #FahimRQureshi Runtime: 85 mins Rating: *

Yeh ‘Maamla Gadbad Hai’ as the post-credit #DalerMehndi song insert suggests. There’s really nothing of value here to watch out for. Terrible performances, contrary plotting, a hackneyed unaccomplished narrative and songs/item number that appear to have sprung out from cold storage.It’s trashy and unpardonable if you ask me!

Cinema Marte Dum Tak #picksandpiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#picksandpiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit OTT Series/Documentary Title: #CinemaMarteDumTak Review of first 2 Episodes /35 mins each (Total : 6 eps) #AmazonPrimeVideo @everyone #MoesArt Cast: #JaspalNeelam #KishanShah #DilipGulati #VinodTalwar Director: #VasanBala Rating: * *

The researchers must have ferreted them out from under the woodwork but the presence of the so-called C-grade fab-four makers of shady, cringe-inducing films in this salacious attempt to eulogize trashy pulp cinema of the ’90s by referencing it as ‘daring,’ is definitely not worth the trouble. As lewd, crass, and revealing as their combined oeuvre (and the explicit posters that exposed their strip-happy content), this documentary basically glosses over hearsay regarding the money spinners these thoroughly inept directors churned out. The first 2 episodes of this documentary fail to put out facts and figures and don’t even have worthy experts to corroborate the claims. They were full of claims, airy talk by the likes of #RakhiSawant , and auditions that expose the prevalent objectified sexism of that era and have zero substance. This project is aimed at giving these 4 directors a chance at making their kind of trashy cinema within mini budgets - eventually combining them to form this documentary. The rest of the episodes would be just that, I expect, and frankly, I for one am not going to be sorry I missed them!

Murder at Koh-E-Fiza #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #filmmoviedoumentaryreviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #filmmoviedoumentaryreviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #MurderAtKohEFiza Cast: #ShreyaNarayan #AkramKhan #Amitryaan #SunnyChouhan #RashidKhan #MaqboolRizvi #Swati #AdityaSingh Director: #DivakerNaik Runtime: 101 mins Rating:* * #ShemarooMeOTT #AltairMedia #ManojNandwana #JaiViratraEntertainment #JaiViratraEntertainmentLimited @everyone

An undulating investigative crime thriller with an interesting storyline about a white-collar crime combined with murder, this one has a rather unremarkable and plebeian narrative, studded with stray intriguing moments because of its twisted plot. The white-collar serial murderer/criminal without conscience or remorse is an under-exposed theme in Hindi cinema so this film could have generated some interest if only it had some fancy editing to cover up its unvarnished gaucheness. A more skillful director might have been able to paper over the medical, investigative, and scientific gaffes here. The unsophisticated treatment and lack of panache in storytelling craft don’t allow for many effects even though the actors do a decent enough job.