Tom Clancy's Without Remorse

"Tom Clancy's Without Remorse"

Watched English film "Tom Clancy's Without Remorse". This film is directed by Stefano Sollima. Written by Tylor Sheridan, Will Staples. Produced by Akiva Goldsman and others. Cinematography Philippe Rousselot. The film stars Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, Jodi Turner-Smith, Luke Mitchelle, Jack Kesy, Bret Gelman, Lauren London, ColmanThis film was released in 30 Apr 2021. It runs for about 1 hour 49 minutes. I watched it on Amazon Prime on 7th May 2021.

John Kelly's (Michael B. Jordan) special forces unit is sent by CIA to rescue one of their operatives captured by Syrians. But it turns out to be a Russian depot. Later all men from his unit are killed by various means. Killers come for John. His pregnant wife dies, he is wounded but survives. Now he seeks answers. 

Why are men from his unit killed? What is the Russian connection? What is the plot? Is there a mole?

It's an action movie based on Tom Clancy's novel with same name. Something keeps happening all the time. At times it appears that things happen too easily. Be it rescue from downed aircraft, moving in and out of Russia, reaching to some one as important as Secretary of State etc...

Acting has limited opportunities in such movie, but everyone performs satisfactorily, no exceptional performances. 

A lot of movie happens in the dark, so watch it at night without external lights. I watched it during the day and had a hard time.  The end id's predictable. 

All in all, watch if you are a Tom Clancy fan, otherwise give it a miss. 

Tum milo to sahi (तुम मिलो तो सही)

"Tum milo to sahi (तुम मिलो तो सही)"

Watched Hindi movie Tum milo to sahi (तुम मिळो तो सही). Directed by Kabir Sadanand. Produced by Nikhil Panchamiya. Writer Kabir Sadanand, Sameer Siddiqui. Cinematography Pushan Kripalani. Music Sandesh Shandilya. It stars Dimple Kapadia, Sunil Shetty, Surendra Pal, Mohnish Bahl, Amit Behl, Vidya Malwade, Rehan Khan, Anjana Sukhani, Vrajesh Hirji and Nana Patekar. I watched this movie with Aditi, on Netflix, on 23rd Apr 2021. The movie is about 2 hour 7 min long.

A cafè chain wants to acquire a Irani cafè, located at prime location, owned by a Parsi lady. A legal clerk is retired by the younger owner of the firm. An army officer decides to come to Mumbai to get a degree in Mass Communication. A CEO is having marital troubles. 

The story is slow. Director's take appears shallow rather than profound. Characters are not properly developed, so they appear out of sorts. The real story of fight over cafè starts more than half way down the movie. Director spends too much time for the build up. Climax needed more drama. 

Nana is Nana. Dimple is good. Mohnish and Amit Behl are better actors than their acting. Vidya and Sunil do a decent job.

The movie has numerous unanswered questions e.g. Keeping the secret does not solve the issue, then why keep secret? How come Nana finds what the daughter can't? How come Anjana wears same dress in all photos? Why does owner of a law firm delivers notice and summons, not a belief? Etc.

There was a better movie about saving Parsi eatery, called Maska, released last year.

Give this one a miss. 

Pagalait (पगलैट)

"Pagalait (पगलैट)"

Watched Hindi movie Pagalait (पगलैट). This film is directed by Umesh Bist. Story Umesh Bist. Produced by Gunit Monga, Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor. Music by Arijit Singh, Neeti Mohan. Cinematography Rafey Mahmood. The film stars Sanya Malhotra, Shruti Sharma, Sayani Gupta, Ashutosh Rana, Sheeba Chaddha, Rajesh Tailang, Raghubir Yadav. The film runs for almost 2 hours and was released in Mar 2021. I watched it on Netflix with Mihika and Aditi on 27th Mar 2021.

 

Sanya's husband dies within six months of marriage. This movie starts on the day of death and happens within next 12-13 days. 

How would the family react? How would the relatives react? How will Sanya react?

Based on the name I thought it will be a light movie, but it isn't. It handles an important social issue. But rather than handling it in a art film way it handles it in commercial film way. When you do that, there is a risk of losing the plot, but the director does a commendable job. He does not lose the grip on the story and still doesn't make it too serious. He has also written the story. He captures the reactions of family succinctly. The only point that did not go with the story is that the atmosphere in the house does not appear serious enough after death of a young man. 

Sanya delivers a good performance. She starts shaky but composes herself and then excels. She doesn't falter opposite cast of all known and accomplished actors like Raghubir, Ashutosh, Sayani, Rajesh etc.

Cinematography of a rustic town in UP is good. Music is also good, but I couldn't remember any song after the movie. 

Title of the movie does not make justice to the movie. It's too light for the profound subject. It's a low budget movie but it's money's worth. 

Recommend watching. 

Ajeeb Dastaans (आजीब दास्ताँ)

"Ajeeb Dastaans (आजीब दास्ताँ)".

Watched Hindi movie "Ajeeb Dastaans (आजीब दास्ताँ)". 

This movie is directed by Shashank Khaitan, Neeraj Ghaywan, Raj Mehta, Kayoze Irani. Screenplay by Shashank Khaitan, Neeraj Ghaywan, Uzma Khan, Sumit Saxena. Produced by Karan Johar and others. It stars Fatima Sana Sheikh, Jaydeep Ahalawat, Arman Ralhan, Abhishek Banerjee, Nushrat Bharucha, Sara Arjun, Maneesh Verma, Konkona Sensharma, Bachan Pachera, Aditi Rao Haidari, Shefali Shah, Tota Roy Choudhury, Manav Kaul. Music is by Tanuj Tiku. Cinematography by Jishnu Bhattacharjee, Pushkar Singh, Siddharth Vasani. Film runs for about 2 hour 22 minutes and was released in 2021. I watched it with Aditi on 22th Apr 2021 on Netflix.

This is a collection of 4 short stories by four different teams. Neither director nor actors are repeated. 

Majnu (मजनू)

Babloo (local strong man) and Lipakshi are in a loveless marriage. Enter Raj, strapping young son of Babloo's driver. What next?

Khilauna (खिलौना)

Meenal is a house maid and has a young sister. She loses her electricity. Vinod Agrawal, her employer, can restore it. Who is toying with who?

Geeli Pucchi (गीली पुच्ची)

Bharti is a graduate dalit machine operator aspiring promotion to desk job. But a new girl, Priya, gets it. A relationship is formed between these only two female employees. What is the significance of Geeli Pucchi or sloppy kiss?

Ankahi (अनकही)

Natasha's attempts to get her husband Rohan to communicate with their daughter who's going deaf go in vain. At the same time she meets a deaf artist. What happens next?

All the stories have three basic ingredients. First is dysfunctional relationships. These relationships lead to the second ingredient.   It is lust or sex, it is in various forms like Gay, Lesbian and heterosexual. There is a strong undercurrent of lust. Third is shock. There is a shock at the end of every story. A shock that shatters your expectations and leaves you numb. 

The shock of Geeli Pucci was the best. Konkona, Shefali were exceptional. Sara Arjun is a very sweet girl. Nushrat doesn't look like a domestic help. 

You can watch this movie in as many as 4 sittings. Recommend watching!

For more movie reviews, please visit:

Mandar's Movie reviews

http://mandarmoviereviews.blogspot.com

Instant family

"Instant family"

Watched English movie "Instant family". Direction Sean Anders. Screenplay: Sean Anders, John Morris. Produced by Sean Anders, Stephen Levinson, John Morris. Cinematography Brett Pawlak. Music by Michael Andrews. It features Marc Wahlberg, Isabela Moner, Iliza Shlesinger, Tig Norato, Margo Martindale, Julie Hagerty,  Octavia Spencer, Tom Segura. The movie was released in 2018 and runs for about 2 hours. I watched it on Netflix with Aditi.

Mark and Rose decide to adopt a child. They visit a adoption fair and are impressed by 15 year old girl, Isabela. They decide to adopt her but are told that they will have to adopt her with two younger siblings. So now they have 3 adopted kids and instant family. 

The movie is all about if and how the kids adapt to the new environs. Do Mark and Rose manage to win them over, do they manage to stand the kids? Is the 15 year old the most difficult? What happens when biological mother of kids makes an entrance?

Thre story takes us into the lives of this instant family. It takes time for any new member to adjust into family, here there are three. Add to it handling the adoption with kids gloves and parents not really ready for three kids. To top it, one of the adopted kids is coming of age. So it's a family drama, coming off age and above all feel good movie. 

Mark, Rose and Isabela are the main characters and they play their roles very well. Isabela has potential. The little ones look cute. 

It's a feel good movie and that is exactly what it achieves. 

Watch if you have spare time.