Elektra

​"Elektra".

Watched English movie "Elektra". 

This movie is directed by Rob Bowman. Written by Zak Penn and others. Produced by Arnon Milchan and others. Cinematography by Bill Roe. Music by Christoph Beck. It features Jennifer Garner, Goran Visjic, Will Yun Lee, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Terrence Stamp. Film runs for about 1 hour and 37 minutes and was released in 2022. I watched it on 19th Jan 2023 on Netflix with Aditi. 

Elektra is a Marvel character. She’s an assassin for hire and Kimagure practitioner. She has special abilities like Precognition, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Mind Switch, Hypnosis etc. One day she gets an assignment to kill a girl.  She refuses. But if she wouldn’t, someone else will. What can she do?

Jennifer plays Elektra. A girl with a troubled past. A girl who’s mother is murdered. A girl who has nightmares. A young lady who is full of anger and violence but hasn’t found the way and has become an assassin. The girl, Abby, brings change in her. 

The story is not gripping. Pace is slow for an action movie and superhero flick. A few more minutes would have helped with story, not pace. 

Special effects are fantastic. 

This movie didn’t recover the production cost and was a box office failure. 

Positives: Jennifer, special effects. 

Negatives:  Pace. 

Not a must watch. 

Pathan

​"Pathan"

Watched Hindi movie "Pathan". 

Story and direction by Siddharth Anand. Screenplay by Shridhar Raghavan . Produced by Aditya Chopra. Cinematography Satchit Paulose. The film stars Shahrukh Khan, Ashutosh Rana, Dimple, John Abraham, Deepika Padukone. Music by Vishal-Shekhar. The film runs for about 2 hour 20 minutes and was released in 2023. I watched it on Netflix on 23rd Mar 2023 with Aditi.

Shahrukh is an agent of a secret organization (JOKR) of Indian intelligence. Pathan is his nom de guerre, no one knows his real name. He was duped by an ISI agent, Deepika, in the past. She is in cahoots with John Abraham, a RAW agent gone bad and now a mercenary. Pakistan has contracted John to unleash Raktbeej on India. 

Why did Deepika dupe Shahrukh? Why did John go bad? What is Raktbeej? Can Pathan save the day?

If you watch this movie, make sure you don’t take logic, reason, common sense, credibility, brain, thinking etc with you. Otherwise they will be casualties at the end of movie. Director delivers an action flick with little for a story. Once this is established, you enjoy the movie. Director does a good job of entertaining you. 

There are two good songs. Cinematography is very good. Actions are fantastic, except any connection with reality. The gravity doesn’t exist, random bullets don’t hit the protagonists, hero jumps from a plane and catches a rope, villain pulls two flying helicopters towards him simultaneously, even if stabbed in heart, hero continues fighting, hero learns to fly a machine with bird wings, when the machine is destroyed mid air, he lands on top of villain. The list is endless.

Shahrukh delivers a good performance, but somehow the role of secret agent doesn’t suit him. Neither does his artificial looking muscles. Deepika looks beautiful in some scenes, acts well. But she doesn’t look delicious eye candy. Dimple does well. Ashutosh disappoints. The real winner in this movie is John. He looks great, acts very well and has omnipotent screen presence.

There is a cross over with Tiger franchise. Salman (Tiger) comes to Pathan’s help at a crucial moment and Pathan promises to return the favor. Expect Shahrukh to make a guest appearance in Tiger3.

At the end of the movie, there is a tongue in cheek dialogue between Tiger and Pathan. That is the highlight of the movie. It applies to reel life and real life. Both of them agreeing that there is no young guy to take their place and they are the ones to do it. Hilarious!

This movie broke all records at box office and turned out to be the highest grossing movie. 

Positives: Actions. Cross over. 

Negatives: Story. Logic, reason, common sense.

Watch if you liked the review. 

Runner Runner

​"Runner Runner"

Watched English film "Runner Runner". 

This film is directed by Brad Furman. Produced by Leonardo Dicaprio and others. Written by Brian Koppleman, David Levien. Cinematography by Mauro Fiore. Music by Christophe Blake. The film stars Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake, Jemma Arterton, Anthony Mckie. This film was released in 2013. It runs for just over 1 hour 33 min. I watched in on Amazon Prime on 5th Feb 2022.

Justin works as an associate for gambling website while doing his PG at Princeton. He discovers that he is cheated by gambling website, so he travels to Costa Rica to meet the website's owner (Ben). He becomes his employee. FBI tries to recruit him. Jemma (Ben's girlfriend) tries to come close to Justin. 

Ben Affleck plays the billionaire. He looks good and acts well. Justin plays the student. His ascent in Ben's organization is perplexing. His acting is decent. Jemma plays Ben's girlfriend and Justin's love interest. Why she does what she does remains a question. Other characters are immaterial. 

Thre plot had potential. Alas, writers and director do not capitalize it. The handling is superficial. Things are too easy. Despite having the big names, the potential is not realized.

This movie recouped just over double its production cost at box office. So it can be called a decent commercial success.

Positives: Ben

Negatives: Unheralded potential. 

Give it a miss. 

The Noel diary

​"The Noel diary"

Watched English movie "The Noel diary". 

This movie is directed by Charles Shyer. Written by Richard Paul Evans and others. Produced by Margaret S. Huddleston and others. Music by Dara Taylor. Cinematography by Ashley Rowe. This movie features Justin Hartley, Barrett Doss, Bonnie Bedelia, Treat Williams, James Remar, Essence Akins. This movie was released on 24th Nov 2022 and runs for about 1 hour 40 min. I watched the movie on Netflix on 28th Nov 2022 with Aditi.

Jacob, a successful author gets a call from an attorney informing his estranged mother passed away, leaving everything to him, and he needs to come and sign paperwork. While he is going through his mother’s messy house, a young woman comes searching clues to find her mother.

It’s a Christmas movie, a feel good one. So you know how it will end. It’s how the destination is reached that matters. 

There are complications. He hasn’t spoken to his father in more than 20 years. She gets to know about her mother through a diary. They are attracted to each other but can’t come close because she is engaged. 

Barrett is very expressive. She acts well. Her dilemma is portrayed very well. Justin looks good and acts ok. Somehow he doesn’t look like a best selling author. Direction is decent but very predictable. Hardly any surprise. The chemistry between the protagonists should have been sizzling, it’s not. 

It’s a movie that can be categorized as ‘Watch it, forget it’. 

Positives: Feel good. 

Negatives: Predictable. 

Watch it or miss it, doesn’t matter. 

Glass onion: A knives out mystery

​"Glass onion: A knives out mystery"

Watched English movie "Glass onion: A knives out mystery". 

This movie is directed by Rian Johnson. Produced by Ram Bergman, Rian Johnson. Story: Rian Johnson. Cinematography: Steve Yedlin. Music: Nathan Johnson. The film stars Daniel Craig, Madeline Cline, Kate Hudson, Jessica Henwick, Edward Norton, Kathryn Hahn, Janelle Monáe. The movie runs for 2 hours 20 minutes and was released in 2022. I watched the movie on Netflix with Aditi and Mihika on 23rd Dec 2022.

A rich guy invites his friends to a remote island in Greece for an unwinding weekend with the theme of trying to find his murderer. There are two unexpected guests. His divorced wife who was cut off from his estate and a famous detective.

When the movie starts, you are not sure exactly where it is going. Being a murder mystery, first half an hour is not serious at all. But then there are two murders in a span of five minutes and a revelation. This makes the movie instantly interesting. It’s the job of the detective to find the murderer, motive and mode. Whodunit?

Glass onion is a glass dome constructed on the island and it has also significance in terms of peeling layers to reach the center. 

Daniel Craig plays the detective and he does very well. He has shed the James Bond’s character completely and establishes himself as an actor. He plays the middle aged, non tech-savy detective to perfection. Janelle, Kate and Edward support ably. 

Positives: Story, end. 

Negatives: Pace

Recommend watching. 

Doctor G (डॅाक्टर जी)

​"Doctor G (डॅाक्टर जी)".

Watched Hindi movie "Doctor G (डॅाक्टर जी)". 

This movie is directed by Anubhuti Kashyap. Story by Saurabh Bharat, Vishal Wagh. Produced by Junglee Pictures. It stars Ayushman Khurana, Rakul Preet Singh, Shefali Shah, Shraddha, Sheena Chaddha, Puja Sarup, Paresh Pahuja. Cinematography by Eeshit Narain. Music by Ketan Sodha. Film runs for about 2 hours and 1 minute and was released in Oct 2022. I watched it on Netflix on 11th Dec 2022 with Aditi. 

Ayushman is MBBS. He wants to do MD Orthopedics but gets MD Gynecology. He’s the only male doctor in the class. Then starts the hilarious tale of Ayushman and the females (doctors and patients) followed by an emotional twist. 

It’s kind of coming of age story. The difference being, it’s a late coming of age. It’s the transformation of a reluctant student to willing and responsible doctor through life experiences. 

Direction is decent. He appears a little undecided if he wants to make this into a hilarious movie or an emotionally serious one. Eventually he ends up making first half hilarious and second emotional. What message did he want to give in the end?

Ayushman portrays the reluctant student of gynecology well, however, he doesn’t look that young. Rakul plays his friend. She portrays the character of a girl who considers Ayushman special friend but wants to marry her fiancé. Shefali plays the strict Head of Gynecology. She excels in the later part of the movie. 

Cinematographer didn’t have much opportunity as most of the shooting is in the medical college. Music is ok ok. 

Positives: Ayushman, Shefali. 

Negatives: Undecided director. 

Watch if you have a lot of spare time, otherwise not a must watch. 

Code name Tiranga (कोड नेम तिरंगा)

​"Code name Tiranga (कोड नेम तिरंगा)"

Watched Hindi movie "Code name Tiranga (कोड नेम तिरंगा)". 

Direction: Ribhu Dasgupta. Written: Ribhu Dasgupta. Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar and others. Cinematography Tribhuvan Babu Sadineni. Music by Gilad Benamram. It features Parineeti Chopra, Harrdy Sandhu, Sharad Kelkar, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Rajit Kapur, Shishir Sharma. The movie was released in Oct 2022 and runs for about 2 hour 14 minutes. I watched it on Netflix on 17th Dec 2022.

Parineeti is Indian Special Ops agent who pretends to fall in love with a Turkish-Indian doctor in Afghanistan to kill Omar Khalid, who’s responsible for attack on parliament. The mission fails but she loses her heart. Time leap, Parineeti is sent to Turkey to eliminate her ex boss who has turned rogue. 

Parineeti delivers a good performance. She looks convincing and excels in acting as well as action. Harrdy looks handsome, acts well. Sharad plays the villain. He is a good actor, so his screen presence is impressive but his character is not well developed. He has no part in action. Shishir again plays a Pakistani. Rajat plays an Indian asset in Turkey. Both of them are good actors. 

It’s the story of Parineeti, she’s the protagonist. To support the story generally there are supporting characters. Their entries and exits are usually logical, timed, normal and seamless. However, in this movie the supporting cast appears out of thin air and disappears when they are not required.  That makes the story very bumpy, un-smooth and out of sync. It doesn’t have a flow. Writer director should have thought about it. 

Fight scenes are good, except the last Gun battle. Last fight scene is copied from some video game. You only see the tip of the gun and keep killing bad guys. The bad guys appear one by one so that you can kill then all and they don’t kill your back. What does the director think of audience? Idiots?

Most of the story and shooting happens in Turkey. It’s a beautiful country, so you see good locations, beautiful scenery and rustic-cum-heritage look.

Overall the movie fails to impress. Audience wait for the end of it. No wonder it bombed on box office. 

Positives: Parineeti and acting in general. 

Negatives: Everything else.  

AVOID.