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Wonka (2023)
Missing Magic in your life, go and watch Wonka
Wonka feels like a breath of fresh air, while you must be tired watching actions, thrillers and horror, this Paul King's fictional musical world would make you believe in miracles🌌🌈.
Story : The story starts on Willy Wonka arriving in the chocolate city with the dream to be the best chocolatier in the world. With just a few sovereigns in his pocket upon arrival and losing them in the next 2 mins, the story sets the foundation for Willy being a kind-hearted yet silly chocolatier.
Before selling his chocolates he also needs to deal with the Chocolate Cartel. To accompany him on his journey to become the best chocolatier, he finds some amazing friends. How Wonka meets them is something you need to watch in the movie.
Performances : Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp were the original Wonka's for any 80s/90s children. When Timothee Chalamet was announced for the role, I was a bit hesitant accepting him as Wonka. However, the Dune star looks so good and brings honesty to his character, he never tries to imitate the previous Wonka's but rather sets up his own benchmark, he is optimistic, kind and honest about his chocolates - exactly the WONKA we needed.
Calah Lane as Noodle also shines as Wonka's partner in crime, she has lots of potential as an artist.
The remaining cast also looks really good and everyone does justice to their roles.
Direction : The paddington director has already proven that he understands family entertainment. With Wonka he further cements his base by creating a musical family entertainment , the screenplay just flows like a river without any lazy writing, the movie keeps the audiences engaged. Paul also layers the film with relationship that Wonka and Noodle develop, which might bring tears to your eyes, the cinematography works well, especially during the musical parts with a very polished VFX, humour feels authentic and would make you laugh out loud, can't find a single thing that Paul could have done better, it was all perfect.
Music : This is one of the biggest strength for Wonka, half of the story moves with songs attached to it and that could have dipped the screenplay but rather it makes the story even shine further because the songs are more of a melody/lullaby that helps you relax and are so peaceful to the ears, big thumbs up to the musical team.
Goods/Bads : There is nothing bad in this miraculous film, everything is over the top, you'll love this fantasy world, your kids will love it, your parent will love it - a movie for every generation. It's a perfect holiday movie we all needed. Wonka was never a movie anyone would've asked, but thank you, Paul King, for this, go watch it on the biggest screen, just if it could have been made in 3D it would have looked even more beautiful, but nevertheless it is hands down the best family entertainer for the year.
The Archies (2023)
Nothing works in favour of this Indian Adaption
The Archies is just a movie that could & should have been avoided in the first place by NetflixIndia & by a director like Zoya Akhtar who always have been associated with the best of cinema in India, it would have saved Netflix tremendous loads of money to fund in some quality content on the lines of TVF or maybe something like Kohrra or CAT.
Story : The Archies starts with the introduction to the town of Riverdale somewhere in the Northern India which is inhabited by the Anglo Indian's(citizens with mixed Indian & European ancestors).
We are introduced to the characters of Archie Andrews(Agastya Nanda), Veronica Lodge(Suhana Khan), Betty Copper(Khushi Kapoor), Jughead(Mihir Ahuja), Reggie Mantle(Vedang Raina) & Ethel Muggs(Dot.) enjoying their respective lives in this picturesque town.
The story directly dives into the return of Veronica & her family to the town of Riverdale, all the friends uniting back, Archie Andrews stuck in a love triangle & the intentions of Veronica's father to build a big hotel in the middle of Green Park which is heart & soul of Riverdale.
Performances : I shouldn't talk about it, because everyone acted really well except the main lead characters, having such a great supporting cast with expressionless lead cast was just painful to watch & it just doesn't end at expressions, even the dialogue delivery is just really bad especially for Suhana Khan & Khushi Kapoor, Zoya it seemed had intentionally avoided taking close up shots for any of the actors.
Direction and Screenplay : The Gully Boy director has always shown us how brilliant she is with her cinema be it Dil Dhakane Do or Made in Heaven, she knows on how to engage the audiences to the screen & over here it just seemed as if Zoya was not on director's chair, bad acting, non engaging screenplay, can't imagine Zoya not noticing all this during the shooting.
The credits where due, cinematography looked terrific(especially loved the entry scene of Dot on the cycle & camera switching from rear to front), colours/sets/costumes were all perfectly done.
Music : This is a musical story and it had to have great music, while some songs are really good such as Sunoh & In Rahoon Mein, the rest feel underwhelming & this is not the expectation when you have Shankar Ehsaan Loy at the helm of it.
Good/Bads : Avoid it, save time and probabaly go & watch something worthy, the movie shouldn't have been made in the first place because The Archies has so much to it that you just can't fit all in a short runtime, the audience needs to know Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge in detail, each character needed to have their own arc for the audience to feel for them & connect with them, this is what Riverdale did in the starting seasons even though it lost the grip in last few seasons but still the audience came back in for their favourite characters.
The main leads really need to excel on their acting capabilities, dialogue delivery & this movie did not offer them anything that they could take away from their debut launch except the hard lessons.
Zoya Akhtar has a dent on her sky high filmography with TheArchies but we still know how good she can be when she wants so waiting for the next Tiger Baby production.
Animal (2023)
A Violent Gore Massacre cinema popping up with polarised opinions
ANIMAL has been watched & this was one of my most awaited movie for this year, so here are my thoughts about it :
If Rockstar & Tamasha weren't enoughly polarising, here is another one for you by #RanbirKapoor
YOU'LL EITHER HATE IT OR FALL IN LOVE WITH IT.
I loved it for the most part but I still have my grudges as I was convinced after watching the trailer that it is going to be a 5/5 movie hands down but sadly it isn't.
Won't dive into the plot as it is majorly clear based on the trailer.
Performances
Ranbir Kapoor : This man has made a movie for everyone, for one ADHM I did not like he made a TAMASHA & yes we all became his fans sooner or later & this time he has gone an inch above & given a top notch performance, he is representing multiple phases of his life as a school kid, as a college kid, as an assassin killing people, as a husband & in each role we cannot take our eyes off screen that is the benchmark of his performance and it comes with no surprise that we expected the same from him & he had to deliver it.
Anil Kapoor : He is Jhakkas, he is shown as a father who has always been neglecting his son & yes you tend to develop a hate for him.
Bobby Deol : You gotta be kidding me if I say that he wasn't working much in past few years, man he deserves some good scripts & needs to continue working with directors who can take out the best from him, he was robbed with screen time here & was more in an extended cameo role rather than what everyone expected, but whenever he comes up on screen he seems to be ruthless killer machine.
Rashmika Mandana : While everyone made memes out of her one dialogue she actually surprises in the movie & she has been given multiple important acts where she proves her potential as a good actor, you need to see the scene where she tells Ranbir that he is fighting ghosts in his mind.
Tripti Dimri : She didn't had much to do here but definitely is gonna be a big highlight in the upcoming sequel and her presence in this part was a build up for the next.
Shakti Kapoor/Suresh Oberoi/Prem Chopra/Saurav Sachdeva all had small roles & they all looked stellar.
Direction and Screenplay : Kabir Singh director was coming from a lot of hype & he had to prove that he was worthy of all that hype & yes he is, challenging to keep the runtime of over 3 hrs was a bold move, screenplay was engaging, Vanga made sure that the audience remains connected with twist turns up-till the end despite long runtime & he was successful, the cinematography was top notch especially in the action pieces be it Arjan Vailly sequence, Ranbir-Bobby Airstrip fight sequence, Ranbir chasing eve-teasers in an Endeavour, the sunrays striking Ranbir's eyes with shadows covering the remaining body in a G-Wagon & lots more....brilliant, the gore shown in the movie is the actual substance audience expects from a violent film rather than people jumping here & there after a gun shot which Sandeep was able to create perfectly, song placements were spot on especially the B-Praak's song which just played with the emotions with such strong lyrics from Jaani, colours were vibrant throughout the film & pleasing to eyes & even adopting colours to the screen such as during Arjan Vailey song covered with blood bath with a red screen, Kudos to @imvangasandeep for another success based on his instincts which worked big time.
Songs : All the songs are good & none of them feels like a forceful addition, highlights for me were Arjan Vailey & Saari Duniya Jaala Denge, and the BGM was just thundering and was effectively used based on the scenes.
Goods/Bads : While the movie is solid on story with enough twist & turns & keeps you engaged for most part you might feel some scenes as going on forever which might have required some trimming, and also you criminally under utilised Bobby Deol, he deserved a large screen space for the audience to feel more connected to his anger & that could have made the final battle even much bigger but still the movie with it's little flaws is a MUST WATCH on big screen.
RATING : 4/5
A generous additional .5 rating for Ranbir & Bobby Deol's characters.
The Last Hour (2021)
Hungry for more Supernatural Thrillers from India
The Last Hour is the latest offering from the platform that is considered to be the best in grabbing the eyeballs of global audience through its Indian originals, and yet again they have brought in something that is new and at the same time an experimental genre for our country....a Supernatural Thriller from the mountains of eastern India.
The story begins with the premise of murder of a young actress and a newly transferred cop taking up the case and encountering with a Shaman to solve the murder mysteries happening in the town just to find that the murders have a relation to the Shaman's past as well as present and if I go ahead that would be spoilers for you.
Sanjay Kapoor always has a feel good vibe on screen and similar to that he is again looking terrific as "Arup" a cop transferred from a metro city to a small town along with his daughter played by "Pari" played by Shaylee Krishen who feels feared at times due to a disturbed past, while Karma Takapa plays the second lead as "Dev", the Shaman on whose power's the entire series rests upon, Sanjay Kapoor is assisted by the beautiful and confident Shahana Goswami as Lipika helping to get the crime under control, and Robin Tamang playing the role of a ruthless Jhakri "Yama Nadu" hungry for power in this cat and mouse tale, special mention to Raima Sen who doesn't have a single dialogue to express but her eyes and expressions being enough to make an impact.
The Series immediately pickups up the pace in the first few minutes and keeps the audience hooked up till the fourth episode, the plot gets somewhere lost from the fifth episode but immediately catches back from the very next episode, the environment set up by Amit is perfect for a crime thriller with excellent cinematography but the loopholes and lazy writing in between might make a viewer yawn at times.
The cast is on point and it is a welcome move by Amazon to get talented actors from the eastern part of the country into the main stream originals, the series is 8 episode watch and can be completed in a binge as the twists and turns keep you engaged and cliff hanger that promises another thrilling season.