Starring: Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Campbell Scott, Jennifer Carpenter Genre: Horror – but not quite
The plot of the movie is revealed in the title itself – but only a section of it.
Father Richard Moore (Tom Wilkinson) is accused of negligent homicide of Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter) while performing exorcisms. The case is high profile and is given to Erin Bruner (Laura Linney), an ambitious lawyer who is fresh off a recent win and is looking to be promoted. The prosecutor’s stand is that Emily Rose was suffering from epilepsy and schizophrenia, and it was negligent homicide by Father Richard. The rest is a court room battle with people’s accounts of the events from the time things started going wrong with Emily till her unfortunate death, and is captured in flashbacks.
There is more to the movie than the plain horror – it is a court room drama. It questions the reality and the faith of the people giving multiple perspectives to the same situation. It is a different side to the possession trope, and explores the grey area between spirituality and science.
The beauty of the movie lies in pure subtlety. The prosecutor fighting for science is a devout Christian and the defense attorney is agnostic, bordering on atheist. Both fighting the opposite argument, challenging their own beliefs, making them question Science and religion, truth, fact and well, believes. Hence, this movie is not horror – only a court room drama where the case is horror. It is similar to, say, Law & Order with a gore case – it doesn’t make the series gore (hope this makes sense).
The whole story of everything which happened to Emily Rose unravels slowly as the movie moves and nowhere does it keep the viewer wondering what’s happening. All this is underscored with very subtle background score. It is no secret that Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson can act, and they both together fighting the good fight is a treat to watch.
Honestly, having the right perspective when watching something is so important. Sadly, even the creators messed up in the marketing of this movie. Maybe they wanted to compete with Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist? It will be interesting to see the reception if it is advertised as a court room drama.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Starring: Lee Joon-Gi, Moon Chae-Won, Jang Hee-Jin, Seo Hyun-Woo Streaming on: Netflix Seasons and epiosdes: 1 season, 16 episodees, slightly over 1 hour per episode To watch or not to watch: Brilliant watch 90% of the time
Beak Hee-Sung (Lee Jong-Gi) seems to live a happy life with his wife and daughter, but doesn’t seem to get along with his parents. His wife, Cha Ji-Won (Moon Chae-Won) is a police detective and stumbles upon a murder case which has links to a serial murder from 20 years ago. It also brings up Hee-Sung’s past. Nothing is as it seems since he met his wife 14 years back. There is more to him, his family and his personality, which is revealed slowly and need-based as the story progresses.
This is a typical thriller where there are hidden depths to the protagonist. There are parts where the viewers doesn’t know whether to root for the hero or not, and it makes for a fascinating watch. The first truth, where they reveal a mysterious part comes up pretty quick in the story and makes the series exciting from the beginning. Then comes the second truth, which makes the first truth questionable. All a very twisty-turny roller coaster ride, all very thrilling and exciting, minus the unnecessary gore. It also balances out the serious and tense moments with few moments of humour and cuteness.
About 70% of the series is streamlined, with the information coming out as it is supposed to, which makes logical sense to the viewer and also keeps enough information of the action to keep wanting more. It touches the topics of effects of unwarranted social stigmas, and how the victims sometimes get no respite. It ultimately becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. After that 70% mark, the series then becomes a bit too unexpected. There is overuse of twists, exciting, but tiring. All this combines results in a series which is a brilliant watch 90% of the time.
Starring: Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez
Streaming on: Disney+ Hotstar
Seasons and episodes: 1 season, second in production. 10 episodes, 30 minute each
To watch or not to watch: A must watch, a mandatory watch
Arcadia is a posh Upper-West side New York apartment where Charles Haden-Savage (Steve Martin), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) live. The three bond over their mutual love for true-crime podcast, and don’t you know, there is a murder in their own building. They start their own podcast investigating into the death of Tim Kono. What follows is a series of twists and turns and hidden information surfacing about the three hinting towards nothing-is-as-it-seems. There is even a sly reference to popular sponsorships on podcasts.
The show owns up everything – how everyone is starting their own podcasts these days, the generation gap in communication and challenges faces by people after a certain age. Each episode ends in a cliffhanger, which makes you want more, but also, it is not a tease. This right here is art!
Mentioning the acting skills of Steve Martin and Martin Short is redundant – it is like saying the sun is bright. The real stars of the show despite this cast are the story, dialogue and screenplay. There is one episode in which the sequence of events are shown through the point of view of someone mute, and the whole episode did not have dialogues, or sound in general. That did not take away from the story – it was just weaved in. There is so much to admire. The colour palette, the music, use of graphics to depict textual conversation. But then we come to Selena Gomez. That’s the only gripe with the show – her dialogue delivery sounds like it is played in slow-motion and lacks the punch the wriiten word could have had. Also, her make-up makes her look dry and wrinkly. That’s it. The only negative thing about the show. A show after a long time makes life look better.
Starring: Im Si-Wan, Lee Dong-Wook, Lee Jung-Eun, Lee Jong-Ok, Park Jong-Hwan, Lee Hyun-Wook, Ahn Eun-Jin
Streaming on: Prime Video/Netflix
Runtime: 1 season, 10 episodes, 1 hour each episode
Language: Korean (Prime Video’s subtitles are better)
To watch or not to watch: A must watch for people looking for a true mind-bending psychological thriller
Yoon Jong-Woo is a young man who has moved from his hometown to Seoul when he lands an internship at a company run by his school senior. Seoul also meant being in the same city as his girlfriend Ji-Eun and being away from home with struggling single-mother and sick elder brother. Jong-Woo is looking for a cheap accommodation where he can adjust for a few months, while saving money for his family and security deposit for a flat. He ends up renting a room at Eden Studios, where the neighbours are strange to say the least and the landlady who appears friendly, is a miser and has her own secrets. The relationship with his girlfriend is also less than ideal and is not helped by his work situation, which is filled with jealousy, suppression and harassment. In the parallel is the dentist Seo Moon-Jo (Lee Dong-Wook), who is everything that is successful, charming and friendly – only on the surface. The rest is Jong-Woo’s struggle with life and how it all comes to a head.
It is one of the best in the psychological thrillers genres. It subverts the tropes in that it doesn’t play big on blood and innards. It keeps the audience at the edge of their seats by playing the show-not-tell rule perfectly. We go back and forth in time when Jong-Woo was in the military and had to deal with unruly subordinates. It keeps us guessing about the truth about Jong-Woo, and what drives him. Then we come to Moon-Jo, the one normal functioning around Jong-woo, and how he fits in with the rest of the residents of Eden Studio. Another important character of the story is So Jung-Hwa (Ahn Wun-Jin) who doesn’t have a high run-time but is critical in joining all the plot points to make a comprehensive whole.
The series is near perfect, starting from scenes telling us about his search for a dorm and how sequentially Jong-Woo compromises on the living standards for cost. The scene where he visits Eden Studios has subtle hints on how he gets signs that living there will be difficult like his luggage trolley loses a wheel and he has to lug it up a flight of stairs to reach the dorm. It wins hearts right there. We also feel sorry for the protagonist as he has to tackle everything at home and work, not helped by the lack of support from his girlfriend as she has her own problems to solve. The soundtrack is subtle and well done (underrated part of production but critically important). The end will keep you guessing, and that’s all there is to say about it. Highly recommended to watch at one go, not to lose the beat. Keep something light-hearted lined up to watch after to help get over it. It is that good.
Starring: Kim Young-Kwang, Jin Ki-Joo, Kim Jae-Kyung, Koo Ja-Sung
Streaming on: Netflix
To watch or not to watch: A light-hearted, funny watch
Do Min-Ik (Kim Young-Kwang) is a director of a big company. He is extremely intelligent and hard working, with a knack of reading people’s faces to know what they are really thinking – but doesn’t connect with people at a personal level. He has only one friend Ki Dae-Joo (Koo Ja-Sung) who is also a Director at the same company. He also relies a lot on his secretary Jung Gal-Hee (Jin Ki-Joo), works her to the bone, but also doesn’t trust secretaries in general and gets a new secretary every year. Due to a freak accident, he hurts his head and develops prosopagnosia, or the inability to recognise faces, and the only one he is able to recognise is his secretary, because of her unchanging appearance through the year. This leads to him mistaking her for a heiress, and she goes with it.
Even though this K-drama is not rated too high on IMDb, it is actually pretty good. It tackles class issues, impact of loss of family at a young age, dreams and aspirations of people and how they work towards it. It is also humorous. The dynamics shift between Min-Ik and Gal-hee is contrasted beautifully between two situations. As most K-dramas also have a sub-plot to add thrill to the romance and comedy, this one has one too, and it is also not too shocking, but keeping with the theme of classism and equality.
The common objection people might have with K-dramas is the sometimes and somewhat toxic behaviour passed off lightly. This series is better on that front – Gal-Hee’s deception of Min-Ik is taken seriously. Same with Min-Ik’s treatment of his secretaries. Gal-Hee felt like an equal to her boos for the first time, and she was treated with respect because she was not being herself. Most importantly, she treats herself with respect in front of Min-Ik and that changes his attitude towards her in real life too. This is subtly done, not explicitly called out, and stays away from the making the series one about self-improvement and social issues.
The side characters are also close to reality. Like Kim Jae-Young’s character Veronica Park is born into wealth and doesn’t know how the other half lives. Whereas Dae-Joo has worked his way up and knows the value of what he has. Also, the ending is pretty cool, and the protagonist is not the end-all be-all of business and personal life. The only reason it loses on one star in rating is small plot holes which are not closed, no matter how insignificant to the story line they be. Highly recommend to watch this one. And the pretty faces on screen don’t hurt either.
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Michael Shannon, Luke Evans, Tiffany Boone, Manny Jacinto, Regina Hall, Bobby Cannavale
Streaming on: Primevideo
To watch or not to watch: Meh. Watch it because it is available and you have time to kill
Nine people (4 individuals and 2 families) get accepted at a healing centre in Middle of Nowhere, USA. They all have suffered some form of setback or trauma in life and are looking to somehow get over it. The retreat is run by Masha (Nicole Kidman) and she is assisted by 3 other people.They keep everything under control and design the treatment program, customised for each attendee. Every attendee has some dark secret behind their traumas, which they are hididng, and apprehensive of each other in the beginning. Masha claims to have healed/cured/changed people’s lives in the 10 days they spend at the ridiculously expensive retreat. As time goes by, people make friends, share their life stories and generally open up to the others. In the parallel, we have Masha and her team conspiring about the treatment and have secrets of their own, which also forms a plot in parallel with the attendees’ stories.
First of, the name of the series is incorrect. It isn’t 9 perfect strangers all around. There is a couple and a family of three, which reduces the number of “strangers” for them. Secondly, the whole strangers meeting each other has been done with multiple times, ever since Agatha Christie wrote “And then there were none”. Here too, the part of getting to know each other and making friends, which is a large part of the series, is quite expected and hence feels dragged. Except the storyline of Frances (Melissa McCarthy) and Tony (Bobby Cannavale), which is entertaining and sweet and witty. There are instances in the first half of the series in which people question their presence at the retreat, as if it was not voluntary application?! If that is the question posed, the viewer needs either to know the origin of the question (like in Oldboy) or the answer to it (Matrix). That whole plot is left to open, never to be brought up again, discussed or revealed.
The series tries really hard to be full of intrigue or suspense and a sense of underlying plot twist, hinted all along through different memories of the people, but there is none. The deep soundtrack, tracking shots, psychedelic experiences, none of them lead anywhere, only give a sense of building upto something, which is ultimately nothing. In fact, the whole series can be reviewed by calling it “Tries Hard” – the staff tried hard to be full of intrigue while preparing the treatment plan, which is nothing more than felony crime, Nicole Kidman tries hard to be Masha who is inexplicably revered and is all that is ethereal but it fails because watching her speak can be physically painful, the guests try hard to make their lives hard, but in reality the regular medical world already has solutions to most of their troubles.
One thing the show highly favours is the appearances of people – everyone is in awe of Masha because she is this skinny silhouette clad in white, with a Russian accent as far from real as the physical distance between the countries. There is no reason for anyone to like her, or trust her, as it is revealed that she drugs the guests without their knowledge, all in the name of “healing” (really wrong messaging here, by the way, and surprising that not many people are speaking about it). Despite the potential to deliver on life-changing solutions to the very real problems some of the guests do seem to have, it just falls flat on the face, like having a Christmas gift from a favorite person, with beautiful wrapping, but the box is filled with packing peanuts. This analogy is more true, since this comes from the same set of creators and adapted from the same author who wrote Big Little Lies.
Melissa McCarthy deserves an award for her performance in this show, she is finally getting a role where she is able to show her range – no more goofy comic sidekick. She is also the only one who has a more detailed and relatable trauma from which she is a trying to recover. If you need a reason to watch the show, she is it. And nothing else.
To watch or not to watch: Extremely predictable, with good performances
Nikhil Soni (Manoj Bajpayee) is a police officer supervising emergency calls, when they receive a call from a woman in distress, who is planning to commit suicide. She is depressed because of the death of her young son in an accident the previous year. Meanwhile, Nikhil is also dealing with a domestic situation – his 17 year old son has a criminal past and is doing little to mend his ways, giving his mother Prerna (Sakshi Tanwar) sleepless nights. The suicidal woman (Neena Gupta) reveals her true agenda, which is vendetta against the people responsible for her son’s death.
It all sounds thrilling, right? Yea, it’s not. From the first, it is obvious the caller lady is connected with Nikhil Sood and has something to do with the crime connected to his son. All the thrill of the movie is collected in the trailer, which undoubtedly is compelling. The whole is lackluster to say the least. The fact that Manoj Bajpayee is a police officer, same as in Family Man, which was rightfully popular, does not seem like a coincidence. It is definitely clickbait. The actors have all delivered flawless performances. Special mention of Sakshi Tanwar, who is not praised nearly enough and who has delivered absolutely believable performance – quality stuff.
This was another disappointing release by Zee5 and another one which was tirelessly promoted across all platforms. Another release with class A performance and script from the bottom of the barrel. It is fundamentally wrong to continuously produce low quality content, specially by a production house as big as Zee. It is our responsibility as consumers to respond by our actions and not watch or promote content which is bad and plain lazy. As for the movie, nothing against the performances, but don’t watch it.
To watch or not to watch: Good in pieces, not as a whole
The story of the series is about the lives of some of the residents of an apartment complex called Sunflower. One morning, one of the residents of the society, Mr. Kapoor (Ashwin Kaushal), is murdered by his neighbour, Mr. Ahuja (Mukul Chadda). What follows is an investigation into the murder by two police officers, Inspector DG and Sub-Inspector Tambe (Ranvir Shorey and Girish Kulkarni). Sonu Singh (Sunil Grover) is the protagonist and falls under suspicion due to his erratic nature. Along with the main story line with a protagonist, we also have an ensemble cast and an insight in the lives of a select few residents and one person each related to them.
Over-all the series is funny, sometimes thrilling and mostly lost. There are too many sub-plots, which have nothing to do with the main plot and have nothing to do in general, except probably elicit some laughs. In each of the 8 episodes, we have Dilip Iyer (Ashish Vidhyarthi) interviewing and rejecting potential residents because of one or the other social bias. There are certain points in Sonu’s character which throw an insight into his past life and make the viewers feel there’s more than meets the eye. All this has nothing to do with the main plot, even tangentially. After about more than half the series is over, you wonder if the series even has anything to do with the murder mystery. Sunflower society and slowly and suddenly takes center stage and things revolve around it.
There is a conflict between the advertisement and the real idea of the series. it comes off as more of an ensemble cast series than a thriller series. Since it is going head-to-head with an acclaimed thriller series, The Family Man, it needed to be made more in-line with the advertisement or changed the messaging. If one has watched these two series together, Sunflower will definitely lose. Though it does go head-and-head with the performances.
The webseries these days have latched on to the nostalgia effect, by getting older actor, who were quite popular in the yesteryears to come back and act in the series. While it is commendable and gets more viewers along with the promise of good performances, it can be overdone, specially when it is the focal point of the series. After finishing watching the series, the only thought that makes a viewer feel they haven’t wasted their time, that all the loose threads and the unresolved sub-plots make for a good foundation for season 2. Right on the heels of that, is the knowledge that each episode is only about 30 minutes long and has only 8 episodes (though it didn’t need even that for the amount of content it had). That might be the only reason for people to watch the second season, to get some closure. All in all, if one is not suffering from FOMO, skip it.
Starring: Sophia Lillis, Wyatt Oleff, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Sofia Bryant, Richard Ellis, Sophia Tatum, David Theune, Zachary S. Williams, Aidan Wojtak-Hissong
Genre: Sci-fi/supernatural, coming-of-age story
This series is about a 17 year old girl Sydney, who lost her father the previous year. As a result, the family life has changed drastically and not for the better. She has trouble connecting with her mother, trouble getting along with peers, trouble focusing on school and trouble in general with her temper, which flares and is acted upon. She has one best friend named Dina who is the “popular one” and is dating the school jock. She also has a neighbour called Stanley Barber who has a crush on Sydney and is as much as an oddball as is stereotyped.
The story follows Sydney managing her life, her anger and then her very sudden super powers. She becomes a target or a fascinating study for some savoury/unsavoury characters. And if that was not enough, she is also trying to figure out the matters of her sexuality. She is definitely not okay with any of this.
Netflix is so used to producing below average stuff that the one time they have something good which has all the elements to grasp the attention of the audience, they balk at the thought. They are not used to producing good original content and hence they have cancelled the show (this is the real reason, despite of what is said by the company). They are producing season 2 of Bridgerton.
Amazon, please pick this up. But then you aren’t without faults of your own.
Starring: David Tennant, Michael Sheen, Adria Arjona.
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy (slightly theological)
Aziraphale and Crowley are Angel and Demon, respectively and have been assigned to do their respective jobs on Earth since the seventh day of creation (Crowley/Crawley is the snake with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden). They have grown rather fond of the planet and grudgingly, of each other too. In the present time, the grounds of Armageddon have been laid down and in only a week Heaven and Hell will fight it out to establish their supremacy and effectively end Earth. The Angel and Demon duo must prevent it from happening at all costs. Thus begins their adventure to find out The Chosen One and manipulate their respective offices in their favour. Their natures have evolved through thousands of years on the planet and it is shown through some cleverly inserted flash-backs at the important moments in history.
This series is adapted from a Neil Gaiman book. When it comes to book adaptations, this is something near perfection. The acting and the direction leave nothing to be desired and it doesn’t feel incomplete or staccato at any point. The storyline, peppered with theology through the ages is smooth, smart, witty and dark too.
This show was cancelled as it was called out for hurting religious sentimentality. While a case can be made for that, it can be said it shows changing for a higher calling, namely humanity and to get priorities straight, regardless of what we have been taught since birth.
Religions have survived thousands of years. An itty-bitty Amazon series with some 8 hours runtime can hardly harm them suddenly. Please lift the embargo on it and get out season 2.
Starring: Nick Frost, Samson Kayo, Malcolm McDowell, Susan Wokoma, Emma D’Arcy and Simon Pegg
Genre: Horror-comedy
Gus is a broadband installer for Britain’s largest network provider, Smyle. He also moonlights as a paranormal activity investigator and has a YouTube channel, Truth Seekers. His boos, Dave, assigns an apprentice to Gus by the name of Elton Jon (LoL!) to train, and Gus isn’t too happy about it. Together Gus and Elton go around fixing and providing broadband connections. Gus luck seems to have turned around as they have real paranormal encounters at each of the places they visit. They also meet Astris, who is running from the demons haunting her and they try to figure out how to exorcise them.
No story is complete with a supervillain with an extremely nefarious agenda. In this one, the supervillain wants to attain immortality and the way to reach there is mega destructive and the consequences dire.
Nick Frost and Simon Pegg come together again on screen for yet another spectacular production which has humour, thrill and horror combined. There is also a threat to humanity, similar to the movies in the Cornetto trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The End of the World – all must watch). There is emotional investment for the recurring cast and also for the anthology-like ghosts they encounter. There is no moment which is dull or draggy. In the short time, it manages to show EVERYTHING. Utter shame it is cancelled and Goliath gets seasons after seasons.
Maigret is adapted from a book series by Georges Simenon, featuring the detective Jules Maigret. It has 2 season with 2 episodes each and the episodes are in anthology format, with new cases in each episode. It is a police procedural, set in Paris of 1950s. What sets this apart from the other police procedurals is primarily Rowan Atkinson. It is very refreshing to see him in a serious role, which he performs flawlessly (goes without saying). Also, the cases are quite interesting and there are little to no red-herrings. The cases are solved by old-fashioned police work. The cases are dark and gritty which keeps one guessing throughout. The performances in the individual episodes too are commendable – no shoddy work here.
Given we don’t have too many of whodunnits series these days, this would have been a good addition to the online content. It is refreshing, nostalgic and pleasing to the eye. With very little personal drama and good storyline, can’t see this failing. And yet it is not renewed for further seasons. It is saddening.
Starring: Nick Frost, Malcolm McDowell, Samson Kayo, Susan Wokoma, Emma D’Arcy, Simon Pegg
Streaming on: Primevideo
To watch or not to watch: Brilliant watch with popcorn
Gus Roberts (Nick Frost) is a broadband installer, the best installer Smyle has. Smyle is expanding and very close to 100% coverage.Gus’ boss Dave (Simon Pegg) gets an apprentice for Gus by the name of Elton (Samson Kayo) John. Yes. Now Gus is an aspiring paranormal investigator but hasn’t been very successful till the start of the series, where his life takes a turn for adventure, for example, Astrid (Emma D’Arcy) enters his life while running from ghosts. Elton’s sister Helen (Susan Wokoma) is agoraphobic and a successful YouTuber strikes an unlikely friendship with Richard (Malcolm Mcdowell). Gus and Elton, with the help of Astrid and Helen, bring redemption to the souls of the people not at rest yet. And that’s that.
This is one of the best series I have watched recently. It is a classic British comedy with subtly that is truly an art. The story is perfect with each character having a story of their own, which makes them equally important as the protagonist. Along with that there is an overarching concept of paranormal and they too have a credible story which makes the audience root for the overall success.
<p value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">This series should be a blueprint of how to make a series which has too many subplots and not feel overwhelming. It was such a pleasant surprise how things come together slowly and steadily, only in 8 episodes with each episode being under 30 minutes. A long drawn out story with over-dramatization isnt necessary to deliver the emotions. And humour. It is subtle, as already stated and but doesn't interfere with the horror. All the small points mentioned in the beginning of the series come together towards the end and makes for a wholesome watch. It ends spectacularly too. No complaints at all, other than the show being cancelled (What the hell Amazon). Here's to hoping some other network picks it up if possible. A Must Watch.This series should be a blueprint of how to make a series which has too many subplots and not feel overwhelming. It was such a pleasant surprise how things come together slowly and steadily, only in 8 episodes with each episode being under 30 minutes. A long drawn out story with over-dramatization isnt necessary to deliver the emotions. And humour. It is subtle, as already stated and but doesn’t interfere with the horror. All the small points mentioned in the beginning of the series come together towards the end and makes for a wholesome watch. It ends spectacularly too. No complaints at all, other than the show being cancelled (What the hell Amazon). Here’s to hoping some other network picks it up if possible. A Must Watch.
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