Category: Movie reviews

The Menu

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https://www.hotstar.com/

Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, Aimee Carrero, Judith Light
Where to watch: Disney+ Hotstar
Run time: 1hour 47 minutes
To watch or not to watch: An original script, which might not be perfect but is fun to watch

A boat (yacht) is filled with 11 people who are embarking on a journey to a private island called Hawthorn, which has one of the most exclusive restaurants owned by Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). The multi-course meals are $1,250 each, are invite only and are a strictly +1 (or more) event. The meal is an event, yes – the customers tour the entire island which shows the raw ingredients grown/bred, the military discipline enforced and followed by Slowik and his staff, the descriptions of the courses are like a soliloquy by the respective chefs. Only in this case, the soliloquy is followed by terror. Let me elaborate…

The people who have managed to bag a table at the over-exclusive restaurant are 3 finance bros, a washed-out actor with his manager (John Leguizamo and Aimee Carrero), an ultra-rich couple (Judith Light and Reed Birney), a renowned food critic (Janet McTeer) with her obsequious editor (Paul Adelstein) and a self-proclaimed foodie, Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) and his companion Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy). Each meal is presented by the chef with a resounding clap which jerks everyone’s attention to the aforementioned soliloquy on the dish – the reason it was designed, what are the ingredients and what is the emotion the dish is designed to bring to the eater. Each of these courses get progressively darker, including drowning of the man who invested in the restaurant, a public suicide of the sous chef who dared to compete with Slowik, a run for survival by the men while a woman stabs Slowik for sexually harassing her in the past. The list of the macabre activities go on, while there is little to no change in the schedule of the service, complete with the clap and descriptions. The one person who is the proverbial fish out of water is Margot, who is not the initial companion planned by Tyler. This does throw a spanner in the works but not necessarily a bad thing for Margot. Read on…

The movie is supposed to be a satire on the wealthy. The intended message is that, well, wealth corrupts (no shit). The people present during the dinner are pretentious, full of themselves, and in general, have had life easier than most. And that is their biggest crime, according to the movie, that they have had it easier, as depicted by the character of Aimee, who went to Brown and her education was funded by her parents. It is all difficult for a person who hasn’t had these privileges but not sure if the rich are to blame. The whole movie falls short in attaining the premise. What is the crime here? Being rich? Wanting to be rich? Wanting to be the best? Just wanting? There are multiple plot holes which cannot be explained by any amount of explanations, as explanation do not brick and mortar make. Even the climax which has been lauded for its unexpected and triumphant nature is unexpected because it doesn’t logically follow.

The movie is made almost flawlessly. That is, the performances, set design, dialogues, sound, character nuances, lighting, editing, etc is what is great. The only thing lacking is a script which has been worked on till it was sparkling. The audience member will find the movie understandably quite unsettling, as the experience for the clientele in the movie is supposed to be comforting and it is anything but. The problem is when plot holes are left in the core or climax of the movie, everything leading up to it feels false. Why was the 90 min storyline needed, if the 20 min conclusion was going to be cutting corners, you know? The primary emotion this movie left was confusion, like was it a good movie, or just a good execution, because the ending didn’t make sense. Don’t think The Menu will go down well in history.

Monica, O My Darling

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https://www.bollywoodmdb.com/

Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Starring: Rajkumar Rao, Huma Qureshi, Radhika Apte, Sikander Kher, Sukant Goel, Akansha Ranjan Kapoor, Bagavathi Perumal,
Where to watch: Netflix
To watch or not to watch: A neo-noir movie which tries too hard and fails. Skip this one

Jayant (Rajkumar Rao) is a star robotics engineer at Unicorn Robotics, and is in a relationship with the owner’s daughter Nikki (Akansha Ranjan). He hails from a small town, intent on escaping it and lands at Pune. Now things are all looking up for him and he is as susceptible to ego as any human, and gets into a casual relationship with the secretary to his future father-in-law, Monica Machado (Huma Qureshi). She claims to be pregnant with his child and is blackmailing him. He is spooked, and rightly so, as it threatens his rise up the company. It turns out, she has been blackmailing other heterosexual male members of the company, namely Arvind Manivannan (Bagavathi Perumal) and Nishant Adhikari (Sikander Kher). The three of them hatch a plan to kill Monica and dispose of the body in a rather Strangers on a Train way. The case is handled by ACP Naidu (Radhika Apte). Needless to say, the plan goes awry and then there is confusion, anxiety and insecurity, which enhances the chaos.

The problem with any such movie (read: Netflix Originals and Bollywood) is that they try too hard. They have tried to do everything the great masters have done in their art, for example, there is quirkiness of Knives Out, confusion of Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, opening credit fonts of Quentin Tarantino (seriously, this has to be the biggest crime of this movie, touching something so holy), etc. The idea of the movie, which by the way, is taken from a Keigo Higashino book titled Burutasu No Shinzou (Heart of Brutus) (another blasphemy), is superb, and so are the performances. What else to expect from Rajkumar Rao, Huma Qureshi and Radhika Apte. But everything else just doesn’t reach the mark. The storyline is unnecessarily convoluted, with random flashbacks and parallels which do not add to the mystery, only serves as a distraction. There are multiple plot lines they tried to address, but couldn’t do justice to a single one. Radhika Apte as a sarcastic-comic police inspector adds no entertainment value, only succeeds in being a slight annoyance. Disappointing.

The movie gets aa few things right – Huma Qureshi’s femme fatale is no simpering mess in size 2, she is comfortable in her skin, slays in her character and succeeds in getting all men’s attention without trying too hard. Maybe this movie has rightly projected that it is not always the vampy females who manage to trap guileless men. It is the men who need to be better and not villainize females. It also shows Radhika Apte as a not-too-honest police inspector, something we don’t see, and don’t associate with females. Rajkumar Rao’s Jayant is thankfully not a toxic masculine person either, though is toxic in general. All these points, while good, do not a good movie make. A movie is an amalgamation of direction, story, screenplay, editing and acting. The other points defying convention only enhance it. And in this case, it was simply disappointing to waste so much good because some aspects did not put in the work required. Skip this one without regrets.

Run Sweetheart Run

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https://www.heavenofhorror.com/

Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Starring: Ella Balinska, Pilou Asbæk
Where to watch: Amazon PrimeVideo
To watch or not to watch: A survival movie with an average amount of thrill along with a pinch of unsuspected supernatural. It is fine

Cherie (Ella Balinska) is a single mother to a daughter, works as a paralegal, studies part time to become a full-fledged lawyer. She has mistakenly double-booked her boss with a client and his anniversary dinner, and takes his place at the client meeting. She is part hopeful for the meeting to turn into something more, as she has been single a long tim, but carries pepper spray nonetheless. She meets Ethan (Pilou Asbæk), who is rich, considerate and says the right things, all of which is very refreshing for Cherie. What starts as a night of part hope, part skepticism, resulting in more hope than skepticism, ends up turning into horror and a chase for her, when Ethan attacks her after returning from dinner. She narrowly escapes his place and runs to cops who arrest her. Ethan posts her bail and gives her a headstart in the hunt he will pursue. Cherie explores all her options to survive and gives a tough fight.

This movie falls in the sub-genre called social horror (think Jordan Peele’s Get Out), only here the social issue is patriarchy. The problem with movies trying to address two things at once is balance, which is often difficult to strike. This problem exists in this movie as well. It starts as any horror movie, but the dialogues are discordant with what’s happening, like the flow of the movie is being forced in a certain direction only by dialogues. The whole chase sequence is pretty cool, and Ethan’s powers are revealed slowly and it is a good surprise, but mixing it with patriarchy was a bit much. Even the protagonist’s actions did not follow a pattern like it happens with a human in general. A lot of this made the thrill questionable. The second act of the movie was the one part which was great, really gory. But it is a very good execution as the actual violence is actually censored, happens off-screen and left to the imagination of the viewers.

The movie is pretty low-budget and it a testament to the director who has made it possible to remove the actual scares from the screen, and still made it possible to be thrilling. It has very small cast and next to no special effects. Other factor which carries the movie forward are the actors, specially Ella Balinska who managed to convey the pain, hurt, fear and strength through the acting alone. Pilou Asbæk is sufficiently hateful and creepy. The music is another positive aspect, complementing the movie in all the right ways. It is pop, lyrics are relevant to the concept and add to the movie where the story subtracts. Watch it for the average thrill, superb acting and vicarious response to patriarchy. It wouldn’t require too much popcorn though.

See How They Run

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https://film-authority.com/

Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Ruth Wilson
Where to watch: Disney+
To watch or not to watch: A comic whodunit which leaves the audience guessing till the end

It is the 100th performance of Mousetrap in London and during the celebratory party, Leo Köpernick (Adrian Brody) is murdered. He was a notorious drunk and had fluid moral values. He was also looking to direct the movie adaptation of the play. None of the people involved with the project, whether it be the play or the movie-in-the-works, really liked Leo, hence the suspect pool is quite big. The case is handed to a jaded, worn-out and alcoholic Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and an eager, inexperienced and by-the-book Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan). After another person is murdered in the theatre during another Mousetrap screening, the whole situation gets a bit more urgent and serious, making the suspect pool more suspicious. Until it all comes to head Christie fashion.

This movie isn’t an aspirational movie, blazing trail for all the future whodunits to come, doesn’t take itself seriously and isn’t serious. What it is, is a fun movie to watch with a bit of nostalgia, served with a side of Christie-ness. The center stage doesn’t belong to the plot, but to the characters of Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan. Also, to the subtle jokes pulled at the cost of the cliched British murder mysteries. It does feel a bit like a parody of those mysteries, slightly, just a little bit, but tasteful. It doesn’t lead the viewers to an off-path of romance or back stories. It is mentioned and woven in the plot (as in the case of Stoppard) or informed to enhance the character (as in the case of Stalker). The cliched characters are the bedrock on which the story and plot develops.

This movie is a comfort-watch. Everything is in plain-view and repeated watches will not enrich the experience, but it will be an enjoyable watch everytime. It is fun, quirky, perfect watch for a pick-me-up after a long and disappointing day at work.

Rosaline

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https://www.imdb.com/

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Kyle Allen, Sean Teale, Minnie Driver, Bradley Whitford
Where to watch: Disney+
To watch or not to watch: A delightful retelling of the OG of romance makes for a nice, light-hearted watch

Rosaline (Kaitlyn Dever) and Romeo (Kyle Allen) are boyfriend and girlfriend, and Rosaline is absolutely smitten by the long, blonde haired hunk from the enemy camp. Her father, Adrian Capulet (Bradley Whitford) is attempting his best to arrange a marriage for his only daughter, and the daughter does everything to be as unsuitable a wife as possible. In one such arranged-marriage-date scenario, Rosaline is out on a boat with Dario (Sean Teale), is waylaid by a storm and is late in reaching the (famous) Capulet ball and a pre-arranged date with Romeo. Romeo’s excess of love is not to be hindered by the absence of his lady love, and remedies the situation by falling in love with Juliet (Isabela Merced), Rosaline’s cousin. Rosaline is understandably extremely pissed by this turn of events and now has a reason for intensely disliking Dario. She pursues multiple schemes to deter the couple, loses her moral fiber, sees the wrong of her ways, works to undo the damage and ensure the couple lives happily every after.

This is no 10 things I hate about you or She’s the Man. It is a refreshing retelling of the eponymous love story, which if viewed objectively is deeply flawed. Rosaline doesn’t make the wrongs right, it makes the wrong seem funny and well yes, rights some wrongs. The titular character is independent, intelligent, knows her mind, isn’t patriarchal but does stumble when it comes to non-platonic attraction – something to which a lot of females can relate. Then she has the normal human feelings of jealousy, rage and frustration when things don’t go her way, finally ending with the silver lining to it all when she finds the man who is a perfect match for her (spoiler alert – Romeo and Juliet aren’t too perfect for each other, by the way). It is joyful to see the other side of this mega love story, from the eyes of the jilted lover. It ties in with the character of the easily-swayed Romeo (though not publicised as such).

Rosaline is a movie carried on by female character, doesn’t take itself too seriously and you shouldn’t either. There is no Shakespearean English (comically explained as being difficult to follow in the movie) and no English accents either. It is quirky, female-empowering, and explores love more than first sight. And if taken the time to think about it, it can actually be deep. What Rosaline’s character ends up finding is someone who is at her side when she needs it, calls her antics for what they are and is not completely, totally, irrevocably in love with her, which is more sane and real. Kaitlyn Dever is a delight, she is channeling her persona from Last Man Standing, and it fits well in this movie. To praise Minnie Driver is stating the obvious, but she is a straight-shooter nurse to the impulsive Rosaline and it fits well with the over-all tone. The movie is surprisingly well written and made. It might surprise even the readers of this post as these movies typically are bad. This one is not. Do watch.

Unknown Origins

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https://vocal.media/geeks/

Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Starring: Javier Rey, Antonio Resines, Brays Efe, Verónica Echegaray, Ernesto Alterio
Where to watch: Netflix
To watch or not to watch: A good spoof movie which sets itself apart by its good-ness

The movie opens with a murder of a man. The said man is murdered by steroids injected into him, enough to make him Hulk. This is followed my another murder of a man who has his heart pulled out and replaced by a metal suit. These cases are given to a new cop David (Javier Rey) and Cosme (Antonio Resines), but Cosme is on the brink of retirement (quite literally, the day the first murder is discovered, is the last day for Cosme before retirement). It is soon inferred that these murders have an association with the comic world, of which Jorge (Brays Efe) is an expert – he also happens to be the son of Cosme. So now David and Cosme (much to David’s chagrin) go around understanding the crime, the method and inspiration, which leads them to the criminal eventually. There is also a love angle, because why not, between David and his boss Norma (Verónica Echegaray).

If the above story triggers a memory of David Fincher’s Se7en, no brownie points for you – the movie is quite on the nose about it, mentioning it in one of the dialogues. Despite the sacrilege arising from spoofing one of the best psychological thrillers till date, the movie delivers on what it promises.
First of all, it is doesn’t take itself seriously. It is a fun take on comic book heroes, serial killers and investigations.
Second of all, the quality of direction and production is really good. It doesn’t skimp on that, just because it is sort-of spoof, quite unlike the other spoofs out there.
Finally, the ending of the movie is really good. By no means perfect, but good. The mystery is very unexpected.

This movie is by no means perfect – not the best story, not the best acting, etc. But it is highly entertaining. It is light-hearted and resonates with people because of connection with Se7en and superheroes. This is what the movie was aiming at and it achieves it. The only thing which it could have done without is Norma’s character. It is only a filler, for a gap that doesn’t exist. And to make it even weirder, there is a romantic angle between David and Norma, because apparently two attractive people have to love each other. Without this angle, the whole movie would have come out crisper and more focused. Nonetheless, it is a good one-time watch for people looking for pure entertainment.

Magpie Murders

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https://www.rottentomatoes.com/

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Lesley Manville, Tim McMullan, Alexandros Logothetis, Conleth Hill
Where to watch: Sony Liv
Seasons and episodes: 1 season, 6 episodes 45 minutes each
To watch or not to watch: A unique plot and investigation of a murder. Absolutely a must watch

Alan Conway (Conleth Hill) is a writer of the famous Atticus Pund novels and is writing a much-awaited book in the series (think Sherlock Holmes meets Hercule Poirot style murder mystery detective). Susan Ryeland (Lesley Manville) is a London editor for Alan, and doesn’t get along with him – mainly because Alan is an irascible man who is not happy writing Atticus Pund and punishes everyone around him for his unhappiness. Susan receives the latest Atticus Pund book, titled Magpie Murders, but it is missing the last chapter where the murder in the book is solved. Susan then goes to meet Alan to get the chapter, and finds that Alan has been murdered. Also, the last chapter is nowhere to be found. She then talks to everyone who was associated with Alan and slowly uncovers the real identities of the people Alan had used as characters in his book, and people had grudges against him for one reason or another. The suspect pool grows bigger.

The series is depicted through the parallels between the case in the book and real life murder of Alan Conway. While Susan is the real detective in real life, she is often thinking like Atticus Pund, to the extend that she hallucinates him. And since the people in the book are same as those in the vicinity of the murder victim, this whole depiction can be understood even with the chasm of the timelines.

The fact that the detective in the series is an editor, not someone who is qualified to find criminals makes the detection even more interesting for the viewers – it makes it more relatable. She is sure that the solution to the murder in the book will help with the murder of the author in real life, and she needs to solve both. Although the series is across timelines with frequent jumps from one timeline to another, it gets confusing only once through the entire length of 6 episodes. It keeps the interest going, not to mention refreshing. Lesley Manville is a very unlikely detective, she is a perfect editor and this goes with the vibe of the series. Highly recommend to watch.

The Invisible Man

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https://filmschoolrejects.com/

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Elizabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Aldis Hodge, Harriet Dyer, Storm Reid
Where to watch: Netflix
To watch or not to watch: Obsessive-controlling-man trope done the right way

Cecilia (Elizabeth Moss) is married to Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) who is a extremely rich pioneer in optics technology. She has the perfect plan to escape and she does it by the skin of her teeth, but her husband gets hurt in the process. She goes underground with the help of her sister and sister’s police boyfriend with no connection to anyone from her past. Then it is heard on the news that Adrian has committed suicide and left his fortune to Cecilia, bringing a much needed relief to everyone involved. Cecilia begins leading a normal life, looking for jobs and socialising with people, but strange occurrences start happening around her. In fact, she is arrested for slitting her sister’s throat in a crowded restaurant. She suspects Adrian has faked his death and is using his optics technology to somehow become invisible. By then, she has had enough and fights back.

The movie is done right – it takes the oft done theme of an obsessive male partner abusing the female partner and turns it into solid movie. It has done the opposite of what is unusual these days – great execution. While the theme might seem to many as common and might deter them to check this one out, the way this is ideated, crafted, acted and directed would be a treat. Another thing it does which makes it stand out is it is female centric, while most movies in this genre are centered around the male and his actions (slightly glorifying and justifying the toxicity).

The Invisible Man is visually stimulating, has the least amount of sound effects and only two false scares. Elizabeth Moss has once again delivered a brilliant performance, and it is safe to say The Handmaid’s Tale is the best thing to happen to her and her to it. Without it we wouldn’t have seen her in these leading roles. It is not very common for a female to carry off these roles and not easy either, and since these both things are present, it makes a must watch for more reasons.

Last Night in SoHo

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https://www.soctex.com/last-night-in-soho-2021-review-details-trailer/

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith
Where to watch: Lionsgate Play
To watch or not to watch: A highly recommended watch for horror genre movie seekers

Ellie Turner (Thomasin McKenzie) is an aspiring fashion designer who is inspired by the style of the 60s. She has some supernatural powers which enables her to see her mother who committed suicide when Ellie was a kid. She moves from a small town to London to study fashion and lodges with an elderly lady named Ms Collins. At night, in her dreams, Ellie is transported to the 1960s London and she sees the city life of nightclubs through the eyes of an aspiring singer Sandie. Sandie falls in love with a nightclub manager Jack. These dreams instill confidence in Ellie and also inspires her fashion designs in real life. Steadily, her dreams of Sandie start to become nightmares where she sees Sandie being exploited by Jack and her descent into prostitution and drugs. Ellie is extremely disturbed by what she sees in 1960s London that she starts seeing the people from her dreams in her real life.

This movie is pure horror and nothing but excellence is expected from any Edgar Wright. It will live in the movie world as one of the best horror movies ever made. It covers the emotional aspect of a misfit’s desire to find affection, confidence and an emotional connection with another fellow human, and uses that emotion to blow into a nightmare and mystery of epic proportions. It has a hint of exploitation of females in the mid-90s but doesn’t dwell on it. In fact, it takes that exploitation and turns it into empowerment at an unbelievable scale (least said unless it becomes a spoiler).

Edar Wright is regarded as an original movie maker for a reason – he takes the most common genres and spins a story which is uniquely crafted and Last Night in SoHo is no different. It has flawless transitions between time periods, and dreams to reality. It is easy to feel the angst in Ellie because of the way she is treated by people and her longing to make friends. It is easy to understand why she was completely enthralled by Sandie and her confidence. And when Sandie’s life hits a downward spiral, Ellie takes it upon herself to save her one and only friend. Just that, Thomasin’s delivery does fall slightly flat at times. She needs to mature a bit more in the acting game. Anya Taylor-Joy is spectacular and a perfect choice to play Sandie. No one could have done it better.

There is no end of praise which can be showered on the movie. Suffice to say, please do watch it if you love horror.

There is more to The Exorcism of Emily Rose than horror

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https://wallpapic.com/

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.