Reviews

The title of this film is a real clickbait, and I just queued this film after getting awestruck by the director's first feature 'Bone Tomahawk'. Again Vince Vaughn rocks, and my request is to give it a try as Mel Gibson also acted so smoothly. No complain against any technical department; specially the editing and cinematography were exactly which I wanted from the team. Direct combat, or fights, are a little bit less but the alternative of this a super cinematic experience. I can vouch for this as a great movie, specially whoever wants to start the filmography of the director, or any of the new super-violent, unapologetic combat action films of this era.

Super sequel, and I remember binge watching this just after completing it after the first part.. Sony is really pushing themselves hard for post-millennium animation, and you will understand why this film can be said as being the 'El Dorado' of the same approach. Personally, liked the so called eco-friendly big companies being the villain. And the narrative, and it many elements were so effective and funny that after so many years I can see that those might have been reused in many animated, or comedy, films. IMO, the experiment of mashing up food and random flora and fauna should have been more non-random ("Sushisheep", seriously?!).

This is a great animated movie, and who does not love Bill Hader and Anna Farris?! The animation was really great, remember this was one of the first of Sony Pictures Animation. I am a sucker for really updated sense of humour in animated films, and this is full of it which even can be enjoyed after a decade. The storyline was super, and I really liked the setup being in an enclosed town, which itself was a character. However, the only complaint against it is the charcater designs should be more accurate (like, nothing alike between the faces of Flint and his father).

This was recommended many time to me, but just watched in the spree after watching 'Bone Tomahawk'. Lately we are getting so much good acts from Vince Vaughn, and this film might be the best of him in last decade. Action choreography are too much like what the director does - and I enjoyed them all together. Camera and editing too, which have been a really visual treat for us. One of the most recommended, in youtube, action films.

Even having being suggested about this from different people multiple times, I was reluctant to watch this as I never found Kurt Russel interesting. However, just got overwhelmed by the film on the very first scene, followed up by all the sequences later. Thematically, you can say this is a western, horror/cannibal movie. But the aspects Craig Zahler uses is very much unique and hard to find any other similar moves like this. There are long scenes, and the gores were just unputdownable. The camera is awesome. There are very beautiful wide shots of everywhere, even from the indoor shots. The editing is just apt. Specially the fight scenes near the climax, the editing techniques soothe our eyes. And lastly I want to mention the role of Richard Jenkins as the over-aged Chief Deputy officer who stole all the scenes (specially eating soup, promising avenge etc.), but agin, Jenkins does it for all the movies.

When anybody (even I used to say the same) tells you more money leads to lesser art, this epic saga can be a staple example to prove them wrong. This is based on a semi autobiographical novella by Adwaita Mallabarman, depicting the life and times of a fishing society by the bank of a River, called Titas, over a period of time. I can say that this has more distinguishable cast than "Sholay". Or till some extend, this has the range, both chronological and geographical, this even tops "Gangs Of Wasseypur" or "The Godfather" series. There are many features and documentaries on this film and I remember someone telling this was Ghatak's El Dorado (Note that the kid in "Bari Theke Paliye" started his journey by inspired of the stories of El Dorado). One of the major positive change was in editing, and the uber famous Bashir Hossain did show his fresh take on cutting and transitions to both Bangladeshi and West Bengal audience. His technique was so liked that Ghatak hired him again for his own semi autobiographical "Jukti Takko Aar Gappo". Another thing is heavily layered and beautifully set up blocking, which we have been seeing from "Ajantrik" till his latest series, and kudos to Baby Islam's camerawork to take it to the next level. One of my friend told that Ghatak loved the relationship between a boat and camera, which was incepted in "Bari Theke Paliye", shown accordingly in the trilogy and blooms to its full potential in this film. Also, have to mention the plot explicitly as it shows the microcosm of a society of people who belong to the lower caste of a minority section and all the hierarchy was used for plots.

This last movie of Ghatak's "Partition" duels into the organic narrative of an uprooted family, their life in refugee camps, their exodus to far west of bengal, the migration of the next generation to the city and the most dramatic last act of moving to urban life and back to country once again. This might sound confusing enough, but those are the charming little artistic things which would eventually blame societal acts in the backdrop of political tragedy and their results. Having the music of Ustad Bahadur Khan again, I always felt this can be considered as a modern epic on celluloid. And partition is not just a mere recurring theme here, but literally the driving force when the virtuoso was at its prime. Personally a fond of the semi-tabooed love story and climatic, nocturnal hopping between the bars and brothels.

The second of the so-called, named posthumously, "Partition Trilogy" and tells a story of a small group/s of theatre workers, their life, time, their understanding of life, their choices and hence the consequences. Being a tale about the artists and cultural enthusiastics, this movie points out all the political choices as the reason. This is literally a Saga, and very beautifully wrapped with the composition of Ustad Bahadur Khan. And the theme of partition is subtly woven into all the acts and transitions by a maestro. Even without knowing the history and social dilemma, I liked this one for being full of youth and energy.

First I want to say thanks to the guy or group who made this film available online, otherwise we have been searching for a good print for years now. This adventure film is based on a kaleidoscopic novel by one of the greatest author Shibram Chakraborty i.e. about a boy, getting inspired by the stories of El Dorado, running away to come to the then Calcutta. The songs are so much good an apt that I remember almost all of them from my childhood when I was unaware about this film, book or the director; music was composed by the legendary Salil Chowdhury. Another value addition is casting the timeless superstars in all supporting roles - Kali Banerjee, Nripati Chatterjee, Bijon Bhatacharya, Manu Mukhopadhyay, Gyanesh Mukherjee, Jahar Roy, Keshto Mukherjee and so on. One of the early entires from here to show, or hint, about an adolescent infatuation on screen.

The first neo-realistic "art film" from Bengal, shot and completed much before the Apu Trilogy, but unfortunately released 25 years later. For allegory-suckers, this is just another version of "Inside Llewyn Davis", or at least shows the infinite sorrow and struggle of the protagonist. This would be the recurring undercurrent for all of the upcoming Ghatak's films. Also, the fate, or the destiny will be the constant companion of Ghatak's movie releases and box office collection. But all these do not matter, as this foreshadowed most of the aspects of his style like mise-en-scène with depth and layers, classical music for exposition, (1 of) the smartest love stories, (1 of) the most urban humane narratives, and the tale of people who came to another place to live on. The great Ramananda Sengupta started his career with shooting this film. There is a scene where the lead is acting by just lying down on a mat, that itself is so much craftful to make us amaze. Another gem of that time, Ramesh Joshi was also a debutant when he was cutting this film. But we were surprised by the multi-shots of the drawing room discussions with the new paying guest. Almost forgetting to mention, I think Nagarik was the first bengali movie to show the Calcutta lanes and alleys artistically.

It either is a bad film, or has a storyline which is soaking in melodrama (and colonial hangover for sure) so thick that it is soggy now, again and again since "Ballygunge Court", or better, from "Bhalo Theko". Somebody in a group mentioned it as a hybrid of "Cinemawala" (indica) and "Basu Poribar" (sativa), I can see why. Avik Mukhopadhyay could not save the movie with his beautiful efforts through lens. Even it was painful to see how the smart scene cutting choices taken by Arghyakamal Mitra was not used properly. One of the very few films to show all the seasons of a year in similarly boring way and now, even "Meghnad Badh Rahasya" seems cooler.

Ok, I need some extra sentences because there is a lot to say about this film. This was almost going to be another Jagga Jasoos (in post production standard, but somehow it got saved - you will feel like drinking those green juices which will be bitter if the sugar is just a gram less). Editing is super, it does not make you feel that in some of the scenes actors are not there standing together, even kudos to the body doubles. Even camera is, whatever scene transitions and outdoors of beautiful Ranchi and Bhilai, both of which used to be famous travel destinations in the early twentieth century. I loved the songs (listened the jukebox just after watching the film) and liked the concept of making different third and fourth acts (and they have colour motifs too); but all these could not make something GREAT together as this hyperlinks are not new in India where all the different South Indian film industries started experimenting with this format with the respective own local flavours for more than a decade now, and once a while Bollywood gives it a try too. Now, the characters, Pankaj Tripathy (the Die) has done a lot of gangsters already, so you will not get much other than the main USP of the character. Abhishek Bachchan and the kid (the Reds) has a cute segment, and the scene where the parents deciding to keep the maid was so strong that I reacted vocally during it. Fatima Sana Shaikh and Rajkumar Rao (the Greens) gave their fullest, specially the scenes with his hard acting and the conversations with his co-workers. Sanya Malhotra and Aditya Roy Kapoor (the Yellows) delivered as their scripts demanded, and the scene when her fiance came was real as anything. And without having many dialogues, both Pearle Maaney and Rohit Suresh Saraf (the Blues) drew attention from everybody and now I am searching for her filmography in Wikipedia. Just to show off, adapting the rules of a game to a film is done well, and executed in better way, if not similarly massive, to "Animal World".

After the long gap, we get another original film from Kamath. Casting Irfan Khan as a lead was the best decision for this, who was already doing different sub-genres of road movie by then. This is a classic high-octane drama being a crime thriller. Having said that, it criticises the trope of revenge sagas by revealing the futileness of the same in the end. I liked that they even bashed the media industry, but had to cut something because of having slow pace.

A great action movie during the confused time of 2000's when both makers and audiences had a dilemma for moving to new-wave semi-art films or sticking to the good old romantic drama. And good action films have always been outcast in our country, even till now. John Abraham was the best guy during then to carry this torch. Adding to all, we get the mind blowing debut of Vidyut Jamwal who would later be the top action heroes of our country. A lot of my friends are fan of this franchise but had to cut some points here as this was not an original.

You cannot sit tight to seats while watching this thriller, if and only if, the foreign film had already spoiled it for you. Not much to say here as the lead failed to hold breath of audiences with his not so good acting.

If you have not seen the original or any of its remakes, anyone would enjoy this thriller. Other than that, do not see much improvisations made.

The best from Kamath. It seams the 5 different stories to strong that we had hard time to categorise this film - as of either an anthology or a hyperlink one. This film has more than fifty speaking roles and all of them got their due. and just speaking about it, the leads did so well that you will fall for the characters, not the actors' aura. Even the script was powerful - I can recall most of their names even now. Madhavan did great portraying the paranoia and vulnerability of a person who just missed a mishap. Soha Ali Khan played the role of the cold person and I have seen people getting satisfied when the tragedy was happening to her, considering a justice to what she used to do as her job. It has Irfan Khan's least vocal role as an overnight tea-vendor made us feel, and express for him. And K K Menon, this guy somehow excels the role of a biased computer technician who is somehow programmed to blame others for own bad phases. And last but not the least - Vijay Maurya and Parash Rawal - this is a must watch of Rawal's - both rocked their police station and their philosophical stands.

A fantasy about two vagabond musicians - a singer and a drummer - who will.. No, I should not be telling the story at all. This is most telecasted Ray movie - again yes, this is a movie - in DD Bangla and shame on you if you came to read reviews before seeing this. I have not met any person who watched this film but does not like it; even all art film directors now a days put this in their fav list. Even sometimes being presented as a children's film, this is much political too, which theme will eventually lead Ray to make 'Hirak Rajar Deshe', as time demands. This movie has different kings all over the world, even a king of ghosts. I am a big fan of the war cry song which inspired the ode to arms song from 'Patalghar', another super film which I might discuss later. We all wished for the same boons as Goopy and Bagha got here. When the king of 'Halla' got his due holiday and ran away, we all can relate this to our office life. Requesting everyone to disregard my comments here with crap english and to watch the film as soon as possible. Fo those who does not know any thing about Ray, this is the best film to start with. I cannot not put a small excerpt of a dialog between the prime minister and the spy here :

Spy : "Humble respect, Mr. Prime Minister!" Prime Minister : "Come in, Spy." Spy : "I'm coming from Shundi." Prime Minister : "That's where you were sent." Spy : "Yes, Sir." Prime Minister : "Then did you think I thought you were coming from Baghdad?" Spy : "No, Sir."

//goes much better in bengali

As far I can remember, this was the first film of Sinha I watched in TV. As a child, the protagonist on the wheelchair became my hero at the first watch itself. Ensemble cast is one great pillar of this film to be an equally great movie too. Even, as usual, the technical department was always getting checked by the director here, who himself worked as a star technician. One of the original scripts we get in the turbulent times of 90's Bengal.

I heard this movie's name from the doctors who chose a different career in life; and hardcore film buffs from all around keeps this in their favourite movies; list :o. The life and work of a scientist who pioneered about the researches of test tube baby, about whom his country forgot, is an inspiration of this story. Pankaj Kapoor and Shabana Azmi were at their prime then to fill up the room with their acting - literally, as this being almost shot indoor. And how we can overlook Irfan Khan and Anil Chatterjee's supporting role, which they really overdid the leads whenever they were in the screen. One more memory of this film is actually unrelated about how good or bad this film is - I found a valid link of this film on the 17th page of google in 2010.

Whatever film I watched of Sinha, this is the most powerful of all. Even I can say this film has all the elements of getting banned, specially in current times.

Ah, being a detective-criminal story by theme, I loved this the first time I watched it. In the male-private eye infested culture of bengal, this film was like a cool breeze. Adding to that, this features Moonmoon Sen as one the lead detectives who is still my favourite bengali actress. Even Alpana Goswami played a foxy detective in the story. The super ensemble - yeah, Tapas Paul has been a star and good actor for long time - was a strong tool of this cool gumshoe flick.

Written by the thespian Manoj Mitra, who played the titular role himself. People like Uttam Kumar, Soumitra Chatterjee, Bhanu Banerjee, Rabi Ghosh and Nirmal Kumar has been showing the path of acting as an old man for decades, and Mitra as Banchharam was the cumulative result and the best of all of them as well. The story focuses on every single charcater, even we can see how the antagonist gets into sadness after knowing about the climax. There is a backstory and charcater justification for all of them, that we can see why all the forgiving women are going against the protagonist. And what to say about the cast - let us just copy and paste from youtube - "Manoj Mitra, Dipankar Dey, Robi Ghosh, Madhabi Mukherjee, Bhanu Bandopadhyay, Biplab Chatterjee, Nirmal Kumar, Debika Mukherjee, Shambhu Bhattacharya, Ramen Roy Choudhury, Premangshu Bose" - seems like just a play which cannot be and intended not to be staged indoor. Kudos to all of them. We miss the great culture.

First ever Kakababu adaptation, the fictional adventurer created by Sunil Gangopadhyay; later, stalwarts like Sabyasachi Chakrabarty and Prasenjit played this role. One of the earlier escapades among Indian films' story of those days. The lead and the villains - yes, they are 'villains' - did well. But the assistant and the king kind of sucked. I can understand the lack of special effect for the king, but the worst representation of 'Sontu' cannot be forgiven. And yes, this is one of the very few movies shot in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

I have to give the plot, highly unlike to my other reviews. One scientist - played by the great Dipankar Dey - invents a serum which, after getting inhaled through a cigarette, extracts only truth from the person. Cool ensemble, like any other Sinha films. Also, as usual for any Sinha's work, technical department rocks again. This is a perfect example of 'if this then what' kind of screenplay which traverse through all the different hierarchy of a society, and the high end impact of the second act comes very organically.