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Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (2020)
Neither a war movie nor inspirational
If you are looking for a war movie this is far from it. Gunjan Saxena carried out 40 missions during the Kargil War, some good battle scenes could have been the saving grance of this movie, but it fails to capitalize on it.
We can ignore this because this movie was promoted as being an inspirational biopic movie depicting the life of Gunjan Saxena, the brave Air Force pilot. But here too average performance of Jhanvi Kapoor is nowhere near inspiring. There were two three instances where she not only fumbled but spoke her dialogues as if being forced to speak. The poor selection of the lead cast was a very big let down for the movie. I don't speak it due to prejudice towards nepotism as most of the people will assume but really her performance was simply Aweful.
I give two stars to this movie only for Pankaj Tripathi who played Gunjan Saxena's father and because this was a tribute to a great real life hero Mrs Gunjan Saxena. But feel sad for her as her biopic fails to impress due to average performance.Neither a war movie nor inspirational, Jhanvi Kapoor fails miserably
Greyhound (2020)
Start to Finish you are just glued your screen
It's a gripping movie with no time to waste on family, romance or showing past of the naval officers. Just a pure WWII Navy Action flick to be enjoyed from start to finish. This was my first time experience of witnessing a Naval Warfare on Cinema, I did see German Movie Das Boot (1981) but that was more about the life inside a German submarine, this one had all the action needed for a war movie. But Das Boot certainly complemented my experience of Naval Warfare as I had seen it beforw I saw this.
As the movie length already suggested that it won't spend anytime on explaining about characters of the movie, so this movie starts right in the middle of the action. Hence I find it worthless in brooding over the point of 'lack of story' or 'No character development' as it mostly being said about the movie.
The only thing that goes against this movie was the techincal Naval language that's been used some of which got over my head, but in the end it gave me satisfaction that I have seen something worth my time.
The most unfortunate thing to have happened with this Tom Hanks flick is that it was tailor made for Cinematic Experience specially IMAX, what a tragedy that we have to see it on our TV sets thanks to Covid pandemic. I wish they re-release this movie on theatres and I wish to see it again in my IMAX nearby.
Don't miss this one
The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
A brilliant horror show with a powerful story and a message
I am thankful to the makers and the creative team for making this show. This was simply brilliant. It opened up new horizons for a horror show, I never imagined that a horror show can be made like this too this was intelligent film making. It moves beyond the usual jump scares and creepy music which is bread & butter of horror drama/movies on which they mostly cash in. Haunting of Hill house is a master film making with superb cinematography while the acting of all the main characters was at it's best, the casting was perfect, right person for the right role.
If you are expecting something from the The Conjuring Universe Franchise then surely you will get disappointed, not taking anything away from The Conjuring (minus Nun, Annabelle) this show is of another class. It masterfully inculcates a family drama and juxtaposes it with a thrilling horror fantasy world that makes you glued to your Television. You just need to see it to believe it yourself. Side by side it also addresses and displays some genuine problems that people suffer from like low self esteem, drug overdose, sleep paralysis through it's characters, it makes you feel as if you are a part of that family and are journeying along with them.
It is very difficult to take out flaws from this. Only those will get disappointed who are only expecting overdose of jump scare scenes and creepy ghostly looking faces, don't worry they are there in many scenes but yes this movie/series don't overuse it just for the sake of showing horror. This movie masterfully builds up the scene where your excitement increases and new revelation is done, this and in many other aspects this series is brilliant and must watch. The end part made me cry.
Thank You Mike Flanagan, Amblin (Steven Spielberg), Paramount, Netflix for this wonderful web series
Extraction (2020)
A lesson for Bollywood film makers on how to make a good action movie
This was an enjoyable movie indeed, the action sequences were mind blowing and provided an entertaining watch. The neighborhoods of Bangladesh resembles with many areas of India and looking at some of the breathtaking action scenes I think this movie should provide a lesson to our bollywood film makers as to how to make a proper action movie in India. I am an Indian and seriously feel that in the name of 'action' thriller most of our film makers just fool us with monotonous action scenes which repeatedly involves humans and cars flying unprecedentedly high in the sky after an explosion or a punch of the actor who isn't even playing the role of any superhero. This movie had a top hollywood and bollywood celebrity (Helmsworth and Randeep Hooda) and both did their jobs perfectly well, this just proves that Indian actors aren't anyway less than the best of the world when given a good director.
There were some shortcomings too, it had too much of violence and it didn't have a strong story and a plot to compliment such well shot action sequences and amazing cinematography, the story telling wasn't at it's best yet this movie seems to be the best action movie shot in South Asia.
The Forgotten Army - Azaadi ke liye (2020)
This could have been much better
Although I admire Kabir Khan for his efforts on making India's first war related series that too on the exploits and history of Azad Hind Fauj yet this falls short from being the perfect war movie even from Indian point of view. The series starts of very well but after Episode 2 looses it's grip slowly and in the end the turns out to be a typical bollywood masala flick where the love story takes precedence and that came as a disappointment to me.
Some of the battle scenes are literally copy of Steven Speilberg's epic war saga Saving Private Ryan. I also agree with some other reviewers who have pointed out that Netaji Subhash chandra Bose's character should have been given more screen time as he was instrumental in taking Azad Hind Fauj to the new heights. He laid the foundations of independent India's first Army, this army was first of it's kind in India's history of thousands of years that wasn't subjugated to any monarch, ruler, foreign company or Government. It was only fighting for India's independence from British Rule under their commander Mohan Singh and then after him Mr Subhash Chandra Bose.
However let me be clear that this brave attempt by Kabir Khan needs to be applauded. This series should be watched at least once, Kabir Khan still remains a bankable name when it comes to making war drama.
12 Strong (2018)
Class & Crisp, a visual treat
After watching this today I feel sad that why did I miss this in IMAX. It's cinematography is awesome and story telling is also very good. I am startled at the responses of some of the reviewers who are rejecting it on the basis of 'propaganda' or some other silly reason, it's also amusing that most of the reviews of that category are only of few lines which shows how difficult it is to criticize this well made movie.
This is something which happened in real life, now of course a movie will dramatize the events for cenamatic purpose otherwise they could made another documentary like Restrepo once again but they are making a drama movie. Isn't it better to show our people the story of our real life heros like this movie has shown instead of eulogizing pseudo-Mytho creatures of Marvels? Respect the soldiers. Those who fought who shed their blood.
The movie is entertaining, acting is brilliant and visual effects are by far great. So I will include it in a must watch list. It's not a perfect war film I agree but a story that needed to be told, on news this Afghan invasion (that was necessary to overthrow a sham regime like Taliban) sounded so easy but this film shows that it indeed took a lot of pain and loss to do that
Under sandet (2015)
I am amazed and deeply moved after seeing this movie
This movie has the potential to bring tear to your eyes and it does. This was an untold story and unknown to me, it tells us something really horrible that happened with German POWs after World War II. Some two thousand German Prisoners of war, mostly very young teens were asked to clean the beaches of Denmark that had mines buried inside the sands of the beaches by Nazi Germany's Army. History says that around 2000 young Germans diffused 1.5 million mines. This movie shows the plight of those young age German Soldiers who were treated inhumanly and were given this uphill task in which many people lost their lives and if not lives then their arms or limbs.
This movie deserved an Oscar and it did get nominated too but could not win. However it earned many awards in many major film festivals and ceremonies that it rightly deserves.It is a brilliant movie with fantastic performances from lead actors. I came to know about this movie because of Louis Hofmann the lead actor of popular Web Series Dark. I was skeptical if I would like this movie or not still I watched it because the subject was different and it had Hoffman in it, but after seeing I think these are petty small reasons. This movie connects with you emotionally and you feel pity for those young soldiers who were given this dangerous task in inhuman conditions.
It does not have any war scenes, so if you are exclusively looking for combat scenes then this movie has none, but nonetheless it's a wonderful movie and a must watch
Kesari (2019)
Just a Tribute
See this movie just as a tribute to the great battle of Saragarhi. It's a fictionalised depiction of the battle of Saragarhi that was fought between Sikh Armymen of British India in 1897 and the tribal Afghans who numbered around 10-20 thousand. This battle has always captured the imagination of Indian Film makers but thanks to the bollywood's phobia of staying away from war movies this story wasn't told till now.
The film is not bad overall it does well in displaying the courage of Sikh soldiers who refused to give up even in such an impossible situation but just like any other Bollywood flick the makers have tried to pull the film through by pouring in lots of emotion there this film does well i.e successfully establishing an emotional connect with the viewers. But the question remains how far will Indian Film makers continue to drive their movies on emotions while the rest of the World gets better and better in producing war movies as a war film it should have focussed more on the strategies that Sikh soldiers must have adopted to face the Afghan Army.
When you are making a movie on such a historical event then producers of the movie could have done it much better had they picked at least an action director. Picking Anurag Singh whose experience so far has mostly been in Punjabi RomCom was a poor choice. The inexperience showed.
P.S: The best part of the movie is it's climax specially when you hear the song 'Teri Mitti' playing in the background. This song deserved an award for best lyrics and best song while it got none.
The Siege of Jadotville (2016)
100th Reviewer and 100 out of 100
It's a pleasant feeling to find myself as 100th reviewer of this wonderful movie that I have just finished and let me tell you that I feel really happy to write that this movie scores 10 on 10 i.e.100%. Yes many will disagree with me and yes we have many other great war movies that deserve 10. I could have also given this movie an 8 that would seem more reasonable to some but I am here to express my opinion and give it 10, and why not, this is an enjoyable entertaining movie with power packed performances and perfect war cinematography too. An untold story, a historical event told in best possible way. When the director, producer, actor, technical team have done their part perfectly well what is the point in lowering the rating just because we have some other great war movies like Dunkirk or Saving Private Ryan, let's also take this into consideration that this movie is made on low budget it didn't have the luxury of loaded purse and if that's taken into consideration then this movie even deserves even more accolades. Kudos to Danny Sapani, Mark Strong for their roles and most importantly Jamie Dornan as Commandant was awesome.
This movie is about a truly great act of Irish military's heroism in a disputed territory in Congo where a handful of soldiers got surrounded and attacked by thousands of enemy forces who were fully equipped with modern weaponry backed by Western powers. The Irish fighters' courage, their valor and their strategies in the given adverse circumstances has been displayed exceptionally well. Not only are they carrying the baggage of their country's pride but they are also representing United Nations. The movie also touches upon the important political developments simultaneously and hence viewer gets a good understanding of it's political background very well.
This movie not only entertained me but educated me. Thanks to this film otherwise I wouldn't have known about this historical event. Even the ending part of the movie is emotional but different. So I will highly recommend this movie specially to the War movie lovers, yes those who don't like war-action genre much may or may not not like it. But for war movie fans this is a must watch.
Let me tell that I am not an Irish but an Indian and I could very well relate to this saga as many similar incidents have taken place in our history too like in 1897 during the British rule only 21 Indian soldiers faced ten thousand numbered army in a difficult terrain and held on to their post until the last man got martyred. Such acts of valor has to be saluted, respected and honored be it from whichever country, their history should be told.
A Salute to the brave Irish Soldiers!!
Sajjan Singh Rangroot (2018)
This movie is Good but it's over rated here
The movie had it's share of some pretty awesome moments and it's good in bits and pieces but overall as a war movie it is far from being a well made war movie. But this movie tpuches upon the topic that sadly hasn't been touched yet, the Sikhs had a major role in WW1, WW2 and were instrumental in winning many fronts for the British Commenwealth forces on this aspect this movie does well in providing a glimpse into the lives of those brave Sikh Soldiers by bringing and highlighting their story on the big screen. The storyline was predictable and cinematography wasn't that extraordinary specially when we have seen the the gaints like Band of Brothers, Hacksaw Ridge, Saving Private Ryan or WW1 movies like War Horse or 1917 (interestingly both WH & 1917 had shown a scene each of Sikh soldiers with turban). But from Indian Cinema's perspective this movie will be considered as a milestone in Indian war movie genre.
The makers should be applauded for attempting to tell an untold and unnoticed story of Sikhs. Anyone interested in war drama must watch this once, some will enjoy it a lot and some may not and those who don't will at least learn about an untold story of struggle and strife of Sikhs and Commenwealth soldiers who use to fight for British in every war. Many international viewers who are not aware of Sikhs will certainly get a peep into their culture which is completely different from theirs.
Aakraman (1975)
Hard to digest both as a Romantic and as a War Movie
The Sanjeev Kumar, Rakesh Roshan, Ashok Kumar and Rekha starrer movie didn't work for me. I latched on to this as I was researching on India made war movies of all times as I am fond of watching good war movies. However I am not at all repulsive to old Romantic movies rather some of my all time favourites are from Romantic Genre only. So after I read the synopsis which tells that this movie blends a love story amid Indo-Pak war of 1971 made me more curious to watch it thinking that it might turn out to be another near perfect movie for me. I got more interested after I watched the video of the movie's song 'Dekho Veer Jawaano ko' which suprebly displayed the army vehicles and the armed personnel with their guns marching and boarding their vehicles to go to the war front it was an inspiring scene with an inspiring song in the background.
But seriously this movie wasn't even close to what I expected, this two hour plus drama misreably fails to tell love story and neither it dedicates quality time to the combat or war scenes. The cinematography turns out to be average even if you take into consideration the time period when it was made. Both leading charaters of the movie are army officers and seriously I did not find any near resemblance with real Armed forces high ranking officers it simply points that moviemakers didn't work properly on the details. It never means that Sanjiv Kumar, Ashok Kumar or Rekhaji's acting wasn't good rather they were the saving grace but I will discredit the director for not using such high skilled actors to portray the characters properly. Rakesh Roshan wasn't good as he has given us much better performances than this as an actor.
In the end movie comes across as a disjointed mishmash of a love story and war, it did not do justice to it's love story and if by mistake any war movie buff happens to watch thinking of this as war movie then he will regret his decision, such mistake can happen because this movie find it's name in the list of 'war movies' made by India. I strongly have my objection on that recommendation, it's title is so misleading.
I have given two stars only for the legendary actors and some good songs.
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
The Good-Brad Pitt, Bad-Leornado DiCaprio, The Ugly-Bruce Lee Insult
Tarantino crosses his line this time when he puts an unnecessary scene to insult a great Fighter, martial artist of all time Bruce Lee. Every time I kept wondering what was the need of that entire squence in the movie? Did it have anything to do with the storyline? No. So what was the point in including that scene, was it just to show Lee as a proudy, roudy character which he was actually not. It was unnecessary and never expected this from a great director like Tarantino. Did he personally didn't like Bruce Lee? This was the ugliest part of the movie
Leornado DiCaprio is a talent wasted by the director in this movie, not that I am blaming Leornado for this, I love his acting and hence I solely blame Director for wasting a great legend like Leornado DiCaprio. This along with poor storyline, direction etc were all bad things I found about this movie
Only saving grace of this movie is Brad Pitt whose brilliant acting sails the movie through and saves it in somewat, if you are a die hard Brad Pitt Fan then you can watch it. But otherwise if you are looking for a movie with an overall good storyline, direction and specially keeping in mind that it's coming from director of Inglorious Basterds, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Reservior Dogs, Django Unchained then you are sure to get disappointed.
My rating is 2 star just for Brad Pitt and his acting.