The Young Writer

Directed by: Taika Waititi Written by: Taika Waititi, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson Actors: Chris Hemsworth, Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins Rating: 2/5 Thor has always been my favorite MCU character and the only butchering that happens in Thor: Love and Thunder is Taika Waititi butcher two brilliant storylines in hollow compilation of scenes and gag reels. The movie has no heart and fails to create a sense of doom that Taika had created with Hela in Ragnarok. It's all about landing the next joke and the next one and the next one.  He has last his way in terms of story telling. I didn't care for one moment for even a single character. Taika failed from the get-go. The prologue should have been longer. Gorr's story needed more depth and the source material provides more than enough. Gorr could have been badder akin to Thanos in Infinity War with what he did in the first few minutes,  Hela when she broke Mjölnir an...

Robin Hood Directo r: Otto Bathurst Stars : Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Eve Hewson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jamie Dornan Genre: Action-Thriller Rating : 3/5 Robin Hood (2018), the latest rendition of the age old tale which tells the story of what made Robin Hood the famous outlaw we all know and love, is far from perfect or is original. It takes a lot from the other action movies and TV. However, despite its lack of originality, it is still a fun movie nonetheless. As opposed to the tales of Merry Men which tells of the exploits of the famous outlaw, Robin Hood starts with Robin of Loxley(Taron Everton) in a Crusade in Arabia as part of his military service to the church and the Sheriff of Nottingham. When, after the Crusade, Robin returns to Nottingham, he finds Marian (Eve Hewson), the live of his life, has fallen in love with another man— Will Scarlet ( Jamie Dornan ); his estates has been seized; he has been dead for two years; and , the town of Nottingham has b...

Director:   Bryan Singer Writers:    Anthony McCarten (story), Peter Morgan (story), Anthony McCarte (screenplay)  Cast:   Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Aidan Gillen Genre:   Drama/Biography Run-time:  2h 13m Rating:  2.5/5 If the quality of a movie was determined by the set design and re-creation of events, Bohemian Rhapsody would be one of the very best. Fortunately, the quality of a movie of such a genre, apart from historical accuracy, also depends on the feelings it manages to evoke in the audience. It is in this aspect that this Queen movie advertised as the Freddy Mercury biopic royally fails. Going into the theatre, I was aware of the initial international critical reaction. The RT (RottenTomato) score stood at 51% meaning only 51 % of the total reviewers liked or loved the movie. As such I was not expecting it to be anything special. Stil...

Director: Amit Ravindernath Sharma Writers:   Akshat Ghildal (Story, screenplay and dialogue), Jyoti Kapoor (story) and Shantanu Srivastava (story) Cast: Aayushman Khurrana, Sanya Malhotra, Neena Gupta, Gajraj Rao, Surekha Sikri, Sheeba Chaddha Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance Rating: 4.5/5 Amit Ravindernath Sharma’s Badhaai Ho is hands down one of the best Bollywood movies of 2018. The film is spot on with everything it has set out to do. With its intriguing plot, hilarious dialogues and inter play between the “on the money” cast, this dramedy is irresistible. It is a must watch. Badhaai Ho is a story of a middle aged couple that gets pregnant and of their grown sons’ embarrassment of the situation. Set in a conservative Indian society, this “mishap” makes an opulent setting for a comedy. The awkward moments this brings to the family is a minefield of laughter. Sharma delivers a comedy gold for the first hour of this 2 hour movie. After the interval, however, Ba...

Directo r: Ruben Fleischer Stars : Tom Hardy, Riz Ahmed, Michelle Williams, Jenny Slate Genre: Sci-fi / Thriller Rating : 2.75/5 Synopsis — The founder of the founder of the Life Foundation, Carlton Drake(Riz Ahmed) brings in the organisms and begins testing them on human subjects. Meanwhile, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is trying to take down Drake and his company. During the investigation, Brock, who breaks into Drake’s lab, merges with an alien symbiote, the namesake Venom and the movie unfolds Sony’s Venom starring Tom Hardy… yes… TOM HARDY! is a bit of a let-down. Going into the theatre, I didn’t have my expectations sky high as I was well aware of the overall buzz it had created. In addition to that, I wasn’t entirely impressed with any of the teasers they had released. Yet, despite such low expectations, the movie left me wanting. I did have fun watching the movie but I was never entirely engrossed into it. There was always something that put me out. The action s...

Batti Gul Meter Chalu Director: Shree Narayan Singh Writer:   Vipul K Rawal Stars: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyendu Sharma, Yami Gautam Genre: Comedy/ Drama Rating: 3/5 Batti Gul Meter Chalu is a story of two halves: the first half tries its absolute best to not let the audience immerse into the movie with its more than necessary light heartedness. In addition to this, the first half is also marred by the improper use of the local Uttarkhand dialect. Of course I’m no expert, in fact, it was the very first time I was hearing the dialect and may be this contributed to the odd experience. Despite my lack of expertise what I can say for certain is that the unnecessary repetition of certain words by all the characters didn’t allow me to immerse into the movie. The gap between the screen and audience stood firmly.   After the interval, however, the movie finds its footing as it gets a bit more serious both in tone and plot. The second half, thankfully...

The Nun Director: Corin Hardy Writer: James Wan, Gary Dauberman Cast:  Taissa Farmiga, Bonnie Aarons, Demian Bichir, Charlotte Hope, Jonas Bloquet Genre: Horror- Mystery/Thriller Rating : 2.5/5 The third prequel to the much acclaimed The Conjuring, The Nun has been marketed as the “darkest chapter yet” in the Conjuring Universe. However, that is true only as far as the colour tone. The movie doesn’t even measure up to half of what the Conjuring was. The synopsis of the Nun reads— When a young nun at a cloistered abbey in Romania takes her own life, a priest with a haunted past and a novitiate on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate. Together, they uncover the order's unholy secret. Risking not only their lives but their faith and their very souls, they confront a malevolent force in the form of a demonic nun. If you think the plot sounds promising, don’t fall for it. It is a far cry from what the promotional campaign has ma...

Director: Reema Kagti Story and Screenplay: Rajesh Devraj, Reema Kagti (story and screenplay) Dialogue: Javed Akhtar Cast: Akshay Kumar, Mouni Roy, Kunal Kapoor, Amit Sadh, VIneet Kumar Singh, Sunny Kaushal Genre: Drama, History, Sport Rating: 4.9/5 Going into the theatre, I was somewhat sceptical given Bollywood’s track record of making commercial period pieces. But when, after 2 hours and 50 minutes, I came out of it, I was taken by a sense of pure joy and sense of disbelief. Yes, the movie was that good. It had everything. Reema Kagti’s Gold brings to light the little known story behind India’s first hockey Gold in the Olympics as a newly born republic. It is a story of struggle, a story of countless ups and downs, of failure and redemption, of freedom and victory. Aptly released on the 15 th of August on India’s 71 st Independence Day, Gold doesn’t disappoint. Gold, as they say, is an ABSOLUTE GOLD! Usually when reviewing a movie a movie, a reviewer ...

The most meta movie I've ever seen. Even its poster is asking you to run away. Director: Jon Turteltaub Cast: Jason Statham, Ruby Rose, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, Robert Taylor Genre: Monster Movie/ Thriller Runtime: 1h 52m Rating: 2/5 Jason Statham’s The Meg, despite being a monster movie, lacks the terrifying and ‘holy shit!’ moments that we expect from such a movie. With the exception of a few scenes (three to be precise), the movie offers next to nothing. In a movie that has a giant 23-meter prehistoric apex predator terrorising the cast, the terror, amazingly, fails to permeate to the audience onlooking a giant silver screen.  As a mysterious giant creature, supposedly a Megladon— thought to be extinct millions of years ago, attacks a deep-sea submersible, leaving it disabled and trapping the crew at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, the research team stationed in “Mana One” are in a race against time to rescue the crew. As such, they e...

Director : Mark Froster Screenplay : Alex Ross Perry, Allison Schroeder, Tom McCarthy (based on the works of A. A. Milne) Cast : Ewan McGregor, Jim Cummings, Hayley Atwell, Brad Garret, Toby Jones, Peter Capaldi, Mark Gatis, Bronte Carmichael Genre : Drama/ Fantasy Rating : 2.5/5 Disney’s latest live action offering Christopher Robin is a dull affair albeit with giggles sprinkled throughout its runtime of 120 minutes. It takes far too long to take off and when it finally does, it is too little too late. Christopher Robin, the movie, tells the tale of the titular character who is so hung up on the future of his family and by extension his job, he has no time at all for the very family and leads a monotonous life. But then due to certain turn of events, he has to abandon his routine life an help his friends from the Hundred Acre Woods. However, the saviour that is Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) soon needs the help of his friends— Winnie-the-Pooh (Jim Cummings),...

Mission Impossible: Fallout Director : Christopher McQuarrie Cast: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Alec Baldwin, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan Genre : Spy Thriller/ Action Rating : 4/5 Mission Impossible: Fallout is bigger than all the previous impossible missions. Unlike the previous missions, which were self-contained, this one is a direct consequence of the events of Rogue Nation. In addition to the continuation of plot from Rogue Nation, the movie also contains subtle references to the previous movies in the series. When the movie begins, we find Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team (Benji- Simon Pegg and Luther- Ving Rhames) making a simple black-market exchange deal. However, the mission goes awry and they end up losing the plutonium cores they were trying to secure. As a result, Hunt and his team is forced to join forces with CIA assassin August Walker (Henry Cavill) in order to recover the plutonium cores and prevent a...

Ant-Man and the Wasp Directo r: Peyton Reed Stars : Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Hannah John- Kamen, Michael Pena, Randall Park, Michelle Pfeiffer Genre: Sci-fi Action-Comedy/ Superhero Rating : 3.75/5 Ant- Man and the Wasp is a river of comedy and a perennial one at that. It does not give the audience a moment’s rest. This fun-fest, which is a follow-up to Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War, finds Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) under house arrest. His days as the insect sized superhero is over following his exploits in Civil War. However, when Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) approaches him with an urgent mission, he once again has to don the Ant-Man suit and risk jeopardizing his freedom in the process. The movie builds up on the story and the characters from the first movie and adds a host of new characters. Both the new and the old cast are equally brilliant. Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly’s Wasp are perfect as ...

Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado Director: Stefino Sollima Cast: Josh Brolin, Benecio Del Toro, Isabela Moner, Elijah Rodriguez, Catherine Keener Genre: Crime Thriller/ Action Rating: 2.5/5                                                                                              Sicario: Day of the Soldado, the follow-up to the 2015’s break out hit Sicario, is a sorry affair. The sequel fails to justify its existence and yet, sets up for the third instalment. In doing so, it wastes a lot of valuable screen time and story that could actually have benefitted the film at hand. In thinking of what’s to come, the filmmakers forget what is actually at hand. Day of the Soldado begins with the US border patrol coming across an Islamic terro...

Incredibles 2 Directo r : Brad Bird Writer    : Brad Bird Cast    : Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel Jackson, Bob  Odinkirk,    Catherine Keener Genre   : Science fiction film/Action Rating   : 4/5 Pixar’s Incredibles 2 picks up exactly where the first one ended. The Incredibles and Frozone (Sam Jackson) battle the Underminer (John Ratzenberger) to protect the city in the first few minutes of the movie. The destruction they leave in the wake act as the catalyst to illegalising the supers. The movie which is finally in theatres 14 years after the original is every bit the movie the fans had hoped for. The sequel i.e. Incredibles 2 is a treat for the fans of the original. The fans get to see their favourite super-family one more time and they certainly do not disappoint. Unlike the first movie, which centred primarily around Mr. Incredible/ Bob Parr (Craig T. Nelson), this one brings E...