[Vinod_nair]

12th Fail
Sony Max
Rating: 5/5

Beautiful movie, watched completely engrossed 8-11.30pm, adds included, (normally we retire to bed by 9.30)

Vikrant Massy 4/5
Heroine 3.5/5
Vidhu Vinod Chopra: Director 5/5

I thought Vinod had lost his midas touch after 1942, and happy producing successful films for Raj Kumar Hirani, but he proved me wrong.

Must watch.

[AltoLXI]

Article 370

Watched yesterday in PVR. The theatre was half full - probably due to weekday. Liked the film for the crisp summarization of the Kashmir issue and revoking of article 370. The political maneuvers leading to the revocation was akin to game of chess.

Excellent acting by Yami, Priyamani and Arun Govil. Liked Priyamani's graceful acting more than Yami's. My wife liked the way she wore her saris

Rating : 4/5

[mobike008]

12th Fail
OTT : Hulu/Hotstar
Rating: 5/5

Late to the game. But, saw this movie a couple of weeks ago.

What an amazing movie and to know that it's a true story is a great feeling and inspiration at the highest level. And, I have personally seen the struggles of these IAS aspirants from many years as our home is in same area in Delhi and one of our relative is an IAS coach (famous guy) and have known some aspirants and their struggles so I can somehow related to it in closer fashion.

Vikrant Massey is one of my favorites stars and was perfectly casted for this role. His beautiful wide-eyed and toothy grin expression throughout the movie is one of the most "naive" expression you can come across in this world.

Despite being a simple movie, it was engaging and kept us engrossed throughout the movie. Except the final scene, which ended too abruptly (should have been more dramatic), the whole movie was executed flawlessly and one of the finest that Hindi Cinema has produced.

Mandatory Watch. !!!

[Sudarshan42]

Not a movie, but an Indian documentary on the Sheena Bora case called Buried Truth. My head is spinning looking at all the different complexities of this case. Worth a watch for the masala.

TW- murder, alleged rape and incest

Buried Truth- The Indrani Mukerjea story- 3.5/5- on Netflix

[ach1lles]

We'd been waiting to screen Sam Bahadur for a while now, as we missed it in theatres because we didn't want to watch anything else soon after Animal.
What a sad little thing this.. thing is. It makes no sense, has no feeling, no progression, no character development, and has inanely useless supporting characters. The score is abysmal, rest of the music isn't much better.
With such rich historical content and Talvaar's director Meghna Gulzar at the helm, I expected a real engrosser. It is so poorly made that it feels more like a home movie or a series of tik-toks spliced together, rather than a cinematic thing.

Vicky Kaushal's performance is completely wasted.

On the plus side, Zee5 on Apple TV uses the tvOS platform UI which was a pleasant surprise. However it defaulted to 2.1 sound so Zee5 does Zee5. Ha!

0.5/5; ugh.

[Samarth 619]

Fighter: I saw it around 2-3 weeks ago.

In the outside/real world, this movie had it share of disputes. Parallels with Top Gun:Maverick were drawn by the scenes from the trailer. Some disputes arose too, like displaying the movie outside India due to stand on Pakistan, someone also complained of kissing in uniforms being shown, etc.


Now on the movie itself. An Indian movie on the aviation scene was very welcome, but as I had expected, it proved to be too much of a technical challenge. Yet, the movie was implemented averagely, with little gaps and mistakes here and there.

Physics as usual went for a toss, with helicopters flying upside down(!), and fighter jets being flicked around as if they were toys. For example, in Top Gun: Maverick, they showed Russian 5th generation fighter planes, as the very best, the fastest, the most agile. And yet, the ones from Fighter made a mockery of them... and in turn, the movie mocks its own physics. Fighter jets are machines and they do take time to turn around, please, director sir, understand this.

The story was an average one:- it was hard to find novelty. The main characters were used well with good background insights, but extra characters could've been utilised better.
The antagonist/villain designing was surprisingly excellent, contrary to TG:Maverick where there was no named villain person or country.
Pak's Ace fighter pilot Red Nose created some good excitement, while the on ground villain, Masood Azhar (played by Rishabh Sawhney) was jaw dropping to look at, with red eyes, scarred face and all. I'd watch the movie again for this very reason. A goddamned son of a devil is what he looked and acted like.

Similar to TG:Maverick's story, the lead character (HR) is a brilliant pilot, but falling victim to his own attitude. Some of the scenes are brutally similar. A sequence of TG:Maverick in which Maverick flies an unscheduled test without permission, is also repeated here in the end. Other parts of the movie look inspired from TG:M here and there. Patriotism is yes, central to the plot. End action sequence showed a lot of unnecessary risky stunt no armyman would do in real life, but its a movie so..

Overall, its a one time watch, except for brilliant antagonist/villain designing which could have a web series of its own.

Score: 3.5/5 (considering Bollywood standards).

[harry10]

Originally Posted by IamNikhil

Watched Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya with the folks at a nearby PVR on the weekend. Had not expected the seats to be full, but the hall was packed.

It's definitely a coming-of-age sort of film, but the handling and execution could definitely have been better. The makers have done their best to showcase the human v/s robot battle; ultimately Bollywood means masala and hence a lot of cliches and drama.

Shahid Kapoor is nice as usual, but it's Kriti Sanon who really shines. She has looked stunning in almost every frame throughout the movie; also, acting-wise has done a great job.

The end of the movie has hinted at a sequel. Will be interesting.

Rating: 4/5

Saw this couple of days back.
My thoughts mirror yours.
Kriti was stunning in entire movie and I believe she did a great job portraying a robot. Shahid was alright and I will rate this as a very standard performance. Good to see a different concept and storyline adopted by makers. Last 15-20 minutes were completely bonkers and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I can deduce the storyline for the sequel. After the dose of action and heavy duty movies in last few months this one was a nice breeze watch.

[Rahkehs]

Watched Sam Bahadur on Zee5, it felt Vicky Kaushal mistakingly picked up the mannerisms of Dev Anand instead of Sam Manekshaw!

A poorly made film trying to superficially touch every aspect of Manekshaw’s life and had no depth.

[M@y@vi]

12th fail: A fantastic film deserving all accolades and more. Watch a movie is when we spend our valuable 3 hrs of time. We should be look into ourselves to see the type of emotions those hours take us and what we carry when we walk out or get up from the couch. This movie triggered positivity and motivation for next few hurdles in life. Definitely a must watch and glad I did that.

Kerala story: This should not be on my list or I should not be wasting my time writing about this. Lesser said the better. Such is the typecasting about a small segment of people made into a cinema for a different region with larger population. The very fact that such movies are commercially successful and some youtube videos has some brainfogged people saying this movie opened their eyes to some FACTS in Kerala makes me think how mental distance is more than geographical distance for them to see real facts.
Emotions triggered: hate, rage, stupidity, utter disbelief.

Manjummel boys: The best of 2024 until now. This rescue drama has broken all sorts of boundaries between the 2 states involved. Such movies should tell the India’s story for tomorrow. Had come small and grown now as a very popular movie with all screens full across south. It is a challenge for anyone to watch and list what they didn’t like about it.
Emotions triggered: goosebumps, wet eyes, respect.

[Kar_Om]

Movie: Sirf Ek Banda Kafi hai
OTT: ZEE5
Rating: 4/5

This movie is based on true story about a godman in India and about a legal battle to bring justice to a minor girl.

Manoj Bajpayee playing role of an advocate is the highlight of the film, very well supported by other casts of the film. He is the driving force of the movie, especially the scenes involving courtroom battle. Icing on the cake is the ending courtroom scene involving closing statement from him. At the same time, I felt this movie is on same template as Jolly LLB series or Oh My God depicting a common man taking on big power. A must watch if you are fan of Manoj Bajpayee's acting!

[chinkara]

My inputs:
Kerala Story 1/5 - Much of what has been said.
Dunki - 1/5. Really disappointing from Hirani. He was treading into preachy territory with PK, but this was BAD.

Now gathering the courage to see Animal.

[GTO]

Based on the reviews here, went & saw Article 370 at the Jio Drive-In cinema. Great movie, a serious topic that has been well-handled with excellent performances through & through. Will give it a 4 / 5 rating.

Trivia: This is the first movie in 2 years that we have completed in the cinema. We watch a lot of great movies & shows at home, and don't suffer bad movies. In the last 2 years, we have walked out of screenings of Animal, Fast X, Barbie, Vikram Vedha...

A pic of our parking spot before the crowds came. Just 700 bucks per car (regardless of whether you are 2 onboard or 7 in an MPV) makes it very cheap. And still, the drive-in was just 50% full on a Sunday evening. Chilly weather, nice screen, yummy food and a very unique experience:




Car-themed restrooms:

[Axe77]

@GTO:

Looks like this would have been a good one for the Thar with the top down, given the excellent weather.

Never been to a drive-in theatre but I'm guessing the acoustics experience is strictly average so it accounts for the relatively cheaper pricing. Would nevertheless like to go once to Jio just for the sake of a drive-in movie experience.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Looks like this would have been a good one for the Thar with the top down, given the excellent weather.

Haha, that's just what my girl said!

Never been to a drive-in theatre but I'm guessing the acoustics experience is strictly average

It's pretty good, actually, when you are inside the car. Reason = your car's stereo system plays the sound off FM channel 88.5. The Bimmer has a nice audio setup and amazing front seats, so we were stretched out and comfortable.

We stepped out only to eat (strictly no food in the car). Had taken mats and ate vegan hot dogs & pizzas on the mats. The Drive-In has placed several exterior speakers across the ground. Yes, from these outside speakers, the audio experience is just average. You will inevitably move to your car. But there were many people who came with mats, pillows, mattresses and were having full-on family picnics outside their cars. A few SUVs also had their tail-gates opened, rear seats folded & owners sleeping + watching the movie.

Would nevertheless like to go once to Jio just for the sake of a drive-in movie experience.

You absolutely should. It's a great experience. We make it a point to go twice a year. Pro Tip = Choose parking spot F21 / F22 / F23. These are the best IMHO.

[myavu]

It would be nice if they can broadcast the audio channels through cars' Bluetooth ICE .