Excursions

I watched three movies over the weekend. I don’t usually do this, but after a hectic week at work, I had to give myself some relief. Two of the three movies were absolutely (and surprisingly) brilliant. Another one was just a mindless filler.

The first was 12th Fail. Such an inspiring story told in a simple, no-nonsense manner. In today’s phase of over-produced, over-dramatic, loud action movies, the plain narration was a treat. There was no ear-splitting background music and no unnecessary slow-motion effects. The life the movie was based on already had enough drama that it didn’t need any additional masala. Plus the music from Shantanu Moitra was mesmerising, especially the track Bolo Na that plays in the film. A beautiful, uplifting movie that can be watched with family, something that’s rare these days!

Next, we watched Migration – an unplanned rush to the theatre with the only intention to spend quality family time. And we did. A light, colourful movie with moments of hearty laughs. Of course, with a bucket of popcorn and coke. I always feel refreshed when my daughter has a wonderful time in a movie theatre. Watching her guffaw at the silliest of the jokes brings a big smile to my face. Today was no different.

With this much of the weekend spent on entertainment, I still had time for myself, for writing and lots of reading. I must be doing something right. I have a theory, but I am not ready to share it yet.

I was pretty excited to watch A Man Called Otto since I saw the trailer. Having loved the original character Ove, I was looking forward to watching Tom Hanks play the lead. And as expected, he made Ove his own.

When spectacle and larger-than-life characters are ruling the movie screens and box offices, such a heartwrenching yet endearing story shouldn’t be missed. If you have read the book, watch it for Hanks’s portrayal of Ove. If you haven’t, you must watch it for everything.

I watched Kuttey yesterday – what a terrible letdown. Given the list of artists as part of the cast and crew, I had such high expectations. But the skill of being a competent storyteller cannot be faked. It tried too hard to be cool, “new age”. Every frame screamed that it was inspired by the style of Guy Ritchie or Tarantino. Or even Bharadwaj’s own Kaminey.

What the Jr. forgot is it isn’t the style that made these directors what they are.

Everybody was trying too hard – even the seasoned actors looked uncomfortable playing the part. A short run-time of 90 minutes felt too long, even though the screenplay was fast-paced. I kept moving ahead scene after scene because I knew exactly how it would play out.

Barring the last 15 minutes, hardly any part catches your attention. Sigh! Such sheer waste of talent.

I attempted to watch Netflix’s new docuseries “MH370: The Plane That Disappeared” - and it’s absolutely terrible. It gives focus to too many characters, goes all over the places and never returns back.

I don’t even know what’s the story they want to tell. It’s not what happened to the plane or who is responsible or even how it affected the people related to the passengers on-board. It tries to do all of it and does half-assed job at each.

I would recommend listening to the podcast episode on this topic by Stuff You Should Know. They do a far better job at explaining the mystery than this supposed to be well-produced documentary by Netflix.

I thoroughly enjoyed Vaalvi, a Marathi dark comedy thriller. I don’t remember the last time I laughed out this loud while the characters in the movie handled one serious situation after another. I wasn’t laughing at the idiocy of the film or the characters; rather, the movie wanted me to laugh. Therein lies the brilliance of this film.

Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But it’s an intelligent film. Sure, it has moments where it leans towards absurdity. But if you recognise the tight budget for Marathi movies and ignore such rare moments, you can enjoy even the absurdity thoroughly.

I wish this movie was more readily available. Do watch the trailer – I am sure you will enjoy it.

I watched all four episodes of The Romantics today. I loved the first two that documented the early life of Yash Chopra and the Yash Raj Films. I especially enjoyed the references to the early 90’s movies – especially the music. That was also my biggest gripe with the docuseries – it just didn’t speak enough about Yash Chopra’s taste in music. And his love for lyrics.

I remember listening once to Javed Akhtar on how valuable the lyrics, the words, and the poetry was to Yash Chopra. “If music is the body of a song, lyrics are its soul,” Javed Akhtar had said. Yash Chopra understood that.

So as I got nostalgic while listening to all the songs from the yesteryears – Waqt, Kabhi Kabhi, Silsila, Chandni, Darr – play in the background, I wished the makers of The Romantics had spent a whole episode just on his appreciation and quest for good music. There are so few Indian directors left who still value music as a core identity of movies. Yash Chopra was one of them.

I watched Pathaan yesterday. The only reason this movie even is bearable is due to the charisma that is SRK. It’s a terrible movie otherwise. A two star movie with one big star, who earns an additional star by himself.

My family and I watched Strange World yesterday. I don’t remember when I was this unimpressed with a Disney movie. The makers attempted to hit a lot of big ideas but forgot what story they wanted to tell. The world-building is half-baked and foolish. The emotional parts bore you. The climax is dull.

My wife quipped, “Disney doesn’t know how to make a movie with a male protagonist.” After all, when did Disney last make a movie with a strong father-son dynamic? Maybe Nemo?

This comment from Alison Willmore’s review of the movie resonated with me.

So much of Strange World’s audaciousness is front-loaded into its concept, and so little of it comes through in the execution. Its themes linger in the mind longer than any line or emotional beat in part because those elements feel so rote and secondary.

I was so giddy watching the trailer for A Man Called Otto. I loved the original character Ove created by Fredrick Backman and am so excited to see Tom Hanks play him. Love it! And I can’t wait. Yay!

I loved Ove so much that I created my own character based on him in one of my short stories, Marvelling at Life. I wrote a few more after this one with Oas, my character. I always loved writing them. I am looking forward to this movie.

Our species' collective common sense is on a downward trend; my movie theatre experience yesterday proved this again. With mobile phones in their hands, they kill the vibe with the ringtones and flashes. A few pick up the calls in the middle of the movie. Some peek at their phones out of habit just to check the notifications. So what’s fricking wrong with these folks? Can you not stay away from the dopamine-inducing notifications even for a couple of hours?

There is also a crazy trend on the rise recently. People are creating reels of theatre response — a highly anticipated scene begins, the entry of an important character or a dialogue or a fight sequence, and people have their smartphones out recording the screen. What the fuck, man!

I am ready to pay extra for watching a movie at a theatre with a “no smartphone allowed” policy. I know it’s near impossible, but a guy can dream, can’t he?

A sidetone, the movie I watched was Vikram Vedha, and I absolutely loved it. I don’t care that it’s a remake. It is remade well, in the right spirit, and backed by solid performances.

I loved the trailer for Vengeance, looks so much fun. But I don’t think it’s going to be in theaters around here anytime soon. So all I can do is wait for it to become available on some OTT platform.

I am not a horror movie fan. I have seen a few over the years but do not enjoy them. With age, my patience with them has further gone down. I do not watch this genre at all anymore. Or so I thought.

I was recently reminded of my dislike as I read this list from the editors at Rotten Tomatoes. I realized that there are few movies in this genre that I have enjoyed. Or I do still enjoy. The likes of The Mist or Jaws Or The Shining. Or the number one on the list, Psycho. Or the one I thoroughly enjoyed recently - Get Out.

Basically, I don’t mind psychological thrillers. Or ones with creatures. But I am done watching haunted houses and ghosts and unnecessary gore.

That said, I do enjoy reading the plots of the movies, predominantly from the horror genre, that I have no interest in. I have read so many movie plots on Wikipedia. I was anyway not going to watch the movie. By reading the plot, I at least know that the one twist the movie was sold on is shit.

I watched The Batman today – I am glad that after a few terrible few showings, we have a good setting again. It’s not a perfect movie – it’s too long and too thin. But I loved the way it’s shot, it does “look and sound brilliant”. The first half is particularly gripping. I didn’t like the Riddler though, his eccentricities felt forced.

That said though, the first thing this movie made me do was rewatch a few sequences from The Dark Knight series. The heights that Nolan took this superhero to is hard to scale.

I came to know that “how Disney ruined star wars” is one of the most searched questions around Disney. I wonder, have they? What about Marvel? They have done something – but ruined, it is not.

I recently finished watching The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix. It’s an engaging, bingeworthy series. Nothing’s special about it, but if all one wants is to binge a show over the weekend, this is one option. The things keep moving. No performance painful, no side-story unbearable.

I watched Spiderman: No Way Home today and, oh boy, it’s such a fun movie. It had me giggling at many moments, and yet equally moved at a couple others. Tom Holland is the best Spiderman and he finally got an origin story that he so well deserved. I might watch it again soon 🎬

I am exited by the Jurassic World Dominion trailer, mainly by the star cast from the original one. As I saw more, I wished the trailer ended with a screen that read “Directed by Steven Spielberg”. 🎥

I watched Incredibles 2 recently for the second time. I liked it a lot better on repeat viewing than I did the first time. Perhaps I just had too many expectatios from the sequel to one of my favorite Pixar movies. It’s fun, kept me at the edge of my seat throughout. 🎥