Raja Sarkar

Such a well-made Bengali thriller! Loved it.

Loved it. Despite its imperfections, its a high-quality thriller that kept me hooked right thru' the final scene. Josh Hartnett is fantastic as Cooper, and the film's twists and tensions are worth experiencing atleast once!

The Substance (2024) is a visceral and well-crafted body horror film that delves into the darker aspects of human nature — greed, ego, addiction, and vanity — ultimately showcasing how these traits can lead to self-destruction. It also satires Hollywood's obsession with youth and the extremes some are willing to endure to preserve relevance. It also lampoons the ruthlessness of the entertainment bosses to enhance show-ratings. The story is a bit unique: Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), a fading TV aerobics star, undergoes a dubious rejuvenation procedure involving a mysterious "substance." This creates a younger version of herself, Sue (Margaret Qualley), who rapidly ascends to stardom, leaving chaos and destruction in her wake. Director Coralie Fargeat's bold and stylistic vision brings this grotesque tale to life, with striking visuals, intense close-ups, body-play and a thrilling, gory finale. Demi Moore shines as Elizabeth, masterfully portraying the physical and emotional unraveling of a woman trapped by societal pressures and identity crises. This career-defining comeback reaffirms her status as a fearless and versatile performer. Margaret Qualley’s nuanced portrayal of Sue — a character grappling with duality — is magnetic, while Dennis Quaid delivers a standout performance as Harvey, a chronically repulsive and morally ambiguous studio executive. The film is a must-watch for fans of experimental cinema. It pushes boundaries but comes with a hidden warning: you may lose your appetite—and perhaps start fearing aging!

Cuckoo (2024) is a strange yet captivating film that I thoroughly enjoyed! Initially, I thought "Cuckoo" was just a metaphor, but as the movie unfolded, the bizarre and terrifying nature of the underlying experiment became clear. The title is truly spot on — they truly meant it! I also loved the Bavarian setting, the color tone, sound effects, and suspense. They all synced perfectly to create the tense atmosphere needed for such a film. Hunter Schafer was the perfect choice for the lead role. Her performance throughout the film deserves high praise. Dan Stevens, whom I consider an immensely talented actor with great looks and even greater potential, delivered his role well. Overall, don't miss this movie; it’s a well-balanced mix of strangeness, unpredictability, and scares combined with great acting!

Shaitaan is a good supernatural thriller. Yes, like most films of this genre, it has its fair share of chills and flaws! It feels like apart from the actor's fees and a few shots in Uttarakhand, it must have been a low-budget venture because most of the movie takes place indoors and there ain't too many actors involved. The story drags a bit in the middle though. Also, if you are in for a terrifying devil or monster, there ain't one, because it has been portrayed almost as realistically as possible. Everything aside, Madhavan has done a commendable job. The ending is suggestive of a sequel. Almost every afternoon PVR shows at my place are more than 80% full, proving it to be a much-liked movie. People do have a liking for supernatural thrillers and horror movies, and they like it more when played with serious no-nonsense actors like Ajay and Madhavan.

Longlegs (2024) is an engaging psychological thriller with a supernatural element, cleverly woven into a narrative that oscillates between the 1970s and 1990s, set against the backdrop of Oregon. The plot centers around FBI agent Lee Harker, portrayed by Maika Monroe (famous for the 2014 horror flick, It Follows), who is assigned to crack a serial killer case spanning decades. As she digs deeper, the investigation takes an increasingly unsettling turn, blurring the boundaries between reality and the supernatural while becoming more personal. Director Oz Perkins (son of Psycho legend Anthony Perkins) skillfully crafts a tense atmosphere throughout the film while maintaining the high quality of storytelling. Perkins avoids relying on conventional jump scares, instead opting for a slow-burning psychological tension that keeps viewers on edge. Cinematographer Andres Arochi enhances this tension with lingering, static shots that amplify the unsettling atmosphere. The film's auditory design highly complements the visual storytelling, creating an unsettling yet captivating cinematic experience. Monroe’s performance as Agent Harker is captivating, with her vulnerability and fear brought to life in vivid detail. No doubt, she’s becoming increasingly adept at portraying such emotionally intense roles. However, I personally was waiting for a "face-off" with the titular character himself i.e. Nicolas Cage. Cage’s performance as the menacing, enigmatic killer, Longlegs, stands out, balancing fear and fascination without going overboard. This characterization is one of the personal best that I have ever seen on screen. Over these years, Nick has really evolved as the most persistent actor who have tasted more failures than most of his A-grade co-stars, even to the extent of bankruptcy, but have also kept appearing on loads of movies, mostly B-grade (or shall I say gradeless!) stuffs, and performances like this tells us that persistence matters. His impressive transformation into this hideous figure is equally haunting and engrossing. The film is worth watching for its unique plot twists and meticulous pacing, paired with a rich cinematic experience that stands among the best in its genre.

I watched this movie with my 6-year-old daughter and we both loved it! However, I was hoping for more actions from Proximus Caeser, the antagonist bonobo, and maybe a more interesting David-vs-Goliath fight between him and Noa, our hero! But yes, they didn't drag it, and it worked! Please go and watch it with your family, its an entertainer..

Late night with Devil (2023) It is a one-of-a-kind analog horror flick with a unique plotline. The fictional story is set on the backdrop of 70s satanic rituals and occult practices. It happens mostly in interiors within the setup of a Television Studio program, although some found footage scenes were included at the beginning for around 8 minutes to lay the premise of the story. The set was designed pitch-perfect reeling a feel of the 70s late-night talk shows, where the guests are allowed to smoke and both the guest and the host are immaculately dressed. Long collars and bright prints were en vogue. And of course, the makeup - thick eyelashes, nude lips, bronze and blush, a bit of shimmer and glitter, and sun-kissed skin, men sporting long hairs, thick sideburns - all done well. With a modest budget, this amount of attention is commendable, but then its necessary as well. Even though the acting was great, and the dialogues were well written, I somehow felt that David Dastmalchian was a bit too stiff for a role like this. You need a bit of movement, shades, quivering expressions, shivering mien, and lots of voice work instead of just the weird stare, to establish a character like Jack Delroy. Indeed, David picked up the 70s mannerisms especially the hand gestures and finger movements, but then, he essentially presented the character mostly flat like the character is always under spotlight, every movement of his and every word he says were to be critically analyzed and severely judged by his audiences, and hence maybe, his character is frigid and somewhat starchy, didn’t quite look that stressy of his falling show ratings. The film invested a shoestring VFX budget of mere USD 150K on approximately 300 visual effects. Not all of them worked though. The scene when Lilly became repossessed and bolts of lighting pulled her apart so as to split her head into two, with lights emitting from the gaps - could have been done in a much, much better way. Such VFXs of lightning, splitting heads, etc. are nowadays a common day effect employed on popular YouTube channels, that too for kids! Its hard to imagine that the same movie where at the beginning you are shown the terrific face of Lilly possessed by Abraxas, with great voice work, but then cut-to the scene where Madeleine's spirit was shown standing right next to Jack, its just so amateurish, it ruined the film for me. The ending should have been handled in a much better way. It completely lacked the tools to induce excitement and exploit suspense to drive the film into an edge-of-a-seat ride, instead, it diminished itself more and more into a blunt stage-play. The shoddy effects combined with an unimpressive ending will probably be the reason it won’t find big distributors for releasing it across the global consuming audiences like in India. Its a failed effort, albeit qualified but not superbly commendable, it just couldn’t make it to the finish line!

For me the decisive moment came early in the movie when a bunch of tribal "spider" people of Peru starts crawling down the trees to rescue Constance. The animation (or lack of it), the superbad rubbery costume of the tribes, and the well-groomed Spanish looking tribal chief - all of them are total spoilsports. Secondly, Dakota should do something about her lifeless casual acting or actually the lack of energy which is evident across every single frame. Despite being such a famed actress, she maintained the same facial expressions and monotonous voice throughout the various events in the movie. It might have served other movies but this one is a Marvel movie and she is somehow the titular character! Thirdly, Tahar Rahim is not a good match for the Sims character that he had played. If you have ever gone through the Amazing Spider-Man books, you must have noticed the character looked completely different. It has a crooked mien, white hair etc. But Tahar looked fresh out of Salon every time he was presented. Plus, he looked so weird in the black spider suit, which looked to me like a suit made by cutting truck tyres. I can go on like this but, in actual, there are so many annoying scenes which keeps pointing to only one conclusion - this is a stupid, lackluster movie, not even worth my neighbor's dog's time.

Dune Part Two is far better than Dune Part One, mostly because it crosses a few milestones of the epic story seeded in Part One. As the ending suggests, there'll be a Part Three as well. While Part Two gets rid of some of the main characters introduced in Part One, it also introduces some newer ones. Although there's nothing drastically new in its storyline, the visuals are amazing and the action sequences are well-crafted. All the lead actors have done a terrific job, especially Timothee, Zendaya, and Austin Butler. Overall, this is a worthy sequel, not because it completes a major portion of the storyline but because it paves the way for multiple sequels.