Saleem Ahmed – Google

Usual serial killer movie but a few things stood out for me ***Spoiler alert*** - Coudlnt guess the killer at the start, but halfway through knew it’ll be someone with a medical background - The visuals are absolutely stunning. Beauty of Norwegian landscape in winters is beautifully captured. Solo car driving on a snow capped mountain road. The lone cabin. Frozen lakes. All beautiful. Given there’s a killer lurking in this set up makes it more intriguing. - Perfect role for the emotionless Mr Fassbender - How cool are Norwegian divorced couples with each other and with partners of their exs ha ha - Loved the Norwegian names (Birte, Gert, Arve, Rakel) and names of towns, cities (Bergen, Telemark) - key reason driving the serial killer, his past, pattern of victims all eerily in sync Good one time watch 👍🏻

There are some movies which make you ask the same question to both yourself and the director WHY? WHY? WHY? Why did you have to make this movie? What we do in life echoes in eternity !!! Gladiator 1 was such a once in a lifetime, epic, never-seen-before kinda movie when it was released that this famous quote applies to it so aptly. And then they had to go and make Part 2 which felt woefully irrelevant. The sole purpose of this movie perhaps was to cast actors who have major Netflix/HBO fan following and milk their popularity. Pedro Pascal (GoT, Last of Us) Joseph Quinn (aka Eddie Munsen from Stranger Things) Lior Raz (from Fauda) The novelty factor that Gladiator 1 had via bringing to life the grandeur of the Roman era, the Colosseum, the realness of the war scenes, the impossible to detect CGI may have been a massive factor in 2000, but in the last few years/decade this entire genre and storytelling style, visuals, CGI have all been used extensively (GoT, Rome etc) and audiences no longer find this appealing. Another massive put off was the lead actor. He was no match to the great Russel Crowe. And why did he have that fake British accent ??!! Overall a huge disappointment 👎🏻

Just watched Dunki. Decent one-time watch. Definitely nowhere close to previous Raju Hirani classics (Munnai bhai, 3 idiots, PK etc) Detailed review (with SPOILERS) below What was good? – He’s picked up a good issue to make a movie on i.e. illegal immigration. Everyone has faced this directly or heard of it, where people try to move onto a better life. The story and characters used to depict this issue (on paper) is good. The montage at the end where they show stats related to illegal immigration, the desperation to get to better lives (with real-life footage) really tug your heart. The twist in the end when they all do a 'reverse Dunki' to get back is also smartly executed. Vicky Kaushal was the best of the lot. Felt he was even better than SRK. The desperation and earnestness he shows to go to UK to rescue the love of his life comes across very strongly. Got a short role though. What was NOT good? A lot For starters, the supporting cast was terrible. Not a single one of them strike a chord. You don't feel for them at ALL. In Munna bhai (Circuit), 3 idiots (Farhan, Raju, Chatur) were all brilliant characters with superb lines and portrayed by superb actors. Here the supporting cast was just outright annoying. Even the ever-dependable Boman Irani was so disappointing. What kept annoying me all through the movie was the shoddy 'old people' make up used. Rather than an A-grade movie cast, they all (including Taapsee Pannu n SRK in their old avatars) looked like cheap Ramlila street actors on a tight budget. The old look just did NOT cut it for me. On similar lines, many of the village street scenes and the indoor shots all felt like a cheap set. Just didn't have a real feel. Why have directors forgotten that there is only so much that CGI, sets can deliver. If you want to give us a real-pind-di-feeling, pls go shoot in the pind ! Music was also very average. You don't walk out remembering even one song. And in Hindi movies, if you don’t have atleast 2 hit songs, straight away you know that the chances of such a movie being a hit go down by 50% straight away !!! And frankly, public doesn't like SRK in any preachy, non-Raj type glamorous or non-Jawan like action hero role methinks. Unless it’s a Swades or a Dear Zindagi, he should just stick to his tried n tested template. Hope this is not the start of the end for our beloved Raju Hirani and he bounces back with a much better movie soon 😊

Watched a Karan Johar movie after really long. Went with zero expectations and no judgements. Absolutely loved it to bits. 1st half is funny and 2nd half is senti. They’ve struck the right balance, where each character is not reduced to a stereotype, yet has strong relatable regional traits. Ranveer Singh’s shown superb acting range. On the surface he’s done a good job playing the loud, brash Punjabi dilli ka launda but at the right time switches to emote well too (love, anger, disappointment, conflict). The banter n deliberately misspelt and mispronounced Hinglish is the best part of the movie (especially in the 1st half). The 2nd half has it’s serious moments too, but it never gets too preachy and conflict is resolved in a reasonably believable way. And needless to say, this being a KJo movie, every single scene, actor, costume and setting looks gorgeous 🤩 p.s: I only wish they had cast an actual Bengali actor (Moushumi Chaterjee or Sharmila Tagore) instead of Shabana Azmi trying to put on a Bengali accent.

Watched #Brahmastra Basically very good concept n story arc. Great visuals. Got goosebumps for a few scenes. But dialogues very petty. And Alia felt a bit force fitted into every scene. Loved the cameos from SRK and Nagarjuna. When Nagarjuna firmed up his fist to take on the truck, it instantly reminded me of THAT famous cycle chain fight scene from SHIVA !!! Lot of people questioning the Alia love angle bit and that it overshadowed Shiva’s story, but what I realised at the end is that she IS super integral to his character and is his ‘button’. I just wish they had better lines though. The kids in the movie were a total bonus👍🏻 Overall not as bad as I imagined it would be. 3 on 5 for me. If dialogues were better then maybe even a 4. Oh and the theatre in Singapore was reasonably full so not as bad a flop as most are making it out to be. It still is drawing in the crowds. Certainly a 1 time watch. And ends well with the mysterious Dev bit. Their showdown in Part 2 will be interesting to watch out.

From our recent India trip, we picked up some Mysore Pak (Indian sweet) from Kanthi Sweets. And everyday I’ve been having 1 Mysore pak piece per day. Every bite is pure magic and heaven. Something similar is this movie Jalsa. Every scene and frame is pure magic. The acting, lighting, framing, intensity, background score just too good. It’s the kind of movie where even the 2nd, 3rd tier actors have done a stellar job. Main leads such as Vidya Balan,Shefali Shah, Rohini Hattangadi have obviously done a stellar job. Special high fives for the child actors. Super natural screen presence. And the ending is just the greatest lump in your throat type ending of this year. Didn’t see it coming. Super movie. Pls watch.