Deepak Thimaya

Not easily comparable to Game of Thrones, but this is good in its own way. If the producers expected the audience to remember which kingdom is where and what it ends up as in the subsequent story that was played before this series, that is indeed a lot of expectation. This series is interesting and some acting is exceptional, but mostly the scenes are just extended beyond their ability to sustain and they do become boring, often. It looks like in some places the writers did not know what to write next to be able to keep the episode on and reach the end only to finish with a bang. Most of the scenes and lines are predictable. They could have placed some short contests in between the lines and given away prizes for guessing what the characters would say next. Apart from some main characters who are recognizable because they are shown more often, some supporting characters look so similar to other characters and often it is difficult to identify who is who. Even the dragons look like they were made before the Game of Thrones because the earlier series had more realistic dragons. Even the CGI in general is of poor quality and most scenes are not pleasing to the eyes. Though most of the actors have acted well, poor characterization does not make the audience cheer for anyone. This series actually has a good story but not many side stories and there is no background to the stories like in Game of Thrones. A viewer cannot be faulted for frequently comparing this to the earlier series, because that is also the purpose of this series, perhaps. Nevertheless, it is a good series and highly watchable, since there is nothing else on Netflix that is comparable to the grandeur and honesty of these series. It is highly doubtful whether any other series has so deftly handled power politics and cold emotions like these two series have. If you don't expect too much, then this is for you, and this is something that you will like and cherish.

The show is too repetitive with an awful dearth of emotion and sometimes it is nothing more than a costumed charade, but what else do you expect it to be, if it is just an authentic representation of the British Artistocracy who are trained to even walk, talk and smile in a certain way? Did I like it? Why wouldn't I? This is just one series that became part of my life for so many days because the people are so real so flat and so believable. They are not at all larger than life or smaller than what you can see them, but they are just their own life-size in their truest form. I loved them and I cannot believe that they could have been anything else. They were every bit of the character they could have ever been. Oh, were there actors playing the roles? I still cannot believe it. These were the people who were, like born to be those characters. I cannot imagine them being anything else, even having their own separate lives different from what they played in Downton Abbey. I cannot remember any other show that left such a mark on me and a feeling of belonging. Don't expect anything, don't watch to like it, just watch it because you could just let them enter your mind and stay there for sometime and make you feel for them. That is the biggest emotion related to the show.

Some movies are made with stories, some are done just to entertain, but perhaps some are made only to showcase the acting talents of some of the actors, and The Remains of the Day looks like a movie made just for that. It is a shallow movie without much of anything. If you are to be awed by Anthony Hopkins' acting prowess, there is only sparks of it and you miss the fire. Emma Thompson fails to emote in many scenes , though she is brilliant in some. The story is so loosely put together you just don't know what the movie is about; whether it is about the lord's Nazi sympathies (which he himself disdainfully rebuts) or about how lonely the servants in these mansions were, or how pointless a movie can be as a whole. Do watch it if you have nothing else to do, but it is not a bad movie at all, with actors like Hopkins and Thompson. It could have been better only if it were written well. Unfortunately it cannot even be remade, because it is so wrung out and stale, in this effort itself.

The movie is sort of metaphysical and complicatedly simple. It is not a very intelligent movie nor with great production values. It is a simple disjointed but interconnecting streams of narration which confluence in a very unexpected but natural manner. Apart from great acting and a natural flow of events that are not too contrived, there is nothing much one can expect. There is no shock factor or titillation, too. It is just a simple moral story that is told with a lot of amoral events. I liked it because it was a different experience and there is so much freshness in the non linear story telling technique adopted by the director. I would like to call it an honest movie, though it is not perfect. But is it a must watch? I am sure as hell, it is.

Average and unconvincing. It appears like the director had made up her mind to show Epstein as an evil sex offender even before any court convicted him and sentenced. This is a very political series and in the end nobody is believable. It looks overly dramatic and naive like only Epstein could do wrong and everyone else is wronged. Nobody can condone or justify child abuse but this is a little skewed, because it throws up new questions about what qualifies as a crime and what people of all ages are capable of doing. In the end it looks like a long episode of willful slander.

An opportunity lost. This could have turned out to be a great movie, though the movie appears like it was shot on a short film budget. Poor acting, amateur direction, loose screenplay, dearth of emotion and poor writing ensure a movie short of a disaster. Though towards the end it shows some promise, the movie does not fail to disappoint. It could have been much better just for the fact that it is set in Java and many would have watched just for that, but this movie trundles in everything. A little more careful direction and screenplay would have given a winner. You must watch it just out of pity for some those good looking Indonesian actors and also for the unique though hackneyed story-line.

A visual surprise with semi horror elements, it is more of a period thriller that may not disappoint an average filmgoer who comes to watch without expectations.

There comes a time in the life of some creative people that they feel they have not done anything at all, though the world may think otherwise. Martin Scorsese appears to have fallen in that trap in having attempted to achieve the glory of his career. The Silence is an insipid rendering of a poignant tale, which has deep meaning only for those Christians who would feel moved by the inability of the proseletysers who were not able to convert the Japanese and in turn converted themselves to the Japanese idea of religion and faith. The film is directionless in every direction. It is with a sense of bewilderment that a Scorsese fan should watch this film, wondering whether his directorial skills were on a holiday when this film was made. The film starts as an amateurish attempt by a college kid who makes a hobby film in which he is the director and producer and his friends play the characters. It looks so sloppy in the beginning, that anyone who has even had the faintest idea of good acting would think that this was directed by a first timer. It is only Andrew Garfield who shows some talent in acting from the beginning and improves it progressively throughout the film You must watch the film for him. Adam Driver is out of place and his acting is pathetic, to say the least. Sometimes he appears and sounds like someone forced him to play this role, much like his character in the film who is not very sure of his role in the plot. Most Japanese characters are played by extremely non professional actors or by those who chose to be unprofessional from the word go. Issey Ogata comes out as the only saving grace. This movie had a great potential and could have been so much better. It is neither a movie about Christianity nor about the uniqueness about Japan and its society of the time. It is just a movie by Scorsese to rival Mel Gibson and make his place in the pantheon of filmmakers who attempted glorious Christian themes. All that the movie required was a little bit of rewriting of the screenplay and a tighter narration. Though some scenes involving Garfield are mention worthy, the movie in general does leave one in confusion about whom should the audience go with. The conduct of the missionaries make them looks like imbeciles at best. There is no argument worthy of consideration on any side. Even the frames and angles are bad. But the movie has some great points too, because it has a soul, however weak it is, but that touches your heart, not because of God's voice or the converts' suffering but because it is a story that many have not heard or known before. The movie can be watched, if you are fogiving like the Christ, only if you don't expect too much from a Scorsese film. I watched it because it was set in Japan, because it involved the Christian missionaries and most importantly because it was a Scorsese film. I stand confused.

Like it, or hate it, it is a compelling movie, with a lot of tense moments. I had heard about this movie but did not bring myself to watch it, till last night, when I ran out of choices on Netflix. I don't have much to say about Clint Eastwood as an actor, but as a director he has this uncanny ability to hook you to the emotions in the movie. That is no small achievement, at all. I have watched Sean Penn in Milk, and had a lot of appreciation for his acting, but as Milk he was playing a real person and it is easier to do so, actually, because you either do it well or poorly and either way you cannot satisfy all, in the end. Mystic River was a revelation as far as Penn is concerned. I cannot say this about the whole movie but at least 70% of it. He has this commitment to the role which is undeniable. Though in the end his character starts losing the depth and the impact, he remains in character. Penn, though openly is a De Nero fan, does not fail in imitating De Nero and Al Pacino. He perhaps should stick to being himself with those beautiful cold eyes and a cut of the face that matches that intensity. It is obvious that either the directors want him to play his idols or he just chooses to be them when he is given a choice. The movie could have been tighter and well written with more scope for unknown, but it ends as a family drama with a lot of unncessary parts. Kevin Bacon is out of character quite often and in some instances out of place too. It looks like the ending was done in a hurry because the movie was too long, already. It is not a bad movie at all. I really wonder how Penn got an Oscar, but he is a good actor nevertheless. Clint Eastwood perhaps had to pay more attention to the screenplay too, in the way he has dedicated to the direction. I did not lose much watching this movie. It was a pleasant surprise indeed.

While I was purely impressed till about the fifth episode, the story started becoming a stranger to me thereafter. Though it is an atmospheric horror, well crafted and presented, it is a story that cannot sustain for ten episodes. Though Im Siwan is flawless, almost, the general presentation looks a wee bit contrived. The story had the potential for not more than 6 episodes and it was stretched beyond the viewers ability to endure. Still, it is a nice watch, particularly because it is an unadorned series without unnecessary embellishments. It is a little too removed from reality that nobody can believe that such things can happen in Seoul and everybody including the police would just be so coolly unaware and apathetic. With the use of subdued music and clever camerawork and natural acting of most actors throughout with innumerable painful repetitions and overplayed tricks, the series fails to become a masterpiece that it promises to be in the first few episodes. Still, my congratulations to the director and the lead actor for making me think about techniques, story telling and good acting.