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Showing posts with the label hollywood

The Comeback Trail

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Max Barber (Robert de Niro) and his nephew Walter Creason (Zach Braff) are film producers in Hollywood. None of their films recover their investment. Max wants to make another film to set-off the losses of the previous one and the cycle continues. Reggie Fontaine (Morgan Freeman) is an influential investor who lends money to film producers like Max. But he has had enough of it with the duo and demands that this entire loan be returned, or he is going to kill them off. Max is forced by James Moore (Emile Hirsch) to give him a script which is close to the former’s heart to which he will pay him enough and more so he can cover his debts with Reggie. Reluctantly, Max decides to sell the script.   At the first day of the shoot, Frank Pierce (Patrick Muldoon) falls off the terrace of the building where the filming is planned. James has “insured” any such unfortunate outcome and hence gets paid in millions. The film is trashed, while James gets his insurance. Max decides to cancel the sale-ag

The Gray Man - Movie Review

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Dhanush appears briefly in the film “The Gray Man”, his first Hollywood outing but creates an impact with the morality the character displays. The Netflix movie was released on Fri. 21 Jul. 2022. . Mark Greaney’s novel by the same name has been adapted in to a film which has been bankrolled by the Russo Brothers company AGBO and released worldwide (sic) on Netflix. The film stars Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick and pan-Indian star Dhanush among a host of characters. The film opens up in a prison in the US in the year 2003 when a CIA agent Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton) accosts a lifetime prisoner (Ryan Gosling) and asks him to operate as a mercenary, taking directions from the agency to “complete tasks” from time to time by the high command. He is code named Sierra Six, perhaps indicating the number of predecessors he has. Cut to 2021, the scene is now set in Bangkok where Agent Six has to kill a supposed traitor who is sharing critical and confidential information per

The Assistant - Movie Review

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  Much has been spoken, tweeted and written about #MeToo in real life. There have been some convictions, some remorse and mostly inaction in real life cases. Here’s a film that showcases the life of an office assistant who is not just subject to harassment but even embarrassed when she tries to protect her female colleague.  The film begins with Jane (Julia Garner) starting her work day in the wee hours and heads to her office set in Lower Manhattan, New York city. She’s the first one to get in to the office and manages all the administrative tasks almost alone at the office. The company, a film production house has a number of employees walking up the alley, to the pantry, in the elevator and so on but no one hardly acknowledges her presence or her contribution to the workplace. The first scene show how Jane carefully assembles the coffee mugs, washing the plates, cups and so on, takes photo copies of work files, sends emails, fixes schedules for her bosses and even interacts with the

Jolt - Movie Review

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Betrayal is the worst outcome a human can take. It pains. It makes you feel weak. It makes you feel numb. And most importantly, makes you feel so dumb and helpless that one actually gave themself in to the plot, most often unknowingly. Jolt is all about a woman’s betrayal. Lindy Lewis (Kate Beckinsale) grows up as a normal kid. But over time, takes over her parent’s characteristics and grows up aggressive. At one stage, she is termed “harmful” for the society and is sent to a special school to tame her mind. Sadly, it doesn’t help. She goes through medical treatment, where the medics get harmed by her tantrums. She’s sent to join and train at the Forces, where she ends up hurting even the most skilled personnel. She’s put in lock and key but her aggressive nature makes her the most vulnerable at her tipping point and she gets unexpected energies which cannot be controlled by iron and chains. Finally, Dr. Ivan Munchin (Stanley Tucci) finds a solution for her sake. She’s wrapped up with

The Rhythm Section - Movie Review

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Revenge is not worthwhile, they say. Well, it depends on the cause after all. Sometime, getting back at someone is not to get even but to gain peace. For some please, ignoring or shrugging off is the best solution while a few go to any length to get even, take revenge, at times risking what they have, wondering whether it was all worthwhile. Like the film’s protagonist Stephanie Patrick. To each, their own. Stephanie (Blake Lively) is a happy kind in a family of four with her sister and parents. Even as she reminisces the good old times she’s had, we hear a voice asking her to go to the front bedroom for a Client is waiting. With a “ drugged for several years-look ” and ready to strip to get laid as a prostitute in downtown London, Stephanie asks the client to first pay and borrows a Cigarette. Only that the “Client” is there to – well, talk to her. Rather, talk her out. Keith Proctor (Raza Jaffrey) is a freelance Investigative Journalist and tells her that her parents didn’t die in a

Jagame Thandhiram - Movie Review

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  I have been watching films on Netflix only for about a year, though I have honestly had the account for the past 3 years intermittently. Thanks to the theatres “locked down”, I would’ve watched at least 50 movies on this OTT platform since Apr. ’20, while washing vessels during the first lockdown, late nights after stressful work days, while on travel or simply finding a slot on a normal day to catch up some “me time”. So, watching Jagame Thandhiram (JT) today at home on the Tv was a natural progressing. And the film lived up to my preferred genres – Crime, Thrillers, International Politics, Refugee situation and of course, some gunfights. Only that JT packs almost all of these genres in one single movie over 158 mins. The whole narrative was so international that at many moments, I felt I wasn’t even watching a Tamil movie.  Dhanush’s Jagame Thanthiram is the first Tamil film to be titled “A Netflix Original” after the producers backed by S. Sashikanth, YNOT Films & Reliance Ent

Outside the Wire – Movie Review

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I have always believed in my own coinage ‘Artificial Intelligence, Natural stupidity”. Netflix’ own production “Outside the Wire” is just that. When humans start depending more and more on machines and lesser on human values, we’re only headed for a major apocalypse. And this film once again reveals why is it so.   Harp (Damson Idris) is a drone pilot operating from a US Marine base and has a successful career as a drone pilot (the films is set in 2036). During a mission where Marines are fighting against an ambush, Harp decides by himself to strike a missile from the drone instead of listening to his superior’s order to hold back; the guys on ground want to save 2 wounded soldiers and are trying their best but Harp chooses to push the missile to save the 38 soldiers instead as there is a fully loaded van which is about to blow up. Subsequently, Harp is reprimanded; escapes a Court Martial and a jail term thanks to a benevolent boss, though he is sent to Camp Nathaniel in Ukraine to un

2 Guns - Movie Review

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It has always been a point of discussion if it is ethical to double-cross a partner, whether in social life or in business or when in the Forces / Call of Duty. Well, there is not right or wrong here in my humble opinion. I guess the situation, the circumstances and the job/role that one plays decides whether he/she should deceive the other. An old adage goes thus – “The end doesn’t justify the means” cannot be more appropriate for this kind of behaviour. But then, life is not so simple and beautiful that we all don’t witness such situations. 2 Guns is just that.  A DEA cop and a Navy marine are both in disguise. While one chooses to befriend the other, the other one picks the former randomly. Bobby (Denzel Washington) and Stig (Mark Wahlber) visit a local diner to have a coffee and conversation. Bobby is waiting for his pal to arrive so he can offer some grub while Stig is giving a deep look inside the Bank which is opposite the diner. In split seconds, the Diner is set on fire for re

TENET - Movie Review

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We cannot erase our past, but we can ensure we erase our future so it doesn’t erase our past. Yeah. Read again. And again. If you can get what I’m saying, well, then that’s Tent for you. Tenet was the first big budget outing that will be remembered for being released worldwide in theatres even as the Covid-19 pandemic shook the world all through 2020. Be glad that there is no direct or indirect connect to China. For Christopher Nolan is known to intertwine not just screenplay but also multiple geographies in his films.  In Tenet, he has stuck to just 7 countries (or geographies) including Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Norway, the UK and the US as well as amchi- Mumbai displaying a brave bungee jumping act among others in Mumbai in an Antillia-like structure. Later, they gatecrash a part of Oslo Airport with a Cargo Airliner with minimum destruction to the structure (ser, perhaps!).  Tenet is fantastically (and fanatically written and conceptualised) by Nolan, someone who has always belted m