FRACTURE

Sky and I decided to watch a movie today. After giving a few recommendations, I typically leave the choice to Sky. During the time that Sky takes to pick a film from one of the three platforms, I manage to watch a film AND write its review.

Sky is a fan of Anthony Hopkins. The first movie that we watched together was The Rite.

After dismissing the movies on Prime and Hotstar, Sky finally decided that he wanted to watch a lawyer movie. So, I suggested Fracture.

Fracture is a 2007 film starring Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal) and Ryan Gosling (Hey Girl, you got to know him!). The Director is Gregory Hoblit, who is also the Director of Primal Fear (one of my favourite legal thrillers).

This film is available on Netflix and listed under the genres of crime movies and crime dramas and listed as dark and suspenseful.

Sky put up with me predicting every move of the characters. Halfway through the movie, I realised that I may have watched this movie earlier. It’s either that or I have great deduction skills.

PLOT: Ted Crawford’s (Anthony Hopkins) wife has been shot dead and he’s been arrested on account of having confessed to the crime. The arresting officer also happens to have a personal grudge against Ted. Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) is the District Attorney conducting this trial. Willy has had a 95 percent success rate and has recently been hired by a leading corporate firm. Willy agrees to take on this matter as his last as it’s an open and shut case. But is it?

The police have not been able to retrieve the murder weapon and the case that was already built on a weak foundation begins to crumble. Things aren’t going well on the professional front either as now Willy’s employment with the new firm is at stake.

Will Ted manage to hoodwink the system and escape scot-free?

REVIEW: If you love legal thrillers, courtroom dramas or if you have watched Primal Fear and enjoyed it, you most definitely will enjoy this film too.

The plot is entwined with twists and despite having your detective hat on, you may not be able to predict the next move.

Anthony Hopkins is at his Hannibal best. He has that eery, sinister smile plastered on his face, constantly provoking the District Attorney and even succeeding at it. Gosling is his usual cocky self. He starts off as the smug, “I’ve never lost a case” lawyer until he has his smile wiped off his face by Hopkins (not literally though, remember this isn’t Hannibal!)

Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) plays the role of Gosling’s boss and love interest and barely has much of a role.  

This film is a classic cat and mouse thriller with excellent performances by Hopkins and Gosling and a well-spun script.

TRIVIA: Chris Evans had auditioned for the role of Willy Beachum.

VERDICT: Some old films that had gained enormous popularity during the period of their release have not withstood the test of time. Here’s one that you can watch and still enjoy.

Do you like legal thrillers as well? Then please do follow me on Facebook and Instagram @lucidlucent. 

Image Source - Wikipedia

OZARK

When S began to tell Sky and me about Ozark, I interrupted and asked him my usual question if it was on Prime. When he said it was on Netflix, I half-heartedly continued to listen to him as he went on about it being a great show. I was happy with Prime and the content it offers and despite having been asked to subscribe to Netflix and Hotstar on numerous occasions, refused to do so. I take ages to order in a restaurant if the menu exceeds 5 pages and there have been times when I’ve left home, having already picked the dish off the online menu to save the embarrassment of being asked if I was byhearting the dishes on the menu. You can imagine my consternation when Shugu and Archie gifted me a yearlong subscription for Netflix.

Now, I have numerous movies and series “watch-listed” on all three OTT platforms (yes! I have a Hotstar subscription too now) based on recommendations given by my like-minded friends and I must admit I am enjoying the wide array of choices I now have. I have worked out a system where I alternate between the three so as to devote equal time to all.

Ozark is a Netflix original series and has currently aired 3 seasons.  The 4^th shall be the final season. It is listed under the genres of Crime TV Dramas, TV Thrillers and TV Dramas. It is described as ‘ominous’ and ‘dark’. It is rated 18+ due to its mature content. The series stars Jason Bateman (Arrested Development, Horrible Bosses) and Laura Linney (Primal Fear). The show is created by Bill Dubuque (The Accountant, The Judge).

PLOT: Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman), besides being a financial planner, is also money laundering for a Mexican drug cartel. When his partner is caught embezzling money from the drug mafia, Marty talks his way out from having his eyes gouged and body disposed off in a vat by offering to launder millions for the cartel in Ozark, Missouri. He is offered 3 months’ time to launder 8 million dollars by Del (Esai Morales), the No.1 lieutenant for the cartel. Marty relocates to the Lake of the Ozarks with his family who reluctantly join him - wife, Wendy (Laura Linney) and children, Charlotte and Jason. Life isn’t perfect for Marty on the personal front either. He learns his wife’s secret but is stuck with her in the Ozarks to keep their family safe. 

Season 1 revolves around Marty’s attempts to launder 8 million in three months. His family’s life is at stake as he’s running out of time. Things look bleak with the locals not trusting Marty and his “fancy” financial schemes. To make things worse, the FBI comes sniffing around suspecting Marty to have ties with the mafia. The local lowlifes, the Langmore family has their eye on the bundles of cash hoarded by Marty and will go to any lengths to steal it. Marty has also stepped on the toes of the local heroin dealers, the Snell family who only know one way to deal with opposition.

Will Marty be able to launder the 8 million and save his own and his family’s life from the Mexical drug cartel, the Langmores, the Snells and the FBI?

Review: Would I recommend this show? Yes, most definitely. I have completed Season 1 and reviews claim Season 3 to be the best so far. 

S had cautioned that the start may feel a bit slow. While I found it gripping from start to finish, I need to put this out there as G too had a similar response to this show as S. Do keep in mind that the show is also listed as a Drama series.

I was initially a bit apprehensive when I saw Jason Bateman featured in a crime/thriller/dark series as one generally associates him with comic roles. Bateman usually figures as a sassy individual, often indulging in self-deprecating humour. Bateman has played to his strengths and continues to retain a bit of his usual cheeky self, talking his way out of sticky situations. In the words of Wendy, when during one of their fights she says “What? No dry, witty comeback now?”

Linney is at her usual best. Straight faced and calm. You never know what Wendy is thinking, not one to mince words, not apologetic for any of her actions and has no qualms on breaking the law if it means she can keep her family safe.

The children are portrayed by Sofia Hublitz (Charlotte Byrde) and Skylar Gaertner (Jonah Byrde) , the former a typical moody,  “my life is ruined forever but I can get some good shots here for my Insta” teenager and the latter a self-professed oddball who is caught pulling out the insides from dead animals and wields guns larger than him. Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore, with her southern drawl and violent temper has been winning Emmys. Mrs. Snell, oh well, let me not let out any spoilers now.

The setting and the background score add to the dark theme of the show.

Be prepared for a roller coaster ride. Just when things begin to work in favour of Marty, something goes drastically wrong and then it gets sorted out but not in the way you hoped it would and then something goes wrong again. 

Some scenes may at times, seem just too convenient or clichéd but we shall let that pass.

The show has an inclusive set of characters.

Trivia: Around Episode 3, I noticed that the symbols in the letter O that appears in the opening credits change with each episode. These symbols represent scenes from that episode.

Ozark has been compared to Breaking Bad – “Its like Breaking Bad but more money laundering and less drugs” (source: Internet)

Verdict: I loved it and shall be watching the entire series. Do not watch it expecting it to be a quick-paced thriller series. 

Marty and I share similar ringtones. While he has a cricket chirping, I have the cicada buzzing.

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Image Source - Pinterest 

BADLA

Image Source - IMDb

Plans were made to watch Badla and Archie excitedly messaged on the Whatsapp group that the movie Badla was an adaptation of a Spanish film, The Invisible Guest and announced that she would be watching it before Badla. The five of us sat in the movie hall with our thinking caps on whilst Archie just had a smirk on. She knew how the movie ended and was eager to see if we’d discern the plot.

Archie informs that besides the gender reversal of roles and the extra tadka offered by Bollywood filmmakers, Badla is an exact frame to frame adaptation of the original.

I was excited to watch the film more so for the Amitabh- Taapsee collaboration after Pink. Also, I happen to enjoy whodunits.

PLOT: Naina Sethi (Taapsee Pannu) is accused of murdering her lover, Arjun (Tony Luke) and is on house arrest. News of her arrest and murder is making the headlines as Naina has recently won a prestigious business award. Naina’s only hope of getting an acquittal is Badal Gupta (Amitabh Bachchan), a meticulous lawyer engaged by Naina’s lawyer Jimmy (Manav Kaul).

Badal comes to Naina’s apartment to extract information and deconstruct the entire murder scenario in an attempt to find a loophole in her case. The entire movie revolves around Naina presenting her version of the events and Badal questioning and challenging the same in order to be able to recreate and present a distorted set of facts that could set Naina free.

Naina’s story opens up a Pandora’s box that involves another crime.

Did Naina kill Arjun? Is Naina involved in this other crime? Does Badal succeed in getting Naina an acquittal?

The film is directed by Sujoy Ghosh (of Kahaani fame) and produced by Red Chillies Entertainment.

Needless to say, Amitabh and Taapsee are a treat to watch. The film also had Amrita Singh in it, playing a distraught mother and this was a surprise entry as I didn’t recall seeing her in the trailer. She’s the woman behind the camera in the poster. Tony Luke who plays Taapsee’s lover makes his debut in Hindi cinema and it’s refreshing to see an actor with a strong “South Indian” accent who isn’t in the film to merely serve as a comic relief and doesn’t dress in a lungi sipping lassi from a coconut. Sadly, Manav Kaul has only a minor role in the movie. 

If you liked Kahaani (the first one), you will like this film too. Typical to most thrillers, this film is fast paced and has a gripping storyline. Shot in Glasgow, the movie will have you enjoying the panoramic views only to be jolted out of your seat half way through that. Whilst some critics have labelled the film predictable (this could be true if you are one of those ardent fans of Agatha Christie and you’ve learnt from her books to suspect even the imperceptible commuter at the station with the scarf and big sunglasses who sneaks out of the train only after giving a furtive glance and a half-smile), be rest assured, there are many red herrings thrown in that will have you constantly second guessing Naina and Badal’s next move.

Despite being an adaptation, the writers have succeeding in infusing Hindu mythology into the storyline with Amitabh Bachchan quoting the Mahabharata. The dialogues are catchy, the kind that make you want to repeat them while walking out of the hall. :D

Would it be a spoiler if I were to say that the name of the movie is a spoiler in itself?

Archie and I have decided to mimick movie posters or rather mimick the expressions of the actors on the posters. We started off with the Gully Boy poster. We scoured the length of the floor only to find a teensy poster of Badla. You can find our pictures on our Insta page.  If you like our posts, please follow us on Insta and FB.

Andhadhun

What is life? It depends on the liver.

Image Source - IMDb

The film stars Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu and Radhika Apte. With a star cast such as this, a trailer that keeps you at your wit’s end and generous reviews being splashed about, it was no wonder I went to watch this movie with high expectations.

Ever since I’ve started reviewing movies for the blog, I’ve been watching them with a critical eye, nitpicking at flaws and delving too much into the intricacies of filmmaking and scriptwriting. I sometimes miss those good old days of having a monosyllabic opinion. If I were to do that, I’d go, “Hmm... Interesting”. That’s how I felt when I stepped out of the theatre.

Andhadhun (not to be confused with Andhadhund meaning excessive, rash) is inspired by L’Accordeur (The Piano Tuner), a French Short Film.

PLOT (Probably the briefest plot on our blog): The film is about a blind piano player whose sole aim is to make money to be able to relocate to London and play the piano there. However, he unwillingly gets entangled in a murder. What follows are his frantic attempts at trying to escape the murderers that ends up with unearthing of secrets and major plot twists.

Any more revelation of the plot and it would have spoilers!

It goes without saying that the actors have done their jobs well.

I liked Tabu the best in the movie. She’s a brilliant actress.  It’s lovely to see her don roles that befit her age and personality and not being merely typecast into a role one would “expect” her to play.

Sadly, Radhika Apte didn’t have much of a role in the movie.

Ayushmann, Manav Vij (who looks like a beefed up Aamir Khan) and Anil Dhawan were good too.

Piano music makes up for most of the background music, the tenor oscillating with the mood of the protagonist (Ayushmann Khurrana). Such a background score comprising of one instrument rather than an orchestra, often brings a sense of realism to the scene and I like it that way.  

The USP of the movie is definitely the twists in the plot. I applaud the makers of the trailer who have craftily inserted scenes that reveal only so much that would make you want to watch the film, only to be then given a jolt within the first 15 minutes.

There were some brilliant moments that made us go “aaah,we didn’t expect that”, in fact one of the scenes towards the end almost had me clapping. (Yes, I’m the kind who claps in excitement).

The movie ends in a cliffhanger and it is left to the audience to interpret it in the manner he or she chooses to. Some suspect a sequel in the making, but I doubt that but then again I have been proven wrong in the past ( Black Panther, ahem...)

This is not your typical Bollywood film. No wait, I take that back. We have seen such a massive shift from the earlier norm of boy meets girl, saves her from the villain and the audience is invited to witness their happily ever after moment. But this film moves a step ahead. It is free from undying love, untainted protagonist, item numbers (Am I allowed to use the word ‘Item’? Or is that being sexist?)...

Here come the brickbats:

There is too much of an attempt to keep the audience occupied with twists that at times it becomes a little too hotchpotch and in that process the Director/scriptwriter loses sense of the rational that has the audience questioning “As if that could happen in real life”.

I wouldn’t ask you not to watch it in the theatres. Go if you must, but remember seeing is not always believing ;)

Here’s a fun fact, I read online - Sriram Raghavan, who is the Director of this film featured a blind girl playing the piano in the song Raabta in his film Agent Vinod.

RACE 3- ALLAH DUHAAI HAIN!!!

As I sat to watch this movie, I exclaimed “This movie better be good!”Bob and I loved the first two instalments of Race. In fact, we watched Race 1 together in college. While some critics may have dismissed these movies as no-brainers, well, I liked them and my choice is my business and none of your business! (I’m taking a page out of Race 3 scriptwriter’s book!)

45 minutes into the movie and for the first time, since I’ve started writing movie reviews, I was contemplating on whether I should even write one for this movie!

But then some things have got to be done and I’ve just got to inform our readers as to why they can skip watching this movie (though Archie says she’ll still watch it in the theatre. She’s a die-hard Salman fan, so she can’t be thinking straight).

PLOT: (Some readers believe my narrative of the plot discloses too many details, so I’ll try and keep it brief). This film too, like its predecessors, has an ensemble cast.  Characters involved – Rich, old illegal arms dealer (Anil Kapoor), his step son (Salman Khan), his twins (Daisy Shah and Saqib Saleem), the family’s Man Friday (Bobby Deol) and the eye candy (Jacqueline Fernandez).

Illegal arms dealer has been wrongly driven out of his country and his sole aim is to return to his native village with a clean chit and to do this he needs to indulge in more criminal activity such as stealing a ‘hard disk’ that has illegally recorded sleazy videos of politicians and then blackmailing these politicians. To help him with this task, he has his children who are all trained fighters and have each others’ backs on the field. But all is not well at home. The twins want the step son out of the way as their father favours him over them. Step son has brief affair with eye candy and then they break up only to have her return back to his life after few days/months/years (we don’t know). Man Friday oscillates in his loyalty towards step son and twins.

Will illegal arms dealer return to his village? Will arm candy and step son have a ‘happily ever after’? Whom does Man Friday finally stand up for? Who will survive- the twins or the step son?

Oh Salman, you’ve ruined this movie and turned into a big-budget Dabangg!

The film begins with each character being introduced by a voice over and that is when things begin to go downhill. When you have someone do a voice over in the film, that person ought to have a great voice and not sound like a railway announcement.

The USP of the Race series has always been the action packed scenes, the larger than life stunt sequences and the twists in the plot. Race 3 has all of this but fails to impress due to poor acting, even worse direction, abysmal script and unrealistic scenes. I am fine with one person taking down an entire truckload of trained militia by himself but how in God’s name does Salman manage to jump off a high rise building in a wingsuit, manoeuvre through buildings across town (while still flying) and land into the warehouse where his siblings are fighting? I have never been a big fan of Salman’s movies but this one really annoyed me as I went to the theatre with high expectations.

Salman looks like a stocky potato and lacks the panache that Saif Ali Khan had in the previous movies.

I feel terrible saying this but Daisy Shah is really annoying. Despite her cool stunt moves and her brilliant aerial dance, she has failed at trying to pass off as an uber cool, 25 year old scheming daredevil.  

Jacqueline is just being umm.... Jacqueline in the movie. (Chittiyan kalaiyan veh)

However, feminists rejoice. For a change, this film has action scenes with women in them, that do not involve name calling and hair pulling. *eye roll*

Would you believe this, I have nothing bad to say about Bobby Deol!

(Oh, I forgot to mention the other twin. Yeah, he has some scenes too.)

Anil Kapoor was definitely the saving grace and the good news is that the way the film ended, it would appear that Anil Kapoor shall make a comeback and thankfully not Salman Khan!

I sometimes still croon the songs from Race 1. The songs in this movie are unremarkable and the lyrics are so lame (tried thinking of a more professional word than lame, but lame describes it the best) especially the song “Selfish” and what do you know! The lyrics to the song have been penned by Salman!

Did I mention the script? LAME.

Remo, please stick to being a choreographer.

P.S: Remo D’Souza is the Director of the movie.

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RAAZI? YES!!!

 

Image Source - IMDb

I can sit through a Horror film, glued to my seat but when it comes to thrillers, I am one of those you wouldn’t want to sit next to in a theatre. I squirm; I fidget, let out sharp exhales and need my neighbour’s shoulder to hide behind, during cliff-hanger scenes.

Raazi had the entire audience completely enraptured in Alia’s exploits onscreen and then there were Archie and I holding each others’ hands, shaking in anticipation, trying not to hyperventilate, Hastings and Watson on a quest trying to predict the outcome of each scene and getting them all wrong whilst Shugu rightly predicted them! *eyeroll*

Raazi is an adaptation of Calling Sehmat authored by Harinder Sikka and is inspired by true events.

I will not get into detailed story telling this time as I might leak out spoilers and I do not want to do that.

Raazi is a spy, thriller film. The story is set in 1971 when both countries, India and Pakistan are on the verge of war and each side is desperately attempting to infiltrate information from across the border. Hidayat Khan (Rajit Kapoor) is a staunch patriot from Srinagar who has befriended Brigadier Syed (Shishir Sharma) from Pakistan by feeding Syed false and useless information, hoping to get valuable information in return. Hidayat however realises that in order to get the information they need, he needs to situate an aide with Syed who can spy on him and this is when his daughter, Sehmat (Alia Bhatt) is introduced, as a naive and innocent college going girl, who feels queasy at the very sight of blood. Hidayat decides to marry off Sehmat to Syed’s younger son, Iqbal (Vicky Kaushal). Sehmat undergoes rigorous training under Khalid Mir (Jaideep Ahlawat), an Intelligence Agent to become a spy.

Sehmat is now in Pakistan and “happily” settling into her new household under the watchful gaze of Abdul (Arif Zakaria), the caretaker of the household who has his suspicions on account of her being an Indian.

Sehmat artfully manages to pass on information to her Indian counterparts, with the assistance from a few locals enlisted to help her, each time narrowly missing being discovered. But it’s not all smooth sailing and when things take a turn for the worse, Sehmat has to “fix the leaking roof” and “ends up kicking two cats out of the house”.

Amidst all of this, there is also romance brewing between Iqbal and Sehmat and what had started as a marriage of convenience between two strangers evolves into a bond of love based on respect for each other.

Will Sehmat finally get caught or does she manage to escape to India?  Will there be a ‘happily ever after’ for Sehmat and Iqbal? Will their love for each other overpower their love for their country?

After an onslaught of James Bond-ish spy movies with larger than life stunt sequences and over the top romance, Raazi is a welcome and refreshing change. The set and the characters are kept simple. There are no back-flipping, bullets-flying action scenes nor are there songs with Alia and Vicky dancing with the locals, breaking into synchronised steps.  It is the story telling and the script that is gripping and has one (and in my case, literally) on the edge of the seat. From the very start, the movie is peppered with twists and turns that will leave you with your eyes wide open- some predictable and some misleading.  Subtle reactions that may initially appear inconsequential are later explained through flashback. 

The actors have done full justice to the roles portrayed.

Alia is the inexperienced yet determined spy, maintaining the facade of a dutiful daughter in law. She slowly learns that things come at a price and that all her actions have consequences for which she alone is responsible.  

Vicky is the obedient son and dutiful military officer who despite his loyalty to his country is respectful towards the fact that his wife is from India.

Jaideep Ahlawat as the exacting training officer with his deadpan expression who goes to extreme lengths to help Alia out but at the same time doesn’t hesitate to choose his country over her.

This isn’t a classic tale of enmity between India vs Pakistan. While one definitely roots for the safety of Sehmat, one can’t help but feel sorry for those affected by her actions. A war has its causalities and people are sacrificed for the greater good. This is the harsh reality and that is portrayed through this film.   

And between all this espionage is Iqbal’s love for Sehmat that lasts till the very end when he extends his arms to protect her from the bomb. (I thought it apt to end the review with a cliff-hanger ;) )