Pilla Zamindar

 Very average movie. Typical story about a spoilt rich brat forced to mend his ways in unconventional setting. Nothing great about the direction, acting, narration or anything. Time-pass - maybe even avoidable.

Language: Telugu

Agent Sai Srinivasa Athreya

 Light tickling humor but no guffaws. Good detective-ness and deductions. Shocking that it is inspired by true events. Good acting by the hero. Rest have done well enough. Simple setting in Nellore city. Worth a watch.

Rating: Good

Language: Telugu

Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani

 Wholesome entertainer. Ranveer and Alia are brilliant in their parts. Song and dance sequences are colorful. Simple enough tale. Typical sinusoidal love story, with predictable ups and downs. Good watch for a lazy weekend.

Rating: Good

Language: Hindi

Sapta Sagaradaache Ello - Side B

 Well, a wee bit of upturn in the tale but overall gloomy anyways, like Satya, Vaastav and other similar dark crime tales. Undercurrent of strong romantic ties from him to her makes it going till the end. Again, good narration and direction and character portrayal. I remember seeing such dark movies about twenty years ago - especially those of Mexican nature, but now don't look forward to it any more.

Rating: Good

Language: Kannada

Sapta Sagaradaache Ello - Side A

 Well, knew the story had 'doom' written all over it. It starts off with all positive emotions and starts going downhill and never stops going down. There are many Bollywood movies which has a sine curve with crests and troughs but this one was just one way and one way down. Story is good, acting is all good, script writing too, and bitterly truthful about every person's part. And that's what makes it hard to see, since it is true story for so many people. Good direction.

Rating: Good

Language: Kannada

Drishyam 3

 Well, whoever thought this tale can go on and on. The part 1 itself was packed in entirety. Then came part 2 which was stunning. And now, this, part 3. Amazing script, storyline. What is stunning is that the same characters, the same settings, the same intensity and the undercurrent memory. It is unimaginable how the writer and director got this done. After watching this, we watched part 2 (to refresh our memory) and then part 1 (to re-live the tale from beginning)! This series, so far, is like once in an era tale. Absolutely gripping, although this part only had it interesting in the last few minutes. I guess, like part 2 too.

Rating: Must-see

Language: Malayalam

Ginny Weds Sunny 2

Definitely avoidable. Light-hearted. Even though it is part 2, it has no relevance to the prequel. Casting is naive but they have done well. Story is simple but flawed like why doesn't he do same things immediately after marriage which he did after the separation, etc.. Few humor scenes but doesn't tickle much. Only good thing was the location (Rishikesh). Again, time-pass for a lazy Sunday.

Rating: Average

Language: Hindi

Dhurandhar 2: Revenge

Movie-making is amazing. Violence is just as nth degree as prequel. Playing football with severed head is way too gruesome indeed! The movie continues from prequel. Ranveer and everyone casted has done a tremendous job. The plot is good. At times, it weaves in and out of past and current, just to make the audience understand the current better, which is great direction. Even the last few scenes shows the prep behind the protagonist's strength and courage, which was good. Including how he gets to be a Muslim, which is very important as a director to fill in the blanks. Background score is apt. Kudos to the entire film crew for an epic movie that will stand the test of time.

Rating: Good

Language: Hindi

Ottu

It starts off gripping. Stays gripping. In the end, it seems to kind of fall full flat. Narration is good. Acting by Arvind Swamy is great, the fight and bullet sequences are true filmy style with nothing happening to the hero even while bullets are flying everywhere which seemed very dubious. Somewhere the movie does not seem fulfilling and worth the watch.

Rating: Average

Language: Malayalam

Idli Kadai

Such a nice movie. Beautiful narration. Powerful dialogue. Fantastic acting by each and every one of them, even those who acted just for 3-4 seconds. Each person has acted true to the character, including the 'bad guy'. Many aspects of the movie are spiritual and divine. Dance and song sequences are chirpy. One big village fight scene at the end seemed superfluous. 

Rating: Must-see

Language: Tamil

Thiruchitrambalam

Rom-com. Wonderful casting and acting by all actors. Great middle-class setting. Simple tale. Although ending is predictable, the movie weaves through multiple small twists & turns which keeps it interesting & engaging. Catchy dance steps and songs for entertainment. Good dialog.

Rating: Good

Language: Tamil

Sri Jaganatha Dasaru - Part 2

Part 1 was definitely better. This one had less tales but whatever less tales had good potent in it. Lot of songs especially composed by Jaganatha Dasaru, which is good. Good dialog. Simple narration. Nice casting.

Rating: Average

Language: Kannada

The School for Good and Evil

 Movie seen alongside daughter. Fantasy. Not my type but it was ok. The usual stuff about witches, princesses, kiss of true love, balls, blood magic, roses that bite, etc.. Good picturization, characters, graphics, etc. but very much a teen-movie. Nothing stood out.

Rating: Average

Mathu Vadalara 2

Very cleverly intertwined with prequel. And just like part 1, this too has lots of twists and turns, complex plots intertwined with many characters. Despite the intricacies, the director makes it very easy for the audience to follow the tale (without having to rewind multiple times!). Best part is the dialog. Extremely witty and humorous. And, of course, the TV soap which continues from the prequel. In all, a fantastic entertainer!

Rating: Good

Language: Telugu

Roofman

True story of a genuinely nice person Jeffrey Manchester who resorts to thievery to keep his family happy. Gets caught, escapes with ingenuity, and stays in a Toys R Us store for several months hidden from all and does a variety of good samaritan work, but eventually gets caught. Stunning tale, great acting and narration.

Rating: Good

The French Job (also known as Les règles de l'art)

How a simple chance encounter of a petty thief results in the downfall of a genuinely nice person. Simple enough thievery too but it gets easily so complicated. Good narration of this true story of 2010 theft of five masterpieces from a French museum.

Rating: Good

Language: French

Karate Kid: Legends

Simple movie on similar lines of other Karate Kid movie series where Jackie Chan trains kids but in this case it is a combo of Karate and Kung fu - so there is one trainer for each 'branch of the same tree'. The kiddo has acted/actioned well, and it made me remember of early JC's movie stunts. 

Rating: Average

Never Give Up

Back to back true story tennis movies seen! This one's another mindboggling tale about just one match where Brad Minns was two sets down and 0-5 down on 3rd set with 3 championship points to his opponent at 0-40 and came back all the way to win the match..! So, the movie narration goes from his childhood till that game - how he became deaf, how he never gave up, etc. A simple movie, nice casting, nice setting.

Rating: Good

King Richard

OMG! I never knew this true story about the plan that the father of Venus and Serena Williams had created and executed to perfection! It is like how one person says in the movie - 'Giving birth to two Mozarts in the same house'! Absolutely stunning tale. Only flip side is the movie ends with Venus losing a match albeit she has a huge fan gathering which she realizes as a surprise. Very well taken movie indeed. Mr King Richard, take a bow!

Rating: Good

Queen of Katwe

Wow, what a true-story! A chess prodigy born in the slums of Uganda! And to pair that, a coach who refuses the good life and chooses to stay amongst the poor to mentor them and take them to fame. Added pair is his wife who is ok for his choice!! Amazing tale - and for that, definitely worth the watch.

Rating: Good

Language: English