#gmmm does movies

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Oh man. Where Red One was a bonkers idea slowed down by uneven pacing and an unwillingness to fully commit to just how ridiculous it was, Sonic 3 avoids these pitfalls for one very glorious, very bonkers reason - Jim Carrey is absolutely having the time of his life. From the minute he shows up, to the minute he shows up again, down to his very final moments in the movie, he is an absolute buzzsaw of "full bonkers" - and it is awesome to watch.

Yeah, there's a good bit about teammates - and after 3 movies, it is frustrating to see Sonic still not realize he maybe can't do everything alone - and about being yourself no matter how much you're hurt and angry, and even a nice about family and friends and the people that are truly there for you ... but really, this is just about Jim Carrey absolutely nailing it. Again. For the 3 time.

Okay, more seriously - the "anger at the world" and "revenge' angles, show fantastically from the view of both Shadow and later Sonic, are very well done. There's minute there where Shadow (or the girl, I don't remember) says something about how stars keep shining even after they've gone out (bastardized paraphrasing courtesy of my bad memory), but that brilliantly (and, honestly, probably not very subtly) foreshadows what is going to come at the end of the movie.

Also, the end credits seem to be setting up a Sonic 4. I really hope Jim Carrey is back - somehow or another - and I do hope we get to see more of Krysten Ritter (who had a very small role), but man - I can't wait. How far they've come (especially from that initial release of Sonic's appearance, which received horrible backlash and led to an amazing redesign that really has worked well).

Love it - good movie to end 2024 with.

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This is a gripe I've had for a while (thank you, DCEU), but like, this oversharing of stuff in trailers is fucking annoying (looking at you, too, Singham Again). Like, I'm guessing some of it has to do with 'top billing' casts - they're like "I'm in the movie, I want people to know," so you have to put them in the trailers (Tiger Shroff in Singham Again, for example; Wonder Woman in BvS), but like - just don't! Let the audience be shocked when it happens in the movie (like in No Way Home, for example, or even The Flash's near-the-end montage of characters, or Deadpool v/s Wolverine). Specifically, in this case, we really didn't need to know Madhuri was in the movie - would've been a nice surprise when you're watching. Instead, we already know, and there's nothing awaiting you.

Sure, there's a decent twist at the end (though, honestly, it would've been even better if it was Tripti's character that had been reincarnated), but still, surprise is gone.

There were moments where the movie felt very much like a rehashing of Housefull 4 (and Kakuda?, and even Rocky Aur Rani), and the story dragged on a bit too long. The 3 pandits (Sanjay Mishra, Rajpal Yadav, Ashwini Kalsekar) were momentarily hilarious, and seeing Rajpal again after the first movie was fun (again, for a moment), but that novelty wore off quick when they immediately became the target of Kartik's character and just as quickly went from "ooh, fun" to "oh, they're immediately being taken advantage of and treated as servants." And, even as the background comedy track, it falls very flat - and extends on way too long (Rajpal's re-entrance at the end - clearly done for the Jawaan jokes - and the scene with the choking are just cherries on top of this "too long, not funny enough" cake).

The Vidya/Madhuri angle isn't played long enough, the Tripti angle is played too much (she really isn't doing much, and even her desire to just sell the place is immediately introduced in an almost 'greedy' light - though, I guess, after watching the movie you realize they're all just sick of poverty - and then promptly forgotten). Kartik gets a chance to play a bit and does that relatively well, but he is again hampered down by the fact that the movie just goes too long and overdoes everything (the number of times we have to see him drive around and return back, and then see the same thing with the pandits, is excessive; so too is his constantly fainting friend).

They do a good job (ish) with the twist, especially with our preconceived notions going in (after seeing Vidya in the 1st movie, and Madhuri's appearance in the trailer), but, again, I think given everyone's role, it might've been a nicer twist if they'd somehow made it be Tripti (this may have been too similar to the second movie, but honestly, I don't remember that movie much at all at this point, so I have no idea what the twist was there). I just think Bollywood's obsession with stories that hinge on "guy likes to dance = bad" is becoming a bit much.

All said - a bit long, but not bad otherwise. Would've liked to see some more of Madhuri and Vidya getting to do things, but I guess if you're trying to sell them as ghosts out for revenge, a lot of it does have to be them sorta just appearing out of the blue and being all mysterious (aka, not there). Will be interesting to see where they go with part 4, though at this point, it clearly feels like beyond being a ghost story (with a Bengali ghost?) and featuring Ami Je Tomar and the Bhool Bhulaiyaa title track, there will be no storyline connection between any of the movies (sad). Just one of the many Bollywood 'spiritual sequels' that look to cash in on the name (Race 3, Raaz movies, Hate Story movies, etc.).

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So, yeah - this is absolutely as bonkers as you would expect for a movie if someone told you that it was a "'takes itself too seriously' story about The Rock and a 'naughty kid-turned-freelance tracker' have to hunt down Santa Claus, who has been kidnapped by 'The Christmas Witch'."

And yet, somehow - despite being bonkers, there are 2 truths: 1) it does have some entertaining/fun moments (mostly with Chris Evans), and 2) it is somehow not bonkers enough.

With this cast, and this story (they even meet up with Krampus for a while), and this much money ($250 million budget?!), you would think this would have enough to be a start-to-finish thrill ride/action adventure. But, somehow, amidst everything (like the obvious time to spent with a backstory/introduction, especially to like The Christmas Witch - who I will admit I'd never even heard of before - and M.O.R.A - clearly set-up to suggest the possibility of a movie universe, much like Universal's failed 'Monsters' one; but, also, the moments expressing the lack of faith in humanity's goodness, or the moments about parenthood), things just sorta jog along. We're rarely, if ever, in full sprint (well, except maybe two fight sequences - one with Jack O'Malley against M.O.R.A., and one against the Snowmen).

The bonkers comes more from the story idea (mythology protection society branch of the government; the kidnapping of Santa Clause) than the pacing or action itself, which is unfortunate, cuz this could've been full-blown awesome insanity. Obviously with The Rock and Chris Evans, everyone else was gonna be sorta sidelined - but honestly, everyone else is completely sidelined. Lucy Liu does get a couple of seconds of a fight sequence, but J.K. Simmons is essentially comatose after letting us know that "perhaps humanity needs 'us' more than ever now" (in response to The Rock's (to paraphrase, and very valid) 'people are junk' thoughts of doubt) until the very end (where he gets to essentially say "stop" before calling his reindeer with some HP-style spell to finish the job), and Kiernan Shipka is present for just a couple of scenes (before turning into a massively tall ogre who is really bad at finishing off fights), and they even sideline the talking/fighting Snowman after he tortures Jack into agreeing to help them.

I can buy Evans' character realizing pretty quickly he's been a bad dad, because you can almost tell from the start that he knows it and doesn't really believe the "distancing myself is best" bit - he just needs someone else to hammer that thought home for him. Also, for all this "we need him, he's a good tracker" stuff - he does very little actual tracking after taking them to Aruba (literally, all the rest of the tracking seems to come from M.O.R.A. and/or Drift).

But Jack's actions somehow convincing Callum Drift (Fast & Furious much?) that 'adults aren't bad' (adults are the reason he was going to retire from his job as Santa's bodyguard after this Christmas) is not believable at all - especially considering that we also met a couple of plain bad guys during this journey as well. I mean, sure, Jack was 'level 4' of the Naughty List (stupidly, one of the things that is not further explained, other than making it sound like it is pretty far down the list), which makes it sound like him "flipping a switch" might have been hard to believe, but, like - what? Also, if he's level 4 as a freelance hacker, where are the truly bad people? Like, this list has to go way way past level 4 or 5, like to 50 or 100 or something. And while you'd never want to hero-ize any of those asshats, that's the type of conversion that would make it be like "okay, they went from naughty to nice in a couple hours, maybe that'll convince Callum that people can change" (of course, honestly, those people either wouldn't change, or would just do it out of self-preservation and thoughts about profiting from the whole thing, because they're fucktards). I just don't get Drift going on this adventure and being like "yeah, people can change and be better, they just need to believe in the Christmas spirit," especially when nothing else has changed and people are still, overall, immortal dirtbags. I mean, it isn't like Santa is gonna suddenly go and appear in front of everyone and give them a reason to believe - kids, maybe, but adults will still be assholes controlled by a greedy group of asshats-in-charge.

The Rock is The Rock. You've seen it before, you'll see it again. Chris Evans seems like he's having fun with the character and the absolute ridiculousness of everything, and just getting to be partially a scumbag (or so they tell us: aside from trying to convince some kids, as a kid, that Santa isn't real; being a for-hire hacker; and, yes, I guess, stealing candy from a baby - which I guess is the main thing they're using to show us that he's a scumbag, we don't really see much more than 'disappointing dad'). No one else is really there. I mean, this could be an entertaining 'movie universe' if you teamed up Jack with M.O.R.A, but they'd really need to work on upping the true 'bonkers' sense that the movie gives you (and, also, the tracking that Jack does, since he is a tracker). Because a slight jog and Jack just being along for the ride while looking constantly befuddled really isn't going to cut it.

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Only the 9th '2020 release' Bollywood movie I've watched - which I guess makes sense, cuz that was the a shitty year in a lot of ways. Which, I'm not trying to necessarily hate on this movie, because I don't think it's bad - but there are very few other years where this would be a top-5 movie for the year (Bollywood restricted, I mean).

The focus here, really, is more on our detective investigating a case. There's no real backstory to him - we meet her right after what happens to be the 4th body in 4 months, and we follow for a period of time, and that is it (well, except the flashforward in the end). Which is what makes the open-ended ending such a letdown.

Like, I get it - the focus is more on how our detective gets all consumed by the case. Gulshan Devaiah was a good choice for the lead - though, I realize now that I've also got the benefit of the next 4 years in backdrop going into this - because it feels like the movie maybe wants you to suspect him a bit. And he plays morally gray-to-outright-dark characters so frequently that you might be tempted for a bit. And when he's complimenting the killer as 'smart' and when he's constantly sleep-deprived and when he's asking personal questions to folks he knows and offering them rides, it sorta goes in on that for a bit.

Then it stops as his focus shifts to a different suspect, one that he goes all in on. Too consumed, I guess, but he goes too far and right as that happens, the movie skips ahead. And as it draws to a close, we realize that they have pulled a full-on "we don't know who it was" move on you - because it ends with no answer. His character faces 2 train tracks - symbolism, maybe? - but he's moved on and has a life. He's beyond this, sort of, or at least making that progress. We, however, are given no answer. Which is frustrating - even if the point about "they just blend right in" is brilliantly played with the kid saying "he looked like you, some uncle-type." It just unfortunately feels like this movie spent too much time being gritty and 'boots on the ground' to suddenly go completely abstract at the end.

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Crazy that Bollywood would release 2 "jailbreak" movies in quick succession (okay, not really - same thing happened, for example, with 2 Bhagat Singh movies in quick succession a bit back). But, of course, that means you have to compare them (them be the rules!). Final tally - neither one really is all that.

Alia Bhatt leads Jigra much better than Savi was, also aided by the fact that Savi was essentially a gender-swapped direct copy of The Next 3 Days, whereas I haven't seen whatever movie Jigra may have been directly copied from (if it was).

Also, Alia's character is less annoying - for the most part. They really do push that to the limit though, especially her "fuck you" attitude to everyone that does nothing except get everyone killed because she can't, for a moment, stop long enough to think smart instead of just think fast. And the multiple time she randomly gets into fights with Muthu are also just so ... I get what they're going for. And it works for a minute, but they just drag it on too long.

Planned or not, her 'plan' ends up getting literally everyone killed, which sucks. And her "my brother can't die" thing is clearly very focused, but as everyone else is dying (and as she's killing people!), it would've been a good time for a sort of "you can't save others if you don't save yourself" message. But, no. Instead, she kills a partner and then also gets other folks killed (good and bad), and there's never any sign of character growth. Instead, it's just repeated "my dad committed suicide when I was a kid, so I'm like this for the rest of my life" nonsense.

Her jailbreak plan, the one they go with, is a million times worse than in Savi. And when "my brother can't die" becomes equal to "I will free every one of the 6000 criminals in that jail, no matter how bad they are," that's about the point where I lost it. I get it, it's a foreign country and she obviously doesn't give a shit about anyone there - but you're literally going to free every single criminal (killers, rapists, etc.) and let them re-enter the world? That's your fucking plan? I get they wanted some dramatic action (I mean, they had enough of that with the bad guy jailer who takes on everyone by himself and refuses to die), but the way they got to that is ridiculous. I just ... that bit absolutely ruined the movie.

Which is unfortunate, because Manoj Pahwa was a fucking gem in this movie.

Also, at least Savi gave us a sort of conclusion, with the detective returning to the crime scene and finding out the truth. Here, the movie just ends - and nothing comes out of the fact that he was clearly framed by someone he thought of as a friend, or that friend's family/lawyer who tricked him into this whole shit.

There's plenty of decent stuff in this movie - Pahwa, Alia, some of the background music - but the plot just gets so ridiculous (she literally becomes a killer to free her non-criminal brother from jail; she incites like an entire fucking revolution why releasing every criminal into everyday life, guaranteed to torment all the citizens of that place forever) that it drags everything down into the ground with it.

Unfortunate, cuz it has a good premise - but instead all it does is really give a bad name to brother/sister relationships. I mean, I get doing everything to help your sibling - but this is ridiculous. And that this is her plan is mind-boggling. Probably too busy being overly motherly and not letting her brother grow up to ever learn how to think before acting.

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It's not a bad movie - a chance to Clooney and Pitt to just have some fun, do some (a lot of) cursing (though, not as much as the curse-a-thon that was Burn After Reading) , and just sort friendly banter around for almost 2 hours.

Two lone wolfs who, for the purposes of this movie, essentially stop being lone wolfs about 5 minutes after showing up - being forced into an unwanted team-up as they try to "fix" a mess: one on behalf of a single client, the other on behalf of the hotel where the mess took place. They banter for a minute or five, but eventually relent - especially after 1) they find drugs (of course) and 2) they realize that the dead kid is not actually dead.

It's not perfect. For example, I know there's a reason for the sequence, but everything that happens after 'the kid' is taken out of the bar/club (aka, the bit with the dancing) is just frustrating because, like, how do you let that happen without just breaking away - and how does everyone there, who has no idea who you are, have enough of a hold to keep you there? Not completely impractical, I guess, in terms of events, maybe, but just frustrating because we're already dealing with a sorta slow-paced, clichéd movie (lots of the aforementioned talking and banter), and this just slows things down even more. The chase sequence also drags on for a bit too long, it feels like.

How the kid ends up in the trunk, the second time, remains unanswered; similarly unanswered at the end is why their "guy" would set them up to be cleaned up. Seems like a big loss, business-wise. Unless they're not as "no one can do the job but me" as they claim. And given the ending, it seems unlikely it'll end any other way, so no fallback for the DA - innocent or not.

It's not as fun - as a Clooney/PItt ride, I mean - as the Ocean's movies, but unless they suddenly pivot to make Ocean's 14 or Ocean's 9, this is probably all we're going to get (and apparently the idea of a sequel to this has already been nixed). I guess we gotta take what we can get - while still clamoring for Ocean's 9 (with or without Clooney and Pitt, if we're being honest) and Ocean's 14 (with them, of course).

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This movie seems stuck in trying to figure out what it is - a serious, dystopian-level action flick or a campy humor-filled action flick. And the end result is that we get a lot of seriousness - action, dialogue, sequences, sets - mixed in with an absolutely ridiculous protagonist who seems to be just created to try and draw laughs (the music boots that fail early; his many interactions with his AI buddy; and honestly, pretty much every scene he's in, even the action ones). They try too hard, and it really lessens the impact of the story. A lot.

Of course, the movie is also essentially 3 hours long, and for the entirety of it (except for about 20 seconds, when all hope is lost), our main character is a 'bad guy' of sorts (or, in this setting, he's pro-dystopia, because his only goal is to make into this apparently utopian 'Complex' that seems essentially like a "rich people built an inverted pyramid to live in whilst everyone else suffers through poverty on the real world") - he flips for the few seconds at the end, when he has to play savior (spurred on by, while unconscious, having a magical staff pushed into his hand by the weight of a single small leaf), before that immediately turns off and he returns to being not-good.

On the other hand, our protagonists are Deepika Padukone, who plays a pregnant damsel-in-distress for the majority of the movie, and Amitabh Bachchan - who we are introduced to in a very poor CGI de-aging appearance set thousands of years ago, and the re-introduced to eventually as a thousands-of-years-old 8-foot tall invincible being who goes around calling Deepika mother. This does set up multiple Prabhas/Amitabh fight sequences, which are entertaining at first but all of which drag on way too long. Essentially everyone except our 3 leads ends up dead. Well, them and Disha Patani, who shows up for like 1 sequence and isn't heard from again.

And that is the biggest problem - on top of the really campy attempt at a 'superhero' style character that Prabhas is supposed to portray (they really could've done this well if they hadn't just gone full-on ridiculous comedy with him juxtaposed on a full-on serious mood everywhere else): this just drags and is ultimately a bore. The pace never picks up. The whole 'Project K' thing is almost macguffin-like (or, if it was explained, I was so bored that I missed it completely), and why some 200-year-old god-king would need it, I have no idea. He's already 200-years-old, and Amitabh's character is living proof that even 6000-year-old folks are able to fight without problem, so no idea why he's so desperate for whatever it is that can only be harvested from 150-day-old fetuses.

The ending obviously sets up a sequel - important, because this movie has really gotten us nowhere other than killing off everyone - but, honestly, this obsession with multi-part movies really has to stop. All it is doing is dragging out stories way too long - stories that have no real business being made that long. A single 3-hour movie may have been a bit rushed (hard to know, since we don't know what the sequel will entail), but a lot of this movie could've been cut out anyways (like Prabhas being an antihero for the majority of 3 hours).

Bollywood really hasn't done much in terms of dystopian/future (and yes, I know this isn't really a Bollywood flick), and when they have, it hasn't really been good - Ganapath comes to mind (another "part 1" movie I haven't seen, but that apparently was so poor that we're not even going to get a part 2 - the biggest problem with his sort of story-telling; if you commit to this, commit to the whole thing, dammit!), and I guess technically Love Story 2050 (not dystopian, really, I know). So it is nice to see them explore that type of story-telling, though the emphasis on beating you on the head with religious allegories is a bit annoying, as is the apparent dystopian cliché plot of "rich guys in a cut-off world, everyone else dying outside." Maybe they're not fully ready for sci-fi yet, or for full-on dystopian thrillers (again, as evidenced by the reliance on needless attempts at humor), but it would be nice to see them make a taut, well-told dystopian bit that make doesn't entirely revolve around "1 guy has to save the world." Just tell your story.

And, please - no more of whatever the hell this CGI de-aged modality they used for Amitabh Bachchan. That's a thing of nightmares. Also, this story-telling did no favors to our hero, who gets stuck in a serious movie as the main form of comic relief - something that should be delegated to a side character, not the lead. But I feel they leaned into it so much that it'll be hard to cut it back for the sequel, meaning we're going to get 3 more hours of the same cringe.

No.

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I really, really did want to like this movie (that may have been the problem). I mean, Neeraj Pandey's directorial efforts have generally been excellent - starting with his first one (A Wednesday!), and continuing on to include the excellent/a favorite of mine Special 26, and also Baby; Aiyaary also wasn't bad - and on top of this, he's also produced some fun films (Naam Shabana, Rustom, Vikram Vedha) and written many of these (including all of A Wednesday!, Special 26, and this one). Another commonality between the 3 movies is Jimmy Sheirgill, playing different roles (protagonist; side character; villain). And Jimmy is generally solid.

However, that is where the letdown comes. It starts of trying to build-up almost like Special 26, it feels, but falters with very poor pacing and an unfortunate bouncing back-and-forth between past and present that just doesn't seem to handle well. The flashbacks are okay, themselves (maybe not, actually; more below), and it is easy enough to tell past from present (facial hair changes for both Tiwary and Sheirgill), but like, what leads to flashbacks starting/ending just feels abrupt.

A huge issue with everything in the past is that literally the story drops our protagonist to rock bottom right near the start (aided by a "justice system" that allows ridiculous treatment & locking up of "suspects" - in this case, suspects only because the investigating officer has an 'instinct' that they did it, even with no actual proof, not even the circumstantial kind) - and then as each flashback happens, just kicks him further and further down (it becomes a bit much, especially when the twists later make it clear they're just trying to make you sympathize with his actions). And then - super abruptly, she ends up in the hospital, he gets beaten up and loses his money, considers suicide before backing off - and that's it. What happened to the entire story with her? He's just like "3 months later, I went to Abu Dhabi" and its like, I know you're the protagonist and Tamannaah has a shit role (honestly, she has only slightly more screen time than her guest appearance in Stree 2), but like, man. At least get back to her and show us you did something. She's in the hospital; that's a shitty way to end that part of the story.

Speaking of which - the entire track with Tamannaah is junk. Sure, I get why he's upset. But to not understand why she did what she did; to not realize that she's kept with you this entire time (especially after Jimmy says she's disappeared after Agra) - like, at least let her explain. I mean, sure, if she's like "I don't care about you," jump ship. But this has been over 15 years now! To just listen to everything Jimmy says and end everything is crazy. (I mean, sure, twist, but still.)

In the end, I guess, we learn that our protagonist isn't exactly the "hero" that he's portrayed as. Obviously this twist was bound to happen, but he's as stubborn and selfish as Jimmy's antagonist - a far cry from the fun protagonists they gave us in Special 26 - that it's hard to root for him at the end. Sure when you beat someone down that bad, you want them to bounce back - but to have him bounce back and suddenly just be like "fuck you all" to everyone else in the movie is a bit extreme.

Jimmy's character is so single tracked (again, see his 'instincts' above) and so doggedly stubborn that it costs him his job and his marriage. Yet, for 15 years, he has made it his goal to literally fuck up someone's life just because he thinks that person is guilty. Like, this is going above the law and dealing your own brand of justice - which is insane. I mean, he essays the role well, don't get me wrong - it is just a super shitty character.

They all are. The only one you sorta feel for is Tamannaah, and even she isn't perfect (getting past the bit that led to the falling out, she also took a diamond at the beginning - because she had a kid, I guess? [also, asshat, she took it to get money for the kid, and then gave it up to try and help you!]). There's even that random throw-away line where the other guy in the jail is like "I don't know why she lied" (about how long she'd worked there), and yet, literally nothing comes of a statement that really should've added more to the investigative part of this story (it's immediately dropped; of course, we also don't see much of the investigative side aside from Avinash being beaten and Tamannaah being tortured by not being allowed to sleep).

All the parts are there, I think. They just built the puzzle very, very wrong.

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What a blast! The acting, the songs (we of course already knew about Aayi Nayi and Aaj Ki Raat, but Khoobsurat as the second end-credit music video was also excellent), the story - all excellent.

The "they're going to move everything back 200 years if you don't stop him" comment was a little too real given the state of the world right now, but it was also nice to see that none of our non-brainwashed leads even considered or came across a moment where they were like "maybe...". Like, nice to see them just straight up shoot down that misogynistic bullshit and work their asses off to stop it.

Of course, I guess when 1 of them is in love with a ghost/spirit and the other has a friend that is a werewolf (and was also previously possessed by a spirit), maybe they're a little bit less backwards in thought.

The negatives, if any, are the usual: the fact that the same friend is always immediately thrown first into danger (it's not overdone in this series, yet, but it is getting there, especially since he's now shown up in both the Stree movies and Bhediya), and the fact that so many of the males (brainwashed, sure, but still) are so quick to be like "home life was better 200 years ago." Of course, while this is a case of immediate brainwashing by a creature's powerful eyes/brainwaves, it also does sorta indirectly show just how quickly folks can be brainwashed to believe nonsense (especially when it comes to treating others, those not like them, like crap). Even when the ladies all get Rajkummar and are like "Stree was better because she was just taking the men" and "at least the men were well-behaved then" - like, it runs 2 ways. Everyone is shortsighted enough to see "it doesn't directly put me at risk" and that's all they care about; that it is impacting their friends, their families, or hell, anyone at all, doesn't bother them the slightest as long as it isn't them directly. Sad statement about humanity as a whole.

Varun Dhawan's cameo is small - and half of it has him in wolf-form - but it is fun to see the crossover. Akshay Kumar's cameo is also entertaining; I wonder if they're setting him up for more, given the post-credit scene. Tamannaah Bhatia gets a small role that includes dancing to Aaj Ki Raat, but also gets a scene before that (and a scene after that, where she gets to be kidnapped - or whatever you want to call whatever the hell is going on exactly - by the baddie). And, of course, Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Abhishek Banerjee, Pankaj Tripathi, and Aparshakti Khurana are full-on brilliant.

I guess the question really becomes - what exactly would you do for love? For multiple characters in the movie, it is "plead with Rajkummar Rao to fix things" - which makes sense in that he's the hero of the movie and that words aside, not everyone is going to be able to walk the walk. But it provides a nice contrast to Rajkummar, who is cowardly but ultimately can be convinced into saying yes (by anyone, really) because he cares for them - but especially by the ghost/spirit who has his heart. Of course, counterpoint, it could also be used to show how dumb people act in love - he repeatedly puts himself, and his friends, and others, at risk, all in the name of a very unrequited love.

Unrequited love is a bitch, sure. But not sure risking falling into love because a ghost/spirit tells you that you are the town's protector is the best way to go about things.

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This horror/comedy universe that they have going - Stree, Bhediya, now this one (and Stree 2, which I may watch next; I think Roohi isn't included) - has been an absolute blast. And I say that as someone who typical abhors both horror movies and ghost/spirits/vampires/etc. movies (or, at least, movies where those entities are used as easy outs to explain otherwise inexplicable events).

This movie, once it gets going, is equally excellent. It takes a bit to get going - between the relatively long build-up in the 50s and the subsequent while before the 'present' gets to the point of things taking off. But once we're there (essentially, it starts the minute Munjya shows up, but really takes off once he tells his cousin), it carries itself at a pretty excellent pace.

Of course, while most of this wasn't exactly unavoidable, things would've been so much simpler for him if he'd just told others than just his cousin - namely his mom and Bela, but also his other cousin Rukku. Sure, maybe they all wouldn't have believed him (at least not initially), but after a couple of events, I'm sure they would've come around. (Also, how does his mom not hear anything that is happening, or see any of the destruction going on, every night?)

Superstitions bring a lot of weird things/ideas to the forefront and keep them around, especially in smaller towns where things are more easily propagated generation to generation, and it is what leads to things like this (and the events of Stree). The way these movies have taken these myths and turned them into great stories that incorporate some humor and some horror but also, most importantly, treat them with respect and don't just play them off as farcical (whether they are or not is another question, and not what is being debated here), is a great feather in the cap of everyone involved. Know your audience, sure, but also, don't shoot down ideas completely just because you (or someone else close) may not believe them.

I'm not sure we'll ever see a true 'spy universe' or 'cop universe' style team-up, if only because these stories are sorta individualized and don't really build up to a major bad guy (I know, I know - Varun Dhawan at least partially shows up, I think, in Stree 2; ignore that), but it is still fun to see these stories unfold and give us likeable protagonists.

I also really like the lead duo in this movie. Kudos to them for jobs well done and a story well acted.

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"But do you even believe in god?" "I think god believes in me. And he believes in you too."

Bittu (Abhay Verma) and Elvis (Sathyaraj) with an absolutely brilliant, and very real, line in Munjya (2024).

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This was a fun/cute movie - and I have no idea why I waited so long to watch it. I think I missed it when it first came out and then just ... got lazy.

The story, to some aspect, feels very 90s Bollywood (it's not restricted to Bollywood, I just associate it with that cuz that's what I grew up with), though maybe slightly genderswapped from the usual - girl and guy from different walks of life meet up (eventually) and after some hijinks (even a song, in true Bollywood fashion!), realize they like each other. But, of course, her father won't approve and plus, he has a dream for her (or, at least, that's what she thinks it is), so she rejects him (privately and then more emphatically publicly). But then trouble hits, and who should be there for her but him.

We don't get much introduction or exposure to Elemental City, beyond a couple of "no one likes fire" moments - but then, that would've taken a lot longer than they have within the time constraints of the movie. So instead the focus remains sorta small - within Firetown - whilst the impending major issue threatens a lot more (but is seemingly ignored by everyone who could have prevented it or fixed it), and we see that while Firetown is sorta isolated by others, they don't really help matters by being equally isolationary as well.

Nice to see a movie where there is no real 'bad guy' - sure, the father is not understanding (for all of a couple of scenes; before that, it's more just that we all know he won't be understanding, but it isn't made obvious cuz everything is hidden from him), but the real villain here is the collapsed canal and the water that is threatening to flood Firetown (water the natural element, not Water the townsfolk in Elemental City).

The way the relationship between our leads is portrayed is sweet and well-done, the message about anger and about being true to your dreams is nice, and the scene where she meets his family is also very fun (her reaction after the fact, not so much - but a good image of how displaced anger can hurt people you weren't even trying to hurt). Maybe would've been a bit more impactful, slightly (but also, more frustrating) if her anger had led to some stronger falling out or issue, but everything does get resolved pretty quickly here (again, time constraints).

Fun movie. And I really like the song 'Steal the Show' as well. Like, a lot.

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Look, don't get me wrong - as ridiculous and not-great as this is, it is fun. But that tagline - I mean, lets be honest, we don't really know what the plan is either. There's a huge macguffin-ish thing going on with the bad guy's plan, which is essentially "we're going put all the oil in trucks and steal it -> steps 2-5 -> richness, baby!" It's a bunch of random jokes and gaffes-for-laughs, but they keep it light and friendly.

But, really - you're not watching this movie a detailed plot and Bond villain-like in-depth explanation (though he does try, it's just too boring and low-stakes to keep interest). You're watching for the team-up of Jackie Chan and John Cena, which I am entirely here for. It's not perfect there either - it takes too long for them to meet up and get the first fight out of the way, so that they can team up for the rest of the movie, and their interactions are quickly cut short when they split up for a bit (thankfully this is quickly rectified).

But, still - it is fun to watch them together. Jackie Chan has his usual fighting highlights, John Cena continues to be entertaining (somehow, him and Dave Bautista have completely blown past The Rock - I guess it has to do with them willing to appear vulnerable in fight scenes?), and their interactions are quite a bit of fun. I mean, this isn't Rush Hour or anything, but you do walk away having enjoyed their chemistry.

The movie in the background happens, of course - there's fighting, comedy, bad guys, hostages, the aforementioned "steal the oil" plan, a 'dramatic' subplot between Chan's character and the character's daughter (maybe a bit clichéd - we've seen this too much, but again, we're not here for an Oscar-worthy plot).

I don't think they ever followed up with the one traitor in the midst who drew the 'X' on the bus - it clearly happened for us to know how the baddies picked the right bus, but no one ever mentions that bit again. (Yes, I know. Plot.) Even the whole "you killed my brother" (very predictable turn of events) revenge moment is just him saying "you killed my brother" and then life going on unperturbed.

I'd watch a sequel.

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I've never seen either of the Chevy Chase Fletch movies, so this is my introduction to the character - played here, many years after the originals, by Jon Hamm. So I don't know much backstory about Fletch (for example, the foot thing).

What we have here, though, is a former investigative reporter (and a good one, at that, as he repeatedly reminds us) turned freelance journalist who finds himself in a bit of a bind when he arrives in Boston to hunt down some missing paintings, only to show up at his AirBNB-equivalent lodging and find a dead body. He calls the cops, who obviously immediately suspect him - but don't really have much to arrest him on (and, thankfully for a movie like this, a decent lead investigator who looks into everything and doesn't just take the easy way out by arresting the first suspect). So he starts a concurrent investigation - ditching his tail, repeatedly, as he investigates mostly about the missing paintings but also dabbles in the crime investigation (much to the chagrin of said detective and rookie counterpart).

It's fun - may be a bit more dry humor, but still fun, for the most part. There are bits that are just too much (everything with Marcia Gay Harden, which starts to grate pretty early and doesn't really stop), but in general things stay on focus and progress at at decent pace.

The highlight of this film, undoubtedly, is Ayden Mayeri as Griz - the rookie detective and his oft-tail, who he does a brilliant job constantly losing (on the plus side, this gives us more opportunities to see her actions and reactions and to have her on screen, trying to deal with him). Absolutely love her presence essentially from the start. Brilliant.

The twists themselves are pretty generic - all of them, really. But that's okay - we didn't really even have a lot of suspects to begin with - and it doesn't take away from the comedy that this movie brings to us. Instead the comedy comes from the aforementioned Mayeri, including her scenes with her senior inspector, played by Roy Wood Jr., and of course from Jon Hamm as he tries to figure out what is going and who is framing him. And, to some extent, it is nice to see that while maybe he does figure some things out, he isn't exactly "solve it all"-guy (after all, he's not really a detective even); in fact, at the end, when they're in trouble, he's essentially down for the count (until Griz shows up!).

Griz! Score a huge one for Ayden Mayeri! (And too bad Miramax is run by idiots who won't greenlight a sequel. Because Griz deserves so much more screen time.)

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I think this sorta falls into the noir/neo-noir genre in the way the story is told/unfolds - which is absolutely fine. In fact, I think the way the story unfolds, with the "one time brilliant" kid detective (was he, though?) now having grown up and struggling with the day-to-day and with his inability to amount to much of anything. Still sorta haunting him is the last case from his childhood - the most brutal of them, the disappearance of a young girl who also at the time also apparently his secretary (child labor, for both of them?).

Of course, the movie starts with that disappearance and keeps referencing it, so you can sorta tell that is going to be connected to his current case. I mean, no reason for him as a detective to know that, but we do as viewers of the story - which means that when he's focusing on a bunch of current kids as suspects, you know that won't really amount to anything.

But he keeps at it - at least, at times; other times, he's convinced off of it and reminded of his general failure to amount to anything. He's been hired by a 16-year-old girl to find out who brutally killed her boyfriend and, in the vein of neo-noir, things get a bit dark and grisly as the story progresses (and, finally, as the two mysteries from past and present come together). Despite the 'kid' in the title and the relatively young protagonists (especially the girl playing Caroline), this is very much adult - the climax and explanation especially so.

To some extent this almost feels like a continuation of Donald Glover's Mystery Team movie - that was a 'graduating high school' kid detective trying to prove his continued worth, and now we've progressed to 30-something (late 20s?) and are still trying to prove your worth. More important now, of course, because you've got a life to live and finances to take care of (and if you don't, your parents just follow you around).

Adam Brody and Sophie Nélisse are both entertaining in their roles - him as the detective, her as the young girl wondering why her boyfriend had to die (especially the way he did). And when the truth comes out: well, early on, before she 'hires' him (no pay), he tells her that everyone has secrets and things will come out that you may not want to know. And, sure enough, it does. A lot of things do.

It's an interesting take on the noir story, and I did much enjoy it. Some of the plot twists are kinda predictable (her parents, for example; the aforementioned age of the culprit), but that doesn't really take away from anything because the story gives us more focus on our characters and isn't 100% just 'solve the crime and move on' for the viewers.

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Other than being pretty violent, this seems to follow the typical trend for recent Bollywood thrillers: start of in the middle of the action, with a seemingly 'game over' event; flashing back to the past, where we see a bit of backstory, a bit of a love story, and learn that our hero is flawed (in this case, his mother died 5 minutes before he was born, so he went a bit of time without oxygen, so he's a 'fighter' for surviving, but also apparently it makes him impervious to pain and suffering, unkillable, anger prone, and downright ungrateful to everyone in his life); and then a return to that 'game over' scene, which of course was just a midpoint in the movie and nothing is actually over. The heroine, only briefly present, disappears until she's needed as a damsel in distress (and as the motivation for our questionable protagonist to decide to do good); the past flashes forward and we learn that someone is actually lying and bad (in this case, shockingly, the corrupt people include both a cop and a politician, cuz who saw that coming?); and there is a lot of action, including someone near dying, before things are resolved.

There's only really 2 considerations for the twisty bad guy, and once one of them dies mid way thru the second half, it is pretty clear (it was before that too, but now it is essentially set in stone); of course, such movies are always gonna be slightly predictable because it isn't like there's a whole laundry list worth of characters we can suspect. The actual story with the 'movie-long' bad guys is weird: the person who he is told resulted in the death of his parents shows up and is immediately finished off, and then the new 'bad guys' just sorta do some stuff before dying, neither really has much of a fight sequence even (one watches his henchmen die after he fails to coerce information from the good guys, before quickly dying; the other makes some typical villain-type remarks before having his eye gouged out and then running behind his easily-mowed-down henchmen before he himself is quickly dispatched); hell, even our twisty bad guy just says a few words and puts up a brief struggle, no more, before he's choked to death. And then the movie ends with our hero laugh/crying and making angels in the cocaine laying on the dock (his girlfriend, just minutes before, got shot in the stomach and is on the way to, or hopefully at, a hospital).

It's interesting to see Siddhant Chaturvedi here - it's a far cry from the more dramatic role in Gehraiyaan and from the more humorous role in Phone Bhoot (the only 2 movies I've seen him in, I think). I mean, I think there's supposed to be some sort of dramatic role here, too, but its lost amidst the predictability, the annoying first half in which he's just an ass to most, and the very violent second half. Gajraj Rao tries something a bit different (again, from what I've seen him do), but he's also missing for a good chunk of the movie. Ram Kapoor gets a chance at a shady, quiet character, and pulls off shady and quiet pretty well. The actress, Malavika Mohanan, appears like Deepika if the camera is tilted correctly; acting wise, she's given a role that thankfully is not as annoying as the actresses we've seen in other recent action movies (Heropanti 2, for example); and while she's playing damsel in distress for a bit, she also holds her own in 1 fight scene and doesn't shy away from deadly action in multiple other sequences as well. In a baddie role, Raghav Juyal is pretty cool - though, again, his lack of true action sequences is a bit disappointing considering how much action (stylistic, at that) is going on in the movie.

It's nothing great, and the general progression of the movie brings nothing new to the story we've seen a million times over, but the action does have its moments (if you can stand Siddhant's character) and Siddhant does do a pretty decent job in this role.