Tuesday 16 August 2016

Review: Suicide Squad (2016) is good enough to save DCEU's underwhelming reputation.




David Ayer previously known for films like ‘Fury (2014)’ starring Brad Pitt and Arnold Schwarzenegger starrer ‘Sabotage (2014)’ featuring the world of police and military forces, but this time things are different, this time he’s got super-villains to play with, oh wait Villains or Worst Heroes Ever?
Despite of a weak plot, Suicide Squad is exuberantly good, which proves Ayer as a better Director than a Writer, but one wouldn’t consider him as one of the best director to ever happen to the film world, but as compared to Zack Snyder’s shit, he killed it, (now picture Deadshot saying this in his style)

Suicide Squad is one of the films that make you almost shit your pants, with the characters like Harley Quinn/Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Margot Robbie), Deadshot/Floyd Lawton (Will Smith), Diablo/Chato Santana (Jay Hernandez), Killer Croc/Waylon Jones (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Enchantress/Dr. June Moone (Cara Delevingne), Cpt. Boomerang/Digger Harkness (Jai Courtney), Katana/ Tatsu Yamashiro (Karen Fukuhara), Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), Rick Flagg (Jeol Kinnaman) and the one and only Joker (Jared Leto), Oh wait how can I forgot the mind blowing Slipknot/Christopher Weiss (Adam Beach) with some of the speedy lighting and black cape in the nights of gotham.

The film starts from where the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice left off, Yes the death of Superman, Amanda Waller takes kryptonian son’s death as a serious issue to fight future adversities more powerful than ever and she’s got crazy plans for it. Oh and before that, we do get to see a whole lot of pretty and a whole lot of craziness. Waller’s plans aren’t really what a person free from physical or mental disorder would approve, but there is nothing left to offer as they are concerned about huge ‘Meta-Human’ threats in the near future, the film takes a turning point when a deserted Witch goes all the way to “DESTROY-THEM-ALL” kind of aberrance, now that’s where Waller’s Task Force X a.k.a Suicide Squad begins the fun.Super-Hero movies are normally known for some good heroes fighting the malevolent forces, but here those malicious beings switch sides for a better world realizing their mistakes, Naah! That’s not entirely the truth, that’s because they’ve got a cruel unexpected boss giving them reason to do some good, that’s more like it.
In this unique conceptual but over-promoted film, we get to see the very first theatrical live-action portrayal of Harley Quinn done by talented Margot Robbie, it really a is nightmare to do a character which is entirely a crackbrain and psychotically sally, despite of Harley being one of the famous character in the comic world and the whole world expecting a metaphoric Life & Death situation kind of a performance for a character with a scarce back-story, Robbie has done justice to the character, her performance is the only half which makes this movie vigorously enjoyable to watch, her performance makes Harley the female version of Joker with an additional touch of softness for the distressed ones, which reminds me of how fondly the character fell in love with psychotic Joker in the 1997 animated Series named ‘The New Batman Adventures’
The most disheartening element of this execution for me was, the over-hyped, but less exhibited Joker, the character felt like shoehorned into the film, now imagine yourself wearing shoes smaller than your feet and running around feeling the pain, that might be the exact pain Jared Leto must have felt after watching the final piece, you just don’t get to play with a character this big like an unprofessional, this is disappointingly deceptive to a man who is extremely talented and dedicated, Jared Leto as Joker has done a stunning job, creating a different torpid yet energetic ruthless vibe to the character, with a parlous yet grasping laugh, despite of the less screen time Leto succeeds in for you to have high hopes for the character in future productions.
Owing to over-hyping of Joker and less promotion of Deadshot in the trailers the character gets to have more screen time in the final piece which makes it quite delighting to watch Deadshot as a whole in the film, a character which is exceptionally good at the mathematical angles and uses his skills (which includes much more than that) to kill for his bank account to start dancing, having a very stout weakness in the shape of a daughter, a bad guy giving more time to act as a good one. Will Smith has done a good job for the character, as he could be the only option for the character for his better experience of suchlike characters; he has given us reasons to praise him.


With Deadshot being a good character, Diablo is not very far to being a great one, a crime lord having destructive flaming powers, had done some serious afflictions in his crestfallen past, he decides to leave his misperceived chaotic world to be behind gingerly bars, before he could take another life, the most well indited character of the film & with a well-handled back-story, El Diablo turns out to be a great asset of the film, on top of that Jay Hernandez’s phenomenal acting skills giving it a life to its fullest is all that you need to know.
The most fun part after Quinn was Boomerang with Jai Courtney’s brilliant performance which ends up disappointingly underused; instead an unimpressive Rick Flagg is overused although Jeol Kinnaman did well as an actor, and Killer Croc’s amazing portrayal by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje although I had much better hopes for him but still it was satisfactory, and Enchantress as a character was just okay but Cara Delevingne’s portrayal was impressive, meanwhile Amanda Waller was a classic example of person who knows how to deal with the most dangerous people on the planet and having them all in her pocket with Viola Davis’ exceptional acting giving you the feeling of getting your favorite toppings on your flavor of ice cream.
After the underwhelming reputation of Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad somehow is capable enough to save DCEU. In my opinion it was the film DCEU needed at the moment, it has a very predictable story line but it is far better and entertaining than BvS: Dawn of Justice & Man of Steel combined.

With my Rating of 3.5/5 I’d recommend all to watch it. It is a great watch.


Wednesday 11 May 2016

Captain America: Civil War (2016) Review: 9/10






Joe and Anthony Russo’s Civil War is the longest Marvel film till date, with the running time of 2 hours and 26 minutes. It indisputably has a compelling story with a great touch of humour along with Russo bros’ adequate direction.

The film starts with the year 1991 where a hydra's brain washed Winter Soldier (Sebastain Stan) causes a car crash to recover the super soldier building serum, giving you the idea of somewhat an important part of the storyline, then it takes you to the uninhabited future of Captain America (Chris Evans) kicking off in an overwhelming action sequence with Black Widow (Scarlett Johanson) Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) by his side, and yes you wonder where is Iron Man? (Robert Downey Jr) and his absence is very well explained soon after, though its nothing but a sneak peak to the astounding action this execution features. Due to uncontrolled amount of collateral damage done by the so called 'Saviours Of The World' UN enforces a mandate called 'Sokovia Accord' on the Avengers to become a government organization for prevention of any further adversities. Steve believing that the safest hands are still their own and Tony on the other hand having emotional breakdown and disagreeing with Rogers, builds up a real conflict between friendly heroes, and when things starts to go side ways, Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier being blamed for the deadly attack on 'Sokovia Accord Event' killing Wakandan King T'Chaka in Vienna, boosts up the conflict to a whole other level.

Super censured Steve goes full interrogative thinking he should be the one bringing him in, but his plan goes sideways, as Bucky runs for his life and encounters a black costumed skilful fighter with a vengeful rage, there we get to see a breathtaking action packed chase between three powerful beings with different agendas on each mind. Soon after when War Machine (Don Cheadle) turns the fight into police hand, the guy in black turns out to be T'Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) son of the Wakandan King, which explains his rageful attitude.

Chadwick Boseman is a newcomer to the avenging universe portraying one of the highly expected character, which he has executed in an adeptable manner, though it is highly unlikely for a newcomer to come up to the level of existing stars, this shows his admirable talent of acting which is deservingly appreciated.



Bucky gets to see himself boxed in a powerless manner, which he believes is literally unfair, there we see evil minded Zemo set Bucky loose giving him uncontrollable reasons to go rogue for the time being by saying the mysterious code words which are not very handling for him.
Cap realizing that him escaping is a mistake so he tries stop him but and there we see Chris Evans' unrealistically realistic act which in many eyes is one of the brilliant stunts he has ever done.



Chris Evans injured his arm muscles while filming the iconic shot of Captain America holding back a helicopter with his hands. Evans said of the shot, 'That shot is a little bit of bicep porn. 'Zoom in on the biceps' - that's what the script said. Kevin Feige didn't airbrush my biceps, that's me. It's not a utilitarian shot, it's a shot where you're trying to look heroic. That position (of holding the helicopter with one hand and the ledge with another) is actually a very unnatural position to use to stop something but we used it because I have to flex my bicep, you are trying to make the scene look great. And I genuinely messed my arm doing that shot because of the strain. Robert Downey Jr. joked that the film-makers didn't mind that Evans hurt himself because of how great the shot turned out and they have been using it to promote the film ever since. Anthony Russo revealed that the iconic shot almost did not happen because on the day of the film-making there was a miss-communication with the costume department and Evans came in wearing a thick jacket. They immediately sent him back to change because then they wouldn't have been able to film the shot of his muscles bulging as intended in the script.



Robert Downey Jr. Iron Man we see in this flick is a billionaire with a different mindset, realizing his mistakes, most certainly guilty of the act he actually thought would him make unstoppable and righteous, the creation of Ultron. He now has reasons to act by law and show his patriotism, as we heard that the film will feature a darker version of Tony Stark, it was completely untrue, where as the only part where he says "Sometime I want to punch you in your perfect teeth" shows his darkness otherwise he gets to be a lawfully powerful devotee.
Downey Jr. has proved that he was meant to be casted as Iron Man, he certainly has performed better and better as character kept on developing throughout the films. He has created this vibe for Tony Stark which nobody else can create not in his time.



As the film continues to shine we get to enter a whole new level of greatness when we watch Red and Blue go head to head, in the atmosphere of giant airbuses, where Cap's initial plan is to go up against 'Psycho Assassins' as phrased by the Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) his entry to this Marvel-ous film is as amusing as the character himself is, which makes the the film go even better, and a bigger surprise for all the Ant-Man fans when you'll watch the movie you'll know, dont miss out its Huge! meanwhile on the other side there is Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who indisputably is the best spidey to ever happen in the film world, a humorous teenager with a amazing powers and heroic pupose, and on top of all Holland's mind-blowing performance, appreciation comes out from your heart inevitably .
The airport fight sequence is more like a bunch of friends playing 'what-if-we-were-enemies', which is best both ways, amusingly or seriously, it by far is one the best moments in the history of comic book movies.



Once we are done watching the amusement , the film takes us to its darkness, where Cap and Bucky and Stark wound up at former hydra base, to find Baron Zemo's evil plans turning recently converted Tony back to darkness revealing the identity of the people who died in the car crash at the very start of the film back in 1991. Although this part of the film was overwhelmingly action packed but it literally was unnecessary.

At conclusion I'd say Captain America Civil War is one the best comic book movie to ever happen to me,one of the best action packed that I have ever watched it really is a must watch with my rating of 9/10. 

Saturday 30 April 2016

Wazir (2016) Review: A crippled Pawn, A provoked Rook, & A mythical Queen.



Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s original story and Bejoy Nambiar’s directed Wazir is somewhat a brilliant take on the acute mind game called chess. The film relates the characters with the game so gracefully that one would really wonder how this incisive game can turn normal beings into incredible masterminds who could strategically do anything, even the act of suicide, to bring down the non-deserving king.

The film starts with a normal happy family of an Anti Terrorist Squad agent named Daanish (Farhan Akhtar), a vigorous husband, with a loving wife, Ruhana (Aditi Rao Hydari), and an innocent little kid Noorie. This blessed family soon after, gets to feel a doleful feeling of losing the only child, who becomes the victim of a shootout between her father and some terrorists, this devastating act of causing the deadly encounter, and making his wife a living dead, haunts Daanish every night, giving him unbelievable reasons to do what he never ever thought of doing, he ends up killing the terrorists who were the reason behind his sad turn up, and decides to end his life, there a wise man named Omkar (Amitabh Bachchan) makes him realize that it’s not the end yet. Pawn makes his first move by introducing a Rook into the game, Omkar Nath Dhar A.K.A ‘Panditji’ a crippled man without both legs, tries to drag Daanish out of his destroyed self by making him learn chess, after some good game sessions and influential conversations, and understanding, Panditji take Daanish in confidence and shares tragic story of his daughter Nima’s Death, and asks for his help to investigate the closed case against a very powerful politician minister Yazaad Qureshi (Manav Kaul), Pawn makes Rook aware of his capabilities.  Daanish re-opens the case, and approaches Qureshi for questioning, but with his political power Qureshi ends up closing the case again. When Pawn sends his Rook, to give the king a little hard time, the King sends his wicked Queen to make sure that Pawn knows his value. Qureshi sees Omkar and Daanish as a threat to his political career, and there Wazir (Neil Nithin Mukesh) a psychotically wicked devotee of Yazaad Qureshi attacks Omkar to make him aware of his power, Daanish searches for Wazir, and Wazir keeps contacting him with untraceable methods to make him aware that he is watching his every move, Panditji sees that justice is not being served so he tries to take matter in his own hands, he tries to put an end to this misery, Daanish tries to stop him, but omkar’s fate gets to end in a tragic way. When a Rook sees his Pawn die right in front of his eyes, he destroys everyone who comes in his way. Daanish with the help of his friend (John Abraham) tracks down Qureshi and gets to know that whatever sacrifices Qureshi was living on, all of them were big lies, and that’s how a pawn’s provoked Rook brings down the King. There comes the biggest astonishing twist of this game, the Pawn actually kept his Rook under the hook with unbelievably unexpected moves, the Pawn turned out to be the mythical Queen who kept on provoking the Rook, to play with his full capabilities and potential. The dialogue from the film “Hey Little Pawn you’re the soul of chess, if you’re able to make right moves, one day you’ll become Wazir (The Queen Piece)” explains everything.

Along with Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s great conceptual story, Abhijat Joshi has worked on screenplay writing, which is successfully skillful, though it did had some errors, like it’s kind of impossible to throw a match stick from a long distance successfully in a single try with a single hand, which are easily ignorable but still an error is an error. The combination of Abhijat Joshi’s screenplay and Abhishek Deshpande’s Dialogue writing has made this film and incredibly enjoyable. Bejoy Nambiar has done a good work as a director with such big of a script, but I wouldn’t say it was the perfect direction for script like this, Nambiar could have done better. 

Amitabh Bachchan after a long time has chosen a great film to work on, he for sure is one of the Bollywood Legends who will always be remembered even after their death, and his performance as Omkar Nath Dhar has proved that he still can act with joy. 



The actor who has surprised me in this film is Neil Nithin Mukesh, who only did a cameo in the film as a mythical Wazir, the depth in his voice, made his evil character more dark and enjoyable to watch, I am delightful with the fact that he has done a great role and he actually was good enough to portray it perfectly.
Manav Kaul has disappointed me with his poor performance as Yazaad Qureshi, the character was way more, crucially political, Kaul should have made it energetic, unreliable.

Farhan Akhter and Aditi has a great chemistry as husband and wife on a screen, Farhan has been a struggling actor in the industry, the role Daanish actually demand a hardworking actor who could understand contrary situations of the same role, I appreciate that he has not failed to prove that he is hard working, and he covered the character real good. I’m glad that has this good character choosing sense.

The film’s story actually deserves 8.5/10 but due to poor performance by Manav and less hard work by Nambiar in direction I rate this film as 8.0/10 .

Saturday 23 April 2016

Fan (2016) Review: The Impoverished attempt at a Vigorous concept.



Maneesh Sharma's Fan, starring an overly rated, so called 'King of Bollywood' is one of the many reasons why this failed attempt is getting praised by many untasteful film lovers, in the entire Indian subcontinent, this poor execution, has somewhat a similar conception with a 1996, Robert De Niro starrer, having a very identical tittle 'The Fan' . 

Gaurav (Shah Rukh Khan) a small-town internet cafe runner, having a stricking resemblence with a highly praised bollywood star known as Aryan Khanna (Also portrayed by Shah Rukh Khan) which is one of the many reasons of being an obssesive fan of the superstar, he has an intense wish to meet his idol someday, his crazy love for his idol has made him somewhat a talented small stage performer known as 'Junior Aryan Khanna' in his town, as soon as he gets his stage performing reward, the indentical fan heads to Mumbai to wish his 'Duniya' (world) a very happy birthday, but when his plans turns from a happy ending to a sad one, Gaurav's craziness forces him to cross the line, an year later the financialy broke devotee, trying to play psychotic down games with his ex-idol apears in London, and also in Croatia, which is never explained how was even possible, yes we watched him sell his internet cafe, but that wouldn't really make him rich enough to travel through countries and learn foreign languages that quickly, I would like to add more to the list of plotholes, blunders of the film, Gaurav having acrobatic skills of running from crowded streets to rooftops, unnecessarily chased by Aryan like a skillfull spy agent trying to catch an uncatchable enemy.

The plotholes and unbelievable blunders of the overall work, gives us reasons to believe that Habib Faisal has failed to prove himself as a good screenplay writer, and Sharma's inadequate direction makes it even worse and unappreciable. His direction entirely through out the film gave me the feeling of a failed attempt at a hollywood alike flick, with an inferior mystic climax.

Shah Rukh Khan has proved that he surely is one of the good actors in bollywood, portraying two different roles in a same flick is not entirely an easy task to do, it requires a great amount of hardwork and contrary sensing ability, but still I wouldn't call him 'King of Bollywood' (In my opinion nobody in bollywood is good enough to be called as a king of entire industry) an actor is not only known for his acting skills, or how big a star he is, being an actor also requires perception, character choosing, standard maintaing, abilities. Take Aamir Khan and Ranbir Kapoor for example, I would highly rate them for there character choosing and standard maintaing abilities, (I am not saying they're the greatest of all but they really deserves the appreciation) . 

The surprisingly interesting part is that the film has no songs at all, instead it has a real background score which is quite good to listen individually. It also introduces Hollywood's renowned make-up artist Greg Cannom to Bollywood. 

Although it deserves a rating of 4 but i'll rate it 5/10 for SRK's brilliant performance as Gaurav . 

Saturday 26 March 2016

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Review: Affleck's Bat-Slap to Critics



Zack Snyder comes back with his Superhero Sequel of Man of Steel, it hits the cinemas across the globe on 25th March 2016, having two of the very famous and Earth's greatest superheroes created by Dc Comics, A Dark Knight and A human God, facing each other with a cruel fighting rage, this project not only includes Batman and Superman it also has the most powerful woman in the entire Dc Universe known as Wonder Woman, the fastest man alive The Flash, the hero below the water Aquaman and the Human machine Cyborg. 
I'd say After watching Man of Steel, I wasn't expecting Dawn of Justice to make up to the reputation which Snyder had lost in the eye of many fans, and a sequel never enlightened me like this ever before, I was unexpectedly stunned and glued to my seat for the whole time, 


The film starts with the billionare Bruce Wayne trying to protect people stuck in Wayne Enterprises' bulding in metropolis during a very disastrous fight between, Superman and Gen. Zodd. So many innocents lose their lives, including women and children, which effectively changes Wayne's perception on the super-god known as Superman. Where everybody thinks of him as a saviour, Bruce is finding ways to bring him down, and Lex Luthor taking advantage of the situation , trys to come back at The Dark Knight for interrupting in his evil plans by stealing the kryptonite rock, he gives Superman some forcible reasons to fight Batman, (Oh Man! You better should not miss the chance to know how this epic fight ends), when Lex unleashes his evil nativity of doomsday to the world, the Bat of Gotham, the Son of Krypton and the Undestructable Amazonian teams up to bring down the evil giant. 

Many bat-fans went grotesquely absured when they heard that Ben Affleck has been cast as the new Batman. Bale fans criticized Snyder's judgement on Batman role, trolling Ben Affleck's first look as batman on social media, but soon when the BvS trailers came out, many critics and bat-fans intentionaly changed their views and started to join the 'Batffleck' community. 
In an interview at Comic Con while promoting Dawn of Justice Ben Affleck told the audience that he met Previous Batman Star cast Christian Bale in a costume store, where they had a talk about Affleck being cast as batman, and Bale told him that he is quite happy with the fact the Affleck is the new batman and he jokingly adviced "Make sure you don't piss in that suit". They both were buying costumes for their kids.
 I am quite delighted to say that Ben took Bale's words indeed seriously, he performed brilliantly and gave no reason to accuse him of pissing in the dark knight suit. His expressions, his dialogue delivery, his understanding, all of it does pure justice to the character, this must have been most hardest performance for him as he had to gain additional 20lbs of muscle and reach 8% of fat for his role, he may not be a natural but he knew what he had to do.
Henry Cavill, known as the best Superman (I totally agree with this title) gave expressions like the one where superman looks up at Lex with aggressive eyes, that very moment gave me heavy goosebumps, He was distinguishably subtle in his performance, I'd say he did cleverly great and much better work in BvS than Man of Steel. He put on twice the amount of muscle mass for this film than he had for MoS. 
The Lex Luthor we get watch in this film is a patient, sarcastic, depraved, psychopath which Jesse Eisenberg has portrayed sensationally, I wouldn't find any other Lex Luthor Portrayal more exceptional than this one. This is the first time, I have watched Jesse portay a negetive role, and I am totally amazed.

The issue I always have with Snyder's direction is that he apparently doesn't get to prioritize important stuff like rationality or reality in his work, and he miss out the very little but big things which no one seems to notice. I know the movie is based on comic books which doesn't go toe to toe with reality but the part like surviving a blast and never having a single burned part of the suit is even unreal in comic books aswell. We literally have eyes man we can see, this is one flaw that Snyder in my opinion might never get to overcome. But hey no one is Flawless. Film editing had a bit problems, especially in 3D visuals where I couldn't get to see colors, It went totally grey, and I remember the same scenes fully colorful from the film's trailers. 

Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer worked on the story brilliantly which I would say was one of the most comic related story for a theatrical Batman and Superman film ever and this is the first movie which mentions Bill Finger as Co-creator of Batman along with Bob Kane. 
The film is mostly inspired by Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns comic series, and Batman Animated series aswell. Batman is shown to have a fighting style which is literally aggressive and acrobatic, and it is most likely to be compared with the fighting style of Batman: Arkham Games. 

Meanwhile in Box Office BvS: Dawn of Justice has been proving its immunity to kryptonite of bad reviews, as this epic battle has grossed in $82 Million on it's opening day, and it has said to finish the weekend with $171 Million based on early studio estimates.

In conclusion, I would say the film is a pure piece of entertainment, which gives enjoyable experience and I hope it gets to bag some real deserving awards. 

All of The Walking Dead fans I have some news for you, that Maggie (Lauren Cohen) and Negan (Jeffery Dean Morgan) Dies in Batman v Superman as Bruce Wayne's Parents. Take it as a Joke I meant to put a smile on your faces. 

We will soon see more of Ben Affleck's batman this year in David Ayer's Suicide Squad .
And more in Justice League Two part series next year and also in Batman Reboot which is rumored that it'd be directed and acted by Ben Affleck.

I rate Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice as 8.5/10 ( .5 especially for Ben Affleck) 

Tuesday 1 March 2016

True Detective (Review - S01 Only) : All Hail 'The Great' Nic Pizzolatto




I would like to start with saying 'All hail the great Nic Pizzolatto' for the meritorious effort of creating a distinguished mystery based story on malevolence and obsession. The most astonishing part to know here is that Nic literally wrote the whole script all on his own for the entire Season The show is set in the year 2012 where two contrary but dominated (former) detective partners of Louisiana State Police, Dt. Rustin Cohle (Mathew McConaughey) and Dt. Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) are questioned about the 'Antler' case from their time in the force, back in 1995 where a young girl was killed in a very mysterious and meta-psychotic way.

Mathew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in Season 1

Rust (McConaughey) is a disturbed pessimistic atheist, haunted by his past, a man without a family, having unfriendly nature, with a sharp resourceful mind, Meanwhile Marty (Harrelson) is a family man, a regular professional type, and people's favorite kind of person, but deep down inside he would tenderly fall for other women, and his ineptness in psychotic knowledge makes him less as compared to his partner, which is why at a point Rust says to him "without me you are nothing" . 

Mathew McConaughey who plays an atheist and Woody Harrelson who plays a Christian in the show, both have completely opposite religious believes in their lives, which was actually hard for both of them for their performance. Mathew had to smoke 49 cigarettes and 9 bears all together for statement shots



McConaughey's performance as Rust is literally outstanding that it gave me Goosebumps most of the time, his expressions with the dialogue delivery makes you feel like whatever he's saying here he's saying it with his true heart, the way he deals with the drug acting it is super-realistic, this is what you call realism, which every actor should have.

The show has some compelling points about the human nature and relations, how people could think about several aspects, it has very interesting message that you can encounter if you go a little deeper inside, which you have to figure out yourself otherwise it wouldn't turn out to be mesmerizing.

The Next thing to add to my 'To-Do list' is 'buy season two of True Detective'

I put this Tv-Show to my Must-Watch Shows List. And I Rate it 9/10

Tuesday 2 February 2016

The Walking Dead: 10 Reasons Why Tv Series Is Better Than Comics.





*Spoiler Alert*

Don't read if you haven't watched the Tv Series or haven't read the comics . 


Or if you don't really care then go ahead. 


Lets just forget The Walking Dead Story characters at the moment and think about  you being stuck in a zombie apocolypse, what would you become? 

A loser who would lose hope and shoot him/herself in head , 
A selfish survivor who would even kill his/her own people to survive ,
A leader who would protect the ones around him from anything , even humans,
A coward who would lie and say anything to make people protect him,  
A loner who would choose to be alone and protect him/herself from the dead and the living, 
       Or 
A Helpful friend who would instead of killing anyone think that all lives are precious, 


I would love to be the Last one . A Helpful friend. 


Let's see the 10 Reasons why 'The Walking Dead' Tv Series is better than Comics . 



1. It has better Rick Grimes




Rick awakens from a coma into the apocalypse and searches for Lori and Carl and finds them in the Atlanta camp with his best friend, Shane, and becomes the group's leader. Although Rick quickly adapts to the notion of killing walkers, he retains his morality, which puts him at odds with Shane, whose own morality has diminished. Shane has turned into a survivalist, and his infatuation with Lori, spurred on by an affair with her in Rick's absence, makes him jealous of Rick. Rick's morality is constantly tested to protect his family and friends. Over time, he becomes colder and more brutal, which puts him at odds with the other survivors who adopt the same mindset. As Rick desires to retain his son's innocence, his brutality is further tested by his own group when encountering non-group members who the group believes should join them. Rick manages to regain his morality when staying at communities, and is able to be a father once more, but antagonists seeking to exploit his group force him to remain hardened. 

In the television Rick is a typically calm, smart, and a good friend and father; but he will often stubbornly cling to his personal strong moral code, which has resulted in numerous bad calls and extra stress within the group. Rick's greatest fault, perhaps, is his uncanny ability to place responsibility on himself and set for himself goals that are impossible to reach. This has, on various occasions, put Rick at ends with both Lori and Shane, and often weighs heavily on his mind. Despite his faults, his combat skill and general care for all members of the group have led him to be looked up to, and allowed him to take the leadership role within the group. Rick is strongly nonreligious, admitting to never having been much of a believer and instead puts his faith in his family and the group-members around him. He also appears to view religion and beliefs in God as an interference and waste of time.

2. It has Dixon Brothers. 




Well Its a fact that Daryl is everyone's favorite and yes we all hated Merle but I won't deny the fact that Merle also was one of the characters who made it to be one of the great Post-Apocolyptic Tv shows of America, although Merle's psychotic fun was hated by most of the people almost the whole time but (I don't know if you agree with me here) in the end he won many hearts with his Sad Turning. Where as Daryl's Soft+Rude personality kept on winning hearts of everyone. He turns out to be a great brother+partner, his caring ability makes him a friend that everybody needs, he has this ugly outerworld but beatiful inside, He is the kind of a man who can survive alone but can't live alone, If I get a chance to make one these characters my Best-Friend? I'd definitely go for Daryl Dixon. 
I'm totally Glad that they created the Dixons especially for the show, as they don't exist in comics . 

3. It has a Sensible death for Lori . 




According to Tv Show Lori dies during a Child-Birth Scenario and Judith survives,
Where as in Comics, Rick with Lori (carrying Judith) and Carl make a run for their lives during Governer's attack on prison, Lori is killed by one shooter named 'Lilly' who takes a shot at Lori and it hits onto her back and Lori falls right on Judith crushing her into Pieces and they both die at the very moment. 

To be honest death at a child birth scenario makes a lot more sense than getting shot and crushing a baby by just falling onto her . 
Having no modern facilties and no professional Doctors for Child Birth is mostly dangerous for mothers to survive, in history when they never had any facilites many mothers died during child birth and many babies survived, so to me Lori's death version of Tv Show makes more sense. 

4. It has a better version of Gorvernor and valid reason for prison attack . 





Philip A.K.A 'The Governor' leader of a community town known as woodbury is an evil selfish person who wants everything for himself, he has the manpower and enough resources to become the living devil among the dead, 

According to Comics The Governor is a greedy two-faced leader of Woodbury, while at the prison Rick, Michonne and Glenn, discovers a Chopper crash they follow the smoke and finds no surviving body at the crash, but instead they find footsteps which leads them to Woodbury, where they get a calm welcome by The Governor but soon enough they get to find out the other face of Greedy Philip when he cuts off Rick's right hand, and tortures Michonne to get information about the prison, Martinez following on The Governor's plan to extract info about the prison helps Rick and his people to escape Woodbury, but Michonne stays to avenge her suffering, She tortures the Governor by cutting off his left arm and taking out his right eye, but the devil survives and comes back to attack the prison and end up destroying the prison and getting shot on back of the head by his own shooter named 'Lilly' 

Where as in Tv Series, the story is very different, Andrea and Michonne finds the chopper crash and they get caught by Governor's men and he takes both of them to woodbury and treats them well at first then Michonne finds out the real truth about Philip and she tries to take Andrea and leave but brain washed Andrea refuses, so Michonne gets to leave alone, Governor sends Merle to kill Michonne, but he finds Maggie and Glenn instead and he takes both back to woodbury to get info about his brother and the prison, meanwhile Michonne finds the prison and tells the stranger Rick that Governor has the Asian guy and the girl, so Rick and group goes to woodbury to help thier people escape, and Michonne ends up killing Governor's Walker-Daughter 'Penny' and making him blind from one eye Andrea tries to make a truce between Rick and Governor and Gov offers Rick a way out by handing Michonne over to him but Rick ends up choosing war instead which makes things worse, Governor's army abandons him so he kills them all, meanwhile Rick takes the rest of the people with him to prison and burns Woodbury Town, after months Governor finds another group and attacks back on prison, he ends up destroying the prison and getting killed by Michonne and a shot on the head by his recent girlfriend 'Lilly' . 

Well the revenge of his daughter's death makes more sense and the rage of taking over the home of people who destroyed his home is more of a valid reason for making a brutal attack on an enemy.

5. It has Badass Carol. 





Carol Peletier a rather bland background player from the comics who is made the victim of domestic abuse in the television series. In the comics, she is a widow; in the show, she must contend with her overbearing husband until he is killed by walkers. In the former, she is desperate for attention and ultimately commits suicide when her new romance is abruptly broken off;  while in Tv series Carol's development has revealed her to be highly intelligent, cunning, manipulative, and resourceful, serving as a constant confidant and counselor to Rick, typically advising the most logical and smart approach. She is not afraid to take matters into her own hands and is shown to be ready to kill anyone or anything she views as a threat. She is also a great liar, as she is able to convince the entire town of Alexandria that she is a weak, ditzy old lady in an attempt to hide her more devious side. She still retains her sanity and her emotions of sympathy, but Carol will always take the logical route at any cost. Carol is occasionally shown to be extremely cold and cruel as shown when she threatens to leave Sam for the Walkers if he tells of her presence in the gun gallery and coldly telling him to move on after his abusive father's death and also threatening and attempting to kill Morgan for getting in her way of killing the Wolves Leader, despite the latter being confined and restrained. Carol is shown to be similar to Rick in the sense that both are now unwilling to take chances when it comes to dealing with human threats.

6. It has Amazing Characterization of Morgan. 







The Morgan we meet in the comics is a level-headed, insightful tour guide for Rick, but Morgan becomes a paranoid fruit loop with a propensity for setting booby traps in the TV show. After Rick left to find his family in Atlanta, Morgan began to get reckless, which eventually led to the death of his son. The next time Rick encountered Morgan, he was a changed man, who had become insane and intensively grief-stricken with the death of his family, so he claimed to redeem himself by killing all of the zombies in King County, though Morgan was shown to also have turned into a cold blooded murderer who killed anyone who got in his way, even if they were harmless survivors. It was only after meeting a peaceful survivor named Eastman that Morgan was just able to reclaim his sanity and in which he developed his code to never kill human beings again. It was from Eastman that Morgan also acquired his fighting skills.

Morgan has now taken a strong role in the community of Alexandria and with his fighting skills, is a strong survivor and protector willing to do anything to keep good people safe from harm but still stubbornly refuses to kill those who indeed pose a threat to the security of his group.


7. It has cooler science behind walkers (zombies) 






At no point in the TV show do the characters refer to 'zombies' it’s almost exclusively 'walkers' or 'biters' and at some point 'roamers' also have been used. But 'Zombies' have never been used but in comics 'Zombie' word does come up. 

Season 1 of the TV show culminates in the survivors’ arrival at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and their encounter with its sole surviving employee, Dr. Jenner. This provides the backdrop for an explosive finale and Rick’s revelation that everyone is infected, therefore, the living are “the walking dead” just as much as the walkers. This place doesn’t feature in the comics, and the survivors remain ignorant about the true nature of the outbreak.


8. It has Secretively Sad Michonne . 






In both the comics and the TV show, Michonne is a one-woman, katana-wielding, bringer of walker slaughter. But Michonne is more sensitive in the comics, and she even pursues a relationship with Tyreese. The TV character is extremely detached and completely unavailable, emotionally and physically, to anyone. She tends to work alone and keeps much of her past secret, even towards Andrea, but possesses a keen sense of intuition. Michonne once said that she "trusts her gut" when it comes to other survivors. After the loss of her boyfriend, she suffered from hallucinations in which she would talk to him. It was revealed that she likes art and/or sculptures as she looted a cat sculpture and claimed that it was "too damn gorgeous" to leave behind. When she first comes to the group, she is very quiet. As time goes on, however, she gradually opens up to the group, specifically Rick and Carl, and becomes accepted by the whole group.

Michonne appeared to have an aversion to babies, as she vehemently refused to hold Rick's daughter Judith until Beth Greene forced her to, and, while looking at Judith, shed tears, before hugging Judith close. Michonne later establishes that this is a manifestation of the guilt she feels for losing her own son, Andre.


9. It has a Mature Carl 






In Tv series, Carl in some kind of way represents the everyman, or at least the everyman for children.  He is a normal kid at the start of the show but as time passes and he must make harder and harder decisions, he shuts down emotionally.  When his mother gives birth to his sister and dies, Rick is not around and Carl must make the decision to shoot his mom and put her out of her misery, least she become one of the undead. 
 
This act would change the hardest person alive, let alone a teenage child.  Carl is no different from what anyone else would be.  Later on in the same season, he shoots another boy when he refuses to quickly drop his firearm.  It is implied that Carl acted rashly but you can understand his actions; in the world they inhabit, it is kill or be killed and his conditioning has changed him into being a soldier, one who acts on instinct alone at times.  

Kill or be killed.  Carl has learned this lesson time and again and learned it well.  It is better to live and fight another day then die or become a zombie.  It is not his fault and his father, as well meaning as Rick is, can’t do everything.  Rick is a part of the world as well and has made similar decisions.  Carl has seen him make these tough choices and in a way, is only mimicking what he is seeing his father do.  

Meanwhile in comics all you see of Carl is Him fooling around with toys and Sophia. Though he gets cooler after Lori and Judith dies in Prison Attack. 


10. It has Sniping-Sasha 






 Sasha somewhat feels like a mix of the comic book versions of Maggie and Andrea. Andrea for the fact she’s a sharpshooter, serves as a lookout in Alexandria, and Spencer briefly tried to connect with her. And Maggie because she’s suffered loss after loss and it continues to take a major toll on her psyche. (Then again, that technically applies to a number of characters in the comic, doesn’t it?) Because of this, she tends to remain relatively quiet (compared to others, that is) and she’s helping Rick in the plan to protect Alexandria from the sea of zombies. She claims she no longer wants to die, but the character has yet to have a standout moment in Season 6. Only time will tell how she reacts now that the plan has backfired.

Monday 25 January 2016

The Revenant: The Reliable Survivor Vs. The Selfish Coward.



*Spoiler Alert*
Don't read if you haven't watched the film yet . It has spoilers all over . 

At the start when Glass (Dicaprio) takes the shot, Fitzgerald (Hardy) starts to fear for his life which shows his selfish feeling of being stuck with the people who he thinks doesn't know how to survive the indians, As everything is cool and steady suddenly the film starts to pick up the heat as we see an Unexpected Arrow hitting straight into the neck of a trapper indicating the attack by the indians which forces everyone's heart to beat faster than ever, fear starts to pump through the vains and the background score makes it even worse to breath, forces us to stay glued to our seats and we all start thinking this is going to be interesting, I'd say its one hell of a way to start a film with a story like this, perfect camera work  I am a fan of the way Alejandro G. Innaritu works with the camera angles, amazing action sequence, and on the top of that undescribable cinematography. 

Coming to the thing between Hugh Glass (Leonardo Dicaprio) and John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) 
The Reliable Survivor Vs. The Selfish Coward. 
Glass, his son, and his remaining companions, are going back to the nearest outpost. A near fatal bear attack, happens to Glass. Glass's weak condition, forced some men from the team, to be his caretakers. One of the caretakers, John Fitzgerald, chooses to betray Glass, by killing his son and leaving him for dead making an unforgivable decision. Relying on his insurmountable anger, a powerful motivation for his family, and also his passion to live, Hugh survives. In this comeback adventure, Glass goes along the wintry terrain, across the wilderness, and uses his survival skills to go back to the outpost. Glass attemps to find John Fitzgerald, and make him pay for his terrible decision.
Although by true events (Hugh Glass was in fact attacked by a bear and left for dead by two of his fellow trappers), the movie takes many huge liberties with its depiction of these events. The two biggest and most crucial departures from reality may be the main characters motivation (since in reality the trappers never killed his son) and the ending (since the real Hugh Glass never took his revenge, but instead forgave the trappers who left him for dead).


Leonardo DiCaprio 
He had to devour a raw slab of bison's liver, even though he is vegetarian. He also had to learn to shoot a musket, build a fire, speak two Native American languages (Pawnee and Arikara), and study with a doctor who specializes in ancient healing techniques. DiCaprio calls it the hardest performance of his career.
If someone who deserves to get the oscar  this time , it is for sure Leonardo Dicaprio.


Tom Hardy
He watched Tom Berenger in Platoon (1986) for inspiration.
Hardy was concerned about the safety of some of the stunts he had to do, which caused friction between him and director Alejandro González Iñárritu before Iñarritu allowed Hardy to choke him in return. Later, the image of Hardy strangling Iñarritu was immortalized in a T-shirt gifted by Hardy to all members of the crew, at the end of the shoot. 

Well the most heart breaking part of the movie was the 'Bear Attack' . 
To watch that you need to have big heart I'm saying this because the weak heartened people might not take it very easily. Well the amazing thing is that this guy actually survived this brutal suffering. 
When Glass (Dicaprio) battles with the bear he initially injures it with a gunshot wound to it's left side until finally defeating it with multiple stab wounds. This is mirrored in the final showdown with Fitzgerald (Hardy) in which Glass shoots him in his left shoulder but ultimately defeats him with a knife.

The film has been nominated for 12 Oscar  Nominations including The Best Film and The Best Actor in the Lead Role, The Best Actor In Supporting Role, The Best Director, 

The Film has already won Golden Globe Award for The Best Actor In Lead Role, The Best Director and The Best Film.

My Rating for the Movie is 9.0/10 . 

Thursday 21 January 2016

Manto : The Man who Lived with Fire .

Manto, excellent piece on almost all of the afsanas by Saadat Hassan Manto , one of the brilliant biopics I've ever watched , I'd say this has been one of the best movies Pakistan has ever produced, Absolutely brilliant acting done by Sarmad Khoosat, I believe he is the only brilliant actor in Pakistan's Film Industry. 

Directing and Acting are two different and hard things to do, and doing both of them  together is even Harder, Hats off to Sarmad Khoosat for handling acting and directing brilliantly ! 

All of the actors did good ! And I loved the role of Faisal Qureshi even though it was for a short while but it was amazing, 

Its a film on a man who lived his life with the fire which he thought he could control but he never knew it was slowly taking him over and that fire was his addiction, with that fire he created realistic characters which nobody ever wanted to accept, characters which became the major part of his life, and in the end they haunted him for being different and unique, 

This is how struggling life Manto had lived , This life was his destiny. 

My rating for this movie is 8.5/10.


Tuesday 19 January 2016

Christopher Nolan: An Inspiring Journey of a 7 years old, with a Camera.

Christopher Nolan on the set of Interstellar (2014)


At 7 years old, Nolan began making short movies with his father’s Super-8 camera.
While studying English Literature at University College London, he shot 16-millimetre films at U.C.L.’s film society, where he learned the guerrilla techniques he would later use to make his first feature,

Following (1998),
on a budget of around $6,000. The noir thriller was recognized at a number of international film festivals prior to its theatrical release, and gained Nolan enough credibility that he was able to gather substantial financing for his next film.

“And when it stopped being random, that’s when it started to go wrong”

Memento (2000)
There comes Nolan’s second which he directed from his own screenplay based on a short story by his brother Jonathan. Starring Guy Pearce, 
An absolutely brilliant piece of work , playing with your mind, starting from the end and ending up at the beginning, a beautiful experience watching a short term memory loss patient struggling through life finding the man who killed his wife and in the end finding out that he was the killer himself.

“Can’t forget to remember you”

the film brought Nolan numerous honors, including Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay.

Insomnia (2002)
Coming on to Nolan’s third, the critically acclaimed psychological thriller, starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank.
Which I’d say was one of the best Al Pacino movie I ever watched. A Director’s main work is to make actors act perfectly according to their characters, it’s not that hard and it’s not that simple, there are different kind of personalities some get the work done like in a second and some take ages to understand a thing. It’s director’s work to walk up with everything according to the plan and sometimes taking it to the whole next level, Nolan couldn’t take Insomnia to the whole next level but it was brilliantly done by a starter to film making career.

“You’re a good man. I know that. Even if you’ve forgotten it.”

The turning point in Nolan’s career occurred when he was awarded the chance to revive the Batman franchise in 2005.
Well most of the batman fans found animated series to be the best batman story telling at that moment of time

Batman Begins (2005)

At number Four Nolan brought a level of gravitas back to the iconic hero, and his gritty, modern interpretation was greeted with praise from fans and critics alike.
I used to read comic books about batman I knew who batman was what really happened to him why he became The Dark Knight according to comics, and I found it kind of boring, But Batman Begins made me change my views about batman. It was quite slow but on point slightly different than Comics, I like it when stories go different than what they really are , Nolan made my wish come true made batman one of my favourite super hero character ever .

“It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do, that defines me.”

The Prestige (2006)
At number Five Nolan directed, co-wrote and produced the mystery thriller, starring Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as magicians whose obsessive rivalry leads to tragedy and murder.
What should I say I have no words like my words worth nothing to a movie like this. Every concept of Rivalry, every concept of Magic tricks, every concept of making a fool out of the audience in front of their eyes without letting them know about it, has been shown in it perfectly. How far would you go to let your opposition down? . How far would you go to be one step ahead ? . It was literally perfect.

“Are you watching Closely?”

The Dark Knight (2008)
In 2008, Nolan directed, co-wrote, and produced his sixth, which went on to gross more than a billion dollars at the world-wide box office.
A totally new era in Batman History, a totally new, different, more of chaotic and sarcastic kind of Joker brilliantly acted by Heath Ledger (R.I.P) . Totally unpredictable, amazingly non-comic, more realistic and inspiringly directed movie ever made. 
I could watch it more than a thousand times without any kind of hesitation.

“Madness is like gravity all it needs is a little push”

For The Dark Knight, Nolan was nominated for a Directors Guild of America (D.G.A.) Award, Writers Guild of America (W.G.A.) Award and Producers Guild of America (P.G.A.) Award, and the film also received eight Academy Award nominations.

Inception (2010)
In his 7th, Nolan captivated audiences with sci-fi thriller, which he directed and produced from his own original screenplay.
You might have been aware of many crime scenes all over the world, on streets, in banks, in residential areas, etc, but have you ever been aware of the crime in a human mind ?, one of the best fantasy you’d love to go inside of, It was it is and it will be my All time Favorite Movie. 

“I can access your mind through your dreams, one simple idea can change everything, that’s why, I
have to steal it”

The thought-provoking drama was a world-wide blockbuster, earning more than $800,000,000 dollars and becoming one of the most discussed and debated films of the year. Among its many honors, Inception received four Academy Awards and eight nominations, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay. Nolan was recognized by his peers with D.G.A. and P.G.A. Award nominations, as well as a W.G.A. Award win for his work on the film.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
At number 8 and third to his Batman trilogy. One of the best-reviewed and highest-grossing movies of 2012,
This was a view changer to many Bane critics, as I wrote earlier amazingly non-comic and brilliantly connected story ever, as in comics, Bane is guy who gained all those muscles by some chemical doses, making no sense at all, but giving him a totally different and sensible image was all Nolan’s incredible thinking. Bane became the badass + best antagonist to ever happen to me.

“The shadows betray you because they belong to me”
Christopher Nolan on the set of The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Due to his success rebooting the Batman character, Warner Bros. enlisted Nolan to produce their revamped Superman movie Man of Steel (2013), which opened in the Summer of 2013.



Interstellar (2014)
At number 9 Nolan takes us to the outer world experience, a pure sci-fi.
For me it was the best of 2014, spinning my mind all over the solar system, making me think from every corner of my mind.
If you go deeper inside the interstellar, the whole movie is a theory that you can never imagine , this movie is by far an outstanding way of describing “we’re dying and there’s a world outside our world where we might survive but oh no we can’t, wait , we’ll find a way we always have” that’s reality this world is telling us from a million ways that we aren’t gonna survive but we still are trying we still are finding new ways aren’t we ?

“Mankind was born on earth, but it was never meant to die here”
Christopher Nolan & Mathew McConaughey on the set of Interstellar (2014)

Having an amazing way of thinking, everything starting and ending on reality, never disappointing, calculating and figuring out all the facts and putting them out with amazingly attached fictious stories . And ending up inspiring a lot of minds by giving them a lot of things to think but never actually getting the main point, giving them reasons to go for it again and again and in the end blowing their minds with simple but brilliant idea. 
This is an incredible wonder done by a person who had a big dream at the age of 7 holding a camera, who knows what exactly he was thinking at that moment, literally inspired millions .