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Reviews
Quantico (2015)
Amateurish
Everything about this thing is mediocre. The acting, directions, dialogues, plot, casting.. practically everything about this is amateurish and mediocre. And special mention must be made of the lead's mediocrity. Did they get her to act for free? Did they think they were getting a good deal? What were they thinking? This girl can't act if her life depended on it. And her accent is as fake as Pamela Anderson's tits. This is probably the worst pilot in a long, long time. Just when we were beginning to think that we were in the golden age of television, in comes Quantico and demolishes it single-handedly. Watch it while it lasts, people. There's not going to be a second season on this steaming pile of feces. Also, looks like Priyanka's PR team is on an overdrive here trying to astroturf reviews. I'm sure people can see through that quite easily.
Uppi 2 (2015)
Beyond reviews, defies reviews
This is one of the rarest of the rare movies that, in typical Uppi style simply defies any review. The only way to review this would be to watch it yourself. There are only two types of people - those who love Uppi movies and those who don't understand Uppi movies. This guy is like a genetically engineered hybrid of Nolan, Tarantino and Hitchcock.
This movie requires at least 2-3 viewings to even sink in. The climax simply leaves you shell-shocked and if you see the faces of those coming out of the theater, it will be like they saw a ghost or something. While successful movies from all languages are remade in other languages, I've always wondered why Upendra's movies are never remade, but only dubbed. The answer is simple. It is impossible to remake Upendra's content. I don't think there is any director or actor in the world or at least India who has either the guts or the capacity to remake Upendra's movies.
And it is to Kannada film industry's eternal credit that talents like Upendra or Rakshit Shetty, Anup Bhandari or even Puttanna Kanagal and Shankar Nag can emerge without any godfathers or famous, well connected fathers!
Take a bow Uppi! Take a bow Sandalwood!
Srimanthudu (2015)
Old, old wine in new bottle
Run of the mill, formula, masala movie. over-the-top dialogues, over-the-top action, over-the-top sentiment. old wine in new bottle. "eppud choosina ide... konjan kooda bore kottada?!" is a so-called "punch" dialogue. but the only dialogue that the spectator wants to repeat to Mahesh Babu's face.
Positives -- like I said, new bottle. as in fairly fresh camera work, fairly good color mixing, reasonable screenplay and overall rich.
Negatives - hackneyed dialogues, wafer thin story line, average to below average acting, beaten to death tropes.
Strictly for Mahesh Babu fans. Don't waste your time or money on this movie. If people stopped encouraging movies like these, our Tollywood might be forced to come with fresh, innovative scripts like Sandalwood is coming up with these days.
Bãhubali: The Beginning (2015)
Unoriginal,amateurish, sub-par execution, anachronism galore - just bad.
It is rightly said that only an artist can paint the sky red. And what Rajamouli proves amply in this movie is that he is no artist. He is at best an efficient Project Manager who can get the job done. There is not one shot in the movie that is either not a poor imitation of something from Hollywood or a juvenile attempt at being creative. The story and plot are as hackneyed as the dialogues and the acting is sub-par to say the least.
And then there is the serious problem of the story setting lacking any sense of time and space. no attempt is made to even suggest where or when the story is set. On the one hand, the character names, place names and costumes suggest a southern Indian setting, but then there's plenty of snow capped peaks thrown in. I don't recall the last time that any part of South India had snow, let along snow capped peaks.
The names Bhallala, Bijjala, Bahubali, Kuntala etc., suggest a northern Karnataka setting circa 11th -13th centuries AD. but then the hero breaks into a bhangra style dance when he's happy. and then at the installation of the statue, we have dancers performing tribal dances and Bharatanatya complete with Karnataka music. and then the Russian 'item' dancers are doing a mix of bollywood and samba. Unless this movie was set in 2015, there is no explaining of how all these art forms exist alongside each other. Of course, I'm sure the fanbois will be able to contrive something to explain it away.
then there is the question of where anushka (bahubali's imprisoned mother) is getting those twigs from. she is shown to be chained to a cage in the middle of the palace quadrangle with not a tree in sight. but somehow she's managed to gather enough twigs for a funeral pyre. and of course, don't even get me started on the seriously amateurish work that has gone into her makeup.
then there is the question of snow capped trees complete with green leaves. apparently, this took place on some planet where trees don't shed leaves in winters. and then don't ask me how all the mountains of snow that were there on the way into Mahishmathi vanished overnight and became rocky wasteland by the time bahubali makes a quick getaway with his long-lost mother. and then there's the niggling fact that bahubali's adoptee mother Sanga does not seem to have aged one bit in the 25-30 years that have surely passed between the time she adopted the baby to the time bahubali grows up and runs off into Mahishmathi.
VFX -- The VFX in the movie is something the fanbois can't stop singing about. Sure, the VFX has its moments.. but overall, it is a juvenile attempt. Practically every action sequence is a thinly veiled copy of something from Hollywood.
this movie may be the first of its kind in Indian cinema to explore this hitherto unexplored genre, but make no mistake, this is far far far from the best that Indian cinema has to offer. As far as the quality of the movie goes,this borders on a mockery of good cinema.
This may be the first of its kind in Indian cinema, but it is equally one of the worst of its kind in the history of cinema. Being the first of its kind in Indian cinema is hardly an achievement and this movie has no redeeming qualities beyond that whatsoever.
the movie is riddled with serious and niggling lapses every step of the way. it would be too tiring to even list each one of them. IMDb itself seems to have a fairly long list of these errors and lapses.
All those rating this at 9 and 10 stars clearly know nothing about quality cinema or have never watched anything beyond the average telugu fare. this is simply stereotypical telugu fare with the flying Tata Sumos replaced by horses and chariots. I wish there was some way to get my time and money back.
RangiTaranga (2015)
Up there with Silence of the Lambs as far as suspense thrillers go
This movie is still in the theaters and any reasonable review will have spoilers. So I will refrain from a full fledged review until this movie has had its truly well deserved run.
All I will say for now is that this movie is up there with Silence of the Lambs as far as thrillers go. Do not miss this movie for anything in the world. I urge you to go watch it not once but at least twice to do justice to this absolute classic for the ages.
The music is also a treat. Doesn't hit you on the first listen but simply grows on you. The lyrics are another highlight. 'Kareyole' is proof of how sublime the experience can be when the language is not polluted by slang and borrowings from other languages. Each one of the numbers is great to listen to. Dennana Dennana is the icing on the cake and transports anybody who was a fan of "Guddada Bhoota" back to the 90s. Once again, do not miss this.