extremyo Reviews

Fall (I) (2022)

Poor execution

[4/10 · 16 March 2023]

The non lead actors are just not up to the job. And don't even get me started on the jump scare sound effects, very off putting and too many to count. Dialogues are meh.

Lots of plot holes, there's not a lot of smart decisions being made by the climbers. Certain scenes were cringe as well. It just appeared to me a movie of a very low intelligence level. Although to the credit of the makers, it was definitely gripping at times, the tension was pretty evident and real.

Camera work is okay, the detail shots of the dilapidated tower are well done, but there is little relevance to those after the initial section of the movie.

The Tender Bar (2021)

A fair drama

[7/10 · 18 January 2022]

Starts off brilliant, loses some steam by the end, still manages to have an impact on the viewer. The movie has a simple premise, a young boy in search of a father figure when his real father is an absentee. And his coming of age, not just in years but emotional as well.

The dialogues are witty and lively. Cinematography is interesting, in a good way! Acting is good, Ben Affleck has done a tremendous job. You gotta love his character that every boy wishes to look up to. Providing guidance and necessary resources at the right times. Good direction as well by Mr. Clooney.

This movie has some really good messages for the younger people, without being preachy in any way. Everything is presented as a matter of fact. Although they might not be able to fully appreciate what it has to offer, it will definitely touch a nerve in a few of them. Many in case of a more mature audience.

Whatever shortcomings are there mostly relate to the second half of the movie. I believe aggressive editing might have a hand in it. The diminishing role of the boy's family in his life could have been presented with more nuance, whereas things felt abrupt (not referring to the ending).

Overall: Recommended.

Midnight in the Switchgrass (2021)

Falls flat

[4/10 · 23 July 2021]

The movie tries to portray seriousness and deep emotion, remains unsuccessful. While the buildup at some places is okay, it never picks up traction. Falls flat in the end, where the climax is barely anything, non-existent rather. Could be a lesson in how not to make a movie.

The poster is just wrong. Mr. Willis is only present in a few scenes that are insignificant. Instead Emile Hirsch would have been a better choice. But this also points to the fact that the viewer is being misled right from the start. Then comes a sub standard dialogue routine, average at best acting, sloppy editing and a bad ending.

Miss Fox should loosen up a little, her acting is very wooden. Emile Hirsch plays a character that is always stressed out but has very little power, another example of bad script writing. Given the physical presence of Mr Hirsch, he should have been given a more powerful character that would offset this trait to some extent.

Conclusion: Don't bother with this one, not recommended even for one time watch.

India favolosa (1954)

A good attempt

[7/10 · 6 July 2021]

India with it's swathes of customs, people, cultures and languages is not an easy country to portray in it's entirety. The documentary here does an appreciable job.

It is story driven with characters who are also named. A few scenes are set up to catch the concept. But the thing that most caught my attention was the cinematography, great for the times. You have the camera mounted on a jungle rail and on a boat in two shots. Gives a nice perspective.

As another reviewer also mentioned, the elephant's journey was heartwarming and a nice touch.

Narration is well paced and precise. Music can be over the top sometimes. And apart from the culture, a few cities are mentioned like Bombay, Allahabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh, etc surprisingly with the exception of Delhi, the capital of India! I presume there were time constraints with the film.

Overall: Recommended.

The Last Frontier (2020)

Pretty Good

[8/10 · 11 May 2021]

First, the production quality is really top notch. Very impressive camera work too 10/10 Set 10/10 Second, cast is good and believable. Acting is above average 7/10. Chemistry between the leads is 8/10.

Third, fight sequences are gritty and gripping. You just don't know whats about to happen next 9/10.

Fourth, there are some trope elements but it's alright and forgivable 6/10.

Won't comment on the historical accuracy but the attention to detail of the props, tanks, artillery, outfits was nice. Very professional. Now there's some love angle here and there, but these are kids who went to war! Most of their behaviour also seems justified because of this fact. It's a slightly dark movie in it's overall tone of colour grading as well as the mood.

Overall, recommended.

Easily a one time watch.

$50K and a Call Girl: A Love Story (2014)

A different perspective

[7/10 · 27 November 2020]

As with other reviewers, for the duration of this movie I was unable to identify whether it was fiction or real life captured on camera. Which really points out to the excellence of the script writers and the actors. It's quite unbelievable at times, seems as if life is happening in front of you. You can really see inside the characters and even empathize at times, it's mighty well written.

It questions your perspective as to what a movie really is! I almost convinced myself that it was a reality show or something. Very realistic and subtle representation of story. Consider it as a film project, which in fact it is. But man what a success.

Conclusion: Definitely watch

Transporter 3 (2008)

Gets on the nerves sometimes

[6/10 · 8 September 2020]

I would have given 5 stars, but out of respect for Mr. Statham I'm giving 6 stars.

The actress has been 'beautified' to such an extent, it looks gaudy. Absolute trashy would be another good description. Men like redheads, but not of this kind please. In fact, her character that has been written is of a very low standard. In the whole movie, her hair is a fiery red, but during the flashback of her abduction, you can clearly see her hair was black. But wait, there's more..

The part where she is teasing and annoying Frank is stupid and sets a bad precedent for future movies. And if you watch the Transporter: Refuelled (2015) you will get to know exactly what I mean.

Frank is breaking his rules left and right, unless previous movies, where things went along with a little more intent. There is a lot of unnecessary dialogue as has been rightly pointed out by others. This movie lacks nuance in essence. For eg. during a fight scene Miss Redhead is watching Frank fight off some buggers, the camera switches to her and her expression is like what you would expect out of a 3rd grade movie. She could just have watched with an intentional look without any expression and people would understand what's going on in the head of the character. But, they cheaped it out big time. I would blame the director for this of course.

The car chase where you have a Mercedes and Frank's Audi on the highway is really bad. The movement's have been sped up and it looks quite amateurish. Unlike the previous movies where they were a lot better. The action sequences were however, not too shabby.

Policeman Mr. Tarconi brings some relief to the script. But he can't investigate a poorly written script now, can he?

Overall: Only the Transporter series/Mr. Statham fans should really watch it. Others can find something better.

The Escort (2015)

Time killer

[5/10 · 21 August 2020]

The whole movie revolves around an article piece and when its finally out there in the wild, we are shown nothing of it. How it affected the characters, what was in it and was it even worth it? It was just used as a plot tool to push the movie to its final checkpoint. The lead male is absolutely useless (both actor and the character) with minimal expressiveness in any circumstance. Miss Fonseca is still better but her character could use more development.

Movie lacks flow and is haphazardly put together. Camera work is better than the script. Comedy works in a few places though.

Conclusion: Underwhelming. Watch only when you have nothing else on queue

Birds of Prey (2020)

Another movie hijacked

[4/10 · 30 July 2020]

We get it, it's a girls movie and they're the boss here. But like every single man in this movie is a bad guy? And not even kidding, a super bad guy who wants to harm/belittle women. Nobody is even neutral, so to speak. Come on now, how 'bout being a little realistic?

With this, we come to how unrealistic this movie actually is. It's so colourful that it's distracting. The first 20 or so minutes are as dull as dust. Editing is a mess and on top of it you have a narration by Miss Quinn herself, who likes to start off with bits and pieces of her story from wherever the heck she wants and whenever, while she's at that.

Since Deadpool came out, there has been an increasing trend of adding cheeky humour while you kill a bunch of bad guys. It doesn't work all the time, not in this movie at least. The whole thing is pretentious, dialogues are just meh. What is good here, I cannot seem to see. It was a chore sitting through the whole thing.

Conclusion: Below Average. You're not missing out on anything

When Night Is Falling (1995)

It's fine but...

[6/10 · 30 July 2020]

It's a good movie that has presented emotions and the turmoil very nicely. The characters of Petra (mildly annoying and childlike) and Camille have very different understandings of what is right and what is not but they both feel one same thing. How they both approach this gives a slice of life sort feel. The movie has a strong buildup but falls quite short in the end, like there was some hurry to wrap it all up. What in the world were the makers thinking when they resurrected the dead dog at the end. I'm sure it has some metaphorical meaning, but that is just ridiculous and killed the vibe of this otherwise wonderful movie. That dog sat in the fridge for a few days and woke up the morning after being buried in the snow. Genius!

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

Good weekend watch

[7/10 · 27 July 2020]

Character switcheroo was amazing, that's all I can say without giving away any spoilers. But I loved Kevin Hart's acting, his timing and humour were just great, especially in the first half. Good to see Danny DeVito too! Overall a good movie, lots of action and noise. Perhaps too noisy at times. Cool visual effects as you would expect.

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

Disappointment

[5/10 · 2 June 2020]

Problems with this movie 1. Woke propoganda 2. Weak story 3. Evil terminator speaks too much 4. There is a thing called a timeline of a series, where does this one fit in and why does it destroy the older story? Reboot culture much?

Here is a suggestion for Hollywood. You want to put in female leads? Make a new story around them, write properly nobody is stopping you. Don't half @ss things and copy paste them onto the old ones. Let women have their heroes and let men enjoy theirs. But I guess you do realize they won't sell as much so you fool people into watching this crap instead.

Conclusion: Average, barely qualifies as a one time watch

Tolkien (2019)

Very atmospheric

[8/10 · 10 October 2019]

While I do understand that no everyone will like this movie as much. But is no one really going to talk about the musical score? I feel it was fantastic and Thomas Newman has done it again! Great flow throughout, very soft.

Also the cinematics were on point throughout the film along with the acting. There can be a few occasions where the added CGI might cause a distraction more than anything, and that's where I would deduct a few stars. Also the film could be a tiny bit longer, covering more aspects of Sir Tolkien's life.

Overall : Recommended

The Remix (2018)

Nothing spectacular

[5/10 · 17 March 2018]

To be very honest, I had a decent amount of expectations from this show. But it hasn't delivered, not enough.

The main thing that I felt throughout the episodes was cringe. Too much cheering, unnecessary hand movements (from the hip-hop culture) and no coherence between what was sung and the DJ mix in the background. You could well believe they were just stamped together without even making a decent impact. That has to be the worst part.

Not everything has to be about impersonating dance shows, the focus should have been more on singing the right notes instead of dancing and the spectacle. With which I come to my next point, despite being so off beat in it's approach, it still catered to the mainstream music.

The concept has been great, but if It had moved on to other genres given it was not released on national television, it had a good chance to really make a difference. One thing to note though is, if you're into stuff by Nucleya and the likes, then you might enjoy the show, because for others who want to see really different stuff (some slow music like downtempo, future, chillstep, not EDM or Glitch Hop, beats that aren't repetitive) which matches lyrics and music to a different extent would sure be disappointed.

P.S. Suniti's hairstyle is cute haha