Change Your Image
amhhbs
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Anjaam (1994)
Could have been better
The execution, editing and direction brings down an interesting story and great performances from Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit.
Shahrukh is despicable, intense and surprisingly different from his other villainous characters. Madhuri is great in her happy, sad and violent states. Even the different twists and turns can keep you at the edge of your seat.
I am well aware that Bollywood movies especially older ones are sometimes weirdly edited. However this one was worse than usual. Scenes that required some patience would abruptly end and scenes that should have been cut lingered far too long.
Though I feel a little disappointed at the potentially great film this could have been, I still mostly enjoyed it.
Breaking Bad (2008)
The greatest thrill ride ever to air on television
Breaking Bad created by Vince Gilligan and the happiest writers in Hollywood, is about Walter White, portrayed by Bryan Cranston. A Chemistry-genius, who is stuck in a dead end high school teacher job with a pregnant wife, Skylar, and a teenage son, Walt Jr, who has cerebral palsy. After he gets diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer, Walter starts cooking the purest crystal meth in America with his partner Jesse Pinkman, Portrayed by Aaron Paul. Basically the whole plan that Vince Gilligan had for this show was to show a transformation from "Mr Chips to Scarface". It is the first time that a protagonist of a TV show has had such a drastic change from the beginning of the show to the end. Tony Soprano, Don Draper and Omar Little always stay the same person and never change which is why we are so interested in them. However Breaking Bad is all about change and transformation. Other than Walt, Jesse changes from a druggy man-child to a scarred man who has seen things that would even traumatize a gangster. Walt's DEA agent brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, also changes from a overweight joker who doesn't take his job seriously to one of the best investigators and bad-asses ever seen on television. Believe me half of the bad guys (Tuco, Salamanca twins) are killed by Hank in this show. Along with Walt, one of the best villains and characters I've ever seen is Gustavo Fring. There are many adversaries that Walt faces but none have ever been as dangerous as Gus Fring. A quiet force that likes to be well dressed and formal but is cold and calculating. The calmness that he had when he slit Victor's throat and blood sprayed across the room was truly disturbing. Then quietly taking a shower and cleaning himself up like there was nothing going on was truly frightening. Breaking Bad took the action that you normally see in blockbuster movies and made them better. The exploding non-meth scene with tuco, Walt running over the two drug dealers and, of course, the explosive death of Gus Fring and the final shootout with the Nazis were all shocking and amazing. Usually when I see TV shows or movies I think that that I can write better than what I see. I think anybody could have written a better finale for Dexter or have made the second season of The Walking Dead less boring. However Breaking Bad truly had some of the most flawless writing I have ever seen. Quite possibly only The Sopranos, The Wire and Game of Thrones have writing that is as good as Breaking Bad. In conclusion, Bryan Cranston truly deserves the awards and admiration he has received for his portrayal of Walter White AKA Heisenberg and Vince Gilligan truly made a masterpiece. The ending depicting the survival of Jesse and the death of Heisenberg was perfect and fitting. Breaking Bad is amazing! YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT!!!
The Wire (2002)
One of the most ambitious shows of all time
Created by former Baltimore Sun journalist, David Simon, this show gives an accurate and gritty view of Baltimore, commonly known as Bodymore. This show is incredibly realistic to the point of depressing or even boring viewers. This is where we see actual police officers and not action heroes like John Mcclane from Die Hard or Vic Mackey from The Shield. Also unlike other great television programs there is no main character. It has a ensemble of great characters like Detective Jimmy McNulty, drug dealer and businessman Russell "Stringer" Bell and my favorite character of all: the gay stickup artist Omar Little. The fact that a character could be so feared that whenever he walked onto a street every single person would start running away while screaming his name. Yet despite being extremely violent, Omar has a code to never do drugs, "never put his gun on no citizen" and not use any profanity. Possibly one of the best quotes that I have ever heard was "You Come At the King,You Best Not Miss". David Simon would have every season of The Wire have a different main story line while staying true to its initial idea of cops vs drug dealers. Season 1 introduced the West Baltimore police department and the Avon Barksdale/Stringer Bell drug organization. This gave us a difficult life of police officers especially honest police officers like McNulty, Bunk Moreland and Kima Greggs in a corrupt stats-obsessed police department. Also we see the dark and disturbing world of young drug dealers like D'Angelo Barksdale, Bodie Broadus and Wallace. Season 2 stuck with the Barksdale organization but also brought in the dock workers and Stevedores working on the Baltimore bay. This season showed the hard life of working men who are forced to go into the drug trade and despite having good intentions are in the end damaged by their awful decisions. We meet a sympathetic character in Frank Sobotka, his son Ziggy and his nephew Nick who all help smuggle prostitutes, drugs and other illegal weapons for a gangster boss,"The Greek". Season 3 introduces another drug organization led by Marlo Stanfield and his henchmen Chris Partlow and Felicia "Snoop" Pearson. The main story line is city hall and its back and forth power play between councilman Tommy Carcetti and Mayor Clarence Royce. The behind-the-scenes look into how major officials are willing to play dirty, break promises and quite possibly do anything to retain their power and wealth. One important character was Clay Davis who is shown to be a hero and great man to the people but in reality is a a greedy and corrupt official who is even able to steal money from Stringer Bell himself. Season 4 brings us the depressing tale of how four young boys: Michael, Dukie, Namond and Randy began their lives in similar homes and at the same school but take completely different paths. The education or lack thereof that schools and families in Baltimore provide is what shapes children as they become men. Had high level officials gave a major thought in their children well-being then there would not be many young men standing on corners slinging drugs or getting killed by drug organization soldiers like Chris and Snoop. The final season (Season 5) brought the newspaper and the media into the mix. The media's eagerness to get a good story that would benefit them financially rather than finding out the truth has always been a major issue in places like Baltimore and other cities. With newspaper editor, Gus Haynes, quite possibly portraying David Simon himself, this season showed how in a rough and torn down place like Baltimore it is a dog-eat-dog world. In the end, it is always sad to see a story unresolved but that is what The Wire portrayed. In the real world, hardly anyone gets a happy ending and in a city like Baltimore there are too many big problems for there to be a change. This show always was hard-hitting and at times can be very slow in the middle of a season but that is how life is. There are hardly any car chases or gun fights but plenty of death and violence which is sadly a common thing in Baltimore. David Simon crafted a wonderful show that truly redefined a show like no other. Shiieeeet
The Sopranos (1999)
The show that began a golden age of television
The Sopranos is a show about Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini RIP). A wealthy, Italian, family man going through a midlife crisis. He is also the godfather of the New Jersey Dimeo crime family. Created by David Chase, this show is the Citizen Kane or The Godfather of television as it established television as a successful medium. The show is popular because it has two different audiences. One audience watches the show for the psychiatric sessions between Tony and Dr Jennifer Melfi so they can dwell into the complex state of mind of a middle aged man. It is something real and common in many people to feel like the best parts of their life have passed. This is Tony's dilemma at the start of season 1 and is even shown through the symbol of ducks flying away from Tony's house. Throughout the show there are many symbols of Tony's depression that are vague and sometimes right in our face. David Chase also used the technique of dream sequences perfectly to give a visual image of what Tony's thinking. For example, in the season finale of season 2 Tony gets a fever and starts having feverish dreams where he realises that his good friend Big Pussy his a rat for the FBI. Also in season 5 episode 11 named The Test Dream, we are shown Tony having a dream for nearly the entire episode in which we find out that Tony fears for the impending turmoil with the New York Lupertazzi family. The other audience enjoys The Sopranos for its violence, graphic sex scenes, funny profane dialogue and of course the twists and turns that a mafia drama presents. Tony Soprano himself is a violent man who kills a number of people through the duration of the show. One iconic episode was season 1 episode 5 named college. Tony takes his daughter,Meadow, on a trip to see some colleges across the country. While in New Hampshire, Tony recognises a former mafia soldier who became an FBI informant and joined the witness protection program. Despite having his daughter with him, Tony would leave Meadow with some people in a restaurant and would go and mercilessly strangle the informant with a wire. It was the first time a protagonist of a TV show had committed the sins of murder and child endangerment among other things. Along with this, there are many people that are killed off on the show and their bodies are cut up and disposed off in different places. Along with Tony Soprano are a number of great characters: his wife Carmela, his therapist Dr Melfi, his nephew Christopher Moltisanti, his uncle Junior Soprano and other Mafia associates Paulie Walnuts, Ralph Cifaretto, Richie Aprile, Tony Blundetto, Silvio Dante, Johnny Sack, Phil Leotardo and Bobby Baccala. The show had an amazing cast that gave marvelous performances that made every episode exciting. David Chase crafted 86 episodes of art that led to the eventual creation of other great shows. Matthew Weiner (the creator of Mad Men), Todd A. Kessler (the creator of Damages), Terence Winter and Tim Van Patten(Creators of Boardwalk Empire) and Robin Green(Creator of Blue Bloods) were all protégés of David Chase and wrote for The Sopranos. Thus The Sopranos is a cultural icon and has been praised, studied and questioned for its ambiguous ending even six years later. This is a show worth watching. Fuggedabout the rest!