Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 176
April 4, 2023
Barbie Looks Like A Pink Carnival
“Hi Barbie”
“Hi Ken”
Cue the 1997 track “I am a Barbie Girl” by Aqua the band, because the trailer for Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” starts off with the same opening lines as their hit pop song.
We love how despite being a little over 90 seconds long, the new trailer for “Barbie” starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, give nothing away. Viewers finally get a glimpse of many other actors from the ensemble cast and in a hilarious reveal – most of them are playing different Barbies and Kens. The sets of the film do look like a giant bright pink plastic world that belong to the world of the beautiful blonde dolls that has enamored kids for generations.
From the trailer, it seems like a funny-satire made for kids version of “Stepford Wives”, except everybody is perfect… not just the women. And there’s probably no “dark” twists in the tale.
Tom & Jerry – Quick Movie Review
Movies like “Space Jam” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” were groundbreaking experiences in the 1980s/90s, as these films seamlessly blended live-action elements with animated characters, resulting in real actors performing alongside cartoons. However, in the 2020s, this concept is no longer a novelty, and unfortunately, the 2021 movie “Tom & Jerry” fails to deliver an entertaining mix of two different worlds. Instead, it is mildly amusing and mostly irritating. At the very least, the filmmakers could have improved the animation since they did not use the original visual versions.
Directed by Tim Story, ironically, the weakest aspect of the film is its story. While a lot of the original slapstick humor remains, none of it is particularly hilarious. The plot revolves around a new mouse in town named Jerry, who is searching for a home in New York and encounters the devious cat Tom, who pretends to be a blind pianist to earn money. Jerry dances to Tom’s music and steals the hearts of the crowd, leading to a bitter rivalry between the two. When Jerry decides to stay in a fancy New York hotel, new employee Kayla (Chloë Grace Moretz) teams up with Tom to get rid of the mouse. Chaos ensues.
It is challenging to remain interested in the story, as the animation is too basic and does not blend well with the settings. Instead of using the outdated artwork that looks like it was made in the 90s, the filmmakers should have made a fully animated short film.
Overall, I would rate this movie a 5 out of 10.
April 3, 2023
Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat – Tiringly Tragic
Arrrgh…. I don’t want to review “Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat”, it’s bad enough that I struggled watching it, so I am not looking forward to writing about what a pointlessly tragic movie it is. Optimists will be able to take several lessons away from the story, in-fact let me list three – religious divides are poisonous; it’s too easy for the rich to screw poor people over; it’s better to stay away from horny teenagers; never take a stranger home.
Directed and written by Anurag Kashyap, the 2023 Netflix film tells the parallel tales of two pairs. The first story follows 21-year-old Yaqub and 16-year-old Amrita, who run away together in Himachal, creating a frenzy in the hills over how the Muslim boy must have kidnapped the Hindu girl to convert her to Islam. The second story is set in London, where a young rich Pakistani brat called Aayesha pursues a DJ named Harmeet even though he expresses zero interest in her. Both pairs are portrayed by Alaya F and debut actor Karan Mehta.
A few minutes into the London plot, I wanted to stop watching the film because I hate it when “creepy” behavior is passed off as romantic or cute. Aayesha’s character is a walking-talking red flag. She hits on a guy who gives her no hints whatsoever and she basically acts like a typical Bollywood male hero, who cannot take “no” for an answer. Her interest and “love” for Harmeet increases because he doesn’t give her the slightest glance. Ugh. But it’s not like the Himachal plot is any better.
Honestly, “Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat” gets many film elements right; the music is foot-tapping, the settings are scenic and well shot, and unfortunately, the actors are fantastic in their parts too. It’s just that the script sucks. Vicky Kaushal has a forgettable cameo as a London-based radio jockey called DJ Mohabbat who talks about love and sounds like he is out of some vintage show. His philosophical musings on “pyaar” were snooze-inducing. Zzzzzzz.
Things get intense and senselessly sad/brutal in the climax. I was just glad the film finally got over.
It’s a 4 on 10 from me.
Murder Mystery 2 – Quick Review
Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston are back as the Spitzes in the Netflix comedy-thriller “Murder Mystery 2”. Once again, the couple becomes suspects in a high-profile case and must find the real culprit before the police catch them. Directed by Jeremy Garelick, this sequel, like “Murder Mystery”, boasts lavish cinematography, starting off on a gorgeous private island and then zooms through the pretty streets of Paris.
Nick (Adam Sandler) and Audrey Spitz (Jennifer Aniston) quit their jobs to become private investigators. Their business isn’t doing too well, and an all-expenses-paid wedding invitation from Maharajah Vikram (Adeel Akhtar) leads the couple to their next big case – the Maharajah is kidnapped for a huge ransom.
The “Big Indian Wedding” celebrations in the film were enjoyable, unlike most other Hollywood films that feature stereotypical, laughable dance sequences and poorly dressed Indian guests. The costumes were surprisingly on point for a rich Indian gathering. (Remember the horrendous outfits Harry Potter creators made the Patil sisters wear for the Yule Ball?) Jennifer Aniston wears a gorgeous white lehenga, and it was great fun to watch her dance with Adam Sandler to Bollywood numbers. The two make a quirky pair, and their chemistry as a middle-aged married couple is comfortably cute. The rest of the cast in engrossing in their cameos too.
While “Murder Mystery 2” wasn’t as fun as the first instalment, it manages to be a goofy, entertaining watch with some hilarious sequences here and there.
Overall, I would rate it a 6 out of 10.
April 2, 2023
5 Graphic Novels To Read For Their Artwork
If you love comics and graphic novels, we recommend you check out our latest podcast episode where we discuss five different titles that are worth picking up due to their brilliant illustrations and artwork. This episode is perfect for those who are interested in visually stunning or artistically impressive works in the graphic novel genre.
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Our Dating Sim – Quick Series Review
Aspiring artist Lee Wan confesses his romantic feelings to Shin Ki Tae on the last day of high school, but when Shin recoils from his kiss, Lee flees and ghosts everybody from school, including his crush. Years later, the two meet as colleagues and must work together on a dating simulation game. Will sparks reignite between the former best friends?
Spread over eight quick episodes, “Our Dating Sim” is a fluffy romantic drama starring Lee Seung Gyu and Lee Jong Hyuk as the lead pair Shin Ki Tae and Lee Wan, respectively. The story is basic, but what I did like about the series was the fact that the protagonists are straightforward about their feelings, at least Shin Ki Tae is. Lee Jong Hyuk is endearing as artist Lee Wan, but his character is a little frustrating because he doesn’t speak his mind. That said, the actors look cozy and sweet together and make a good-looking couple.
It takes a while for the show to get interesting, but episodes 5 and 6 were cute. The cinematography is simple, with a lot of pleasant peachy light tones that match the fluffy theme of the tale. Each episode has a fun clip at the end that’s made to look like a dating simulation game, where the teen selves of the leads are put in flirty situations, and then a graphic comes on-screen asking them to choose their next move. The supporting actors have minimal parts, they are play office colleagues who are unaware of a possible romance brewing between the two good-looking members of their team.
“Our Dating Sim” keeps things simple, and the episodes are only 15 minutes long. The climax was a little dramatic and soppier than necessary, but it’s a fun show for those looking for a quick feel-good mini-series.
Overall, I would give “Our Dating Sim” a 7 out of 10.
April 1, 2023
My Top 5 Tracks From ‘Daisy Jones & The Six’
The Prime Original series, “Daisy Jones & The Six,” follows a music band’s journey from playing at small house parties to booking the biggest shows in the world and explains why they broke up at the height of their popularity. If there’s one thing the show gets right, it’s the original soundtrack. While the band is fictional and their album Aurora tops the charts in the series, the music is actually great, with memorable hooks and lyrics. Although everyone is entitled to their own favorite tracks, the following are my top 5 from the show, all sung by Riley Keough and Sam Claflin –
One – Let Me Down Easy
A duet by Riley Keough and Sam Claflin, “Let Me Down,” is one of the most interesting and fun-sounding songs in the show. It is interesting because it’s a bit of an in-between song; it’s neither a romantic number nor a break-up ditty. Instead, it’s more of a plea, asking someone you love to go easy on you if they are going to break your heart eventually… to not rip it apart. In the series, it’s also the first song that protagonists Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne compose together, and it’s one of the most joyous sequences.
Two – Two Against Three
This is calming wistful acoustic single by Daisy Jones, where she laments about the fleeting nature of young love. Since there’s just the guitar accompanying Riley Keough’s voice, it sounds a lot more personal and ruminative.
Three – Look At Us Now
Also referred to as “Honeycomb”, this is the song that makes “Daisy Jones & The Six” overnight sensations, it becomes their number one hit and woos fans everywhere. Its lyrics perfectly sum up a passionate but dysfunctional relationship. I think it should’ve been titled “We can make a good thing bad”!
“Did we unravel a long time ago?
Is there too much that we don’t want to know?
I wish it was easy, but it isn’t so
Oh, we could make a good thing bad
Oh, we could make a good thing bad“
Four – River
River” sounds like it was made in the 1970s and captures the mood of the rock-n-roll era really well. It’s one of the rarer tracks where the musical instruments, especially the guitar, are more overpowering than the vocals and lyrics. Many fans claim that the track bears the “Fleetwood Mac” stamp all over it. Considering that the iconic band was one of the biggest influences for the creators, it’s a great compliment.
Five – It was Always You
Another single by Daisy Jones, I was instantly enamored by this song when Riley Keough croons it for the first time for Billy in episode 9. Unfortunately, we don’t get a full version of the track on the series, but the brief glimpse was enough to make me want more.
Scott Pilgrim Volume 1 Review
Now that I think of it, it’s a little strange that it took me so long to start reading the Scott Pilgrim comic series, because I distinctly remember enjoying watching “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”, even though I liked “Kickass” better. (They were both released in 2010)
Written and illustrated by Bryan Lee O’Malley, “Scott Pilgrim” is a world apart from his debut work “Lost At Sea”, which I assure you is a compliment! It’s funny how even before readers can see what the protagonist looks like, we are met with the declaration “Scott Pilgrim is dating a high schooler!”. Because apparently that’s the most interesting bit about the unemployed-immature-lazy-baby Scott, who is 23, but has chosen to be in a relationship with a 17-year-old kid called Knives Chau. But he makes sure he tells his friends that they haven’t even kissed, it’s supposed to reassure us that he isn’t a sleazy dude trying to ‘groom’ a young girl. Okay, then. But soon Scott falls head over heels in love with a mysterious pink-haired girl Ramona Flowers who appeared in his dreams before they actually end up meeting in real life. She is actually his ‘dream girl’. But to be with Ramona Flowers, Scott has to defeat seven of her “evil” ex-boyfriends (no reasons explained, not in volume at least) and more importantly – gather the courage to break-up with the moon-eyed Knives Chau.
Bryan Lee O’Malley quickly packs in a lot of stuff in his panels, we meet Scott, his gay roommate Wallace who owns everything in their shared flat, his band “Bob-omb”, girlfriend Knives and dream-girl Ramona, all in a matter of a few pages. It’s a fast-paced comic, the 175 pages are over before you know, all owing to the fun conversational panels, the exaggerated action scenes and Scott’s silly antics. Just like Bryan’s artwork in “Lost At Sea”, his illustrations in Scott Pilgrim are also simple, they are more like doodles from an artists sketchbook, even though he does add enough world-building and his characters don’t exist in a white room.
Volume one does little to explain what is ‘so cool’ about Ramona Flowers, except that she is a skater chick, or wait, I guess that’s enough for guys to find a girl cool. However, my favorite characters so far are Wallace and Scott’s younger sister Stacey, both of who are chatty little meanies and their mutual concern for Scott’s stupid ways makes their bond the strongest.
It’s a 4 on 5 from me.
Bheed Review – Unmissable Tale of an Ignored Bheed
By Sumith Jhawar (Twitter | Instagram)
“It’s so disappointing that no films are being made anymore involving social commentary like we did in the past,” I recently told my friend Sneha. This is mainly due to the current political climate we live in. Even Bheed had to go through some 20 corrections, mainly involving the use of certain words, before it was deemed ready for the big screen by the censor board.
Sometimes, art can help you understand an event and its implications better through a well-thought-out and deeply considered perspective. Anubhav Sinha is a master at taking anecdotal accounts and making impactful messages on society in movies like Mulk, Thappad, and Article 15, with Anek being the one preachiness-laden exception.
Bheed revolves around a group of migrants who, post the national lockdown, are looking to get back to their homes but are stopped at a checkpoint due to the authorities’ decision to restrict movement between states. The in-charge of the checkpoint, played by the ever-dependable RajKumar Rao, is a Dalit who’s violently reminded of the same by a Brahmin pandit’s son, played by Pankaj Kapur.
There is a doctor played by Bhumi Pednekar who does her best to answer the plight of the several diseased migrants, a high-ranked officer played by Ashutosh Rana who keeps dishing out the hard truth of caste discrimination, an impoverished determined girl who leaves no stone unturned in finding a way to get past the barricade with her alcoholic father, a mom who wants to get to her child’s college before her estranged husband, with a loyal chauffeur who keeps dishing out gems to show his employer that humanity trumps money at various instances.
There is a running gag about how WhatsApp/Facebook can be so dangerously misleading in times like these due to all the false hope the troubled crowd ends up developing. The whole movie is shot in black and white, which worked because the movie had nothing celebratory and fun about it, and the colour tone helps in heightening the mood.
Bheed works as a film but looking to how few people had come to watch it in the theatres and the lack of buzz around it, you can’t help but think the movie would have been better off with a direct release on OTT.
Also Read – ‘Pathaan’ Review – Karan-Arjun save this trainwreck
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March 31, 2023
Gaslight Review – Slowburn Snoozefest
By Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Sara Ali Khan portrays a paraplegic princess who returns to her palace to meet her estranged father in the 2023 Bollywood thriller “Gaslight”. Instead of an emotional re-union with the king, Meesha (Sara) is greeted by her cold stepmother and a costumed entourage of housing staff. Despite the display of wealth, Meesha struggles in a manual wheelchair, which seems unlikely for a royal who could afford an electronic one. It costs less than the latest iPhone.
Directed by Pavan Kirpalani, who co-wrote the story with Neha Sharma, the film follows Meesha’s efforts to trace her missing father amidst strange occurrences in the palace, which lead her to believe he might be dead. Chitrangda Singh plays Meesha’s stepmother, one of her primary suspects, while Vikrant Massey plays the estate manager who helps the princess investigate the palace grounds. There’s little point in writing about the performances of the actors, because they are all failed by a weak script.
Kirpalani’s previous directorial venture was the incredibly forgettable horror movie “Bhoot Police” and it’s hard to decide if “Gaslight” does any better. It’s probably unfair to compare the two genres, but “Gaslight” does look more like a horror film than a thriller, with many dark shots, night scenes, jump scares, and a vast palace property filled with vintage items serving as the primary setting. However, the film’s pace is tedious and rarely picks up, with only one twist in the last twenty minutes, while most of the other surprises are predictable.
The story would have made more sense if the creators had pushed the timeline of the tale back to the 1980s or 1990s. The dialogues are either overly dramatic or dull, as my mother, who watched the movie with me, kept yawning throughout the runtime. It’s a miracle she didn’t simply fall asleep. In-fact, just like “Bhoot Police”, Gaslight’s climax was interesting, but all the events leading to the end are too disappointing.
It’s a 4 on 10 from me. The movie is available on Disney Hotstar.
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