Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 282
October 12, 2020
Vampires vs The Bronx Review
It’s Halloween season in the U.S and popular streaming sites are now filled with all sorts of spooky films, be it serious slasher types or horror comedy kind. Directed by Osmany Rodriguez, “Vampires vs The Bronx” falls in the latter category, it’s is a very campy and would appeal more to kids than adults.
The film is about a small group of teenagers who are trying to save their neighbourhood from being taken over by vampires. Dressed in suits, and loaded with blood money, the fanged-suckers in this film are behind a string of disappearances in their locality. Miguel (played by a spunky Jaden Michael) is an enterprising young boy, who finds out the sinister truth behind the missing people and leads his friend into what seems like a losing battle.
Some might miss how this film is not just about “good vs the evil” but is a deeper tale about class divides, with the fanged pale vampires representative of not just wealth but also “white privilege”, trying to take over small businesses of hard-working black people.
The kids in this movie completely slay it, despite a weak script and an evidently low budget. Gerald Jones plays Bobby Carter who is almost tempted by the evil side. Gregory Diaz IV plays Miguel’s nerdy friend Luis Acosta, the boy who looks like Harry Potter, but thinks like Hermione. Coco Jones as Rita was cute but almost unnecessary, because she gets very little screen time. Their friendly banter is breezy and fun, reminiscent of the 1985 classic “Goonies”.
This is probably the first Vampire film I’ve seen that does not have any sexual overtones at all. There’s a strong sense of community, friendship that is communicated through the dynamics between the characters and it’s quite endearing in parts. The age-old “garlic, crosses and holy water versus vampires” trope is quite funny.
Since the story takes place in current times, the cinematography seems to be on point. The cast is dressed like regular people on the streets and the background music is very upbeat and hip. The blood-sucking clan is led by a rather friendly/forgettable looking vamp called Vivian (Sarah Gadon), she transforms into quite a sinister looking monster. So the make-up team did an applaud worthy job.
While ‘Vampires vs The Bronx’ might not be very memorable, it’s a fun quick watch for a Friday night with the family.
October 11, 2020
Mr Heart BL Series Review
Social media might be maligned as the source of a lot of fake news, but it’s also where some of us get our daily dose of trivia and sometimes even general-knowledge, each time we scroll through our feed. For example, I didn’t know that 11th October is celebrated as ‘National Coming Out Day’ across the world and it’s the 31st edition in 2021! It’s simply a co-incidence that I was planning on reviewing a Korean series that’s about two young men falling in love.
According to MyDramaList the 2020 Korean show “Mr Heart” is a follow-up project to the popular drama “Where Your Eyes Linger”, which explored similar themes. However, “Mr Heart” directed by Park Seon Jay is a lot less serious and has a chirpy college charm to it.
(Click here to read my review of “Where Your Eyes Linger”)
When athlete Jin Won (Cheon Seung Ho), a record-breaking track runner begins to have sleep issues, which in turn affects his performance, his coach appoints a junior to become his pacemaker. Enter Lee Se Jin, who plays the adorably optimistic Sangha, ready to help out the star athlete, but Ji Won doesn’t share his enthusiasm at all. The rest of the show is about how the two get close due to their training.
The best bit about this mini-series (it’s only 8 episodes, each one just 10 minutes long) is the fact that there is minimal drama and our protagonist wears his heart on his sleeves. Sangha doesn’t bat an eyelid before declaring his feelings for Jin Won. While the latter is not very comfortable with the confession, he doesn’t say or do anything negative either. From there on, their awkward friendship blooms, after a few hiccups of-course.
Since it’s a south-Korean show, the makers obviously try put in a sentimental sub-plot, which comes in the form of Sangha’s financial woes. Sometimes, the emotions get excessive and exaggerated. For example, in episode 4, Sangha breaks into harrowing tears while explaining why Jin Won makes him smile. The scene was almost cringe-worthy.
Except for a few needless emotional scenes, “Mr Heart” can easily capture the viewer’s love with it cute romance. The lead actors are fantastic and it’s hard to believe that this is Cheon Seung Ho’s debut show. He nails the “serious but soft” hero role perfectly. Lee Se Jin, just like his character Sangha, brightens up the screen with his presence.
The cinematography is done very artfully, especially the bits where the boys go out running. Not sure if this was shot during the pandemic, but the marathon scene had very few onlookers, which struck as odd, but doesn’t matter. The background score is not striking but helps to heighten the comic factor in some sequences.
As far as the support cast is concerned, they don’t have much to do, but they are all believable in their little roles. The coach was caricature-like and seemed straight out of a manga. Like a lot of K-drama, there is no villain and it works just fine for the show. Sure, we do have a bunch of bad guys, but it’s not like they are baying for anyone’s blood or scheming nasty things. The story pans out like a regular romantic tale, with a sweet ending.
Only 8 episodes long, each one lasting about 10 minutes, this show is totally binge-worthy for those looking for some cute light college rom-com. It’s great to see that South-Korean creatives are finally attempting to come out with more mainstream LGBT content. Pun intended.
October 9, 2020
A Shropshire Lad Review
This cloth-bound poetry book called “A Shropshire Lad” by A E Housman was smaller than expected. But there are enough poems to last you days and charm you with their lyrical allure.
The dominant theme is war in the first few pages. But the poems also dwell into other universal themes like love, loneliness & the perils of youth. It’s the simplicity of language that adds a raw honesty to all that is being said by the poet. The book was published in 1896 and yet, the thoughts of the writers are clear and concise and some of the ideas still very relevant and relatable.
Look at these lines from one of the poem that brought a smile to my face –
Some lads there are, 'tis shame to say,
That only court to thieve,
And once they bear the bloom away
'Tis little enough they leave.
Then keep your heart for men like me
And safe from trustless chaps.
My love is true and all for you.
"Perhaps, young man, perhaps."
This poem talks of a lad falling for a woman and how he tries to woo her in vain. Housman talks of superficial passion and how some men lure women to just exploit them and disappear when they’ve had their fun. It’s an age old cautionary tale recited in a light, almost letter-like manner.
In Shropshire Lad, you find a vivid voice that echoes familiar sentiments,as if someone is singing you a song. It’s the kind of poetry you can read before going to bed and not feel burdened by the weight of its words.
October 8, 2020
Inktober Week 1 Wrap Up
I’ve been wanting to participate in Inktober since a while, but it so happens that every year I’m already a couple of days into the month before I remember it.
The last thing I’d expect was to be lucky in 2020, but here we go.
Inktober 2020 Prompt 1 – Fish
I picked a nice koi fish motif from the internet because admittedly I’m partial to koi artwork. Let’s hope I can see this through to the end of the month.
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Inktober 2020 Prompt 2 – Wisp
Ori from Ori And The Blind Forest, which is an extremely beautiful video game if you haven’t played it yet.
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Inktober 2020 Prompt 3 – Bulky
With a beanbag-like physique, you’d expect pandas to avoid hanging precariously off thin branches. But here we are.
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Inktober 2020 Prompt 4 – Radio
A panel from a very creepy horror manga named PTSD Radio. The true horror of this sketch is revealed when you turn the image upside down.
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Inktober 2020 Prompt 5 – Blade
This concept knife sketch measures less than 4 inches on paper, which made inking the details a bit of a task. But a little pencil work helped bring it to life.
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Inktober 2020 Prompt 6 – Rodent
Like all creatures of his kind, he slunk in the dark. Waiting. Watching. Preparing. The world wasn’t ready for him, or his four disciples. Not yet.
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Inktober 2020 Prompt 7 – Fancy
She wished to run barefeet over the wet sand, but was asked to wear stilettos and walk on silk. Her jewels sparkled a lot more than her eyes ever could.
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Find all of my ‘sketchy’ stuff on instagram.com/whomovedmybookmark/
October 7, 2020
5 Reasons Why ‘Dragon’s Dogma’ Is Draggy Drama
‘Dragon’s Dogma’ is the latest animated series to hit Netflix and has been adapted from a video game. Needless to say, a lot is being said about it. I came to know of it through a very glowing review that called it ‘the video best game to series’ adaptation. After being blown away by the first two seasons of Netflix’s ‘Castlevania’, a lot of us have been dying to watch something that comes close to its awesomeness. ‘Dragon Dogma’ sounded like it. However, just one episode down and it felt like a forgettable mess.
Here are five reasons why episode one just didn’t work for me –
1. In the very first two minutes, a gigantic crimson dragon blazes through the screens and looks like a Godzilla-sized shiny plastic puppet out of a children’s show. The animation on the mythical creature is just second-rate. While the rest of the digital landscape is on point, the dragon is just a ridiculous eyesore. And when it speaks, it’s hilarious! Basically, the biggest villain in the series is not menacing at all.
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2. The movements of all the animated characters are choppy. I don’t know if it was deliberate, but the gestures are game-like and slow. It’s as if you are watching someone play it and the characters take time with their movements because they are waiting for the player to decide which button to hit next on the gaming console. It’s that kind of slow. Which is just annoying and drags down the pace of the show.
3. The dialogues are flat and lack wit. It doesn’t get any chuckles or even a smidgen of a smirk out of the viewer. For a 18+ series, it’s surprisingly bland.
4. Forget the dialogues, even the story-line lacks maturity. The hero Ethan goes hunting in the woods with a boy and the two encounter a pack of menacing murderous wolves. Ethan asks the boy to run and get help from a group of soldiers stationed nearby, while he attempts to stall them as long as he can. When the boy rushes to the soldiers, they all take their sweet time to get ready, making small talk with the boy and lauding him for his bravery, showing no signs of haste whatever. They even hold a small round-table meet with their ‘captain’ before they can head out to fight the beasts.
5. Towards the end of the first episode, the ridiculous looking dragon is back, breathing fire all over Ethan’s village. The violent scenes are very generic and mindless, with not one moment that can strike any sort of terror or awe in the mind of the viewer.
I decided to ditch the show right after the first episode. Maybe it gets better, but I am not interested in finding out. Surviving just 26 minutes of the first one was hard enough.
October 6, 2020
American Murder Review – Evocative & Exploitative
The new Netflix crime documentary ‘American Murder – The Family Next Door’ is about the disappearance of a pregnant Shannan Watts and her two daughters in Frederick, Colorado. Directed by Jenny Popplewell, what makes this film stand out is the fact that all of the footage used is real – from police cameras, CCTV cameras, courtroom clips, news clips to videos shot by the Watts family, they are used throughout the narrative to shed light on Shannan’s personality.
There is no narration, no interviews, the makers use audio recordings of the witnesses to the cops, which are played over either photos or past videos of Shannan. Same goes for a lot of clinching text messages that are used in the documentary. We even get to see real interrogation footage of her husband Chris, including his polygraph test.
Shannan Watts was in a habit of putting up videos of her kids and husband Chris on social media, so the makers of this documentary were spoiled for choice when it came to archival footage. This turns out to be both a boon and a bane for the production. While Jenny Popplewell’s team didn’t have to struggle with video material at all, they give in to the temptation of making this film longer than it needed to be, making it boring in bits. Some of the archival footage used by the team, especially that of the two little girls, is clearly meant to exploit the emotions of the viewer. Like a brief clip where you can see one of the girls call Chris a ‘hero’. Or the one where the little one happily flops from her father’s arms over sea-waves during a beach outing.
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To those who see a lot of true crime films, Shannan Watts’ murder won’t come across as chilling at all. Maybe it’s the setting of the crime that makes it terrifying for some. Shannan and Chris live in an immaculate residential neighborhood, the kinds where nothing really happens, except for maybe friendly outdoor barbecues.
Given that I am from India, I have never even heard about the case, but within the first five minutes it’s crystal clear that her husband had something to do with it. A woman disappears with her two kids and the CCTV camera right outside their house shows nothing? Except for the husband moving boxes early morning into his vehicle before leaving for work. That’s your suspect right there. Unless she vaporized into thin air or could teleport. This was a pretty simple case and it took only three days for the cops to get a murder confession out of Chris, even if he doesn’t give them the whole truth at first.
At the end, the documentary does manage to stir up anger in the viewer, because it’s only towards the climax that some of the really harrowing details of the murders are revealed. However, the film leaves a lot of questions unanswered. While there is a lot of material to show how Shannan was madly in love with her husband and kids; there is not enough shown about the motivations of Chris. Looks like he just got physically fit, found himself a ‘hot’ girlfriend and decided to annihilate his entire family one night. But the murders neither come across as a crime of passion nor as an act that was pre-meditated and planned well in advance.
What “American Murder” does manage to display disturbingly well is how crimes that catch the public’s fascination can turn life into a living nightmare for the victim’s family. Chris in his first confession claims it was Shannan who smothered the kids in front of him and that he killed her in reaction to it. This leads to a lot of public shaming and social media slander of Shannan.
It’s ludicrous how anybody can believe that an obsessive gym freak like Chris could do nothing to stop his wife (who by the way was 15 weeks pregnant and even suffered from an auto-immune disease) from strangling their two little girls. It only goes on to show how women suffer from unhinged discrimination even during death. “She clearly drove him crazy”/”She was a narcissistic bitch” were the kind of things people said about Shannan after her demise. It’s pretty much like the sickening rape analogy when it comes to women, even when they are murdered – they probably “asked for it”.
This Netflix documentary is a 6/10 for me.
October 4, 2020
Love, Loss, Lockdown Review
Not only are the stories completely individual but so are the characters. One never seems to be a reflection of another, each with their own personalities that come through brilliantly. They are instantly relatable and personable; I saw something in all of them which I also see in myself.
It’s the individuality that comes with every story and every character
Dale Maplethorpe on “Love, Loss, Lockdown”
that led me to my album choice. The Party is a 2016 album by singer/
songwriter Andy Shauf, it is a beautiful album that you should listen
to immediately. The whole thing takes place at, you guessed it, a party,
where each song is about a different person there. Each track takes its
own shape around that person’s feelings, insecurities and problems.
Andy captures these different and relatable points of view in a way which is parallel to Sneha’s ability to do the same thing in her book.
A new independent UK magazine reviewed my debut fiction book ‘Love, Loss, Lockdown’ and it made my weekend. Dale the founder has this cool concept of comparing the books he reviews with a music album and it actually turned out very well.
For the full review you can download their magazine ‘This Is Empty”. It’s a quick breezy issue and the theme for the first one is ‘Lockdown’.
My book is a collection of short stories set against the Covid19 pandemic. Here are some country specific links to get the book –
If I’ve missed your country, look for it on Amazon or on your kindle store. Also, do leave a little review if you can, it helps independent writers like me.
October 2, 2020
By Night’s End Review
What would you do if an armed trespasser enters your house late in the night and then offers you 10,000 dollars when you point a gun at him in self-defense? While the right thing to do would be to call the cops, the lure of money can do funny things to your judgment.
The 2020 film ‘By Night’s End’ directed by Walker Whited is a home invasion thriller that follows the story of a couple Heather (Michelle Ross) and Mark (Kurt Yue), who have recently lost a child and their grief is exacerbated by financial troubles. A criminal breaks into their house looking for something valuable he had placed in there before the couple moved in. Heather who is a former sergeant, shoots him dead when he tries to strike a deal with them as bait and begins to pull his own gun out. Instead of reporting the incident, the unemployed Mark insists that the duo first look for the potential fortune that might be hidden within their walls.
While the trailer of the film was sharply edited and was very intriguing, the same cannot be said for the actual movie. Walker Whited who has directed several short films in the past, falters when it comes to the full length feature film format. There is a lot unnecessary banter between the lead characters that diffuses the tension of the situation at hand. As Heather and Mark bicker and hunt for a secret stash, they are being watched. A cat-mouse chase soon unfolds.
The first few minutes are slow, but a cleverly executed violent scene comes out of nowhere in the first half and takes the viewer by surprise. From there on, the pace begins to stutter again. Michelle Ross who plays the protagonist doesn’t have the acting range to emote the complex character of somebody suffering from not just PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) but also the death of a young daughter. However, it was refreshing to see a woman take charge of protecting the family and kick some ass. Kurt Yue as the husband with self-esteem issues was pretty prosaic.
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‘By Night’s End’ would have benefited greatly from a stronger antagonist. Moody (Michael Aragon Miller) the bad guy is very generic and seems more like a drunk rocker who you would meet at a bar, than a criminal leading a crew of hit-men. His character is a mere distraction as the home-invasion suspense is overshadowed by the inner turmoils and personal differences between Heather and Mark. A lot of their dialogues referring to the past should have been replaced with flashback scenes. This is a classic case of telling too much and showing very little.
The plot is very promising but its potential is weighed down by mediocre acting and inconsistent cinematography. The shaky camera-work might remind a few viewers of ‘Paranormal Activity’, while the technique worked in favor of the 2007 horror film, not so much in this 2020 thriller.
For all its flaws, there is a strong moral takeaway from ‘By Night’s End’ – greed can never lead to good things. There is another possible lesson here – listen to the wife and call the cops when there’s trouble at home.
‘By Night’s End’ premieres on October 6th (Amazon, iTunes, DirecTV, FlixFling, Google Play, Vudu and AT&T). Shout-out to Tricoast for giving me access to the preview of the film.
September 30, 2020
The Boys in the Band Review – The viewer is a stranger at this party
Have you ever been just a ‘plus one’ at an intimate gathering of close friends? A party where the pals start reminiscing about their past and despairing about the present and you begin to feel a little lost? Watching ‘The Boy in the Band’ the 2020 Netflix drama by Joe Mantello felt like that in parts.
The film starts off with the sassy 60’s number ‘Hold On, I’m Coming’ by the soul duo ‘Same & Dave’, the delicious double-entendre is not lost on anybody. I loved the opening sequence. The intro montage of all the characters going about their business in New York is colorful, witty and sets the right mood for what is supposed to be a fun party.
For those who don’t know – ‘The Boys in The Band’ is a gay play by Matt Crowley that premiered off-broadway in 1968. It’s about a small group of openly (mostly) gay men who’ve gathered for a birthday party. The host for the night is Michael (played by Jim Parsons) and things go awry when his ‘straight’ friend shows up unannounced.
The handsome Matt Bomer plays Donald, a close friend (maybe even boyfriend) of Michael who is seeing a ‘doctor’ and the two discuss the perils of their lifestyle choices. Despite being out of the closet, the men have trouble embracing their sexuality. It’s the 1960s after all. The two get into a very long conversation and while a lot of it is the kind of banter two close friends would have in real life, after a point, the monologue by Michael about how life sucks gets tiring.
A good part of the first half suffers from this problem, the dialogues are too long and the viewer may feel a little alienated from the conversations because we simply have enough background information to relate to the angst of the characters. And some of that talk is just uninteresting. For example, there is a debate on beauty between Michael and the birthday boy Harold (Zachary Quinto) which gets boring. Stale old lines like “Beauty is not everything” & “Beauty is only skin deep” is thrown in. Not sure if the makers made many changes to the original screenplay, but a few more tweaks could have helped a lot with making the pace of the film breezy.
The second half of the film however is riveting and there is a lot of tension and drama, largely because of the self-loathing Michael who decides to be a giant pain in the ass for the night. Harold wryly declares how Michael “has anti-charm”. Jim Parsons is almost brilliant in the lead role, I say ‘almost’ because his crying scenes look farcical and lack authenticity. While he is absolutely abhorrent as the host who is giving his friends a hard-time, the scenes where he is shown to be remorseful don’t seem sincere.
It is the rocky relationship of Hank (Tuc Watkins) and Larry (Andrew Rannels) that was relatable and quite cathartic. The couple can’t agree on monogamy and the actors capture their bittersweet love for each other with endearing honesty. Robin de Jesús was delightful as the exuberant Emory, who just wants to have a good time. Zachary Quinto was caricature-like as Harold and eerily similar to Michael. They are both aging insecure men, wary of their waning appearances.
It takes a little patience to watch this film. Things get uncomfortable when Micheal eggs his friends into playing an unsavory game (one must dare call the one man they truly loved), including the straight friend Alan (Brian Hutchison) who makes his displeasure of being surrounded by ‘fags’ quite clear. The game is interspersed with blurry flashbacks that leave you wanting more. Michael Benjamin Washington who plays Bernard doesn’t get a lot of screen space, but he shines in his little bits.
Despite its flaws, the 2020 reboot of ‘The Boys in the Band’ makes for an engaging watch. While some material might be dated, the movie tackles twin issues that still need more representation on the big screen – homophobia and racial discrimination. The story deftly displays how disparities simmer even within the LGBT community, over not just trivialities like physical appearance and differences in the bed, but even over race, color, social standing and financial status. The moral of the movie will always be relevant – we become our own enemies if we fail to accept ourselves for who we are. And it’s conveyed quite forcefully, even if the makers falter here and there.
It’s a 7/10 for me.
September 29, 2020
BTS Week
‘BTS week’ was trending on social media because… why not? Although it’s largely due to the fact that the Korean Pop group has been making waves with their latest single “Dynamite”, which was at the number one spot on Billboard for two weeks straight and after slipping a few spots, it was back on number one on week three. With the track making history of sorts, the boys are on every American show (sort of). NBC has gone all out with promoting their appearance on the Jimmy Fallon show.
Seriously though, NBC did a really fun GIF thread on Twitter, with all NBC shows tweeting a line each from the song dynamite, along with a GIF. It was one of the coolest things on Twitter today. Whoever thought of the promotional strategy deserves a raise, or at least some reward.
The boys sang their new hit with Fallon and The Roots. The result was another peppy version of their latest offing.
I really liked the Tiny Desk Concert that the boys did for NPR, it had a very relaxed vibe, with all of them sitting and singing with a live band playing behind them. It’s something they get to do very rarely.
“This is the first time we are performing Dynamite with a live band,” Kim Teahyung announced confidently in English as all the others nodded and smiled at the musicians. I saw the entire performance twice and even did a quick sketch of Jungkook singing with V sitting beside him.
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