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Showing posts from June, 2020

COVID-19 Special: 'The Bounty' (15)

Director: Roger Donaldson Cast:  Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier Where can I watch?: The Bounty is streaming on Netflix Rating: 2/5 Review: The true story of HMS Bounty , the mutiny and the continued bloodline of the mutineers on Pitcairn Island is, undoubtedly, a fascinating one. It's unfortunate, then, that Roger Donaldson's attempt to bring the high sea drama to the screen is so, well, dull. Opening with paradisaical images of tropical islands under nectarine skies (punctuated with an eerie score by Vangelis of Blade Runner fame), the film starts of promisingly... And quickly loses its way. After the initial 'culture-gasm' of seeing Anthony Hopkins (the doomed captain, William Bligh) and Laurence Olivier face off in a naval court, we find ourselves aboard The Bounty , with fresh-faced Mel Gibson wrestling with the underwritten role of rebellious Fletcher Christian. There are the usual naval tropes abound: lashings for the impudent sai

COVID-19 Special: 'Choked: Paisa Bolta Hai' (12)

Director : Anurag Kashyap Cast : Saiyami Kher, Roshan Mathew, Amruta Subhash Where can I watch? : Choked is streaming on Netflix Rating : 4/5 Review : Netflix's attempts to diversify its entertainment collection seems to have accelerated rapidly during lockdown, with a number of new international offerings becoming readily available in amongst all the nostalgic 90s releases. One such film is Choked , a Hindi-language film that centres around put-upon bank worker Sarita (the engaging Saiyami Kher) and her disintegrating marriage. Setting the scene in a tumbledown set of flats - paint-flaking ceilings and a drain that constantly leaks and gurgles are as much characters as their human counterparts - we're hurled into Sarita's tiring existence, but could salvation be at hand? Marrying Bollywood-esque musical sequences with grainy news footage capturing the fallout of Modi's monetary reforms, director Anurag Kashyap effortlessly moves from fantasy to reality,

COVID-19 Special: 'The Lovebirds' (15)

Director:  Michael Showalter Cast:  Issa Rae, Kumail Nanjiani Where can I watch?: The Lovebirds  is streaming on Netflix Rating: 3/5 Review: It's fair to say that the news is pretty grim right now, so when a film comes along that requires essentially zero brain power, it comes as something of a relief. Cue The Lovebirds , another of Netflix's lockdown viewing collection in which an arguing couple become inadvertently embroiled in some form of crime syndicate on their way to a friend's dinner party. Sound familiar? That's because The Lovebirds is far from original territory - how many times have we seen the fraught couple unite the battle the odds and save their relationship? - and yet, it's not without its charms. Firstly, Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani are both very watchable screen presences, and there is certainly a fizzing level of chemistry between them that makes their relationship quite believable. Similarly, some of the smaller jokes work quit