jahanzeb-farooq Reviews

12th Fail (2023)

Pure emotions

[10/10 · 8 January 2024]

I very rarely write reviews, but this one deserves one. A rating alone won't do it justice. This movie is various things: pure emotions, a story of dreams of millions of people, authentic characters and writing, mind-blowing acting, memorable characters, and a simple and relatable story at its core. The strongest contributor is is the story, so masterfully written, of course heavily inspired from true events. The characters of Pandey, Gaurinandan and Dushyant Singh in particular are so believable. Production is so top notch that the village, the library, the academies, every single thing has authentic written all over. Vikrant Massey has already established his status as a brilliant actor and this only confirms that. Medha Shankar is a revelation. She's got the simplicity and authenticity that was required for this role. Thus, she so excellently complemented Vikrant Massey.

There are so many scenes that bring you to tears. So many scenes that stand out, like the one when Manoj first meets Pandey and Pandey accepts to take him with him. The best scene, as it tells about compassion, trusting a stranger and helping out selflessly. I think everyone can relate to it as everyone has in their life met someone who helped them selflessly, lifted them, without anything in return. Same goes for Gaurinandan's character. And of course Dushyant Singh as an honest officer inspiring Manoj is another highlight of the movie.

Atrangi Re (2021)

Highly underrated

[8/10 · 7 January 2023]

It is rarely that I write a review but this one definitely deserves one. And needless to say I am surprised to see an overal low average rating here. While the first reveal of the premise of the movie did let me down initially, the director did a spelendid job in quickly lifting the movie high up. By the end, the emotional powerhouse climax scene at the train station totally reserructed the movie, where two elements were playing in its favour in this gem of a sequence: Sara Ali Khan's amazing performance and A. R. Rahman's soulful music (that flute bit). Totall won me over.

Overall it is a very well-made movie with a unique story to tell, with a great help from some very soulful music, great performances (of which Sara Ali Khan's stands out at the top, still cannot believe she was not even nominated for any major awards), cinematogrphy, choreography and dialoques. Movies like this from mainstream directors like Aanand L. Rai and Imtiaz Ali (I see similarities to Tamasha) are a breath of fresh air always.

Highly recommended.

Men (2022)

That ending ruined the film

[6/10 · 22 December 2022]

It had a great start, a jaw-dropping beautiful location and scenery, great story building, and background music. But then that completely weird ending and especially that one scene towards the end (avoiding spoilers) totally ruined it. The first 1 hour or so, I was wondering how did this movie get a low 6.1 average rating on IMDb, while I already had a minimum 7 in my mind. The only to way to achieve that would be to ruin the movie in the third act, and so was the case. Alex Garland has a peculiar and extraordinary taste for macabre scenes and visuals (as seen especially in Annihilation). However, here that one scene towards the end was just too much, over the top, and plain unnecessary. Besides that, the basic premise of the movie (misogyny) lacked a solid base to build on.

Primal (2019– )

Was hell of a surprise!

[9/10 · 20 December 2021]

Completely unaware of the background and the award wins, I just saw the trailer on HBO Max and played the first episode. Man was I in for a surprise! This is a jaw-dropping piece of work. Devoid of any voices but still so cleverly written and effective. Music and sound-effects just top-notch. And aimed for adult audience, with the right brutality. It reminded me of Conan, The Revenant, Tarzan, even Resident Evil at times, and what not.

I first believed it to be a non-fantasy work (apart from that man and dinos never existed at the same time) and was a bit disappointed when it first entered into the "fantasy" genre (I think first with the episode with flying monsters/devils) but then I got adjusted to it and accepted it to be something along the lines of Conan.

Brilliant work Genndy and all creators behind it. Thanks you all. Please keep it up and please give us more episodes in the next season than just five.

Mimi (I) (2021)

Complete entertainment and emotional rollercoaster

[9/10 · 30 July 2021]

Awesome movie. Very well-written with a lot of great and funny lines. A complete entertainment and an emotional rollercoaster. Got tears in my eyes a few times. Trailer kind of undersold it. Phenomenal performance by Kriti. Pankaj Tripathi is a star and lifted the movie without the presence of a mainstream male protagonist. Great music.

It Chapter Two (2019)

A horrible B-grade sequel, an insult to the first movie

[4/10 · 9 September 2019]

It is rarely that I have to write a review here. It is because this movie is HORRIBLE. Filled with cheap scares and really really bad writing. It was hard to believe that it is from the same team of people (especially the director) who made the first one. I am a big fan of the first one and was really looking forward to a worthwhile closing. But man, was it awful. I considered the first one a true horror movie, but this one was just over-the-top. Spiders bursting out of heads (which reminded me of the Evil Dead movies) and all those ridiculous looking CGI monsters appearing again and again. Just an overkill. And what the heck, is it even a horror movie anymore? Apparently not. It is a horror comedy, again like Evil Dead. People behind us laughing continuously. Example, that three doors scene in Pennywise's house? The same house scared the heck out of me in the first one. But in this one, it was funny rather than scary. Such a let down.

Alien: Covenant (2017)

A worthy successor to Prometheus

[8/10 · 31 May 2017]

I don't quite understand what Ridley Scott could possibly have done to make all these naysayers happy. The very people who whined about a lack of xenomorphs in Prometheus are now whining about either an abundance of them or a lack of engineers.

I personally liked it a lot and believe that it is a worthy successor to Prometheus (though Prometheus stays my top favorite of the franchise). It has the philosophical connotations that made Prometheus so great, at least in my eyes. It does answers some questions even if not all.

Besides that, I don't agree with all those people complaining about how stupid the crew members are. It is because they don't know they are in a horror movie! Period. The events that occur in this movie were not something that any of the crew members was expecting. They had not seen the previous movies in the franchise. They could not possibly have, because they are IN the movie!

Also I note that people are not impressed by it not because it is not good but because they have seen it all in the previous installments in the franchise. Had it been the first in the franchise, it would have hailed as a masterpiece like Alien.

The cinematography is gorgeous. The xenomorphs and the newly added neomorphs are terrifying as hell. These creatures never looked so great in the history of this franchise. The winner is, however, David/Walter, without any doubts. The character's intentions were already quite obvious in Prometheus but the way he used Shaw to achieve his deeds was terrifying. I believe this movie truly deserved the R-rating it has got and had made a great use of it. The movie does feel to end abruptly, without a satisfying ending. I am so looking forward to the next installment(s) and truly hope that studio gives Scott the green light for that. This is Scott's baby and I would be so happy if he controls its fate rather than getting someone new for it (Blomkamp).

I personally wanted to see more of engineers. The mystery surrounding these creatures was one of the best things about Prometheus. But probably all these people who were unhappy with Prometheus made Scott add more of xenomorphs in it and less of engineers. And the irony is that it could still not make these people happy.

In a nutshell, it's a must see it if you are an Alien (franchise) fan and especially if you liked Prometheus.

Aloo Chaat (2009)

Lots of fun. Hugely underrated.

[7/10 · 11 May 2015]

Have to write a review for this one as it so really deserves it. This is one of those hugely entertaining movies which I have on my media server so that I could play them again and again (some of the others include 3 Idiots, Chup Chup Ke, Hungama, Hulchul, All the Best etc). It is a light-hearted love story with some wonderful performances not only by the leads but also by the supporting cast. Sanjay Mishra as "Chhadami" is probably the most memorable character of the movie. He is both hilarious and lovable. A lifetime role I would say. Similarly, Manoj Pahwa also gets to play a memorable role as a Hakeem Tarachand. One role that's the first to come to mind thinking of him as an actor. Kulbhushan Kharbanda does a wonderful job as well. Even protagonist's mother and grandmother, played by Meenakshi and Dolly Ahluwalia respectively, are so effective in their roles. This is a good story writing over all with quite a few very good jokes and lines. The end message (religion/culture shouldn't divide us) is also highly appreciable. It is a bit sad that this movie never got the attention and appreciation it deserved. Here is a little attempt to get it at least some of that attention.

Wolf Children (2012)

Stunningly beautiful. A love story at its heart.

[9/10 · 28 February 2015]

A breathtakingly beautiful movie, something you would expect from Miyazaki/Ghibli. Though I won't hesitate to say that it surpassed many of Miyazaki's films, at least for me. At its heart it is a love story. The character of Hana is so beautifully written that you really feel for her all the time. The hardships she has to go through to raise her extraordinary children is so effectively captured (or drawn). The wolf children, especially their younger versions are so adorable. For example, the way the little girl changes back and forth to wolf/human when demanding something from her mom was so cute. It's an almost 2 hours long film which comes as an advantage as every single detail has been given its due time. Animation is stunningly beautiful!, especially the nature/forest scenes, with a very impressive mixture of both 2D and 3D animation. I love nature and this film was full of it. Sitting here in Denmark, dark and cold winter, I really felt under shining sun while watching this film :-) One of my all time favorite animated movies. Period.

Interstellar (2014)

Lived up to the expectations!

[9/10 · 9 November 2014]

Nolan does it again man and am even more a Nolan fan now. It's another mind-bender from him, where he forces audience to think and reason. I like the fact that while mostly based on proved scientific theories the movie later suddenly falls into the philosophical/mind-bender genre like Nolan's many other movies. The movie feels a little slow in the beginning but it slowly builds up and ends on a great note. The father- daughter relationship works most of the times, and some of those times it is very emotional. People say his movies lack heart and emotions. He proved that wrong with this one. Those scenes with Matt Damon on that planet are very thrilling though also a little confusing because of Matt's character's ambiguous intentions. And that scene where his character gets part of the Endurance destroyed and Cooper attachs to the destroyed part is extremely well done. Hans Zimmer's score over all and particularly in that scene deserves high accolades. He succeeded to bring a totally new sound to the move, even though there were places where it reminded me of the extraordinary and his best in my opinion score of Inception. Loved that scene with those tall waves too. Loved the depiction of worm and black holes, especially that of black hole is so beautiful and mysterious. I wish they had shown more of it (see my comments next). The plot is quite complex. There is lot of science involved. And because of our limited understanding of that level of science at points it seems there are plot holes while there are actually not that many. And especially after he dropped into the black hole it all suddenly becomes so very confusing and at the same time so very away of the scientific theme of the movie before that. It falls in that metaphorical/philosophical genre. It's here where it has a lot common with Inception. Like Inception the movie had me thinking after it was finished, and require multiple viewing to grasp it entirely, which again is a triumph for Nolan, I believe. Acting is top-notch. Matthew was great overall, he nailed the emotionally scenes particularly. I have started to like the guy now. Besides him I think Mackenzie Foy also did a splendid job.

I do have some problems with it though, and that's why the missing one star in my rating. (1) It's barely a space movie. It couldn't never make me feel like I was in the space like Gravity did. I was expecting more scenes in the space with wide views of earth, stars and other planets. More scenes on heights. More scenes flying across other planets etc. I was expecting much more scenes with black hole and worm holes. They were on screen barely for few minutes. I wonder the money and effort they spent on building those things and how beautiful they looked especially the black hole but they didn't bother to show it more than a few minutes. And by the way what's about that total silence (zero OST/music) in space scenes? (2) The final scene where Cooper meets Murph could have been more emotional. I wonder a little that getting back to her was his mission all the time but there wasn't even a single tear in his eyes in that scene. I would have loved to see a crying Cooper like in one of those earlier scenes when he sees Murph's message on screen. (3) The very last scene where Cooper goes for Brand was totally unnecessary in my opinion. It was like that scene in TDKR where Batman kisses Catwoman/Selina Kyle before flying the bomb out of Gotham. Cheesy, unclassy and very un-Nolan. The whole movie was about father-daughter love then where did they get this guy-girl love in that. Looked quit a commercial move by Nolan.

Anyway, overall another classic from Nolan, another triumph, another movie which reminds us why we love movies and why they are so powerful. Marvellous work Nolan, keep it up.

Godzilla (2014)

Jaw-dropping visual effects, CGI and monster fights

[6/10 · 17 May 2014]

The visual effects and CGI in this film are so damn unbelievably jaw- dropping. It's hard to believe how advanced the technology has become. If you are a tech-savvy guy who loved CGI and gigantic creatures in movies such as Pacific Rim, this one is for you. And if you love disaster movies, again this one is not to be missed. This is not your typical Roland Emmerich disaster movie like 1998's Godzilla, 2012, The Day After Tomorrow etc, which don't let you take anything serious. This is a disaster movie where you really feel the survival horror and atmosphere. As someone said it's like "The Dark Knight" of disaster movies. Special credit to the director and team responsible of creating Godzilla and the two other monsters. They are so gigantic, so terrifying, I don't have words to put it. For once it reminded me those terrifying gigantic creatures from "The Mist", as well as the gigantic monsters from the director's previous film "Monsters". And the monsters' fights are so perfectly executed. Though one department where the film was a little disappointing was the story/plot, that's why 2 missing stars.

Queen (2013)

Awesome. Kangana really is the queen here!

[9/10 · 12 May 2014]

It's a sweet and heartwarming surprise of a film. Another example that quality work doesn't need help from big names (in fact big names most of the times result in shitty work. Yes I am pointing out at you Khans/Kumars/Devgans). Kangana is the star of this film. She delivered a splendid and charismatic job. It's hard to imagine it's the same artist who has wasted big chunk of her career doing stupid roles, not to mention all those "troubled girl" roles early in her career. Vikas Bahl deserves a ton of appreciation and recognition for this work. The film works at all levels and make you feel for the characters, especially Rani's. The sincerity in Kangana's portrayal of Rani is that you as an audience feel attached to her character even long after the credits roll. There are various memorable scenes in the film but that scene at the bar where she gets drunk and dances like crazy (especially the one where she dances in front of a taxi driver) is simply the BEST! I wish she works in more of these type of small quality films. Very highly recommended.

The Conjuring (2013)

After a long time a movie that really scared the hell out of me!

[8/10 · 3 November 2013]

Finally a horror movie that we deserve. It's after a long time that a horror movie scared the hell out of me (a few recent ones I remember are The Orphanage and The Descent). Without killing a single person or showing any blood, the director managed to make a real horror movie which doesn't rely on cheap tactics or soundtrack to scare you. Some of the scenes really stand-out and will linger in your memories for long e.g. one of the girls sees someone standing behind the door, the witch jumps from top of the cupboard etc. After Saw this is another genuine success to James Wan's credit. Please give us more of this. Highly recommended!

Pacific Rim (2013)

It's got everything you are looking for!

[8/10 · 7 August 2013]

Totally loved it. An awesome film with STUNNING visuals. Seeing those giant robots walking in the sea alone is worth ticket's price. Del Toro's passion and perfection speaks for itself. Not in a single place you find the CGI or visuals lacking. CGI is so damn perfect which isn't a small feat given that it's a film about giant robots fighting giant monsters. And man do these robots look beautiful and awesome? Like a piece of art. And they are done so perfectly, each and every movement, every little detail, has been given attention. These giant robots really put all what we have seen in Transformers to shame. The action scenes are jaw-dropping and are so brilliantly choreographed, without ever going over the top. It's a pity that this film couldn't do well on box office while every other crap coming out every day makes tons and tons of money. I sincerely hope Del Toro gets to make a sequel.

Lahore (2010)

Childish, unrealistic and shameful

[3/10 · 13 August 2012]

A shamefully one-sided and unrealistic film, as childish as children's cartoons where one guy is portrayed as hero who always does the right thing and the other as villain who always does the wrong things, apparently made by a bunch of idiots who first of all know absolutely nothing about Pakistan, and who only promote hatred and propaganda. I was highly disappointed given that this film got some accolades at the level of national film awards. From cheap acting to lousy screenplay and direction to the fact that it is not even remotely true to the ground realities, it is a shamefully disappointing effort. The fact that this film won accolades at the national level in India itself contradicts the propaganda the film tries to promote, i.e. India's willingness to promote peace and resolve tensions between the two countries.

Avatar (2009)

Cinematic experience of the new generation!

[8/10 · 27 December 2009]

Avatar is a HUUUUGE wow... stunning, spectacular and the cinematic experience of the new generation. It's once in a life time experience and a film which would change the way movies are made forever. Kudos to the master James Cameron for bringing us this visually stunning treat. It is a film meant to be seen in 3D and multiple times. One time viewing is not enough to absorb all the details and visuals shown. The visual effects are eye-popping and jaw-dropping. Though story could have been a little better. Given that Cameron is master of sequel (T2) I would be anxiously waiting for a sequel. Also given the magnificent place Pandora is, it needs another film to be discovered fully.

All the Best: Fun Begins (2009)

One of the most hilarious movies I have seen in long time

[8/10 · 20 October 2009]

This is one of the most hilarious movies I have seen in a long time or perhaps ever. It is a ride full of laughters and fun. Loved Ajay Devgan and Sanjay Dutt, All The Best completely belongs to the two. Loved Sanjay Dutt after a very long time. Never knew Ajay Devgan is such a stunning actor when it comes to comedies. He is awesome. Sanjay Mishra once again proves that he is becoming a must for comedy movies, a new Rajpal Yadav. Fardeen Khan did not impress much. And hats off to Rohit Shetty for coming up with this absolutely fun and hilarious movie. I was burst into laughters all the time. Great job. This movie will surely give Priyadarshan a run for his money. My rating : 9/10