delightful-life Reviews

Arctic (2018)

Far Better Than Expected

[9/10 · 23 May 2019]

I don't know why this movie has a below 7 rating.

He makes one major mistake at the start of the movie, of moving from the safety of his camp where he has an indefinite amount of food because of a lake underneath with fish. He does it because he is unsure if he will be rescued in time because his partner needs medical attention. Looking back after seeing the full movie, we can see that this was a grave mistake (but if not for this there would have been no movie, and it would have been just boring). And in the last scene he does a really stupid thing to make it dramatic. Except for these 2 mistakes, this is an 8+ movie. Everything else was brilliant.

Please do see it. I saw it accidentally because there was nothing else and was glad that I did. It is unexpected. It is different from our regular superhero movies and a welcome fresh air. I was continuously at the edge of my seat and feeling the something will happen at anytime.

Nature is more dangerous than any kind of man made terror.

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Over rated

[6/10 · 22 May 2019]

A girl tries to spoil a man's wedding by getting him stuck with other things.

Though I sort of enjoyed some of the comedy, I had no lol moments and after some time I was wishing for it to end and when it ended I was glad.

I think 60 yrs back this would have been like a 9 rated movie, but now its a 7 at best. I think the current 8 rating is because of nostalgia for Katherine Hepburn, Grant, etc. This is not like a charlie chaplin movie, it has not aged that well.

If you are not in for nostalgia, please give it a pass.

Instant Family (2018)

Something for your heart.

[9/10 · 22 May 2019]

I saw this on a whim because I think i have finished watching most good movies and couldn't find anything, and I was pleasantly surprised. In the backdrop of stunning shows like Marvel series, GoT, etc., I had almost forgotten that these kind of movies even existed.

Story is about 2 people who have been married for sometime, they are middle class, sort of satisfied with life, maybe feels a little bored with their routine, but they are not too worried that they don't have their own children, and are not trying too hard for it or anything.

Then one day the wife sees some kids up for adoption in the net, feels that they are very cute, the husband too feels the same (they actually use a lot of dog cliches, that its like rescuing one). They go for an orientation where an adult orphan girl who was adopted at 14 comes with her parents and tells them how much her life was saved and everyone understands 'why they must adopt'. And the husband who refurbishes homes feels that it is so much like taking a beat up thing, doing a little this and that and its as good as new.

And thus starts their journey into adopting, not 1 but 3 kids because the adoption agency strongly encourages people not to break up siblings.

Highly recommended. The actors are 'extremely' good. The writing is not too clever and there are many cliched moments but after seeing it I felt that it was worth it, much more than seeing an impressive Marvel flick, thats why I am bothering to even write up this long review. Please do see it. Its for your heart. :-)..........

Game of Thrones: The Bells (2019) Season 8, Episode 5

If I can't have it, I will break it.

[9/10 · 15 May 2019]

Dany feels very strongly that after all her restraint, hardship and hard work, she has been betrayed by her love, and is going to loose the throne for sure. So she destroys the entire city and millions of people.

Alexander the Great to Hitler, all do similar stuff. So a poetic ending where the truly virtuous john can become king without feeling guilty over breaking his promise to Dany.

I actually like this simple (non GOT like) ending.

Black Mirror: Hang the DJ (2017) Season 4, Episode 4

Finally, a positive black mirror.

[10/10 · 17 November 2018]

This is a story of love and I was so dreading that it will end bad (the black mirror way).

Definitely, definitely see it, you won't be disappointed.

The Wolverine (2013)

The worst x-men movie till date (2018)

[1/10 · 27 August 2018]

The story was pointless and had nothing to connect it with the x-men universe or move any plot forward. Just some ninja fights. I love jackie chan and all kinds of martial art movies but this was so bad that it negated all the positives about wolverine.

Please save yourself the time and watch some other nicer movie.

Kick-Ass 2 (2013)

Rating is misleading.

[9/10 · 27 August 2018]

This movie starts off where the 1st one left off, so it had a lot to live up to and the 6.6 rating is because people hoped it would take it to a higher level and thus were disappointed.

The story - Lots of people start becoming super-heroes, but that prompts bad people too to become classic villains (especially the son of the villain from the 1st part), and thus a small war starts between them.

This movies was 90% as good as the first, but did not have any big surprises. The main USP was to watch the little girl 'Hit Girl' grow up to be a teenager and struggle with what next to do in life.

Go watch it, its not bad as the 6.6 rating might suggest. At the very least it is a 7.5.

Deadpool 2 (2018)

Probably the coolest superhero.

[10/10 · 20 August 2018]

Deadpool is unshackled by hero conventions and thus kills a lot, and in this movie there is lots of Kill Bill type action. They have bought in 2 new characters and trust me, one of them will surprise you like hell.

Story - its just another super hero plot, but it doesn't matter, just watching deadpool for 2 hrs is what made me happy in this movie.

I enjoyed more than Avengers Infinity Wars.

Definitely recommended.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Out did all the previous movies.

[9/10 · 20 August 2018]

Here they are battling a villain so strong, that all the power they have is just not enough.

They have brought in the entire marvel cast and this movie is on an epic proportion. Far outshines all the Star Wars movies.

Black Panther (2018)

What I felt after seeing it - Why was this big budget movie with so much cool tech so boring?

[5/10 · 17 May 2018]

The storyline here at imdb is just namesake, because there isn't really a story.

There is tonnes and tonnes of cool tech, atleast 10 times as much as iron man movies, but it felt a little boring(I was surprised myself). At the same time the first iron man, the simple one he built inside the cave, was absolutely glorious.

There is no heart in this movie, filled with people who had no depth. Both iron man and captain america fills you with strength and admiration, while the black panther and his entire group was pretentious and preachy.

Do see it, its not irritating, but go in without expectation.

In the last 30 secs (after credits), they showed something that made me happy. You can look forward to that.

Batman Ninja (2018)

Just Don't Waste Your Time

[5/10 · 25 April 2018]

Though voices are in good American English, this anime is done by the Japanese. I was expecting the usual high quality that I get from even average Japanese anime, but here I was disappointed.

What I felt was, the Japanese were instructed by the American DC people to make it salable globally, and so they created this anime with assumptions on what a global audience thinks like. And its a total mess.

Please don't see this. You have too many good anime and films out there that you can't finish in your lifetime.

Annihilation (I) (2018)

Spoiling the sci-fi genre

[1/10 · 14 March 2018]

A small asteroid crashes into a light house in a sparsely populated area and very very slowly a shimmer starts around it and it slowly starts expanding to the size of a small town. Anyone who goes inside does not come back. This is the premise of the story.

First the husband goes in and doesn't come back for an year, then the wife goes in to save him. This is how the story starts. Till this it was an acceptable story. But once they go in (this was supposed to be the part that should have been really interesting), it becomes like a cheap extremely low budget amateurish B rated movie. The 7.5 rating as of 2018 March is just a fluke. In a few years this is going to be less than 6.

The story was extremely bad...

Please, please don't see it.

Justice League (2017)

Far better that what the reviews had me believe.

[8/10 · 14 February 2018]

Superman's death has bought about an enormous negativity in this world and this provides an optimum climate for an ancient evil to come to take over the world.

Because of this batman is getting a team together to fight the threat. This is 3/4 th of this movie, and I think it was done well (not epic like the Dark Knight), but good enough for a 7.5.

After several years of the Marvel franchise (the 1st iron man movie was breath-taking), I have got bored of them, so this new team is greatly appreciated. It was a breath of fresh air to see the new Flash and the other actors who we don't know that well.

I would recommend that you just start seeing the movie, and you will know in 10 mins if its worth it.

Only the Brave (2017)

A different kind of movie which after seeing you realize that you are glad you saw it.

[27 January 2018]

Fire fighting is something which we thing we know and in a way its not rocket science. So I was not expecting much from this movie.

It shows the journey of how a local fire fighting crew work up to become an Elite team that protects the inhabitants of a wide area.

The unpredictability of the fire and the kind of personality that a person needs to even be doing this job is what we see throughout. Its 2hrs 14mins, but I didn't realize how fast the time flew. The story was just so beautiful, and flowed meticulously.

Do watch it, whatever your tastes are, you definitely won't regret it.

Thanks for reading.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

If sinthetic humans could breed?

[7/10 · 19 January 2018]

The plot - In the first 10 mins of the movie Ryan Gosling who is a police officer (a synthetic/artificially engineered human which obeys orders without exception) who is tasked with killing very old synthetic humans (synth) that have not been programmed to obey orders (without exception) finds that such a synth had given birth to a baby. This is almost a miracle and the rest of the very long (almost 3hr) movie is about following leads to find that baby.

The sci-fi technology in this movie is what I liked best. It has been done in a very natural manner and this movie is worth seeing just for that.

The visuals, though very nice, somehow I did not like that much. It felt like they were too full of themselves, forced, and a little too much.

They should not have bought in Harrison Ford, somehow he was looking pathetic. He even has a fight with Gosling, which was so awkward and had no meaning to the story.

Gosling is his regular self (cool acting), but the other characters were trying too hard to be sophisticated.

And the ending is not good (atleast for me). It was incredibly anti-climactic (its here that I could clearly see that the primary purpose of this movie was the visuals and to use the 'Blade Runner' name to make a little money, it was a forced story, that they somehow concocted and and use visuals which are now mainstream to somehow hide that there was no real story.

There are not many good movies nowadays, so I still recommend watching it.

In time this movie will come down to a 7.5 rating (now 8.3). Thats how good it is.

The Foreigner (I) (2017)

A Beautiful Jackie Chan

[9/10 · 18 December 2017]

I have not seen jackie chan in over 15 yrs, and was surprised to see this old old man. He is the father of a teenager but he looked more like a grandfather, but boy o boy was he beautiful (Even more handsome than the elegantly dressed Pierce Brosnan. I think Jackie Chan has some kind of internal strength and kindness that seeps out at you and gives you energy).

Story is about his daughter being killed by IRA 'renegade' terrorists, so even the IRA does not know who actually did this. Chan contacts the IRA party head (Brosnan will a surprising accent) and slowly starts increasing pressure on him (guerilla and terrorist tactics using his army training), to make him tell him who are the people responsible. So film is actually a thriller.

The reason this has a low rating (7.2) is because this theme has been done before and is not unique, but when we are watching the movie it completely draws you in and you don't realize how fast the 2hrs went. So don't let the rating stop you from seeing it. It has some action (the kind that works because he is 'Jackie Chan'), fights that are realistic and intense but no gore (thankfully, because gore has been so abused for cinematic effect that its no longer fun).

Film also has an good ending (I was really afraid that they will botch up everything till now).

I had more fun watching this than the super hero movies of this year (maybe the film I liked the most in 2017 and the only one for which I even felt like giving a review.)

So, go watch it, I feel there is very high chance that you will enjoy it.

Blade of the Immortal (2017)

Great visuals, but NOT a fulfilling samurai movie.

[5/10 · 11 November 2017]

Story is about a dojo head being killed by a rival clan and the daughter asks this immortal samurai to be her bodyguard and get revenge.

Since this guy is immortal it makes all the enemies weaker than him and he is able to kill almost an entire army, all by himself. It was not fun, maybe even a little irritating. The actor who plays the body guard is really good, but the story was too shallow.

Samurai movies take great pride in what is the maximum, and even beyond that a man can possibly do (it fills your heart with courage and strength), in contrast this movie felt like cheating.

The 5 stars are just for the visuals.

La La Land (2016)

Highly over rated

[6/10 · 23 August 2017]

A struggling actress and a struggling talented musician are the backdrop to this musical.

I am Indian so I love musical movies and was so surprised seeing Singin in the Rain, it was so beautiful. So I came in with a little too much expectation.

I felt that the movie had too many songs! It detracted from the story rather than adding to it.

Somehow Emma Stone was just not right for this part. Debbie Reynolds and Merylin Monroe are the kind of actresses that are just perfect for this role. A beautiful endearing smile and somehow you are rooting for them from the bottom of your heart. Relatively Emma Stone seems cold, though she seems to be acting very well.

Ryan Gosling plays his usual cool dude performance and he does a fantastic job. But I would have loved to see Leonardo De Caprio in this role, it would have been stunning.

They both have an interesting love story with the current trend of self deprecating jokes, situation analysis etc., (which I am not a big fan of). There are so many subtle things that I enjoyed, like the car, the studio, the music (things that you normally don't notice much when the drama takes center stage). And the ending left me a little disappointed. This is supposed to be an artistic movie, so it was not supposed to have a typical Hollywood ending, still not happy.

Finally, a 'Hollywood' musical is a special, once in a blue moon thing and this just did not live up. But thanks. And I am happy this movie is a success, and hoping to see similar and even better movies.

Never Cry Wolf (1983)

Precursor to the 'wild' kind of movies.

[9/10 · 23 August 2017]

The demise of the Caribou has been attributed to the wolves and the govt wants to decide weather to kill of all the wolves and a scientist is sent to investigate.

There are not many people who want to do this job, so a single man who just because of some childhood dreams is ready to go and he is selected. And this movie is his adventure.

What he sees in the wild is quite different from what the govt thinks, about both the caribou and the wolves. And this is the fun part that you should see, i don't want to spoil it for you.

If you like nature and enjoy documentaries and such, do definitely see it, you will love it. Others might find it boring.

Passengers (I) (2016)

Fantastic graphics (yes, really, I was impressed even though it is 2017)

[9/10 · 25 February 2017]

On a 120 yr trip to another planet from earth, an accident abroad the ship causes one of the passengers to wake up after just 30 yrs. He lives for an year alone, gets crazy and wakes up a girl, and the story goes...

The graphics here is easily better than movies like Gravity and I never thought that I would be impressed by graphics or sci-fi sets ever again after having watched all the sci-fi movies with rating 7.5 and higher, yet this movie takes it to a higher level. It does not use graphics for the sake of graphics, its so original and part of the setting that it truly takes you in. The level of detail inside the space ship surprised me again and again.

The primary objective of this movie is a love story, something simple, and I think its simple cheezy people like me who will like it. So see this movie if you have simple tastes (I truly enjoyed it and felt that its worth far greater than the 7.0 rating that it currently has).

Sunshine (2007)

Flawed but still recommended.

[8/10 · 18 February 2017]

The sun has died and a small crew is going to reignite the sun.

Its not the story that you are going to enjoy when you see this movie, its the sheer beauty of the 1st half. The crew is 'fantastic', they are all individually heroes, that good is the acting part. Combine it with the fantastic atmosphere, story, pacing, and just about everything it felt like a movie that should have a 8.5 rating and I just couldn't understand why the hell it has a 7.3 - They really messed up the story in the 2nd half. But don't worry, you should still watch it.

Unbreakable (2000)

A Subtle Super Hero Movie - Understated and Beautiful

[9/10 · 18 February 2017]

A train accident kills everyone on the train except Bruce Willis. Why? That's what Bruce is trying to find out in this story.

This is sort of a family movie, you may not feel like wanting to see it, but once you see it, you are glad that you did. A major part of the story is the subtle but deep love you have for your wife and child, which you can't quite see and sometimes forget in the hustle and bustle of life.

Highly recommended if you like stories that are insightful. This movie was never meant to impress us, sort of the opposite, so that the subtle things won't be lost when we see it.

May your life be meaningful.

Galaxy Quest (1999)

Just fantastic.

[10/10 · 18 February 2017]

I will just fuc* the guys who rated this movie down to 7.3.

2 decades after the 6 actors who played in a star trek like TV series, who never became successful later, keep doing comicon like appearances and make a living. They hate each other and hate the cheezy dialogues they have to repeat again and again.

Then something really really crazy happens (I don't want to spoil your surprise), and they have a fantastic adventure.

If nothing else, you can see this movie just to see Sigourney Weaver playing a comedy role. Somehow she is more interesting than Algelina Jolie and all the current young girls.

Just go see it - YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED - at the very least.

Super (I) (2010)

A Real Super Hero Movie

[10/10 · 13 February 2017]

Liv Tyler is a drug addict, goes to jail, ends up working as a waitress and is having trouble staying sober. Rainn Wilson is the cook in that fast food center, he helps her, she falls madly in love with him and marries him.

But once she is sober and living her life as a house wife, she is bored and slowly goes back to her old ways. She is basically a pretty girl who has nothing else good inside her. She is mean and vain and finally leaves Wilson for the local drug king. Wilson is a middle aged devout person who truly and deeply loves her and just cannot see the real Liv. He is so heart broken his mind is ready to do anything to get back his sanity and Liv.

Its this that slowly makes him into the Crimson Bolt super hero. In batman movies, his parents dying is shown as the reason why he does things, but we never really experience his pain. In this movie, the process that results in a super hero is the main theme. Its not clean and its not pretty.

Ellen Page is a typical bored teenager who is frustrated and wants some kind of a meaning in life. She finds out who Wilson is and forces herself to be Wilson's side kick. Wilson too is in trouble, getting injured, etc, and really needs a side-kick. Ellen is weak, frail and even comical (her acting is superb). She is also a little crazy but she actually cares about Wilson and this is the saddest thing about this movie - Wilson is so religious that he just can't accept Ellen's love (She is so ridiculously earnest, that I myself feel like falling in love with her).

Many things happen and the ending is not a typical happy ending. That I think is one of the reasons why this movie has a 6.8 rating. It does not satisfy our typical super hero palette.

99.9 of the problems is this world are the result of the greed and lack of empathy of a few selfish people. In this movie, its not the drug dealers, mafia or all the external bad people who are the villains. Its Liv Tyler (the last few moments of this movie made me real sad). Love, empathy and care needs to happen inside the home. With that there will be no Batman and no Crimson Bolt (and even no villains).

Though this movie made me sad, I liked it more than Kickass (which I absolutely loved). Watch it with your heart and you get to see a movie where you go places you did not expect to go.

Mr.James Gunn - Thank You for making this beautiful movie. Cheers...

Wanted (2008)

If you like action - Definitely Recommended.

[12 February 2017]

This is a James Bond, Batman, Speed combination movie.

It tries to be sophisticated like Bourne and fails, it tries to be over the top like Tarantino and fails there too.

Yet, if you like action, you should go see it (Don't worry about the 6.7 rating, people I think have been too critical), its enjoyable.

And you get to see Angelina Jolie. I am not her fan. I think she was like 35 when this movie came out, yet she is somehow nicer than a beautiful 18 yr old. She is an intriguing actress, and it was fun watching her.

Cheers.