proabhinav Reviews

American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders (2024)

Journalist Director Syndrome - Makes this a slow one !

[5/10 · 29 February 2024]

The story that unravels throughout the series is amazing , revealing and matters ..

Challenge is that when a journalist wishes to direct his own story the way he wants , which may or may not be able to depict the story really well , the entire effort goes to waste.

The series went on a drag , at times unnecessary details and opinions: expressions ..

This documentary had the opportunity to be in the league of some of earlier best Netflix shows like The Keepers, How to Fix A Srug Scandal and many more but this one fails ..

Worthy effort and journalism .. but sometimes let the best people do their job . Thank you.

Billion Dollar Heist (2023)

Important Topic - Juvinile Story Telling !

[3/10 · 6 September 2023]

Movie picks up a strong topic, widely accepted yet no near visibility of addressing the problem at hand.

Unfortunately, the movie choose to drag along for long hours when it could have been easily covered in 30-45 mins max. The content gets clouded with with kind of story telling used that emphasises unnecessary use of animations, graphics and fillers, which acts as more of a distraction in the smooth movie / story telling we expect.

It's like an animated movie made for kids and teenagers, probably it is but at the cost of loosing its steam for serious audience that are keen on content !

We deserve better !

MH370: The Plane That Disappeared (2023)

A disgraceful documentary - No answers to the family who are in pain !

[1/10 · 15 March 2023]

Disappointing and shameful to have used a disaster for personal gains and profits .. @Netflix and The Blogger who is face of this show !

Amazed on the so called reporter/blogger who first made a hypothetical story and blamed pilot .. then made another hypothetical story to say pilot is innocent ..

Imagine such an person as your guide .. it's nothing but a self gloating so called supposedly documentary where Jeff rants in his choice of words and Netflix paid money to make money !

Netflix is best to not be a paid subscription but a torrent one !

In nutshell, it's a series built upon conspiracy theories which have been penned down by reporter in his blog .. each new conspiracy theory denouncing first one .. ultimately calling it as investigation but no clear answers for the families in pain !

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Avatar 2 - A decade long wait for an Ok Storyline !

[5/10 · 1 January 2023]

Avatar2 definitely won't disappoint anyone on graphics and being creative with creating an alternate reality within the sea ...

Yet, Avatar 2 may find a tougher challenge to match with Avatar 1 on a few fronts -

1). Strong engaging story 2). Length of the movie 3). Gap in time of releases

Being a fan of sci fi and thriller movies, Avatar 1 caught my interest for it's ability to not just create a new world Pandora but also an engaging yet crisp story telling about humans , their need for Pandora and the natives. Best in class team to work on Graphics made the story more so real that we all wanted to watch Avatar2.

But having waited for almost a decade, I think the A2 has to be more interesting than its predecessor on all fronts mentioned above. Story, engaging yet crisp and graphics.

While graphics didn't disappoint, the movie for me fell flat on all other parameters.

Movie came across as a revenge party between the villain and protagonist than anything else. While it isn't a bad plot, a decade wait for this story line didn't justify for me.

It's stretched in story telling in A2, with rushed up scenes to cover gaps in later part of the movie to make meaning of climax and didn't help. There was a few moments during later 1 hour of the movie where I just wanted the movie to end.

To conclude, am sure there's enormous effort that has gone into the movie and kudos to the team, it's just that I believe I am not as excited after watching A2 as I was A1 and have no plans to watch upcoming ones.

This movie will definitely garner support and box office for marketing and audience that will love graphics but that isn't the barometer of a good movie!

Black Bird (2022)

Black Bird - Well written, Direction & Responsible

[9/10 · 2 October 2022]

It's always difficult to review/rate a show that depicts pain ... as it's always easy to relax and watch what happened vs how it actually feels ..

Black Bird deserves our time and attention for not only the story told but Apple's & team approach to taking on such a sensitive and painful topic, carefully piece it together and share the stories from every character's perspective ... and in the end still doing justice to what matters i.e. Not glamorize the killer ... unlike almost all Netflix shows ..

While Netflix has come up with a nice recipe of making biopics and documentaries on heinous crimes (Anna Delvy etc) and killers that eventually will appeal to mass .. making a responsible show is what keeps the sanity alive for the masses ..

Black Bird does this .. good cast, acting , well written script , direction and most importantly responsible and concise ( 6 episodes ) makes it one of the best shows in 2022.

Crash Course (2022– )

Actors Performances > Story & Direction

[6/10 · 7 August 2022]

While the series motive would have been to throw light on the Kota Coaching machines, forced aspirations of parents and their kids, conflicting ambitions ... what won me was all the new actors in the show ..

Best actors I felt ought to go to Shanaya & Anil, small roles but impactful. Amazed to see Shanaya giving her once again superb performance in her second role after Human. She acted superb in that series too, maybe the only highlight of that show with her then co-actor.

Character Vidhi and her story is again amazing and well acted by the actor, her story and screenplay in climax roles are touching, emotional and great.

Needless to mention the 4 friends, each one of them have given a great performance and hope they continue to get success in times to come as well.

While show might have been overall average for me, all credit goes to above characters/actors for keeping me hooked to the show :)

CBI 5: The Brain (2022)

Disappointing

[1/10 · 13 June 2022]

Frankly, a disappointing 2.5 hours and am surprised how is it that people giving this slow dead dying burn even more than 5 .. ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

A Thursday (2022)

Only if this movie can inspire .. !

[9/10 · 20 February 2022]

Deserves all your time and attention, for not only it picks a sensitive topic but also a neglected one.

It is true, when the character says that we are relaxed and we are deaf to some pain till we feel it for ourselves.

I think we can say it is not practical movie or so, but where this movie deserves all our respect, is for the care taken to depict the story, characters and direction of a topic that is close to all of us but overlooked.

Great cast, amazing acting and Yami deserves all the praise for her acting .. :)

Do vote, for the educated balanced ones, for such laws are not brought in by party with members who already have such cases in their name !

Servant (2019–2023)

Lame , stretched and lacks engaging script/content !

[2/10 · 27 January 2022]

S01 - 7 star S02 - 0-3 stars S03 - Not interested

Might have started on a decent note, still the gaps in story/script and screenplay were notable ..

Ideally, could have been a nice mini series, but stretched the story into a never ending loop, with multiple characters with own stories and making each scene like a dying cat ..

Only best thing about the show is acting from almost all actors, leads as well supporting ones.

What has failed the show is a good direction !

Human (2022– )

Not worth !

[3/10 · 20 January 2022]

It's unfortunate and sad.

Script is bad , dialogues are and so are how lead characters are built for this story. Despite good actors, almost every lead actor hasn't been able to keep the show together, be it for their acting or even presence.

Rest of the actors and parallel story lines are good and must acknowledge the Mangu / Deepali' amazing acting and storyline.

Frankly, Mangu/family/Deepali deserves all the praise for their acting , with a limited time when compared to other prominent actors in the show.

More importantly, a show such as Dopesick that deals with almost same story ( inspired by true events ), this show is a big let down !

Archive 81 (2022)

Long, sad & slow

[1/10 · 15 January 2022]

Story might be good but the lengthy stretched direction and disappointing acting on some key characters ..

Added to the long list of failed movies list of James Wan .. I still am waiting for a good James Wan movie /show ..

Every horror movie after Insidious 1, is like a series of painful sad and lengthy movies and none of them is as original , great like the 1st Insidious .. I had already stopped watching James Wan movies, now I think should stop anything produced by him as well !

The Whistleblower (2021)

Decent story ... but Slow burn, bad direction !

[1/10 · 17 December 2021]

Had high expectations .. Though the series has a decent story with good actors but because of the weak direction I lost interest after the fourth episode, a lot more specially after six episode so not a great show.

Made in Heaven (2019– )

A delight to watch - Bingeworthy, Relevant & Inspiring !

[9/10 · 14 December 2021]

Took 2 years from the date of release to pick this series .. and that too as a last resort because I didn't have any show to watch ..

I had come across this show so many a times during casual browsing and always noticed it's high rated but always sidelined it ..

But, I must say , I may be late but this show kept me good till the end, not because of any suspense or thrill but wonderful stories and characters that have been weaves into it.

It made me feel so good that this show picked all relevant topics of our times and portrayed so well, be it many struggles that a women goes through in personal or professional life, life aspirations of someone whose isn't born with a silver spoon or most importantly the life choices one has ..

I am not a reviewer but I believe this show deserves everyones time ..

Thanks Team , Hats off to Zoya & Reema 😊

Hum Do Hamare Do (2021)

Ok ...

[3/10 · 29 October 2021]

Ok movie.

Actually rated 5 but Thanks to Hotstar for putting 8/10 adds at every 10 mins interval ... I think they believed adds in between will help build the story .. of whatever was there ..

Midnight Mass (2021)

Deserves our time - Surprisingly, A great series !

[8/10 · 2 October 2021]

Never had I expected this to be such an engaging show.

Trailer, while good didn't seem to catch my attention as I thought it is some drama , thriller but when I started watching the show , it kept me hooked till the end.

Show has its own pace, so will not appeal to audience looking for immediate plot twists , thrill etc .. this is a show that needs your time and patience .. in the end, it was worth for me.

Thanks.

Sisyphus: The Myth (2021)

Good Story but Lengthy - 16 episodes isn't worth !

[4/10 · 28 September 2021]

Needless to mention that many of us would have picked this show because of Squid Game .. but alas I wonder why would a director make 16 episodes show of 20+ approx hours to tell a story ..

Disappointing ..

Must mention :

1). Story - Is good 2). Screenplay - Lengthy and tiresome in last 10-16 episodes 3). Direction - could have been better !

Try Alice in Borderland, must better and concise !

Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (2021)

Irresponsible .. Lost Documentary / Directors

[1/10 · 9 August 2021]

An attempt to make money through dramatisation of a tragic event, with no constructive story telling ...

Not the first Netflix documentary that has tried making money of pain ..

Wonder how we have gone from Netflix shows like The Keeper to sad shows and actors who are just trying to capture limelight of a movie !

Sonchiriya (2019)

Under-appreciated, engaging movie !

[7/10 · 18 July 2020]

A good movie to watch, great acting, dialogues and screenplay.

Movie has adapted the local language/dialects, which sometimes become difficult to follow but still kept me engaged till the end.

Not for the ones that are looking for entertainment but a good direction story and most importably acting.

Thank You team and Sushant Singh Rajput ..

Hugs :)

Paatal Lok (2020– )

Good Show !

[8/10 · 15 May 2020]

It is absolutely correct to say that this is an answer to Netflix' Sacred Games.

I think the only difference, if we end up seeing after months b/w this show and SG would be because big names in Netflix may end up making us biased towards that show.

Patal Lok with no big names but with a good story till the end will keep you hooked up. I must say imho that the credit should go to direction and that makes the a complex story easy to follow , still intriguing and one to follow till you close.

I binged watched - 9 hrs !

Angrezi Medium (2020)

Beautiful ...

[8/10 · 6 April 2020]

A movie that weaves beautiful relation of a father and daughter in a superbly directed movie ..

Frankly, it doesn't need any review .. You will just End up with a good feeling and value of life and relationship 🤗🤗

Asur: Welcome to Your Dark Side (2020– )

No !

[4/10 · 21 March 2020]

Disagree ...

Surprisingly I went ahead and binged on this series because of one of FB posts and ended up spending 6/7 hours watching it till the end ..

IMHO, there is a story, starts strong till E03 and then dies down badly .. more surprisingly not a strong acting from anyone, which we expected from Arshad .. you'll be surprised by lack of expressions and weight comes out when he is indicted of something ..

Arshad is a good actor and I don't think this series did justice to him, direction, script and some loopholes also in how story shapes up ..

I mean not my thing .. had hopes but am sure team will deliver a good one in future ..

Richard Jewell (2019)

Satisfying ..

[8/10 · 17 March 2020]

It is a beautiful movie, with amazing actors playing great characters ..

Direction, screenplay and everything that makes a movie and story come alive is so natural that I feel we all will relate to the story .. feel for the protagonist and how life sometimes take a different turn ..

I really liked the main actor, acted so well and should not be forgotten .. both, actor and Richard Jewell in real life :)

If Something Happens (2018)

Slow, dead & Sad !!

[2/10 · 15 March 2020]

Amazon Prime and then IMDB rating .. this is what I went with ..

Despite knowing that 7 off 250 ratings isn't a great judgement of a movie and my time but somehow you go ahead with anything when you are Single, lazy Sunday afternoon and hungry for good movies ..

Movie could have been good at everything that is possible, direction, story, acting, screenplay , audio was like lip sync gone wrong .. you cant imagine the pain my ind went through with this ..

I do not enjoy giving a bad rating to any movie but sorry this actually didn't do justice to my time or anyone who appreciates good cinema..

Am sure team would do a great job in times to come :)

Thappad (2020)

Apt but could have been better !!

[7/10 · 2 March 2020]

Let's recognise that the film isn't perfect, but definitely one that's needed.

Movie is good, decent watch but somewhere along the line it may fail to keep the audience attention.

Multiple stories linked someway but Taapsee being at the forefront, movie somehow has crushed other parallel stories into one movie.

Somewhere switching the stories along the way may not add upto what the intention would have been .. that is such things happen in most houses .. but some may not be physical ( lawyer story )

Somewhere I believe we also did fall short on acting some lead actors part .. and screenplay at times .. sometimes I wonder someone who loves one so much and form affluent family ends up marrying his love of life slaps and never apologises .. I mean frankly .. something doesn't go with the character that they have built ..

I mean we can write a lot but I just say this is awesome effort on part of the team to have taken such a subject ..

And I hope it does bring a change .. most important parents .. parents of young girls who let them know this isn't right !!

This could have been better communicated as a series I believe ..

The Invisible Man (I) (2020)

Worth watch !!

[6/10 · 28 February 2020]

All of us who have watched Hollow Man - early 2000s, this is a recap with a some twists and decent thrill.

Story and screenplay are decent, background score is good and overall you would like to be stuck to your seat waiting for What' Next.

Am sure, all of us love drama and watching some great shows with storyline, this one is one those lists which you would like to watch because you want to and like to know what happens in the movie.

I still believe movie could have created a greater buzz and interests in the audience if they hadn't reveal that there is any Invisible Man, trailer shows Kate Moss throwing paint and revealing the suspense for us. If the movie title could have been something different and team could have been creative to keep us on edge with a suspense, just around Kate Moss being acting crazy and why .. showing actions where she' being thrown into the window and more .. and we would have been left wondering if it' someone real after her or something unexplainable. Currently after watching the trailer I went ahead with Hollow Man rewind and knew there' something sci-fi etc.

Even I laughed at my own so called promotional approach but I think, my experience and amazement would have been a lot more if I had found during the movie that it's really her husband in some sci fi suit :D

Overall, a decent watch.

Possible, new audience who haven't watched Hollow Man will like it and rate 7+ ..