papulyk Reviews

Opium (2022)

Amazing

[10/10 · 2 September 2023]

This is a gem of a movie with an amazing ensemble cast. Comprised of 6 short stories revolving around religion, faith and how truly religion becomes the 'opium' for the masses. Some of the stories are satirical replete with humour, while others are dark and hard-hitting - they literally make you sit up, while others are sweet and absolutely heartwarming. This is a film that premiered at The Tokyo International Film Festival 2022 where it was presented by director Lijo Pellissery. Opium is a commendable debut by Aman Sachdeva who manages to deliver a knockout debut. Manu Rishi Chaddha and Vinay Pathak and Dilip Prabhavalkar stand out from the cast.

The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019)

A white man saviour propaganda film

[1/10 · 30 August 2019]

A real life incident is marred by bad scripting, direction and acting to make it look like a 80s slapdash golden harvest action thriller and above all an Israeli propaganda film. The movie is so propaganda in nature it doesn't even bother setting up the premise knowing fully well that only people in the know will watch the film. Where Argo scores with its casting, taut screenplay and direction - this one can't be even saved by Captain America! Don't waste your time

Danny Collins (2015)

A Gem!!!!

[9/10 · 9 February 2016]

Contains Spoilers! Danny Collins is gem that didn't get its due on release. But discovering it on DVD is like finding lost treasure. A film about personal redemption. And about how we forget the people who matter while we climb up on our ladder of success. But at the end of the day when the arc-lights fade and age is a daily battle - what matters is the family and the friends you have made. After all it's the journey that's important and not the Destination. Pacino sizzles as a rock-star with the one hit who is caught between being true to his art and to himself OR continue to make money singing at sold-out venues to people who don't want anything new. And when the mind becomes a war-zone he decides to make amends and reach out to the only family he has but never met for 18 years! Brilliant casting and performances by everybody. Plummer and Pacino as buddies/talent- manager share great chemistry. And so does Annette Bening and Pacino. This is not the "in your face loud dialogue spewing animated" Pacino - but a charming old rock-star in a controlled performance. This movie needs to be seen!! And then let its warmth engulf you in an embrace that will make you sniff and smile

The Hateful Eight (2015)

Over-indulgent and Look Ma No Hands!

[2/10 · 2 February 2016]

The Hateful Eight is a ponderous "watching paint drying" kind of a movie where the characters keep yapping and nothing seems to happen. Where the visual of screenplay writing is thrown out of the carriage window and scenes and events are narrated through dialogs - you don't get to see events happen as you would in a movie. The only moments you feel you are watching a movie are the gratuitous snowy wide shots on panavision. Or else it feels like you are watching a play... His worst movie - It's like QT's Waterloo, or in movie terms it is his "Howard the Duck" - an eternal nudge-nudge wink-wink of the kitschy mind... Tarantino is over-indulgent, trying to draw constant attention to supposed smart lines and the actors all play out shadows of their own characters from earlier QT movies. He has always relied on brilliant snappy smart dialogs and set pieces - but has always balanced it with action/events/plots - here it seems the dialogue writer erased the screenplay. QT is constantly trying to grab your attention with supposedly smart lines - it feels like the kid who says Look Ma No Hands! And predictably like the kid, this movie too falls on its face! Only from Chapter 4 does the movie become interesting (which is at approx 100 minutes RT) Any slower and this movie would be a Terence Malik or a Mrinal Sen art-house film! It seems like the movie has been made by a wannabe fan-boy trying to be QT with its nudge nudge wink wink moments. It's as if the director has gone through a check-list of his trademark ingredients - Blood and Gore - yes in plenty; Smart lines - yes; surprise cameos - yes; shocks - yes; Favorite characters dying - yes... But it does not come together like it did in Pulp Fiction or in Jackie Browne or Reservoir Dogs. Brilliant Performances by Sam Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kurt Russell. Brilliant cameo by Tim Roth (as always) and the roles played by Michael Madsen and Channing Tatum could have been played by any A-Grade junior artist at the price of a double shift. It is an attempt to make it a Western version of Reservoir Dogs - but this one does not even wag its tail! The funny thing is sycophantic critics are waxing eloquent about how it takes us back to Sergio Leone and tribute to westerns and blah blah - THOSE movies had stories. Period. A horse carriage, a haberdashery,some snow and a few shootouts DO NOT make a western or a movie! It's like watching a play shot on film!