Avie's Blog

Doctor Sleep

Another Stephen King story and a sequel to the Shining! It would kind of be my fantasy to get a fantasy-horror of this magnitude (atleast that what I thought).

In my opinion, Doctor Sleep just didn’t appeal to either genre lovers too well. I never felt scared or even at the edge of my seat when watching the movie. The only thing I found terrifying is how unfazed the little girl, Abra was experiencing everything. Let me add that, I don’t always mind horror movies not being too scary if the movie itself was amazing. Sadly, to me it was just another movie that I watched in 2019 that I will probably forget in the future.

Whatever I feel about the movie, I think Rebecca Ferguson did a great job playing Rose The Hat. I rarely mention this but I think a good antagonist can salvage the movie all by him/herself. This is exactly the case for Doctor Sleep. The only thing that got me through the movie is how multidimensional and captivating her presence is.

On the other side of things, Ewan McGregor’s character Dan who is supposed to be our protagonist, pretty much falls flat. I love Ewan and I don’t think it was his entirely his fault for potraying such a bland character. Some blame has to go towards the script and the character design.

I don’t want to speak about the plot because I didn’t think it was great in any way. It was basically – ‘A group of people go around sucking the life out of people. A little girl and a man with similar powers try to stop them.’

Final Thoughts –

I think the movie is a fine watch. It will be a good pass time but that’s about it. Let me know if you disagree.

Jumanji: The Next Level

I want to get something out of the way. I like this movie more than the first one. Woh! Wait for it… I didn’t like the first movie at all. There I said it. The first movie to me, felt like a cash grab. I love Dwayne and Kevin a lot. They are the best comedy movie duo I can think of in recent times. But the first movie just didnt excite me as much.

This movie however was a lot more enjoyable. It might just be because I did not have huge expectations of this movie. I just wanted to pass the day in the theatre. In whichever way you choose it look at it, I had fun.

When it comes to the setting and the plot of the movie, it is pretty much the same as the first one. You get transported into a video game and you need to save the world from eternal doom. The difference is in the fact that the actors have to play a different characters from who they played in the first movie. I think you would find the new characters more enjoyable because Dwayne plays Danny DeVito and Kevin plays Danny Glover which you probably seen in other movies. Dwayne and Kevin play them so well its uncanny.

You can tell all the actors are having a lot more fun which is clearly visible in the movie. After the first movie, they have bonded really well and for that reason alone, this movie is already better than the first. Another reason it’s more enjoyable, is due to the fact that the movie doesn’t revolve around romance and people who don’t really know each other. The connection already established in Dwayne and Kevin’s respective characters makes for a better interaction. The same goes with Karen Gillan and Jack Black characters. This movie ends up being all about friendship and connections and that’s probably why it will hit you right in the feels.

I should add that Awkwafina’s addition to the movie was pretty awesome. She is just as quirky as the rest of the cast and I am glad that they decided add her as a new character. I hope we see more of her if there are any future sequels (I truly hope there are more).

Spoilers Ahead (skip to the end for final thoughts) –

One last thing I loved about the movie is the character swapping aspect of it. All the actors got to play multiple people and they played all of them flawlessly. Dwayne going back to playing Spencer at the end brought around some nostalgia from the first movie.

Final Thoughts –

Great movie. If you want have a good time with your friends and rainy/snow day in – This movie is perfect.

Knives Out

I know it has been a while since I posted. I was enjoying the winter too much. I will be writing a lot more since I’ve watched a lot of things in the past two months which means I have a lot to talk about.

Anyways, let’s get into the movie. Let me start by saying that Knives out was an amazing murder mystery and to fully enjoy the movie I think you should just stop now and go watch it. It’s just one of those movies, that is more enjoyable when you have no idea what you are getting into. If you still need more convincing – continue reading.

Everything about this movie is purely amazing. The music, the direction, the acting – they all feel perfect as they are (nothing is overdone). I especially love Daniel Craig’s portrayal of the detective in the movie. There are times when he is quirky, sometimes he acts as if he has no idea what’s going on and sometimes he acts like a pure genius. You never know what he is actually thinking on the inside.

Another reason, this movie is truly amazing is the fact you can never guess when you have reached the climax. Just when you think everything is figured out, there is another mystery to crack or another problem to solve. There might be times where you might say to yourself – “Is that all?” and a few minutes later you will realize that there is so much more left to uncover.

Final Thoughts –

I was purposely vague with my description. I did not want to say much about the movie. I really want everyone who reads this and everyone I personally know to go watch this movie. That’s how much I loved it. I know that I should watch it once again myself and see if I can spot the subtle hints and clues I missed the first time that would allow me to solve the murder.

Atypical: Season 3

I rewatched the entire season 1 and 2 in preparation for season 3. If you haven’t watched this show yet, you should definitely get on it. This is one of the best shows netflix has to offer. It is truly a show for all ages.

Anyways, back to season 3. I watched the entire season in one day. It was actually that good. This season did deal with Sam’s struggles entering freshman year of college but it covered a lot more than just that. It was all about relationships – The friendship between Sam and Zahid, the love triangle between Casie, Izzie and Evan, the bond between Doug and Elsa. It really felt like there was a lot more character development this season (for every character and not just Sam). It was filled with heart, a lot more comedy than the past seasons and wholesome episodes.

(It was great to see Sam deal with normal friendship problems in his own unique way. If you watched it, you know what I mean. There was good balance of addressing the hurdles that come with autism and the hurdles that come with being a teenager.)

I don’t have too much else to say except for the fact that, I hope the writers keep up the quality in future seasons. I can’t wait to watch more of this show. If for some weird reason, you decided to quit the show after season 2 ( I don’t know why you would do that), then this should be a good reason to hop back on this awesome train. Hope you have as good a time watching this season as I did.

Zombieland: Double Tap

It’s been a while since the first movie came out. I know I had to watch it once again before I went and watched this. Once again, Zombieland 1 was still amazing. Let me tell you, I didn’t have high hopes for this movie. I thought it would be another cash grab. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Although not as amazing as the first, it kinda lived up to its predecessor.

All returning cast were just as amazing as they were in the previous one (except for little rock – I guess she lost the “child sassy” impression she had on us in the first movie). The new cast were also pretty great, especially Nevada.

We once again got to see interesting places after the apocalypse like the oval office. The pop culture references and the references to the first movie were all amazing (so make sure to watch the first movie again before you go watch this). I especially liked when they made fun of ‘The Walking Dead’ by calling it unrealistic.

Now let’s talk about what I didn’t enjoy in this movie. The story. There was no end goal. In the first movie – we got the intro to our group and it was about finding a safe haven. This time, it just felt like a filler movie.

(Spoiler warning – skip to final thoughts)

Little rock running away, Columbus-Wichita marital problems, etc. all just seemed like TV show episodes. There was no big event or huge discovery that would make me come out the movie saying – “I will remember this one”. The only new interesting addition to the movie was the classification of zombies in Homer, Hawking, Ninja and T-800. It added some more excitement to the zombie killings. I loved the scene where they try to acquire the RV. It was cool to see our guys work like a well-oiled machine.

Final Thoughts –

It was an entertaining film. If you enjoy movies (and the first zombieland), you should definitely go watch it. You will have a good time and enjoy the nostalgia. But that’s about it. This movie won’t become another zombie classic in your books. It will just be another one to add to your ever growing movie roster.

Joker

There is so much hype behind this movie that I had to go watch it the first day it came out. I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie but I am also going to add that, it was a bit overhyped. I know not a lot of people will feel this way but I am saying this after giving the movie experience a lot of thought.

You should note that – this movie may be based on a DC villain but it isn’t your typical superhero/supervillain movie. So don’t expect that kind of thing or be discouraged by what I just said. It is dark and gritty and deals with mental health while paying homage to a very popular character i.e, Joker. If you like dark movies with amazing character development and character interactions, this movie is for you.

A lot of people might compare this to Heath Ledger’s Joker but that’s not what I am going to do. I loved Joaquin’s acting. It was probably the best part of the movie and I support the people who say he deserves an oscar. It was really that good. You could tell he put his all, to make the character stand out in the now ‘saturated market of Jokers’. The Joker he played was not about ruling the world, anarchy or just being a psychopath. Joaquin’s joker was all about pushing back against the people that put him down, instead of helping him.

Now that we went through the good, let me tell you why I think this movie was overhyped. This movie just felt like it was lacking a lot of story. I know this is an origin story and there is a lot of ground to cover before Arthur Fleck became the Joker. However, I wanted to see more of what Arthur would do after he fully embraced the Joker persona. There wasn’t a lot of that. The movie felt short eventhough it was 2 hours long. I would like to reiterate that this isn’t a criticism. I just wanted more than what this movie offered. I would compare this to the start of an amazing TV series. Sadly, there isn’t any talk of a sequel yet so I am stuck with only my imagination about what this version of Joker would be upto after the point where the movie ended.

(Spoiler Warning – Skip to Final Thoughts if you haven’t watched the movie.)

I love the fact that this movie made me think and contemplate the plot so much. I am definitely going to watch it again. It always had me questioning whether something was real or whether it was fake. The movie established that Arthur was mentally ill and showed us multiple times that what we thought was happening in reality was actually all in Arthur’s head. This is why, in the end when Arthur ended up in an asylum, you might wonder if what he did as the Joker was real (Btw I believe it’s completely real and I hope no one proves it otherwise). At the beginning he was shy, reserved and scared of the world but the Joker persona allowed him to speak his mind and let the world know how he truly felt. This is why I hope, none of it is a dream. I don’t want so much character development to be stumped by saying “It was all in his head.” Then again, the joker character’s origin has always been described as ‘multiple choice’ (well joker himself describes it that way) and we never truly learn his real identity. So in that way, the movie did stay true to the character which I can respect.

I felt like this version of Joker never really enjoyed or cared too much about the fact that he killed people. He just did what he felt he needed to do in order to survive or to prove a point. He didn’t even seem to want people to rally behind him. All he wanted was to show the world how cruel society can be or how inconsiderate people can be towards the mentally ill. He just happened to gather a bunch followers in the process. In the end, I am happy having another amazing version of Joker added to the list.

Interesting Note – You might notice that there are references and structure adaptation from two Scorsese films – Taxi Driver and King of Comedy. Robert De Niro starred in both those movies which is a cool easter egg since he was in this one too. I want to add another reference (maybe accidental) that was made in this movie. The scene where the Joker approaches the camera at Murray Franklin show reminds me of the Jerome Valeska police station scene from Gotham. Let me know if any of you noticed that too.

Final Thoughts –

The movie was amazing. You should definitely watch it. No matter what I had to say about it, it should never discourage anyone from watching it, even in the slightest. You can tell me how wrong my opinions are after you enjoyed the movie. So go out to the movies and have a great time watching this.

Suits

Suits aired its final episode of the series this wednesday. I have to say, it was a pretty good ride. I randomly stumbled across this seven years ago and I have watched this show religiously since then. So, it is kind of bitter sweet that it ended. Without spoiling anything, I will say that the show wrapped up pretty well and I have no qualms with how it ended.

The show starts of as being about a college dropout (Mike Ross) with a photographic memory who is hired by one of the best lawyers in New York City (Harvey Specter) to be his associate. He hasn’t passed bar exam, so he is not technically a lawyer. Mike and Harvey have to ensure that Mike’s secret is well kept while Mike works at one of the biggest law firms in the country.

The Harvey-Mike dynamic is really great. I can always appreciate a good bromance. The characters work so well with each other that even if they played in a buddy cop show, I would still love it. These two are definitely the characters that you start falling in love with at first but eventually you will love the other characters just as much. They all get their own time in the spotlight and the show becomes about all of the characters and not just Mike and Harvey in the end.

The cast list gets longer and longer as the seasons progress. Each character added to the show is unique and well portrayed. They could each have their own show (*wink* *wink* ‘Pearson’). Donna (Harvey’s Assistant), Rachel (Mike’s love interest and a Paralegal at the firm), Louis (Partner at the firm – I have a lot more ways to describe him because his character changes and evolves so much, there are times when you might love him and others when you might hate him), etc are all amazing characters. If I complement and discuss every character, this post will take me several days to write.

I should mention that although as the name suggests, this show does involve lawyers and law suits but it doesn’t have too much boring lawyer-y discussions or jargons. It is a drama that involves dealing with different kinds of relationships. It could be rivalry, love, parent-child, mentor-mentee, etc. It is all about the things people do to achieve their goals or help the people they care about. I think this makes the plot a bit lackluster but the character interactions more than makes up for it.

Final Thoughts –

You should definitely give this show a try, if you like character driven stories. The plot, the premise and the problems, all change throughout the series but you will still enjoy the show in the later seasons, just as you would in season 1. This is definitely one of my top 10 favorite shows of all time and hopefully it becomes yours as well.

Yesterday

After series of music biography movies (Rocketman & Bohemian Rhapsody), I thought Yesterday was just another one of those. I know! I know! I didn’t even watch the trailer. I just disregarded it completely.

Oh how I regret not going to the theater to watch this movie. It is completely different from those biography movies. Don’t get me wrong. Biography of music bands are amazing but I am more of a fiction movie kind of guy. So, this is more up my ally. I finally ended up watching this yesterday (I had to do it, OK!).

This movie is about a musician whose music career seems to be going nowhere. As he is about to quit being a musician, he ends getting hit by a bus right after the whole world is hit with a massive blackout for a few seconds. When he comes to his senses, he finds out that the world has forgotten Beatles (among other things that I won’t spoil). He is surprised that people could forget such an iconic band.

He soon realizes that he can play all the Beatles songs he remembers and earn some fame. With the amazing lyrics and the musicality of Beatles, how could our musician not sky rocket to stardom. The rest of movie is all about how he deals with his new found fame and the dilemma that comes plagiarizing someone else’s music.

(Minor Spoilers ahead – Skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want any spoilers at all)

Now you would think that the “conflict/problem” of the movie would be -someone finding out he has been plagiarizing or the people of the world come to their senses and end up despising him but that’s not what happens.

The best part of the movie is that the movie is wholesome till the end. The ‘conflict’ of the movie is resolved in the same way. It just makes your heart fill up with happiness and love for our main character.

The romance between Jack (our musician) and Ellie (played by Lily James) is also perfect. It’s not overdone. You want to see where their story goes but you don’t go through too much of the cliche relationship dialogues – “You have changed. You let the fame get to you. I never want to see you again.” You might notice a little bit of it but once again, this is also something that resolves in the most wholesome manner.

Final Thoughts –

I know I used wholesome to describe a lot of things in the movie but that’s just what it is. After you finish watching the movie, I promise you – you will be filled with joy. If you ever have the time and want a new movie to relax to and enjoy – this is it! You can watch it with your family, with a date or just by yourself. You will have a great time regardless.

Kanata no Astra

Also known as Astra Lost in Space is an anime that has probably flown under your radar. It makes sense considering there are major animes airing currently such as Dr. Stone, Demon Slayer, etc. and this is another space anime which hasn’t been a popular genre recently.

I randomly stumbled across this while searching through ‘MyAnimeList’ for a new anime. The poster for this show looked decent and I was really bored so I decided to check out the first episode. The first episode set up the premise really well and I decided to continue watching it.

The story is about a team of students who are sent on a camping trip. A random black sphere appears in front of them and sucks them in and then throws them out into the vast reaches of outer space. Somehow, they happened to find a abandoned ship near them and this is where their true journey begins. They have to find a way to get back home. They need to search for food, fuel and be ready to deal with all the challenges that come with space travel.

Each character has an unique personality and an unique role they fill in the ship. For example, Kanata acts a leader, has a very positive attitude and is athletic. On the other hand, Zack is calm, calculated, handles piloting and maintaining the ship. Not just these two, but every other character is well written. Every episode you learn more and more about each character and their back story. They make sure to not leave anyone out.

While this goes on, they travel to different planets to use as pit shops on their way back home. They encounter all sort of weird challenges, having landed on a unknown planet. This makes every episode exciting. At the same time, you see them becoming better and better as a team. Each new planet they encounter makes them more coordinated and efficient. The bonds the team shares will definitely make you feel like you are watching a very wholesome show.

Another amazing part of this show is the fact that it is very fast paced. They don’t dwell upon a single situation for too long. There will be cliffhangers between episodes but as you go further and further into the show, they resolve problems quite quickly. I am so used to shows cutting off at the exact time of a reveal that I was surprised when they kept on going. It is definitely a pleasant surprise. I am happy that this is just 12 episodes and they try to fit the entire story in it. They did not try to milk the franchise for a second season.

Final Thoughts –

I would definitely recommend this show if you wanted something wholesome to watch or a show that ends on a great note. It doesn’t make you hungry for a second season. Sometimes you want that kind of closure and I get it. One thing note is that this show ramps up (has more reveals, OMG moments, etc.) in the second half. Therefore, I suggest that you be a bit more patient if you are still on the edge after watching the first few episodes. I promise you it’s worth it. So go on to your computer and have a fun time watching it and make sure to let me know what you think.

It Chaper 2

I finally went out and watched a movie after a long time (by that I mean a month). Also, I watched this at 10:45 pm for the full horror experience. This movie ended up being 3 hours long.

Now a 3 hour long horror movie is hard to digest, I know. I don’t remember any movie in the genre being that long. But what If I told you that about half the movie (not an exaggeration) was a comedy. I AM NOT KIDDING. There are so many comedic elements and comedic scenes that you can’t stop laughing.

I am not trying to belittle the movie in any way. The comedic portions were hilarious and complemented the horror portions quite well. There are only so many scary moments and jump scares that a person can handle before they get tired of them. I am not saying people will get too scared to stop watching. I actually think people will just get bored of the repetitive horror portions. In that sense the writers did a great job moving back and forth from the horror to make an entertaining movie. I am pretty sure it was because the movie plot itself didn’t make it exciting enough to be a good pure horror movie.

Spoiler Ahead (Jump to final thoughts if you don’t want to know anything specific about the movie) –

The plot revolves around the kids returning to the town 27 years later to finally end Pennywise’s terror. Since the kids were no longer scared of Pennywise at the end of the first movie, I think the writers had to find a way to make them scared again. Well apparently, the solution was amnesia in the form of leaving the town (You have to be scared, if you do not remember not being scared, AM I RIGHT??!!). They eventually regain their memories as they spent more time in the town (Derry).

If Amnesia wasn’t enough of a repetitive movie trope, they also added flashbacks. This added to the runtime of the movie. The flashbacks were designed to help drive the plot where each kid had to find a token to sacrifice, so that they can get rid of Pennywise. Since all tokens weren’t introduced in the first movie they had to give each member of the ‘loser’s club’ their screen time to show every single one of the token being collected. This ended up causing the movie to show a few scenes that we have already seen before.

This token arc of the movie caused something I really hate in all horror movies. The whole “LET’S SPLIT UP” to cover more ground thing. At this point, ever horror movie watcher knows, the cast will end up in situations with a lot of jump scares and spending time running away from ‘IT’. I really thought this franchise was better than that. Let me clarify – I don’t mind jump scares. Every horror movies needs a few of them. However, the movie doesn’t need to force them on us. I wish they found a different way to do it.

While we are on the topic of redundant and repetitive things, let me tell you that I hated the whole scene where Pennywise lures a kid behind the bleachers and ‘tries to be her friend’ and then finally bites her head off. We saw this whole thing with Georgie. We didn’t need it again. Was it just to add another scare to the movie, I wonder?

Now that we discussed the plot of the movie, let’s go back to the entertainment value of the movie. I did rant about the plot quite a bit, but the movie was actually quite enjoyable. The movie becomes better if it is viewed as a comedy rather than a horror.

The cast in this movie did a decent job of matching the personalities of the kids from the first one. I think the one who matched his child counterpart the best was Bill Hader (playing Richie). The quirkiness, the stupidity and the comedic timing of the character were all spot on. I loved Finn Wolfhard’s portrayal of Richie and Bill Hader just made me love the character even more. For me, he was definitely the star of the movie.

Final Thoughts –

It Chapter 2 was a fun movie to watch. It wasn’t as good the first but it was a good conclusion to the franchise. I would suggest not to focus too much on the plot and just enjoy the scares and the jokes. Take a few friends along with you and just have a good time.