samarkant1 Reviews

You Were Never Really Here (2017)

What ?

[4/10 · 23 March 2024]

Was it a movie or an assignment. To decipher the meaning of joaquin phoenix's blank expressions and the director's intentions. So you want to seem cerebral. Throw out interminable, going nowhere, direction less ramblings expounding the meaning of nothing. How about holding an empty bottle, glancing at it intently to uncover the revelations on the interactions between the air in the bottle and the light illuminating it, enabling the observation of the air and space covered by the bottle. Was it entertaining - a bit , yes, did it uncover new ground, stoke new emotions - no. Upon being asked if you are home, framing it as a relative reality does not make you profoundly intellectual. Using calculus to answer the sum of too numbers is not going to highlight your intellectual prowess - it will rather do the opposit.

Kohrra (2023– )

crafted so well that it seems almost like a slice of reality

[8/10 · 21 July 2023]

Almost everyone has foibles, flaws. And no one wants to admit, accept them. Except that the best of efforts to keep them hidden fail. And life almost, magically, manages to orchestrate events so that the whole truth comes out despite everyone diligently lying. This is where this series shines. Story telling , to me, to be effective, has to be arithmetically, logically, mathematically coherent and consistent. And it is in this aspect that kohrra stands out. There are complex, tangled connections all across. Yet they progressively sort out and make sense. And combine to provide an immersive and engaging presentation. One could say that rarely in real life all aspects of a situation are so decisively resolved. But this is fiction. Seemingly almost like a slice of reality. That's worth your time.

Spinning Gold (2023)

whats there to not like

[10/10 · 25 June 2023]

Totally intrigued by the negative reviews. Its a story about an amazing man. Told interestingly and concisely. The material itself is very powerful. The execution is good. There are revelatory, surprising backstories to very well known songs, music and bands. There is the genius of the man who toiled, gambled, innovated to make them happen. The movie had me rooting to see the guy succeed. There were ups, there were downs. There was triumph. What more could one want. To dub it as a vanity project, as a few reviewers have done, to me seems, ridiculous. The risks the man took and prevailed - he deserves all credit and the movie does so engagingly, judiciously. To me this is a movie not to be missed. It was a very enjoyable two hours.

The Terminal List (2022– )

dizzy action

[9/10 · 7 July 2022]

Been done a million times before. Yet riveting. Its the awesome execution. There's the superhuman operative with a network spanning the entire globe. Yet he is wronged - why?. So he can unleash vengeance on an epic scale. And grind to dust another standard character - the villain superman, who also can anything imaginable while mouthing dialogues that can only be produced by hollywood scripting machines. Brainless. Useless. But exciting, thrilling and entertaining - go for it.

Dasvi (2022)

fun all the way

[9/10 · 21 June 2022]

What movie making should be like. Light hearted, entertaining and amusing - all at once. Abhishek bacchan redeems himself with an outstanding performance. He sinks into the role of the village chieftain completely. The submissive wife does a delightful volte face. No expletives, no weird relationships. Each of the cast member fits in nicely. Entertaining throughout.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

brutally disorganized and confusing - nothing, nowhere at all

[2/10 · 20 June 2022]

Decided to check it out after the epic ratings given to this move. Too chaotic and pointless. Could not help think that this was a destructive, meaningless version of the back to future series. Its almost like some maniac tells you ten plus ten is 257 as there is a contribution of 237 from various universes and you were wrong all along to think ten plus ten is twenty. Idiotic in the extreme.

Asur: Welcome to Your Dark Side (2020– )

absurd, idiotic, ....

[1/10 · 5 June 2022]

Just consider it to be a vocabulary test. Find all synonyms for pointless, foolish, ridiculous, illogical, and ..... and each will fully apply. There is creative license but if it degenerates into a divorce from reality, no sanity and children playing with toy sets seem more credible than the setups, it is then manifest incompetence. To add to the silliness looks like the scripting followed a laundry list of standard phrases eg i know how you feel - no you cannot, and mixed them in indiscriminately. After two episodes i ran it at 3x speed - thanks to a video speed adjustment extension. Waste of time.

The Northman (2022)

could not get it

[4/10 · 1 June 2022]

The beginning was promising. Expectations were set up for a grand tale. The beginning turned out to be the crescendo. It was flat, downhill from there on. For some time kept on hoping the promise would be revived. Nope. In the end only kept on wondering what was the point of this.

Last Resort (I) (2012–2013)

Fast, pacey, gripping, formulaic yet thought provoking - episode 5 - an amazing ride, don't miss it

[8/10 · 30 September 2012]

Its a perfect set up. Brings plausibility to events you instinctively react to as not having much of a chance to come about in the real world - at least one hopes so - yet if the catastrophic eventualities were to occur, what would the world look like and how'd they be handled - questions that can be explored only in a dramatization. Its pretty much the American military stud stereotype - yet its fascinating - and leaves you impatiently waiting to see where will all this go. Where's the dividing line between sworn commitment to authority and the default recoil from it when the authority is itself athwart the principles that sanctified and established it. Makes you wonder, think and leaves you thirsting to find out more.

Episode 1 was a blockbuster. Then this thing meandered. It became more lost resort than last resort. And they got it back with episode 5. You forget the directionlessness of episodes 2, 3, 4. Every theatrical punch is delivered to perfection in 5. Its a crowning moment for a story when it is predictable but you can't wait to see it happening. Impossible odds overcome. Impeccable, unbelievably crafty negotiation. Disaster averted at the very last moment. Critics turned admirers. You enjoy an overwhelming impatience for events to unfold - you know how they will - you know its too ordered, too perfect, unquestionably artificial - what the heck - you don't spend your life on a roller coaster - you get on it to savor the short adrenalin rush - and episode 5 is one amazing ride - don't miss it.