ahmadshah2370 Reviews

Band Aid (2017)

Nice Drama which tries to avoide all the clichés

[8/10 · 2 September 2017]

It is a nice drama. I did not know the actress was the director herself, and her acting was so good and real, I would follow her acting in other films too. The chemistry between two central characters was so genuine and realistic, it was really refreshing. The setup is about a struggling couple who are facing economic and emotional problems, and then they try to vent their fight into songs by making a band. But if you expect something like "August Rush" or "Once" or "Music and lyrics", you might be disappointed. It is actually a family drama, with may be no memorable songs.

I believe all those divorces everywhere in the society, such movie sends a very good message. We need to deal with our problems with a try to understand each other more. I had few laughs during the movie, and some dialogues were pretentious, but still, it is a refreshing one. Zoe Lister-Jones should try to write more. And I wish more people watch this drama. Giving rating as 8, as this kind movie cannot get ratings like 10 out of 10, but hope IMDb would retain a 7+ rating for this movie, which it deserves without any doubt.

Phoenix Forgotten (2017)

A Movie with Good Promise but becoming Dull

[5/10 · 29 July 2017]

I try to watch movies without reading the reviews of others. Because everybody is telling a movie "Bad", then my preconception will be bad too. So, I watched the movie without others influence and can share what I felt by watching the movie.

The starting of the movie was really good. For this kind of movie, you need to first set the plot sothat we can care for the characters. Initially, sister of one of the three victims tries to investigate what really did happen to her brother and his friends. I liked the part when Sister went to different people associated with the investigation, and what was the present account of the incident that happened 20 years ago. The old movie collection was very believable, I almost felt like that it was really a documentary, not any acting. Director has put a lot of effort to really make the clips seem like amateur captures. The way everyone acted within the clips, is praiseworthy.

But the movie becomes boring at the later half of the movie. I guess, the director himself did realize the ending story is not a great one, so may be he just pushed on to finish the movie somehow, rather than taking a lot of care to shoot the movie. I must admit, the female teenager acted really well. There was a time when shows like X-files used similar concepts of UFO, but now this UFO thing is just an old past, no one cares about UFO anymore. And the movie might have lacked the budget to make the last scenes more believable.

I feel sad to see so many one or two stars in reviews, I would like to appreciate the work of the director, of the female actress, the editors who worked hard to make the clips look like real ones, and so on. It is a movie to watch when you can waste an hour and so to just relax. There are definitely many more bad movies than this one.

The Nice Guys (2016)

Too much pretentious and unbelievable film

[4/10 · 21 June 2017]

IMDb is showing high 7.4 rating, and it may mislead people to waste their time by watching this movie. Two powerful actors dragged the movie, but both of them knew perfectly that this movie is going to be a bad one. The movie tried to be funny, tried to show nudity, tried to show some brutal action, but in the process, the movie became just a collection of random videos one after one. The plot is just awful, and the character development is almost non-existent. Action scenes are unbelievable, maybe the whole movie was a dark comedy. There were funny dialogues here and there, but I cannot remember laughing for a single moment. Sometimes, I felt that maybe the movie is made for child audience who would never ask about the plot holes and just enjoy whatever comes before them.

This movie does not deserve so much high rating. And I desperately wish that such high caliber actors like Russel Crowe and Ryan Gosling would skip such horrible movie. Few scenes of Russel Crowe and Ryan Gosling were somewhat good, but those never make the movie worthy to see. Totally a forgettable movie.

Please IMDb, fix the rating. Many good movies are in 6.something rating, whereas this lousy movie is enjoying such a high rating. You really need to fix the system or people like me will lose trust on you guys.

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

Excellent Thought Provoking Movie

[9/10 · 3 March 2017]

After watching the movie, first thing came to my mind, why was this movie not nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best adaptive screenplay category. The movie was mind-grappling within first 15 minutes and then never a boring till the end. And the ending was one of the bests of recent past.

Let me say the premises of the movie. An ex-husband writes a novel and lets his ex-wife read that. The novel was a totally fictional one, but as we progress on, we can understand the inspiration behind the novel. As a viewer, you can link different characters of the novel with writer and his wife's real life. The novel itself was good, and the impact the wife feels during reading this novel is fun to watch. I really enjoyed this movie. Jake Gyllenhall was amazing, so was Michael Shannon as a supporting actor. The direction was good, dialogues were deep and witty, the acting of other supporting actors was good too. Highly recommended.

Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

Good Fun Movie to Watch

[8/10 · 3 March 2017]

It is really hard to make good sequels after a famous first movie. Because there is less room for character development, villain seems predictable, and fun factor is usually less. I did not enjoy Kung Fu Panda 2 a lot and I feared that the movie will face a similar fate. But I have to inform that the movie is a good one, if not the best.

I felt the story development was hurried, and the movie ended too quickly. I can also feel that prime target of this movie was kids who will not think a lot about some improbable emotional aspects which can be seen in the movie. You cannot take this movie too seriously.

There were funny dialogues, also there were nice quotations like "Sometimes we do wrong things for right reasons". There were many instances in the movie when you would laugh. It is a nice film. Just do not think too deeply about the plot of the movie, as many things might not make too much sense to a mature mind. Hopefully, we will be exploring the Kung Fu Panda's world more in coming future.

Passengers (I) (2016)

Don't trust Critics for this movie

[9/10 · 2 March 2017]

Metacritic score is too low, do not let this fool you. This is an excellent sci-fi movie which really tries to explore the minds of the people who can be very alone in space. The setup of the movie was just too gorgeous, nice CGI effect, nice AI infrastructures. The writers thought about many little aspects of that universe, like how everything goes on, what is the social norm, how different technologies are in everyday use and so on. I hope these thinking will be found in other sci-fi movies. This movie has only two main characters, Chris Patt and Jeniffer Lawrance, and I think both were superb in this movie. Especially, the way Jeniffer showed different kinds of expressions, was actually praiseworthy.

This movie had many great moments. The buildup of the relation between Chris and Jeniffer was not hurried, where other movies use too much kissing scenes to show their love for each other (Remember Hacksaw Ridge?). I loved this movie. When you watch a sci-fi movie, you more or less can guess what gonna happen at last, but still, I found the ending as a good one. I remember Martians, Interstellar, Gravity, etc., these movies had pacing issues, had less developed characters, and so on. Comparing to those, this is an excellent movie. I don't get the critics, they praise Moonlight (which is boring like hell) but don't praise such excellent movie. You got to see this movie if you are a Sci-fi fan.

The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

A great movie for Kids

[8/10 · 15 August 2016]

Just watched the movie today. 3D effects were amazing, the movie was funny, laughed several times, as a whole enjoyed the movie.

You know what to expect from such kind of movies, and the movie never disappoints you. If you want to see the movie with an adult mind, you may find many illogical things. But I would suggest to just relax and enjoy this animated journey. Animation was good, voice acting was above average. I felt that there was almost no depth of story. I have a yardstick movie to measure all other animated movies, the movie "Cars". It was funny, and it also did have a great message which I remember everyday in my life (The motto: "Winning Piston cups means nothing after a while"), but you would not find anything for that. Character development was weak, you would wonder why one character is caring just too much for other character, why one character is acting so strangely, why some character suddenly is becoming super fighter. These things will bug you. But kids will not think about these deep stuffs. They will just watch the movie and will enjoy the movie a lot.

I would highly recommend to take your kids to show this amazing movie, they deserve to see this. And while you will be watching the movie, enjoy it with a child mind without analyzing too much. It will never be something like any classic, but definitely a fun movie to watch.

Firewatch (2016 Video Game)

Pleasing Walk in the Woods

[7/10 · 24 March 2016]

The game was a great surprise for me. The graphics and the voice acting was very good. The world had a lot of details in it. When you start your job as a firefighter, you can have some time to acquaint yourself with the new living place, new places and so on, and it felt very refreshing. Everyone can connect the place with their own experience. It will definitely feel like taking a break in wilderness.

When the game started, it showed a lot of promise to provide many mind-wrecking puzzles. There were books, funny maps, there were letters, many objects in peculiar places, which gave a nice touch to make the world believable, but those things did not create anything like a grand puzzle. In such an exploration based game, you would hope to crack many secrets, find many hidden places with the history, invest time to solve a difficult puzzle, but there was no such thing. I believe that initially developers had a lot of in their minds, but later on they left their all nifty ideas and somehow finished the game with an anti-climatic finish with no layers of mystery.

It is not a conventional "good game". One should take the game to experience the wilderness of the Park. Dialogues were nice too, sometimes funny, sometimes deep, but I craved for more. Anyway, this game will be memorable one for me, I would remember running in that place for a long time I guess. Story, gameplay, this may disappoint you, but excellent graphics and nice sound will soothe your mind. Giving it 7 for its pleasing environment.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Great action movie without any story

[7/10 · 17 August 2015]

If you love action movies, it will definitely be a great watch for you. Movie starts, and within few minutes, the movie gets too much tense. All those cars, oil-trucks, motorcycles create a great havoc. And it was enjoyable throughout. But, sometimes, mindless action sequences get tedious. After watching the movie, I felt that characters were not much developed. I wish I could know more about the protagonists and antagonists. And the fight was too much against the odd which I didn't like that much. In Batman Begins or X-men First Class, we can see initial development of the story, which seemed lacking in this movie. But anyway, action sequences were great to watch, and if you don't use your brain too much, you would enjoy without any problem. I wished a better story, few memorable dialogue, and some kind of believability in the script. Casting seemed good overall. Giving rating "7" for great action sequences.

The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015)

Simply disgusting and waste of all the efforts for making the movie

[3/10 · 2 August 2015]

Hollywood is trying same formula again and again. Find a famous book to adapt into a film, cast few popular youngsters and invest lots and lots of money in costume, set design, CGI effect and so on. Guys, I guess, it is time to stop. Stop wasting money in this kind of business-purpose movies and stop wasting our time and effort to watch this.

What I can say about the movie. Casting? Bad. Kate Winslet is not for this kind of role. Woodley? No. She doesn't have tiny bit of muscle in her to punch any professional guards. Jennifer Lawrence could show some attitude, but Shailene Woodley? She just seems like a crying baby, nothing more than that. His boyfriend Theo James? He is just super dumb or something. And I don't want to talk about Four's mother's casting. Casting is the biggest flaw in this series. And story? Man, you can think of a better story without breaking a sweat. It is so uninspiring and cliché-type, after few minutes of the movie, it seems like a torture to the brain. With bad casting and story, nothing is left for viewers to watch.

This movie has great CGI works. All those debris and everything, for few minutes made me remember about the world of "The Last of Us". But, if there is no good story, all these CGI effects won't ever be enough, no matter how good those are. But, hats off to the people who did a great work, and they shouldn't be chastised for weak stories and characters.

This is why, I gave the movie "3" rating. I really wish, great CGI works come along with great memorable story, like in "Life of Pi", but not this kind of worthless film.

So, movie makers, time to get new ideas.

Now Is Good (2012)

Boring cliché drama of a dying girl

[4/10 · 1 May 2014]

What's the point of watching a movie if you in first 10 minutes understand what's the movie is all about? Yes, you may feel pity for the girl, and for few moments in the movie, you can not help praising the acting, but in the end, it's a movie you will forget easily. Acting was good from the side of Dakota Fanning and her father Paddy Considine, but other than these two, acting was actually below average. The movie is based on the book, but I think director could have thought from different perspectives. Like not fulfilling someone's own lousy list of things to do, but rather to do something having some kind of effect. The movies gives no inspiration for the persons who are going through this scenario in life, nor it provides any entertainment to general viewer. Dakota Fanning is a good actress, she tried really hard to flourish despite of this average story and script.

But if you feel pretty bad about your life, and think you don't want to live, then you might take a chance to have a glimpse of the people who are craving to live one more moment. I just wish the movie was a great one, something satisfying though having a great sad ending like Million Dollar Baby, but it is not. IMDb rating day by day losing my trust. I felt my time wasted. Curse you IMDb!

Another Earth (2011)

A very boring and non sci-fi movie

[2/10 · 14 April 2014]

It amazes me that IMDb gave the movie 7.0 rating, such a wrong rating. It never deserves this. It's totally boring movie, just a cliché type drama tagging itself as "sci-fi" with almost nothing about sci-fi. It shows up the budget issue during making the movie so much that you feel pity for the makers and wish you could donate them some money. I could give just one star, but Brit Marling (As Rhoda) acted so hard, you can't be so harsh on her. But aside that, there is no reason for which you should watch the movie. Please don't waste your valuable time watching this worthless movie. But the truth is, we watch worse movie than this more often.