Tag: tv show review

  • So I recently watched: Barry

    So I recently watched: Barry

    A hitman wants to turn his life around and become an actor. But his past keeps creeping on to him from behind and he gives hits after hits, from bullets and not with his acting career.

    Making dark comedy is such a delicate task as one wrong move can totally change the tone of the whole show. I think, Barry nails this fine balance and comes off as one of the best shows I have seen. It has comedy in equal proportions as the brutality of violence in others.

    Although past performance doesn’t guarantee future results, the creator of the show features someone who has written Seinfeld and Silicon Valley. The highlight is of course the lead Bill Hader who is mostly known for his gags in SNL. It’s amazing how comedians deliver the best tragedies. No wonder this show was called Breaking Bad of Comedy. All the ensemble cast is just brilliant too.

    I have generally liked the movies of Coen Brothers, and shows like Fargo. This fits right with them.

    Comedy has become so rare these days that one really has to really dig deep into the abundance of nonsense present across OTT services. I am glad that I found Barry. Highly recommended.

  • So I recently watched: Fargo

    So I recently watched: Fargo

    Wide-angle shots. A vast expanse of barren lands covered with snow. The crime just happened or about to happen. Great percussion music in the background building up the scene. Characters who indulge you in hyping up the scene with great acting. Tense situation. A bullet about to go off. And then all of sudden, out of nowhere, something totally unexpected shows up and changes the course of everything.

    Ummm…
    (more…)

  • So I recently watched: After Life

    Ricky Gervais is known for comedies. In most of them, he is known to be blunt, totally devoid of social conventions, goofy, and oblivious to others’ feelings. In Netflix’s After Life, he plays the same character. But there’s a huge difference. He is still intolerable, but because he is coping with a loss.

    After Life
    (more…)
  • So I recently watched: The Boys

    So I recently watched: The Boys

    Brash. Brutal. Brouhaha!

    I have seen Superhero themed TV shows and movies in abundance by now. There have been amazing openings in numerous shows which hooked you from the word go. But there has been no show which opened like ‘The Boys’. Within the first 5 to 6 minutes, you are introduced to the Queen Maeve (Wonderwoman) and The Homelander (Superman/Captain America) in all their slow-motion glory. You say to yourself, okay another Superhero show, let’s see how it goes. Then all of a sudden, another Superhero A-Train (The Flash or the Quicksilver counterpart) runs through the protagonist’s girlfriend Robin. Read the last sentence again. Then you realize what just happened. One has to see it to believe it. It is like you are just served a good looking delicious plate of food. And as soon as you pick it up to take your first bite, it bites you instead.

    You thought that Nolan’s Batman was quite realistic. Then you thought, no Snyder was more realistic. Then Marvel movies took you away from realism and bowled you over with fantastical imagery while their TV shows tried to keep the tone as dark and grittier, going the DC way.

    Meanwhile, few other Superhero related themes were running and creating their own places as the undercurrent. Case in point: Watchmen. But then, there comes a new show based on Comics of the same name, which shakes every pre-conceived notion about Superhero movies/TV series.

    The Boys, available on Amazon Prime Video, is a Superhero show in which Superheroes are people who have gotten immense power and that has corrupted them like anything. They are managed by a corporate ‘Vought’, they star in their own movies, and they use their powers to do anything unimaginable, utterly horrifying, and unspeakable. In fact, some things are even un-writable. They are pitted against normal humans without any superpower and the group which takes on the corrupted Superheroes is named ‘The Boys’, even when there is a girl in the team.

    The Superheroes, led by Homelander (and the team is called The Seven like the Avengers or the Justice League) are almost unconquerable. They have power, money, people behind them, and access to all the possible ways to cover their misdeeds. On the other side, we have The Boys, led by the most-amazing Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), a group of underground, ex-convicts, ex-military/CIA, poor victims, and an Asian girl who like to talk with her hands instead of her mouth. Basically, a bunch of misfits. The fight is one-sided and the situation is pretty much a David vs Goliath fight.

    That’s what makes it super-fun to watch.

    The Boys is a gory and dark tale where humans take on superheroes and try to pin them one by one in unique ways. It is totally unwatchable while having food, and I mean it as a compliment. It takes blood spilling to a whole another level as they try to up the ante episode after episode. I am pretty sure that people who easily tolerated Game of Thrones’ violent scenes, just because everyone was talking about it, will not be able to handle The Boys. That actually makes the show more worth.

    The ensemble cast is just brilliant. Homelander, the main superhero but also the main antagonist, played by Anthony Starr, is deeply menacing and he represents all the wrong political and social connotations that come with power. Billy Butcher, the main protagonist is a 100% scene-stealer, and each time he is on screen, you are bound to have deadly one-liners, in a Kiwi-English accent, are thrown at you with the speed of light. The CGI is top-notch which is a huge thing going in the favor of the series. BG music is easily worth saving as a playlist. Thank you for officially introducing me to Billy Joel.

    There have been 2 seasons out yet and it demands all your attention, comic-book shows lovers. Go watch!

  • So I recently watched: Curb Your Enthusiasm

    So I recently watched: Curb Your Enthusiasm

    Do you know which is the biggest superpower in the world? No, it’s not invisibility, or being all-powerful. But the biggest superpower there could be is the ability to speak what’s on your mind without any fear. If you could say what you were thinking without worrying about anything, then you are the most powerful being. And, of course, there are going to be repercussions and you might have to regret them later.

    So, I recently (re)watched all 10 seasons of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ and it is one of my favorite things on TV.

    (more…)

  • So I recently watched: Pushpavalli

    https://g.co/kgs/kqi49p

    Pushpavalli means a Creeper. The one which can grow and reach places you might not want it to go to. But soon it would make its presence felt and can sweep you off your feet by the extent it has grown. The show created by Comedian Sumukhi Suresh suits its name. It was first available on Prime Video in December 2017 and the second season came in March 2020. There could be more seasons in the future. I am generally reluctant to give my opinions before the show concludes but sometimes I cannot stop myself.

    (more…)
  • So I recently watched: Dark

    So I recently watched: Dark

    Sit down first. This might come as a shocker. I know many people who have watched won’t believe. But hear me out. *crescendo builds*

    I understood Dark.

    Dark is Netflix’s first German-language original series. It is not a horror show and the name is totally misleading. It is actually a family show. It is not my place to spoil it for you but I am going to only share my opinion about it below.

    (more…)
  • So I recently watched: The Big Bang Theory

    So I recently watched: The Big Bang Theory

    That’s my spot!

    You might say, so what’s the big deal in that? But the only deal is that I had stopped watching it after its 5th or 6th season because of forced laughter track and not so funny jokes, and had moved over to grittier shows involving 4 even nerdier and crazier boys (i.e. South Park).

    But I resumed it after a gap of over 5 years and finally finished watching all the remaining seasons of the 12 seasons show.

    I returned to TBBT as it was still the good old sitcom and it revolved around somethings I find interesting as a fellow nerd;

    1. Science (mostly physics because other sciences are boring)
    2. Comics / Superheroes
    3. A little eccentricity or awkwardness which comes out either like arrogance or creepiness, relatable right!
    4. The intrinsic desire to Mansplain things
    5. Creating such lists

    TBBT was the first English TV show I watched which opened a box of so much other consumable content I used to find off-putting. It had many factors which most Engineering graduates would find relatable.

    Despite all the tropes, if you stick with the show, it turns out to be the good old TV comedy which you can go back to.

  • So I recently watched TVF’s ‘Yeh Meri Family’ and I regret it immensely

    So I recently watched TVF’s ‘Yeh Meri Family’ and I regret it immensely

    Because it is so good that I shouldn’t have watched it alone away from my family.

    Sigh.

    TVF has already created multiple shows which have made a huge impact in the Indian Web Series Scene, I don’t need to mention that anyway.

    “Yeh Meri Family’s” trailer appeared nice but it also was aiming to the touch the familiar overused and now a slacking string of nostalgia. We have already discussed how easy it is to trap people by feeding them fake bits of nostalgia by rehashing the then popular stuff, adding some spice to it and then presenting it in a new remix packet of today’s times. But, this show was not rehashing anything. Rather, it was based in the 90s and genuinely they didn’t attempt any remixing. So, I gave it a go.

    And I immensely regret it.

    Sigh, this show feels like they took a chapter out of my life or the life of people like me or like you or like everyone who was truly a 90s child. Based in the year 1998, the main protagonist/narrator of the show ‘Harshu’ is the same age as I was then. But I am also an elder brother so I could see this as both a story of my own life and my younger brother’s life. Each and every episode felt so genuine and honest that nothing felt contrived. There was no attempt to unnecessary use the 90s to make the ends meet. Rather, the innocence of the time when families talked to each other face to face and not on Whatsapp was rather very refreshing and felt real. There is a charm in the shows or movies about kids of 12-13 that they always make you want to see them again and again. Movies like Stand by me, shows like Stranger Things are examples of that. For sure, they have to be good. And ‘Yeh Meri Family’ is surely a good one.

    I regret watching it because of so many moments sprinkled throughout the show, it had me traveling back in the time and reliving them again and feeling a shower of sweet and sour punches in the guts. Each and every episode had humor in the right quantity, nostalgia in the right proportion and heartfelt writing in every scene. I am mostly a very solid individual when it comes to emotions (coughs). But maybe the timing of this series is peculiar that I couldn’t hold back myself from being watery in the eyes multiple times. Sigh. Getting older is turning out very weird in fact, weirder than turning a teenager, probably. I have been living alone for 2-3 months and this family or lack of it feeling has shown me a new side of myself. THANK YOU to the idiot geniuses of TVF.

    Moreover, I was hit a bit more by the fact that the show was based in Jaipur, had black number plates with White letters, had plenty of glimpses of Saint Xavier’s School (which was not my school but right next to my school so I had seen those corridors) and of course the attention to detail treatment of all the things of the 90s.

    Each and every cast member does top notch work. I could see myself in both Harshu (the younger brother) and Dabbu (the elder brother). I could relate to the parents. I could understand the innocence of Chitthi. And I was totally bowled over by one of the best child characters of all time, Shanky. Shanky to me does equally brilliant role in this series as Dustin does in Stranger Things.

    Highly recommended to those who feel that there is no honesty and naivety left in today’s TV/Web shows. If you search for it, you will definitely find it.

    I am sure many of the folks who have seen this would be recommending this to their family. And probably missing them a lot too. Bloody Kota and JEE nonsense ruined us all.

    Featured Photo by Franck V. on Unsplash

  • So I recently watched: Marvel's Defenders

    So I recently watched: Marvel's Defenders

    Marvel's Defenders
    Marvel’s Defenders

    When I watched Daredevil last year, it felt more like a realistic crime drama than a Comic Book TV Adaptation. When its Season 2 came, that belief got reinforced. Same thing happened with Jessica Jones Season 1. Even Luke Cage was going pretty fine till the last few episodes where it went sideways and changed the main villain just like that. When I watched Iron Fist, I couldn’t be sure whether the show was intentionally trying to be comedy or it was an accidental comedy. No problem with the acting, but the main thing the show could have given, superb fighting sequences, got disappeared after 1st episode and it became a more of business drama. Anyways, I wasn’t that disappointed because I was waiting wholeheartedly for all 4 of the Marvel’s TV Street Level Superheroes to culminate into The Defenders.

    The trailer with a brilliant Niravana song had only increased the expectations. So on August 18th, all 8 (just 8) episodes got released on Netflix. I watched them all in 4-5 days.

    The build up was good, they showed all the superheroes in their own lives trying to deal with their own issues. Then some events bring them together. And then they become Defenders, but nobody says that they are defenders per se.

    So first, the good parts:

    Jessica Jones.

    I mean she kills all the scenes when she makes some remark about, as Stick puts it ‘A Thundering Dumbass’ or ‘The most stupid Iron Fist ever’, the Immortal Iron Fist. Luke Cage also adds his bit when he realizes that their problems are half-criminal, half-mystical and remaining indigestible. The chemistry between the 4 is really funny. Nobody wants to believe that they can work as a team, except Danny Rand. Daredevil, who knows the threat of Hand is real, is unsure whether he should jump in or not. He has kind of given up after Season 2. His non-masked character, Matt Murdock, also stays true to his original show to an extent before falling prey to ‘Love’. The other best part is when Jessica keeps making fun of his costume as he is the only one donning it. The overall storyline is satisfactory and they will probably going to go for Season 2 as well. But that won’t happen till 2019.

    Now the bad parts:

    Some weird things happened in the end and they tried to make it like a cliff hanger. Fair enough, but constant fighting bad guys in half-darkness with no -idea who is beating whom was a bit annoying. They hugely improved Iron Fist’s part by making them butt of other heroes’ jokes but I still wasn’t able to find one instance of fight sequence which would be as memorable as DD’s hallway and staircase scene. The villains here, are not as threatening as they should have been. And again, like Iron Fist, they sort of ruin the climax before doing away with one main person.

    Overall, the Defenders were mostly okayish because if you cram 4 superheroes in just 8 episodes, many things are left unattended. You can watch the show though, just to enjoy, the camaraderie between the team and Jessica Jones’ one-liners.