Reviews Reactor

Sense8 is a sci-fi drama series from Netflix and is created by the one and only Wachowskis (and J. Micheal Straczynski). It is about eight people from around the world that are mentally linked with each other. This premise gave the series a large main set of characters of different ethnicities, culture etc, and made it quite varied. Now, the Wachowskis have had a really bumpy ride so far, with supreme highs like The Matrix to abysmal lows as Jupiter Ascending, so I wasn't really sure what to expect from this series. But I'm glad to say that this is a proper comeback from them.  The story is interesting, and while there is the main overarching storyline that connects everything, you also get eight different storylines. Not all of them are equally good or interesting, BUT even the worst among them is still intriguing enough. Same is the case with the characters themselves. There are some I definitely liked/loved more than others, but the show does a great job of gi...

Glitch is an Australian mystery-drama TV series and it is about a small town where things turn upside down for a cop and other people as six deceased people suddenly rise back one fateful night.   The story/premise intrigued me from the start. You feel just as confused as the people in the show. How did they come back? Why are they back? Is it something supernatural? Or is it science related? All these questions and more raise through your head in the first episode and becomes the framework of the series experience.  Now, there is a good amount of characters in it, but they don't get an equal amount of development, nor are they all interesting or well acted. But the ones that are interesting certainly keep the intrigue level high enough that you want to know more and want them to solve this mystery and get answers.  The story creates interesting scenarios and makes you wonder what would you do if you were thrown in this situation. And like I ...

"One last ride." So finally watched the 7th installment in the popular Fast and Furious franchise. Its amazing how this franchise has increased its popularity and success, be this long, and not be based on a book or something. Directed by James Wan, who previously was known only for famous horror flicks like The Conjuring and Insidious, did a great job delivering a full on high budget action film and a great send off to Paul Walker, gotta give him kudos for this. The passing of Paul Walker had an overall presence throughout the movie. And it only got more potent as the movie went on. This is the last film of his, and the movie gave him an amazing send-off. The tribute at the end was truly beautiful. In fact, this marks the first time that I was brought to tears in a cinema. I did a full re-watch of all the previous parts prior to watching this, so everything was fresh in my mind and while watching the tribute, I Just couldn't hold it anymore. Knowing that this will b...

*Sigh* So much potential, such a waste. This movie really infuriated me. The universe it is set in was just brimming with potential of a really epic franchise but instead we got a lame ass love story that almost reached Twilight level (Almost). There was no chemistry whatsoever between the two leads, everything was rushed, and even the acting felt emotionless. The movie went on for too long, had bad pacing and the villain sucked. I mean Eddie Redmayne (Stephen Hawking in Theory of Everything) is an awesome actor but boy oh boy was he horrible in this movie. Whatever he was trying to do with that phony cliche villain voice and style just didn't work. That aside, there was some good stuff in the movie. Some characters I did like, like Sean Bean's. The setting was awesome. Action was actually well shot and good, did ran on for too long sometimes though. CGI was great, beautiful effects inhabited the screen and made weird technologies and alien planets come to life. Soundt...

I love movies, or anything in general, dealing with artificial intelligence and the like. It is such an interesting realm to me. Ex Machina is a film about a young programmer in a big company comparable to Google, who wins a lottery of sorts, which entails him to stay at the Boss's place and be a part in his latest project, A.I. There aren't many characters in this movie and for a movie like this to be interesting, the few characters HAVE to do a great job. The main dude was the only one who I felt like wasn't that good. Oscar Isaac, who plays the Boss/Genius, was awesome. He wasn't your typical rich/boss/genius douche. The one who stole though was Alicia Vikander, who plays the A.I Ava. She did a great job of depicting a high level artificial intelligence. Now the movie really doesn't get into much introduction or world building. It actually felt really rushed in the beginning and just takes our protagonist to the place where rest of the movie will unfold. And...

"Everyone creates the thing they fear. Men of peace create engines of war. Avengers create invaders. Parents create children, that will supplant them." It's the kind of movie that I had great time with, even though I will agree to it having tons of flaws. Lets start with the story, it was mostly a mess. Throughout the movie, it felt like so much stuff have been crammed into a runtime obviously not enough for it. Pacing was a hit and a miss. There were some stuff that was really rushed while other sequences dragged on. Ultron creation and character development in particular was rushed like hell, something that would have benefited greatly from getting more screen time. Also, whole thing between Bruce and Natasha felt forced and out of place. Their scenes really dragged on. It would have been better if they went with Natasha and Steve instead as they had great chemistry in Winter Soldier. It just felt like the whole movie needed more time to be polished out, smooth out...

Chappie is the third film directed by Neill Blomkamp, the guy who directed the awesome District 9. And while I enjoyed his second film, Elysium, it was no where near as good as D9. And after watching this, I guess I'll have to wait for his next film in hopes of getting something equally good as D9. Now, Chappie is set in a not so distant futuristic Johannesburg where police force is dominated by Robots and one of them gets a new programming which makes it a fully fledged A.I Sharlto Copley did a great job voicing Chappie. Loved him. Hugh Jackman played the main antagonist, and while he was good in it, his character just wasn't fleshed out more. He ended up being cliche typical villain. Sigourney Weaver was totally wasted in the movie. Her role was very limited and could have been played by anyone. Dev Patel was Ok. Those Gangsters were NOT GOOD AT ALL. Sure they had their punk/hip style and all but as actors, MEH. Chappie sets it self apart from most other A.I films ...

I never thought I would see Arnold in a role like this. And he surely pulled it off. Maggie is a movie about a father and his daughter who has been infected with the zombie virus and how he spends there last days together. The zombie world this movie takes place in was actually kinda fresh and realistic for a genre like this. I mean the virus is all spread and whatnot but society hasn't gone to shit. The authorities, the daily lives etc are still going on, they just have to deal with this new disease. The virus itself doesn't turn you into a zombie in like minutes or hours. It actually takes several weeks. Now both Arnold and Abigail Breslin were great in their roles. Arnold showed that he has subtlety in him, that he can play emotional dramas. And I really liked this side of him. The cinematography in the movie was often great. Now the movie has some good emotional scenes, and the scenes where both father and daughter are together and are just trying to get throu...

"Oh what a day.....what a lovely day!". Definitely was a lovely day, and how can it not be when you watch something like this. Prior to watching this, I did a marathon of the original trilogy and didn't liked them very much. They may have been great in their own time but not anymore. No idea why people loved them. And I was of the opinion that this movie won't be that different from them. Luckily, I was wrong, so very wrong. The movie takes place in a post apocalyptic world where nuclear war destroyed everything. Chaos and pure madness is what remains. Now, in the previous movies, this whole post apocalyptic world didn't really interest me all that much. But in Fury Road, I got just the type of execution that clicked with me and the world hooked me in. Story was never the selling point of these movies anyway. Tom Hardy filled in the shoes of Mel Gibson as Mad Max. He played his one of the more typical roles, with less talk and tough guy voice and such, and he...

Having liked Divergent and its setting, I was really curious to know more about the world they created. Insurgent starts off straight from where Divergent left off. The team is on the run and are looking for some place to lay low. We got another A-list actor in this movie, Naomi Watts, who plays the rebellion leader. So it was Kate Winslet vs Naomi Watts. Her role was wasted in this movie though. Shailene Woodley was again good. I really liked Miles Teller in this. He was again the typical douche bag like he was in the previous film. The story and pacing this time felt a bit more messy because in the previous film, there was this continuous progression that kept the film together. Here, it felt more like a random mix up of high and low points. Now, I'm a sucker for rebellion scenarios and not surprisingly, I liked the said stuff here as well and plot points being associated with it. It did felt a lot similar to Hunger Game: Mockingjay story and I assumed it will progress a cer...

"Monster is a relative term. To a canary, a cat is a monster. We're just used to being the cat." We finally get to go back to Isla Nublar after all these years (22 to be exact). It is a given that creating the same feel and magic of Jurassic Park is impossible. SO instead of just trying to recreate everything and doing it in a lesser way, director Colin Trevorrow went with a different approach and it actually payed off. Jurassic World takes place 22 years after the events of the original film. A new park after the events of the original film, on the same place, was opened and has been functioning for 10 years. They create a hybrid dinosaur as a new attraction but everything goes to hell when it gets loose. Now, I had somewhat low expectations going into the movie and while it wasn't as good as the original, nor did it had its magic and feeling (obviously), it turned out to be a whole another entertaining ride. The movie did a good enough job of paying homage to t...

Being the FIFTH part of a franchise, initially I had some doubts about this film. But after seeing the good reception it got, my hopes were up and rightfully so. Rogue Nation continues off from where Ghost Protocol left, with Ethan Hunt getting a new mission to take down the rogue spy agency called the Syndicate. Tom Cruise is well, Tom Cruise. He was awesome yet again. The one that was surprisingly great was the female lead, Rebecca Ferguson. She acted great, she was sexy, she was lethal and she was a total badass. Best MI girl to date. Her chemistry with Tom Cruise was also great and it is one of those VERY rare times where I ACTUALLY liked the romance/lovey dovey subplot. Movie handled it very well. It wasn't prolonged or anything, it wasn't cheesy or cliched or typical, it was just right. The supporting cast was also great. Simon Pegg's character once again showed how to handle comic relief properly in a movie. He was funny, he was awesome and he wasn't jus...

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I was of the opinion that this will be your usual run of the mill action movie but it was infact more drama than action, and I liked that. The movie is about a guy working for his best friend, a mob boss, and must decide where his loyalties lie after a series of events puts his son on his friend's bad side. Liam Neeson did a good job of portraying a father whose beaten down by life, filled with regret and his past sins weighing in him. You feel for him and the condition he is in. Ed Harris plays the Mob boss, who was also good in his role. And these two had good interaction with each other, like you can see that had a proper history and are close. Almost everyone was good in this film. There were a lot of subplots in the movie but instead of getting lost in them completely, it executed them fairly well and gave the most amount of time to the main thing, the father and his son. The resentment of Liam neeson's son towards him and the...

Just like Jurassic World, this is another new addition to a classic and beloved franchise we got this year. And in similar fashion, I was both excited and doubtful. Luckily, the movie turned out to be better than what I expected but it had lots of quirks. Arnold kicked it out of the park. I loved him. He was funny and he was awesome. Emilia Clarke (Khaleesi) was a pretty good Sarah Conner. She was just like what you'd expect a girl in her situation to be. Jason Clarke as John Conner was OK. And Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese wasn't that bad like everyone made him out to be. He still had that bland look about him though, don't think he'll ever get rid of that. Lastly, J.K Simmons role was pretty good, albeit a bit too short. The movie pays a huge homage/respect to the James Cameron Terminator movies (T1 and T2), especially part 1. Hell, some of the starting scenes were recreated shot for shot and it was great seeing that along with some bits and pieces that added to tho...

San Andreas is a disaster movie about a series of massive earthquakes getting triggered due to the San Andreas fault in California and a rescue pilot's quest to find his daughter amidst the chaos. Now, this had all the elements of your typical big budget disaster movie. And since I'm a sucker for such films (Loved them since childhood), I had a really good time with it. The disaster/destruction scenes were great. Loved them. There were a couple really WOW moments like the Tsunami. And the accompanying soundtrack was good enough to enhance the scenes with feeling of awe and wonder at nature's power at display it. And I'm glad that atleast during disaster scenes, the movie didn't add jokes to ruin the moment (I'm looking at you 2012). The Golden Bridge gets destroyed in a grand fashion yet again, probably the most destroyed landmark in film history. The CGI was mostly top notch. The part where it was the weakest was surprisingly the first scene with the car c...

Southpaw is a by the books boxing/similar genre movie. It has the usual cliches and is predictable and all that. But all of that is OK because I don't really care about that if the execution is alright. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the champion boxer. I gotta tell ya, this dude is following Bale's footsteps when it comes to physical transformation. Not long ago we got the skinny looking weird version in NightCrawler and now this fully buffed boxer. Gyllenhaal continues to impress me with his acting too, the dude was great yet again. He was intense, he was broken, and you really feel for him. Someone else who was really great was the daughter. I was really surprised by her and witnessing a great child acting is kinda rare. Rachel McAdams and Forest Whitaker also delivered great performances, their best in a while. 50 cents was just OK though. Since the movie follows the typical style of this genre, you get the initial fame, then something happens and there is the downfall area ...

Just like we got Penguins of Madagascar after the fame of the penguins grew from their small bits in Madagascar movies, in the same fashion we got this 'Minions' movie. I knew this was targeted for kids mostly but since I liked the two Despicable me movies and loved the bits with minions in it, I thought I'd atleast had some fun with the movie. I was wrong. There was little to no fun to be had in the ENTIRE movie. I was really bored. My face was literally like this: (-_-). The only thing that I can say I liked was the starting scene with minions throughout the ages and the last scene with Gru. Besides that, the whole movie was just filled with humor and jokes that didn't land and plot that didn't interest me. Nothing more than a cash grab owing to the minions increase in popularity and seeing how it made over ONE FRIGGIN BILLION DOLLARS worldwide, I guess they succeeded at that. Minions were great in little doses in the Despicable me movies but when you have th...

Z for Zachariah is a post apocalyptic drama about a girl living alone in a world devastated by Nuclear war until she finds out that she is not alone. The movie can be seen in two halves. The first half is the much superior drama about the religious farm girl and the scientist survivor she finds. While the second half turns into a lame love triangle which ultimately bogs the movie down. Seriously, why did they have to put that in. Could have been a much better movie without it. There are only three actors in the movie and all did great, especially Chiwatel Ejiofor. Margot Robbie looked really beautiful, in a more natural way. The film's cinematography was great, very well shot. And I liked the soundtrack as well. 6/10

This is a prequel to the previous two insidious movies. It is about a girl in a city getting haunted and Elise, the ghost hunter, trying to help her out. The movie shows a couple of things that tie in to the previous insidious movies and I liked that. The family was pretty normal and the kids were thankfully NOT annoying. Lin Shaye, who plays Elise, was great, really liked her. This movie depends almost entirely on jump scares, which was both annoying and thrilling. There were some of them which were very well crafted and really gave me the jumps. But when a movie tries to scare you with mostly jump scares, it gets really annoying and repetitive and predictive. And jump scares are just an easy and cheap way of making you scared for a small duration. I would have liked if the movie had more scenes with something ominous and creepy occurring and not have a jump scare thrown in. Thing with jump scares is that they have become TOO FRIGGIN COMMON in horror movies these days and hardly ...

It is a series based on the famous novel by Agatha Christie of the same name and it is about a group of people from different walks of life who are invited by a rich family to stay in their mansion on an Island. But someone there starts to kill them one by one creating terror, suspicion and alliances among one another. I loved the premise and it was very well executed. Different and varied characters came to life by great acting, with actors like Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister in Game of thrones) and Toby Stephens (Captain Flint in Black Sails). As the situation gets more dire, you see the true self of these people and I loved how the show focused on the mental state of everyone and how they were coping with this. The cinematography was gorgeous. The show was really well shot. Now, my main issue with the show was its three episodes length. It was just too short to fully develop a large character set and while the show did a good enough job with the time it had, it often felt too r...