Monkey Man (2024)

As a kid, Kid watches his entire village get massacred and his mother killed in front of him, while his life is spared. Years later, he is an underground fighter with the moniker Monkey Man who fights for the underprivileged lower class and swears revenge on his enemies. (Sound familiar? Déjà vu.) 

Dev Patel writes, produces, and directs himself in this intense action-thriller that plays out like an Indian version of John Wick or Kill Bill, though not quite as stylish as either of those films. While the extended fight sequences are entertaining and high energy, the editing decisions in this film leave something to be desired, and the plot unfolds in a confusing fashion for such a straightforward premise.

2½ monkey masks out of 5

LION [2016]

In director Garth Davis' adaptation of Saroo Brierley memoir, A Long Way Home, we follow the life a 5-year old Indian boy adopted by an Australian couple after he is lost in Calcutta.
The first half of Lion is easily it's strongest, with 8-year old newcomer Sunny Pawar carrying most of his scenes alone and without dialogue, leaving his expressions to tell the dramatic tale with honest finesse.  The second half of the film, following the boy in his young adult years, now played by marvelous Dev Patel, isn't as interesting, as most of the characters are too conventional but fortunately elevated with great performances all around.  It's finale is a bit dramatically manipulative but hit so closely to home for me it didn't matter and left me a blubbering mess.

4 watermelons out of 5

CHAPPIE [2015]

District 9 director Neill Blomkamp's latest gritty sci-fi thriller, Chappie, leads me to believe the film-maker has the shitty M. Night Shyamalan virus, only his is working at an accelerated rate.
Set in the not-so distant future of South Africa, it follows a robot police officer that breaks free from the herd, with the ability to learn, feel and reason.  Blomkamp's more than obvious tribute to Robocop aims high with it's ideas but shits the bed with it's cringe-worthy dialogue, horridly uneven tones and annoying performances.  I mean, who the feck thought casting counter-culture hip-hop act Die Antwoord to attempt to act out some emotionally heavy scenes?  Jesus.  Visually the film is quite compelling and every now & then it raises some interesting question but it manages to fail miserably on every other account.

1½ ED-209's out of 5

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE [2009]

Danny Boyle manages to pass off a rags-to-riches melodramatic love story into something hypnotizing, refreshing and all around pleasing with Slumdog Millionaire.  
Like a technicolor Hindi adaptation of a Charles Dickens story, Slumdog amazes with is beautiful photography, charismatic performances and amazing score from A.R. Rahman with some great song selections from M.I.A.  As flashy as it appears and sounds, in the end it's a simple story about love, fate, chance and circumstance and that's what can easily grab anybody.

4 answers in the mirror out of 5

THE LAST AIRBENDER [2010]

After a slew of box office flops that were critically panned as well, it makes me wonder how writer/director M. Night Shyamalan ever got the gig of adapting the Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender into a big budget feature film.

You would have thought the producers would have at least watched over the entire production making sure Shyamalan doesn't fuck up.  Apparently they didn't, because did he ever fuck up.  

He void the story of any sort of soul, personality or fun.  Instead it's a boring, yet flashy, mess that's riddled with horrible acting and dialogue.  

1 I fell asleep for 20 minutes....did I miss anything good? out of 5