Inception: Nolan's Best?

After the success of the Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan decided to finally work on his oldest script, which he had been developing for over a decade. I watched Inception a couple of days back and this time, just like the previous viewings, I looked at it from a new and a different perspective, and as always, I found myself in awe towards the end. Welcome to my third and final part of the three-part series where I attempted to highlight certain aspects of my 3 favorite Christopher Nolan movies. 

The other two movies which I reviewed are The Dark Knight and Interstellar. The only common thing about all the three movies including Inception is that at some point in all three movies, you will feel like you've never experienced this feeling before and that no other movie could possibly be this good. 

Inception came out in 2010, it won the Oscar for Cinematography and sound editing although I'd argue it deserved more, I stopped caring about what the Academy thought and didn't want to use that as a yardstick to rate movies. The movie had a lot of familiar faces from other Nolan movies like Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Ken Watanabe. Leonardo DiCaprio was the main character we followed, Cobb, an extractor who operates by stealing things from other people's minds from their dreams who is also on the run for being charged with the murder of his own wife. 

The majority of the movie involves an expert from a particular field explaining how things work in the dream world. The group consists of a group of architects to design the dream world, a forger, and a chemist. The main plot of the movie is a group of experts, led by Cobb, attempting to plant an idea on the head of a major corporation using positive reinforcement which would then inspire him to dissolve his company. This movie demands and deserves your complete attention throughout its run time, this is not your usual popcorn flick where you can afford to miss a few scenes. In order to fully understand what happens during the mission, you need to pay attention to every second.

I'm not going to go into any more details regarding the plot, what I'd really like to talk about now is Hans Zimmer and his terrific background score which keeps you at the edge of the seat without which the full depth of the movie can't really be felt. In my opinion, this is the best work of Hans Zimmer, no other movie comes close to his work in Inception. There are plenty of soundtracks from Inception that are on my everyday playlist, a few of them being "Mombassa", "Dream within a dream", "Dark Mal", "One simple Idea" and the best of the lot being "Time". Zimmer really gave it everything he had and to this day, Inception's background scores keep getting so much praise.

The other huge achievement was the achievement in cinematography. The visuals were some of the best ever put to the silver screen. There are scenes in this movie that took months to be finished, scenes that would make your jaw drop so much that you'd want to be a part of their world and make you want to say goodbye to reality. This movie was a visual masterpiece, every scene was a spectacle, and this movie was an inspiration to so many other movies that were made during the decade. Outstanding camera work, sometimes it just makes you forget what's actually happening and admire how good the shot looks. I guess if I'm looking to nitpick this movie, this was the only thing that I can actually complain about, that it was so visually spectacular, it made me lose focus of the plot at times.

My plan was to basically just highlight what I liked about these three movies in particular and finish it by saying all three were equally good in their own way but watching these three films now has made me arrive at a conclusion which I really didn't expect to find myself in. Inception is Nolan's most original idea, perhaps his oldest idea, he had the script ready for years, he didn't have the budget for it but following the success of The Dark Knight and the name he earned for himself after that, he could even afford to make a terrible film and still keep his reputation untarnished. But Nolan managed to do the opposite. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this, Nolan made something better than The Dark Knight and Interstellar. The only person who can beat Nolan is Nolan and I'm hoping to be blown away by Tenet whenever we get a chance to catch it in theatres.

He had DC Comics material to guide him to make The Dark Knight trilogy, he himself has mentioned plenty of times that 2001: A Space Odyssey was his favorite film and that Interstellar is loosely based on that. Nolan created something from scratch, something which was supposed to be just a collection of abstract ideas and perfected it with such a flawless feature film, he literally made dreams a reality. Inception is Christopher Nolan's crowning jewel and watching these three films over these past few days transformed the question mark that I had into a full stop for me, to put it in simple words, Inception is 'Nolan's Best.'

Verdict

Fan in me: 10/10

Critic in me: 10/10

Justice League Dark Apokoplips War - The crowning jewel of DC animation

As a hardcore DC fan, I've often felt heartbroken and disappointed watching our feature films struggle to make an impact on the big screens with so much potential and so much source material going waste. Maybe this was because of too much studio interference, cast issues or maybe we didn't pick the right directors but for decades, DC and Warner Brothers have been killing it in the animation game. They've given us classics like Batman Mask of the Phantasm and a great set of animated series including Batman, Superman, and Justice League. The same streak continued when they started off the New 52 animated universe with Justice League War and Flashpoint Paradox.

While fans like me were feeling sorry for the DCEU's current state watching Marvel excel at every stage, the animated studio kept themselves quite busy with a universe comprising of the New 52 characters. They started off the universe with Justice League War and kept giving us a couple of movies every single year. Justice League Dark Apokolips War is the final entry of the universe and it was a masterpiece that was better than the box office mammoth Avengers Endgame itself. It was an experience of a lifetime with all our heroes coming together one last time. Just to give you an idea of how cool it was, it basically had the Justice League, Teen titans, suicide squad along with my new favorite John Constantine and his friends fighting together against the biggest baddie of the DC universe, the character of which Thanos was based on, Darkseid.

This movie turned out to be as good as it was because every single character had already been set up beautifully along the course of 15 movies and no character felt new. Next time someone says DC is no good at making Justice League films, I'd like to show them this. This movie was fan service personified and my favorite character from the entire series was Damian Wayne. His character arc was easily the best and most complex. They used up at least 4-5 films having him as the main hero and in the end, I ended up liking him more than Batman.

The movie focuses mainly on Superman, Damian Wayne, Raven, and John Constantine. Superman has never been handled any better, this doesn't show an evil Superman out of control. It has shown us the best of the boy scout and easily my favorite Superman of all time. I can say the same about the rest of the characters, with the coolest of them all being John Constantine, sorry Stephen Strange, but he's my new favorite wizard now. Raven and Damian's arc were perfect, I love that so much screentime was given for the Titans.

I've never seen a better climax in any other film, including the genius one from Doctor Strange and the portals scene from Avengers Endgame. It was such a fresh take, exceeded all my expectations, I didn't see it coming and the ending was literally out of this world. This whole universe started and ended the same way and it was a beautiful way to wrap it up. The reason behind this is our strong source material and I am extremely excited about the future of this universe even though they were clear about this being their final entry. I think I kind of know what they're going for with this ending but I don't want to spoil it here. Most of the DC fanboys can predict what's coming next and I for one cannot wait.

This is an R rated masterpiece once again proving to us that DC is the boss when it comes to the animated film game and their stories have been so much better and darker than any other story. Easily one of the darkest stories ever and that's saying something. This is my DCEU and I'm waiting for their next animated movie announcement to see if I'm right about where they're headed. I'm grateful for whatever they've done with the New 52 series and Justice League Dark Apokoplips War is the best DC animated movie I have ever seen and my favorite comic book movie of all time. The animated movie writers deserve so much more credit than they actually receive, I hope more people start watching DC animation. I really don't see why Warner Brothers don't even think about handing the big-budget films over to them because in the end it's all about telling a story and no one has done it better than the makers of the DC animated universe.

Here's the list of the New 52 movie universe for anyone who still thinks I'm out of my mind in saying that DC is better than Marvel or for anyone who just wants to explore the DC universe more.

1) Justice League Flashpoint Paradox
2) Justice League War
3) Son of Batman
4) Justice League Throne of Atlantis
5) Batman vs Robin
6) Batman: Bad Blood
7) Justice League vs Teen Titans
8) Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay
9) Justice League Dark
10) Teen Titans: The Judas Contract

11) Wonder woman Bloodlines
12) The Death of Superman
13) Reign of Superman
14) Constantine City of Demons
15) Batman: Hush
16) Justice League Dark Apokoplips War

Verdict:
Fan in me: 10/10
Critic in me: 9/10

The Dark Knight - Nolan's best?

It's been 12 years since this one came out, and the Dark Knight is one of the very few films that stood the test of time. It's my favorite superhero movie of all time, even though other films came close, once you start rewatching the Dark Knight, you'll be forced to agree with the fact that it is undoubtedly the best superhero movie of all time.

For a change, I would like to highlight what I thought was responsible for this movie turning out to be the way it was and why it was the best Batman film of the Nolan trilogy. The answer is not Heath Ledger, even though a lot of people blindly say the Joker made everything better. To them, I say, 'Batman screentime'.

What's the point of making a Batman movie without any Batman? I understand that it takes time to establish a character, but both Batman begins and the Dark Knight rises kind of felt underwhelming because there was very little Batman in both of them. Having him show up in day time to set the final battle of the trilogy was one of the biggest mistakes of Nolan's career. The best moments of both the movies still turn out to be those which feature him with his full costume. So yes, the next time someone tries to make a movie about Batman, they need to make sure that the majority of the screentime goes to him running and gliding around with his Cape and cowl because that's what the fans actually want. I really hope that Matt Reeves delivers and I really hope he learns that by watching the Dark Knight.

All my complaints apart, let's talk about the Dark Knight. We got to see Bruce learn from his mistakes and perfect his bat-suit along with Mr. Fox, just like he was doing in Batman begins. His tumbler scenes were brilliant and that whole scene where he gets a batpod out of his tumbler was phenomenal. We saw him glide around Hong Kong in his kick-ass new suit, full Arkham style, and that interrogation scene with the Joker was probably the best scene in the movie.

It really annoys me when people talk only about Heath and the joker when they talk about the Dark Knight, ignoring so much of Batman and his adventures. I'm not at all saying that Heath was bad, he did manage to revolutionize the role of an antagonist, something which so many people are doing because of him. His dialogue, his acting, the laugh, it was nothing short of a masterpiece. It's really tragic that he wasn't around to collect his well deserved Oscar, once again, breaking new records, bringing the superhero movie genre into the limelight. So yes, Heath was amazing, one of the best jokers, I might have to make a separate article choosing the best joker, I still believe that the animated version of Joker voiced by Mark Hamill and Joaquin Phoenix's version were just as good as Heath Ledger's portrayal. It just goes to say how good of a character the Joker actually is and how great the people who got a chance to play him on the big screen were. For all those critics going around and saying superhero movies are for kids, this is a character who nabbed 2 Oscars.

There was never a dull moment in the Dark Knight, something was always happening, and it was a non-stop action rollercoaster with not a second for us to breathe. Credit goes to the genius camera work which made sure that we were always paying attention, with those glorious long shots and constantly moving camera. All this awesomeness, along with Hans Zimmer's magical score just blew our minds while watching this spectacular film. Every department that was involved gave it everything they had and the product of their hard work was nothing short of a triumph.

I was kind of shocked when they killed Rachel because I realized I was just halfway through the movie and it already felt like so much happened, every second I was just wondering what more could they do and every second, the movie just kept getting better and it wasn't even improvisation, this is what you get when you have a solid script and both Christopher and Johnathan deserve equal credit.

The ending of the movie gave me chills, and it still continues to amaze me, the way they finish it, with Batman making an ultimate sacrifice for the sake of the city, it's citizens, covering up a huge lie that would have made the people lose hope. He was truly a silent guardian, a watchful protector, and a Dark Knight. That would have been the perfect way to finish a franchise and Nolan kind of did something in this movie that even he wouldn't have been been able to beat. The Dark Knight rises couldn't even come close even though there was a lot of buzz about people calling it the movie of the decade, it was still not even close to its predecessor.

The Dark Knight, in many places, makes you believe that you're never going to see anything better on screen than this and that this is the best work of Christopher Nolan, something he has managed to do in two other movies, which is why I will never be able to pick my best Nolan movie of all time. Every time a Marvel fan comes and brags how good their movies are and how much DC is screwing up, this one movie is still strong enough for us to counter every single thing they come up with, and to be honest, there has been no better villain than the Joker. Even the DC haters would have to agree with that.

The Dark Knight is a masterpiece, and I will keep rewatching it for the Batman scenes, the gliding, all the Heath Ledger scenes, the cinematography, the camera work, and Hans Zimmer's brilliant background scores. If I'd have to pick my favorite scores from this, it would be "Agent of Chaos", "Like a dog chasing cars" and "Why so serious?" 

Verdict 

Fan in me: 10/10

Critic in me: 10/10

Interstellar - Nolan's best?

I think the perfect quarantine movie award goes interstellar, I've watched it plenty of times but I've never related to it as much as when I saw it recently during the COVID 19 lockdown. It just goes to say how much of truth and reality there was in the movie and when you actually experience it and come close to an experience such as a world-ending event, it's a whole new feeling.

Christopher Nolan is the reason I started watching Hollywood, his movies and his style of storytelling and masterful writing kind of spoilt other movies to me because I keep trying to compare other films to his movies and it almost never reaches his golden standards.

Interstellar is one such masterpiece coming from the dude who has never managed to make a single bad film till date, Dunkirk being the one which still managed to be good, but just not to his usual standards. The movie is set in the future where mankind has screwed up, where we've successfully managed to choke earth to its breaking point and when we're about to become extinct as a species.

Farming has become more important than advancing our technology. "We didn't run out of television sets and planes, we ran out of food". The movie is full of epic quotes like that, which would fit perfectly on our WhatsApp and Instagram motivational/sad statuses with the background of some scenery, to quote our Tamil people, "idha auto pinnadiye ottalame". I think most of such good writing was only possible because of Johnathan Nolan's involvement in the script. Slowly our crops are dying, there are no more armies, just a bunch of people left, chocking and suffocating often encountering huge dust clouds.

So basically, the movie deals with NASA's final attempt at saving humanity, by sending a team of pilots and engineers through a wormhole near Saturn to another system with three potentially habitable planets. If you think that the previous statement sounded cool, the movie is 100 times cooler. The visuals were just out of the world, maybe because they were literally out of this world but the fact that Nolan still stuck to using actual sets without using green screens still continues to surprise me. Nolan's explanation to why he uses sets instead of green screens is satisfactory because he says that looking into a green screen and delivering emotions aren't nearly as good as looking at the actual thing and because of that, the movie-watching experience became even more immersive and the actors were able to show more heart.

He's one of the very few directors who continues to do stuff like that and the end result is simply spectacular. Speaking of emotions, Matthew McConaughey gave us a performance of a lifetime, playing the role of Cooper, Murphy's father, who single-handedly stole every single scene that he was in. He made us laugh with him, cry with him and be a part of this insane interstellar travel. I'm still surprised by the fact that he wasn't nominated for best actor. Matthew's performance stands out among the rest of the talented cast Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, and Jessica Chastain. Matt Damon's cameo was another brilliant performance from the veteran actor who yet again gets a role where he has to be rescued, I don't know if Hollywood does this to him on purpose or if this is all just a funny coincidence. Nevertheless, the talented Mr. Ripley does a brilliant job with his limited screen time.

So apart from the brilliant cinematography, intense writing, captivating plot, scintillating, oscar-winning special effects, and world-class acting, another department which managed to fetch an Oscar nomination was Hans Zimmer's insane soundtrack. There are scores in this film which I still listen to on a daily basis, 'Coward', 'Cornfield chase', 'Where we're going', and 'No time for caution' just to quote a few of them. Somehow, his music just made the movie so much better, just as it had done in his other brilliant films. The Zimmer-Nolan combo has never once disappointed us and the only thing that broke my heart was the fact that Nolan decided to not stick with Hans Zimmer for his upcoming sci-fi thriller, 'Tenet' 

Every time I watch Interstellar, there comes a time where it makes me feel like this is the best Nolan movie of all time and that none of his other films have given me such a unique experience. The funny thing is, three of his movies have made me feel the same way at some point and I've still not been able to give even one of them the number one spot or even number two and number three.

One thing that Nolan managed to with Interstellar that he didn't do in his previous films is making the audience cry. I was convinced that making the audience cry was not Nolan's specialty but making the audience think was his forte but he broke that myth and made every single member of the audience cry like little babies in at least four or five different scenes. I was completely out of tears by the end of the film, it was as bad as my first viewing of Avengers Endgame.

Christopher Nolan is a gift to Hollywood and sci-fi is where he thrives even though he managed to make the best superhero movie of all time. I hope he sticks to SciFi and I hope that Tenet extends my three movie list of Nolan's best. Also, special mention to the comic relief, who knew a robot could crack such high-quality jokes, TARS was brilliant in the movie, so was CASE but I loved TARS more. Once again, Nolan tried something new in Interstellar, something which he didn't do in his other films, comedy, and it was brilliant.

I've seen Interstellar at least twenty-five times and each time, I learn something new or I unlearn something wrong which I had learned from my previous viewings and it's something I'd love to keep doing, for the emotions, the tears, the blackhole scenes, the wormhole scenes, the docking scene and for the bond between Cooper and his daughter. If you guys haven't seen it, it's high time that you do and it's the perfect quarantine movie, with all the COVID stuff that has been going on around us for the past few months, it hits you harder than intended. 

Verdict: 

Fan in me: 10/10
Critic in me: 10/10

Asuran - Revenge is a dish served best with Dhanush and Vetri Maran

The DiCaprio Scorsese combo of Tamil cinema are back for an on-screen depiction of a Tamil novel called 'Vekkai'. Those who are waiting for a sequel to Vada Chennai must keep waiting for now but until then, Asuran is another solid movie from Vetri Maran even though it can't be compared to Vada Chennai in some levels.

Asuran is just a typical revenge story with phenomenal cinematography, camera work, storytelling, and music. Dhanush has lived up to his usual potential giving us another award-worthy, gritty performance as Sivasamy, a farmer with some unusual talents.

The movie is quite predictable from start to finish except for a few scenes and has a very straightforward plot without any deviation from it. There's enough humor in it to keep us entertained and some edge of the seat moments occasionally and a lot of violence considering the fact that this rated PG-13, honestly I'd have been fine with an R rating with the violence and swearing cranked up because Vada Chennai had more freedom and the R rating could have definitely helped the plot, but I guess they needed to get the box office numbers this time.

Pasupathy has played a good part as well winning the hearts of the audience and so has Prakash Raj who has apparently come out of his long Cryo sleep because I can't remember the last time seeing him on screen. Amidst all this brilliant acting and technical work, the standout is really G.V. Prakash's background score, we're introduced to it right at the beginning and it plays a couple of times during certain fight scenes. This is a theme that is as good as the Kaththi theme composed by Anirudh and which fits in perfectly with the scenes. A few songs here and there as filler and a couple of amazing scores. If this were a cricket match that has been won due to a team effort with every player's contribution, the man of the match goes to G.V. Prakash.

Without his theme and background scores, I'm not sure how the movie would have been received and it reminds me a bit of Petta which was another movie with a mediocre plot and low re-watchability but with outstanding background music which just made us forget and forgive any kind of lazy writing and filler content, but fortunately Asuran has a slightly better plot and a great message delivered by Dhanush towards the end which just made me forgive the plotholes and the fight choreography which bent the laws of physics at times and by the end I also learned that a stab in your heart need not necessarily mean that you have to bleed to death. It really felt like Dhanush was Wolverine who could just heal from any kind of major physical trauma and hemorrhage instantly without any discomfort or medical attention.

So overall, the movie has some brilliant writing, very good humor, excellent cinematography, top-class acting, a very good message delivered and a phenomenal background score to support it all making this a very enjoyable revenge story despite the fact that they've done this in Kollywood about a hundred times. There's definitely something special when Dhanush and Vetri Maran pair up and I hope their dream run of making such classy movies continue.

Verdict:
8.5/10

Definitely looking forward to Vada Chennai 2, I hope the success of Asuran generates more hype and moves the sequel into production soon.

Joker - DC rising like a 'Phoenix' from the ashes

I'd be lying if I said Avengers Endgame was my most anticipated movie of the year. Being a DC fan, no matter how much I love what the MCU has done, a part of me always wants DC to do a better job and Joker was definitely my most anticipated movie of the year despite DC's track record in the past few years. 

EXPECTATIONS: To be honest, I was a bit let down by suicide squad not because of what Jared Leto did but because of the fact that we never saw what he actually did. I loved Jack Nicholson's take on the clown prince back in 1989 and Heath Ledger gave us a very fresh take which also earned him an Oscar, may he rest in peace. I never really cared about Joker when it was first announced because I was extremely disappointed by the fact that WB screwed up DC's best villain in every way possible in suicide squad, especially after Ledger's Oscar-winning performance. But when I got to know that it was Joaquin Phoenix who was going to be the deranged clown, I was excited to see what he would do because he's one of the best actors working today and he wouldn't take up any role that was thrown at him. The only thing I was concerned about was Todd Phillips, a fairly unfamiliar name especially for a movie that's as demanding as the origin story of one of the best fictional characters ever  and I was hoping for him not to screw this up because if that were the case we would never get to see something like this again and that would have been the end of Joker's legacy in the movies as we know.

ZERO WORLD BUILDING, LOW BUDGET, NO CGI:

Joaquin Phoenix has certainly lived up to our expectations giving us an Oscar-worthy performance in an era where popcorn flicks rule the comic book universe starting in a genre first of its kind that just screams character development in every single scene. This is a movie that has only a single perspective without any supporting characters which has Phoenix as the main focus in every scene.

Absolutely zero green screen use, low budget and it just purely leaned on Phoenix and his skills and boy did he deliver! There were very little easter eggs, no worldbuilding whatsoever because this is not a part of the current DC universe and from what I've heard a sequel is highly unlikely. There's definitely a lot in it for a DC, fan Thomas Wayne has a very important role and a couple more exciting stuff that was more than enough for a DC fan to scream at the top of their lungs.

NO ACE CHEMICALS OR NITROUS OXIDE: Excellent writing, eery soundtrack coming from the same music director who scored Chernobyl, set in the 1980s  during the time of the plague. Arthur Fleck aspires to be a stand up comedian, who lives with his senile mother beaten down by society. It's funny, there's no mention of Ace chemicals or Nitrous oxide, this time they decided to throw the joker into a more toxic, poisonous chemical known as 'society'. A few nods to the famous Killing Joke storyline and a small tribute to Heath Ledger towards the end. It's funny, as a member of the general audience I had to hope that he doesn't snap and the Joker fan in me kept hoping for him to snap. 

Overall, I wasn't let down because of the lack of comic accuracy or his not so comic accurate make-up. There's no humor in this, metaphorically this whole movie is one big joke that society plays on the brain-damaged, murdering psychopath Arthur Fleck who is the backbone of this R rated, first of its kind, character study of the Joker. This movie is not without its flaws but for now, nothing comes to mind because the ending was just pure gold and made me smile and put on a happy face.

This is not a popcorn flick, very difficult to re-watch and a must-watch for all the Joker fans of the world. I'm a fan of Mark Hamill, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, the Arkham games joker, the numerous comic book stories and the Gotham TV series joker and this one definitely deserves to be one of the best takes on the deranged clown. I heard that the weight loss took a toll on Joaquin's health, I hope he recovers as soon as possible. Regarding whether or not he deserves an Oscar, I don't think you need an Oscar to really brand an artist on how good they are if that were the case, Christopher Nolan, Will Smith, and Robert Downey Jr. would have a bunch of them. Nevertheless, I do hope he gets nominated.

STUPID CONTROVERSY: There's been a lot of concern expressed by some people saying that this might provoke people into using guns which sounds really stupid. If that were the case, I wonder why those John Wick, Kingsman and almost the past decade full of video games did so well. At the worst, this movie might make you laugh a lot towards the ending just like how people were warned that after watching happy feet, they may start dancing a lot. I hope these controversies don't affect the movie much because I really want it to do well. Good results may help future DC projects like Lobo and Black Adam.

LESSONS LEARNT: I was wrong in saying that WB doesn't know how to use the DC villains after witnessing that performance from Jesse Eisenberg as Luthor and the wasted opportunity to make Jared Leto the main villain in suicide squad. They just need to find the right directors and excellent writers that these characters demand. Well done Todd Phillips, Joaquin Phoenix and the rest of the cast for giving us something so fresh, not everything has to be a part of a universe and lead to bigger battles, maybe that's the reason the film turned out so well because it was under no such extra pressure. Maybe WB can learn from this and focus on making now movies like this because we've had enough popcorn flicks and team-ups and it's not always about the box office money, it's about sending a message.

VERDICT:

Fan in me: 9.5/10
Critic in me: 9/10

After witnessing 23 Marvel movies and DCEU's desperate attempt to keep up with the MCU and it's constant but pointless protest that 'They're different than Marvel', Joker was a bit of fresh air that I needed and all the comic book fans in the world deserve. Maybe the writing in this movie was as good as I think it is or maybe game of thrones season 8 lowered the bar because anything other than 'I don't want it' and 'She's my queen' made me want to applaud the writers.

Once upon a time in Hollywood - We need more than just 'feet' Quentin

There's always a lot of hype when big directors like Tarrantino, Nolan or James Cameron release a movie. As expected, that was the case with Once upon a time in Hollywood, Tarrantino's 9th film which means he just has one more to go before he retires. There was even more hype when we came to know that it's going to have huge stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Jeff Bridges, and Al Pacino.

So there were more than enough reasons to go watch it. The film released earlier in America with early positive reviews drawing even more attention to it. Leonardo DiCaprio is finally making a movie after 3 years which was the main reason for me to go see it, I knew that no matter the strength of the plot, DiCaprio would have given it everything.

DiCaprio plays the role of Rick Dalton joined by Brad Pitt who plays his stunt double, Cliff Booth and they're reaching the end of their career (Tarrantino's 9th film) and are not feeling great about the fact that they're being deprived of greater opportunities and are being sidelined by playing villain roles and made to star in smaller films. The first half of the movie is about DiCaprio reacting to it and he does a phenomenal job as always. Brad Pitt basically drives him around, trying to constantly motivate him and to look on the brighter side of things.

This was basically the first 2 hours of the movie, Brad Pitt driving around in a car and DiCaprio drinking and drowning himself in self-pity. The movie never really got anywhere after that. DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are two Hollywood legends who do an extremely good job but despite their tremendous performances, there was nothing else to keep me hooked and made the story interesting. Also, one good scene towards the end of a movie does not make up for the fact that the previous two full hours were boring.

Throughout the movie, there are multiple callbacks to Tarantino's previous hits like Inglourious Basterds and pulp fiction, a bunch of scenes featuring 'feet'. Tarantino's previous films, Hateful Eight and Django unchained didn't have any feet scenes, I thought he was over his foot fetish and decided to focus on the plot more but he has compensated for that here. Also, it felt like great actors were kind of wasted with useless plots, for instance, if you remove all of Margot Robbie's scenes from the movie, it would make no difference at all.

I get that the movie is a tribute to the 1960s Hollywood but I just wished that there was more substance to the plot than tremendous camera work, incredible acting, and brilliant soundtracks. Hollywood critics would definitely like this kind of flick but this isn't for everyone, not even for all Tarrantino fans and definitely not for the mainstream audience. This is one of Tarantino's weakest films, probably his weakest in my opinion and I hope that his 10th and final film has a better plot, I get that he's trying to explore different genres in his 10 film journey, I'm not saying that this film is unwatchable in any way, I just feel like he got carried away by his film making techniques and tricks rather than focusing on the plot, or maybe there was something great and I missed it, nevertheless, I'm not sure if I can re-watch it, I definitely don't recommend this one for the main audience, especially the Indian mainstream audience, I don't think we'll have much joy while watching it but if you're a Tarrantino fan who loves his way of storytelling, maybe you can give it a try. 

Verdict 

Tarrantino fan in me: 7/10
Critic in me: 5/10

Most of the points there are because of DiCaprio's brilliant performance which might get him another Oscar nomination and it also goes without saying that Brad Pitt killed it. Without these two, it would have been really hard to sell the movie.