ajaismoviereviews

A superhero/anti-hero origin story, Venom is Sony’s first foray to bring the Marvel universe into the big screen, and it is safe to say that it was quite a bumpy start to the ride. Venom is filled with so many little and big exasperating things; I say exasperating because you are genuinely affected by how poorly it was pieced together after having had huge expectations. I can honestly say that I got the feeling of watching ‘Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice’ again – a humongous mess.  That comparison itself is sufficient, but this movie maybe even a tad bit worse than the aforementioned one. ‘Venom’ fails to deliver what I wanted, although there are some redeeming qualities, most of the cinema was a dud, and it made me sad to watch it unravel like this. ‘Venom’, a character created by a bunch of tripped out marvel staff writers wanting to create a cooler facet to the endearing Spiderman, is an amorphous sentient sludge that requires a host to bond with to survive. Venom i...

I've heard about Bela Tarr, and I was well aware of his notorious affinity with long takes on his many films, and the density as well as the ambiguity that they seem to show on many occasions. But after watching, "Harmonies", one thing is unambiguously clear: he is a master of creating lingering scenes with profound mood and emotion. From the opening scene of a single shot of captivating and mesmerizing art, one is held towards the very end in anticipation of such breath-taking scenes where we lose knowledge about the fact that there are only 39 takes in this 145 minute film; where the average film length goes for staggering 3.7 minutes; where there are actors continuing on acting when any apparent purpose is lost and we merely observe what transpires naturally; we are treated to a bleak and foreboding town where things are going awry and the film is made by the camera, which is another entity of its own, creating sequences where the very emotion is filled within th...

Too succeed in becoming you have to be ruthless and uncompromising; it doesn't matter even if you’re starting from the bottom, as long as you keep this mantra in your mind, success is sure to follow. This seems to be the working philosophy of the main character of the film, Lou Bloom, a borderline sociopath, who after having been scavenging for debris to make a living for himself, sees an opportunity in the field of accident/crime journalism. This basic premise sets up perfectly for the character to step in and demonstrate his obnoxious demeanor of being a leech: someone who takes advantage of the desperation others find themselves in and use it for their own personal rise. The film shows the L.A. nightlife in a bleak perspective but an entrancing one: driving through the streets where any occurrence of crime is imminent, where the night is populated with vehicles moving on about their mundane purpose in this world but Lou seems to glide along its streets in his red aston m...

A Prophet, the tale of an underdog delinquent who rises to the top of a crime syndicate while being operating from inside a prison and with the time minimum amount of time outside. This is the story of someone who has lost his chance at redemption and rehabilitation for a simple crime and instead trodden the road to crime infamy, but nonetheless, it has been a prosperous one although obstacles had to be surmounted. The film is solely about the main character and his rise to the top of the syndicate with no excessive decadence and glamour with no romanticizing of heavy indulgences. The narrative style is prompt and gritty, sequences are given emphasis and significance if it caters to the development of his character to the rest of the plot. The plot shifts between letting the events transpire naturally with the use of handheld cameras to bring about a deft touch of realism and continuously without meandering into unnecessary side-plots or monologues. The story gives a pause ...