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Aadu 3

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Vampire Owl: So, we have the third movie this time.

Vampire Bat: Well, there was always going to be a third.

Vampire Owl: But the situation seems to be entirely different in this case.

Vampire Bat: Well, there was the talk about the grandeur being a lot more.

Vampire Owl: The connections which seem to be made here feels rather strange when together.

Vampire Bat: That is quite natural as the genre itself seems to have changed by a mile.

Vampire Owl: I do not know if Uncle Dracula would like this change.

Vampire Bat: There is no need for you to show this to him, or your friend Mr. Frankenstein.

Vampire Owl: Dr. Frankenstein is now beyond all entertainment.

Vampire Bat: Mr. Frank is beyond everything sensible.

[Gets a taco and three cups of Strawberry milk tea].

What is the movie about? :: It is the year 2370, and Earth is ruled by a ruthless dictatorship known as The Organization which has managed to quash every attempt at rebellion. They are an all-powerful entity which was never really challenged, considering its power and ability to stop all riots even before they begin. The dictatorship would not stay away from unleashing violence if it is threatened, making the ruling group an entity which one would need to fear beyond everything else. According to the resistance leader Baba (Indrans), the Organization has achieved this status through a celestial object called the Star Dust, which allows time travel, and in the process, rewrites timelines according to their will. Baba assures the other resistance fighters that time is not linear as past, present and future coexist simultaneously, and actions in one timeline would change the other. Baba understands that preventing the Organization from acquiring the Star Dust is the only way to stop them from achieving total dominance through time travel. For the same, he feels that there can be some unexpected heroes in different timelines who can help them and make sure that the balance is maintained and the inter-timeline evil can be stopped.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: In 2025, Shaji (Jayasurya) and his gang had received three million US dollars after the events involving the fight with Chekuthan Lazar (Hariprashanth M G), Anali Sabu (Anson Paul). They make the plans to travel to the United States of America to convert the cash from dollars to rupees, but Cleetus (Dharmajan Bolgatty) misses out as he has no proof, neither an SSLC Certificate, driving license nor an aadhar card to prove his identity, missing out on passport as well as that possible visa to the United States. As Cleetus gets depressed about missing out on the opportunity, takes a funny dialogue by Shaji’s niece Rachael (Athira Patel) related to seeing the American President when he comes to Coimbatore and exchange the dollars for rupees by just talking to him. As the date of Donald Trump visit arrives, and Tamil Nadu Police with the Central Forces have come up with a strong security, and Cleetus gets in there and shouts terrorist instead of tourist as he gets arrested. The currency is discovered to be fake, with Benjamin Franklin wearing glasses for the first time in a note, and now the team has to save Cleetus.

And what more is to happen here as another timeline calls for more? :: In 1790, Maharaja Padmanabhan Thampuran (Jayasurya) is ruling his small kingdom which seems to be weakening day by day, as his influence keeps going down even in his own circle. He is helping Vareed Mappila (Vijay Babu), to build a bridge which would change the fate of his kingdom – Vareed is an architect who had earned his degree from abroad in a reputed university, but is struggling, and is strongly supported by Kunjukunju (Noby Marcose) and Palazhi (Nirmal Palazhi) who provide local support even though adding a little bit of silliness to the situation. The whole thing has Lord Walter Joseph (Sunny Wayne) as the overseer, but this British lieutenant is called more as “water” due to him being drunk for most of the time. He always has Soman (Sudhi Koppa) and Sundar (Bijukuttan) to aid him, as they struggle to finish the bridge in time. As the king has problems with his spine, he sends his driver Koran (Aju Varghese) to find a doctor, but the bigger problem arrives in the form of the ruthless Azam Khan (Vinayakan), a commander under Tipu Sultan who wishes to destroy everything. How will all of these incidents in different timelines come together now?

The defence of Aadu 3 :: Jayasurya as Shaji Paappan holds the most value once again, and we see him leading the way to glory here too, as this character gets another twist for him with one more to play around here. Among the characters, those played by Saiju Kurup, Vinayakan, Sunny Wayne, Dharmajan Bolgatty, Vijay Babu and Indrans score the highest, while the support only seems to get only stronger. The bigger than usual attempt makes it possible to have a post-apocalyptic dystopian connection out of nowhere make it one of the best attempts to go big with some risks taken. We could have never had our own post-apocalyptic world with a past without this, as even though I have written a novel in such a world, such world-building feels outside the limits of Malayalam movie-makers. Then they create those new generation alcoholic high grossers without content, but I shall watch none of them. But here, some fine production values and background score along with that humour which comes out of nowhere and takes it out of nowhere makes an impression. The feeling of nostalgia will still continue with this world and its characters with that cult following.

The claws of flaw :: The movie’s deviation from the original ideas might hurt its purpose and the loss of two of its best characters played by Sandra Thomas and Chemban Vinod Jose had already hurt the second movie and it misses out more on humour every time. There are also too many worlds and happenings around here, and this non-linear narrative does not always seem like managed in the same manner. The time spent at establishing different worlds seem to have affected the humour’s balance at times. The franchise has always been something belonging to silly humour like Kunjiramayanam and Maranamass which never really hard a smart character; yet we remember that Adi Kapyare Koottamani could add some seriousness to the same. In comparison, in this movie which tries so much, despite trying very hard, the overcrowded feeling seems more like a setting for the next movie rather than keeping this one going forward. This might be same reason why we do feel that the movie is not reaching anywhere as the timelines go through middle part. We often keep looking forward to having better connection and a smarter arrangement of things, and it is something elder audience would feel more.

How it finishes :: We are no longer watching that usual fun-filled silly entertainer, but something more, as we see different timelines coming together to face a problem of timelines – from a light-hearted situation to universe-threatening darkness that spreads, we feel that change is too much real and with high ambitions. Now, the next movie is sure to be something grand, and we will see such spectacles in Malayalam cinema that we might not have imagined before. It is a commendable job to transform a cult comedy franchise into a huge-scale fantasy adventure having time travel, reincarnations, future post-apocalyptic world and dystopia, with the same characters living through different timelines – still, the movie maintains the quality, and we can only appreciate the same. Midhun Manuel Thomas taking the decision not to repeat the same formula and instead choosing the unexplored territory has kept this franchise alive, as it was already losing a lot of steam with Aadu 2. He has indeed tried to make this work with all his heart, and this is the kind of grand experimentation that Malayalam cinema needed, and it should keep pursuing the same while leaving that new generation nonsense behind.

Release date: 19 March 2026
Running time: 170 minutes
Directed by: Midhun Manuel Thomas
Starring: Jayasurya, Saiju Kurup, Vinayakan, Sunny Wayne, Dharmajan Bolgatty, Vijay Babu, Bhagath Manuel, Harikrishnan, Renji Panicker, Indrans, Bijukuttan, Sudhi Koppa, Alleya Bourne, Krishna Jeev

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Dridam

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Vampire Owl: We have been looking for similar police investigation movies.

Vampire Bat: Malayalam surely has the best investigation thrillers.

Vampire Owl: If this was in any other language, the twist would be to mass masala.

Vampire Bat: If it was Bollywood, there would also be special item dance too.

Vampire Owl: That would be as far away from reality as possible.

Vampire Bat: Well, Bollywood and reality never really come together.

Vampire Owl: I guess that they are very much against reality.

Vampire Bat: Their audience also has that kind of a taste, it seems.

Vampire Owl: I would give away my eternity to save myself from things like Singham franchise.

Vampire Bat: It is one franchise that I would never wish to remember.

[Gets a vegetable cutlet and three cups of Yorkshire tea].

What is the movie about? :: Vijay Radhakrishnan (Shane Nigam) gets his first posting as Sub Inspector in a rural area where there are usually not many problems and DYSP Alex Jacob (Mathew Varghese) feels that it is a good place to begin due to the peaceful atmosphere and wishes him all the best. A civil police officer there, Vidya Jayachandran (Saniya Fathima) becomes immediately romantically interested in him, and the same love interest is supported by a little more senior officer Remya Surendran (Krisna Prabha), as they attempt to get into his good books and gain a marriage alliance for Vidya. Due to Vijay’s lack of experience, the senior police constables Krishnan Kurup (Shobi Thilakan) and Balan Nair (Kottayam Ramesh) are there to help and advise him. The other supporting policemen in the station are Sathyan M (Dinesh Prabhakar), Anand Manoharan (Nandan Unni) and Bibeesh A (Vinod Bose) who are locals and going through usual problems of the village. Vijay starts off well in the village well with some simple problems.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Vidya who is a karate black belt, manage to get the attention of Vijay, and the police station seems like a happy place in the beginning days. But soon, problems begin to show up. People discover a severed hand followed by the rest of the corpse which shocks the villagers who face such a situation for the first time. Then there is a robbery in the nearby finance company and a number of people have also gone missing, and they are all suspects and those who have been holding a grudge against the company for a long time. The situation does not seem to be ideal for Vijay as the media as well as the superior officers call for the change of investigation lead, as he seems to be too inexperienced and a junior by all means. It is during the same time that more dead bodies are found, while Vijay and Balan are also attacked while discovering a body in a remote area. As Vijay finds himself in further trouble every day, the locals also turn against him, there are protests to the police station. Can he solve this mystery in time or will he be suspended or transferred?

The defence of Dridam :: The movie takes on a realistic path throughout its journey despite deviating in the last few moments. The whole journey follows an interesting pattern while never really trying to overdo the procedure of investigation despite chances being always present. Until the movie nears the last few minutes one never really has a real clue about the grand plotting behind all of these, and the suspense is indeed nicely maintained and the twist works, as it is not just one turn of events related to a person or two, but is really much more. What lies beneath is more than what people usually guesses with these kinds of movies. The visuals are really good, and as we had seen in Sambhavam Adhyayam Onnu, the setting really plays a major factor here too, and if that was about how forest plays along, this is about a small town surrounded by greenery goes on with the strange situation; in both situations, one police station and its people remain more important than anything else. The cinematography and background score supports this mood despite that initial feeling that there is so much good around here.

The claws of flaw :: The beginning stages spends quite some time in establishing characters and the setting, and the mood is never brought there. The movie seems to go full action in the last few moments, and despite how realistic they try, we feel that it is an impossible flight in the end, and that there has been a little too much of freedom taken with the same. There is that certain change with comes and seemingly struggling to manage that transformation as one might feel that it is not the same movie in the beginning and the end. Sometimes in between, the audience might feel that this is just going on and on without any major clue being followed, with the thought that this investigation might reach nowhere with repetitions seemingly happening too often and without attempts to think beyond limitations. Some of the characters can also be seen not being that developed, and a few seems to be there just for the sake of being there. There are also some situations which are not that explored. Some moments seem to be there to stretch the movie, as not much is gained there.

The performers of the soul :: Dridam has Shane Nigam leading in a police role, and it is not something new to him, but this might be the one where he has to lead more, considering the overall cast. He excels in the role of a young police officer who is placed in a situation from where problem-solving is too difficult. The performance here is restrained, and as the role demands, showing no overdose in a matured performance which could make even some senior actors feel the need to play a police officer in control. The character’s simplest characteristics are brought to light really well by him, from determination to frustration and the sides of the person and professional. Shobi Thilakan’s police role here is something to be admired, as he manages a seemingly usual, but multiple layered role with ease. Krishna Prabha has a smaller, but notable role which is managed well. Nandan Unni, Dinesh Prabhakar and Kottayam Ramesh perform their parts without any complication. Bitto Davis, Prashant Murali and Mathew Varghese come up with dependable supporting performances as they seem to blend into this world really well. A special mention goes to Saniya Fathima who is a lovely surprise and contributes so well to the situation.

How it finishes :: Dridam has a rather lesser known presence in the theatres during its release, as it never really managed to catch the attention of the common audience, and I remember never really hearing about the movie when it released, unlike those other police investigations from Memories to Anjaam Pathiraa and Forensic, all of them releasing with some fine hype; even John Luther which was a surprise entry had everyone talking about it, and Abraham Ozler had nicely followed the lead. In between, there was Kooman. Unlike those other movies, this one has to depend a lot on the main actor, and Shane Nigam makes sure that a certain strength is maintained here. We can call this one a well-crafted investigative thriller that moves on as an engaging mystery with grounded performances and more of realistic portrayal of police work, with twists also added. But the slow pace and the strange changes to the journey by the end might not satisfy everyone. It required to do better in moments, and appeal to the audience more with situations to remember, but there is not that much around here as this one goes on without trying to take the risk with big variations beyond the procedure. Jio Hotstar makes sure that you give this one a try.

Release date: 8th May 2026
Running time: 128 minutes
Directed by: Martin Joseph
Starring: Shane Nigam, Saniya Fathima, Shobi Thilakan, Krishna Prabha, Nandan Unni, Dinesh Prabhakar, Kottayam Ramesh, Bitto Davis, Prashant Murali, Mathew Varghese.

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Popeye’s Revenge

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Vampire Owl: Isn’t this that person known as Popeye the Sailor Man?

Vampire Bat: Well, this character entered the public domain in the United States of America.

Vampire Owl: This reminds me of those other movies which dealt with similar idea.

Vampire Bat: Well, these childhood icons were truly killers, I would say.

Vampire Owl: Yes, the truth that William Golding said about children, right?

Vampire Bat: The children are all inherently evil, we know.

Vampire Owl: Even the newly reborn vampires are no different from the same.

Vampire Bat: Children in their original form are children of the night.

Vampire Owl: But we are also children of the night, aren’t we?

Vampire Bat: But we are less evil compared to humans who lack even basic goodness.

[Gets a bourbon biscuit and three cups of Ooty tea].

What is the movie about? :: Johnny (Steven Murphy) is a man with a troubled past. As child, his peculiar appearance with muscular forearms and a strange chin made him the target of continuous bullying at school, and his love for sailor outfit had not made things any better. One day, after a bully hurts a girl who tried to save him from bullying, the boy ends up killing one of his tormentors by strangulation which also leads to the boy’s eyes popping out of their sockets. To protect their son, his parents hide him in their basement, where he befriends an unseen person slipping supportive messages from under the door of another locked door there. But the townspeople who are driven by fear and anger for the unknown psychotic child tries to seek vengeance on the ugly, brutal killer and set the house on fire. He escapes while his father and mother burns in the fire, but seemingly drowns in a nearby lake which keeps the angry people of the local town relieved and satisfied about the boy’s fate.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Fifteen years later, a group of vloggers Alan (Kyle Jordan), Cherry (Eva Ray) and Mia (Danielle Scott) visit the area for their episode of Haunted Houses of Evil, a series taking the viewers inside the homes of murderers. This time, they talk about the killer boy Johny who is called Popeye for his looks, and his house is being renovated by new owners who have no idea about what to do with the house as there has been so many disappearances in the area. They try to make it feel that Popeye’s ghost in haunting the area, but Mia who sees some movement in the fog is concerned about what is happening around there. They keep moving around in the unusual fog, and Alan goes to the basement with Cherry while Mia sets up the sound for the shooting before the owners or the locals show up. In the basement, Cherry removes her clothes and seduces Alan, and while they are having sex, Popeye drops in and kills both of them. He also kills Mia who wanders further in the fog. But this disappearance goes unnoticed as nobody knew that they were there.

And what more is to happen with one of the strangest killers on the loose in the fog? :: The house gets transferred to the name of Lora (Amanda Jane York), a former teacher at the school where Popeye has studied as a kid, and she along with her husband George (Oliver Mason) have plans for the house, while their daughter Tara (Emily Mogilner) comes up with an even bigger plan, to make it a haunted house attraction which can become one of the best in the state with the kind of backstory it possessed. She had listened to the story from different people she knew, and her boyfriend Dylan (Connor Powles) agrees to the same. They are joined by their best friend Donna (Danielle Ronald), her boyfriend Nick (Bruno Cryan), his secret sex partner Sky (Atlanta Moreno), quick money seeker Kathy (Karolina Ugrenyuk) and a nerdy Max (Fyn Phoenixx) who are all looking for some extra pocket money which Tara has promised them along with a few interesting nights on a charming holiday mood in the cabin in the woods. With tension running between Donna and Sky to claim Nick as their own, the group has to deal with the killer and a seemingly insane woman named Olive (Kelly Rian Sanson), can they do it before facing death?

The defence of Popeye’s Revenge :: Here is another unstoppable force of a psycho killer, and this is someone right out of our childhood, a hero turned into pure evil. This makes the whole situation different from Halloween, Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer or any other which comes as the natural slasher antagonists of ultimate chaos. To add to it, we have a fine setting, an environment which keeps the horror going with a supernatural touch, as the villain is someone who will keep coming at you. There are some practical horror moments with a lot of interesting kill scenes, with the bath-tub murder bringing the best of it – the grasscutter and many others do follow the same as the full slasher mode is switched on; there was also a test does in the beginning when we look closer to it. This violence clashes with the nostalgia creating a new world of favourite childhood terror. The isolated house in the middle of nowhere and stalking by a resurrected monster makes the blood and gore that much more interesting in this world of childhood monsters. The fear is nicely generated in the situation which is leaves with no options to escape.

The claws of flaw :: The movie often feels particularly suited for the slasher audience, and the rest might not enter this world with that much of an ease, as a certain amount of specialization can be felt, never going out of that self-imposed restriction. If one thinks much more about, there can be a feeling of missed opportunity, and it might be due to the lack of budget that provides such a feeling. If there is a second movie with the same character, one might be able to find a better budget and bigger scenes out there. The slasher effect can be seen the best in the group of youth involved here, as they are mostly generic slasher victims whom we have talked about in The Cabin in the Woods which explored the whole genre model. We once again have the young group coming, getting hunted, some of them dying, followed by an attempt to survive, and there is some success with the antagonist killed or almost murdered and coming back. The character development was minimum even though they have managed some balance by letting the characters work on some interesting moments.

How it finishes :: Popeye the Sailor Man as the one-eyed, spinach-loving cartoon sailor known for his superhuman strength after eating spinach, and having Olive as girlfriend, has defined our childhood for quite a long time. But this time, we see the other side of him, and these twists related to our childhood characters depicting them as murderous monsters in the form of a different Steamboat Willie, Winnie-the-Pooh, Peter Pan, Bambi etc, continues to make an impact. The movie’s quality might be called into question here as we do not seem to have the budget in its favour here, but still, it shall entertain in its own way as a slasher in the usual old model. While not going on a polished horror model, this one still manages to raise its level without trying too hard and following the usual policy. After watching this version of one of the greatest cartoon characters of all-time, it is yet to be seen if we will see Popeye as the same cartoony person again, for this character is also going to stay, and the version will stay in the slasher list for some time.

Release date: 13th February 2025
Running time: 80 minutes
Directed by: William Stead
Starring: Steven Murphy, Emily Mogilner, Connor Powles, Danielle Ronald, Bruno Cryan, Atlanta Moreno, Karolina Ugrenyuk, Fyn Phoenixx, Kyle Jordan, Eva Ray, Danielle Scott, Amanda Jane York, Oliver Mason, Kathi DeCouto, Paul Frost, Kelly Rian Sanson, Clarisse Félix, Max Arlott

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Sky Force

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Vampire Owl: Actually, this is the first time I am hearing about this particular movie.

Vampire Bat: It is the same for me, and I am rather surprised.

Vampire Owl: Yes, we do not miss such movies too easily.

Vampire Bat: So many similar movies used to come to our lands, but not anymore.

Vampire Owl: I guess that the travel problem was the one thing which made it difficult.

Vampire Bat: Well, we no longer go to the theatres that much these days.

Vampire Owl: We are just not feeling the need anymore.

Vampire Bat: But once upon a time, we had stormed the theatres in a flash.

Vampire Owl: We had watched more than hundred movies in theatre in a year, racing towards infinity.

Vampire Bat: Well, those days are gone and we are now people of the OTT with the mobile recharge offers assuring of the same.

[Gets some banana chips and three cups of Nilgiri tea].

What is the movie about? :: In the year 1965, India had given a decisive blow to Pakistan which altered the course of war despite the early Pakistani advancement and the related complications in between. The world had thought that the wars between the two nations have been stopped for at least a few decades. But later in 1971, the Pakistan Air Force launches a sudden attack on an Indian airbase as India was supporting Bangladesh in their Liberation War against the Pakistani forces along with the seemingly everlasting Kashmir issue. Despite the surprise attacks having some early advantage, Indian forces are able to neutralize the threat and capture Pakistani Squadron leader Ahmed Hussain (Sharad Kelkar). The war continues in Bangladesh with the liberation army of East Pakistan struggling hard for their independence. While a talk between him and Wing Commander Kumar Om Ahuja (Akshay Kumar) brings back the memories of 1965 India-Pakistan War involving war hero Squadron Leader T Krishna Vijaya (Veer Pahariya).

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Going back to that time period in history, Ahuja and his teammates, including Vijaya a.k.a Tabby, are training to fly for the Tiger Squadron at the Adampur Airbase of Indian Airforce. Vijaya is someone who keeps breaking the protocols while trying to achieve the impossible, and remains a highly skilled and valued pilot in the team. He does the best in most of the training sessions, making an impact like nobody else has done before. He shares a close bond with Ahuja, as he considers him like his father who passed away as he has been his mentor for a long time, leading to others feeling that there is a favoritism involved. Ahuja sees his late brother who had passed away, someone who was also a skilled pilot, in Vijaya and his actions. Vijaya’s Geeta Vijaya (Sara Ali Khan) is pregnant with their first child and is scared that there could be a war soon, and her husband would have to leave very soon. Ahuja’s wife Preeti Ahuja (Nimrat Kaur) gives her confidence from her own experiences.

And what more is to follow here in a world which awaits a war of long reaching hostility? :: Soon, they get the news that Pakistan had shot down four Indian military aircrafts, and war might be coming soon, and despite seeing movements on the border with arms and ammunitions set at the area, India decides not to strike before Pakistan chooses to do anything more. But then the attack comes to the Indian airbases and a number of flights of Adampur are destroyed and some of the pilots also killed in the process. Now, the question remains if Indian fighter planes stand a chance against the advanced American fighters gifted to Pakistan as the commander Air Commodore David Lawrence (Manish Choudhary) awaits orders from the top, which he does not seem to get. When they finally get the same, they realize that their targets might not be the ones which have the best foreign fighter planes of Pakistan, and it might be located further into the territory. If the team can get to these planes and destroy them, it might be as part of a suicide mission. Now, the question remains if they can really manage to do that without disobeying some of the direct orders from the top and while facing advanced fighter jets.

The defence of Sky Force :: The movie works as a fitting tribute to the nation’s heroes, and at the same time, works with its action and drama really well. The patriotism never really gets over the line and we do not the situation overdone to create a feeling of hate. Akshay Kumar manages to make another patriotic movie work, and this time, the realistic feeling to his character has us with further appreciation. He had provided a certain variety in the same through Airlift as well as Baby and Bell Bottom focusing not on the big battles but what lied beneath the same, and this one goes directly to war, and he manages to make this keep a certain level with the skill of a veteran whom we have loved since the Khiladi series taking it to the next stage. Veer Pahariya, whom most of us have not seen before and is introduced to Bollywood this movie, comes up with a fine work too. His strong first introduction is something that we will remember for long. Among the ladies, Nimrat Kaur has a strong presence while Sara Ali Khan remains okay. The supporting cast does manage to do the job well.

Positives and negatives :: The movie might still feel to be similar to some other movies in the past which have dealt with similar topics, and the Western influence cannot be denied either. Bollywood has always found it difficult to innovate too much, and that struggle can be seen here too. But it has that punch when dealing with a forgotten hero and the patriotism is at the right place, having no excessive melodrama which often threatens to complicate things. The dogfights and aircraft-related scenes are really good with the movie as they maintain the classic strength of the sequences while never overdoing the same – the visuals remain in quality and the sound effects and background music are nicely blended well. The predictability is still there and not all aspects of war and that part of history are shown. If you are looking for too much of a spectacle with style, you might not have it, as such true Bollywood movies would have some overrated actress; compared to another similar movie, I am glad that this one did not have Deepika Padukone or those usual names, for the focus would be shifted if someone like her is added, for the direct approach of this movie needs no glamour and calls for no bikini or swimsuit show.

How it finishes :: Sky Force is that kind of a movie which works on more than one level, even though not all levels get the same impact as intended. There is a lot of quality here, and to that, everyone would agree, and when patriotism and bravery get the right dose, we are going to appreciate the same every time. It easily becomes a tribute to the past which had some of the greatest heroes of the nation who shall not be forgotten. After all, military dramas with strong emotional core and real-life characters providing inspiration with patriotism are the kind that we cannot ignore. If you are looking for that kind of military movies which turn into stylish action films with Deepika Padukone in a swim suit, this is surely not the movie for you. For this one as a tribute with inspiration from real-life characters shall have none of it. There is no wonder about the fact that this did not do that well at the box-office; people look for style over class, and it is what they opt for all the time. It is also the reason for success of too many romantic movies, for they are easy to create in Bollywood with two or more dumb people falling in love. On the other side, we have movies like this which deserves our appreciation for getting so many things right.

Release date: 24th January 2025
Running time:125 minutes
Directed by: Sandeep Kewlani, Abhishek Anil Kapur
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Veer Pahariya, Sara Ali Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Sharad Kelkar, Mohit Chauhan, Manish Chaudhari, Varun Badola, Soham Majumdar, Rajat Kaul, Ritik Ghanshani, Abhinav Bhattacharjee, Virendra Singh Patyal

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Ballerina

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Vampire Owl: So, we are going to have a dancing assassin now?

Vampire Bat: John Wick universe surely needed an extra addition.

Vampire Owl: Even Dr. Frankenstein’s universe demands many upgrades.

Vampire Bat: Mr. Frankenstein has had enough extra additions.

Vampire Owl: So, are we going to have a female John Wick here?

Vampire Bat: It would not be exactly the same, as no two assassins are the same.

Vampire Owl: Yes, I know that Hitman is surely not the same.

Vampire Bat: Different assassins will be around, even in the same universe.

Vampire Owl: At least nobody killed Ballerina’s dog, I hope.

Vampire Bat: Well, I am sure that she has lost much more than a dog.

[Gets an uzhunnu vada and three cups of Vagamon tea].

What is the movie about? :: Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) was taken away from a dangerous crime syndicate by her father, who as well as her mother were killed by the same group. Orphaned at a young age, New York Continental hotel manager Winston Scott (Ian McShane) had taken Eve to the Ruska Roma, an assassin’s society under the cover of performance dancers, where she had met their Director (Anjelica Huston) and decided to be part of the same – she had taken the new girl under her wing as she finds anger and fire in her, which could be put to the best use. She goes through a tough training as an assassin as much as in the form of a ballerina, and meets John Wick (Keanu Reeves) with whom she has a talk about escaping from the cycle and seek her revenge. Eve fights hard and completes her training by killing a former Ruska Roma member and earns the title of “Kikimora”. On her first mission, she successfully protects the girl whom she is assigned with, even after being beaten up and thrown to each corner of a pub.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: As she moves higher in the ranks, turning her weaknesses in fights to her advantage, and completing missions, she ends up killing a man who had the same mark on his hand as the killer of her father. Despite asking too many questions, she is forbidden from pursuing them due to a longstanding peace treaty which has remained in place to avoid bloodshed. But Eve is not happy at all, and disobeys the Director to visit the New York Continental to meet Winston, and she understands that this particular group she is searching is more uncivilized and kill not just for business, but for sport. Winston also adds that a man from this group Daniel Pine (Norman Reedus) is staying at the Prague branch of Continental with a huge bounty on his life. Eve travels all the way to Prague only to find out that there are too many people waiting for Daniel to come out, and there is more about what is happening with him than what meets the eye. Can Even go through all these secrets, and find a way to have her revenge in one way or the other?

The defence of Ballerina :: The movie delivers some more of stylish gun-fu, hand-to-hand combat, and inventive kills that fans have seen in this particular universe. The flamethrower sequence and the quick movements with smart kills in the snow-covered town adds on nicely in the end. All of these rests on Ana de Armas’ shoulders and she goes through the same like a dream which only she is capable of living. It was a tough job to match the Keanu Reeves’ mode, and she has managed the same in her own way. This expansion of the John Wick world was much needed, and we had felt the same after watching the last movie – the mythology itself gets extended so well. The visuals are nothing less than stunning, as we see the same never being less interesting. There is also a certain kind of style which is followed here, and we can never stop appreciating the same. The connection to the other movies of the universe is also really well managed, and even though we watch this as a stand-alone movie, those who watch this together with other movies also have the right elements to make a relation.

Positives and negatives :: One might feel that the villain could have been shown for more time on screen and that the sister bonding needed more than the very few minutes that it had managed. The movie should have also been marketed better, as the box-office could have managed more; maybe it is due to the time of release. But for now, you witness the intensity of the battles and creativity of the fights on Amazon Prime Video where it has found the OTT release. The balance of gunfights and hand-to-hand combat is also something that you will not see this well-executed anywhere else. When we look closer, this has done its duty even better than the original movies of the franchise, as the whole thing is not about the death of a dog anymore, as we get back to being human-centered and on parents being more important. I would be more interested in what Eve can achieve in this world of chaos with a bounty on her head more than John himself, and we can hope that we will know more in a sequel or a combination of sequels connecting this to the original story.

The performers of the soul :: Ana de Armas is an excellent action heroine, and it is something that she has already proven as a Bond girl. Her physical commitment, screen presence and ability to carry the film’s most brutal action sequences while staying on par with Keanu Reeves’ John Wick is worth all the applause. She nicely establishes Eve Macarro as a capable protagonist in her own special way rather than coming up with simply a female version of John Wick. Ever since her debut in Knock Knock, that too with the same actor, Ana surely has come a long way with works like Deep Water making an impact out of nowhere, as she has also been the first Cuban to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her action here is too good, from that first big action sequence in the pub while defending a target, then that rather funny fight in the kitchen, and that final battle, all getting to the best, while there is no doubt left about the fact that she is a ballerina. The emotions are also reflected really well on her, as she becomes the perfect package here. Keanu Reeves presence also adds to the over quality, while Gabriel Byrne makes a good enough antagonist.

How it finishes :: Ballerina remains a solid action movie and one of Ana de Armas’s strongest performances of any kind till date. The fight scenes with that particular visual style are excellent, and the tale nicely fits into the universe and promises to bring more, especially as the leading lady here feels like having so much to offer. If you have not seen her fighting in a pub, snow-covered buildings, hotel lobbies and more, there is much that you have missed, especially if you have loved watching a lot action on the screen in the past. The one thing I would regret more than others is not watching this one on the big screen, as I saw how good it looked on an android mobile phone with Amazon Prime Video. You might not find a better-looking action movie not on superhero mode, as this kind of mythology is set for group of assassins, and that serves really well. If you have enjoyed the John Wick universe, this one is worth watching for the action alone, and your entry to this extension will be something memorable. The movie could have had a wider release in this part of the world too, as this universe had never ceased being interesting here. For now, you go back to Amazon Prime Video and give it a try.

Release date: 6th June 2025
Running time: 125 minutes
Directed by: Len Wiseman
Starring: Ana de Armas, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Lance Reddick, Norman Reedus, Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves

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✠ The Vampire Bat.

Osiris

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Vampire Owl: A movie about the Egyptian god who brings the dead back to life?

Vampire Bat: I feel that there will be only a small connection.

Vampire Owl: The name should actually be associated with us as we come back from the dead.

Vampire Bat: The vampire elders do not approve of the dead given more importance than the undead.

Vampire Owl: Is there any undead who do not come from the dead?

Vampire Bat: The undead are also summoned through magic.

Vampire Owl: Aren’t they the animated skeletons of necromancers and northern witches?

Vampire Bat: And they call us the animated ones.

Vampire Owl: The necromancers have been banished for too long.

Vampire Bat: There are still the necromancer vampires.

[Gets an avocado shake and three cups of Vagamon tea].

What is the movie about? :: US Special Forces on a mission in the desert, Kelly (Max Martini), Rhodie (LaMonica Garrett), Jax (Jaren Mitchell), Reyes (Michael Irby), Gibbs (David Meadows), Nash (Linds Edwards), Bull (Dawson Towery) and Scars (Stanley White Jr) find themselves in a tough battle on the ground, only to find something else also coming up. They are abducted by some strange floating structure of gigantic proportions that appears on the sky after unleashing some kind of weapon on the ground. The floating structure seemed to cause enough havoc on the ground, much more than what was happening around. After a series of nightmares, those who survived awaken, disoriented and confined within some stasis pods, on what seems to be an alien spaceship or an extra-terrestrial building, maybe even located outside the planet. The structure seems to be scientifically advanced, with very less lighting, even though not without stains and dirt, as if straight out of a realistic first-person shooter game.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: As the soldiers further explore the areas, they come across skinned human corpses hanging from above and unfamiliar but seemingly advanced weapons and technology. They also find a struggling young Russian woman Ravishka (Brianna Hildebrand) who is tightly chained to a pole, and as they rescue her, they meet her captors too. The captors are strange creatures, tall, eyeless humanoids with armored skin, sharp claws and energy-based weapons and shields. They keep fighting their way with the help of alien devices which they manage to take from the fallen ones. Ravishka tells them that she feels that she is from around there as she has been around for a long time, and explains that the ship collects humans to be processed as food. She guides them in a journey away from danger through lesser-traveled maintenance tunnels. After a series of encounters with aliens and near-death situations, they fall into a pool of blood filled with remains of dead humans.

What more happens here as aliens seem to be near-invincible and ready for food? :: They are rescued by another survivor named Anya (Linda Hamilton), Ravishka’s mother, who tells them that she has been there for a very long time, and was part of a Russian team which tried to fight the aliens who tried to take over the world. None of them are left now with the last group being captured with Ravishka and brutally murdered. Now, they have to depend on the newly found friends. There, they realize some of the strangest truths about what happened on Earth and how aliens have been going about. They have now lost almost half their soldiers, and are only fortified better with the alien weapons and ammunitions – but the aliens are tracking them through heat signatures and sound. After knowing more, they realize that they have a bigger mission than they thought about and it would be tougher than ever. Can they accomplish that without losing any more of their people?

The defence of Osiris :: The movie has some fast-paced combat that keeps us interested at all times. The signs are shown early enough with the first battle in the desert before the aliens’ arrival, and points to some military warfare more than a random alien invasion. The shootouts feel great from the desert to the alien ship and we have an action game mode feeling going on here. The details are very good, with the spaceship having a classic look, and aliens looking like part of a fine design. There are those moments when we first see the aliens, and the second just before that, which kept us at the edge of the seat like not many other alien movies could do. These are the kind of aliens that we can accept more than any other, and brings some nostalgia back to us. The action feels classic, and we are reminded of Doom in its multiple forms as aliens are no less than demons either, even supported further by some dialogues spoken. The intensity of the battles keeps a certain level at all times. The need for survival is always there, hoping against hopelessness.

The claws of flaw :: The movie does not go deep into the material, and is happy with the surface level journey. There seems to be a little bit too much dependance on the early science fiction movies, including Alien and Predator as well as those sequels. The innovation was there to be taken, but it does not come to the front. The script could have used a push, with more classic elements, and as we see how the movie ended, there could have been more clues in between, with better connection to the title. By the end of the movie, saving the girl gets too much of an attention despite her being introduced as a fighter in captivity in the beginning. Some of the characters are just there for the sake of being there, and even the main characters seem to get less attention to their detail. The moments of survival and twists could have also been better written to create better impact, and alien invasions could have been explained with visuals. There were so many opportunities to make the situations more and more interesting.

How it finishes :: There was always scope for so much more, but that much is not taken here, with the safe zone seemingly the place to be, without that extra innovation. There are not many deviations which seem to be in the mind of the makers which could come out of the box. Still, this remains a very much entertaining journey – there is no boring moment as you are transported to this dangerous world. It is that strong sci-fi action entertainer rather than a thoughtful science-fiction movie. The fast-paced action, alien attacks and nostalgic appeal the best for some time-pass watch rather than provoking thoughts. But some struggle in writing, predictability in plotting, and thin character development keep it from standing out within its genre or leaving a lasting impact. It feels more like a derivative sci-fi action film that never ceases to be entertaining, and also has a scary side taking it close to another genre, as we wonder if this could also become a successful computer game in future.

Release date: 25th July 2025
Running time: 108 minutes
Directed by: William Kaufman
Starring: Max Martini, Brianna Hildebrand, LaMonica Garrett, Linds Edwards, Jaren Mitchell, David Meadows, Michael Irby, Linda Hamilton

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✠ The Vampire Bat.

Narivetta

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Vampire Owl: This is one movie we missed at the theatre despite being interested.

Vampire Bat: Well, it was said to be a political action thrillers and politics is not our thing.

Vampire Owl: Some of those rare Tovino thrillers that we missed.

Vampire Bat: We have never been the people who watched movies for its actors.

Vampire Owl: Yet, we have watched more Tovino movies in the theatre considering the ratio.

Vampire Bat: It is the case of acting in the kind of movies that we like to watch.

Vampire Owl: Yet, we have created no borders in cinema.

Vampire Bat: Well, we have watched almost every kind of movie.

Vampire Owl: Yes, our identity is of people of the true cinema.

Vampire Bat: We will one day be left with nothing more to watch in Malayalam cinema.

[Gets a paneer samosa and three cups of Yercaud tea].

What is the movie about? :: Varghese (Tovino Thomas) has been living a usual small-town life having a lot of time spent with his love from school days, Nancy (Priyamvada Krishnan), despite the disapproval of her father. Varghese has been employed since forever, as he keeps looking for a good job, ending up getting none, while Nancy has been employed in a bank for some time. Along with the same, Nancy’s father is a rich man running a number of business ventures with his influential family members, while Varghese’s family has the history of his father committing suicide due to financial problems, from where they never recovered. This makes the marriage alliance almost impossible between them, and both families are aware of the same. Finally, after being forced by Nancy, he decides to take up the job of a police constable, even though he continues to wish for much more. He thinks that he will study for the Public Service Commission tests while working as a constable in the police force.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Varghese is not at all confident or comfortable at the police camp, but he is supported by Head Constable Basheer (Suraj Venjaramoodu), a senior with whom he forms a bond, as both are forced into this job due to different circumstances. While Varghese is not that popular with his colleagues, things only get much worse as tribal protests erupt in Wayanad demanding land rights under the leadership of C K Shanthi (Arya Salim), Madhu (Prasanth Madhavan) and Thaami (Pranav Teophine), as they seek the fulfilment of promise by the government. DIG Raghuram Keshavadas (Cheran) is assigned the task for suppressing the agitation. Raghuram becomes the hand of the politicians of the state, and with his plans nicely at work, the support of army is also requested. This would mean that Varghese and Basheer would have to face something different from what they were expecting – can they survive the same and come out strong?

The defence of Narivetta :: This one is a bold movie with strong performances that go deep down the list. As the movie focuses on issues like tribal rights, police violence and the abuse of power, with inspiration from the Muthanga Incident, there is a certain amount of realistic touch to some parts of it, with some scars never really fading and some resolutions never really being reached in a world of chaos and absurdity due to human behaviour. The realistic side often takes the front seat, keeping the commercial side to the minimum, and this mode is followed not only by the moments inspired by original events, but also those which come around it to complete the movie. The romantic side is also good, and the “Minnalvala” song is going to remain a favourite for a long period time, even after time passes by a long way. The hero and heroine surely have a fine chemistry between them, and the choice of supporting cast works like a dream. The movie surely has a lasting effect to make the audience think about situation in a chaotic world.

The claws of flaw :: The movie is surely too long, and we are forced to fast forward it as we watch it on the OTT platform, Sony LIV. Even with the less shown romantic side, there is a stretch, and with the serious moments that come later, there is more lag, and we often feel that there is the journey through similar situations and dialogues again and again, with moments also present where nothing much of interest happens. Then, the heroine is mostly lost after the romance seemed to have a role in the beginning. There is a struggle that goes on with the movie, which is not just between the characters, but also to keep the main idea at the core and engaging enough for everyone. The predictable story is surely there, even if we keep the closeness to real incidents away. Some moments just feel like made to keep the whole thing rather comfortable. The antagonist, as a character, could have also had more strength, and just using the government and the system for villainy serves less as a whole.

The performers of the soul :: As expected, the highlight of the movie is the performance of Tovino Thomas who comes up with a strong performance as the main character like he always did from Minnal Murali to 2018, Thallumala, ARM and Anveshippin Kandethum, nicely portraying the character’s change from a careless young man to someone who stands for justice against all odds, bringing a dynamic character to life. He scores with the emotional side, whether it is the romantic side or the hopelessness that comes later when facing injustice. He further scores through the “Minnalvala” song with Priyamvada Krishnan who comes up with a responsible performance in a character that sticks more to the loyal romantic side, but with determination. The song surely has her best appearance ever. Suraj Venjaramoodu once again comes with a performance that strikes, a matured one that will stay with us for long too – as a mentor, big brother figure to the main character, he remains a character who brings maturity to the scene, while keeping close to doing the right thing. Arya Salim is extraordinary in her work as she brings a character to perfection while Cheran brings villainy nicely to the scene.

How it finishes :: This is a movie which is worth a watch for how it progresses with a content that needed some fine attention, and keeps it working without deviating from the main thing which it seems to be seeking towards the climax – the final justice. The progress is not that smooth though, and even when scratchy, it is surely going in the right direction. There was a little bit too much of expectations with this movie, and it does not seem to progress in the way the posters and the superhit song were seemingly pointing to. A bigger scope was surely expected of this one. But the movie gets many things right, with its focus on the need to do the right thing even when against some of the most powerful forces, and on having faith even when there seems to be not much of a chance for hope. The ending is achieved well in a realistic manner, rather than going through those mass-appeal moments when hero just takes what he wants – it is the kind of idea which would increase the gross in other states and those languages, but not with this one, as it seems to have faith in the realistic, and that has served well.

Release date: 23rd May 2025
Running time: 138 minutes
Directed by: Anuraj Manohar
Starring: Tovino Thomas, Cheran, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Jithin Eden Mathew, Priyamvada Krishnan, Pranav Teophine, Prasanth Madhavan, Rini Udayakumar, Nandu, Sudhi Kozhikode, Srikant Murali, Badusha N M, Appunni Sasi, Kumar Sethu, Vijesh Lee, Shahi Kabir

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Housemaid

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Vampire Owl: We have waited for this movie to come in the OTT for some time.

Vampire Bat: And it is on Amazon Prime Video, which is for the best.

Vampire Owl: Well, we all needed our Amazon Prime deliveries.

Vampire Bat: There is no Amazon delivery in Dracula castle.

Vampire Owl: Well, we can always pick them up from the borders of the realm.

Vampire Bat: What we need are very much here, and at best quality.

Vampire Owl: The vampire apprentices are really working hard, aren’t they?

Vampire Bat: We have shifted to magic for doing the work for us.

Vampire Owl: Dr. Frankenstein had invented enough to help with that.

Vampire Bat: Mr. Frankenstein’s pseudo-science actually helps and saves nobody. Frank no longer has enough access to our work.

[Gets a vegetable samosa and three cups of Kodaikanal tea].

What is the movie about? :: Wilhelmina Calloway a.k.a. Millie (Sydney Sweeney) is on parole after committing a murder in self-defence. It is then that she is hired by Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried) as a live-in maid, much to her surprise as her criminal records did not stop her from being hired for such a big job after so many rejections. The home also has her daughter Cecelia Winchester (Indiana Elle) and husband Andrew Winchester (Brandon Sklenar) who are surprised to see her around there, but Nina is determined that she should have a housemaid as she cannot manage household work even though Enzo Accardi (Michele Morrone) takes care of the work outside. Mille is given an attic bedroom that can be locked from the outside, much to her surprise, and she tries to get a key for the same. But she is so desperate to keep her job as it is a term of her parole; due the same, she just goes on with the process despite the problems that come in her way, and feels that there is something wrong with Nina and the family seems to be slowly falling apart.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Mille further learns that in the past, Nina was locked in a mental hospital for a period of nine months for trying to drown Cece in a bath tub under the effect of drugs and for has tried attempting suicide by overdose. Nina is considered mentally unstable by different people, and some of them seems to keep a distance from her too. Millie also finds her to be very angry towards her, and breaks things while keeping on shouting. It could also be seen that Nina says one thing to her and forgets the same later, keeping on saying that Millie decided to do that thing against her instructions. The neighbours consider her to be a dangerous woman, without a family, and has attached herself to her husband who is rich, handsome, and sweet to everyone around. Andrew’s mother Evelyn Winchester (Elizabeth Perkins) is also that high society lady whom everyone revered, and keeps telling the family about a few things which they should always follow without fail.

And what more is to happen around here as a crisis seems to be on the way? :: A similar case occurs as Millie books Broadway musical tickets and a hotel for the Winchesters in one of the richest areas, but later, Nina just denies having given her those instructions, and tells her that she will take the money out of her salary as the tickets are not refundable. But when Nina was talking her daughter to the ballet camp, Andrew tries to cheer Millie up by secretly taking her to the show, and after enjoying dinner together, they check into the hotel. Millie receives a large number of angry texts from Nina, but Andrew, and the two start and intimate relationship in the hotel bedroom. Then, when they return home, and Millie realizes that Nina has found out that she spent ten years in prison for murder. Nina uses this knowledge to make sure that police arrest her on stealing their car, after reporting a stolen car. But this would not be the end of it, as her plans might be more sinister, and the family secrets would mean more trouble. Can Millie survive this?

The defence of The Housemaid :: The movie maintains a certain level, with nice red herrings and the suspense always ready to come out, with thrills going on strong – the performances of the leading actresses are also to be noted, as Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried blends into the situation really well. Sydney seems to be very close to becoming the next scream queen in a horror movie, and we have seen her capability with thrillers earlier itself, through The Voyeurs. Amanda had a more complicated role, and she maintains a certain amount of skill to go through the transformation of the character. Brandon Sklenar also joins well here. The tension is nicely built, as the viewer gets curious with secrets to be revealed, mind games and twists which might not be the kind that one can predict with ease. There is the feeling that we are watching the kind of thrillers which we had during much earlier times. The dramatic side also works and entertainment is guaranteed, with most of the action set in a big and isolated house which is set far away from the city.

The claws of flaw :: The movie’s ending seemed to be too quick and forced. After that, there is another scene which feels like not relevant at all, as Sydney Sweeney’s character was surely not fit to that situation, and it is not a kind of job that one could take when on the list of police; strange that some fine endings feel the need to be made further complicated by an additional scene – even if it was created to bring hope for a sequel which also would not fit in. The predictability also comes in after the grand twist, and after that, the situation feels just going on and on, and nothing more. There was also the slowing down in between, and seemingly an attempt to divert the movie a little too much. The length of the movie is surely a little too much, as sometimes, time is just lost in the dialogues. With the movie becoming too much filmy, we can also see that the realistic side, despite being present, sometimes losses its charm. The flashback and the explanations are also too long, and the main character, without any prior knowledge of the predicament, seems to guess and thus understand everything with relative ease.

How it finishes :: This particular movie had successfully become more than what is seen on the outside, and we know that movies like this one and Deep Water, as well as Gone Girl, strikes because they have something more than what is seen on the surface. Compared to those titles, this one also ultimately stands as a highly watchable but not the best psychological thriller that leans more towards providing the old-style entertainment rather than focusing on the much-needed depth. Powered by the performances led by Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney, the movie could create an engaging atmosphere having tension, secrets and dramatic twists. It chooses the commercial side instead of the intellectual, and manages to work well in the same. It still relies on familiar tropes, some predictability and moments of too much talking about the past to reduce the overall impact. But you are sure to enjoy this one because the movie is made in a way that the appeal to the audience would be more, and catering towards the regular thriller fun side is here to be taken home, even if it is from Amazon Prime Video.

Release date: 19th December 2025
Running time: 131 minutes
Directed by: Paul Feig
Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Nicholas Galitzine, Julie Walters, Alex Wolff

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Frankenstein

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Vampire Owl: I have been informed about this particular movie.

Vampire Bat: I know who told you about this.

Vampire Owl: There is no reason why Dr. Frankenstein would not approve of this movie.

Vampire Bat: Anyone named Frankenstein do not count as the real one.

Vampire Owl: He is the vampire certified version of a true scientist.

Vampire Bat: Too many versions for most of us to comprehend.

Vampire Owl: The demons have also approved of the same.

Vampire Bat: When did you start asking the shadow demons about anything?

Vampire Owl: They have provided a telepathic connection to the vampire blood bank.

Vampire Bat: Your friendships these days have become too questionable.

[Gets a chilli porotta and three cups of Vagamon tea].

What is the movie about? :: In 1857, a significant crisis arises when Horisont, a Royal Danish Navy ship sailing for the North Pole becomes caught in ice, and something unexpected also gets added as they find blood all around with signs of some brutality. Captain Anderson (Lars Mikkelsen) saves an injured Baron Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) who is caught in the snow and is attacked brutally by the Creature (Jacob Elordi) which shows no signs of backing down despite everyone of the crew trying their best, as it seems almost impossible to stop from unleashing unlimited chaos. The humanoid creature demands Victor’s surrender while destroying everything on the way, but ends up going under the thin layer of ice, bringing relief to the crew, as Victor begins to tell his story. Victor explains to the captain that he is not attacked by some random abomination from another world, as he admits that he was the one who created the Creature and recounts the events leading to this particular creation.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Victor remembers having a strict and abusive childhood due to his father beating him for even the smallest mistakes in his studies, as Baron Leopold Frankenstein (Charles Dance) wanted his son to be a surgeon like him, an expert in medical science like himself. He had married Victor’s mother for convenience and money, and nothing else – she dies with the birth of the second child, William Frakenstein (Felix Kammerer), who quickly becomes a father’s favourite, but Victor keeps mourning his mother and hates his father for what he feels like hesitation to save her life. Fueled by the hatred towards his father and indifference towards his young brother, Victor becomes a brilliant, but arrogant surgeon obsessed with curing death through science, based on the words of Leopold which meant nobody could defeat death. After years of trying to achieve the impossible, he is expelled from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh for reanimating corpses, which every major member of the society considered a brutal sacrilege.

And what more could happen here as the arrogance and pride would have more to do in a world of chaos and meaninglessness? :: With all hopes seemingly lost, Victor is approached by an arms leader and billionaire Henrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz) who is impressed by his presentation and the movement on the face and arms of an animated dead body, offers Victor unlimited funding and an isolated Gothic tower in the middle of nowhere to continue his experiments, seemingly with his own sinister plans about life, death and afterlife. After successfully gaining the maximum of his, as well as William’s assistance in developing his laboratory out of nowhere, Victor also becomes interested in a young lady named Elizabeth (Mia Goth), Henrich’s niece and William’s fiancée. She appreciates his efforts towards greatness, but does not like his nature at all, with him seemingly lacking in morality and becoming more and more greedy without concern for anyone around him. Victor keeps running out of time as Crimean War breaks out and Henrich is on a hurry, but what is the best he can finally achieve here?

The defence of Frankenstein :: The movie is a visual stunner, and it is the first thing that we notice about the movie. The Gothic world of the film keeps us completely immersed in the same, as we are never out of the architectural beauty and the use of colours, along with the images of the archangels, and the spires that point to heaven as much the scientific equipment which also create an impact. The dark tower is symbolic of the overreacher, with our hero continuing to be the hero that seeks more, like many others that we know, most significant name among them being Doctor Faustus. Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak kind of effect continues here, as the Gothic world would always remain safe with him, not just with the darkness and the sinister alleys, but also with the colours, red being one of the most beautiful one as always, this time with that guardian angel imagery staying further in memory than the rest. This one is surely a more sensitive and emotional take on the original story, which have felt rather basic and rushed compared to some of its fine adaptations of later times. The film takes the creature out of its tough shell and shows it as a sensitive and intelligent being trying to help people, and also seeking love and belonging, without which, it changes; the same is depicted smartly.

Positives and negatives :: Oscar Isaac manages a good job with the character which is a little bit overdone for our liking. Mia Goth makes a good presence, but is not used that much as she should have been – A Cure for Wellness was the movie that used her the best, and then there was X; in this movie, she seems to be in the background like a conscience in mind. The last one and half movies are the ones which keep us so much interested, after those beginning stage, for there is so much strength there, leading to that finish, which makes one satisfied with that finish. The one hour after the first ten minutes or so have a struggle, and the pace also struggles. The movie is too long and stretched feeling is there, often also adding unnecessary elements; not all deviations are good either with theme elements going the wrong way in the process. Christoph Waltz’s character will surely catch our attention again, and Charles Dance continues to impress in a short period of stay. Felix Kammerer and David Bradley will also keep us interested in the world, which had a grand beginning with that fight in the snow.

How it finishes :: We have always had a fine dose of Frankenstein stories along with the original one which has kept going strong and inspiring so many derivates including Victor Frankenstein, I, Frankenstein and that guest role in a tale Castle Transylvania and its sequels. This one is another fine deviation which works, and is incredibly beautiful with the world – still, it could have been much better when we think about Guillermo del Toro as the director who brought us some of the most classic versions of myths and legends from the fantasy Pan’s Labyrinth to the full action Pacific Rim. This is that kind of a world where he makes his characters thrive, which would be a reason for the audience to expect more. The critical opinions have surely been positive, and as Mary Shelley’s ideas get expanded through a different path, we would still miss the horror, and despite an attack in the early stages of the movie, there is not much to bring the fear to us. As the monster and the creator are forever, this one would also be for long, as we ponder over the dangers of uncontrolled use of science, loneliness and rejection and above all – responsibility of creators for their creations, which some of the new age parents really need to understand instead throwing children to society, teachers, friends and relatives.

Release date: 7th November 2025
Running time: 150 minutes
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Felix Krammerer, David Bradley, Lars Mikkelsen, Charles Dance, Christoph Waltz, Kyle Gatehouse, Lauren Collins, Sofia Galasso, Ralph Ineson, Burn Gorman, Nikolaj Lie Kaas

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Accountant 2

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Vampire Owl: It is time Uncle Dracula gets his own vampire accountant.

Vampire Bat: Why would he need an accountant when there is no cash here?

Vampire Owl: But he travels through human world for quite a long.

Vampire Bat: Can’t he get a vampire forex card instead?

Vampire Owl: We are now having forex cards here?

Vampire Bat: Well, there should be a way to convert blood money to cash.

Vampire Owl: So, the vampire blood bank accounts can be converted to currency?

Vampire Bat: Yes, even though the value after conversion is really low.

Vampire Owl: At least Uncle Dracula is the richest man in the realm. So, no problems.

Vampire Bat: Still, not that rich as the family of elders.

[Gets two orange cream biscuits and three cups of elaichi tea].

What is the movie about? :: Former FinCEN director Raymond King (J. K. Simmons) arranges a meeting with a mysterious assassin known only by the identity Anais (Daniella Pineda). While tracked by different gunmen who seems to be ready to shoot at them at any time, he asks her for some help in locating a Salvadorean family with an old photo of the parents and the son. Anais tells him that she usually just assassinates people, but do not harm children, so not sure if she would take this mission involving children either. As different gunmen open fire, King is killed, but Anais is able to escape from trouble without much problems as if she never really visited the place and nobody knows even her real name or further identity. King’s protege and Deputy Director of FinCEN, Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), identifies his body, and sees a message which goes as “find the accountant” written on his arm, and decides to do something about his death, as there seems to be something sinister about it.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Marybeth is forced to contact Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), even though she doubts him for his illegal activities. Christian organizes a collage of information and tells her that the family in the photo fled from El Salvador to Los Angeles illegally, facing different hazards along the way. At the same time, Burke (Robert Morgan) further asks his enforcer Cobb (Grant Harvey) to somehow kill Anais, as she holds a grudge against him, and might end up killing him instead. Christian invites his estranged brother, Braxton (Jon Bernthal), working as an assassin, to help him with the case, as there is so much to be done. Justine (Allison Robertson), Christian’s old friend, works with a group of children to hack into different networks to help Christian. They manage to find a photo of Anais from a selfie which was taken by a woman who was present at that time – they are able to find her face, but are unable to identify her with any matches. Uncomfortable with their illegal methods towards truth, Marybeth breaks from the group and visits a hospital mentioned in one of King’s reports to find haunting secrets about Anais which would change their whole idea about the situation.

The defence of The Accountant 2 :: The film does have a nice twist as the movie nears the end, and the revelation here works nicely unlike what people have been expecting from what have been put in front of them. The movie has some intense gun fights, tactical combat and well-choreographed action scenes instead of the mass action scenes which are usually used, and this means that the movie remains more believable and never comes up with an overdose of the usual flying action stuff. The expansion of the world of the first movie works really well, as the returning characters and the relationships that come in between are explored further, and often with more detail. The combination of financial crime investigation with action and adventures, remains something that strikes different for a thriller with some classic divergence from the usual. There is physical action and there is intellectual action, both working so well around here. Everything that is required to create a big world of action filled with assassins and twists can be seen here, and this is one protagonist that we would continue to love.

Positives and negatives :: This also makes me remember Jason Statham’s Mechanic, both signifying professions, but meaning much more from the background. Well, some heroes do their work perfectly in more than one field, and we surely like to see them around. The movie does lose a little bit of power in the pacing in between, as this one is a reasonably long movie which has a lot of dialogues, some of them just providing deviation to the movie itself. There is also some complexity related to this movie, and those who wish to have things go direct, might have some other opinions about this particular movie. The originality might be a little bit lost around here with the base so much on the earlier flick. The final fight scenes are really catchy, and the talk about having pets, with the final adoption of a cat works very nicely for the movie, which also develops some emotions along with humour on the way. The sibling bonding idea had already set the premise for such proceedings. The combination could continue to score if there is a sequel, as the stage remains there to get more movies in the franchise.

The performers of the soul :: Ben Affleck once again plays the quiet, highly intelligent accountant who is also an assassin convincingly. His work as a socially awkward, but highly capable man with multiple missions remains the big highlight of the movie. I have always loved him as Batman, and found him to be the perfect superhero of the dark in the DC Universe, and also his different avatar in Gone Girl and that classic divergence in Deep Water. Well, here he is the accountant closing a financial account when all the transactions are finished, but also closing the accounts of life with a few people – that surely works with much effectiveness. Yet, the one whom we miss the most in this movie is last one’s Anna Kendrick who remained its soul then. But Jon Bernthal as Braxton surely with the action here, along with some brotherly bonding that brings the humour. Daniella Pineda is a lovely assassin by the way, and we hope to see her going through such missions in sequels too. Cynthia Addai-Robinson comes in, and just adds the minimal here. Allison Robertson adds on further while J. K. Simmons is missed rather too early in this one.

How it finishes :: When watching the second movie after watching the first one ten years ago, there would be something which would have been missed, but this one surely feels like good enough for a stand-alone film. The release of this particular movie has surely been missed by us, and most probably it never really came to the local theatres here, despite being a franchise with so much class over the usual mass – for now, it is on Amazon Prime Video, and it is good to see it around there. The movie will not come up with those big action sequences though, as it keeps closer to reality, and still around there, we have the action going on with the assassins wandering around and gunmen sent by crime bosses and gangsters also having a say. The basic idea of the movie itself had our attention, as it is something that provides a Hitman-like feeling, and even a little bit of John Wick seems to wander around here, as there are so many incidents happening in the background of a seemingly normal world here, with the man at the centre and his brother bringing something else too. This should be a long franchise like John Wick – I would love to see it going through the same as there is always scope for the others beyond such well-known assassins.

Release date: 25th April 2025
Running time: 92 minutes
Directed by: Gavin O’Connor
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pineda, J. K. Simmons, Allison Robertson, Grant Harvey, Andrew Howard, Lombardo Boyar, Michael Tourek

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Great Flood

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Vampire Owl: I have heard that the vampire elders have witnessed the earlier great floods.

Vampire Bat: Maybe from a distance, as they have always lived on the mountains.

Vampire Owl: The sacred hills have always provided the vampire kind with protection.

Vampire Bat: The hills have always acted as a natural barrier against the others.

Vampire Owl: You mean against the ancient evils which have no regular forms.

Vampire Bat: The ancient evil has kept us searching for changes in a volatile world.

Vampire Owl: And yet, we have not defeated that evil. It lives.

Vampire Bat: It would live as long as humans exist, with an easy pass to their world.

Vampire Owl: Well, they keep saying that evil always finds a way.

Vampire Bat: From our experiences, we can conclude that too.

[Gets a paneer masala dosa and three cups of Ooty tea].

What is the movie about? :: Gu An-na (Kim Da-mi) is an AI researcher who had only been recently widowed after losing her husband Shin Ga-won (Lee Hak-joo) to a car accident and following drowning from which he could not be saved. She stays in contact with her parents who keep checking on her, and is living with her son Shin Ja-in (Kwon Eun-seong) in a thirty-floor apartment which features a large number of residents. Living in the third floor, she soon finds water reaching her apartment, slowly filling the room, which leads her to panic and try to run with her son to the top only to find the elevators not working anymore, and the stairs are blocked, with no way to go. The child is terrified, but she cannot find a way through the panicked residents of the building. It is then that Son Hee-jo (Park Hae-soo), a security operative from the Darwin Center, an advanced scientific research facility, arrives there in time to help An-na escape from the apartment. After saving them from waves of water, he reveals that the United Nations had known that an asteroid impact at the South Pole that would trigger a global flood and push mankind towards extinction.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: It is then known that instead of announcing the terrifying situation, world governments funded secret efforts to ensure survival of the species including a space station and research into creating biologically engineered human bodies and transfer of consciousness. It is revealed that An-na’s employer is also involved in these projects. As another tsunami separates An-na from Ja-in, she is forced to swim back into the flooding building. She finds a trapped young girl in an elevator but is unable to free her as the water keeps forcing her to continue upward. As they reach the roof of the building SWAT team captures Ja-in and extracts his consciousness into a digital storage device, revealing that Ja-in was never biologically born, but an artificial child. An-na’s AI software had helped in the same. The SWAT commander tells her that there is no safehouse that only An-na and the storage disk will be taken to safety, while everyone else will be left behind to die. As An-na is transported to a rocket bound for the station in orbit, she is forced to accept her fate, but can she go on with it?

The defence of The Great Flood :: The movie takes a fine divergence with the idea as disaster finds another possibility or even more. This is surely not the disaster movie that we would expect to be reflected on the screen, even though the devastation is very much there with the loss of human lives and property, with a lot more devastation being talked about rather than shown on the screen. It chooses not to go with the usual disaster mode and focus on all the usual, and instead, innovates enough. It is not an easy job to combine the genres like this, but the challenge seems to have been accepted with some grace. The emotional side is also at work here, and gets stronger at times. The sentimental crisis feels much relevant here, and about humanity itself, there would be questions that remain thought-provoking. The doubts about morality when facing a crisis would remain throughout the movie. The visuals are much supportive of the situation, and the flood is indeed nicely shown. The flood visuals and water effects, from the surface as much as going underneath, goes on well. The strong performances just go with it.

The claws of flaw :: The movie has a struggle in between with the repeated visuals, and sometimes it gets too repetitive instead of bringing something special – the innovation is not that much there when the world repeats itself. That sudden shift from disaster drama to science fiction with complex simulation loops feels too complex and not that interesting to follow, unlike some other movies which have kept the same interesting with variety. The emotions also go down the drain at times as other questions keep popping up. The emotional weight often feels forced too, as we keep seeing the mother-child situations rather too much. The cliché is surely there and going down to the stereotypes also seems to be another priority at times. Some ideas just seem underdeveloped and, in the end, there seems to be a rush rather than a smooth final finish. The movie could have surely been better polished and executed as we look closer. This one would not be for everyone, as the grandeur of the destruction and danger is left behind too early.

The performers of the soul :: Kim Da-mi as Gu An-na leads the way, and she plays the concerned mother caring for her child who have just gone through another trauma. She has her moments, and it is surely up to her to hold the movie high, and the same rests on her shoulders. The concerns and attempts of her character continue to have a feeling of reflecting harsh realities. Yet, she is weighed down by the repetitions that come without that much of a divergence in between. Park Hae-soo follows really well, and there is a certain amount of strength to his character which is dealt with well. There could have been more action to it, as there was much scope for the same. The repetitions just keep holding things back. Kwon Eun-seong plays the child in trouble nicely, but not that much when seen again and again. Jeon Yu-na is the other notable child actor. Most of the other characters do feel irrelevant. They just come and go, or just make a quick appearance without letting us know much about them.

How it finishes :: The Great Flood is a disaster movie featuring flood with a difference, and an extinction event with even more of a divergence in a world of chaos. There is no denying the fact that much more could have been done with the resources in hand, and that movement in the direction of the less explored. There are some classic looks to support the movie, and the danger is always present, even though complications sometimes drag the same to the back. With a visually impressive world and some strong acting, the movie feels like a safe watch, but its ambitious mix of genres and strange as well as complex narrative choices create some confusion here and there. If you are in support of some thought-provoking science fiction action mixed with the usual disaster themes, there is much to be seen here. The journey is mixed, but never goes out of the equation. This is some divergence to be watched with its quality. After all, we have been looking at the possibilities of human extinction as much as the usual disasters.

Release date: 19th December 2025
Running time: 108 minutes
Directed by: Kim Byung-woo
Starring: Kim Da-mi, Park Hae-soo, Kwon Eun-seong, Jeon Yu-na as Lee Ji-su, Park Mi-hyun, Jeon Hye-jin, Park Byung-eun, Lee Hak-joo

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Superman

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Vampire Owl: I will always miss the Man of Steel version.

Vampire Bat: I feel that we are going back to the stone age.

Vampire Owl: Well, it is in Jio Hotstar, so we have to watch it.

Vampire Bat: Yes, after watching this one, we will watch the classic one.

Vampire Owl: I am worried about the state of DC after this.

Vampire Bat: We know that DC will never be the same without that darkness.

Vampire Owl: That versions of Aquaman and the Flash were too good.

Vampire Bat: We also know that people do not appreciate the best.

Vampire Owl: Aren’t they the same people who abandoned John Carter and Battleship?

Vampire Bat: If it was not for India and China, Pacific Rim would have also been done.

[Gets a savala vada and three cups of Wayanad tea].

What is the movie about? :: Clark Kent a.k.a. Superman (David Corenswet) was having a smooth run as the friendly superhero and part of world’s conversations while involved in saving people in trouble before he decides to illegally interfere in international matters and mess up diplomacy at a global level, destroying balance by stopping the nation of Boravia from invading its neighboring country known as Jarhanpur, after forcing himself upon the former. He even threatened its President with brutal force, making it impossible for most countries and their leaders to think about diplomacy and the need for the existence of countries on Earth. But soon enough, he is defeated for the first time by Hammer of Boravia (David Corenswet), who keeps a step ahead of Superman, and almost kills him before he is revived in his safehouse, the Fortress of Solitude in Antarctica with the help of his superpowered dog Krypto which also arrived from the same planet. He is only healed eighty three percent, but goes for it, only to be beaten up until the villain finally leaves.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Superman finally agrees to be interviewed for media by Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), as she his girlfriend as much as his colleague at the Daily Planet. Luthor uses a fire-breathing alien creature as a distraction while he manages to get into Superman’s fortress and overpower the robots while kidnapping Krypto. They also manage to find and translate a message from Superman’s parents with the help of Angela Spica a.k.a. The Engineer (María Gabriela de Faria) who has nanotechnology in each part of her body helping her to hack as much as to fight. Superman rescues the civilians while fighting the creature with the superhero team known as the Justice Gang including heroes Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced). Despite Superman not wanting to hurt the creature too much, Mister Terrific kills it. But this success is short-lived, as this was supposed to be a moment when Superman would find that revelation which he would have never wanted in his life, but becomes the biggest weapon for his enemies.

And what more is to follow here as things are supposed to get much worse with chaos ready to unleash itself on Earth? :: Luthor broadcasts the Kryptonian message in which Superman’s parents ask him to conquer Earth and take many women of Earth as sex slaves to restore the Kryptonian race. Superman had not listened to that last part of the message as it was somewhat damaged and could not be heard before it was corrected and amplified enough. The master brain behind all of these is Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), the CEO of Luthor Corp who wishes to end Superman forever to make sure that his plans work out as expected. But he reveals that he desired for his business, but his true inspiration was always his hatred for Superman. Public opinion turns against Superman in no time, and his anger while searching for Krypto only makes it worse. Lois reassures Superman that she believes in him and he can only be good. Superman decides to surrender himself to the government, but they hand him over to Luthor as they doubt in their own ability to contain him. Lois asks Justice Gang to save him, but the question remains if they will respond and if they will be enough against Luthor’s seemingly unstoppable force of mercenaries.

The defence of Superman :: David Corenswet makes a pretty good Superman as long as too many comparisons are not made. Isabela Merced is the best part of the movie that gets so less space on the screen. While Nicholas Hoult makes a tough villain, María Gabriela de Faria’s performance makes her that one villain coming so close to killing Superman and such greatness is written on that side of antagonism. Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane also remains memorable. The visuals are nice for most of the time even though not at same level all the time. There are lots of fight sequences around, and they remain effective even though not as fiery as the earlier movies. The final fight remains memorable and the pocket universe is something of another level. There is a certain amount of optimism and hope in this movie, even though it is something which can get us all killed – this is a motivation speaker special. The humour is effective at times, and the supporting cast does the job really well. The movie also leaves a nice beginning for what can follow with the same superhero and his newfound friends. A weaker Superman is also good for future.

The claws of flaw :: The movie does not feel that much power-packed for a superhero movie. There is too much focus on the dog, and that should explain how it would work better for the United States scenario. In other parts of the world where children get bitten by stray dogs, the interest in such a character are rather less. Even otherwise, a comparison would make it less interesting. The loss of that feeling of real danger as in the earlier universe cannot be felt here, and we just care less for the main character and his dog. The dialogues and emotions do not touch the hearts that much with this one, and the return of Superman to the more traditional clothing is rather strange, as this kind of a going back to comics is not applied to many other characters that could use it. The focus on Green Lantern and Hawkgirl are rather too less, even though they were the most interesting characters in the whole movie. If DC is going to go the new Marvel way without keeping its essence, there might not be a future for the franchise at least in this part of the world. The engagement is just so week at parts, and there feels like too much politics wander around the movie. Even the graphics and CGI as well as the music remain inferior to the earlier Krypto-alien journey.

How it finishes :: Superman will not match or seem satisfying for the fans of Man of Steel, the movie which set new standards for the character of Superman. A weaker Superman is still a bonus considering how ridiculously powerful and terrible character Captain Marvel ended up to be, and that too without weaknesses. Still, we wonder if the team of Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Mister Terrific and Metamorpho can match Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the Flash who were such classic characters and provided the feeling of being another level and having such class that could be unmatched by any other. This movie also makes us wonder where Batman can stand in such a light environment? There are lots of questions which are left to be answered with the future of DC, which struggles just like Marvel did with the return of the Fantastic Four. The future might be a struggle for both sets of superheroes, as there are local superheroes from Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra, Minnal Murali, Gundala and others from different industries catering really well to the audience from those parts of the world.

Release date: 11th July 2025
Running time: 129 minutes
Directed by: James Gunn
Starring: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, María Gabriela de Faria

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Dirty Angels

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Vampire Owl: Do you remember that angels were banned from the realm?

Vampire Bat: They never really belonged here, did they?

Vampire Owl: Well, there are demons, so there should be angels around.

Vampire Bat: There is no angel-demon balance maintained here.

Vampire Owl: There should be something like the reverse Shadow World.

Vampire Bat: Shadow World is a closed portal away and not part of our realm.

Vampire Owl: You know that we have them in the map made my Dr. Frankenstein.

Vampire Bat: You are the only one looking at a map belonging to a pseudo doctor.

Vampire Owl: Dr. Frankenstein is a scientist and the greatest of achievers.

Vampire Bat: He was never supposed to be one, everyone knows that.

[Gets a Malabar Chicken biryani and three cups of Ooty tea].

What is the movie about? :: Badia (May Kurtz), the daughter of Afghanistan’s Minister of Education finds herself kidnapped from her school by a terrorist group which identifies itself as a subgroup of the Islamic State. Most of the girls of the school are shot dead or pushed to death from the top of the school, with a few of them who are children of important people taken as hostages. The leader of the group is Amir (George Iskandar), a man who had a terrible past, and cannot align with either the Pakistani government or the newly formed Taliban government of Afghanistan, both for him, have aligned with the devils for profit. Jake (Eva Green) who was tortured and chained up in a cage by the local militia, and was about to be stoned to death by the locals and militia, is rescued at the last moment by the American forces, and on recovery, is assigned to be part of this mission involving the missing girls. She is not happy about her escape, as there were men left behind, but decides to go on with it after persuaded by her old friend Travis (Christopher Backus).

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: She gets to Pakistan with a plan to cross the border and meets her team with Medic (Ruby Rose), Bomb (Maria Bakalova), Mechanic (Rona-Lee Shimon), Shooter (Emily Bruni) and Geek (Jojo T Gibbs), along with their team doctor Mike (Edmund Kingsley), drivers Abbas (Aziz Capkurt) and Malik (Reza Brojerdi) who also provides them with local support in the country before they cross over to Afghanistan with what is disguised as medical aid. The terrorists had demand ten million dollars ransom per hostage and also the release of a prisoner in the Afghan prison, but the demands were not accepted. In Afghanistan, some local information is attained through Awina (Laetitia Eïdo), a woman whose life was saved by Jake during her last mission, as the United States of America has pulled out of the nation all of a sudden. But the mission does not seem to be as easy as expected with so many lives at stake, and so many people with higher profile involved. Now, can they go through this mission and achieve the objective in time without loss of civilian lives?

The defence of Dirty Angels :: The movie does manage to keep the action going with thrills that come with, as the action thriller mode was always on for the movie. The beginning scenes with the main character is very nicely done, even though leaving more scope for not opting for the safe mode as the opportunity seemed eternal; still manages to set the mood right there. Then there are moments which keep the tension going, and some humour is placed well in between. The visuals are also nicely arranged here with the feeling of being right there in the middle of danger to be taken. There is no budget lost there as it seems to have come in the right path. The action is never overdone and the interest is never lost. The combination of actors do their job well, and we see the combo working nicely, and those who feel like non-native adds nicely. This would not have been an easy thing to do, but the world and its problems have been depicted well with a fictional incident nicely worked on. There will surely be situations that would last for at least some time. Eva Green leads the way so well too.

The claws of flaw :: The movie does wonder about how to make the best of situations, from the first scenes involving the main character to the abduction and getting into mission, things could be used to be better advantage of the movie. The characters are not that much well-defined as we look closer, with all of them just existing for the sake of the mission. There could have been a stronger script which could have made the characters better too. The presence of stereotypes would also be felt, and the predictability factor often gets higher. The mood also keeps changing at times, affecting the flow, making one feel like the movie is bigger than what it really is. There could have been more talk about the danger and situation which is around. The potential would have led somewhere else, as we look at it. The evil could have also depicted with a much more force, and we know that this is not really what we had expected, and we were surely in requirement for much more. This could have even been a full-action adventure instead going into any political or social details, otherwise it needed more details.

How it finishes :: This movie, does manage to come up with quite some good work in the end, despite seemingly diverting in between. This would qualify as one of those rare movies with strong female leads and some morally complex objectives which seem to get to a pretty good end in the end. The uneven execution and the lack of balance is what keeps pulling it back. It was never going to be an American Sniper either, as one might realize it early enough. It is that kind of a movie which goes through the middle path, not aspiring for greatness through innovation or by trying hard, as the lookout for safe mode ends in just the usual. One can keep wondering how much bigger this could have managed to be, if diverted to the right path. They have this world and premise, and we can keep wondering about the possibilities – at the same time, enjoy the movie as it should be. It is now available in Lionsgate Play, and with one good mobile phone recharge offer, the same can be accessed and watched.

Vampire Owl: So, are we going back to getting the angels back in?

Vampire Bat: No, we are not having another open portal in the realm.

Vampire Owl: You know that this will bring balance.

Vampire Bat: There would be no balance in a world of chaos.

Vampire Owl: So, we will have no angels in the realm.

Vampire Bat: The realm would stay as it is, in a traditional manner.

Vampire Owl: The zombies were outside the tradition and still accepted.

Vampire Bat: You know that they are just partial vampires without brains.

Vampire Owl: Well, there can be no real relation, you know.

Vampire Bat: The relationships are for humans; we have bloodlines.

[Moves into the darkness of the night].

Release date: 13th December 2024
Running time: 104 minutes
Directed by: Martin Campbell
Starring: Eva Green, Maria Bakalova, Ruby Rose, Rona-Lee Shimon, Jojo T Gibbs, Emily Bruni, Christopher Backus, Zoha Rahman, Laetitia Eïdo, Aziz Çapkurt, George Iskandar, Reza Brojerdi, Edmund Kingsley as Dr. Mike Claudia, May Kurtz

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Union

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Vampire Owl: I remember going to a vampire reunion. But it was a mirage.

Vampire Bat: Vampires are always together. Why a reunion?

Vampire Owl: They can wander all around the realm.

Vampire Bat: There is just a small area which is accessible to vampires in the realm.

Vampire Owl: It is still a pretty good area as long as we do not fly through.

Vampire Bat: There is too much of witch traffic on the broom to fly.

Vampire Owl: Why do we even care about the witches?

Vampire Bat: There is always something about the witches in the news.

Vampire Owl: So, we have also started watching the news?

Vampire Bat: Well, we only know even about the wars through the news.

[Gets a uzhunnu vada and three cups of Wayanad tea].

What is the movie about? :: Mike McKenna (Mark Wahlberg) is a construction worker in New Jersey who goes through his usual life in a regular pattern without thinking otherwise. One day, his childhood sweetheart Roxanne Hall (Halle Berry) meets him in the local pub and he ends up waking up in London after she tranquilizes him. She explains to him that he has been recruited for a secret mission by the group known as The Union, working as a secret organization in connection with FBI, Interpol and other teams. Their team, despite going through a top-secret mission, ended up losing a number of their team members and also ended up missing their target, leading them to assign someone without a past on the mission. Tom Brennan (J K Simmons), the head of the group hopes that Mike is as good as what Roxanne told him that he used to be during his childhood and youth. Mike who was going to attend a very important wedding as the best man and dating his former teacher, finds him somewhere he never expected to go.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Roxanne assures him that he can go back to his town and job if he does not want to take the risk, but he decided to go for the same anyway. Their physical expert and trainer Frank Pfeiffer (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) is not sure about letting someone untrained in there and giving him just enough for the field within two weeks of special training. They do a detailed briefing for him on a high-stakes mission, and feels that his unassuming identity would be the perfect cover. This would be a very important mission to retrieve information about undercover agents and top-level officers in various intelligence agencies. The sensitive information on individuals who have served allied Western nations would soon be auctioned off to the highest bidder, and as Iranians, North Koreans and Russians look forward to this information and with a possibility of Chinese also going for it, it is now or never for the West. This could be their last chance.

And what more is to be added here as situation keeps getting more complicated? :: He is chosen to be sent by the Union with five million to buy a device which could bid at the intelligence auction, under the watch of the Union agents. Mike is immediately ambushed by some other trained professionals. The team somehow gets him out in time, but the auction device gets damaged without any chance for repair. With no more money to spend, The Union decides tries tracking down the Koreans’ mercenaries hoping to acquire their device. They find and steal the device, only to find out their communication expert Athena Kim (Alice Lee) has been murdered and that their headquarters has been blown up with an unidentified bomb. They feel that there is someone spying on them from the inside, but things might be more complicated than that. They might soon be on the run without a hideout or safehouse. One wrong movement and there might not be any agent left for the Union.

The defence of The Union :: The movies lead actors Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry carry the movie on their shoulders effortlessly, as we enjoy the moments with them together, and they also add some fine humour in between as the movie never really goes dark with its content. When we are looking for a cool spy movie with action rather than the drama and the dark side making it scary, it has enough momentum to keep us engaged with all those fights scenes and high-powered car chases, getting only bigger as the movie gets closer to the end. The global locations are really good, and some stunning visuals provide us with much more to look out for – the action in those beautiful areas of the world got our interest early enough. The ending is well-executed, and the supporting cast as well as the antagonists get something more to do here too. The journey also never goes overboard like some of those Bollywood movies, and there is also nothing forced here with things going on smoothly.

The claws of flaw :: The beginning stages do not induce that much of an interest into this movie, as there seems to some pulling back right there. The bringing in of the main character to the team itself seems to be not convincing enough. Most of the characters are not really developed as if to inspire a possible sequel, as most of the spy genre flicks have been thinking about. The common style of spy flicks and action thrillers with a touch of comedy are remembered here without offering those big surprises or that innovation which was clearly possible. It never really takes its elements to the next level. The twist in the middle seemed to be rather expected, and the big spies not able to guess the same thing even though the audience could easily do the same, is rather disappointing. There is a certain artificiality to proceedings as the Men in Black kind of smooth movement is often not there to be taken. The movie might not last that long in memory, as there is no specific classic moment and there is nothing that we will remember for very long.

How it finishes :: We have an entertaining journey here as there are no dull moments in the spy world as soon as we know what the movie is up to. The movie nicely goes on with its adventure as the tale progresses. The light-hearted action with some suspense works fine, and the chemistry between the main characters work very well. Things are rather simple around here, as you do not eagerly wait for more, but something special could happen in the second movie, if there is one – the team does work really well. For a relaxed weekend with the light action, this will offer more than enough on Netflix. After all, this is that kind of a genre which offers more to one-time watch rather than any other. Netflix already offered a movie which gives similar kind of effect, Lift – once you watch, you enjoy it and the time spent remains good. Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg are our eternal stars too, aren’t they?

Release date: 16th August 2024 (Netflix)
Running time: 107 minutes
Directed by: Julian Farino
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Halle Berry, Mike Colter, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jessica De Gouw, Alice Lee, Jackie Earle Haley, J K Simmons

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Transformers One

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Vampire Owl: So, we are getting back to the transformer robots again.

Vampire Bat: Well, there have been too many infinite transformers for my liking.

Vampire Owl: Yes, and the first three seemed to have worked the best.

Vampire Bat: The first one is nothing less than a classic.

Vampire Owl: The youth who liked the robot cars fully supported them.

Vampire Bat: It was a new concept for our audience then in that age.

Vampire Owl: For this age, it is all about too much information and OTTs.

Vampire Bat: OTTs have brought so much in front of the new generation.

Vampire Owl: This includes a lot of Transformers too.

Vampire Bat: At least, there are no Vampire Robots, at least not yet.

[Gets a thattu dosa and three cups of Yercaud tea].

What is the movie about? :: Beyond the stars, Cybertron is a planet formed through technology from the deity known by the name Primus and is occupied by sentient robots. Their life is sustained by a substance called Energon without which most of them would cease to exist. With only Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm) remaining among the Primes who were supposed to rule the planet, there is no Matrix of Leadership, without which Energon has stop flowing, forcing the robot miners to extract it. Sentinel has been telling his people about this loss and how the battle with alien invaders called Quintessons has left the surface of their planet not good for life anymore, leaving them to survive underneath all the time. The fear of Quintessons coming back for Energon, and the lack of the same resources have left their world quite a dull one. The newly established hierarchy based on whether robots possess a transformation cog that allows them to shapeshift, decides if the citizens would be miners or something in the higher hierarchy.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) are best friends among these miner robots without the transformation cog. They live in the lower level of the long hierarchy where they mine for Energon to sustain the people of their world underground while Sentinel Prime and his army led by Airachnid (Vanessa Liguori) travels to the surface in search of the Matrix of Leadership, and any trace of aliens. The unit of Orion and D-16 for mining is led by Elita-1 (Scarlett Johansson), an arrogant mining supervisor who is so focused on following the protocols that she feels that one day she will be promoted. But due to Orion’s compassion for another miner Jazz (Evan Michael Lee) leads to a breach of protocol to save the person during an accident, which leads to Elita-1 being demoted and D-16 getting punched on the face by their overseer Darkwing (Isaac C Singleton Jr) while defending his friends. Orion, being optimistic, promises to find a way to do something bigger.

And what more happens around here in a world of chaos? :: This is the time when Sentinel Prime returns and once again tells them that the Matrix of Leadership could not be found and Energon should continue to be mined, with a need to work harder. He still calls for a race for some entertainment, and in between the transforming robots, Orion and D-16 enters, and gets close before losing it. An impressed Sentinel Prime promises them a reward only for a defeated Darkwing to blame them and throws them to the garbage incineration level. There they meet B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key) who has been working there for a long time, at what would be one of those lowest levels of hierarchy. There they find the message of a Prime known as Alpha Trion (Laurence Fishburne) who seems to have put the coordinates to the Matrix of Leadership there. Now, the three are determined to take this message to Sentinel Prime or if possible, investigate all of these by themselves. But are they good enough to do that?

The defence of Transformers One :: This movie seems to qualify for the position for the best Transformers movie ever with the quality that it displays on the screen, and the known idea about autobots and its leader which it further spreads so well here. The journey into the past of past of autobots and decepticons is supported by rich storytelling which starts from the lower level, and also explores class divides in the process. The movie also talks about how the influential ones, and governing people manage to hold the commoners on the leash and also create an even lower class to work for them without much given in return. The idea of thinking process being manipulated is also seen here, and there is also that entertainment which is provided to the crowd to keep silent, and the telescreens which display only what the rulers wish for them to see. There is also that life underground prohibiting everyone from going outside in the name of danger – all of these seem to point to one thing, deception, and in other terms, a dystopian world; for these robots there are enough twists in store.

Positives and negatives :: The idea of this movie might be well known, but the elevation of the same here is much notable. The origin story of autobots and decepticons also gets a twist here, and this including Sentinel Prime goes for another path. The world here is shown more for a forced illusion for the crowd who are just dumb fans like people who celebrate celebrities in our world and would believe anything they say and are ready to die for them – a matrix to keep the order. We are given the feeling that there is something greater to come and mysteries to be revealed, with scope for rebellion present all the time. The beautiful animation helps the process, with the world here being too beautiful to compare to any animated film of Hollywood. The voices serve the purpose nicely, especially that of Chris Hemsworth. The high ratings are a reflection of the movie’s qualities, as all the action nicely adds on. There are still some predictability elements and the character development of newly formed villain that got some struggles.

How it finishes :: Transformers One is that Transformers movie about which most of us had no idea about when it was releasing. Usually, the Transformers movies come with some huge hype that would surround them as if they are Avengers or Jurassic Park, but not in this case – maybe it is because of the animated side, but we know how well the animated movies have been doing too. With so many movies with imaginary characters made in an epic format here, it has been difficult for big movies to make an impact among the audience, and that might have affected this one too. Looking at this movie, we can still be sure that there are better movies from one side, and most of those which we had around here in the name of epics were just copies. This one surely feels too good with what is shown on the screen and despite a little of the feeling that we have seen most of this before as much as the idea that is repeated. But we also know that this is such a great movie. This one will stay with us for long, even if late, as something even better than the live-action ones that came right at us.

Release date: 20th September 2024
Running time: 104 minutes
Directed by: Josh Cooley
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree, Henry Scarlett, Johansson Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Hamm

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.