DesertTalkies Film Reviews!

  All Quiet on the Western Front [2022]  Starring: Felix Kammerer, Daniel Bruhl, Albrecht Schuch Direction by Edward Berger, Original story by Erich Maria Remarque Language: German Well, I guess I'm just a snob. I normally do not like action movies, especially war movies because they are so incredibly cookie cutter. For weeks, I have been debating actually putting myself through the experience of watching this, but at the end I'm so incredibly glad that I did. I can definitely say that this is my top choice for Best Picture at the Oscars. This may have been the single most harrowing, poignant, heart-wrenching, brilliant film that I have ever seen. Firstly, let's talk about the movie as a whole. In my experience, we learn about World War One from an American/British point of view, and so seeing the flip side of the conflict was incredibly eye-opening. Seeing the experiences of German troops, in a way, really humanised them. At the end of the day, soldiers were just pawns in ...

It has been five years since Sridevi passed away; five years since Bollywood lost one of its biggest superstars. In her memory, I have decided to write a series of reviews in her memory: ' Spotlight on Sridevi' . English Vinglish [2012] Starring: Sridevi, Adil Hussain, Mehdi Nebbou Direction by Gauri Shinde Language: Hindi This was a movie that was definitely different to other Hindi-language films I have seen in the past. For so long, the Bollywood industry has focused on young protagonists, who largely fight against the expectations and actions of those older than them. This movie, however, completely flipped this norm the other way around. The movie centres around an older, married lady played by Sridevi, whose inability to speak English makes her the object of ridicule from her family.  What I found really interesting was the fact that this movie broke the mould of Bollywood movies: there were no giant dance numbers to distract from the narrative of the story, and the prota...

  Tár [2022] Starring: Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant Direction by Todd Field  Language: English Given my love for Michelle Yeoh, I just HAD to see who her competition was. I think it's pretty safe to say that Blanchett is a formidable opponent after seeing this movie, and I think that anybody who sees it will agree. Tár, which is set in the world of symphonies and grand orchestras, was so wonderfully different to any other movie I have seen: I feel as if the world of music is massively underrepresented in film.  Let's start with the casting. I would actually say that the casting is amongst the best of the all of the frontrunner movies at the Oscars. The nature of this movie meant that all of the characters were incredibly complex, and everybody who acted in this picture was able to live up to such extra ordinary standards. Hoss, for example. was perfectly able to balance the effects of her character's illness, her character's emotional vulnerability, and fin...

 Top Gun: Maverick [2022] Starring: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Val Kilmer, Glen Powell Direction by Joseph Kosinski, Screenplay by Ehren Kruger Language: English New decade, same Cruise.  I've never really been into action movies, and I didn't particularly like the first installment of the franchise, but for the first time I can safely say that the recent film surpasses the original.  Bigger, better and faster than its predecessor, Maverick is a sequel that lives up to the nostalgia of the original movie. Top Gun is a movie the defined a generation (even though I found it relatively lackluster), and is seen to be a 'classic'.  I watched the original Top Gun before watching Maverick and I felt that it was difficult to tell where Tom Cruise ended and where his character Maverick began: Cruise was THAT natural in his role, even after so many years. Maverick seems to be an extension of the actor himself.  The appeal of Cruise has not diminished over the years, and yo...