Breathe Into the Shadows is streaming on Amazon Prime Videos.
Amid all the despair due to coronavirus pandemic, for many people, one source of solace and entertainment is streaming services which, in the absence of theaters, are keeping us sane.
Today’s a big day for the OTT space. A few high profile movies and series are lined up for release on different streaming platforms today.
One of them is Greyhound. The war drama, streaming on Apple TV+, is based on the 1955 novel The Good Shepherd by CS Forester and is about a US Navy Commander (Tom Hanks) on his first war-rodeo during World War II’s Battle of the Atlantic, the longest military campaign of the war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. Hanks has also penned the screenplay.
The Indian Express film critic Shubhra Gupta gave the film three stars. She wrote, “It’s the mark of great actors that they seem to be doing so little, and yet inhabit their roles quite so completely: as Krause, devout to a fault, flashing back to his beloved (Shue), kneels to pray, we see his blood-stained socks, a result of being on his feet in a yawing-and-pitching vessel for much too long. We know that he has been in pain only through the rare twitch on his face: in the rest, he is completely in control.”
Reviews | Greyhound | The Old Guard | Undekhi
She added, “You wish the crew was more detailed; a back-story or two would have been nice. Except for an African-American head chef (Morgan) who keeps following the captain around with small-meals-on-trays that he (the captain) manages never to eat, a skilful tracker (Graham) of enemy subs under the cold, grey water (the film is almost fully grey, varying the palette with blue and black), and a couple of young ones who exchange fearful glances when their captain seems to be taking his time to veer away from danger, the others are just a collection of faces.”
Here are the movies, web series and TV shows you should watch on platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, SonyLIV, ALTBalaji, ZEE5, Voot and others.
The Old Guard is streaming on Netflix (Photo: Aimee Spinks/NETFLIX ©2020)
Created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan starrer Never Have I Ever is about a young girl from Sherman Oaks, California who is dealing with the death of her father. The series also starred Poorna Jagannathan, Richa Moorjani, Jaren Lewison and Darren Barnet among others.
Flames 2 makes you feel as if it is set in that time when you still had to fight with parents to own a cellphone and being in constant touch with friends was a task. It takes place at the very dawn of smartphones and elicits sweet and simple memories of teenage romance which become more relevant in times when couples seek validation of their love on social media. But the makers never explicitly say what era the show is set in since the characters are also seen talking about Thor and Thanos. Read more
After Life has been written and directed by popular British comedian and actor Ricky Gervais. Gervais is known for his snarky, brutally honest style of comedy. And that is what he brings to the table here. Except this time he is not hosting any awards show and offending the rich and famous people of showbiz. In After Life, we see another facet of Gervais — the performer. In the series, he has lost the love of his life, his wife, and he finds it hard to keep up the pretence of normality. That results in some heartfelt, but truly hilarious moments.
Before streaming Breathe: Into The Shadows, watch the first season of the psychological thriller. The first season of Breathe narrates the story of a father (R Madhavan) who is ready to go to any length to save his son from a deadly lung disease. He starts killing the organ recipients who are ahead of his son in a list. Everything goes as per plan until he reaches the last recipient (Sapna Pabbi), who is the ex-wife of Senior Inspector Kabir Sawant (Amit Sadh).
Created by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK (also known as Raj & DK), The Family Man starred Manoj Bajpayee as a middle-class man, who is secretly an intelligence officer working with a fictional branch of National Investigation Agency (NSA). The series was gripping from start to finish and featured a characterstically nuanced performance by the excellent Bajpayee.
An HBO miniseries, The Night Of targets American criminal justice system and its inherent biases. A Pakistani-American young man is charged with rape and murder, and the procedure is more defined by the race and origin of the person than evidence. Performances are great including Riz Ahmed as a naive young man, but my favourite is John Turturro as a small-time lawyer with troubles of his own.
Rescued from a train station, Paddington Bear finds a haven with a London family -- until a taxidermist decides to add Paddington to her collection. It is also one of the finest family movies ever made.
Two brothers, Dean and Sam Winchester, team up to fight supernatural threats. The threats include vampires, shape-shifters, demons, even angels and Lucifer himself among others. The premise is basically the same every episode. Dean and Sam spot news hinting at something bizarre and race to the location in their Impala, acting as FBI agents. Despite repetitiveness, Supernatural has remained enjoyable across more than a dozen seasons (!) because of some really interesting characters.
This surprisingly sweet film has everything that makes a road trip movie great. Despite using the same old tropes (different personalities travelling together reluctantly) The cast (Paul Rudd - 'nuff said) does a great job of making a strong script and clever dialogues come alive.
Steven Spielberg's adaptation of HG Wells' novel of the same name, War of the Worlds sees an invasion by the Martians. Tom Cruise stars as a longshoreman who witnesses the invasion directly. Scores of people are disintegrated by the Martian war machines called Tripods that emerge from beneath the earth. War of the Worlds is a non-stop thriller that never lets up.
A mysterious quarantined zone is affected by an alien phenomenon that is mutating creatures and landscapes inside it. The zone is surrounded by a shimmering electromagnetic field and it is thus called the Shimmer. The zone is getting larger and larger and the US government believes that it would one day surround the whole world if not stopped. This film has elements of science fiction, horror, and mystery. Its denouement is a gorgeous interplay between mind-bending visuals and incongruous electronic notes.
Your definitive zombie movie. In this South Korean film, zombies do not hobble, they run like Usain Bolt and possess the stamina of a racehorse. Cramped confines of a train do wonders and well-drawn characters are pretty relatable. The pacing is just right. Bottom line is, if you love zombie movies, you cannot really go wrong with this one.
Based on Lewis Carroll’s fantasy book for kids, the classic Disney animated feature Alice in Wonderland follows Alice’s adventures inside a subterranean fantasy world (which she falls into by way of a rabbit hole) filled with weird, anthropomorphic animals.
In This Breaking Bad spinoff movie, Jesse Pinkman finds himself hunted by law enforcement for collaborating with “Heisenberg” after fleeing from the Neo-Nazi hideout. His name is all over the news and there aren’t many people left who he can trust. Here is where Skinny Pete and Badger and more figure in.
Joker is a solid comic book film thanks to an absolutely storming central performance by Phoenix, excellent writing, and stunning cinematography which provides some unsettlingly pretty visuals, especially one towards the end (those who have seen the movie know what I am talking about).
Breaking Bad's less popular spinoff Better Call Saul is at least as good as Breaking Bad (according to some, even better) even if it is mostly devoid of big moments of drama and twists that characterised the tale of Walter White. Whatever you may believe, it is solid, high quality television nonetheless.
Jon Favreau creation The Mandalorian is the first-ever live-action Star Wars series. It is about an ace bounty hunter, who due to recession in the wake of Galactic Empire’s obliteration, takes up a near-impossible job from a well-paying client.
A much less talked about and known Stephen King adaptation, Gerald's Game was made on a lower budget than It and was released on a small screen platform, Neflix, but it was almost every bit as good. Gerald's Game adapts a middling King novel and turns it into a compelling, keep-on-their-toes horror film that is harrowing throughout.
One of the greatest, genre-defining psychological horror movies Psycho gets a sequel in Bates Motel. We know Norman Bates was an insane guy with a dual personality who kept the exhumed corpse of his mother in his living room. But how did he come to be that person (Or should I say, persons)? Bates Motel tells the backstory of Norman Bates and is a quality television show with great performances especially by Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga in lead roles. It also offers a nuanced look at Dissociative Personality Disorder. And did I mention it is downright creepy? Bates Motel is a living proof that you don't need ghosts and monsters to scare people out. Sometimes the inner demons are scary enough.d
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