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 | Breathe | 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)
At a time when 3D animation was still in its infancy, Spielberg’s Jurassic Park came and shattered all expectations with its stunningly designed models and high-quality CGI dinosaurs that still hold up well today. A truly terrifying depiction of the events which materialise when those monstrous reptiles of the bygone era are thrown abruptly in today’s world with the help of advanced genetic technologies. And above all, the devastating consequences of that audacity.
Compelling characters, story, stunning cinematography, engrossing battle sequences, and fantastic score are just a few reasons why Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings is easily the best film trilogy ever made. Even if you have seen the whole thing, it is pretty rewarding to watch the movies again.
Stephen King is a huge fan of Stanley Kubrick, except the time when he adapted King’s horror classic The Shining. Much has been said about how the film departed from the original story on a fundamental level, even if plot-wise, it was pretty much the same. On its own, the movie, starring Jack Nicholson at the top of his game, is a frightening depiction of a man going insane in real-time. This is horror at its most scary.
Crashing has six episodes, each spanning around 20-25 minutes. And to say that it is a sweet, engaging story of six adults coming to terms with life would be putting it too simplistically. Let us just say, once you begin, you won’t be able to stop until you have watched them all!
At times cringey, Netflix's first Belgian original show, Into the Night, is a thrilling survival story. What helps its case is that it works like an unputdownable pulp fiction novel.
12 Years a Slave is Steve McQueen’s heart-wrenching adaptation of a memoir of a black slave Solomon Northup. Chiwetel Ejiofor essayed the lead role in the film which also starred Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong’o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, and Alfre Woodard. The film was a brutal depiction of slavery and is a hard movie to watch.
The animated series follows a mad but brilliant scientist Rick Sanchez and his naive, impressionable grandson Morty Smith's adventures across faraway galaxies, planets, parallel worlds, different realities and so on. Rick and Morty boasts some of the most intelligent writing in the medium currently, with jokes that are easy to miss if the attention wavers even a little. And before you have managed to wrap your head around it, the show has already moved ahead.
The camera angles, the narrative (based on Mario Puzo's bestselling novel of the same name), the performances, the editing, the score -- at no point were these varied departments of filmmaking inharmonious. Like a lovely orchestra group, each unit of cinema supported the other, thereby finally giving us this masterclass of a film. Read more
The story of Mirzapur is about a local drug lord Kaleen Bhaiya (Pankaj Tripathi) whose son Munna (Divyendu) is trying too hard to take his place but lacks any of his diplomatic or criminal skills. His position is in danger after two local boys Guddu (Ali Fazal) and Bablu (Vikrant Massey) beat him up to their own surprise. The web series depicts the governance and rule of mafia dons and the rivalry and crime prevailing in the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh.
Street Dancer 3D is Remo D’Souza’s third dance film after ABCD and ABCD 2. It is backed by an ensemble cast including stars like Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Nora Fatehi and Prabhudheva among others. I would suggest you watch this film only if you are a fan of dance reality shows as it has nothing more than some good dance performances to offer.
The Elizabeth Olsen starrer is a two-part series that deals with the trials and tribulations of a widow who suddenly loses her loving husband. Olsen delivers a staggering performance in Sorry for Your Loss.
Are you obsessed with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge? If you gave an affirmative nod, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania is the perfect pick for this weekend. It has a similar narrative with Raj (SRK) and Simran (Kajol) being replaced by Humpty (Varun Dhawan) and Kavya (Alia Bhatt). It has a few crackling dialogues, easy-breezy chemistry between the lead pair and a pinch of humour too.
Based on Chetan Bhagat’s book The 3 Mistakes of My Life, Kai Po Che is led by Sushant Singh Rajput, Rajkummar Rao and Amit Sadh. It is the story of three friends who stand by each other in every situation and plan to start a sports academy together but get separated amid a communal riot in Gujarat.
A five-part documentary series examining the gripping story of high school football star Greg Kelley and a quest for truth and justice. Few people experience the momentum that Kelley had going into his senior year in Leander, Texas. That all changed when he was convicted of sexual assault of a four-year-old boy, and sentenced to 25 years in prison with no possibility for parole. But a groundswell of support emerged for Kelley, calling into question the investigation, the prosecution's tactics and ultimately, the validity of the conviction.
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.