THE STORYTELLER

By Avik Basak Well, it has been more than three weeks since the finale of the seventh season of Game of Thrones premiered and I am assuming, by now, everyone has watched it. Still, if you have not seen it yet, I would recommend that you do not read any further and turn back from here as this article contains major spoilers. I know I have written reviews without divulging much detail in the past but I cannot do that in this case because I believe as a fan of the show, I need to discuss it thoroughly. This is the very reason why I am writing it so long after the show’s conclusion. There were huge expectations from this season, considering where they left things last year. Everyone knew that season seven would be based entirely on original materials because the TV show overtook George R.R. Martin’s book series, hence no one knew for certain what would happen to whom (As theories do not warrant any certainty). Moreover, the number of episodes was reduced to seven fro...

By Avik Basak Well, I am not a big fan of horror films but I liked the James Wan movies like Dead Silence , The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 . They scared the heck out of me, yet I liked them, especially for the logic and the way they unfold. The spin-off to The Conjuring series , Annabelle , on the other hand, was not quite up to the mark but it is with its hopeless sequel that the makers reach a new low. This movie chronicles the story behind the making of the vicious doll and how it becomes cursed, while also serving as a prequel to its previous instalment. The only conclusion one can come up to while searching for a valid reason behind the “creation” of this needless flick is that the producers just wanted to bring in some extra bucks, no matter how boring and dumb a plot they have to serve to their audiences. Yes, there are a few good scenes that really stand up and will make some chill going down your spine but they barely make a mark as they are lost in...

By Avik Basak When Marvel produced Daredevil, their first web series in collaboration with Netflix, they stated that it would be followed by Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist to ultimately lead to a crossover event, The Defenders. Since then, this mega team up of Marvel’s TV section of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) started to generate some hype. It was not expected to be something as grand as The Avengers as that was a full-fledged theatrical movie and as a result had the budget and resources. On the contrary, the miniseries, just like its comic counterpart, was expected to be much lesser in scale with a smaller backdrop compared to the other team of big guys in the MCU. As soon as Daredevil premiered on Netflix, people knew the proposed team up would be a lot darker and a lot grounded than the movies or the other TV serials produced by Marvel. After the blind crime-fighting lawyer of New York, the introduction of the struggling superhero turned private inv...

By Avik Basak Hollywood has always taken pleasure in making spy movies with women as their central figures. What makes Atomic Blonde different is the fact that it relies more on the thrills of its storytelling rather than the high-octane action sequences. Make no mistake, there are action sequences in this film and they have been well-executed and well-choreographed as well but the main attraction of this flick is the way it unfolds. The story of Atomic Blonde is about an MI6 operative (The “Blonde” Theron) who has been tasked to track down a double agent and recover a list of all the active British field agents in the then Soviet Union that went missing. A kind of plot, which we have seen a lot of times before, even Skyfall had a similar storyline but the smartest thing about this movie is the era that it is set in, during the end years of the Cold War, days before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The setting and the characters are good enough to get the audience...

By Avik Basak It has been more than a month since Amazon Prime’s first ever Indian web series, Inside Edge premiered on their official On-Demand portal. It took some time but I finally caught up with the series and am ready to share my thoughts on the same with you. When the first trailer of Inside Edge was launched, it was described to be the first of an array of Indian web series that will be produced by Amazon in collaboration with the various reputed production houses of the country. After taking a peek at the trailer and looking at the names of the production houses Amazon has roped in, I for one was really impressed and thought the initiative to be a revolutionary one. Talking about Inside Edge , it seemed like a first of its kind web series in India from its trailer and various TV spots. Mainstream film stars, a gripping plot, three-dimensional characters and most importantly, a limited number of episodes, Inside Edge promised to bring everything that ...