The Offbeat Critic

Where to Watch: Netflix A few years ago, I saw a movie called Searching (2018), directed by Aneesh Chaganty, an Indian-origin Director. It was a mystery thriller unlike any other I had seen before. The story was riveting like many movies in this same genre, but its portrayal on screen was unique. It is a relatively new genre of visual storytelling called Screenlife. While the definition of a Screenlife movie may be a bit hazy (as per the link ), the movie certainly wasn't. It was one of the best thrillers I had ever seen, and to see the director make such a movie on his debut is worthy of praise. Five years later, we have a Standalone Sequel to "Searching"; called "Missing". But this time, Aneesh Chaganty only serves as the Writer.  While comparisons to the former are inevitable, this is a worthy Standalone Sequel (The characters or plot line here are not the same as that of the original). There were some pacing issues in between, sometimes the screens shifted t...

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video Movies, when you decide to watch one, what do you look at? The IMDB score? The Runtime? The Cast? The Genre? The Director? The book/material from which it draws inspiration? When I started watching movies, I used to check the IMDB score. But there were many instances where I felt disappointed, mainly because some had a higher rating than they should have while others had a lower rating. Mostly I think IMDB is biased because users can skew the ratings. Otherwise, how does one justify Mithun Chakraborty's Gunda receiving 7.3/10 (as of 15th Aug 2023)? I reckon Metacritic 's ratings on a scale of 100 makes sense for mainstream movies. I went through the list of my watched movies and gave a rating on a scale of 100 and checked their Metacritic Ratings and found them to be similar to what I had given. (for documentaries I generally don't refer to them as they usually have high ratings). One of my favorite Film critics is Chris Stuckmann. I came...

Where to Watch: Apple TV Back in 2021,  the "UEFA Euro 2020 Final" (yes, the tournament was supposed to happen in 2020 but happened in 2021 due to "you know what") ended with the England Football Team finishing as runners-up against Italy. The game ended 1-1 after extra time with Italy winning 3-2 on penalties. After a few days, Jason Sudeikis (who plays the central character Ted Lasso) was seen sporting a Black Jumper with the words " Jadon & Marcus & Bukayo " (supporting the three players who missed the penalties for England and were targets of racial abuse) ahead of the Season 2 premiere. This was the first time I heard about this series and after researching about it, I realized that this character is based on a series of TV commercials that aired back in 2013. The premise was intriguing enough for me and I saw Season 1 (2020) and Season 2 (2021) back to back.  Seasons 1 and 2 were good for the most part, but there were a couple of episodes in...

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video The second season of "The Test" comes out almost three years after the first season debuted. This season has only four episodes compared to the eight in the first season. The season begins just before the 21-22 Ashes series when Tim Paine stepped down as Captain of Australia's Test team. The first two episodes focus on the Ashes Series, Pat Cummins' captaincy (and Steve Smith's during the second test match). The third episode shifts focus to the Australian Cricket team returning to Pakistan for the first time in over two decades to play a three-test match series. The final episode is Australia's Tour of Sri Lanka (Only the Test Matches). If I had to judge this installment, I would do it in 2 parts; the first two episodes had a slower tempo (maybe because it was one-sided) while the last two episodes were riveting. This series could have been better if it had two more episodes. The episodes covering the Ashes focussed more on ...

 Where to Watch: Amazon Prime The Spanish title translates to "Spain National Football Team: Strength of the Group". This is a 2-episode fly-on-the-wall documentary that captures the story of the Spain National Football team in the UEFA Euro 2020. I couldn’t help but compare it with 5-Episode “All or Nothing: Brazil National Team” a documentary filmed in a similar style during “2019 Copa America”. Although at 5 episodes that documentary was too long, I felt that at 2 episodes, “Selección Española de Fútbol, la Fuerza del Grupo” was too short. The episodes are around 35 minutes each and I think they could have had one more episode. One can argue that Spain did not win the Euros and hence the 2 episodes should be enough, but I think there are a lot of good moments involving Coach “Luis Enrique” and his team. I felt the coach and his style, the build-up to the Euros, which was a bit rushed, deserved more time. These minor shortcomings aside, I feel this is pretty watchable and w...

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video All or Nothing, a “fly-on-the-wall” series that has covered various sports like Rugby, Ice Hockey, American Football, and Soccer (just) Football, is back with its’ next installment covering Italian Football Club Juventus’ 2020-21 footballing season. Many football teams have had documentaries made on them, notable clubs include, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspurs, Boca Juniors, the Brazilian National Football Team which have all lasted one season. There are only two football documentaries that come to my mind spanning two seasons, namely Netflix’s “Sunderland ‘Til I Die” on English Football Club Sunderland A.F.C. and Amazon Prime’s “Takes us Home: Leads United” on English Football Club Leeds United. Both of these series capture clubs that have fallen from grace and are vying to play in the “Top Echelon” of the English Football System, albeit with differing fates but satisfying to watch nonetheless. But the case with Juventus ...

Where to Watch: Disney+ Hotstar Premium Luca is Pixar's 24th movie and has released direct-to-streaming similar to Pixar's previous, "Soul". Set in a fictional town called "Portorosso" in Italy, it follows the main character named "Luca Paguro" a "sea monster" that lives underwater that can take the appearance of a human being when out of the water (which he later finds out).  Luca is warned by his parents not to get out of the water and they call the humans out of the water "land monsters" (It is all about perspectives you see). Now Luca comes across and befriends Alberto who also happens to be a "sea monster" and encourages him to venture out of the water. The pair when out of the water look at a poster of a Vespa scooter (Product Placement?) and start making plans to first build and later purchase one and travel the world. What happens later on forms the crux of the story. I have seen every one of Pixar's previo...