The Instigators is a darkly humorous heist movie that revolves around two brothers, portrayed by Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, who find themselves in over their heads after a robbery goes awry. The film expertly blends intense action with sharp, witty dialogue, creating a unique atmosphere that keeps the audience engaged from start to finish. The performances by Damon and Affleck are standout, bringing depth and authenticity to their characters' strained relationship. With its clever writing and unexpected twists, The Instigators is more than just a heist movie—it's a gripping exploration of loyalty, desperation, and the lengths people will go to when pushed to their limits.
As I have been making Oscar Awards Prediction for quite some time, I am way too late this time where I am putting my precition right on the day when in a few hours final award show will commence.
This year it has been not that difficult to choose a winner as few movies completely stand out in their excellence. Here is my prediction for 2024 - 96th Academy Award.
Best Picture Nominees
1. Best Picture
Oppenheimer - {WINNER}
American Fiction
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
2. Best Director
Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer - {WINNER}
Justine Triet – Anatomy of a Fall
Martin Scorsese – Killers of the Flower Moon
Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
Yorgos Lanthimos – Poor Things
Jonathan Glazer – The Zone of Interest
3. Best Actor
Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer - {WINNER}
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Colman Domingo – Rustin
Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright – American Fiction
4. Best Actress
Emma Stone - Poor Things - {WINNER}
Lily Gladstone - Killers of the Flower Moon - {Alternate Choice}
Annette Bening – Nyad
Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller – Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan – Maestro
Emma Stone – Poor Things
5. Best Supporting Actor
Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer - {WINNER}
Sterling K. Brown – American Fiction
Robert De Niro – Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling – Barbie
Mark Ruffalo – Poor Things
6. Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt - Oppenheimer - {WINNER}
Da'Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers - {Alternate Choice}
Emily Blunt – Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks – The Color Purple
America Ferrera – Barbie
Da'Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers - {Alternate Choice}
Jodie Foster – Nyad
7. Best Original Screenplay
Anatomy of a Fall - {WINNER}
Anatomy of a Fall
The Holdovers
Maestro
May December
Past Lives
8. Best Adapted Screenplay
Oppenheimer - {WINNER}
American Fiction
Barbie
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
9. Best Animated Feature
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - {WINNER}
The Boy and the Heron
Elemental
Nimona
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
10. Best International Feature Film
The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom) - {WINNER}
Io capitano (Italy)
Perfect Days (Japan)
Society of the Snow (Spain)
The Teachers' Lounge (Germany)
The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom)
11. Best Sound
Oppenheimer - {WINNER}
The Creator
Maestro
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Oppenheimer
The Zone of Interest
12. Best Production Design
Poor Things - {WINNER}
Barbie - {Alternate Choice}
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
13. Best Cinematography
Oppenheimer - {WINNER}
El Conde
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
14. Best Film Editing
Oppenheimer - {WINNER}
Anatomy of a Fall
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
15. Best Visual Effects
Godzilla Minus One - {WINNER}
The Creator
Godzilla Minus One
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Napoleon
These are my predictions of Oscar, do tell me what's yours?
OMG 2 is the next movie of OMG - Oh My God! 2012 directed by Amit Rai. The movie is set up in Ujjain, a pilgrim city of Lord Shiva's Mahakaal avatar.
OMG 2 is the story of Kanti Sharan Mudgal (Pankaj Tripathi), a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva who is a simple family man living an ordinary life as a shopkeeper near Mahakaal temple. One day his son, is blamed for immoral sexual conduct and is rusticated from the school. His son goes into depression and even tries to commit suicide. While exploring the reason Kanti realises his son is a victim of misinformation and misguiding because of the lack of awareness of sexual education in society. with the intervention of Lord Shiva's messenger (Akshay Kumar), he decides to file a legal case against the school and everyone who misguided his son. The movie is about a one of it's kind court battle where Kanti blames school, self-certified doctor, chemist shop and himself for what his son has gone through without any of his faults.
OMG 2 takes its first past social messaging to the next level by focusing on the importance of sexual education in our society which is long ignored. The beauty of the movie it's amazing screenplay and direction by Amit Rai he makes sure that movie where it never loses track of what it wants to convey to the audience. It's a complicated subject that was handled beautifully with facts and argument which is part of our ancient culture.
Pankaj Tripathi stands out with one of his perfect performances of a naive father who argues his points to make his complex argument look simple. Yami Gautham as a defendant Lawyer has done a great job of putting strong arguments which was quite missing in OMG (2012). Akshay Kumar is simply amazing with his comic timing and the subtlety he brought in the character he plays which helped the story in crucial junctures. The movie has amazing humor moments around this serious topic like the court scene, the pun in our judicial systems which mostly talks in English, Kanti's innocent house wife and many more.
Overall OMG 2 is a great movie and put it message across beautifully to provoke thought among us for this important topic. A Must Watch!!
Kohrra is a Punjabi crime thriller in the form of miniseries produced by Netflix. It's about the murder of an NRI bridegroom in a small town in Punjab which is investigated by two cops Balbir Singh (Surinder Vicky) and Amarpal Garundi (Barun Sobti). It's a story about how many characters connected to the victim and his family unfolds their own secrets and deceits while the investigation continues.
Kohrra is a slow-burn drama but it grows on you, especially with a well-crafted script by Sudip Sharma & Team and amazing direction by Randeep Jha. The beauty of this series is its originality of all characters, superb production design reflecting Punjab in a very real manner and each character was so perfectly portrayed as if they are living it in real life. It's amazing while solving this murder mystery the creator subtly shows all the cultural and political issues that Punjab is facing from the drug menace, the craze about going abroad, and crime in general.
Every actor in Kohrra is an exception but the ones who stand out are lead actors Surinder Vivky and Barun Sobti. Another actor who truly stands out is Saurav Khurana who played the role of Saakar Khurana with great perfection.
Kohrra is a world-class mini-series with great production value and direction, A Must Watch !!
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part One #MI7 - World Class World Saving
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Finally, the famous Franshise of MI has arrived. MI7 is about an experimental AI called "ENTITY" that has immense power to sabotage any digital system gone rogue and entered into major defense, military systems, and intelligence networks of the world. The only way to control ENTITY is through two interlocked key which is separated and world powers rushes to own the keys so that they can control ENTITY which in a way give them the power to control the world. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) believes that the Entity poses too great a threat to humanity, he seeks to destroy it with his team. The movie is about how he tries to obtain the Key and try to find out what that key unfolds which can control Entity.
This movie has taken the action and spy drama to the next level and I can say that it has left franchises like 007 James Bond far behind in terms of its screenplay and flawless execution of action sequences with a superb soundtrack and mind-blowing background music. There are a lot of spy movies and Saving the World movie which is usually high on special effects but goes quite dud on the screenplay and that's what makes MI7 a class apart. It's a watertight story with excellent direction by Christopher McQuarrie. All cast are as usual amazing in their performance with great dark humor. Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, and Vanessa Fergusson bring continuity from previous movies.
The movie indeed belongs to Tom Cruise. You can see how he sweats it out at this age where he can give a run for money to younger actors. His masterpiece runs around with speed, always a unique car chase, and not to miss a unique unimaginable new stunt in every MI movie where here he delivers an iconic stunt where he jumps his motorbike from the cliff of 4000 feet height of Hellesylt mountain. The movies like Topgun Maverick, and Mission Impossible Series, Tom Cruise show his commitment and passion towards his audience and left them no choice but to come and watch it in the theater. There are many such stunts and actions sequence which was flawlessly executed.
I watched this movie on 16th July but waited for myself as I really wanted to give justice to the review with proper words and I still feel short of words for this amazing new age action movie. This is a must-watch and that too in IMAX Theater.
It's again that time of year and here is my Oscar prediction where I managed to watch all the nominees in the nick of time to make it for the oscar award prediction just a few hours before the final show.
Video Source: Oscars.org
1. Best Picture
Everything Everywhere All at Once - {WINNER}
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
The Fabelmans
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
Triangle of Sadness
Women Talking
2. Best Director
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All at Once - {WINNER}
Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin
Steven Spielberg – The Fabelmans
Todd Field – Tár
Ruben Östlund – Triangle of Sadness
3. Best Actor
Brendan Fraser – The Whale as Charlie - {WINNER}
Austin Butler – Elvis as Elvis Presley - {Alternate Choice}
Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin as Pádraic Súilleabháin
Paul Mescal – Aftersun as Calum Paterson
Bill Nighy – Living as Mr. Rodney Williams
4. Best Actress
Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All at Once as Evelyn Quan Wang - {WINNER}
Cate Blanchett – Tár as Lydia Tár - {Alternate Choice}
Ana de Armas – Blonde as Norma Jeane
Andrea Riseborough – To Leslie as Leslie Rowlands
Michelle Williams – The Fabelmans as Mitzi Schildkraut-Fabelman
5. Best Supporting Actor
Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All at Once as Waymond Wang - {WINNER}
Brendan Gleeson – The Banshees of Inisherin as Colm Doherty - {Alternate Choice}
Brian Tyree Henry – Causeway as James Aucoin
Judd Hirsch – The Fabelmans as Boris Schildkraut
Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin as Dominic Kearney
6. Best Supporting Actress
Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin as Siobhán Súilleabháin {WINNER}
Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as Queen Ramonda - {Alternate Choice}
Hong Chau – The Whale as Liz
Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All at Once as Deirdre Beaubeirdre
Stephanie Hsu – Everything Everywhere All at Once as Joy Wang / Jobu Tupaki
7. Best Animated Feature Film
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio - {WINNER}
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The Sea Beast
Turning Red
8. Best Production Design
Babylon - {WINNER}
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
Elvis
The Fabelmans
9. Best Cinematography
All Quiet on the Western Front - {WINNER}
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Elvis
Empire of Light
Tár – Florian Hoffmeister
10. Best International Feature Film
All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany) - {WINNER}
Argentina, 1985 (Argentina)
Close (Belgium)
EO (Poland)
The Quiet Girl (Ireland)
11. Best Original Screenplay
Everything Everywhere All at Once - {WINNER}
The Banshees of Inisherin
The Fabelmans
Tár – Todd Field
Triangle of Sadness – Ruben Östlund
12. Best Adapted Screenplay
Living - {WINNER}
All Quiet on the Western Front
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Top Gun: Maverick
Women Talking
13. Best Sound
Top Gun: Maverick - {WINNER}
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Elvis
14. Best Film Editing
Top Gun: Maverick - {WINNER}
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Tár
15. Best Visual Effects
Avatar: The Way of Water - {WINNER}
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Top Gun: Maverick
So that's my list of predictions for the 2023 Annual Academy Award, do let me know your feedback and your prediction. Looking forward to the final award show.
Disclaimer: All images are taken from various websites through google image search and are only used here for editorial purposes.
Kantara is a 2022 Indian Kannada-language period action drama movie written and directed by Rishab Shetty and produced by Hombale Films. This is about the Legend of the Keraadi Forest area in Coastal Karnataka where a king in 1847 gives his land to Tribals in the Forrest Area in lieu of Demigod to gain peace and prosperity for himself and his family. The tribals have Guliga Deva (a demigod) who warns the King, that if he or his family will ever goes back on the word will face the wrath of the Deity.
Down the generations, the king's successors in 1970 demand the land back from the tribals during the Kola festival and warn about going to court but after a few months dies mysterious death as pronounced by Deva. The movie travels to 1990 when a Forest Department wants to make the place a Reserve Forest area and a village Kambala Champion Shiva (Rishabh Shetty) gets into loggerheads with DRFO officer, Murali (Kishore). The movie is about the conflict between Tribals, Royal Blood, and Forest Department while the folklore of Kola and Demigod is in the background.
This movie is just fantastic in each frame from beginning to end. The movie is carried solely by Risabh Shetty who is not only in the lead role but also he is the one who has written as well as directed it. It's an amazing screenplay with perfect cinematography, a compelling background score, and flawless direction. The rawness of the jungle and village and the meticulously shot action sequence is the icing on the cake. Rishabh lives this role and looks so natural as tribal youth and what a performance by him in the climax which makes you speechless and awestruck.
This is another gem from Kannada Film Industry, an Oscar Worthy movie and Must Watch in Theatre.
