Reptile (2023)

STORY – 1
DIRECTOR – 1
ACTOR – 1
MUSIC – 1
CULT – 0

 

 

VERDICT – 4/5

 

 

PROS –
1) A veteran cop investigating the murder of a young real estate agent discovers that the murder is deeply linked to drugs, money laundering, and also the police department.
2) Benicio del Toro as the hardened detective is absolutely brilliant. Good old cop-drama thriller without any silly sub-plots.
3) Yair Elazar Glotman soundtrack is a revelation. He’s giving Hans Zimmer a run for his money.
4) The screenplay is tight and gripping to the last minute. An impressive debut for director Grant Singer.

 

 

CONS –
N/A

 

 

QUOTE –
Tom: How far would you go?
Peter: Excuse me?
Tom: No, are you willing to die for it?
Peter: I… I don’t know what we’re talking about here, Tom.
Tom: You don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about?
Peter: No. Absolutely no idea.
Tom: Holy shit. You’re fucking cute. I’m warning you, man. Don’t let me fucking catch you.

Bheemla Nayak (2022)

STORY – 0
DIRECTOR – 0
ACTOR – 1
MUSIC – 0
CULT – 0

 

 

VERDICT – 1/5

 

 

PROS –
1) A local large-than-life character, who left his violent vigilante antics and joined the police force gets suspended after an altercation with an MP’s son. He turns back to his vigilante ways when he got cornered.
2) The first 25 minutes built-up at the police station gave the impression of a promising cop-drama. Alas, it all fizzled out in the mass entertainer.

 

 

CONS –
1) A mass-action entertaining fan service for the fans of Pawan Kalyan.

 

 

QUOTE –
“uniform tumhare liye taaqat hogi, mere liye rukawat thi, isliye utaar di”

The Stoneman Murders (2009)

STORY – 1
DIRECTOR – 1
ACTOR – 1
MUSIC – 0
CULT – 1

 

 

VERDICT – 4/5

 

 

PROS –
1) A cop suspended for judicial killing ran a parallel investigation on a serial killer in 1980s Mumbai who is killing its victims by smashing their heads with stones.
2) A solid thriller with a twist ending.
3) Manish Gupta’s direction is gripping. Being the writer also, he picked an intriguing piece of history for the plot.

 

 

CONS –
1) Sloppy editing.
2) Arbaaz Khan is hardly there. His character is poorly developed and executed.

 

 

QUOTE –
“ye hatyaein nahin, bali hai”

Yeshwant (1997)

STORY – 1
DIRECTOR – 1
ACTOR – 1
MUSIC – 0
CULT – 1

 

 

VERDICT – 4/5

 

 

PROS –
1) Story of an upright and fearless cop fighting his lonely war against the corrupt system. His blunt and at times abusive relationship with his wife is an essential subplot.
2) Nana Patekar as Inspector Yashwant Lohar. One-man show. A quintessential Nana movie.
3) Shafi Inamdar as Lohar’s lawyer friend is amusing.
4) Lohar’s character deserves its presence in Rohit Shetty Cop Universe.

 

 

CONS –
N/A

 

 

QUOTE –
“ek machhar sala aadami ko Hizda bana deta hai”

Serpico (1973)

STORY – 1
DIRECTOR – 1
ACTOR – 1
MUSIC – 0
CULT – 0

 

 

VERDICT – 3/5

 

 

PROS –
1) Journey of an honest policeman of New York who saw extensive corruption in the local police force in the 1960s.
2) One of Al Pacino’s finest performances. His portrayal of the upright cop elevates the average biographical movie.
3) Al Pacino in various styles as the plain-clothes NY cop.

 

 

CONS –
N/A

 

 

QUOTE –
Frank Serpico: How come all your friends are on their way to bein’ someone else?

Batla House (2019)

STORY – 1
DIRECTOR – 0
ACTOR – 0
MUSIC – 0
CULT – 0

 

VERDICT – 1/5

 
PROS –
1) Most commercially viable time for a project like Batla House Encounter when the entire nation is drenched in nationalist fervor.

 

CONS –
1) Absent supporting cast. Apart from Ravi Kishan, hardly any actor is well known.
2) “O Saki Saki” remix can only get cheap views on YouTube, otherwise the entire soundtrack is garbage. Background score is mainly ripping off Hans Zimmer from The Dark Knight (2008)

 
QUOTE –
“students kaha hai maine, bekasoor nahin kaha”

L.A. Confidential (1997)

STORY – 1
DIRECTOR – 1
ACTOR – 1
MUSIC – 0
CULT – 0

VERDICT – 3/5

 
PROS –
1) A cop-drama about corruption-riddled LAPD in the 1950s. Three cops unearthing multiple layers of corruption whose foundation was laid by other three cops years ago.
2) Climactic shoot-out.
3) The two stars of this movie are Kevin Spacey as the morally corrupt detective Jack and Russell Crowe as hot-headed cop Bud.

 

CONS –
1) The entire Kim Basinger plot as Veronica Lake look-alike was pretentious and sluggish.

 
QUOTE –
Captain Dudley Smith: I wouldn’t trade places with Edmund Exley right now for all the whiskey in Ireland.

Cop Land (1997)

STORY – 1
DIRECTOR – 1
ACTOR – 1
MUSIC – 1
CULT – 1

VERDICT – 5/5

 

PROS –
1) Best Stallone (non-action) film
2) NY Confidential
3) No unnecessary subplot

 

CONS –
1) Too little screen time for De Niro

 

QUOTE –
“Bein’ right is not a bulletproof vest, Freddy.”