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Skylab Movie Review : The film will put a smile on your face

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Lokendrasingh 612 days ago

Subhabrata saha 656 days ago.

One of the worst movies in this world. Unbelievable skill by the producer and director to create such a disastrous movie.

Guest 820 days ago

nice story line but could have been scripted in a better way. some scenes are slow & dragging.

Ramesh Santana 3252 836 days ago

Best Movie it takes time to understand this master pieces /

Alok 82065 846 days ago

it is a good movie with lot of emotions. it keeps bind the spectator while the movies. since the climax of the movie is known so it could not create the suspense.

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Skylab Movie Review: A light-hearted comedy with tons of heart

Rating: ( 3.5 / 5).

During the opening credits of Skylab , producer Prithvi Pinnamaraju’s name is credited with ‘loved & produced by’ and it shows. The film is made with ample heart and the passion finds different ways to seep into every scene.

Directed by: Vishvak Khanderao

Starring: Nithya Menen, Satyadev, Rahul Ramakrishna

Take, for instance, Shivam Rao’s production design that gives a Wes Andersonesque vibe to the interiors, but never appears “artificial”. Similarly, costume designer Poojita Tadikonda, who has to design for a period setting, doesn’t take the tried-and-tested route of styling men in bottom baggies. Prashanth R Vihari’s lovely score wonderfully captures the varying moods without overselling the emotion. Ravi Teja Girijala’s editing finds simple yet inventive methods to exalt simple scenes and montages. Aditya Javvadi’s camera and lighting are in a duet throughout, and yet the frames never come across as flashy (take the scene where Nithya Menen's character meets her former school teacher in the second half and experiences emancipation of sorts). As mentioned earlier, the team's passion finds its way to seep into every scene. With the technical flourishes so on point, the writing of Vishvak Khanderao, which runs the risk of appearing repetitive, manages to ‘land’ all its intentions towards the end, circumventing the parts of unevenness and monotony.

Skylab is based on the true story of NASA’s first space station named Skylab, which was deorbited in 1979. Speculations regarding the debris hitting the earth, especially India, potentially causing mass destruction spread like wildfire. I remember my mother sharing a childhood anecdote about how people around her celebrated the likelihood of the end of the world. Of course, people perceive potential catastrophes in different ways, I suppose. Skylab is not only about how people of the village of Bandalingampally react to the possibility of the disaster, but also focuses on how this global event changes the leads—Gowri (Nithya Menen), Anand (Satyadev Kancharana), and Subedar Ramarao (Rahul Ramakrishna)—as individuals. 

More than the village crumbling in confusion and fear of the unknown, Skylab is about how an event of this scale instigates change among people. This explains why the filmmaker spends the entire first half of the film establishing the characters, their desires, flaws, and more. It is impressive how Vishvak resists the temptation to jump to the more exciting and dramatic part, and almost runs the risk of redundancy. However, it is the repetition that gives a greater payoff to the roles of Gowri, Ramarao, and Anand. 

Skylab has several beautifully written characters that go beyond just a one-line description: Gowri, an unsuccessful journalist, is the daughter of the village head; the money-minded Anand, a doctor whose license is revoked, arrives at Bandilingampally to persuade his grandfather (Tanikella Bharani) to lend him the money to regain his license; the unemployed Ramarao, err, Subedhar Ramarao, is indebted to almost everyone in the village, but his grandmother refrains him from taking a job using family honour as an excuse. It also helps that the comedy works to a major extent; take, for instance, a great stretch involving a clarinet in the first half, or the equally funny interactions between Ramarao and his grandmother. They are not the laugh-out-loud kind of humour but the type that ensures there is a constant smile on our faces.

Apart from the leads, Skylab is filled with a host of lovely characters, be it Seenu (Vishnu OI), Gowri’s ever-reliable assistant, Gowri’s former schoolmaster played by Subbaraya Sharma, Ramarao’s prideful grandmother, a little boy who collects the coins the devotees throw in the village’s temple tank, an old Dalit man who is on a mission to sculpt the idol of Rama, and a young Brahmin kid who guides this man, and more! The sheer number of characters that leave a mark speaks volumes of the heart the filmmaker has poured into the film. The best moments in the film, in fact, involve these characters, not just the leads. I do wish the filmmaker delved into the caste angle more, especially in the first half, though. 

Heartfelt would be the perfect word to describe the final 30 minutes of Skylab , where its take on casteism, the character arcs, the conflicts, and everything the film had set up until then culminates into a beautiful climax. Gowri writes, “fear united humans on that day”, erasing man-made boundaries like caste, and it’s wonderful how the film explores the repercussions of this potential disaster with a humanistic touch. We start to see the good in humans, we listen to their stories, their fears, and dreams, and that’s when Skylab becomes more than comedy; that’s when it becomes a critique on how we have constricted ourselves, and how liberating it can be when we let go of these demarcations. The ending, in fact, did tear me up. 

It’s amusing how Skylab , a film based on events that occurred in 1979, is so relevant in 2021. Like the clueless villagers of Bandilingampally, we are wading through a pandemic where the greater threat keeps metamorphosing from time to time, and yet it’s funny how so many people around us continue to remain obsessed with factors such as caste and religion. At least, I'm glad we have films like Skylab serving as a reminder of what's important and what’s not.

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The period drama deals with the crash of an experimental lab built in space called 'Skylab' The period drama deals with the crash of an experimental lab built in space called 'Skylab' The period drama deals with the crash of an experimental lab built in space called 'Skylab'

• Vishvak Khanderao
• Mahaboob Basha
• Tanikella Bharani
• 24 User reviews
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• Meesam Saidulu
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• Sambha villager
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• Jan 27, 2022
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Skylab Review: A Well-Made Film That Celebrates Stories, Big and Small

“The story your parents forgot to tell you.” This is the tagline of Skylab , written and directed by Vishvak Khanderao . It is accurate because our parents did forget. But the film has no interest in the titular earthbound satellite, only its effects on a community. It is merely an excuse to explore a village, Banda Lingampally, and its many eccentricities. People there don’t panic the way you’d expect, even their chaos is a bit peculiar. This, in turn, results in a film that is just as peculiar, delightfully so.   

Skylab ’s palette is colourful and joyous. It is exciting to finally find a filmmaker who appreciates the colour blue for all that it evokes and conveys. Everything important in the film – rock to toy airplane – is painted some shade of blue. Vishwak is detail-oriented and patient. He casually places a wall of Raj Kapoor ’s movie posters in a few frames, but only reveals their relevance in the end. The way Vishwak writes his characters reminded me of Jhandyala; how most of his characters are caricatures, yet fully-realised human beings. Here too, despite the dreamlike world-building, the characters are rounded. Their quirks never render them one-dimensional.   

“Loved and Produced by Prithvi Pinnamaraju,” proclaim the title credits and after watching the film, you realise that’s not an exaggeration. Skylab feels like it’s made by a team that understands one another completely. Prashanth Vihar’s BGM doesn’t feel like a separate entity. It becomes one with the movements of the characters, as if they too can hear it and are only acting accordingly. It also helps intensify the theatricality of it all. Vishvak’s screenplay does the heavy lifting while managing a thematic link between story jumps. But the impeccable scene transitions, aided by match cuts and visual cues, are a result of editor Ravi Teja and cinematographer Aditya Javvadi working as a single unit.   

Anand ( Satya Dev ) is a doctor who needs to make some quick money to get his certificate back, and he isn’t too particular about the means. Subedar Rama Rao ( Rahul Ramakrishna ), a man whose family history is a burden, is looking for a way out of debt. They eventually find each other and decide to open a clinic in the village. Gauri ( Nithya Menen ), a journalist, is looking for a story to write, to see if she is worth anything as a writer. Seenu (Vishnu) is her accomplice, a man who works in her father’s house and indulges her every whim. Rahul Ramakrishna is one of those actors who can play an entertainingly frustrated man in his sleep, so it surprises no one that he is good as Rama. Satya Dev’s Anand, on the other hand, is a bit more layered. He is a good man stuck in a pragmatist’s mindset. He is never sure of his decisions – what’s good for him vs what’s good for others. The actor manages to show us this struggle, especially in the pre-climax sequence. But the most impressive performance comes from Vishnu, who plays Seenu with maternal warmth and friendly camaraderie. His chemistry with Menen is flawless. 

Gauri is a peculiar character. She makes it a point to separate herself from her father, a Dora , even paints over his name in her room’s nameplate. But is blissfully ignorant of the privilege that celebrates her mediocrity. Menen has a theatricality about her. Even when she is saying/doing something small, her screen presence makes it seem like the most important thing. In any other film with simple intentions, like the insufferable Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju , this grandness would’ve been an issue. But  Skylab , a film that wants to dramatize the casual parts of life, gives her the space to shine. Even if we laugh at Gauri’s delusions at first, we soon are nudged, by Menen’s able performance, to empathise with this sheltered, yet well-intentioned woman.  

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That’s exactly what  Skylab  is as a film. Self-indulgent in parts (the slight lull after the intermission is a result of this), but always earnest. After realising her humble place in the scheme of things, Gauri remarks, “ Choose kallu, raase opika undale gaani, oorantha kadhale (All you need is the right eye and patience to write, for the village is filled with stories).” The film, then, is meticulously crafted as an ode to such stories. They look the same from afar, but give them a minute and they will gift you a moment you can fondly remember for a lifetime. Every subplot – whether it’s Saranya Pradeep’s character, the sculptor Lacchi, or the boy who waits by the koneru – has a purpose and is fully realised. The gaze might be a bit dreamy and naive, but if Gauri ever makes a film, this is what it would look like. I, for one, am excited to see what’s in store for her, and for the man who’s created her.

This Skylab review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the movie. Silverscreen.in and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.

Where to Watch

Mahaboob Basha (Meesam Saidulu) Tanikella Bharani Cricknowle (Sunny) Satyadev Kancharana Nithya Menen (Gowri) Anusha Nuthula (Anuradha) Bhanu Prakash (Chotu) Rahul Ramakrishna Aripirala Satyaprasad (Ramesh) Meesam Suresh (Sambha villager)

Vishvak Khanderao

The period drama deals with the crash of an experimental lab built in space called 'Skylab'

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'Skylab' review: Feel-good narration, some ignorable flaws, no romantic track

Nithya Menen and Satyadev's Skylab , directed by debutant Vishvak Khanderao, is based on stories the director heard about an American space station getting disintegrated in a Telangana village in 1979. It was believed that the space station was about to crash on the district of Karimnagar. Having read several news articles about this, I was looking forward to watching Skylab . And, here's our review.

Menen and Satyadev's roles were fun to watch

Gauri (Menen) is a feudal lord's daughter, who strives hard to have her own career but she does not have the talent to fulfill her journalistic aspirations. Her comical scenes were rib-tickling and thoroughly enjoyable. Anand (Satyadev) loses his job after his greedy act to make more money gets caught. Both are individuals who are trying to get their careers back on track.

Film has no romantic track between the lead actors

One of the unexpected surprises in Skylab was that the lead characters were not paired opposite each other. They hardly even met in the whole film. In fact, there was no romantic track in the movie at all. Having the Skylab's crashing as a background for the fictional story, the film narrated how the highly superstitious villagers handled the situation. And, it was hilarious!

'Skylab' narrates how people break superstitions to survive

As news about the probable crash spreads, the villagers do all things possible to survive. They sell their properties, pray that they will name their kids "Skylab" if they survive the crash, etc. Using the stories he heard, the director shows us how people from the oppressed class start their reform. In other words, the crash was displayed as a blessing in disguise.

The movie has several moments that clicked well

The film has several impactful moments narrating how the oppressed class starts improving during the crash scare. Like, there was a scene when people reopened a public healthcare center (mostly used by the oppressed class) that was believed to be haunted. There was also a sequence where people from the oppressed class found shelter at a temple meant only for the upper class.

Some lifeless dialogues, but heart was in the right place

Prashanth Vihari's music and Aditya Javvadi's cinematography almost took us back to the '70s. On the whole, if you want to take a break from the mainstream action and romantic movies, you will really enjoy this film. Even with a few scenes that look dragged and some lifeless dialogues, the film had its heart in the right place. Verdict: Skylab bags 3.5 stars .

• Movie Reviews

Skylab Review

What's Behind

When Nitya Menen decided to act and produce the film Skylab, expectations increased as she is known for doing good entertainers. Skylab title and the inspiration of 1970 incidents regarding a US space station and its connection to a remote village in Telangana, excited all. The film directed by Vishwak Khanderao hit the screens today. Let us find out what Skylab offers to viewers.

Story Review

Gowri (Nitya Menen), a reporter in Pratibimbam magazine in Hyderabad rushes to her village Banda Lingampally on hearing that her father was ill. Later she realizes it's a ploy by her mother (Tulasi)to get her married. She vows to become a reputed journalist in six months to escape from marriage. At the same time, Anand (Satyadev), returns to Banda Lingampally to raise Rs 5000 from his grandfather (Tanikella Bharani) so that he can get his doctor license revoked. In a similar village, Rama (Rahul Ramakrishna) who lands in many debts is prevented by her grandmother from doing any job as they hail from a royal Subedar family.  When they try to ward off their problems, they get a huge shock when they come to know about the impending fall of Skylab.  To find out more about Skylab and its connection to their problems, enjoy Skylab on screen.

Artists, Technicians Review

Director Vishwak Khanderao selected an interesting plot and tried to attract movie lovers coming with a story based on real-life incidents. The entire first half is spent on the introduction of various characters and highlighting their problems and generating comedy through them. Though it worked out to some extent initially, it ended up testing the patience of the viewers. With the narration not touching the main story till the end of the first half, movie lovers did not get anything exciting on the screen except for a few laughs.

While people expected at least the second half to be racy, the narration fell apart with routine scenes giving endless torture to the viewers. Though the 1970s backdrop looked fine and the Telangana dialect, with a lack of emotions and real twists and turns, it turned out to be a tedious watch. Director Khanderao failed with his screenplay and direction. Even the story turned out to be weak in writing except for the interesting premise. The slow pace impacted the film in a big way.

Prashant Vihari's music is ok and BGM is in sync with the plot. The cinematography of Aditya is good and realistic. He showed the village rustic atmosphere in the 1970s in a realistic manner. Editing of Raviteja Girijala left a lot to be desired. Production values are ok.

Nithya Menen sparkled in her role. She is lively, colorful, and lived in the role of a girl who aspires to be a successful reporter. Nithya Menen comes with realistic performance and her dialogue delivery and expressions attracted all. She with her screen presence carried the film on her shoulders. Her looks and appearance are depicted in a realistic manner of a girl hailing from a rich family in a remote village in Telangana.

Satyadev performed well as a young doctor whose license gets canceled. Though his appearance and looks are apt, however, his character is not written strongly. He just passed through the motions. Rahul Ramakrishna, Tanikella Bharani, Tulasi, and comedian Vishnu attract by their performances.

Nithya Menen, Satyadev

Cinematography

Disadvantages

Missing emotions

Rating Analysis

Skylab generated immense interest with the presence of Nithya Menen and Satyadev. The trailer raised expectations of a comedy caper but viewers got a huge shock in theatres. Except for a couple of scenes in the first half, the entire film turned out to be relentless torture. Director Vishwak Khanderao should have worked on the story, screenplay, and direction for better impact. He failed to elevate the talent of Nitya Menen and Satyadev and despite Nitya's performance, there is nothing to rave about. Considering all these points, CJ goes with a 1.75 rating for Skylab.

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Release Date : December 04,2021

123telugu.com Rating : 2.25/5

Starring: Satya Dev, Nithya Menen, Rahul Ramakrishna, Tulasi Shivamani, Tanikella Bharani.

Director: Vishvak Khanderao

Producers: Nithya Menen,Pravallika Pinnamaraju, Prithvi Pinnamaraju

Music Director: Prashanth Vihari

Cinematography : Aditya Javvadi

Editor: Ravi Teja Girijala

Skylab is a film that has been promoted a lot in the last few days. The film starring Satyadev and Nithya Menen has been released today and let’s see how it is.

The film is set in 1979 amidst a remote village in Telangana. This is also the time when a US-based satellite fails and its debris is all set to fall on this small village in Telangana. How the characters played by Satyadev, Rahul Ramakrishna, and Nithya Menen get affected and how their world changes due to this news form the basic story of the film.

Plus Points

The story of the film is quite unique and has been set up quite well in a small town. The characters and their ideologies have also been etched well by the director. The camera work and small-town endearing visuals are good.

Satyadev plays a doctor and he is good in his role. His body language and the eagerness needed in his role have been superbly showcased by Satyadev. Tanikella Bharani, the lady who played Rahul Ramakrishna’s grandmother was quite impressive.

Nithya Menen is amazing in her tailor-made role as an author. She has slimmed down and does a good job and drives the film. Rahul Ramakrishna is also neat in his role who is bound by family issues. All his scenes with Satyadev are impressive, to say the least.

Minus Points

Though the story and characters are honest, the narration is where the film falters big time. The story does not take off until the interval point and this makes the first half boring.

The director takes way too much time to establish the various stories in the film. Though he had a good scope to elevate emotions and solid comedy, he misses out in a big way.

Barring the last ten minutes, the characters do not have much emotional connection. This is where you do not relate to the characters much in the second half. Also, the tension needed when you know your life is going to end is completely missing in all the characters.

Technical Aspects

The production values are good and the BGM is also neat. Camerawork needs a special mention as the small town visuals are showcased well. The period backdrop is shown well by the able production design. Editing is bad as at least fifteen minutes in the film could have been chopped off.

Coming to the director Vishwak Khaderao, he has done a poor job with the film. Even after having a solid premise, good actors, he could not generate the punch and made this film slow and boring.

On the whole, Skylab is a film that has an honest story and a good premise. But the narration is dull, lacks sheen, and makes the proceedings lethargic. The slow pace is also one of the drawbacks and gives the proceedings an art film kind of a feel. Finally, Skylab would have been a decent OTT watch but for the big screen, it ends as a painful watch, to say the least.

123telugu.com Rating: 2.25/5

Reviewed by 123telugu Team

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Movie Review: Skylab

Article by Satya B Published by GulteDesk --> Published on: 11:17 am, 4 December 2021

2 Hrs 28 Mins   |   Fun   |   04-12-2021

Cast - Satya Dev, Nithya Menen, Rahul Ramakrishna, Tulasi, Tanikella Bharani

Director - Vishvak Khanderao

Producer - Nithya Menen,Pravallika Pinnamaraju, Prithvi Pinnamaraju

Banner - Byte Features, Nithya Menen Company

Music - Prasanth

Nithya Menen and Satya Dev are talented actors who choose different scripts. The duo’s collaboration for Skylab did create interest. Interestingly, Nithya Menen turned producer for the film which added to the curiosity. Without further due, let’s find out our take on the movie.

What is it about?

It’s the 1970s. Bandalingampalli is a remote village in Telangana where people live in their world. Gauri (Nithya Menen) is a Dora Bidda. But her passion for writing and journalism made her work for a newspaper called Prathibimbam in Hyderabad. She returns to her hometown when she learns about her father’s sickness. Dr Anand (Satyadev) lands in the village to seek financial help from his pensioned grandfather (Tanikella Bharani) to get his doctor licence back. When his grandfather is reluctant, Anand decides to make money in the village by opening a clinic. Subedar Ramarao (Rahul Ramakrishna) funds this clinic hoping that it would be profitable business. All their worlds come crashing when a space station called Skylab is going to crash on earth. How Gauri, Anand try to use this for their fortune? Did Skylab change their fate? How did it transform their lives? Skylab answers the above.

Performances

Nithya Menen has charming looks with neat styling, but she is confined to a role that has no strength. She is overly pampered by her mother. She lives in a psuedo world where her ‘writing’ is great until and unless her childhood teacher tells the truth and opens her eyes. It is a very boring role for Nithya. Satyadev this time disappoints. He is initially projected as streetsmart, but it doesn’t reflect in his actions. At portions, he shows his mark through his natural style of acting, but as a whole, his character has no fireworks. Rahul Ramakrishna as Subedaru Ramarao’s role doesn’t justify. On one side he has a pile of debts and lacks a penny in his pocket, yet he risks huge money on a clinic. Tanikella Bharani’s role has no importance. There are several other characters in the village which don’t leave a lasting impact. None of them are serious enough to care for.

Technicalities

Skylab has an interesting idea on paper. Debutante director Vishvak threaded a story around this concept by setting it up in rural milieu. There are no engaging scenes. Director tries his best to evoke laughs, but it fails miserably. The film doesn’t shine due to its weak writing and snail-paced narration. The screenplay is linear and lacks the twists. Entire movie is predominantly shot in a village. There are no high moments. Background music is alright. Cinematography is neat and recreates the era of the 1970s.

Interesting Concept

Snail-Paced Narration Lack Of High Moments Poor Comedy

Newcomer Vishvak Khanderao has chosen an interesting premise for his directorial debut. But he failed to deliver an engaging film which has neither thorough entertainment nor a gripping factor to hook to screens. Right from the word go, Skylab struggles with its pace. The film’s narration is dead-slow. Several scenes are stretched out and dragged in the first half. The director wastes a chunk of screen time in establishing the characters. While the interval block brings some interest and hope over the film. The second-half of the film takes a nosedive.

The saving grace is some emotional scenes where Gauri (Nithya Menen) realises what she should write about as her last story and the transformation in Dr Anand (Satyadev) after treating a child in the village. Barring these, the film lacks the depth it is supposed to have. There is a great scope for the film given its unique concept. But the makers fail to make proper use of it.

Dr Anand leaving Hyderabad and arriving in a poor village Bandalingampalli to make money is unrealistic. Even the backstory about the primary health center being shut for 15 years isn’t convincing enough. How Tanikella Bharani changes his mind isn’t shown properly. The film misses out on key logics. That is not all. There is no proper comedy. Director tries so hard to make audiences laugh, but fails.

There are many moments in the film where it tests the patience of viewers. Lack of a love story is a major shortcoming for the film. All these together make Skylab a thoroughly boring watch. In a nutshell, just like the story that is set in the 1970s, the film’s pace also belongs to the 70s. The movie ends on an expected note with a positive ending. All dots are connected and all characters are rounded off.

Bottom-line: Tests Patience

Rating: 2/5

Tags Movie Reviews Nithya Menen Skylab

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Skylab – review

A pleasure to have this on UK release: Julie Delpy's 2011 film Skylab is her second as a director, a lovely, easygoing movie with garrulity and charm, giving us that quintessentially French image of the sun-dappled al fresco family lunch. It is a nostalgic period piece from 1979, when the French public were briefly galvanised by reports that Nasa's Skylab research rocket could be about to crash somewhere in western France. Delpy plays Anna, bringing her children to a colossal family get-together at the ramshackle Brittany house of her mother, played by Emmanuelle Riva – admirers of Haneke's Amour might be relieved to see her safe and well in this gentler film. There is every sort of intrigue and gossip: a virtual week's worth of activity compressed into a single day. Delpy's film suggests that France has lost big-hearted family values, and neglected the importance of going on holiday and doing nothing. Significantly, the movie unfolds in flashback from an ill-tempered modern-day trip on Eurostar, a connection with those Anglo-Saxon concepts of joyless hard work and staying late in the office that former president Sarkozy hoped to introduce. A film with a very high likability factor.

• Julie Delpy
• World cinema
• Drama films

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Skylab Movie Review: Boring Lab

Movie: Skylab Rating: 2/5 Banner: Byte Pictures, Nithya Menen Company Cast: Nithya Menen, Satyadev, Rahul Ramakrishna, Tanikella Bharani, Tulasi and others Music: Prashanth R Vihari Cinematographer: Aditya Javvadi  Editor: Ravi Teja Girijala  Co-Producer: Nithya Menen Producer: Prithvi Pinnamaraju  Writer-Director: Vishvak Khanderao Release Date: December 4, 2021

The trailer of ‘Skylab’ piqued our interest. It created a positive impact as the concept looked exciting. Nithya Menen turning producer for this film is another reason that generated buzz.

Let’s find out its merits and demerits.

Story: Set in a village in Banda Lingampally in Karimnagar district in 1979, the story talks about incidents before the fall of American space station ‘Skylab’.

The village has different exciting characters, but it focuses on three persons - a wannabe writer and journalist Gauri (Nithya Menen), a doctor named Anand (Satya Dev), and a youngster Ramarao (Rahul Ramakrishna) who is struggling to clear the debts of their family.

As the news spread that the ‘Skylab’ may fall right on their village, the inhabitants do all sorts of things. 

Artistes’ Performances: Nithya Menen as a daughter of a rich landlord and a wannabe writer holds the moments whenever she appears on the screen. Though her role is clichéd, her screen presence does the magic.

Satyadev has nothing much to do in the whole scheme of things. He plays a greedy doctor. Rahul Ramakrishna has provided some comic relief.

Tanikella Bharani and Tulasi are okay.

Technical Excellence: Prashanth Vihari’s music is in sync with the theme. The cinematography and the production design are neat. The editor must have slept on the table itself. The film needs a lot (yes, a lot) of trimming. Bad judgment of editing!

Highlights: Nothing

Drawback: Boring first half Dead slow narration Lengthy drama with a wafer-thin plot

Analysis “Skylab” is based on some real incidents. Oldtimers say that people went in panic for days when the news spread that the space station might fall anywhere in India. The premise is definitely interesting. But that alone is not enough to hold the viewer’s interest. 

The writer-director takes the entire first half just to establish various characters in the film besides introducing the three main leads played by Nithya Menen, Satya Dev, and Rahul Ramakrishna. Some comic dialogues have definitely worked, but devoting the entire first half to these characters and their problems has made the film a dull affair. Moreover, the pace is slower than the snail’s pace.

Nithya Menen’s track of budding writer is clichéd. She believes that she’s a good writer and a fine journalist, but the editor thinks she has awful writing skills. To establish this point, the drama goes on for more than half-hour. The writer should have taken inspiration from Sri Lakshmi’s old comedy scenes and how to write comedy in such cases. Remember the film Chantabbayi in which Sri Lakshmi played such writer's role?

The track of Satyadev who comes to this village to earn Rs 5000 to get his medical practicing license goes on and on. There are other small characters and their arcs. Amidst all this chaos, only Rahul Ramakrishna’s scenes provide some laughs.

The premise has scope for narrating it hilariously. But the director has not capitalized it. The idea of his comedy doesn’t reflect modern times.

All in all, despite having an interesting concept, the screenplay and tiresome runtime, and boring sequences have killed it. Watching it in theaters, this dead-slow drama make audience exhausted.

Bottom-line: Falls on the heads of audience

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Chad michael murray on ‘freaky friday’ sequel: “if jake has a story to tell, i’d be there in a heartbeat”, ‘rebel moon – part two: the scargiver’ review: zack snyder’s space opera descends further into a black hole of nothingness.

By Valerie Complex

Valerie Complex

Associate Editor/Film Writer

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SPOILER ALERT: This review reveals details of both Rebel Moon movies. Slow-motion scenes that sputter story pacing? Check.

Poorly developed characters? Check.

Plot holes bigger than the Milky Way? Check.

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The headache-inducing journey of part two begins with exposition from Jimmy, who gives a rundown of past events and what lies ahead for Veldt. The bargain-basement guardians of the galaxy, who include Kora aka The Scargiver (Boutella), Gunnar (Huisman), General Titus (Hounsou), Nemesis (Bae), Prince Tarak (Nair) and Milius (Duffy), have returned to help stage an uprising they plan to execute in five days’ time when the Imperium Army comes back to the moon for grain. Kora reports to the village that Admiral Atticus Noble (Skrein) is dead, but little does she know, he’s been resurrected aboard the dreadnaught ship that hovers around Veldt’s orbit.

As everyone prepares to fight, Kora reveals the part she had to play in the assassination of the King and Princess Issa, which caused her to leave Balisarius (Fra Fee) behind and go on the run. What follows is 70-minutes of slog. Slow-motion scenes of characters farming, even more exposition, and loud explosions.

Also the makeup and hair are given little attention to detail, which is surprising because the actors and characters in Snyder’s films usually look stunning. Here, everything looks caked and glued on, almost as if the budget had run low. Actually, on every level it seems like more money was pumped into part one than into The Scargiver .

Snyder does deserve some credit for his diverse casting choices, but the failure to highlight this cast’s strongest attributes is apparent. Boutella should be leading Hollywood’s biggest action franchises because she understands the genre and knows how to execute fight choreography while making it look sleek. Hounsou is an actor’s actor, and a two-time Oscar nominee; he knows what he’s doing, but deserves to work with material worthy of his talents. Hopkins as Jimmy, who does less than nothing in the entirety of Rebel Moon , is still the best element the film has to offer. Look, attaching Oscar winners and nominees to your film does not make it prestigious. Good storytelling is what gives a film prestige!

The man has made great films: Dawn of the Dead is one, and while it may not have aged well, 300 still stands out as a decent comic book adaptation. The Snyder Cut of the Justice League isn’t perfect, but it’s beautiful to look at (and so are the actors). In the Rebel Moon saga, it’s just a whole lot of nothing. It’s 4 hours and 15 minutes I’ll never get back.

Title:   Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver Distributor: Netflix Release date:  April 19, 2024 Director:  Zack Snyder Screenwriters:  Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten  Cast: Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Doona Bae, Stars Nair, Elise Duffy, Anthony Hopkins Rating:  R Running time:  2 hr 2 min

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'Biosphere' Review: You Have To See Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass’ Sci-Fi Dramedy To Believe It

First premiering back at 2022's TIFF, this introspective film playfully ponders life's greatest questions about existence, identity, and hope.

The Big Picture

• Biosphere is a sci-fi dramedy focusing on two men finding live at the end of the world.
• Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown deliver outstanding performances, making the film a pleasant surprise.
• Director Mel Eslyn's debut film displays talent, focusing on two friends' insecurities and humanity.

This review was originally published in 2023.

More than any other film you’ll see this year, there is unlikely to be as wonderfully unexpected a work as the one writer-director Mel Eslyn has created with her oddly beautiful feature debut Biosphere . At its most straightforward, it is a light science fiction dramedy starring a delightful Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown as two men who may be the very last people alive on Earth. They are living in a biosphere that gives the film its title where they spend their time running laps around the confined structure that is surrounded by darkness, discussing the complexities of the Super Mario Bros ., and just trying to fill the many days that stretch before them. They are also facing dwindling resources, a predicament which brings into painfully stark yet darkly silly focus just how fragile life is for each of them. Though they make jokes to keep sane, their story is one that initially seems to be defined by a painful dilemma in which there is seemingly no great outcome. To continue clinging to survival is to face an existence that will almost certainly be ruled by loneliness and isolation with only each other for company while to die a painful death of starvation is to seal the fate of humanity itself.

In the not-too-distant future, the last two men on earth must adapt and evolve to save humanity.

Ray (Brown) is the more intelligent one who has built the abode in which they are living and Billy (Duplass) is the more goofy of the duo who bumbles his way through their day-to-day life. Their relationship is expressed via a masculine familiarity with each making light jabs at the expense of the other as a way of maintaining intimacy in the only way they know how. They have a history together that may have brought about this crisis they find themselves in, which we are given only brief acknowledgments of and feels largely extraneous to a story that is best when it is looking forward. What it is that this future holds requires a great deal of withholding as to write of the film’s narrative in too much detail would take away from the experience. Some of this is external, as there is a mysterious green light outside that is initially distant though is rapidly growing closer to the biosphere itself, while much of it is internal in an increasingly profound sense. The relationship between the two men, as well as their vision of themselves and their masculinity, is the driving force of a bittersweet yet dynamic portrait of life at the end of the world that is one of the most pleasant surprises of the year thus far .

Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown Are Brilliant in 'Biosphere'

All of this subterfuge in terms of laying out its story may make it sound like this is more of a thriller built around twists and turns. It is thus important to note that, while there are plenty of growing developments, all of them are grounded in ephemeral emotions and how the two leads navigate their characters’ respective anxieties about the future. In this regard, Duplass and Brown each give what may be one of the best performances of their careers. Each brings to life the particularities of the man, both in what they put forth and who they are underneath it all, without ever falling into feeling like it is all a joke. Duplass has done similar work to this, such as in the underrated 2019 film Paddleton , but there is something more expansive to this .

We see Billy's flaws without him holding back just as we begin to see his capacity for change. It is existential without feeling weighty in a way that could be disappointing, but it also feels authentic in how it captures how people make sense of upheavals in their life. Much of this falls on Brown’s shoulders and he carries this weight like it was nothing. Just as he did in last year’s Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul , he can shift between being sharply funny in one moment and more conflicted in another . What makes it so interesting here is how the emotion starting to take hold of Ray will rise up when you least expect it with some monologues that he gives seeming like they could blow the roof off of the tiny home the two have built for themselves. When complimented by the wondrous score by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans , it takes on a transcendent quality that breaks free of any and all limitations.

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As the film then taps into something more deceptively deep, the jokes don’t undercut the themes it is excavating. Most refreshingly, they take us deeper into them and never reduce them to being a gag. One is in service of the other as it strikes a balance between sincerity and silliness that makes everything feel complete. There is a version of this film and a long history of works that have used similar topics as a way to ridicule rather than explore. Whether that exploration is a successful one will certainly bring about many conversations, especially when it comes to questions of gender and the ideas we have of it, though Biosphere never feels like it shies away from this. Instead, lines that hint at societal-level conceptions of what it means to be a man are all part of the world that has been created. It cuts into how both Billy and Ray are informed by their experiences, leading to increasing openness between them that is delicately incisive. Some of it can feel a bit slippery, with many scenes passing rather quickly when you almost wish it would sit with them for a bit longer, but the feelings themselves ring true whenever it has them in its grasp . It is a film that challenges the boundaries of genre, tone, and identity with a confidence that makes even moments of silence after the confessions come tumbling out feel quietly revelatory when you least expect it.

'Biosphere' Proves Mel Eslyn Is a Filmmaker to Watch

More than anything, the film proves to be the arrival of an exciting new directing voice . Eslyn, who also wrote the film with Duplass, has been a longtime producer though shows she is a talented filmmaker with much to say of her own with this feature debut. She has made a film that is not about sci-fi spectacle as much as it is a more intimate exploration of two friends. Some have compared it to the similarly introspective 2009 film Humpday , which was directed by the late director Lynn Shelton and also starred Duplass, in how each is about two men grappling with their insecurities while pushing the story further into uncharted waters.

However, rather than feeling like one is drawing from the other, they would make a great double feature. As time itself begins to blur where we don’t always know exactly how many days, weeks, or months have passed until there are physical markers that begin to provide some hint, the film also takes on an epic scale even amidst its absurdity. Even with a rather sudden ending, which lands with a literal thud, it is a fitting one that caps off a fascinating film about the infinite possibilities of both the universe and ourselves. All you need to do is open your mind to its wonders and you may too discover something about yourself along the way .

With transcendant perfromances by Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown, Biosphere proves Mel Eslyn is a director to watch.

• Both Duplass and Brown are outstanding, giving what may be the best performances of their careers thus far.
• Everything is complimented by a wondrous score by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans that breaks free of any and all limitations.
• Eslyn takes us beyond the sci-fi spectacle into a more intimate exploration of two friends that defies any and all expectations.

Biosphere is now available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.

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Review: Impressed, but Not Transported, by ‘Spirited Away’

A stage production of the beloved Studio Ghibli movie is big on spectacle, but rarely grabs the heart.

By Matt Wolf

The critic Matt Wolf saw the show in London.

There’s big, and then there’s “ Spirited Away ,” a show on a scale that few theater productions attempt.

Adapted from the venerated Studio Ghibli film by Hayao Miyazaki, the British director John Caird’s stage iteration was first seen in Miyazaki’s native Japan in 2022 and has now traveled to the London Coliseum — the West End’s largest theater — where it runs through Aug. 24.

Performed in Japanese, with many of the original cast members along for its British premiere, the production has size, sweep and opulence to spare. Length, too: At just over three hours, the stage version runs nearly an hour longer than the film. I can’t remember a foreign-language production given such a long run on a London stage — which itself speaks to the international cachet of this title.

What’s missing, though, is human connection. The story of “Spirited Away” gets lost amid the spectacle, and, exciting though it is to watch, the show rarely grabs the heart.

Both the stage and screen versions introduce so many characters that you sometimes need a road map to keep track. Aficionados of the material will note the brilliance with which characters are brought to three-dimensional life by the genius puppet designer, Toby Olié, and his hard-working team.

Others may struggle to work out a decidedly bizarre narrative, adapted for the stage by Caird and his wife, Maoko Imai. The positioning of the English-language surtitles doesn’t help: Those are placed on either side of the Coliseum’s vast stage and high above the proscenium arch, which, unless you speak Japanese, means shifting your head throughout to absorb the onstage action and its meaning.

Our through line to the strange events is 10-year-old Chihiro (a surpassingly sweet Mone Kamishiraishi), who takes an inadvertent turn into a spirit world on a bumpy car ride with her parents to a new home. Finding herself in what seems like a disused theme park, but in fact turns out to be a supernatural realm, Chihiro gets separated from her greedy parents, who morph into pigs.

The enchanted, sometimes dangerous, world is well conjured by the designer Jon Bausor, who fills every inch of the set with something to engage the eye, including an elegant wooden structure at the center of the stage — the story’s all-important bathhouse — that revolves throughout.

Chihiro encounters a cavalcade of creatures, and there’s delicious fun to be had from seeing iconic figures from the movie created anew. You thrill to the first sight of the mysterious No-Face (Hikaru Yamano), Chihiro’s lonely companion, and the creepy boiler-room employee, Kamaji (Tomorowo Taguchi), with tentacles that seem to extend for miles.

The Stink Spirit so foully memorable onscreen here appears as an oddly irresistible mound of sludge. And the range of puppets is simply astonishing, from flying dragons to soot sprites and characters, like the sorceress Yubaba (Mari Natsuki, an alumna of the film), who appear in recognizably human form one minute and then as forbidding outsized versions of themselves.

At times, the stage is so packed with activity that you lose the narrative thread and yearn for quieter moments amid the clamor. But the film’s sizable fan base will thrill to its renewed life onstage, and reactions to the show might depend on how invested you are in the material. Joe Hisaishi’s film score, played live throughout, offers an immediately nostalgic link to the celluloid source.

Comparisons are tricky, but it’s impossible not to set “Spirited Away” against “My Neighbor Totoro,” an earlier, much-loved Miyazaki title that reached the London stage in 2022, performed in English, and went on to win six Olivier Awards . That production gets a further London run starting next March.

But the comparatively streamlined “Totoro” maintains a domestic focus on a father and his two daughters throughout, and its nonhuman characters — of which there are many fewer — are easier to track. “Spirited Away,” by contrast, keeps the visuals coming until you are full to bursting, much like Chihiro’s gluttonous parents.

Was I emotionally transported, or spirited away? Alas not.

Spirited Away Through Aug. 24 at the Coliseum, in London; londoncoliseum.org .