Netflix: Murder Mystery

Murder Mystery is a murder mystery movie distributed by Netflix. The name of this film may come across as one of a tentatively titled venture during its pre-production and production stages but is not. This is the film's final title and like the title the film seems quite unfinished.

As Adam Sandler's Nick Spitz says to his wife Audrey (Jennifer Aniston) "This is our adventure." That's primarily what the movie (Murder Mystery) is and strives to be. The adventure of an officer and his hairstylist/avid murder mystery novel reader as they go on a honeymoon to reignite a spark in their marriage and fall headlong into a Murder Mystery.

Nick Spitz fails his detectives exam and in a bid to surprise his wife and also pacify her decides that the time is now ripe for them to take their dream honeymoon 15 years to the day they were married. Their vacation turns into quite a surprising invitation by Viscount Charles Cavendish to a family gathering aboard a yacht. This invitation reeks of desperation and made me think about the character of 'the millionaire' from 'City Lights.' Except for the fact that here Cavendish is not drunk and he remembers then the next day and their invitation still stands.

Throughout the movie there are major call backs to Agatha Christie novels. The mixture of characters aboard the yacht are introduced in a manner so synonymous with the way they are in her novels. And every single one of them feels completely out of place in the year 2019. For example. The Maharaja of Mumbai! If you recognised this introduction style, you would understand that one particular character is crucial to the story.

The gathering of all the characters in a plethora of classic Agatha Christie novels such as 'Hercule Poirot's Christmas' and the iconic 'And then there were none' takes place here and we finally get the murder.

From this point on, one would be expecting the story to pick up, but it stumbles as it's sole purpose is to get particular characters to various locations. It has a stop start kind of feel to it which caused me to zone out.

Rather than a compelling murder mystery or even one along the lines of the 2006 film 'The Pink Panther' and it's sequel which fall into the comedy mystery genre we get ridiculous gags such as touching the body and puerile shtick like sticking the knife in and pulling it out.

The reactions and acting of the other guests aboard the yacht made me think of entertainment skits on talk shows as their reactions seemed manufactured and over the top. The two leads' bickering is also annoying, but this is their adventure.

'Murder Mystery' meanders on for another hour introducing us to a French detective whose name on first hearing sounds like Hercule Poirot. There are further call backs to Agatha Christie mysteries such as questioning everyone individually, the mysterious reveals of deeds many years ago and the classic seating of all the participants involved before the killer is revealed.

At this point I was so disinterested in this film and was extremely happy when the final reveal came in about 15 minutes before the movie was about to end. I didn't think that it's not quite right and there must be something more and was happy that this parody like film was finally over....

Murder Mystery is the type of 1 time watch for anyone, though most people may lack the mental fortitude required to not click the back button and return to the Netflix home screen. Fans of comedy and not so serious and dramatic Murder Mysteries will enjoy this Murder Mystery but unfortunately I'm not one of them. The movie ends in a manner that leaves room for a sequel which I personally hope isn't part of Adam Sandler's remaining films on his Netflix deal.

Black Mirror S05 E01: Striking Vipers

Striking Vipers is the first episode of the 5th season of Black Mirror.

The episode features best friends Karl and Danny use the video game 'Striking Vipers' as an escape from their day to day lives. The game offers players a chance to choose between a plethora of characters. Danny chooses a ripped male fighter Lance and Karl opts for scantily clad female fighter Roxette.

There is a line in this pre game dialogue between Karl and Danny which shows that Danny is one who has responsibility at the back of his mind and uses the game as a fantasy escape from reality. His tone shows that he is slightly sad, but that is a constant of Danny throughout the episode. It's sad-sad, sad-angry and shows us that he is just resigned to accepting life.

We jump 11 years to Danny's birthday barbecue party. He is now in his late 30s and doesn't seem that into his love life and is searching for excuses to avoid a second child. At this gathering his old friend Karl comes back into his life and his gift is the 'Striking Vipers X' game complete with all the technological upgrades of a decade.

Callister Inc (from the episode USS Calister) has released its technology which allows humans to transfer their consciousness onto the characters they play and even gives them the exact experience their on screen persona is going through. This is like Westworld come real except that here there are no other characters (hosts) apart from the ones you choose to lose yourself in.

They choose the same characters as they did over a decade ago, inhibit the characters consciousness in the virtual world and resume their battles. Then they have virtual sex with each other. It's a heterosexual encounter w.r.t. the virtual characters but the consciousness inhabiting the characters and experiencing the pleasure results in it being a homosexual encounter.

This frequent virtual sex leads to a further decline in Danny's marital life with Theo and she can sense it as she literally asks is there someone else. He forgets important dates and lives each day of his life waiting to get to the time he and Karl's consciousness will meet. And soon he feels guilty and locks the game, but Karl who continues to play reveals to Danny that virtual sex with other characters doesn't feel the same.

Striking Vipers a solid episode which manages to provide a balance between technology, fantasy and a way of escape and real life and responsibilities in keeping the commitments people have made to one another. It focuses on how people consider their virtual in game identities as a projection of their real lives unfulfilled desires and at times they become unable to differentiate between the boundaries of real and virtual.

It speaks about how technology can also be used to satisfy ones intrinsic needs but it's usage in limitation with the consent of all parties is a solution which has benefits for all.

The cast of is one of the best ever ensemble lineups for a Netflix episode and honestly such a line up should be getting much more attention than Miley Cyrus received for her appearance in the third episode of the series. 

Black Mirror S05 E03: Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too

Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too is the third and final episode of the 5th season of Black Mirror. 

The episode features sisters Rachel and Jack who live with their father who is designing a humane replacement to eliminate mice from households. The family has moved to another city and the 2 girls are struggling to come to terms with the loss of their mother. Rachel is gifted an Ashley Too doll on her birthday which spouts out motivational lines resulting in it (a robot doll) becoming a 15-year-olds closest companion and alienating her from other humans in her life. 

Miley Cyrus as Ashley O along with the AI doll Ashley Too

Their story runs parallel with teenage music sensation Ashley O who we see as happy on camera but her off screen persona is a complete contrast. She is under the control of her manager/aunt/guardian who is keen to make money off her niece until she turns 25 and maybe even after that. As Ashley O rebels against her support system (controllers) and refuses to take her pills they are slipped to her over the course of a single dinner rendering comatose. Ashley O is hospitalized and her legion of fans are distraught. 

Technology is used to interpret her subconscious thoughts and shape her preferred crude rock music into pop (because just hiring a ghost writer would be too non Black Mirror right) with the voice recordings taken for the Ashley O dolls serve as the audio for Ashley Eternal (a holographic version of Ashley which kind of makes front row seat demand at concerts to be useless)

When the words Black Mirror flashed on screen at the beginning of the episode and the glass cracked up until this point we had an episode showing us a glimpse into the future of concerts and a possibility of simultaneous concerts as well as the horrific possibility of technology controlling the real pop star. It was a representation of the culture of controlling people for profits and going to any measure to achieve that control. The 'my way or the highway' culture. This is/will be/could be the future and was perfect for an ending. 

But no, the two sets of parallel stories intervene with Rachel's Ashley Too watching a broadcast about Ashley O which causes it to glitch out? Too convenient for the doll to suddenly break out against the limiter installed in it as the siblings find out when they set about to repair it. The beans are spilled and aided by the two sisters the digital Ashley O i.e. Ashley Too goes to set things right and then guess what Ashley O and Ashley Too team up. Are you kidding me?

It seems as though Charlie Brooker has taken to watching and getting heavily inspired by Disney which is where the star of this episode Miley Cyrus made her name as Hannah Montana. 

After watching 'Smithereens' I had big hopes from this episode but rather than end the episode at a proper moment which would have maybe appealed to more fans as well as earned praise for its shorter runtime they chose to give the big star her defining moment in beating the villains. The 'Ashley Eternal' reveal would have worked well without all of the other forced drama. 

In the final credits scene, I was stunned to see Charlie Brooker credited as the writer. Was this uh this..... thing actually written by the brain behind 'White Bear'? 

Just because 'Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too' is part of the iconic 'Black Mirror' series people may start thinking about it and try to interpret various sorts of conclusions. Social media comment sections may be filled with ardent fans debating this stuff. But honestly, if this episode had been the series premiere instead of 'The National Anthem' then Black Mirror would have remained a Channel 4 show and probably ended in the early part of the decade. For now though this would be considered as one of the most disappointing episodes of Black Mirror and possibly be remembered as 'That Miley Cyrus episode.' Quite a shame considering that Miley's performance is one of the better ones of the series. 

Black Mirror S05 E02: Smithereens

It  possible that you may get this notification whilst driving or walking or doing something much more important before the cell phone beeped and alerted you to this. Please ignore this if you are busy with anything. Too late right? You already will have yanked out your phone, glanced at the notification, swiped it out of sight and refocused on your task at hand. Those few seconds of lost focus would be detrimental though. For you or for anyone else, but after the seconds hand completes a 360° journey around the face of the clock do you even remember what you looked at? 

'Smithereens' is the 2nd episode of the 5th season of Black Mirror. It targets the present day obsession i.e. our addiction to social media and how evolution has resulted in us not having the self control to shun our desire to reach for our phones when we hear a beep. It also shows us how trivial and uniform our reactions seem to be no matter what the thing we are reacting to. Do we actually care about what happens?

Chris Gillhaney (Andrew Scott) is a cab driver who wishes to speak to Smithereen (a social media platform) founder Billy Bauer. Simple right? Not so. Chris has been planning this for a long time. The episode starts off in a suspicious manner as Chris is waiting for his passenger. Such a thing happening without the passenger uttering a courteous apology about his/her tardiness is very unusual. 

What comes off as casual conversation is later on revealed to be a master plan hatched by the driver to achieve his goal i.e. ensure that his feedback reaches the top rather than the feedback option which is read by employees sitting before a screen and providing feedback to a board. He finally gets hold of an employee (intern) and takes him hostage. 

Andrew Scott as Chris Gillhaney in the drivers seat with his hostage Damson Idris as Jaden Thomas

The next 40 minutes feature scenes from within the taxi where Chris and Jaden are sitting, the British police officers on the periphery of the field, the FBI and the top brass of Smihereen. 

Despite all the key pieces in this episode scattered across 2 different continents there isn't a feeling as though we are randomly jumping from one spot to the other. 

When watching this episode most of us would recognise Chris Gillhaney (Andrew Scott) as BBC Sherlock's Jim Moriarty, but as the episode progresses we do not see a single trace of the iconic villain and instead see a person who is frustrated and deeply traumatised but is essentially good at heart.

Andrew Scott had to tap into some really personal trauma to summon up all the facial expressions and the choking voice when with pent up frustration he delivers his lines.

In another monologue he also manages pull off what in the hands of other actors would have been seen as an over the top comedic turn and make the audience actually understand and relate to his frustration at our lifestyle where a beep mechanically draws our hand to our pockets to whip out a device which we unlock without even realising, all this while not stopping what we were doing before. 

The regular action and the setting of the scenes in the episode providing the background music makes the audience feel like they are actually there and are part of the action unfolding on screen. The episode catches in the elements of the characters and minor details that lead to absolutely no questions about why something was included which could have cut short the duration by a few seconds despite having a longish run time of over an hour. 

A fade out climax after the high drama drives home the key points of the episode once again in case it slipped our mind as audiences began analysing Stockholm Syndrome 

Just for he sake of finding a flaw in the episode I'll talk about the abyssmal aim of the British police sniper. He could have moved a bit right, but to miss twice? They need to recruit Euron Greyjoy for that role. 

'Smihereens' doesn't touch upon the fact that humans must have self control despite admitting that the applications are designed to be so addictive that it's almost like muscle memory for us to open it on our phones whenever they are in our hands. However, it does focus on other things such as that of our culture of being controlled by notifications for a split second and then not giving a damn about it, it also focuses on topics such as the robotic language of negotiations, the way the human mind has forgotten the importance of memorizing another person's number, the way in which social media can be used to decipher a person's state of mind, the fact that we are broadcasting our true selves to the world and providing the social media giants with every minute detail about ourselves thus rendering anybody a detective as they can just log on and find out anything about anyone, and the evils of social media and minute by minute news in a crisis situation. 

This episode has a Black Mirror feel to it but it doesn't feel edgy or offer that sort of shock ending akin to some of the iconic episodes of this series. Smithereens is the saving grace of Black Mirror Season 5. Unlike 'Striking Vipers' and 'Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too' this episode is set in the present day and we can relate to these events as we have gone through them. Maybe not at the extent at which Chris Gillhaney did, but one may have bumped into someone at a crowded place when their phone rang which caused them to look at some nonsense like snapstreak notification or an Instagram notification that someone is going live and honestly how important is all that? Like all the characters swiping their phones and like Billy Bauer flicking his mental switch post the crisis and resuming whatever he was doing, you too will forget about this in about much lesser time than it took you to read and peruse it. 

Aladdin (2019)

Starring Mena Massoud as the titular character and Will Smith as the iconic Genie, Aladdin is a live action remake of the 1992 original animated feature. It is adapted from the short story in the Arabian Nights (as is introduced to viewers in the first song of the movie). The tale is about..... well if you need to be told what this tale is about you should just look away. With a runtime of 130 minutes it is almost half an hour longer that the animated classic and seeks to answer questions raised over 27 years ago.

The film panders to the present day audiences and presents to us a not a whole new and unrecognizable world but a slightly evolved one. (Why though)

Plenty of songs are retained from the original and bring nostalgia and delight to one and all.  

The lyrics of the opening song 'Arabian Nights' have been retained despite being subject to a plethora of studies regarding Orientalism which is a point in favour of this one as it retains the fear of the Arab region by the west with which the original musical was written.

The 'A Whole New World' song is splendid. The absence of CGI animals in the magic carpet sequence works for me as the song seeks to emphasise Jasmine breaking free from the confines of the palace without a disguise. The sequence respects speed and the effect of the wind on Aladdin and Jasmine and restricts the protagonists journey to within Agrabah itself. 

'Friend like me' is our first impression of the blue genie and one can't help but think about the iconic Robin Williams' rendition of the song. Quite unfair to compare the two as they both are good in their own rights.

'Ali Ababwa's' colourful costumes and procession is a shoutout to the daily parades witnessed at Disneyland's parks throughout the world and that's about when you finally get used to Will Smith as the genie and see that he has actually done quite well. 

The absence of excessive GGI in all of these numbers is excellent as Disney avoided the complaint of the film being "effects overloaded." The only change in the songs is that the midriffs of the dancers in 'Ali Ababwa' have been covered.

There is another song in the movie which sees Disney Princess Jasmine finally getting her solo. The power ballad 'Speechless' leaves the audiences speechless but does precious little to elevate he character for the climax where Jafar, Aladdin, the carpet, Abu and the genie are the primary characters. Was the only purpose of this song was to allow Disney to have a horse in the race for the Best Original Song at the end of season Film Awards? 

There is a feminist narrative added which is completely out of place in the time period Aladdin is set in and just aims to pander to the present day audiences. 

However, some of the other additions in the film work, such as the humanizing of the genie and him getting a farewell. This lends weight to his desire that his master frees him with their 3rd wish. The introduction of Dalia (handmaid to Princess Jasmine) into the story seems to serve just this purpose. On the lighter side we discover the Jasmine had many more outfits than the blue gown she has become synonymous with. 

The Sultan isn't a buffoon as he was in the animated version and his actions in the live action actually lend weight to the vizier Jafar needing to hypnotize him. 

Our big bad Jafar gets a minor backstory which is another thing that works as it lends weight to his character and helps the audience understand his motivation. It is a blessing, for sans that he is pathetic as the villain and seems as the sort of mini boss one needs to defeat before meeting the real enemy. He has the desire to be the most powerful person in Agrabah, has utter disdain for the word second and doesn't want to take power by marriage but rather from a coup d'etat. (So have the laws of Argabah already been amended to the present day where the one with the blood of the royal family is the true ruler?) Personally, I felt that the animated version Jafar was much scarier than uh.. this.... He is saved by the effects in the climax and once again that small backstory. 

Despite the 3D making the picture seem darker than usual it enhances the movie and the scenes of the genie magic.

The live action movie has a conclusion that takes forward what we saw in the animated and literally spells out something contradictory to what we assumed in 1992. It does feel convenient but once again, but it wasn't touched in the original and we just assumed it. Who knows if the ending we got last time round could have actually been an open ending where we could assume either one of our protagonists became the ruler of Agrabah. 

Aladdin is a movie which is a must watch for all Disney fans. The shoehorning of present day ideologies may be a tad annoying for those hoping for a faithful adaptation, but with an abundance of colour and foot tapping music it is the type of film to watch just to get refreshed and I promise you, you will leave the cinema hall with any one of the songs playing in your head.