Margaret (SB) is a top executive in a publishing group, and is extremely busy. She is a true corporate, and seemingly “doesn’t have a life” outside of work. Her personal assistant is Andrew (RR), and he is the fun guy in the office who everyone bitches to about his boss! Margaret gets unlucky with her immigration status, and decides to rope in Andrew into her mess, quite heartlessly. SB plays the cold character quite well, as you want to call her the B word many times, as she uses RR’s desperation to become a publisher, to her advantage in a green-card-ish sham of an engagement! There’s a Proposal (the title) and they head off to Sitka, Alaska (where Andrew’s family is based) to familiarize, and break the news; it also would prepare Margaret for the immigration questioning that would ensue.

The next segment of the movie is how the equation between the protagonists becomes something of a camaraderie - and the entire family, especially the grandma contributing greatly. The ensemble is a fun bunch, with everyone playing their role adequately; Oscar - sometimes more than adequate:D

It’s a fun Rom-Com in the classic sense, with both the key elements being balanced by some weird drama! Is everything very realistic? Is it ever in a Rom-Com from the 2000s ?

The movie ends with the Margaret feeling guilty after realizing that Andrew has a family that cares deeply about him, and her (go figure) and it’s not just him she stands to hurt. She does the right thing, and the ending is happy, which I like :)

Overall, I enjoyed re-watching the movie after 10 years and would recommend it to someone who wanted to watch it and was wondering if it would be worthwhile! It’s fun, and you won’t regret it! Good casting, and decent performances all round.

You’d expect a Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds movie to be a laughter riot given their proven track records of starring in successful comedies but The Proposal is more than that. Set in NYC and then Alaska, this movie is about a stern book editor Margaret Tate ( Bullock ) who decides to get married to her pushover assistant (Reynolds) to avoid a deportation to Canada while in return giving him a promotion.

Over a weekend trip to Alaska, the very stoic Tate hilariously adapts to Paxton’s family, while he is forced to examine his strained relationships with them. With comedic responses, heart warming moments and just the right amount of drama The Proposal is the classic you must watch (especially if you’re engaged!)

While the movie has you bursting with laughter during some bits while holding back tears in some, it isn’t perfection and could have done without a tad bit of Hispanic racism in the middle.

Overall, a great weekend watch !

• His:

  • Protagonists: ★★★½

  • Movie: ★★★½

• Her:

  • Protagonists: ★★★½

  • Movie: ★★★½

Looks like we are in agreement here :)

The purpose of this movie was to give Black Widow, the badass female avenger, her own movie; and it felt like just that - not an organic requirement, not well thought out. Anyhoo, let’s get to it. The movie starts by following a family of 4 - Natasha Romanoff, Yelena - the kids, and their "parents", Melina and the Red Guardian. The family is on the run, and an intense fight scene later, they get away from whatever they were running from. The kids, are then handed off to a facility where they are trained to be spies, killers, mercenaries and the like.

The movie has quite an enthralling first 30 minutes, where Black Widow is confronted by a villain from her past when she gets out of her hiding to look for a generator. She escapes, and finds a cryptic message that takes her to her sister Yelena, who lets her in on a dangerous conspiracy that they, and millions of people were a part of. Dreykov - the mastermind is running this spy-training ring, where they inject drugs into the girls’ nervous system that makes them obey Dreykov, even against their will. Yes - Dreykov has hundreds of female mercenaries who he controls through his fancy iPad.

The rest of the movie is as you’d expect, a hunt for Dreykov, including many fights, and to be honest, not all things are very convincing - like hopping into a BMW SUV in heavy traffic while negotiating thugs on Dirt-bikes; but I digress. There are some good visuals, some warm and fun scenes with Yelena poking Natasha in a cute little-sister way. The second half of the movie is sort of draggy, which ends with unconvincing family drama, and a face off with Dreykov.

Overall, I don’t fully regret watching the movie, but it wasn’t the best. There are many places where I found myself laughing at the movie. I would recommend watching it at home so that you don’t experience a FOMO on the Marvel Storyline. A let down.

The movie starts off in Ohio in the ’90s where Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johanneson) is a brave but serious young girl looking after her younger sister, Yelena (Florence Pugh).

She follows the lead of her parents, Melina (Rachel Weisz) and Alexei (David Harbour), who are actually spies posing as a married couple.

Natasha, who has already started training at the Red Room, a secret Soviet boot camp turning young women into Russian spies (but really killing machines), is split from Yelena

and the girls are taught to kill.

This is 20 mins into the movie and I'd like to point out that what follows is average at best.

The film now skips to the end of “Captain America: Civil War” (2016), when Natasha is a fugitive separated from the rest of the Avengers.

Yelena finds a way to contact Natasha who finds out that not only is the Red Room still in business and its leader, Dreykov (Ray Winstone), still alive.

The other “widows” operatives are chemically manipulated so they become mindless assassins without free will. I still don't understand why they're called widows?

See these are the questions I was hoping the movie would answer.

To bring down Dreykov and his Red Room, Natasha joins forces with her 'fake' family.

I can't begin to describe how bizzare the plot of the movie is because at one point Natasha and Yelena bust out their dad from a Russian prison accidentally setting off an avalanche.

There is also a random helmeted assassin out to get her who's role is finally tied to the plot in the last 10 mins of the movie.

In between heated fight scenes are moving family reunions leaving me wondering how many plot points the director wanted to cover.

The best part of the movie is Yelena because Florence Pugh brings out some good natured comaraderie between the estranged sisters without which it's 120 mins of us wondering

why Natasha always poses in the middle of fights, landing close to the ground, flipping her hair up and back. Yeah sometimes it's just unnecessary.

Did the movie tell me how the regimented Soviet spies are trained?

Is there a supremely moving montage of an average performing Natasha turning into one of Russia's greatest fighters?

Do I, as a woman in this extremely underrepresented world feel about Black Widow the same way my male counter parts feel about Captain America or Iron Man?

No. Instead, I got to see how Natasha's fake scientist mom uses chemical treatment on pigs to get them to finish a maze.

I might be coming off harsh here but really, think about it from my perspective.

There were several reasons why my expectations from this movie were sky high.

Literally the only female centric marvel movie, starring the extremely talented, gorgeous Scarlett Johanneson with a delayed release date because of the pandemic?

Come on!

All of Scarlett's acting prowess is wasted because “Black Widow” never feels more than just a casual mention in the larger story, a mere bullet point that holds no weight in the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe narrative.

To end on a modrately good note, I'd like to call out that the fight scenes were great plus Marvel's attempt at an inclusive cast among the "widows" is commendable.

Most importantly, giving Scarlett the movie she so rightly deserved is what this is all about.

Marvel gets a cookie for having done the bare minimum here but hey you gotta follow anything they dish out for continuity yeah?

I look forward to Yelena's journey in the movies to come; she's cool. Maybe, just maybe she can carry on her sister's legacy.

• His:

  • Protagonists: ★★★½

  • Movie: ★★½

• Her:

  • Protagonists: ★★★½

  • Movie: ★★

The Courier is a spy thriller based in the time of a Nuclear Cold War between the US and the USSR. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Greville Wynne, an inconspicous businessman (in the grand scheme of things) who finds himself caught up in(or carefully selected for) an operation directed by CIA and MI6. The movie starts when a decorated Soviet Colonel, Oleg Penkovsky decides to defect as he doesn’t agree with Nikita Kruschev’s plans and ideologies. It quickly establishes the requirement of boots on the ground in Russia in order to extract secrets from Oleg, and also put plans in place to extract Oleg and his family. The need of the hour, was a Courier, someone non-political, who wouldn’t attract Soviet attention - like a businessman for whom it would be normal to go to Russia and talk to politicians - Greville. Helen Talbot (played by Rachel Brosnahan) from the CIA, and Dickie Franks (played by Angus Wright) from MI6 accost him, and convince him to expand his business in Russia; for the sake of the world, his family and himself. Things obviously don’t pan out as planned, and the stakeholders are left scrambling while they react to what happens.

Without giving too much away, what ensues is a slow thriller, and what I mean by that is that I really was interested in what was going to happen to Oleg and Greville, (I know there wasn’t a nuclear war) but at the same time, I knew there was not going to be a twist for instance - as there would be in a fictional thriller. The movie then goes on to portray the adventures of Greville and Oleg, carefully following the two men’s lives, while they try to save the world, each other, and not get killed.

Given that the movie is a true story, the makers have done a good job in keeping it thrilling, with some edge-of-the-seat moments. It is also enriched by strong acting performances all round, especially by Benedict. He is convincing as a scared, competent businessman, who worries about his family while also cares about his partner in crime from USSR. At the end of the day, you come out more knowledgable about world history and the contributions of Greville and Oleg to it.

I would recommend watching it once; you’ll not be disappointed.

The Courier is not your run of the mill spy thriller where a mystery unravels itself leading to the bad guy eventually getting captured.

It's a glaringly real depiction of the covert operations that the US and UK government spun up together to avoid a nuclear catastrophe

during the cold war era in the 1960s.

The movie begins with Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze), a celebrated Soviet soldier and World War II hero delivering information to

CIA operative Emily Donovan (Rachel Brosnahan) and her contemporary at MI6 (Angus Wright) about the disastrous plans the then Soviet leader,

Nikita Khrushchev is about to unleash on the world. There is about to be a nuclear disaster which if not stopped, will be the beginning of World War III.

To stay above suspicion whilst still communicating with Penkovsky to extract further details about Khrushchev's plans, the CIA and MI6 agents hatch a plan.

An unassuming English businessman would be convinced to expand his business dealings to Russia, justifying his frequent travel to the continent.

There, he would befriend a Russian(read, Penkovsky) who would pass him details which give the agents a clearer picture of what Krushchev is planning.

Enter Greville Wynn (Benedict Cumberbatch), a small scale English businessman trying to make ends meet by putting falsely on the golf course to get his clients to win. He has a young son who loves him, and a devoted wife(Jessie Buckley), whom he cares about and cannot fail again, as he's been unfaithful to her once before.

Greville is convinced by Donovan and Wright to make frequent visits to Russia in exchange for a small lump sum and the fact that this would be beneficial to the UK.

In a span of few days, Greville goes from being common businessman to full on spy, transporting 'couriers' from the Soviet to the UK, operating with great fervor dodging all the Soviet eyes. In order to remain uncaught, Oleg and Greville must work together flawlessly and that requires clear communication, professionalism and trust, all key ingredients of a great partnership.This, I believe is the crux of the movie. This partnership between a Russian soldier and a UK businessman is what ultimately saves the world from a third war, as we now know.

Cumberbatch has given us some terrific performances making him an obvious choice for this role. But in this movie, he delivers a career defining performance, delivering a range of emotions you never knew he had. Portraying the struggles Greville went through, trying to stay alive in a Soviet prison whilst being physically and mentally tortured has to be one of the most surreal cinematic experiences I've ever seen. Brosnahan as Donavan delivers with finesse the lengths a CIA agent has to go to orchetsrate a multi national covert spy operation all whilst maintaining her demeanor during such tensed times. Jessie Buckley's portrayal of Greville's wife is an accurate representation of unrest that was in their lives throughout the movie. The uncertainties that come with working with the Government during the cold war was particularly brought out in Angus Wright's portrayal of an MI6 agent, working for her Royal Majesty. Last but not least, while Ninidze portrayal of a Soviet spy is gripping, you eventually see him for what he really is, a true soldier deserving of all celebration for the extents he must go to save the world from yet another war.

Towards the end of the movie, we are shown glimpses of how this 'nuclear disaster' was actually the Cuban Missile Crisis and that everything we just saw, was accurate and real. Very often, movies depicting real life events are glamorized and far from original. 'The courier' was everything but that. It didn't need glamour or fluff.

The excellent performances, an un-inflated fantastic story line and the incredible background score throughout transports you to 1965 and you truly live through the Cold War for two and a half hours.

Definitely putting this movie alongside some of the greats.

• His:

  • Protagonists: ★★★★½

  • Movie: ★★★½

• Her:

  • Protagonists: ★★★★

  • Movie: ★★★★