A Fantastic Woman (2017) - 104 min

Country: Chile
Director: Sebastián Lelio
Cast: Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes, Luis Gnecco & Aline Küppenheim.
Marina, an aspiring singer lost her partner Orlando while celebrating her birthday. Orlando's real wife doesn't like her and she threatened her on attending his funeral.
It's a story about a trans woman's fight for equality in life. The weird look from others and how they treat transgenders in the society were shown by Sebastian Lelio through this movie. Maybe, In real life Vega also faces this kind of discrimination from others. You can call it a survival movie and Vega's naturalistic performance makes it a movie you don't want to miss. It won Oscar for Best foreign language film due to the content and the first film to win Oscar with a transgender in the lead. Overall, it's a groundbreaking movie for transgender actors and made a huge impact on everywhere due to the Oscar nominations.
Verdict: Good

Tomb Raider (2018) - 118 min

Tomb Raider is an action-adventure film directed by Roar Uthaug.
Starring Alicia Vikander, Daniel Wu, Dominic West, Walton Goggins.
Lara Croft struggles to make a steady life with her courier job. Her father disappeared when she was young and finally she finds a clue about his whereabouts.
Tomb raider, a lame adventurous experience. Based on 2013 video game, this reboot has nothing much to offer apart from Lara's screaming and crying. The action sequences like escaping from the crumbling plane doesn't make any difference in the plot. The MMA style fight from Alicia Vikander give some hope in the beginning, After that it's a nightmare. The ending makes way for a sequel and hoping something cool will happen next time. Overall, What's the point of watching it, nothing I guess.
Verdict: Mediocre

Money Heist (2017) - TV series

Money Heist aka La casa de papel is a Spanish heist television series created by Álex Pina.
Starring Úrsula Corberó, Itziar Ituño, Álvaro Morte, Paco Tous, Pedro Alonso, Alba Flores & Miguel Herrán.
Season  : 1
No. of episodes : 13
Running time : 42–55 minutes
A genius man who called himself a professor hires eight people to conduct a robbery of all time. The rules are simple - no casualties and steal 2400 million Euros.
Critics say it's a game of mental chess and every character shift their sides with a fraction of move. The character that fascinates me throughout the season was professor and after some point I start to think like him. He leaves you at the edge of the seat and the main reason to check it out. The story is full of surprises and extremely clever which plays with your mind. It's a Spanish TV series and Netflix always picks good ones from the box. I watched the Spanish version with inbuilt English subtitles. Inspector Raquel negotiation scenes were excellent, especially the way she folds her hair with pencil. Overall, it's a mind blowing tv series that tells an intense heist story and what a lovely weekend.
Verdict: Great

Parava (2017) - 147 min

Parava is a drama film directed by Soubin Shahir.
Starring Amal Shah, Govind V. Pai, Shane Nigam & Dulquer Salmaan.
Ichappi and Haseeb were fond of pigeons and they train them for flying competition. Ichappi's brother Shaine leads a silent life who stays in the room all the time.
The directional debut of Soubin Shahir is rich in every aspect of the movie. The originality level of presenting the matter makes it interesting from the opening scene and you will not get bored with the characters. The screen presence of lead two kids make you feel like it's your own story. Dulquer's extended cameo adds positive energy to the plot and the look doesn't fit him. The last straw increase your adrenaline level for sure and the slow music puts you in a killer spot. Shane Nigam, Srinath Bhasi, Arjun Ashokan and the remaining cast all performed well. Overall, I enjoyed it and going to watch it again.
Verdict: Good