There is a sharp contrast between how the first and second half of the latest Janhvi Kapoor starrer, Ulajh, is conceived. The first half is highly difficult to digest as the naivety associated with the leading lady, who, by the way, is a high-rank diplomat, is too much, and she is making silly mistakes one after… Continue reading Ulajh Review | This Espionage Thriller Overhypes the Central Character by Making Everything Else Dumb
Category: Review
Trap Review | A Middling Psychological Thriller With a Solid Josh Hartnett
Trap, the new M Night Shyamalan film starring Josh Hartnett, has an enticing premise. When you watch the trailer of Trap, that feels like the perfect example of how to pitch your script to any producer. And when I saw the film’s trailer, I was disappointed because I thought they had revealed the entire film.… Continue reading Trap Review | A Middling Psychological Thriller With a Solid Josh Hartnett
Mazhai Pidikatha Manithan Review | A Hastily Assembled, Worn-Out Secret Agent Thriller
The movie Mazhai Pidikatha Manithan starts with this elaborate character exposition, where they have used these AI-generated images to show us the history of our hero, who was a soldier and then an undercover super agent. The plot explained in those bits is so elaborate that I thought if these things were presented in the main narrative,… Continue reading Mazhai Pidikatha Manithan Review | A Hastily Assembled, Worn-Out Secret Agent Thriller
Panchayath Jetty Review | This Marimayam Fan Service Is a Tasteless Political Satire
The television sitcoms Marimayam, Aliyans, Aliyan vs Aliyan, etc., have managed to create a strong fan following among regular TV viewers for more than a decade now. Panchayat Jetty, the new Malayalam film directed by Manikandan Pattambi and Salim Hassan, two people who were actively part of these sitcoms as actors, is an extension of the kind of storytelling… Continue reading Panchayath Jetty Review | This Marimayam Fan Service Is a Tasteless Political Satire
Secret Review | SN Swamy’s Synchronicity Thriller Is an Outdated Atrocity
SN Swamy is a name a lot of Malayalies are familiar with, mainly due to the mostly successful CBI franchise. He has been a scriptwriter for a really long time, and the new movie Secret is his first directorial venture. Starting as some kind of exploration of omens, Secret loses its focus on being a… Continue reading Secret Review | SN Swamy’s Synchronicity Thriller Is an Outdated Atrocity
Level Cross Review | An Earnest Asif Ali Can’t Salvage This Underwhelming Psychological Thriller
When the movie Level Cross opens with that description of the film’s setting and then shows us this barren land, I personally thought this would be a metaphorical world that has something to do with the psyche of the characters. Arfaz Ayub’s debut directorial has symbolic aspirations for sure. But the writing, especially the dialogues,… Continue reading Level Cross Review | An Earnest Asif Ali Can’t Salvage This Underwhelming Psychological Thriller
Raayan Review | A Bloodbath That Started off Compellingly and Ended Generically
The first half of the new Dhanush film, Raayan, written and directed by, Dhanush himself, is thoroughly absorbing. There is a deliberate effort to walk away from the conventional treatment of a mass hero film where the leading man’s only mission is protecting his family. There is only one instance in the entire first half… Continue reading Raayan Review | A Bloodbath That Started off Compellingly and Ended Generically
Deadpool & Wolverine Review | An R-Rated Laugh Riot That’s Thin on Plot but Thick on Entertainment
Out of the Marvel movies, Deadpool isn’t the one where the audience anticipates a solid plot in order to be entertained. It is the fun we get because of the foul-mouthed fourth wall-breaking pop culture-rich meta-humor in the writing of those movies. With the Fox and Disney merger facilitating the availability of several characters from… Continue reading Deadpool & Wolverine Review | An R-Rated Laugh Riot That’s Thin on Plot but Thick on Entertainment