Editor's Reviews
In-depth reviews by our experts 🔮
I Saw the TV Glow
"This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth."
Photograph
"Pristine. Subtle. Spotless. Given the option between a softie and a kulfi. Always go for the kulfi. There comes a phase in life when a universal thought crosses every person's mind and we start to empathize with the ancient sadhus and sanyasi who renounced every earthly possession and relationship while heading towards the wilderness mostly towards a mountain. Can one moment worth of memory be captured on a glossy resin-coated piece of polaroid only to be reminisced by the future…"
The Strangers: Chapter 1
"Not gonna lie. They somewhat tried to breathe life into this already flatlined franchise but we are officially past the resuscitation window. And by resuscitation, I meant some random placements of callbacks, avoiding the cliched mines and unconsciously self-aware about the pitfalls but there is only so much one could have done. And they have two more installments lined up, locked and loaded, ready to go which I will definitely watch because at this point I am pathetic, committed, hooked and desperate to find out who Tamara is. God! I hate myself."
Bhoothakaalam
"A badge to signify the peak, the Malayalam Horror genre is currently at. The closest thing an Indian could find in our industry to The Babadook, the greatest horror movie thus far in the entire 21st century and That makes Rahul Sadasivan our Jennifer Kent. Also, this is the most uncanny impression of Alex Wolff from Hereditary an actor could have come up with, so congratulations to Shane Nigam. The strange minimalist psychological horror spooked me sufficiently to look over…"
The Strangers: Prey at Night
"I can't believe I still have no idea who Tamara is. It was used to be the case that in classic home invasion movies, many characters tend to do a lot of stupid things. Therefore, this movie franchise decided to eliminate the stupidity by getting rid of all the background filler casts and chose to create isolated settings for no good reason."
The Strangers
"A grave in a cemetery for substandard home invasion flicks. Somewhere in a parallel universe, this movie must be known by the name- Vacancy starring Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale. And why is it that in every movie Liv Tyler acts like she is suffering from some kind of Vitamin D or Iron deficiency!"
Hit Man
"I am sorry. Am I missing something or did I just watch the wrong movie? Couldn't get behind the hype at all. The movie was over and I was like- "Hold on a minute. Did I just watch a Linklater movie?" Because seriously, it has the Post-Mission Impossible De Palma vibe with his lousy shabby thrillers post-90s. Glen Powell looking like an assortment of Jeffery Dahmer composite sketches plays murder-for-hire in a parodied version of Confessions of A Dangerous Mind…"
Evil Does Not Exist
"Oh! It does though. It's just that it won't get unleashed by a person or an entity, it's always a corporation, and the worst kind, the real estate developer kind. It has become more stealthy like a wolf in sheep's clothing. Destruction in the name of development and transformation. And when I reached the point of devastation, I remained awe-struck by the complexity of it as if I knew nothing about what was going to happen and I have been…"
Bramayugam
"Betting time as the ultimate wager in a game of fate against destiny. And this time, the game is an ancient one, the same 'Pakida' from the epic Mahabharata. What in the name of Robert Eggers is going on in this movie! Folk horror straight from the hinterland of Malabar coast. Lately, There has been a revival going on of a dying paradigm of the horror genre in the Malayalam movie industry and director Rahul Sadasivan has been at the…"
Force of Nature: The Dry 2
"Mundane murder mystery. Not even close to the prequel. Characters were drab while the setting was wet. Eric Bana losing his grip on Hollywood."
Civil War
"Says nothing about the current state of the USA."
The Fall Guy
"Well, what do you know, I was right about judging this movie after watching the trailer. A conspiracy-laden premise full of references made by a former stuntman to prove a profession of unsung heroes who don't even have their own award category, to establish any semblance of self-worth. A bunch of A-lister celebrities being self-aware about the grunt work behind the scenes and having fun, it's just in a very conformist way that lacks basic plot design. I think lately…"
Boy Kills World
"I am gonna shoot a flurry of adjectives here. Flamboyantly violent and gruesome, gnarly, bone shattering, slashing and dicing, wickedly humorous, stylish, nauseating camera movements, yet mindless action thriller and ridiculous to an unbelievable proportion. Is it better than Monkey Man? No. Is it more violent than Monkey Man? Unapologetically Yes!! The story makes no sense yet it's an entertainer. The selling point was a sculpted Bill Skarsgard with killer combat moves. The side characters are useless. Bill proves himself…"
Challengers
"Raunchiest without the raunchy. Zendaya's most mature role. A depiction of Femme Fatale without the traditional characteristics of being blonde or being in a spy thriller or in crime thriller. But, Josh O'Connor steals the thunder. A rally of tennis back and forth has never been this captivating with unconventional music. Guadagnino has been at the top of his game lately with every movie."
Moxie
"An explanation as to why Serena wears tank tops and pants and also drives a Bentley Continental and an Aston Martin Vanquish whereas the most badass adrenaline junkie of a sportsman Lewis Hamilton wears nose rings and earrings. Why the King gets to bear 13 points while the queen has 12 in cards. A radfem movie on the lesson of the fourth wave of feminism aka underlining and highlighting "Intersectionality" as well as giving a corporeal form to the criminally…"
Monkey Man
"Kaithi meets The Man from Nowhere. India's loss since we banned this from theatres. Right from the trailer drop, people started connecting this movie as the Indian John Wick, to my surprise, it has much less to do with John Wick, rather if Prashant Neel or Lokesh Kanagraj had made David Leitch's Atomic Blonde mixed with Extraction and Sacred Games' gritty, grimy and grungy poor urban takes. As a first directorial venture, I am willing to give Dev Patel's violent…"
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
"At this particular juncture of Guy Ritchie's career, I don't know why I, as a viewer keep watching him making parody after parody of not any acclaimed directors' works of the past he looks up to, but rather his own movies. This one was a glorified makeover of The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Wrath of Man, Operation Fortune and his last one The Covenant. It's like Ritchie decided to watch a lot of A. R. Murugadoss and Surender Reddy films before…"
Shaitaan
"At this point, it's not moot to claim that the fate of Ajay Devgn's daughters is bound to fall into misfortune. If somehow the second act were stuffed with more substance rather than whatever that elongated torture fetish was all about, to paint an already menacing Madhavan into even more shades of terror, it would have been a pretty good watch. But still, one can't deny the many shades of Madhavan's acting color. He goes overboard sometimes, but was very…"