Category: Movies

Barbie – A well-made funny and satirical movie if you ignore the more of tell rather than show in the second half

Official Trailer: What kind of story one can build with a doll? Toys crossover to the real world and writers toyed with ideas of friendship, family, separation, and existential crisis in Toy Story series. Then we have The Truman Show where the hero lives in a made-up fantasy world till the reality hits him. Writers of Barbie use the similar premise and deliver a well-made satirical ride that is entertaining,

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Fast Cuts – John Wick 4, Indiana Jones 5, Mission Impossible 7

John Wick 4, Indiana Jones 5, and Mission Impossible 7 suffer from, what I call, the Sequel Syndrome. The crisp and tautness of the first part gets lost in the sequels. John Wick: Chapter 1, Raiders of the lost Ark, and MI:1 all were under 2hrs run time. Sequels of these movies continue with characters from earlier parts for nostalgia and add new characters to remain fresh and get some

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Yathisai – A skillfully made historical fiction about 7th century Tamil Kings

Official Trailer: We know about Cheras, Cholas, and Pandyas from our history classes and books. Most to all of the time the kings are either glorified or vilified. We never had a peek into their lives or subjects other than learning about dates of historical events. How did they live? Their culture? What kind of Tamil they spoke? Why did they go to war? How did they convince their people

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Viduthalai – Part I – A ring side view of police force

Official Trailer: Viduthalai Part I is about the conflict between the government which wants to take away and provide the forest land for mining to a corporate and the villagers who are against it. This conflict pits the police force against the Makkal Padai (People’s army). Makkal Padai has the support of the local population. A simple story of development Vs rights/conservation, good Vs evil. Where Viduthalai differs and gets

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Modern Love Chennai – another winner from Thiagarajan Kumararaja

Official Trailer: Modern Love Chennai is a fine example of how an anthology series need to be made. In previous Tamil anthology series (Amazon Prime and Netflix), few episodes worked well and overall, the episodes didn’t come together. In Modern Love Chennai, we see a common theme with colors, sets linking the six episodes on love in modern Chennai. And we have characters from Super Deluxe popping up here. Stories

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Fast Cuts – A Man Called Otto, Kill Boksoon

A Man Called Otto: Similar to Gran Torino, A Man Called Otto is a story about how an unlikely friendship can change someone’s life for the better. Otto is a grumpy and an unhappy widower who has given up on life following the loss of his wife. He doesn’t let anyone get close to him. He wants to end it all. He is the kind of person who disconnects electrical

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Fast Cuts – Vaathi and Don

Vaathi: Vaathi does engage the audience with few interesting arcs, smartly written and staged scenes. Schools which are supposed to provide education have become money making centers with the motto that one needs to pay to get good education. Vaathi smartly contrasts this with the movie hall (aptly named Lakshmi) which becomes a place for our protagonist to teach his students. Lakshmi and Saraswathi have swapped places. This arc is

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The Banshees of Inisherin – A fresh perspective on Friendship

Official Trailer: We have seen many movies on friendship. Kollywood heroes from love stories are always seen with 3-4 friends who play the Hanuman delivering messages. Or they reveal a key secret to the heroine that changes her heart. Most of the time friendship stories are about sacrifice, betrayal, separation, or breakup. In The Banshees of Inisherin, director Martin McDonagh gives us a fresh perspective on friendship that I haven’t

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Iratta – Minor flaws aside, a satisfying thriller with a gut-wrenching climax

Official Trailer: Iratta is a solid directorial debut by Rohit M.G.Krishnan. He knew he has a great story to tell in his hand and that confidence shows in his direction. We have seen so many movies with twins as protagonists. When we think we have run out of ideas, we get Iratta with its fresh spin with twins. It is a police procedural drama bookended with a strong opening stretch,

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Hidden Figures – Powerful and Inspiring

Official Trailer: In Hidden Figures we follow the story of Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Gobels, and Mary Jackson, part of group of African-American female mathematicians, dubbed as human computers, who rose the ranks of NASA, crossed gender, race, and professional lines against the odds with their brilliance and desire to dream big. I hit upon this hidden gem of a movie on Netflix. Missed it when it was released in 2016.

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