Ayali – A refreshingly well written series that challenges the oppressive cultural norms

Official Trailer: Ayali will ace the Bechtel test hands down. While we had movies that centered around women characters, like TGIK or Gargi, Ayali may be the first regional series where the story revolves around women characters, focusing on women’s issues and empowerment. The topic they have picked up is the biases and prejudices women face around Menstruation. A big applause to the writing team and the director for handling

 

Sembi – Interesting parts don’t add up to the whole

Official Trailer: Sembi has multiple interesting threads. Anbu the bus, represents a microcosm of the society. Passengers of the bus are from different segments of the society. Along with their value system and perceptions (of others). Then we have the lawyer character thrown into the mix of passengers who plays the catalyst role. Like a catalyst can he brings in the change in the behavior of the passengers in Anbu.

 

Fast Cuts – Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, Gatta Kusthi, The Teacher

A movie comes with a new template, well received and that sets a trend for similar movies. Most of the times it is not the movie we wish. A movie like Kadaisi Vivasayi or Aandavan Kattalai doesn’t set a trend even though those two are well made cinemas. But a successful Kanchana opens the door for similar ghost / supernatural movies that falls under comedy-horror genre, but horror-torture for the

 

Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1

Official Trailer: The good news is you don’t have to have read the book to enjoy the movie. I haven’t read the book (yes, one of those few from TN who haven’t read the magnum opus…a traitor 😀) but I am able to follow Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1 (PS1) even with its many characters. In the case of Godfather, I felt the movie was better than the book (book is

 

Natchathiram Nagargirathu – a finely crafted cinema

Official Trailer: To quote Sujatha from his novel Pirivom Santhipom, Love is nature’s way of ensuring pregnancy. Call it love or lust (people don’t fall in love at first sight they fall in lust), since it is driven by nature one may think it must be easy to get attracted to someone opposite to you. Opposite here doesn’t mean opposite gender but the person in front of you, could be

 

Gargi – It is not what you know, but what you can prove

Official Trailer: Gargi and Jana Gana Mana has similar threads, searching for truth in a pile of different viewpoints, and mobs vying for blood. While I found both movies to be engaging with their narration and screenplay, Gargi has an edge over Jana Gana Mana, comes out ahead with its realistic portrayal, avoids melodrama, and a better cinema with an engaging and gripping screenplay. Our perspectives are driven by emotion

 

Victim: Who is next? – One hit, another close to target, and two disappoint

Official Trailer: Other than Paava Kathaigal I am yet to see a Tamil anthology series where the different stories from different directors come together with some connection to the title theme. In Victim: Who is next, anthology series on Netflix, we have four episodes narrated by directors Pa.Ranjith, Chimbudevan, M.Rajesh, and Venkat Prabhu. Victim also ends up in the bucket of missed opportunities. Dhammam by Ranjith has a simple plot

 

Vikram – An entertaining Thriller-Action and yes, hide the forks from the dining table

Official Trailer:   First, I got to admit that I didn’t notice, never felt, the movie is nearly 3 hours long. No slowing down or drag in the pacing of the narration. While there are many things that made the movie work, my pick would be the director and the writer Lokesh Kanagaraj. Specifically, the writing is the key ingredient which pulled in rest of the compounds seamlessly into the

 

Fast Cuts – Beast, Etharkum Thunindhavan

Beast: Forget Roar, this beast doesn’t make a woof!! Official Trailer: Beast has more misses than hits. For the starters, for the beast to roar, the villains need to be equally strong with character. Just saying the bad guys are Muslim terrorists is not going to cut it. This trope has been beaten to death and is getting to a point of causing nausea. For the money they spent to

 

Putham Puthu Kaalai: Vidiyatha – 1 dud, 1 miss, 3 OK types

Official Trailer: How do you make someone to watch the 5-story anthology? Start with one of the worst in the pack. Set the bar low. Then hope relativity kicks in. Even so-so later episodes look better due to the priming by the first one. That is how Putham Puthu Kaalai: Vidiyatha comes across. In first Putham Puthu Kaalai from 2020, stories were set during first wave. This one I think