Originally set to release last September but being delayed due to the strikes, Luca Guadagnino’s tennis flick Challengers has finally hit the big screen to much excitement and anticipation. The story follows Tashi, a tennis player turned coach who has transformed her husband Art into a world-famous Grand Slam champion. In an attempt to boost his confidence and break his losing streak, she signs him for a ‘Challenger’ event, a lower-level pro tournament, where he finds himself standing across the net from his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfrien ..read more

Udayraj PJ’s debut feature film, Katu Pootha Malay (Wild Flower Garland, 2024), is in Tulu, experiments with voice-over narration and visuals, and intertwines both of them to create a structure where logic and meanings are culturally coded. It is a film that mines deep seams of memory to create a hybrid that intrinsically combines documentary-like aesthetics with prose-like narration. How the characters act each time that they have to confront challenges or how they solve their quandaries are not the narrative necessities that th ..read more

During the last decade, much has been discussed about the stunt department and how the fearless, talented individuals who work in this area deserve more recognition in the film industry. From various movements to creating the respective category in awards ceremonies – unfortunately, the Oscars remain stubborn – to an unmistakable shift in the action genre – nowadays, it’s almost mandatory for an action flick to have an oner – stuntmen and stuntwomen have been increasingly valued with each passing year, so it would be expected that a movie paid them the proper trib ..read more

Imtiaz Ali’s recent outing, Amar Singh Chamkila, currently streaming on Netflix, is based on the life of a sensational Punjabi singer whose popularity soared beyond the land of five rivers and spread worldwide during the early 80s. It is a tale of courage and grit that stems from a life riled in poverty and obligation, how past experiences have formed an individual, and most importantly, how vulnerable and insecure we can be as a society. The titular protagonist of the film belonged to a low caste of Chamars, whose unshakeable confidence in his music cleared the path for both his success ..read more

Demanding a Rajeev Ravi film on a Vineeth Sreenivasan movie ticket is silly. If you don’t like the elements that define a Vineeth Sreenivasan movie, Varshangalkku Shesham is not going to be your cup of tea; but if you are a fan of the bubble-wrapped delicateness of his movie-making, Varshangalkku Shesham is Exhibit A.  For the unreserved, Vineeth, the eldest son of noted Malayalam screenwriter and actor Sreenivasan, is a filmmaker known for his feel-good stories coated with preachy motivation and an overload of goodness. In Vineeth’s cinematic universe, everything has ..read more

Alex Garland belongs to a certain class of filmmakers that fascinates me because, regardless of the more positive or negative opinions about his films, all his narratives have an undeniable impact and are practically impossible not to debate. Personally, I believe that the worst type of movie is one that doesn’t provoke any kind of discussion… those that quickly fade into oblivion. A trait that doesn’t fit into the career of the mind behind Ex Machina, Annihilation, Men, and now, Civil War. The title of this film couldn’t be more explicit and direct to its premise, set in a ..read more

As a movie lover, one of the most wonderful pleasures of this passion is discovering new filmmakers with their own identity, style, and message. There’s almost always something special about a feature film debut from an unknown director, but when it’s from a highly popular actor with an overwhelmingly positive public opinion, the expectations surrounding the movie inevitably change. Dev Patel (The Personal History of David Copperfield, Slumdog Millionaire) directs, writes – along with Paul Angunawela and John Collee (Hotel Mumbai) – produces, and stars in Monkey Man, whose story described as ..read more

Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley has been adapted into films by directors from different regions, including René Clément from France, Anthony Minghella from the US, and Jeeva Shankar from India. The current rendition, Ripley, streaming on Netflix, is a web series written and directed by Academy Award winner Steven Zaillian. It unfolds in eight leisurely-paced episodes that grab our attention from the beginning and keep us engaged in this amoral tale of fabrication, betrayal, and murder. It is a gritty tale of an individual’s challenging pursuit to assume a dece ..read more

Since Godzilla hit theaters in 2014, each installment has promised to be ‘bigger and better’ than the last. With more carnage, more monsters and more uncharted territory, Godzilla x Kong sees the two titular beasts put their past battles behind them, joining forces to defeat a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world. With action aplenty and visually pleasing world-building, Godzilla x Kong is an entertaining way to pass two hours, yet its poor script and lack of character development stop it from being truly great. Seeing these monsters battle it out is an undeniably fun shlock fe ..read more

I’ll start with an important disclaimer for all readers since the following hot take will inevitably trigger strong reactions. As someone from a small European country and born in 1994, Ghostbusters (1984) was never a defining classic of my childhood or adolescence, so I don’t feel the nostalgia that many others have for the original film, although I do enjoy it. That said, I (re)watched it, along with Ghostbusters II and Ghostbusters: Afterlife this week in preparation for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and – here it comes – I consider the 2021 sequel my favorite movie in the famous franchise ..read more