Cast: Jack Whitehall, Jimmy Fallon, Rebel Wilson, Michael Buble, Dave Bautista, Daisy May Cooper and Tom Davis
(2.5/5)It’s just about time to hunt for films that rekindle the joy and magic of Christmas. So far, 2024 does not seem in luck, with very average outings making it to the OTT. ‘Jack in Time for Christmas’, sold as...
Cast: Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna, Fahadh Faasil, Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari, Jagapathi Babu, Sunil, Anasuya Bharadwaj, Rao Ramesh and Dhananjaya Shanmukh
(2.5/5)It opens on a Japanese port with a clever twist to the famous song ‘Mera joota hai Japani’, giving a miss to the second line that talks of the country, now an aggressor. But the aggression in the film is...
Netflix It follows the tender journey of a young boy whose grieving family has forgotten about Christmas. He forms an unexpected bond with a girl full of holiday spirit. His uncontainable spirit breathes life into her fractured heart, yet her...
Cast: Abigail Jain, Rishab Chadha, Pankit Thakker and Cindrella D Cruz
(2/5)They should have put up a statutory warning — no journalist was harmed during the shooting of this film! A news channel with the tagline ‘Sabse Tez, Sabse Aage’; a fidget-spinning boss Panchal (Pankit Thakker); entertainment editor Nikki Kothari (Abigail...
Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Ian Harding, Kristin Chenoweth, Jon Rudnitsky, Katie Baker, Jake Brennan, Dan Bucatinsky and Tim Meadows
(2/5)It’s the season of love alright, but with a twist. ‘Our Little Secret’ has Avery (Lindsay Lohan) returning to her childhood sweetheart, but the situation is such that it has to be kept a ‘secret’. Ten years back, Avery made...
Cast: Auli‘i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Tudyk, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, HualÄ lai Chung, David Fane
(2.5/5)This sequel to the memorable 2016 original looks gorgeous, but its convoluted plotting and distracted scripting don’t allow for any great attachment. Pacific Islander Moana (Auli‘i Cravalho) is an explorer who travels across the ocean — beyond just her tiny...
Cast: Avinash Tiwary, Tamannaah Bhatia, Jimmy Shergill and Divya Dutta
(2.5/5)Heist dramas can be a lot of fun as National Award-winning director Neeraj Pandey proved with his ‘Special 26’. Based on a real life crime of 1987, it remains one of cinephiles’ favourite films on the subject. Only, as Pandey...
Prime Video Created and directed by Sooni Taraporevala, the series has been co-written by her, along with Iyanah Bativala and Ronny Sen. It features Mekhola Bose, Anasua Chowdhury, Rytasha Rathore, Chrisann Pereira, Priyam Saha, Ruby Sah, Achintya Bose, Barun Chanda,...
Cast: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Dinklage
(2.5/5)When L Frank Baum wrote the children’s fantasy novel ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ in 1900, did he have any inkling that his fantasy story and memorable characters would be inspiring films and theatre more than 100 years later? Shiz...
Cast: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Vijay Sethupathi, Nagarjuna, Rana Daggubati, Radikaa Sarathkumar, Taapsee Pannu, Tamannaah Bhatia, Nelson Dilipkumar
(1.5/5)“I have never spoken about my past relationships. People assume a lot of things and they go ahead with the stories they want to believe in,” says Nayanthara in one of the scenes from ‘Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale’. She...
Cast: Tahir Raj Bhasin, Aanchal Singh, Gurmeet Choudhary, Shweta Tripathi, Saurabh Shukla, Varun Badola and Arunoday Singh
(2.5/5)The course of true love never did run smooth. The series begins with this quote from Shakespeare and you might think it is a love story of great intensity. But those who have seen the first season of ‘Yeh Kaali...
‘All We Imagine as Light’ is an artistic narrative feature about three women struggling to make things work, in a city that never sleeps. Mumbai, the city of dreams and nightmares, is one of the subjects here. The film opens...
Cast: Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Derek Jacobi and May Calamawy
(3.5/5)The sequel to Ridley Scott’s unforgettable original is a wonderful experience if you go with the expectation of having fun and being entertained by the spectacle of a high production value Hollywood blockbuster. This film leans heavily towards the original...
If one chooses to walk into a theatre for a film which is titled ‘The Sabarmati Report’, one knows what to expect. But here we get more than what’s expected! Not just a narrative aligned with the findings of the...
Cast: Mucutuy family, Pedro Arnulfo Sanchez Suarez, Nicolas Ordonez, Henry Guerrero and Shaman Don
(3.5/5)A story of courage and resilience, ‘The Lost Children’explores the rescue mission for the four children who got stranded in the Colombian Amazon rainforest after a plane crash. In the hands of Oscar-winning director Orlando von Einsiedel, the 40-day ‘Operation...
Cast: Sidhant Gupta, Chirag Vohra, Rajendra Chawla, Luke McGibney, Cordelia Bugeja, Malishka Mendonsa, Arif Zakaria, Ira Dubey, Rajesh Kumar, KC Shankar, Andrew Cullum and Alistair Findlay
(3.5/5)At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom... We, the post-Independence generation, have grown up listening to or reading this historic speech by India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. But...
Cast: Christina Milian, Devale Ellis, Kofi Siriboe, Tymika Tafari and Mitch Grassi
(2/5)‘Meet Me Next Christmas’ packs in a Pentatonix treat this holiday season. A do-gooder, Layla (Christina Milian) holds the promise to meet the Mr Right of her life — James (Kofi Siriboe) — if only she can find a ticket...
Cast: Anupam Kher, Chunky Panday, Mihir Ahuja, Vrajesh Hirjee, Guddi Maruti, Paritosh Sand, Kunal Vijayakar
(1.5/5)“Because I am 69, should I stop having dreams?” roars Anupam Kher’s character Vijay Matthew. His intense monologue reminds us of one of the most memorable scenes from his debut film, ‘Saaransh’, in which his character, BV Pradhan, confronts the...
Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly, Michelle Dockery, Gwilym Lee, Ophelia Lovibond, David Fynn, Leslie Zemeckis, Jonathan Aris, Albie Salter, Lilly Aspell & Lauren McQueen
(2.5/5)If you are looking for experiences akin to ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’, ‘Back to the Future’, ‘The Polar Express’ and ‘Forrest Gump’, ‘Here’ is not the place to be. This Robert Zemeckis directorial feels like a long-running sentimentalised commercial selling...
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Varun Dhawan, Samantha, Kashvi Majmundar, Simran Bagga, Saqib Saleem, Sikandar Kher, Shivankit Singh Parihar, Soham Majumdar, Armaan Khera and Raimundo Querido
(3/5)Creating a prequel in itself is a challenge, and to make it even better than the master series, almost implausible. But trust the masters of the spy world, Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, to do the impossible. As the talented...
Cast: Madison Bailey, Antonia Gentry, Griffin Gluck, Megan Best, Michael Shanks, Adam Hurtig and Sydney Sabiston
(2/5)The slasher movie genre has made a comeback, but with some conditions. New movies are either part of an existing franchise, or rely on gimmicks like time loops or body swapping. Initially inventive, this trend has become predictable. ‘Time Cut’...
Cast: Huma Qureshi, Avantika Dassani, Parambrata Chatterjee, Rajit Kapur, Samir Soni, Naveen Kasturia, Indraneil Sengupta, Anindita Bose, Rushad Rana, Avantika Akerkar, KC Shankar, Naina Sareen, Swagata Das and Bishakha Thapa
(2/5)The second season of the Hindi adaptation of BBC hit series ‘Cheat’ is a drag, to say the least. It’s an unnecessary extension given to a mini-series that had concluded on a high note. ‘Mithya’ was a psychological thriller that...
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Tiger Shroff, Arjun Kapoor and Jackie Shroff
(2.5/5)Akkha public ko malum hai kaun aane wala hai, and Rohit Shetty’s Diwali release ‘Singham Again’ attracts hordes, again. Our very own Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn) is now leading Shetty’s cop universe to new heights, literally. Setting up a base...
Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Vidya Balan, Madhuri Dixit, Tripti Dimri, Vijay Raaz, Rajpal Yadav, Sanjay Mishra, Ashwini Kalsekar, Rajesh Sharma and Arun Kushwah
(3/5)Horror.com is fast proving to be a money-minting genre. If the stupendous success of ‘Stree 2’ is fresh on your mind, let’s refresh your memory and remind you how, back in 2022, Anees Bazmee’s ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ worked magic at...
Cast: Anna Torv, Robert Taylor, Sam Corlett, Sara Wiseman, Kylah Day, Jake Ryan, Philippa Northeast, Michael Dorman, Sam Delich, Clarence Ryan, Joe Klocek, Daniel Wyllie and Jay Ryan
(3.5/5)Netflix limited series ‘Territory’ wastes no time in setting the stage for a high-stakes succession battle amidst the picturesque Australian outback. The stakes in this cattle-ranch drama are high as Daniel Lawson (Jake Ryan), the former ranch leader, is found...
Cast: Arshad Warsi, Meher Vij, Sachin Negi, Jeeveshu Ahluwalia, Shataf Figar, Kiara Khanna, Garry Dhillon, Shilpi Marwaha and Alisha Chopra
(2/5)A daring subject set in 1980s’ Punjab, writer-director Abhishek Saxena’s ‘Bandaa Singh Chaudhary’ explores pyaar, dosti and dushmani! The film opens with the words ‘ugarwad’ and ‘ISI’, which are mentioned freely, before going back a few years and exploring the...
Cast: Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Stephen Graham, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach, Rhys Ifans and Clark Backo
(2.5/5)At best, this third iteration, the final act in the trilogy, is a fairly deformed attempt at a serious superhero movie. It’s also pretty hard to come to terms with this current version of Venom and Eddie Brock as bromantic...
Cast: Kriti Sanon, Kajol, Shaheer Sheikh, Brijendra Kala, Tanvi Azmi and Vivek Mushran
(3/5)There are no saints in writer-producer Kanika Dhillon’s universe. Thus, in the very first scene of this Netflix film, when a woman named Somaya (Kriti Sanon) accuses her husband of attempt to murder, you know there is more than meets...
Cast: Arjun Sriram, Sahana Srinivasan, Sindhu Vee, Naveen WS Andrews, Ashwin Sakhtivel, Megan Hilty, Nicholas Hamilton, Pete Holmes, Romy Rosemon
(2/5)South Asian families at the centre stage of American sitcoms isn’t something new, especially after the popularity nods to ‘Never Have I Ever’ and ‘Ms Marvel’. So, to see the Pradeep family migrating to Pittsburgh in America all the way...
Cast: Naomi Scott, Kyle Gallner, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Raul Castillo, Dylan Gelula
(3/5)Parker Finn’s ‘Smile’ was an international hit. So, it’s no surprise that he has come up with yet another smile-using demonic possession to make inroads into mental health issues. The action here picks up just six days after the events...
