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February 2021
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Recent Posts
Theeni, a pleasing work
Drishyam 2 and I Care A Lot
Drishyam 2, not as exciting as the first one
Penguin Bloom sees Naomi Watts in a poignant comeback
Framing Britney Spears, the tale of a shackled life
Live Telecast is a tasteless work
News of the World – A brilliant Tom Hanks
200 Meters, a family divided by a political wall
The Man Who Sold His Skin follows a provocative path
The Dig, a charming story about a historical find on the eve of World War II
Palmer, a moving story of an ex-convict and a kid he begins to adore
Cannes announces new dates in July, but let us keep our fingers crossed
Cannes may be delayed till July
NFDC Film Bazaar: Inkblot
NFDC Film Bazaar: Two titles that talk about human struggle
What Killed Maradona: A life of glory that came with pain
NFDC Film Bazaar screens movies on beef ban, etc
Night Stalker — The Hunt for a Serial Killer
One Night in Miami, riveting
Bhoomi, fight against corporatisation
Lupin is thrilling to the core
Film Bazaar to begin on January 16
Pieces of a Woman, grief at its most raw
Maara dazzles
Kaagaz, Pankaj Tripathi is laudable
Sylvie’s Love, beautiful retro romance
Netflix Regency romp, Bridgerton, big on style, small on substance
Ariana Grande: Excuse Me, I Love You
The Midnight Sky, depressing
Unpaused, so elevating
Funny Boy, disqualified for international category
Paava Kadhaigal, nothing new on offer
A Call To Spy: Gripping World War II thriller
Godmothered: Sugary fantasies are losing their charm
Torbaaz, Sanjay Dutt’s effort to turn a bomb into a ball misfires
Ava, a paid assassin trips over her conscience
Darbaan, Tagore’s tale retold unconvincingly
Mank; A depressed Hollywood that created a masterpiece called Citizen Kane
Audrey: More Than An Icon
Black Beauty, a classic retold
Uncle Frank, a sweet American tale
Sophia Loren still firing on all cylinders in The Life Ahead
Dash and Lily in festival season offering
Tokyo Film Festival roundup
Tokyo Film Festival offers a varied fare
The Undoing, just brilliant
Soorarai Pottru, a turbulent flight
The Old Town Girls at Tokyo
The Last Bath at Tokyo
The Real Thing at Tokyo
No Choice at Tokyo
Come and Go at Tokyo
Miss India, disaster all the way
Holidate
Ashes on a Road Trip at Tokyo
Deepa Mehta’s Funny Boy is Canada’s Oscar submission
Cannes readies contingency plan for 2021
A Suitable Boy, mirroring political, personal dilemmas
On the Rocks, Bill Murray is a steal
Nocturne, about toxic competitiveness in a music school
Faithful, fighting the French occupation of Algeria
Putham Pudhu Kaalai, a remarkable anthology on Amazon Prime
Blackpink: Light Up the Sky
The Lie, parents face ethical dilemma
Hubie Halloween, Adam Sandler’s gag-filled Netflix rom-com
Emily in Paris — Show-stopping fashion, but little else
Ka Pae Ranasingam, all about an insensitive administration
Nishabdham, a ghost story that takes a U-turn
Environmental film Kiss the Ground offers hope in the face of despair
Enola Holmes, fun sleuthing that is let down by its script
Tehran, a tame spy thriller
Ratched, the nurse who is based on the character in One Who Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
The Third Day, a riveting psychological thriller with Jude Law
The Paramedic, shoddily scripted
Freaks: You’re One Of Us
The Duchess
Oscars 2024: New rules may be an impediment…
Hostages 2, too much fat
Love, Guaranteed
V – Running into blind lanes
Venice Film Festival opens with Italian title
All Together Now
Venice Film Festival to open with Italian title
C U Soon, exciting watch
Prakash Jha’s web series, Aashram, is dull
Chemical Hearts, taking off from tragedy
Masaba Masaba
Coronavirus plays spoilsport to screen sex
Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, tragic and traumatic
The Sleepover
Venice to roll with stringent safety protocol
Project Power
Khuda Haafiz
Berlin, Berlin: Lolle on the Run does not fly
Lockup
Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn
Work It playfully explores ambition
Seriously Single, set in South Africa
The Kissing Booth 2
Dil Bechara
Father Soldier Son
Fatal Affair explores a subject beaten to death
Greyhound
The Old Guard
Desperados
Hamilton from the stage to the screen
The Oak Room, a slow burner with a rich horror story
Lost Bullet whizzes past car chases, fistfights
Gagarine, the pain of losing one’s home
Perry Mason
S
weat from Cannes Market
One-Way to Tomorrow, a railroad romance
P
enguin, turning a protagonist into a superwoman
Artemis Fowl is a disappointing fantasy
Da 5 Bloods, right for the moment
Betaal, chills without the thrills
Control Z: A high school student sets out to find a vicious hacker
Cannes announces 56 titles
The Lovebirds, a romance that runs into rough weather
Ponmagal Vandhal, Unoriginal plot
We Are One: A Global Film Festival
Venice may have to cross many hurdles
Capone: The degeneration of an evil mind
The Last Dance is exactly what sports fans needed
Joe & The Shawl
An enigma called Cannes Film Festival
18 Presents, story of motherly love struggle to be believed
No Cannes this year, it is final
Are drive-in theatres the answer for now?
Becoming, the biopic of Michelle Obama
The Half of It
Dangerous Lies, messy and lazy
Movie shoots with innovation now
Irrfan Khan — Remembering an actor who never shied away from criticism
Bad Education, lessons to be learnt
Jyotika’s Ponmagal Vandhal on a streaming platform?
Extraction, high on adventure
Sergio, a deeply touching love story
Tigertail, deeply touching
Will Venice be held at all ?
Will Cannes and Venice collaborate?
A big question mark over Cannes now
Love Wedding Repeat
Cannes will not go digital come what may
Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project — who is it for?
Money Heist Season 4, ennui begins to set in
Coffee & Kareem is an inane adventure
Corona — the first movie on the pandemic
Cannes Festival Palace now shelters the homeless
Netflix series SHE, a Mata Hari style tale
Horse Girl, confusing
Lost Girls — Police apathy is appalling
Cinema in the time of Corona
Spenser Confidential
Guilty
Red Sea Film Festival postponed
All The Bright Places
Roman Polanski and Cesar
Yeh Ballet
Red Sea Film Festival opening movie
Roman Holiday
Miss Americana
Nefta Football Club
A Fall from Grace
Brotherhood is pure unadulterated drama
Between Two Brothers
Jumanji: The Next Level plays on novelty
Chennai Film Festival, hits and misses
Parkour (s)
The Irishman, Scorsese scores with mayhem and the mafia
A plot that runs like a thriller, Parcel
Enai Noki Paayum Thota
Cairo Film Festival, Beirut Terminus
IFFI Film Bazaar, Baba
IFFI Film Bazaar, Josef — Born in Grace
IFFI Film Bazaar, Midnight Delhi
Hotel Mumbai, the night of blood and gore in 2008
At IFFI 2019, Ken Loach raises concerns about rising nationalism
The Perfect Candidate
Charlie’s Angels punch through the glass ceiling
Housefull 4, senseless sexist fare
Ali Fazal in House Arrest on Netflix, hardly any surprises
Midway, a World War II saga
At Kolkata International Film Festival, Run Kalyani
At Kolkata International Film Festival, Parcel plays out like an Agatha Christie plot
Moviemakers lambast International Film Festival of Kerala
Drive, Netflix’s new heist drama
Holiday in the Wild, a Christmas treat
Bombay Rose and Mumbai Film Festival
The Laundromat on Netflix
The Two Popes at Mumbai Film Festival
Eeb Allay Ooo and Mumbai Film Festival
Karthi in Kaithi
Aamis at Mumbai Film Festival
It Must Be Heaven at Mumbai Film Festival
Young Ahmed at Mumbai Film Festival
A Son and Mumbai Film Festival
Bitter Chestnut at Mumbai Film Festival
A chance to take advantage of
Mumbai Film Festival and Raahgir/The Wayfarers
Mumbai Film Festival opens with Moothon
Noura’s Dream becomes nightmare dilemma
Papicha — Rebelling through fashion in Algeria
The Sky is Pink
IFFI at 50, no direction, no director, but who cares
Children of the Sun
You Will Die At 20, at Venice and El Gouna
Bitter Chestnut at Busan
Vetri Maaran’s Asuran is a study in violence
Gumnaami
Bard of Blood is another Indian jaunt
Bard of Blood is an absolute thriller
Ad Astra
Kaappaan
Marriage Story
Beyond Prejudice
Gurinder Chadha’s Blinded by the Light
American Skin at Venice
Hava, Maryam, Ayesha at Venice Film Festival
Scales: Powerful critique of male dominance
Shadow of Water/Chola at Venice
Joker, the bitter truth behind the painted face
Joker and An Officer and a Spy win big at Venice 2019
Roman Polanski’s tryst with Venice
A Son at Venice
American Skin at Venice
Bombay Rose at Venice
Kore-eda’s The Truth at Venice Film Festival
At Venice, first Saudi woman director, Haifaa, makes a tongue-in-cheek film
Venice Film Festival rolls with The Truth
Pedro Almodovar gets Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at Venice
Venice 2019 opens with The Truth
The Kitchen; how women take on the mob.
Mindhunter
Sacred Games 2
Golden Lion for Julie Andrews at Venice 2019
Sacred Games 2 mirrors the ills of today’s India
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
In
dia showcase at Venice
One more controversy at Venice 2019 with American Skin
Nerkonda Paarvai: A superbly subdued Ajith
Fast and Furious — Hobbs and Shaw
Ash is Purest White arrives in India
Sasidharan goes to Venice with Shadow of Water
Kangana Ranaut and her terrific script sense
The Great Hack: Manipulating people with their own data
The Lion King is roaring, thanks to technology
Venice 2019 selections
Sujoy Ghosh’s Typewriter clatters out a ghost story
Japan’s The Truth and India’s Bombay Rose to herald Venice 2019
Kadaram Kondan: A stylish Vikram gets a badly written film
The hijab story and Golshifteh Farahani
Super 30, the struggle of a poor educationist in Bihar
Sujoy Ghosh’s scare series Typewriter
Gagging Tamil film critics, how futile
Spider-Man: Far from Home…and thrills
Raatchasi, Jyotika all the way
Shoplifters, Kore-eda creates his own Fagin and Oliver Twist
Last Visit, about a father-son relationship that is troubled
Yesterday, a rom-com with the soundtrack of Beatles hits
House Owner, a middling movie
Sindhubaadh, not worth a watch
The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir
Stars are no demi-gods
The Orphanage, clumsy mix of fiction and fact
Water famine and Indian cinema
Why cinema interviews and reviews tend to be superficial
Leila…frightening glance into near-future India
Pain and Glory at Cannes
Parasite is a brutal look at social inequality
Girish Karnad
Kolaigaran, a taut thriller
Shunned by Hollywood, Woody Allen to shoot new film in Spain
Can You Ever Forgive Me
NGK: A Surya adventure
Cannes 2019: Mektoub My Love: Intermezzo
Cannes 2019: Young Ahmed offers a harsh look at radicalisation
Cannes 2019: Parasite wins Palm dÓr
Cannes 2019. Parasite is an engrossing take on social divisions
At Cannes, Quentin Tarantino loses his cool
Cannes 2019: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a stylish homage
Cannes 2019, Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life
Antonio Banderas starrer Pain and Glory is all about Pedro Almodovar
Les Miserables and Sorry, We Missed You at Cannes
Pedro Almodovar’s Pain and Glory at Cannes
Ken Loach comes to Cannes with a moving story
Cannes starts on a disappointing note
T
he Dead Don’t Die
Of Fathers and Sons
Cannes 2019 set to raise the bar
The Last Summer, a rom-com
Sylvester Stallone to be at Cannes with Rambo V
Cannes to honour Alain Delon, despite controversy
Nagesh Kukunoor’s City of Dreams
Cannes 2019 and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
K
13 — Not enough meat to hold attention
Someone Great
Cannes 2019 titles to vie for Arab Critics awards
The Curse of La Llorona
Music Teacher. lyrics and love on the mountains
At Cannes, the usual suspects
No Indian movie at Cannes Film Festival
Cannes goes down memory lane
Selection Day 2, not quite like the book
The Tashkent Files rakes up the mystery of Shastri’s death
The new Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai
Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die to open Cannes 2019
Unicorn Store, a fancy adventure
Traitors is a gripping spy drama
J. Mahendran
The Highwaymen, Bonnie and Clyde retold
Super Deluxe, a biting critique of societal ills
Will Kore-eda’s The Truth open Cannes 2019?
Airaa, illogical plot and shoddy script
Triple Frontier, star-studded rumble in jungle
Juanita, a mother’s magical journey
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood may be at Cannes
Photograph – A soulless sojourn
Gollapudi Srinivas Award for 96
The films that may be at Cannes this May
Badla sinks in a quagmire of plot imperfections
Period. End of Sentence — India’s Oscar-winning documentary
Cheran’s Thirumanam, and what a bore
Mexican director Alejandro Inarritu to chair Cannes Jury
The Favourite a triangular palace intrigue
Netflix drama, Firebrand
Hip-hop dream in Gully Boy is music to the ears
The timelessness of Casablanca
To Let: A pressing social issue tackled with singular focus
Line of Descent plays at the Berlin Film Festival Market
The Fakir of Venice loses plot in the city of romance
Wajib – A father and son bond over a road trip
9: A ghost prowls all over the plot, leaving it messed up
Michael Winterbottom comes to India again with The Wedding Guest
Velvet Buzzsaw: Money and cursed art paint a strange spectacle
Sarvam Thaala Mayam
Peranbu: A nuanced study of father-daughter relationship
Gaza: An uplifting study of a land in turmoil
Manikarnika – The Queen of Jhansi, syrupy, not impressive
Polar on Netflix
First Emirati drama, Justice, on Netflix
Why Cheat India is a rocky ride to the murky side of education
Shah Jahan Regency, a lovely Bengali movie
Uri — A Surgical Strike takes a slanted view
Uri — The Surgical Strike takes way too many creative liberties
Selection Day fails to capture the nuances of the novel
Rajinikanth And Petta
Petta, Rajnikanth’s gimmicky journey
Girls of the Sun with Golshifteh Farahani
Mary Poppins Returns, though not quite with that spoonful of sugar
Sofia — A damsel in distress and a selfish solution
Five most memorable Indian films of 2018
Rajinikanth’s 2.0 has an important message
Mrinal Sen, the master moviemaker
Five foreign films in 2018 that were gems
What Will People Say
The Protector
Seethakathi
Roma, a Mexican magic
Vikram Prabhu’s Thuppakki Munai
Mowgli’s latest run on Netflix
Fatwa explores extremism through a father’s eyes
The Wild Pear Tree, Oscar submission from Turkey
A Private War at Cairo Film Festival
Poisonous Roses at Cairo Film Festival
Green Book at Cairo Film Festival
NFDC Film Bazaar invites only foreign journalists
IFFI 2018/Kolkata Film Festival 2018: Abayakto, a lovely piece of cinema from Bengal
Cairo Film Festival opens with Green Book
IFFI 2018: In the grip of Bollywood
The Reports on Sarah and Saleem
Sibel at Kolkata Film Festival
Half Songs at Kolkata Film Festival
Widow of Silence at Kolkata Film Festival
Baazaar tries and fails to rip off Wall Street blockbusters
Kolkata Film Festival has a tantalising basket of goodies
Dancing away from a repressive regime in The White Crow at Tokyo Film Festival
Vijay’s Sarkar
Homecoming, an Amazon original
G
odzilla closes Tokyo Film Festival
Amanda bags top prize at Tokyo Film Festival
Madras Beats at Tokyo Film Festival
Amanda at Tokyo Film Festival
The White Crow at Tokyo Film Festival
The River at Tokyo Film Festival
Tel Aviv on Fire at Tokyo Film Festival
Ralph Fiennes at Tokyo Film Festival
Tokyo Film Festival opens with A Star Is Born
The Old Man and the Gun
Two Japanese titles to compete at Tokyo Film Festival
Beauty and the Dogs
Rajiv Menon’s Madras Beats to play at Tokyo Film Festival
Vada Chennai, Dhanush and Vetrimaaran
Kajol disappoints in Helicopter Eela
Mayurakshi wins top award at Singapore South Asian International Film Festival
Midnight Delhi is a bewildering tale of violence
Tillotama Shome on the Macau Film Festival jury
Mayurakshi at Singapore South Asian International Film Festival
July 22 is a horrific tragedy in which children become political pawns
Nandita Das’ Manto opens Singapore South Asian International Film Festival
Sui Dhaaga is beautifully tailored
El Gouna Film Festival takes us into the world of terrorism and torture
The Day I Lost My Shadow and El Gouna Film Festival
Directors do not shy away from bold themes at El Gouna Film Festival
Robert Redford’s The Old Man and the Gun at El Gouna Film Festiva
l
Yomeddine at El Gouna Film Festival
Dear Son at El Gouna Film Festival
Tumbbad unfolds at El Gouna Film Festival
Syrian director refused visa for El Gouna Film Festival
El Gouna Film Festival opens with The Freshman
Manto may help fractured India-Pakistan ties, says Nandita Das
Love Sonia presents a tragic picture of trafficked women
U Turn has important road-safety message
Soni: A placid attempt at highlighting violence against women
ISIS, Tomorrow: The Lost Souls Of Mosul at Venice Film Festival
Post Venice, streaming giants running into a storm again
Screwdriver and Venice Film Festival
Roma wins the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival
At Eternity’s Gate and Venice Film Festival
The Wedding Singer’s Daughter at Venice Film Festival
Charlie Says at Venice Film Festival
A Star Is Born at Venice Film Festival
First Man at Venice Film Festival
Mike Leigh’s Peterloo at Venice Film Festival
Roma in Venice Film Festival
First Man opens Venice Film Festival
Scary picture of India in Netflix’s Ghoul fails to frighten
Mile 22 is a riddling ride through too many alleyways
Venice places curbs on critic
s
Gold, whipping up patriotism through hockey
Kolamavu Kokila: Drug-pedlling Nayanthara shines in this black comedy
Christopher Robin a timeless message even if Pool lacks spark
The Meg: A giant shark movie that lacks the killer bite
Karwaan is a road movie with a spirited driver
Kamal Haasan is not infallible
Vishwaroopam 2, a royal mess
Parasakthi
Karunanidhi and his cinema
Like Father is a fun, if predictable, cruise full of characters
Mulk, a disturbing look at Islamophobia
Netflix and Venice Film Festival
Saheb Bibi Aur Gangster 3 Review
Skyscraper Review
The Warning Review
Junga Review
Venice 2018 lineup
Indian film to open Venice Critics’ Week
Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation blurs the line between good and bad
First Man on moon landing to open Venice Film Festival 2018
Ant-Man and the Wasp in Marvel’s latest adventure
Soorma is unlike any other sports biopic
Kadaikutty Singam
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
Sacred Games from Netflix
Ranchi nuns and Philomena
Bollywood pirates have a merry run in Ireland
Ocean’s 8
Venice 2018 probables
Sanju
Loving Pablo
Tik Tik Tik
Rajinikanth: Still banking on gimmicks
Madhavan to play lover boy again
Kaala; Review
Rajinikanth and Kaala
Abhiyum Anuvum
Ananth Mahadevan to adapt Ray’s The Storyteller into a film
Cannes Film Festival not sinking
Cannes critics and jury see eye-to-eye
Nandita Das at Cannes
At Cannes, Nandita talks about Manto
Sir at Cannes Critics’ Week
Lars Von Trier’s The House That Jack Built At Cannes
Nandita Das’ Manto at Cannes
Manto
Manoj Bajpayee pushes Bhonsle at Cannes
First ever Kenyan movie premiers at Cannes
Cannes begins with Everybody Knows
Cannes and controversy
Daas Dev and Sudhir Mishra
Dhanush will be at Cannes
Majid Majidi’s Beyond the Clouds floats listlessly
The fear of the hangman’s noose is not going to stop a rapist
Lars Von Trier to return to Cannes
No Dubai Film Festival this December
Vishal Bharadwaj and Bard’s comedies
S. Nihal Singh
Lars Von Trier and Cannes
Nandita Das at Cannes with Manto
Cannes Film Festival poster
Privileged and pampered Mr Khan
Salman Khan…
Everybody Knows to open Cannes
First cinema to open in Saudi Arabia on April 18
Documentary on honour killing
The Long John Silvers of India
Cannes to celebrate Kubrick
Fremaux’s steps draw ire
Hichki
Cannes chief comes under fire from critics
Cannes checkmates racing reviewers, bans selfies on the steps
Airlift and Ridley Scott
Cannes set for exciting times
Hot Cannes possibilities
Actor Dileep
Tamil cinema in the doldrums
Slaying in the time of stalking
Three cheers for Frances!
Irrfan Khan, incredibly interesting
Sridevi: Her early magic could never be replicated later
Tarantino to make a movie on Sharon Tate
The guesses have begun at Cannes
Pulsating probables of Cannes
Remembering Sridev
i
Cannes, are radical changes coming?
Carting the dead with vegetables
Neeraj Pandey’s cinema
Naachiyaar
The Light of the Moon
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Adoor Gopalakrishnan