#CelluloidCritic

Critic No. 267 Director: H. Vinoth Written by: H. Vinoth Produced by: Zee Studios, Bayview Projects LLP Casts :  Ajith Kumar, Kartikeya Gummakonda , Huma Qureshi , Gurbani Judge, Sumithra, Raj Ayyappa Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja (songs), Ghibran (score) Language: Tamil Genre: Action / Crime / Thriller SYNOPSIS:  Arjun (Ajith Kumar), a police officer, sets out on a mission to hunt down a group of violent bikers after they're involved in a theft and murder. REVIEW: With Nerkonda Parvai (2019), H.Vinoth proved that big heroes have the power to bring out important messages as such to a big crowd and paved the way for more stars to choose such films. Jai Bhim (2021) was another example of how a big hero makes small films to reach the masses with relevant messages. However, Valimai was marketed as more of a commercial flick in contrast to the duo’s previous outing and the 3 years wait finally ends here. We also know how the team staggered their production over the span of 3 years wh

Critic No. 266 Director: Kenneth Branagh Written by: Kenneth Branagh Produced by: Northern Ireland Screen, TKBC Casts : Caitríona Balfe, Judi Dench , Jamie Dornan , Ciarán Hinds , Colin Morgan , Josie Walker , Jude Hill Music: Van Morrison Language: English Genre: Biography, Drama SYNOPSIS:  ‘Belfast’ chronicles the life of a working-class Ulster Protestant family from the perspective of their 9-year-old son Buddy (Jude Hill) during The Troubles in Belfast , Northern Ireland. His stable and loving community and everything he thought he understood about life is changed forever but joy, laughter, music and the formative magic of the movies remain. REVIEW: I am still blown away by Branagh’s Hamlet (1996) which was for me, the most best adapted film from a Shakesphere’s work. In Belfast , Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical take on growing up in Northern Ireland’s capital during the tumultuous ’60s, ends with a dedication for the ones who stayed, left and were lost. This simple ye

Critic No. 265 Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi Written by: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe Produced by: C&I Entertainment , Culture Entertainment, Bitters End, Nekojarashi, Quaras, Nippon Shuppan Hanbai, Bungeishunjū, L'Espace Vision, The Asahi Shimbun Company Casts : Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tōko Miura, Reika Kirishima, Masaki Okada Music: Eiko Ishibashi Language: Japanese Genre: Drama SYNOPSIS:  After his wife's unexpected death, Yusuke Kafuku, a renowned stage actor and director, receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima. There, he begins to face the haunting mysteries his wife left behind. REVIEW: Drive My Car has won a bucketload of awards since its debut in competition at Cannes last year. It might have lost to Titane , but picked up the award for best screenplay. It has topped many lists of the best films of 2021, going on to be nominated for the 94th Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director (first for a Japanese f

Director: Felicity Morris Produced by: Raw TV Casts : Kristoffer Kumar , Cecilie Fjellhøy, Pernilla Sjöholm , Ayleen Charlotte , Erlend Ofte Arntsen , Natalie Remøe Hansen Language: English Genre: Documentary SYNOPSIS:  Posing as a wealthy, jet-setting diamond mogul, he wooed women online then conned them out of millions of dollars. Now some victims plan for payback. REVIEW: Starting from the idea that finding love by using a dating app is the new normal, ‘The Tinder Swindler’ recounts a story that feels like a Fairy Tale gone wrong with an intelligent, charismatic yet monstrous villain. Writer-director Felicity Morris assembles women's firsthand accounts into a narrative that takes jaw-dropping twists unveiling the deep, ugly route that social apps can lead you to.  The film starts off with the jumpy, bubbly Cecilie, a Norwegian residing in London who always dreamed of finding her prince charming on Tinder. After 7 years of being in the app, she matched with Simon, the handsom

Critic No. 263 Director: Shakun Batra Written by: Shakun Batra, Ayesha Devitre, Sumit Roy, Yash Sahai Produced by: Dharma Productions , Viacom18 Studios, Jouska Films Casts : Deepika Padukone , S iddhant Chaturvedi , Ananya Panda , Dhairya Karwa, Naseeruddin Shah Music: Kabeer Kathpalia, Savera Mehta Language: Hindi Genre: Drama / Romance SYNOPSIS:  Alisha Khanna, 30, ambitious, now finds herself at a crossroads in life. Her six-year-long relationship has grown monotonous, her career seems to be going nowhere. But just when she had begun to accept this reality as unchangeable, her life is usurped by the arrival of her cousin, Tia, and her fiancé, Zain, with whom she bonds over a troubled past and a common wish to break from its confines. REVIEW: When an upcoming and promising director like Shakun Batra sets out to make a film about dysfunctional and complicated modern-day relationships, you can’t help but have high expectations. Why? Because we know and expect some innovation and

Critic No. 262 Director: Karthik Subbaraj Written by: Karthik Subbaraj Produced by: Seven Screen Studio Casts : Vikram, Dhruv Vikram, Bobby Simha, Simran, Sanath, Vettai Muthukumar Music: Santosh Narayanan Language: Tamil Genre: Action / Drama / Thriller SYNOPSIS:  'Mahaan' follows the turbulent journey of a middle-aged simple man, Mahaan (Vikram) who later becomes a pride billionaire, followed by unexpected haywire challenges he starts to face soon after. REVIEW: Though Petta (2019) and Jagame Thandhiram (2020) was quite engaging, we cannot deny the fact that we are immensely missing the Karthik Subbaraj who gave us emotional knockout punches through Pizza (2012), Jigarthanda (2014) and Iraivi (2016). With an interesting premise and strong cast ensemble, does Karthik finally return back to his roots? The film kicks off with a prologue, set in 1968, and involving three boys who are part of a card game having a falling out. In 1996, we see one of them, Gandhi Mahaan (Vikra