#CelluloidCritic

Critic - No. 203 Director : Umesh Bist Produced by: Balaji Motion Pictures, Sikhya Entertainment Casts: Sanya Malhotra, Shruthi Sharma, Ashutosh Rana, Raghubir Yadav, Rajesh Tailang, Nakul Roshan Sahdev Language: Hindi Genre: Comedy, Drama Music: Arijit Singh  SYNOPSIS:  Widowed soon after marriage, Sandhya (Sanya), a young woman grapples with an inability to grieve, quirky relatives, and a startling discovery about her late husband.   REVIEW: As the synopsis suggests, Pagglait is a satire on the expected conventional ways of dealing with grief in Indian villages and how a woman should react at each stage of a funeral - in fact, a slap to a society that tells women what to do at every goddamn stage of their life till the very end. This is not a film that grieves over a widow’s challenges but a black comedy that shows how some death can be truly liberating in many ways.  The dynamics of arranged marriage in Indian villages undergo scrutiny in the film with an eng...

Critic - No. 202 Director : Adam Wingard Produced by: Legendary Pictures Casts: Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir Language: English Genre: Action, Sci-fi, Thriller Music: Tom Holkenborg  SYNOPSIS:  Legends collide as Godzilla and Kong, the two most powerful forces of nature, clash on the big screen in a spectacular battle for the ages. As a squadron embarks on a perilous mission into fantastic uncharted terrain, unearthing clues to the Titans' very origins and mankind's survival, a conspiracy threatens to wipe the creatures, both good and bad, from the face of the earth forever.   REVIEW: The film kicks off when Godzilla emerges from the depths of the ocean to attack a facility owned by Apex Cybernetics. This prompts Dr. Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård), a former Monarch scientist to team up with Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) and convince Kong to defend ...

Critic - No. 201 Director : Zack Snyder Produced by: Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, Atlas Entertainment, The Stone Quarry Written By: Chris Terrio, Zack Snyder, Will Beall Casts: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller Language: English Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy Music: Tom Holkenborg SYNOPSIS:  Determined to ensure Superman's ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne aligns forces with Diana Prince with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. - this film will be Zack Snyder's definitive director's cut of Justice League .    REVIEW: There needs to be an extraordinary understanding and skill to direct a great comic-book movie without losing the essence of the characters and chapters. The director needs to not only intertextually adapt the comic into another medium but also needs to have a strong technical/visual sense, grasp of the sou...

Critic - No. 200 Created by: Jac Schaeffer Director : Matt Shakman Produced by: Marvel Studios Casts: Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Debra Jo Rupp, Fred Melamed, Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Randall Park, Kat Dennings, Evan Peters Language: English Genre: Action, Comedy, Romance SYNOPSIS:  Set three weeks after the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019) Wanda Maximoff and Vision are living an idyllic suburban life in the town of Westview, New Jersey, trying to conceal their true natures. As they begin to enter new decades and encounter various television tropes, the couple suspects that things are not as they seem.   REVIEW: The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has always been successful in getting the essence of its source material right. Despite its frequent reliance on formula, it manages to connect various sets of timelines and characters with a neat coherence. However, MCU’s first true venture into a miniseries is bold and experimental that constantly morphs between surreal...

Critic - No. 199 Director : Shakti Soundar Rajan Produced by: Studio Green Casts: Aarya, Sayyeshaa, Sathish, Karunakaran. Magizh Thirumeni Language: Tamil Genre: Action, Adventure Music: D. Imman SYNOPSIS:  When a loner crosses paths with a live teddy bear, the unusual duo sets off on an adventurous ride to uncover a devious scam to save lives.    REVIEW: Nanayam (2010) , Naaigal Jaagarthai (2014) , Miruthan (2016) , Tik Tik Tik (2018) - along these lines of unique films, director Shakthi pushes again for a unique concept about a journey set off by the protagonist and a talking teddy bear. Yes, with a first look at the promo materials, one might compare the design with the English film, Ted but this film has no vein of similarity with the Hollywood film. While Shakthi always displays his boldness in thinking out of the box, based on his track record, he loses his grip most of the time in the execution and screenplay. So will Teddy divert from that trend? The film kick...

Critic - No. 198 Director : Gautham Vasudev Menon, Vijay, Venkat Prabhu, Nalan Kumarasamy Produced by: Vels Film International Casts: Gautham Vasudev Menon, Amala Paul, Megha Akash, Amitash Pradhan, Varun, Sangeetha, Sakshi Agarwal, Vijay Sethupathi, Aditi Balan Language: Tamil Genre: Drama, Romance Music: Karthik, Madhu R, Premji Amaran, Edwin Louis SYNOPSIS:  Kutty Story is an anthology of four short films which revolves around the theme of love and romance.   REVIEW: Kutty Story marks the third anthology that Tamil cinema has put together successfully and each time the combinations are quite interestingly laced. This time we are putting together 4 directors who are known for their slice of life stories and who are capable of injecting romance into them seamlessly. All four directors involved have proven that they have gotten hold of the pulses of the audience successfully by their hit romantic films. So let’s take a dive into each story looking into the thematic and ci...

Critic - No. 197 Director : Selvaraghavan Produced by: Escape Artists Motion Pictures , GLO Studios, Southside Studios Casts: S.J.Suryah, Regina Cassandra, Nandita Swetha Language: Tamil Genre: Horror Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja SYNOPSIS:  Nenjam Marappathillai revolves around Mariam (Regina Cassandra), a poor girl from a convent who takes on a job as a baby-sitter in a home belonging to a wealthy eccentric man, Ramsay (S.J.Suryah) who starts lusting for her.   REVIEW: [Spoiler alert!] Whenever you watch Selvaraghavan’s film, you have to tune your mind to enter a totally different world that breaks away from stereotypes, natural staging, and even the delivery dialogues. In other words, Selva is a true contemporary auteur of our times who knows how to create original works that are truly incarnated from his peculiar mind. When Selva joined hands with S.J.Suryah, another director turned actor who also has a unique meter of acting, expectations hit sky high in 2016. It was also...