Reviews
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Review: Gullak season 2: Middle class quirks
Ordinary stories can be special, too. Gullak 2 endorses the idea with humour, conveying middle class India's quirks and foibles with uncomplicated zest.
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Review: Maara: Visually striking but flawed
The first thing that strikes you about Maara is it is a visually striking film. That's also about the last thing that strikes you, because almost all else that goes on in between is lost in storytelling that is too lazy to hold interest.
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Review: Kaagaz: Pankaj Tripathi tries to keep a dead script going
The merits of Pankaj Tripathi's new outing are dwarfed by the cliches that the film fails to resist. It is something that prevents Kaagaz from living up to the potential its storyline had promised.
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Review: The Midnight Sky: Too tedious to thrill
George Clooney's new film is fascinating for the ominous mood it conveys visually. Set against the aftermath of a global catastrophe, the sci-fi drama has poignant core, too.
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Review: 'Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors' is relevant but flawed
Rohan Sippy and Arjun Mukerjee's eight-episode season starts off on a note of high drama, with the crime in question established right at the outset.
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Review: Coolie No. 1: Not cool
Coolie No. 1 (on Amazon Prime Video); Varun Dhawan, Sara Ali Khan, Paresh Rawal, Javed Jaffrey, Rajpal Yadav, Johnny Lever, Sahil Vaid, Shikha Talsania, Vikas Verma, Manoj Joshi, Anil Dhawan, Bharati Achrekar; Direction: David Dhawan; Rating * * (two stars)
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Review: AK Vs AK: Quirkiest film Bollywood made this year
AK Vs AK has to be the quirkiest film Bollywood made this year
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Review: Unpaused: Hampered by uneven storytelling
Tannishtha Chatterjee directs Rat-a-Tat, about a young girl (Rinku Rajguru) and her grumpy elderly neighbour (Lillete Dubey). The neighbour is hostile towards the girl to begin with, but they strike a bond somewhere in their quest for purpose in life and hope.
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Review: Soul: Blends the cute with the complex
Jamie Foxx voices Joe Gardner the pianist, bringing alive the vision of writer-director Pete Docter and his co-writers (Kemp Powers and Mike Jones) as the narrative unfolds the protagonist's adventure.
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Review: The Last Color: Low on grey shades
The Last Color seems like a ‘showcase Indian film', the sort that the festival circuit in the West easily laps up. The film highlights a few societal ills specific to India, against the lavishly ethnic backdrop of Benaras.
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Review: Torbaaz: Stumped by weak storytelling
Torbaaz talks of war and terror, and the toll such things may take on children. The film fuses the idea with the power of sports -- in this case, cricket -- to unite and heal.
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Review: A Call To Spy: Important slice of history
You would expect more suspense and drama given the subject at hand, and the sense of overall underwhelming does surprise you. Director Lydia Dean Pilcher has borrowed from one of the most intriguing chapters of World War II, but her effort fails to fully engage because the film falters at a storytelling level.
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Review: Durgamati: Low on scares, high on cliches
ou were just beginning to get excited about new-age Bollywood horror after cutting-edge stuff as Stree and Tumbbad. Then came Laxmii, and now Durgamati -- as rude reminder that Bollywood horror still has some way to go.
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Review: Mank: Hollywood in black and white, and grey
It is the turn of David Fincher this time, to romance Hollywood in black and white. Hollywood loves this sort of an introspection once in a while, which harks back to its glory days and deconstructing the grime beneath the glamour.
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Review: Darbaan: Poignant drama
Nadkarni's film rides a second asset besides the hallmark emotive nuances that come with a Rabindranath Tagore classic.
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Review: Ava: Cliches kill the thrills
From Anna to Hanna to Atomic Blonde or Unlocked, the ladies in Hollywood have been doing brisk business too, playing the killer within the assassin/spy template. It's Jessica Chastain's turn now to get going with formulaic kills.
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Review: Mosul: Gritty, gripping engrossing war drama
Avengers director duo Joe and Anthony Russo have produced an action film which is quite an antithesis of the fantasy-loaded superhero razzmatazz that has come to be their calling card.
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Review: Mosul: Gritty, gripping war drama
The film begins at a time the violence in Mosul is ebbing and the Nineveh province's SWAT unit, comprising local men who have been directly or indirectly affected by the scourge of ISIS, is on a final mission.