Priyanka Roy

If you have watched Charlize Theron in her multiple action avatars on screen (think Furiosa in Mad Max, Andy in The Old Guard, Lorraine in Atomic Blonde, et al), then you wouldn’t think of ever getting on the wrong side of her. Taron Egerton seemingly hasn’t, which is perhaps why we see him as the predator trying to make quick work of Theron as prey in the new Netflix thriller Apex. At least — tongue firmly in cheek — he should have taken a dekko at her serial-killer act in Monster — that won the always edgy South African-born actress an Oscar more than two decades ago.

The first season of Beef was a television drama masterclass. Through the medium of a relatable road rage run-in between two strangers, creator Lee Sung Jin fashioned a dark comedy-drama that, escalating with delicious adamance over 10 immensely watchable episodes, focused on an all-consuming feud that took over the warring protagonist duo’s relationships and careers, even as their unsparing vendetta commented on the fallout of class chasm, suppressed rage and, ultimately, grief and loneliness. As adversaries not willing to let go an inch, Ali Wong and Steven Yeun brought in vindictive anger but also profound emotional healing, with the series brimming with rare originality and startling depth of character.

Part double disaster film, part shark-attack flick, Thrash is a low-stakes thriller whose absurdities prove to be mildly entertaining, but do not a good film make. Perhaps a commendable (or not) thing about Thrash is that it doesn’t aspire to be one, content to keep its place among the category of low-brow films that are mostly made to fit into algorithmic programming strategy. There is no promise of high art here, but there is also no pretence.

Two decades ago, Priyadarshan and Akshay Kumar — Paresh Rawal and Asrani from their winning Hera Pheri team thrown into the mix — meshed horror with comedy to deliver Bhool Bhulaiyaa, a film that brought together folklore and urban legend, superstition and psychology, to make for an engaging watch. Monjulika became a part of modern Bollywood lore, and the film’s nostalgic hook was enough to spur two more films, but without Akshay or Priyadarshan involved. So when the news arrived that the hit combo was set to return with a film together after 15 years, and that too a horror comedy, expectations naturally soared. But we are living in a time where the genre has taken a leap with the Stree films, powered as they are with social commentary and the overturning of many a formula. Bhooth Bangla — misplaced comedy in the first half, inadequate horror in the second, mangled mess as a whole — is definitely not the film we were hoping for when we walked in.

There is something about Rajkummar Rao’s comic timing — subtle or not — that always hits home. In Ludo, we saw it in the undying love that his ’80s-styled character had for Mithunda — displayed via moves, mohawk and the breathless rattling of the menu at the joint he served in as a waiter. In one of his earlier films, Talaash, where he played the supporting role of a cop, his character’s dilemma to stay or leave, while in the background, when his boss, played by Aamir Khan, engages in a shouting match with his wife (Rani Mukerji) in a public space, proved to be a masterclass in understated lightness in a scene that was otherwise exceptionally intense. In Stree 2, a franchise that has given him immense opportunity to flaunt his comedic chops, the scene where his Vicky desperately mimics Jana’s (Abhishek Banerjee) mother in wholly unintelligible phrases just to drown out her grating voice, is meme gold.

For all those (and by that I mean almost everyone) who, at some point, has felt that marriage is a death sentence, the experience is quite literal in the ominously named Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen. Events that fall in the very, very bad category — and that is putting it mildly — do take place in this fresh-off-the-block Netflix series, all of which has to do with its protagonist’s decision to marry her “soulmate”.

You just begin.” This line, at the end of The Martian, released 11 years ago and packing in the kind of repeat-value watch few films have managed to over the last decade, struck home then and is particularly resonant in the times we live in. It was part of a speech that Mark Watney (Matt Damon) delivered to a roomful of aspiring astronauts when asked what kept him going alone in a capsule on Mars when almost all hope had faded away. Watney’s speech, and the film’s optimistic message: that you just get to work, solving one problem after another, figuring it out step by step until you have finally changed things for the better — feels relevant in every step of the world we live in now.

The last time Kata Mara appeared on the big screen as an astronaut, it was The Martian. The Ridley Scott film, which has immense repeat-watch value, cast Mara in an important role, but like her peers on that Mars mission, she did end up being a side player to Matt Damon’s “Martian” Mark Watney. Like in The Martian, Mara’s Sam Walker is also part of a failed space mission, but all comparisons to the 2015 film end just about here.