Sachin Chatte

The benchmark for the YRF Spy Universe isn’t particularly high, especially after the War films. So it comes as a pleasant surprise to find a taut, breezy action thriller that doesn’t waste time dwelling on unnecessary detours. For starters, this is a completely romance-free enterprise, and that itself is a rarity in mainstream Hindi cinema. There are no mandatory love songs shot in exotic locations or forced romantic subplots. In fact, there are only a couple of songs, and for the most part, the film moves at a brisk pace.

The third instalment in the Welcome franchise is called Welcome to the Jungle—but it is so mangled that it will make you yearn for some semblance of sanity. There is nothing wrong with lightweight, silly comedies, but there is a thin line between being delightfully goofy and descending into complete absurdity. Forget crossing that line—director Ahmed Khan’s film starts there, ends there, and keeps you trapped there for nearly three hours.

Few films are as devastating as Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated and highly acclaimed The Voice of Hind Rajab — and that is partly because few stories are as tragic and gut-wrenching as this one. The film was held up by India’s censor board before finally releasing here, despite containing no onscreen violence — zero, zilch.

There is no delicate way to put this: Cocktail 2 boasts one of the most ludicrous stories I have encountered in recent memory. A spiritual sequel to Cocktail (2012), the film ostensibly wants to discuss modern relationships, commitment issues and the institution of marriage. Unfortunately, it takes such a circuitous route to get there that it makes a GPS with no signal look reliable.

Toy Story ranks among Hollywood’s longest-running animated franchises. More importantly, in an industry where sequels are often accused of existing primarily to generate revenue, the Toy Story films have consistently managed to be a few notches above the rest. The journey began in 1995 and, with its newest instalment, the franchise is still going strong. Crucially, it continues to keep itself relevant with changing times and audiences.

Backrooms joins the growing list of films made by directors who transitioned from YouTube to feature filmmaking. Directed by 21-year-old Kane Parsons, it presents itself as a high-concept film—perhaps so high-concept that grasping exactly what it is trying to say becomes a challenge. By the end, one is left wondering what the point of it all was

Main Vaapas Aaunga has its heart in the right place. A love story set against the backdrop of Partition and the horrors endured by millions has the ingredients for compelling cinema. But at over 160 minutes, Imtiaz Ali’s Main Vaapas Aaunga takes an awfully long time to get where it wants to go.

Master filmmaker Steven Spielberg is back with a theme that made him a household name. Close Encounters of the Third Kind arrived in 1977 and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial followed in 1982. After all these years, no one crafts a science-fiction thriller involving extraterrestrials quite like Spielberg.