Sachin Chatte

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.

Given that neither Marvel nor DC has been doing particularly well with its films lately, Mattel appears to have misplaced its hopes in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. The success of Barbie (2023) likely prompted the company’s executives to greenlight this project, hoping it would become the “men’s version of Barbie.” But somewhere along the way, they got the fundamentals wrong.

Call me a cynic, but a film with both Ishq and Jawani in its title had me wary from the outset—and unfortunately, my apprehensions proved well-founded. Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai is cringe-inducing with a capital C.

A film about sheep who solve a murder mystery? Bring it on, one would say. Given the volume of pedestrian stories doing the rounds these days, sheep involved in solving a crime is as refreshing as it gets. The Sheep Detectives, directed by Kyle Balda — the man behind Minions — is a charming film with some good old-fashioned wit. Executive producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are well-known names, recently associated with Project Hail Mary.

The hardest part of making this sequel to the thoroughly enjoyable 2006 original was probably getting the cast together — once Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Emily Blunt were signed on, the film was essentially sold. The screenplay, however, tells a different story: it feels like an afterthought. The film is charming, and the trio — along with the supporting cast — is a genuine pleasure to watch, but there’s little beneath the glossy surface. Unless name-dropping Gucci, Chanel, and their ilk is enough to keep you entertained, don’t look for much more. Fans of Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) and her former assistant Andy (Anne Hathaway) from two decades ago will find this a breezy reunion. Remarkably, neither actress appears to have aged a day — and the same goes for Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci.