Sonal Pandya

Based on the characters by author Darcey Bell, the sequel to A Simple Favor (2018) returns with double the craziness and twists of the first film. Several familiar faces are back in Another Simple Favor, directed once again by Paul Feig. But it’s the weird bond between frenemies Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) that elevates this fun and freaky sequel. The Italian setting and the wedding venue lead to wild storytelling, which is only saved by the stars’ chemistry and banter. Emily, who is out of prison on appeal, invites her old bestie Stephanie to be her maid of honour at her Italian wedding to a wealthy Italian man, Dante Versano (Michele Morrone), who may or may not be in the mob. As the wedding festivities take off, the bodies begin to drop like flies, and unsurprisingly, mommy vlogger Stephanie is one of the suspects. Is this one of Emily’s tricky traps again?

There’s a lot of suspension of belief and logic in Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins. A master jewel thief goes so under the radar that the authorities can never quite catch him. And then there’s the actual heist which tries to pull the wool over audiences’ eyes over and over again. Produced by filmmaker Siddharth Anand, the Netflix thriller sets up a predictable narrative with familiar characters. Rehan Roy (Saif Ali Khan) is the world’s best jewel thief in exile after his father disowns him. But a blackmail scheme from art collector Rajan Aulakh (Jaideep Ahlawat) draws him back to India, where he could be arrested at any moment. The impossible mission he has been recruited for is to steal Africa’s Kohinoor, the Red Sun diamond, valued at over Rs 500 crore. Rehan and Rajan must work together and try not to kill each other before the heist is completed. The feature also adds in a complicated romance angle with the introduction of Farrah (Nikita Dutta), Rajan’s wife.

It’s not hyperbole to call Andor the best Star Wars series. Since the franchise has shifted to web series, Tony Gilroy’s prequel saga is the richest telling from the galaxy, as it explores themes and arcs that seem far, far away but are more timely than one can imagine. Led by a fantastic ensemble cast, Andor Season 2 is a wonderful return to form for the franchise as the series hurtles towards the events of the feature film Rogue One (2016). Picking up one year later, Bix (Adria Arjona) and Cassian (Diego Luna) have long left Ferrix, but there are new battles to fight. Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) prepares for the wedding of her teenage daughter while dealing with unexpected hitches in her secret fight against the Empire. Dedra (Denise Gough) and Syril (Kyle Soller) meet his mother, while Rogue One’s Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) presents a disturbing plan to a select few. There are several plots bubbling, and each one leads us to the inevitable mission from the film.

The new Apple TV+ series Government Cheese is billed as a family comedy but veers into deep drama at times as well. Set in 1960s California, the surreal comedy never seems too sure about its initial premise and veers all over the place. David Oyelowo is the cheerful protagonist and former felon who is ready to do everything to get things back to where they were with his family. However, his criminal past can never quite escape him. The meandering dramedy pushes off strong but loses itself as more characters are introduced. Oyelowo is Hampton Chambers, a check forger sentenced to the Chino State Prison, who is let out early with certain conditions. His family, wife Astoria (Simone Missick), and sons, Einstein (Evan Ellison) and Harrison (Jahi Di’Allo Winston), have all moved on in his absence, and Hampton struggles to form their bond again. Working to launch his new handyman invention and pay off the local crime family to whom he owes a debt, Hampton falls deeper into chaos.

The post-apocalyptic drama The Last of Us instantly became a global hit after its release in 2023 on HBO. Based on the enormously popular game, which sees players take on character perspectives, the series returns with a darker tone and new conflicts. The first episode reintroduces viewers to the story while taking the story down a dangerous path that could expose several characters. Co-created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, The Last of Us Season 2 wastes no time in getting hooked in again. Returning with a five-year jump, the show picks up with an estranged Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) adjusting to life in Jackson, Wyoming, and integrating within the community there. Within the safe haven, there are lots of little conflicts while other threats seem to be on the horizon. The premiere episode is set around New Year’s Eve 2029, which should indicate promise but instead holds foreboding for the residents of the tight-knit community seeking a peaceful life away from the pandemic and the zombie clickers infecting the rest of the world.

Your Friends and Neighbors really wants you to feel bad about Jon Hamm’s Andrew Cooper, a suburban family man who loses it all and resorts to stealing from the wealthy neighbourhood. But the deeper trouble Coop lands himself in, the harder it becomes to worry about his easily avoidable problems. Hamm gives Coop some depth as he struggles after life post-divorce. However, creator Jonathan Tropper’s dark comedy tiptoes around certain issues while giving the protagonist opportunities to keep behaving badly. The Apple TV+ series deviates midway with a big twist that leadens the narrative even further. After 18 years of marriage, newly divorced Coop (Hamm) finds himself adrift from his wife, Mel (Amanda Peet), and teenagers in more ways than one. He resents his friend Nick (Mark Tallman), who is now dating Mel. To make matters worse, he is fired from his job as a hedge fund manager. Living in a wealthy community and taking care of his family, who have expensive taste, gets worrisome too. Coop also takes his sister Ali (Lena Hall), who is struggling with mental health issues. So what does Coop do? He begins to steal from his friends and neighbours to fund his lifestyle. Coop manages to stay under the radar for a bit and even picks up a partner. Until, however, the house of cards that he’s erected around himself begins to come down.

In the new Amazon Prime Video action film, Viola Davis checked off two items in her career that most of her male contemporaries have probably done several times over theirs. G20 sees the Oscar winner as American President Danielle Sutton, who is heading an important international summit when it is hijacked by terrorists. The action thriller, directed by Patricia Riggen, doesn’t have anything new to offer. Although Davis gets the chance to save the day over and over again. Before heading to South Africa for the G20 summit, President Sutton has a mini crisis to deal with at home after her teenage daughter Serena (Marsai Martin) is caught at a party after she snuck out without her security detail. Soon, the Sutton family has bigger problems to contend with. The hotel where the G20 summit is held is taken over by terrorists who oppose the world leaders plans to end world hunger through cryptocurrency. Neither side’s plans are explained properly. Luckily, Sutton and a handful of leaders manage to escape, and soon it is a game of cat and mouse.

A year and a half later, we pick up back where Canada returned Kaala left viewers after being arrested in the Season 1 finale. Paramvir Singh Cheema’s Kaala has new innings and a new mission to accomplish in this musical revenge saga. While certain narratives from Season 1 move forward, others take you back as the series adds more unnecessary drama to the proceedings. The SonyLIV series, Chamak-The Conclusion, suffers from wanting to do too much but not knowing where to trim down the sprawling saga. Unpredictable singer Kaala (Cheema) reconciles with music label owner Pratap Singh Deol (Manoj Pahwa) after it is revealed he is Tara Singh’s (Gippy Grewal) son. As they prepare to take Teeja Sur to newer heights, internal conflicts and past histories threaten to derail everything. By the end of the six episodes, mostly all the characters have a rise and fall, not all of them satisfactory.