Sonal Pandya

Matthew McConaughey plays a down-on-his-luck bus driver who becomes a reluctant hero after evacuting schoolchildren in The Lost Bus. The Paul Greengrass film takes its time to establish McConaughey’s character and the growing disaster. Once the fire grows in the small town, the drama gets to the heart of the story as two individuals fight against the odds to make it. The tension is heightened in the second half to the right temperature as the odds become slim. The leads’ teamsmanship carries the film over the line.

Before Squid Game, there was the Japanese series Alice in Borderland about players in life-or-death games. Returning five years after the Shibuya meteorite incident, Alice in Borderland’s third season puts its protagonists Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) and Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) back in dire danger. As the games resume in Borderland, the games become more elaborate with higher stakes. The events of Season 3 veer away from Haro Aso’s manga while sticking to its essence. The second half picks up to return to the show that entralled fans over five years and should leave them wanting more.

Swiped recounts the history of the dating app explosion of the 2010s, which was led by Tinder and followed by Bumble. Whitney Wolfe Herd was at the center of both, and the Hulu film explores her journey from someone who started out wanting to make a difference with charitable work to the woman who ended up changing the face of dating. The biopic benefits from having the likeable Lily James star in this average retelling of the rise of startup culture, which only dips into the more controversial points. Swiped follows Whitney (James) as she goes from a 24-year-old marketing director to the CEO of Bumble/Badoo at 31. The film shows the early days of Tinder and how it evolved into the biggest dating app on the scene. Whitney had a big hand in its success, but it is her word against the founders, who block her out of the company. She picks up the pieces to start her own app, Bumble, which puts the safety of women above all.

The Morning Show was launched in 2019 as a vehicle for stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. The show also reflected on the changing landscape of TV journalism with topical issues like the MeToo movement, the COVID-19 pandemic, and even the January 6th riots at the Capitol. This season, the Apple TV+ returns with a focus on the 2024 Olympics in Paris while also tackling AI (artificial intelligence). Already crowded with pending storylines, The Morning Show adds fuel to the fire by introducing several new conflicts for its burdened characters. Alex Levy (Aniston) and Bradley Jackson (Witherspoon) have survived the events of the last season of The Morning Show. The new season returns two years after the events of the last, with Alex as a top executive at the new UBN network and Bradley seemingly retired as a journalist. So what reunites the two again? The TV anchors face it all this time around with deepfakes, conspiracy theories, and corporate cover-ups that keep threatening them and those around them. The stakes are even higher, as this time the two women battle a hidden enemy.

It may not get enough awards love or attention, but Slow Horses is quietly plodding on as one of the most dependable and exhilarating spy series on streaming. With Season 5 about to premiere, the sixth and seventh seasons are already in the works at Apple TV+. The fifth season brings yet another puzzle to Gary Oldman’s spymaster, Jackson Lamb, who proves to the MI5 heads why he’s the best they’ve got. With strong performances by Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Saskia Reeves, the newest season is another thrilling ride. The rejected MI5 agents of Slough House get yet another opportunity to save the day and one-up the headquarters at Regent’s Park. This time, a terror plot links back to one of their own, as tech guy Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung) has been honey-trapped. The British intelligence organisation gets a taste of their own medicine as potential terror incidents take place all over London, rattling those in power. It’s up to Lamb and his underutilised and underarmed team of ‘rejected’ spies to step in with their wits to avoid a larger catastrophe.

How many murders can you have in a building? Turns out one every season, and we hope the corpses continue to fall because the fifth season of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building is warm, funny, and oddly delightful. Several new characters are added this season, but it doesn’t take away from the core protagonists as they investigate the murder of one of their own. Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez are once again the highlight, while Meryl Streep is the best addition to the stellar show. Season 5 of the series looks at a New York institution, the doormen of the Big Apple who keep the buildings running. Viewers knew from last season that the Arconia’s beloved doorman, Lester (Teddy Coluca), was found dead in the courtyard fountain. Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) decide to investigate the mysterious circumstances, which takes them down memory lane into the history of the Arconia itself with interactions with mobsters and billionaires that provide more clues.

The second season of Wednesday was split into two by Netflix, and the remaining four episodes have too much action and narrative packed in. Created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, with Tim Burton as executive producer and director, Wednesday has a lot going for it, but the story in the latter half of Season 2 is underwhelming despite each twist it throws at you. The makers are determined to involve every single character in its overstuffed plotline, leaving a very exhausted viewer at the end. The fallout from episode four leaves two dangerous fugitives from Willow Hill psychiatric hospital, the Hyde Tyler Galpin (Hunter Doohan) and Slurp (Owen Painter), the zombie that Wednesday’s (Jenna Ortega) brother Pugsley (Isaac Cordonez) befriends. Both Addams siblings set out to find them, and it leaves everyone converging towards a wild battle. At Nevermore, Enid (Emma Sinclair) discovers some distressing information about herself, while Principal Dort (Steve Buscemi) is insistent on having a grand gala for the school with possible donor Hester Frump (Joanna Lumley), Wednesday’s grandmother.

Presented by Apple and A24, Spike Lee’s newest, Highest 2 Lowest, is a heart-pounding thriller set in the Big Apple. Like the title, Lee goes from a high-rise penthouse to a downtown apartment as a music mogul tries to figure out who threatened and stole from him. The American filmmaker reimagines legendary Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low (1963) and sets it in his hometown, New York, while tackling the perils of fame and questioning what it means to be a good man. The result is an exhilarating performance from longtime collaborator Denzel Washington in a film that keeps the viewer on their toes. Washington plays David King, a music mogul who is said to have the “best ears in the business.” On the verge of buying back his stake in his label, Stackin’ Hits Records, King receives a ransom call for $17.5 million saying his son has been kidnapped. King moves into action, getting the police involved. Later, it is discovered that it’s not Trey (Aubrey Joseph) but his friend Kyle who has been taken instead. Suddenly, King doesn’t want to pay the ransom. But when he tries to do the right thing, everything goes upside down.