Sonal Pandya

More than two decades ago, Love Actually became the quintessential British Christmas film. The rom-com featured connected stories of love, family, and, of course, Christmas. Writer-director Richard Curtis’s latest holiday offering is a family film, That Christmas, that follows the same template, but even with the mighty touch of Santa Claus, it can’t recreate that one-of-a-kind feeling. However, for a younger audience, the craziness of the narrative might be just passable.

The newest Star Wars series is a good old-fashioned space adventure led by a bunch of pre-teen heroines and heroes. Skeleton Crew brings together four imaginative children who embark on a trip to the outer galaxies that they won’t forget. The series also features Jude Law as a mysterious space pirate, whose role is yet to be determined. With only two episodes airing so far, the sci-fi series Skeleton Crew looks to unite Star Wars fans, young and old, in a classic adventure saga.

Neeraj Pandey’s Sikandar Ka Muqaddar is a face-off between two stubborn men played by Jimmy Shergill and Avinash Tiwary, both of whom believe they are in the right. The Hindi feature goes back and forth between their perspectives, and as the story goes from 2008 to 2003 after a diamond heist remains unsolved. The writer-director tries to get us emotionally invested in this twisty tale of wills, but the nearly two-and-a-half-hour film drags out its premise.

Earlier this year, the second part of Lindsay Lohan’s acting comeback commenced with Irish Wish. The actress played a woman who is about to watch her best friend marry her longtime crush in Ireland. This time, Lohan is back with another romantic dilemma in Our Little Secret. Taking place at Christmas, Lohan’s character Avery meets her ex Logan (Ian Harding) at her new boyfriend’s house. Hilarity is supposed to ensue, but there’s very little to laugh about.

The saying ’truth is stranger than fiction’ hits harder in films adapted from true-crime stories. The drama feature, Woman of the Hour, tells the unbelievable story of a serial killer who somehow ended up on a dating show as an eligible bachelor in the late 1970s. The shocking story is told by actress Anna Kendrick in her promising directorial debut that is sure to leave an impact.

Skydance Animation’s second film, Spellbound, updates family dynamics in a modern way, letting kids know that sometimes happily ever after doesn’t work out. Shrek director Vicky Jensen helms this refreshing but overlong story of a teenage girl trying to undo a spell on her parents that has turned them into literal monsters. The colourfully appealing but flat world of Lumbria makes way for a quest for the royal trio in this well-meaning musical.

12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen takes audiences through the life of a Londoner during the German blitzkrieg of their city during World War II. The Apple TV+ feature Blitz has more of a child’s perspective as a young boy named George escapes back to his mother after being sent away for evacuation. We see the good and bad of the times through his eyes as he loses his innocence during his misadventure.

In January 2022, the Netflix series Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein introduced us to an unusual drama. The show, set in a small town, revolved around Vikrant (Tahir Raj Bhasin), who uncomfortably finds himself to be the object of affection for a gangster politician’s daughter Purva (Aanchal Singh). Instead of marrying his college sweetheart Shikha (Shweta Tripathi), he finds himself tied by matrimony to someone he doesn’t love. Sidharth Sengupta’s series took Vikrant to his limit as he found himself hiring a hitman to get rid of Purva. Now, nearly three years later, the series returns to pick up where it left off.