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Guild Reviews

Image of scene from the film Badminton
Badminton

(Hindi)

Set in a bar, the story revolves around witty banter, secrets, and an unpredictable turn of events.

Cast: Jim Sarbh, Sayani Gupta, Vijay Maurya, Mohammad Ebdullah
Director: Dibakar Banerjee
Writer: Anuvab Pal


FCG Member Reviewer Rahul Desai
Rahul Desai | The Hollywood Reporter India
Dibakar Banerjee Aims, But Misses the Mark

Sat, January 4 2025

The 11-minute satire starring Jim Sarbh and Vijay Maurya is too staged for its own good—its burning desire to be witty dominates the the core purpose of the film

Given the times we live in, it’s a source of constant intrigue that Hindi cinema’s politically aware film-makers have to be smart about expressing themselves. They have to be subtler and sneakier with their views, but also stay just as accessible. You see a push-and-pull balance with the more prolific storytellers like Hansal Mehta, Sudhir Mishra and Anubhav Sinha. But cult-status directors like Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee have found it visibly harder. At times, their opinions are nearly too pure. You can tell that they have so much to say—there’s a lot of emotion, passion, cynicism and awareness—but they’re running out of commercial road.

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Image of scene from the film Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Action, Science Fiction, Comedy, Family (English)

Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails reunite against a powerful new adversary, Shadow, a mysterious villain with powers unlike anything they have faced before. With their abilities outmatched in every way, Team Sonic must seek out an unlikely alliance in hopes of stopping Shadow and protecting the planet.

Cast: Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Lee Majdoub, Krysten Ritter, Adam Pally
Director: Jeff Fowler


FCG Member Reviewer Sanyukta Thakare
Sanyukta Thakare | Mashable India
Jim Carrey's Grinch Like Performance Is The Highlight

Fri, January 3 2025

Keanu Reeves voice acting as well as the Shadow animation is great

After two successful releases, the series is nowhere close to its end and isn’t bad. Featuring an ensemble cast of Jim Carrey, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and many more the film does justice for its young and adult audience. The makers manage to strike an almost balance between entertaining both of its audiences. Unlike many sequels, this one stays true to its core and explores a more chaotic version of Eggman, taking it to the next level. The writing and performances keep the films from falling into the same trap as all other sequels. The makers don’t waste time setting the story or the gap between the films. Just as the family of three aliens and two humans is celebrating Sonic’s Earth Birthday another catastrophe befalls their world. On the other side of their world, another alien is wreaking havoc. A sinister and darker version of Sonic called Shadow has broken out of a 50-year-old prison and is out for revenge. As Sonic, Tails and Knuckles begin to investigate they wonder if they know the full truth.

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Image of scene from the film The Pickle Factory
The Pickle Factory

(Hindi)

Mahika, an intern at a family business, bonds with colleagues and overcomes challenges, discovering the importance of family and friendship.

Cast: Tanya Maniktala, Ritwik Bhowmik, Sohaila Kapur, Gagan Dev Riar, Naveen Kaushik


FCG Member Reviewer Rahul Desai
Rahul Desai | The Hollywood Reporter India
Tanya Maniktala, Ritwik Bhowmik Star In A Dull and Immature Workplace Comedy

Thu, January 2 2025

Despite a promising cast, the 10-episode show remains frustratingly low on genre humour and feel-goodness.

The Pickle Factory is what happens when The Office (U.S.) and Better Life Foundation (India) reluctantly get married (arranged) and have a pious, Doordarshan-loving child that refuses to grow up. It’s the kind of stagey and adolescent workplace comedy that went out of fashion years ago. You want it to work, of course, for several reasons. The 10-episode show revolves around the quirky employees of a family-run pickle company; imagine the readymade Hindi ‘achaar’ proverbs.

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Image of scene from the film Kraven the Hunter
Kraven the Hunter

Action, Adventure, Thriller (English)

Kraven Kravinoff's complex relationship with his ruthless gangster father, Nikolai, starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.

Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, Russell Crowe, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Levi Miller, Tom Reed, Billy Barratt
Director: J.C. Chandor


FCG Member Reviewer Gopinath Rajendran
Gopinath Rajendran | The Hindu
The audience is hunted in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe film

Thu, January 2 2025

The dubbing is off, the editing is choppy and the VFX unimpressive; the film’s biggest takeaway is Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who carries it on his massive shoulders

A long, icy road is the first shot of Kraven the Hunter, the sixth film in the infamous Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU). Given how all the other films, except the Venom movies, turned out to be fiascos, the very first shot of Kraven felt like a metaphor for the studio’s long and trying journey with Marvel’s IPs. After all, it’s not a lot to work with when you only have characters commonly associated with Spider-Man and you cannot even use the friendly neighbourhood superhero. Despite being far better than Morbius and Madame Web, Sony’s latest and possibly final superhero outing, Kraven the Hunter, still misses its mark by miles.

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FCG Member Reviewer Sanyukta Thakare
Sanyukta Thakare | Mashable India
Aaron Taylor Johnson’s Action Heavy Film Makes Madame Web Look Good

Thu, January 2 2025

Skip it

Kraven the Hunter finally saw its release in Indian theaters but despite the delays and built-up anticipation this film has turned out to be another disappointment like Madam Web. The film explores the story of Spiderman Universe villain Kraven the Hunter. The titular role of the film is played by Aaron Taylor Johnson, who is known for his looks physique and charm but none of it transfers to his on-screen character Kraven the Hunter. The film begins with Kraven’s latest task at a Russian prison. The man of honour and code walks into the jail to kill his target but on his way out does not hesitate to take a few guards down. Kraven isn’t a hero, he isn’t good but the film works on proving that he is with his every decision until it serves right for the plot. After a quick introduction, much of the film takes place in the past as Sergei and Dimitri’s toxic childhood is explored — more like explained. We also get a montage of how he trains in the jungle as a child while honing his powers, super strength and other abilities. He also takes down many animal poachers but it doesn’t really add any dept to his role in the film. It could serve as his connection to the animal world, but it isn’t as effective due to a lack of authentic interaction.

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Image of scene from the film Mukkam Post Bombilwadi
Mukkam Post Bombilwadi

Comedy (Marathi)

Set in 1942, Mukkam Post Bombilwaadi is a hilarious tale of a peaceful Indian village suddenly thrown into chaos with the arrival of Hitler. Amid World War II's disruption, people in the village, led by their local theater group, battle to defeat the dictator. Will they succeed in their comical quest to conquer Hitler?..

Cast: Prashant Damle, Vaibhav Mangle, Adwait Dadarkar, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Mrinmayee Godbole, Sunil Abhyankar
Director: Paresh Mokashi
Writer: Paresh Mokashi


FCG Member Reviewer Keyur Seta
Keyur Seta | Bollywood Hungama
(Writing for The Common Man Speaks)
Decent entertainer trapped in the wrong medium

Thu, January 2 2025

Filmmaker Paresh Mokashi’s Mukkam Post Bombilwadi is based on his own Marathi play of the same name. The story takes place in 1942 when World War II is in full swing. Adolf Hitler (Prashant Damle) is under pressure for not having won the war despite fighting it for years, especially from his wife Eva (Deepti Lele). Winston Churchill (Anand Ingle), the Prime Minister of Great Britain, is making things more difficult for him. Meanwhile, in Bombilwadi village in Maharashtra’s Konkan, Varvante (Vaibhav Mangle) heads a theatre group. He is struggling hard to rehearse for a play with the members of his troupe (Devendra Pem, Geetanjali Kulkarni and Ritika Shrotri). Vaidya Buwa (Sunil Abhyankar) and Bhaskar (Pranav Raorane), who are also a part of the theatre group, have made a bomb to blow up Britishers.

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FCG Member Reviewer Mihir Bhanage
Mihir Bhanage | The Times of India
A theatrical farce that's hilarious only in parts

Wed, January 1 2025

Around two decades ago, Paresh Mokashi gave the Marathi theatre audience a play called Mukkam Post Bombilwadi, which revolved around an absurd but hilarious story. For the big screen, Mokashi and team adapt the same premise on a cinematic scale. Set in 1942, Mukkam Post Bombilwadi unfolds in three locations – Adolf Hitler’s office in Germany, Winston Churchill’s war room in London, and the sleepy village of Bombilwadi in Konkan, Maharashtra. Amid mounting tensions of World War II, Hitler (Prashant Damle) gets a call about some innovation in Japan that can help him win the war. In no mood to waste time, Hitler decides to fly to Japan on his own (despite not knowing how to fly a plane). In the meantime, Churchill’s (Anand Ingale) spies tell him about Hitler’s plan and the British PM vows to stop Hitler come what may. The story then shifts to Bombilwadi, where multiple things are unfolding – a play is being rehearsed, a British police officer in love with Hitler’s partner Eva Braun is more focused on staging Shakespeare’s plays than maintaining law and order in Bombilwadi, and freedom fighters are plotting to send the Brits back with the ‘do or die’ slogan. In between all this, Hitler crash-lands in Bombilwadi. How, and what happens later is what the film is largely about.

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Image of scene from the film Baby John
FCG Rating for the film
Baby John

Action, Drama, Thriller, Crime (Hindi)

John's peaceful life with daughter Khushi is disrupted by a sex-trafficking gang. Revealing his past as DCP Satya, he seeks revenge for his family's murder, saving minor girls and punishing the criminals, before starting anew.

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi, Rajpal Yadav, Sheeba Chaddha, Jackie Shroff, Salman Khan, Sanya Malhotra, Khushi Bhardwaj, Resh Lamba
Director: Kalees
Writer: Kalees


FCG Member Reviewer Anmol Jamwal
Anmol Jamwal | Tried & Refused Productions

Wed, January 1 2025

FCG Member Reviewer Nonika Singh
Nonika Singh | The Tribune
One big yawn

Sun, December 29 2024

‘Baby John’ has all the trappings of a mass entertainer, having been produced by Atlee, the record-maker ‘Jawan’ director whose remake of Tamil film ‘Their’ it is. Headlined by a fairly bankable star, Varun Dhawan, who can certainly act, he does try to energise the proceedings. South Indian sensation Keerthy Suresh is making her Bollywood debut and yesterday’s ‘Hero’ Jackie Shroff plays the vilest of vile badman. On the side is the beautiful and talented Wamiqa Gabbi.

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FCG Member Reviewer Tatsam Mukherjee
Tatsam Mukherjee | The Wire
A Culmination of Hindi Cinema’s Laziest Instincts in 2024

Thu, December 26 2024

Not content with just being old wine in a new bottle, the film might as well be hooch in a polythene bag.

Nothing screams ‘crisis’ in Hindi cinema right now more than Salman Khan showing up in his second ‘star cameo’ of the year – hedging his bets between two cinematic universes; hoping at least one of them works. Something works. This is not a spoiler, given how the film’s PR and fan accounts are enthusiastically ‘leaking’ his entry scene on social media. Khan’s films proudly flaunted their ‘critic-proof’ status for a long time, but have looked increasingly silly in the last five years. Apart from YRF’s spy universe, Khan’s Chulbul Pandey has announced himself in the Rohit Shetty cop universe, and now alongside Varun Dhawan in the Baby John universe – where he’s called (what else, but) Agent Bhai Jaan. It looks like even Bollywood’s loosest canon is looking to diversify his portfolio, fervently praying to make windfall gains from one franchise. The devil-may-care swagger has been replaced with the caution of a star unsure of his place.

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Image of scene from the film Barroz
Barroz

Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Thriller (Malayalam)

Barroz has been protecting D' Gama's treasure for 400 years and has been entrusted to hand over the treasure to a true descendant of D' Gama. One day, a boy comes in search of Barroz, claiming that he is a descendant of Vasco da Gama. Barroz sets on a journey to find out the boy's true ancestors and history.

Cast: Mohanlal, Maya Rao West, Rafael Amargo, Sara Vega, Pranav Mohanlal, Caesar Lorrento, Padmavati Rao, Jayachandran Palazhi, Pedro Figuerrito, Guru Somasundaram
Director: Mohanlal


FCG Member Reviewer S. R. Praveen
S. R. Praveen | The Hindu
Mohanlal’s passion project ends up as a lost opportunity

Tue, December 31 2024

As the passion project of one of Malayalam cinema’s biggest stars, ‘Barroz’ had a lot going for it, but the drive appears to have been trumped by the practical difficulties of mounting such an ambitious film

Dream projects often come with their share of self-indulgence and doses of obsession. Yet, somewhere one gets to feel things expressed right from the heart of the maker, who has immersed his soul in this idea for so long. What one misses amid all the plasticity of Barroz, Mohanlal’s dream project and his debut directorial, is such an expression which hits us right where it matters. It is no wonder then that one is largely left untouched by the fantasy drama that plays out over 150 minutes. Part of the reason for how Barroz turned out in the end could be the abrupt exit of Jijo Punnoose, the brilliant brain behind India’s first 3D film My Dear Kuttichathan, in the early stages of the project. One of his major grouses was the drastic tinkering with his original screenplay. His stand appears to be justified since one of the weakest elements of Barroz is its unimaginative screenplay filled with overdramatic dialogues that spoil every other scene.

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FCG Member Reviewer Kirubhakar Purushothaman
Kirubhakar Purushothaman | News 18
Mohanlal's Directorial Debut Is A Visual Splendor But Falls Short on Execution

Thu, December 26 2024

Channeling more energy to the 3D aspect of Barroz, Mohanlal has failed to make an engaging fantasy film, despite having a promising premise.

Debutant director Mohanlal has been hung up on the 3D element of Barroz: Guardian of Treasures. So much so that every other aspect of the film has gotten little to no attention. Even Mohanlal, the incredible performer, is absent as everything about Barroz comes across as a stage play captured on camera. The only focus of the team has been to come up with various ways to gloat the 3D elements of the film on the face of the viewer. A flower bouquet will get an unnecessary slow-motion shot as Barroz extends it to Isabell (Maya Rao). The idea is to impress the audience as the flowers extend outside the screen, but even children (who seem to be the target audience of the film) lose interest as such gimmicks become redundant. Beyond the brilliant execution of the 3D technology and the superlative production design, Barroz has little to offer concerning an engaging story.

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Image of scene from the film Doctors
Doctors

Drama (Hindi)

Doctors is set at the high-stakes Elizabeth Blackwell Medical Centre in Mumbai, where Dr. Nitya Vasu begins her surgical residency with a personal vendetta against Dr. Ishaan Ahuja, believing he is responsible for her brother's disability. However, as she works alongside him, Nitya realizes Ishaan is not the villain she thought, and her animosity turns to attraction. The series explores intense medical cases and the personal struggles of residents, including ambition, love, and betrayal. The season culminates in shifting relationships, with old enemies becoming allies, a tragic event reshaping the group, and Nitya and Ishaan's love emerging at great personal cost.

Cast: Sharad Kelkar, Harleen Sethi, Viraf Patel, Aamir Ali, Vivaan Shah, Niharika Lyra Dutt, Faezeh Jalali, Teena Singh, Sarah Hashmi, Abhishekh Khan
Director: Sahir Raza


FCG Member Reviewer Shubhra Gupta
Shubhra Gupta | The Indian Express
Sharad Kelkar’s show makes you feel and think, doesn’t sugarcoat harsh realities of medical profession

Mon, December 30 2024

It takes a couple of episodes for the ten-part show to get into the groove, which gives us an insider’s look at medical practitioners.

India’s answer to ER/Grey’s Anatomy is here: Doctors, which is as straight-forward a title as you can get, is about just that, a bunch of medics, ranging from eager new residents to rockstar surgeons, as well as other denizens– nurses, interns, administrators– who make up a busy hospital. It takes a couple of episodes for the 10-part show to get into the groove, which gives us an insider’s look at medical practitioners going all out in high-stress emergencies, as well as dealing with those who are struggling with terminal diseases. These are humans who are also doctors. We see them as people, with their strengths and weaknesses, but who do not compromise when it comes to saving the lives of their patients.

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FCG Member Reviewer Rahul Desai
Rahul Desai | The Hollywood Reporter India
A Medical Drama That Operates on Vibes Alone

Sat, December 28 2024

Directed by Sahir Raza, the ten-episode series plays out like a tacky college movie set in a hospital.

It often takes no more than five minutes to tell that a ten-episode series is going to be … not good. Yet, it’s my job to watch the whole thing. I can’t just abandon it the moment I realise it’s fundamentally flawed. So, I spend a day or two watching the next 395 minutes, hoping against hope that a miracle changes my mind. But, of course, it never comes—the craft is all wrong, the writing is dated, the music is uninspired, and the acting is everywhere. Yet, when a series is so long and stubborn and voluminous, one tends to develop a strange attachment to it. There’s no escape, so I simply make peace with—and normalise—the mediocrity at hand. It’s a reluctant bond, the kind you have with a month-long cough. But it’s a bond nevertheless, and when it ends, a part of your life ends. That’s what Doctors became to me.

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Image of scene from the film Chaalchitro: The Frame Fatale
Chaalchitro: The Frame Fatale

Thriller, Crime, Mystery (Bengali)

The thriller delves into the lives of four cops from Kolkata Police, as they go about investigating a series of murders rocking the city. As the plot thickens, the personal lives of the men get stressed and squeezed by the ongoing turmoil.

Cast: Tota Roy Chowdhury, Shantanu Maheshwari, Anirban Chakrabarti, Indrajeet Bose, Raima Sen, Tanika Basu, Swastika Dutta, Priya Banerjee, Ziaul Faruq Apurba, Debesh Chatterjee
Director: Pratim D. Gupta


FCG Member Reviewer Deepak Dua
Deepak Dua | Independent Film Journalist & Critic
कसी हुई सधी हुई ‘चालचित्र’

Sun, December 29 2024

कोलकाता शहर में मर्डर हो रहे हैं-एक के बाद एक। सिर्फ अकेली रह रही लड़कियों के मर्डर। हर लाश दीवार पर टंगी मिलती है। ज़ाहिर है कि यह किसी सीरियल किलर का काम है। डी.सी.पी. कनिष्क चटर्जी हैरान है क्योंकि बिल्कुल इसी पैटर्न पर 12 साल पहले भी कई मर्डर हुए थे लेकिन वह कातिल तो कैद में है। तो कौन कर रहा है ये मर्डर…? और इससे भी बड़ा सवाल यह कि क्यों कर रहा है वह ये मर्डर…? इस किस्म की रहस्यमयी मर्डर-मिस्ट्री वाली फिल्मों में अक्सर कहानी का फोकस ‘कौन कर रहा है’ के साथ-साथ ‘क्यों कर रहा है’ पर भी होता है। सीरियल किलिंग आमतौर पर मनोरोगी, मनोविक्षिप्त लोग किया करते हैं, सो ऐसी कहानियों को सस्पैंस थ्रिलर के साथ-साथ साइकोलॉजिकल-थ्रिलर का बाना पहनाया जाता है। लेखक प्रतिम डी. गुप्ता ने यहां भी ऐसा ही किया है और बखूबी किया है। इसके साथ ही उन्होंने इन हत्याओं की तफ्तीश में जुटे चार पुलिस अफसरों की निजी ज़िंदगियों में भी बखूबी झांका है। ऐसा करने से ये लोग ज़्यादा ‘मानवीय’ लगे हैं और वास्तविक भी। यही इस फिल्म (चालचित्र Chaalchitro) की खूबी है कि यह अपना धरातल नहीं छोड़ती। इसे देखते हुए यह नहीं लगता कि आप फिल्मी मसालों में डूबी कोई कहानी देख रहे हैं। हालांकि कुछ एक बैक स्टोरीज़ कहीं-कहीं कमज़ोर पड़ती है और कहीं-कहीं स्क्रिप्ट भी हौले-से लड़खड़ाई है, लेकिन एक लेखक के तौर पर प्रतिम जहां हल्के पड़े, एक निर्देशक के तौर पर वह उसे संभाल लेते हैं। उनके निर्देशन में कसावट है और वह फिल्म में ज़रूरी तनाव, भय, रोमांच व इमोशन्स रच पाने में कामयाब रहे हैं।

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FCG Member Reviewer Shamayita Chakraborty
Shamayita Chakraborty | Deutsche Welle
Pratim D Gupta comes back to Bengal with a strong plot in a gritty thriller

Sun, December 22 2024

Tota Roy Chowdhury, Shantanu Maheshwari, Anirban Chakrabarti, and Indrajeet Bose build a brand-new cop universe that is too engaging to find flaws

A gruesome murder shakes Kolkata. Seasoned cops Kanishka Chatterjee (Tota Roy Chowdhury) and Naseer (Anirban Chakrabarti) of the Kolkata Police Detective Department see an uncanny similarity in the execution from an old case. Along with these two, Ritesh Kumar (Shantanu Maheshwari) – a young enthusiastic IPS, and Bishwa (Indrajeet Bose) get together in action. Soon there are more bodies. Nothing beats a chilling thriller on a winter night, and Pratim D Gupta serves it with a delectable plot garnished with a handful of red herrings. The film, which occasionally runs into predictability, is far too engaging to find flaws. It is fast, lethal, and entertaining, keeping the guessing game on.

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Image of scene from the film Carry On
Carry On

Thriller, Action (English)

An airport security officer races to outsmart a mysterious traveler forcing him to let a dangerous item slip onto a Christmas Eve flight.

Cast: Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman, Sofia Carson, Danielle Deadwyler, Theo Rossi, Logan Marshall-Green, Dean Norris, Sinqua Walls, Gil Perez-Abraham, Tonatiuh
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Writer: T.J. Fixman


FCG Member Reviewer Gopinath Rajendran
Gopinath Rajendran | The Hindu
It’s fight or flight for Taron Egerton

Sun, December 29 2024

Director Jaume Collet-Serra returns to his tried and tested zone with ‘Carry-On’, a nail-biting yet bang-for-your-buck entertainer headlined by an effective Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman in a new avatar

If you are one of those die-hard cinephiles who believe Die Hard is a Christmas film (along with the first two Home Alone flicks), then Netflix’s latest offering may very well make it to that coveted list of yours. Jaume Collet-Serra, the mastermind behind some simple yet efficient nail-biting action thrillers is back and while he’s not teaming up with Liam Neeson this time, he’s got an efficient Taron Egerton and a cast-against-the-grain Jason Bateman facing it off in Carry-On.

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FCG Member Reviewer Rohan Naahar
Rohan Naahar | The Indian Express
Taron Egerton turns up the heat in Netflix’s terrific ticking timebomb thriller

Thu, December 19 2024

Starring Taron Egerton, the new Netflix thriller continues in the fine tradition of Die Hard 2: Die Harder and Phone Booth.

When Dwayne Johnson succeeds, he takes hundreds of others along for the ride with him. But when he fails — and he has, in recent years — he doesn’t go down alone. After establishing himself as something of a B-movie auteur early in his career, director Jaume Collet-Serra, like so many others in his position, accepted Hollywood’s offer to level up to the big leagues. He was appointed by Johnson as his latest lackey, but found himself responsible for directing the star’s two biggest recent bombs. These were movies — Jungle Cruise, and more calamitously, Black Adam — that significantly derailed Johnson’s career. Collet-Serra became collateral damage. But as it turns out, being relegated to the relatively forgiving realm of streaming was exactly the jolt to the system that he needed. His latest film, Carry-On, is his best in years.

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Image of scene from the film Squid Game S02
Squid Game S02

Action & Adventure, Mystery, Drama (Korean)

Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children's games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits — with deadly high stakes.

Cast: Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Yim Si-wan, Wi Ha-jun, Kang Ha-neul, Park Gyu-young, Lee Jin-uk, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim


FCG Member Reviewer Tatsam Mukherjee
Tatsam Mukherjee | The Wire
Has a Hearty Laugh About 'Democracy' and 'Free Will' in an Unequal Society

Sat, December 28 2024

Turns out – not everyone values their lives.

Like it happens with the follow-up for any successful show, I entered the Squid Game 2 with a fair bit of trepidation. What worked in the first season was the shock value of the setting that posits the innocence of childhood games, sophisticated Western classical music with a kind of savagery few would be able to stomach. Where unsuspecting debt-ridden civilians are lured onto an island to play a series of games – for which they stand to win an obscene amount of money, or pay for it with their life. A cruel, but clinical simulation of our lives in a hyper-capitalist society, the appeal of Squid Game lay in how it studied human nature – especially the ones with limited means, who are driven to take desperate measures. How far would you go to survive/get paid? As the first season showed: to any length.

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FCG Member Reviewer Priyanka Roy
Priyanka Roy | The Telegraph
Despite some thrills and chills, Squid Game S2 lacks novelty and succumbs to streaming bloat.

Thu, December 26 2024

The arrival of Squid Game in 2021 was met with overwhelming resonance and relevance. In a world ravaged by the pandemic which had shifted power structures, altered priorities for both individuals and institutions and given birth to an existential crisis which compelled many of us to question purpose and privilege, the South Korean series — that Netflix dropped with very little fanfare — may have spoken, much like the Oscar biggie Parasite, about the class chasm in that country as well as fast-growing debt and the perils of the rise of capitalism in the South Korean economy, but it found itself touching a chord with audiences across the world.

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FCG Member Reviewer Sonal Pandya
Sonal Pandya | Times Now, Zoom
Addictive Korean Drama Returns For Another Stellar Session Of Chills And Thrills

Thu, December 26 2024

Emmy Award winner Lee Jung-jae steps back into the shoes of Seong Gi-hun as he takes on the odds again in Squid Game.

After its premiere in 2021, it was easy to see why Squid Game became the most popular show in the world. Writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s universal story of greed and betrayal, which exposed humanity’s basest behaviour, struck a chord globally. Audiences took to the characters created in this universe and mourned as we lost several fan favourites who were treated as pawns in the deadly contest based on nostalgic children’s games. The show returns after three years and a time jump, as the last winner Seong Gi-hun decides to infiltrate the games to take it down. Lee Jung-jae’s Gi-hun is a much-changed man this season as he’s on a mission to dismantle the games. Plagued with guilt about his survival after his friends didn’t make it, he wants to save others from succumbing to the same fate. But his plan faces plenty of hurdles that he doesn’t anticipate. The Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), the overseer of the game, has a bigger role than last season, and police officer Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) also returns to find his way back to find out more about the mysterious organisation that runs the games.

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Image of scene from the film The Smile Man
The Smile Man

Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Drama (Tamil)

A police officer who is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease must solve one last case before he loses all his memories. He must run against time to catch the notorious serial killer who he believes has a mysterious role in his own personal life.

Cast: R. Sarathkumar, Sija Rose, Iniya, Rajkumar, George Mariyan, Suresh Chandra Menon, Kumar Natarajan, Baby Aazhiya
Director: Syam Murali M, Praveen Murugan


FCG Member Reviewer Kirubhakar Purushothaman
Kirubhakar Purushothaman | News 18
Sarathkumar’s Attempt To Emulate Por Thozhil’s Success Fails Again

Fri, December 27 2024

Had only the writing been efficient to incorporate all the chaos, Smile Man could have been a decent genre film

Sarathkumar tasted great success playing a moody cop in the commercially and critically acclaimed Por Thozhil (2023). Since then he has been trying to emulate its success in vain. Smile Man, his 150th film, is another such attempt, in which the actor yet again plays a brooding CBCID office grappling with Alzheimer’s disease, who is also on a hunt for a serial killer, notoriously known as Smile Man. Like most serial killer films in Tamil, Smile Man also suffers from the usual problems of convenient writing, cliches, and redundant flashbacks. Honestly, the film kicks off on a promising note. The epilogue has Chidhamabaram (Sarathkumar) chasing the serial killer only to get bashed by him after a near-fatal accident. The unknown killer swears to come back if Chidhambaram chooses to show up again as a cop. Meanwhile, we learn that Chidambaram’s partner (Sunil Menon), who is currently missing, has closed the Smile Man case, claiming that the serial killer was shot dead. Yet, in the present day, the murder starts to happen again. Bodies of victims with skin carved out to make a smiling face (the modus operandi of the killer) are found in the city, and Chidhambaram, despite his health condition, joins the force again to finish what he had started years ago.

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