Jeethu Joseph's Valathu Vashathe Kallan works better as an emotional drama than an intriguing thriller, notes Arjun Menon.
'The love I have received has been overwhelming.' 'I pause and think about the fact that people have their own lives, their own struggles, a hundred responsibilities -- and yet, they take a moment to tell me they felt something because of my work.' 'That means more to me than I can put into words.'
Ashakal Aayiram can be celebrated for the return to form for Jayaram, who owns every scene he is in, but the film around him drags and drags, with no end in sight, notes Arjun Menon.
The fact that a major studio put out a silent film starring some of the biggest names in the industry in these concerning times for the film business is the one big takeaway from Gandhi Talks, notes Arjun Menon.
Kalamkaval, like any good work of art, suggests more than it shows, raves Arjun Menon.
Sarvam Maya banks on its leading man, Nivin Pauly, who grasps at straws and makes the improbable scenes work with his charm, notes Arjun Menon.
The Raja Saab is a poorly judged effort to appease to the lowest hanging fruit, and is not sincere in its ambition to entertain, notes Arjun Menon.
Cheekatlo is a run-of-the-mill crime procedural, notes Arjun Menon.
Akhanda 2: Thandavam may appeal to Nandamuri Balakrishna's fans and will be a madcap awakening for those uninitiated in Boyapati Sreenu's no goofball ideas in constructing action, notes Arjun Menon.
Vaa Vaathiyar ends up being a bland yet fascinating iteration of a masala film funnelled through the prism of a quirky humorist, notes Arjun Menon.
Vrusshabha feels like a ChatGPT prompt gone wrong, where the lazy ask for a sure-shot 'Pan Indian' blockbuster formula gives us a flimsy period epic in the guise of an incompetently drawn 'reincarnation drama', observes Arjun Menon.
When it eventually releases, Jana Nayagan is expected to have an opening day collection close to -- or even above -- Rs 100 crore, largely because it is being promoted as Vijay's final movie before he focuses entirely on politics.
Revolver Rita doesn't use its comic potential to its fullest and ends up a passable comedy that could have used more bite, observes Arjun Menon.
NDA constituents AIADMK and BJP have started preliminary discussions for the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. Key leaders from both parties met to discuss strategies to defeat the DMK government and strengthen their alliance.
Eko, a smartly written film, loses steam midway but somehow stays afloat and deliver the goods, notes Arjun Menon.
Kaantha is a peculiar love letter to cinema that tries to integrate various genres and craft a riveting central dilemma with great eloquence and clarity, observes Arjun Menon.
'Idli Kadai wears its heart on its sleeve, embracing nostalgia and roots with both hands. Dhanush is in top form as an actor and director here, mining most of the material,' recognises Arjun Menon.
Coolie is expected to be an unabashed celebration of the larger-than-life ethos of Rajinikanth, predicts Arjun Menon.
Mari Selvaraj delivers his most rage-filled film in years, with a superbly cast Dhruv Vikram giving it his all, notices Arjun Menon.
The emotional quotient of They Call Him OG falls flat, the plotting looks jerky, and the runtime feels compromised, but hey, if you are a Pawan Kalyan fan, none of this matters, notes Arjun Menon.
Ghaati does not understand how to harness Anushka Shetty's electrifying screen presence, complains Arjun Menon.
Mirai is an ambitious, but lazily timid visual effects overkill that squanders away potential with an undercooked early draft screenplay that needed rework, notes Arjun Menon.
Vijay Sethupathi and Nithya Menen's electrifying performances hold Thalaivan Thalaivii together, notes Arjun Menon.
Rishab Shetty's Kantara Chapter 1 is an ambitious, bold update of the ideas of the first film in a much bigger canvas, discovers Arjun Menon.
Fahad Faasil and Vadivelu more than deliver the goods, but the film, as a whole, fails to live up to their startling on-screen partnership, observes Arjun Menon.
Long lost brothers, downtrodden masses, a long forgotten prophecy, and a psychotic drug cartel out for blood, Kingdom plays out with the familiar ethos of umpteen films we have seen. But the execution is slick, notes Arjun Menon.
The Kalyani Priyadarshan starrer is the kind of incentive superhero origin story that can alter the way such films are made in Malayalam cinema, feels Arjun Menon.
Hridayapoorvam does not break any new ground or tell a story as old as time with any novelty but its sincerity keeps it alive, notes Arjun Menon.
Saiyaara ends up a bland rehash of old ideas served in an older bottle, notes Arjun Menon.
Arjun Menon celebrates his 70th birthday on August 22 by looking at his most memorable films.
Kubera is a well-intentioned addition to Shekar Kammula's cinematic universe that drags on but never loses its prescient quality, notes Arjun Menon.
Kannappa is a bloated mess of a film that underutilises interesting story ideas, observes Arjun Menon.
Watching Bazooka is like trying to figure out a long drawn-out puzzle that never makes sense, observes Arjun Menon.
The Nani starrer is an all-out, larger-than-life upgrade of the HIT series that loses steam in its attempts at stylistic indulgences, notes Arjun Menon.
If not for Tamannaah, it would have been an ordeal to sit through this uninspired horror fable, notes Arjun Menon.
No author in the Malayalam literary canon has influenced and profoundly changed the way normal people interact with each other than the ever-relevant, eclectic yet elusive body of work left behind by MT Vasudevan Nair, notes Arjun Menon.
Empuraan promises a world of geo-political intrigue, drug wars and action spectacle all rolled into one, observes Arjun Menon.
The Mammootty-starrer is a passable procedural, let down by half-baked ideas that don't necessarily come together, observes Arjun Menon.
Thudarum is a masterpiece for adults, a serious yet self-aware piece of cinema that has something for everybody, feels Arjun Menon.
Narivetta takes its cue from real-life incidents and fictionalises the ordeal through the experiences of a young cop caught in the crossfire between the police and tribals up in arms, notes Arjun Menon.
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