Movie Reviews

One-line review: Finnish True Grit.  Sisu has the advantage (at least when I saw it) of being seen by an audience with no expectations, but then it delivers and delivers. It tries to get some credibility by informing us in the credits that it was edited in the same studio that made John Wick. But […]

One-line review: Beauty of the Beast. I was among the few to see this film in the theaters (in New Jersey) when it was first released. Despite the great reviews, it went out quietly, although those who saw it knew they had seen something special. Thankfully, the film recently got a new lease of life

One-line review: The nice guy who doesn’t finish last despite the odds against him. This Clint Eastwood film is based on the real life of Richard Jewell, a security guard hailed as a national hero for detecting a bomb at one of the venues of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, only to be publicly vilified as

One-line review: Engagements are meant to be broken, but not homes. Thinkalazhcha nischayam (The engagement’s on Monday) proudly proclaims it’s made in Kanjanghad, a small town in north Kerala, India. Kanjanghad has a distinct dialect and very few actors working in the Malayalam film industry. The film is an original Kanjhangad product because of its

One-line review: Wuthering Heights emerged from Emily Brontë’s lows. How did the three corseted Brontë sisters, mostly homeschooled and isolated, each write a masterpiece? It cannot just be genes because their brother Branwell didn’t make it despite being ambitious and having all the opportunities. The movie is a mostly fictional account of how and why

One-line review: Woody Allen’s bloodless coup with laughter. When I rewatched Bananas, I was surprised at how good Woody Allen is with physical comedy, an underutilized part of his acting prowess. Bananas is one of those rare films (Sleeper is another) where we see Allen at his peak with verbal and physical comedy. It may

One-line review: An abandoned baby rescues many adults. The film has you at hello; I am referring to Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-ada’s charming greeting before the movie begins thanking the audience and the actors. Broker is his first South Korean movie (he also wrote it). After his acclaimed “Shoplifters,” Kore-ada revisits the theme of families

One-line review: Your heart is the only compass you need to navigate through life.  The audience broke into spontaneous applause both times I watched The Fabelmans. And they couldn’t have been more different each time; senior citizens the first time and young New Yorkers the second time. That’s the beauty of Steven Speilberg’s autobiographical film,

One-line review: Breaking up is hard to do, and take. London Irish (his own words), playwright and writer-director Martin McDonagh returns after five years, reuniting with his In Bruges (2008) duo: Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell. The film is a sweeping account of an inexplicable breakup between two friends that leads to dire consequences for

One-line review: A warm quilt expertly woven with all shades of emotions. Jan E. Man, with its threadbare plot and non-star cast, was initially filmed for streaming platforms. But the film’s scope grew during shooting, and the producers worried that without any big stars, Janeman would not get the eyeballs it deserved on the streaming