Tharkuri

Paramapadham Vilayattu’s plot and the politics is excruciatingly stale, making it barely watchable.

Mari Selvaraj takes a giant leap with Karnan, arguably more gut-wrenching and bold in its messaging than Pariyerum Perumal.

Against the backdrop of the upcoming assembly elections, Mandela is a film that will remind us of our priorities. It will encourage us to think about our rights as people and our power when we’re together.

Anbirkiniyal is a delightful story of a survivor, one which offers hope that with a little effort, all can be good in the world.

Without a strong moral core, Sulthan neither evokes empathy nor inspires respect for what the film’s protagonist stands for.

For a thriller, it offers no real thrills. For a comedy, the jokes don’t land. For a fantasy film, it is unimaginative. Overall, it’s barely watchable.

Nenjam Marappadhillai is a shallow, convenient sort of film, that can only excite those who are already entranced by the Selvaraghavan universe. For the rest of us, it is an exhausting mess.

Chakra is supposed to be the protagonist’s search for his father’s stolen Ashoka Chakra, but it ends up being the audience’s search for a single moment of cleverness or skill

Within the constraints of an urban, middle class, heterosexual romance, Kutty Story is an interesting mix of shorts

Director Suseenthiran doesn’t know where to take the film once he’s established the characters.

Bhoomi doesn’t give you a moment to breathe or even feel what just hit you.

Master is unfortunately the kind of film that concerns itself with too many things but can hardly focus on any of it beyond adorning the hero, Vijay.

If you aren’t instinctively drawn to the mystical world creates, R Madhavan’s Maara is a drag

The biggest success of Oru Pakka Kathai is the adamant normalcy with which it treats everything.

Soon enough, Andhagaaram gets tiresome. The details unravel painfully slowly, and in excruciating little bursts.

The best thing about Mookuthi Amman is the delicate understanding with which RJ Balaji writes a suffering family. The worst thing about Mookuthi Amman is that everything else is more like trite sketch comedy than a meaningful take on society that’s desperate enough to be voluntarily conned

I rooted for Suriya’s character Maaran when he took flight. But also for director Sudha Kongara as she solidified her position as a rare female filmmaker to narrate a solid mainstream Tamil film.

Raghava Lawrence’s franchise is successful because he normalises vulnerability. While we can debate if the representation is truly positive or a crude caricature, one would find it difficult to argue that he has any malice or is misguided.

The five films in Amazon Prime Video India’s maiden Tamil anthology are not all equal, but they are different and thoughtful in interesting ways.

Arjun Reddy made me angry. Varmaa is insipid because it is a half-hearted copy-paste of the original.

Ka Pae Ranasingam reminds us that resistance is an exhausting endeavour; they will not kill you, they will simply wear you down.