Skip to content

Tharkuri

  • Reviews
  • Columns
  • Blog
  • Essays
  • Selected Works
  • Search
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Don Movie Review: Sivakarthikeyan Sells The Hell Out Of A Vapid Nostalgia Trip

by tharkuri13th May 202213th May 2022 No Comments

In the hands of any other actor in Tamil cinema today, Don would have been a painfully mediocre film. In Sivakarthikeyan’s hands, it’s a forgivably mediocre one

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Saani Kaayidham on Amazon Prime Video Movie Review: Keerthy Suresh Skillfully Shoulders An Indulgent Revenge Saga

by tharkuri6th May 20226th May 2022 No Comments

Arun Matheswaran’s writing is not flimsy, but it is not enough to rise beyond the film’s visual mastery

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal Movie Review: A Hotchpotch of Escapist Male Fantasies

by tharkuri28th April 202228th April 2022 No Comments

As a shower thought, Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal is a fantastic idea. But Vignesh Shivan doesn’t show the skill or inclination to expand on that idea in any interesting way.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

K.G.F: Chapter 2 Movie Review: A Rocky Stack Of Set-ups And Punch Lines

by tharkuri14th April 202218th April 2022 No Comments

K.G.F: Chapter 2 is loyal to its prequel, its genre, its narrative and its purpose. If you can buy into it and survive till the end, the climax is cathartic

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Beast Movie Review: Nelson Loses And Vijay Gains In This Unremarkable Yet Absurdly Entertaining Action Film

by tharkuri13th April 202218th April 2022 No Comments

AnbAriv’s action choreography, Manoj Paramahamsa’s cinematography, Anirudh’s background score and Jani’s dance choreography uphold a film that Nelson’s writing doesn’t

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Taanakkaran, on Disney+ Hotstar, Movie Review: An Earnest Vikram Prabhu And An Excellent Supporting Cast Hold Up An Uneven Cop Film

by tharkuri8th April 202211th April 2022 No Comments

If you can look past the repetitive scenes, melodrama, useless love track and the lecturing climax, Taanakkaran is an interesting film about the police force

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Manmadha Leelai Review: Venkat Prabhu Squanders The Opportunity To Have Made A Truly Adventurous Film

by tharkuri2nd April 20225th April 2022 No Comments

Manmadha Leelai is an unsatisfying quickie, especially if you’re a woman in the audience. Even if the pain isn’t unbearable, the effort to sit through it is most certainly not worth it.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Selfie Movie Review: A Dense Thriller That Feels Longer Than It Should

by tharkuri1st April 20225th April 2022 No Comments

Director Mathi Maran makes an interesting debut with Selfie, a film that is worthy of appreciation more for what it tries to do than what it achieves

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Maaran, On Disney Hotstar, Movie Review: Dhanush Tries His Darnedest To Make This Drab Work, And Fails Still

by tharkuri12th March 202214th March 2022 No Comments

We would be kinder to the cluelessness of the film, if only it didn’t scream “watch me, I’m so clever” at every chance it got.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Etharkkum Thunindhavan Movie Review: Yet Another Male Saviour Narrative About Violence Against Women

by tharkuri10th March 202214th March 2022 No Comments

Suriya feels miscast as Kannabiran — too stiff to be goofy, too upright to be shady, too clear-headed to be vulnerable — a role perhaps more suitable for Karthi

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Hey Sinamika Movie Review: A Trite Film With No Romance Or Humour

by tharkuri3rd March 20224th March 2022 No Comments

Every frame, scene, dialogue, event, song, dance feels like an awkward performance put up for an Instagram audience, in an effort to stage ‘authenticity.’

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Valimai Movie Review: Laughable Yet Slick, Choose What Of It You Will

by tharkuri24th February 202224th February 2022 No Comments

H Vinoth relies too much on Dilip Subbarayan’s stunt choreography, who for his part stages some enjoyable sequences.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Serial chiller

Irai On Aha Tamil: Sarathkumar Barely Rescues An Overlong Bore

by tharkuri19th February 202224th February 2022 No Comments

It diligently follows the template for hill station noir to the point of being unimaginative.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

FIR Movie Review: A Clumsy Film That Takes Its ‘Message’ Too Seriously

by tharkuri12th February 202214th February 2022 No Comments

How do you know that a film is too taken by its own message? There’ll be a Gautham Menon voiceover to explain it to us

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Kadaisi Vivasayi Movie Review: M Manikandan Effortlessly Mounts A Terrific Film About The Everyperson

by tharkuri11th February 202214th February 2022 No Comments

M Manikandan writes and films it more like a poem of multiple verses than as a screenplay in three acts

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Mahaan Movie Review: An Unbearable Film About Unhinged Men

by tharkuri10th February 202214th February 2022 No Comments

At two hours and forty two minutes, Mahaan is a self-indulgent and vacuous film. At its best, it’s tiresome. At its worst, it’s an abomination.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Mudhal Nee Mudivum Nee Movie Review: This Zee5 Film Should Have Been A Music Album

by tharkuri21st January 202225th January 2022 No Comments

This Darbuka Siva film is proof that there is a limit to nostalgic value too.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa Review: Madhumitha Shines In This Otherwise Middling Anthology

by tharkuri14th January 202218th January 2022 No Comments

Given the nature of emotions it explores, Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidhyaadhaa is easy to relate to. But, it offers no more satisfaction than a Twitter conversation with a stranger.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Naai Sekar Movie Review: Despite Sathish’s Best Efforts, This Film Is A Wreck

by tharkuri13th January 202218th January 2022 No Comments

A premise so flimsy, writing so unimaginative, filmmaking so tiresome, Naai Sekar is dog poop on the screen.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Selected Works

Best Tamil Films Of 2021

by tharkuri29th December 20213rd January 2022 No Comments

If the worst of 2021 are defined by their disregard for the audience’s intelligence, the best brought with them one thing: Surprise.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Blood Money Movie Review: This By-The-Book Film Struggles To Engage

by tharkuri25th December 20213rd January 2022 No Comments

The film can’t decide if it wants to be an investigative thriller or an emotional drama — it makes a combination of the two that fails on both counts.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Jail Movie Review: A Tedious Film That Cannot Make Up Its Mind

by tharkuri9th December 202110th December 2021 No Comments

In an industry that gave us Kaala, Karnan, Asuran and the like, Vasanthabalan’s film feels trite. Like an idea gone to screen too soon.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Bachelor Movie Review: An Uneven And Tone-deaf Film About Toxic Relationships

by tharkuri3rd December 20218th December 2021 No Comments

Without a persistent voice to balance the testosterone overdose, Bachelor is vacuous at best, and downright boring at its worst

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Selected Works

Nithya Menen On Co-Producing Skylab, ‘Packaged Cinema’ And The Future She Wants To Create

by tharkuri2nd December 20218th December 2021 No Comments

“Just hearing the narration of Skylab gave me hope. I felt that in a world where there are stories like this, I will be fine,” says the actor.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Maanaadu Movie Review: This Quintessential Venkat Prabhu Film Gives Simbu His Do Over

by tharkuri25th November 202126th November 2021 No Comments

Maanaadu is entertaining not because the two leads are smart, but because they are ridiculously ordinary.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Pon Manickavel Movie Review: Prabhu Deva Power-Walks Through An Inept Film About An Incompetent Cop

by tharkuri20th November 202122nd November 2021 No Comments

The film is unwatchable, so hopefully, the impact it would have on public consciousness will be minimal.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Reviews

Sabhaapathy Movie Review: This Santhanam-Starrer Is A Test Of Patience

by tharkuri19th November 202122nd November 2021 No Comments

This attempt to be unlike your regular quick-wit and ‘counters’ Santhanam film, suffers precisely because of it.

Continue reading
  • Film Companion
  • Selected Works

Manikandan, Inconspicuous Yet Striking

by tharkuri15th November 202115th November 2021 No Comments

Inspired by the adulation his mother was getting for her effervescent performances in front of family, Manikandan took to mimicry. He has come a long way since.

Continue reading

Posts navigation

1 2 3 … 10 Next Posts»