By Troy Ribeiro Film: “A Star is Born”; Director: Bradley Cooper; Cast: Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Andrew Dice Clay, Dave Chappelle, Sam Elliott, Anthony Ramos, Rafi Gavron, Michael D. Roberts, Greg Grunberg; Rating: *** This…
By Haricharan Pudipeddi Film: “Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava” Language: Telugu Director: Trivikram Srinivas Cast: Jr. NTR, Pooja Hegde, Jagapathi Babu, Sunil, Supriya Pathak, and Eswari Rao Rating: *** There’s so much to like and debate…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “First Man” Director: Damien Chazelle Cast: Ryan Gosling, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Claire Foy, Corey Stoll, Ciaran Hinds, Christopher Abbott, Patrick Fugit, Ethan Embry, Lukas Haas, Shea Whigham, and Pablo Schreiber…
Film: Aravindha Sametha Veera Raghava Language: Telugu Cast: N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Pooja Hegde, Eesha Rebba, Sunil, Jagapati Babu, Naga Babu, Rao Ramesh, Supriya Pathak, Naveen Chandra, Devayani, Sithara, Brahmaji, Eshwari Rao, Ravi Prakash,…
By Subhash K. Jha Film: “Andhadhun”; Director: Sriram Raghavan; Cast: Tabu, Ayushmann Khurrana, Radhika Apte, Zakhir Hussain, Ashwini Kalsekar, Manav Vij, Chaya Kadam, Anil Dhawan, Gopal K. Singh; Rating: **** Take a deep breath. Now,…
By Subhash K. Jha Film: “Nota” Director: Anand Shankar Cast: Vijay Devarakonda, Sathyaraj, and Nassar Rating: **** We have seen stars play the reluctant politician before. Ranbir Kapoor in Prakash Jha’s “Raajneeti” and Mahesh Babu in…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Love Yatri”; Director: Abhiraj K. Minawala; Cast: Aayush Sharma, Warina Hussain, Ronit Roy, Ram Kapur, Pratik Gandhi, Sajeel Parekh; Rating: ** What is a romantic film if it is not earnest,…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Crazy Rich Asians”; Director: Jon M. Chu; Cast: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Harry Shum Jr., Ken Jeong, Sonoya Mizuno, Chris Pang, Jimmy O. Yang,…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Venom”; Director: Ruben Fleischer; Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate, Melora Walters; Rating: **1/2 At the very onset, let me warn you, if you…
By Haricharan Pudipeddi Film: “96”; Language: Tamil Director: C. Prem Kumar Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Trisha, Janagaraj Rating: ***** In debut director Prem Kumar’s “96”, Vijay Sethupathi plays a travel photographer called Ram and his character…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Andhadhun”; Director: Sriram Raghavan; Cast: Tabu, Ayushmann Khurrana, Radhika Apte, Zakhir Hussain, Ashwini Kalsekar, Manav Vij, Chaya Kadam, Anil Dhawan, Gopal K. Singh; Rating: **** Director Sriram Raghavan’s “Andhadhun” is a…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Sui Dhaaga: Made In India” Director: Sharat Katariya Cast: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav and Namit Das Rating: **1/2 All without doubt, “Sui Dhaaga” is a sweet, warm-hearted and inspirational…
By Subhash K. Jha Film: “Sui Dhaaga – Made In India”; Director: Sharat Katariya; Cast: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma; Rating: **** After I saw Sharat Katariya’s debut film “Dum Laga Ke Haisha”, I hoped the…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Pataakha”; Director: Vishal Bharadwaj; Cast: Sanya Malhotra, Radhika Madan, Sunil Grover, Vijay Raaz, Abhishek Duhan, Namit Das, Saanand Verma; Rating: *** Based on Charan Singh Pathik’s short story titled, “Do Behnein”,…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Peppermint”; Director: Pierre Morel; Cast: Jennifer Garner, John Gallagher Jr., John Ortiz, Juan Pablo Raba, Annie Ilonzeh, Cliff Smith, Jeff Hephner and Cailey Fleming; Rating: ** A lurid and gristly revenge…
By Haricharan Pudipeddi Film: “Chekka Chivantha Vaanam” Language: Tamil Director: Mani Ratnam Cast: Arvind Swami, Vijay Sethupathi, Simbu, Arun Vijay, Aditi Rao Hydari, Jyothika, and Aishwarya Rajesh Rating: **** Crime and drama make for a…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Batti Gul Meter Chalu”; Director: Shree Narayan Singh; Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Yami Gautam, Divyendu Sharma, Ana Ador; Rating: **1/2 “Batti Gul Meter Chalu” is a hero’s journey in his…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Pakhi”; Director: Sachin Gupta; Cast: Anamika Shukla, Sumeet Kant Kaul, Anmol Goswami, Tanmanya Bali; Rating: * Coming from a National Award winning director and the “Natya Bushan” winner, “Pakhi” is a…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Equalizer 2”; Director: Antoine Fuqua; Cast: Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, Jonathan Scarfe, Orson Bean; Rating: *** This vigilante film is a sequel to the 2014…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Ishqeriaa; Director: Prerna Wadhwan; Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Richa Chadha, Raj Babbar, Manish Anand, Rating ** “Sabko confuse karna band kar do”. This harmless dialogue told in a jocular tone in…