Enter the lockdown.
In the year of the COVID-19 pandemic—2020—Akhil Arora’s movie reviews took a bigger turn towards Bollywood.
Ghost Stories
“[Dibakar Banerjee’s] societal horror story bakes in the ugliness of caste, corruption, and immorality, and directly touches upon the erosion of small towns owing to the spread of urbanisation.”
Wonder Woman 1984
“The original Wonder Woman was everything that DC needed to be. […] Wonder Woman 1984 has huge boots to fill. Unfortunately, the sequel gets out of its makers’ hands, and no matter what [Gal] Gadot does—and she can do a lot—she can’t save her next adventure from being a misfire.”
Soul
“Most films … send heroes on a journey on which they encounter obstacles, before arriving at their destination with new values. But Soul goes a step further and questions all of it. What is the journey worth? What should you be willing to give in pursuit of the goal? And what if we are moving towards the wrong destination? In other words, Soul is interested in pondering the meaning of life—the biggest question of them all.”
Mulan
“Mulan is a bland feminist fable that dispels some gender stereotypes but fails to do much more. Worse, it’s a marketing tool for the Chinese Communist Party.”
Enola Holmes
“Enola Holmes has a habit of hammering home the same point over and over, including something as basic as that Enola spelt backwards reads “alone” [… It] feels like a film built for the TikTok generation, who can’t lift their heads from their phones long enough to follow a two-hour movie.”
Tenet
“[Christopher Nolan] not only wants to preserve the big screen experience (understandable) but he also wants to be the saviour of cinemas (risky), which have been among the worst hit industries during the [COVID-19] pandemic. But in going for a staggered release with Tenet during an ongoing pandemic, Nolan is going to end up spoiling the film for some (not good) or push them towards piracy (worse).”
Bulbbul
“Bulbbul is stuck in a drab, inert, and ridiculous film, the kind whose plot you can entirely predict after watching the first few minutes. It’s only the film’s characters—except for Bulbbul—who fail to see otherwise, to the point where it all feels like a giant prank as if they are merely pretending to act oblivious.”
Artemis Fowl
“Artemis Fowl borrows and fuses elements from at least the first three books … featuring a kidnapping, a resurrection, and the introduction of an archenemy. That makes [it] unnecessarily convoluted. As a result of which, it feels rushed and is ultimately all over the place.”
Choked: Paisa Bolta Hai
“Unfortunately, Choked doesn’t have anything to say about the socio-political ramifications of demonetisation. Instead, it’s merely used as a plot device.”
Mrs. Serial Killer
“Mrs. Serial Killer is one of the stupidest movies of all time. I wish I was exaggerating, but if anything, that feels like an understatement. […] Nearly all of this is down to laughable writing—or direction—from Shirish Kunder.”
Extraction
“[Most] Indian stars, who play both Indians and Bangladeshi, are … just dressing for the movie. It severely underuses everyone except [Chris] Hemsworth, and that’s a shame. […] There’s no shortage of gunplay, grenades, and hand-to-hand combat on Extraction—but little else.”
Maska
“[If] the title of your movie has no thematic underpinnings to it, it doesn’t bode well. […] Scenes are so loosely written and put up that it almost feels like the makers couldn’t wait to be done with it. Maska is a frivolous and farcical joke of a movie.”
Guilty
“The Netflix film implodes in the worst possible way, with a mix of grandstanding and wish fulfilment that renders Guilty unrealistic and illogical, in addition to a gratuitous display of sexual violence for mere shock value.”
Onward
“Everything feels familiar, and Onward does not improve on what came before. […] By Pixar’s lofty standards, Onward is more Monsters University—also from [Dan] Scanlon—than Inside Out.”
Sonic the Hedgehog
“Instead of immersing the audience in Sonic’s rich, fantastical home-world that the film briefly visits, it keeps us in a corner of the non-descript human world that robs the film of any identity.”
Yeh Ballet
“Yeh Ballet … is nowhere as brave as its protagonists. [Sooni] Taraporevala delivers a by-the-numbers movie that hits the requisite beats of a slum-to-stardom template, including an obligatory moment where a disapproving parent is won over by their kid’s talent, without any special touches.”
Birds of Prey
“[There’s] never been a larger plan for her. Thanks to DC’s failings, three different writers have all done their own thing. Hopefully, one day, someone can emancipate Harley [Quinn] from that.”