It’s nearly a year since The Artist first screened to audiences. And it’s nearly a year now people have been calling it a love letter to just about everything under the Sun. While I completely understand if someone likes the film, the reasons they give for liking the film often leave me nonplussed. I saw the film for the first (and only) time in October, and this has been bothering me since then. It has been said that The Artist...

I find it hard to review a film like Safe. If it’s a movie I love, I can’t wait to sit in front of the screen and fashion a paean. If it’s a movie I dislike, then I like to write out my gripes with it and, often enough, they come easily too. If it’s a movie I have conflicted feelings about, then I find it an extremely rewarding exercise to articulate my thoughts as they help me come to terms with my stance. However,...

Film is a manipulative art form. The reason a director positions his actors in a frame in a particular way, makes them say some lines with a certain inflection and later has the scene scored to one specific piece of music is so that she can manipulate you to achieve her intended effect. And that’s okay. As an audience member, when I walk into any film I’m looking to be manipulated. Laughing, crying and being entertained are all...

The following article has NO spoilers for the movie in question. You may proceed without any caution whatsoever.   As evidenced by this interview (excerpts from which I’m going to quote in the review), Joss Whedon gets it. How do you take a green monster prone to rampage, a billionaire playboy with an overwhelming suit of armor, a serum-enhanced soldier who’s the epitome of earnestness and the Norse God of Thunder and cram...

Just how funny is 21 Jump Street? I first saw the film two weeks ago. Since then, not only have I seen it another time but I’ve also burst out laughing on numerous occasions just because I remembered some random line or gag from the movie. So, yeah: I’d say it’s very funny. The 1987 TV show (famous for making Johnny Depp famous, among other accomplishments) on which the film is based was an earnest and serious police...

I have a confession to make. I had completely written off Mirror Mirror, Tarsem Singh’s latest, on the basis of its promotional material. It may have been presumptuous and altogether unfair but with trailers this mediocre, I had little-to-no hopes from this. However, news like this gave me pause and I walked into the film with cautious hope. And this is one case where I’m glad to have been proven wrong, for I really enjoyed...