Dolittle, Review: Only a veterinarian can save the Queen Imagine a veterinarian doctor who can understand animal language and talk to any member of the animal, bird and fish kingdom. When translated to cinema, as in Dolittle, this story creates a dramatic premise where his unique ability would prove crucial in an effort to save the dying Queen of England, no less. It’s as preposterous a premise as the basic platform itself, but, nevertheless, adds to the cuteness value of the whole exer...

Spider-man--Far From Home, Review: PP, HH, Ray, May, MJ, Ned, E.D.I.T.H., Nick and Beck Can a pulsating teenage romance between a super-hero’s alter ego and a beautiful schoolmate over-ride inherent flaws in a film’s scripting and logic? Is the inability to go “aw..so cute!” every time you see an awkward boy mustering up the courage to approach his love interest, to utter the three magic words, a sign of aging and fossilisation? Is the need to look beyond the obvious, ...

Captain Marvel, Review: Skrull duggery, the Kreeps, a charismatic cat and muddled memories To many Indians, who grew up reading DC comics in the 50s, 60s and 70s, Captain Marvel is a man, and he acquires super-powers upon uttering the magical acronym, SHAZAM: genius of Solomon, strength of Hercules, unbreakable will of Atlas, lightning blasts of Zeus, power of Achilles and speed of Mercury. Named Billy Batson as a human, Captain Marvel’s powers comprised super strength, flight, invulner...

Avengers-Infinity War, Review: Ashes to ashes, dust to dust #Book of Common Burial Prayer, 1662: Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life. #‘Ashes to ashes, funk to funky’ Artiste: David Bowie, Album: Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), 1980. From all appearances, a large number of Marvel’s Avengers and their partners in common cause have become ashes by the time the film ends. Whether any of them will be Re...

Spiderman: Homecoming, Review by Siraj Syed: The Age of Coming This tale of and by (the opening credits say so) Peter Parker is just a shade slower than Transformers 5, which means it is crack-neck, if not break-neck. Nevertheless, that’s some relief. Looks like it is the trend now, and this is what comic/superhero films are going to be all about—hundreds of rapid fire cuts and thousands of barely discernible special effects, all adding up to a good two-and-a half hours or thereab...

Captain America-Civil War, Review: Danger...Us? Emerging from the 2006 Marvel Comic storyline, Civil War, this is a top heavy assembly, where the heroes get divided into two camps and battle it out, before realising that unity in diversity must come first, and egos should take second billing. It is about two superstars taking opposing, dictatorial stances, but with so many characters doing their bit for the fans, the film is a democratic treatise. Villains, by comparison, are poorly delineate...

Avengers: Age of Ultron, Review: Fan-fare Overloaded, campy and ‘fancentric’, Avengers: Age of Ultron is the Marvel Comics and Studios’ counterpart of the Justice League of America, the other array of comic book heroes that have thrilled young readers for several decades now. Just as readers were thrilled to find Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Cyborg, Firestorm and Element Woman (current line-up, different from original members) between th...

  by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent   In the 1920's, Louise Brooks (Pandora's Box, Diary of a Lost Girl) famously took a 50 percent pay cut to work with German director G. W. Pabst, from $1000 a week to $500 a week, and flew to Berlin to make the best movies of the Kansas-born actor's career. In 2014, Jonah Hill cheerfully admits he accepted scale, around $60,000 USD, for a chance to be directed by Martin Scorsese in Wolf of Wall Street, for which he, along...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent There are many reasons to wonder silently about the HFPA and their Golden Globe Awards, uhm, maybe the NSA knows more than some of us. (But not likely.) Last year Theo Kingma took the helm, and most of us hoped for the best after the sale to Peter Guber and friends.  What if the HFPA, founded in 1947, came back to its core directive as a charitable institution and gathering place for international journalists in Hollywood? Once w...

CINEMA: Rome Film Fest has announced a major coup (undoubtedly the first of many) with the World Premiere presentation of the hotly anticipated biopic FUR, which stars Academy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman as troubled New York photographer icon Diane Arbus. The film, which is slated to open in October in the US, is considered a major Oscar frontrunner for Kidman, director Steven Shainberg and film distributor Picturehouse. The film tells the compelling story of famed photographer Diane ...