Veera Dheera Sooran (2025)

The film begins with a woman and her daughter outside of a don's (or something like that, called Periyavar) house seeking her lost husband.

From that moment right up to interval the movie never lets up, gritty, intense, and building up the drama with one long scene after another until the inevitable action moments.

Director S. Arun Kumar, who also wrote the script, worked on each scenes squeezing the last drops on intensity that keeps us at the edge of the seat (not literally, but you know...).

Everyone was good, may it be Vikram, the scene stealer S.J. Surya, Thushara Vijayan and all the others, right down to the minor characters.

Which is why the film worked for me. What started out as a plot hatched by S.J Surya's cop character to "encounter" (assassination with righteous motive) goes haywire with involvement of Vikram, a former red neck hit man who has since settled down with a family running a provision shop.

There's the inevitable flashback sequence, thankfully short and is only one. Then, we are back in the fray.

Yes, there's violence towards the end, lots of bloodshed but this story demands it. Everyone has done a great job, including composer G V Prakash aiding with the tense situations. I like this flick.

A Working Man (2025)

There is a sense that you have seen it all before. Of course, you have. Which is exactly what the expectation should be when you walk into a Jason Statham flick. It’s critic proof in a way, that the reviewers would be genuinely intrigued if at all something original and brilliant appears on screen.

I like Statham ever since I saw him in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), and felt he would have a great future. I was right, but I never thought he would be surfing in the hardcore action wave. Even in the worst ones, Statham can be quite entertaining – may it be the physical moves or the sense of humour that he picked up from the Guy Ritchie films.

This has the run-of-mill plot of someone dear getting kidnapped and the protagonists goes and gets the person. The film is co-produced and co-scripted by Sylvester Stallone based on a novel by Chuck Dixon. If you have watched too many John Wick or Liam Neeson flicks, you will find this film very ordinary. But then, you walk into a Burget King outlet, you ain’t gonna order no Linguine in tomato sauce with chopped basil. You have Angus Signature burger which is exactly what I am having while I write this (no, I am not paid by BK).

I liked it fine. The burger. The film? Well, it has some pretty good action sequences, bad guys you want to hate, the kidnapped gal who is not a damsel in distress, and the stoic Statham kicking asses. The end indicated that there might be a sequel. Let’s see.

 

Snow White (2025)

The review is so small, I'm typing this in my phone.

First of all, my expectations has been so low, thanks to the bad press this film is getting that actual I got cool with it.

It's not that bad and it's not great either. There are interesting moments and there are cringe worthy ones as well.

The songs are not memorable, those ones sucks and Gal Gadot's singing....well you know. 

She is the weakest part of the film in fact. She tried her best to be wicked, but nah. It didn't work out.

As for Rachel Zegler, she's fine. It's not a heavyweight part and beauty is subjective. Not as white as snow? From this Asian point of view, she is 

The CGI dwarves were distracting at first, but later I got used to it, as does all the other CGI-ed stuff. It has been force-fed onto us audience for so long now, it's part of film watching experience. I ain't got no complainta, it's a goddamned fairy tale after all. Not Hamlet.

Mickey 17 (2025)

I liked Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne in that sleeper hit that came out of nowhere, The Batman. Just when the so-called comic book aficionados were celebrating Ben Affleck as the comic-book accurate Bruce Wayne/Batman (who probably haven't read ones before the Dark Knight revival).

What is this flick but a mish mash of some of the iconic sci-fi flicks of the past. I see Arnie's Sixth Day (cloning), Groundhog Day (waking up to same event) and even Total Recall (science under the corporate's feet).

Pattison's character starts out as the 17^th version of Mickey, clone, printed actually, basically a guinea pig for experimentation by Mark Ruffalo character who is not reticent about mimicking Donald Trump – you know the filmakers are on the left side here.

It could have been stereotypical, formulaic and well, who cares. I did. I liked it. Especially Pattinson's portrayal of the clueless character who has to team up with his later version (Kinda like what Arnie did in Sixth Day) and go up against authority.

There are moments that felt like pure innovation, nothing like you have seen before, and well, if you have seen one too many films, you have seen them all. But it still felt fresh. The story is not too complicated especially when you have a corporate buffoon (Ruffalo is edged on by his onscreen wife, played by the wonderful Toni Collette – the Trump comparison eh? Whatever). 

Also, I liked Naomie Ackie, gutsy performance. You gonna be big one day, kid. I said the same of Zoe Saldana and she got herself an Oscar.

The only issue I have is that the filmaker uses plenty of flashback shtick – something I abhorred considering it is the staple of the Tamil film industry past few decades, but hey, the director, Bong Joon Ho is Asian after all (Korean).

Some may fall out of the plot carousel – it is sci-fi, after all – but let me assure you, Pattinson's performance will keep you gripped. There are messages here and there, like, hey, don't fuck with nature, but it will fly pass you. I hear the opening has been weak in the US, and I can understand why. It is mostly bereft of the action sequences one would associate with sci-fi (thank you, Schwarzenegger), and Ruffalo's baddie is not exactly the bigger than life type despite is Trump impersonation and not exactly effective counterpoint to the protagonist's struggle or journey.

But it was alright with me. I liked it. Which means, it is not going to do well in the cinemas. Perhaps the OTT crowed might embrace it.