Abhinaya Mary Koshy

Animal is a movie that tries very hard to be woke. Brownie points for getting a few things right, but rotten tomatoes for still getting many things wrong. It tries to bridge the gap between the rising ape and the falling angel. But, oh well, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Animal is about a deeply disturbed, broken, traumatised man who is completely obsessed with his father and suffers from various psychological issues. He is pretty well-intentioned, but without the usual tools of healthy communication and a good bit of socialisation, can only channel his thoughts through unexpected bouts of toxic masculinity, overkill and hyperactivity. Which neatly puts him back in the category of a common ape. In complete contrast to Arjun Reddy or Kabir Singh, it is Vijay who is devoid of personality or purpose, a result of deep and complete enmeshment with his father's personality. Everybody, including his mother, wife and children, and his own self comes second to his father. His wife, Geetanjali, has a lot more personality, agency and a much meatier role than Preeti. Except when faced with Vijay's paternalistic, condescending attitude towards her. Coz boyfriend knows best. Boyfriend always knows best- nothing has changed in that regard since Arjun Reddy/Kabir Singh. An attitude that he extends unsolicited towards his sisters as well. He takes it upon himself the glorious purpose of being the brother who will find and vet potential suitors for his sisters. So that they don't end up displaying the very traits that he possesses! One could argue that being paternalistic and condescending is better than being downright misogynistic or sexist, but that doesn't hold much water considering they are all interrelated anyway. Try as they might, one thing Vanga's films still haven't gotten right is actual mutual respect and equality. Vijay, due to his deep seated issues, isn't capable of selfless love, despite his best intentions. He makes it clear that he wouldn't want his wife to remarry if he ever dies. And that he wouldn't give his wife a divorce even if she wants it, because CHILDREN. The very same children that he put at risk when he aims and shoots near his wife's person. He refuses to see or accept that he is a danger to those around him. And refuses to allow anybody to leave him, nor will he leave them himself. The honeytrap, going along with it and making full use of a willing prey is the oldest trick in the book of enemy infiltration. But it is also a lot more forgiveable than the cliched honeytrap falling for the enemy. Because women are always so very emotional and just that simple. The film is all about an obsessive father-son bond and childhood trauma turning into dangerously disturbed adults, interweaved with entertaininig action and dialogue throughout. From a story telling perspective, even the father-son bond is just an afterthought or an excuse for action, guns, bazooka and so on. The level of which is not often seen in Indian cinema. Oh well, as long as it's entertaining, everyone wins, i suppose. The moral of the film, and it does have a social message, whether it is intended or not, is this: Raise your kids well. Verdict: Seen as entertainment and entertainment alone, the movie works really well. Just park your thoughts and mind elsewhere. Rating: 4/5

Pretty darn good! A must-watch. Might seem a bit familiar to those who have watched the Justice League or Marvel animated series, but this manages to stand tall on its own.

It works really well as a trailblazing, educational, foundational content, upon whose back future content creators will saddle themselves, boldly going where one show has gone before. It's the missing link, the piece that fits, in the timeline and repertoire of Indian content that is now rising to revolutionise itself and progress towards groundbreaking, diverse, explorative, experimental content. Maybe that's why it's a must-watch. But it's also why it's a mellow watch. And, unless season 2 comes up with a zinger, a one time watch. PS - Is there a season 2? Rating - 6.5/10 for effort.

Churuli oru churulariyatha rahasyamanu. Props for just being a LJP effort.

Brilliant show. Didn't realise at first that I would be watching something this good. The actors, the characters, the story...everything is top notch. Maybe the name "Brian Cox" should have been an indication... Hope the show last for 10 or more seasons. :))

A good movie in the sense that it's the usual MCU, run of the mill, generic feel-good family film. Not something that would meet or exceed your expectations about a dangerous spy with a dark past. The action and fight scenes could have been a lot better, too. I got more pleasure watching the short but intense highway fight scene in Captain America Winter Soldier than this. But then again, Winter Soldier does rank among the top 4 MCU films in my list. This one does not.

Fantastic movie and a brilliant performance from Fahad Fazil. The whole movie has a trance like feel to it and the music is immersive amazing and sometimes trippy. Religion truly is the opium of the masses. I repeat, it's a fantastic film.

Smart, clever and fun. But then again, you can't go wrong with Loki. Tom Hiddleston is brilliant as usual.

A very watchable sequel, but perhaps not as good as the first entry. Whereas it avoided the over the top CGI Fest of the first one, probably because it's heavily criticised, it still suffers from a villain problem: more specifically, the stereotype of the egotistical, gloating villain. Heck, it was even pretty similar to Ares' evil gloating!! There's still a lot of telling rather than showing going on. Kristin Wiig is absolutely fantastic as the Cheetah but in the end even her villainous outing is cut short and feels rushed in a sort of 2 minute instant-fight sort of a way. It was over too soon, and the background was too dark to follow their fight moves clearly. It would have been cool and more enjoyable to be able to see it properly and in detail. And the movie seems to hint that she renounces her powers as a Cheetah, which is a shame since she could have been a great recurring character in the future. And not to mention, in the DC universe, her human-cheetah hybrid condition is more or less permanent. Which begs the question: will there never be a Cheetah in the DCEU cinematic universe? The villains, just as in the prequel, seem a bit depowered and non threatening- perhaps the one flaw in the franchise. Diana isn't just a beacon of hope in the DC (isn't that Superman?), she's also a top class melee fighter, and so far we've not seen much of that in the franchise. Her powers mainly seem to be love and truth. The way most female superheroes seem to be stereotypically concerned about nice and beautiful and feminine things. In fact, she also seemed a bit too love lorn over Steve. How many decades had it been exactly since she lost him the first time? Another thing that struck me during the movie was that the Wonder woman theme was barely heard in the entire movie. Or if it was, it was much too subtle to make out. Music has the ability to carry a movie or make a character moment memorable, and its absence was very noticeable to me. Let's hope third time's the charm. Overall, not bad.