Rohini Nair
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Fear Street Part 3: 1666 movie review — A satisfying twist and sharp commentary cap Netflix's horror trilogy
The final instalment of Leigh Janiak’s adaptation of RL Stine’s popular YA horror series underlines the historical reality of persecuted women
Fear Street Part 2: 1978 movie review — A killer on the loose at a summer camp for teens equals an effective horror romp
Perfect for a not-too-overwhelming-but-spooky-enough night of Netflix bingeing on the couch.
Fear Street Part 1: 1994 movie review — A fun ode to Stranger Things, slasher films and high school horror
With a back-story that’s to be explored in greater detail over the trilogy's next two instalments, Fear Street Part 1: 1994 is an enjoyable first step.
America: The Motion Picture movie review — Juvenile attempt at revisionist retelling of war for independence
The American War of Independence is recast as a sci-fi fantasy/action/adventure/bromance with comic book superhero treatment given to George Washington and his pals.
Of fathers, living, and Itaewon Class: Viewing grief through the prism of Park Seo-joon's Netflix show
Notes on a long road back from loss.
Physical review: In Apple TV+ series, Rose Byrne makes you cringe at, and sympathise with, her aerobics guru character
Put-upon suburban housewife and mom finds a calling that leads to a big business idea, translating into fame and fortune — it's a story that's been told before. In Physical, the new Apple TV+ series starring Rose Byrne, it gets the dark comedy/dramedy treatment.
Those Who Wish Me Dead movie review: Angelina Jolie thriller hews to genre clichés, but wins with its setting
Those Who Wish Me Dead has no surprises, aside from why a bunch of A-list actors decided to take up such old wine-old bottle roles, even if Oscar nominee Taylor Sheridan is at the helm.
Chaos Walking movie review: Tom Holland-Daisy Ridley starrer wastes sci-fi premise on typical survivalist chase plot
Chaos Walking misses a chance to tell a compelling and resonant story in spite of having all the ingredients to do so.
Mare of Easttown review: Kate Winslet's HBO drama has a curious quality for a murder mystery — compassion
As a murder mystery — despite a few gratuitous red herrings — Mare of Easttown is taut and moody, in the league of the first seasons of Fargo and True Detective. As a study of people and a community, it is spare, melancholy — and haunting.
Oxygen movie review: Mélanie Laurent thrills in Alexandre Aja's sci-fi take on the 'you wake up in a room' trope
Oxygen is a thrilling watch, as much for its concept and the questions it raises about what it means to be conscious, as for its exploration of what humans are willing to do to survive.
Netflix true crime docu Why Did You Kill Me? raises more questions about justice, vengeance and vigilantism than it answers
The case the documentary explores is the 2006 murder of a 24-year-old Riverside, California, resident — Crystal Theobald — in a drive-by shooting near her home.
Them review: Amazon Studios' new anthology is a brutal, unrelenting American horror story
Through its 10-episode run, the series — about 10 days in the life of a Black family who have just moved into the white neighbourhood of East Compton in 1950s California — keeps the horror at fever pitch.
Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult compellingly explores mechanics of brainwashing and foregrounds survivors' stories
Over the course of four hour-long episodes, the docuseries delves into the trafficking and psychological and physical abuse of women that occurred at NXIVM, not just at the hands of its founder Keith Raniere, but also his most devoted acolytes, like Smallville actress Allison Mack.
Framing Britney Spears: The New York Times' documentary underscores the star's essential unknowability
"Lolita" or "trainwreck", "victim" or "survivor" — easy labels can't capture the truth of Britney Spears.
Murder Among the Mormons: True crime docuseries on Netflix probes a case that rocked a church
Murder Among the Mormons delves — ostensibly — into three bombings that took place in Utah in 1985, killing two and seriously injuring one.
Mark Haddon tells it like it is | Highlights from Curious Incident author's session at Jaipur Literature Festival 2021
“The novel is a vehicle which can go so many places…so why not stretch it, why not take it to those places?” Haddon notes.
Jonathan Safran Foer at the Jaipur Literature Festival 2021: A (near) faithful transcription, and some (scattered) notes
The author on his quest for the worthwhile in a finite life.
Beyond Crazy Rich Asians: Kevin Kwan on writing, remembering and being an observer, at Jaipur Literature Festival 2021
Kevin Kwan seems like the kind of writer you’d want to call on the phone; he’s a good conversationalist, talking about his work and life experiences and family and current events and themes like diversity and representation with great ease and charm.
Allen V Farrow: HBO docuseries on sexual abuse allegations against Woody Allen is a portrait of a family in distress
The first episode of Allen V Farrow covers a wide narrative arc, including Mia Farrow and Woody Allen's relationship, their unconventional family and living arrangements, the discovery of his affair with Mia's adopted daughter Soon-Yi, and the allegations of Allen's sexual abuse of Dylan Farrow, then aged seven.