Shalini Langer
Articles By Shalini Langer
Ready or Not movie review: Comedy of Terrors
Treading Get Out territory, but not as much a social commentary as it would like to be, Ready or Not is a comic-horror flick that is not shy of blood, gore or pushing the envelope, but isn't finally as good as it promises to be.
To Aieman, the mother who lost her unborn baby amidst the Kashmir lockdown
Every hour, I have grappled with myself on what I would tell the 26-year-old sister of my colleague in Srinagar. To Aieman, I am the silent audience applauding the government’s semantics over Pakistan, while words like normalcy, detention, curfew lose meaning.
IT Chapter Two movie review: An unnecessary sequel
IT Chapter Two movie review: In 2017's IT, what worked the best was that it was children, mostly quite wonderful in their roles, who were in harm's way. It's not as easy to empathise with middle-aged people, who are not as nice in their older avatars, like any of us.
Chhichhore movie review: A disappointing fare
Sushant Singh Rajput, a dependable actor otherwise, cringingly struggles here both as a college student and a grieving father. As his ex-college mate and now former wife, Shraddha Kapoor (playing Maya), has only so much to do.
47 Meters Down Uncaged movie review: Dull as ditchwater
47 Meters Down Uncaged movie review: Nelisse impresses the most, though, as those famous surnames Foxx and Stallone indicate, she is in illustrious company. Is that what is keeping this sequel afloat?
Angel Has Fallen movie review: Gerard Butler stars in another shallow film
Angel Has Fallen movie review: After Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen, this time Gerard Butler's Mike Banning is out to save his own skin, after he is set up as the culprit following an assassination attempt on the President.
The Kitchen movie review: Coolest part about the film may be its title
The Kitchen movie review: Melissa McCarthy is clearly meant to shoulder most of the burden, and it is her Kathy who lays out that feminism message in so many words, more than once.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood movie review: Tales from Tinseltown
Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are excellent, both together and apart, complete opposites and complementary of each other.
Once upon a time there was home
Given the insubstantial time I spent in Jammu, I am perhaps an interloper to comment on the overnight change in its status, from ‘special’ to one half of a Union Territory. But given it is the city of my ancestors, I retain a right to mourn a sense of loss.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark movie review: The scares fizzle out too fast
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark movie review: Assembled into one story line about a haunted house, a girl kept imprisoned within, who told stories which killed everyone who heard them, the film sputters to life in patches, grabs you with its first few tales, and then lets the scare fizzle out too fast and too much.
Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw movie review: A ridiculous actioner
So how seriously should we take this end-of-the-world exercise? Brixton puts it best -- "genocide", "schemoncide", call it what you will. For, one thing is sure: this is certainly not the end of the Fast & Furious world.
The Lion King movie review: Return to the Pride Lands
The Lion King movie review: In The Lion King, the technology Jon Favreau wields has got another update, to deliver every single, wind-blown hair in the beautiful manes of Simba and Mufasa.
Yesterday movie review: A breezy watch
Yesterday movie review: Richard Curtis and co-writer Jack Barth keep the film light, easy and fun, with of course great music to keep it all rolling.
Spider-Man Far From Home movie review: Lost and Found
Right till the end, the film's heart remains in the right place, whether it's the brief moments Peter can steal for MJ, the times he reaches out for someone to talk to, and the short sequence that shows he is ready to be what the film always intended him to be: Tony Stark.
Annabelle Comes Home movie review: Ghosts of the past
Annabelle Comes Home movie review: As Annabelle Comes Home drags on and on without turning up the chill factor, you wonder whether Gary Dauberman, directing for the first time but a well-settled collaborator in Conjuring films, has run out of scares.
Toy Story 4 movie review: Pixar delivers yet again
Toy Story 4 movie review: Even for Pixar, this fourth part seems a lazy concession to the exigencies of a profitable enterprise — though the studio with the magic touch does even this better than most.
X-Men Dark Phoenix movie review: Rising from the Ashes
X-Men Dark Phoenix movie review: This superhero film gives us a heroine who is unapologetically strong, stronger than all the men in the room, sturdier than the one she is in love with, with no feminine qualities to make her go down easy with the audiences.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? movie review: Watch it for Melissa McCarthy and Richard E Grant
Melissa McCarthy loses herself in the role of a woman who showers more love on a cat than anybody, including herself. But it is Richard E Grant who is stunning, especially in one of his last shots, which feels like a genuine goodbye.
Rocketman movie review: Hits all the right notes
Taron Egerton is an inspired choice to play the flamboyant rock star, and more than physical resemblance, the actor goes for capturing Elton's essence, as the film pans outside the studios to film his hits against settings that could have been a possible inspiration.
Godzilla King of the Monsters movie review: It’s imagination gone wild
Godzilla 2 review: It's imagination gone wild, in kinds, numbers, types, scales of giants, who clash everywhere from Mexico to Antarctica, and from underwater to up in the air.
