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Anna M.M. Vetticad
Tomatometer-approved critic
Anna M.M. Vetticad has been a journalist for 25+ years. Her reviews are known for their socio-political analysis, feminist content and focus on the portrayal of marginalised communities. @annavetticad
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Ullozhukku (2024) |
Powered by Urvashi, Parvathy and consistent direction, Ullozhukku is everything that is precious about the best of Malayalam cinema: naturalistic, realistic, and an illustration of how both qualities could be a source of edge-of-the-seat entertainment.
- annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Jul 03, 2024
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Crew (2024) |
The lesson from Crew for the likes of Indra Kumar (the Masti series) and Sajid Khan (Housefull 2) is this: you can joke about sex without demeaning other genders, without making light of violence, and without lazily aiming at the oppressed... - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted May 29, 2024
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Lootcase (2019) |
The humour in Lootcase soon becomes sparse, the occasional wisecrack/misunderstanding can be seen coming from a mile and the pace slackens. The narrative’s lack of urgency is its undoing. - Firstpost
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| Posted May 29, 2024
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Amar Singh Chamkila (2024) |
...brave in its stand on religious despots, lazy when it clubs harassment with fun and equates censorship with all criticism. It is also beautifully acted and uses music in the best way a film can, making it a memorable tribute to a folk hero... - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted May 03, 2024
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Do Aur Do Pyaar (2024) |
Do Aur Do Pyaar ... is not in the business of finding villains. Instead it examines the circumstances that cause its protagonists to cheat on each other. - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Apr 21, 2024
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All India Rank (2023) |
The unhurried demeanour and unmelodramatic presentation of even its most dramatic moments convey an impression that little happens here. In truth, it is packed with thoughtful character development and discreet socio-political commentary. - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Feb 26, 2024
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Manjummel Boys (2024) |
...survival thriller cum coming-of-age saga (that) is outstanding in part yet thinly written and inconsistently toned for the most part. - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Feb 24, 2024
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Bramayugam (2024) |
Behind the gloss and beyond an in-form Mammootty, Bramayugam is not scary despite its promising atmospherics. It is also flimsy ... until it begins to lay out its caste politics. The film’s allegorical take on caste proves to be muddled and insensitive. - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Feb 17, 2024
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Malaikottai Vaaliban (2024) |
Malaikottai Vaaliban features some of the most sensational images and sound ever created for the Indian screen... It is also stretched to nearly three hours with a plot and character graphs undeserving of that length. - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Feb 01, 2024
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Neru (2023) |
Mohanlal’s filmography has for decades been dominated by hyper-masculinity and omnipotent heroes. So when he chooses to play a man who wears his vulnerability on his sleeve, the character’s significance extends beyond the boundaries of this storyline. - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Jan 29, 2024
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Fighter (2024) |
"PoK stands for Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. You have occupied it. But we are the actual owners,” says Hrithik Roshan’s character... Never before has a Hindi film spelt out its proprietorial attitude towards Kashmir in such black-and-white terms. - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Jan 28, 2024
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Aattam (2023) |
Conversations on the all-pervasiveness of patriarchy and violence routinely draw this clichéd caveat from defensive participants: Not All Men. Aattam is a quiet reminder that ... the appropriate rejoinder often is: Yes, All Men. - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Jan 18, 2024
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Halal Love Story (2020) |
Sweet, deceptive simplicity in a layered community portrait... - Firstpost
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| Posted Jan 17, 2024
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Merry Christmas (2024) |
Merry Christmas...is a crime drama aspiring to be a love saga. It is a slow burn that is intriguing in its first hour, but declines after its big reveal. - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Jan 15, 2024
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Dunki (2023) |
Dunki is an over-wrought, over-stretched, over-crowded sample of cinematic mediocrity, marked by clunky writing and puerile politics – an inexplicably incompetent film coming from one of the most successful teams in Hindi film history. - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Dec 23, 2023
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Pihu (2018) |
A two-year-old's incredible solo act keeps this survival saga riveting even through its missteps. - Firstpost
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| Posted Dec 20, 2023
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Careful (2017) |
Vijay Babu and Jomol impress in a flawed but interesting thriller. - Firstpost
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| Posted Dec 20, 2023
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The Archies (2023) |
The film’s updated politics, the decision to set it among Anglo Indians in north India and the non-stereotypical portrayal of the community are among The Archies’ exciting elements. Sadly, they are not effectively sewn together. - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Dec 15, 2023
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Animal (2023) |
Boring, blood-spattered film... Animal’s terrible attitude to women runs alongside a cunning use of India’s religious minorities. - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Dec 06, 2023
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Sam Bahadur (2023) |
...comes across as a listing of historical events rather than an in-depth exploration of the person behind the larger-than-life persona. - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Dec 02, 2023
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X: Past Is Present (2015) |
This experimental film puts style over substance and falters. - Firstpost
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| Posted Oct 25, 2023
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Adhyarathri (2019) |
All mixed up. - Firstpost
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| Posted Oct 09, 2023
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Khuda Haafiz (2020) |
A film cannot be carried on the shoulders of positive intentions alone, and the fact is that everything else about Khuda Haafiz feels generic and dull.
- Firstpost
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| Posted Sep 28, 2023
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The Big Bull (2021) |
The Big Bull's questionable production values – including glaring use of CGI – stare off the screen from pretty early in the narrative. - Firstpost
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| Posted Sep 27, 2023
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Shaadisthan (2021) |
Shaadisthan appears to view sermonising as true feminism and views women in binary terms... - Firstpost
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| Posted Sep 26, 2023
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Jawan (2023) |
While fear may have governed Jawan’s handling of political issues, there is not even that excuse for the gender prejudice in its scripting and casting. - Himal Southasian
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| Posted Sep 13, 2023
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Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 (2015) |
...all-out anti-women hate fest pretending to be a comedy. It also unwittingly degrades men... - annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Jun 29, 2023
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Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011) |
I’ve never before witnessed such misogyny in a film, or emerged from a theatre in such a state of shock, thinking: “Whoa, that director must be really really really hating women!”
- annavetticadgoes2themovies
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| Posted Jun 29, 2023
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Satyaprem Ki Katha (2023) |
If director Luv Ranjan’s Pyaar Ka Punchnama radiated hatred for women, Sameer Vidwans’ Satyaprem Ki Katha is a blazing ball of sermons on women’s agency even as it robs a woman of the agency to determine her own response to an assault. - Firstpost
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| Posted Jun 29, 2023
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Dhoomam (2023) |
Dhoomam’s courage and high-powered credentials – including the talented and respected cast it has reeled in – are not ... complemented by the writing. - Firstpost
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| Posted Jun 25, 2023
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Adipurush (2023) |
Through all this, Sunny Singh has one expression on his face while Prabhas has 0.25 or maybe less. - Firstpost
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| Posted Jun 16, 2023
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Thrishanku (2023) |
Nandhu and Suresh Krishna are the rockstars of this romantic rigmarole. The two veterans in cracking form are the compelling reason to watch Thrishanku. - Firstpost
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| Posted Jun 02, 2023
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Live (2023) |
Live presents believable, repugnant images of mediapersons swarming like insects over their prey. Once the point is made though, the imagery and the commentary get repetitive and after a while, even uninformed. - Firstpost
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| Posted May 31, 2023
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Agra (2023) |
For those who recognise the self-destructive nature of patriarchy, which harms men even as it seeks to subjugate women, Agra is an unsettling reminder of why society should study the victim-turned-victimiser phenomenon (and) the heterogeneity of evil... - Himal Southasian
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| Posted May 30, 2023
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Trance (2020) |
There is so much promise in the first half of Trance in its depiction of religion as an opioid. The second half though, completely fails to take that substantial beginning forward. - Firstpost
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| Posted May 23, 2023
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Family (2023) |
Family...is purportedly about one place at a certain time, but it’s really about Everyplace Everytime, whenever and wherever in the world folks have colluded to keep the secrets they are ashamed of “in the family”. - Firstpost
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| Posted May 23, 2023
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Enthadaa Saji (2023) |
...a pale shadow of the numerous Malayalam films that have scrutinised a minority (Christian) community intelligently and used the specifics of their settings to tell universally resonant stories. Even Kunchacko Boban...cannot save this wannabe project. - Firstpost
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| Posted May 23, 2023
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An Off-Day Game (2015) |
Like the water in that brook bubbling softly beside the primary location, (An Off-Day Game) appears serene from a distance. Plunge below the tranquil surface though, and what you get is a chilling saga of caste, class, colour and misogyny in our society. - Firstpost
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| Posted May 20, 2023
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Charles Enterprises (2023) |
...Charles Enterprises is packed with interesting actors and ideas that fade into the background in the face of a rambling script and listless direction. The writer mistakenly assumes that piling people on to a story amounts to layering and depth. - Firstpost
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| Posted May 20, 2023
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Jan.E.Man (2021) |
The laughs lend an even greater poignance to the heartbreaking reminder unobtrusively woven into the plotline that a road running between two houses could – literally and metaphorically – either connect or divide them... - Firstpost
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| Posted May 20, 2023
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Sara's (2021) |
This is not an esoteric film that might reach only the converted. Instead, Jude Anthany Joseph has created a mass-targeted, full-blown commercial film that takes this explicit stand: her body, her choice. About time too. - Firstpost
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| Posted May 09, 2023
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Pachuvum Athbutha Vilakkum (2023) |
Pachuvum Athbutha Vilakkum lifts off the ground whenever it taps Fahadh (Faasil) the comedian, only to nosedive repeatedly under the weight of a surfeit of sub-plots, characters and an information overload that is mistaken for depth. - Firstpost
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| Posted May 08, 2023
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2018 (2023) |
This star-studded, visually striking film on the 2018 Kerala floods is...intermittently poignant and suspenseful despite its templated format, superficially written characters and decision to avoid the politics of the tragedy. - Firstpost
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| Posted May 06, 2023
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Virus (2019) |
...a minutely observant, unobtrusively educative and moving ode to unsung stars, the triumph of the team and the strength of the human spirit. - Firstpost
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| Posted May 06, 2023
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Afwaah (2023) |
As the primary characters hurtle down a highway to apparent doom, (Sudhir) Mishra delivers a gripping political drama that is unafraid to call a spade a spade and an evil opportunist exactly that. - Firstpost
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| Posted May 05, 2023
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Neelavelicham (2023) |
I do wish Aashiq (Abu) had taken the point of (Vaikom Muhammad) Basheer’s short...beyond what the author himself did when he wrote the screenplay of Bhargavi Nilayam, but as it stands, this Neelavelicham is a captivating reboot of Basheer’s quaint tale.
- Firstpost
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| Posted Apr 28, 2023
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Corona Papers (2023) |
The randomly chosen title is the first indicator of Corona Papers’ vacuity. - Firstpost
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| Posted Apr 28, 2023
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Madanolsavam (2023) |
What Madanolsavam gets right...is enjoyable & remarkably brave. For one, while the more moneyed and high-profile Hindi film industry cowers before the political establishment, here is yet another Malayalam film risking its neck to do what great art does. - Firstpost
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| Posted Apr 28, 2023
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Ayalvaashi (2023) |
The only part of Ayalvaashi that really made me sit up was composer Jakes Bejoy’s Chewing Gum... The creative concept, the catchy tune...all add up to Ayalvaashi’s most entertaining few minutes. Then it’s back to the grind that is the rest of this film. - Firstpost
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| Posted Apr 28, 2023
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The Song of Scorpions (2017) |
...a shocking twist raises expectations before it sinks under the weight of its haziness, needless stretching and a disturbing attitude to gender that is particularly disappointing since it comes from the maker of Qissa. - Firstpost
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| Posted Apr 28, 2023
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