Sudhir Srinivasan

The heroine who gets a hero’s welcome

A new generation of filmmakers will write their stories without the assumption that the protagonist is a male, without the assumption that a female role attains fulfillment when she finds a partner.

Life: A gripping horror tapers off into cliches

The film’s mutation is a bit like the creature’s, in a sense. Promising, fascinating beginnings soon deteriorate into mundane familiar developments.

The scientist in Hollywood

“They ask all sorts of questions; some of them are really thought-provoking. Daniel, for instance, offhandedly asked me what’d happen if somebody cried in space.”

Beauty and the Beast: A warm, lavish, and worthy retelling of an old tale

Belle, looking at Beast’s transformed conventionally good-looking face, looks in longing, and asks, “How would you feel about growing a beard?” My heart swelled.

Kong: Skull Island: Unabashed skin-deep entertainment

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts isn’t one to take his material too seriously. That’s why just as one of the innumerable harrowing creatures gobbles up one of the travelling party, you’re shown the shot of a man biting into his sandwich.