So you wanna watch something...

Uncharted: Starring Tom Holland, Mark Walhberg and Antonio Banderas, this is the much-awaited adaptation—of a popular video game of the same name. The plot: A bartender and pickpocket teams up with a rogue to look for lost treasure and a missing sibling. Washington Post says it is “directed with cartoonish glee and special dispensation from the law of gravity”—and make for good if formulaic fun. Variety, however, calls it “a lively but thinly scripted and overlong mad-dash caper movie, propelled by actors you wish, after a while, had more interesting things to say and do.” Irony alert: Director Ruben Fleischer tells Cnet why most movie adaptations aren’t as successful as the video game that inspired them. ‘Uncharted’ premieres in theatres today.

A Thursday: Yami Gautam plays a preschool teacher who—along with her house help and a driver—takes 16 toddlers hostage in this fast-paced thriller. Her demands: a huge sum of money and a direct line to the Prime Minister (Dimple Kapadia). Her threat: she will begin killing the children one at a time, in alphabetical order. Atul Kulkarni and Neha Dhupia also star as senior police officers who are at odds with each other. Scroll says, “The scattershot script… is briskly paced and entertainingly performed.” Firstpost, OTOH, calls it a film that “strives to be urgent, relevant and cool, but succeeds only partially, because it stops to make a point far too often.” The movie has been compared to the brilliant Naseeruddin Shah flick ‘A Wednesday’—and we’re curious to see if it lives up to that high standard. Drops today on Disney+ Hotstar.

Downfall: The Case Against Boeing: Remember the two 737-Max planes that crashed within months of each other—and led to the Boeing models being grounded for over a year? This documentary takes a close look at what went wrong and why—speaking to aviation experts, former Boeing engineers, and pilots. Who’s missing: current Boeing executives. Hollwood Reporter says “it’s not very good cinematic journalism and… doesn’t really take a vital conversation anywhere interesting”—other than blaming capitalism run wild. Variety is impressed and says the film “not only builds a case against Boeing but offers an object lesson in the tragic consequences of corporate greed and hubris.” It drops on Netflix today.

Severance: Directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife Mcardle, this sci-fi drama has received almost universal praise. The concept: Employees have to drastically separate their work and home life—scrubbing their memories as they move from being an ‘innie’ to an ‘outie’ each working day. The cast is studded with A-list talent: Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro and Christopher Walken. NPR warns that the series is slow to build, but calls it “darkly funny, hugely imaginative corporate-thriller.” The Verge calls it “a show that feels a bit like a cross between ‘Black Mirror’ and ‘The IT Crowd’, exploring the horrors of capitalism and technology with a banal kind of cheer”—and finds it interesting enough to keep watching. This is on our must-see list this weekend. The first two episodes of the series premiere today on AppleTV+.

Bestseller: For 10 years, a once-popular novelist Tahir Wazir (Arjan Bawa) has failed to write anything as impressive as his last bestseller. Inspiration strikes when he meets Meetu Mathur (Shruti Hassan), a sweet barista with a tragic backstory. But everything goes off-script as Tahir begins receiving threats from a Twitter troll—which escalates into a spate of attacks on Meetu and his wife Mayanka (Gauhar Khan). Mithun Chakraborty also stars as an eccentric cop. There are no reviews yet, but the series—with its star cast and fresh narrative—seems to be a promising watch. Catch ‘Bestseller’ on Amazon Prime today.

A list of good reads

• We learned a lot from reading this Fast Company piece on the downside of being a high-achiever at work.
• Orla Hegarty’s Twitter thread shows exactly how badly interpreted medical studies go viral—and is an eye-opening education on how news reporting is broken.
• Economic Times has a good report on why most Chinese apps are impossible to ban in India—and keep popping back in new avatars. 
• Also in the Economic Times: A revealing piece on what disgraced BharatPe founder is up to these days. Hint: think memes, hoodies and a Gen Z audience.
• ESPN has a must-read piece on sexual harassment in the world of chess—where a Latvian grandmaster targeted women players, including Dronavalli Harika from India.
• Shoaib Daniyal in Scroll looks at whether political consultants like Prashant Kishor are hurting democracy.
• Also in Scroll: An excellent long read on 50 years of conservation in India—which includes a fascinating history of early efforts to preserve wildlife.
• The Atlantic has a brilliant essay on the disappearance of human rights from our political discourse—titled ‘We Are All Realists Now’.
• Wired looks at an innovative startup that aims to turn carbon emissions into edible meat.
• Speaking of tech, a BBC News investigation reveals the shocking amount of sexual content in the children’s game Roblox.
• Deccan Herald has a ground report on minority voters who are disappearing from the electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh.
• New York Times investigates the great ‘organic’ cotton fraud in India—and uncovers why so much of it is fake.
• Vice’s investigation focuses on human trafficking rings on the US-Mexico border—run by Marines!
• The New Yorker has a wonderful comic strip on mommy rage—which every mother can relate to.
• The Guardian looks at tech billionaires—Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel—who are trying to reverse the ageing process. Of course, they are.
• Also in The Guardian: What went wrong with ‘Inventing Anna’—the series that promised an entertaining account of a Russian conwoman?  
• Quartz looks at the new Air India CEO Ilker Ayci.
• A fan of ‘Don’t Look Up’? Writer David Sirota explains what the movie is really about in Vox.
• CNN dissects the anatomy of a good romantic comedy.