We recommend: The best new movies and TV

Tár: The first recommendation is this film which has the Oscar-nod—directed by Todd Fields and starring the always versatile Cate Blanchett. The story follows Lydia Tár (Blanchett)—a renowned orchestra conductor—who is seemingly hardworking and good at her craft. But as her past unravels, tensions rise and we see through her hypocrisy as she commissions her work to other women and engages in sexual relations with her students, making her a problematic role model in the male-dominated industry. The filmmaker visually represents paranoia and mental trauma, making it an intense watch.  

The Guardian is all in praise of Cate Blanchett, saying “her performance will pierce you like a conductor’s baton through the heart.” The Independent writes, “It answers the question of ‘should we separate the art from the artist?’ by laying bare how impossible a demand that is.” Our Take: We are excited for this movie for what looks to be a mesmerising performance by Cate Blanchett. Head to the theatres as the film released in India yesterday. 

Scream 6: Everyone’s fave horror franchise is back with its sixth instalment. Following the latest Ghostface killings, ‘Scream 6’ has the four survivors of the previous film leave behind the ill-fated town of Woodsboro for a fresh start in New York City. While this is the first time a ‘Scream’ movie does not feature Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, Courtney Cox is reprising her role as Gale Weathers.

Reviews are great. For Gizmodo, “this Scream, as expected, has a clever, relatable thematic center that makes it more modern than even its 2022 predecessor.” Hollywood Reporter concludes that the film “delivers exactly what the fans expect” and “seems to contain the most frequent and goriest kills.” Our Take: The ‘Scream’ franchise can usually be relied on for a good jump scare and self-aware meta humour. With Neve Campbell not returning, we’re excited to see where the franchise goes next, and who the new ‘final girl’ will be. The movie hit the theatres on March 10.

Luther: The Fallen Sun: If you are looking for a new action-noir movie to try, Idris Elba is back in ‘Luther: The Fallen Sun’. This film is a sequel to the 2010 BBC TV series ‘Luther’—which ran five seasons. Elba reprises his role as the lone wolf Detective Chief Inspector John Luther, who gets tossed into a high security prison and has to break out and stop the billionaire tech villain (Andy Serkis) with a tactical team helping him in the background. 

Reviews are mixed for this one. Variety is disappointed with the script, saying writer Neil Cross “has too many ideas up his sleeve, to the point that it becomes confusing” about the intentions of the villain. Talking about Idris Alba, The Independent says the film makes “a solid argument for making him the next Batman.” Our Take: We’re suckers for the atmosphere of slick neo-noir thrillers, so sign us up for seeing what new shenanigans Luther gets up to in this one. The movie is streaming on Netflix. 

Chang Can Dunk: Here is a lighter movie to watch. ‘Chang Can Dunk’ is a coming-of-age comedy centred around Asian-American high schooler Chang who is in the school marching band but makes a bet with the popular basketball jock that he can dunk a basketball before the Homecoming ball. Everyone shrugs him off, but we see a determined Chang go through his training which he posts on social media. His improvement becomes the talk of the school as everyone gets invested in his journey. The movie marks the debut for writer-director Jingyi Shao.  

The New York Times finds the movie “a funny and thoughtful high school comedy” that “exists at the intersection between jockdom and nerdery.” In praise of the debutant director, Variety writes the movie “marks an attention-worthy debut” and Hollywood Reporter says the filmmaker delivers “a darker, more complex story that nonetheless proves utterly heartwarming by the end”. Our Take: We’re intrigued by the buzz this one’s getting, so we’re definitely joining Team Chang this weekend. The movie released on Disney+ Hotstar yesterday.