We recommend: The best new movies and TV series
Editor’s note: The first exciting weekend at the movies is here. Took three weeks in the new year. Do not dare to miss 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple at the theatres. Netflix brings you an A1 bro-core actioner with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. There’s a new Korean romance series and a Japanese anime series. New season of Industry. And Mammootty is, once again, chewing scenery as the big bad. Plus Agatha Christie!
New Releases
Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos (Hindi)
Credit where due: Vir Das never stops challenging himself. After earning modest fame in the US with his stand-up, he managed to enter Bollywood and leave behind at least two legendary comedies, Delhi Belly (2011) and Go Goa Gone (2013). He created and headlined the 2020 Netflix dark comedy Hasmukh. With Happy Patel, Das makes his feature directorial debut, starring him in the lead role, alongside Mithila Palkar and Mona Singh. Producer Aamir Khan and nephew Imran Khan have cameos.
Happy (Das) is an inept international spy who is sent to Goa on a high-stakes assignment. Bad decisions snowball into worse situations, via slapstick and satire. Nandini Ramnath of Scroll, calling the film "silly", "juvenile", and "anarchic", writes that the film has “scenes that are hilarious and scenes that the makers think are hilarious. Hope is the abiding emotion in Vir Das’s co-creation…”
Where to watch: Theatres
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (English)
Last year's 28 Years Later was one of the most stylish, grisly, and edgy productions to roll out of the Hollywood machine. Directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland, the winsome combo's third installment in the post-apocalyptic British zombie film series touched upon fears of a contemporary world under crisis and examined the possibility of tenderness and hope, all edited and scored like the best of '90s music videos.
The Bone Temple (writer: Garland, director: Nia DaCosta) picks up where the previous film stopped. The boy protagonist Spike (Alfie Williams) experiences more moral challenges as the option to inflict violence is handed to him on a platter. Meanwhile, survivalist Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) tries to befriend an Alpha zombie. The highlight is the psychotic Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell) leading a brutal cult, running roughshod over the landscape.
Veteran film critic Peter Travers is egging us on to rush to the theatre the moment this edition is published: "...will keep you up nights with its blood-freezing, visionary horror... the year kicks off with what will certainly be one of 2026’s scariest, savviest fright fests. You’ll be thinking about The Bone Temple long after you wake up screaming."
Where to watch: Theatres
The Rip (English)
Writer-director Joe Carnahan is a specialist of gritty but tender bro-core action cinema (See Narc, Smokin' Aces, The Grey). Team him up with besties and Hollywood power brokers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as star-producers. You get this 10/10 buckle-up-n’-hold-on actioner.
A narcotics team led by Damon and Affleck's detectives discover millions in cartel cash at a stash house. Should they disappear with the money? Meanwhile cartel threats escalate and the team members begin distrusting one another. Solid supporting cast: Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Scott Adkins, Kyle Chandler.
Jonathan Wilson of Ready Steady Cut is succinct: "Netflix has several bad ideas, but giving Joe Carnahan $100,000,000 is a pretty good one."
Where to watch: Netflix
Can This Love Be Translated? (Korean)
We’ve all met men who are fluent in many languages, with emotional intelligence not being one of them. Well, gear up for “linguistic genius” Ju Ho-jin (Kim Seon-ho)—a master of several languages but illiterate in love—and actress Cha Mu-hee (Go Youn-jung), whose career soars not long after they meet for the first time.
Over the course of the show, Ho-jin must come to terms with the affection he feels for Mu-hee. But the question on everyone’s mind is: Can he? The 12-episode series has been created by the Hong sisters, notable for popular Korean rom-coms: My Girl (2005), You're Beautiful (2009), The Greatest Love (2011), etc.
Where to watch: Netflix
One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 (English)
The fifth and final chapter of Stranger Things was recently released on Netflix. Creators, the Duffer brothers, have mapped out their process over the year of its creation in this new documentary. This behind-the-scenes offers viewers exclusive insights into the hit show.
On the season’s creation taking time, Greer Riddell of Collider writes, “The Duffers acknowledged that there had never been so much noise surrounding the series. As a result, they spent more time than ever in the writers’ room trying to meet expectations while still surprising the audience.”
Where to watch: Netflix
Pole to Pole with Will Smith (English)
Will Smith the adventurer has a nice ring to it. The celebrated actor and (less celebrated) rapper takes on a new role in this new National Geographic series, in honour of his late mentor, professor and explorer Dr. Allen Counter. He goes from “pole to pole” doing insane daredevil challenges over 100 days. He travels the world, skiing to the South Pole, diving into seas, climbing mountains, playing with snakes and other freaky creatures.
All in the company of local veterans of the adventure scene as well as renowned explorers. The Guardian is impressed; they call Pole to Pole a “celebrity documentary that is an honourable exception to the usual dross that passes commissioning muster.”
Where to watch: JioHotstar
Taskaree: The Smuggler’s Web (Hindi)
Taskaree is the latest in Netflix’s assembly line of high-concept desi thrillers. Created by Neeraj Pandey and starring Emraan Hashmi, the series is about a group of honest Customs officers at the Mumbai airport surviving in a system beset by inertia and brazen corruption. Their mission? Neutralise dreaded criminal don Bada Choudhary and put an end to his gold smuggling syndicate. We expect lots of exhilarating chase sequences spread over the high seas.
The reviews are mixed, but Scroll does call it “efficient” in its execution. The intent, their review points out, is “to get the job done, whatever the goal or circumstances. Whether hero, villain or compromised government official, everyone in Taskaree is chasing tasks that are duly met or thwarted.”
Where to watch: Netflix
Love Through a Prism (Japanese)
The anime follows Lili Ichijouin, a young art student in 1900s London, pursuing her dreams as she faces the enormous, overwhelming, and sometimes far too complicated trials and tribulations of growing up. While the series is a romantic drama, it doesn’t place romance on a pedestal, or deny the character any growth outside of her romantic endeavours. And, of course, it’s stunning to watch.
According to Decider,
...Love Through A Prism not only meets expectations but exceeds them with its vibrant, detailed, and period-accurate renderings of London’s landmarks, streets, and fashion, not to mention the intricate illustrations of art within the art. From the eye-catching mix of 2-D and 3-D works to the unique, colorful character design, the visuals are imbued with depth, life, and care that immediately pull you in and immerse you in the world.
Where to watch: Netflix
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials (English)
A fancy masquerade party at a country house ends in one Gerry found dead—cause: “death by misadventure”. Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent, a socialite played by Mia McKenna-Bruce, is not buying it. Suspecting murder, she decides to investigate further. The clues, as we learn, lie in the seven dials. Which are also a warning to her.
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials is a Brit miniseries, adapted from Christie’s 1929 novel The Seven Dials Mystery. It’s a tight, three-part murder mystery that, per Decider, is a “well-paced, traditional Christie adaptation with a fun-to-watch young protagonist at its center, which is rare in the world of the classic mystery novelist’s stories.”
Where to watch: Netflix
Fresh off the big screen
Kalamkaval (Malayalam)
Mammootty is a serial killer, a suave cat luring women and plucking them off the face of the earth. He poses as an investigator alongside lead detective, played by Vinayakan (Rajinikanth's nemesis in the blockbuster Jailer), cast against type. A super hit and critically acclaimed. Do. Not. Miss.
Where to watch: SonyLIV
120 Bahadur (Hindi)
Farhan Akhtar stars as the fabulously named, real-life martyr Major Shaitan Singh, who led his men in the '62 Sino-Indian War against a wave of Chinese soldiers. Shaitan Singh received a posthumous Param Vir Chakra. Critics appreciated the film for its tight action sequences.
Scroll notes, “120 Bahadur takes full advantage of technological advances in shooting methods to mount a visually captivating viewing experience. Shot by Tetsuo Nagata, the handsomely produced movie transports audiences to the chilly upper reaches of Ladakh, where tragedy — and posthumous glory — awaits the soldiers.”
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
Downtown Abbey: The Grand Finale (English)
Downton Abbey seems to be a never-ending franchise, but we have been promised that this is it—the grand finale. Featuring many of the incredibly talented original cast members, and written by series creator and Academy Award winner Julian Fellowes, the film follows the Crawley family as they enter the 1930s in financial distress. Simultaneously, Mary (Michelle Dockery), the eldest daughter, is thrust into a public divorce. Through all this, the Crawley family must grapple with changing times.
Peter Bradshaw of Guardian writes, “The film is very silly and always watchable in its weird way, with those eccentrically emphasised shots of characters thanking each other for their thoughtfulness.”
Where to watch: JioHotstar
One more chapter
Industry S04 (English)
More plot movement and contrivance await in season four of this drama set in London's elite fintech world, that's been scratching the itch HBO's godly Succession left behind. Market disruptions by new players, boardroom games, personal demons, you know the math.
Where to watch: JioHotstar
Hijack S02 (English)
In 2023’s season one, Idris Elba’s business negotiator found himself in a hijack situation. Played out over real time, Sam (Elba) averted disaster through his presence of mind and sharp manoeuvring around a fraught situation. In the new season, Sam Nelson (Elba) is on an underground train in Berlin, on his way to meet a German government official. And he’s surrounded by a motley crew of insistent characters. Is something about to go horribly wrong? Again? Of course!
Where to watch: Apple TV
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