Movie Reviews
‘Blink Twice’ Review: Channing Tatum and Naomi Ackie in Zoë Kravitz’s Skillful but Scattered #MeToo Thriller
Early in Zoë Kravitz’s charged but scattered directorial debut Blink Twice, a tech tycoon caught in the storm of controversy offers a familiar kind of apology. After “everything that happened,” Slater King (Channing Tatum) says in a video, the billionaire will step back from his company. He regrets his actions and, in an effort to change, will retreat to his private island for reflection. We never find out exactly what Slater did, but in our digital wasteland littered with similarly scripted #MeToo atonements, it doesn’t take much imagination.
Frida (an excellent Naomi Ackie) seems unbothered by the allegations surrounding Slater or the feigned sincerity of his recorded remorse. When we meet the optimistic aspiring nail designer, she’s sitting on the toilet of her rundown apartment, watching the video of the beleaguered tycoon with adoring eyes, fantasizing about the day the two might meet.
Blink Twice
The Bottom Line Ackie and Arjona steal the show.
Release date: Friday, Aug. 23
Cast: Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Kyle MacLachlan
Director: Zoë Kravitz
Screenwriters: Zoë Kravitz & E.T. Feigenbaum
Rated R,
1 hour 42 minutes
It’s lucky, then, that the next evening, while working as a waitress at a fundraising event, Frida comes face to face with Slater. Their encounter is clumsy but electric — a meet-cute fit for a romantic comedy. She trips on the hem of her dress; he helps her up and holds her gaze. Later that night, as the party thins, Slater asks Frida to fly with him and his crew to his private island. She eagerly accepts the invitation and conscripts her best friend and roommate Jess (Alia Shawkat) to come along.
If Triangle of Sadness, Glass Onion and The Menu have taught us anything, it’s that a group of strangers in a secluded locale spells trouble. Kravitz, who co-wrote the screenplay with E.T. Feigenbaum, quickly establishes Blink Twice as both social satire satire and horror, yet balancing the two proves to be more challenging as the narrative revs up.
There are no cellphones allowed on Slater’s island. The people on staff, like those in Jordan Peele’s Get Out, wear forced smiles that merely pronounce their vacant stares. Luggage is unnecessary as matching white linen sets are provided for the islanders. Drinks flow, drugs abound and each evening’s dinner is prepared by Slater’s friend, Cody (Simon Rex), using locally farmed produce and served by candlelight. These scenes are sun-kissed and dreamy, facilitating the otherworldly mood of this tropical island.
Unlike recent eat-the-rich offerings, Blink Twice is only partially about ultra-wealthy bacchanalia. Soon after they arrive, Frida notices strange occurrences on the island. A maid (María Elena Olivares) repeats odd phrases to her; Jess disappears, and Frida realizes her memories are an increasingly patchy assemblage of images. Why can’t she recall the origin of random bruises or the dirt under her fingernails? A similar thing seems to be happening to other women on the island, including Sarah (Hit Man‘s Adria Arjona, excellent), a former contestant on a Survivor-like reality show with whom Frida competes for Slater’s attention.
Kravitz is primarily interested in sexual violence against women and the psychic toll of trauma. Her film echoes Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman, except Kravitz delivers on gore. Vengeance here is, thrillingly, more than an abstraction. There’s also a drifting effort to investigate the simultaneous invisibility and hyper-visibility of Black women, especially early in the film when Frida is at work, but that is disappointingly subsumed by later action.
As Frida makes sense of these bizarre incidents, she stumbles upon nightmarish truths about Slater’s island; Blink Twice ends up abandoning pretenses of social satire to revel in the machinations of horror. Kravitz, working with DP Adam Newport-Berra (The Last Black Man in San Francisco), reinscribes earlier idyllic images of the island with a touch of malevolence, and turns the coniferous enclave into a haunted arena of fatal obstacles.
There are a few moments when Blink Twice’s busy narrative — stuffed with twists and turns as it trails Frida’s gripping quest for survival — and its slippery visual language coalesce to realize Kravitz’s ambitions. But Blink Twice is ultimately too scattered, stretched thin by the demands of its weighted themes, conspicuous imagery, half-baked plot points and partially realized characters.
If Blink Twice succeeds to the extent that it does, that’s largely thanks to a handful of striking performances. Tatum delivers a sturdy turn in a role that requires him to find subtler ways to wield his charm. But it’s Ackie and Arjona who really focus and energize the film. Ackie, who played Whitney Houston in Kasi Lemmons’ 2022 biopic, is a force, offering a powerful portrayal of a woman collapsing under the weight of her trauma. Her performance is raw and vulnerable, extending an invitation to understand the depths of Frida’s character despite the thin sketch.
Alongside Arjona, Ackie also builds a portrait of strength. The relationship between Frida and Sarah models and tests familiar dynamics between women, from petty jealousies to empowering alliances. It’s a credit to Ackie and Arjona that Frida and Sarah’s reactions to the reality of their ordeal register as genuine. Their curdling screams chill spines, their tears stir. The two actors don’t just explore the rage fueling Blink Twice; they tap into it.
Movie Reviews
Ravi Teja’s Bhartha Mahasayulaku Wignyapthi Movie Review
Movie Name : Bhartha Mahasayulaku Wignyapthi
Release Date : Jan 13, 2026
123telugu.com Rating : 2.75/5
Starring : Ravi Teja, Ashika Ranganath, Dimple Hayathi, Sunil, Satya, Vennala Kishore, Tarak Ponnappa, Muralidhar and Others
Director : Kishore Tirumala
Producer : Sudhakar Cherukuri
Music Director : Bheems Cecireleo
Cinematographers : Prasad Murella
Editor : A Sreekar Prasad
Related Links : Trailer
Mass Maharaja Ravi Teja returns to the big screen with Bhartha Mahasayulaku Wignyapthi, which has released today as a Sankranthi special. Ashika Ranganath and Dimple Hayathi play the female leads. Read on to know how the film fares.
Story:
Ram Satyanarayana (Ravi Teja), who manufactures the alcohol brand Anarkalee, travels to Spain after it is rejected by a wine company owned by Manasa Shetty (Ashika Ranganath). The trip leads to a romance, but Ram returns to India to his possessive wife, Balamani (Dimple Hayathi). Problems begin when Manasa arrives in India, leaving Ram Satyanarayana caught between the two women, and the film follows how he navigates the situation and brings it to a resolution.
Plus Points:
Ravi Teja steps away from his usual mass persona and opts for a calm, restrained role laced with style and situational comedy. While this is familiar territory for him, his effortless screen presence and comic timing make the character work once again.
Ashika Ranganath looks appealing and gets a role with a fair emotional arc. Her scenes with Ravi Teja are pleasant and register well. Dimple Hayathi, cast as the possessive wife, does an average job and fits the requirement of the role.
Comedy is largely driven by Satya in the opening portions, and his track works effectively. After his exit, Sunil takes charge and delivers humour in his trademark style. Together, their portions ensure a fairly engaging first half. Vennela Kishore also contributes with his reliable comic timing.
Minus Points:
The biggest drawback is the story itself. The core conflict of a man trapped between his wife and girlfriend has been explored countless times, and this film offers little novelty beyond fresh casting. The narrative, humour, and emotional beats follow a predictable pattern. The second half, in particular, had ample scope to deepen the conflict between Ravi Teja, Ashika, and Dimple Hayathi, but the writing fails to capitalise on it.
Director Kishore Tirumala manages the first half competently, but the film loses momentum after the interval. The drama feels artificial, and the comedy turns ineffective. Predictability becomes a major issue as the film progresses.
While the humour is reasonably engaging in the first half, it falls flat in the latter portions. The second half struggles to generate laughs, and the climax is simplistic with minimal emotional payoff. A stronger blend of comedy and drama could have at least elevated the film to a passable level.
Tarak Ponnappa’s track brings nothing new and feels like a filler in the narrative. The Vammo Vayyo song and the remix of the Karthika Deepam and Pinni serial tracks are aimed at mass audiences but appear suddenly and do not flow well with the story.
Technical Aspects:
Kishore Tirumala attempts to package a routine storyline with humour and emotion, but the execution remains inconsistent. While a few moments click, the overall impact, especially in the second half, is underwhelming.
Prasad Murella’s cinematography is serviceable. Sreekar Prasad’s editing needed to be sharper, as trimming several redundant scenes would have improved the film’s pace. Bheems Ceciroleo’s music is passable, though the background score fails to leave a strong impression. Production values are adequate.
Verdict:
On the whole, Bhartha Mahasayulaku Wignyapthi ends up as a familiar drama with sporadic moments of entertainment. Ravi Teja delivers a composed performance, Ashika Ranganath looks good, and Satya, Sunil, and Vennela Kishore provide some relief. However, the predictable narrative, forced drama, and weak second half significantly dilute the impact. With tempered expectations, the film can be watched for its performances and humour.
123telugu.com Rating: 2.75/5
Reviewed by 123telugu Team
Movie Reviews
Unpaarvayil Movie Review: A By-The-Book Psycho Thriller That’s Blind To Its Flaws
The Times of India
TNN, Jan 13, 2026, 1:24 PM IST
2.0
Un Paarvayil Movie Synopsis: When her twin sister dies under mysterious circumstances, Bhavya goes on a hunt to find the murderer, but the fight isn’t easy as she loses her vision.Un Paarvayil Movie Review: The opening sequence of Un Paarvayil reminds one of a few finely written scenes from films about twins like Charulatha (2012) or Thadam (2019) where we learn about their special bond. In Un Paarvayil, Bhavya (played by Parvati Nair) gets on stage to receive the Best Business Woman award. Parallely, her twin, Dhivya (also played by Parvati Nair), is stuck in a dangerous situation. As the latter faces difficulty, Bhavya, who is on stage, also feels like she is being choked and struggles to breathe – an instant telepathy of sorts that suggests her sister is in danger. Without a lot of words or too many scenes, this one sequence conveys the bond between the sisters Bhavya and Dhivya. However, this narrative creativity is never seen on screen again throughout the film’s run time.Everything about Un Paarvayil is right on paper. With a textbook formula, Un Paarvayil has the right recipe for a psycho thriller – a scary bungalow, a loving but mysterious husband, and a psycho killer. But that’s about it. The stage is set, writing is done, and actors deliver the dialogues, but these don’t come together cohesively. In most scenes, the dialogue delivery is bland, and the writing becomes increasingly predictable. For instance, Bhavya is informed very early on in the film that Dhivya has a best friend with whom she shares all her secrets. However, the writing is so contrived that until the last moment, Bhavya never thinks about reaching out to this friend to learn more about her sister. It’s as though Bhavya forgot that piece of the puzzle.Which is why it feels like the film suffers from progressive amnesia. For instance, at one point, it looks like the cops give lethargic explanations for a murder, but we are not sure if they are just lethargic or are partners-in-crime with the psycho killer. And we keep wondering – but we never get to know that because the film has forgotten such a sequence existed. Likewise, Bhavya learns about an important CCTV evidence and pursues it. Still, before she uncovers the truth, she begins to track down another clue, and the CCTV evidence is never mentioned again. Remember how we see the twins share a unique connection in the opening sequence? It is also depicted only once and gets forgotten. Just like this, the film keeps jumping from one sequence to another, with all the old clues left behind and forgotten, before another new clue randomly reaches Bhavya. So, the next time we find a missing puzzle, we are no longer curious about it.That said, the film did have some interesting scenes. Whenever the psycho killer is on screen, the tension rises, and we are hooked to what’s next – but such sequences are very few. By the book, it might look like the film has a perfect premise, and some really good performances from Parvati Nair and Mahendran do make things intriguing, but the film turns a blind eye to its basic cinematography and contrived writing, leaving us in the dark for the most part.
Movie Reviews
Film Review: “Primate”
Hello, dear reader! Do you like what you read here at Omnivorous? Do you like reading fun but insightful takes on all things pop culture? Do you like supporting indie writers? If so, then please consider becoming a subscriber and get the newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. There are a number of paid options, but you can also sign up for free! Every little bit helps. Thanks for reading and now, on with the show!
Warning: Full spoilers for the film follow.
I am a sucker for a good ape movie. I’ve been obsessed with Planet of the Apes for literally decades, and I continue to find apes both fascinating and more than slightly terrifying, particularly chimps. Of course, the news has been filled with stories of pet chimps (and their own owners) going amuck, as the recent series Chimp Crazy makes clear. Indeed chimps in particular are eternally coming up in our popular culture. In addition to Planet of the Apes, Jordan Peele’s Nope featured a chimp attack as a key part of its story, suggesting that our dear simian relatives are an enduring source of fear and fascination for us. They seem so understandable and yet so utterly alien, and what better way to make sense of, or at least experience, this contradiction through the vernacular of horror?
This brings us to Primate, the new slasher film from director Johannes Roberts (who co-wrote the script with Ernest Riera). Arguably the emotional center of the story is Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah), who returns home to her family’s isolated cliffside mansion in Hawaii, where she’s reunited with her father, sister, and the family’s friendly chimp companion Ben, along with some other equally bland personalities. It soon turns out that poor Ben has been infected with rabies and, sans treatment, he soon goes on a rampage, quickly turning from cuddly and affectionate to sadistic and murderous. It’s all Lucy and her sister and the rest of the gang can do to stay alive (spoiler alert: almost none of them make it out alive).
Primate is undeniably gripping. Roberts is a skilled visual stylist, and he has a keen command of space, lighting, and sound. A number of wide shots show us just how isolated the family home is from anywhere around, situated on a bluff that offers no easy escape once Ben becomes murderous, while dim lighting effectively creates a nightmare landscape from one which our protagonists cannot escape. Of equal note is an unsettling scene in which Ben presses his face up against some distorting glass, creating a nightmarish image that will stick with you as his murderous rage grows. Even props have their part to play, from the speech device that Ben uses to convey his feelings–which becomes ironic later in the film–to a broken chair that becomes key to his demise. Adrian Johnston’s soundtrack, likewise, helps to keep your nerves constantly jangled as you wait for the next bout of slaughter to unfold, and I appreciated a scene in which Lucy’s deaf father, played by Troy Kotsur, returns home, even as the film muffles sounds so we inhabit his deafness. The juxtaposition of silence with Ben’s renewed attacks on Lucy is quite effective.
In my opinion, every horror movie worth its salt has one kill that’s both exceptionally gnarly and also deeply disturbing, and in this regard Primate does not disappoint. The unfortunate victim in this case is Drew, one of the dude-bros from the airplane that Lucy and her friends meet right at the beginning who, upon encountering Ben in the bedroom, has his jaw ripped right off. There’s something almost poignant about the way his eyes continue to dart around, filled with an anguished knowledge that death is imminent as he chokes on his own blood. It’s also bleakly funny, as Ben, seeming to sense his victim’s dismay and to find humor in it, uses the detached jaw to mock his anguished gurgling and then, as if that weren’t enough, almost seeming to try to reattach the torn-off jaw (the resulting sound of teeth clacking against bone is viscerally unsettling). It’s a brilliantly-executed piece of horror cinema and this scene alone was worth the price of admission, though I did find myself wishing we had more scenes like this, as perverse as that sounds.
As other critics have noted, the script is at times a bit too lean, particularly when it comes to giving these characters or even providing much insight into Ben as a character prior to his infection. It’s not that this is necessarily a requirement, but as a fan of both chimps and Planet of the Apes, I kept hoping for at least some gesture toward helping us to feel the barest bit of sympathy for Ben, a creature brought into the human world and then turned into a monster by a force he has no control over. Fortunately, there are at least a few moments when we see the anguish he’s in, and there are even some signs he knows something is wrong, even if he can’t quite comprehend why he’s now filled with such murderous rage.
When it comes down to it, there’s just something uniquely terrifying and appealing about chimps, which helps to explain why we keep returning to them again and again in popular culture. As one of our closest living relatives–and as some of the most intelligent nonhuman animals–they hover in a strange liminal space, both eerily like and unlike us. This is particularly true in a film like Primate, which relies on practical effects and puppetry rather than CGI (except for some moments). Miguel Torres Umba does a fantastic job inhabiting Ben, and the practical effects may not make Ben into as realistic an ape as, say, Caesar from Planet of the Apes, but he’s definitely more terrifying. For all that he’s a killing machine, there are glimmers of a not-quite-human intelligence lurking behind those eyes, which is precisely what makes him such a dangerous enemy once the rabies-induced madness starts to take over.
And that, ultimately, is the irony of Ben going mad. As the tragic case of Charla Nash made clear back in 2009, even the tamest and most human-acculturated chimps are only one mild disturbance or moment from tearing a person apart. Even though the film doesn’t go too deeply into Ben’s backstory, there’s enough there to glean that he was, for all intents and purposes, raised as a human, and there are just enough glimpses of who he was to make us feel the pangs of sympathy for this creature forced to live in a human world for which is so manifestly ill-suited. Just like Travis, he’s a bit of the untamed wild just waiting to destroy the fragile human family and the civilization built atop it.
Primate is one of those genre-horror flicks that wears its influences on its sleeve, and one can see strands of everything from Cujo to “The Murders of the Rue Morgue”in its plot, themes, and execution. Its success owes much to Roberts’ skills as a filmmaker, his ability to take tried and true elements of the genre and use them in ways that hold us rapt and make us grip the arms of our chairs in terror. This film burrows deep in your brain and doesn’t let go, and I can’t wait to see what Roberts has in store for us next.
-
Detroit, MI1 week ago2 hospitalized after shooting on Lodge Freeway in Detroit
-
Technology1 week agoPower bank feature creep is out of control
-
Montana3 days agoService door of Crans-Montana bar where 40 died in fire was locked from inside, owner says
-
Delaware5 days agoMERR responds to dead humpback whale washed up near Bethany Beach
-
Dallas, TX5 days agoAnti-ICE protest outside Dallas City Hall follows deadly shooting in Minneapolis
-
Dallas, TX1 week agoDefensive coordinator candidates who could improve Cowboys’ brutal secondary in 2026
-
Iowa1 week agoPat McAfee praises Audi Crooks, plays hype song for Iowa State star
-
Virginia3 days agoVirginia Tech gains commitment from ACC transfer QB