Jockey Movie Synopsis: In Madurai’s traditional goat fighting circuit, two rival trainers wage war through their four-legged champions.Jockey Movie Review: The goats in Jockey settle their differences more decisively than their owners, though not by much. Director Pragabhal’s film enters a world Indian cinema has seldom documented: the kida fighting tradition of the Madurai belt, where men stake reputation and honour on horned athletes trained to butt heads until one relents. It took over three years to capture these sequences on camera, and the effort shows. Getting real goats to perform convincingly is no small feat.Ramar (Yuvan Krishna) arrives late to a fight in Usilampatti, riding a share-auto that gets him mocked before he even enters the arena. His black goat Kaali faces off against Anugundu, the champion belonging to the arrogant Ghabra Karthi (Ridhaan Krishnas). After seventeen fierce rounds, Kaali breaks one of Anugundu’s horns, earning Ramar the title of Madurai’s Jockey. Karthi doesn’t take the loss well. What follows is a cycle of humiliation, revenge, and escalating violence, with Karthi resorting to increasingly dirty tactics to reclaim his standing: a hidden hook during a rematch, a midnight threat to Ramar’s sister, destroyed trophies. The rivalry consumes both men, even as Ramar tries to step away from the circuit after inadvertently causing Anugundu’s death.The goat fights themselves are where Jockey earns its keep. Raw, intense, shot with real animals in a way that makes you equal parts curious and queasy. NS Uthayakumar’s cinematography captures the dust, the sweat, the older Madurai gangster energy that pulses through these arenas. The climactic battle was a definite standout, with the live sync-sound adding a powerful edge. This is a film built on blood, sweat, and tears, and you sense Pragabhal’s sheer labour behind every sequence, days of coordination to align animals, cameras, and actors into something coherent.The humans, unfortunately, don’t match their four-legged counterparts. Yuvan and Ridhaan are cut from the same cloth: hotheaded, impulsive, ready to throw fists at the slightest provocation. One’s just two shades darker than the other. Their supporting casts function as cheerleaders rather than characters. Madhu Sudhan Rao plays the peacemaking elder who shows up to break up confrontations, delivers the same lecture, watches them part ways, then repeats the routine three more times. The romance with Meenu (Ammu Abhirami) feels grafted on to break the monotony rather than woven into the narrative. You can tell when the script was assembled around the spectacle rather than through it. Sakthi Balaji’s music is dependable.Jockey works best as a window into a tradition most viewers won’t know exists. The curiosity factor alone carries it.Written By: Abhinav Subramanian

It’s a bold filmmaking choice to have a countdown clock on the screen for most of your movie.

In the best-case scenario for a movie like “Mercy,” in which a Los Angeles detective has prove his innocence to an artificial intelligence judge within said time limit, it heightens the tension. Who hasn’t gotten sweaty palms in, say, a “Mission: Impossible” movie when the bomb is ticking down and Tom Cruise still hasn’t cleared the building? Why not just extend it for the duration?

Perhaps in a better movie it might have worked. Sadly in “Mercy,” in theaters Thursday, it’s an ever-present reminder of just how much longer you must endure until you too are free of Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson and that chair.

In “Mercy’s” near-future Los Angeles, AI has been adopted by law enforcement and the judicial system to more efficiently clean up the city’s crime and blight problem. It’s a potent and not too far-flung idea that might have been a fascinating and provocative premise for a movie attempting to grapple with the implications of so-called progress that had the potential to be a worthy companion to another Cruise movie, “Minority Report.” But that would have required a more serious script than screenwriter Marco van Belle’s and more vision than filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov managed to muster.

When Pratt’s character, Chris Raven, wakes up, barefoot and strapped into an electric chair sitting in the middle of an oddly large room that looks a bit like the holodeck, he’s informed by an IMAX-sized AI judge (Ferguson) that he has 90 minutes to prove he didn’t kill his wife (Annabelle Wallis). In this world, the incarcerated are guilty until proved innocent. They’ve cut lawyers and juries out of the equation as well. Instead, the accused have everyone’s digital footprint at their disposal to help build their own case. For Raven, that means everything from ring cam footage to his teenage daughter’s secret Instagram account.

Unfortunately for Raven, he woke up with some gaps in his memory between angrily busting into his home to confront his wife about something and being arrested and bludgeoned at a bar later that day. Raven was also one of the original champions of the AI judge system, which in a more curious script might have resulted in some real stakes. This story is more hung up on increasingly tortured plot contrivances, however, including Raven’s drinking problem following the death of a partner killed on the job. To its credit, the story does really keep it ambiguous as to whether Raven did it or not, but to say that it earns any sort of investment in the outcome is a stretch.

One of the most confounding choices is to have a real actor playing the AI judge. Wouldn’t it have been more interesting and provocative to use an AI creation as the impartial Judge Maddox instead of stripping Ferguson of all emotion and charisma in the role? At times, it feels as tedious as watching a stranger’s increasingly frustrating call with a robotic customer service representative play out in real time.

For how reliant this movie is on screens and keeping Pratt alone, one might assume that “Mercy” was a socially distanced, COVID-era leftover instead of something made in 2024. Kali Reis, playing another LAPD agent named Jaq who decides to help Raven investigate on the ground is the one that gets to be out in the real-world chasing leads and hunches. But for the most part, she’s seen only through FaceTime and bodycam footage. Like Raven, we’re largely stuck in the chair watching things play out on multiple screens, acutely aware of just how much time is left.

“Mercy,” an Amazon MGM release in theaters Thursday, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for “drug content, bloody images, some strong language, teen smoking and violence.” Running time: 101 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s latest team-up brings cop drama, plenty of mystery, and oodles of tension in a sharp, engaging thriller for Netflix.

The Rip
Directed By: Joe Carnahan
Written By: Joe Carnahan
Starring: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Kyle Chandler, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Sasha Calle
Release Date: January 16, 2026 on Netflix

When a Miami-Dade police Captain Jackie Velez (Lina Esco) is murdered, the specialized unit she was over (the Tactical Narcotics Team) comes under heavy suspicion. As leads seem to go nowhere, the federal agents and internal affairs officers investigating the homicide fear a history of corrupt cops throughout the department is a factor.

Considering the team is made up of only a handful of officers, obviously tensions are incredibly high. Not only are they still reeling from the death of their Captain—a friend—they’ve got pressure from the FBI, along with concerns about their task force being disbanded. Everyone is certainly on edge.

TNT consists of a five main detectives. There’s Lieutenant Dane (Matt Damon), who’s been recently promoted to the role despite having reservations about still being a cop. Sergeant JD Byrne (Ben Affleck) is Dane’s close friend who lost out on the LT spot and had a personal relationship with Captain Velez. Then there’s Ro (Steven Yeun), Numa (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo (Catalina Sandino Moreno) who are eager to do their jobs but also weary at all the suspicion and seeming lack of recognition for their efforts.

When they set out on a bust, the team inadvertently stumbles into something major. Something that may have been the reason Captain Velez was killed; several millions of dollars of Cartel money. The bust (or “Rip”) becomes anything but ordinary, as they find themselves essentially boxed in at a culdesac, with an unknown caller threatening to slaughter them all if they don’t leave within thirty minutes.

With no backup coming, the officers find themselves questioning their loyalty to one another. Is the Cartel really attacking them, or has one of their own gone rogue and looking to steal the money they’ve found? Considering a mystery sits at the heart of the story and drives the characters’ actions, I’ll keep the story details at that. Definitely more fun to go into this one fresh.

By and large, The Rip feels like an old-school crime drama which is both good and bad. Bad in that it relies on some typical cliches for certain bits (though I greatly enjoyed how the main mystery aspect is treated) and it’s action pieces don’t do anything new/groundbreaking. The good, however, is that it’s a pretty top-tier example of this kind of genre fare. Sure, it’s not breaking the mold, but what it gives you is a great time that gets the blood-pumping.

The film brings together an interesting blend of genres. There’s definitely the cop drama element, with corruption and greed at the forefront, along with a little bit of a heist movie tossed in as well. You’ve got the action set pieces, but there’s also a bit of noir over the whole thing. There are numerous twists and turns (which I’m not spoiling), with many of the characters have their own motives you’re never quite sure of. The combination of it all makes for a thrilling movie that keeps you on your toes and is never boring.

It’s made all the more fun to watch thanks to the characters in play. Damon and Affleck’s iconic chemistry is in full force here; completely selling you on the idea of buddy cops who may—or may not—be at odds. While they take the main focus, the rest of the characters manage to be equally engaging.

Within a few short minutes, you absolutely believe the Tactical Narcotics Team have a long history with one another. You can sense the familial nature that comes from a small group working together for years and years…Plus I just love Teyana Taylor and everything she does.

What I enjoyed most about The Rip is how well it handles the mystery aspect of the story. This push and pull between trust and betrayal is the primary driver in the story. This small, usually close-knit team are forced into a close quarters situation with time running against them. This dynamic allows for some tense interactions as it becomes clear their trust in one another is being put to the ultimate test.

The way the story unfolds does a fantastic job of keeping the twists and turns underwraps. Like I said, it uses familiar tropes, but it’s also aware enough to know when to use them to their advantage. So even when I thought I had things figured out—because of how certain cliches would normally pan out—it managed to genuinely surprise me.

Perhaps more importantly, it handles those reveals/twists without feeling cheap, or like a far-fetched deus ex machina. Once the cards are laid out on the table, a lot of previous sequences and character beats click into place. It’s easy to see how things were able to work out, without straining credulity or making you feel dumb for missing something. In this way, it’s smartly written, making use of the familiar to throw you for a loop.