Movie Reviews

Movie Review: ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ – Catholic Review

Published

3 months ago

December 19, 2025

NEW YORK (OSV News) – “Avatar: Fire and Ash” (20th Century), the third film in the always visually rich franchise that got its start in 2009, brings forward thematic elements that had previously been kept in the background and that viewers of faith will find it impossible to accept and difficult to dismiss. As a result, it requires careful evaluation by mature movie fans.

Against the recurring background of the fictional moon Pandora, the saga of the family whose fortunes were chronicled in the earlier chapters continues. The clan consists of dad Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) as well as their three surviving children, teens Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and tyke Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss).

Rounding out the household is Jake and Neytiri’s adolescent adopted son, Spider (Jack Champion).

As veterans of the earlier outings will know, Jake was originally a human and a Marine. But, via an avatar, he eventually embraced the identity of Neytiri’s Pandoran tribe, the Na’vi. While their biological kids are to all appearances Na’vi — a towering race with blue skins and tails — Spider is human and requires a breathing mask to survive on Pandora.

Lo’ak is guilt-ridden over his role in the death of his older brother, Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), and wants to redeem himself by proving his worth as a warrior. Kiri is frustrated that, despite her evident spiritual gifts, she’s unable to connect with Eywa, the mother goddess the Na’vi worship.

For his part, Jake is worried about Spider’s future — Neteyam’s death has left the still-grieving Neytiri with a hatred of the “Sky people,” as Earthlings are known on Pandora. He also has to contend with the ongoing threat posed by his potentially deadly rivalry with his former Marine comrade, Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who is also Spider’s estranged father.

As if all that weren’t enough, a further challenge arises when the Metkayina, the sea-oriented Pandorans with whom Jake et al. have taken refuge, are attacked by the fierce fire-centric Mangkwan, led by Varang (Oona Chaplin), a malevolent sorceress. A three hour-plus running time is required to tie up these varied strands.

Along the way, the religion adhered to by the main characters becomes more prominent than in previous installments. Thus Eywa is both present on screen and active in the plot. Additionally, Kiri is revealed to have been the product of a virginal conception.

Director and co-writer (with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver) James Cameron’s extension of his blockbuster series, accordingly, not only includes material uncomfortable at best for Christians but also seems incongruent, overall, with monotheistic belief. Even well-catechized grown-ups, therefore, should approach this sprawling addition to Cameron’s epic with caution.

The film contains nonscriptural beliefs and practices, constant stylized but often intense combat violence with brief gore, scenes of torture, narcotics use, partial nudity, a couple of mild oaths, at least one rough term, numerous crude and a handful of crass expressions and an obscene gesture. The OSV News classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Sharwanand Biker Movie Review

Published

10 hours ago

April 2, 2026

Press Room

Movie Name : Biker

Release Date : April 03, 2026
123telugu.com Rating : 3.25/5
Starring : Sharwanand, Dr Rajashekhar, Malvika Nair & Others.
Director : Abhilash Reddy
Producers : Vamsi Krishna Reddy, Pramodh Uppalapati
Music Director : Ghibran Vaibodha
Cinematographer : J Yuvraj
Editor : Anil Pasala

Related Links : Trailer

Sharwanand has now come up with the sports drama Biker. Directed by Abhilash Reddy, the movie stars Rajasekhar in a key role. Let’s see how the film is.

Story:

Vikas Narayan aka Vikky (Sharwanand) is a top-class motocross racer.. Since childhood, he is trained rigorously by his father Sunil Narayan (Rajasekhar). However, Vikky suddenly leaves the sport, putting his father in a tough spot.

Why did Vikky leave racing? How is he connected to Ananya (Malavika Nair)? What is her role in his life? What happened after Vikky left the sport? This forms the crux of the story.

Plus Points:

We have already seen multiple sports dramas in Tollywood, but motocross racing has never been explored before, and that becomes the USP of Biker. Even though a few moments appear familiar, the unexplored territory in Telugu cinema keeps the proceedings engaging, and credit where it’s due.

The sport sequences are superbly shot and choreographed. Some moments truly keep us on the edge of our seats. To make a film on a less popular sport in India by weaving emotional moments around it, the director does a pretty good job in helping the movie connect with the regular audience.

Sharwanand looks in his best shape, and it’s good to see him try his hand at multiple genres. He brings sincerity to his performance as a professional racer and is effective in the emotional segments as well. His scenes with Rajasekhar work well. With Biker, Rajasekhar (Angry Man) reaches a new level, playing his part with utmost dignity and elegance.

When veterans play their age and become an integral part of the story instead of trying to outshine others, it’s a pleasure to watch. From here on, Rajasekhar could become the go-to actor for character roles in Telugu cinema. The second half is comparatively more engaging with decent emotional depth. Malavika Nair is fine in her role.

Minus Points:

Biker plays it safe in key moments with familiar tropes, which prevents it from reaching the next level. The vulnerability of the protagonist should have been explored more during the actual racing portions to make it stand apart from regular sports dramas. Some elements feel too easy for the hero to achieve, which takes away from the realism.

Instead of external factors, if the hero had been troubled by his own internal thought process during the racing, the impact could have been much higher. The episodes involving the hero’s sponsorship needed better execution.

The racing scenes are no doubt solid, but the moments leading up to them could have been still better. The conflict point between the lead pair is meaningful, but it is underutilized. The first half is slow at times, and isn’t upto the mark on the whole.

Technical Aspects:

Ghibran’s background score is solid in the thrilling moments, and the sound design is excellent. Cinematographer Yuvraj does a fabulous job in picturizing the racing sequences. The editing is fine in the latter half, but needed improvement in the first half.

The production values are solid. Director Abhilash Reddy takes up a not-so-popular sport and delivers an engaging film with a fair number of good moments. Had he avoided a few clichés, the movie could have reached a whole new level.

Verdict:

On the whole, Biker is an engaging sports drama with a never-before-explored motocross racing backdrop and good performances. The racing scenes are brilliant, and the film is carried by Sharwanand and Rajasekhar with their impressive performances. The first half is slow, and there are a few convenient moments. The use of certain tropes could have been avoided for better impact. Nonetheless, if you enjoy sports dramas, Biker turns out to be a satisfactory watch.

123telugu.com Rating: 3.25/5

Reviewed by 123telugu Team

Movie Reviews

Vaazha 2 first half review: Hashir anchors a lively, chaos-filled teen tale

Published

22 hours ago

April 2, 2026

Press Room

Vaazha 2 first half review: Hashir anchors a lively, chaos-filled teen tale

‘Vaazha’ found its footing in how sharply it reflected a certain kind of youth, boys dismissed as ‘vaazhas’, but carrying their own confusions and emotional weight. The second part returns to that space, again following a group of boys trying to figure themselves out.

Directed by Savin SA, the film tracks this gang through their higher secondary years, with Hashir and Alan among the central figures. It stays with them as they move through that in-between phase, dealing with early attraction, peer pressure and the pull of new experiences, the kind that often arrive before they fully understand them. The narrative is not built around a single arc, but around the shared rhythm of the group.

The first half is mounted as a high-energy stretch, driven by humour, action and a fast pace, with a background score that keeps it buoyant. The inclusion of contemporary content creators stands out here, and the response suggests it lands well with younger viewers, especially in the way the film taps into familiar emotions.

Vijay Babu, Aju Varghese and Sudheesh appear in key supporting roles, adding presence around the central group.

Where the first Vaazha had a more subdued, easygoing take on youth, the sequel is noticeably louder and more vibrant, holding on to the same core but pushing it with greater energy.

Movie Reviews

‘Are We Having Fun Yet?’

Published

1 day ago

April 1, 2026

Press Room

Photo: Universal/Everett Collection

Like being asphyxiated in a ball pit filled with candy, the experience of watching The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is at once kaleidoscopic and nerve-wracking. It pantomimes the hallmarks of a good time, with a fast, forced cheeriness; the flashing lights, bright colors, sparkly design, and subplot-happy narrative are there to hold our attention and charm us, but they accomplish the opposite, instead making us worry about what we’re missing. At one point there’s a throwaway bit involving a roller coaster that dives into a pit of lava, eventually emerging with all its passengers transformed into happy skeletons; maybe we are supposed to be those happy skeletons, drained of life and loving it. The good news (or is it the bad news?) is that this is a kids’ movie and nobody cares what “we” think. Its predecessor, 2023’s Super Mario Bros. Movie, made more than $1.3 billion worldwide, and no one should be surprised if this one does something similar.

That first movie wasn’t particularly accomplished either, but it had a slick simplicity that one could sort of lose oneself in and some clever bits involving our heroes, Brooklyn plumber brothers Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day), as well as a lively turn by Jack Black as the bloviating turtle-demon Bowser. The sequel, by contrast, is turbo-loaded with character, incident, themes, never pausing to let us appreciate anything. Though directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic do apparently want us to care: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie centers around families destroyed and reclaimed, a sentence I can’t believe I just typed. The film’s chief villain, the spasmodic Bowser Jr. (voiced by Benny Safdie), seeks to save his father, the now-docile Bowser, from neutered captivity. As part of his devious plan (I think?), Junior kidnaps Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson) from her space-faring observatory dominion, where she plays mother to a race of puffy, colorful star children known as Lumas. Rosalina loves to read her kids heroic stories about Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), her long-lost sister, ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom and Mario’s main object of desire. Such attempts to infuse depth into the film’s carnivalesque cacophony could have been something, but corporate flatness consumes all. The ideas about family aren’t explored or developed, merely repeated.

But like I said, it’s a kids’ film, and younger children will be distracted by the aforementioned cute little star-baby things, by the cute little mushroom-head guys, by the frantic speed at which everything comes at us, and by the film’s vision of the universe as a series of amusement parks, with each world in this galaxy seemingly its own funfair. If only all this chaos didn’t feel so strained, so polished and programmed, so, so … unchaotic. The movie is also filled with Easter eggs from many decades’ worth of Mario video games, which will surely reassure devoted fans of those games that all is right with the world and someone loves them. (Full disclosure: I haven’t played any of them. Back when I was a kid and had to cold turkey myself from video games entirely, I’m pretty sure Donkey Kong was as far as I got in the incipient Mario universe.) The best of these aforementioned callouts is the appearance of the Han Solo–like Star Fox (voiced by Glen Powell), a character from a different set of Nintendo games, who arrives accompanied by his own hand-animated, hyper credit sequence. More of that, please.

Of the rest of the star-laden voice cast, Safdie and Black are the only others who make an impression. As before, Bowser has been realized with an eye (and an ear) for Black’s own grandiose, mock-operatic mannerisms, and Safdie seems to have appropriated them for the character’s offspring. Black, of course, was also the star of last year’s entertaining hit A Minecraft Movie, which got a ton of mileage out of the actor’s unique mix of irony and roaring sincerity, using him to hold together its ramshackle, faux-DIY vibe. That film was a good example of this type of material handled with something resembling charm. We could also point to something older like The LEGO Movie as a model of a brand-management enterprise that managed to be irreverent and thoughtful (and, indeed, brilliant) at the same time. All The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has, unfortunately, is the messianic fervor with which it throws everything at us. Well, that, and the mountains of money it will surely make. Me, I’ll take my travel stipend and go home.