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Pink Villa
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
War 2 Review: Hrithik Roshan, Jr NTR and Kiara Advani starrer is an espionage that doesn't thrill
Plot A shady organization called Kaali, made up of anonymous members from countries like India, Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, aims to topple political leaders and install their own puppets. Their next target is India's prime minister. Kabir (Hrithik Roshan), once a R&AW agent, now works as a freelance operative. Kaali recruits him to join their cause, testing his mental strength to ensure his loyalty. Vikram (Jr NTR) is tasked with tracking Kabir down. Meanwhile, Kavya Luthra (Kiara Advani), an Indian aviation officer with a complicated past with Kabir, has her own personal vendetta. Why did Kabir leave R&AW? What past does he have with Kavya? Can R&AW tackle Kaali and save the Indian Prime Minister from being compromised? To get answers to these questions, watch War 2 What Works for War 2 War 2 is a visual treat. The cinematography is stunning, with sleek shots of exotic locations that pop off the screen. The background score is riveting. The music shines, especially with tracks like Aavan Jaavan and Janaab-e-Aali. These songs aren't just catchy; their melodies are woven into the film's score, creating some of the movie's best moments. A couple of twists land well, keeping you guessing for a bit. The performances are solid, and the cast looks fantastic, adding to the film's glossy appeal. The action scenes are slick, and the production design feels top-notch. If you're here for style, War 2 delivers in spades. What Doesn't Work for War 2 The story feels flat. Despite the grand setup, it never grabs you. The stakes should feel sky-high in an espionage thriller, but they don't. You're left wondering why you should care. At nearly three hours, the film drags. It could've easily been trimmed by 30 minutes without losing anything. The surprise cameos fall flat and don't add much. The globe-trotting aspect, hopping between countries, feels confusing. You lose track of where you are and why it matters. The conflict lacks depth, and the film often feels like a string of montages stitched together with no real emotional pull. For a thriller, it's oddly unengaging. The screenplay needed more focus to make the conspiracy feel urgent. Watch the War 2 Trailer Performances in War 2 Hrithik Roshan is the heart of the film. He looks incredible and plays Kabir with restraint, letting subtle expressions do the heavy lifting. His maniacal laugh is chilling and adds a layer of menace. Jr NTR owns the screen with his intensity. His commanding presence makes Vikram a worthy counterpart to Kabir. Kiara Advani is solid as Kavya but feels underused. Ashutosh Rana, playing Colonel Luthra, is reliable as always, bringing gravitas to every scene he's in. The other supporting cast holds their own. Watch out for a few new inclusions to the Spy Universe. Final Verdict of War 2 War 2 is a mixed bag. It's a visual spectacle with a strong cast, great music, and a few exciting moments. The film's vibe is cool, and the action is polished. But the bland story and lack of gripping conflict hold it back. The stakes never feel high enough, and the long runtime doesn't help. While it's not a bad film, it's not memorable either. If you go in expecting a tight, thrilling espionage tale, you might leave disappointed. War 2, at the end of the day, is style over substance. War 2 plays in theatres now. Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for more updates.
Straits Times
7 days ago
- Straits Times
When everybody has airport lounge access, nobody does
UNITED STATES – It was only when my partner and I arrived at Orlando Airport in May that I realised my crucial error: I had forgotten to pre-book the one lounge to which I had access. The Club MCO lounge was full, so we joined the queue to enter our names in the much-longer digital queue. After 20 minutes of standing around, we gained entrance to what looked like a breakfast buffet at a budget hotel: beige walls, tired carpets and a small selection of food that looked far less appetising than the options at Bahama Breeze, the wonderfully tacky, Caribbean-themed restaurant in the terminal. Sipping on a weak gin and tonic, and picking at a sad cup of gummy bears, I had to ask myself: Why exactly was I so desperate to be here? There have never been more airport lounges. Yet there are also seemingly more lounges that are not worth the hassle. Many are forlorn. Many others are overcrowded. Sometimes, the lines for the lounges are the longest in the airport. Yet people all still fight to get in. Many will choose to fork over too much in credit card fees or commit to flying on one airline to gain entry to these spaces, because they still believe the lounges offer a taste of luxury amid the stress of travel. In the smartphone age, people have been sold on the idea that travel is no longer just about the act itself, but about being seen to be travelling – and being seen to do so in style. Just do not tell those sitting at Bahama Breeze that they are probably having a better time. A month after my sojourn at Orlando Airport, I would question my lounge loyalty again, this time after receiving an e-mail alerting me that the annual fee for my Chase Sapphire Reserve card – a premium credit card favoured by my fellow millennials, which comes with access to lounges around the world – was jumping from US$550 (S$640) to an eye-popping US$795. This new fee was accompanied by a confusing raft of other changes designed to justify the bump, such as a US$500 resort credit, US$300 to spend at a list of restaurants and membership to Apple Music. But even as I dived into this complicated mental mathematics and debated whether I was ready to leave Spotify, my eye fell to the photo embedded in the e-mail of the new, convolutedly named Chase Sapphire Lounge by the Club at the Philadelphia International Airport. Although I had flown through the city only once in my lifetime, I still found it alluring. The space resembled a sexy bar in a ritzy hotel lobby, complete with plush furnishings and mood lighting that appeared flattering enough to make even the most weary traveller look like James Bond sipping a martini. While Chase has built a handful of fancy clubs (with plans for more), most of those my card gives me access to are decidedly less glamorous. In some of them, with their cubed cheese and powdered eggs, I have felt less like Bond and more like Melissa McCarthy's frumpy cat lady in the 2015 action comedy, Spy. Mr Ben Schlappig understands my sentiments. The founder of the flight and travel website One Mile at a Time estimates he has visited more than 500 lounges since he began chronicling his globe-trotting in 2008. He cites unpleasantries such as overcrowding and sitting next to someone exhibiting what he calls 'airport behaviour' (like chatting loudly on a speakerphone). More on this topic For the privileged few, airport food hits a new height of luxury Occasionally, when he knows a lounge will be one of the sad ones where the buffet seems like 'a feeding trough', Mr Schlappig – who has premier status with American AAdvantage and Air France-KLM Flying Blue – even prefers to simply wait by the gate. 'At some point,' he told me, 'when everybody has lounge access, it's almost like nobody does.' It certainly feels like everybody does. Collinson, the company behind Priority Pass, reported a 31 per cent increase in lounge visits in 2024 compared with the year before. More than half of frequent travellers visit lounges, according to a survey in 2024 by Airport Dimensions. The market research firm Research and Markets predicted the US$4.21 billion airport lounge industry will more than double by 2029. Once reserved mostly for older, frequent business travellers, lounges are increasingly being invaded by people like me: millennials who baulk at the cost of a first-class ticket but can afford an annual credit card fee. Even though demand for travel appears to be waning amid an uncertain economy, what has not changed is the extent to which social media and influencer culture peddle these lounges as a key ingredient of the good life. With interest through the roof, little wonder that the lounge industry is becoming embroiled in something of an arms race. Credit card companies like Chase and Capital One race to erect fancier lounges to satisfy increasing domestic demand . International airlines are going further to attract those truly wealthy customers willing to fork over thousands for top-class travel. In Helsinki, Finland, you can take a sauna before consuming a reindeer burger. In Doha, Qatar, you can relax in a Jacuzzi, drive in a Formula One racing simulator or take a nap in a private bedroom. In Paris, you can dine in a private suite on food prepared by the renowned chef Alain Ducasse, then be driven in a luxury sedan on a tarmac to your plane. In addition to building more lounges, many operators are trying to thin the herds by making it harder to get in. Capital One announced that in 2026, it will take steps to limit access for members seeking to bring additional cardholders and guests, mirroring recent steps taken by Delta Air L ines and United Airlines. One credit card company is dispensing with the airport altogether. American Express now operates a private club in Manhattan for select holders of its Centurion Card – known as the Black Card – part of a wave of pricey members-only clubs that have recently been repopularised i n cities around the world. Airports and planes have long been places where people are regularly and openly sorted into classes, and there is something innately human about striving (or paying) to get to the top. While many of these lounges feel crowded and unremarkable, they still allow you to cosplay, however briefly, as a VIP. All this complaining is, of course, deeply frivolous in the grand scheme of things. Travel is a privilege. But money is also precious and it is all right to question what people are being sold. That said, there is one type of airport lounge that I remain deeply committed to: the arrivals lounge. During a recent long-haul flight from New York to see family in Sydney, Australia, my plane stopped in Auckland, New Zealand, after almost 18 mind-numbing hours of flying. When I cleared customs and waited for my final connection to Australia, I raced to the nearest Priority Pass lounge and took the most incredible shower of my life. I would have paid whatever it had asked. NYTIMES
The Age
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
I hate myself for it, but I still love watching Gordon Ramsay yell at people
Gordon Ramsay's Secret Service ★★★ ½ It's 1.07am and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is speeding through Washington DC wearing a black baseball cap. Police sirens whirr behind him as his eyes dart between the road, his rearview mirror and a camera on the dash. In this first scene of his new series, the 58-year-old multimillionaire is doing his best Jason Bourne ... which is a bit more like Jason Statham in Spy. Ramsay is on his way to a Greek restaurant, he tells us, to uncover 'the problems that everybody tries to hide from me'. He has a man on the inside. He has a duffle bag full of spy gear. And within minutes he'll be rifling around in a dark kitchen and muttering 'f---ing hell' while throwing bloody chicken carcasses on the ground. We're back, baby. Despite all the theatrics, Gordon Ramsay's Secret Service is essentially just Kitchen Nightmares. Each episode is centred on a struggling US restaurant, which the hard-headed Brit has been tasked to turn around. It features all the obligatory shots of dirty kitchens, festering food and Ramsay cussing out belligerent owners. The only differences? Well, an 'insider' on the staff has tipped him off instead of the owners nominating themselves ('Please don't fire me,' one half-jokes when outed in a Traitors -style reveal). There are a lot more hidden body cams. And, importantly, our boy is undercover for the first half of each episode, monitoring the situation from inside the world's most conspicuous van parked right outside. It's beyond silly, but purposefully so. And once it gets to the meat of the thing – Ramsay giving it to people straight and turning their lives around – it's just as enjoyable as the long-running series it's so indebted to. More than 20 years ago, this foul-mouthed chef struck TV gold with the creation of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. The unvarnished series tapped into the chaos of real-life restaurants, juiced it for drama and laughs, and managed to (mostly) tie things off into a happy ending so you don't feel too bad about all the genuine hardship. The show spawned a hugely successful US adaptation, Kitchen Nightmares, as well as the spin-off series, Hotel Hell – both of which have been comfort food for me while home sick over the years or in the bleary-eyed trenches of new parenthood. And I'm not alone. The former proved popular enough to warrant a revival in 2023.
Sydney Morning Herald
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
I hate myself for it, but I still love watching Gordon Ramsay yell at people
Gordon Ramsay's Secret Service ★★★ ½ It's 1.07am and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is speeding through Washington DC wearing a black baseball cap. Police sirens whirr behind him as his eyes dart between the road, his rearview mirror and a camera on the dash. In this first scene of his new series, the 58-year-old multimillionaire is doing his best Jason Bourne ... which is a bit more like Jason Statham in Spy. Ramsay is on his way to a Greek restaurant, he tells us, to uncover 'the problems that everybody tries to hide from me'. He has a man on the inside. He has a duffle bag full of spy gear. And within minutes he'll be rifling around in a dark kitchen and muttering 'f---ing hell' while throwing bloody chicken carcasses on the ground. We're back, baby. Despite all the theatrics, Gordon Ramsay's Secret Service is essentially just Kitchen Nightmares. Each episode is centred on a struggling US restaurant, which the hard-headed Brit has been tasked to turn around. It features all the obligatory shots of dirty kitchens, festering food and Ramsay cussing out belligerent owners. The only differences? Well, an 'insider' on the staff has tipped him off instead of the owners nominating themselves ('Please don't fire me,' one half-jokes when outed in a Traitors -style reveal). There are a lot more hidden body cams. And, importantly, our boy is undercover for the first half of each episode, monitoring the situation from inside the world's most conspicuous van parked right outside. It's beyond silly, but purposefully so. And once it gets to the meat of the thing – Ramsay giving it to people straight and turning their lives around – it's just as enjoyable as the long-running series it's so indebted to. More than 20 years ago, this foul-mouthed chef struck TV gold with the creation of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. The unvarnished series tapped into the chaos of real-life restaurants, juiced it for drama and laughs, and managed to (mostly) tie things off into a happy ending so you don't feel too bad about all the genuine hardship. The show spawned a hugely successful US adaptation, Kitchen Nightmares, as well as the spin-off series, Hotel Hell – both of which have been comfort food for me while home sick over the years or in the bleary-eyed trenches of new parenthood. And I'm not alone. The former proved popular enough to warrant a revival in 2023.
South Wales Guardian
02-07-2025
- Climate
- South Wales Guardian
Rebel Wilson and Cate Blanchett among stars in Royal Box on another sweltering day at Wimbledon
Temperatures hit around 32C by mid‑afternoon, edging close to the tournament's all-time record of 35.7C which was set in 2015. Wilson, best known for Pitch Perfect and Bridesmaids, attended the tennis tournament with her wife Ramona Agruma, while two-time Oscar-winner Blanchett was joined by her husband Andrew Upton. Also in the crowd were reality star Molly-Mae Hague and actress Sarah Lancashire – who was sat alongside Peter Salmon. Australian actress Blanchett's fellow screen star Rose Byrne, known for Bridesmaids, Spy and Physical, was also among the invited guests. Also among the celebrities attending were Andy Murray's mother, Judy Murray, golfer Justin Rose, broadcaster Sir Trevor McDonald, Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson and Pointless host Alexander Armstrong. Centre Court's order of play on Tuesday included world number two Coco Gauff, who faced Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska, and Novak Djokovic, who began his campaign against France's Alexandre Muller. Russell Crowe kept cool in a full suit despite the soaring heat, joining partner Britney Theriot in the Royal Box on Centre Court. Temperatures at SW19 soared past 30C again, with the Met Office provisionally confirming Monday was the hottest opening day on record. Kew Gardens hit 29.7C on Monday, breaking the previous record of 29.3C set in 2001. On Monday, play on Centre Court was paused after a woman collapsed in the stands during Carlos Alcaraz's match. The defending champion rushed to help, passing her a water bottle as paramedics and other spectators assisted.
