Welcome to Movies & Chai!
Hi, my name is Riz. And I'm the writer behind Movies & Chai. You might know me from my food blog, Chocolates & Chai. I started Movies & Chai for two reasons: one happy, one sad.
The happy reason
I love movies. I always have. In fact, one of my earliest memories is the owner of a video rental store telling my mother that he thought I'd grow up to be an actor. (And it wasn't just one video store owner that said that to my parents.)
I didn't become an actor (except for one veeeery short uncredited appearance on Masterchef Canada), but I did take Film Studies at school. Don't worry though, this site isn't going to be a bunch of high brow reviews of movies that you need a degree in literature to read through. Instead, I wanted to create a site that provides short and simple movie reviews, written by a moviegoer for moviegoers.
The sad reason
At the beginning of 2023, my wife (Reem) and I had to say goodbye to our 21-year old cat, Nessie. We loved her dearly, and after that experience, I didn't really feel ready to watch any movies where a cat died or was in pain.
I found myself googling "Does the cat die?" the first time I watched a horror movie that included a cat, and while the information I found online was technically true (the cat survived), I felt it was misrepresentative and left me unprepared for a scene I really didn't want to see at that time.
Don't shoot the cat!
The Don't Shoot the Cat! section of Movies & Chai is dedicated to animal lovers like Reem and I. Each post in this section will provide information on any animals that are shown to be harmed or killed in a movie. While I categorize these posts as "Don't Shoot the Cat!", these posts will provide warnings for all animals in any given movie.
Naturally, this means that there may be minor or major spoilers. To minimize exposure to spoilers or any potential triggers, every Don't Shoot the Cat post begins with a short answer section which will tell you whether any animals are harmed. Following this, a more detailed response will be available in case you'd like to delve deeper.
Note: When I say harmed or killed, I mean in the on-screen narrative sense. There are much better sources for learning about actual animal cruelty.
Movies reviews & more
Movies & Chai is primarily focussed on reviews and information about movies. I enjoy all sorts of movies - action, horror, comedy, drama, experimental art films, everything. A lot of them are great, and a lot of them aren't. I'll be providing my opinion on whether a movie is worth your time or not.
TV Shows. From time to time, I may include a TV show review, but I tend to enjoy movies more than shows (also, shows take me a lot longer to watch!), so don't expect episode-by-episode updates of your favorite sitcom.
Essays. On very rare occasions, I'll release a slightly longer essay discussing a film or television series.
Ratings
All the movies and shows on this site are rated out of five, with five stars being the best and zero stars being... well, also something special. Something to keep in mind is that I rate things somewhat on a curve. Meaning the rating takes into account how I think that movie or show compares to other movies or shows of its kind, and how well it fulfils its promise to the moviegoer.
Where to follow
If you'd like to keep on top of what I'm doing here at Movies & Chai, here are a few places to follow along.
Newsletter - The Movies & Chai newsletter is free and will let you know whenever there's a new movie review available to read!
Letterboxd - Letterboxd is a movie review platform, it's often the first place I'll upload a review with some very quick, often very rough thoughts (I primarily use it as a way to log movies).
Serializd - Serializd is a review platform for television shows. It's the place to follow me if you're interested in following along with what shows I'm watching.
Thanks for reading!