Engeyum eppothum - A movie with a difference

Yes! I was intrigued by the song - the one where Sharvanand and Ananya walk through the streets of Chennai. It was sweet, cute and funny. I badly wanted to break away my bad movie marathon jinx and felt that finally god had answered my prayers! :)


A week back if anyone had told me songs in a tamil movie would make sense, would actually be part of the bigger plot I would have laughed my a** out. But THIS movie is a revelation.. a trend setter something so ordinary and yet so above normal masalas, tardy romances and prabhu deva movies.A movie could not get any better than this.


Engeyum eppothum has a shockingly interesting screenplay - funny, gripping, entertaining - the whole combo. THE perfect editing. Songs that are interspersed into the actual plot - logical, sensible AND entirely fresh tunes. A star cast that is so vivid, alive - they do know what they are up to, but it is done so effortlessly. Even Jai passed with flying colours. Each one doing exactly what they are supposed to do - not a bit less not a bit more. Especially Anjali - it was so easy for her character to go overboard and yet she managed to portray just enough. Ananya could have easily become an irritating green girl from a boring village. But she came across as sweet, funny and just right for falling in love with. AND the grand slam? the movie actually has a message - A staggering, over whelming, paralyzing climax and not in the least bit cinematic. 


The beauty of the movie lies in the way it makes you feel. A real movie - a good one makes you cry, laugh, fall in love, feel angry as the plot advances, Engeyum Eppothum did JUST THAT! A movie which makes it worth your while to put on nice clothes, wait in the long queue and have fun.


Kudos to the cast for their beautiful portrayal of touching characters
M.Saravanan (the director) for proving to the world that we can make sensible beautiful movies too.
And Murugadoss for financing this break through venture.


I cannot say enough about this piece of work. It would be difficult for M.Saravanan to excel his home run :)

Johnny English Reborn- The Hollywood version of Koundamani Senthil combo's outdated escapades

When Hollywood movies suck.. they suck royally. And the proof - Johnny English Reborn. Now some may ask.. how could I actually spend money and buy tickets for a Rowan Atkinson movie.. Your very question has the answer .. It is ROWAN ATKINSON!!! He's our Mr.Bean.. Not exactly my cup of tea but what the hell? I have no idea how good or bad the prequel was. But I trusted my husband's taste and turned up for this very stale movie.

Borderline boring comedy, an obvious convoluted plot, some dirty jokes does not maketh a good movie! But somehow it got made.. had a world wide release and "I" had to sit through it.
I found certain segments extremely slow and redundant - the wheel chair escape act - SUCKED to the skies. The same thing with the asian grand ma assasin.. PLEASE!! The ball strengthening exercise episode - a cheap comedy.
Yes the movie had its moments of comic relief but those were few and very rare. Did not deliver what was expected. 

Vandhaan Vendraan ????!!!!

Yethai vendraan??? More like Vandhaan Sendraan.. Or Vandhaan Thothaan.. :)
But seriously? I have a question.. You make a movie.. when you review it you find it sorely lacking soul.. So you say the whole movie was a dream.. something manufactured for a greater cause.. So yeah now.. you have atleast a cause for the 2.5 hour rigmarole.. Does THAT make the movie any better???
I think NOT!! Where do I start? Under any other circumstance this movie would'nt have bummed me like it did. But Jeeva had my expectations soaring... He did "KO" didnt he? I was looking for something palatable that's all..
I really thought Taapsee could act. I didnt have a clue that her performance in Aadukalam was 100% Vetrimaran's exacting work ethics in action. She looks okay although a little huge..... absolutely no grace in her moves.. But stranger things have happened.. Maybe she will eventually learn to emote..
Nandhaa's performance was good and so was Santhanam's comedy. Redeeming factors I would say.
So so movie. Bad editing.. no story... music was okie.. All in all not very entertaining. A tad on the irritating side. Especially when they portrayed the heroine as something very superficial.. Hmmmmmm

Mankatha - An old chestnut (Too little too late)

I fail to understand the psyche of people which classifies mediocrity as anything more than what it is! And what IT is - is A BIG cliche!

Mankatha understandably had a ballyhoo like none of the other Venkat Prabhu handiworks.It had a big hero, a director with three (or four?) consecutive blockbusters, TRISHA, a usually awesome music director and a BIG mammoth banner behind it all. And for a supposed magnum opus it has... well.... nothing even close to greatness!

It's actually funny that I saved Mankatha for a better theatre, better seats - because you know a nice movie should not be ruined by bad seats and bad popcorn! Well.. the best part of my evening was the crispy popcorn. (sigh)

What turns a supposed opus to an banality?

• A screenplay with not even a remote sense of coherence - a dance, a hangover, random heroine(?) introduction (coz it is customary to introduce the heroine in the first 10 minutes of the movie) and infringement on a heist plan - all in the span of 20 minutes! Was the movie shot this bad or did the editing go sour?
• Wasting an unique selling point like Trisha - Premji Amaren has more screen time than our leading lady. And for Trisha fans ( like me) it just sucks.. And bringing in a slapdash bombshell like Lakshmi Rai does not compensate. At all!
• A grown man talking like a 10 year old - to himself .. playing with chess pieces.. making horrible galloping noises.. laughing at his own brilliance(???) ... AND saying "money money money" like half a dozen times.. in quick succession... every 15 minutes.. in THAT tone... WTF?
• Comparing Ajith to George Clooney! Puh-leeez!! Coz of what? The salt and pepper hair? And before you know Vadivelu will be compared to Will Smith - coz you know they are both of similar skin tone!! Granted Ajith looks waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than his usual fat slobby self, some comparisons just  cannot be made. EVER!  
• Having a star cast as big as Mayaandi Kudumbathar.. Oh wait.. I got a comparison too. What is as big as an elephant and weighs nothing - It's shadow! Which movie has a star cast like Mayaandi Kudumbathar and yet has no real purpose for any of them - Mankatha
• And the end? Did anyone even for a minute think anything otherwise? 

Well watch Mankatha in the theatre only if you have run out of options for the week end. Just make sure the popcorn's good :)

My dwindling friends circle..

Ever wondered why it is so hard to make friends ..I mean REAL friends as we grow older? When I was 5 I had 2 best friends.. Of course every few years it was someone different. It was Anna Jebaraj when I was 6, Dorothy when I was 7, Diana Joseph for the next two years , then came Merlin and then the girl who I never fully understood. I still think of our times together- all 5 years of it - the happy ones and the really painful ones and I fail to understand her completely. And no we were not lesbians although some thought we were. Duh!!
Then I entered college and wasted two years searching for someone who I could connect with. Someone who would share my tastes. Scorn things I scorn. Like the same movies and books that I did. Finally I met Sangeetha. Till this day I find it hard to believe that she puts up with me. (Thanks Pangi.)
Then came post graduation. Everybody had their own set of friends - school friends, apartment gang, UG gang, ex-gf's friends.. so many of it. And most of us tried hard to hold on to those remaining links from childhood that connecting on an emotional level with someone new was difficult. Along the way I missed some of the wonderful friends I grew up with. Some moved away.. some grew up.. I changed.. There are always reasons.
At work I met nice people and finally grew close to two.
But now, sitting at home, jobless - yeah yeah I married , quit my job- dumb thing to do.. but I did - I realize that the frequency with which I make friends had decreased exponentially since the age of 12.
My comfort zone got smaller, my acquaintance list got longer, my facebook network grew wider and yet I have made no new friends with whom I can cry. Granted that the opportunities to interact are less , I still find it sad. The world gets smaller everyday and the circle we love gets smaller too?!!??!!

Venghai - A Dhanush-Hari detestation!!!

Well.. being a rampant fan of Hari's movies I went to the theatre with stars in my eyes to enjoy a full length masala movie with the appropriate number of "kuthu" songs and "kethu" dialogues. And what did I get?
Three squandered hours of an very average B grade tamil movie!!! What was Dhanush thinking??
The least derogatory substance of the movie was Tamannah and Rajkiran. I shudder to think of what it would have been like with screechy Asin!!! Ooooh!!! Gives me the creeps!!  Otherwise the movie was predictable, mushy and vulgar. It is easily one of the worst movies that I have seen - and that includes some real nasty pieces of work including "Sura".
Vengai beats Sura - hands down. It is effortlessly the worst in Hari's kitty. 


The most distasteful, repulsive comedian of recent times - no not Santhanam - even he manages to infuse fitting comic sense into his dialogues if not always then atleast some of the time- "ganja karuppu" was cast in this movie. The supposedly hilarious scenes of the movie were extremely vulgar, cheap, boring and could not even make you twitch your lips if your life depended on it. The background music during these horrible episodes were irritating and made me to want to rip the screen with my bare hands. Just looking at Ganja Karuppu made me feel sordid. His attitude, body language and intonation were that DISGUSTING. The usual racy screen play was missing. The scenes that make you revel in the heroism of the protagonist fell not just short but shoooooooooooooort!!! The usual cute love story angle was turned into some puppy-love crap. The music was so-so. Indistinct songs interspersed along the crass screenplay failed to catch anybody's attention. The habitual oh-so-closely-knit rural family bit seemed a big nonsensical farce. Nothing heart-felt there! The storyline which is where Hari is usually strong albeit predictable fell miserably short.


The only saving grace of the movie was...was...hmmm... ooops sorry.. THERE IS NO REDEEMING FEATURE  in this repugnant film. We do not expect anything from Hari other than mass action-masala entertainers. He has sorely disappointed his audience with this shabby run-of-the-mill, stale, tawdry movie. A massive let down!!!

X-men First Class ( Clear Cut )

First of all I was skeptical about the movie.. An X-men movie with no "Wolverine" Come on.. Who would want to see that?
But then again I am more a creature of habit than reason. So yes, Friday night is movie night and since I had absolutely no other movie left to watch. (I have this strict rule of seeing a movie only once in the theatre. No kidding! No matter how entertaining it is, I am yet to see a movie twice - in the theatre.)
I went ONLY for the purpose of eating chocolate popcorn. It was a pleasant surprise to me at how distinct the movie turned out to be. 
Forget about getting to see Professor X or Magneto in their susceptible years.. Forget about their exposed vulnerability and the reason they turned out to be who they are.. Forget about the CG in the movie.. I got to see Kevin Bacon play the bad guy. After what Hollow Man? The guy is mind blowing. You hate him with disdain but admire the flair and flamboyant performance nevertheless. 
Then there is diamond girl who is foxy .. and Prof X is flirting - yeah that's right.. You get to see him flirt a little bit!! And there was wolverine with two words (Fuck off or Fuck you or some other version of it) for a micro second on the screen - which of course brought more applause than the opening of the movie. 
The movie had some splashing special effects, a decent back story and fresh faces who brought their own persona on screen and none of the lingering embers of the earlier cast. To be creative and original after a decade of being exposed to the X-men storyline is no mean feat. I was amazed at how the movie was not a mere back tracking of the earlier plots. However influenced by the original plot they managed to portray established characters in an unusual light. Who would have thought the Professor would be portrayed as the cheerful little guy mildly flirting around, using standard pick-up lines? :) Or that Raven/Mystique would be characterized by a deep-seated need for approval? 
X-men was a pretty long movie - two and a half hours. Yet I did not look at my watch. Not once. That is something in a movie. If they make a spin-off from a cult classic, with none of the hot shot artists in the earlier movies and still you did not feel like falling asleep or snoring in the theatre, then that is IT! 
The movie you watch on a Friday night after a nice dinner. No regrets!! 

Super 8

Super 8 is movie with an ordinary storyline, an uncommon plot and an extraordinary screen play. The story has been told many times beforE... And it is definitely not a movie you would watch twice. But it would keep you glued to the screen for the better part of it's length.
The ordinary story...
Government's super secret experiment.. subject goes overboard.. chaos everywhere... FINALLY we manage to save the day.
The alternate version of the ordinary story...
Government's super secret mission is actually testing an alien who crash landed on earth.. specially in US soil.. :)
But what is so very enticing about Super 8 is that they have managed to keep the audience enthralled out of pure fascination for the unknown. The need to see how this uncommon screenplay unfolds.


The protagonists are a bunch of school kids..
The background score is just loud enough to make you tingle but not scream..
You dont actually get to see the alien until 15 minutes before the end credits roll..

Everything about the movie is subtle. The performance of Charles (the kid who plays the director of the short film) is tangible. He is so real. How he wants to improvise on the train wreck shots among others - simply splendid. The protagonists Joe Lamb and Alice have done nothing shot of a sleek performance both in the movie and in the short film in the film. I wonder how the director exacted such a level of performance from this young crowd.


So yes I would not call Super 8 novel and it is definitely a movie you would watch until the credits roll and not give a moment's thought to walking out.

Kaavalan

Time and again movie buffs turn up at “Illaiya Thalapathi” Vijay’s movies hoping against hope for a decent masala movie. WE are not expecting an “Inception” or even an “How to train your dragon”. However, our dude never fails to disappoint us these days.

I am a movie lover. To people like me, it does not matter if movies have a higher purpose or a message or just provide 3 hours of unadulterated opportunity to live in a fantasy world. We are at the movies because we enjoy them.

My love for Vijay starrers has braved against atrocities like “Sachin”, “Sura”, “Udaya”, “Badri”,” Youth”, “Shajahan”.. I think I can come up with more but then I was also appeased by some decent masalas like “Gilli” and even “Vettaikaran” was a feel good movie if nothing else.

But Kaavalan is for loss of better words, an assault on the intelligence of average movie buffs. I mean seriously, what were they thinking? Alright! Let’s pool in Asin- she has been out of the tamil industry for some time now and her screechy voice and horrible sense of dressing and over made, over expressive face may just work out.. MAY. After all it worked in “pokkiri” and “sivakasi”. Then the producers thought.. oh let’s rope in Vadivelu.... Now that’s a combo that could NOT go wrong… People I will tell you what went HORRIBLY wrong with this thought process. Atleast the TOP 5 reasons!!!

1)      Let’s face it Vijay cannot ACT. He can maybe create the illusion and pull it off once in a while, few tricks here and there but ACTING was NEVER our dude’s cup of tea. He emotes the protagonist of the original movie. Classic examples.. Pokkiri,Gilli… God knows how he managed to make this miserable a caricature of Dileep!!!

2)      Music is very passable in Kavalan! The ONLY saving grace of Vijay starrers had always been the catchy tunes which you hummed along until the next fast beat came around... I cannot even begin to describe the senseless, totally expendable music tracks in this movie.

3)      Vadivelu… !!!????!!! WHAT CAN I SAY?? We have seen this roaring comedian provide some hearty comic relief . Probably he saved his better tracks for a better movie maybe? That is the only reasonable explanation I can come up with.

4)      ASIN! – Stale, sickening overacting Asin is just her usual, obnoxious self. No surprises there. But the dressing sense had gone progressively downhill. Did the stint in Bollywood NOT teach her anything at all?

5)      Icing on the cake? The climax!!! Puh-leeeeeez!!!!!!!! People mistake me not, I laughed throughout the movie. Oh no.. not when the supposed comedy track was in progress but when Vijay delivered heart wrenching dialogues with not even a trace of emotion.. when Asin was taken aback when Vijay’s kid Siddharth asked her to be his mommy. Trust me, she was so taken aback that she went two feet backwards!!!! Oh lord!!!

High time Vijay dusted his boots and made a serious attempt in choosing scripts that have decent shots of success.