Saturday, December 15, 2012

Nadoola Konjam Pakkatha Kanoam - EXCELLENT

Nadoola Konjam Pakkatha Kanoam... I cannot really say if this is a black comedy, thriller or a combination of all...The story is simple, a guy accidentally loses his memory before his marriage and his friends try to save his marriage from being cancelled. I don't want to reveal anything about the movie since its very suspenseful and funny.

All actors in the movie except Vijay are completely fresh and have never been seen  in the silver screen prior to this movie, this by itself sends a strong message that the director believed in his screenplay and story rather than screen fillers. 

Director Balaji has made a very good decision in having a song free movie. Having the audience glued to the seats is a very difficult task and the director has achieved it hands down. Not even once did I feel bored or feel the movie was stretchy. Some scenes in the movie are extremely intriguing and nail biting ( yes, my fingers were bleeding ) I couldn't stop myself from thinking what would happen next and predicting next scenes.
The background score was fresh and aided some intensive scenes reach its maximum intensity. I would say the music played 20% in the success of this movie. I also learnt that the music director was a product of ARRahman's music conservatory. He has definitely made his masters proud!!!

Another peculiarity of the film was that majority of the shots in the movie were closeup shots, even directors who have seasoned actors in their casting hesitate to have shots like these. A very very bold decision and it was complimented by the very elegant and natural acting by the cast. Some expressions were natural and elegant, made me feel for those characters.

The movie doesn't defy any logic, doesn't have any out of the world concepts or try to fool you in any way. It is very straight forward and will move you as well as make you feel enlightened at the end.

This movie is another example that a very good story can be successful even without a big budget or experienced actors. Kudos to the team. I would say this was the best comedy movie i've seen in a few years.

I would rate a 9/10 for this movie.  Ennaachi??????

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Skyfall - Doesn't Bond with the Series



Bond, James Bond! This one liner name by itself would make one watch any James Bond movie. James Bond movies don't just have a story, it has stunning visuals, great action, good and a believable plot and on top of all that , it has a CLASS!
Skyfall is about a data chip that has been stolen from the MI6 ( the British Secret Service HQ). This chip has information about all the top secret operatives around the world working. Daniel Craig goes after the person who steals the Chip, course of this action he's shot by another operative by accident and he is proclaimed dead. He then returns back after being saved by a women whom he's seen to have some intimate moments in the dark ( 5 secs max ). Also he's seen drinking some cheap liquor in the Turkey region. Following the loss of the chip the person who stole it bombs the MI6 HQ and thereby sending messages to Agents M ( Judi Dench ). James Bond after hearing about the event comes back to London where he's put back into service after some tests. Meanwhile Judi Dench is asked to resign due to her incapability to save the secretive chip, the new head of the secret service isn't impressed with James Bond.

He's then sent to Shangai from where he rendezvous with Javier Bardem the actor who shook as all with an  extraordinary performance in "No country for Old men". It happens that he was an old operative for the Secret Service and is extracting vengeance for being let go by Agent M during his operation in China.

What was the real motive and how James Bond handles the situation is the core for the movie Skyfall.

The screen play seems very sloppy especially in the second half of the movie, nobody cares about the missing chips and its contents. It doesn't clearly state the purpose of the whole movie until almost the end of the movie. Action scenes in the movie seem long and made me feel as when they would end. The movie had silence in many parts of the movie something that's not an usual in Bond movies. But where they had the background music playing it was good.

The movie lacked any style, it did not have any women whom Bond usually romances with, no BMWs or Aston Martins, no spy gadget  and to top it all no clear espionage missions. If the producers wanted to replace their key actors they didn't have to make a complete movie for that. They could've just made a few scenes showing the retirement of their staff.

I would say a 200 million Dollar budget just wasted. The only way the franchise would make money is by making people watch it for the first time for the Bond name it has earned in its past.

I would give this a 4.5 /10 for its action and music , nothing more than that!

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Billa 2 - Highlight or Prequel?


I hope everyone knows for the fact Billa 2 is not actually part 2 of Billa but the prequel. Ajith is shown as a refugee ftom SriLanka and then slowly emerges into a petty gangster and then by doing risky jobs gets noticed by powerful Dons and finally emerges as a Don himself. 

This is the core of the story and there are absolutely no twists and turns! 

The lady love of Billa , Parvathi Omanakuttan ( again a female lead role wasted ) comes only 5 to 6 minutes in the entire movie and had absolutely no chances to prove herself. The other female actress Bruna Abdullah is another accessory for the movie who doesn't have any weight age except for the fact she gets killed by Billa's.

Dialogues in the movie  are a plus and it justifies every kill/move Ajith makes. The back ground score also carries the movie well but the songs in the movie felt so much out of place. I felt the director hired these dancers for a few weeks and decided he needed to make complete use of those girls which resulted in having 3 unnecessary item songs which were just too loud with hardly any audible lyrics.

Cinematography and the stunts stand out and give a great visual treat to the audience.

 Chakri Toletti wanted to project the image and invincibility of Ajith for his Fans and has exceeded their expectations reaching a saturation point. Some/most scenes had no logic at all or backed with no supporting plots they just seemed like a video game where ""Ajith Kills the Bad Guys". 

Overall the movie felt like a highlight of a gangster movie solely carried by Ajith,  A true cinema lover would find this movie a very very big trailer.

If you've got nothing to lose and wanted to spend some time hearing explosions and gun fire hop in and you will enjoy the movie. 

My rating for the movie is 3.5


Saturday, May 5, 2012

Avengers - Entertainment Unlimited !

How come one superhero wasn't enough?? 

The Avengers as you've all guessed by watching the trailers and reading comics is an ensemble of all the super heroes in one mission. 

The Avengers in this part are , Captain America, Thor, IronMan, Hulk and Hawkeye and my favorite avenger-Black Widow played by Scarlett Johansen ( She looked stunning!!!! ). 

This is the first movie of the Avenger series which shows how and why the avengers come together.

The story is simple Thor's brother Loki tries to enslave the humans by using the power of the "Tesseract" to teleport "Evil" God's creations and creatures from the land of the Gods, Asgard. The Avengers put together by SHIELD's lead, Fury ( Samuel Jackson ) try and stop these creatures/Demi Gods from taking over the world. 

The screenplay never deviated from the core of the story and there wasn't any one moment where I felt the movie was boring. The action sequences were breathtaking, loud and perfectly choreographed, I'd say special effects at its best. There's so much special effects in the movie and yet you don't notice anything, that's how good it is. At this rate I believe Marvel might soon buy the company which makes these special effects and make it an in-house unit. 

The camera work though very difficult since they need to make it in 3D , would've been better had they shot the movie in IMAX instead of remastering it, there were a few action scenes which were not clear ( ie too fast transition) since it was not shot in IMAX. Adding some complication to the special effects and the way we see it was the 3D. Though it was good, some scenes were not as good as normal special effects, the 3D distorted the picture a bit.

Music was excellent, nevertheless it comes from a guy who's considered "The Guru"  of comic recreations and animation movies, Alan Silvestri. Using the London Symphony Orchestra was a very good decision since a movie of such grandeur needs a lift in the music department as well. The surround sound was one of the best I've heard in a long time ...

What was so good about the movie was even though the movie was an action movie it had a lot of humor in between the scenes which lifted the nail biting tension off ( even though there wasn't any ;) ) 

Overall the movie was a great entertainer! I might even watch it again...

My rating for this would be a 8.5!