Rajneeti

My Rating : 3/5

There was a time when I never missed a Hindi Film, but recently I started missing many movies due to lack of time (Responsibilities!!!). Rajneeti was a movie that I never wanted to miss and so after more than a month of its release, today I watched the movie.
Prakash Jha's Gangaajal was a movie that I liked very much, especially since I could relate to some characters and their language from my short stint in Jamshedpur. Incidently, I watched his next movie 'Apaharan' also at Jamshedpur when I went there after I joined ISRO. Apaharan, in-spite of its starcast, failed to impress.
Rajneeti was an Intelligent script. Though it is based on Mahabharata, it makes you feel that the characters in the movie have something to do with the Gandhi Family. The movie was a gripping one, except for certain scenes which could have been avoided (For eg: Kunti coming to know about Karna and her going to meet him could have been avoided)
Ranbir Kapoor was impressive and Katrina's looks in saree was amazing (It reminds us of sonia, which, of course, might have been incorporated to gain commercial advantage). Manoj Bajpai & Ajay Devgan were wasted but Arjun Rambal scored.
I never thought that these many similarities exist between Mahabharata, Godfather and Indian Politics.

Reservoir Dogs

My Rating : 4/5

Ever since I have watched 'Kante' and came to know that it was a remake of 'Reservoir Dogs', I wanted to watch this movie. Kante was a movie that I liked very much for its style, its music and its theme. It was a part of my Nostalgia about Jamshedpur. Whenever I used to hear the songs of Kante I remember my days at Jamshedpur, where I got used to watching different types of Hindi movies (not only just block busters)
Reservoir dogs was there in my PC for quiet some time but I never could make time available for watching this. Thanks to chicken pox, I had enough time for all this and more. So, I decided to watch this movie.
Quentin Tarantino amazes you with the filming. Starting from the first scene of the movie (the shot inside the car with white upholstery and one guy bleeding of a bullet injury) to the last scene of the movie when all the robbers fire each other and die in their effort to find out the 'Rat' among them is amazing.

Raavan

My Rating : 1/5

Raavan was a movie that was anxiously awaited by the movie lovers in India. A movie by Maniratnam, Vikram playing the hero in tamil version and the villain in the hindi version, needless to say that A R Rahman has given tunes to the songs. The odds were in favour of Raavan but it turned out to be a big disappointment.
Except for the mind-blowing picturisation by Santhosh Sivan, the wonderful sets by Sabu Cyril there was nothing much to enjoy in the film.
Nevertheless, I liked certain philosophical aspects of Raavan. The question that Sita asks Ram "Did you come in search of me or you came to defeat Raavan?", it was something that has to be given a thought.
This time round, even A R couldn't give nice songs. The movie was a total disappointment

My Name Is Khan

My Rating : 3/5

I am not a big fan of Sharukh Khan and I don't like Karan Johar either, but the stand that Sharukh took during the "My Name is Khan" controversy and the fact that he didn't relent to the demands of Bal Thackrey impressed me and I decided to watch MNIK.
The first scene of the movie, when SRK is brisked by security personnel suspecting him to be a terrorist and the dialogue of SRK "My Name is Khan & I am not a Terrorist" was an impressive start.
But as the movie progresses, melodramas, colourful masala songs, family sentiments - all typical Joharian Traits started comming up and the movie at times drifted to the boredom territory.
As a whole the movie is not that bad as usual Karan Johar movies. Luckily for us he has not written the script.

The Hurt Locker

My Rating : 5/5

One of the most riveting movies that I have watched in recent times. There are numerous movies depicting iraqi war, the plight of iraqi people, insurgency & ethnic conflict in Iraq. But this one is an entirely different war movie. It portrays the life of elite soldiers who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world: disarming bombs in the heat of combat. The movie does provide a sense of what it must have been like to experience that harrowing conflict.

When SFC William James joins Bravo Company in Iraq, they have a month or so left in their tour of duty. He's a bomb disposal expert and he is replacing Sgt Matt Thompson, a long-standing member of the team who was recently killed disposing of an improvised explosive device.
When James arrives on the scene, Bravo Company has thirty-nine days left on its current deployment. It will be a long thirty-nine days for Sanborn and Eldridge whose styles do not mesh with their new leader. James is a renegade for who the thrill of the dismantlement seems to be the ultimate goal regardless of the safety of his fellow team members, others on the scene or himself. On the other hand, Sanborn is by the books: he knows his place and duty and trusts others in the army to carry out theirs as well as he. And Eldridge is an insecure soldier who is constantly worried that an error or misjudgment on his part will lead to the death of an innocent civilian or a military colleague.

Thanks twitter..its b'coz of a tweet from Rajeev Masand that I thought of watching this movie.

Ividam Swargam Aanu

My Rating : 1/5

Roshan Andrews was planning 'Casanova' with mohanlal. Due to some problems, the project didn't take off. So they decided to make use of those dates to make a pure commercial 'formula' movie. The movie was titled "Ividam Swargam aanu"

I think the cast was decided by choosing all possible combination of actors which has worked well wiht lal in earlier movies. Like thilakan, kaviyoor ponnamma & Lal, Sreenivasan & Lal, Jagathy & Lal, Shankar & Lal.
James Albert who has written Classmates & Cycle has written the script. (In fact there is no need of a scriptwriter to make movies like this)
Mohan lal runs a 'hypothetical' farm house where he carries out 'textbook' farming (It seems the scriptwriter has watched too many episodes of krishidarsan). There are windmills(that never rotate) to generate electricity for the farm. There are three heroines (Typically mohanlal). There is jagathy, there is shankar, there is sreenivasan. Apart from these, there is nothing.
A villain (Lallu alex) who tries to grab the farm house of the hero for his real estate interests. The fight of the hero against the villain and finally the hero wins the farm house and a consolation price in the form of one of the heroines. Age old cliche.
The only plus point in this movie is Jagathy's performance.
This movie is turning out to be a hit. But it's not surprising as till date all Vinayan movies were boxoffice grossers. Malayalees should be commended for their wonderful taste of movies.

Paa

My Rating : 3/5

Cheeni Kum, the previous movie from Balki was an impressive one. Now when he comes with his second movie with Amitabh Bachhan playing a 12 yr old boy suffering from progeria (a rare medical condition that accelerates the ageing process), the expectations was high.

Auro(Amitabh Bachchan) is an intelligent and witty 12-year-old boy with an extremely rare genetic defect callled progeria. Mentally he is 12 very normal, but physically he looks five times older. In spite of his condition, Auro is a very happy boy. He lives with his mother Vidya (Vidya Balan) who is a gynecologist. Amol Arte (Abhishek Bachchan) is young, progressive and a full-of-ideals politician. He is out to prove to the world that 'politics' is not a bad word. He is a man with a mission. Auro is Amol's son however Vidya conceals this from him. When Auro does learn the truth however, he wishes to go to Delhi with his father. Auro tries to get his mother and father back together but Vidya resists, still hurt by the fact that Amol wanted her to have an abortion when they first found out she was pregnant. Amol realizes his mistake though, and proposes to Vidya, as he is still in love with her. He stays by Auro's side when he finds out that Auro is his son. Auro's health begins to deteriorate as he reaches his 13th birthday, his physical defects catching up. However, he is finally able to reunite his mother and father once again as Vidya gives in to her feelings for Amol and her motherly love for Auro. Auro, succumbing to his disease, dies happy, his last words being "Maa" and "Paa."

There are many positivies abt this movie- Amitabh, his make up, music, picturisation etc. Though this movie was not much appreciated by critics, I loved this one.

3 Idiots

My Rating : 4/5

3 Idiots was supposed to be a celluloid version of five point someone. I liked the book so much so that I completed reading the book in a few hours (pretty high speed in my standards) on my return trip in train from SHAR to Tvm.
The movie directed by Munnabhai fame Rajkumar Hirani with Aamir khan doing the lead role was more than enough for any movie buff to rush to the theatre.
The movie was awesome, though it is not a one to one recreation of five point someone, it was good (or may be better) than five point someone.
Life is all about listening to your heart and chasing your dreams. That's the essence of 3 IDIOTS

Two friends [R. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi] embark on a quest for a lost buddy. As they make their way through the perilous landscape [Shimla, Manali, Ladakh], another journey begins: their inner journey through memory lane and the story of their friend - the irrepressible free-thinker Rancho [Aamir Khan], who, in his unique way, touched and changed their lives.

It's a story of their hostel days that swings between Rancho's romance with the spirited Pia [Kareena Kapoor] and his clash with and oppressive mentor, Viru Sahastrabudhhe [Boman Irani]. And then one day, suddenly, Rancho vanishes...

Who was he? Where did he come from? Why did he leave? The friend who influenced and inspired them to think creatively and independently, even as the conformist world called them three idiots. Where is the original idiot now?

The format of the movie is very similar to the munnabhai movies except for the background of the story but it is quiet impressive.

De dana dan

My Rating : 0/5

I don't understand why directors like priyadarsan have to make movies like this. Its true that he is good at making Slap stick comedies, but there is a limit for everything. This is the most boring movie of priyadarsan that i have watched in recent times.
After watching kancheevaram, no body can question the capability of priyan, but movies like this can do much harm to his credibility.
Its a mixture (Avial) of comic scenes from various malayalam films (from vettom to mannar mathai speaking). I felt like watching some comedy programme in TV channels where they continue to show comedy scenes from various malayalam films.
The only thing that is positive about this movie is the climax scene. Though it is a boring climax, the technique behind creating flood inside a hotel is impressive (though it reminds us of scenes from titanic)
Its high time that priyadarsan stop making films like this. I spoiled my christmas watching this bull shit.

Palery Manikyam

My Rating : 4/5

"Whom do you think is the most intelligent director in Malayalam Film Industry till date?"Today Vaisakh asked me this question

I didn't have any doubt in answering this question and the answer is "Renjith". Especially since watching Paleri Manikyam Yesterday.
It doesn't mean that I don't appreciate directors like bharathan, padmarajan, priyadarsan etc. Bharathan has an uncanny skill of making great movies but he fails in writing skills and its the vice versa with padmarajan. There is no doub that padmarajan's movies are great, but when you look back, its the stories of those movies that are dominating than the movie.
But when it comes to renjith, he is as good as making movies as is in writing movies. And paleri mankiyam is no exception. But I sincerely wish that he don't atempt movies like prajapathi anymore.
This story first came as a novel in Madhrubhumi Weekly. I read the first two parts, after that my laziness stopped me from reading any further. After watching this movie I feel that I missed a good novel. Or is it the making of the film that make us feel that the story is good.
Really intelligent film making. It is not just an investigation story, it depicts the life of the people of kerala in the late 40's. The narration style was also remarkable.
It tells the story of a private detective, who returns to his birthplace to solve a murder mystery that occurred on the same night he was born.
Dectective Haridas (Mammootty) takes up a case just to satisfy his curiosity, not to find or punish the culprit, as all the suspects in the case are dead. His purpose, which seems vague in the beginning, achieves clarity only halfway through the story.
Mammootty gives some neat performances in his different roles. Mammotty's Ahamad Haji is one of the most perfect role that he has done in years.
Ranjith has delivered a fine film with a minor hiccup in the climax (not that it was bad, just that it didnt come up to the standard set by the whole movie).

Kerala Cafe

My Rating : 4/5

Being a great fan of Renjith, this movie was something tat i didn't want to miss. And renjith doesn't disappoint us...Its a collection of 10 movies directed by 10 different directors synchronised by Renjith. All the movies have a common thread..the shop named "Kerala Cafe"..some one or something in each of the movies have something to do with kerala cafe. The idea is fresh & it was delivered well.

M Padmakumar's Nostalgia
Dileep, Pseudo nostalgic who cherishes about homeland kerala only when he has a peg of whisky. Not quiet impressive as I had high expectations about Padmakumar

B Unnikrishnan's Aviramam
Based on recession, how it affects an IT businessman. Siddique has portryaed the role well. Nothing much special but it was taken well.

Shyamaprasad's Off Season.
He tries to be experimental by casting suraj venjarumood in his lead role, which is quiet unlikely in a shyamaprasad film. Though recession & Job loss r the central theme of the movie, it lacks direction. shyamaprasad was in a dilemma as to how to go about this theme.

Shankar Ramakrishnan's Island Express,
The movie which has been hijacked by the lead actor. I think I am becoming a fan of Prithviraj. Manianpillai Raju is quiet impressive

Shaji Kailas' Lalthiamhiranmayam
Quiet a shaji kailas film...Close up shots..over acting sureshgopi..everything is the same

Lal Jose's Puram Kazchakal
The climax was a shock..not only for the characters in the movie but also for the audience. Mamooty scores.


Anjali Menon's Happy Journey
A heartening, simple tale has been well told by the director. The film is set inside a bus with an insurance surveyor

(Jagathy Sreekumar) with a roving eye, trying to make advances on a pretty girl (Nithya Menon) sitting next to him. But she turns out to be really smart for the man to handle.


Director Anwar Rasheed's Bridge talks about two parallel tracks, the first one involving a young boy and his pet kitten.
The other story has a son (Salim Kumar), who lives in poor surroundings, deciding to leave his ailing mother (Shanthadevi) in the street. With amazing technical brilliance, the director takes things to an altogether different level and stamps his presence quite effectively.

Mrityunjayam, Uday Ananthan's horror story which supposedly deals with the recklessness of youth, cannot find any link with the other stories. It seems to be there only because it is in the horror genre, so as to show that Kerala Cafe covers every theme.
Uday Ananthan shot into fame with his debut movie, Pranayakalam, which starred Ajmal Ameer and Vimala Raman in the lead.

My favourites are...Bridge, Happy Journey, Puram Kazchakal & Island express

Road Trip

My Rating : 3/5

After watching 'Hangover', I got impressed by Todd Philips and started downloading all his films. This was the third film of Todd Philips that I watched within a month.
After watching Old School, I didn't have much expectations about this one but this was gud. I liked watching this and I think that there is a scope of remaking this in Malayalam

The BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS

My Rating : 3/5

When people say that Twitter is a revolution, I always wondered how it can be a revolution. But after watching this movie, I realise that.
I got to know about this movie from a tweet from Rajeev Masand. He had given a good review about this movie.

The movie was superb, though it is in the lines of Life is Beautiful.

Young Bruno lives a wealthy lifestyle in prewar Germany along with his mother, elder sister, and SS Commandant father. The family relocates to the countryside where his father is assigned to take command a prison camp. A few days later, Bruno befriends another youth, strangely dressed in striped pajamas, named Shmuel who lives behind an electrified fence. Bruno will soon find out that he is not permitted to befriend his new friend as he is a Jew, and that the neighboring yard is actually a prison camp for Jews awaiting extermination.

It is a deeply moving and--it must be said--disturbing movie. But it is a remarkable story, told with masterly intelligence and grace.

Old School

My Rating : 2/5

Came to know about this movie while browsing google for more info about the director of Hangover, Todd Philips. Read in the reviews that it is not as good as Hangover but I thought of giving it a try.

Reviews where right :)
Plot summary in IMDB:

Mitch, Frank and Beanie are disillusioned with their personal lives begining when Mitch's nymphomanic girlfriend, Heidi, cheats on him, then former party animal Frank gets married, but unwilling to get go of his wild life, and Beanie is a family man seeking to reclaim his wild and crazy youth. Beanie suggests that they form their own fraternity in Mitch's new house on a college campus to re-live their glory days by bringing together a variety of misfit college students, losers, middle-aged and elderly retirees as their new friends and later try to avoid being evicted by the new Dean of Students, Pritchard, whom still holds a personal grudge against all three of them.

The scene in which Frank (Will Ferrell) is streaking down the street and his wife drives by him and tells him to get in the car was hilarious

The Hangover

My Rating : 4/5

This movie was suggested by Manu during one of our boozing sessions. I was so moved by the concept of the movie, that i wanted to watch the movie that day itself. But due to obvious reasons (by the end of the boozing session) i forgot about this movie....HANGOVER

A few days later, I got this movie from Sivan. The whole idea of this movie was marvellous. Its all about four friends celebrating bachelors party at Lasvegas.
The plot summary in IMDB reads thus
"Angelenos Doug Billings and Tracy Garner are about to get married. Two days before the wedding, the four men in the wedding party - Doug, Doug's two best buddies Phil Wenneck and Stu Price, and Tracy's brother Alan Garner - hop into Tracy's father's beloved Mercedes convertible for a 24-hour stag party to Las Vegas. Phil, a married high school teacher, has the same maturity level as his students when he's with his pals. Stu, a dentist, is worried about everything, especially what his controlling girlfriend Melissa thinks. Because she disapproves of traditional male bonding rituals, Stu has to lie to her about the stag, he telling her that they are going on a wine tasting tour in the Napa Valley. Regardless, he intends on eventually marrying her, against the advice and wishes of his friends. And Alan seems to be unaware of what are considered the social graces of the western world. The morning after their arrival in Las Vegas, they awaken in their hotel suite each with the worst hangover. None remembers what happened in the past twelve or so hours. The suite is in shambles. And certain things are in the suite that shouldn't be, and certain things that should be in the suite are missing. Probably the most important in the latter category is Doug. As Phil, Stu and Alan try to find Doug using only what little pieces of information they have at hand, they go on a journey of discovery of how certain things got into the suite and what happened to the missing items. However they are on a race for time as if they can't find Doug in the next few hours, they are going to have to explain to Tracy why they are not yet back in Los Angeles. And even worse, they may not find Doug at all before the wedding."

No wonder it was one of the biggest box office grossers of hollywood...The most interesting part of the movie is to watch its Titles at the end of the movie. The whole movie and what happened on the D Day is well narrated using photos. The scene when the Doc removes his teeth to prove that actually he is a Doc is hilarious..

Wake Up Sid

One reason why i decided to watch this movie is Konkona Sen Sharma...I like her very much as an actress right from Mr & Mrs Iyer.
Although I don't like Karan Johar and his production house, the only relief was that he was not directing the movie. It was Ayan Mukerji who directed the film.
The film was a good movie but it had shades of Farhan Akhtar's Lakshya.
Sid (Ranbir Kapoor), a spoiled son of a wealthy Mumbai family, takes his privileges for granted. He sleeps through studying for his final exams and winds up failing them. His father gives him a job in his firm, but he quits after a week.

This causes conflict between him and family, he is forced to go off on his own, without his parents' money.

He meets Aisha Bannerjee (Konkona Sen Sharma) at a graduation day party. She has just arrived from Kolkata and desires to become a professional writer. Despite their lack of common interests, Aisha allows him to stay at her flat; they agree to be "just friends". However, although free all day while Aisha is out working, he makes a mess and cannot cook. He learns to cook, and later also cleans up after himself.

Aisha gets an editorial assistant job at a Mumbai magazine and, through her contacts there, gets Sid a position as a photography intern. Sid slowly comes to realize what responsibility is and gradually matures and finds his own identity. As he does so, he reconciles with his parents and moves back to their house.

Aisha is upset, because she was beginning to fall in love with him. However, Sid reads Aisha's thoughts on their relationship in a printed article in the magazine that they work for and realizes that he too loves her. They have a happy reunion on Marine Drive in an early monsoon shower.

Pazhassi Raja

This was the movie that malayalam film industry was eagerly waiting for so many years. The team which created 'Vadakkan Veera Gadha'. The release of this movie was delayed many times because of various reasons.
And atlast yesterday it was released and we(chayakada group) managed to get tickets at Kairali Theatre. The movie was released in four theatres - Sree visakh, Kairali, Dhanya & New theatre.
The movie was brilliant, except for the stunt scenes. The visuals, sets, background score, sound effects all were excellent.
Sharat kumar was the surprise in this movie. With his looks and acting skills, he shadowed even mammooty. His looks reminds us of Kurosowa's samurais'. Heard that this roll was initially offered to Suresh Gopi but he rejected the offer since he thought that this role was less important than tat of mamooty's. Any way that was good for us. We didn't have to watch his OVER acting.
The movie was produced by Gokulam Gopalan. He has spend 27 crores on this movie, a budget of average ten Malayalam movies. This fim is really a magnum opus
Pazhassi who has been termed as revolutionary by the British uses techniques of guerrilla warfare against them. For this he avails the expertise of tribals lead by Thalakkal Chanthu (Manoj K Jayan). There are other people also who unflinchingly support him like Edachena Kunkan (Sarath Kumar), who is his commander-in-chief.
This film is technically several notches above the standard fare offered in Malayalam cinema. he camera work by Venu and Ramanath Shetty give the film a sleek look.

Vilapangalkappuram

This malayalam movie directed by T. V. Chandran in 2008 is based on the aftermath of the Gujarat riots of 2002. The story revolves around Sahira, a Muslim woman who flees Gujarat soon after the riots and arrives in Kozhikode. There, two doctors, Mary Varghese and Gopinath, bring her back to normalcy even while she is haunted by the problems related to the aftermath of the riots.
Not a great movie but can be watched once. The problems that sahira faces haunts our conscience.

In this movie, actress Priyanka got best actress award by Kerala government.

Quick Gun Murugan

This bollywood Comedy-Drama film is directed by Shashanka Ghosh and written by Rajesh Devraj.
The movie is based on a character created for television promos at the time of the launch of the music network Channel [V] in 1994. The character had a cult following, and made catchprases like 'Mind it' and 'We are like this only' popular. In recent years, the character has inspired a sequence from Om Shanti Om where Shah Rukh Khan does a take-off, incorporating elements of Tamil legend Rajinikanth's performances.
Quick Gun Murugun is an Unlikely Superhero (played by Telugu star Rajendra Prasad) a South Indian Tamil cowboy whose duty is to protect the world against arch villain restaurant owner, Rice Plate Reddy, who wants to create the ultimate non-veg dosa! The movie revolves around adventures of Quick Gun Murugun along with his love to-be Mango Dolly (played by Rambha) and Locket Lover (played by Anu Menon).
Murugan is a typical vegetarian cowboy who made himself into Quick Gun Murugan. The cowboy has to do something good for the world so he believes that vegetarianism is the need of the hour.
Quick Gun Murugun enters into an battle that spans time and space, from a small south Indian village to Heaven and then finally to cosmopolitan Mumbai across 25 years.. He is torn between Mango Dolly who loves him secretly and his first love Locket girl and his loyalty is put to the test.
But even with all its wit and antics, the movie is a big Box Office dud! Except spoofing typical Bollywood clichés, the movie has nothing to offer as it fails to deliver with all its overcooked storyline and overblown cinematography.

Unnai Poloruvan

I was so moved by the film "The wednesday" that I couldn't resist myself from watching its remake. It was out of curiosity as to how the two great actors can transform the movie in their way.

But the end result was disappointing. It is proved once again that classics cant be recreated.
In wednesday, there are various trivial things that moves you, but those emotions are not carried in "Unnai poloruvan"
Unnai poloruvan disappoints...especially since it is remake of "The Wednesday"
http://listofcinema.blogspot.com/2008/11/wednesday.html