Nalla Padam, Ketta Padam

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2009-03-08T15:03:00.000-07:00

Another good comedy from the Judd Apatow line. Definitely worth a watch if you like stoner comedies. As with most comedies, they screw up the ending by stretching it out unnecessarily. Oh wait, it must have been the 'extended' edition on the blu-ray. Was that some kind of punishment for not going to the theater?

I don't know why some comedy movies decide towards the end that they suddenly want to become action movies, e.g. Blue Streak. The first Bad Boys is the only one that pulled off that transition well. But I digress.

Seth Rogen and James Franco are hilarious together. As with any other Apatow story, there's some genuinely funny stuff thrown together with the usual dose of potty/poop humor.

Danny McBride as 'Red' (first from left) was brilliant. I saw this guy in another horrible movie called 'The Heartbreak kid' and he was only good thing in it.

If you are renting it, make sure you don't choose 'extended version' on the disc.

Man on Wire

2009-03-08T08:31:00.001-07:00

I had heard about the documentary 'Man on Wire' before I watched it win the Oscar. I hadn't seen any of the documentaries nominated this year, but it beat a Werner Herzog movie to the award and that was enough to pique my interest.

Thanks to Netflix streaming, I was able to watch it yesterday. I was 10 minutes into the movie when I realized that I was on the edge of my seat watching a non-fiction, documentary film. As a young man in the 70's Philippe Petit pulled off a stunt where he walked on a wire between the tops of the tallest buildings at the time, the twin towers of the WTC.

The documentary shows how he and his motley crew of friends and other interested parties helped him plan and achieve his dream. For me the most fascinating part of the movie was when Philippe explains his helplessness when he waits for the twin towers to be built so he can realize his dream. The movie combines footage from Philippe's young years practising wirewalking along with staged scenes explaining how they got all the equipment and manpower needed to the top floors of both buildings to give us a fascinating account of the events.

If you are into documentaries, this is a must-watch.

Ghajini and Delhi-6. The difference?

2009-03-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

I watched Ghajini in Hindi yesterday. I still think the movie dies along with the death of Asin's character, but the new climax was definitely easier to sit through compared to the hero vs twin villains fight sequence from the original.

I guess that's the difference between having an actor like Aamir who has no problems asking questions that might make the writer/director uncomfortable and an Abhishek, whose performance has more or less been in proportion to the quality of the direction. His stature as a big star helps too, no doubt. The newer climax is more plausible within the realms of the indian cinema's hallowed tradition of hero vs villain deathmatch endings.

If a regular 'masala' entertainer could benefit from him presence, it's no surprise that his decision to take over directorial duties for Taare Zameen Par worked wonders for that movie.

You want to know what happens when an actor doesn't question and lets the director's stupid ideas take fruition? Watch Delhi 6. OMG!! What a painful movie to sit through! I can't believe this came from the same team that gave us 'Rang De Basanti'. But wait. That one had a certain Aamir Khan in it. D6 is poorly written to begin with. The melodramatic acting was unbearable at places. Surprisingly the BGM by ARR was uninspiring. If a dud like Yuvraaj can get the sort of attention it did from ARR, I wonder what went wrong with D6. Ghajini's background score had a few new pieces too. Perhaps the awards season took its toll on ARR after all....

Ithukaa Ivalo buildup??

2007-06-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

Sivaji has pretty much dominated the Indian news/entertainment sites for a few weeks now. It's like people can't get enough of all the photographs, interviews and reviews. But not one of them will mention how the movie really is. For me, it was too long (at three and a half hours), too noisy and made me think that if Rajni had accepted to do Mudhalvan, I wouldn't have had to go through this.

Aside from Suman's appearance, Shriya's dancing and the pictuization of Athiradi song (to an extent), I can't think of one other memorable moment.

$15 + all that wait - wasn't worth it.

If you excuse me I have to take a nap ... I have a bad headache.

Freedom Writers - Old Bottle, New Wine

2007-06-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

Sometime ago, I had seen a trailer for Freedom Writers on some other DVD. It seemed like yet another underdog(s) story, but I put it on my list anyway. I never get tired of underdog stories, inspite of the fact that I am going to know pretty much how the movie is gonna end.

If its a sports team, they are going to get to the finals and its going to end with the whole stadium applauding for the heroes even if they lose in the end. But I have liked every single underdog story I have seen. Coach Carter & Glory Road are among the more conventional ones. Million Dollar Baby is not really in the same category, but that's the basic story thread. The goofiest two of all were 'Dodgeball' & 'Bad News Bears', which was worth seeing just for Billy Bob Thornton. Akeelah and the Bee was another one that benefited from the kind of performances that will keep you interested inspite of an inevitable ending.

I guess this pretty much tells you that I was going to like Freedom Writers even if it was going down the beaten path. But it wasn't like that. It is not about a sports team, but a group of students who find themselves in an integrated school in Long Beach, which has seen better days before 'these people' came in.

'These people' are the Latinos, Cambodians, Chinese & African Americans who come to school, but have no interest in studying. The teachers are more interested in whining about 'the good old days' rather than try and interest these kids in a basic education. Most of these kids will dropout and become drug dealers and bums, if they survive all the violence around them. Life doesn't hold much a of a promise for them until their new teacher Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) comes to teach them junior grade english.

She faces the usual 'You don't know us', 'You don't have to live our lives','You are white' nonsense, but that is where all comparisons should end. From then on, the direction and the writing is unconventional (in a good way) and that's a relief considering that we know where it is all going to go.

The movie is also based on a true story and that might explain the presence of a side story about Erin's battle at home which indicates that life is not very simple and paying a lot of attention to one thing you care about takes away something from another.

All in all, this is worth renting. I thought that the promotional material did a bad job of convincing people to see it.

Chennai - 600028

2007-05-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't written anything since December, in spite of the fact that I have been watching at least 5 movies a week. In this time, I have had the pleasure of watching fantastic movies and as much as I wanted to scribble a few lines about movies like 'The last King of Scotland', 'The Queen' and 'Mozhi', I couldn't find the time. Damn! Work gets in the way of everything these days.. Even an absolute dud like Maayakannadi that left me seething, couldn't bring me back to the blog, but I have to say a few words about this one.

I didn't have the slightest expectation from 'Chennai 28', but it was about street cricket and that was reason enough to watch it. The last time one of Gangai Amaran's sons directed something, the result was utterly pathetic (Bambarakannale).

This movie isn't short on cliches but the lack of a 'hero' character is a big plus. I would pick a flick like this over any Ajith/Vijay movie every time. I had a great time watching it. Of course, it helped that I was crazy about playing cricket as a kid and I could identify all the little things associated with it.

It's far from perfect. There are 5 people speaking at any given time in the movie and the acting feels straight out an amateur drama, but beyond all that, its a very simple story told in a fashion that suits it. There is no grandiose fight sequence, nothing to glorify any single character. Most of the sequence are straight out of life.

The pick of the actors was Premgi Amaran (thats really how it's spelt) who has a couple of great scenes and most of my friends would surely identify with his 'Enna koduma saar idhu?' and 'Saroja.. Saamaan nikalo' and I was rotf-lmao while my better half was wondering what the joke was about.

It's a welcome change and I hope more people think about small and entertaining movies like this. I hear it's doing very well in Chennai and that's a sign to so-called 'Heros' of Tamil cinema as what people really want to see.

deja vu

2006-12-24T09:56:00.000-08:00

Doesn't the title explain it all?? At least, this is how I interpreted it after watching Denzel's latest. You've seen a million movies just like this one.

Trust me. I don't have anything against time travel movies. If exploited well, the results can be anywhere between delightful (Back to the future) and adequate (Frequency, The Lake House etc.). deja vu makes a complete mess of it. The rules are not clear. You see, in any time travel setup, it is important to establish the rules. If you make them up as you go, it is so frustrating, like having to use cheats to get past a tough level in a video game.

Anyway, among the few things that save the movie from being a complete waste of your time are Denzel's class A performance (yet another one) and Adam Goldberd's small presence as the 'uber geek in-charge' of the time travel mechanism. The only thing that's new is that the terrorist is not an Islamic fundamentalist.

Watch it if you like Micheal Bay action movies. This one however is from Tony Scott (Enemy of the State & Man on Fire).

I hope someone from Gabtan's circle watches this and gets 'inspired' enough to remake it in Tamil. Me thinks that watching Gabtan traveling back in time to stop terrorists would be worth the effort.

Tsk. Tsk. Why do they make me take the gun everytime?

2006-09-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

Yesssss. I wached it! I loved it!

Its definitely not in the league of Narasimma or Gajendra, but ample care has been taken so that the movie will be an affront to anything with half a brain.

There are two Vijaykanths in the movie. One is Perarasu or 'Chinnayya', a villager out to avenge his father’s death and the other is a CBI aapeesar who wants to prevent Perarasu from taking the law into his own hands.

There is a fantastic flashback sequence where the 7-8 year old twins are shown leading a happy life with their father when fate tragically intervenes to separate them. However, the CBI gabtan still needs a flashback to know about his past life!!!!! I wonder if gabtain is trying to spoof himself. He has ESP like powers as usual which makes it all the more surprising that he needs a third party to narrate his past. Awesome stuff!!!

The director has dutifully made a to-do list and checked these entries off:

Superb twists. Gabtan is introduced as a thoziladibhar who reveals he is CBI to catch a fake CBI aapeesar.

Character's faithful to gabtan utter 'Chinnayya' rather than 'Ayyo', 'Amma' or 'Appa' indicating their affection for gabtan even in their dying seconds.

Gabtan kicks the goondas and they fly and fall 100 meters away.

Gabtan’s gun always fire bullets in slow mosson.

There is a female lead whose presence feels like an afterthought (she has exactly 3 scenes, one of which has her calling gabtain's cell phone immediately after gabtain CBI proclaims that only his team has his cell phone number).

There are no bakistan dheeviravaadhis, which is disappointing (two times in a row [Sudesi inclusive]). Gabtan seems to have made up his mind that evil politicians are first priority now.

I think Prakash Raj is utterly broke from having produced ‘Poi’. I can't think of any other reason for him to stoop to this level.

Anand Raj has a 'different' role. I mean, he is not a bad guy this time. But he wins the award for the 'Second most irritating Malayalam speaking character in a tamil movie'. The Most irritating prize is firmly with Sathyaraj for his soporific 'Malabar police'. Of course, this means we'll hear 'aayaalu' (that man), 'eeyaaalu' (this man), ‘ivvade’ (here) and ‘Saaarrey’ (Sir..) only a thousand times each.

I think the next Vijaykanth movie should be extremely easy to make. They should do a highlights segment from each of his last 4-5 movies and we’ll have another feast.

The bike and the Thatha

2006-09-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

Movies like 'The World's fastest Indian' come and go every year. Most of them are sports movies and repeat the same 'Triump of Human Spirit' tale. Some play it to the hilt, some are above average, and there are a few that you don't mind sitting through. ('Dogeball - A true underdog story' is an exception from this general classification, probably because the sport is run by the ADAA - The American Dodgeball Association of America).

In TWFI, Anthony Hopkins plays ... no not the Indian (Not that he wouldn't try it. He has played a black guy before). He is Burt Munro from a place in Newzealand that most Kiwis havent probably heard of. His dream is to do a speed trial at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah on his 'Indian' (a bike from the 20s). It is a classic tale of the spirit being so willing, that it drags the flesh along.

He has waited all these years. He is living on welfare and spends most of his time on his bike even if he is not on it. He is too devoted to the Indian that when neighbors ask him to maintain his lawn, he decides to burn it down, so he won't have to. An angina attack later, he decides it is time to go to Utah for he may not have the time.

Like I said, you know this story. Thats not the main thing. What is worth watching is how Burt Munro endears himself to everyone he meets and sometimes gets things done by using his age and helplessness in a smart way. Some of the things he does are so outrageous that the people who stare at him in helplessness do so only because they do not want to shout at a very old person. There are some fun moments between Burt and his neighbor's kid.

The movie mixes the 'fish out of water' (Kiwi in the US) and 'triumph of human spirit' situations in a good way and although it is a drag at times, it doesnt get to the point where you want to skip chapters.

Serial Repetition

2006-09-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

Recently, I read an interview of Gautham (by Sudish Kamath, me thinks) where he spoke at length about VV and cop thrillers in general and among other things, he suggested that there would be a third cop movie from him thus completing a trilogy like (Ram Gopal Varma, Kieslovsky, Satyajit Ray etc.) I dont understand this 'trilogy' concept. Is there something unique to the number 3 that I don't get? Comments welcome.

Anyway, after watching 'Policekkaran -2: Trials and tribulations of DCP Raghavan' I hope there isn't a third installment ever. Its a funny feeling. I did not like this movie for the same reasons that made Kaakha Kaakha stand out. The KK hangover is everywhere to be seen. Gory shots of dead bodies, Long-haired bad guys, Upright police officer hero, even the names of characters (Maya, Ilamaaran) keep reminding you of KK. Did Gautham think this would help?

Other things that don't help the cause - Kamal's english dialogues. Its never been the grammar. Its just that the choice of words are straight out of some James Hadley Chase pages. Referring to the killer's (male) partner as his 'Kadhali' are homophobic at best and in bad taste. This reference to the sexual orientation of the killers could have been avoided for one reason and one reason only, which is that it plays no visible part in the crimes or choice of victims. And they do rape only their female victims.

I was told that the cinematography was a highlight. Sadly, I could only watch a thiruttu print. (No shows in Salt Lake City. If only the producers associations could do something constructive rather than fighting over election issues, I would be happy to pay 5 bucks for a download). However doing a full 360 with a camera can only "be confusuing", which is not a substitute for "depicting confusion".

The editing is good at places. There were a couple of wows in the title sequence, but for the most part, the editing only manages to give u the feeling that you are in a 'masala' picture. The lesser said about the chase sequences, the better. Haven't these guys seen Ronin or the Bourne movies.

Verdict - Very average. Like the average of 'Kaaki Chatti' and 'Kuridipunal'.

2006-08-29T22:57:00.000-07:00

I am lost for words! I have so many things I want to say about this South Korean movie ‘Oldboy’, but I fear two undesirable things could happen as a result.

I might give away a lot.
Your expectations from the movie could become huge.

Just to give you an idea of what sort of movie it is, I’ll give you the set up. A drunk is kidnapped one night and imprisoned in a room. He is fed regularly and cleaned, but is kept in a locked room. He doesn’t know who his captors are. But he is curious. Curiosity turns to anger, which again turns to a thirst for revenge when he is released after 15 years.

The movie captures his attempts to ‘avenge himself’.

Until I watched this, Kill Bill was my favorite revenge movie.

The movie is pretty graphic. It is not the kind of fare that you can sit with your wife/girlfriend/family and watch. I also base this statement on the fact that my wife & other family cannot stomach ‘tooth extraction using claw hammer’ & live sea-food delicacies. The same might not be true for you...

'Heights of stupidity'

2006-04-04T23:07:00.000-07:00

When John M. Mathan announced his second film, I immediately categorized it into the “eagerly anticipating release” list. I was very happy about it and in a way relieved too. Why relief? This guy made Sarfarosh a zillion years ago ( umm…. 8 actually) and never did another movie. Sarfarosh was a very good movie even though it followed a traditional screenplay pattern with songs and fights. His interviews after the success of Sarfarosh were indicative of his honest approach to film-making. When asked much later as to why we haven’t yet seen his second movie, he said something to the effect of “I am finding it very difficult to write something when I am forced to break into a song and dance every 30 minutes”. I felt very sad for him after reading that one.

After watching “Shikhar”, I felt that someone had put a gun to John’s head and forced himself to do something that he admittedly hates. The movie’s fault does not lie just in its classical song n dance break pattern, but in its story that is bereft of new ideas making it an ordeal to watch. To give you an idea, how do you think you would feel about watching a movie in which a guy slowly places firecrackers in a field and lights them one by one and they burst which is followed by “The End”. Don’t we know that the cracker was meant to burst after it was lit? In Shikhar, every plot detail, character or story turn, we know what exactly is going to happen and watch haplessly as it unfolds in the most unconvincing fashion possible.

Ajay Devgan is GG, a millionaire who wants to become a zillionaire by building a city. You read that right. He wants to build a complete city with “Five Star facilities” some three hours from Mumbai, where a millionaire turned “Baba” runs the “Rishi-van”. The Ashram is a stumbling block for GG’s plans and he wants it out of the way. It is very clear to the Baba that the construction of GG City will relocate Adivasis from their serene surrounds to the filth of Mumbai and in general will only make things worse. He does everything in his power to stop the construction and gets an injunction to the effect. GG is in no mood to let a Baba ruin his plans for what he calls his “Las Vegas”. Give me a break!! One look at Las Vegas history will let anyone know that it owes its existence to all the surplus electricity from the Hoover Dam project. There is no such explanation here as to why GG wants his city in these hills, when the only advantage you can think of is naturally available water.

To further his cause, GG befriends the Baba’s son Jai, who is a copy book version of his father. He has the same ideals, the same demeanor, and greets everyone with a “Shubam” (that one really gets on your nerves), but without the experience that you need in order to be wise. GG exploits that part of Jai and befriends him. He slowly exposes him to all the vices and soon, Jai is dancing to every one of his tunes. He even goes to his father on behalf of GG to ask for the land that GG so badly wants.

Things slowly come to a boil when Jai understands GG’s real intentions. In a climax that includes corrupt politicians, a fire, some firefighting, a judge who delivers instant verdicts and a wise chief minister among other improbable plot elements, things come to an end with “good prevailing over evil”. Whew! There is not a single turn the movie makes that you can’t predict with a certainty of 100%.

The movie’s leading ladies have such miniscule roles, that it wouldn’t make an iota of difference to the movie if they weren’t there at all. Even a reasonably good actor like Sushant Singh is unbearable in his dhoti clad ‘shudh hindi’ speaking avatar. Oh! What stupidity?!

By the way, shikhar means peak or heights. Nice name for a movie that scrapes the bottom of the barrel. Stay away from it.

'List'less

2006-03-25T22:24:00.000-08:00

Once in a while, in tamil cinema, you will get a movie that has the director shouting aloud “I am a non-conformist. Come watch this! You haven’t seen this before.” ‘Pattiyal’ is a reminder that such movies, even if they are unconventional, do not necessarily have to be good.

Coming from the team that made ‘Arinthum Ariyaamalum’, the movie goes out of the way to break the mould of conventional tamil cinema. It does not have a set of ‘right’ people fighting the ‘wrong’ ones. Its protagonists are killers. Hired guns do not care about their targets and that’s the way life goes for ‘Kosi’ (Arya) and Selva (Bharath). They kill for money and see it as the means of their livelihood. By the movie’s standards, either it isn’t such a lucrative business or the middleman who gives them the jobs leaves them with just enough dough for their booze and cigarettes.

But that’s where all the ‘different’ things come to an end. From intro songs to item numbers, fleeting glances to damsels in distress, the movie has its fair share of clichés. It also has two unnecessary girlfriend characters that simply don’t belong in the movie other than to provide excuses for the ‘love’ songs and ‘light’ moments. Had this been a simple story about killers, it would have been a lot more effective.

The acting is not all that effective. The four leads have a combined experience of about ten movies. The only one to make any impression is Padmapriya as ‘Saro’ who pines for Kosi, which she has been doing for a while, much to his irritation. Bharath plays the mute and has to do all the acting with his eyes. It is not too convincing for him to be able to read and write while being mute. The lip reading thing is a little too much and the guy should be blessed with ESP to be doing some of the things he does. Arya’s dialogue delivery is like Parthiban’s ; irritating and monotonous.

Amongst other things , ‘Pattiyal’ is also a sign of Indian directors’ exposure to niche cinema, especially reminding us that they do see movies like ‘Boondock Saints’ and want to think and create on those lines. Maybe the industry is being killed by producers who do not want to take risks. Nevertheless, the movie is a small attempt at breaking the classical mould and searching for stories in unusual places. We have been witnessing these false starts for a while now. Hope the real thing is round the corner.

By the way, why was this movie named 'Pattiyal'? No clue!!

Long time, no write

2006-03-25T22:18:00.000-08:00

What a week!

I’ve finally settled into a rhythm at Salt Lake City. Had a very busy week working and settling down. Got a TV and Comcast digital connection and it gave me a sense of being born again watching all my favorite shows including the Daily show with Jon Stewart.

Comcast’s on-demand service rocks!! They have bunch of free shows and movies that I can watch at any time. I can even pause them and rewind and FF like it’s a VCR. I’m loving it.

I’ll tell you about 2 letdowns but let me begin with a pleasant surprise.

Sudesi

Vijaykanth movies are pure escapist entertainers. The more serious he tries to get about making a movie, the more comical it turns out and the happier I am about it.

Sudesi is Vijaykanth’s attempt at making a movie that will serve as his election manifesto. It’s been done before and successfully so by MGR when he cracked the whip with 'Naan Aanai Ittaal' and a whole state voted for him later.

I was expecting Sudesi to be another one in a line of gems like Narasimma (India’s top most secret agent), Gajendra (Why are they calling our Gajendra as ‘Gaja Anna’)? But it turned to be something else.

Sudesi is a young (?) college graduate with a lot of inheritance that basically makes it unnecessary for him to go to work. He keeps himself busy by updating himself on the state of affairs of the country using a computer and some powerpoint presentations (as usual). This time they never really zoom into the screen to show where from he gets all the information or what he does. As usual, there is the girl (‘mora ponnu’) who pines over him. He won’t give her a second look, except when he is dancing with her in her dream sequence (so that doesn’t count).

Now to the plot: A ‘good’ CM is killed on his hospital bed by Narayanan, who is next in line. This is recorded by a hidden camera by Narisimachari, the brains behind Narayanan. He calls himself the Chanakya and Narayanan is supposed to be the Kshatriya, which is a gigantic insult to both titles. The video lands in captain’s lap. Instead of doing an expose, he uses it to blackmail the CM into doing good things for the people.

This ‘different’ story is punctuated with the usual routine of needless song 'n' dance sequences and fights (but not with 'theeviravaadhees')

What spoils the complete Vijayakanth experience is a genuinely different climax from the ones we are used to. This of course, does not indicate that you will be satisfied. I just said different, not good.

Now to the 2 disappointments.

I watched Sex, Lies and Videotape, the movie that launched Steven Soderbergh and couldn’t understand what the fuss was all about. True, the characters were well written and the dialogue very interesting at places, but I didn’t feel for any of the characters in particular and certainly didn’t care at all about what would happen to them.

The other disappointment was watching ‘Born on the fourth of July’. This was actually a decent movie about war veterans and what the experience of Vietnam has done to the country, especially to the minds of the youth at that time. Tom Cruise was brilliant as Ron Kovic, the disabled veteran from the Vietnam War. Willem Defoe hardly had anything to do. But to think that Oliver Stone got an academy award for it was something I could not agree with. There have been far more brilliant movies on war and Vietnam in particular that have gone unnoticed by the academy. The most notable of them would be ‘Full Metal Jacket’. Sometimes the academy’s choices are very hard to understand.

Aaaarrrrgh!!

2006-03-08T12:06:00.000-08:00

I was in Atlanta this weekend at my sister's and thought I would catch the oscars there with the rest of the family. Come Oscar night and I did what I do best. I forgot to watch it. I had been looking forward to it what with Jon Stewart hosting it for the first time. Many personal favorites were nominated.

I had to make do with Roger Ebert’s write up and quotations from winning speeches. I am still googling to find when ABC will re-air it, if at all they do.

I was also reading related news articles when the following link about ‘Syriana’ caught my fancy. What an entirely different POV!!

SPOILER WARNING: The following write-up will reveal plot details from ‘Syriana’
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002846556_krauthammer06.html

And we have a movie

2006-03-06T06:22:00.000-08:00

“And Starring Panchovilla as himself” did not seem to be much of a title, since I didn’t know who Panchovilla was in the first place. A low angle shot of Antonio Banderas brandishing old type rifles was the only recognizable feature on the cover.

But the movie was recommended to me by a good source, so I thought I should give it a go. I didn’t know the director Bruce Beresford, but upon googling, my jaw dropped when academy award nominations for his movies over the years were enough to turn a list into an ‘angavastram’.

Panchovilla was a revolutionary in turn of the century Mexico where a group of people had had enough of the government kissing American asses and turning over all the oil to the US. (I know this is a common thing for the US to do, but in 1914?? Old habits die hard!) When times were tough to run the revolutionary army with the arms embargo by US President Wilson making things impossible, Panchovilla announces that he will let any film company shoot his war for a small price of 20%.

The mutual film company, who at that time had in their rolls great names including that of Chaplin, sends a newbie named Frank Thayer to discuss and finalize terms with General Panchovilla. Pancho smirks at Frank “I wasn’t good enough for Chaplin eh?”.

But he needs the gold and agrees to the deal. This marks the start of a friendship between Frank and Pancho (the nickname for Franco in Spanish or Mexican as Pancho would say).

The cast is amazing. This is Antonio Banderas’ first serious acting assignment where he has to actually perform rather than let his ‘sex symbol’ image do it. And he does it with aplomb. His witty lines will leave you in peals of laughter or serious thought. His portrayal of Pancho as a man who is burdened by the weight of the expectations from his people is sure to surprise the audience.

The movie is a HBO production, but looks gorgeous enough to pass off as any major studio production.

Apart from telling a great story, the movie also gives interesting insights into cinema production in the early 1900s. What a long way we’ve come!!

On another note, because of the HBO tag maybe, I noticed that his movie has been completely missed by Roger Ebert and Filmcritic.com which was very surprising. Mysterious lack of publicity!

A Mature romance

2006-03-02T04:09:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, simple stories can have a lasting effect, romantic ones especially. Romance movies, when they succeed, do so, mainly because the audience roots for the characters to get together in the end. And if the roles are played wonderfully by stars who are several times bigger than the simple characters they play, it becomes a treat to watch.

Iris (Jane Fonda) is a recently widowed line worker at the local bakery. In her words, "the line never ends". The loss of her husband and the burden of supporting two kids and her sister's family is a big source of her anxiety but she doesn't show it too much. Stanley Cox (De Niro) works in the bakery's canteen as a cook. He befriends Iris one day when she loses her purse to a robber. To her, Stanley comes across as an enigma initially. He is very withdrawn and doesn't talk a lot to her, but does give out signs that he wants to be friends. He has a very old father whom he lives with, rides a bicycle to work and does things that other men wouldn't.

Iris soon discovers the reason for Stanley's introverted personality. He can't read or write and is too ashamed to admit. Subsequently, he loses his job as a cook, when the manager decides he can't hire someone who will not be able to distinguish between sugar and rat poison.

Iris is the not the kind of woman who'd stand and watch while someone suffers. So she decides to intervene and offers to teach him to read and write. They start meeting more often which gives them the chance to understand each other's expectation from the relationship.

I do not wish to tell you much more than this, although the ending is no suspense in a movie like this. It was a treat to watch some scenes. Both performances were fantastic and just right for the story. A younger De Niro, playing a soft character is not something we see often. I can only remember him for all his "Come on"s and hand gestures when he usually plays the tough guy.
Not that I mind watching him in those roles, but this was a genuine surprise.

Yeppa, Yeppa, Yeppappa

2006-02-27T04:10:00.000-08:00

I remember a few months ago, I came across this photo on the June R 'Inru Isai Veliyidu' poster. I was so enchated that I stopped my bike to admire it for a minute.

Since the soundtrack was appealing, I added the movie to my list of movies to see. And naturally, when the movie finally came out, I dutifully downloaded it.

What a load of crap it turned out to be!! Put all the tearjerkers of the B&W era together and June R will still put them to shame. So much melodrama and artificiality!!

The characters in this movie exist in a parallel universe, where it is ok for someone to admit an injured stranger on the road to a hospital and start calling that person 'amma' from the next moment onwards. My parallel universe theory is validated by the injured person who immediately accepts her rescuer as a 'ponnu'. When I say immediate, I mean it. Literally!!!

Jyothika and Sarita play the characters in such unconvincing fashion that makes you wonder if they really cared at all. The mother and daughter start having a fun life together, and tragedy strikes in the form of Biju Menon's character who is Sarita's real son. He now wants his mother back and starts behaving 'decently'.

To explain the motive behind this new found affection, we have more unbeliavable characters introduced to us and they do even more unreasonable things. The only performance that deserves a mention comes from Khushbu who plays a lawyer friend of Jo's and intervenes to sort the matter out so that mother and daughter can live without any trouble from the evil son.

It is as if Revathi Varma (the director), made a list of cliches and checked it off a list. For example,

Orphan who grew up to be successful, but yearns for a family - check

Selfish son, who only wants his mother's inheritance - check

Daughter-in-law who prefers modern dresses and frequents a disco - check

Naturally she calls her husband 'Darling' (evil written all over it!) - check

Son's sudden change of heart turning to be more drama - check

I could go on like this, but what for?

Also there is a guest appearance by Surya (5 secs. at the most), which is an affront to the audience. (we have a pathetic story here, but we do have a glimpse of Surya for you.. come see it!!!)

Verdict: Avoid it like the plague!

I can't get enough of this!

2006-02-26T08:50:00.000-08:00

Came across another infuriated 'Aadhi' viewer. Where are we heading with all these movies. By now, I am sure all my friends are tired of hearing me trash this movie, but this link surely deserves a reading.

At least the good thing was that the public seems to have rejected the movie outright. There were no comments on the lines of "It was a hit in the X, Y and Z centers."

As a bonus, you also get to read a pictorial review of "Paramasivan" aka "Vasuvin Kodumai part XXI" on the same page.

Paint it Yellow!

2006-02-25T19:14:00.000-08:00

Its been a while (3 weeks or so..) since I watched "Rang De Basanti". I sat down to review it the very next day and something or the other kept happening. Not that I would have gotten very far with the exercise. Not that this movie needs recommendation either. If you need to be recommended an Aamir Khan movie, I know you probably wouldn't be here in the first place.

If you get goosebumps watching a movie, what more can you possibly say about it?

I watched it on a friday and followed it up with "Aadhi", "Paramasivam" & "Saravanaa" and I've never felt more wretched about the tamil industry ever.

But I digress. Just watch it. My friend Shiva, in his words, 'never reviews stuff'. But he found this movie worthy of one. You can check his bold 'third eye' on my links section and read about it.

Kushi

2006-02-25T13:56:00.000-08:00

My roommate decided to fulfill his burning desire to watch this movie yesterday after he found out that a common friend had a DVD copy. Apparently he had missed (half of) this movie during his college days.

I believe that missing half of a movie is something that shouldn't happen to anyone. So, I gave up my laptop for the noble cause and with nothing better to do on a Friday evening, decided to participate.

Surprisingly, I found a lot wrong with it. This was a movie that I had enjoyed thoroughly with my friends. We had just finished our final year exams and were awaiting our visa dates. We couldn't have aksed for better then. Replete with witty one liners, interesting situations with an equal measure of double entendres and vulgar gyrations from Mumtaj had made sure that it would put S.J. Surya on the list of sure shot directors.

Some movies are just not meant to watched again. Its an honor that can only be bestowed on movies like The Godfather, Micheal Madana Kama Rajan and a few others like Pulp Fiction. Anyway, I made some observations.

Vijay can't act for nuts. Not then, not now and not ever. His dancing is another matter though.

I just love Jyothika on screen, but this time, all I could think of was how heavy her make up (esp her eyelashes) was. The one thing that had caught everyone's attention for good for bad was her body-language and squeaky irritating voice (blame the dubbing artiste). After watching SJ Suryah act in three movies, I am now clear about where the blame should lie.

The songs were very enjoyable to watch (with the exception of 'Kattipudi') reaffirming that it was one of Raju Sundaram's better works.

Also, SJ has a cameo in the movie (he causes Vijay's 'life changing' accident). He definitely looked better then. Just imagining him in 'Kalvanin Kaathali' delivering those romantic lines with a forlorn face, gives me the jitters now. So, I guess I'll stop.

Kalaba Kaadhalan

2006-02-25T13:37:00.000-08:00

Call it the effect of watching Aadhi, Paramasivan, Saravanaa & Kalvanin Kaathali back to back, but Kalaba Kaadhalan did come as a whiff of fresh air.

The plot is not entirely new. People are going to call it an inspiration from 'Vaali' and its poor cousin ‘Sheesha’ (hindi), which reversed genders in the Vaali storyline and had Neha Dhupia in the lead. It also ultimately failed at the box office because of the fact that her breasts, however attractive, couldn’t do the acting.

There is a state of mind when we contemplate doing something that we know for sure is taboo. When we are done contemplating about all the consequences and have let the heart rule the mind, we come to a stage where we are done thinking and we start doing it. The protagonist of ‘Kalaba Kaadhalan’, Kanmani is in such a state of mind.

Kanmani’s elder sister Anbarasi has recently married Akilan, who is as perfect as a groom can be in Kanmani’s eyes. She has convinced herself that the best option for her is to marry Akilan. She comes to town to stay with the newly weds on the pretext of ‘attending a computer course’ and after doting on him for several days, bizarrely, approaches him with the idea. What is novel about the whole thing is that, Kanmani is not an evil woman. She has no interest in stealing him from her sister. In her mind, she cannot see what she is doing wrong by asking her sister or Akilan to consent to the arrangement. Akilan is taken aback. He tries to talk her out of it at first but she doesn’t budge one bit. Akilan’s surprise turns later to sympathy and then to outright anger, which is understandable from our point of view, but leaves Kanmani unfazed. These events provide for some interesting scenes and some cliched ones.

The movie then meanders towards an ending, which I have no intention of giving away. Suffice to say that there’s a good chance that you’ll guess wrong.

Arya (or is it ‘Aarya’) plays Akilan, the sophisticated alpha male from the big city with an air of simplicity around him. Arya is still stuck in the ‘chin down, eyeballs up’ mode that he was using effectively in ‘Arinthum Ariyaamalum’. It doesn’t quite work in this movie. He has a few moments but there is nothing earth shattering about his acting. At least, in my humble opinion, this is right kind of material for him. In his last outing in ‘Oru Kallooriyin kadhai’, he was abysmal.

Renuka Menon as Anbarasi has very little to do apart from appearing in a couple of songs. There is not much to talk about her, but surely, the dubbing artiste could have been a little easy on our ears. The squeaking voice is just as irritating as it was in ‘Aa .. Aah’ where, I think the same person had dubbed for Nila.

But the pick of the pack is surely Akshaya who plays Kanmani. We get her character established very early in the movie in a totally unnecessary scene. It’s a dead giveaway of the plot. Her expressive eyes help her a long way in registering a convincing performance and I hope we get to see more of her.

My best wishes go to the directory ‘Igor’ (what a name! and the I is pronounced as in idli) for choosing not to make another ‘Aadhi’, ‘Paramasivan’ or ‘Saravanaa’.

Thanks for coming to the Poojai!

2006-02-25T13:24:00.000-08:00

Hi,

Welcome to my blog. Here you will find my opinions on movies. I've been wanting to do this for a long time now, but being the lazy person that I am, its taken all this while to convert my thought into action. I watch a lot of movies and whenever I feel there is something to say about a particular movie, I plan to jot it down here.

I hope this can be a place to objectively discuss movies, not only from India and the US, but the rest of the world (Thanks to DVDs and subtitles).

Once again thanks for visiting.