The leading scene to the song Mannippaaya is probably the only contribution of Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya to Tamil Cinema. And a very good one. It isn’t different but a very clichéd one. The way it was passionately shot made all the difference. With such a well rendered song from Rahman and Shreya, Gautam had only one choice, to build it up very well. The whole song was ecstatically sung and a major part of the song was picturized in the same way. Especially when Simbhu sings animatedly when driving a bike, been there done that.

The Alleppey night, the boat, the lyrics, the love struck Simbhu and Trisha, the choreography and even the graphically falling star all support Mannippaaya’s heat. One would wish if the whole song never moved from that place. As the song divulges into other dreamy sequences and montages, it looses the passion of the night where it starts. Nevertheless it was the only scene I loved in the film. And ofcourse, some parts of Aaromale.

Gautam sticking to Simbhu’s point of view and not showing an extra scene of Trisha when Simbhu not being present is good screen-writing but his biggest problem are the dialogues. He should probably take help from someone else or stop repeating the, “I want to make love to you” lines. Seems super artificial when squeezed into real-life situations.

P.S: The Thirukural harmony in Mannippaaya sounded unrefined.

First, a pedestal for Selvaraghavan’s Aayirathil Oruvan just like the one put up here for Peter Jackson’s King Kong.

Fantasy genre is a very special one. Just like Harry Potter lineup, if you don’t get into the movie, your brain starts questioning how Harry Potter didn’t hit on the brick wall when trying to walk through a pillar in the train station. Not all of us are hardwired for such instant leap of faith. Cutting down such crap with which reviews usually begin and starts to bore us with such psychological theories that the reviewer referred to before writing the review, Aayirathil Oruvan is a kickass film that should be enjoyed in a full screen without uttering a single word to the next seater. All you might know, he might have already taken the leap of faith and immersed in the movie and you are just thinking, how the hell can lightning strike on karthi while being blessed.

In any case, AO has stupendous writing, great pace, wonderful camera, immaculate art and costumes and ofcourse an apt finish to the neat start. The movie hasnt been pulled off just by the different landscape or thoughtful subtexts in screenplay but by the actors who have made us believe that the movie could be a true story.

And yes, the critics say that it has tinges of Gladiator and every other historical fantasy they have seen so far. Sure. For that matter, King Kong had big influences from Titanic and Jurassic Park. It was still considered as a herculean effort. And Selvaraghavan needs to be lauded for pulling it off with limited resources.

Above all that the movie kept me glued to the screen throughout the length of the movie. It was paisa vasool and I felt I should have paid a few more bucks for entertaining me thoroughly. Not a single movie after Virumandi had me tied up so badly. If you are crazy enough, you would love Aayirathil Oruvan. I pity the ones who hated it. You just missed an interesting piece of Tamil Cinema for who knows how long you would have to wait for another movie as gripping as this. SORRY!

Naan Kadavul didn’t strike a chord in me. It was a typical Bala movie aimed at making wet hankies over a hyped and pointless story. The whole concept of Aham Brahmasmi was wrongly used and preached. The only saving grace was the clandestine black humor in Jeyamohan’s dialogues and the amazing ‘acting’ of the ‘real’ mendicants.

Aarya was terribly artificial. Ajith would have been a worst choice. It’s time Bala starts making real movies instead of hashing out the same sethu-type characters and Pithamahan type storylines.

Just like Sethu, Subramaniyapuram and ParuthiVeeran where the directors bagged on capitalizing the viewer by making him cry, Naan Kadavul uses the beggar underworld. The beggar world is certainly a revelation and this subplot could have impacted millions had it been made into a full fledged movie or even a documentary.

And if you think I’m wrong for the first time, I’m not. I’ve committed this mistake of starting a bala flame war earlier, although unintentionally. Head here for more.

The movie sucks. Someone lend Gautham, a book on screen writing.

Was it good?
Actually, It was better than good. It wasn’t just right there but this is probably what could be done, given the frantic screenplay.

Story?
Watch it, to believe it.

Screenplay?
Neat effort. Could have been better given that most of us have watched non-linear screenplays like Crash and Babel, firsthand from Hollywood. Nevertheless, a cool effort. Sujatha’s dramatic touches at various places.

Music?
uuuvey !!

Peformance?
Thoda :) It’s a Kamalhassan film.

Favorite Performance ?

In the order of favorites- The CBI officer(amazing slang), Mottai Paati, Annaachi, Fletcher and so on until Avtaar Singh.

Dialogues ?
Brilliant at times, Egotripping at times. Could find traces of Sujatha and Crazy Mohan. I’m sure they have their contribution all over the place.

Worst ?
Kamal’s make-up fetish.

Best ?
Kamal playing the paati’s role with atmost ease, Poovaraagan’s Thirunelveli slang, Fletcher’s perfect American slang, screenplay and overall execution.

Anything else ?
Don’t decide about the movie right after watching it. Sleep over it. With a complex, sometimes confusing and not-to-so-logically exciting screenplay, to make a decision immediately wouldn’t be the right thing to do.

What the heck, let me say it, I liked it !!

Just like Santhosh Subramaniam, I haven’t seen the original Telugu version. But I couldn’t believe that Selvaraghavan can get so damn boring with his screenplays.

The first half of YNM literally begs for a good screenplay writer. It just drags and drags and starts to sleep midway. The second half of this family-romance is where they teach audience the proven effective ways of kaalai kadan.

The trio, Dhanush, Karthik Kumar and Nayan are boring thanks to their bad characterization and pathetic dialogues. Udit Narayan’s rendering of Yengeyo Paartha Nyabhagam and Nenjai Kasakki is sprinkled with bad Tamil pronunciation, though the songs are very tuneful.

The only good thing about the movie is that is starts very naturally and ends in a similar fashion. Everything in-between is a huge heap of mess. Tamil Cinema still awaits a realistic portrayal of a software engineer’s life.

Original script wins. Pollathavan too. Except for a bad unrelated title(just to get some more rajinikanth fans to watch it) and some teeny weeny issues in screenplay, Pollathavan is one of the best scripts of the year. Like Gilli, it had a simple so-called-knot and no big missions to complete. Hence the screenplay moves seamlessly. Hats off to Vetrimaran(whoever he is), the director of this film.

The movie makes me believe that first-person narration is the most easy way to grip audience. Kakka Kakka proved it for the first time. And even more, Vetri Maran plays with two first person narratives in this flick. The narration juggles between protagonist and the villain, again seamlessly, in a interesting fashion. Loved every bit of it.

Unassuming cast, actual shooting spots (no sets), down-to-earth slang in dialogues, a well made climax stunt(after a long long time in tamil cinema) are the biggest strengths. Dhanush does a cake-walk. Except for some cliched expressions, Dhanush does a Kathal Konden again.

One of the best films of this year, don’t afford to miss it. Good luck to Vetrimaran !!

Perfume is passionately made, vividly colorful, sinfully sensuous but slightly slow and terribly long. An authentic book-to-screen story, directed by Tom Tykwer(Run Lola Run) and originally written as a hugely popular novel[Das Parfum] by Patrick Suskind.

It talks about a French orphan boy with a superhuman sense for smell. As he grows, he meets a perfume maker, displays his sense of smell talent, learns the art of perfume making but unfortunately turns into a schizophrenic. The ending has to be seen to be enjoyed.

The whole movie is crowded with amazing frame compositions, great cinematography and lovely BGMs. But what’s more attractive is the acute talent of the director to bring the sense of smell into the movie and still make the audience relate to it.

Ben Wishaw as Genouille, the passionate perfume maker is every man’s dream of following ones passion. Passionate enough to even turn into a solid schizo. As he runs behind the chariot in the final scenes, with a handful of “special” perfumes, one would understand his perfume passion. A career high role for Ben and he has done an amazing job of making the best of it.

Dustin Hoffman does a cameo as the perfume master. I wish someone else played the role. It didn’t fit him too well.

Even as the movie starts with the story ending, you know that it isn’t going to be the actual one. After a long wait of 2 hours and 15 minutes, the final scenes arrive and they are totally unbelievable, conceived and captured on camera extremely well. The whole movie rests in that final sequence and you can clearly see, a normal psycho movie turning into a beautiful one right at that moment. Good Experience.

Watched Superman Returns in the IMAX with selected scenes on 3D. It’s an 85 foot screen with some fabulous sound system. And its probably the biggest screen a cinephile gets to watch in his lifetime. Still…Read ahead.

Kevin Spacey did disappoint. Why did he ever accepted to do the movie in first place ? That tells you I didn’t expect too much out Brandon Routh, in the first place. He has the perfect nose of a superman and he fits into the role. Atleast physically. More than helping the plotpoint of the movie, he serves as Mr.Droolover for the chicks. You could hears Wows and Aahs in the theatre.

Didn’t impress me much like Spidey 2.

How would write a two-minute review for a short film that only runs for six minutes and two seconds, to be exact ? You could. If the movie is well made. Not just because the maker is your friend. This isn’t written because I know Arun for sometime now. Arun‘s The Seance is truly a good shortfilm. Like many other shortfilms, at the first viweing, there is a chance that you might not understand the story behind this movie. Any shortstory or shortfilm should considered as a slice of life. So there can’t be a three act structure for a shorty. Even with a single act, you could bring in the formulaic movie structure. Arun does it convincingly well.

The Seance could be classified as a horror shorty. It has superb production values and it doesn’t look or feel like an amateur film. Not even for a moment. The lighting and cinematography are just about immaculate. There is enough darkness as much as the available light. The music goes with the mood of the movie and is very scary at ‘that’ single moment. The actors are spot on. BTW, there are only two actors[Tom Cappadona and Rick Pisarro] in the whole movie. Bearing few shots where one would feel that the editor could have sliced just an extra frame, the editing puts up a neat show.

The execution of the script is the highlight. Honestly, superb direction. This is probably the best of Arun till date and it will go a long way in showcasing his talent. Having a great product on-hand, it’s now with Arun and his team to take this movie to film festivals and see how it fares. For that’s the only way for an independent movie can get noticed. The Seance is already getting rave reviews in Kevin Spacey’s Triggerstreet. I think you could watch the movie online if you register there. I got a high quality version sent from Arun but that shouldn’t matter. Do mail Arun[arun[dot]filmmaker[at]gmail.com] on your views. He is all ears now.

Susi Ganesan strikes back with a simplistic thriller that proceeds as interesting as a Bhagyaraj screenplay. Once you are out of the theatre you can’t avoid the feeling that the movie was mediocre but when you are at it, just like a pulp fiction, it interestingly thrills.

Thiruttu Payaley’s screenplay has all twists of a Bhagyaraj screenplay except a family that would form a nucleus to the story. Instead it has a corrupted unemployed youth who makes blackmailing his profession. Given the latest fad for Gilliish movies, Thiruttu Payaley clearly treads clearly inthe opposite path. Wait a sec. Did I say different path ? Oh !! no. Not for the flashback piece. A classic flashback that details why the protagonist is pushed towards blackmailing. Anniyan stuff. Other than that and a couple of unnecessary songs, the film goes on pretty steadily.

And Jeevan plays his part, for the most part, very well. If only he was a little more spontaneous it would have been a big plus. I seem to have a soft corner for Sonia Agarwal and so I would say, she did her job fairly well. Vivek rocks after a long long time. This time he is against mega serials and he performs the thenali stuff. Amusing. Malavika tries to become a neelambari but her character doesn’t help her ambition too much. Neverthless good job. Abhaas is also there. Just there.

The title song thiruttu payaley based on MGR’s chinna payaley sethi kelada seem to hit the nail on its head. Vairamuthu is still alive.Susi Ganesan continues to take the alternative path just like his mentor Mani Ratnam and thats a happy thing to notice. Couple of more films and he would become an ‘established’ hand.

Was classy, slick and well executed. Intriguing [sometimes confusing] at the start, it goes on to become a fantastic message movie, something that one wouldn’t expect from the Fernando Meirelles, the director of City of God[COG].

If this were to be a blurb on a poster, it would read, John le Carré‘s Tour-de-force. A perfect thriller told as docu-drama that unfolds completely only as you move to the second half of the movie. Just like City of God, it has super slick editing, great camerawork and interesting screenplay.

With those blue eyes and a verisimilitude visage, Ralph Fiennes cakewalks through the movie. The mummy girl, Rachel actually won an Oscarfor the best supporting actress despite her so-so performance.

Will be a very surprising movie if you haven’t been seen the director’s previous flick, COG. With the COG baggage, this movie stands good but certainly not as good as COG.

Though being a silly romantic pot-boiler, Hitch was funny. Give it to Will Smith for making it an enjoyable fare and ofcourse Kevin James[who looks very much like Mr.Incredible] who managed to evoke some laughter. The screenplay couldn’t sustain the interest it generated in the first few scenes.

The end seemed to drag like a yash johar flick. And yeah, I have to say I don’t think I like Eva Mendes. Netflix it if you are bored on those action films. If only you could wait, some bollywood flick plagiarising the storyline, will be in the making.

Thank You For Smoking takes a funny look at the lives of spin doctors, the truth they almost filter, the corporations that rest on their shoulders and the people the tackle on their everyday lives. It’s certainly not great flick that one should raise up and give a Two thumbs way way up !! but it certainly provides enough thought and laughter on a Tuesday evening.

The spin doctors or the lobbyists as they are lovingly called, manage to be a firewall between the government and the corporations. In this process they also get burnt by the public angst. These guys talk their way through even the toughest of trials and save the corporations billions of dollars every year. Now if you couldn’t make any sense of the previous statements, watch Thank You For Smoking. If you do, watch Thank You For Smoking.

Nick Naylor[Aaron Eckhart], the charming gentleman with a broad smile, is a lobbyist for tobacco. In short, he proves to be middleman between the cigarette companies and the public / government. His life is like standing on a landmine, from tackling the anti-smoking debates on a television show to arguing for pro-smoking in jury courts without giving the slightest of a doubt that he is for against anti-smoking. He dines with the Merchants of Death [MOD], a group of lobbyists who are in a league of their own. MOD consists of a lady lobbyist for alcohol, Nick Naylor for cigarettes and another gentleman for firearms. Not just that but he has a kid son who manages to dramatically change the way Nick thinks himself in general. Nick is ready to accept people calling him by names from Profiteer to a Pimp to blood sucker. Gracious performance by Aaron who carries the entire movie on him.

Nick’s bed talk on lobbying tips & tricks to Heather [Katie Holmes], an aspiring journalist of The Washington Probe, starts the fun. The aftermath forms the rest of this 90 minute movie. TYFS moves along with funny dialogues and some interesting situations along way that lead to an expected climax.

As expected, not a single person smokes in the film except for the Captain[Robert Duvall] who holds a cigar on his hospital bed. The titles roll with the cast names printed on vintage cigarette boxes reminding us of the 70′s. Other than that and the funny arguments [some of which are ture] there is not much on pro-smoking advices. In fact its all black humor, starting from the 15 year old guy on the morning show who was traced of lung cancer to the Marlboro model who accepts bribe to reduce his old-age cigarette bashings.

The writing is razor sharp with some funny quotes sprinkled all along. Made me think, when Nick Naylor tells his son, “You are never wrong, when you argue right”. Jason Reitman as the writer and director of this movie, based on the book by Christopher Buckley, does a great job in making the best out of the screenplay. From the very idea of Space Smoking to the message, Smoking is Cool !! which Hollywood sends to the world, Jason makes enough satire on the industry he comes from and that’s exciting.

If you are bored with sitcoms and reality shows on cable, this film is a great escapade.

Savadichuduvaen. He repeats and repeats and repeats that one would think the protagonist’s characterization is a mock by the director. It may not be. Though the story works at various levels, the movie as a whole fails to impress. Chithiram Pesuthadi is full of good ideas that are badly executed. Like Azhagiya Theeye, it’s very earnest but thats it. Nothing more.

And what’s with re-releasing of this movie ? Oscar Ravichandran probably wants to be potrayed as the savior of tamil cinema. Looks like the very very mediocre ghaana, Vaala Meenukkum is a massive hit back in Tamil Nadu as one could see several people dancing to it during the success meet.

Sunil aka Narain could have played a role in a Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s film but he doesn’t shine too much with his acting skills. Sometimes his facial expressions are more pronounced and confuse the heck out of a viewer. It’s even more funny that Rediff’s Shobha Warrier calls him as Tamil cinema’s next big thing. She could take some time-off before she writes S J Surya is the next Kamal Hassan of Kollywood. Couple of duets were truly mesmerizing and the theme music reminds me of a Mani Ratnam film. Though being an inspired theme, it aligns to the ‘once-more’ category.

Myshkin, the director has some neat ideas but due to various reasons, he wasn’t able to pull them all together. The editing was pathetic. To cut a shot a the right frame is an exercise in style. One particular scene happens in the living room of the heroine’s house. There are 5-6 people sitting in that room talking indistinctly. Once they complete talking, the camera slowly pans around the room. As everyone moves away from the scene, the camera cuts to a close-up of the blind woman, pauses for a couple of seconds and then the shot is cut. If you could visualise this scene, you would expect that there is a something related to the blind woman and hence we see a close-up of her. Me too. But unfortunately, nothing happens after that. Was that extra shot present to confuse the viewer or was it an editing loophole ?. There are also rapid editing cuts. I assume the director uses this to increase the pace of the screenplay. Good idea but bad execution.

Maybe with this success Myskhin come up with a better script and make some dabbu to rope a better team, next time around.