Vettaikkaran

Vettaikkaran to a Vijay fan is what a filtered cigarette is to a beedi smoker, it's less harmful than the regular ones but at the end of the day, it can still cause cancer.

This movie has nothing different from the last 10 Vijay movies. But the utter cruel nature of his previous three films has made this seem so very well made. It can be very enjoyable if you walk into the theatre with no expectations like many other Vijay hits. It has got some awesome dance sequences, good comedy scenes, cheesy oneliners and a hot heroine. A definite watch if you have an appetite for such movies(I definitely do!).

The story is simple. The powerful villain ruins Vijay's idols life and is at loggerheads with Vijay. From the brink of defeat, vijay fights back and saves the day. The execution has to be appreciated as there is not much Vijay has not done these days in his movies. The villain, Salim Ghouse, does a neat job. Good to see him back in Tamil movies after Thiruda Thiruda. His dialogue delivery is thoroughly enjoyable. The heroine, Anushka, has nothing much to do. A step down for her after her incredible performance in Arundathi. The other actors have also given a neat performance. Special mention to the telugu actor, Srihari. The songs fit like a glove. Music Director Vijay Antony seems to be a perfect fit for Vijay. The numbers are peppy, raw which is exactly what every Vijay fan wants.

The masala elements have been mellowed down to suit the palate of the multiplex audiences but still spicy enough for the loyal fans to be happy. Kudos to the first time director for ensuring this. Never in my wildest of dreams did I imagine a scene from a 'A Beautiful Mind' fitting in a Vijay flick. Director Babu Sivan has pulled this awesome feat. I am pretty sure he's gonna be around for some time.

I would give it a 40/100 for being the perfect masala movie this year.

DASAVATHARAM

I really regret watching this movie on the first day of its release because I missed the best part of the movie, its clever, witty dialogues. However, This movie was expected to be talked about for a different reason, the ten avatars of Kamal. The make-up has been a big let down, considering the fact that the makeup was supposed to be the main talking point of the movie.

I guess, the makeup artist, Michael Westmore is still in his StarTrek hangover. Most of the avatars are ludicrously odd like the StarTrek characters especially the Bush and the Dalit activist avatars

Since this movie was made with the sole aim of asserting Kamal's versatility as an actor and his dedication to his trade, the screenplay, though intelligently crafted fails to make an impact on the junta. In every scene, the screenwriter Kamal has made an exhibition of his impudence, be it during the explanation of chaos theory or his dialogues on atheism. One cannot write a better screenplay connecting the ten characters, However, some of the 10 characters had no role at all.

The movie's humour is intrinsic and the rendezvous between the protagonist and the Telugu CBI officer, Balram Naidu is Top notch. As in every Kamal movie, poking fun at gults and their accent has been the main source of humour. The rest of the cast pulled off a decent show, especially Napoleon in his brief cameo as the chola king and the Chinese female with her accented Tamil. Asin had little to do, though she shares a lot of screenspace alongside Kamal. Mallika on the other hand, though she appears only in a couple of songs, impresses with her raunchy, lapdance number. However, One gets the feel that every other actor apart from Kamal just make cameo appearances.

The main plot is quite simple. The protagonist(Govind Ramaswamy), a BioTech scientist is on a racy mission to prevent a biological weapon from falling into the hands of the villain(Christian Fletcher), an ex CIA agent, now a felon. Needless to say, Both of them are played by Kamal.

And there are subplots weaved around this, involving the Sand Mafia, a Sikh Pop Singer diagnosed with cancer, a mentally unstable old woman in the small town of Chidambaram.

Kamal's dubbing for the different characters has been phenomenal. He does the ten voices, all very distinct and very difficult to perfect, with so much ease. But Kamal as we know, is a magician in these kinda stuff. We have known this fact from his different versions of telugu in "Marocharitraa" and his southern tamil from "16 Vayathinilae" to "Virumandi" and his amazing Kovai accent in "Sathileelavathy".

The film makes some direct accusations on Bush for having funded the creation of biological

weapons, which should have been avoided. The graphics is something that has come out quite well. It looks a bit amateurish in the stunt and chase sequences. However the climax Tsunami sequence is breathtaking fully worth the amount of money and hardwork that went into it.

Overall, A very intelligent and enjoyable visual treat for the neutral. However, the imagery of the film’s final act is suggestive of an anti-religious parable about rejecting God.

I give it a 50/100

THE ULTIMATE MOVIE TAG

This is the first tag that I'm creating... Though heavily inspired from the previous book tag ...
After all this is supposed to be a movie blog rite...

1) First movie I ever saw?? Put Fundae...

Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs(1937), An animated movie by Disney... As part of a school trip in class I... Dont remember if I enjoyed it... Recently downloaded and watched it... This time I really did enjoy it.

2) Movies that I have watched loads of times...

Pulp Fiction
Fightclub
Clockwork Orange
Dr. Strangelove
Hey Ram
Virumaandi
Pesum Padam
Michael Madana Kamarajan
Anbe sivam ( over 400 times, no exaggerations)
Panchatantaram
City of God
Shawshank Redemption
The Dollar, Godfather and Matrix Trilogies

3) Movies that made you Laugh

Panchatantaram
Michael Madana Kamarajan
Dr. Strangelove
Pulp Fiction
Snatch

4) Movies that made you Cry

Quatre Cents Coups
The Bicycle Thief
Anbe Sivam

5) Cool Movie Quotes

"Frankly my Dear, I dont give a Damn" - Gone with the wind
"Never underestimate the power of denial." - American Beauty
" Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don't. " - Schindler's List

6) Movies you hate the most

The Village
Loads of Tamil Movies
All Hindi and Telugu movies

7) The Movie I watched recently and its review

Spiderman 3 ... One of the worst films of the year...cudve been much better... the cartoon version which comes on Jetix is much better..

8) Movies I would like to watch soon

Das Bhoot
Lord of the Rings
Star Wars
Grindhouse
Mean streets
Le regle du jeu
Battleship Potemkin
The Deer Hunter

9) Favourite Movie makers

Quentin Tarantino
Martin Scorsese
Stanley Kubrick
Billy Wilder
Kamal Hassan
Francois Truffaut

I tag all the ppl who ve read this post...

THE BOOK TAG

This is the first tag im taking up...

48 hrs with one Mr. Thupkary's bestseller "Steel Production" and now i feel like i had a date with a dementor or sumthin(read some harry potter for the first time..hangover i guess) ...

Anyways, here goes

1)A Book that Changed Your Life

Rather than Books, characters actually have , in some level , affected my life... I think a character called Osano from Mario Puzo's "Fools Die" affected me quite a bit ... and even the Godfather character (again by Puzo) inspires me ...

2)A Book that I have read more than once

The Godfather
The Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini
1984
Animal Farm
Brave New World
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ( Classic Gonzo )
Hitchhiker' s Guide To Galaxies
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

3) A Book You'd Take onto a Desert Island

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxies (AWESOME!!! )

4) A Book That Made You Laugh

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxies
PG Wodehouse

5) A Book That Made You Cry

Recently, "The Kite runner" by Khaled Hosseini nearly did that...

6) A Book You Wish Had Been Written

The sequel to "Brothers Karamazov" by dostoevsky which he had intended to write.

7) A Book You Wish Had Never Been Written

Harry Potter, Its fucked me in lotsa quizzes

8) A Book You're Currently Reading

Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
Ulysses - James Joyce
Harry Potter ( This is quite boring for a first timer like me)

9) A Book You've Been Meaning To Read

Ayn Rand
Paulo Coelho
War and Peace
Alice in Wonderland ( Read it when I was really small, Now want to read it again after watching "Matrix" the movie)
Books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jorge Luis Borges

Long Time no post... finally am back home... So expect some activity ...
Heres something to set things rolling...Here goes...

As soon as Wolf began to feel That he would like a decent meal, He went and knocked on Grandma's door. When Grandma opened it, she saw The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin, And Wolfie said, "May I come in?" Poor Grandmamma was terrified, "He's going to eat me up!" she cried. And she was absolutely right. He ate her up in one big bite. But Grandmamma was small and tough, And Wolfie wailed, "That's not enough! I haven't yet begun to feel That I have had a decent meal!" He ran around the kitchen yelping, "I've got to have a second helping!" Then added with a frightful leer, "I'm therefore going to wait right here Till Little Miss Red Riding Hood Comes home from walking in the wood." He quickly put on Grandma's clothes, (Of course he hadn't eaten those). He dressed himself in coat and hat. He put on shoes, and after that, He even brushed and curled his hair, Then sat himself in Grandma's chair. In came the little girl in red. She stopped. She stared. And then she said, "What great big ears you have, Grandma."

"All the better to hear you with," the Wolf replied. "What great big eyes you have, Grandma." said Little Red Riding Hood. "All the better to see you with," the Wolf replied. He sat there watching her and smiled. He thought, I'm going to eat this child. Compared with her old Grandmamma, She's going to taste like caviar. Then Little Red Riding Hood said, " But Grandma, what a lovely great big furry coat you have on." "That's wrong!" cried Wolf. "Have you forgot To tell me what BIG TEETH I've got? Ah well, no matter what you say, I'm going to eat you anyway." The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers. She whips a pistol from her knickers. She aims it at the creature's head, And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead. A few weeks later, in the wood, I came across Miss Riding Hood. But what a change! No cloak of red, No silly hood upon her head. She said, "Hello, and do please note My lovely furry wolfskin coat."

------------ Revolting rhymes
by Roald Dahl

CASINO ROYALE

The all new James Bond movie, starring Daniel Craig as agent 007(The first blonde bond). This is the 21st movie of the series as it released worldwide with great expectations. This stars a younger, meaner James Bond struggling to complete his first major mission. The film starts with the 2 kills that elevates Bond to the '00' status in black and white before the legendary music takes over accompanied by some animation based on the casino theme.

The real story begins with Bond chasing a would-be suicide bomber in a mad, acrobatic chase through an African construction site which is absolutely heartstopping,(thanks to the DTS sounds the chase seemed so real) Bond finally has no choice but to kill the guy which is caught on a camera, to the enormous embarrassment of MI6 and to the displeasure of M (Judi Dench).
Finally, Bond discovers the bad guy to be a wealthy guy named La chiffre.

La Chiffre is the typical Bond villian; wealthy and is accompanied by good looking female escorts. La Chiffre funds terrorist organizations, He loses millions after Bond meddles with his plans. So, To make up for the lost money, He enters a high stake Poker Game. And Bond enters there and again spoils the party by winning the Game but not without some heart-stopping moments(literally).

Then the same old stuff again. Bond Captured, Bond escapes and Bond Kills.

This movie brings in all the 21st century gizmos to the Bond series starting with sony ericsson phones to a Blu-Ray Disc Player. Martin Campbell knows how to make a Bond movie and has come up with an exciting watch.

I give it a 53/100 just for being a great Bond movie.

THE DEPARTED

I finally got to watch a just-released movie. "The Departed" is a police-mob story directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese(of whom, I ve always been a fan). I watched this movie after a boring class, so this turned out to be a welcome refreshment. It stars Leo Di Caprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg.(A Fabulous Cast). Its a remake of a Hong Kong action flick called "Internal Affairs".

When I first watched this movie with a few friends, It didn't live up to all the hype(moving 66th in IMDB top 250 list). Then I got to watch it all alone, It was then I realised some movies are meant to be seen in solitude.

The whole plot is set in Boston,MA. Colin Sullivan(Matt Damon) is a mole in the Police Dept. who actually works for crime boss, Frank Costello(Jack Nicholson) and Leonardo plays Billy Costigan, a policeman who works undercover as a mole in Costello's gang. When both these people come to know about a mole in their respective sides, But they race against each other to reveal the identity of one another. To add more spice, Without the knowledge of the other,both fall in love to the same girl. The movie is pacy, and is packed with scorsese humour.

Jack Nicholson, once again steals the show with some mature acting and natural Dialogue Delivery. Both Damon and Caprio have thrown in their best effort.This film is comparable to "Goodfellas", another brilliant scorsese flick. Its also as gory as Goodfellas.

Best Movie of the year so far...
Rating : 61/100

....AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

This movie is about the inefficiency of screwed up American courts and how the hoi-polloi are affected by this inefficiency...It stars Al Pacino,Jack Warden and John Forsythe..directed by Norman Jewison..The title is the end of the American Pledge of Allegiance(Satirical Title)...

Al Pacino plays Arthur Kirkland, a young,frustrated lawyer after his client is unjustly put in jail because of some technicalities by John Forsythe,an unjust Judge..Jack Warden plays another eccentric judge,who craves adventure(He's often funny...gr8 actor neverthless)....

The film's complaints about the court system are tiresome and the mystery that binds the story is frazzled, but Pacino holds everything together.Al Pacino's outburst in the final courtscene is so amazing that we almost forget what happened in the last hour and half..

There are some scenes in the movie which may evoke laughter and some painfully boring..The casting is amazing..Both Forsythe and Pacino have come up with amazing performances...But what could ve been a great watch,because of some tiresome screenplay has made it a "less than great" movie...I recommend this movie if you are an Al Pacino fan.

I give it 49/100..