Movie#73 Pramani ( Malayalam- India)

Another malayalam movie to show that malayalam movie making is on the downward trend. This one clearly lacks creativity instead tries to copy stunts from neighbouring tamil movies.
Starring malayalam stalwart Mammootty, Siddique, Sneha, Prabhu, Janardhanan etc etc, this movie is all about stereotypical roles. Mammootty, as hero can turn from bad guy to good guy in a flash. He cannot be cheated upon and can beat down men of the size of bull dozers (How come Indian commando head quarters never recruited him?). It is not just beat down but those bull dozers will actually be thrown around like tennis balls. Really laughable!. Siddique, as usual will remain loyal to his character, a bad guy. No amount of goodness can change him. Janardhanan looks like a lion with the makeup. Guess his make up man was a zoo worker before. Prabhu has to be always a good guy otherwise tamil fans will boycott the movie. Then the usual filler, the real waste bin actor of malayalam industry–  Salim Kumar. To my comfort, the director literally forgot about his existence in the movie and he mysteriously disappears after the first  half. The actors who acted to potential are the ones with minor role such as Baiju and; Mammootty character's uncle and aunt. The other comedian, Suraj Venjaranmoodu, is losing his mind slowly. He started his career with a bang and now stuck with stale comical acts and mannerisms.
The story is that of a panchayat president who was neck deep in corruption. He is into acquiring land from others by hook or crook, hence the name Pramani. The director tries to poke fun at capitalistic america through his nick name in the village. After a crucial incident, the president decides to turn good while his cronies choose not to (as usual). Suddenly the new avatar president preaches goodness and expects others to follow. He decides to fight against illegal land acquisition he himself authorized before. And as usual wins at the end. I'm sorry to let out the 'thrilling end'. You could have never guess how the movie was flowing otherwise–  really sorry.
This one is a total waste of time and money. Keep away. Only Mammootty fans may pay no heed to my advise. My personal rating is 1.5 out of 5…

Movie#72 Heartless

This movie is not for everyone. The real movie lovers would not mind sitting through till the end and finding out the obvious things unfurling in the movie but the rest would find it boring as it lacks good action, vibrancy and happiness, intimate scenes (at the least) or seemingly gripping storyline.
The storyline is simple superficially. It shows the life of a guy with a heart shaped tattoo around his left eye and a lonely life. The only close member in his life is his mother. Because he has a tattoo, he finds it difficult to socialize or to find a girl friend, and develops a different outlook towards the dull and difficult world around him. He tries to find answers to the questions based on the advice given by his late father. His father had told him that he was a special kid and needed to look at the world differently and the world would be difficult for him, but he would be able to see things around him differently from others. So he lives on. Things change when he notices creatures and demons around him and the tattoo mysteriously disappears. He befriends a mysterious little girl and her much much elder, with disfigured hand companion and strikes a deal with him much to his regret later. Things start to happen fast around him and he starts to lose the people he brings in to his life. Finally when he figures out what was happening, it was too late and too much for him to accept who had been responsible.
For people who are interested in psychological thrillers, this is a good watch. Others who know the actors and admire any of them, will also find this a worthy watch. But for the ones who demand fast pace action and happy movie, keep away and save your money. Personally I liked it. I shall give this one a 3 out of 5…

Movie#71 Avan (Malayalam- India)

This movie stars a lot of actors, some of them are Bala, Vijay Yesudas, Riyas Khan, Vijayaraghavan, Jagadish, Riza Bava and Muktha.
The storyline is a fairly okay. It shows how innocence get into the world of crime and the inevitable end. The gist of the story is that 2 friends get separated in their childhood due to forced circumstances. The hero gets lured into the world of crime. On one of his missions, he come to face the past. But crime has to pay and he ends up in jail. Due to his good behaviour in the jail, he gets invitation to a realty show called Crime and  Music. He opens out his heart and tells all. But will the people waiting for revenge leave him be?
I don't know where to start the comment section. As I had mentioned earlier, the story line is satisfactory. The acting needs a lot of tweaking. It is not that the director could do anything now but he has a lot to improve if he has planned another venture. Barring the main actors, all others seem to be blurting out memorized lines. It seems as though the director has instructed only the main actor on what should be done on each shot, the rest of them seem confused and at times hilariously seen looking at the main actor to do his bit and wait for cues. Very poor improvisation and originality. Also I think the director got confused whether this was a musical or crime thriller. Too many songs at wrong time. It dragged the movie. He could have shortened it to one and half hour movie with proper editing.
As usual, the heroine had no role at all. The producer could have saved money there. It was purely wasted talent and time for Muktha. I hope she was paid well for such a story line. The child artists need to be selected carefully. Compared to hollywood child artists who are very comfortable and professional in front of camera, the ones in this movie fails all front. They totally lack the emotion and intonation in dialogues. But I put the blame squarely on the director. He should have over–seen that. And lastly, the film used lacked the colour vibrancy. The locale may have been apt but very very dull because of the low quality film used.
Finally I shall give it a 2.5 out of 5 because the movie gained intensity towards the last 30 minutes.

Movie#70 Cop Out

Have you heard the phrase 'it would grow on you with time'? Well, according to me, this movie is the perfect example. Starring an unusual combination of Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, it is categorized under the genre of action-comedy-crime in imdb.com
The story gist is that BW and TM are police officers and partners. After screwing up a cover operation both of them get suspended. BW need money quickly to pay for his daughter's wedding or else he would feel slighted in front of his ex's second husband. So, BW decides to sell of his rare baseball card for money but it gets stolen and ends up with a dangerous gang. Now he needs to retrieve the card and to do so he gives in to the demand of the gang boss that he would find his stolen mercedes. But the mercedes hides something that he had not bargained for…
I felt so bored with both BW's and TM's acting at the starting of the movie. BW was trying hard to be 'cool' while TM was trying very very hard to be funny. The problem is that director tried to convey the comics through TM's dialogues and it really gets irritating. Then enter Mr Sean William Scott towards the end of the 1^st  half. It is from this point on the movie redeems itself. TM's vocals tone down and comics get funny through facial expressions and actions, more with the help of SWS. Cool scenes happen in which the director wrecks a mercedes and a dodge in a car chase bit. BW's 'coolness' improves towards the end and that's how all in all the movie grows on you. But it is not a must watch though.
My personal rating is 2.5 out of 5…

Movie#69 The Last Airbender

I'm back after a short hiatus. I was away due to personal reasons for anyone who cares to know. This new release was waiting for me when I stepped into the store.
The defining statement for this work for the people who haven't yet seen it. Watch it only for the shooting sets, locales and special effects. If you are looking for anything more, you will be thoroughly disappointed. The storyline is new, the dialogues are flimsy and superficial, the acting is below par in all the actors, the music is forgettable and there is virtually nothing to put you in a gripping mood as the director would have meant it.
Mr Night Shyamalan has wasted the massive budget he was allocated for the movie. Maybe we are expecting too much from him and compare all this work to his first two super releases. I have seen that all his latest works were below average. He is the Ram Gopal Verma of Hollywood. But one should admire his never say die attitude, if allocated such a huge budget. Now I don't want the actors to take it personally when I say that Noah Ringer as Aang didn't have the punch, Dev Patel as Prince Zuko made me laugh when he gave the cruel glare, Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone suck, but Nicola fared better comparing the two. Aasif Mandvi as Commander Zhao wasn't the correct person for the role. Primary reason is his character name–  chinese name for a South Asian guy!, Cliff Curtis as Fire Lord Ozai fared ok because he didn't have much role in the movie. The only person aptly cast and did his part well is Shaun Toub as Uncle Iroh.
Now when I come to give my personal rating, I average the score between factor mentioned intially as what to look for in this one. So I give it a 2.5 out of 5. It gives me second thoughts whether I have given it too many.

Movie#68 Irandu Mugam (Tamil- India)

Is there anyone with 121 minutes of their productive life for free giveaway? And then you may regret by hitting your head against the wall like me. If there is anyone, this movie is apt for such an experiment. There is no superlatives to term how wasted this movie is. I feel sorry for Sathyaraj and other few known actors in this who may have fallen for the cash offered. I'm sure they lost some of the gained popularity in their life work because of this.
The story line is tried and tested. There is no novelty. We can easily guess where the movie is turning even 30 minutes before it happens. The initial half is total joke. As anyone would say, time pass. Maybe the director will argue as 'build up' but I would say that he lost it completely. A political career aspiring man and his two side kicks waste time with really really STUPID jokes which are conveyed verbally as if blurting out memorized lines than acting per se. Even when I type this, I clench my teeth in disgust. Due to a sudden political change, he gets elected as minister. Had it been so simple to get elected as minister, then I'm planning a political career too..lol. A dedicated and sincere IAS officer is introduced fighting crime in the public distribution system of ration commodities. Even in this, the dialogues are boringly elaborate to make the viewer understand how the scam is taking place. He is now posted under the amateur politician, the movie hero. This fellow is slowly getting to know how to amass wealth from bribes and that ticks off the IAS officer. The officer plans out a way to make a man out of minister. The plan is so silly and laughable.
I don't have much to comment further as my first line would summarize how this movie is. My personal rating is 0.5 out of 5…

Movie#67 The Ghost Writer

This work is thought provoking. Although it is claimed as fiction, it can also put seeds of doubt into lot of people and also provide a clarification to the nick name, 'poodle' of an ex– leader in an european country. It is not impossible for such an act of infiltration, but in a world where children are told not to lie, in schools, while perceive lies all around them, much to their distress; such an incident, if happened or happening, is acceptable.
Renting this movie, I had my doubts. I was under the impression that it was a dour political drama. I thought I could take my time to watch it and shall do it in 2–3 sittings. The movie is fairly long, almost 2 hours and 15 mins with credit. It stars superb actors such as Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor and Olivia Williams. The story gist is that a writer is hired by ex–  prime minister of England to be the ghost writer for his memoirs. The previous ghost writer had died under mysterious circumstances and patchy investigation had concluded that it was death due to drowning under the influence of alcohol. Anything more in the gist about the story line would be a give away of the superb build up and thrill involved. But I think that the end could have been done better, but it served enough for the gruesomeness of the tale. Once it started, I found it impossible to stop and watched it in one sitting. The intrigue and the twists are excellent. The plot is thick and manages to hold the thrilling mystery until the very end. The dialogues and crisp, and there is humour peppered within them. The acting and directing (Roman Polanski) are par excellence. The shooting locale serves up for the mystery and thrill.
While watching this, it also made me think about a recent newspaper report in my home country. The report was that of heir to prime ministership of my country had a girl friend while pursuing studies abroad. But all of a sudden that relationship came to an end. The report splashed her photo and it surprised me that while there were reports of 'fame and money' seeking women disclose of their relationship with famous men for all kinds of benefits, how come this woman had kept mum even after such a news tickle? And it was also reported that the break up was allegedly due to the instruction from his famous mother. Then how strong a man is he? There were also suggestions that he sacrificed his love to be the future leader of his country without distractions. The man in questions is currently hovering 40, I think. Does such a sacrifice really needed to be a leader? Is there a hidden story or twist like in this movie? Questions and questions, I know. Thats what this movie did to me. I rate this movie as a MUST WATCH with a 5 out of 5 rating…