MEMORIES Theatre : Aluva Zeenath Screen 2 Showtime & Date : 12.00pm, 15-08-2013 Status : Housefull
Jeethu Joseph who started his career with an investigation flick - Suresh Gopi starrer DETECTIVE is back to that genre after a hatrick success with MUMMY n ME & MY BOSS. Does the movie promises the ample thrills?? Lets see
Story Its the same old wine - Sam Alex(Prithviraj)who was once a brilliant police officer is now on leave and a drunkard now because of his personal tragedy. He was asked to take up a case which he starts and finishes well, as usual towards the end it becomes personal.
Performances Prithviraj was good as Sam Alex, especially in first half. He performed well in scenes with Nedumudi Venu. Its a big break for Rahul Madhav. Nedumudi Venu and Vijayaraghavan was good and Suresh Krishna was apt. Sreejith Ravi gets typecasted where as Madhupal is wasted. Kuttickal Jayachandran was fine in his cameo, so are Irshad & Praveen though nothing much to do. Rest of the cast were fine. Mia was an unwanted role as Varsha, the journalist while Meghna Raj had nothing to do in cameo.
Songs & BGM Only one song in the movie which could have been avoided that adds as a speed breaker. BGM was good in towards interval and towards climax portions. But on other proceedings BGM failed.
Technical Cinematography was fine, Editing could have been a bit more tighter. Graphics work was not upto the mark though the idea was awesome.
Script & Direction Both departments are handled by Jeethu Joseph himself. Though the story is the same old wine, a mix of Mohanlal starrers MUKHAM & GRANDMASTER, it is the screenplay and packaging by Jeethu which makes the product a bit different. First half was more focussed on character development and from few minutes before interval, the movie falls on track. The flashback episodes were routine and the interrogation scene was the most funniest one in the film. Dialogues at few scenes were superb, but at other times, it was too artificial. Second half was much better and the detailing by director needs mention though many are left unanswered. Eventhough the suspense revealing scene and final encounter between main characters do not make any impact, it is the question to HOW(those who watched the movie may understand) he saved makes a better impression for the movie altogether(similar impact which S J Suryah could create in the climax of Newtonin Moondram Vidhi). Direction by Jeethu could have been better though initial and climax scenes were well executed, at times the movie lacks the pace. Overall a well-written investigation flick Verdict : Engaging Thriller BO Verdict : Hit
NEELAKASHAM PACHAKKADAL CHUVANNA BHOOMI Theatre : Aluva Madhurya Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 11-08-2013 Status : Housefull
Samir Thahir, after Chappa Kurishu is back with his second flick with Second Show team - Dulquer Salman & Sunny Wayne in major roles in a road movie with an interesting title. Does the movie makes an impact?? Lets see
Story Qasi(Dulquer Salman) is going for a road journey in his motorcycle without a proper destination. Suni(Sunny Wayne), his college mate and friend joins him. The destination somehow ends at Nagaland for Qasi to meet his love - Asi. Its all about the people they are meeting in between.
Performances Dulquer Salman as Qasi was good. Sunny Wayne repeats his Second Show as Asi in Kannur slang with well written set of oneliners and sequences for him. Joy Mathew was apt. Rest of the casts did their part. Heroine did what the script demanded and freshness was there in her characterisation as a Nagaland native. Needs special mention for actors on other state episodes.
Songs & BGM Both disappoints big time. Not a single song was hummable. BGM, which had a lot to do in a movie like this was a total disappointment.
Technical Cinematography by Girish Gangadharan was fine. Though these many locations from Kerala to Nagaland was involved, cinematography lacked the charm at many places. May be ebcause the script focused more on characters and a travelling mood than visual beauty. The travelling mode work by cinematographer needs special mention. Sreekar Prasad did a neat job in editing, especially the flashback episodes and traces in present mode was just superb. Script & Direction A clear oneline was there. Hero with his friend going from Kerala to Nagaland to find his love and the incidents he meets in between and the impact on him. But screenplay by Hashir Mohammed was a clear failure I should say at majority portions. First half was a blank paper except the flashback scenes. It was just a travelogue with no dialogues most of the time. The Puri episode was boring and lengthy whereas the village episode was another Swades rehash. But second half was better with well written scenes till the climax portions though dragging was there at times. The mechanic episode was superb. Ganja episode at Railway station was an avoidable one. Climax was a big letdown. Dialogues were good and subtitles were class.
Direction by Samir Thahir was not upto the mark I should say. It is commendable that he produced and directed this road movie, the first of its kind in Malayalam Cinema. But the direction(with script) fails big time in creating an emotional attachment for characters with audience leading to a dull reaction for a happy ending episode.
Overall a commendable effort with a dull first half and a better second half. Verdict : Its New, but halfbaked BO Verdict : Expecting a HIT
THALAIVAA Theatre : Aluva Casino Showtime & Date : 6.00pm, 09-08-2013 Status : HOUSEFULL
First of all, THANKS to all those "great people" who watched this movie yesterday at outside India theatres and for putting negative reviews.
A Vijay starrer after Thuppakki, a mega mass teaser and a well cut trailer though increased hype, the name of the director and his previous track record made a small doubt. So how's the movie??? If that's the question, read here.
Story Vishwa(Vijay) is doing business in Australia. His father Rama aka Anna(Sathyaraj) is a leader in Mumbai. To avoid his son know what he's doing, he sends Vishwa to Australia and visits him once in a year. Things change when Vishwa falls in love and takes her and her father to Mumbai to meet his father. The rest is villains killing Anna and Vishwa becoming the next THALAIVAA with some interesting twists and good as well as cliched sequences.
Performances In the first half, Vijay is just that cute simple lover boy and in second half he's at his full energy carrying the whole movie. As in THUPPAKKI, its the character and not the image of Vijay which carries the film. His scenes with Sathyaraj and his histronics and dialogue delivery was superb. Sathyaraj makes a strong presence as Anna. The intro scene itself was too good. Amala Paul though her makeup is a bit over the board, she had considerably improved in acting and a big round of applause for dubbing in her own voice. In song sequences too she shines. Santhanam as usual with his witty oneliners makes audience laugh. All other actors did their part as needed for the movie.
Songs & BGM Songs lacked the tempo though the ecstacy of love and Sol Sol fits well. THALAIVAA and Vaanganna song were picturised badly. BGM was good at parts.
Technical Nirav Shah's cinematography was top class. Editing was good. Art Direction needs special mention.
Script & Direction Story by A L Vijay(not exactly) is as old as hill one. Screenplay had nice moments in first half with a good interval punch. Second half was too predictable though director included some nice sequences. And climax was routine. Still the movie is worth a watch as this one is an A L Vijay style of making and above all the actor VIJAY is used more than the star ILAYATHALAPATHY VIJAY.
Verdict : Mass presented in a classy way BO Verdict : Hit
Theatre : Aluva Matha Showtime & Date : 12.15pm, 09-08-2013 Status : Balcony Almost Full, FC 55% Lal Jose - Kunchacko Boban - Sindhuraj teams up after Superhit ELSAMMA ENNA AANKUTTY which gave Kunchacko Boban a new image. Expectations were a bit high for this as the trailer, songs and song picturisation were to good. Whether it lives upto expectation?? Lets see
Story Just watch the trailer, the storyline is clearly there.
Performances Once again Kunchacko Boban impresses with his ease in comedy and dialogue delivery as Aadu Gopan aka Chakka Gopan. He carries the whole movie from start to end. In action sequence too he shines. Irshad as Chakka Mani surprises us with ample fun in histronics and face expressions. Shiju as Chakka Vijayan was a revelation and sure to give this actor a new image. His "Ingere njan thaallilla" scenes were good. Joju as Chakka Suku had the oneliners which he delivered superbly. Suraj Venjarammood impresses on big screen without his cliche items after a long time. Harisree Asokan was superb with witty oneliners. Its his good comeback. Namitha Pramod as Kainakari Jayasree impresses with her ease in acting. She is sure to stay in Malayalam Cinema. Also Anusree with her typical dubbing style. Shammi Thilakan as Kuryachan once again entertains us. Chaali Pala in his cameo was good. All other actors did their part well.
Sreenivasan once again as a narrator of the story impresses us with his voice over.
Songs & BGM Songs by Vayalar SharathChandra Varma - Vidyasagar team are already chartbusters which was picturised superbly. BGM perfectly fits to the whole movie especially "Chakka Gopa, Nee Pettu Gopa". Also the lyrics by LalJose, the small humming portions was too good.
Technical It was S Kumar show all the way. Every frame was a visual. Cinematography work on backwaters need special appreciation. Editing was crisp. Art Direction by GokulDas Mohandas was awesome.
Script & Direction The same team's previous flick Elsamma enna Aankutty was just a tad above average flick for me. In all Sindhuraj scripts, second half was out of track. This time, he changed that track. The movie had enough fun elements in both halves making it a full length fun film. Dialogues were superb at many parts.
Yes, the captain of the ship - LAL JOSE. He did his part as usual. Took the movie to another level by his direction. Nothing more to say other than a neat work with that cute LalJose touch. Overall a simple neat fun film of the season. Enjoy with families and kids. Verdict : Good Family Entertainer BO Verdict : HIT
Theatre : Aluva Matha Showtime & Date : 3.00pm, 27-07-2013 Status : Balcony No idea, FC 30%
Rehashing a winning formula is not a crime in Cinema if its done neatly. Vishal-Bhoopathy Pandian teams up after a well made mass entertainer MALAIKOTTAI which had good songs. Whether this time it works??? Lets see
Story Gauravam(Santhanam) runs a catering service. He recruits 5 new people - Saravanan(Vishal) and his friends. Gauravam runs into trouble when he cancels goon's catering order and takes up police officer's by sending him to jail. This forces them to leave to Trichy to start a new hotel. The rest is the same MALAIKOTTAI story with an as old as hill flashback for Saravanan.
Performances Vishal is not at his best. Except song sequences and with Santhanam scenes, he looks like he's not that interested. Even in action scenes, he is not at his best which is for the first time in his career I hope. Debutant Aishwarya Arjun(Daughter of actor Action King Arjun) is not that promising. She plays the cliched social worker-student role who has to fall in love with hero after initial scenes and just 2 scenes to cry and songs. Santhanam entertains and irritates. If he's not too careful about script, he'll be on the lines of Vadivelu soon. The initial scenes of Santhanam was too lengthy and boring though dialogues at times were fine. The cfinal portions of Santhanam were good. Panchu Arunachalam wasted in a single scene role. Villains were usual - loud and TATA SUMO. Rest of the cast were ok only. The one who played villain's henchman was good in comic scenes.
Songs & BGM Songs by Thaman were disappointing. And badly picturised ones too. The biggest plus points of Vishal movies so far is adrenaline pumping BGM score which takes scenes to a mass level. Here Sabesh-Murali team disappoints big.
Technical Everything as usual except editing. Editing was a bit too bad I must say.
Script & Direction Is this the same Bhoopathy Pandian who made MALAIKOTTAI & THIRUVILAIYADAL AARAMBHAM. Story, though a rehashed one of MALAIKOTTAI had a mass element in it. But the 80's model flashback episode for hero and forced comedy scenes makes screenplay lagging and boring. Remember, MALAIKOTTAI & THIRUVILAIYADAL AARAMBHAM had no separate comedy track or stars. It was the leads and their relative roles who did the job well. Here everything is out of place. Post flashback scenes were a lot MALAIKOTTAI inspired ones. Dialogues by Srinivas was disappointing. Interval punchline was a rehash of THIMIRU & MALAIKOTTAI, but lacked punch.
Direction too lacked sincerety. The whole movie was like completed just because we started this. A disappointing work. On the whole, if you get the DVD of this movie, make sure that FORWARD button works well. Verdict : Disappointing BO Verdict : Flop to Disaster
BUDDY Theatre : Aluva Zeenath Screen 1 Showtime & Date : 6.15pm, 07-07-2013 Status : Balcony no idea, FC 40%
BUDDY is the new film by debutant RAAJ PRABHAVATHY MENON. A well edited trailer and release by UTV Motion Pictures were the calling cards. Whether the movie surprised??? Lets see
Story Two ladies - an Indian English writer(Asha Sharath) and a dancer(Bhumika Chawla) discloses their child Kunju(Midhun of Black Butterfly fame) on his 18th birthday that he was the product of artificial insemnation. Kunju founds out that his father is Manikunju Thaadikkaaran(Anoop Menon) from hospital records & meets him. Rest is one hundred times told same old wine.
Performances This one is the film in recent times which had the best or near perfect miscasting. Anoop Menon as Manikunju Thaadikkaaran was in usual Anoop Menon style of acting & style of dialogues with an overdose of Mohanlal. Asha Sharath looked out of place & Bhumika Chawla looked too young for the role. Srikanth was wasted. BalachandraMenon's comeback did not make any impact in this poorly written role. Babu Antony had nothing to do, so as the serial artist who played the cook role. Arun was just ok in his small role. Lal and T G Ravi in their scenes were the only better ones. Aju Varghese disappoints big time in this cliched role which was executed poorly. Anil Murali was routine. Honey Rose just for one song and one scene with no dialogues. Songs & BGM Songs by Navneeth Sundar were okay only. Some of them had many old A R Rahman tunes rehashed. BGM by Gopi Sundar as usual worked especially second half towards climax.
Technical Editing - I won't say bad, what else can be done with whatever taken and what director says. Art direction was good. Costumes by Sameera Saneesh needs special mention. Here comes the high positive point of this movie which makes us sit till the final scene - CINEMATOGRAPHY. Prakash Kutty who debuted with Kunchacko Boban-AnilBabu movie INGANE ORU NILAPAKSHI, after a gap is back. AWESOME WORK. EVERY FRAME WAS A VISUAL WITH GREAT COLOUR COMBINATION. ACTION SEQUENCE WAS WELL TAKEN, ABOVE AN AMAL NEERAD WORK.
Script & Direction Story & Screenplay by Raaj Prabhavathy Menon itself. A decent plot on the hangover of Vicky Donor was there. A storyline which a good director could make us engaging too. But the sceenplay was horrible. Just like Manikunju character in the movie, the screenplay also lacked a presence of mind or direction. The problem I felt was what to do till the final portion was an empty page which was filled with routine TV serial stuff. Dialogues by Bipin Chandran disappointed a lot. Is this the same person who worked in DADDY COOL??? Forced kind of newgen items couldn't make any impact in screenplay or for the movie
Direction was fine in respective scenes at times. But as a whole movie, a below average work. Action Sequence as such was superb. Certain scenes were well executed and some others in rather poor manner.
Overall BUDDY minus Cinematographer PrakashKutty is below below average Verdict : Watch it only for Cinematography BO Verdict : Flop to Disaster WAITING FOR A LAL JOSE - PRAKASH KUTTY WORK SOON.
The same plot if given to Priyadarsan or Lal Jose could have made wonders.
Don't know whether Mr or Miss or Mrs, whatever Raaj Prabhavathy Menon, putting such a lengthy name in direction part and influence of english in dialogues will not help in making another Gautham Vasudeva Menon
SINGAM II Theatre : Aluva Matha Showtime & Date : 5.45pm, 06-07-2013 Status : Balcony No idea, FC 30%
SINGAM II, the sequel of Suriya-Hari combo's superhit SINGAM, a well made mass masala entertainer in last few years ,came with high expectations. Lets see whether the expectations were met.
Story SINGAM II starts from where SINGAM ended. Making public believe that DuraiSingam(Suriya) resigned, he is on special deputation to know more about the illegal activities happening in Tuticorin area. Now he is working as PT in a school. After a series of incidents, Satya(Hansika) falls in love with DuraiSingam. On the otherhand, Kavya(Anushka) is still waiting for him to marry her. The marriage didn't take place before as Durai's father refused as he resigned his job in part one. An incident forced him to join back in the duty. The rest is a racy entertainer.
Performances Suriya as Durai Singam did a neat job. He excelled in certain scenes and in some scenes he lacked the punch. Certain mass scenes did not suit that well for him. Overall a SURIYA SHOW. Anushka repeated her role and came in two songs and some scenes. Hansika got a better role and did a fine job. Vivek was wasted. Don't know why Santhanam was given a role done by Vadivelu or Ganja Karuppu in previous HARI movies. His comic scenes lacked comedy and were speedbreakers. Rahman was fine. Thalaivasal Vijay was wasted. Mukesh Rishi was good. Danny as main villain lacked the screen presence and punch. Still the old scenes of PrakashRaj makes such an impact which no other actor could match. Nasser, Vijayakumar, Radharavi, Manorama repeated their roles as usual.
Songs & BGM Too loud though SINGAM DANCE and Kannukkulle were hummable. Nowhere near SINGAM. BGM was a disappointment compared to SINGAM. Except the family sentiment scene BGM, from first part & Puriyavillai song BGM, nothing impresses. The remixed SINGAM SINGAM was used in a small portion only.
Technical Priyan's camera needs special mention - SUPERB work for a mass entertainer and new frames definitely needs appreciation. Editing was racy and apt. Art direction was good. Script & Direction Both departments handled by Hari. Script lacked the punch which was there in first part. Dialogues were fine at parts and funny at parts. From interval portion onwards, the storyline is just a rehashed version of Viji Thampy - SureshGopi team's SATHYAMEVA JAYATHE. In that SureshGopi arrests Hemanth Ravan not knowing who really he is for traffic case. Here Durai Singam arrests Danny without knowing he's an international drug dealer as a person having not enough papers to land on port. Though script was thin, especially Kerala episode was made too comical, it is the awesome direction by HARI which makes the show engaging with no time to think about anything even the scene before. Overall an enjoyable mass masala entertainer Verdict : Well directed MASS MASALA ENTERTAINER BO Verdict : Sure HIT
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