KasinathCR

Pudhupettai - Undoubtedly one of the best Tamil films, set the benchmark for how to make a gangster movie in Tamil! Dhanush, who is a superstar now, was a budding, promising actor back then, hits bull's eye in his portrayal of the Gangster named "Kokki" Kumar. The movie, though wasn't much celebrated at the time of its release, instantly became a cult classic, a few months after. The movie is like a poetry in motion, even though some cinematic liberties are taken in few scenes, the overall feel is so realistic and hard hitting. Right from being a naive adolescent to becoming a ruthless gangster, Dhanush simply rocks every frame he is in, which is literally every frame:-) The supporting actors are all very believable and they did a great job as well. Selvaraghavan is a director who always experiments with different genres and makes a huge impact with his films, even tough they aren't financially successful and this movie is the biggest example of it. Do watch this movie, if you're a lover of pure cinema

I don't know why the critics bash this movie like anything? Most of the critics would've read the novel and hence would've felt that the movie fell short of the impact that the novel created. I, quite frankly, more of a movie buff than a reader of the novels as I mentioned in my last review of Twilight(2008). I watched the second installment of what they named as "The Twilight Saga" immediately after watching the first so that I could understand the continuation and flow. To be very honest, I completely enjoyed this one more than the first.

The Story is that Bella and Edward get along right from where they left in the first. This time Bella becomes 18 which is an year older than Edward who always remains in 17 because he is a vampire(A Peculiar concept which I didn't mention in my review of Twilight(2008)). Edward takes Bella to his home for her birthday celebrations and due to a little paper-cut, Bella bleeds. Jasper Cullen, the mate of Alice Cullen, thirsts for Bella's blood and Edward confronts him by pushing Bella. Bella scratches her arms and more bleeding tempts a few other Cullens as well.

Fearing that the Cullens themselves will end Bella's life, Edward decides to part ways with Bella asking for a promise that she won't do anything reckless and assuring that, that would be the last time she'll ever see him. All the Cullens disappear from Forks and Bella struggles without any contact to any of the Cullens. Jacob Black(Taylor Lautner) comes to the big picture as Bella's best friend through her difficult times without Edward.

Bella decides to break the promise she made to Cullen and goes reckless believing that Edward will return to be with her again. Meanwhile Victoria, the vampiress stalks the Forks county planning to make Edward suffer without his mate as a revenge and Jacob gets in to a stage called Mono(A Transition phase in their tribe in which a man gets the power to morph in to a wolf) and begins to follow a guy named Sam Ulley, who is the leader of the group of Guys in Jacob's tribe who went through their mono.

The mission of Sam's gang is to capture the vampiress who is stalking Forks and killing people. Meanwhile Bella jumps off a cliff(as a reckless act)in to a sea where the Sam's boys perform cliff jumping and Alice sees it in her vision and tells Edward that Bella jumped off a cliff. Alice comes to visit Bella's place but Edward stays where he is, not willing to break his own promise. Jacob saves Bella from the sea and they head home only to see a surprised Alice. Edward calls at that time and Jacob misinterprets the situation on purpose, Edward decides to end his life thinking Bella is dead.

Alice tells Bella at that time that Edward has decided to die in the hands of Volturi clan(Royal Vampire Clan who'll kill other vampires if they're exposed to public). Bella immediately travels to Italy where Volturi clan resides to save Edward. An obvious little battle between Volturi and the Cullens(Alice and Edward) before Alice stops the Volturi from turning Bella promising that she herself has seen in the future that she'll turn Bella in to one of them. Volturi clan's head Aro gets convinced and sends back the Cullens and Bella.

So Edward and Bella, get back together again much to the envy of Jacob Black. The struggle for Jacob Black in choosing between Bella's Love and their tribe's honor is portrayed decently but acting is still immature. Some characters like Emily(Sam's fiancée) and the creepy Jane(Dakota Fanning) supports the flow well. I pretty much liked this one over the first one and can't wait till I see the next one, "The Twilight Saga"-"Eclipse". This is a good follow-up to Twilight, nothing more, nothing less.

My Verdict- The Twilight Saga-New Moon 7/10

Firstly to say is that I didn't read any of the Twilight novels, so I just can't compare this movie to the book and secondly I just saw this movie for the hype my friends gave regarding the Twilight novels and to be frank, this movie just made me glued to the screen till its running time so am not going to write anything negative regarding this movie as I didn't still read the novel yet.

I believe Stephanie Meyer took an easy path in to writing a romantic novel because romantic novels always appeal to lot of people. But the description given for each romantic scene and the chemistry appealed well to me. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart had a very good screen time together(Can't say the same with their performances as both are very young actors but they looked good as the lead couple in the movie).

Carter Burke did a fine Job as Kirsten Stewart's dad and he gave a pretty decent performance compared to the lead actors. The plot was nothing extra-ordinary. It was a Fantasy-Romance type but the fantasy was kept subtle as possible to make way for a more romantic movie as the novel promised I believe.

Taylor Lautner didn't have much screen time but kept as just another actor in this movie. Seeing this movie made me feel like not all vampires are blood-thirsty repulsive hideous type. There are some super-cool ones like the Cullens too.

The story is that Bella Swan(Kirsten Stewart) comes to Forks to live with her divorced dad Charlie Swan(Carter Burke) after her mom decides to travel with her newly married husband Phil who is a baseball pro. Like all the college movies you would've seen the new guy gets a bunch of friends who'll come and go now and then. This one isn't so different either.

One day Bella sees the Cullens, a weird gang in her high school. First thing she sets sight on Edward Cullen(Robert Pattinson), Its love all the way. Cullens are vampires but they don't have that thirst for human blood like most vampires do and so they live peacefully among the people at Forks. Edward also gets drawn to Bella by many-a-coincidences and both of them fall Head-over-heels in love with each other with romantic dialogues thrown here and there in good measure(Hats off! Stephanie Meyer. They were totally awesome!).

In between all this romance, there was a thriller waiting to unfold as 3 vampires Laurent(Edi Gathegi), James(Cam Gigandet) and Victoria(Rachelle Lefevre) hunt people for their blood thirst and Police investigation goes on like some animal is killing people at Forks. Bella and Edward get very close and Edward even takes her to introduce to the other members of his Vampire family.

The Cullens and Bella get along well and one fateful day the paths of Cullens and those 3 vampires cross due to one vampire, James, drawn to the scent of Bella swan and he'll stop at nothing to have his snack a.k.a Bella Swan. After this comes a climax where Bella and Edward get separated due to the intensity of the situation and the Cullens make some plans to distract James but James was too smart for them and gets to Bella.

The Hero, Edward Cullen finally comes to the rescue of Bella(as predictable as always) and saves her after she gets bitten by James by sucking the Venom out of her. Though Edward gets a chance to change Bella in to a Vampire, he remains controlled and restores her normalcy. James gets killed by the Cullens adding to the sorrow of Victoria who vows to take on the Cullens later in the name of James. End of the story.

So I'll recommend this movie for all those who all are too lazy to read novels but can enjoy hours and hours of time in front of a TV or PC. In the end you'll say, "It wasn't that bad!".

My Verdict- Twilight 6.5/10

Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaayaa(shortly "VTV")created a big buzz before its release but once it was released some of the audiences were pretty much disappointed by it but certain audiences like me or in my age group(20-25) loved the movie so much. The fact that it was typically a Gautham Vasudev Menon film and so i went in to the theater not expecting a big "Mass" opening song and lengthy dialogues to boast the hero's image but a decent reality film with excellent cinematography(Hats off Manoj Paramahamsa) and beautiful songs("Oscar Winner" A.R.Rahman Rocks!). I wasn't disappointed at all and i had a pretty good time observing the chemistry between Karthik(A Good-Looking Smart Silambarasan worth his title of "Young Superstar")and Jesse(A Ravishing Trisha)and what are all the phases they go through throughout the entire movie till the climax.

I was deeply moved by the situations that the lead are put to that tests their strength of love rather vaguely. Songs are the biggest plus for the movie and with A.R.R at the helm you can't expect anything less than a riveting music and an excellent BGM. A.R.R. shines in both these with his usual trademark. Whoever says whatever about the movie nobody can take back that VTV is indeed a different attempt in modern day Love stories. Want to know why? Just go for it! You'll enjoy the most if you see this with your lover by your side!