PimpinAinttEasy

Thundu was a great chance missed to make a film about an Indian/Mallu Hoke Moseley.

Thundu is mostly about the mid life crisis of a police constable (played by Biju Menon) which begins when his son is caught copying in an exam. It is also about the internal politics and hierarchy in Kerala police - some of the antics of the incompetent police force reminded me of the movie Buffalo Soldiers (2001).

But the director and script writer are aiming for commercial success and the horrendous background score by Gopi Sunder bestows a feel good aura upon the relentless travails of an incompetent police officer. The scene where the depressed police constable narrates the tale about his horrible childhood to his son signals to me that the director and writer wanted to make some other movie but messed it up because their artistic ambitions were curtailed by commercial compulsions.

Biju Menon does a good job as the police constable. The rest of the cast including Shine Tom Chacko and Unni Maya Prasad (how does she even get movies?) are unremarkable at best.

Some of the sub-plots were ridiculous - especially the one involving the dog. Nothing even remotely fun about that part. What were they thinking?

After a uber feministy beginning, Barbarian does become real creepy. Feminist gets trapped in the cellar. Hohoho! The mediocre heroine does not help matters. But then a sub-plot comes up out of nowhere. Even this involves a creepy male. Jeez! Then it gets pretty good and really really scary. Then there is a very stylish flashback. This is a damn good film despite the feministy vibe. Barbarian must be one of the best horror films of this century. Yes, this despite the somewhat weak and commonplace ending. And also despite the weak heroine. I do not understand how such a mediocre and unremarkable actress got a role in such a god horror film. A real bummer but the film is that good.

Watched this in the theater. It is a TV serial level movie man. So damn melodramatic and full of cringeworthy scenes. Everything about the film is so average. Jeethu just wants to tug at the hearts of middle class Malayalis. He simply plays to their deepest fears. This is basically Drishyam in a court room. And the whole thing is so damn serious. Utterly humorless. It is up to its neck in clichés and predictable scenes. I believe there was a mass sympathy wave towards Mohanlal. Malayalai audiences flocked to the theatres to save their favorite stars career. How else can one explain the success of this utterly dreadful and over the top film?

It is nowhere as good as Anjaam Pathira.

But the film is intriguing. Jayaram does his part really well. Jagadish really impresses in a villain role that he is seldom cast in. Maybe this film will get him more villain roles.

The film did remind me of Ee Thanutha Velupaankalathu, where an old incident in a college fuels the serial killer.

It is all very far fetched and improbable. But Midhun Manuel Thomas keeps the twists and thrills coming.

The film's major drawback is that some of the supporting cast (like Jayram's two sidekicks) and bit players are absolutely atrocious. Midhun needed to pay more attention to this aspect of the movie. The casting director needs a good firing for casting terrible bit players.

Michael Cimino has a thing for long dance sequences. There are a couple of long ones in Heaven's Gate. There was one long and elaborate one in The Deer Hunter too. Heaven's Gate begins with one. A long and boring one. Was he inspired by Bollywood or something?

At the center of the movie is James Averill, a sheriff from the old money. He decides to pitch in with the immigrants who are soon going to be evicted by a cattle owners association. He crosses swords with Champion (Christopher Walken), who is a hire mercenary for the cattle owners association. They also share a woman. Isabelle Huppert who is coveted by both men, runs a brothel and also runs around in the nude. The madam prefers the practical mercenary over the pompous old rich idealist. Walken's introduction scene, recalling Henry Fonda/Frank's entry scene in Once Upon a Time in the West is one of the film's highlights. Walken is first shown through a hole in a cloth left out to dry.

The film meanders on and on. The visuals of the grand vistas are nothing worth writing about. Every outdoor scene has smoke and mountains in the background and a truckload of extras to play the reeking and suffering humanity to lend authenticity to the proceedings. Even the final battle scenes were not particularly memorable.

I liked it.

I cannot believe you guys did not enjoy the second half. Yes, it is nowhere as bombastic as the first half. But it delivers man. Bobby Deol's introduction scene and the subsequent violence at the wedding and the final fight scene on the airstrip were the most enthralling parts of the film for me. How good was lord Bobby. Its a good thing the character was dumb. HOHOHO! And Saurabh Sachdeva as Bobby's man friday/consiligori was awesome man. What a find this actor is. He reminded me of Naveen Andrews.

Animal is a naked film. It treats Hindu-Muslim/India/Pakistan-Sikh relations in a very naked manner from the very first scene itself when Ranvir narrates the fable to the elderly Sikh men. Absolutely no lies here. Though I wonder what tough Sikh Khalistani guys would think about the tough Sikh gang being portrayed as bodyguards and drivers when the Hindu lion goes to sleep with the Muslim girl. Anyway the film clearly tries to promote Hindu-Sikh friendship in the face of Muslim aggression.

Ranbir as I suspected is nowhere as deadly as Sanjay Dutt. The first few scenes underscoring Ranbir's hypermasculinity were almost superhero like and did not grip me at all. I found Ranbir's performance to be rather average just like in Sanju. The father-son angle is also just a lot of shouting. Ranbir's childhood scenes are really dumb.

The supporting cast and the traditional songs make the film. Anil Kapoor was pretty damn good. Saurabh Sachdeva's name deserves being repeated for the highest encomiums. The actors who played the Sikh gang were all badass. Rashmika does OK, but then her role is that of a normie. Tripti Dimri deserves all the hype. She looked gorgeous. Babloo Prithviraj as the Muslim antagonist has a good screen presence.

Now about Vanga. Frankly, the script and direction are mostly pedestrian. But Vanga keeps the thrills coming and while most are middling, when it works it really works. He does not hold back on the sleaze and the candidness either. This is one sleazy film man. That scene after the credits when the Muslim Ranbir makes an entry - wtf was that? It is going to be a great chance to create an Immortan Joe like character. I think that might be what Vanga is aiming for with the character proposing marriage to his dead brother's wife. Women are treated so badly in the film. But that is how women are treated during war time. Vanga does not hold back on this aspect. I don't think Indian or global feminists have had a proper meltdown over this film. Also, I liked the film's ending with all the stuff going on during the fight.

The set and art direction were crap. Vanga is not a man of taste. So many gaudy looking sets for such a big budget film. Vanga is not the most clever person. But he knows what's going on and also what really pleases men beneath the veil of normalcy. He is no Scorsese. He is a crude person who reveals his true self.

(6/10)

A film full of awesome ideas and great intentions. But so poorly executed. And mostly poorly cast except for Lalettan.

LJP's static camera "trick" does not work here. Often the camera is placed at such a long distance from the actors. During a song sequence in which Sonalee Kulkarni dances her heart out, the camera is just static like a bored lover. The audience performance during the song was also uninspired.

Then there is the usual LJP rubbish (like in Amen) where large crowds of people are simple acting like they are cheering for god knows what.

Danish Sait was an interesting casting choice. His dialog delivery was decent. But he lacked the frame to really make an impact. Sait had no screen presence whatsoever man. He looked menacing on occasions.

The second half was quite ridiculous. Who were those foreign husband-wife duo? Such poor character development. And the two actors sucked too. They made no impact whatsoever.

Action scenes were poorly choreographed and edited. You just wished they would end. The action scenes inside the fort were a joke. Even the actors looked like they did not know what to do on some occasions.

Lalettan acted really well. He performed well in the action scenes too. He looked grand like a man of experience.

The script by Razzaq had some powerful lines. But it is the ordinary scenes - like the camaraderie between the trio (Laltettan, Manoj and Harish) where the writing does not work at all. The attempts at humor are quite pathetic. The background score is pretty good. One melancholic tune reminded me of the tune by Morricone for the Morton character in Once Upon a Time in the West.

One reviewer on Youtube said that the whole film looked like it had been shot on some random ground or something. He is right. Sure there are many pretty frames. But LJP and Madhu Neelakandan fails to give us a real sense of place. Many of the sets looked like ..... well sets.

Sonalee Kulkarni looked really nice and acted well too. But there was something wrong with her make up.

I watched the first day 9 am show at the Shenoys theatre. The movie hall was 80% full. Impressive for a morning show.

King of Kotha is a typical gangster movie with the usual tropes - mother vs son, father vs son and clash between childhood friends and clichés - alcoholic gangster, use of bad language and clashes with squares.

Obviously the director, like most of his contemporaries, believes relentlessly hitting the audience on the head with a loud background score is great filmaking. Jakes Bijoy is the directors henchman here.

The dialogs are your typical one liners that underscore the badassness of the characters. Apart from a few Chemban Vinod dialogs (like the one with the phone), there was nothing particularly interesting about the writing.

Dulquer and Shabeer excel as the two protagonists. Shabeer holds his own against Dulquer. He was like Vinod Khanna to Dulquer's Amitab. Really impressive performance by the guy. Dulquer will soon become a pan India superstar. Not sure if this is the film that would catapult him to national stardom. Chemban phones it in as usual. It is a shame that Chemban's recent performances have not measured up to his stature.

The final video game style action scenes were pretty good. The sets despite the glossiness looked cheap and fake. Everything else before the final action scene was a bit underwhelming. At nearly 3 hours, I kept looking at my phone after a while.

3 hours went by real fast.

Rajni looked old with a pot belly. I bet the guy would struggle to do a single push up in real life. I wouldn't be surprised if some of his scenes were AI or something.

Vinayakan was atrocious. Such a weak villain. The guy shouldn't be allowed out of Mattancherry. Cannot believe the hype around his performance.

Lalettan was cool. But his role has also been overhyped.

The rest of the cast was decent without being great. Didn't get what's so great about other cameos apart from Lalettan.

Tamanna was hot. She needs to do more of such sugar baby roles.

So what really works? Well, the director and the script. This is really Nelson's film. He made a 500 crore movie with a grandpa like Rajni. There's hardly a boring moment. I didn't fall asleep.

Anirudh Ravichander is a crappy music director. Some of his music works. But a lot of its just filler garbage.

Another film I watched because it has the Amazonian Jane Russell.

This one is a desert drama about culture clashes between a conservative American woman and a half apache mining engineer after they fall in love and get married.

The film has a pretty hilarious beginning with Jane Russell stuck on a desert highway and her encounter with an Indian family and then the mining engineer and his alcoholic friend.

Some really nice scenery in this movie. According to Wikipedia, this was the last film shot in Technicolor.

Of course, not all the visuals of the desert can beat Jane who really fills up the screen. There is even a scene where she is sitting beside with a swimming and there is a thin film of sweat all over her.

(6.5/10)

Considered to be one of the greatest noir films. I think its damn good with some really hot ladies like Jane Greer.

But I guess it was Mitchum who cemented his place as the face of film noir with the role of Jeff Bailey. I can imagine writers of pulp fiction basing their characters on Mitchum's persona.

Out of the Past is a pretty straightforward noir story. A man who wants to settle down with small town girl gets pulled back into his past involving a sexy femme fatale and his old boss. Some men just get attracted to the wrong women and cannot contain themselves even if the lady might completely destroy their life.

(8/10)

Some Came Running is a big budget small town melodrama. Frank Sinatra plays a soldier-writer back from war in his hometown of Parkman. He is a real prick but everyone takes a shine to him because he has a big army pay cheque and some ladies like his personality. SINATRA is caught between settling for a middle class teacher or the rowdy small town bar world with simpleton Shirley Maclaine and fellow alcoholic played by Dean Martin. I felt like Minelli was more interested in the way the film looked and not the pacing of the movie. It is a great film to look at. Small town values and ways are looked down upon. Nothing more than the scene before the violent finale at a carnival when Sinatra and Maclaine are walking through the crowd and a lady is selling some egg salad maker and vegetable cutter. Maclaine's simpleton character looks on fascinated. Scorsese loves this film apparently. I just liked the awesome score by Elmer Bernstein.

(6/10)

I ventured out to the Oberon Mall PVR movie theatre to watch a Malayalam movie after a long time. It was a 4:45 PM show on a Saturday. I expected a huge crowd. But there was nobody at the PVR movie section of the Oberon mall. I have to say, it was a well kept theatre with many employees at the Cafe. But there was no audience. On a Saturday evening, for a movie with a superhit song, nobody turned up. The movie hall, after I sat down to endure the crappy advertisements and the cigarette smoking warning, was around 20% full with people trickling in after it started.

Nalla Nilavulla Rathri is a bad film. Nothing in this movie works. It is so damn artificial. The acting and script are huge problems. Veterans Sai Kumar and Baburaj are the only ones who do a good job. The new generation - Binu Pappu, Jinu and Chemban all phone it in. They are not even trying. My god, they are so damn self conscious in front of the camera. Their lack of effort is very visible. Chemban's acting needs to be called out now. He was bad in VIKRAM. He ruined the small well written scene he had in ROMANCHAM. He does not even put in an effort in this film. He plays a pivotal character but his performance is so damn lazy. His expressions and demeanor are a joke. Chemban is pathetic in this movie. I mean come on, Chemban, you have a great screen presence, but please work harder. You are a veteran now.

The script was pretty good in the first half despite a fair amount of artificiality. But then, the director seemed to be aiming for an over the top vibe and I was OK with that. Man, does it all fall apart in the second half? The twist at the interval. What was the beef between Irumban and Kurien? The sudden shift of all these alpha males into a bunch of cowards. Hahahhahahha! It was laughable. The characters were poorly developed. Chemban Vinod's acting made it even worse.

I was fed up with the pathetic heroes (main characters). I was not prepared for the grotesque villains who despite the snarling, were unremarkable. What was up with these guys? The villains (look, everyone is a villain in this movie) have spit falling out of their mouths. Not much thought went into how these villains needed to be portrayed. It seemed like the director was trying to make some sort of half assed political statement in a horror movie. What was he even thinking? What was the producer Sandra Thomas thinking?

Then the action scenes. They go on and on without creating any real impact. May I use the word tedious? Why? Why was this film even made? This is a bad film. Nothing in the movie works.

220 minute epic (played as a TV series in Italy) that I downloaded randomly many years ago because GIAN MARIA VOLANTE was in it. An artist/communist/doctor played by VOLANTE is sent on exile during the second world war to a remote village. The village is full of superstitious peasants, fascist gentry, other exiles and a drunk pedo priest who is anti-fascist. Nothing much happens in the village except VOLANTE's character dealing with superstitious villagers who are impressed by his skills as a doctor. But he slowly becomes competition to the gentry who impose restrictions o him like confiscating his books and preventing him practicing medicine. The run down but spacious stone houses of the peasants and gentry where very pleasant looking to my Indian eye. This is very much a film of place. The stunning visuals of grand vistas, desolate countryside and the dark interiors of the stone houses make this a pleasant watch despite the terrible times it is set in. Some of the attitudes of the peasants and gentry and their longing for the glory of the roman empire reminded me of the India of today. The character played by VOLANTE could well be one of the culturally elite well read Indian intellectuals we all sneer upon. The score by PIERO PICCONI is very melancholic and it is played over and over again throughout the movie in nearly every scene. The painting with the sad girl looking at us during the title sequence. PAOLO BONICELLI's brilliant performance as the fascist mayor who befriends VOLANTE. So much to appreciate in this film.

(9/10)

Watched this one with my family today. This was an adult movie in a way. After an indifferent start, the film becomes so damn gripping. I really enjoyed it. It was a great police procedural. Awesome supporting cast - especially Vineeth Thattil (Kadan Benny Chettan in Angamaly Diaries), Gireesh Kulkarni and Jain Andrews, the actor who played Alex. After a slightly slow and indifferent start, the film suddenly grips you in a way only the best police procedurals can. Writer Shyam Pushkaran throws in a couple of mass scenes towards the end. Background score was jarring on some occasions. But this is a really terrific movie man. Great debut for director Saheed Arafat.

(8/10)

I have tried my best with Malayali art films. I watched a few films made by Adoor who praised Don Palathara recently. I cannot stand the films of veteran mentor Adoor or prodigy Palathara. I believe most of these Malayali art films get a sympathy vote by bores. Even the great entertaining Elia Kazan dabbled in the cinema verite style with The Visitors (1972).

I did not even understand or for that matter agree with some of the aesthetic choices. Why weren't the hunters faces shown clearly? Who was who? What purpose was served by making the faces of these characters indecipherable or anonymous? Palathara manages to exoticize Indian poverty and desperation with some pretty frames.

The dialogs were mostly tall tales told by the hunters and patriarchs. The film was slow as hell once the hunt began. It fell apart completely once the hunt began. There were many pretty frames. But it was all so dull. I guess it is dumb to expect a conventional narrative and aesthetics in an art film like this. Anyway, the lives and attitudes of Mallu Christians who occupied the high ranges of Kerala is one of the films themes. What did the final frame with the gun stuck between the rocks really mean? It was almost as if the director did not care about the audience or something. What was his purpose? His pomposity was not justified in the end. I mean, everything about the hunt was so flimsy. I felt like the writer/director knew nothing about the milieu and he concocted a bunch of tall tales. Inserted some unbelievably pretty frames. What was he trying to say? He had nothing to say except be a pompous ass.

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam is made in a super abstract way with a truly unique atmosphere. A more audience friendly approach could would have worked better. I did not love it. Also, most of it is in Tamil. I might have to rewatch a subtitled version.

It was definitely an interesting and entertaining story. Mammoty was quite good. But I do not know why people are praising the performance to the skies. I did not care much for the treatment either. Static frames that people are raving about took away a lot of the tension from the scenes. Cacophonic songs and conversations from old Tamil movies constantly playing in the village as a part of everyday life was annoying. As expected, S Hareesh fails to turn up as dialog writer. The same was the case with Jallikattu and Churuli. Hareesh simply cannot come up with interesting dialog.

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam is worth a watch. But wayyy overrated. I might watch it again. It is not a bad film. The problem is that Lijo fails to milk interesting characters, locales and situations to their full potential because he is too busy being arty farty. As I said early in the review, a more commercial approach could have done wonders to the film. Lijo says he has evolved in an interview. Well, he has evolved into a total phoney. Hahahahaha! I long for the Lijo of the Angamaly Diaries and Ee Maa Yau days.

Imagine you are passionate about something. You need to put your best foot forward to make more people take part in your passion/cause. But then you go ahead and write a film that turns people off your cause. Your writing is so cringe inducing that the film does not even survive in the movie halls. Despite the huge star cast. The dialogs were unbearable. Every single character was a caricature. It makes me ill to even write this review. I cannot believe so many talented actors where wasted in a piece of crap like this. And those sets! What were they thinking? Who agreed to produce this project? Murali Gopy is like a traitor to the cause or passion or propaganda he was trying to peddle through this movie. I am not sure why he even bothered. He is like a bad marketing manager trying to sell his product. I cannot think of a worse analogy. This film is that bad. It is a torture. I fell asleep.

The Asphalt Jungle is about the planning, execution and blowback of a jewelry heist in an American city.

The most interesting character was the tough, brutal strongman Dix Handley who longs for the simple world of the farmer and small towns and is slowly dying inside, living in the terrible city. Dix, does not like foreigners but impresses the German doctor while Doll, his woman, pines for his love and affection which he doles out in very small quantities. He was similar to the character Roy Earle in Burnett's High Sierra. Like Earle, Dix also longs for the pastoral world of his childhood which is now gone.

Another character, Emmerich, a lawyer who has a thing for young women is the closest to a villain in the book. But his relationship with his ageing wife and his desperate attempts to salvage his finances and life evokes some sympathy. Characterization is one of the novels strong points. Burnett assembles a bunch of doomed and desperate men and women from various walks of American life and throw them together. I had already seen the movie directed by John Huston so I knew what would happen in the end.

What is wrong with Malayali people these days? They seem to have been influenced by fraudulent virtue signaling North Indians and their own film critics. Rorschach is such a mean and nasty film. The background score itself is a huge turn off. Why was the music composer trying to impose stoner rock on a rustic Malayali village? Why didn't the director stop him? The film is a study in bad taste. Every actors face rubbed with some dark grease. A man out to take a revenge on the ghost of the hoodlum who harmed his family. What a joke! The writer is being hailed as a genius. This film was unbearable. I appreciate Mammuka taking risks with his production company. Hope he makes better films than Rorschach.

A serial killer who murders film critics? What a low stakes, low expectation, low standard serial killer, lol. Atleast find an important group to be angry with. Hahaha!

This film is such a dud. I cannot believe the glowing reviews. By the way, my earlier review got reported by some disgruntled Chup fan and was deleted.

Chup is not without a few deft touches, directorial flourishes and memorable scenes here and there. Saranya's character needed more screen time. Dulquer's acting has improved a lot. Shreya Dhanwanthary is adorable. Sunny and Pooja Bhatt do a decent job. R Balki does express his solidarity with Woody Allen at one point in the film.

An underrated reason why Mamet films are so unique - he casts actors who are rarely seen in the major roles and casts major actors in roles that are at odds with their cinematic persona.

A normal filmaker would have gone for Pacino and De Niro for this one. But Mamet casts Steve Martin in a never before seen role as a villain. Ben Affleck or Matt Damon would have been cast as the hero. But Campbell Scott is not someone whom I have seen in regular movies and all this gives the film a non-mainstream feel. Almost as if Mamet did not want to cast the enormous talent that could be available to a reputed filmaker like him. The actors including the sexy Rebecca Pidgeon contribute so much to this film.

As for the twists and turns, this is one of the most intriguing films ever written. Best film I have watched this year.

I am the biggest fan of Maniratnam. I was so eagerly waiting for this film. I watched it on the first day itself. This film needed a better hero than Karthi. It was hard to take him seriously as a picaresque swashbuckling warrior. He lacked the physical frame and the acting chops to pull it off. Trisha looked gorgeous. The sets and visuals were also lavish. Songs and background score were unremarkable at best. Has Rehman declined this badly? He used to bring his A game for Manirathnam movies. I wouldn't really recommend this film.

So what really went wrong? A lack of narrative punctuation. It lacks those memorable and spectacular scenes that ties it all together. The narration is quite flat and only the occasional beautiful visual spruced me up as a viewer. Remember the Udal Mannukku monologue in Iruvar? That 3 minute 24 second clip on Youtube was more innovative and had more swag than this whole film.

But I am so glad the film is a big hit and it is a pleasure to see your favorite director smiling and celebrating. Mani sir really stuck his neck out with Iruvar and Kannathil Muthamitaal. He deserves this success. Bravo, Mani sir.

The best part of Thallumala is that it is an uninhibited celebration of hyper masculinity. None of that pensive fake reflective sermons about toxic masculinity or attempt to be "darkly comic" in this film. It is a straightforward action film. Director Khalid Rehman, like most clever directors realized the audiences love to see men beating the hell out of each other and gives us what we want :)

Tovino is in the best shape of his life here. His body language and performances in the fight and dance scenes were on another level. I cannot think of another Malayalam actor like him with the wiry muscular look. I suspect he will become a pan Indian superstar after this film. Lukman Avaran has taken a giant leap with this film. I always suspected his histrionic ability but he delivers with this one and holds his own despite Tovino having the best fight scenes. Shine Tom Chacko with his wolf-like visage reminded me of Lee Van Cliff and he is a worthy adversary to Manavalan Waseem.

A weak link in the film could be Kalyani Priyadarshan. Beepathu's role was that of a feisty blogger, and while Kalayani looked cute, her performance was a bit low energy. The film needed a hotter sexier heroine to match Tovino/Manavalan Waseem's testosterone.

The film's editing reminded me of Trainspotting. Crisp, short scenes with the occasional surreal frame thrown in for better effect. Vishnu Vijay's score while not brilliant, is catchy enough.

I am sure there will be a sequel with Manavalan Waseem and Reji's gang taking on Omega Babu. I had a great time watching the movie and writing this review.

Terrific Albert Finney makes you want to have a drink. I was drinking while watching this one. A sort of a Graham Greeneque setting with a drunk British ambassador living it up in Mexico, lamenting his long gone wife, getting drunk in the mornings even as the second world war is about to break out. Maybe the film needed a better leading lady than Jacqueline Bisset. Not Huston's best. But awesome that Huston was energetic enough to get novels like Fat City, Under the Volcano and Wise Blood made into film.

(7/10)