Enthiran movie review

This movie redefines Tamil commercial cinema. DIRECTOR  SHANKAR   implants seed in the minds of people who like to take leadership & inspire in giving the world original inventions from the east 

Sujatha who wrote the SCI –FICTION novel “En Iniya Iyanthira” inspired from a story named “BI CENTENNIAL MAN” written by ISSAC ASIMOV(well pronounced in the song BOOM BOOM DA….ROBO DA), published in 1975.

 Enthiran is an excitement, entertainment & huge dream amounting from SHANKAR.

SHANKAR beefs up his arsenal with SUPERSTAR, late Sujatha, Yuen Woo Ping (action sequence for films like Matrix… along with peter Hein), Stan Winston Studios (visual effects for films like Ironman, Terminator....), Rathnavelu (cinematographer who is responsible for lighting and effects), Industrial Light & Magic (special effects for films like Avatar, Star Wars, and Titanic) along with Oscar winners AR Rahman(music composer) & Rasool pukutty…

SUPERSTAR RAJNIKANTH ….. An unstoppable force to reckon with, magnetizes the Tamil audiences spread across the length and breadth of the geographical boundaries

STORY:

Scientist Vaseegaran creates Chitti, a humanoid robot. Vaseegaran needs approval from scientist committee to make more like chitti that can be inducted into the army. Due to certain flaws in Chitti  (not able to distinguish b/w right and wrong, good and bad ) needed in a warfare. Vaseegaran’s   trusted guide and advisor Professor Bohra, refuses to give clearance and  is jealous of his students inventions and terms chitti as stupid .

Vaseegran decides to modify his creation and gives him free will through AI (Artificial Intelligence) that will emote chitti which later becomes a disaster to the creator himself, as chitti begins to love Sana- Vaseegran’s love interest.

Vaseegran destroys chitti and throws him into trash barrel, later found by Professor Bohra and uses him for his money making business in turn guarantees him to reach to Sana.

Professor implants a red chip in Chitti, which will make him nothing less than an evil minded sinister.

Chitty turns into a Frankenstein(3^rd Rajnikanth in the movie), kidnaps Sana, kills Bohra and later starts a revolution. Creates similar humanoids which he uses to protect himself and Sana from others and in particular Vaseegaran 

Vaseegaran’s initial attempts all end in vain, skillfully drafts a plan and succeeds in it all adding up to the BIGGEST SPECTACLE IN TAMIL CINEMA, as promised by the team.

The first half is a smooth and fun ride with Chitty taking centre stage. The action sequence on the sub urban train is alluring!! The second half is truly a bonanza for viewers. In a climatic sequence, thousands of humanoids link themselves together to form a huge drill, giant ball firing bullets, a massive python (that literally engulfs cars, people, a tower and finally a towering giant who bursts from the underground far beyond the imagination of cinema goers. 

SONGS and PICTURISATION:

The movie has 3 show stopper songs. When it comes to visualization Shankar excels with magnificence. 

Kilmanjaro ; the tribal song shot at one of the world’s  heritage spot  is fantastic . Aishwariya dazzles.

Chitti dance show; springs up the hidden dance skills in Superstar.

Kadal Anukkal ; the visualization of the song is a real treat for Rajini fans!!

ARIMA ARIMA : portrays the Superstar in a larger than life image !!

VERDICT:

ENTHIRAN is not just a movie, an experience and excitement that needs to be seen. SUPERSTAR RAJNIKANTH ….. An unstoppable force to reckon with; magnetizes the Tamil audiences spread across the length and breadth of the geographical boundaries. A landmark in TAMIL FILM ...

Inception Review

Di Caprio stars as Dom Cobb, a professional who is capable of navigating through people’s mind in their subconscious state (They enter into the dreams through the injection method. Their dream information is gathered in to a suitcase / kind of data logger which can be accessed again for retrieval)

Di Caprio new assignment is to plant an idea into Fischer’s mind, the head of multimillionaire company (inherited wealth) to separate his large scale business in to two small companies that will benefit Saito(who hires Di Caprio) with business supremacy and in turn free Di Caprio on charges for killing his wife.

The reason for the death of his wife is later reveled. Di Caprio himself was the reason .He would have planted an idea into his wife, which will make her think, that the real world is fake …. When she wakes up from the dream world she feels that she is still in the dream and decides to die (If a person dies in dream world he/ she wakes up)

Di Caprio and his team prepares to do the impossible : A dream within a dream, within a dream .To go so deep into a mind , so deep.. that if he wakes up in the middle ,will make him A dormant or in simple terms, a state of rest in which consciousness of the world is suspended .
                                                                                

Di Caprio s plans are disturbed by the presence of his wife who sprouts   up from his sub consciousness and ruins his well designed and engineered plans.    

The story is all about how they plan to enter into Fisher’s mind and plant an idea in it , with brilliantly placed  car chases, car chases into countdowns,  mission on a snowy mountainside , the fight sequence . Christopher Nolan’s script has sewed together 3 layers of dreams all converging at the climax, will twist your mind for sure.

Things that work:

1. Christopher Nolan’s imagination is spell binding and delivering that to the audience would have been an exhilarating mission.

2. Di Caprio relation with his wife is the heart of the story.

3. Narrative story line with subtitles.

4. Anything is possible, from constructing impossibly complex buildings to, in one extraordinary scene, folding an entire city over on top of itself.

Verdict: A movie that will test your intelligence and twist your mind. Coming out of inception won’t leave you disappointed .An ending that will leave you with an agitated feel. Needs preconception & Imagination

Raavanan Review

                                                           

Director:Mani Ratnam

MusicA R Rahman

Cast:Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Pritviraj, Prabhu, Karthik, Priya Mani, RANGITA (Nityananda Fame)

Producer:Madras Talkies &Big Pictures

 Story:

        Veera(Vikram) a naxalite who fights for  downtrodden village men is being chased down by SP Dev(Pritiviraj). Veera kidnaps Ragini (Aishwarya Rai)  Dev’s wife and later plans to kill her in an Intentionally contemptuous behavior. All for the loss of his sister (Priyamani) ravished by Dev’s men (cops)

                                                           

Veera makes all his movements in deep woods and is difficult for Dev to track him down.

Even though he gets help through (Karthik) forest officer, all his attempts doesn’t pay him instead Veera a sure footed man notes all the movements of Dev and continues to kill everyone who eventually led to the suicide of his sister in a rebellious manner.

                                                                                

During the second half the movie goes a bit slow till the forest officer finds the hide out of Veera and urges him for a peace talk in return, benefits for his people. Veera sends one of his people to have a confronted conversation is later shot down by Dev’s unethical behavior.

                                                                                              

Devastated on seeing his men dead, Ignites the fire in him and decides to completely wash out the Cops especially Dev. All this leads to Climax fight sequence on a hanging bridge..

Director Mani seems to be totally lost here…. why an engaging person(VEERA)  decides to save DEV ….. Later gets killed by him in an open encounter?  Is it for the benefit of Ragini ? or In compensation for his men who got killed by Dev  during peace process ? or a serious of events that lead to the suicide of his sister ? Is VEERA a naxalite or a humanitarian!!!!!!!  Doesn’t really fit in!!!!!!!!!

Movie Picturisation:

                                The film captures the typical if not for real a rainforest atmosphere from the waterfalls, woods, lush greenery, and frost all adding to the grandeur of the movie.

Music picturisation:

                                ARR’s BGM stands apart as usual, yet the picturisation of songs is far below average and for the very first time AR Rahaman and Mani combination doesn’t seem to blend well. Only Kalvare sung by Shreya Ghoshal is damn good not just for the music but for Ragni’s flexible dance movements that hooks the audience.

Mani has kept aside his vintage old experience and has made this movie as a debutant.

Vikram has been taken lightly in this movie as his acting prowess  is far below to his yester year movies like ANNIYAN, PITHAMAGAN to name a few.

The script too is weak absence of Sujatha(script writer) is clearly felt.

Its time Director Mani looks into movies like NADODIGAL, SUBRAMANIAPURAM, RENIGUNTA and IRUMBU KOTTAI MURATTU SINGAM (for sets) and realizes that young guns are ready to fire….without adapting olden mythological saga.

BOTTOM LINE:

Mani is a Maverick in Making Money with this Movie by positioning his brand value and nothing else...

VERDICT:

                   Old wine in new bottle lacks exquisite flavors.                               

Singam review

Banner: Sun Pictures, Big Pictures, Studio Green
Production: Kalanidhi Maaran, K.E. Gnyanavel Rajan
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues and Direction: Hari
Star-casts: Surya, Prakash Raj, Anushka, Vivek
Music: Devi Sri Prasad

A story that revolves around the life of a heroic cop Durai Singam (Surya)

Singam: Mr Dependable who is capable of sorting out any issues arising in and around his jurisdiction is loved by his village men for his upright and fair dealings

Singam faces trouble in the form of Mayil Vaaganam (Prakash Raj) an extortionist, runs ‘Kata Panchayat’ and also makes a nifty through various land dealings, in Tiruvanmayur area of Chennai.

Out of all... his main source of money is through Kidnapping, which the society is unaware of …

Singam gets transferred to Chennai and the movie is about how the cop chases down the badie and puts an end to all his money making networks and finally gets a promotion to a higher ranking official. In between all these there is a love, romance between (Surya and Anushka)

Things that actually work in the movie:

1. Punch dialogues by Dorai Singam and justifying the character through voice modulation and body language

2. Director Hari adopting a racy and action packed screen play.

Were the movie is let down:

1. Vivek’s character as “ERIMALAI” is unimpressive and fails to attract

2. Songs are a real speed breaker to an action packed movie

Coming to music

All songs are just an average, highlight being KADHAL VANDAL sung by Baba Sehgal and Priyadharshini . Lyrics penned by VIVEKA have used metaphor at various places. A peppy number.

“Iduppu Konda Oosi Sirippu Window AC thaan

Paarvai Pattakathi Paayum Ennai Suthi than”

VERDICT: An action packed movie with a predictive story line that is sure to attract  audience and a box office winner, summer special…

PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME

An epic action-adventure set in the mystical lands of Persia... read more 

The film is an adaptation of the mega-popular video game  that follows an adventurous prince who joins a rival princess on a quest to stop an angry ruler from unleashing a sandstorm which could bring about the destruction of the world.

Nizam (Ben Kingsley) an evil minded sinister who kills his kin King-Sharaman  and wickedly frames Prince Dastan a former street orphan  adopted by the king –all  part of a plan to seize the crown

Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal),  attempts to save the world from his evil Uncle Nizam (Ben Kingsley), who thirsts for a magic dagger(Sands of time ) held in a sacred city. The dagger allows the user to move backwards in time: to correct a mistake or shift the course of history 

Dastan joins hand with Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton) who knows a lot more about the mystical power of the dagger(Sands of time ) that can actually reverse the time. Both journey across the desert sands in an effort to keep the weapon safe and to come out clean that he Dastan didn’t kill  King Sharaman

Things that were worth the watch :

1.Parkour stunts : (acrobatic stunts) one which were part of the opening chase sequence  in CASINO ROYALE

2.Dastan climbs a castle wall at night with the help of long-range archers who shoot a trail of makeshift arrow carabineers just inches above his head

3.Snake-loving assassins who join hands with Nizam to kill Prince Dastan

4.Ostrich races that add humor to the film

5.SFX field; use of stop motion

6.CGI( computer generated Imaginary) that captures  luxurious castles, exotic peoples, landscapes , edge-of-the-seat action and many more 

No movie can match the spine chilling performance of a game ,yet this adventure  movie is definitely worth the watch 

Verdict : ACTION PACKED ADVENTURE , ONE OF THE BEST VIDEO GAME TO MOVIE ADAPTATIONS . A SUMMER TREAT 

From the team that brought the "Pirates of the Caribbean", Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films present PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME

Tamil Padam Review

Hero –RJ Shiva
Cast-M S Baskar, Vennira Aadai Moorthy, Manobala, Disha pandey
Director- CS Amudhan
Genre –Comedy, family entertainer

These are some of the words that you would be remembered “no logic, kadavuley, Idhuover, thangaley” when you watch this full length spoof about Tamil cinema.
I am not going to tell you the story or the sequence as it is for you to see and laugh, but I will just say a hint of what the movie is

A new born baby boy is to be killed giving cactus milk which comes in a tetra pack and the baby utters all the punchy dialogues of Vijay and is being taken care by “Paravai Munniyama” in Chennai , the boy grows up seeing violence and rowdy’s and pledges to fight and believe me…. he grows up into an adult in less than 5 sec just by riding a bicycle that is put on a stand , the grown up is our hero RJ Shiva , who enters into the main picture and like “Bull entering the China shop” smashes every one all shown in a hilarious way and the laughter journey starts from there…….

These are some of the movies that have been made fun of with out hurting the sentiments of any one. "Chandramukhi,Thalapathi, Apoorva Sagodharargal , Anniyan, Kakka Kakka, Sivaji, Mozhi, pokkiri, Nattaamai,Boys, Ghajini,Kathaliku mariyadhai…etc”

None of the Tamil movie heroes have been left out without being criticized. The list includes Rajini, Kamal,Sarath, Vijaykanth,Vikram(Kandasami) Vijay, Surya, Silambarasan(being the most ).

Even the seniors like T. Rajendhar Bhagyaraj, RajKiran& Delhi Ganesh, are not spared either.

There is an interesting song which principally criticizes Harris Jayaraj for composing songs without any meaning full lyrics, the first few lines….

Oh Maha Zeeya..Oh Maha Zeeya.. (Kakka Kakka)
Nakka Mukka Nakka… (Kadhalil Vizhundhen)
Oh Shakalakka..
Oh Randakka.. (Anniyan)

The appearance of 40 + actors appearing as college students in Tamil films have been vividly ridiculed too in the movie.( M S Baskar, Vennira Aadai Moorthy, Manobala) all being RJ Shiva’s best buddies

The most interesting part is the scene that comes 10 minutes before the end (please watch it). The movie signs off in style by saying ARR words “ella phuzalum iraivanukku” said by Paravai Munniyama.
There are few social messages too embedded in this movie …

Verdict:

Watch this big budget “Lollu Saba”, a full length comedy block buster directed to excellence by CS Amudhan .

Written by
J Balaji.

Avatar

I am writing a movie review for the very first time , if I have made any mistakes please don't make it a big remark .

There had been much speculation about this movie from the date of its release, reasons being 3D , visual effects story line and James Cameron . Every idea you see in this movie is either derived from an another idea .But I’ll tell you right now that Avatar is a film that must be seen in 3D theatres, People are seeing Avatar for the visuals not for the story line.

Sam Worthington, a name I believe Hollywood will soon become recognized with, plays a handicap Ex Marine with the soul purpose of going to the moon Pandora in hopes that the Army/Marines will help pay for him to get his legs fixed while he is stuck in a wheel chair(don’t understand why the government spends so much for an handicapped person to go to a distant place several light years away from earth). Stephen Lang’s performance as Colonel Quaritch was the one performance that seemed to be the abundance of generic quality a character can be. The generic Colonel who’s soul purpose is to complete his mission. ”We’re not in Kansas anymore.” The first half of the movie captures the attention of the viewers into a new planet (Pandora ) were every thing from people , environment , animals , tree of souls , hanging mountains with waterfalls .. Leaves the movie goers in spellbinding .

The second half of the movie revolves around how the native people the Navi’s fight against the Army people and restore their homeland underlines the phrase “people have the right to fight for their life”. The most important thing which you will like in this movie is the climax were even the animals unite with the Navi’s to restore their land is much beyond speculation.

Now for the interesting part , people have speculated that James Cameron inspiration of the Navi’s comes from the ancient Indian mythological Idol Rama .. Yes the blue colored man who fights against the Ravana . The Rama described in the script was 9 feet tall and the Navi’s as described by Director is too the same . The final scene were the hero has three lines on his fore head and fights for his people can be related to the” namam” which the Rama has on his forehead , wait this is just a speculation and not that this is the fact




There are lot of good spiritual lessons embedded in it :
1. The universal consciousness, also known as 'Animism', is an integral part of several primitive cultures. Chinese calls it Chi, Indians call it Prana.
2. Love is the most powerful purifier of all.
3. All energy is only borrowed...You have to give it back.
4. "Mother earth does not take sides; she protects only the balance of life," a quote from movie reveals that mother earth promotes balance and harmony over everything else. Several Hindu and Zen spiritual theories promote balance and harmony as well.

Go see the movie for the visual affects because that itself is a memory to hold on to as movie like this will not be coming in near future ..

Written by :
J balaji.

AayirathilOruvan -Tamil

What would you get if you mix proportions of Indiana Jones, king kong , 300, Gladiator , Mummy with twist and turns and a mix of Indian style dialogue delivery and humor . Well that’s the adventurous story of Aayirathil Oruvan (AO).

‘Open Ending’ is never entertained with the audiences of Tamil film. In all likelihood, AO has a better first half (with usual Selvaraghavan) that abundantly caters to the ‘B’ and ‘C’ centres. But the latter part flees to a different arena.

When an archaeologist vanishes in Vietnam which was once ruled by the Cholas ( pure fiction). (Reema) and her group of officials are appointed by Government to unravel the mystery. Archeologist’s daughter (Andrea) too joins the defense troupe to carry out the mission. Strapping group of men lead by (Karthi) is employed to assist them. Soon the journey begins and it turns to be tougher than the team had actually predicted.

After the Interval the movie enters into an different story which makes the audiences restless , all of a sudden the trio find out that the Chola dynasty still thrives in a mysterious cave which makes me to say “ how could people in thousands live in a cave when there is no light and food to feed ” . In spite of shelling huge amount of grandeur and money for the intro of Partiban who plays the Chola empire , there’s nothing much impressive we tend to witness.

Karthi fans would go restless as he hardly appears over the screens. Yes, it’s all about realms of Parthiban and Reema for the next 45minutes and Karthi gets back to the picture patently during penultimate sequence. There is an amphitheatre fight like the one people have seen in Gladiator , which makes me to say the DIR is trying to copy and paste the works of Hollywood . Even though Band C audiences wouldn’t have seen much of Hollywood movies , the saying is there “there is no new creativity with the Indian DIR , after seeing movies like this”. Portraying the cholas like barbarians is unacceptable as they lead a civilized life

As mentioned earlier, Selva could’ve picked an alternative climax instead of ‘open ending’. For sure, AO a noteworthy film in the history of contemporary Tamil Cinema. But, it’s strictly not for kids and family audiences, as the last 30 min is a total disaster,showcasing vulgarity and obscene things in front of audiences

Verdict :

Enjoy AO in parts and not in full , appreciate the efforts of technicians who have worked hard to make this movie

Review by :

J Balaji