[naveen.raju]

The Smile Man



A failed investigative thriller, I would say as it had the potential Decent acting by Sarath Kumar and the antagonist. It’s definitely watchable.
Rating - 2.5/5 (aha). Watchable

Identity



A crime thriller which should have been decent went on a rollercoaster ride. Too many elements and kind of makes it confusing. Too long and too fast. Should have toned down the pace. Trisha was wasted on this one. Tovino and Vinay were decent. 

Rating - 2.5/5 (Zee5). Watchable

Swargam



Guess it tried to do a “home” (2021 movie) here but failed. Acting was pretty par but Manju Pillai did justice to her role. 
A pretty average/bland movie.
Rating - 2/5 (Sunnxt). Watchable

[CaliforniaKnight]

Movie: Ponman

Shot in a coastal village of Kollam, the movie revolves around the bride and grooms family with the the age old 'gold dowry' issue. Movie also portrays how a middle man who comes to assist the bride gets a rough ride.
A casual sunday watch, nothing ground breaking. Songs felt good.

Both Basil and Sajin Gopu (Amban fame from AAvesham) have done their roles perfect.
Rating: 3.75/ 5

[saikishor]

Thandel
Rating: 2/5
Saw this in the theatre yesterday. I liked the music part of the film. Apart from that, everything else felt boring and laggy. For some reason I found the movie to be similar to Naga Chaitanya's previous movie titled as "Love Story". Those who can stand light hearted movies can give this one a try. Music is very good, 1.5 stars to this and 0.5 stars for the hero and heroine for the Srikakulam slang that they had to use in the movie.

Game Changer
Rating: 0/5
Im glad I skipped this in the theatres. The movie is a full on cringe fest IMO. Im surprised how Ram Charan and the producers agreed to this script. There is so much of unnecessary cringe in the film. The songs are just a pain to listen to.
Would suggest to skip for those who havent watched yet.

[fhdowntheline]

Pushpa 2 on Netflix:

I was very skeptical about this one after I saw the trailer. But I watched the movie like a typical OTT series (breaking it into 1 hour sessions) and was impressed. Not every cinema is meant to be meaningful , true to life, artsy etc. But that is in the eye and mind of the beholder.
To me, the gradual depiction of Pushpa Raj's larger than life persona was done with enough deftness without sacrificing the commercial quotient. In fact, I think the so called massy scenes (especially the action/fights) were totally incidental to the movie's plotline. They did not impress me at all. But his vulnerability as a person, his lifelong angst at being ostracized was well depicted in various moments. They have cleverly managed to combine several themes reminiscent of Bollywood movies like Deewar, Don, Sarkar etc, albeit with a strong Chittoor flavour to create that persona and it obviously worked. And that mystery tease with the ending has left a sense of anticipation. A strong 3.5/5 from me, for the build up of Pushpa's persona, the wacky demeanor of Shekhawat, the wily and ever calculating Siddappa, and the newfound and rekindled enmities, all of which are likely to create an interesting part 3.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

Pushpa 2 on Netflix:

I was very skeptical about this one after I saw the trailer. But I watched the movie like a typical OTT series (breaking it into 1 hour sessions) and was impressed.

I had the same opinion. While I enjoyed part 1, expected that part 2 would be lazy film making just to capitalise on the success of part 1. Started watching expecting to switch off soon. Ended up watching and enjoying the whole thing. As you mentioned it can almost be considered as a 3 part web series. Allu Arjun has the swag and acting chops to carry off this role perfectly. The antagonists led by Fahad were all good. I expected a fight every 15 min but again was surprised that there were only 3 in a nearly 4 hour film. Did not like the songs and the fairly crass steps associated with it.

Overall I think Pushpa 2 is commercial entertainment done perfectly right.

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Overall I think Pushpa 2 is commercial entertainment done perfectly right.

The film was just average for me; all situations to highlight heroism were predictable, and there will be Pushpa 3 probably by 2027. Why can't they work on tight scripts with so many resources at hand rather than making such predictable movies after shooting for 3-4 years?

[Asish_VK]

Pushpa 2 : Netflix - 2.75/5

I was expecting a very bad movie to be honest. But it was surprisingly good for the first 2/3rd where the cat and mouse game between Pushpa & Shekhawat. During its theatrical run, Fahad was mocked in social media for taking up a role which had high hopes but ended up being a joker. I felt his role was not too bad.
Friends who watched both versions (theater & OTT) confirmed that the reason for it was editting out close to 45 mins in theater version.

Didn't like the songs, the heroine's charector, her acting and the climax flight (hands tied up one). Overall watchable mass masala movie.

[saikishor]

Marco
Rating: 2.75/5

I was really waiting for this to release on OTT, as I had missed it in theatres. I very well knew what to expect and I anticipated for a lot of violence and honestly the violence was much more than my expectation, especially the last 30 minutes was an overkill for me. Also, the constant cigar on screen felt a little boring IMO.

I loved the visuals and Ravi Basrur's music elevated the whole experience. Unni Mukundan as Marco, he simply nailed it.

Overall a decent watch but violence was much more than what I expected. Those who are looking for logics or those who are light hearted please stay away.

[vibbs]

Marco

Mindless action, blood and gore. Not at all my type. Even Rifle club was better than this in the sense that atleast it had better performances.

Unni Mukundan cannot act for the love of his life nor can the others.

Pushpa 2

Struggled to finish this one in atleast 5 sittings. I cannot imagine how this movie went on to break all records!

What was that hand and leg tied fight?

First part was way better IMO.

[MaxTorque]

Originally Posted by vibbs

Pushpa 2

Struggled to finish this one in atleast 5 sittings. I cannot imagine how this movie went on to break all records!

What was that hand and leg tied fight?

First part was way better IMO.

Exactly my thoughts. We watched it in 8 sittings. Kids had a good laugh. Looking at the box office collection, I feel there is some issue with my movie expectations.

Particularly I felt, the costumes, fight scenes are too much to digest. Not sure why the makers didn't exploit Allu Arjun's dancing skill. Overall I felt Pushpa - 1 was better I think.

[VNair]

Marco - 2/5

Violence is not at all my type but I loved Kill and was expecting something similar - but MARCO is gore and gross. The director has showed his creativity on how gross violence can be portrayed, to a new born too!

The BGM was nice (as required by the genre, I guess) but too much of noise.

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by VNair

Marco - 2/5

Violence is not at all my type but I loved Kill and was expecting something similar - but MARCO is gore and gross. The director has showed his creativity on how gross violence can be portrayed, to a new born too!

The BGM was nice (as required by the genre, I guess) but too much of noise.

Totally agree. In fact, I like action movies. Kill was a great example of non-stop action done well. This was crazy. The way they depicted blood splashes, reminded me of CS:go than a movie.

[vvivek85]

I happened to watch the Tamil movie Dragon yesterday, such a great movie. Trailer was so deceiving, I initially expected a rehashed storyline glorifying college arrears, making fun of professors, focusing on romance. However, to my surprise that is not the case here, director Ashwath Marimuthu (Who’s first movie Oh my Kaduvale was brilliant as well) has taught a big lesson to everyone without being overly preachy. Some of the morals which he had covered not only applies for college students but for all. Must watch in theatre

[Asish_VK]

Daku Maharaj - Netflix - 3.5/5



Watched Balakrishna's latest mass masala action flick on the weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I used to see Balakrishna as a troll material (no offense to fans) but after watching Agkhanda and Veera Simha Reddy, I kind of got his appeal to general audiance.

Daku Maharaj is the same old vine served in same mass action bottle. But the making, bgm and Balakrishna's performance/screen presence, especially in elevated action scenes makes it a fun watch on a Saturday night.

Contrary to his old movies, he chose not to romance a teenage heroine (sans few scenes & a song of Urvashi) and the character is a bit more mature. Even Bobby Deol's villain role had good moments and is not a name sake charector in the movie.

Recommended for 'Mass masala popcorn movie' lovers.

[IndieGooner]

Officer on Duty - Malayalam
Watched recently released Officer on Duty starring Kunchako Boban at theatre this weekend. Went with high expectations as this is from the same team that made Nayattu few years ago and is once again a police story. My take is, well don't go expecting another Nayattu - this is not a bad movie by any means but unlike Nayattu this is not a realistic movie with bold social commentary; it's more of a mass action movie and does stand up well by those standards. The movie starts of with a bang and does not let up its frenetic pace anywhere. Kunchako Boban plays a brutish police officer and does it well. I thought some of the plot points were not very convincing and there were one too many convenient coincidence for my liking. There's a ton of violence, blood, drug abuse and sexual assaults - kids definitely sits this one out.

All in all - Not a Nayattu but more of a Pani on steroids!