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Adaminte Makan Abu - 5/5

My goodness, what a movie and what a terrific performance by Salim Kumar! No wonder he walked away with so many honours! Zarina Wahab and the supporting cast - Nedumudi Venu, Kalabhavan Mani and Mukesh played their respective parts well. Such a simple and a realistic storyline about an elderly Muslim couple who aspires to go to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage and how they save up every paisa for this trip. The soundtracks were kickass! 1 hour and 40 minutes well spent I'd say.

I regret having missed it for this long (2011 movie) but what the heck, better late than never! If you missed this movie, please watch it by all means. :thumbs up

Court - Marathi movie - 2/5 (actually 1/5, but 1 mark for the actress playing lawyer)

This movie got a staggering number of international awards, and an Indian award as well. I went to see it with great expectation, since the last such movies in this award series were absolute blast - Shyam chi Aai, Shvas and Deool. Absolutely stunning movies that stay with the viewer for a long time. Naturally the hopes for Court were very high.

Perhaps I am not a - for the lack of a word -'mature' movie watcher, but I thought it really wasted few hours of my life. A mundane police case with a hint of how the government is trying to silence the rebellious people (who happened to belong to backward caste in this case), and then scene after long scene of meaningless blabbering. It reminded me of the Seinfeld 'No story' episode.

What did you do today?
I got up, got ready and came to work.
That's your story right there!

Really really long scenes where you yearn for someone to shout CUT. People eating in hotel - deserve a long scene. Watching a play - a few minutes scene straight from the play! Another example. Court is now adjourned for the day. Everyone leaves. Bye bye! See you tomorrow fly here and there. Peon closes all doors. switches off the lights one by one. Closes the door. The room is dark, with you still looking inside it, wondering whether some ghost will pop out. Nope, the scene drags on and on with people in theatre wondering whether they paused the movie. It finally fades away, a little too late.

Characters ramble on and on without any connection whatsoever. You heard about Kulkarni? He and his wife went to Shrilanka, and there they met a horrible incident. What incident? You ask. Zilch, scene has moved forward, yay! (not a scene from the movie, but this is much better cliffhanger, really). In the end, it is neither about Kulkarni nor Shrilanka, it is about you.

You just don't connect with anyone in the movie. Neither the victim of the supposedly false accusation, nor any of the lawyers, nor the judge. You are just a hopeless victim for 2 hours, wondering whether you should trust any movie awards any more.

Never quite been this frustrated by a movie, not by any good thought provoking manner, but by the sheer amount of time it took out of life. The so called inside views on the private lives of the lawyers and judge are as uninteresting as possible.

No one in the movie theatre had any good thing to say after the show, so I take calm in knowing that I was not alone thinking that it sucked. So many raving positive reviews and so less theatre turnout is really a contrast. Perhaps someone should make a movie out of it.

Even if you are a seasoned movie buff who enjoy such sort of 'slice of life' in the lives of persons with no story, please don't drag your casual viewers from family/friends with you.

Uttama Villain (bilingual)- (Telugu/Tamil)
3.5/5

A contemporary satire draped in a folkloric saga

With such a subtle [ and mind you, a terrific ] subplot, the Kamal's latest flick is an absolute watch for the movie buffs but like most of the Kamal's movies, this is not an open book where you are fed a story with little background and this might not really appeal to the cash-donating classes to the movies [ B & C centers] . So, bad news to the producer !

Chirakodinja Kinavukal - This, I guess, is the first ever spoof film in Malayalam. The movie makes fun of all the cliches in our movies. As the title suggests, its the very same story narrated by 'Ambujakshan' in Azhakiya Ravanan. Kunchacko Boban does a double role for the first time; He was appealing as the Thayyalkaaran but couldn't do justice to the NRI role. Rima Kallingal was gorgeous as Sumathi and performed well. Sreenivasan was good. Even though he isn't the script writer, his influence can be felt through out the movie. Writer Praveen S and director Santhosh Viswanath makes a decent debut. A spoof movie had lot more scope which they could have utilised but still its worth a watch for those who are open to watching experimental movies.

My Rating- 7/10.

Ivide- Malayalam (actually I should say English-70-80% of the movie is in English)

The trailer indicated a taut crime thriller along the lines of 'Memories' or 'Mumbai Police'. Reviews were mixed. Anyway decided to watch.

Came away pretty quite impressed. More than the thriller element, the focus was on personalities and relationships. The backdrop is a series of murders which Prithviraj is investigating. There is talk about outsourcing and job losses. The other key characters are Bhavana who is his Ex Wife and nivin-CIO of an India IT Company. Not everyone's cup of tea. A slow paced drama I would call it. Completely based in Atlanta- Most of the movie is in English. In fact the hero-Prithviraj who is adoped from India by an American Couple at a young age-Does not know Malayalam at all.

Excellent performance from Prithvi including the American Accent. Sounded quite good and not put on. Seems to have specialized in cop roles with emotional or personality issues. :) Nivin seemed a little uncomfortable as compared to his smooth performances in his 'boy next door' kind movies. Bhavana was also good. No other known actor from Malayalam world. Everyone else did a pretty good job.

My Rating: 3/5: Overall felt that the movie was trying to be too many things. There were 2-3 threads that were not needed and that time could have been used to increase the depth of some of the other main threads. But still would recommend it. Definitely not going to be a box office success.

On a side note: I assume the focus of the team was to make something that can appeal internationally. May be a way to showcase talents outside our borders.

Finally watched 1983 (Malayalam) - 3.5/5

It is a simple story about the obsession with cricket found in a youngster and how it shapes up his life. This is not a movie with a strong story arc but more like one that is a combination of several events in the life of an individual. The movie is well made and the dialogues as well as narrative is enjoyable. Overall, a simple movie that can lighten you up in a couple of hours. Another plus point - there are no fight scenes. :)

Premam is brilliant! The casting and screenplay is amazing. Don't miss.

Nirnayakam (Malayalam) - This is one of the most socially relevant movies made in recent times. If you can sit through a rather uninteresting first half there awaits you a hard hitting second half. Actually the first half just deals with the character establishments and the actual story happens in the latter half. Asif Ali has done his part well but the real show stealers were Nedumudi Venu and Prem Prakash. Sudheer Karamana and Lena also gave notable performance. Another point worth mentioning is the way the court scenes were shot. Guess this is the first time in malayalam where the actual happenings inside a court is shown in a realistic manner. This isnt Bobby-Sanjay's best script but still their class is evident. VKP has presented it well.

Worth a watch for those who're interested in watching a serious movie. Those who seek a mere entertainer, look elsewhere.

My Rating- 7/10

Ithihasa- Malayalam- A 2014 movie and just got to watch it. Did not have much expectations but was pleasantly surprised. A story seen in several English films- Guy and girl bodies get swapped and the incidents and confusions arising out of it. Several good one liners.

But what made me sit through the movie was the performance of the heroine Anushree. Got the act of the guy in a girls body spot on. It is easy to over do such a role, but she was brilliant. Definitely a talent to watch out for. I heard she was very good in the recent movie 'Chandrettan Evideya'. Have not got a chance to see that yet.

Mallu folks, don't miss Drishyam's Bollywood trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuuX2j14NBg

:D

Might actually turn out to be good!

Heard some terrific reviews about Premam. Will catch up on the DVD when it is out.

Looks good. But felt that a little too much of the story has been let out through the trailer. The Malayalam trailer completely hid what exactly was coming. But maybe that is needed for the Hindi version since it will be a departure from the typical Bollywood movie.

BTW, here is the Tamil trailer (Papanasam). Releasing around the same time.

The choice of heroine seems strange. It is a role that requires some heavy acting. Maybe Kajol or Vidya Balan?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTnYaTYl9RQ

Papanasam reviews have been very good especially the screenplay, direction by Jeethu joseph and not but not the least acting by Ulaganayagan Kamal.

Yes, heard that Papanasam is as good as the original. No wonder considering its the same director and with an actor like Kamal Hassan it should be better. I'm looking forward to see how Kalabhavan Mani has performed in the role which was done by Shajon in malayalam.

Premam is good. A little too over hyped I believe. But defenitely a good movie. Takes you back to the school/college days. And Malar has become quite a sensation. There are already comparisons online between Malar and Clara.

Nivin Pauly has done a good job too at looking his part in all the three ages of the movie.

And it really did not do well right? Wanted to watch it badly and didn't even get a chance to.

Loved Dhrishyam - cannot wait to watch Papanasam. Going tomorrow.

Btw - any reviews of Sandhya Theater at Madiwala?