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Two widely different movies over the weekend.

Theri (Spark)- Tamil - Vijay: Had some time to kill and was the only movie I could find that matched the place and time. I like Vijay movies but have skipped the last few in theater as it was hard to distinguish one from the other. Theri is somewhat better than some of his recent movies. A typical revenge drama. Typically in a Vijay movie it is Mother/sister for the sentiments part. This time it is wife and daughter which works pretty well. A lot of the first half is based in Kerala (keeping the Kerala Market in mind I assume). Vijay does a good job, the kid who plays his daughter is also good as is the Villain.

Rating 2.5/5: Timepass watch

Leela: Malayalam-Biju Menon-Ranjit: Not sure what to say. Based on short story which was very popular. Deals with a single guy with a rich family background and his weird fantasies. I could not relate to the movie at all. Reviews indicated that one has to have read the story to appreciate the movie. I had not read the story an that could have been the reason I did not like it. Overall a dark and depressing movie.

Good acting by Biju Menon, Indrans, Vijayaraghavan and Jagadeesh.

Rating:1.5/5

Happened to watch Charlie over the weekend.
Pretty decent I must say.

Perhaps the original story explains the thoughts of the characters better, something which is not easy to fathom on this medium. This movie is dark and depressing and shows moral turpitude from perhaps all its characters with no redemption for any of them. I left the theater scratching my head wondering what did I just watch?

Agree with the rating though I think it is 0.5 too many.

Jacobinte Swargarajyam

Well, I found the movie to be pretty good. Yes, it's a bit long and the second half drags along but it's a good watch. Renji Panicker was at his best. You can feel the positive energy in all his expressions. Nivin also did his part well. Overall, a good movie.

Rating - 3.5/5

Verdict - Recommended

Watched a few Malayalam movies (recent ones):

• Pathemari (5/5): Just brilliant; after a long time watched such a hard hitting movie, with no overdose of melodrama. Literally travelled thru the characters’ life. Salim Ahamed is a genius! And movies like show how much an actor like Mammootty can offer in this age.
  
  
• Charlie (4/5): I am not sure it was an award winning performance from Dulquer, but overall the movie rocked. It had its own path, and characters just come and go – a well executed effort. And a special mention on Parvathy – she was just fantastic!
  
  
• Two Countries (3.5/5): A typical Dileep laugh riot, with high fun quotient. Good to see Mamta Mohandas in a full-fledged role, and she did very well.
  
  
• Adi Kapyare Kootamani (3.5/5): A delightful small movie with second string of actors; extremely watchable.
  
  
• Su.. Su.. Sudhi Vathmeekam (3/5): A bit slow, but what a brilliant performance by Jayasurya. That said, I feel Ranjith Shankar movies are now getting into a similar pattern of film-making, if he don’t break the mould I can see a new-age Sathyan Anthikad in the making.
  
  
• Vettah (3/5): Great performances by Manju Warrier and Kunchacko Boban, and some good background music. The movie as a whole was a bit lacking though, maybe weighed down by over expectations.
  
  
• Anarkali (2/5): The movie is not bad, but overall I think what worked were Biju Menon and the location.
  
  
• Joe & the Boy (2/5): Manju Warrier was good, but the whole movie had an artificial feel attached to it, a bit like characters utter English words just for the sake of it.
  
  
• Hello Namaste (0.5/5): Yawn! 0.5 for Joju George.
  
  
• Style (0/5): It was just about style, a bad one at that.

Saw U-turn yesterday. Very well made movie with such a different storyline. It never pauses and moves at a good pace without letting up.
Very realistically done and some great cinematography and background score. And no songs :)

Team, any reviews about School Bus?

Came across this 'India Today' article from 1986 commenting on the then-new fad of malayalam movies rooted in realism, noting the emergence of new-generation stars like Mammootty and Mohan Lal and fading away of reigning super-star Prem Nazir.
It ends with a question "whether the new attraction for naturalism will survive?"
We all now know it did survive, and how! We now celeberate that period (1984-1990) as the "golden age" of Malayalam Cinema.

Sheer nostalgia!
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/n.../1/348065.html

What a blast from the past! Thanks for the link, it gives a lot of perspective. I am curious about the journo who wrote this article.

School Bus

I really wanted to avoid this movie but wife insisted and also being Roshan Andrews, Bobby, Sanjay team, thought it would be good.

I was so wrong. It's the worst so far from the team. Reviewers say there's a social message in the movie. Well, there's a meaning to it but the movie goes to a different level. The kid, Jayasuriya and kunchacko did their role pretty well. The second half kind of reminds me of 7000 kandi. And too much of drone camera work is spoiling it.

Rating - 1/5
Verdict - Avoid

Good one. Thanks for sharing. The good thing is that with the newer crop of actors and directors, seeing such realistic movies on the upswing again. Of course, times are different, so the definition of realism differs.

Sreedhar Pillai. Is still a film journalist and critic. Has a good following on Twitter.

U-Turn (Kannada): 4.5/5 - Awesome! Pawan Kumar's next offering after Lucia is very good. Keeps audience engrossed, although i felt the ending was a bit of a let down.

Thiti (Kannada): 5/5 - Amazing! Some of my friends/colleagues did not like it, but i throughly enjoyed this! Almost all actors aren't professionals and what a job by the director! Gaddappa the best!

Are these shown with sub titles? Wanted to watch but I don't follow Kannada well enough to probably understand intricate dialogues.

Here is another one by the same journo circa 1988 which is a veritable gold mine of juicy details... including remuneration the two super stars commanded at that time which was .. hold your breath.. INR 3 lakhs per movie (which is no doubt the 'white' part alone)!!!

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/m.../1/330129.html

Its almost like looking into a time machine, reading these old articles!

Yes, both the movies i saw had sub titles. I watched U-Turn in Cinepolis, Cunnigham Road(Sigma Hall) and Thiti in PVR, Forum Mall. Thiti Facebook page has the list of theaters which has Sub titles and which doesn't.