Trolls

Posted on March 8, 2017 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I have never liked the trolls. They are so bad.

Vampire Bat: People say that we will like them after watching the movie.

Vampire Owl: It is an animated movie, and the same can’t be used to judge a creature like this.

Vampire Bat: It is actually strange because the creatures in this movie doesn’t seem that huge or scary as they really are.

Vampire Owl: Yes, trolls are destroyers as much as we know.

Vampire Bat: Oh! I see that the movie is based on troll dolls.

Vampire Owl: Nowadays, trolls have dolls too?

Vampire Bat: No, they are based on cute little dolls of Danish origins, made for children.

Vampire Owl: I knew this would happen when they made it animation – the real ones can only be in a horror or action adventure movie.

Vampire Bat: DreamWorks Animation has brought this one for us. Let us see how it goes, for animated movies always keep a minimum standard.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with special aloo paratha].

What is the movie about? :: Trolls are supposed to be the small magical creatures that go through a state of happiness continuously throughout their lives. With their existence unknown to most of the world outside, they spend their lives hugging, dancing and singing – the only thing that they care about is having a party, and all these come with the same. This state of perpetual happiness comes into trouble due to an intervention from the outside. Soon they are discovered by the huge creatures called Bergens, who are never happy – living in sadness for eternity, they find a way to bring happiness home, as they could be happy for some time by eating a Troll. It would be considered one of the greatest discoveries for the Bergen world, as happiness just came to them without having to do anything else other than having food.

So, what happens next? :: Bergens decide that happiness is their right too, and for the same they take things one step further. The put the tree as well as the Trolls inside a cage, guarded by their troops, keeping the little creatures under their control until the huge annual fest which included everyone among the Bergens getting to eat a troll and thus getting a taste of true happiness. This festival known as the Trollstice arrives, and with the prince of Bergens Gristle (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) getting to eat his first troll, Chef (Christine Baranski) presents them with Poppy (Anna Kendrick), the princess and the next queen of the Trolls. But it turns out to be a decoy, and the Trolls lead by their king and great warrior, Peppy (Jeffrey Tambor) makes a grand escape through the underground tunnels. This leads to Chef being banished, as the Bergens feel that their prince will never know happiness in his life because he had never eaten a Troll.

And what follows :: With Chef sworn to capture all the Trolls and promising of having her vengeance, the happy group of little creatures find their new home far away from the Bergens. After twenty years had passed, Princess Poppy had grown into a very happy and extremely optmistic person who decides to throw in a huge party and make some noise. But another Troll, Branch (Justin Timberlake) opposes the plan, as he is afraid that it would attract the Bergens who will listen to the sound and find their way to the Trolls. With a possible Bergen attack always in his mind, he has even prepared an underground bunker with a lot food and other facilities in there, so he can hide there forever. Poppy and other Trolls find him as worrying for no real reason, but his fears come true as Chef finds them, and captures most of them for the Trollstice – now it is up-to Poppy and Branch to team up and rescue them.

The defence of Trolls :: There is absolutely no doubt about the facts that the kids are going to love this one – all those elements which touches a child are right here, and the grown ups could also like this one as long as they can choose to ignore that extra level of cuteness and the childish factor which are there. There is a lot of happiness in this movie, and the message also seems to be happy, stay so, and make sure that the others around you are happy too, with the right actions taken to bring them closer to that happiness, no matter how much that seems to avoid their lives. There is also the idea of coming back from a time of no hope, and having an attitude of not giving up, no matter what happens. There is also the idea of friendship, and we also see that everyone is special. There is also quality in the way the animated characters seem and behave. The voices are also nice, and very much suitable throughout.

The claws of flaw :: The title itself will be strange for most of the people here, as nobody has ever heard about the troll dolls in this part of the world as far as I know, even though it has surely worked in those areas where such dolls have existed and have been part of kids’ lives. Everyone knows only one kind of trolls which are huge creatures who are not really friendly as many movies and tales have depicted them. There is a lot of silliness in this one, and it is a fine task for the adults to go above that. There is also a lot of music in this one, and even though it is right for the genre, and will appeal to a group, there is nothing such as Frozen here that will stay for long. The whole world might seem too childish, and also too colourful if we look at them from a neutral point of view. It could have surely done better without that certain amount of stupidity which some character show, which is not really enjoyable – but Trolls does manage to rise above that. Even a better story was possible.

How it finishes :: The movie’s most significant message might be that happiness comes from inside, and not while affected by someone else, or by causing harm to anyone else – it is something that is always inside us, and we have to find them, maybe with a very little amount of help. But as a musical animated adventure, this one could have been more like Frozen, which was better suited for all ages of people – the characters here are too much for the children who are of an even lower age group than most of the other animated movies. This doesn’t go the Inside Out way either. But the message of Trolls, and the beauty of its characters are there to stay – you will realise the same as soon as you finish watching the flick, and there is no way that you will hesitate to watch Trolls with kids. You can also choose to think like a little kid, and make the Trolls get into your mind and heart. The question remains if you are ready to find that happiness which is hidden inside you!

Release date: 4th November 2016
Running time: 93 minutes
Directed by: Mike Mitchell, Walt Dohrn
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, Russell Brand, James Corden, Gwen Stefani, Jeffrey Tambor, Icona Pop, Ron Funches, GloZell, Kunal Nayyar, Quvenzhané Wallis, John Cleese, Meg DeAngelis, Noodlerella, Ricky Dillon, Kandee Johnson, Walt Dohrn, Mike Mitchell, Grace Helbig, Curtis Stone, Rhys Darby

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Masaan

Posted on November 29, 2016 by Tennyson

What is it about? :: Set in the city of Varanasi, this tale separates into two, bringing two stories together. One of them is the tale of Devi Pathak (Richa Chadda) with her boyfriend checking into a hotel room, but the police also follows them. As the police inspector tries to record their faces in his mobile phone, the scared boy locks himself in the bathroom, and in fear of humiliation in front of his family and friends, commits suicide much to the shock of Devi. But her trouble doesn’t end there as her father Vidyadhar Pathak (Sanjay Mishra) and herself are blackmailed by the corrupt police officer (Pankaj Tripathi) who demands what seems to be a huge amount of money for them, for not leaking her video into Youtube and other social media. As she keeps switching the jobs and running away from people, things just don’t get any better.

So, what is it about the second tale? :: The next story is that of Deepak Chaudhary (Vicky Kaushal) in the same city of Varanasi, hailing from a low caste that deals with the burning of corpses. But he wishes to go beyond the restrictions of his caste, and studies Civil Engineering at a polytechnic college. He soon meets and falls in love with Shaalu Gupta (Shweta Tripathi), an upper-caste girl. Even though it takes time, she accepts his proposal. Even though he does find the courage to tell her about his caste and what his people do, she doesn’t hesitate in going forward with the relationship. She asks him to stay focused and look for camus placements to get a good job – she would accept him as his husband even though her parents won’t, as long as he has a job. But there is a twist waiting to wreck havoc in their lives too, and the question remains if Deepak can get himself out of the depression.

The defence of Masaan :: The biggest advantage of this movie is that it sticks to the common man and a town rather than going for the ultra-modern city life and its people – this one has also told the story in a realistic way without adding those usual Bollywood flavours. One can safely say that Masaan is a long way above a usual Bollywood movie. It works so well emotionally because its characters are not people wearing colourful dress and jumping around with loads of money, and still complaining about their “zindagi” which is not enough. These are not about the kind of spoilt people who blame their past and their parents for what has gone through in their lives – instead, these are responsible people, ready to fight, which is why we fall for them, and we want them to win – there is no moment in this movie that we don’t feel for them, as we go through the tragedy of life which still has hope here and there.

Claws of flaw :: This is not for the usual Bollywood fan-people who support movies which make no sense; this one stays away from that, and uses the real world instead of the exaggerated visions of life – it is not a flaw, but for some people, that means no entertainment. Yes, the movie is pretty much slow, and it won’t have people dancing to strange party music – I would certainly thank God for that. Maybe the ending could have brought something more, even though hope is still there at the finish, stretching its arms towards our protagonists. Finding fault with Masaan is not an easy job; unless you are the masala entertainment seeker who wish to label this one as not interesting and even boring – but trust me, as both these are not the things that we relate to this movie, even when we are sleepy. Masaan is that good, and its nice philosophical claws point towards a reflection of perfection rather than the flaws.

Performers of the soul :: Richa Chadda has an amazing outing in the movie, as her character makes us feel each moment of loss and sadness, and this one is also one of the stronger character that we have been seeing in Hindi movies – she is not the kind of person who blames her parents for her past and falls in love with everyone around, becoming so ambitious with “zindagi” that she cannot sleep and then needs a therapist. It is a character that we admire, and with this performance, the person we see on the screen gets better. Then there is Vicky Kaushal whose character’s feelings reflect on us so well. His bliss in love and his sadness in separation – all feel so real that we feel the need to get further away from the so called superstars of the industry; the best actors and actresses are seen in realistic movies, in the tales of the lives of common man, and not with those ultra-modern people who creates problems for themselves and needs someone to solve them.

Further performers of the soul :: Richa Chadda and Vicky Kaushal might be two names which not many people here knows, but they are among those real performers who act in the movies which are rather real, and not exaggerated. This is exactly the reason why we need new faces with skills instead of superstars; as it is proven here again that a movie shouldn’t be about the big stars and who they are, for there are only characters who need to be played with the needed features. Yes, there is also Shweta Tripathi as Shaalu Gupta who brings such cuteness to the screen that we begin cheering for the two to get married – she has some beautiful combination scenes with Vicky Kaushal that makes us feel for them, not just within this movie, but rather eternally. The next one who impresses us is Sanjay Mishra, and he is there doing the same throughout this movie. To add to it, the world itself is a character, as we see how it influence the people.

How it finishes :: There is a certain happiness and sadness that Masaan leaves one with. It is the happiness of having watched this beautiful movie, and at the same time, the sadness that we share with the protagonists of this movie who are troubled by what fate or destiny has provided them with. There might have been the tendency to move away from the beauty at the centre of everything, but the movie stays there and becomes a realistic film rather than moving towards that side which is too common in Bollywood. Masaan is a very significant movie as it tells us that there is real skill out there, and the best that comes from anywhere around Bollywood can be found among the movies collecting less at the box-office, and has not much of the so called superstars, both male and female. Masaan shows how good content can get better, and so close to perfection, and it becomes another reason why people need to watch realistic movies more, and leave the usual exaggerated and overrated works behind.

Release date: 24th July 2015
Running time: 109 minutes
Directed by: Neeraj Ghaywan
Starring: Richa Chadda, Vicky Kaushal, Shweta Tripathi, Sanjay Mishra, Pankaj Tripathi, Nikhil Sahni, Satya Kam Anand, Vineet Kumar, Niharica Raizada

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Tennyson

What is it about? :: Sudhi (Jayasurya) works as the manager at one of the branches of Karur Vysya Bank at Bangalore. One day, after helping a group of cinema artists to shoot inside his branch, he gets a ride to his hometown with Mukesh (Mukesh), thanks to his old friend Greygon Das (Aju Varghese) who is in the film field. Sudhi talks to him about his life and the interesting incidents related to it. He is a person who has always had a terrible stammering problem. It had alienated him and affected his confidence ever since he was a child. Even when he reaches his youth, he remains a troubled man due to the same. The same disability leads to his engagement being called off, and the people of the village make fun of him even more. But as time progresses, he will manage to rise above his problems and understand that he is better than his troubles.

The defence of Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam :: If you loved Punyalan Agarbathis, you will surely love this one too; I would consider this one above that flick because our movie here finishes very nicely in a much better way. The feel-good factor is much stronger here because this is more of the common man’s movie. There will be moments when you will feel that this is the story of you or someone you know in a different way. The message is also very clear here, and it will connect with the common man. The fact that the movie is short helps the cause; there is no drag here either. The second half is also better than the first, the movie only improving as it progresses. The emotional side is working all the time and gets stronger in the latter parts. The humour is good when it is present. The songs are okay. It is simple, cute and the right choice for the families.

Claws of flaw :: There is no special ingredient in Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam. Well, Kung Fu Panda knew that there was no secret ingredient, and this movie also works without the same. There is nothing special with the story as the flick thrives on simplicity and reflecting the common man’s life. More humour could have also been added here too, and more material in the first half. People can also complain about the troubles of the man and his setting to be better shown in another way, asking for more fun or more emotions, but this one takes the middle path. The Punyalan Agarbathis feeling is also there even as this one overtakes that movie in content and presentation. Like what a few people who said about Mili, if you consider the goodness and inspirational stuff as cliche, this won’t be the movie for you; but I believe that they can be infinitely disparate each and every time.

Performers of the soul :: Jayasurya brings a stunning performance here proving his versatility once again. This movie is all about his character and he makes it all about him. The success of this movie will undoubtedly be his success as he thrives, and lives as the protagonist. Whichever be the movie, he has always been there with some exceptional performance – you can do a rewind into his previous movies and clarify the same. With three stages of the protagonist’s life being shown on screen, the man comes in three appearances, clean shaved, with a moustache and with the beard. Like in Premam, this also shows the man in different appearances as the character’s attitude towards others as well as life as a whole changes. This will be his second movie to run with positive opinions at the same time, along with Amar Akbar Anthony.

Further performers of the soul :: You can note that the director Ranjith Sankar has a cameo role in this one. The two heroines in this movie are not that familiar for the Malayalam audience even though only one is the new face. Swathi plays the protagonist’s fiancee whom he was supposed to marry, and the one person to whom he feels really close. If you watch Comedy Super Nite on Flowers channel, you might have noticed her as she was there in one of the episodes. She makes a nice debut as she entered the industry, and there is a certain amount of cuteness right there. The other heroine, Shivada has more to do, and she also has the more inspirational stuff as the speech therapist. She also comes up with a fine performance as the difference maker. Aju Varghese contributes well to the comic side, and Mukesh brings more laughs. Mukesh as Mukesh was actually a very nice move!

Soul exploration :: Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam inspires you, but it doesn’t ask you to become someone else. The soul of this movie asks you to listen to your own heart and soul rather than the others and society who bring a label for you. The protagonist himself says that everyone is not supposed to become Sachin Tendulkar or Aamir Khan. It is all about us being ourselves, not doing comparisons with others. The movie tells us to be just us, but always to be the best of us, as not to have tried is a terrible thing. If we are not ready to be us, with all the characteristics that belong to us, then what is our significance as individuals? As separate individuals facing different situations, having varying abilities, it is all about making the best use of the talents. This movie is also supposed to be inspired on the real life story of a person. You were inspired by Rani Padmini a few days earlier, and now here is more.

How it finishes :: Don’t expect something huge with a big dose of tings, but as the simple and powerful movie of the weekend, Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam will provide you with the motivation that is not restricted in any way. It is a path for you to travel in discovering your individuality, and at the same time, realize that everyone is awesome, no matter what disability or trouble is present. Coming from the director who started with Passenger and gave us some really inspiring movies, this one also leaves a mark, and Ranjith Sankar has left the audience with some happiness while touching the emotional side. If you leave the theatre with some positive energy inside, it is the success of the team which brought you Punyalan Agarbathis once again. Once again, you are reminded of what you can do, and why you are also someone who can achieve. You look for goodness and inspiration; you find Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam.

Release date: 20th November 2015
Running time: 131 minutes
Directed by: Ranjith Sankar
Starring: Jayasurya, Swathi Narayanan, Shivada Nair, Aju Varghese, Mukesh, Sunil Sukhada, TG Ravi, KPAC Lalitha, Ranjith Sankar, Muthumani, Sarath Das, Irshad