Shut In

Posted on February 19, 2017 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I am used to hearing a part of this title.

Vampire Bat: You mean to say that you have heard of this movie title?

Vampire Owl: No, I am used to listening to “shut up”.

Vampire Bat: That should happen naturally to you in a growing vampire community which is building a new code of conduct.

Vampire Owl: Do you know that the critics don’t like this movie?

Vampire Bat: Is that a reason why we shouldn’t like them?

Vampire Owl: Well, they liked I Am Not a Serial Killer.

Vampire Bat: That is absolutely ridiculous. They really need the word “shut up” instead of “shut in”.

Vampire Owl: It is time for us to bring the balance by supporting the correct movie.

Vampire Bat: This is indeed that movie to support!

[Gets three cups of masala tea with banana chips].

What is the movie about? :: Richard Portman (Peter Outerbridge) and his son Steven Portman (Charlie Heaton) meets an accident while leaving home after a fight between the two – their car crashes into a truck as the differences between the two continue even inside the vehicle on the road. After the accident takes the life of her husband and leaves the son paralysed, Richard’s second wife and Steven’s step-mother, a psychologist by profession, Mary Portman (Naomi Watts) decides to care of the boy, even though it means being isolated from her own friend circle and spending most of her time with him. Separated from her own people, and often questioning her own decisions, she keeps herself going against all odds. But there is one thing that she is sure about, and it is that she has to take care of the boy.

So, what happens next? :: There is also a young kid Tom Patterson (Jacob Tremblay) who was her patient, but has gone missing. This ten year old child is deaf, and she had seen him for the last time at her own home. She does hear strange noises in her home, and there are also stranger happenings around, for which she can find no explanation. She also has her own nightmares, and the only rational explanation seems to be her inability to sleep during nights, which is bringing these hallucinations to her – but she is not satisfied with the same. Then, later, during a storm, on a strange dark night, she begins to believe that someone else is inside the house trying to harm her and Steven. Who or what is this that has come to her home without an invitation? Why does it/him/her want to haunt her and her paralysed son? Then the bigger question is about the missing child!

The defence of Shut In :: There is a strong line of mystery going right through Shut In, as it keeps us guessing from the very early stages itself. There are those moments of scare and there is suspense, as we get to that twist in the end. If you are going to ask why the protagonist didn’t figure out this or why she didn’t act like that, I am sure that I can ask why the protagonist in your favourite movie acts in such an unbelievable manner – well, it is different for each person, and being a psychologist like the main character of this movie won’t help at all; for you will never become the master of others’ minds, as each person is different as an individual and not as a robot whose “metallic emotions” could be treated by science. It is also the message of this movie – it doesn’t matter how much you think you know about others and their minds, and there is no point about claiming that you have studied it scientifically: you just can’t predict human nature.

The claws of flaw :: There are similarities to another movie which released in the same year, The Boy which also had problems with the critics, who might have decided that these movies were bad even before watching them – it is a clear reflection of the fact that some people are not qualified enough to judge horror movies, for such flicks surely need separate reviewers who understand the soul of horror, hopefully none of them includes those who reviews Bollywood drama. There is something strange going on with these people who keep rating the scarier horror movies low, and give a better score to horror movies which are not horror at all – even the thriller genre suffers from the same. This movie surely had the potential to develop better with its basic idea, and there are some points when things are not that smooth, but the shorter length makes sure that the movie survives that.

Performers of the soul :: From the beginning to the end, Naomi Watts remains the heart and soul of this movie. Seemingly getting younger every time, she is the kind of actress that everyone would love to have a in a horror movie or a mysterious thriller. You remember watching her in Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering a long time ago, but we all better recognise her from the much loved horror movie The Ring and its less acclaimed sequel, The Ring Two. But the best of her for me is the 2007 version of Funny Games – she has been perfectly suited to this genre which has the thrills and scares in store. It is the same that she makes sure in this movie, as once again does her job in the perfect way – we appreciate seeing her on the screen in this flick too. Charlie Heaton and Oliver Platt also scores in between, but Jacob Tremblay only gets less to do unlike in that nice horror movie named Before I Wake.

How it finishes :: This is another nice thriller movie which has been wronged by the critics. It is a thing about them to combine and build flaws on some movies, and the critics in India usually have the tendency to copy those in the United States without shame, unless there is someone from Bollywood performing in that movie [then it will be, watch the movie for him or her]. Some people really needs to know what “bad” and “terrible” movie means, and some of those flicks include those which they have been praising so much in the last few years. Maybe they were watching another movie instead of this one – who knows? Or they do judge in a way that only their group of people understands. Shut In is worth a watch; it is no big horror thriller, but it is surely something in which you can try and spend your time – it has enough in store.

Release date: 11th November 2016
Running time: 91 minutes
Directed by: Farren Blackburn
Starring: Naomi Watts, Oliver Platt, Charlie Heaton, Jacob Tremblay, David Cubitt, Clémentine Poidatz, Crystal Balint, Alex Braunstein, Peter Outerbridge

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

A Monster Calls

Posted on February 17, 2017 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl: Do you know that a monster did call me before?

Vampire Bat: Yes, the potato chips monster.

Vampire Owl: No, a real monster.

Vampire Bat: What did he say?

Vampire Owl: He said that he would eat me for dinner.

Vampire Bat: Oh! A monster that eats the undead for dinner. This should have been in the news.

Vampire Owl: Yes, but it was April Fool, coming right from Uncle Dracula.

Vampire Bat: According to the humans, we are surely monsters. So, from another perspective, it is true.

Vampire Owl: But we are vegetarian.

Vampire Bat: Yes, that is indeed our specialty which is to remain the same.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with potato chips].

What is the movie about? :: A young boy named Conor O’Malley (Lewis MacDougall) is in a state of worry due to his mother Elizabeth Clayton’s (Felicity Jones) cancer. She keeps telling him that she is getting better, but the truth is that she is not. It is only getting worse, and she is slowly and steadily moving towards her end. It is difficult for him to accept the same, and with his father Mr. O’Malley (Toby Kebbell) being separated from him and living far away from them, he has not many people to look forward to. He is also targeted by Harry (James Melville), a bully at the school, and he is asked by his grandmother Mrs. Clayton (Sigourney Weaver) with whom he doesn’t have a great relationship, to move to her home with her. But Conor is more frustrated by the idea of moving to his grandmother’s home than about being bullied by his classmate and his friends.

So, what happens next? :: One night at exactly 12:07 a.m., Conor comes across a strange tree-like monster (Liam Neeson), that tells him it is going to come up with three stories, after which Conor has to tell the monster his own story, which is the truth behind the nightmare that he keeps seeing. The first story is that of an old king who has lost all his sons battling giants, dragons and great wizards who led men and creatures of darkness. The only heir he had was his grandson who was loved by all people of the kingdom. But at his old age, he gets married to a beautiful woman, after which he falls ill and dies. With the prince not old enough to claim the kingdom, the queen becomes the ruler, and the prince runs away with his love, a farmer’s daughter who seems to be murdered. This queen who is claimed to be a witch, is supposed to be behind the death of both the king and the lover, is saved by the monster, as he claims – Conor wonders why.

So, how do things go from here? :: The second story is that of an ill-tempered, greedy apothecary who follows the old ways of medicine, and pesters a local parson to let him cut the yew tree in the churchyard. The parson who is a man of strong faith is against the apothecary who grows in hatred towards everyone around. But when the parson’s two children gets ill, he asks the apothecary for help, and even offers the yew tree and a change in his own belief. But the apothecary refuses to help him, and the children die. The tree then takes his monstrous form and begins destroying the house of the parson, much to the dismay of Conor who doesn’t understand why the creature is not destroying the house of the apothecary instead. As the third tale nears, Conor’s relationships with his father and grandmother worsens further, and his mother’s disease also gets worse – now, the question remains if the creature can actually heal his mother.

The defence of A Monster Calls :: There is sadness in A Monster Calls, and you can feel it all the way from the beginning to the end. The monster has the message to move on with one’s life, and survive through the unexpected pains – on what it takes to live through the certainty of losing a loved one. It uses all the available themes to its advantage, and tells the message with ease. All the characters used here points to that one message. It has all which are needed to strike you emotionally, and at the same time, despite being a fantasy movie, has more of real life in it with all the fiction that seem to be part of the world. It becomes more of a fairy-tale for the adults rather than children, as each point that its main characters make is worth pondering about. It makes one turn into one’s own mind and ask the same questions about humanity again and again, and at the same time, we get to see the nice creature detail to go with it.

The claws of flaw :: You can keep feeling a certain amount of drag throughout this flick, and those who are looking for the usual kind of fantasy movies are going to feel strange. If you can’t take some preaching, this one is going to be not the movie for you. There also seems to be an attempt to get more and more emotional with things, but that was really not needed, as there was a lot of the same, which came naturally. This is also based on a novel of the same name, written by Patrick Ness, and so it is up-to the author who wrote the screenplay for the movie as well as the fans to decide on how it did justice to the work. There is also the chance to miss out on the symbolism that one comes across in the movie, and so maybe the flick could have hinted on what it was planning to do – a lot of people should have felt that the monster is the usual one, but this one is not just a monster, but much more than that, and one needs to take that.

How it finishes :: The fangs of the message here is quite strong, and it is the performances which support the same more than anything else. You will see how well Lewis MacDougall takes the protagonist to the viewers so well. There is no doubt anywhere about how Sigourney Weaver gets us closer to things, and Felicity Jones makes us feel the pain. As the movie deals with a situation which most people will face in one way or the other, one can be certain that there is the need for A Monster Calls at some point, and we will have to take these messages from the movie right back home. Well, above them all, there is Liam Neeson as the monster, and there is nobody else who could be a monster who provides us with the best messages – proven here without doubt. What would you do when your own monster calls? Well, it is something to keep thinking about.

Release date: 23rd December 2016
Running time: 127 minutes
Directed by: J.A. Bayona
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, Toby Kebbell, Lewis MacDougall, Liam Neeson, James Melville, Geraldine Chaplin, Max Golds

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Miss Peregrine’s Home

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I once knew a tooth fairy by this name. It was when I was having the best of times.

Vampire Bat: Oh! I thought you only knew witches during those days.

Vampire Owl: Stop being judgmental. She was a nice tooth fairy. She even dealt in fangs.

Vampire Bat: Okay, and then what happened?

Vampire Owl: She died and I embraced the fact that I was immortal. I really felt my eternity.

Vampire Bat: It could have been most romantic tale that I have ever heard, if I never knew how to read.

Vampire Owl: You just have no empathy. Even my zombie minions clapped to my story. It is a long one, and I can let you hear it if you provide me with one hundred and thirty four days.

Vampire Bat: No, thanks. Why don’t you write a book instead?

Vampire Owl: I don’t write anymore. I spread ideas through telepathy.

Vampire Bat: Yes, I can see your ideas taking over the world from a very long distance.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with tapioca chips].

What is the movie about? :: Jake (Asa Butterfield) has grown up listening to the tales which his grandfather Abe Portman (Terence Stamp) has told him about battling monsters along with fighting the World War II. The centre of attraction in all of these stories is Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, which has Miss Alma Peregrine (Eva Green) as the headmistress, and the place has children with some amazing abilities, and are called peculiars. Each of these special abilities make them what they are, and this headmistress herself is more than what meets the eye. His parents are not that fond of these strange, folk-tale kind of stuff that Abe is feeding his grandson, and wishes that they could stick to the usual things. But things are not that easy as they seem to be.

So, what happens next? :: One day, he gets a call from his grandfather and later finds him with his eyes missing. Before he dies, he leaves Jake with some clues to what he is to do, and there is also a monster there, which disappears. Left clueless about what he is to do next, the psychatrist tells them to go to this particular place mentioned by Abe, and it is the only thing that can make him believe that it is all fiction, with stories made up by the old man every day. So, accompanied by his father, Jake travels to Cairnholm and finds that the children’s home mentioned by his grandfather was destroyed during a Nazi air raid on September third, 1943. But he is surprised to find a number of children there, who seems to be more than just normal. They invite him to their secret place.

So, how do things go from here? :: There he meets Miss Peregrine who explains to him that she can manipulate time and belongs to a special class of peculiars called ymbrynes. To live in peace, she has created a time loop which repeats all over again and again on the third of September, 1943 just before the bomb falls on their building. As they keep living the same day again and again, none of them ages either. There he understands that a team of monsters called Hollows, lead by Mr. Barron (Samuel L. Jackson) hunt Peculiars to devour their eyeballs hoping to gain immortality in the process. With these people on the hunt for more peculiars and waiting to enter the loops, can Jake save the day, and also save his new found love interest, the aerokinetic Emma Bloom (Ella Purnell)?

The defence of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children :: The movie is undoubtedly something that looks very good on the screen – the setting, the costumes and the special effects; they all look impressive. The pace gets better, and by the time it reaches the end, we are very much into one loop or two. The movie has a good mix of things, and never really gets lost in what it has to provide us – and it has been done in style. Among all the cast, it is Ella Purnell who leaves something beautiful with her charming performance. Then there is Samuel L. Jackson who once again scores high as the antagonist – there are some dialogues from him which are so much memorable; Eva Green also follows the same path, but on the other side. Asa Butterfield reminds one, and brings some of the Harry Potter effect in this one too.

The claws of flaw :: There is no shortage of the feeling that we have seen this before so much. We have always known X-Men and what they called as the Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. The peculiar children just become another version of the X-Men when they were all younger. There is also no big mission to do here, which makes this not that much of a flick that most people would have expected. The monsters remind one of some Guillermo del Toro effect, as if Pan’s Labyrinth or Crimson Peak has decided to have a peek – they are still not that less interesting. With its magic and its protagonist accompanied by the magic, one is certain to feel some amount of Harry Potter in this one. There is also the lack of best use of the available resources – this could have been one big movie of magic, but that much is certainly not there.

How it finishes :: Tim Burton surely brings something special in making these kind of movies, as we have already seen in the two nice Johnny Depp starrers Dark Shadows and Alice in Wonderland, both having their fantasy elements at the right places. Well, referring to the same actor with this man at the helm, there was also Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Also in that list is Planet of the Apes, which I consider better than the franchise which is going on now, and that earlier special flick, Sleepy Hollow. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children might be the kind of movie which had left people wondering about what it contains, but based on a book by American author Ransom Riggs, seems to have left us with enough to be interested in, watching the whole thing on the screen.

Release date: 30th September 2016
Running time: 127 minutes
Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Chris O’Dowd, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett, Terence Stamp, Ella Purnell, Lauren McCrostie, Judi Dench, Samuel L. Jackson, Finlay MacMillan, Pixie Davies, Cameron King, Georgia Pemberton, Milo Parker, Raffiella Chapman, Hayden Keeler-Stone

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Annmariya Kalippilaanu

Posted on November 16, 2016 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: The title itself says that the kid is dangerous. Is it actually safe to watch this particular flick?

Vampire Bat :: What? Now, you are afraid of kids?

Vampire Owl :: Yes, one kid called me bad owl and threw a stone at me when I was doing my owlish meditation.

Vampire Bat :: Owls don’t meditate. This makes no sense.

Vampire Owl :: What are you talking about? Even Kungfu Panda meditates. Why not me?

Vampire Bat :: He does Kungfu. The only thing that you do throughout the day is sleep and worry about the possible devastation of the New Vampire World.

Vampire Owl :: I meditate in my dreams. Sometimes, I even meditate inside the dream within my dream’s dream.

Vampire Bat :: You are my nightmare!

Vampire Owl :: I occasionally dream within nightmares to make them better too.

Vampire Bat :: I am going to declare you the Nightmare Owl, the one true creature of the dark nightmares.

[Gets three cups of tea with banana chips].

What is the movie about? :: Annmariya (Sara Arjun) is the daughter of a doctor couple, Roy (Saiju Kurup) and Teresa (Leona Lishoy). The latter is working with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement at the war-torn nation of Syria, with the former left to take care of their daughter all by herself while working at a private hospital called Nyle. He rarely has time to call, and even when he does, there is not enough time that he spends talking to his wife and child. Annmariya’s dream to get a medal in the fourth standard for long jump just like her father did, and is striving for the same. But she fails to do that as her P.T. teacher David (John Kaippallil) disqualifies her after calling her jump a foul in return for complaining to the principal about him harassing their English teacher, Megha (Anjali Aneesh Upasana).

So what happens next with Annmariya unleashing the fury? :: A disappointed Annmariya wishes for vengeance against the teacher, and for the same, he asks Avinash (Master Vishal Krishna) to help her, and as he has a crush on her, he readily agrees and consults Sarath (Althaf Manaf) who promises to find them a thug to beat up the bad teacher. For the same, they find Gireesh (Sunny Wayne), an idle young man looking for ways to make easy money and his best friend Ambrose (Aju Varghese), an auto-driver who doesn’t go for work. Annmariya gives him the i-phone gifted by her father to beat David, and after some intervention by her uncle Inspector James (Vijayakumar) and another thug Suku (Shine Tom Chako), he agrees to beat up her teacher, but things don’t go as easily as planned.

The defence of Annmariya Kalippilaanu :: It is great to see how another world of a child has been brought to the screen with all the innocence – following the path of the movies like Philips and the Monkeypen. There is sweetness in the way that each incident is shown in this movie, and there is also the presence of that cute funny side which comes in between. Whether it is the good millionaire named Baby who travels with the sign “Baby on board” or the loving servant at home who tries hard to speak good Malayalam, the exaggerated tales about the thug or the combinations of different actors, all come together to make this one a sweet, enjoyable ride to be taken with the family. You will have enough messages to take home too, about family, love for each other, and the bond of friendship, along with the strength that strong belief of other as well as yourself brings to you.

Claws of flaw :: Due to its simplicity, there is not much of the flaws being visible here. Everything in this movie is presented in such a cute way that we don’t feel much of the problems that threaten to come up here and there. There is a certain amount of time that the movie takes to get going in the beginning; also with the first few moments of introduction of Sunny Wayne’s character. The main idea of the movie could have been presented in an even better way – the whole thing could have been even funnier. There is also no attempt to bring anything special. Most of the time, we know what is to happen next, and we are just glad to have them coming here. There is also uncertainty regarding the angel, whether it is a real person or magic realism added. Not all characters are used to their full potential here though. The animation in between was rather strange.

Performers of the soul :: Sara Arjun is one amazing child lead, there is cent percent certainty about it, and it is so clear from this movie. We had seen her in Deiva Thirumagal with Vikram as well as Jazbaa with Aiswarya Rai – we can be confident about seeing more of her work, and that will be great for Malayalam movie industry. Sunny Wayne has a fine run throughout the movie in this role, and this character has him doing the job comfortably. Aju Varghese provides a nice support, and he is good teaming up with Sunny Wayne. Siddique provides some nice support here, and his character is both funny and interesting. Leona Lishoy does some fine work as the mother, and Saiju Kurup is good when he is there. John Kaippallil stays strong as the antagonist too. Shine Tom Chacko has another good role here, which also seems to suit him. Even those in smaller roles do interesting work!

How it finishes :: This movie comes from Midhun Manuel Thomas who had recently directed Aadu Oru Bheegara Jeeviyanu, a movie which was so underrated during its release, and so overrated when it released on DVD. After that movie which is more or less average in totality, Annmariya Kalippilaanu is a big step ahead for him, and it leaves us wishing for more of similar movies from him; we see the silliness in the previous movie being replaced by happiness and messages in this movie – it is the kind of stuff that we people need, and the same is delivered by this movie. There will always be something about the movies like this, as we will keep feeling the need for some inspiration, and also get those special messages that are to be kept in heart.

Release date: 5th August 2016
Running time: 127 minutes
Directed by: Midhun Manuel Thomas
Starring: Baby Sara, Sunny Wayne, Aju Varghese, Shine Tom Chacko, Leona Lishoy, John Kaippallil, Siddique, Saiju Kurup, Vijayakumar, Dharmajan Bolgatty, Sethulakshmi, Althaf Manaf, Master Vishal Krishna, Bijukuttan, Anjali Aneesh Upasana, Dulquer Salmaan (Cameo)

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

School Bus

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Do you know that I am completely against the idea of school bus?

Vampire Bat :: Because school bus is more of a capitalist idea meant for the schools of the rich, and the normal way is for the kids to go home by public transport and walk through the rest of the distance?

Vampire Owl :: No, it is because centuries ago, when I was a little toothless kid, buses were not invented.

Vampire Bat :: I thought you were going to refer to the nostalgia of walking through the greenery and throwing stones at the mangoes which are about to fall.

Vampire Owl :: Yes, that is also there, but I am more concerned about what I didn’t have in the past.

Vampire Bat :: Well, this movie has Rosshan Andrrews and Bobby-Sanjay teaming up again after How Old Are You? and Mumbai Police. The latter had their interesting Nirnaayakam getting lost in the Premam effect – it didn’t just hurt Ivide, you know.

Vampire Owl :: That makes this school bus better than the usual ones, I believe.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, and a message is certain from this one from the looks of it.

Vampire Owl :: As the humans rarely make use of the messages from movies except for some show-off, lets make better use of them ourselves.

Vampire Bat :: Lets go for the movie then.

[Gets the tickets with some cheese popcorn].

What is it about? :: Joseph (Jayasurya) and Aparna (Aparna Gopinath) lead a normal family life with their children, even both happen to have their own struggles. They are not that much comfortable with the ego that each of them possesses, and there is very less time for them to spend with their children. While Joseph is rather too strict with the children, while Aparna has even lesser time – both has a lot of time for their work though. There is also a legal battle going on between Joseph and his brother over three cents of land, and that takes away the rest of the time. Due to the same reasons, their kids, Ajoy Joseph (Aakash Muraleedheeran) and Angelina Joseph (Angelina Rosshan) gets no attention except for the wrong reasons. Ajoy only gets into more and more trouble at school, and his class teacher as well as the principal are fed up with his tendency to attract all the problems to himself.

So what happens next? :: One day, Ajoy creates that kind of a problem at the school which might not end at the school. This clearly turns the whole department and the parents of other children against him. With everyone screaming for punishment, he bunks classes, and when that is also found out, runs away from all his troubles. It is the soft-spoken and intelligent police officer, the new entrant into the force, Inspector Gopakumar (Kunchako Boban) who is in charge of finding the missing child, with the assistance of Mohan (Nandu). But the investigation only leads them to a forest – how does everything point to that one place where there is no chance of a child in the city reaching? Can the police officers get Ajoy back home? How will things go as the parents seem to have realized that they haven’t been the father and mother whom they should have been?

The defence of School Bus :: The messages are abundant in this movie, for the parents, married couples, children, teachers and that list goes on, as most people are going to take something or the other from here. I would always choose a movie which leaves on with something to think about, over the rest of the flicks. This is actually a shorter movie, extending only for less than two hours, which makes sure that the momentum stays on throughout its run. The visuals are good whether in the forest or the city, and the movie has some funny moments involving the kids to provide the needed light feeling. There is a certain reflection of incidents that might have happened in our lives as well as the lives of people whom we know. It is that reflection that we hope not to happen, and what we wish to deny happening during our busy lifestyles, but there are things which will happen considering how much less time we have for the people we love. Sometimes you think that this is going to go the Malooty way, but it doesn’t.

The claws of flaw :: School Bus is a movie which could have been a lot better, especially with the last few moments; its ending could have left one with a clearer message rather than attempting to go different in a strange way. It has enough moments which could have actually been presented in another way. The predictability also shows its head on too many occasions – it is not really something that we would expect from a thriller that attempts to keep the messages alive at the same time. As the moments featuring the kids stand out, a better option here would have been to keep them there for most of the time, or otherwise give more importance to the older characters – but neither of these happens here. By the time Kunchako Boban enters the story, too much of the interesting moments in the movie has passed. Clearer message, better adult characters, less predictability and a much better ending – these could have improved this flick!

Performers of the soul :: Jayasurya and Aparna Gopinath does a fine job, but as things doesn’t go around their characters, there is not that much to be seen except for a few emotional moments in the second half. Kunchako Boban also makes his appearance only in the second half and does his job as expected, in his very first police role of the career – there is not that much here to do big though. In the end, it is the kids who get all the attention, and it is them who has more of the screen presence. Aakash Muraleedharan who plays the main character here has done his job well. The director, Rosshan Andrews’ daughter Angelina has made her debut in Malayalam cinema with this movie, and she has done a good job – there are some funny moments for her with those cute grins and the fake fainting, with special mention for the question about the toys. Sudheer Karamana and Nandu have some interesting moments in the second half, but that’s all they would get from this particular movie.

How it finishes :: The combination of Bobby-Sanjay and Rosshan Andrrews has had quite a good amount of success and appreciation except for the dismal thing which was Casanovva. Despite the less hype surrounding it, School Bus is another interesting flick with a fine message to go with it, even though it could have been a lot better; the scope was so much there. The messages include the requirement of the love and care for the kids, the need to keep one’s ego away in relationships, and the significance of sibling love. How many parents look forward to knowing what the children wish for? When both are working and has not time, what happens to the children? As history repeats itself, they and the relatives just keep pushing for the next generation to do only what they want. The final message is also to return to nature, and the true world remains there – well, that is one special thing for the World Environment Day.

Release date: 27th May 2016
Running time: 117 minutes
Directed by: Rosshan Andrrews
Starring: Jayasurya, Kunchacko Boban, Aparna Gopinath, Aakash Muraleedharan, Angelina Rosshan, Sudheer Karamana, Nandu

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

My God

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Dr. Tennyson

What is it about? :: Sam Thottumkal (Master Adarsh) is a kid with many problems in his life. When we are introduced to him in detail after a song, we understand that he is taken by the police into the juvenile home for murdering his own father Thomas Thottumkal (Joy Mathew). The parish priest Father Vadakkan (Sreenivasan) desperately tries to get him out of trouble, but his own family members don’t want him as they feel that he stabbed his own father. Meanwhile, Aarathy (Honey Rose), a social worker who spends time with children decides to take the boy’s case seriously. When her husband, a successful businessman from the United States, Aadhi (Suresh Gopi) arrives in Kerala after a long time, it turns out that he knows the boy very well. The husband and wife team decides to influence the boy’s life in a good way.

What is it actually about? :: The flashback is about Sam’s troubled childhood. He is a late arrival as the third child of his parents who wanted to have no more than two children, and he grows up listening to the stories that his own mother (Rekha) wanted to murder him before he was born. His father has absolutely no opinion about him as he scores less in examinations and does well in the other activities like painting, elocution, writing and some more creative work. His mother doesn’t really care about him as he is the unwanted child. His brother and sister are engineers working in reputed IT companies outside Kerala and are earning high salary; the former thinks that he is a good for nothing idiot who deserves no love and the latter is only sympathetic to him because he is of no good. His only hope is an aunty Alphonsa (Lena Abhilash) and Father Vadakkan.

The defence of My God :: Here is another movie to make you think, and you can keep the thoughts and the received messages for long. The emotional side of the movie is strong and it will undoubtedly touch your heart. There are dialogues which you can take home from here, and even if you leave them behind, at some point of life they will surely return to you. The movie is going to be effective for all kinds of audience too, not just the family, and not just the children, youth or parents – it has a much wider scope. It is a story of people and their dreams right from their childhood – no, not ambition, but dreams as something with wings and not that random thing which students answer when teachers ask about it. The movie inspires you to be better, for some people to be better humans with respect for the dreams of others and the rest to be better dreamers.

Claws of flaw :: The beginning of the movie seems to be a struggle, as a start like Philips and the Monkey Pen is not achieved here. In comparison, this one might be mostly behind, but with the emotional strength, My God is powerful. Too many brands shown in the movie rather than incorporating it to it, will make the audience feel strange. There are also some weak moments here and there, and the songs also don’t provide the desired effect; the film does overreach and often forgets its limitations and the area of strength – but what you gain in the end is a lot bigger, and the ending with Suresh Gopi and Sreenivasan is something that elevates this movie to a higher level. In the end, the movie’s strength is not its story and it is not the totality of things, but in the idea and how emotionally powerful the core happens to be, and how it is brought to the viewers. It also depends upon how you are able to take the inspirational movies and the flicks with messages because it is what this movie is about.

Performers of the soul :: Master Adarsh who plays the central character, the kid in trouble, does a good job, and the other children also support very well – it is a very nice thing to witness. The movie’s strength undoubtedly improves with the entry of Suresh Gopi, especially after the interval. The first half has only a smaller screen presence for him, but in the second half, he becomes the big man who brings the change. There are some striking dialogues from him which will stay in our minds for a very long time. There is no doubt that he raises the level of this movie after he arrives and makes sure that the second half outshines the first, and also finishes well. I can recommend nobody better for this type of a role, as Suresh Gopi has our attention and captures our emotions with this performance.

Further performers of the soul :: Sreenivasan in the priest role adds some extra feel-good factor to this movie, as he reflects a guardian angel here. We don’t usually see Sreenivasan in this kind of a role, but this one has suited him very well. He isn’t a person who comes to our mind when we think about the priest roles, but from now on, he might be. Joy Mathew is really good as the father character who doesn’t like his son’s choices; he leaves a very tough impression. Honey Rose does her job well. Lena Abhilash plays the one symbol of hope in this movie really well. The roles of the rest of the actors are limited, and only a few leaves any impact on the audience, as the focus is so much on three, Suresh Gopi, Sreenivasan and Master Adarsh, who manages their side really well.

Soul exploration :: There has been a good number of inspirational movies this year with Mili and Rani Padmini gaining positive reviews with the female-centric stories while the story of a man who rises above his disability, Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam is still running successfully in the theatres. We have always accepted movies with messages and Philips and the Monkey Pen with a child as the central character had gone on to become a big success in the year 2013. My God follows the path of these movies and tries to bring a message and a lesson along with being inspirational in nature. The best thing about this type of movies is that they will make an impact one way or the other, and will bring some change in the minds of some people now or later when the viewers watch it again. So, are you going to watch this movie on the weekend? Do you accept the dreams of your child, and allow them to follow the same?

Release date: 4th December 2015
Running time: 129 minutes
Directed by: M Mohanan
Starring: Suresh Gopi, Honey Rose, Joy Mathew, Sreenivasan, Master Adarsh, Lena Abhilash, Rekha, Sreejith Ravi, Indrans, Devan, Praveen Prem