Honeymoon

Posted on July 29, 2015 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: I was planning for a Honeymoon with Lady Death myself.

Vampire Bat :: But you are not married yet.

Vampire Owl :: Yet, but it has to happen some day. I am preparing my soul for the same. I have even bought a Suit of Death from Vampire Best Deals.

Vampire Bat :: Do you know that the suit is supposed to prevent death for a few hours?

Vampire Owl :: What? It is not supposed to bring death closer?

Vampire Bat :: No, it is not. The original prototype was used by Uncle Dracula to travel to twenty seventh dimension of eternal death. Vampires and the rest of the undead can’t go through the realms of death without permission from the dead, as it can cause slow disintegration of the vampire body. This suit prevents the same.

Vampire Owl :: What? It is totally unfair. This is going to prevent my Honeymoon from ever happening. Mountain of Death brings death, Isle of Death is known for dealing with death, Valley of Death causes more deaths than any other place, and why is this Suit of Death so much the opposite?

Vampire Bat :: Well, you should have read the full description before buying it. Vampire Raven once bought something and didn’t speak even a word after that.

Vampire Owl :: My honeymoon plans are ruined. You could have at least given me false hope by not letting me know.

Vampire Bat :: Well, we will watch the movie Honeymoon instead.

[Gets a cup of tea].

What is it about? :: A newly married couple, Bea (Rose Leslie) and Paul (Harry Treadaway) finds the right place to celebrate their honeymoon, and it is a cabin in the woods. It seems to be the perfect and extremely peaceful are as they enjoy their time and explore the surroundings. In a small restaurant, they meet Will (Ben Huber) who seems to act strange and his wife Annie (Hanna Brown) who is acts even more weird. One night, Bea goes missing, and later she starts showing some strange behaviour which upsets Paul. She forgets things and write down even basic facts about her life. She often acts opposite to how she had been earlier. Paul sees strange lights at night and feels that a third person is involved. But he finds no real clue anywhere as things don’t get any better.

The defence of Honeymoon :: The movie uses its environment related to the cabin in the woods to come up with the much needed advantage. The two main characters are also made a lot more interesting by the cast. There are a lot of interesting moments between these two characters, and the performances are excellent throughout. The time before the major incident and after that are actually presented in different ways, and it makes us feel the change with a powerful psychological impact. It also leaves a lot of things to our imaginations, and it plays on our mind to know what is wrong, and who is the one actually in trouble here. You feel caught between the two characters, thinking and imagining to recreate what could possibly have gone wrong between the two lovers who seemed so happy and energetic just a few moments ago.

Claws of flaw :: Honeymoon surely drags, and it takes quite a lot of time to get into its more interesting part. Even between the thrills, it goes rather slow. There is a certain amount of beauty about this slowness at times as it adds to the mystery elements, but at some other times, it is not there. The ending is actually a little bit of a let down [A little bit of spoiler stuff to follow even though nothing of heavy dosage] considering the fact that this was going so nice as a psychological thriller-horror movie until the finishing line doesn’t really justify the same, but attributes things to unknown creatures. Even with surprises thrown in here and there, it finally comes to those moments which are rather more predictable, and things become what a good number of people might have thought in the beginning.

Performers of the soul :: The movie needed its performances because it uses them more than anything else due to being a psychological thriller on one side despite being known as a horror movie – may be that ending confused the genres and even added a certain amount of sci-fi to the same. You have to love Rose Leslie in this one, and you once again get to see Game of Thrones‘ own Ygritte doing what she does best; giving the feeling that her husband knows nothing as her character undergoes changes. She has managed two sides of her character so well that we can see the changes clearly and impressively managed. Lets see what she can offer in The Last Witch Hunter – wait for it. Harry Treadaway does a very good job, and the chemistry between them in amazing.

Soul exploration :: The movie asks the basic question if you really know the one who is close to you – it is something that is worth feeling scared about. Well, people do pretend to be someone else, and acting comes naturally to a lot of people. You see those people with profiles on the matrimonial websites with descriptions being God fearing, non-alcoholic and never smoking, but do you think that it is true? Well, even in the case of love marriages, people are blind in love and can’t see through the masks. If people missed this idea, that makes an opportunity gone for this movie. Will someone whom you love undergo so many changes that one day, that you won’t be really sure who he or she is? Well, it is a point to think about, and something that this movie could have focused further on. It is not that the same is not in the movie, but it is not that clear.

How it finishes :: The first movie that comes to my mind when thinking about this, is Under the Skin. They are surely not the same, but some moments do feel similar from a distance. Well, this one keeps the audience wondering though; couldn’t this have been a lot better with the premise? It is good with its stress and intensity, but is this all that this movie could come up with after showing a lot more promise? May be they could have stuck to the psychological side throughout, and in the end, we could have had a minimum of one psychopath or even two. It could have surely achieved better ratings with that. It already has a powerful drama side to power the same. The horror that this movie required was purely psychological, and with the same not being fully there, Honeymoon could have really been the true honeymoon.

Release date: 7th March 2014
Running time: 87 minutes
Directed by: Leigh Janiak
Starring: Rose Leslie, Harry Treadaway, Hanna Brown, Ben Huber

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: How come you decided to watch this movie all of a sudden?

Vampire Bat :: There is too much hate all around. I thought I could escape from it through whichever movie that proclaims universal brotherhood.

Vampire Owl :: But we don’t officially trust these kind of movies.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, I have been reading the hate messages on social networking sites. People need movies like this to bring down the hate.

Vampire Owl :: But are you sure about this choice of movie?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, mostly because I don’t see any other. The reviews are also positive like the box-office collections.

Vampire Owl :: Whatever the collections are, I hope this one collects more than the depressing things like Krrish 3, Dhoom 3 and Chennai Express.

Vampire Bat :: Lets see what we can get from this one to contribute to the reviews.

Vampire Owl :: Yes, I hope that you are right about this one.

Vampire Bat :: Well, even the Vampire Oracle has favoured me on this choice.

[Gets the tickets].

What is it about? :: Pawan Kumar Chaturvedi a.k.a Bajrangi (Salman Khan) has a love story going on with Rasika (Kareena Kapoor), and as he is considered not good enough for anything, he got to prove his worth to her father (Sharat Saxena) with six months left. He has been traditionally declared as such a failure that his first success brought a heart attack to his father. Meanwhile, Shahida (Harshaali Malhotra), a speech-impaired little girl from Pakistan gets lost in India during a pilgrimage trip and ends up with him because she had to get down from the train and do a “Mary had a little lamb”. As everyone comes to know that she from Pakistan after she claps with a Pakistani win over India in a cricket match, he decides to get her to Pakistan in one way or the other. But he might have to break more than a few rules for the same.

The defence of Bajrangi Bhaijaan :: Strong in its messages and emotions, Bajrangi Bhaijaan does manage to keep people positively interested in the movie. The elements which would please the crowd and even bring them to tears are interestingly intertwined to create a nice effect in totality. There is comedy added here and there and a light tone is maintained. The actions scenes are less, but are there to make sure that the usual crowd will like the stuff. The visuals are very nice, and the second half does have a big advantage over the first because of getting rid of the silliness, and the ending, even though a little overdone, is okay and the movie finishes off with an emotional touch which seemed to be very much enjoyed by the audience in the theatre. The performances led by Salman Khan and the little kid also work very well.

The claws of flaw :: The movie is still old wine in a new bottle up-to an extent. The story is something rooted in many others of the past, and even with the current changes, the soul remains the same. Yes, there is more care taken in how certain things are managed here, but the melodrama comes up at times, and some jokes are not really effective either. The plot is just ordinary, and it is treated with all those which could make an impact on the audience. The love for truth displayed by the main character is rather overdone, and so are those songs, among which none makes an impression. The chicken song was rather too irritating. The romantic angle is completely out of order, and the flashback in the bus was the lowest point of the movie. There are also too many predictable events happening in the first half and things are not that much believable. Well, the end does justify the means up-to an extent.

Performers of the soul :: My favourite movie from Kabir Khan remain the more realistic Kabul Express. Salman Khan continues to bring the crowds into the theatres, and along with the same, he manages this character with skill. Even though the character becomes just “the good brother”, he has given the same some interesting moments which are going to stay in the minds of the viewers. Harshaali Malhotra, the kid remains the big star of this movie, and she is the one making the biggest impact, as one would expect; that too with no words spoken. Kareena Kapoor was totally unnecessary in this movie and so was the whole sub-plot related to her, but she does okay here. Nawazuddin Siddiqui provides great support.

Soul exploration :: The message of universal brotherhood is nicely used here. There has been too much hate going on these days, and if you look on the social media, it is crystal clear. The movie gives a lesson about how important it is to love the others beyond the borders, with respect for other religions, races and traditions. Patriotism and nationalism shouldn’t be about hating people of other nations. People should be free to support any nation when a sporting event is happening. Cricket is not a test of hate-based patriotism. The right patriotism should be about love for one’s country and not based on hate. It should be about working for the development of the nation and not to tarnish its image by intolerance and prejudice. At a time when even state-based hate is propagated and even dogs have better status than humans, can one hope for a better situation?

How it finishes :: People have been actually judging this movie by its title. I have actually heard people saying no to the movie due to the same. I don’t know about the Bollywood audience, but it has given a strange feeling in this part of the world. So, it is not easy to guess why I had almost nobody local in the theatre. People judge a movie by its title, but this movie is a fair watch. It is nowhere near perfect, but is enough to provide an entertaining and emotional ride. With its core, what it reminds me of, is about Picket 43, a movie about the relationship between two soldiers on the two sides of the border – there is no relation with the stories, but in the soul, both seems to have a similar connection, of people and their families.

Release date: 17th July 2015
Running time: 159 minutes
Directed by: Kabir Khan
Starring: Salman Khan, Harshaali Malhotra, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Kareena Kapoor, Meher Vij, Najeem Khan, Kamlesh Gill, Om Puri, Sharat Saxena, Alka Kaushal, Adnan Sami, Atul Srivastava

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Love 24×7

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Dr. Tennyson

What is it about? :: Roopesh Nambiar (Dileep) is a well-known television presenter and anchor working for a popular channel called Naalamidam. He enjoys almost a celebrity status among the people with his special shows. Kabani Sugathan (Nikhila Vimal) is a trainee who joins the channel, and very soon, the two become very close to each other, falling in love. Umar Abdullah (Sreenivasan) is a godfather kind of figure for them, and also their superior. Dr. Sarayu (Suhasini) is a family friend of Roopesh and Kabani’s stay is arranged with her. With her husband dead and son living the United States of America with his wife and child, she feels lonely, but is happy with the company of her old friend Dr. Satheesh (Sashi Kumar) who is a divorcee. Things seem happy, but is it really so?

The defence of Love 24×7 :: The biggest advantage of this movie is the first half which never drags or bores even for a second. There is a happy feel-good thing going on here and with some nice jokes within the limits, this movie keeps our interests high going into the second half. The first one hour and a few minutes can be considered as realistic and charming happy hours which do this movie a lot of good. The performances make sure that things work as expected. There is the presence of not many cliches here, and despite a big tendency, this one doesn’t go the way of another movie with Dileep and the same theme – Swa Le. There is a certain message against the coporate culture and capitalism, and even though that too struggles, it is the better one among them all; the rest are incomplete and meaningless.

The claws of flaw :: The characters are not without faults. Kabani remains the most developed character here, but that too is not without a struggle. The second half starts going down, and the latter part of the second half goes a lot further down. The climax has the incompleteness of the main plot, and chooses to complete the secondary plot and gives us the idea that it will complete like the secondary one some day later. It is like completing the secondary mission in a computer game and failing to finish the main objective, which will be considered a loss in that case. Well, the message that the life repeats itself has very rare chance of happening, and so this incompleteness waiting for a complete flourish and finish later is unreal. The messages which seem to be incompletely told are all pretty much ridiculous.

Performer of the soul :: I had missed Dileep’s earlier movie, Chandrettan Evideya due to having some exams, but I did hear from my trusted sources that it was a nice change for Dileep, and this one also proves to be the same. His last movies from Kammath & Kammath through Sringaravelan and Nadodimannan reaching Villali Veeran and Ivan Maryadaraman is not kind of Dileep that we wanted. They were all too repetitive, and going down in quality even as simple comedy movies – terrible jokes were increasing. But this movie bring the man back to the audience with that change which is readily acceptable. There is no need for big performances here, and it is a role which should have come easy for an experienced actor like Dileep, and he just manages things. Yes, Dileep is back and has moved away from the fake entertainers brought to the audience in the name of comedy.

The lady soul :: The rest of the cast also evokes our interest. Among them, you notice a beautiful face you have never seen before. The newcomer Nikhila Vimal does very well in a role which demanded more than one mode of performance, and in every case she manages her side with utmost sincerity, as it seems – a quality rarely found with a new actress. She is there are the struggling newbie from a rural background and then as the news anchor in a leading channel; the former remains her finer territory. Emoting without any impediment and the slang working very well for her, she adds to the list of the interesting new faces in the Malayalam movie industry. Seemingly very natural in her beauty and the performance, her only problems come from the story and the characterization, because it is clear that she has given a notable performance. The final few moments do her as well as her character no favour though.

The other performers of the soul :: We have Suhasini back in Malayalam movies again; even though she was there in Kalimannu, she hasn’t been that much present in a big way in the Malayalam movies since 2009 flick Makante Achan. It is good to see her doing an interesting and emotional role again. Sashi Kumar also looked so good in his performance, as with him, there was a certain amount of charm even to a character which was going to go unnoticed in a normal situation of events. There is a certain search about the cast done whenever the actors list is provided, and this one has lead me to a movie called Kaya Taran directed by this same actor, and reading on the same gives a feeling to know more about the work. Sreenivasan and Lena Abhilash has the roles which are no trouble to them.

How it finishes :: The director of this movie, Sreebala K Menon is also an author who won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for ‘Best Humor’ for her work – 19, Canal Road in 2005. She is also known to come up with some socially relevant short films and documentaries. She has worked as the assistant director in a number of movies, and it is time to welcome her to the Malayalam movie industry and Love 24×7 will do just fine. Love 24×7 should do okay this weekend because none of the Malayalam movies have managed to really meet the expectations. There are movies which can be watched, but none to create that impact which should be part of the festival season. Let us hope that these Malayalam movies stay enough for people to watch at the theatres itself.

Release date: 18th July 2015
Running time: 137 minutes
Directed by: Sreebala K Menon
Starring: Dileep, Nikhila Vimal, Anjali Aneesh Upasana, Idavela Babu, Lena Abhilash, Suhasini Maniratnam, Manju Pillai, Thesni Khan, Sashi Kumar, Krishna Prabha, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Sudhi Koppa, Sidhartha Siva

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Madhura Naranga

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Do you know that there are three other Malayalam movies to watch as interesting choices are there?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, it is why we are standing here in the queue from the morning itself.

Vampire Owl :: Tough times, isn’t it? Malayalam movies haven’t been doing well enough since that big Premam and Ivide weekend.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, non-Malayalam movies are taking away all the glory. But this might be the weekend on which we fight back.

Vampire Owl :: But are you sure about this choice?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, even if this movie is not good enough, we will watch another movie after this and make sure that we leave for home as happy vampires.

Vampire Owl :: If the second movie is not goo too, then what will we do?

Vampire Bat :: We will watch another one. Actually there are four shows at the theatres here; 11:30, 2:30, 6:15, 9:15. We can always try four different movies today. If you are ready to go to a mall with multiplex, we can do even better.

Vampire Owl :: You are seriously trying to feed me brain damage in the form of too many movies on a day.

Vampire Bat :: I have come very close so far, haven’t I?

[Gets the tickets].

What is it about? :: After a few early minutes in Sri Lanka, the movie takes a flashback to Sharjah. Jeevan (Kunchako Boban), Salim (Biju Menon) and Kumar (Neeraj Madhav) are just three among the large number of Malayalis working in the UAE and are sharing a house. One day, as Jeevan driving his cab, he finds a girl in trouble and brings her home. The girl is Thamara (Parvathy Ratheesh), a Sri Lankan Tamil who has escaped after being trafficked from her home country. Even though she has almost killed someone while trying to escape, Jeevan is attracted to her, and decides not to let her go in spite of being aware of the consequences. They hope to arrange a fake passport and get her back to Sri Lanka, but things were only going to get further complicated.

The defence of Madhura Naranga :: There is an interesting mix of comedy, romance and drama in this one without having any overdose. The fun mostly rests with the middle part of the movie. The presence of a humane touch in the movie is interesting. The ending scenes are touching and performances are of good quality. The beauty of UAE and also Sri Lanka up-to an extent are nicely captured – I would have wished for more shots in the island country. It is also fair not to have an India-Pakistan love story here because it has been used to death in Bollywood and was also used before in Malayalam movie industry to not that much effect. There were a few claps in the end; it asserts that the ending was effective.

The claws of flaw :: This might not be exactly the kind of movie which most of the audience would be expecting. There is no full comedy movie for which our heroes here are specialized in. There are just too many songs too than needed, and there is no improvement in quality over that quantity. The basic plot could have been better developed if it had gone on among the migrant workers, and if the focus was more on the problems which they faced. Instead, they have taken the easy way out in introducing the girl. There is also no real cinematic beauty in the romance; it progresses okay, but it begins in a weak manner. May be some thrills could have been added here and there too; it is too predictable in the current form. The medium could have been better used to bring a message.

Performers of the soul :: Kunchako Boban once again plays a role which is not new to him, and his team with Biju Menon does show signs of former glory even as it is not completely there. It is not fair to expect something like Ordinary which had a full half of comedy or Seniors which was just a complete comedy movie. Biju Menon has some nice comic dialogues, and Neeraj Madhav has a few interesting ones even though not many. Parvathy Ratheesh is a good addition to the Malayalam movie industry. Even as she doesn’t have to speak even one Malayalam word in this movie, she is right there with the emotions and expressions. It will be nice to see her in roles with more variety. Suraj Venjaramoodu has a smaller, but funny character which he manages with ease. There is no struggle there.

How it finishes :: The movie which deviates from a usual Kunchako Boban-Biju Menon comedy entertainer has its biggest enemy as the rain. It has been heavy downpour throughout the day, and the audience presence was quite low. Even though they might feel strange about not getting exactly what they wanted, they can be satisfied with how the movie ends and how it manages to be emotionally strong with some fine performances, even from Parvathy Ratheesh who doesn’t really show the signs of a newcomer. The performance of this movie should depend on how the other flicks work. They could have sacrificed the overall clean stuff and the songs here for some twists and some extra comedy. They have said that this is based on a true story, but little liberties would have only made this one more engaging.

Theatre situation :: There are three other Malayalam movies challenging this one – Dileep’s Love 24X7 seems to have the crowd favourite star in a different role, and Acha Din will have Mammootty trying to work in a movie which has its own difference. KL.10 Pathu has Unni Mukundan in his own new style, and he also has a new face accompanying him as the leading actress just like the other movies. All four of these movies have female faces new to Malayalam movie industry, and even though the promotions have been less, the competition is going to be very high. Baahubali stays and so does Premam. It will be a big task to battle these two movies, and the continuing presence of Minions in the multiplexes will take a portion of the family audience with them and the new Salman Khan starrer also got the high capability to attract.

Release date: 17th July 2015
Running time: 144 minutes
Directed by: Sugeeth
Starring: Kunchacko Boban, Parvathy Ratheesh, Biju Menon, Neeraj Madhav, Aparna Nair, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Niyaz Becker, Saddique

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Darling

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: You mean Darling Darling?

Vampire Bat :: No Darling just once, unless you want to create an echo.

Vampire Owl :: Vampire Owls don’t echo. We are immune to such inferior special effects.

Vampire Bat :: Then its easy to follow. This is the remake of the Telugu horror comedy romance, Prema Katha Chitram.

Vampire Owl :: That movie in which Nanditha Raj plays a Nanditha?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, and here Nikki Galrani plays someone not Nikki.

Vampire Owl :: You mean Nikki Galrani of Om Santhi Oshaana, 1983 and Vellimoonga, the not-so-owlish movie?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, with no doubt. How many other Nikkis do you know?

Vampire Owl :: Well, what about Nikki of Neal ‘n’ Nikki?

Vampire Bat :: That ruins my day. Why did you have to even try to mention that movie?

[Gets the tickets].

What is it about? :: Kathir (G. V. Prakash Kumar) is looking to commit suicide and for the same, he is joined by two other people consisting of his friend and another girl, seemingly leading to a nice small group suicide. Kumaran (Bala Saravanan) and Nisha (Nikki Galrani) who become part of the suicide gang, try to make their last wishes happen before committing the awesome act of self-destruction. There are things which they do, like having a new car which they steal and slapping an MLA in front of the news channels. They escape from the police and goons and go to a house accompanied by another man trying to suicide, Athisaya Raj (Karunas). Nisha is in love with Kathir, and her real plan is to stop him from killing himself, and Kumaran is also hoping to stop his friend from doing the act. But the house where they are staying has a back-story and things won’t go as planned.

The defence of Darling :: There are some improvements on Prema Katha Chitram that this movie has made here as the remake. The best of them is the climax and the ending which has some interesting changes. It is quite faithful to the original, but not a blind copy. The movie is funny and scary in parts, and does full justice to its genre of horror-comedy which hasn’t been an easy thing to do. It is time Bollywood also has some horror-comedies of this quality. There is ghost, romance, comedy, mystery and even the ghost slayer Ghost Gopal Varma. All four of the main actors are very good, and one thing that you can’t fail to notice from the posters of the movie in Kerala is that Nikki Galrani is the Queen of Luck or the Goddess of Fortune – judging from the Malayalam movies which she has acted in: Om Santhi Oshaana, 1983 and Vellimoonga; the three big hits – can we dare to disagree?

The Claws of Flaw :: As a remake of Prema Katha Chitram, the movie might seems redundant for a few. There are some scenes which doesn’t improve the original, and there is no big improvement in quality here. The original was a movie which a lot of people had watched here too, but Darling should still be a new experience for another good number of people. The movie does have some of the same problems as the original, with some misplaced jokes and some loss in the horror department, but those were expected as the remake. One big change which they could have done was with the face of the ghost, and even the first possession moment was no surprise. A scarier ghost could have been there, and the total spooky atmosphere should have been enhanced. Some innovation could have only done this move good, with a shorter flashback and more elements of mystery. Yes, more scares would have brought the awesomeness here, and there was the need to match the comedy.

Soul exploration :: The resurrection of horror genre in the right manner is a need among all the Indian movie industries. Bollywood seems to combine it too much with erotica and spoil the whole thing, or just copy something from Hollywood and add below average things here and there. Horror no longer seems to a genre that is interested in being spoken in Hindi. But a better working combination at this part of the world is horror with comedy and simple romance as it has been proven here. It is a good form for the horror genre to exist, without the extra seriousness that comes in and often fails to connect with the audience. There will always be people who want to laugh at the horror movies, and may be what people deserve more is the horror comedy. I would expect better times for horror with this mixture of genres in work, and I hope for such a movie in Malayalam too, without going too stupid or absurd.

How it finishes :: It is surprising how well the movie has attracted the audience here even as there is only one popular face for the people here, which is Nikki Galrani. It has come to only selected theatres here and at some places just to fill in the blanks, and may be that is a reason. The multiplexes hadn’t had much shows. I would say that Darling was a movie which could have done wonders here with some better promotion – after all, Nikki is one of the favourite actresses of the common movie fans here, and that has been accomplished by her presence in just one year – 2014. It is a sure entertainer and has its existence at a number of theatres in Kerala – you might have to search for them, but if you haven’t watched Prema Katha Chitram, this a movie that you should give a chance for the effort and the difference that it brings to the screen.

[After the movie]

Vampire Owl :: You didn’t tell me about the special 3D effects in the theatre.

Vampire Bat :: 3D at that theatre? We were in the same theatre, right?

Vampire Owl :: Yes, didn’t you see those effects?

Vampire Bat :: What exactly are you talking about?

Vampire Owl :: Didn’t you see the black kitten and the smoke outside the screen?

Vampire Bat :: That actually seemed like a rat. The smoke was just people with the cigarettes. This is why you should go to local theatres more often.

Vampire Owl :: It is still a special effect. We should have brought the Vampire Cat.

Vampire Bat :: So do you think that the hiking of ticket price by twenty rupees was justified?

Vampire Owl :: Absolutely not. These conditions deserve a maximum of fourty five rupees, thats all. We have better effects at the Dracula Castle.

Vampire Bat :: Then lets hope for another theatre next time.

[Runs to the Indian Coffee House].

Release date: 15th January 2015
Running time: 126 minutes
Directed by: Sam Anton
Starring: G. V. Prakash Kumar, Nikki Galrani, Karunas, Bala Saravanan, Srushti Dange, Rajendran

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

About Time

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: I waited so long for this movie to get released in India that I got very old.

Vampire Bat :: May be it just didn’t release in Cochin or we were on a trip when it released.

Vampire Owl :: But I got very old, nevertheless.

Vampire Bat :: Aren’t we already centuries old?

Vampire Owl :: Yes, but I still got a lot older, and this time it is depressing.

Vampire Bat :: Didn’t your great ancestors have the power to go back in time and change the release date and screens of a movie?

Vampire Owl :: Yes, he could predict the situation that the worst movies will get released and there was nothing that we could do. He used to be a fan of an old form of vampire theatre. It was like, for tragedy everybody laughed and then he tried to change the meaning of tragedy and they just cut his head. He could travel in time no longer.

Vampire Bat :: So, he was the first revolutionary against bad drama, that theatre which represents movies now.

Vampire Owl :: Yes, but the point is that he got his head cut off. You know the fans these days and what can happen to us.

Vampire Bat :: That is a fair point.

[Starts the car].

What is it about? :: Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson), a young man is told a family secret at the age of twenty one – that all the men of their family have a special gift, which is the ability for time travel, something which he needs to unlock and try now. But he will only be able to go back to his own experiences, those memories which he can remember well enough. He decides to use this newly found ability of his, to improve his chances of getting a lover. As he falls for his sister’s friend, Charlotte (Margot Robbie) who spends her holidays with them, he uses the time travel ability to make her fall in love with her, but understands that it will never happen as she will just keep making excuses as she already made her decision on him. But later, he would meet Mary (Rachel McAdams) by fate and both are interested in each other, but losses her while trying to help his friend by time travel. But he would use his skills to recreate some events which will take him back to meeting her and both once again fall in love with each other. But his time travel adventures doesn’t end there.

The defence of About Time :: This movie manages to be the smart and cute, happy and heart-warming love story that stands above most of the romantic love stories with its theme as well as its presentation, which is closer to true love and family relationships that it can get, making one wonder if Hollywood actually cares about such things when making movies of this genre – but About Time says, it was about time. The movie is powered by its powerful emotions, and leaves one with a sense of responsibility towards life and also to one’s own family. The movie flourishes in its emotions and runs strong like a river during the monsoon, whenever the family stuff comes to the scene. The romantic comedy is not far behind, as there are moments there, which makes us remember that it is not far away either. The movie has its layers, and each one has something there, hiding some messages which we can take home. The combining of sci-fi-, rom-com and family drama works like a dream here.

Positives and Negatives :: Yes, finding negatives with this movie has not been too difficult with the critics, but it is not easy as far as I am concerned. Yes, the combination of three genres might be strange at times, and the movie not be what some people had expected with its family drama which overtakes the romance and the science fiction most of the people wanted to watch. You can find the time travel paradox and also ask a few question about that, but that is never expected to take the centre stage. The exact central point of the movie is its message for life. About Time is powerful in its heart and soul, and that much you have to give to the movie, no matter what else good or bad you can find here. Keep your own heart and soul at the right place while watching this movie, and these are the kind of movies which can rise above the limitations of a usual romance-sex-comedy.

Performers of the soul :: The movie has a brilliant performance from Domhnall Gleeson, but wait till Rachel McAdams arrives to take your beath away, and the chemistry between the two works like a true love dream. This lady was also there in The Time Traveler’s Wife, but I would say that this is a lot better movie and she is too good in this one. She might have looked better as the younger self in that movie, but look out for her performance in this one. Yes, the presence of the same lady lead might have confused a few, but About Time reigns supreme if there is a war of the romantic time travel fiction. Then there is the surprise package in the form of Bill Nighy as the father, that dad that everybody would want to have, and I would die and be reborn to have. He is someone who has known to love his son and has always found the little joys of his time with his son worth living. He has wonderfully portrayed the perfect father for whom we reserve our tears. Margot Robbie also gets attention in her smaller role, and Lydia Wilson as the sister of the protagonist – Kit Kat is lovable.

Soul exploration :: About Time leaves us with a strong message to live in the moment, and there are things that cannot be changed. Even if you had a certain time travel ability, the things that are to happen, will happen; those things that you have changed were supposed to be changed, and this knowledge whether it can be changed or not can be obtained only by trying, and it is a need to try. It is never late to appreciate life, and the best things come to those who wait, and not those who feel the emergency and hurry up on life. It shows that true love waits, and no matter how much you think that some thing are less important, they are not. It is our responsibility to know that family always comes first, especially with the kind of parents who have cared for you. This is as close to a righteous romantic comedy as one can get, with emotional, love for family and true love. This tale uses the science fiction elements to support this cause.

How it finishes :: Even as this is a romantic comedy, I would advice watching this one with family – it is because its message of love transcends and chooses to rise higher as well as deeper, making it a powerful family movie in its core. It take its elements of true love and science fiction and it digs deep, and comes out of it as a movie for everyone who loves one’s family. I suggest you get a fictional time machine which you can use to erase your questions about many things and replace it with a positive attitude about life. I thought I could do that, but I have come too far to do that. I haven’t listened to myself enough for that throughout my past. But this movie reminds me that, it is never too late, and may be, I will have a chance at everything when the wheel of time turns. Life will give you that opportunity, and I can choose to listen to those idiots, backstabbers and supposed to be successful people (or parents of successful people), waiting for my opportunity. It has to come, because life goes on and you shouldn’t worry too much about the past.

Release date: 3rd November 2013
Running time: 123 minutes
Directed by: Richard Curtis
Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Lydia Wilson, Margot Robbie, Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Lindsay Duncan, Richard Cordery, Joshua McGuire, Tom Hughes, Vanessa Kirby, Will Merrick, Lisa Eichhorn

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Enemy

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Dr. Tennyson

*The Soul Exploration paragraphs can have spoilers and therefore read wisely.

Vampire Owl :: I haven’t even heard about this movie.

Vampire Bat :: It is quite natural. It never came to our theatres.

Vampire Owl :: Then I need a DVD of this one. A movie that doesn’t come to our theatres is always worth a watch.

Vampire Bat :: I was going to recommend it to you, anyway.

Vampire Owl :: Everyone is creating one protest after the other. May be we should protest against the wrong movies being shown on the theatres.

Vampire Bat :: We shall call it the Hug of Movies.

Vampire Owl :: No Kiss of Movies? Okay, we will hug the movie DVDs of those movies which never had the chance to release here, and are so awesome.

Vampire Bat :: The change should start by not releasing some of those dumb movies just for the simple reason that they are too stupid for the human brain.

Vampire Owl :: I think you watched a Bollywood action movie in the last few days and is waiting to write a review on it.

Vampire Bat :: No, but I will leave you with a review of Enemy.

[Switches on the laptop].

What is it about? :: The movie tells the story of Adam Bell and Anthony Saint Claire (both played by Jake Gyllenhaal), the first one being a history professor and the other being a small time actor, both looking exactly the same despite having no real connection or relation with each other. The former’s girlfriend Mary (Melanie Laurent) is troubled and worried as Adam finds this man who looks like him in a movie and is determined to discover more about him. He even searches and finds the man’s number to call him and talk to him about the same, and hopes to meet him one day as curiosity keeps building inside him. Anthony’s pregnant wife Helen (Sarah Gadon) is also worried as a stranger who sounds like her husband calls home, and she is surprised as well as shocked by the similarities between the two, or the lack of any difference as she visits the university to see this man who looks the same. The men will one day meet in a hotel room only to bring further deviations in their lives.

Positives and Negatives :: The movie deals with the conflicts of the mind and leaves with a powerful message against adultery. It checks the extra-marital affairs and asserts that it is never too late to come back and be truthful to one’s partner. Here, it is shown as a situation of the mind which should be overcome within oneself rather than asking help from someone else, as long as one can. The atmosphere that the movie uses is perfect and how it shows everything is very powerful, even as not that effective for everyone as some might find is strange and not easily understandable, even coming up with too obvious explanations not doing justice to this movie’s twisted power. Even its slow progress, this is never the slowing down or the loss of power here, and I haven’t seem it happening like this so efficiently on so many occasions. There is a lot to think about in this case, that is for sure, and for the same, watching this movie becomes more necessary. I would recommend this to anybody who wishes to watch and give it a long, deep thought.

Performers of the soul :: Jake Gyllenhaal comes up with a stunning performance as two characters who look so much the same, but are yet different as themselves. He has to portray this doubleness which is less easier to do that most of the other roles that he has been doing, and one has to wonder if most people could have accomplished this with so much power. Even with his amazing work in the movie, what strikes the most though, is the extreme sadness and a terrible pain of the soul in the eyes of Sarah Gadon as she plays the character of the pregnant wife; an image that we cannot get out of our heads, especially because the movie never comes with a perfect explanation of things and our idea about all these is just what we can make out of it. But the tears on her face tells things and make everything more clear. Compared to them, Melanie Laurent does less, and mostly graces us with her beautiful presence.

Soul exploration 1: The choice of curiosity :: It is the curiosity that works both ways. Mark the words in the movie; “chaos is order yet undeciphered”. This curiosity had once made him to cheat on his wife, and has now forced him to think about himself. The transition from his wife to his girlfriend and then back to his wedding woes is because of the choice that he made – the curiosity that makes the protagonist search for the other person who looks like him is actually a search into his own mind which has to spots, one for his wife and the other for his girfriend, one with his desire to be an actor and the other with the reality of being a History professor – and he adjusts with the latter in the end, the thing that is actually him rather than what he wants to be just because of some obsession – something that can be equalled with his girlfriend too, all because of a second phase of curiosity.

Soul exploration 2: The fear of oneself :: The movie has two people who are basically one single person, and this manifestation of the other is just the one person that we see. Our potagonist is scared of himself, his other side which he wants to control, but is not within his power. Along with his fear of commitment, this fear about his other face troubles him throughout the movie, the result of which is reflected in him knowing about another person who looks and sounds like him and when he meets him, he is too scared. He knows that one of his faces is a mistake, and it is only in the end that he realizes that the right thing is to be with the wife rather than anybody else. This act of leaving his girlfriend – the extra-marital affair is portrayed as the death, both of his other side and the lover outside the marriage. Who is a man’s biggest enemy? He himself is, and it is the fear of that enemy that he conquers.

Soul exploration 3: The web of life :: The movie is about people caught in the webs of busy city life and hoping for a relief. There is repetition after repetition, and the images of giant spiders show this, especially the tarantulas which feed on the protagonist’s mind, and each big decision that he makes seems to have a spider, a negative thing. Even watching a movie is a first in his monotonous life. The web is actually as complicated as the life itself, and adultery becomes part of such a life. If another spider of adultery weaves a web in the life of the protagonist, it is up-to the wife and her love for the man that can crash it destroy those webs, saving him from the capture and the predator can no longer feed on him. The power of the webs created by the giant things need time to destroy, and the effort taken is also supposed to be enormous.

Release date: 8th September 2013
Running time: 95 minutes
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Melanie Laurent, Sarah Gadon, Isabella Rossellini, Kedar Brown, Darryl Dinn, Stephen R. Hart, Jane Moffat, Joshua Peace, Tim Post, Misha Highstead, Megan Mane, Alexis Uiga

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Mathai Kuzhappakkaranalla

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: This sounds like Lal Bhahadur Shatri’s continuation. I am not coming.

Vampire Bat :: There is just Jayasurya playing a very good guy, otherwise this should be different. Anyway, you didn’t watch even that movie yet. There is also a shot of Jayasurya and Bhama having tea together. Remember the word “tea”.

Vampire Owl :: So what? I don’t need to watch feel-good. I can sense them. They are all going to be the same.

Vampire Bat :: Do you know that you are prejudiced?

Vampire Owl :: Yes, and it has saved me from watching bad movies. But I see that it is not working for you, and the same is spreading for you and affecting me.

Vampire Bat :: Then what are you going to do now as you are free?

Vampire Owl :: I am going to visit the Thommankuthu Waterfalls and think about more ideas on owlifying the world. The tea there is good; it helps one to think.

Vampire Bat :: What about your zombie minions?

Vampire Owl :: They have been called for some work at the Dracula Castle. We can’t deny the services when Uncle Dracula asks, can we?

Vampire Bat :: He gets all the movies at the castle. He is one lucky guy, isn’t he?

[Starts the car].

What is it about? :: The story is that of an auto-driver in Thrissur called Mathai (Jayasurya) who is too good a man at heart and wants to solve all the problems in the world in whichever way possible. He spends his time trying his best and often gets into trouble for the same, never really giving him a positive effect, but he keeps trying again and again as if his life depends on him; he hopes that one day, everything will be awesome. His fiancee Anna (Bhama) is an assistant to a leading advocate in Kottayam, and as he comes to bring her back to Thrissur on a harthal day, it seems that he has lots of time in hand and wanders around in the area. At the same time, Nandakumar (Mukesh) is a heart surgeon who lives with his wife and child and is always having problems in his life due to his mother-in-law creating troubles. When Mathai comes to visit the doctor whom he had once helped when in trouble, the wife and child were no longer with him due to an issue concerning a wedding anniversary, and he decides that he should solve this problem for the doctor. But is a simple man like Mathai good enough to solve the rich woman’s ego?

The defence of Mathai Kuzhappakkaranalla :: The movie is both a preacher and a family counselor as it keeps trying to bring up all the problems in the family life and solve it from the beginning to the end. This is kind of a pre-marital course, and one has to say that it will be very of nice of the church to cancel the pre-marital course and use this movie instead, or it can directly give approval to anyone who has watched this movie – may be they can show the movie tickets to get approval. Yes, it is that kind of a movie, and not like Lal Bahadur Shastri as one might have expected. There is the good attempt to make things work and make it connected to the family audience. It starts off well, with our protagonist involving in the problems of one of his acquaintances and try to solve things only to make it worse. It is actually more funny in the first half. The cast has managed things well, and there is some humour lurking around all the time. Note that there is no romance in this one despite having the pair of Ivar Vivahitharayal, Janapriyan and Oru Black and White Kudumbam.

Claws of flaw :: The preachy nature of the movie often works against it, as people can get irritated at times, especially when the emotions fail to work and the humour almost disappears. Then it gets weaker, and makes so much of a lesser impact, and ends the movie in a predictable manner, with not much to cheer about – it is kind of a forced end, as if the classes are dispersed after all those lessons taught, and now it is time to go home and try the same. There is nothing that we haven’t seen before; remember the Mohanlal-Meera Jasmine starrer Innathe Chinthavishayam in which the hero and heroine attempted to save the marriages of three women? Yes, it is the same thing here, as our hero and heroine tries to unite a doctor and his wife. But this is not that good as the Mohanlal starrer, and is also restricted to two houses in action. Yes, there is the Aristotlean Unities at work here, of time, place (somewhat) and action. If you liked Innathe Chinthavishayam, there is a chance that you will like this one, otherwise, it is questionable – with no innovation and no good script.

Performers of the soul :: Jayasurya is the character we are talking about in the title, and he once again shines as the simple character full of goodness – check Lal Bahadur Shastri and Apothecary models, and he once again uses the Thrissur slang like in Punyalan Agarbathis and it works like a dream for him. Mathai is another character in the comfort zone for him, and it is him who handles things here in the movie with the best quality. The feeling of the common man or the guy next door might be something that comes naturally to him. Bhama doesn’t lag behind in that, and even as she comes into the picture in a big way only in the second half, she joins the preaching and does fine. She also seems comfortable in this simple role. Mukesh is fine and has no challenge here at any moment; this is something that a versatile actor like him could do with ease. Lakshmi Gopalaswami is fine with her predictable character. Sreejith Ravi was very good in another avatar here, and he handles a lot of humour in this one and never falters – his character could have had a better handling though.

Soul exploration :: Mathai Kuzhappakkaranalla has its own value in the contemporary society. People can question the product, but not the intentions, and scope for giving a good lesson, and this is where Akku Akbar gets the applause. The Dolphins did do the same, but it came too late to make that movie better. But our movie here shows how the world is changing in favour of ego and selfishness in a relationship, which in turns destroys it as the unconditional love itself is taken out and the whole thing remains as nothing more than a contract for mutual satisfaction. The movie has a husband who is a very busy surgeon having no time for family and a wife who want her husband to prefer her lavish parties over saving a human life. The advice that the wife gets from her mother contributes in the worst possible manner. There is also the idea of having a high status in a society and developing hatred for the common man. In the name of status and money, people tend to become less human, not just towards the outsiders, but also to one’s own people. Well, what is this “maintaining status” than showing off?

How it finishes :: Akku Akbar has to be appreciated for taking this topic which never losses the charm and the value in a society which keeps going further down with its family values in an age of ego leading to divorce. It is something which should be saved from the attack of the new generation movies which often ends up working in the exact opposite manner. But one can only wish that this was told in a better way rather than being too preachy. Our audience don’t accept such things, because it is like being told what to do. There is too much of it. If it was told in another way, things would have worked so much better, there is no doubt about it. Coming from a director who has been doing movies with family themes so well, let’s hope that he will come up with something a lot better next time. Until then, Angels seems to be the winner, even as there will be the question about how much it can score at the box-office seeing the status at the theatres. Penguins of Madagascar will take some family audience away from this one too, that is for sure.

Release date: 28th November 2014
Running time: 110 minutes (estimate)
Directed by: Akku Akbar
Starring: Jayasurya, Bhama, Mukesh, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Sreejith Ravi, Thesni Khan, Sasi Kallinga, Jayaraj Warrier

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Ormayundo Ee Mukham

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Did you say the word soul?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, I said that this movie talks about soul-mates.

Vampire Owl :: Dude, that is totally so evil. Like the souls in The Conjuring?

Vampire Bat :: Not that soul, the one that they say related to romance, like in Romeo and Juliet, Uncle Dracula and Mina Harker in the undead form or even like cardamom and tea.

Vampire Owl :: How disappointing. You should go for it alone then. It doesn’t fit my plans at all. I won’t recommend that for you either, as you are a cynic.

Vampire Bat :: But I can take that. I can have even tea, lime juice and milkshake together. I can take them all together.

Vampire Owl :: Yes, you are the one who watched three movies of entirely different genres at two different malls on one day and survived to tell the tale. Yes, I know that.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, and I repeated that performance.

Vampire Owl :: You have even transformed me into a movie watcher. You are a bad influence. I should go back to my intelligent evil plans to conquer the world.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, do take the shovel to dig up your buried plans.

[Starts the car].

What is it about? :: Gautham (Vineeth Sreenivasan) is a young businessman with an MBA from the United Kingdom, but is struggling with handling his father’s business at home due to his tension, lack of confidence and inability to memorize significant things related to business. His mother Vasundhara Devi (Rohini) struggles to keep the business going all by himself, and helping them in all that, is Gautham’s best friend Apoorva (Aju Varghese). Nithya (Namitha Pramod) enters their world as Gautham is forced to marry the daughter of a family friend as is attempting to make an escape. She is a sand artist and an orphan, with only the support of her sister Neethu (Soumya Sadanandan) and a family friend Dr. John Kuruvila (Mukesh) who is treating Nithya for her short term memory loss. Even as Nithya and Gautham gets really close, she doesn’t remember who he is, when they meet on the next day. Even as his well-wishers warn him against falling with love with her, he is adamant on making her remember him and stay in her mind forever.

The defence of Ormayundo Ee Mukham :: The move is cute, and there is no need for summoning an oracle from Delphi to tell you that, as it was evident from the trailer itself. The songs are good and nicely complimenting the movie, even if not that much to remember when standing alone. There is the feel-good factor and it also exists with the power to strike the hearts. The funny side is strong, with Aju Varghese handling things so well, and there are some really memorable moments with him and Soumya Sadanandan, and some more when Facebook, Whatsapp and some of the big movies and its dialogues or even songs are made fun of. Coming from the debutante Anvar Sadik, this is a great start for him, especially when experienced ones struggle a lot – no don’t look at Bollywood, that should be a shocking scene. The cinematography is excellent too. There is also the beauty of love, even as it is overdone with some dialogues, work nicely against the world of dumb new generation pseudo-love which we have to suffer from on many occasions. This one is extremely sweet and successfully delivers the feel-good factor.

Claws of flaw :: The movie seems to have been inspired by the 2004 movie 50 First Dates, but the director here has given the fact that he is influenced by Hollywood romantic movies just before the beginning of this flick. There is also the mentioning of a number of movies in the middle of this, and may be that will keep those who are complaining happy. Well, romance and comedy are two things that can be taken and changed to suit a different world and culture, and therefore, that trouble should be forgiven. This is also quite predictable with not much in the story and struggling to make things happen, especially for those who have watched a lot of romantic comedies from English, especially the Adam Sandler starrer. The end is just what we expect, and there is the extended final moment which shouldn’t have been there. They could have tried harder with this one, as there are moments which seems to be at a loss. There is the weakness of the central portion that this movie has, compared to what happens in the beginning and right after the middle. Yes, there is the stupidity in love too, but that is expected.

Performers of the soul :: Vineeth Sreenivasan wins the show, mostly with his funny side rather than anything else, and his presence in this cute movie is rather like the need for fire inside a fire-breathing dragon, and it is by his presence and his usual style that he has controlled things here, without trying anything different or special. But, if the movie is going to work for a certain extended period which becomes an infinite period of a slice of eternity, the credit for the same should go to Namitha Pramod, and the way in which she has handled her character. There is nothing big as if to slay Smaug the stupendous being demanded there, but she has done the job with so much neatness. Supporting her is Soumya Sadanandan who has done an unbelievably good job, making one wonder if she is a veteran. It felt so natural with her performance, and I hope to see her a lot more on the big screen, as she seems to handle every department so well. Aju Varghese handles the entertainment, and once again comes with a big score.

Soul exploration :: Ormayundo Ee Mukham once again get itself into the true love theme, which is surely something that has been exaggerated again and again, and it similarities to 50 First Dates doesn’t help the cause at all. But it has the nice moments which deals with the same in a better manner than most of the other movies. Well, what was Thattathin Marayathu other than a veil-obsessed young man wandering around after falling in love with a random girl for almost no reason at all? Did Om Santhi Oshana have anything other than a strange infatuation? Well, those two movies were undoubtedly better than this, but we can’t let this one go just because it has inspiration from a Hollywood movie. It takes some brains to adapt something from there to here, especially in the case of romantic comedy, as the definition of the same are different here. It is not really easy to group movies like No Strings Attached, Love and Other Drugs, Friends with Benefits and A Lot Like Love into romance, which would be rather absurd looking from here. We always had the worst of such nonsense in the form of things like Banglore Days.

How it finishes :: Ormayundo Ee Mukham needs an applause for the transformation it has done with the material, and all that the cast has put into it. There is no emotional nonsense which gets into this one either, even when the emotions are on the high – and there is no other dumb fake romance related thing added to it. The movie surely works as an entertainer, and its skill in the use of its resources can be clearly seen. But don’t expect a Thattathin Marayathu at all, and if you have watched 50 First Dates and liked it a lot, may be you won’t like this that much. I am not that much of an admirer of Hollywood’s romantic comedies, as I don’t think it has that much of any real romance at all, almost completely dishonoring what defined the same, and keeping it for Disney and the children’s movies. May be if that wasn’t the case, I would have liked this less; but I am sticking to the old generation romance, and I say that this one strikes one good shot towards the boundary and it is up-to the commentators and the crowd to talk about it.

Release date: 14th November 2014
Running time: 140 minutes
Directed by: Anvar Sadik
Starring: Vineeth Sreenivasan, Namitha Pramod, Aju Varghese, Soumya Sadanandan, Mukesh, Rohini, Lakshmi, Idavela Babu, Bhagath Manuel, Raveendran

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Best Offer

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: It is such a gloomy Diwali this year. Nothing to be done. I expect this Halloween to be bad too.

Vampire Bat :: I had my own celebrations though.

Vampire Owl :: Really? And you didn’t call me? After all, I am your only officially undead friend.

Vampire Bat :: It was not arranged by me. There was lightning and almost everything in the living room seemed to be enjoying fireworks. Only the stabilizer is working now.

Vampire Owl :: I would need that stabilizer. I can connect it to my owlifier and hope that it works without loss of energy.

Vampire Bat :: Do you know that you often seem to talk like Victor Frankenstein?

Vampire Owl :: Absolutely not. See, you are giving a wrong idea about owlification to the society. This is for their own good, so that they don’t have to face a third world war and a possible extinction.

Vampire Bat :: Have you even read about a world war?

Vampire Owl :: No. Why should I? I read no evil, hear no evil, see no evil. I just create evil – I am an evil mastermind.

Vampire Bat :: I have a movie for you then.

[Grabs of a cup of tea].

What is it about? :: The Best Offer is set in a world of art, where an old expert in art Virgil Oldman (Geoffrey Rush) runs an auction house. He is not a loved person around, as he has very few people around him who likes his way of behaviour and most of his life is spent with the desire to illegally gain the possession of very rare and highly valuable pieces of art, unmarried. He is appointed by a young heiress, Claire Ibbetson (Sylvia Hoeks), who asks for his help to auction off a huge collection of antiques and grand pieces of art which has been passed onto her by the family lines. But as Claire suffer from “a strange disease” as the people she knows tell him, or a certain amount of agoraphobia as she keeps herself confined to a room inside the huge mansion. As curiosity keeps getting into him, he hides himself inside the mansion one day to find that she is young and beautiful and sees her in a compromising position. He is immediately attracted to her beauty, and as they come close to each other, there will be the course of something else that will be set in motion.

The defence of The Best Offer :: Here is a movie which never ceases to enchant you with its visual splendour provided by art rather than anything else. There is a lot of beauty in the way in which the whole thing is narrated. Here is a quote which you can take home — “Emotions are like work of art. They can be forged; they seem just like the original but they are forgery. Everything can be fake: joy, pain, hate, illness, recovery… even love” – it tells a lot about the movie and how it connects art and man. Then there is question of truth and happiness, the things that are not found even in the real thing. The performances are splendid too, especially from the two leading characters. It is indeed a fresh take on the mystery genre, and a different entry to the world of romantic thrillers. There is also the abstinence from the usual formula that can be seen on a number of occasions. One can’t also deny the existence of so many angles from which this movie can be viewed from. I see the hollowness of humanity which can create huge artistic forgeries of the mind.

Positives and negatives :: The movie is slow, and it has lots of art associated with it, not really appealing to everyone. It is easy to find such people who don’t care about antiquity in this part of the world as we see our own centuries old monuments being vandalized by people or even those who claim to be lovers to write their names. There is almost no love for art in our lands, not even to the courses related to the same. So, this movie not releasing her was never a surprise, and people are going to find fault with its setting anyway. There will also be people wondering how such a thing in the movie is even possible with the two – but human mind is indeed strange, and emotions are pretty much ridiculous even for the most skilled ones – that much one has to be aware of. Yes, there are some characters who should have developed further and are lost in this seductive battle between the two main characters. It does give a little bit of too much clue to the viewer’s liking too early, but not everyone will pick them.

Performers of the soul :: Geoffrey Rush steals the show right from the beginning, and even by a bigger margin by the end. We don’t have a character here whom we can easily sympathize with, but here the man has completely made us feel for the character and the emotions that he has, even as he is not that much of a positive character, or someone we can cheer for. He is not a hero here, but we are given a chance to admire him as a tragic hero with this performance, and here he is elevated to the status of someone like Doctor Faustus who has the power of knowledge and yet not the wisdom to make things work in the right way. There is a certain beauty about it. Sylvia Hoeks is stunning here, not just by looks, but with a performance which seems to make her a modern day Rapunzel, caught in the hopelessness of the never-ending loneliness in the middle of nowhere, with no escape and less hair, but still extremely beautiful and having all the traits of her gorgeous and mysterious character.

Soul exploration :: Even as the movie’s focus as well as its background are on art and valuable antiques, its soul is on the gorgeous enigma who is at the centre of everything. She is the one to determine the fate of more than one character in the movie, and the universe which was rather static until then, revolves around her and turns it into a romantic mystery and then into a kind of thriller with the world no longer following a pattern. The life based on art becomes the life based on one lady who is like living art in beauty, and the protagonist soon finds his Helen of Troy and seems to wonder like Faustus if it “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships, And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?” – there comes the radical change in the world, and it sets things in motion, as the centre is clearly the mystery that the mysterious beauty provides, and the protagonist comes directly under the influence of this centre, the soul which changes things.

How it finishes :: The Best Offer is lost to most of our people, and it is not even known to most of our viewers. Another fact is that it might not appeal to everyone with a universe of art and a mystery that is built around the same which is hard to connect for a lot of people belonging to the modern world. As it tells the story of two people who are separated from the usual known world in different ways, the focus is on the search of love and the vanity in the hope that there will be the appearance of such a feeling which is so hard to achieve in this world of materialism. The movie talks about the world of love just as the illusion of art, and forgery is possible with ease, even as the best of forgeries might require skills, and it will take more than just the expertise to look through the fake emotions of love and desire, and that should be an objective vision which should be completely absent when the illusion begins to spread through one’s eyes.

Release date: 1st January 2013
Running time: 124 minutes
Directed by: Giuseppe Tornatore
Starring: Geoffrey Rush, Sylvia Hoeks, Jim Sturgess, Liya Kebede, Donald Sutherland, Philip Jackson, Dermot Crowley, Kiruna Stamell

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Fault in Our Stars

Posted on July 23, 2014 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Why do you have a beard?

Vampire Bat :: Do I need a reason for that?

Vampire Owl :: I think you are having a beard because you don’t want anybody to recognize you getting tickets for bad movies.

Vampire Bat :: How bad? I can even stand a movie with a zombie falling in love with a corpse.

Vampire Owl :: They have already made that in Bollywood. I think they put it in the romantic comedy genre and people seemed to enjoy it a lot. A box-office hit. Something worse was made in Malayalam. It was called Annayum Rasoolum. Another hit there.

Vampire Bat :: But this will be good.

Vampire Owl :: If it is good, the show will be cancelled. Nobody will watch it. They only want to watch dumb romance and superstar movies. I heard you watched Pizza in 3D?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, you mean to say you actually read my Facebook status?

Vampire Owl :: Yes, I am making a list of the bad movies you watch. Now go and watch a movie. Meanwhile, I will create an evil plan to owlify and take over the universe.

Vampire Bat :: And that is the evil Vampire Owl prototype.

[Begins the journey].

What is it about? :: Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) is a cancer patient who is loved and cared by her parents Michael (Sam Trammell) and Frannie (Laura Dern) who decides to send her to a support group at the local church, feeling that she is depressed and need friends. There she meets Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort) who also had cancer and had to lose one of his legs. They form an instant liking to each other, and soon their relationship develops. As it goes on, things get stuck at Hazel’s favourite novel which doesn’t seem to have a conclusion and she desires to know the ending of this story which is about a cancer-striken girl whose life parallels her. But the author of the book, Peter van Houten has moved to Amsterdam and not replying to fan mails. As Augustus tracks down Houten’s assistant, Lidewij and they finds out that the answer will be provided in Netherlands, they decide to travel to Europe together. Even as she is unhealthier, her parents and Augustus decides to make her dream come through. Through all these, a romance also develops.

The defence of The Fault in Our Stars :: There are many stupid romantic movies that are thrown at us thinking that we viewers have no brain, and this is one beautiful exception that we have here. It is not an exaggerated display of teenage romance that we have here, and it is not terribly realistic to the core, but it has kept away from exaggeration as much as possible consider the limitations of a movie which is to appeal to the viewers and more people are to know about the feelings that the patients have. The two major characters are beautifully portrayed, and Hazel is awesome. Almost every dialogue and every interaction concerning her catches our attention and we feel for her right from the beginning to the end, and when she replies “thank you” to the compliments that are given to her in a cute tone, it gives a lot of happiness to oneself considering the way she is going through her life. The beautiful young lady gives us silver lining to our life, finding hope with an extraordinary amount of faith while going through pain and being stalked by death, the certain visitor who is being delayed by prayers and medical treatment. The romance is also beautiful, and hundred percent of the soul rather than some retarded movies which only claim to be so.

Claws of flaw :: As the adaptation of the novel of the same name by John Green, the movie might have its points missing out, but I haven’t read the book yet, and so it is not up-to me to talk about that. The movie has certain coating to make sure that it doesn’t go uninteresting to the viewers, and the extra bit of sugar-coated romance added also adds to make sure that the teenagers flock to the theatres – yes, I could see a lot of them dying for more and more romance and left without the satisfaction of seeing what they needed in a stupid romantic movie, but this movie has given them more than enough in my opinion – this is not to be considered as just a romantic movie, and that much we owe to the real people who suffer from the disease. Well, how can we find fault with a wonderfully acted movie having two people trying to live their life in a beautiful manner despite having the knowledge that they are going nowhere other than the ultimate death, or “doom” or “oblivion” as the characters do call the end in a funny way? I guess there is no need to go deep down into it. Romance is actually an intruder into the seriousness, and I wonder how this would have turned out without it – got to have been better.

Performers of the soul :: Shailene Woodley as Hazel is the spirit and soul of this movie and she makes this movie even more than what is should have been. We did see her in Divergent where she matched Jennifer Lawrence – taking Beatrice Prior to the the level of Katniss Everdeen in a lesser movie, but this is an entirely different situation. We love the attitude of her character, and Hazel is not just Hazel, and as her lover calls her, she is Hazel Grace, proving herself to to be in the grace of God or the grace herself by being a wonderful person against all her thick walls of troubles. Ansel Elgort played Shailene’s brother in Divergent, and here she plays the next best character and one has to admire the way both of these characters are written, and these two have played them to perfection. They provide the viewers with some abiding sadness along with happiness and heart-break that comes. But they are within the limits of seeing the beauty of the world. There are two things that the characters do teach us, one is that “The world is not a wish-granting factory”, and the other is that “Funerals aren’t for the dead, they are for the living” – prayers are the ones for the dead, aren’t they?

Soul exploration :: The title alludes to “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.” from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Act I Scene II. It has human situation, either good or bad, as the result of one’s own actions rather than by the power of the divine, or that human condition itself such a flawed one that divinity can play no role in it. But it is not true on most occasions, right? There are things beyond our control, and a desire to control our own fate can only be successful up-to an extent or not close to having any success at all. No, it is not our fault that we don’t achieve something or ends up on the losing side. There is always the element of luck or fate, and the existence of God’s grace that changes things. There is indeed the fault in our stars, and there is the society and the world around us that shapes us and define our lives – just too many factors which control our lives on which we sometimes have no knowledge and at other times no control, and things to do fall apart. We are all subject to the fault in the stars, and it is just that for some people, it is less visible on the outside. In some other cases, we know. We have to live through the faults, our characters did.

How it finishes :: Even as there this released last month in the United States, it has the presence here at the right time at theatres with Planes 2: Fire and Rescue 3D not creating the usual animated impact out there – only wish remains that it had more shows. For Keralites, some memory of Akasadoothu inspired by Who Will Love My Children? will be there in this movie and there is the feeling that these movies carry far beyond its own realm of existence on a big screen. The Fault in Our Stars is nicely romantic along with being tragic and still, it creates that effect which none of the movie can really create. We can only hope that people will support beautiful movies like this instead of fake and dumb romantic movies like Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya which attracts audience so much. Unfortunately, for some people, they think that love is all about physical attraction and exaggerated fake romance – Bollywood continues to teach that very long story which it uses again and again without any shame or regret, just with the addition of something on bed. Sadly, such are the movies which come good at this part of the world.

Release date: 18th July 2014 (India); 6th June 2014 (USA)
Running time: 126 minutes
Directed by: Josh Boone
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Laura Dern, Lily Kenna, Sam Trammell, Willem Dafoe, Lotte Verbeek, Mike Birbiglia, John Green (cameo)

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Ek Villain

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Didn’t someone say that Riteish Deshmukh was very goood in this movie?

Vampire Bat :: Just a little better than Arjen Robben with a dive, I guess.

Vampire Owl :: If it is better than most of the football actors, we should surely watch it because it will be worthy of many awards.

Vampire Bat :: I heard it was just like I Saw the Devil.

Vampire Owl :: Well, I didn’t see that saw.

Vampire Bat :: Neither did I.

Vampire Owl :: Then I would say that watching this villany is necessary.

Vampire Bat :: As long as he doesn’t bite.

Vampire Owl :: That shouldn’t be a problem as this is not in 3D.

Vampire Bat :: Shraddha Kapoor in 3D was actually too good to be true!

[Enters the movie hall].

What is it about? :: Guru (Sidharth Malhotra) is a former gangster and assassin who has retired from his dangerous life of crime to live with his new found love Aisha (Shraddha Kapoor), but things take a big turn as she is murdered by an unknown assailant who enters her home, uses a screw driver and pushes her through the window. A CBI officer Aditya (Shaad Randhawa) takes charge of the situation being aware of what the former assassin is capable of, but that doesn’t prevent Guru from going after the clues. He first go to his former boss Ceaser (Remo Fernandes), but realizes that he didn’t have anything to do with the same. As he sits in a church looking at the crucifix, he notices a boy coming up and presenting a few of his toys to the statue which involved something from his house. By following the boy, he reaches the place of Rakesh Mahadkar (Riteish Deshmukh) who is the henpecked husband of Sulochana (Aamna Sharif) and an unsuccesful employee who is always scolded both at home and the office. But he doesn’t seem to be capable of anything like that, as he is always the victim, not someone who can harm even a mosquito. But such a visage was never going to confuse a professional killer like Guru, or was it?

The defence of Ek Villain :: The cast remains strong in the movie, especially the male leads, and it is good enough to draw the audience. The fact that it has enough material to work on from the South Korean flick is more of an advantage as not many people have watched that one. The movie successfully establishes a nice environment to work on, right in the beginning, and the point they stop at the interval is pretty nice. The romantic side has its good moments, most of them related to God and otherwise when they are in a song. Even though not really the kind of thing that suits a movie like this, the songs are actually good and are worthy of being in one’s USB device in the car. The cinematography is nice and the world around are nicely captured to the delight of the viewer’s eye. There is not much slow motion used and it is a good thing because there was going to be tendency. Our hero surely has some nice moments in a mental asylum, a hospital and a railway station where he scores in style. The thrills are mostly around our villain though, and the message of good being rewarded and bad being punished, along with the plight of the common man in a society which has nothing for him are nicely shown.

Claws of flaw :: The movie has not much idea about how the suspense is to be maintained and the thrills are to be boosted, as we know the killer too early as well as his motives. The story could have developed better, especially as the material of I Saw the Devil already available and ready to inspire. The path taken by the narrative to go back and forth doesn’t work that well with this one either, as this is the kind of movie which should work when the things to be revealed are not hidden and vice versa. Even the killings are taken care of without too much violence, may be fearing that the family audience will stay away. The director’s earlier venture of Murder 2 could handle the darker shades better, but not this one which tries to be too cute, even cuter than its own heroine. Shraddha Kapoor kind of ruins some significant light moments with a certain kind of overacting which makes one wonder if she is playing a mentally challenged girl, but not all the time for even she has her very small moments. Riteish’s character is also not without its flaws, but it is him who manages to handle it well within the limitations. He could have surely had better dialogues, after all he can do this villain stuff nicely.

Performers of the soul :: Among the star cast, Riteish Deshmukh was the one whose performance stood above the rest, not by much, but enough to be the star of the movie. I did expect some transformation like Vikram in Anniyan on a smaller scale, but that was not to be, but still his different character had moments to remember for the viewers. Sidharth Malhotra was good with his romantic side and just a little behind in the action scenes, but still lacked a bit in energy. Shraddha Kapoor is cute, and seems to think that she is acting in a possible Ashiqui 3, with that hangover which she still seems to show with some Ashiqui 2. I was confident that she will be a lot better in this movie, but it was sad to see that she decided to stick to the stereotype – it does suit her immensely, but not the character she was playing nor the style of the movie. I was particularly impressed with how well Aamna Sharif did so well with her role opposite our bad guy, the first time I was seeing this lady on the screen. Prachi Desai’s item number was pretty much beautiful. Remo Fernandes was okay in the smaller screen presence that he had, and Shaad Randhawa could have surely done nice with some more to do on screen.

Soul exploration :: One major question remains about what lead to the creation of the villain of Ek Villain. If it is about our hero-villain, we can say that it was the childhood situations, but for our real complete villain, it is the wickedness of the so called civilized section of the society who finds it nice to take on the people who are not as fortunate as they are. As said in Animal Farm, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”, and this is the situation that becomes the cause, and this inequality in his own class gives rise to this one serial killer who murders people who used bad words against him or even accuses him of not being good enough, including the situations when he just feels so due to his mood. The need for the words of love from his wife despite her yelling at him all the time becomes his anger which he brings out with the murders rather than being angry at her or anyone else. It is the need to get rid of the frustration which brings the villain to the point of no return, and changes him from a simple man to a serial killer, but as most of the other movies, here too bad deeds never go unpunished, and good deeds have some advantages. The movie does assert the need to be good and not to be abusive or use bad words at others, especially those who struggle to succeed in life.

How it finishes :: Ek Villain had the usual Bollywood things added to an otherwise rough and tough theme, which could have been avoided. There is one villain in every love story as they say, but this is still not a love story, and it surely should not have gone through that path – romance is not always a necessity, as it can always make way for many other things according to the genre and style of the movie. In a more violent and bloody movie, the thing more needed might be a screw driver, one would say. Zinda which released years ago had a better idea about it, which is why we can still afford to watch it with Oldboy of South Korea as well as Oldboy of the United States of America. Murder 2 with similar theme also holds an advantage over this. As Ek Villain had to make it romantic in its base just like the Malayalam movie Anwar did while copying The Traitor from Hollywood, it lost its most important part, which was the generation of fear which had to rise above everything else including romance. But with the success that the movie have managed in places with the exception of this part of India, one has to say that it did work in favour of them even as not for the same as a work. Still, next time may be the can innovate a lot more when coming up with such stuff.

Release date: 27th June 2014
Running time: 130 minutes
Directed by: Mohit Suri
Starring: Sidharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, Aamna Sharif, Kamaal R Khan, Remo Fernandes, Shaad Randhawa, Prachi Desai

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Naku Penta Naku Taka

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Bat :: There is a problem with your tongue?

Vampire Owl :: No, its the title of the movie we are going to watch. I couldn’t say it at the ticket counter. So I said this time for Africa.

Vampire Bat :: Isn’t that title in Swahili?

Vampire Owl :: Yes, but if it was in Malayalam, it would include the tongue being at Penta Menaka.

Vampire Bat :: I had first thought that it could be any non-English, non-Malayalam, non-Hindi movie.

Vampire Owl :: People do complain that Malayalam movies are using English titles. So, this should satisfy them.

Vampire Bat :: May be Swahili movies can use Malayalam titles.

Vampire Owl :: This was a big risk though, they were going to cancel the show stating there are not enough people.

Vampire Bat :: Happens with me for at least three out of every ten movies I watch.

[Enters the movie hall].

What is it about? :: Shubha (Bhama) is determined that she will marry only a man working in the United States of America. She and her father are so obsessed with the nation that her mother, uncle and the broker decides to present the next guy as an engineer working in America, instead of being the staff of a company in Africa. As Vinay (Indrajith Sukumaran) sends a visa to her right after their marriage, she can’t wait to get to America, but after told that they are going to the United States through Kenya, she arrives there only to be told that he works there and it was a plan spearheaded by her mother who was disgusted with her not getting an allience due to her need for a groom working in America. Even as he despises him in the beginning, she soon beings to get along. She also becomes friends with the Malayali neighbours who stay nearby, and even gets close to some natives. But then, a death will happen which will change their lives, and they will be on a run from police, gangsters and also a group of natives. At the same time, a man named Anton Kulasingam (Murali Gopy) also enters their lives, giving them no clue as to what is happening. They only know that they somehow need to get to India.

The defence of Naku Penta Naku Taka :: The name of the movie means “I Love You I Need You”, not the title which suits the movie the best, but still there is a nice song in there with the same lines, and it is beautifully done. The big advantage of this movie is that even when the thrill factor is low, the movie uses its ground advantage to work in its favour; with its power of variety, even when it is a little stupid, this one remains cool. The first half an hour of the movie remains really funny, with our leading characters taking control. Then the world goes the thrilling way, and it manages the transformation quite well and the suspense is maintained quite nicely, especially in the first half. Even as the three major incidents which change their lives are different, they are nicely managed and connected as one couldn’t have occurred without the previous one, and the highest points of tension are reached, but not without some amateurish weakness that can be mostly forgiven. The beauty of Kenya is nicely captured and the cinematography department needs some special applause, as Africa’s landscapes and wildlife becomes known to us through this piece of work. We need such movies which are not shot in the usual places like Europe, North America, Middle East and the South East Asia (Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore) – good to see this one going different.

The claws of flaw :: The name of the movie has undoubtedly kept people away from the theatres – even I was sure that this was no Malayalam movie until I was told. It hasn’t succeeded in making the fans believe that the poster is not of a dubbed movie, and only those who follow the films news regularly can know that this is a Malayalam movie with a Swahili name, even as the English name for the other African movie Escape from Uganda was not interesting either. Most of the theatres don’t have this movie being screened either, and that should mean missing lots of business in the local theatres. The movie doesn’t make full use of its resources, neither of the funny side that it begins to explore nor of the thriller side where it attempts to reach. Both areas could have been a lot stronger, considering how well it started and maintained the variety in its presentation. The villain also doesn’t become evil according to the day’s standard, and shooting people is not that bad these days since Joker made The Dark Knight appearance. The ending has no strength, and it is as if it was getting drainer of its power from a few minutes ago. The second half is also inferior to the first half and a few more minutes after the interval which keep us thriller and hoping for something huge. The thrill factor is often low in the latter parts of the movie.

Performances of the soul :: Indrajith Sukumaran, that name is oftten enough to watch a movie which promises variety. Amen and Left Right Left were his class acts last year, and when he comes up with the first big variety of this year (Masala Republic not included), we are indeed interested. He excels in the funny scenes and continues his form into the rest of the story in a nice way. His inherent acting skills is only matched by the cuteness of Bhama who gives a peaceful performance with all its beauty and her own. You have to love her a lot in the beginning stages when she comes to Africa and realizes that her husband lied to her about America. A little more of such stuff could have given her more opportunities, that is for sure. Anusree has just some screen time, and would disappear for a long time only to appear later for a few minutes. Murali Gopy looks stunning throughout the movie, and proves that he is the right option for being Hitman Codename 47 if the game is adapted into Malayalam – well, people copy anything and everything these days, so who knows? It would have been better if he had more evil deeds to commit rather than shooting people; he is menacing in his style and way of talking and acting, but that is all the character has.

Soul exploration :: Naku Penta Naku Taka is a story of love and survival, even as it doesn’t go deep into either of them. As Indrajith and Bhama forms a nice on-screen pair, and the latter is incredibly cute in her expressions, especially with anger and blushing, may be it didn’t feel the need to get them through terror which has even half the power of the hell’s abyss. But the main theme of the movie remains the same, something which it decides to keep away from the dark side up-to an extent. It is the struggle of a husband and wife to escape from the problems that they face in Africa, seemingly similar to Escape from Uganda, but still finding an identity of its own, and the character of Murali Gopy plays a major part in helping the movie to do so. The expectation that this will work out in the level of Left Right Left is clearly wrong, and with the same protagonist who impressed us in that movie as well as Amen, this movie is just the entertainer with variety, not something which one can ponder over for long – Amen and Left Right Left still remains in my mind, and the characters stay there and so do the situations. Naku Penta Naku Taka is not without ideas, but doesn’t make an attempt to try hard with it, or add fire to the same.

How it finishes :: The 2013 movie Escape from Uganda was the first Malayalam movie to be extensively shot in Africa, and may be the only Malayalam movie to be shot in Uganda. If we look at those reviews on the internet, it has received almost the same kind of reception from the internet critics as for this one, or may be worse if we include some specific reviews. If we go outside Malayalam, the one movie we can remember easily should be Maryan, but that is clearly a different story. Naku Penta Naku Taka has to be appreciated for the effort which it has taken, and its bravery to choose to be different. There is one other thing that I like, and that is that this movie is sponsored by tea, as we can see the logo of Gokulam Love Tea on some of the posters of the movie – yes, how can I not watch a movie which has tea advertisements? Tea is such a big part of the life of the Vampire Bat, and this one inspires to drink more; not the best occasion to say this, but what is life without tea? Indrajith fans and future Bhama fans, take this opportunity to check out this movie. This is the movie that you need, to take a break from the inferior work that superstars have been providing us with, and lets take time to appreciate such lesser known works without huge stars; it will only be good for the industry.

Release date: 13th June 2014
Running time: 120 minutes (estimate)
Directed by: Vayalar Madhavan Kutty
Starring: Indrajith Sukumaran, Bhama, Murali Gopy, Shankar, Anusree Nair, Sudheer Karamana, Sunil Sugada

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Angry Babies

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Bat :: Did you just say Angry Birds at the ticket counter?

Vampire Owl :: Yes, but he heard Angry Babies.

Vampire Bat :: How can you be so sure?

Vampire Owl :: Because he gave me tickets. Angry Babies sounds dumb. I am not going to say that with Angry Birds in my mobile.

Vampire Bat :: But what if there are real babies in it and justifies the title?

Vampire Owl :: I have watched the trailer. It didn’t seem like the protagonists were ever going to have a baby.

Vampire Bat :: It should have been Angry Babes then, unless they act like babies.

Vampire Owl :: I am afraid this will remind me of What Happens in Vegas.

Vampire Bat :: I think it will be like Just Married.

[Enters the movie hall].

What is it about? :: The rich and the poor love story begins in the highranges of Kerala as Sarah Thomas (Bhavana), daughter of a wealthy businessman and Jeevan Paul (Anoop Menon), a still photographer decides to run away on the day of the lady’s betrothal. They arrives in Mumbai and starts a Coffee Shop with name Sarah Jeevan by selling the ornaments she was wearing for her engagement function. As Sarah is more into the shop and Jeevan rarely goes there and attempting to get a job as a photographer, they slowly moves away from each other; his photographing beautiful models acting as a powerful catalyst for the same. They slowly begins to detest the presence of each other, and files a divorce only to be asked to wait for six months which seems longer to them than ever. After failing in an attempt to push the other person out of their flat, they decide to share the place until the legal separation, and their problems are mediated by Madhavan (P. Balachandran). Sarah attempts to take over things by appointing a servant Selvi (Anusree) and being close to Alex (Joju) much to Jeevan’s dismay. But as their friends who helped them elope comes to Mumbai, they decide to act like all is well so that they are not hurt.

The defence of Angry Babies :: The one thing which was guaranteed from the beginning and delivered with ease was the fun. The movie has clean entertainment and comedy, unlike the new generation comedy which laughs at things or use multiple double meaning words in an attempt to evoke laughter. This is where the has been quite an attention, and even if there is some loss of fun, such tidy status is to be managed if families are to watch this one, and the flick manages some security there. This is lots of fun right from the beginning to the end, but as it moved towards the climax, it doesn’t fail to give some message about adjustments in marriage, and the weaknesses that the love marriages will show sooner or later as long as there is no support from the families of the bride and groom. The blessings of one’s parents is always a major factor in marriage. There is difference between love and marriage and it is easier to talk stupid things about love and wander around together doing nothing, but wedding takes it to another level, and this one deals with the problems in Ivar Vivahitharayal in a funny and sometimes stupid manner – the same director handles this one too. There are lots of funny situations, and the beauty of Mumbai is nicely captured too.

The claws of flaw :: Angry Babies doesn’t have that much of an innovation, and the story is mostly predictable except for the smaller details. The story has is own dose of exaggeration, but nothing that thrives on inflammation to the wrong emotions like Bangalore Days had been trying; why do you need to over-think Angry Birds though, for it serves it purpose and do what it is supposed to do, with no unnecessary additions to make it something it is not. The ending is also a bit forced with the love returning to the life like a boomerang quickly remembering that it was actually supposed to come back – well, this was supposed to maintain that comic factor throughout the movie and the ending is no different as it ends up in another funny moment. This is not for the people who are not looking forward to such a movie, and if someone feels the need to inject anything other than just fun into this movie, it is their problem and needs to stop watching movies in the theatre. There is no denying that it could have created a few more funny moments, and the flashback story of love needn’t even exist – it never bores with such stuff, and then why not the creation of a little more funny moments like What Happens in Vegas and Just Married could come up with?

Performances of the soul :: Most of the screen time is reserved for Anoop Menon and Bhavana, and there is almost no moment which doesn’t include one of them and most of the time, they spend together. Anoop Menon shows his skill for comedy like never before, especially in the first half and in the end works well with the emotional stuff. Bhavana is a beauty; not just with the looks, but with her handling of both comic and emotional scenes. She plays a character which reminds one of Mamtha Mohandas in My Boss, and yet keeps so many good elements with her unlike that “boss”, and this middle path that she has taken for her character is rather a smart idea by the director not making her the more egotic person, and gives enough to Anoop’s character too. None of these characters preach though, and keeps things simple, fighting and getting over with it. Anusree’s character is a little overdose at times, but manages to funny throughout the movie, and she is one actress who can thrive in simplicity. The Vodafone Comedy Stars fame Noby was the funniest one in the second half, and it makes one extremely happy to see him coming up with so much to make us laugh, and Joju comes next in the comic contribution. Noby needs a lot more chances, for he has earned it. Meanwhile, Nishanth Sagar makes a nice come back looking so much younger, and Parvathy Nair looks beautiful in her short stay. Kalabhavan Shaju also contributes to the fun.

Soul exploration :: One thing is very clear about this movie, and it is the lack of pretending to be something. Unlike our most recent pretender to the throne of awesomeness called Bangalore Days, this movie knows where it stands and where the strengths lie. This one also doesn’t depend on a hufe starcast to hide its weaknesses, but it uses very good use of the resources available. The disadvantages of a multi-starrer cast has always been its special ability to hide its weaknesses; just like what was evident from the early opinions about Bangalore Days. The people would be staring at their favourite stars and it will be impossible for them to tell the truth that the movie had problems, and will say that the movie is awesome just because they are typical fanboys and fangirls. The real movies shouldn’t have too many superstars because it spoils its essence even as there will be a good amount of box-office collections, and there will no real review about it as nobody wishes to go against the fans because people only need to read what they want to read, and this case, they are intoxicated just because their favourite actor or actress looks great on the screen. When those involved with the movie other than the cast are also popular, the movie needs zero substance. This movie moves away from such lies, and that is a point for the soul.

How it finishes :: Coming from the director who has handles the funny side nicely, like in Ivar Vivahitharayal, Happy Husbands and Husbands in Goa, this was expected to be interesting stuff which is certain to make the audience laugh as long as it kept close to the genre. This is his sixth movie and the first one without Jayasurya being a part of the cast. This would be his first movie with Anoop Menon and the second with Bhavana as a part of it. In a weekend when movies like Koothara released, it was good to have this movie from Saji Surendran, with a movie that doesn’t think that the audience are stupid and the flick is too intellectual. As I was not a part of the Mermaid Welfare Association of India, I wasn’t happy at all with Koothara, but that is one story I am not going to talk about now. For now, what we need to remember is that Angry Babies is the movie which promises and delivers what it is supposed to come up with, as anything else would have been an unnecessary overdose which the superstar movies come up with, and not a movie which has an identity of its own rather than wearing a fake visage intended only for making money. Now, for the question about the title of the movie, the protagonists are indeed like babies in both love and hatred 😀

Release date: 14th June 2014
Running time: 130 minutes (estimate)
Directed by: Saji Surendran
Starring: Bhavana Menon, Anoop Menon, Noby Tharian, Joju George, Parvathy Nair, P. Balachandran, Kalabhavan Shaju, Nishanth Sagar, Anusree Nair

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Bangalore Days

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: So we won’t watch Bangalore Days, right?

Vampire Bat :: We will watch it. There will be force from Nivin Pauly fans, Dulquer Salmaan fans, Nazriya fans and Fahad Faasil fans and even Anjali Menon fans who will force us to go for the movie no matter what is shown in the movie.

Vampire Owl :: You mean there is no escape. Won’t the monsoon calm them down?

Vampire Bat :: No, they constitute ninety five percent of the Keralite young population. Unless we hide ourselves in a bunker, there is no escape from the fan bombs.

Vampire Owl :: Let’s not listen to them who rate the movie high just because of the people involved, and hiding that fact, just say that movie is awesome.

Vampire Bat :: Let’s watch this soon enough but not falling to those extremely high fan ratings.

Vampire Owl :: So, can we order an extra plate of fried rice with more gravy?

Vampire Bat :: I guess I will need two cups of tea too.

Vampire Owl :: Why two? One for Count Dracula?

Vampire Bat :: One before finishing the food and the other after the grand finish.

[The food happens again].

What is it about? :: There are three cousins, Krishnan (Nivin Pauly), Arjun (Dulquer Salmaan) and Divya (Nazriya Nazim) who have been great friends since childhood and shared almost everything with each other. Divya is married to the busy executive Das (Fahadh Faasil) and that lands her in Bangalore. Krishnan who gets a new job in the IT sector also gets posted in Bangalore, and that comes as no surprise. Arjun, who has the habit of leaving his home and keeping his relatives worried, also comes to the same city and does a little mechanic job bringing the three cousins together again. Arjun falls in love with a physically disabled Radio Jokey, Sarah (Parvathy). Krishnan meets an airhostess who is half-Malayali, Meenakshi (Isha Talwar) and is instantly attracted to her even as the lady of his dreams is simple and having a Malayali character. Meanwhile, the relationship between Divya and Das becomes strained due to multiple reasons, and Krishnan’s mother comes to Bangalore after his father goes on a spiritual trip. Sarah has to go to Australia while her mother despises Arjun for his background and lifestyle, and Meenakshi is not serious in the relationship with Krishnan, making things further complicated.

The defence of Bangalore Days :: This one is a joy to watch in the beginning stages. There are three cousins, with lot of love for each other and enjoying life. There are many funny moments in the movie, mostly including Nivin Pauly, as he falls for the one true love he meets who is surely not a lady of his dreams. The jokes work throughout the movie, even as the second half takes them down. There is a lot of intelligence in bringing fun in the first half, and they have smartly used the Thattathin Marayathu stuff in this one which is a nice addition. The cast is as close to perfection as it can be, especially with three male leads, Nivin Pauly, Fahadh Faasil, and Dulquer Salmaan. Among the female leads, Parvathi shines the most, and this is a different avatar for her considering the roles we usually see her in. There might still be no better happiness than seeing all these stars together, seven in total, three male and four female, and all of them young and bringing their energy all the way to the screen. This leaves a lot of the young generation fans, and the fanboys as well as fangirls will love this stuff. This is the movie that they can celebrate by bunking classes and wasting time.

The claws of flaw :: The movie has no interesting story to tell the viewers. It has just three people who are the centre of attraction, seemingly made even before the plot ever existed, and into their lives, the whole story is packed and sent. The twist that they bring for Fahadh’s character was possibly the worst thing they could do to the story as an ineffective turn-around. The bike racing stuff was quite unnecessary, as Dulquer was cool without it. But here, he will jump bike just because they can make him. He was nicely turning into a likable character from one of the worst young man in this story. May be because even non-racing fans liked Rush and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikhander had such an awesome climax, they should have thought this was the way to go. The scene after the final marriage is equally worse, and Nivin Pauly character’s “happily ever after” is ended in such a poor manner. There is a lot of drag in this movie which was supposed to be a lot of fun. The major point of this flick was to be entertainment, but this movie forgets that in the second half, making this more of a soap opera, and tries hard to make audience cry, but without substance. The ending leaves us needing more and emptiness in this movie is mostly filled by unnecessary songs. Well, this is a fire-breathing dragon which decided to breath cliches for a change, and each character seems to contribute to it when they go through the story.

Performers of the soul :: Nivin Pauly and Nazriya Nazim has been the hit pair, but here the latter is paired with her real life future husband, Fahadh Faasil, and Nivin repeats the hit pair of his first big lead movie Thattathin Marayathu with Isha Talwar. Nazriya is fine, but still not that awesome as we saw in Om Shanti Oshaana. Meanwhile, Fahadh Faasil is brilliant in a role which makes him only the fourth significant person in the movie, but an admired one for sure. He remains strong, and it is something we expect from him no matter what happens around him. Nivin Pauly is awesome, and is the best of them all, especially in the funny scenes. He should have had a little more presence in the whole thing rather than being restricted. Dulquer Salmaan hasn’t impressed me since Ustadh Hostel, and everything that came after that had me uninterested, and felt that he was choosing the wrong movies for whatever reason. But he certainly scores in this one, even as his character deserves a lot of hatred for the first half – he comes up with a memorable performance especially in the second half. Nithya Menon and Parvathi haven’t been around for some time, and it was good to see them. While Nithya has only a small role, Parvathi is very nice as the love interest of Dulquer’s character.

Soul exploration :: Everyone loves the city of Bangalore, and it is one of the cities of the South which I visited at an early age, and also that city which has most of my relatives and friends. I might just go there and find at least one person I know every day just by walking around, almost all of them engineers. Well, none of my friends who are staying there or have worked there has rated this movie high, and that is a negative for this one. I have actually found that most of the people whose opinions I care about have given this movie around average rating. But does this movie has more of a soul? Yes, it has the cousin friendship love stuff mixed and boiled in a bowl full of water, but how good is it? They are all there, but not presented in such a way that we can feel or connect. Even the most touching moments are rather dull because not enough care has been put in how the story progresses. It might be meant to make the viewers feel good, but that should require staying with the audience, but this one moves on and on, and in the presence degrading itself from being an awesome movie. Sooner or later, the question will be more about us deserving better than just expecting better.

How it finishes :: Bangalore Days has been one of the most anticipated movies by the fans of different actors. There are Nazriya Nazim fans who know that their favourite actress is going to get married and coming back to acting is not a sure thing. There are Nivin Pauly fans who have been standing tall since his two huge hits in the form of Om Shanti Oshaana, and those Dulquer Salmaan fans who are hoping for at least one good movie from him for a very long time. Then there the more intellectual ones, the fans of Fahadh Faasil who will be a calm force here. People also want to watch Nithya Menon and Isha Talwar so much, and Parvathy is also a bonus. Then there are people who keep praising Anjali Menon – all these people are going to force so many Keralites into the theatre that more records are going to be broken – there have been quite a few already. The movie is showing what the advantage of having young and good-looking actors, actresses and director is. There are too many fans who just look for that, and the days are bright for Bangalore Days, no matter how much the monsoon stays strong with the hope for thunderstorms with Koothara.

Release date: 30th May 2014
Running time: 172 minutes
Directed by: Anjali Menon
Starring: Nivin Pauly, Nazriya Nazim, Parvathy Kottuvata, Isha Talwar, Fahadh Faasil, Nithya Menon, Dulquer Salmaan, Prathap Pothen, Vijayaraghavan, Maniyanpilla Raju, Kalpana, Praveena, Vinaya Prasad, Rekha