Tag Archives: twist

Pokkiri Simon

Posted on by

What is the movie about? :: Simon (Sunny Wayne), known more as “Pokkiri” Simon after the name of the Vijay movie is the leader of the Vijay fans association of the locality. His two best friends, and members of the association are “Hanuman” Biju (Jacob Gregory) who spends most of his life’s time trying to become Vijay’s bodyguard, and “Love Today” Ganesh (Sarath Kumar) who has the nickname after one of Vijay’s earlier movies. They spend almost all of their time, talking about Vijay’s movies and celebrating whenever one of his movies get a release in Trivandrum. On the other side, there are Surya fans including “Singam” Suni (Sajid Yahiya) who continue celebrating the latest sequel to Singam. There is also some compeition between them, and the gang of Vijay fans lead by Beemapally Noushad (Saiju Kurup) who has his own fan association based around the mosque. Both of them tries to make the best out of ten year celebration of Pokkiri, and lands in the police station.

So, what happens with the events to follow? :: Landing in the police station is nothing new for them, as SI Sathyan (Baiju) finds it easy to catch them for making nuisance all around the theatre in the name of fan club based activities. The one to save them each and every time is CI Alex John (Dileesh Pothan), a police officer from a rich family having an eye on politics. Simon’s father Yesudas (Ashokan) is also a police man, but just like his mother and sister, has not much of an opinion about him. Simon and his friends who do no job, and wanders all around the locality as considered to be nuisance rather than anything else. The only thing Simon manages to do outside the friends circle in the fans association, is to write random PSC examinations, including the police tests to satisfy his father. The only thing they wait for is to watch another Vijay movie – without the same, there is no life for them.

And what else is to follow with the fan adventures? :: The parents of Simon have lost hope in him getting a job, and they wish to get him married. But the problem is that he wants to marry only the girl whom he saw whistling during a Vijay movie. Simon soon finds her again while playing cricket on the beach. Deepa (Prayaga Martin), who is the daughter of a rich sea captain, is the girl whom he wish to marry. Using the plans from a former scientist of ISRO, Seetha Raman (Nedumudi Venu) who turns out to be a Vijay fan too, Simon tries to get her attention, and finally manages to win her love. But things are not that smooth, as there are people like Arjunan Pillai (Shammi Thilakan) and Indran Pillai (Marshal Tito Wilson) who are running all kinds of criminal activities in the city. The young blood of the fans association manages to make both of these brothers angry, and it is no more about sweet love.

The defence of Pokkiri Simon :: There are some funny scenes here which will work, thanks to the long line of interesting cast managing to keep things strong. There is also the reference to Vijay movies, along with something for Pulimurugan. One can be sure that those who follow Vijay movies will find this one more entertaining, and so will those who watch Tamil movies very often. Yes, the fan stuff scores. There is also that part of the story that goes on like the common man’s life, and you will find one final twist waiting for you. If you like Amar Akbar Anthony, I am sure that you will have no problems in finding this one good enough. This movie also follows the same pattern, with the life of the common people with some comedy in the first half, and the second half having a twist, when the unexpected person becomes the villain; from being one of the best among good people in the flick, as he joins the other villains who have been there – in this case too, it is related to a missing girl.

The claws of flaw :: The movie’s weakest point is the romantic angle, and the same never really gets going. One can safely say that it even stumbles on many occasions even without starting to get better. The songs also suffers the same fate. There was the feeling that this movie would also focus on the good deeds done by fans in the name of their favourite stars, but that is not there – instead, they do the comparison of stars to gods as a justification which might be the strangest that you would ever get. It is rather bizarre during these days when superstar godmen who reflect gods get convicted. There are also many characters who don’t get what they deserve, as they exist and go on without making the desired impact. The people who don’t follow many movies, and don’t watch much of Tamil cinema will have less to take home. Also, you will find that the movie could have managed all its elements, bringing them together in a better way. It could have been a better movie to become a better tribute to Vijay.

Performers of the soul :: The friendship of the three characters played by Sunny Wayne, Jacob Gregory and Sarath Kumar is undoubtedly better than the same shown in Amar Akbar Anthony. The latter two takes it more on the funny side, while Sunny Wayne is very good playing the main character. He has provided us some good work with Annmariya Kalippilaanu and Alamara, but for some reason, they don’t go on to stay at the theatres like some of those overrated movies with no content do. Marshal Tito Wilson from Angamaly Diaries is also there, playing one of the two antagonists, and he is surely a strong point here, joining Shammi Thilakan who scores on the evil side. Dileesh Pothan is a perfect addition as the police character who impresses with his different side, and Baiju and Ashokan plays two different cops in support well. Prayaga Martin only has a character existing there to be part of that bad romantic side, and she never gets in form – in the end, she disappears like Namitha Pramod in Amar Akbar Anthony. Before that, there are some terrible moments for her, including one song.

How it finishes :: Pokkiri Simon should be a must watch for Vijay fans, and for the rest, it could provide some time-pass. Following the pattern of Amar Akbar Anthony more than any other, we can also see a little bit of Kattappanayile Rithwick Roshan mode in here. There are those jokes, and also the dialogues which are from Vijay’s popular movies. The director’s previous movie, Darwinte Parinamam was also an underrated movie, and this one also has elements of silver lining even when the clouds are dark, but it isn’t lifted high enough from there. If you are a fan and you can relate to this, that would be great, for there seems to be an attempt to make this one a colourful and quick entertainer. One thing is for sure, and it is that unlike those movies which have claimed to do great with similar cast, this one surely manages to do better – Pokkiri Simon does that for the fans.

Release date: 22nd September 2017
Running time: 146 minutes
Directed by: Jijo Antony
Starring: Sunny Wayne, Jacob Gregory, Prayaga Martin, Sarath Kumar, Dileesh Pothan, Nedumudi Venu, Ashoka, Baiju, Shammi Thilakan, Marshal Tito Wilson, Bitto, Thara Kalyan, Saiju Kurup, Pradeep Kottayam, Sajid Yahiya, Rohni, Vijay Menon, Tanuja Karthik, Sinoj Varghese, Anjali Aneesh, Jude Anthany Joseph, Hena, Sudeep Kopa, Govindan Kutty

PS: Velipadinte Pusthakam, Adam Joan and Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela seems to stay on… 🙂

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Chunkzz

Posted on by

What is the movie about? :: Romario (Balu Varghese), Riyas (Ganapathi), Yoodas (Vishak Nair), and Athmaram (Dharmajan Bolgatty) are best friends, also known as Chunkzz. They are all studying in Adi Shankara Institute of Engineering Technology at Kalady, near the town of Perumbavoor. Romario, Yoodas and Athmaram are studying in the Mechanical engineering department and hoping to find at least one girl in their class – none has entered their department yet except for teaching; some students have even declared the place “no entry for girls” as they are confident that there would be none. But Riyas who is in the Computer Science department has problem in the same, as he is seen wandering around with the girls of his class all the time. The four friends study almost nothing at the college, and struggles to pass the exams by copying in one way or the other.

So, what happens with the events to follow? :: It is then that the twist occur, when Romario’s father Varkey (Lal) has his friend Pappichan’s (Siddique) daughter, Riya (Honey Rose) get admission in the same college for the final year, as she had to face some problems at the institution where she was studying in Bangalore. She has returned home with her best friend Sherine (Mareena Michael Kurisingal) who seems to be hiding something too. Riya’s arrival at the Mechanical engineering department changes things, with her being established as the new or rather the only Mech Queen in the college. The four are completely after her, and she spends her time enjoying her time as the newly established queen of the department. But things change after a trip to Goa, which has more twists happening around. So, what is the role of the new queen in the lives of the Chunkzz?

The defence of Chunkzz :: The best of comedy set in an engineering college is usually considered to be in Koothara, which lost its charm, and stooped very low after its focus shifted in the second half, and then there was Happy Wedding and Aanandam which was trip-based – Chunkzz attempts to make its entry there and is mostly successful in bringing the funny side to the front. There is the attempt to bring comedy all the time, and even with emotional sequences, the same is tried – one can say that there is no real sad moment even when the characters go through some bad phase, for the overall mood never really changes. There is also a twist in the end, which despite providing the feeling of villainy, does work, and something like that was required to end this movie well enough – Happy Wedding also has a twist in the end, even though it was a rather cute one then.

The claws of flaw :: The silliness factor might feel to rather too much in this movie, and there is exaggeration in the name of comedy for sure. Despite beginning everything in the engineering college, it deviates quite a lot, and as it moves towards the end of the first half, the idea of the mechanical engineering department itself has vanished. So, if that is your aim, and it is mechanical engineering tale that you are focusing on, the movie you are looking for might be Queen directed by debutante Dijo Jose Antony that is to be released later, with a lot of new faces coming up. There is a also that kind of comedy which is rather forgettable and outdated – there is nothing fresh added here, and by the end of the first half to most of the second half, we keep seeing those predictable moments coming up again and again. The repetition here is something which we will find hard to appreciate. There would have been no shortage of some good comedy with that college setting, but they say no. Yes, as expected logic goes for a long walk far away, and the jokes doesn’t rise to the best of standards.

Performers of the soul :: When we look at the cast, and see the progress, we understand that this movie would be dependent on Balu Varghese to do more than the rest – he is more of the protagonist, as it is based on his life that everything follows. He is surely in control of this one, even though his character goes too low on too many occasions. Vishak Nair of Aanandam fame gets his next big noticable role here, and he has no problems in joining the funs. Ganapathi adds to the crew in style, while Dharmajan has his next biggest role in recent times after Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan and Pretham, which he handles in his usual funny way – there are some nice dialogues given to him, which stay a level higher. The four are responsible and are leading the battle against the two other rather bigger releases this weekend, Sarvopari Palakkaran starring Anoop Menon, Aparna Balamurali and Anu Sithara, as well as Varnyathil Aashanka which has a long list of performers lead by Kunchacko Boban.

Further performers of the soul :: Hareesh Perumanna extends his own comic style, but here we see him having so less to do, just like the case of Kadam Katha which released last weekend – one just got to wonder why he is not there for more. Then there are the two veterans, Lal and Siddique who are in control of their moments – the former has more fun to provide with his role. Honey Rose does very well coming back from Avarude Raavukal; her work as the Mech Queen at the college is better than the rest. Mareena Michael Kurisingal returns after her most noticable role in Aby this year earlier after having her first heroine role earlier than that in Mumbai Taxi. Even though she plays the secondary role, surely gets her own moments without doubt. It would have been nice to have her in the college too. Kailash, Shammi Thilakan and Anjali Aneesh are also there in notable roles in the movie.

How it finishes :: Chunkzz is not different from the director’s earlier movie, Happy Wedding. Even in the absence of the big stars, it rested on the talent that could handle the comic side really well – Siju Wilson, Sharafudheen and Soubin Shahir. This time, it is up to Balu Varghese, Vishak Nair, Ganapathi and Dharmajan Bolgatty to do the same. When the previous movie had Anu Sithara and Drishya Raghunath, this one has Honey Rose and Mareena Michael Kurisingal, the latter having played a role in the previous movie too. Even the run-time is so similar at just above two hours. There is just not that much of a different fun in this one, as nothing more is there. If you are expecting the same only, you can go for this one without second thoughts. But just like it was the case of Happy Wedding, there is nothing much to take home, and not much that will stay. This would be more for the youth of this generation rather than families.

Release date: 4th August 2017
Running time: 121 minutes
Directed by: Omar Lulu
Starring: Balu Varghese, Honey Rose, Mareena Michael Kurisingal, Lal, Siddique, Dharmajan Bolgatty, Vishak Nair, Ganapathi, Kailash, Harish Perumanna, Anjali Aneesh, Shammi Thilakan

<— Go back to the last review

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe

Posted on by

Vampire Owl: They once tried to do an autopsy on me, these humans.

Vampire Bat: You mean after you died on that wonderful day.

Vampire Owl: Yes, they wanted to know the cause of my death.

Vampire Bat: And then what happened?

Vampire Owl: I didn’t allow them because I was not dead anymore.

Vampire Bat: You mean to say that your vampire transformation was rather too fast.

Vampire Owl: It is because I transformed myself into a vampire. I had chosen my next life.

Vampire Bat: What are you talking about? There has to be a vampire to make one out of you.

Vampire Owl: I was bitten on the soul, as it passed to the other dimension after death, and with the same, it returned to get back to my body.

Vampire Bat: It is very much interesting and impossible. Only a vampire assassin can confirm this.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with paneer paratha].

What is the movie about? :: There is the location of a terrible homicide, and the police officers are left with no clue. The clues are of people trying to escape from the house and not of anyone trying to break in. There are also no prints of anyone who are not part of this home either. Then in the basement, they find the body of a beautiful, unidentified woman, completely naked and it seemed that someone had tried to bury her. They refer to her by the name Jane Doe (Olwen Catherine Kelly), a name which is commonly used to refer to a dead body or a hospital patient whose identity can’t be found out that at the time. Sheriff Sheldon Burke (Michael McElhatton) is left clueless, and has no idea how to face the media with one unknown naked dead body and all the people in the house dead. So he decides that in one way or the other, the identity of the naked corpse had to be found by the morning so that the investigation can proceed.

So, what happens next? :: Meanwhile, a coroner in the town, Tommy Tilden (Brian Cox) and his son Austin (Emile Hirsch) who is a medical technician who has been assisting for a long time, are having just another day with a corpse. The experienced Tommy is quick to find the cause of death of the man, and as it proves once again to Austin that things are more than what meets the eye, with the burns not the real cause of death even though fire did cause all that was to follow. Austin’s girlfriend Emma (Ophelia Lovibond) arrives at the location, and is curious about everything that happens in the morgue including a bell tied to the ankle of a corpse – it is revealed that the bells were used to signal if someone was not really dead even though proclaimed so. Austin was supposed to go for a movie with Emma, and they are planning move away soon, but their plans are spoiled by sudden, unexpected arrival of the sheriff.

So, how does the mystery reveal itself in the morgue? :: With the need for cause of death by morning, Austin decides to stay and help his father and join her later, much to the dismay of Emma who asks him to tell Tommy about them moving away to another city. With her and the sheriff having left, they are left in charge of the corpse which looks perfect from the outside. There is not even a scar on the body, and there is visible mark to indicate what might have casued the death. There would be nothing more than a beautiful sleeping beauty without clothes, if the eyes were closed. Despite her body looking so fresh, the eyes do look as if she has been dead for very long. But as they checked further, they found that her bones were broken from the inside and her tongue was removed. The soil on her body also seemed not from that area. But it is not all, with more strange things being found and stranger things actually happen in the morgue.

The defence of The Autopsy of Jane Doe :: The success of this movie depends on that feeling of curiosity and uneasiness that it successfully builds on its viewers, and also plays with their imagination to keep them guessing about what this particular naked body might be all about, and what kind of mystery and horror that it holds inside it. There is that certainty of terror that awaits to be unleashed inside this unblemished body, and the beauty that is seen outside hides something more than a secret, which is to threaten humanity – it has our attention right from the beginning itself. You feel the discomfort, and at the same time, you are the edge of your seat, and it is a perfect setting at this morgue, and the perfect mystery has the claws and the fangs to make your fear come at you with all the needed strength. The performances are also good, from those who are there whole the time to those who just come and go – the girl chosen to play the corpse is also rightly chosen with all the features. There is also vengeance and sacrifice to go with it, as we get to know an ancient evil with a twist.

Positives and negatives :: There is a lot of gore here, and people can feel uncomfortable, especially with the autopsy being performed on the dead body along with the details also being talked about. But what you get here is the closest to some original horror, far away from those which you keep watching all the time. Maybe something bigger could have been made out of how the movie began, and with where the tale goes, but as it is, The Autopsy of Jane Doe is one smart horror movie like Don’t Breathe and Lights Out in the last year, and divergent in its core like It Follows, The Witch and Occulus. Some people will also find the movie to be slow at parts, but one has to admit that certain slowness helps in building all the pressure to come to that revelation by the end. There is also no walking corpse in this one, and that is new, for a horror movie which centers around a corpse to have it staying on the table all the time – but the evil is unleashed without having to do that. One location, one corpse surrounded by others, two people, and all the horror is here for you!

How it finishes :: There are those usual horror movies which depend on the usual tale, the usual settings and the usual kind of proceedings with scares, and then there are movies like The Autopsy of Jane Doe which decide to think differently. It is indeed a must watch for all horror movies, specifically those who are tired of going through the same tales about ghosts haunting people and houses all the time. In between all these horror movies which seem to be so close to each other in material, The Autopsy of Jane Doe becomes the movie that thinks differently, and is surely the kind of flick that a real horror fan would watch without any delay. This might be a lesser known horror movie, and surely won’t be the big horror franchise that The Conjuring and Insidious series of movies had gone on to be contribute and become; but our movie here is certainly a flick that will be remembered for long, and might even become a horror classic a few years later. Andre Ovredal’s first English movie here is the one that you wouldn’t want to miss.

Release date: 21st December 2016
Running time: 86 minutes
Directed by: Andre Ovredal
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Brian Cox, Olwen Catherine Kelly, Ophelia Lovibond, Michael McElhatton, Parker Sawyers, Jane Perry, Mary Duddy, Mark Phoenix, Sydney

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Pink

Posted on by

Vampire Owl: You know, Lady Death was very much interested in this colour.

Vampire Bat: Why is she interested in colours, when she has been colour-blind since her resurrection from the other world?

Vampire Owl: There are just rumours regarding the same, as she was referring to this movie.

Vampire Bat: You mean to say that the news about this movie had reached the land of the dead?

Vampire Owl: Yes, the land of the dead as well as the land of the undead.

Vampire Bat: It is quite an achievement for a human movie.

Vampire Owl: Except for those movies in which vampires are shown to be bad.

Vampire Bat: Almost all of them think that vampires are bad because they don’t understand our culture.

Vampire Owl: They instantly hate anything and everything that they can’t understand.

Vampire Bat: It is quite natural for a race which has fought each other for so long.

[Gets three cups of Ceylon tea with Arrowroot biscuits].

What is the movie about? :: The movie tells the tale of three indepdendent women, Minal Arora (Taapsee Pannu), Falak Ali (Kirti Kulhari) and Andrea Tariang (Andrea Tariang), working hard and self-sufficient, living in South Delhi. While Minal and her family are from Delhi itself, Falak is from Uttar Pradesh and Andrea from Meghalaya. They go through a happy life with their little moments of fun, and care for each other, but things quickly take a twist, with people looking at them in a rather strange way. Their landlord is asked to get the three girls out of his home, and when he doesn’t do the same he is attacked by two young men who reminds him of the same. Andrea sees that she is being stalked by unknown people and Falak ends up losing her job; Minal gets it even worse, as a flashback goes to what had happened a few days ago.

So, what happens next? :: The flashback incident involves Raunak Anand (Raashul Tandon), Vishwajyoti Ghosh (Tushar Pandey) and Rajveer Singh (Angad Bedi) who had met the three girls at a rock concert. Rajveer was hit on the head with a bottle by Minal which left him in a hospital, and that had put his friend Ankit Malhotra (Vijay Verma) on a revenge trail, causing a lot of trouble for the girls. This person who has decided to teach the girls the worst lesson possible, will not stop at anything, as the boys are quite rich and powerful, with influence among politicians as well as the police. Troubled with all which have been going through, the girls still refuse to complaint, but Minal, despite all the warnings about what could happen if she approaches the police, goes to the police station. The result is that she is kidnapped and molested by the men who are after her.

And, what is to follow next in the tale that goes deep? :: Minal is shocked, but doesn’t have the time to think or react, as she is arrested by the police on the very next day, as she is accused of prostitution as well as attempting to murder Rajveer. Andrea and Falak remain rather clueless about what to do in the police station, and at home, they find Deepak Sehgal (Amitabh Bachchan), their neighbor at their door. He helps them and even decides to take up their case, returnning back to his life as a criminal lawyer years later. He had left his job due to declining mental health and also because of his wife Sara (Mamta Shankar) being bed-ridden. In the court, he would have to face Rajveer’s lawyer, a younger and healthier Prashant Mehra (Piyush Mishra) who would go to any length to show his loyalty for the money which received as fees. So, where does the fate of the girls stand?

The defence of Pink :: The movie smartly chooses not show the incidents until the credits show up – it is a nice move to establish the idea that “no means no”, which is rather the one thing that gets the focus because we are there without getting much of an idea about how things really happened. It helps us to come to a viewpoint without taking sides, and it is the smart way to proceed. Pink is the kind of movie that is needed, for it shows how much of a hypocrite the society aspires to be. It has different rules for the boys and the girls, rich and the poor and also for people from one part of the nation and those from some other area. The movie shows how difficult it is to get rid of those prejudices, no matter how smart and educated you are. The movie’s biggest asset in establishing its ideas is Amitabh Bachchan, who is so good that you feel the need to clap again and again – you saw his grief in TE3N already, and this one once again shows the determination in grief that powers his character to become more than what the lawyer has been. The girls are all good, just playing to the need, raising the level so much at some scenes in the court.

The claws of flaw :: The movie before the courtroom drama begins, doesn’t manage to be that interesting, with the whole thing taking so much of time to get going. Maybe things could have been made more tense in the first half to keep one feel the tension. People would also feel not that happy with Amitabh Bachchan being there to save the girls – but you will have to admit that it is him who takes it to the next level as far as performances are concerned. Also, the talk about the girl being from North East, is not taken that much further, maybe because the cultural identity is a little bit less important, just as the fact that the men in question as just too rich an influential – these two things come into the picture and just disappears, but needed better mention here. There is another question which should have been raised in this movie – “Why should anyone drink at all?” It could have been great if the message should have also been against alcohol consumption, rather than having things as okay if everyone is allowed to drink. There is even more that Pink could have achieved, but it chooses to finish with just one message that takes off.

How it finishes :: The big thing about Pink is that, the movie is surely what you call the giant leap – something which has been very much difficult for Bollywood which has been caught in repetitions for such a long time; it might be the only thing that is repeated, with consistency in repetition like no other. Pink not only makes the giant leap, as it also gets to the other end with ease. The movie which was widely appreciated by both the common audience as well as the critics, and had also the National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues – it is good to watch this movie and understand why there is so much appreciation going around. When people say that Pink is the kind of movie that everyone needs to watch, they are surely not wrong. It is the kind of movie that not just Bollywood needs to save its face, but it is also the one that the society needs – it is bigger than what would be the biggest cinematic experience we have for a society which needs its lessons regularly.

PS: There are three movies for this Eid, Role Models, Oru Cinemakkaran and Avarude Raavukal – do check the reviews on the same.

Release date: 16th September 2016
Running time: 136 minutes
Directed by: Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Andrea Tariang, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Angad Bedi, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Piyush Mishra, Mamata Shankar, Arjun Chakrabarty, Mamta Malik, Dibang, Tushar Pandey, Raashul Tandon

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Arrival

Posted on by

arrival-1

Vampire Owl: We are all awaiting their grand arrival, sometimes without even closing our eyes.

Vampire Bat: I don’t understand. Who exactly are you talking about? There are no names on this guest book for quite some time. If this is an unofficial meeting coming up, you will still have to inform Uncle Dracula through the telepathic connection.

Vampire Owl: The ones who shall not be named, those whom nobody shall dare to name.

Vampire Bat: If you can’t name then, I won’t be able to wait for them. It makes no sense at all.

Vampire Owl: It is because you are a man without faith. It makes you spiritually poor.

Vampire Bat: I have more faith than you and your brainless zombie minions combined.

Vampire Owl: Well, the beautifully carved tombstones at my favourite cemetery has better faith.

Vampire Bat: This does make me wonder what you mean by the words “faith” and “arrival”.

Vampire Owl: Maybe, you can take some lessons from this movie.

Vampire Bat: Movies with messages and lessons are the best. Let us see how this one goes.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with special samosas].

What is the movie about? :: A linguist, Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is teaching at the university when she hears an alarm. Twelve alien spacecrafts have landed on Earth, at Maracay in Venezuela, Montana in the United States, Kujalleq in Greenland, Devon in the United Kingdom, Kenema in Sierra Leone, Khartoum in Sudan, Punjab in Pakistan, Siberia in Russia, Hokkaido in Japan, Shanghai in China, and also in the Black Sea and the Indian Ocean. The United States Army Colonel G.T. Weber (Forest Whitaker) contacts Louise to help the nation and the planet Earth as a whole by joining a team which includes people specialised in different fields including a theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner). The idea is to understand the reason behind the arrival of the aliens.

So, what happens next? :: At a military camp in Montana near one of the spaceships, the military look forward to knowing if the aliens are really hostile, or are they just trying to make peace with the humans. This can only be done by entering the spaceship at a certain point of time, coming face to face with the creatures. The aliens are nicknamed by the group as “heptapods” due to having seven legs, and the team starts making contact with them. The language of the aliens is something which corresponds to nothing else, as they write some strange circular symbols on the glass which separated them and the humans. Louise puts in a big effort to understand what these symbols mean by connecting them to the basic vocabulary.

What follows the arrival :: Louise also seems to have visions of her daughter at the same time, and it seems to connect with her process of knowing the new language. The nations and their leaders become restless as time passes, and all the spacecrafts remain at the same place without moving an inch. With the curiosity at its peak, the answer from the aliens on what they want seems to be “offer weapon” which alerts all countries. There is the fear of an upcoming threat from the aliens with some new advanced weapons, and some nations even mobilise their military as if to defend against a potential attack. China takes it one step further, as it gets ready to attack the aliens from its territory, and asks other world leaders to do the same. But Louise is convinced that there is something more to this alien arrival – what can it be? Can she stop a war?

The defence of Arrival :: We might have seen many alien invasion movies, but Arrival is the flick that successfully thinks differently with the basic idea. It is science fiction, and it has creatures from other planet, but it so close to life; it is something that not many movies of the same genre will find difficult to achieve. There is also a lot of beauty on screen, and the performances that support the whole thing. The feeling of a possible disaster runs throughout the movie, but there seems to be not more than one explosion in the whole movie. Amy Adams remains the big strong point of the movie, and along with Nocturnal Animals, this is another movie in which she scores amazingly high. Between Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the upcoming Justice League, she has got two perfect movies in there. Jeremy Renner and the visuals nicely compliment the same.

The claws of flaw :: A lot of people are certain to find Arrival to be kind of slow for their liking. There are too many things happening in this movie, and a lot of them are emotional, plus there is almost no big action sequence or destruction which people expect from these type of movies. Don’t judge this movie by the positive or negative opinions though, as Arrival is a kind of personal experience which needs the movie to be watched. It is also a little bit too philosophical – even though it is not that bad, that feeling is not there throughout the flick. A quicker pace, and a more twisted revealing of the surprise would have helped better too, but as this is based on a short story, it is up-to those who have read the tale to make a better analysis inside. The movie could have also been darker in its theme along with speeding up things. I am also sure that people would have expected more considering how the first half was going.

How it finishes :: Based on a science fiction short story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang which had won the 2000 Nebula Award for Best Novella and the 1999 Sturgeon Award, Arrival might be the alien movie and the science fiction flick which you might have been waiting for, with a desire to concentrate less on action. It has won eight OScar nominations at the 89th Academy Awards as we look at them – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing. Well, if these are not reasons enough to make you watch this movie, one has to wonder what else would have. I would wish for a nomination for Amy Adams for the Best Actress too, with this one and Nocturnal Animals too, but we can’t get them all, can we?

Release date: 11th November 2016
Running time: 116 minutes
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tzi Ma, Mark O’Brien

arrival

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Midnight Special

Posted on by

midnightspecial-1

Vampire Owl: Now this one should be more about us.

Vampire Bat: What? I don’t see why!

Vampire Owl: It is midnight special. We are people of the midnight.

Vampire Bat: That was long ago. We are anywhere at any moment of time these days.

Vampire Owl: But what about our attacks during midnight?

Vampire Bat: The special plans are no longer limited to midnight, and there are no attacks.

Vampire Owl: But I do come up with attacks. Even on the last midnight, I scared twenty three people from outside their room’s windows.

Vampire Bat: Yes, but as a whole, we are a peace loving community.

Vampire Owl: Never mind. I will launch my personal attacks with my zombie minions.

Vampire Bat: As long as you keep it not connected to the vampire community, it should be fine.

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

What is the movie about? :: Roy Tomlin (Michael Shannon) and his friend, a former state trooper Lucas (Joel Edgerton) are on the run with an eight year old boy named Alton Meyer (Jaeden Lieberher), as alerts keep coming on the television about a missing boy with Roy named as the kidnapper. Roy is revealed to be the father of the boy, but he has been trying to escape from both the government as well as a mysterious and fanatic religious cult, both who have been chasing the group of three. But the group is not willing to stop at any cost, and hopes to get further away from those who wants to capture them. The boy who is extremely photosensitive is protected by them, who are joined by Sarah Tomlin (Kirsten Dunst) who is the boy’s mother who is extremely delighted to see them again, but is not happy with almost the whole country chasing them.

So, what is it really about? :: This fanatic religious cult called The Ranch has been raising Alton for a long time, as he is supposed to be some kind of a saviour for them, who has come after years of prayers from them. Pastor Calvin Meyer (Sam Shepard) will not stop until he has his cult’s messiah back with them, and has sent his people to find the boy. At the same time, Agent Paul Sevier (Adam Driver) finds encoded satellite transmissions in the pastor’s sermons which is supposed to have been found from Alton’s talks, and it has FBI right after them, finding the boy as a threat to the national security. more and more people seems to be after them, with running and hiding becoming rather too difficult for the group. With time running out for them, they decide to keep fighting.

So, what happens next? :: The fact that this special boy even brought one satellite down just because it was tracking them, doesn’t help their case at all. One boy with so much of power seems to be something which the government can’t afford to go free – they surely has more plans for him, as there are more people after him after causing what seemed to be a meteor shower in the form of a destroyed satellite. They are also involved in terrible confrontations with state troopers and don’t get much of help from even their old friend from the cult. As the journey goes on, the boy only gets weaker and weaker. With him seeming to be extremely sick and might even possibly die, there seems not be not many options around other than to give up. But Alton himself has another idea for him, which none of his guardians can agree to. In the end, will they find the secret behind his powers and get him to safety?

The defence of Midnight Special :: There is a different story in store here as this science fiction flick’s divergence works throughout its run. Its specialty should be that it keeps the supernatural at a distance rather than exposing it to us in the beginning itself. It successfully keeps us guessing in the beginning stages as we wonder what this boy is all about, and what big twist is coming up near end. There is something huge going to happen, but we have no idea what it is, and the more we guess, the more we get confused – this one provides that kind of a feeling throughout its stages. The whole movie goes on like some chase, and our protagonists rarely get to stop here or there. The power of visuals are there when they are used to the movie’s advantage, even though that last very less. We are also left with the hope for a sequel in the midst of an emotionally powerful ending that comes as the end is reached, and you know that the drama works towards the end – the finish has its sadness.

The claws of flaw :: Well, Midnight Special is a movie which had the potential to do something better both with its philosophy as well as its content which wanders rather too much on the emotional side, due to which the ending is also not a thrilling one – something which has surely contributed well to its lesser total collection from the theatres. If there was more focus on what was happening rather than diving deep into the emotional side without enough explanations, this one could have done a lot better for the common man as well as those who think. There are mysteries that are not solved, and there are moments which could have been presented in a better way. With some signs of the visual spectacle which it could have been, also there, maybe there was surely the idea to do more, but it was to make itself just a good movie instead of becoming that special movie which was to stay in our minds for a long time.

How it finishes :: One special thing about Midnight Special even when it slows down in pace so much, is that it is a science fiction movie with a stronger human side than many others including Interstellar and Gravity. With Michael Shannon coming up with an emotionally powerful performance, and Kirsten Dunst supporting the same later, we have Joel Edgerton’s character as the most likable, and Jaeden Lieberher does a very good job as the kid too. Despite not everyone liking this movie in this same way considering it as a flick which would depend on the tastes of people to have it loved, one can be sure that Midnight Special will affect its viewers in one way or the other. You will also wish that it was a better movie, but one feels that this is exactly how the makers wanted the movie to work, and in no other way. Take your time and find what can be termed “special” in Midnight Special.

Release date: 18th March 2016
Running time: 111 minutes
Directed by: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Jaeden Lieberher, Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Sam Shepard, Paul Sparks, Nathan Brimmer, Bill Camp, Scott Haze, James DuMont, Billy Slaughter, Sean Bridgers

midnightspecial

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Don’t Breathe

Posted on by

dontbreathe

Vampire Owl: Does this movie ask its viewers not to breathe?

Vampire Bat: Even if it does, that would be okay for us, because we are dead already.

Vampire Owl: But we do breathe, all the time.

Vampire Bat: It is an unnecessary thing though. Actually, we can live without that.

Vampire Owl: But I once told my a zombie girl that she took my breath away. From what you said, I realize that what I said then was of no real significance.

Vampire Bat: Why did you have to talk to zombies about life and breath?

Vampire Owl: That wasn’t a planned meeting. I wished to talk about knife and death, but things happened too fast.

Vampire Bat: Where is that zombie girl now?

Vampire Owl: I think that she has joined the army of the Lich Queen.

Vampire Bat: Your adventures are really disturbing, I have to admit.

[Gets three cups of tea with jackfruit chips].

What is the movie about? :: Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette), and Money (Daniel Zovatto) spends their time breaking into houses and stealing things which they sell to make money for their living. Even as they keep doing the same without regret, what they earn by stealing is just not enough, as they are not paid that much money for the stolen goods. Rocky has the worst case, as she wishes to move away with her little sister from her mother and her new boyfriend who are alcoholic and too much bothering. As usual, they look for the easy way out and they find one in a blind Army veteran who lives in the neighbourhood who has a lot of money after a settlement which followed an accident which caused the death of his daughter. Cindy Roberts (Franciska Törőcsik) who had caused the accident had disappeared, and he was left with a lot of money and the house in an abandoned area of the neighbourhood.

So, what happens next? :: Even though Alex is heistant to rob a defenceless blind man, they finally decide to do that as it was supposed to be so easy and there was so much money involved. After looking at the surroundings during the daytime, they finally reach the house at night. After drugging the blind man Norman Nordstrom’s (Stephen Lang) dog, they try to get in, and with all entrances firmly locked, Rocky just manages to squeeze in through a small window and open the door for all of them. But things are not like they had expected. The blind man wakes up, and there are secrets hidden inside the house. There is also someone in chains in the basement, and in the darkness, it is the blind man who has the advantage over them. He is just not the man they thought he was, and they finally realize that they had picked the wrong house to steal from – but not before the death of Money. To add to it, the dog which they had drugged is back on four legs.

The defence of Don’t Breathe :: The success of Don’t Breathe lies on the fact that it is a home invasion movie at the first look, but manages to provide much more than that, as a horror-thriller. With the best use of the atmosphere, the darkness as well as the sounds make sure that we are watching something more than a thriller inside a house. We know what might be coming from the first shot itself, and there was sure to be blood and twists, and they are present for sure. All its elements are cleverly used, and we know that never does this movie misses out on its skill to be brilliant and entertaining. It is not easy to find a horror movie where you struggle to find the flaws, and Don’t Breathe is one of them. The movie is smart and we are satisfied; we had many home invasion thriller, but this is surely the one which you are going to remember longer than any other.

Positives and negatives :: One might still feel that the blind man’s secret is not used to that twisted advantage which the movie could have had and that would have made sure that this movie would stand the test of time for an even longer period of time. Yes, Don’t Breathe could have surely given the viewers an even more twisted experience which would have stayed for all groups of people, but it chooses to stay safe – that might be the smarter decision considering the fact that there are different age groups from different parts of the world watching this, but that was a chance that they could have taken. Instead, this one works with less dialogues and more thrills. The result is that this one makes one holds his or her breath, thus making its title really relevant, even though the name of another horror movie, Lights Out would have also been suitable for this one.

Performers of the soul :: Jane Levy once again establishes herself as a queen of horror, as she once again teams up with the same director after Evil Dead was remade with them being part of the team in the year 2013. Whenever we see a horror movie, we wish for her to be there; a few other names might be there too, but she is someone who comes as a lovely choice. Meanwhile, Stephen Lang is just too good – from the first moment his character is introduced, to the end, we are so much impressed by his work – and we are also looking for a sequel with the ending that the movie brought. There are not many characters out here in this movie as most of the action is restricted to the moments of terror inside the house. Then there is Dylan Minnette who is also there as the third significant character, and stays there for most of the movie for the good. Daniel Zovatto has a rather smaller role, and Franciska Törőcsik is another person with a short role, but we still remember her.

How it finishes :: This movie comes from Fede Alvarez who had given us Evil Dead, the remake of that cult classic movie which we had all watched while growing up. The fourth installment of the franchise was very much an interesting one, and Don’t Breathe successfully overtakes that one. The Uruguayan filmmaker surely knows how a horror movie is made to bring the best effect to us. If you love the genre, you are surely not to miss this one; even otherwise, you can go for this one, as it is that good. This is the kind of movie that we have been looking for since watching The Cabin in the Woods; for this is not the usual horror movie with ghosts, demons and times of haunting, as this is much more. It brings the good news here, as we get back to the ones that matters the most with their immense potential for evil; the humans. You want to see ghosts jumping out of nowhere to bring the cheap scares? Then you should travel another path. Choose The Conjuring or Insidious on another day; this time, go for Don’t Breathe!

Release date: 26th August 2016
Running time: 88 minutes
Directed by: Fede Alvarez
Starring: Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto, Stephen Lang, Franciska Törőcsik, Emma Bercovici, Christian Zagia, Katia Bokor, Sergej Onopko

dontbreathe

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Visit

Posted on by

thevisit ()

Vampire Owl :: That reminds me that we haven’t visited Uncle Dracula for a long time.

Vampire Bat :: We are not supposed to do that before submitting a report about The Conjuring 2.

Vampire Owl :: Well, at least we can add new movies to the list of flicks we have watched.

Vampire Bat :: I believe that watching one more horror movie will only do us a lot of good.

Vampire Owl :: Yes, it is a kind of regeneration, I agree.

Vampire Bat :: And this one is from Manoj Night Shyamalan.

Vampire Owl :: Which was the last movie from him that we watched?

Vampire Bat :: That should be After Earth.

Vampire Owl :: Lets forget about the past then.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, I surely have a better feeling about this one.

[Gets three cups of tea with jackfruit chips].

What is it about? :: Two kids, Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and her younger brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) decides to go on a five day visit to their grandparents whom they haven’t met before, as their mother Loretta Jamison (Kathryn Hahn) had left the house to live with the man of her dreams, and never talked to them after that. She goes on a cruise with her new boyfriend, as the children leaves to enjoy their holidays with their grandparents. The two kids meet their grandparents (Peter McRobbie and Deanna Dunagan) and they are extremely delighted of this family re-union, calling the two elders, Pop-pop and Nana, and the elders also look very happy to see the children. They even shoot a documentary about their visit to their “reclaimed” grandparents.

So what happens next? :: But things don’t go that smoothly as expected, as there is something really strange about the grandparents. The bed-time is set at half past nine, and whenever they try to go out or even look outside their room, there is something really weird going on with the grandparents, especially their grandmother. Her behaviour only seems to get even more strange as days pass, and their grandfather beats up a random stranger on the streets for no real reason. There is a girl named Stacey (Celia Keenan-Bolger) who had come to visit the couple, but they don’t find her leaving. By hiding a camera, they discover even darker secrets, and they realize that there is something wrong about their grandparents even though their mother doesn’t believe them. They decide to find out what it is.

The defence of The Visit :: The movie has an interesting run throughout, and we are left guessing about what is wrong about these people, and then the twist comes by the end – it works very well. There are some really creepy moments in between, and they actually come out of nowhere, mostly when we are least expecting them. There are also some funny moments in there, and The Visit should qualify as an entertainer in most of the lists due to the same reason. Running for just a little bit more than one and half hours, The Visit makes sure that it keeps us there, very much interested in it. There is not much of blood and gore here, and without using that much of the jump scares, the movie manages to be an interesting horror flick, which means that there is some nice skill going on there.

The claws of flaw :: The movie takes a certain amount of time to get to its thrilling side, and until then, the possibility of terror is not that much ascertained. The found-footage elements were not necessary here either, and we could have actually done without them. It is the kind of thing that I have hated in almost all horror movies, yes even those highly popular ones. The premise could have been better used, as this kind of a story can always bring a high amount of creepiness into play. There are also some silly moments around in this one, and the scary side could have been introduced a lot earlier. One can often compare it to a very strange and gloomy fairy-tale, but it never really gets there in totality – that would have been another interesting thing.

Performers of the soul :: The kids Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould have done fine job here, even though there is not that much to perform in this horror movie which focuses on the two elders. But the funny side works very well for them. Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie brings the best of a strange couple here, and the former has the best moments in the movie. She has her hide and seek moment, the oven scene, the scene when she is scratching on the walls and those final moments of horror from under the bed which all leave some impact on the viewers varying only in the degree. Above them all, there is one thing that we can be more certain about, and it is that Manoj Night Shyamalan has returned to form, and it will be interesting to see what his next movie is about – 2017 will have the thriller Split with James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy who was earlier seen in The Witch.

How it finishes :: Compared to the rest of the movies of its genre released in the last few years, The Visit surely has managed to come up with a separate identity, even though it doesn’t completely use its premise to the best advantage. The last two movies from Manoj Night Shyamalan including The Last Airbender and After Earth never really got close to keeping me interested. But this one surely brings him back, with certain amount of skill in creating those moments of horror, rather than sticking to the usual formula. My favourites from him will always be The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, but this one also makes it to the interesting movies list with his name on it. When talking about the movies with story from him, I would go for Devil as my favourite.

Release date: 11th September 2015
Running time: 94 minutes
Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, Kathryn Hahn, Benjamin Kanes, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jon Douglas Rainey, Brian Gildea, Shawn Gonzalez, Richard Barlow, Erica Lynne Marszalek, Shawn Gonzalez, Michael Mariano

thevisit

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Puthiya Niyamam

Posted on by

puthiyaniyamam (2)

Vampire Owl :: I have been waiting for this movie.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, it should have released last year.

Vampire Owl :: As the trailer has come out, my desire to watch this movie has only increased.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, the trailer has been an interesting one too.

Vampire Owl :: Mammootty’s next movie after Pathemari here, and that too a thriller. I don’t think that things can get any better.

Vampire Bat :: And his next movie should be White with Huma Qureshi; that should be something of variety.

Vampire Owl :: It is because you have less time these days that I was afraid that we might miss this movie.

Vampire Bat :: Well, we should never keep away from watching a movie like this.

Vampire Owl :: It is like our duty to Malayalam Cinema, right?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, something like that.

[Gets the tickets with cheese popcorn].

What is the movie about? :: Louis Pothen Narimadan (Mammootty), also known as LP among friends, is a film critic, television presenter and sculptor, and above all that an advocate who deals with cases of divorce, even though he tries his best to make sure that separation of a family is avoided whenever possible – at times, he is also interested in being a social activist. A person who is secular in nature, he is married to Vasuki Iyer (Nayanthara), a Kathakali artist who is a strong believer in God. Their families are not in connection with them after this inter-caste marriage even though Louis and their daughter are often invited to his ancestral place. But Louis’ family does reconcile with the new bride; yet things do take a terrible turn to make a negative impact.

So, where does life go from there? :: Things don’t go that well within the family in the later stages though. Vasuki has her systematized delusions about people, as she doubts the fish-seller, vegetable vendor and others who are part of their daily lives. She is overly concerned about the safety of her daughter and she keeps forcing Louis to keep making sure that they are safe, forcing him to buy a car and drop the child right inside the school compound every day. Louis is worried about the change in character of Vasuki, and even the child notices the same. One day, after a Kathakali performance, Vasuki meets Jeena Bhai (Sheelu Abraham), the city police commissioner who offers her help if there is any need. She decides to talk about her problems to the cop.

The defence of Puthiya Niyamam :: The climax is the highest point of the movie, as the final moments become a lot more interesting. There is one twist in the end for which you can wait, and it is the kind of waiting which you can wait with expectation to find something interesting. The messages are there, and there is also the presence of some moments for family watch. The visuals are pretty much interesting, even though the same could have been used better to display the city. The music is just okay around here. You will find interesting moments for the fans in the end, and there will also be some dialogues which will keep them interested – well, they will clap anyway, but some are worth it. The fact that there is no overdose of emotions here, is also a positive here. The fact that this doesn’t become the usual revenge story is also good.

Claws of flaw :: The first half is pretty much not good. It drags and nothing much really happens; even the comedy itself is forced. More focus could have surely made things better with the things before the interval. The movie takes too much time to get to its main points, and it has to wait till the end to bring that big moment. The movie also takes the chance to deviate from any idea that people had from the trailer; it is not really a positive thing because there was scope for more from that trailer. A lot of extra characters including Aju Varghese is wasted, and the comic side never really gets going, which affects the flow in the first half. More could have been done with the central idea of the movie too. The thrills are also too less even though this one was called a thriller – there is a shift in focus which makes the genre move away. We also needed more of Mammootty.

Performers of the soul :: Most of the screen presence is with Nayanthara who is there for most of the run-time of the movie, and she has given a very interesting performance in her character here. The mystery of the character’s change is well-portrayed here. Mammootty is there from the beginning itself, but takes over the movie’s universe only by the end; at some point you feel that he is there for the sake of being present only, but he will make amends in the end, and you need to wait for that. You still won’t get Mammootty as the protagonist or a full movie presence though, but as I said already, waiting will make things happen in the end – good things happen to people who wait; I have that kind of an experience myself. Bhaskar the Rascal had them working together nicely, and now this one has them doing the same very well. The rest of the cast does not much.

How it finishes :: The fans have been the curse of this movie; a lot of dialogues were not clear because they were making noise inside the theatre. If the focus of the fan clubs is to disrupt the dialogues of their own superstar and throw waste inside the theatre, it is time that they cease calling themselves fans. Yes, this is not the first time, but while watching a thriller, such lack of quality among people who call themselves fans will only cause problems to the flow of the movie. I think that it is time that celebrities have a say about this; do they want fans who keep saying the same thing all the time or people who appreciate their performances? Well, blind support to an actor isn’t going to make his name better – people will say his name and add the word “fans” to the end, and call things pathetic – it is the duty of a responsible fan to make sure that it doesn’t happen!

Release date: 12th February 2016
Running time: 134 minutes
Directed by: A. K. Sajan
Starring: Mammootty, Nayanthara, Aju Varghese, Baby Ananya, Sheelu Abraham, Rachana Narayanankutty, S. N. Swamy, Sreelatha Namboothiri, Pradeep Kottayam, Ponnamma Babu, Sadiq, Jayaraj Warrier, Sohan Seenulal

puthiyaniyamam

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Wazir

Posted on by

wazir (1)

What is it about? :: After a personal tragedy strikes the family of a police officer Danish Ali (Farhan Akhtar) in the form of the death of his daughter in the hands of terrorists, he is blamed for it; separating him from his wife Ruhana Ali (Aditi Rao Hydari). He is later suspended from service as he murders a terrorist who was the only key for the cops to find a minister linked with the terrorist. As he is extremely depressed and thinks about ending his life, he meets Pandit Omkarnath Dhar (Amitabh Bachchan), an old chess master on a wheel chair who used to teach chess to the cop’s daughter. They come across each other again and a friendship is formed between the two. Omkarnath had also lost his daughter only some time ago, and he suspects that a popular politician, Izaad Qureshi (Manav Kaul) is behind the murder even as the police records it as an accident.

So, what happens next in the movie? :: Omkarnath tries to get the attention of the police department, the media and the government. But nothing really happens except for bringing more fury into the mind of the politician and his supporters. This is where the henchman known only by the name Wazir (Neil Nitin Mukesh) comes into the picture. But this person seems to be something more than a henchman, as he stays in the shadows and creates situations of terror for the old man, becoming more like a shadow assassin. Danish is mostly helpless as he is suspended from service, but makes the promise to protect his new best friend and play his part in the battle for justice as if it is his own. Their fates are going to join together and soon, the shadows of darkness which are cast on their lives shall converge. Can Danish stand this big test?

The defence of Wazir :: It always feels good to have a Bollywood movie with an interesting plot especially as there are too many of the flicks which don’t have one at all, and there are movies which asks “why always the same story” and while saying that, it comes with the exact same plot told in a miserable way. This is where Wazir uses its intelligence as well as the strong emotional side to become a better and different movie. I do wonder at times why Bollywood movies and good plots are never friends enough. But if you look here, Wazir shows how to become an interesting emotional thriller bringing the breath of fresh air which makes the beginning of the year a nice one indeed, as there are no mindless flicks floating around anymore. The thrills are present and so is the suspense factor. There is also variety and style in how the whole thing is handled. The action sequences are done in a smart way, no overdoing and no slow-motions; believable as well as exciting.

Claws of flaw :: Even though its short length will save some time, people will want more here. Well, we ask ourselves if this is the kind of protagonist whom we want in the investigative thriller flicks, and there are moments when we will think about having a sequel to complete this movie. The usual Bollywood fans who love the entertainment and masala elements are also going to like this one less too; for there is nothing of such kind in here. Even when I visited the theatre, there was so much less interest for this movie there, but I hope to see it get better in the coming days. The movie surely has some points when it becomes slower, especially as a certain emotional side tries to play its role. The fact that some actors are there for only an extended cameo or special appearance will also put some people into lesser interest for the proceedings. The movie could have done better with the thrills overtaking everything else; no doubt about that – but it works well as it is!

Performers of the soul :: Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar makes a highly impressive team here. One man in sorrow has his mind game going strong while the other one is physically fit and has been one of the best police officers of the department – both roles are played with such passion here. The intensity that Farhan Akhtar shows here should be the one thing for which you wouldn’t want to miss this one. Aditi Rao Hydari has a beautiful and at the same time, a happy-transformed-into-sad presence in this movie, and you will feel that even the absence of words speak in favour of her as seen with her expressions. I am pretty sure that she is a lot better than the overrated actresses of the industry. As I turn back the pages, I remember that I had seen her on screen, in the Malayalam movie Prajapathi in which she made her debut as well as in Murder 3; the rest I had missed.

Further performers of the soul :: Neil Nitin Mukesh makes the best out of what he has in this movie, even though it is more of a special appearance. He reminds one of the character “Musafir” in the Malayalam movie The Tiger, who has been an agent and contract killer for the terrorists; but it turns out that even with the essence and soul being the same, the existence is different, and you will know that by the end of the movie with that one final twist – your love for the movie is going to be ultimately decided by that. John Abraham stays strong while doing another special appearance, something which reminds us of him in Madras Cafe; his character will be a reason for us to ask for a sequel to this one – he can always excel in this kind of a role. Manav Kaul as Izaad Qureshi is a really strong presence in this movie. He makes quite a big impact here as the villain who needs to be brought down for the two protagonists.

How it finishes :: Wazir is a movie which begins well as well as ends well. The slowing down in the middle can be forgiven, and the shorter run-time will make sure that you will have an engaging experience with this thriller. Even when viewing it from here, Wazir is no Memories, but it is an engaging journey. The game of chess is also nicely used in parallel with the story-line. It was used not as part of the story-line in the Malayalam movie, the Mohanlal starrer Grandmaster, but here, it comes in as part of the plot; in a smart way of course. You will know better about the relation between life and chess as the movie gets towards the end; one of the protagonists do talk about a few things which relates them much earlier though. The songs are also pretty much okay here. I loved the director’s earlier movie David, and Wazir is the movie which becomes a fine start to the new year, and it is the movie that needs to watched; not those one hundred crore gaining movies, most of which never deserved to be there in the 100-crore club!

[Edit – This review was also later published at: http://kiagia.com/index.php/current-film-releases-movie/1275-wazir-movie-review-2]

Release date: 8th January 2016
Running time: 103 minutes
Directed by: Bejoy Nambiar
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar, Aditi Rao Hydari, John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Manav Kaul, Anjum Sharma, Mazel Vyas

wazir

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Jazbaa

Posted on by

jazbaa (2)

Vampire Owl :: Holy Vampire Crocodile! This is Aishwarya Rai, isn’t she?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, it is her only. I don’t understand why you are asking. Did you also lose your eye sight with that werewolf scratch on your arm?

Vampire Owl :: No, it just has been such a long time since I saw her on a movie poster. I am surprised.

Vampire Bat :: You have the right to be surprised and also to watch this movie.

Vampire Owl :: So, you are planning to make me watch this movie.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, and it will be cheapest movie ticket which we would have bought in the last few years. I am sure that it will be worth it, no matter how we see it.

Vampire Owl :: It is good to see Aishwarya Rai returning in a heroine-centric movie. I had a crush on her when I was immortally a little bit younger.

Vampire Bat :: It is quite natural, you know.

Vampire Owl :: Yes, but not for us vampires.

Vampire Bat :: Aishwarya Rai has always been beyond one world.

[Gets the tickets].

What is it about? :: Anuradha Verma (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) is a very successful lawyer who can gets any person free from prison, no matter what kind of case he is involved in. She has that kind of a reputation which can make anyone jealous. She is a single mother and her only relation in this world is her little daughter Sanaya (Sara Arjun). One day, her daughter is kidnapped and the kidnapper asks her to save a rape accused even though the proof is clearly against him. Meanwhile, her good friend Yohan (Irrfan Khan) is an officer on suspension who needs her help. As Anuradha tries to find something that could save the accused, Yohan helps her, but it turns out that things are not what they seem to be, and other people are involved in the chain of incidents.

The defence of Jazbaa :: A stylish thriller take its form in Jazbaa with its twists and the way in which the whole thing is shot. I have loved how the camera moves around the city and captures the same in a beautiful way. The return of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan should be what defends this movie for the audience more than the rest though. The movie’s final twist is working, and it also leaves the audience with a good message, even though it could have been used frequently within the movie itself. Whenever the movie threatens to go down, the cast successfully keeps it working at a good level, and it leaves us free to make our guesses with its suspense. No, I haven’t watched the original, and so further comment on how well it was adapted, is not possible. From what I have read, it seems to be a lot the same.

Claws of flaw :: With story already there as this is an adaptation of the South Korean movie Seven Days, there was a fine platform for Jazbaa, which it hasn’t used to full potential. A number of twists are predictable concerning a politician and his interest in the case. There is also an extension of the ending after we feel that the movie has ended, and that was rather unnecessary. The movie’s focus is also not always there in the same way. With the return of Aishwarya, the movie could have accomplished more with smartness in action rather having sequences like the heroine running, screaming and even crying in slow motion. In a movie which otherwise leaves exaggeration, doesn’t make the best use of the court room scenes either. A better second half could have brought things to another level. The melodrama should have also been reduced. It should have gone full thriller, and there is loss of strength.

Performers of the soul :: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is back after the 2010 movie Guzaarish with Hritik Roshan. After five long years, she returns and makes an impact in this movie. Most of the time, she remains strong, but one has to wonder about those melodramatic moments and the slow motion sequence. There is no doubt about that fact that she has made her return a memorable one. But that is not all, as Irrfan Khan and Shabana Azmi often makes a bigger impact. The former’s dialogues are those which make the day instantly better. He plays the kind of cop who is not a hero, villain or a side-kick; he is much more, and he pulls that off in style. The latter is completely at ease here too. Priya Banerjee has a few moments in her short stay. The veterans Jackie Shroff and Atul Kulkarni are unfortunately used less.

Soul exploration :: The movie talks about the complications that the law has, and how justice is rarely fair for the person who suffers. It also talks about justice for a rape victim, and how too many factors affect the proceedings of a case. There is actually the need for change in attitude among the people, and it is to be the first thing. Otherwise, nothing that much positive comes to the scene. Movies will have its stars doing the job, but otherwise, it is in the hands of the common man to make a difference. But as evil is a lot easier, and so is not reacting to evil committed, such a situation is too far away. The movie’s soul could have been the social message which follows a full thriller, and with that kind of a progress, this movie could have got there as the social thriller. Such movies can make the difference.

How it finishes :: Talvar had very less number of shows here which meant that I ended up missing it. Thankfully for Jazbaa, it does get enough screens here, and the credit to the same should go to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan making the grand return in a heroine-centric movie, making the audience clearly interested. The movie has its positives and negatives, but what it surely manages to be, is a movie is worth watching this weekend. There is enough in this flick to inspire a one-time watch, and I am saying this with an attempt at the original still pending a try. I would like to hear from someone who has watched Seven Days, and I am sure that some of the people who are reading this should have had the opportunity for watching the Korean version.

Release date: 9th October 2015
Running time: 122 minutes
Directed by: Sanjay Gupta
Starring: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi, Priya Banerjee, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Jackie Shroff, Atul Kulkarni, Siddhanth Kapoor, Sara Arjun

jazbaa

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

MI: Rogue Nation

Posted on by

miv

Vampire Owl :: We have been missing the impossible.

Vampire Bat :: Well, we haven’t tried anything impossible for some time.

Vampire Owl :: Actually, we take no risks except when watching those terrible movies.

Vampire Bat :: Well, everyone can’t be Tom Cruise!

Vampire Owl :: Somehow, he never really gets old.

Vampire Bat :: May be he is immortal too, in another way.

Vampire Owl :: There is that special feeling when we hear that Mission Impossible music; I don’t know what it is.

[Gets the tickets].

✠ This was recently posted by me at Kiagia.com: http://www.kiagia.com/index.php/current-film-releases-movie/947-mission-impossible-5-review.html

We return to the super-hit franchise again. Tom Cruise, the Mission: Impossible franchise and the action movie fans have had a very good relationship in the last few years. Even as the third movie of the series was the least impressive of them all, they successfully made things a lot better with the fourth, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Inspired by a much older television series, Mission Impossible franchise has been making a very heavy impact on the fans since the first movie in 1996. It is no different in the case of this fifth movie which has everyone’s attention ever since the trailer began to show up in the theatres.

As his adventures continue, Impossible Mission Force agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) comes face to face against a dangerous criminal organization called the Syndicate. But despite his best efforts, CIA and other organizations completely deny its existence. Meanwhile, the director of the CIA Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) gets IMF disbanded and taken into the CIA itself, with a mission to catch Ethan as early as possible. At the same time, Ethan is captured by the Syndicate, and is saved by a former MI6 agent working for the criminal organization, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). As IMF is disbanded and CIA is refusing to believe them, Ethan decides to take things into his own hands.

As Ethan remains on the run with CIA on his tail, he almost gets hold of a Syndicate member while attending an opera, but the Chancellor of Austria is killed at the same venue despite his best efforts. At the same time, Ilsa leaves him with clues which will help him to get to her at Casablanca. With the help of his friends Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), Ethan has to figure this out and confront the leader of the Syndicate, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). It turns out that the Syndicate is not a regular criminal organization as they thought it was, but something more with origin in secret government organizations.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is exactly the movie of the series that the fans might have wanted for a long time. It is surely intelligent and has a very interesting story despite having no spectacular sequences to finish it – the ending could have had bigger action and the villain also could have been a more menacing one face to face. The highlight of the movie, the sequence with Tom Cruise hanging outside the airplane comes very early. It is just one of those stylish action highlights of the movie which has others like an interesting sequence at an opera, a high voltage motor-bike chase and an underwater heist. These are also done at some of the best locations possible.

We know how well Mad Max: Fury Road managed to be a wonderful full action movie, and this one follows that path using its strength. The rest of the things are just means to this strength, and you can also admire the fact that the smartness of the plot supports it. You should notice how well things come together as the locations shift between different nations – you will love Morocco shown in this movie more than the rest. The sequences are also more believable. I was still a little disappointed that Jeremy Renner doesn’t take part in much of the big action here. But there is enough here to make up for that, and our cast surely does the job very well.

In a movie which has some nice twists and change of sides, Tom Cruise manages to emerge as the awesome action star once again. There is no difficulty there is making us believe in the impossible with this man around. It was great to see Rebecca Ferguson get a role which is very much on par with him, with just lesser in screen presence only to Tom Cruise. She is the best heroine ever in a Mission: Impossible movie and she has a part in almost every action sequence with our protagonist, and at the same time having no romantic side with the hero. She is perfectly suited for this role. She does those stunts in style and also brings the suspense as the person who is the most difficult to figure out in the whole movie. She is the one complicated person on whom the whole mission depends on. She becomes the big advantage that none of the other movies of the franchise had. Along with Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames also has a little too less to do in this flick.

The franchise achieves new heights with Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, as the latest flick becomes a superior entertainer in the list of movies which have served us for almost twenty years. There is a certain improvement with this movie, which was thought to be a hard task, but it has been done. It won’t be easy to forget this one soon, as the thrilling experience will stay on the mind of viewers for quite a long time. Even though there have been so many movies with big action sequences, you can still take the level of action to an even higher level – it is not impossible, and this movie proves the same with ease. Look out for this movie this weekend, and it can make you forget Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

[After the movie]

Vampire Owl :: Well, Rebecca Ferguson does save the day more times than Tom Cruise, and that should be a first.

Vampire Bat :: She is too good! Most of the time, her character surely is the smartest one around!

Release date: 6th August 2015 (India); 31st July 2015 (US)
Running time: 131 minutes
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin, Simon McBurney, Jens Hultén, Tom Hollander

mi5

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Drishyam

Posted on by

drishyam (2)

Vampire Owl :: So, we are now going to complete watching a trilogy of Drishyam(s).

Vampire Bat :: Yes, even though there are a total of five Drishyam(s) with only two movies having exactly that name and only four movies having similarities to that name.

Vampire Owl :: I was simply making a simple statement which is also true in another way.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, but the statement that I made is also true if you look deeply into it.

Vampire Owl :: I still appreciate this movie for keeping the title of the original. This way, I can tell people that I have watched Drishyam twice.

Vampire Bat :: Well, when you say that you watched a remake so many times, do make it clear that it is Drishyam and not Bodyguard. We have to keep certain horror standards.

Vampire Owl :: Do you know that I had no clue that this would be remade into this many languages when it had released with lesser hype than some of those mindless movies?

Vampire Bat :: Do you remember that this is the Drishyam movie that we are watching with the cheapest tickets?

Vampire Owl :: Is it? I have no memory about the bloody human currency. They can’t even keep one standard currency for their realm – how bad is that?

Vampire Bat :: Actually we paid Rs.116 per ticket for the Malayalam version, Rs.90 for the Tamil version, and it is Rs.50 for this one. So, this movie is actually very cheap and will surely give us the money’s worth.

[Gets the tickets].

What is it about? :: The story might be well known, but lets go for a recap. Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgan) is a simple man and a huge movie lover running a cable television network in a locality in Goa. He watches a lot of movies and lives happily with his family consisting of his wife Nandhani (Shriya Saran) and two daughters. But when an unexpected guest comes into their life to ruin the life of his elder daughter Anju (Ishita Dutta), their small world get a twist of events. The guest is dealt with, but the mother of that missing boy is IG Meera Deshmukh (Tabu) who is ready to go to any extent to find his son who came to the house of Vijay. The protagonist has his plans, but how far can a man with minimum education go to save his family against the angry IG and her husband (Rajat Kapoor)?

The new Drishyam :: Just like we have already seen in the original Drishyam, Papanasam and the other remakes, this begins as the family drama, but here it gets into the thriller side much earlier. In less than fourty five minutes, this one gets into the main action. The movie also has some fine visuals of Goa as it is never completely a rural setting, and the families are surely richer as you can see from the houses of both the protagonist and the police officer. This is also the lighter one among the three, as the police torture is lesser with no bones broken compared to the Tamil version, and the girl also accidentally hits the boy as she aims the mobile phone which is lifted over his shoulder – she never really has the idea of hurting the boy there. The bad boy’s car remains yellow in colour, but there is a certain upgrade here from Maruti Suzuki Zen in the other two verstions to a Hyndai Getz.

Positives and Negatives :: As I have talked about earlier, I have watched only three versions as of now, and so the comparisons are to be limited to them. The version here inherits only the positives and negatives of the original, expect for the small changes which have been made. The biggest visible change is that the elder girl was adopted by the protagonist – one has to wonder if it is because the girl is considered too old to be the real daughter of Ajay Devgan and Shriya Saran or if it comes as part of the goodness package for the hero who was to be established as the good man. I like the fact that this movie quickly got into the thrills, and it might also be the shortest in total run-time among the three, which is favourable. The police officer is also bigger cop, than the big mother figure, and even has her own slow motion sequences from the prison after getting random villains beaten up.

Performers of the soul :: The script is the hero as everyone knows already, and the rest of the factors are supposed to follow. Once again, there are no comparisons to be made directly between the leading actors of the three movies. Still, indirectly taking a look at the same, even though not making the impact as Mohanlal and Kamal Hassan who had made their roles memorable in their own ways, Ajay Devgan is also very good here even without being that intense or emotional. It is good to see different actors doing the same thing in different styles without moving that much out of the core thing. Shriya Saran might be the best looking among all the actresses among five movies, but considering the three, she makes the least impact, may be because the Hindi version has cut some of those family scenes and the opportunities are less. The cut happens in the first half itself.

More performers of the soul :: Ishita Dutta who makes her Bollywood debut here is also quite good in her role as the elder daughter. She did very well for a debutante, especially in those emotional sequences. Esther Anil of the Malayalam and Tamil was the best option for the younger daughter’s role as she has done the same in the Telugu version too; the choice here is just okay. Tabu stays very strong here, as she matches Asha Sarath of Malayalam and Tamil with her strong cop role. The original’s Siddique and Kalabhavan shajon have their mirror images in this movie as not that strong, and the same is the case when compared with Papanasam’s Anant Mahadevan and Kalabhavan Mani. But any problem here is mostly erased by the strong script, and the movie has risen high already. After watching all these versions, I feel that I might be having confusion with the comparisons and so I would stop here!

How it finishes :: With the fifth movie of a very long remake saga, this version of Drishyam also manages to come strong with the audience, and once again asserts the importance of one’s own family strongly. In a theatre having a complete non-Keralite audience, the claps were so many and people were clearly entertained. Those haven’t watched the original or the other remakes should surely watch this one, and even for others, this will provide that feeling of going through that nice experience all over again. I still do wonder why some people had to get out of the theatre early and miss that final moment of revelation – are they even aware about what they missed? There are not many shows of this movie at this part of the nation because everyone knows a lot about this story, and so one should catch this Drishyam soon!

Release date: 31st July 2015
Running time: 163 minutes
Directed by: Nishikant Kamat
Starring: Ajay Devgan, Shriya Saran, Tabu, Ishita Dutta, Prathamesh Parab, Rajat Kapoor

drishyamh

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Papanasam

Posted on by

papanasam()

Vampire Owl :: We have missed two remakes of Drishyam and might miss another one after watching this movie.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, if and only if there are no more remakes of the same movie.

Vampire Owl :: I don’t think that there will be another remake as the Bollywood version is coming this month-end.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, Bollywood is the finishing line for all copies and remakes, I guess.

Vampire Owl :: Absolutely. Wait! What is the notice that you are carrying?

Vampire Bat :: It is a mandatory statement which I recreated for this movie. It says that as we have watched the original so many times and as it is the one more related to our lifestyle, it is possible that the rating which we give here might not be suitable to be compared to the oiriginal, or with any other movie which is not a remake.

Vampire Owl :: I like that statement. With this warning, we can be sure that the brainless fan-boys won’t go psycho.

Vampire Bat :: Not just the fan-boys, but also the pseudo-intellectuals.

Vampire Owl :: Yes, the judges on the other side of the river of blood who think that they are the only intelligent people on the surface of Earth. I understand.

Vampire Bat :: The statement will work as long as they read at least the beginning and the end of this review.

[Waits in the queue].

The defence of Papanasam :: Even though I had watched all these before multiple times, I felt very good, and it is the success of Papanasam. Jeethu Jospeph once again has things running well, and we can see shots of his other movie Memories when the protagonist is thinking about saving his family – another shot is from the movie Anwar. I could actually go through that wonderful feeling that I had while watching the original without losing strength at any moment. The suspense and the thrills are abundant, and there are some beautiful shots of nature too. The story of the man who tries to save his family from breaking down after an unintentional murder committed by a member out of hopelessness, goes on to work wonders once again. I am not going to go through the story again; you can read it from my review of the original at Drishyam Movie Review. Outside the review which I wrote at that time, I don’t need to say much in defence here because the story is the biggest hero and you know that plot.

Positives and Negatives :: Papanasam happens to be a remake which had a tough task to meet the quality of that amazing original. So, what we have here is a nice achievement, but unless the remake manages to come up with something special which was not there in the original, I wouldn’t consider it as good as the original. The original felt more original to me, with no bones broken during the beatings and slightly better for me as it was less brutal, less emotional and still having the same intensity. But still, if I say that one of them is better than the other, it might not do justice, which is why I am using “me” a lot. Drishyam was better for me, and I am sure that a lot of people who have watched the original and about ninety five percent of the Malayalis will think so. But from a neutral point of view, they might be the same. I did feel that the songs were just bad though. The first half was too stretchy too. I am also personally against the title change.

Soul of the movie :: Kamal Haasan was the right choice to do the role which Mohanlal did to perfection in the original. I do wonder why there was a doubt about the same – if someone had asked me, I would have told the same much earlier, despite an initial doubt about the same. But in that case, if you ask for the same about the Bollywood version, I would have chosen Aamir Khan. But that was never to happen, and Ajay Devgan and Akshay Kumar were to be my next best choices considering the need to cater to the audience. I haven’t watched many Kamal Haasan movies in the last few years, and I am glad that this is the movie which I had chosen to spend my money for. I loved his performance the most in the last few minutes, and if someone else was chosen instead of him, that would have left me not just disappointed, but angry – I can feel that.

Performers of the soul :: There is no comparison between Mohanlal and Kamal Haasan in their roles, because they have managed things in their own ways, in such a way that fault finding is not there as a property to be taken. You know when you see class, and you know the same in both these movies. Even though Gauthami was good, Meena has a slight edge over her, when we look at it without second thoughts. Niveda Thomas is undoubtedly a step ahead of Ansiba Hassan; there was a lot of emotion and power in her portrayal of the character. It is nice to see her doing this role; this should help her a lot in the future. I haven’t found such a fine performance from a very young supporting actress for a very long time. Winner of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist in Veruthe Oru Bharya has now reached this stage.

More Performers of the soul :: Esther Anil plays the younger daughter in three out of the five versions of the movie, and here also, she is so good. Bollywood should have had her in the cast too, but I guess that they were not looking for a fine proven supporting cast, but to make use of the power of the script which is always there as the winner. Esther might be the best available child actress at this time, and it has been made clear again and again. It is time to give her even more chances. Asha Sarath maintains the same intensity, just with more emotions this time, and Anant Mahadevan also becomes more emotional character compared to the sensible and stable one played by Siddique in the original. I loved Kalabhavan Shajon’s character in the original for it was balanced, but Kalabhavan Mani is rather ruthless here and it also works. Roshan Basheer also reprises his role as the bad boy.

[After the show].

Vampire Owl :: Why were those people sitting behind us comparing Mohanlal and Kamal Haasan?

Vampire Bat :: They are just clueless. They don’t know anything. Just think about how can we compare Lord Ruthven and Lord Dracula?

Vampire Owl :: Yes, both are legendary vampires with great skills, even though we are closer to Uncle Dracula – it won’t affect the quality of the performance.

Vampire Bat :: I hope that the fans won’t find our vampire comparisons offensive though.

Vampire Owl :: I am sure that those with even a small part of the brain active won’t. This is the best comparison that we can come up with because we are vampires with root-canaled fangs.

Vampire Bat :: You can never predict the living humans. If you want to predict behaviours, go and predict that of a dead human.

Vampire Owl :: I like that idea. May be we will watch the Bollywood version too.

Vampire Bat :: We have come so far. I don’t see why not.

Vampire Owl :: I shall call the whole team for that.

Vampire Bat :: Well, do that if it is even remotely possible.

Release date: 3rd July 2015
Running time: 181 minutes
Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Starring: Kamal Haasan, Gauthami, Niveda Thomas, Esther Anil, Kalabhavan Mani, Asha Sarath, Anant Mahadevan, M. S. Bhaskar, Roshan Basheer, Charle, Delhi Ganesh, Ilavarasu, Arul Dass, Sree Raam

papanasam

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Terminator: Genisys

Posted on by

terminator5 (1)

Vampire Owl: I feel the nostalgia already. Do you?

Vampire Bat: Yes, I do. It has powered today’s movie journey. There is also our favourite Dragon Lady here. This a must watch!

Vampire Owl: Let’s just watch it then!

Vampire Bat: With no hesitation. He has to be back for real this time.

[Gets the tickets with extra popcorn and Mango flavoured ice cream].

✠ This was recently posted by me at Kiagia.com where I handle the Hollywood movie reviews division: http://kiagia.com/index.php/current-film-releases-movie/890-terminator-genisys-movie-review.html

There are many types of nostalgia, but there might be nothing like The Terminator for the movie fans of the 1990s. Arnold Schwarzenegger had become a lot bigger name with the movie and its sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The success meant that there were five movies in the franchise which has now reached Terminator Genisys despite the lesser impact that its predecessor Terminator Salvation had created. Due to the never ceasing power of the franchise, Arnold Schwarzenegger had to come back and give it another push, hoping to bring back some of the lost glory, and Terminator Genisys is the product of a need and a desire.

Years after the Judgment Day and machines taking over the planet, John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the Human Resistance against Skynet hopes to end the threat from the machines with two big assaults. The first one is to attack Skynet’s main core base, and the second to destroy a time machine located hidden and away from the main base. But despite what seemed to be a defeat for the machines at the main base, a T-800 killing machine was sent back to 1984 though the time-machine to kill John’s mother, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) so that he or the Resistance wouldn’t be born. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) volunteers to go after the terminator and defend the lady.

This much is more like the expected side, as most the audience is familiar with the franchise so far, or at least until the second movie. The twist happens as the terminator as well as Kyle reaches the past. Now, in this timeline, it seems that Sarah is not someone who needs to be defended. She is already skilled with the guns and is protected by another T-800 machine called Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who has protected her right from her childhood and prepared her for what was to come. They easily get rid of the T-800 and finish off T-1000 with a trap much to the surprise of Kyle. But with this change to the past, what is it that the future has in store for them?

There are many twists in store in this movie along with the altered timeline. It is regarding Skynet and Genisys, John Connor, the working of the machines and our old T-800 model. It is more like a desperate effort to make the most out of all that is available, and the positive thing is that it is mostly successful in doing that. The problem is that it might seem repetitive, and this problem called Skynet and time travel has such big relationship that it can tire the viewers at times. The same also means that this is not simple action movie anymore and things are only prepared to get even more complicated. It is better for the intellect, but not that much for the regular fan.

Arnold Schwarzenegger still has a big fan-base even in this part of the world, and it was clear with those claps which were heard inside the theatre. Even after these many years, people still wish to watch him on the big screen, doing action roles – he has been a symbol of the genre for the common man, a lot more than Sylvester Stallone could ever be. Time has passed, and new action heroes have emerged, but as far as Hollywood is concerned, people like to stick to this man. It is the same which the movie has utilized, for Arnold and Terminator is a combination that works better than anything else, and as he does what he has always done the best, this sequel stays powered.

Game of Thrones’ own Khaleesi, the Mother of Dragons, Emilia Clarke joins him on this battle against the machines, calling him Pops and making him her own personal Guardian Angel. You have to love her in this role too; the fans certainly will. With the rest of them also contributing very well, the cast is a fine reason why you can watch this one. The movie’s biggest strength is still nostalgia, and the action sequences are nice; the plot related to the timelines also leaves us something to ponder about. There are some moments of laughter too, most of them related to Arnold himself. Yes, it is visually very good too.

The alternate timeline meant that there was more freedom here, and the advantage of having things reset is that you don’t need a real reboot or remake to continue a franchise, and a sequel will always attract more people because it is supposed to recreate a lot more rather than remake or somewhat recreate the content. Still, just like Jurassic World, this one also doesn’t manage to become the grand remake which could use all the resources to make things better than how it was with the original. It is not that we were expecting such a thing to happen, but there are people who have waited so eagerly for this movie. This is still the best you have had since Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Release date: 3rd July 2015 (India); 1st July 2015 (USA)
Running time: 126 minutes
Directed by: Alan Taylor
Starring: Emilia Clarke, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Jai Courtney, J. K. Simmons, Lee Byung-hun, Wayne Bastrup, Matt Smith, Courtney B. Vance, Dayo Okeniyi, Gregory Alan Williams, Sandrine Holt, Michael Gladis, Griff Furst, Teri Wyble, Nolan Gross

terminatorV

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.