How To Train Your Dragon

Well, to be honest i became crazy about these animated flicks these days. I fell in love for the first time when I watched "The Lion King" some ten years ago. Then watched the toy story series, Shrek series, Ratatouille, Wall E , Up and now this " How to train your dragon". And the fun gets doubled now with the 3d effects incorporation.

Hiccup a small Viking Kid always wants to go for a raid on the dragons in their locality. But his father didn't allow to do so. One day, he wins over a mysterious night fury dragon with his invention. He calls it toothless and as expected a great friendship has begun. Hiccup understands dragons are not dangerous as they thought and he wants to show his people the truth. But fate plays the other way leading the dragons to attack them. How he befriends the other dragons and how they win the battle with the help of toothless is the story which is so beautiful to see.

These animation cinema works only when it has a great plot to back it up. Here it has and works like a charm. Technology and style don't win over the script, which is hard to perceive these days. Though it comes with a tag of 3d, deliberately nothing was shot to utilize only the technology. The effects are minimal however when required, its done with a knack to surprise us. The background score is another important aspect of an animation flick. Remember the Lion king's one? And here its amazing.

This is a simple story told with interesting characters and stunning visuals. The CG is growing leaps and bounds and the result we see in the screen. Animated flicks are no more children movies, it has more to offer with substance as well as with its visuals.

4/5- 3d,witty,stunning visuals - What else you need? grab your popcorn and hit the theater.

Up In The Air

The director of Juno comes with another exhilarating and touching message with "Up in the air". I wish more and more flicks of this kind to be made in the coming days to make watching movies a pleasant and pleasing experience.

Okey, enough of my wishes and the story goes like this. Clooney's (Ryan)job is to fly to his office's different locations and start firing the people. And he has to tackle the situtaion and keep it cool. He is not so young, giving motivational speeches and believes in not getting committed and live a smooth life. Natalie joins him in the firing job with him, however couldn't cope up with it. She finds her struggling with the job every now and then where once to her it seemed cool to fire someone. Meanwhile Ryan gets along with a 30+ Alex(Farmiga) and as time goes by he finds her irresistible. Moving away from his own principles, Ryan goes to meet Alex and the director opens a cool twist. And the movie ends with introspection of the protagonist which is nothing but perfect.

Clooney in a very different role here shines. He carries the role of a lone man with all ease, whose only wish to fly miles and enjoying in the suites offered. Farmiga deserves the oscar which she got. She is looking mysterious, beautiful, sexy and what else, she acts well.

She as the 30+ woman is the best in the flick when it comes to performances. I cant believe myself to see the same woman who got so bettered from "The Departed".

The cinematography is brilliant and has lot of scope to shoot picturesque locations from the plane and it looks great in screen. This is one of the finest movie I have seen in the recent past. This would have got the academy awards for best picture. Dialogues are witty and meaningful when required and when backed up with great on screen performance, it culminates to be a great flick to cherish.

You may not feel how strong the flick is ,however if you think after sometime, it shall sound to be a satirical note on relationships, jobs and everything else. And that's the strength of it. It just shows how small things are valued more where real relationships are not. And it's true in everyone's life. Ain't it?

Up in the Air - Time to question ourselves on how honest we are to our own principles.

Brilliantly directed movie with a story to tell and thoughts to retrospect. 5/5

This Is It

Just heard some tracks of MJ and just known a very little about him, I started

watching this flick and needless to say I am blown away. This is a very good film on

just showing the last training performance of Mj for his final concert. This doesn't show

any hard feelings or not even a word about the tragedy happened. And I think, that's the

power of the flick.

Can you make an approximate 2 hrs flick to be interesting? Yes, why not if MJ is there

performing his best. I could see, how much effort they had put in it and how much different it

would have been if it has happened in real. This is nothing to be reviewed regarding this flick.

Because no body thought or devised a script for it. And as by the old saying " Truth is stranger

than fiction" goes, the movie is a perfect example.

For MJ fans this is a flick which reads "This is it" but in real, that's not it. The glory MJ has left upon

shall still remain. For others, atleast if not a great flick, this will remain as an example on

how much effort goes behind a live concert. Period.

Rating - 3.5/5 - Indeed an offbeat flick.

The Shutter Island

Scorsese takes us to the Shutter Island, with a help of ferry in the first scene itself coupled with the haunting background score which sets the mood for next few hours. And needless to say the mood he creates is haunting, creepy and gloomy.

Ted is a US Marshall, served in second World war with his partner arrives at Shutter Island to investigate the whereabouts of a missing patient. When he starts investigating, he finds the case to be rather strange to know the missing patient Rachel just vanished without a clue. Scorsese explains this through one of his characters as " its like she just evaporated in the cell". Ted starts investigating the inmates of the mental asylum, however he finds no clue. Meanwhile he starts suffering from migraines and different type of hallucinations which he is scared of. Scorsese unfolds the story in a complicated manner, which indeed adds more and more mystery as he expected. Why he suffers hallucinations? Did he find the missing patient? Scorsese explains all these with surreal, dramatic and valiant sequences to make us accept what has really happened and to a certain extent, he did convince us.

If you think about the movies Scorsese made oflate and watch this, you would be disappointed. Having said that, if you want to see a gripping mystery unfolds in the screen with great direction. this is the one you should be looking at. Di caprio as usual excels as expected. Ben Kingsley as the chief doctor, lived his role.The movie has quite a handful of other characters, however writing about them will be spilling the beans. The cinematography is splendid, and the editing being marvelous specially in the dream sequences and the hallucinations. As i mentioned earlier, the BGM is bang on target and creates the eerie effect with ease.

On the downside, towards the end I felt though the twists and turns acceptable, it seemed too much to me. Other than that, Scorsese wins hands down in holding the suspense till the end and reveals with panache. Three Cheers for Scorsese for his innate ability to deliver with substance and style in a totally different genre this time.

Rating : 4/5 - A very clever movie indeed , gets better in multiple viewings

Paiyaa Movie Review

I never considered Lingusami as a good director in coming up with a good story line or something fresh. Its just screenplay does the trick for him. Here its a yes and no. Initially seems fresh, though wades towards the end.


Story: Without any interest in anything Karthick leads a life where his friends try to fit him into a job. On the day of interview, he sees Tamanna and fall in love with her. (Love at first sight season, I believe). Needless to say, he misses the interview and his friends start scolding him. One fine morning he goes to railway station to pick one of his friend in the car. He sees Tamanna and a person asking him to drop them on Chennai. And the story begins. He goes ahead and Lingusaami looses the knot one by one which makes interesting. A group to get Tamanna follows them and another group to finish Karthi follows them at the same time. At one point of the movie, both the group joins together and why they follow, watch it in the screen if you really want to see the flick after reading the next few passages.

Karthi and Tamanna gives a youthful feel to the movie and alas it didn't continue for a long. Karthi impresses with his performance while Tamanna is still in her kinder garden when it comes to acting! Karthi, has to grow up a lot in dance, though he tried a lot, his brawny looks make it sound awkward at times. Miland Soman though looks stylish has nothing to offer as an actor. Wasted completely.

Songs are very well penned and soothing to here. When you need a peppy number the movie offers it. However not with some intelligence, but for offering sake you are provided with a song. All the songs stand out of place with the movie. And it feels childish, whenever Karthi starts singing with lot of expressions. I don't know how long this saga of singing songs will continue.
Yuvan's BGM sounds good when there is a love sequence but damages your ears when somebody is fighting.

Mathi's cinematography feels good and gels with the movie. But too many closeup shots of almost everyone is painful to see at times except Tamanna's! Even am a guy :)Anthony fits the bill in editing.Action- Kannal Kannan sir, If you think if someone is hit with a metal rod for umpteen times and still he can fight, teach me that magic ! I wanna really beat some baddies..

Lingusami as usual tries to potray almost the same story he told in Run, Sandaokozhi with a car and a different cast. But he fails big time, in fitting a story into it, though the screenplay is somewhat paced. Paiyaa has its moments and that's it. Many times, you cant stop getting stumbled upon many of his own movies in the way it told starting from costume, name, art and what else story. That makes Paiyaa the same run of the mill. Lingusami thinks he can give a movie with a decent cinematography, good songs and few intense scenes and that's what people need, sorry sir its is not. What it basically lacks is a script and a strong screenplay to back it up. Paiyaa fails in both the cases.

Verdict: Paiyaa - Starts with a refreshment, wades in the middle slowly and ends with a sigh.

Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya - Movie Review

With many expectations like Gautam Menon and AR Rehman's new combination and the knack for romance which Gautam has and delivers in each of his flicks, I went to see this. Result: Certainly i am way too satisified with the movie. It exceeded all my expectations and apparently it lived upto its hype.

Story: Karthick(simbhu) falls on love with Jessy (Trisha) when he sees her for the first time. ( A typical GM's love start)Jessy is from an orthodox christian family while Karthick hails from a hindu family who aspires to be a director. As a golden rule in Tamil cinema's love, religion, father and every possible thing which comes to your mind put their love in disguise. And the story unfolds showing whether they have joined hands or left apart with an interesting climax.

Performances: Simbhu has done a very nice underplay here and he shines. I always believe there is no such thing called a "good actor". Its all the director who pulls the talent out of an actor. And Gautam shows he is an expert in this in the form of Karthick's role.Trisha though looks pretty aged, blows us with her performance. She portrays a girl's emotions and the challenges which she undergoes with all finesse. Ganesh who comes as a friend of Karthick gets more applause than anyone when he utters those quirky remarks.

Music: The world knows why Rahman is a genius. But at certain times, the music which has the upper hand sometimes suppresses the beautiful, poetic lyrics by Thamarai. Other than that Rahman tries fusing traditional Indian vocals with an awesome guitar play in Aaromale which is nothing short of a classic. Omana Penne, Manippaya gets better while watching on screen. Hosana is this year's Adiye Kolludhe! Its refreshingly new.

Cinematography and Art: This guy simply blows away. Gautam shows his life he wanted to put on the screen through the lens' of this guy. A cinematographer or art director shouldn't be praised for his individual elements and tricks he employs in the movie. What matters is, even if its simple, how it gels with the flick really matters to me. in that sense Manoj and Raajevan win hands down. The choice of colors they used makes it simple but elegant in the screen.

Editing: Antony should have been generously cut some 15 minutes of scenes in the second half as it spoils the flow of the flick.

On the down side, songs were not in sync with the movie. Only when Aaromale and Mannipaya you feel a certain connectivity with the movie. Other songs though they feel good to hear, however doesn't go with the story. Being a little dragged during second half and songs every 10-15 minutes certainly spoils the movie's flow to an extent.

But of late I didn't witness any honest story straight from the director like this. How frequent we come across a dialogue or a BGM playing in the movie make us getting goosebumps? The climax scene while trisha shaking hands with Simbhu and the Mannipaya playing in the background did bring me goosebumps. And this is why i like movies. When you feel for the character or you think yourself as a certain character, the director wins. And so Gautam Menon. Period.

Forget the minor flaws(which can be corrected by crisp editing) and whining about it.Watch a great, simple and honest love story with hurdles which they overcome being the ones you watched umpteen times in other movies but with a soul to it in VTV and with a different treatment.

Verdict: VTV has a soul!

தமிழ் படம் - திரை விமர்சனம்

ஹ்ம்ம் தமிழ் படம் mysorela ரிலீஸ் ஆகவே இல்ல . உடனே காவேரி பிரச்சனயானு கேட்கதேங்கே.என்னமோ பெரிய ஹீரோ படம் மட்டும் தன ரிலீஸ் ஆகுது. சரி ஊருக்கு போயிட்டு பாத்தேன். சும்மா சொல்ல கூடாது. Shiva பின்னி பெடல் எடுத்துட்டாரு. பச்சை பிங்க் வெள்ளை தமிழன்... ஹ்ம்ம் ஒன்னும் சொல்றதுக்கு இல்ல. விஜய் மேல என்ன கடுப்போ தெரியல. வச்சு கிழிச்சுட்டாங்க. கதை எல்லாம் நான் டைப் பண்ண டைம் இல்ல. மொக்கை கதைதான் ஆனா சொன்ன விதம் புதுசு. Shiva Chennai 28la " அண்ணி குழந்தை அதுவாத்தான் அழுகுது அண்ணின்னு சொல்ற சீன் அவரு எப்படி பட்ட நடிகர்னு காட்டிச்சு. அதே மாதிரி சரோஜவுல " அண்டா வாயன்னு" நம்ம பிரேம்ஜி சொல்லுவாரு. இந்த படத்துல இன்னும் ஒரு படி ஏறி நம்ம காப்டின விட எல்லாம் பயங்கரமா யோசிச்சிருகாறு.

நம்ம செல்வராகவன் இப்படி படம் எடுத்திருக்கலாம். அத விட்டுட்டு சோழர் பண்டியர்னு history கிளாஸ் எடுக்க ட்ரை பண்ணி மொக்கை வாங்கிருகாறு. இத படிச்சிட்டு Vettaikaran படம் பாக்கிறவனுக்கு ஆயிரத்தில் ஒருவன் புடிக்காதுன்னு
சொல்ற Hitchcock , Kubrick எல்லாம் first என்ன கதை சொல்றோம்ரத விட்டுட்டு எப்படி கதை சொல்றங்காத தமிழ் படம் பார்த்தே தெரிஞ்சிக்கலாம். Selva மாதி English படம் பாக்க தேவை இல்ல.

Goa - Tamil Movie Review

தமிழ் படம் mysore la ரிலீஸ் ஆகாத காரணத்துனால Goa ku போனேன். கோவால படம் ரிலீஸ் அச்சானு கேட்டு மொக்கை போடதேங்க. Mysore la தான் goa ku போனேன். இப்படிதான் வெங்கட் பிரபுவும் படு மொக்கையா போடுறாரு படத்துல.

ஆனா முதல் சீன்லையே சரோஜா மாதி ஒரு எதிர்பாராத opening கொடுத்து அசத்துறாரு. படம் நம்ம பழைய trouser, captain , sarath kumar படங்க்ள போல ஸ்டார்ட் ஆகுது. Premji தெய்வக்குழந்தையாம். அவரு எப்படி பிறந்தாருனு ஒரு flashback வேற. Jai இங்கிலிஷ் செம. example - Two coffee please - One no Sugar, One Yes Sugar. :) அடுத்து நம்ம vaibhav. இவரு எல்லா பொண்ணுங்களையும் correct பண்ணிறாரு. எப்படினு ஜெயும் பிரேம்ஜியும் தெரியாம முழிக்கிறாங்க. இதுக்கு நடுவுல நம்ம பண்ணையார் Vijayakumar இந்த மூணு பேறும் காப்பு கட்டுனதுக்கு அப்பறம் theniku படம் பாக்க போன்னதள காசு வெட்டி போட்டு மூன்று குடும்பமும் பெசகுடாதுன்னு சொம்ப தூக்கிட்டு தீர்ப்பு சொல்றாரு. இதனால tensionana மூணு பேறும் கோவில்ல அம்மன் சிலைய திருடிட்டு மதுரைக்கு போறாங்க jai frienda பாக்க. Maduraiiki போனா jai friendku ஒரு foreign பொண்ணோட கல்யாணம் ஆகுது . எப்டின்னு கேட்டா கோவாவுல வேலை பாக்கும் போது இந்த foreign பொண்ணு அவர உண்மையா காதலிச்சதால கல்யாணம் பண்ணிட்டேன்னு சொல்றாரு . இதுல நம்ம heroesku என்ன கடுப்புன்னா நம்ம jai friend ரொம்ப அழகானவர் . ( காதல் படதுலவர அழகான ரெண்டு பேர் படத்துல நடிக சான்ஸ் கேட்டு வரமாதிரி ) உடனே கட்டுனா Foreign பொண்ணத்தான் கட்டுவேன் , நம்ம அழகுக்கு என்ன குறைச்சல் நு Premji &co goa கேளம்புரங்க .

இதுவரைக்கும் படம் ஜெட் speedla போகுது . எல்லா பழைய பட லாஜிக்கையும் தாறுமாறா போட்டு தாக்குறாங்க.


Goa ku போண நம்ம பசங்க என்ன எல்லாம் பண்றங்க்ரத screenla பாருங்க . Premji படம் fulla கண்கள் இரண்டால்னு தலைய ஆடிட்டு இர்ருக்காறு. Premji English கத்துகிறதும் , அவரோட girl friend தமிழ் கத்துகிறதும் ultimate.comedy(Autograph) Cheran இத பாத்தா ஏன்டா மாநு அழுக அரம்பிசிருவாறு . இதுக்கு எல்லாம் நடுவுல Jai love story, Vaibhav மொக்கைனு படம் எல்லா பக்கமும் போகுது . Aravind six packla வறாரு . Sampath ஒரு மொக்கை rolela ஒரு மொக்க accentla பேசுறாரு . Gay couplesa பத்தி வர comedy சுத்த போர் . கொஞ்சம் seriousa சொல்லி இர்ருகனும். Interval முடிஞ்சதுக்கு அப்பறமும் மொக்கை போட்டு கொல்றாங்க . பல இடங்கள சிரிகவச்சலும் படம் எங்க போதுன்னு தெரியாம முழிச்சிட்டு இருந்தேன் . இதுக்கு நடுவல 15 minku ஒரு பாட்டு வேற . கடைசி அர மணி நேரத்துல ஸ்னேஹா வந்து comedy பண்றாங்க . Vaibhav - Sneha scenes ரசிக்கவைக்குது . கடைசி அரமணி நேரத்துல கதை சொல்ல try பண்ணி மொக்கை வாங்கி இர்ருக்காறு Venkat Prabhu. ரெண்டு பாட்டு நல்லா இர்ருக்கு . Re recording சுமார்தான் . Cinematograhy ஓகே.

Venkat Prabhu பழைய படங்க்ள கலைகிறத கதையோட நகத்தி கைதட்டல் வாங்குறார் . மத்தபடி Chennai 28, Saroja வ கம்பர் பண்ண கதை சொன்ன விதம் படு மொக்கை ( கதைன்னு ஒன்னு இர்ருகுனு நீங்க நம்புனா , நான் நம்பல).

+ ப்றேம்ஜீன் கண்கள் இரண்டால் , தெய்வ குழந்தை ப்லஷ்பக் , புலி உறுமுது fight ( ஆமா விஜயையும் விடல ), வெங்கட் பிரபு வோட மாறாத natural sense of humour

- everything else

ரொம்ப யோசிக்கமா 2.5 மணி நேரம் சிரிக்க போலாம் . Venkat Prabhuvum ரெண்டு ஹிட் கொடுப்பேன் , முனைவது கண்டிப்பா மொக்கை தான் டைரக்டர் லிஸ்ட்ல சேருகிறார் .:)