Breaking Views on Joss Whedon's Avengers: Age of Ultron - Movie Review

Joss Whedon is back with the biggest real & real life 'super hero' ensemble ever in Hollywood history, the sequel to critic darling & box office juggernaut, The Avengers. SHIELD has fallen (CAP 2 & Agents of SHIELD) and the film begins with the Avengers reuniting to capture Loki's scepter from HYDRA. To avoid any such future mishaps the 'mad scientists' Banner &  Stark decide to use the scepter, befor Thor takes it back to Asgard and create Stark's pet project 'Ultron' a robot army to help them defend Earth. But as always it goes wrong and creates the AI super villain 'Ultron' voiced by James Spader. 'Ultron' is the evil version of stark himself and tsince lack a body and travels via the net, makes it even more difficult for the Avengers to handle. Adding to the woes are the 'Enhanced' twins 'Quick Silver' & 'Scarlet Witch' - the fast & the Weird one. All hell breaks loose as Ultron manages a stock of 'Vibranium' the hardest metal on earth, thing which CAP's shield is made of, and starts building his own Robot army to 'apparently' save Earth by wiping out the entire population. So how will Avengers tackle the enemy this time and save the world forms the rest of the tale.

As a film it might not quite match upto the first one, the first one was one of a kind and blew every one's mind, so it was obvious that it will be a hell of a job to even match up to that. One of the biggest flaws of the film is the Villain, which was supposed to be one of the best ever, menancing, cunning etc. If not for the outstanding job over mic by James Spader (Watch 'The Blaclist' to see the actor in action') the character would have fall flat, thanks to lack of character development. For those who are not familiar with the comic book world, this might just feel like a copy/remake of Shankar's magnum opus, 'Enthiran' .Apart from such minor flaws the film still entertains and may be more than that for Comic book fanatics.

The film is full of humorous one liners, a Marvel specialty. But unlike last time Iron Man & Hulk takes a back seat. But the scene in which they collide is awesome, a true 'every penny worthy' moment. Hawk Eye gets more screen time and punch lines this time and it worked out well too. Black Widow too gets a light thrown in to her past. We also finally gets to see 'Jarvis' in his 'bodly' form. The 'Enhanced twins' also gets their own screen time, even though it doesn't end well for one of them. The Quick Silver do gets some unique moments, but still the Bryan singer version in 'Xmen Days of Future Past' stands tall with that one iconic scene.  The film also threw snippets into the future Marvel movies like 'Black Panther' CAP 3: Civil war'  etc. The new Avengers team which as per reports will fill in for the the current team in 'Avengers: Infinity Wars Part 1' also gets teased at the end.

The action sequences are awesome. But the cinematography fails to capture the entire thing in grandeur, makes us often wonder, what the hell is happening ala Transformers like. VFX is as always top notch. Back ground score was Okay.

I n all Avengers Age of Ultron is your typical Hollywood summer blockbuster. Don't expect a 'Dark Knight', its for Comic book - Super hero movie aficionados and offers everything a Marvel movie promises.

Rating: 3.5/5




******





Spoiler






*******



The end credit scene features Thanos, once again and he is getting ready to hunt for the 'Infinity stones' all by himself, and the wait for 'Infinity Wars' begin.......

Kerala Box Office 2014 - Top Malayalam Movies

Bangalore days

Vellimoonga

Ringmaster

How Ald Are You

Peruchazhi

Sapthamasree Thaskaraha

7th Day

Ohm Shanthi Oshaana

Mr. Fraud

Rajadhi Raja

1983

Iyobinte Pusthakam

Ithihasa

Varsham,

Kaththi - Movie Review - AR Muugadoss, Vijay, Samantha

Kaththi aka Kathiressan is a petty thief, who is currently in Kolkatta State Prison. Meanwhile Jeevanandam a Kaththi look alike is spear heading the moment for farmers against corporate land grabers back home. How the paths of these two diametrically opposite characters cross forms the rest of the story.

The basic story line may not be innovative but the way an important message has been conveyed through the film both entertainingly and effectivevly is where the success of Kaththi lies in.

AR Murugadoss first of all deserves all the credits in the world for 1
1) The poerful, impactful, emotional dialogues in the film
2) Conveying the message entertainingly without being preachhy, eventhough few might feel lag/drag here and there as the movie runs close to 3 hours and is not your regular mass masala movie
3) The way the movie has been written, packaged and presented
4) and most importantly for keeping the identity of Jeevandam till the very end and not going opting gallery pleasing techniques

Now the importance of 4th point becomes more clear once you watch the movie. The Kathiresan Avatar we have seen many times, but as Jeevanandam you will get to see a never seen before Vijay. He was too good in emotional scenes, something which was not his forte, a complete down to earth character, with 0% mass/commercial elements, perhaps played for the first time by Vijay, and he comes out with flying colors [The film is a must watch for all the admirers of the actor, just for this character].

As Kathireesan Vijjay is in his comfort zone and delivers the character with typical Ilayathalapathy mannerisms and naughtiness and mass. The actors who played the old villagers were good too. Sathish as the side kick was good. Samantha really has nothing much to do, and the film didn't require a heroine in the 1st place. But thankfully the scenes between Vijay-Sam is noway irritating/boring like the scenes with Kajal in Thuppakki. Neil was okay as the villain, tried to repeat Vidyut success, but nowhere near.

Anirudh scored heavily with the background sscore, another highpoint of the movie. With the movie the songs sounds/looks good too. Cinematography was good, high points being the Coins fight scene and tunnel scene.

The film has adequate aaction and that too not over the top. There are no unnecessary punchlines either, but even the BG score or a visual with no music cant sent the theater go bezerk, thanks to ARM's intelligent craftmanship.

The highlights of the movie are
1. Press Meet
2. Coin fight scene
3. Tunnel Scene
4. Last scene with 'Yar petha mavano' in the background

In all Kaththi offfers perfect blend of mass and class which sends a very good message and is not your typical Vijay mass masala. If you have the time to invest and love Vijay the actor more than the superstar Kaththi is a must watch.

Rating: 3.75/5



Thank you for reading & if i have typed Jagadeeshan instead of Jeevandam anywhere, requesting you to read it correctly.

Sapthamashree Thaskaraha - Movie Review - Prithviraj, Asif Ali, Reenu

 

Cast

    Prithviraj Sukumaran as Krishnanunni
    Reenu Mathews as Sarah
    Asif Ali as Shabab
    Sanusha as Annamma
    Neeraj Madhav as Narayankutty
    Nedumudi Venu as Nobilettan
    Chemban Vinod
    Flower Battsetseg
    Sudheer Karamana
    Salam Bukhari

 Directed by     Anil Radhakrishnan Menon
Produced by     Santosh Sivan, Shaji Nadesan, Prithviraj Sukumaran
Written by     Anil Radhakrishnan Menon
Music by     Rex Vijayan (songs), Sushin Shyam (BGM)
Cinematography     Jayesh Nair
Edited by     Manoj Kannoth
Production August Cinema
Distributed by     August Cinema
Release date(s)     September 6, 2014
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

 

Seven Jail inmates cum cell mates who begin as strangers develops a bonding between them as they knows about each others past. Among them Krishnanuni's & Nobilettan's story is the most tragic one and once they comes to kow that both have a common enemy,  the '7' decides to take revenge, once they all get out. How will they take their revenge, will they succeed, will the 'robber' in them take over the 'cause' etc gets explained in the remaining reels of Sapthamashree Thaskaraha (Seven Gentlemen Thieves)

SST is one of the best entertainers to come from Mollywood this year. The film is a whole some entertainer. There is plenty to laugh, clap, cheer and get thrilled. The first half of the movie, which deals with flash back stories of the '7' and the hatching of initial plan, is excellent. The 2nd half where the final plan comes into being and is executed is above average. The writer do resort to 'coincidences' and takes many 'cinematic liberties' in the 2nd half which can raise questions like But, why, who etc ... But still it has been made sure to not cross the limits our insult our common sense. The post climax even though was predictable was presented well.

 Even though Prithviraj is the face of the film he is just a part of the gang and if you count the screen time and impact on viewers can be called as doing extended cameo, same as the case with Asif Ali. Its Chemban Vinod who shines through out getting most of the claps, he was Howlarious, so was Neeraj Madhav with his cute innocent expressions. Sudheer Karamana was excellent as the 'Kili Poya' Goonda. Nedumudi Venu, Prithvi, Asif, Salaam, Reenu, Sanusha were good as well. Its rarely we see a movie where every single character impresses the viewers. Dir. (Amen) Lijo Jose Pellissery was the surprise package of SST. He was too good as the jovial Priest.

 Anil Radhakrishnan who won both the National & State awards for his debut movie, this time has taken the film a notch higher. His writing too, especially in the first half, is excellent. The dialogues were too good. The Thrissur flavor, which every body generally likes, is there in plenty. Music is good, Back ground score is excellent. Cinematography, editing were okay. 

SST is a film that can be watched by any one and everyone. It entertains sans any mass or masala, over the top action, loud crass humor, double meaning dialogues etc. This festive season, let these 7 thieves steal to bring you happiness and a nice time at the cinemas. 

Verdict: Watch It !!

Rating: 3.5/5

 

 

 

Villali Veeran - Movie Review - Dileep, Namitha

 Cast: 

Dileep - Siddarthan

Namitha Pramod - Narmada

Kalabhavan Shajon, Mythily, Nedumudi Venu, Siddique, K. B. Ganesh Kumar, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Lalu Alex, Geetha Vijayan, Valsala Menon, Neena Kurup, Saju Kodiyan, Suresh Krishna, Dharmajan Bolgatty, Dinesh Panicker, Vinaya Prasad

Director: Sudheesh Sankar

Producer: R.V. Chaudhary

Music: S.A. Rajkumar

Lyrics: Murukan Kattakkada, Rafeeq Ahmed

Cinematography: Anil Nair

Editing: Jayashankar

Art Direction: Sujith Raghav

Screenplay: Dinesh Pallath

Story/Writer: Dinesh Pallath


Siddarthan lends money, runs vegetable shop etc to feed not only his family but three other families too. He is ready to do anything to keep them happy. His path often cross with Narmada an ad film make, the conflicts which slowly gives rise to romance. There is a story to why Siddarthan's father is in jail and who are the 3 families he is looking after, all of which explained in the following reels.

The film begins as a typical Dileep entertainer, but then changes rack to emotional soap like drama (the debutant director has yielded Mega Serials in the past) to revenge drama and ends up an unsatisfying, boring 'Avial'. Even most of the jokes in the initial reels falls flat, except a few from Dharmajan and Dileep. The first half can be called watchable, but the later one just test the viewers patience. It lags and drags like hell.

 Dileep is totally out of form once again nafter Avatharam and the supporting cast except Dharmajan offers nothing much. Namitha and Mythili are there for namesake. The direction was average the script was bad. There is nothing much to tell and the dialogues are flat too. Cinematography was good, editing should have been crispier. The film at about 168 mins is too long. The music is average eventhough they have been choreographed and shot well. Action choreography was also good.

'Villali Veeran' is not your regular mindless Dileep comedy mass entertainer. It is long, slow, boring and most importantly sans any good humor (both in terms of quality and quantity)

Verdict - Below Average

Rajadhi Raja - Movie Review - Mammootty, Lakshmi Rai

 Directed by     Ajai Vasudev
Produced by     M. K. Nasser, Stanly Silvester Consera
Written by     Udayakrishna, Siby K. Thomas
Music by     Karthik Raja, Berny-Ignatius
Gopi Sunder (Background score)
Cinematography     Shaji
Edited by     Mahesh Narayanan
Distributed by     Play House Release, PJ Entertainments (Europe), Nanma cinemas (Australia)
Release date(s)    September 5, 2014
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

 Cast

    Mammootty as Shekharan Kutty.
    Raai Laxmi as Radha.
    Joju George as Ayyappan.
    Siddique
    Mukesh Khanna
    Lena
    Taniya Stanley
    Nawab Shah
    Rahul Dev
    Unni Mukundan (Guest appearance)
    Shamna Kasim (Guest appearance)


 Shekharan Kutty is the manager at a Petrol pump, who also runs his own restaurant adjacent to it. He is living happily with his wife Radha and daughter. His peaceful life goes for a toes as few goons from the north enters the scene, who go after Shekharan and his family thinking he is not the simple guy who he portrays to be, instead the dreadful goon Raja from Mumbai.Who is Shekharan, who is Raja, what's their story, how all issues are settled forms the rest of the story.

The story is lifted from Rajnikanth's iconic 'Baasha' [The very same writers wrote 'Kochi rajavu' (2005) a rehash of Baasha again !!! ] but lacks the punch of the original. The film begins as a family film and shifts gears to action mode from interval block. The much talked about before release 'transformation' scene just fells flat ans instead of wolf whistles evokes yawn or (unintentional) laughter as Mammooty clearly looked uninterested in the proceedings. No matter how over the top or ridiculous the action scenes may be, the attitude of actor can make a difference, sadly here it isn't the case here. Mammootty not being a great 'mover' also had its -ve impact as he was just standing there swinging his arms and legs and the villains just comes rushing in and goes flying back.

The second half which begins with flash back sequences also fails to create the impact, Mammootty's weird Don getup also doesn't serve any good. From there own its just going with the proceedings for the audience till the end credits roll.

Ajay Vasudev shows promise as director, in the league of Vysakh. The movie has pace and there's not much of a lag or drag. The script is just rehash of rehashes and there's not even a moment of uniqueness or surprise element in it. It just evokes a sense of Dejavu and yawn. Cinematography was good, editing was efficient except mass scenes which were ruined by ages old flash cuts. Music was disappointing, a song including video lifted from 'Dookudu' and another one from a kids album. Action blocks lifted from Telugu movies like 'Brindavaanam' etc, scenes/story elements from 'Runway' 'Kanmadam' etc where also there. Action choreography was bad, should have kept the lead actor and gone with his image style and within his comfort zone. The dialogues were also ordinary as there is nothing worth mentioning.

Mammooty should stop doing such crap movies, if he looks this disinterested imagine how the viewers would be feeling. Joju impresses even though his role serves the same purpose Baburaj's role had in 'Kammath'. Rest of the cast just did what they had to, nothing worth mentioning.

In all Rajadhi Raja is not worth waiting time or money this festive season unless you are a die hard fan of Mammootty the star. To those who last week suddenly discovered some undead brain cells & 'logics' in their head, if those are still active please stay away from this film.

Verdict - Skip/Avoid

Peruchazhi - Malayalam Movie Review - Mohanlal show all the way !!!

Cast

Mohanlal as Jagannathan

Mukesh as Francis Kunjappan

Ragini Nandwani as Jessy

Vijay Babu

Baburaj as Pottakkuzhy Jabbar

Aju Varghese as Vayalar Varkey

Sean James Sutton as John Kory

Sandra Thomas

Poonam Bajwa

Shankar Ramakrishnan

Delhi Ganesh

Ramesh Pisharody

Aneesh Menon

Ashvin Mathew

John Wusah as Dup Lee

CAST

Directed by Arun Vaidyanathan

Produced by Vijay Babu, Sandra Thomas

Written by Arun Vaidyanathan,, Ajayan Venugopalan (dialogues)

Music by Arrora

Cinematography Arvind Krishna

Edited by Vivek Harshan

Production      Friday Film House

Distributed by Fox Star Studios (ROI), Friday Tickets (Kerala), Singapore Coliseum (Singapore), PJ Entertainments (Europe), Achu Achu's Creations (Australia)

Release date    August 29, 2014

Running time 154 minutes

Country India

Language Malayalam

Unable to  stand the ever growing popularity of Jaganathan & considering him to be a threat to his 'seat' Minister Francis Kunjappan when got a chance tricks and send him to the United States of America to help 'Sunny' his relative who is he campaign manager of John Kory, standing for contesting election for the Governor's post in the state of California. What happens as Jagan and his close aides Jabbar & Varkkey reaches USA forms the rest of the story. 

"Please switch off your mobile phones & logic" is the message that welcomes you into the movie, being of spoof & satire genre there can't be a better hint for things to come (Also warning note for the so called intellectuals ;-) ). ["Alcohol consumption is injurious to health, wealth etc etc... is another funny note that could be spotted in the fast moving titles].  

The titles are shown with some of the iconic dialogues of Mohanlal, which was a interesting thought. The 1st one hour of the movie went in rocket speed, with tons of laughter, Mohanlal playing it to the gallery, very well supported by Baburaj & co. Towards interval the pace slows down and the 'very long' 1st half ends on a good note. Eventhough the second half is comparatively shorter in length (felt so !) it couldn't match upto the initial one as the fun factor reduced and too many sub plots and silly twists took the fun away from the movie. But still the one man entertainment troupe fondly called 'Lalettan' binds everything together. Climax was okay, especially if you remember the 'warning note' shown first.

Peruchazhi takes a dig at the Indian Political system and our Politicians. Its a spoof / imaginary story on what happens if cultural exchange happens in the field of politics between the World's 2 biggest democracies. There is no point on applying logic in such movies, take Hollywood for eg, or even 'Tamil Padam' for that matter. Such movies are just made for fun, but where Peruchazhi suffers is that its too long, by atleast 20 mins and the fun part is missing greatly in the 2nd half. The romantic thread was completely unnecessary and weird. The item number could have been cut short and the action block in the 2nd half was not upto the mark.

Mohanlal is once again seen in all his elements, everything a fan expect from him has been cleverly incorporated which he beautifully delivered. Apart from few scenes he was looking good and energetic too. Baburaj after a small gap is back to his 'comic ways' and his combo with Lal brought the entire house down on multiple occasions. Aju had nothing much to do & Ragini event though looked gorgeous got a completely unnecessary character. Mukesh was good, but his role was limited and the much cherished, loved Lal-Mukesh magic wasn't there. Vijay Babu was very good and Ramesh Pisharody scored in what ever (limited) scenes he got. Among the foreign actors Sutton and Johnn Wusah was impressive.

Direction was average and the script wrote by Director himself lot the steam mid way. Its the actors along with Ajayan Venugopalan (Akkara Kazchakal fame)'s dialogues that made the film entertaining. Camera was good, captured USA in its glory & Editing was efficient. Music was good (but Lyrics wasn't) and the Background score simply rocked. Special kudos to Blaaze. 

In all 'Peruchazhi' is a typical LALtainer, even though it falls short of the humongous expectations the makers created pre-release. 

Must Watch for all Mohanlal fans and one time watch for others (Except those pseudo-intellectuals :p)