Reviews

I Care a Lot was a movie that I had ignored initially because I mistook it to be of the drama genre tackling more sombre topics. On later realising that it was a thriller along the line of Gone Girl had me interested and then with the Golden Globe appreciation, it found itself in my watchlist.

The first part of the movie until the introduction Peter Dinklage had me genuinely disturbed, fearing for my future, my parents future. The idea that our life and how we spent our later phase of life was not entirely upto us had me really scared. With shift in dynamics with Dinklage's character, there was genuine dilemma as to support. Even though we see the evil nature of Marla, Roman is not a hero or anti-hero either. It was just two villains squaring off against each other. But after a few more minutes it was clear that movie was not going to be as grand as I expected.

Rosamund Pike and Peter Dinklage are easily what holds this movie. Rosamund Pike seems really comfortable playing characters that are inherently twisted but puts on a glossy sheen over themselves. Peter Dinklage also gives a genuinely intimidating performance. Its a marvel to see how he embraces his limitations to become a character that embodies menacing bossy villain. I would love to see him try out his range, since this seemed to be an extension of his Tyrion Lannister character.

The concept behind the movie had great potential and that is exactly was made the first part of the movie gripping, but then it seemed to end too soon without properly exploiting the characters and their capabilities.

Forbidden Kingdom is a fun project from Jackie Chan and Jet Li. It is not intended to be a classic in anyway. This is one-time off movie. This movie was released in a time when producers or the studio was not keen on building cinematic universes. I could easily see this would bee stretched thin to multiple movies leading to forbidden kingdom. Thank God, that was a simpler time.

I am not as much familiar with Jet Li's works as I am of Jackie Chan, but I am pretty sure that Jet Li went out of his comfort zone to potray the Monkey King. While the Silent Monk was right up his alley, Monkey King seemed to be more "fun" than the usual Jet Li. Eventhough this effort was noticeable, it was not so bad. Jackie Chan as usual plays to his strengths. Casting his as the drunken master was a no-brainer. The casting of Jade Warlord and the seeker was the disappointing one. To know that Donnie Yen was rejected as the Jade Emperor, broke my heart. The Seeker was sub-par to say the least. He lacked the charisma of protagonist. Meanwhile Golden Sparrow just existed.

The highlight of the movie was undoubtedly the showdown between the two masters. That long action sequence was why I decided to rewatch the movie. The dance between the two legends was a treat to see.

The action sequences are filled with wirework, the plot is not bare minimal, just enough to make it work. Watch it for fun and don't expect a classic.

The story of Anand Kumar has been bollywoodised to create the movie Super 30. If you are going to watch this expecting a true account of his trials and tribulations, then better watch a documentary. This is a Bollywood movie based on his story. There are exaggerations, drama and sacrificed romantic angles.

But the movie sells the idea with minimum hero-worshiping.Even though the final confrontation between the students and the goons might have been over the top, there is no one-man army stunts. Kudos to Hrithik for being a teacher and nothing else.

This was Hrithik's attempt at doing something he was not comfortable with, and he did it admirably. I was getting Pursuit Of Happiness vibes throughout. Never did he break into super-graceful dance moves or a pandering display of his physique. He was faithful to his role. This was probably a project that he did to convince himself about his acting skills more than anything else.

Good Job Hrithik Roshan, despite the not-so-perfect makeup you get a 30/30 for your effort.

Mayakkamm Enna is an almost honest account of the strife and tribulations that one can expect when following one's passion.

The movie sends across a lot of messages centered around the core theme of passion. The hard work, dedication, persistence and determination needed to find grounding in a passion oriented career is shown without being a burden or lecture to the viewer. At least the protagonist, Karthik had pure unrelenting emotional support from his friends, sister and wife at each juncture of his life. This may not be true in everyone's life. He had the validation of literaly being called and accepted as a "genius", despite him not finding a ground in professional photography.

The movie shows the dedication and determination in pursuing his mentor, and at the same time eking out a living by doing whatever he could do with his skills. One interesting aspect to note here is the Karthik never strays from his craft for financial well-being, Every minor job he does is related to photography, which would only hone his skills for his future. Even though it is not as practical, sends home the message that his success didn't come just because of talent, but also from his practice.

This movie is not only intended for people who is following the passion but also the people around them. Even though professionally Karthik is struggling, going through a series of ups and downs, he almost always has the support of those around him. I am sure that whatever success he is shown to get would have been even more unrealistic if it was not for the support system lead by his friend Sundar and later Yamini.

The movie, though a great one, still needs a polish. Certain characters and instances seemed jarringly wrong. The main ones that stood out were the ideal cool dad and weirdly Dhanush's sister, who in the second act undergoes an unjustified character transition into a hateful, jealous character. Not sure if its emotionally connected to Yamini's history with Sundar, but this is never explored. Personally I felt as if sister's arc could have been more cleaner and instead add a little more spice to Padmini's character which was rather bland.

I had a gripe with the ending too when Karthik wins the ICP Infinity award. But even more convenient was the presence of Mahesh. The photo shown to be nominated was the one which he has acquired from Karthik. Despite the movie making it clear that at least an year had passed after that incident (Yamini gets pregnant twice), I seemed odd that this photo was nominated. And since they were going with this story telling device, I personally feel that it would have been a better ending if Mahesh won with the stolen photo and Dhanush being a bigger man congratulating him. This would have brought the depression arc to a full circle with the idea of acceptance. The audience along with Karthik and his close ones would know that he was the winner nevertheless.

I really liked the subtle message of dating culture that Selvaraghavan nudged into the plot

It is disheartening to hear that this movie didn't get as much "traction" (uninentional pun) as the other movies that released along with this. I know that, despite seeing posters everywhere, I didn't watch this in theaters.

Kudos to Rajisha for taking up this role and delivering it with aplomb. I am not sure if she went through training for the role, but she did seem the part or at least made the audience believe in her passion for cycling. Niranjan Raju was kind of a letdown since his casting seemed to be a nepotism plug. I wish he could have trained/worked more towards his role. His fitness level seemed miles far from the competition. Even better would have been to cast someone with actual experience with track events. In addition to this, the younger leads needed some polish with their chemistry and delivery of dialogues.

But above all this stands Suraj Venjaramood with his tour de force performance that beats everything and everyone else. Barely appearing in the posters, this movie was carried by Suraj's skill. Using his shortcomings for the plot, Suraj transitioned from a doting father to a rebellious coach and then to a towering mentor with masterful ease.