Poda Podi

 STR once again hits the screen with a beautiful romantic flick this time for Diwali . Atleast tats what everyone thought when they first saw the trailer . But My god I was disappointed when I saw the movie . When the songs were released , I was so enthralled by it that I was sure that the movie will run for the songs alone . Every song was crisp and new to hear with the usual techno beat and melody mixed up here and there , thanks to Dharan Kumar of Paarijatham fame.

 













Story , well how to explain this , hmmmmm...Bcos As far as i understood it is a love story between two charectors who have a major culture shock between them . Simbu is the goody goody Tamil guy who is very traditional ( hard to believe huh ;-D ) and thereby wants his lover /future wife to be the same . But , his girlfriend ( Varalaxmi Sarathkumar )is a independent Tamil girl born in London . She is raised by her guardian  Shobana who , makes it a point to stress that independent nature is important for a girl.Even from the first when they both fall in love , Simbu hates her Dance or to be exact the added benefits of dance class which includes Mojo , the partner who simbu feels , touches her in intmate places in the name of dance . And the friends she acculmulates thru the class who are over -'touch'-friendly to her .

Varalaxmi Sarathkumar

Salsa is supposed to be hard and too complex . I was scared how they are going to portray it on screen , that too with such a figure less actress . Thank god she did not to try to do salsa in any sequence . Just some weird poses that we are supposed to think is practice for salsa ..Psssh!!! ...

So coming back to the story , Nisha's (heroine ) goal  to participate in ' Lets Dance' and to become the ultimate winner is momentarily disturbed by simbu's devious tactics to stop her from going to the classes . Little fights emerge and finally a big blown fight and then vola , they get back together again to get married ?? Ya right . So after marriage simbu gets outraged that Nisha stills continues  her dance . So he comes in with another huge brainstorm of getting her pregnant and having a baby . Interval ..Phew huh :D

After Nisha comes to know of Simbu's narrow minded idea she storms of and loses her child in a accident . Poor baby , I don t know what he did to suffer in the hands of such a director :D. And the story goes on with Nisha going to stay with her guardian again saying that she doesn't want to see Simbu at all. Simbu convinces her somewhat and gets her back to the apartment , but again the same problem of dancing with Mojo raises again . Simbu's repeated insinuations finally makes Nisha guilty that she and Mojo breaks up as dancing partners. Now Nisha is in need  of a dancing partner for her Salsa performance . Who else , Simbu comes in :D. He practices like hell and in 15 days becomes the best salsa dancer and they both win the first prize in Lets Dance . If that had been the story I would have fallen down ,laughing  at the ridiculousness of it . Thank god the director wasn't that dense .

The supposed SALSA Performance :D

Instead Simbu fails miserably in the dance performance , judges berate Nisha and agrees to give her another chance provided that she comes back in with a new partner . Crestfallen Nisha asks Simbu what needs to be done . In comes the " KUTHU DANCER " of chennai stlye . Simbu says that this dance is much more powerful than Salsa and proves it in the final performance (Only part of the movie I really enjoyed ) . But in the end Nisha drops a bombshell saying that the competition is not yet over as they still have 14 more rounds to go . Simbu's mouth falls opens in astonishment and the end credits roll , with a few of the audience running out the theaters screaming for their life :D.

Cute ganesh ji with his cute pair in the movie 

So tats about the story . Now can you please tell if you were able to feel any kind of romance in the above mentioned plot . No , right .That is what was lacking entirely in the movie . It feels entirely messed up that you start to wonder whether its the editor's fault or the director .

Shobana

Simbu's perfomance is the only breather in the movie . Cinematography and dacne skills of him had also strengthened the movie to some extent. Varalaxmi was ok to look but her acting talents were really surprising for the first movie. Comedy track was by Ganesh ji of VTV fame. He comes in weird hairstyle and tries to his extend , but  I think without Santhanam to back him up , he has faired only well. ' Love pannalama , vendama ...' song looks really good with Simbu's quirkys steps and awesome cinematography   

Guest Appearence - Ganesh , Santhanam, Simbu , Premji, Robert (left to right)

One or two dialogues earns a few lazy claps from the Fans here and there . Apart from that , the movie was totally cruel . Dont waste ur time and money in going to theatres .Wait for it and you will enjoy the movie in TV for Pongal for sure ;-)

Verdict : 7/10

Regards
Ram.

Thupaaki

Ilayathalapthy is back with a bang . This time the ball which was hit and hoped to be a sixer has definitely gone out of the grounds instead of the expected catch :D . Ok so enof of the metaphors , coming back to topic, Thupaaki is beautifully sculptured movie , thanks to AR Murgadoss , with slick and stylish looking hero in it . After the most anticipated 7 am Arivu , which was expected to be a major blockbuster fell on its face , Thupaaki was banking mainly on Ilayathalapthy Vijay to make it big . But as soon as the movie starts you will realise that ARM has made sure that its not going to be the case from the first scene of the movie .

Even from the beginning , the story picks up slowly with a beautifully introduction of Vijay in Milatary attire , A beautiful intro song with graceful steps, and a family reunion with a light touch of romance which comes in the form of girl seeing ceremony . Followed up with a enticing song of ' Antarctica.. ' song with rich visuals of Kajal and Vijay's Cute expressions. Then the story really picks up . What starts as a initial blast in a bus , makes Jagathish suspect to a bigger plot in the back ground  .Thus the story picks up the pace with fast paced action and an enthralling story with Jagathish sporting around a cool demeanor whatever the situation seems to be .

The interval scene where they take down 12 guys simultaneously is absolutely adrenaline pumping and a different one in Tamil cinema.Quite awesome to look to . After the interval , I expected the pace to slow down a little bit as it happens in most of the movies , but my god I was blown away . Because until now we would just have seen Jagathish's  planning and Intelligence , but now in comes the head of the terrorist group Vidyut Jamal , with his awesome physique , and not to mention an equally sharp brain that counter acts Vijay's intentions. The pitting of brains between two masterminds could have been shown a little more in detail but you will get a glimpse of it only once in the movie . But it still has come out satisfactory .



The film goes on with both masterminds tying to outsmart each other and finally ending in a epic climax fight and awesome one liners from Vijay :D. .

Coming To Ilayathalapathy Vijay . Look wise he had always satisfied viewers with colorful dressing and cheerful talks . But in thupaaki his wardrobe is completely stylish even to the tip of his hair . I mean you could feel the difference in each and every scene of the movie . You will be seeing a completely different Vijay when compared to his previous films especially , his body language which is  absolutely mind blowing . The grace with which he delivers the dialogue with the correct baritone of richness and wealth is certainly awe inspiring . Especially the scene where he tells a short story of a military soldier . I assure you , it really would make your hair to stand on its end.

Dance , there is no need for any explanations .Because when it comes to dance Vijay rocks the floor in Tamil Cinema. His movements are simple and graceful in ' kutti puli ...' and stylish and graceful and a little complex like hell in ' Aleka Aleka ..' with cool movements in the most famous ' Google Google ..' .Anatrtica is all about the expressions and cuteness of the chemistry between Viajy and Kaajal . While Vennilave is the usual romance song in mountains with a cool step now and then .

Aleka aleka ....

Kaajal Agarwal looks breezy and delectable right from scene one . I mean she looks so lovely on screen that one wonders how it would be to meet her in real life .She has been given a good scope in the movie which she had utilised well. Although her voice dub does have a manly touch to it ..don t know why ...

Comedy track has been carried off by Satyan and Jayaram and off course with Vijay and Kajal doing their part .Although they are not stomach splitting timings like santhanam's , it does give one a breather from the storyline.

Jagathish and his sis 

Santosh Shivan's camera is absolutely rocking and acts as a major strength to the movie .Especially in the scenes where you will be able to see shadows travelling inside a dark room from a car light from outside and also the clarity when Vijay speaks to another Police officer during nighttime on the roof top. Hats off to him .

Jagathish and his family

 Harris Jayaraj has given his usual peppy tune to all of his songs . Especially Google Google song will be bread taking to hear and listen. Not to mention Ilayathalapathy himself had sung the song . I loved it to core as soon as I heard it :D. I was expecting the " Intha padalai paadiyavar ungal Vijay " when the song was running on the screen but was disappointed when I didn't t get one . Although BGM could have been made a little more interesting . It fell too flat compared to the pace of the movie .

Vidyut Jamal

Dialouges are really good in the movie and doesn't fall flat mainly Becos of Vijay's perectly timed delivery and the right place to keep the dialogues, thanks once again to ARM . Especially 'Uyira edukura avanga uriyara koduka thayara irrukum bodhu ....Uyira kaapatha ninakira naame en uyir koduka yosikanum  ...' There are a lot of dialogues in the movie which makes a tribute to miltary Soldiers who work and toil 11 months a year in the border whose only hope is to make their country and families safe .Who get to visit only for 40 days but are happy to go back once againg to serve for the country . ' Poi vara va ..' song in the end is absloutely heart touching as it explains the feeling and emotions beautifully in the movie.

The movie has made another milestone like Ghilli and Pokkiri did in Vijay's carreer . It will act as a measuring scale now for his future movies , thats for sure

Google Google 

Overall ARM has given a beautiful entertainer for this Diwali 2012 and which serves as a treat not only for Vijay Fans but also for everyone .Dont miss it ..

Rating : 9.2/10

Regards
Ram.

Ice Age 4 - Continental Drift

The famous Trio is back ...And this time they are facing a major Crysis , again right at their Doorstep . Manny , Sid and Diego , the Queer pack/herd they are , live peacefully in their land . When suddenly the ever famous guy "SCRAT" the sabretooth squirrel messes everything up again.

Scrat in the opening scene...

His love for the Acorn initiates an unimaginable apocalypse from which Manny has to save himself and his family . But disastrously they get seperated and the Herd is off again on an awesome adventure while floating on a Ice .Manny asks Ellie and everyone to move to the land bridge where they will be safe from the moving land mass once they are on the other side of the land. Peaches has grown into a beautiful teenage girl whose hormones are pumping are on the verge which attracts her to disaster all the time.Along with her friend Louis , a molehog she explores the area and finally gets a huge crush on Ethan .Due to which at one time she is forced to say that freindship with Louis was just a sham . Louis hears this and goes off hurt . But finally Peaches realises that friendship is the higher than some stupid feeling .

Louis and Peaches

A new charector emerges as Sloth/ Sid's family . Sid's mom , dad and Bro unceremoniously dumps Granny on Sid and pushed off to unkonwns..Granny forms the best comedy in the movie and is responsible for the huge help she and her " imaginary " Pet named ' Precious' provides at the climax of the movie. (Dont want to spoil the suprise there huh.)

Diego and Shira

The trio who gets cast off into the ocean are picked up by Sea pirates which include a Overgrown Ape "Gigantopithecus " as the Leader " GUT". A rabid Rabbit (Squit) , A female Sabretooth Called Shira,  and Sea animal  plus some guys who have been rescued from the sea and forced to work for Gut as payback. Manny and the gang somehow drowns the pirate gang's ship and escapes off in a raft with Shira as their prisoner

Hyrakes

.Finally when they reach a island they meet the localites of the Island ,  A group of Hyrakes..Gut uses them for slave labour and Manny devises a plan with them to steal the ship from Gut and finally succeeds . Just as Manny reaches Land bridge he finds out that Gut has beat him to it . And now the final battle between the two gangs take place with Finally Gut succumbing to the sirens. Manny and all the other animals move of a new land ,Sid finds a false teeth for granny and Diego and Shira becomes a couple and everyone lives happily ever after . 

Gut , The Sea Pirate

Of course Scrat who was following a map which leads to a treasure trove of Acorns finally finds the Island which is depicted as the same as that of Lost city of Atlantis ( SCRATLANTIS) . But intstead of being happy there , Scrat's obsession again forces him to lose everything and Scrat is found in a desetred desert where he shouts his lungs out as the movie's credits roll.

•  Ray Romano as Manny 
• John Leguizamo as Sid
• Denis Leary as Diego
• Queen Latifah as Ellie
• Seann William Scott as Crash
• Josh Peck as Eddie
• Jenifer Lopez as Shira
• Wanda Sykes as Granny

The entire movie is an absolute blast . Even Sid and Rooney from the 3rd part  makes an appearence  in the initial part of the movie when Scrat falls off into the core of the earth.

Lopez voicing for Shira

Wanda Sykes for Granny

This is the first sequel that was not directed by Carlos Saldanha who had done all the previous movies of Ice Age . Maybe thats why one could see something lacking in this movie when compared to its predcessors. I mean , the Dawn of the Dinosaurs was the best of the best in the series. 

The humour and creativity which was captured there in that movie was somehow lacking in this one .You somewhat have the unsatisfactory feel when the movie 

finally ends. Well atleast I had that . But one can t complain that the movie wasn'st entertaining enough . Bcos it sure as hell was the best . Ice Age Rocks !! And fans of the series are going to love their favourite heroes on screen again ...

Rating : 8.2/10

Regards

Ram.

Christopher Nolan's goodbye letter to The Batman Trilogy.

This was from the foreword of the The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy book:

Alfred. Gordon. Lucius. Bruce . . . Wayne. Names that have come to mean so much to me. Today, I’m three weeks from saying a final good-bye to these characters and their world. It’s my son’s ninth birthday. He was born as the Tumbler was being glued together in my garage from random parts of model kits. Much time, many changes. A shift from sets where some gunplay or a helicopter were extraordinary events to working days where crowds of extras, building demolitions, or mayhem thousands of feet in the air have become familiar.

People ask if we’d always planned a trilogy. This is like being asked whether you had planned on growing up, getting married, having kids. The answer is complicated. When David and I first started cracking open Bruce’s story, we flirted with what might come after, then backed away, not wanting to look too deep into the future. I didn’t want to know everything that Bruce couldn’t; I wanted to live it with him. I told David and Jonah to put everything they knew into each film as we made it. The entire cast and crew put all they had into the first film. Nothing held back. Nothing saved for next time. They built an entire city. Then Christian and Michael and Gary and Morgan and Liam and Cillian started living in it. Christian bit off a big chunk of Bruce Wayne’s life and made it utterly compelling. He took us into a pop icon’s mind and never let us notice for an instant the fanciful nature of Bruce’s methods.

I never thought we’d do a second—how many good sequels are there? Why roll those dice? But once I knew where it would take Bruce, and when I started to see glimpses of the antagonist, it became essential. We re-assembled the team and went back to Gotham. It had changed in three years. Bigger. More real. More modern. And a new force of chaos was coming to the fore. The ultimate scary clown, as brought to terrifying life by Heath. We’d held nothing back, but there were things we hadn’t been able to do the first time out—a Batsuit with a flexible neck, shooting on Imax. And things we’d chickened out on—destroying the Batmobile, burning up the villain’s blood money to show a complete disregard for conventional motivation. We took the supposed security of a sequel as license to throw caution to the wind and headed for the darkest corners of Gotham.

I never thought we’d do a third—are there any great second sequels? But I kept wondering about the end of Bruce’s journey, and once David and I discovered it, I had to see it for myself. We had come back to what we had barely dared whisper about in those first days in my garage. We had been making a trilogy. I called everyone back together for another tour of Gotham. Four years later, it was still there. It even seemed a little cleaner, a little more polished. Wayne Manor had been rebuilt. Familiar faces were back—a little older, a little wiser . . . but not all was as it seemed.

Gotham was rotting away at its foundations. A new evil bubbling up from beneath. Bruce had thought Batman was not needed anymore, but Bruce was wrong, just as I had been wrong. The Batman had to come back. I suppose he always will.

Michael, Morgan, Gary, Cillian, Liam, Heath, Christian . . . Bale. Names that have come to mean so much to me. My time in Gotham, looking after one of the greatest and most enduring figures in pop culture, has been the most challenging and rewarding experience a filmmaker could hope for. I will miss the Batman. I like to think that he’ll miss me, but he’s never been particularly sentimental.

Regards

Ram

The Dark Knight Rises :

The most expected movie of the year . Was it really worth it . HELL YES it was . The Dark Knight Rises is another one of Nolan's Epic creations. This time there is more than an hour of IMAX shots when compared to Dark Knight which had only about 28 min.Oohh , yes . It has to experienced in IMAX to see the real depth in the shots . Thanks to Prasad's multipex , Hyderabad ...I was able to see the movie in IMAX .

For those of you who needs a better picture of wat IMAX in Dark Knight Rises is, check out this link " http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/movies/how-the-dark-knight-rises-makes-use-of-imax.html?_r=2&smid=fb-share "

Christopher Nolan with IMAX camera

To put it simply . IMAX shots will look like a FULL HP (1080p) picture while the ordinary scenes wud look like its running in 720p or less. People who watch a full HD video in a CRT and Full HD screen will know the actual diffrence . Ok So enough about IMAX. Lets come to the movie ,


The story opens with an awesome stunt where Bane ( Villain of the movie ) hijacks a Physicst from mid air . Mind blowing sequence . That too with an Imax camera was a complete WOW. I don t want to give out the entire story and spoil the fun . But the movie does have it its WOW , AWEOSME , COOL moments . 

Batman  Vs Bane

Like when The bat bike turns with the wheels toppling over and rotating on its own axis to make the 90 degree turn , and when Bruce starts his lamborghini aventador and rolls from his home . And the new Bat Jet which comes into play . My god ..So Cool. 

The story gives the feel where you are looking at a advanced version of The Batman Begins .Becasue as one may remember Batman Begins was all about finding the true thing within you . Dark Knight was slightly different from it and concentrated more on Cool Gadgets and of Course the Legendary Joker Charector done by Heath Ledger . While the Dark Knight Rises is back to where Bruce must find the inner courage to fight against impossible odds. Although the stunts were huge and breadth taking , the movie concentrated only on charectors and the story . 

Heath Ledger of Dark Knight

Chritsian Bale takes his role once again Batman / Bruce Wayne .And has done a remarkable performance . 
Anne Hathway as Catwomen , or Cat burglar u might say . Bcos throughout the movie they refrain from using the name of Catwoman . Don t know why ??..Joseph- Gordon Lewitt comes as Officer Blake and ends up as Robin at the last part of the movie.Morgan Freeman once again as Mr. Fox , Gary Oldman as  Commissioner Gordon , Michael Caine as Alfred , the Ever loyal Butler who has done a remarkable role in the movie and Tom Hardy as bane .

Tom Hardy as BANE

Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox

Anne Hathway as Selena Kyle/ Catwoman

Joseph- Gordon Lewitt as Blake

Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon

Satyam Cinemas has a remarkable Symbolic presentation for the Dark Knight Rises in their Parking lot . Pretty cool . Hats off to them ..

SATYAM CINEMAS, Chennai

 Whats a good movie without Hans Zimmer's Epic Music Score of Dark Knight and Inception fame. The music inspires , thrills and makes us to experience the intensity of the movie beautifully . Hats off to him . He has also praised A.R.Rahuman in his credits for composing the score . Awesome news huh.

The epic conlcusion to the triology really hasnt let any of us down . It was expected to be a block buster and it definitely is one . A movie which is worth watching each and every penny u pay for a ticket. Don t ever miss it. 


Rating : 9.8 /10


Regards
Ram

Billa 2 :

Massu , gethu , thala da...For those guys who went to see the movie in that state came back out of the theatre with " Ok , than la  ....not as Billa 1 ...Ajith kaaga paarkalam " ..If thats the case even for Ajith fans , then what will the genral reaction of ordinary people who came to chill out for a movie in their weekends , will be ?? . Have to say that they left with a bad taste in their mind . 

The film starts with a awesome Shanking fight sequence where Ajith takes down 7-10 guys with just a small piece of blade/knife.Its absolutely mind blowing and as he fires the gun the title starts. Reminds u of something na ...007 :-)...The same style ..Ya. the title sequence is good and thrilling to look with super cool BGM of Yuvan . Next comes the introduction of thala . And another fight sequence where the events starts to initaite like the fall of dominoes. The first two fights are the best in the movie . Brutal and fast , It shows a hint of the true nature of David.

Inital Fight ...Shank 

Story slowly takes David to big gangsters and land lords and thats it . I mean thats the whole story . After that the film is a mess  of mumbo jumbo . No logic , no attention to detail . I was like a story being told by a 10 yr old kid. Looked stupid .If Billa was all about Ajith walking in SLow mo in a suit with grey background , then Billa 2 is Ajith turning and shooting every one with his gun . I mean seriously , It looks cool one time but does it need to be shown again and again. 

Ajith in Heli

And slowly yet again you start to get bored after some time and ache for the end card of the movie so that you can get home and hit ur bed . The second half was so poorly stuctured from first to last that it looks so boring . Only thing worth watching in the second half is the " Unakkulle Mirugam " song which looks really good and the final sequence where Ajith Hangs from the helicopter . 

Hats off to that for Ajith . Finally when the end card does come u r just happy that its finally over and you can go home .

Vidyut Jamal looks awesome and exhibits a superb martial arts stunt as his intro . But after that he just goes around donning glasses and long trench coats to prove that he is a Russian ..

Vidyut Jamal

Bruna Abdullah

Bruna Abdullah of I hate luv story and Desi Boyz fame was used poorly in the movie and so was Parvathi Omanakuttan . I mean she did bag the title of Miss India World at 2008 . But when it comes to acting she fails miserably . A major let down. Looks lanky and can t even imagine why that charector was introduced in the story . Absolute waste of screen time . 

Parvathi Omnakuttan

Chakri Toleti of Unnaipol Oruvan really was out of elment here...

Chakri Toleti

I mean they really could have made it mind blowing ..I mean all the movie was missing was some logics here and there  . If it was a masala movie then no need to look for that . But when it comes to a serious movie , that too of such fame , it should have been done with a little more caution . Dialogues are really good one liners . But when Ajith goes on sprouting them it jus feels so scripted . And the one which was missed the most in the movie was the classic cool look which was in Billa 1. I mean the way Ajith says " I am Back " alone was enough to carry on the movie. 

They could have really tried a little more . Like the evolution of the name . Like the first time he actually gives out the name . "Billa ....David Billa " . That was missing. The first time he dons a suit . Not there .Why he starts killing from small age  ???. If you remember correctly there comes a line where they say Billa Works alone all the time . But here he goes around having his friend with all the time ?? I mean , didn t they think of that .Alteast they coud have given a reason as to why he started distrusting everyone around him. Not there .
When it comes to taking a prequel u need to know what really happend in Sequel in order to give that a complete look. The only thing they did correctly was introduing Rahuman as Jagathish . Thank god , they atleast thot of that . Phew.

So finally it all comes down to this :If you are a Ajith fan , U will be able to enjoy the movie . If not please avoid it ....

 Rating  : 5.5 /10

Regards 

Ram.

Naan E

An awesome movie from the start , Naan E ( Eega ) impresses audience from age group of 5-50. Excellent story line , beautiful picturisation and screenplay and marvellous creativity + whooping grahichs sums up the whole movie...Sadly the music and background score is not upto the mark .

What impressed me form the start is the way the they have imagined the difficulties a fly may face . I mean who would have thought that a simply fly goes thru such difficulties every day . I was skeptical when i heard that story first but once the movie started i was completely drawn into it. I was sure that the movie was going to be a poor imitation of "BUG's life  " or Bee of hollywood . But Raja Mouli has proved that even Tollywood can do Visual Effects that parallel A Hollywood movie . The graphics was really breadthtaking and excellent to look that after the initial effect I really thought that a Real Fly has acted in the movie ..

Thank god they haven t provided a voice over for the fly or else the movie woud have been such a joke for sure . Samatha looks absolutely gorgeous in the movie ..But at some places she sure lacks some acting ...Nani comes only for first 20 min in the movie and for the rest of the movie he is present in the form of  Naan E...


Sudeep has done a remarkable role in the movie. There was a lot of action for him which I think he had utilised to the limit . He looks awesome in the movie ( Looks + acting ).

Santhanam with same kaatu poochi get up :-)

Santhanam enters into the movie with a stand alone track for him . Even tho he is in the movie only for 5 -10 min , he still makes us to rock with laughter with his one liners and expressions ..That was a real suprise . But I think He only appears in the Tamil version of the movie.

g


Another important fact of the movie that has to be mentioned is Logical Structure the movie has been built on . I means seriously guys , Tamil people have to learn from these guys as how to take a movie which has iron clad logic. Masala can be good , but even masala movies has some king of weird logic behind them in Tollywood which is absolutely lacking in Tamil cinemas of nowdays ..I can t say particular scenes without giving out the movie . So go and watch for urself...

Sudeep, Samantha and Nani ....

Hats off to Raja Mouli who has brought an awesome idea into picture ...Defnitely a movie which is worth watching in theatre for sure ...Don t ever miss it.

Raj Mouli 

Naan E , a treat to eyes ....

Rating : 9.4 /10

Regards
Ram