Film / Documentary - Recently watched & worthy of some discussion

[mappi]

Evil Dead (English : 2013 : 1h30m)
[Based on 1981 Evil Dead - Remake or sequel : read on]

Directed by Fede Alvarez (hails from Uruguay)
Produced by Sam Raimi (Creator of Evil Dead), Bruce Campbell (Hero of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead Series (character name Ash), Robert Tapert (Producer of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series)

Writer : Rodo Sayagues
Music : Roque Banos (Spanish Music director)
Cinematography : Aaron Morton
Concept Art : Santiago Vecino (Uruguayan)

Banner : Ghost House Pictures

Starring : Jane Levy & Shiloh Fernandez, their 3 friends, sharp lame cutter, chainsaw, nail gun, crow bar, machete, an evil and its favorite book.

Just as in the fairy tales starting line "Once upon a time", its mandatory for a bunch of teens to get lost in the woods in a "Slasher-Horror" movie. Evil Dead is no exception, where 5 young people come together to spend some time in an abandoned “cabin in the woods”. The cabin belongs to the parents of Mia and David, and their other 3 friends have come to help Mia to cope up with her drug addiction. Mia just can't adopt the environment, which the rest find as her hallucination. But quickly they find themselves in the basement before a mysterious book with a bizarre cover on it. After a brief "teenage" debate, they decide to leave the book behind, but our curious Eric takes it to his room and opens it. Same time, Mia's hysteria reaches newer heights. Eric by this time has read the lines from the book which should not be read (clue : marked quite clearly in uppercase English with red ink which Eric failed to decipher) [and if you had paid attention you could see Harry Potter behind the windows yelling that those are his lines]. Mia panics and drives away, just to see creepy images calling out her name, the distractions resulting in an accident. All by herself in the dark creepy forest, she runs until the moment the evil decides to be mischievous with her. David & co find her, but she signals immediately that "there is something with them in the cabin". Ignoring her statement, the 4 try to keep cool but soon they have to confront the "unknown" by destroying themselves physically as minutes pass by. We know that its evil, but what its capable of is what Evil Dead is all about.

Finally the Blu-ray is out, with all the bonus material. The wait was long, but the movie was quite satisfactory. Firstly, however you read it, it’s still Rated (quite) R - for gore and language. It’s not the normal 'Friday-night-pop-corn-sofa' movie. Everyone seems to cut their arms in one way or the other - luckily they had only 2 - just imagine if an octopus was casted, the gore would have instantly multiplied by 8 !

Fede Alvarez had understood what are the expectations. Along with the writer his major task is to satisfy the "Daddies" (who were kids when Evil Dead hit the screen for the first time) as well the teen kids today. In that they have largely succeeded. As I had mentioned before (Superman Review), Remakes / Adaptation comes with a price. They have kept the concept and characters intact, but changed the look thru their presentation. It’s quite appealing. [Another example of a remake that worked is Billa Vs Don - In Billa they kept everything as it is, just their presentation - concentration on costumes - did the magic, whereas SRK over shadowed Amitab's Don, which back fired very badly]

Talking about Remake - I personally felt that the 2013 version cannot be considered as a Remake. It’s between a remake and a sequel (say Evil Dead 4). The characters and few classic scenes were re-invented, but the total exercise is something new. They also tried to make it look logical (where they failed miserably) and added some story-content to it (which goes unnoticed once the slashing begin). They gave an entirely different (wonderful) climax. I really liked the climax - the grounds on which it was made was kind of anything but lame. But the evil looked a badly combed pre-teen who just escaped from the clutches of her advisory father and is now hunting anyone who advices her !

The major highlight of the movie are the special effects / make up. Less CGI was used, and they followed the techniques used by Sam Raimi in 1981 while filming the original. It’s amazing to see some "horrible" slicing, I will not go in detail (not for spoilers, but it’s quite disturbing) - knowing that the bathroom and basement slicing are not CGI, Fede Alvarez really needs some appreciations. Music, camera work, stunts, creepy environment are noteworthy.

The major problem with the movie are the development of the character. It’s like narrating a picture-story - here you see him and there she is - kind of thing. Except Jane who acted as Mia, the rest utter few lines just for the sake of it. There is a particular scene where Jane gets quite close to David (Shiloh), and while talking she rolls her eyes to the corners as though re-checking as well as projecting the fear - she manages to do that with one eye as the other is covered by her hair. They did try to be intelligent, but failed to note that no intelligence is necessary for Evil Dead. You say Evil Dead, then Skeletons army is so believable. They have also put an enormous amount of blood in the movie and of course a lot of "seat-tearing-with-nails" movements.

Comparison : 2013 Evil dead did match with the original with some exceptions. The slapstick comedy is missing, but you do find it here and there. The original did not take neither the movie nor the audience seriously - But the new version went all the way to be serious which turns to be quite heavy. As in the original, all the "evil" scenes are extended. Usually, in a Horror movie, you do not tend to see the "ghost" at all. You are just been scared with the sound of tins rolling. Its Evil Dead that re-wrote that with their out-of-the-box make-up effects and showed all nasty things done by the evil. [Exorcist did that in a more haunting manner, which Evil Dead did pay respect to]. And then there is less running around and screaming in the new version, which was quite cool in the original. The most famous scene - say Evil Dead, the first thing comes to your mind is the "penetration" scene. The new version does manage to boost it up with more shocking visuals. Another scene is the evil POV of the forest. There is much more, but I allow you to discover it thru the commentaries by 2 film makers, generations apart.

Evil Dead : Blood Bath

[interz]

Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga - sentiment serial stuff

None of the characters seem sympathic in the movie. Heroes are dabbas, heroines are big mouthed and arrogant. Thh fathers does nothing but talk bad about the young ones. Parotta Suri was more annoying than funny in the movie IMO. The father son sentiment is something we seen from the black white movies till now. I will think twice before watching a Pandiraj movie again.

[balaajee]

Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga - sentiment serial stuff

None of the characters seem sympathic in the movie. Heroes are dabbas, heroines are big mouthed and arrogant. Thh fathers does nothing but talk bad about the young ones. Parotta Suri was more annoying than funny in the movie IMO. The father son sentiment is something we seen from the black white movies till now. I will think twice before watching a Pandiraj movie again.

'பசங்க', 'மெரினா' படங்களின் இயக்குநர் பாண்டிராஜ் இயக்கத்தில் சிம்பு நடிக்கப் போவதாக தகவல் வெளியாகி உள்ளது.

'பசங்க' படம் மூலம் தமிழுக்கு அறிமுகமானவர் பாண்டிராஜ். இந்தப் படம் இரண்டு தேசிய விருதுகளை பெற்றுத் தந்தது.

பின்னர், 'மெரினா', 'வம்சம்', 'கேடி பில்லா கில்லாடி ரங்கா' போன்ற படங்களை இயக்கி உள்ளார். சில மாதங்களுக்கு முன்பு வெளியான 'கேடி பில்லா கில்லாடி ரங்கா' சூப்பர் ஹிட்டானது.

அதைத் தொடர்ந்து தனுஷிடம் கால்ஷீட் கேட்டிருந்தார் பாண்டிராஜ். ஆனால், இந்தியில் தனுஷ் நடித்த 'ராஞ்ஹெனா' சூப்பர் ஹிட்டாகி இருப்பதால், அடுத்தும் இந்திப் படத்தில் நடிக்கப் போகிறார் தனுஷ். அதனால் பாண்டிராஜுக்கு கால்ஷீட் இல்லையென்று சொல்லிவிட்டார்.

இதனால் கடுப்பான பாண்டிராஜ், தனுஷின் போட்டியாக சொல்லப்படும் சிம்புவைச் சந்தித்து கதை சொல்லி இருக்கிறார். அவர் சொன்ன கதையில் மகிழ்ந்த சிம்பு, தான் நடிப்பதாக ஓ.கே. சொல்லிவிட்டாராம்.

கூடுதல் போனஸாக சிம்புவே இந்தப் படத்தை தயாரிக்கப் போகிறாராம். சிம்புவின் தம்பி குறளரசன் இந்தப் படத்தின் மூலம் இசை அமைப்பாளராக அறிமுகமாகிறார். - vikatan

[HonestRaj]

IRUVAR

- onnum avlo pramadhama ellam illai..
- school drama scenes madhiri irundhuchu..
- artificial, no life in the making..

[Brianengab]

IRUVAR

- onnum avlo pramadhama ellam illai..
- school drama scenes madhiri irundhuchu..
- artificial, no life in the making..

[SoftSword]

IRUVAR

- onnum avlo pramadhama ellam illai..
- school drama scenes madhiri irundhuchu..
- artificial, no life in the making..

hoo-Ah!

[mappi]

Swamy ra ra (Telugu)...

It turns out to be a "Kamedi Kadhambham". Too many visible lifts, eventhough quoting "I steal from many films" does not justify it. But still they have done a good job - example masking the coversation between Travolta and Jackson from Pulp fiction into a discussion about silk, which was extremely funny - Prahas and Silk ... LoL. There are many such flirting dialogues which are amusing. Eventhough they have taken all "best-enjoyed-scenes" from previous films (includes RGV films too), the script has to be tightened a lot more. Many lags and scenes are streched beyond propostion and put in the déjà-vu with them, it slowly decreases the momentum. All the "orignal" scenes were well made - editing + music, but for the rest editing & music were quite dull.

Its positive that how TFI has influenced this young film maker. Good sign. But the film maker got to follow what they did : discussion. It happens to be a one man show and no one stopped him. As a reference material :

Neram : Lettre to Elise : When you pick up a known song thats how you have to dress it - In Swamy Ra Ra, with reference to the Villan Theme which is "I am a Man" Black Strobe version (Original was by Bo Diddley) used in Rock n Rolla

Soodhu Kavum : Theme / Mama Trouser : The theme bgm must be a joyful momentum & during the "link" (watch the movie to know it - its excellent) a song like Mama trouser would be apt to pump up the ... "spolier" (and if you watch the movie, keep an eye on the character's foot-wear during this "spoiler")

Valiba Romeokal : Short film : Eventhough there is nothing much, thats how you have to implement the suspense (catch the music also) - suggested to be used while the "spoiler" moves between hands.

Anyway a very natural attempt, and BIG welcome in T(elugu)FI.

Brains or popcorn - I choose popcorn and enjoyed the movie throughly. Thanks to Thala_Rasigan for recomending this movie.

[Brianengab]

mappi..

Glad tat u liked the movie..

as u said, sum of the scenes s lifted frm other films..bt tat wont reduce our interest to watch.. Complete entertainment movie...

[HonestRaj]

hoo-Ah!

enakku avlova pidikkalai...
Barathi, Kamaraj madhiri padangal parkkumpodhu andha kaalakattathukke kodu poyiduvanga..
Iruvar appadi theriyalai... MGR's life eduthu adhula kalaignar portion'i mix panni.. highlighted events mattum oru melottama kanbichurukkaru.. change in screenplay.. i didn't like moving away from the actual happening..
MGR-Kalaignar life history ellam vast subject..
dialogues ellam avlo sirappa illai..
music, camera & artwork.. thats all about a Maniratnam film of late..

[HonestRaj]

KURUDHIPUNAL

- pramaadham..
- as usual, kamal gives more than what audience expects... a stuntless action film.. not sure about the film's success.. have seen a couple of 100 days poster.. released along with Muthu
- loved the dialogues.. Kamal
- scenes between Kamal & Gowthami.. & the dialgoue about muththam.. i think its kind of new those days..
- revisiting Kamal's work is always a pleasure..