Film / Documentary - Recently watched & worthy of some discussion

[balaajee]

Looks like this film created record at the Chennai Box office as well for Hindi films..

Chennai Express sets new records, crosses Rs 150 crore mark - Indian Express

[narayanan]

Pooveli - had the pleasure to watch it in the weekend after a friend recommended it. It didn't take long to realize what movie it was based on. I've dissed Reeves in the orginial. But Karthick. What an actor. He had me hooked right from the beginning. The boundaries he consciously draws in the beginning when they are just friends, the mixed emotions that graces his face when the boundaries begin to blur, the subtle gestures and body language he shows when it becomes clear he is slowly falling for her.. It was karthicks show all the way. Seriously what an under appreciated actor. Even though the movie goes quite melodramatic at places, his character remains consistently calm and collected. There aren't many tamil movies that's tried to realistically explore the fragile human emotions. Just for the attempt, I applaud the director. Kausalya was a pleasant surprise. Never appreciated her as an actress much before this performance. Well, that is going to change. Pooveli- better than the walk in the hell I was expecting it was going to be. Unlike the original this was a walk in the park.

Never knew Pooveli was a remake, its one of the Karthik movies I liked when he is normally trying to overact. He did underplay quite a bit for this movie. One other Karthik movie worth seeing is Kann Simittum Neram.

Rhythm falls somewhat on the same genre did a much better job due to the fact that it concentrated much more on the central characters than Pooveli did and more so it had a much more complex relationship to deal with.
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Singam - II - Second half semma pEthal.

first half'e pethal dhaan. The only reason Singam even worked is largely due to Prakashraj and he had a lot better role there.

Surya is wasting his career acting in Hari's movies.
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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..

The movie was way ahead of its time and featuring most of the people who are alive and who have the influince to change the final product you see. From what I heard at that time, the movie was heavily censored and half the movie didn't make it to the silver screen. If not anything, it would the only movie to show MGR in not so great light.

Btw his last hit was Kizhaku Seemayile?

Pasumpon?

[littlemaster1982]

Narayanan After a loooong time!! Eppadi irukkeenga

[balaajee]

]Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer[/B] - Brilliant. Suseentharan is back after the Rajapaatai debacle. Definitely a must watch.

Movie have some flavor movie Rattinam.... Hatsoff Suseentharan...Tears @ end of movie...

[Roshan]

Singam 2 - had to keep adjusting the volume through out the movie.. too noisy and too messy. Surya was a waste. In some non action scenes he was trying to do an Aamir Khan. Waste movie !

[ajaybaskar]

Balajee,

Why not open a separate thread for AKS and post the reviews there?

[NOV]

agreed Ajay... will do the honors....

[Cinefan]

Aashiqui 2 & Aurangzeb back to back on Sony- August 15th

At 38 years of age,thought I will not be able to relate to a love story but Aashiqui 2 proved me wrong.Was hooked to the relationship between RJ & Aarohi.There is something about the directors coming from the Mahesh Bhatt school,they explore the darker side of human emotions very well.

A thought came that if RJ really wanted to change why did he not get admitted and then realized that the conflict was essentially that-addiction to the bottle and the affection for Aarohi and the climax comes as he is unable to choose one.

Better performers in the lead roles would have had a higher impact.Aditya Roy Kapoor was awkward in some scenes but had his moments too but Shraddha Kapoor has some serious work to do.Playing characters like this require much more than a pretty face.

The music was smashing,after a long time liked an album as a whole.

Aurangzeb : Was looking forward to this when I came to know it was directed by Atul Sabharwal whose drug drama on Star +,Powder,I was a fan of.

A very character driven movie,no frills,very engaging,logical,interesting twists&turns,an ensemble cast and all playing their roles well though Arjun Kapoor could have done better.

Special mention about Prithviraj & his Hindi.

[mappi]

I think I will skip Aashiqui 2 (This kind of tales make me feel like I am chained before the screen)

I was considering watching Aurnagzeb, but after watching Arjun Kapoor in Ishaqzaade, I backed off. Maybe I will try to get a moment to watch it for Prithviraj.

[mappi]

Peeping Tom (1960)

A movie which I wanted to watch for a long time but couldn't till now. Critics tore apart the film upon release, resulting in financial loss which, sadly destroyed the career of its director and lead actor but went on to become a cult classic in later years. The story is a bit similar to Hitchcock's Psycho (which was released just few months after this one but was both a critical and commercial success!)
Peeping Tom was ahead of its times. I somehow found it more complete than Hitchcock's film. In the sense, you get to see and feel his fear and know the reason behind his weird acts. Whereas in Psycho, the viewers have to imagine what might have happened to the killer when he was a child. Neat thriller!

Thanks for bringing in Peeping Tom. Its a kind of movie that wishes to stay in your mind without your permission after viewing it. Making audience to be judgemental was quite naturally executed in the movie.

In comparison with Psycho :

Similarities : Slasher killings, First person POV, violence, voyeurism, parental connection to the mindset of the killer, follow the killer (I mean there is crime but no mystry and the suspense is the same except - see point 5)

Opposites :
1/ Peeping Tom was processed in color, whereas Psycho went for grey alone; This made Peeping tom a hand higher than Psycho merely due to the natural blood color

2/ Psycho is an american exagarated version of violence, while Peeping Tom is dramatical horror from England

3/ POV - Peeping tom gives the idea of the killer ; while Psycho shows the agony of the one getting killed. This made Psycho a inch better than Peeping tom merely for the experience of horror on screen

4/ Violence in psycho makes you unconfortable (thats the motive anyway, close your eyes but keep your ears open ... LoL), but Peeping Tom shows a killer at work making it more relative.

5/ Where Psycho completely smashes Peeping Tom, we can say a knock-out, is the twist towards the end. Peeping tom stayed true to the story by slowly introducing the psychic nature of the killer, eventhough Psycho follows the same pattern, the twist really twisted the audience.

6/ Last but not least, the sympathy quotient : Peeping Tom beats Psycho by a mile. The argument is not on "what sympathy you can have on a killer". Its the way its projected, where by the end the killer tends to take a place in our judgement, which you cannot escape to make in either of the films.

There are certainly many more points to talk about notably camera works, scripting, characters, performence, on screen design, music, direction, stunts etc., but they will become too technical for any general audience.

Peeping Tom Vs Psycho : As hattori_hanzo pointed out, Peeping Tom clearly takes the horror artistic chair, while Psycho even though closer, settles down with BO sucess.