Quick Movie Reviews

Three Kings – Malayalam
A multi-starrer comedy with Jayasurya, Kunchako Boban, Jayasurya, Ann Augustine (the new heart-throb of Kerala), Samvrutha Sunil and ‘Kaadhal’Sandhya who needs a new costumer desperately. She looks hideous in some sequences, don’t know what happened to the young and innocent school-girl who fell in love with Bharath in ‘Kaadhal.’

The movie is about three cousins of a royal family who are on hard times. One is an aspiring cricketer, the other a reality-show participant and the third one an actor. The ‘Paara’ song that keeps playing in the background when each brother tries to foil the others plans to become rich is funny and foot-tapping. The movie ends in a treasure search/reality show. Watch the movie to find out if the ‘paaras’ get the girls. This is one movie were each heroine tries to be dumber than the other-Samvrutha is a mega-serial maniac, Sandhya is besotted by Indrajith and Ann keeps asking stupid questions?

Verdict - Time-pass no brainer for the masses!

Arjunan Sakshi – Arjunan – The Witness – Malayalam
Passenger was a surprise super-hit with a great script. The director’s sophomore offering does not disappoint as a case of mistaken identity and assumed identity are brought out well by Prithviraj who plays an architect who lands in Kochi to take a new job. He is mistaken to be Arjunan the lone witness to the former collector of Kochi (Mukesh’s) murder. Ann Augustine plays a reporter with ‘Mathrubhumi’ who receives the anonymous letter from Arjunan. The story progresses well with the mystery behind the murder linked to the scrapped Kochi Metro Rail project. A bit-overboard with the hero unmasking the villains, but it is more believable when one hero overpowers four villains instead of one hero bashing up 20 villains with flying kicks and CGI.

Verdict – Good script, mystery element runs for a while! Prithvi on his way to challenge the superstars.

Janapriyan – Man of the Masses/Man loved by All – Malayalam
With its heart in the right place a feel-good movie starring Jayasurya, Remya Nambeesan and Manoj K Jayan. Manoj plays a director who keeps trying to get Jagathy to finance his movies with half-bakes scripts and is on perennial leave from his government job. Jayasurya comes in as his replacement and wins hearts of everyone including Remya’s who is the rich man’s daughter fooling Jayasurya as a housemaid Complications arise when Manoj accepts failure and wants to return to his job. Jayasurya starts writing a new script and persuades Jagathy to produce a movie. Rifts arise between Manoj and Jayasurya through Jagathy’s offer to make Jayasurya the director. All things are sorted out at the end and everyone goes home happy.

Verdict – Feel-good movie, simple comedy scenes. Jayasurya still in hunt of that one career-defining blockbuster!

The Velveteen Rabbit – English
The simple joy of discovering a great movie that one has never heard of before from the usual bunch of ‘hit-movies’ is something that cannot be explained easily. Velveteen Rabbit is based on a popular children’s story. It is about the fable of a love that a child has for toys, which brings the toys to life. Directed by Michael Landon and a mix of animation and real cinema. The story narrates how a young boy is left at his grandmother’s (played by Jane Seymour – The Bond girl in Live and Let Die). Grandmom looks elegant and some ladies do age with grace! The child longs for love as his mother is dead and his father too busy to bother. The boy discovers his father’s old toys in the attic and chances upon a velveteen rabbit. The boy creates his own fantasy world with the rabbit, a swan and an old horse. His grandmother also softens and bestows her affection on him.

The boy falls ill with scarlet fever and the doctor orders all old clothes and toys to be burnt. The boy tries to save his beloved rabbit but of no avail as his father bundles all the old clothes and the rabbit in a bonfire. As the flames build slowly, surprise of surprises the old fable comes true as the velveteen rabbit comes to life and runs into the wild.

Verdict – Love makes all things true and everyone deserves our love – A truly lovely movie made with great skill and passion a must-watch for both kids and adults.

X-Men First Class - English
Based on the Cuban missile crisis the X-Men series goes back to the story of how the popular mutants joined together and how the good and the bad mutants were polarised against each other! Magneto and the Professor and how their rivalry began!

Verdict - CGI – CGI and more CGI!!!!!

Fire of Conscience – Mandarin
A cop who is lost his wife and mourning her death, another cop who has something shady on, a prostitute who is dead, a robbery, a terrorist outfit who plan bombings, 100 kgs of cocaine confiscated by the police, an innocent man whose pregnant wife is kidnapped; all these threads merge into a fitting climax. Chases, shootouts, interrogation scenes, bomb-blasts and fights – all there!

Verdict – Enough potential for someone in Bollywood to rip it with an item song by Munni, Sheila or Jalebi Bai:)

Terror Strikes Again

Yet another series of bomb blasts,some more innocent lives lost, yet another round of blame games between police, security agencies, state and central governments. Television channels going mad with the same sickening visuals of death, destruction, blood and media-persons shouting themselves hoarse about Islam, RSS, terrorists, Pakistan... Is there no end to this? When we all know very clearly who the damn villain in the piece is? Pakistan!

Cannot the Indian government take a firm stand and hang the sole terrorist Kasab who was captured during the horrifying attacks in Mumbai orchestrated by Pakistan. Is the government so ashamed and impotent that it continues to treat terrorists with food, shelter and clothing in a high-security prison on tax-payers money.

When are we going to take a stand about anything at all?

As innocent lives are lost, a section of the country only worries about aging superstars, pregnant movie divas and why Dhoni did not chase down the last innings target with 15 overs to spare.

We cannot nuke-out our neighbouring country, but can't we attempt an operation similar to the U.S. Operation Geronimo to destroy terror-camps in Pakistan?

Too far-fetched, we don't even bother to hang Pakistani terrorists in India, who is going to hunt out radicals in the Hindukush mountains!

God save this country and my prayers to the people who were injured and lost their lives in yesterday's bomb explosions in Mumbai!

MBA

Well folks after two years of hard work, classes on weekends, studying on the train journey back and forth to office, lots of internet research, and spending some money on management books instead of fiction and comics I am a certified MBA-degree holder now.

MBA in Project Management with a first-class(score of above 60%).

Now let me see if prospective brides and their family members are interested in my horoscope :)

Image source - The internet!