Vanthaan Vendraan

Story: A different story with a lot of twists just to mislead audience. Filled with action and romance with small portion of emotions and drama. Story of a man and his struggle to win his love. Love can be seen different point of view actually. Of course it has all commercial entertainment value just like usual Tamil film. It takes a lot of time to determine the protagonist intention throughout the movie. Directed by R.Kannan (Jayam Kondaan & Kanden Kadhalai).

Casting: Jeeva plays the lead man while Taapsee Pannu of Aadukalam fame plays the lead lady. And we have Nandha playing the antagonist character. This would not be Jeeva's best since this doesn't have that much added value in his character. Just like usual Chocolate boy who is in love and had to face Nandha due to some circumstances. But his determination was well potrayed after the second half of the movie, at that moment Jeeva did some good performances.Taapsee had a  totally different role from Aadukalam, an urban chick who has contemporary thinking. She was attached to Jeeva due to an incident which she has an obligation to pay him back. She somehow can lip sync better than Hansika. Nandha had a great Image there as a Villain but his dialogue were common ones. And we have Santhanam to take care of the comedy section and of course he at his best made everyone laugh with his words. Santhanam were part of the twists as well.

Screenplay: It was at slow pace for 1st half of the movie. But it gets better and faster at second half. The romance scenes were displayed quite good yet songs placing were kind of a spoiler. The songs and its visualization were super good but just that it did not take place at the correct time and the transitions were kind of short. It breaks the actual mood of the scenes. There are about 3 twists in the movie which will change the directions of the movie. The 3rd twist may receive critical acclaims but the second half will sure entertain you with some Jeeva getting into action moments. But the climax were too simple with some 90's family value elements. Great thing about the movie is actual message that the director wanted to share with the audience.

Music: The music was composed by Thaman and the songs were chart busters especially Kanchana Mala. The visualization were also great. There is no compromise that music was one of the greatest thing in the movie.
 
Plus Point: 2nd half of the movie, Romance and action scenes, Santhanam comedy, Storyline was different

Minus Point: Songs timing and climax, Flashback transitions.

Verdict: Can be watched once at cinema. It is a good movie though, with some weakness in screenplay. Still there are a lot of entertainment value in it.

Engeyum Eppothum

Story: It's a love story of 2 different couples and both were interlaced until it leads to an incident. Good element of simple romance and humor with some emotions. Quite a good drama for a newcomer director on his effort to potray a few good messages such as ; Drive safely and think about your loved once, Importance of organ donating, express your love to your loved ones before you regret. The points were clear and realistic, very few elements of exaggeration. Directed by Saravanan, Produced by A.R Murugadoss and Fox Star Studios.

Casting: The leads for the movies were Jai, Sharvanand(Newcomer), Anjali and Ananya. Jai with Anjali while Sharvanand with Ananya. Credit goes to Ananya playing her role very well as a Village girl who was like a "fish out of water' since she is new to Chennai. All her great expressions and speech potrayed the role very realistic. Of course not forgetting the other couple in the movie Jai and Anjali, they took care of most of the humour part of the movie and they had very good chemistry on screen. Sharvanand did not have enough scope to show his performance yet for he did his role well. He was good for a newbie. And then we have a few supporting characters  and most of them were new faces which added spice to that movie.

Screenplay: Of course all credit goes to the screenplay. They movie brought in a very systematic order. It may look lengthy because it revolves 2 different couples story. Yet the interlace between the flashbacks and the key incident worth being appreciated. It wont seem like a new directors work. Climax was kind of a spoiler for the movie though. Maybe as an audience I expected more fleshy climax. The turning point was introduction and the end point for the movie. Maybe most of them would not understand the significant of the "INCIDENT"  occurred for that 2 couples. It was ambiguous. But I feel that the movie verdict should not be based on the climax since the director gave a very deep plotting throughout the movie. Some may say "Kathe ille" due to the climax. The song visualizations were all on the flow, none of it was shot out of the show at foreign locations. It goes with the story in a simple manner. This movie is a collaboration between Fox Star Studios and A.R.Murugadoss, yet i can say that it didn't look that massive and gigantic.


Music: The music was composed by Sathya, also a newcomer. Chotta chotta song was superb and managed to grab peoples attention. Others were good and can be listened a few times but it wont stick to our heart.

Plus Point: Screenplay, Ananya's acting, Jai and Anjali scenes. Editing was super good since it will make us anticipate for the next scenes.

Minus Point: Climax and significant of turning point.

Verdict: It comes under category of movies like Naadodigal, Kalavaani, Pasanga and Subramaniapuram. Simple and could be watched at cinema once. Maybe for most guys would not enjoy this movie.

Deiva Thirumagal by A.L.Vijay

Story: Lets deal with some emotions. Inspired by the movie "I am Sam", a bonding between a Mentally 5 Years old adult father and his 5 years old daughter. A battle between Law and a Mentally ill man to gain his parental rights. who will win? Full-length Drama, an Emotional game throughout the story.

Casting: The lead man in this movie is our Chiyaan Vikram, known best for his versatility in trying new roles in every movie. In this movie he plays Krishna a Mentally Retarded man (Grown up man with the mind of a five years old children). Somehow this was not his best performance. He did not give his best since this role he played would not convince the audience that he is retarded. There were a lot of repetitive act which looked artificial. Maybe Sean Penn's performance in "I am Sam" can be used as benchmark to judge. And there is Sara, who played Nila and Vikram's daughter in this movie. She is one adorable kid who will really hit bulls eye with her performance. Her cute gestures really worth watching. Humour were taken care by MS Baskar and Santhanam. Humour was not given that much of importance but it has a fleshy comedy scenes Santhanam and Anushka duo part. And we have 2 lead ladies in the movie, Anushka and Amala Paul. Anushka tried a de-glam role, she was so beautiful and homely in this movie. And she tried a very much different role from her earlier movies and can be said it was one of her best performance. While Amala Paul contributed for the turning point of the movie, a complete makeover from her earlier venture Mynaa. She displayed a protective woman's role very well. And then we have Naseer playing well-experienced and talented attorney opposing Anushka to ensure Krishna does not get the parental rights. Few supporting characters played by Black, Pandi, George, TM kumaran, Thyagarajan and lot more.

Screenplay: Song visualization of Viligalil oru vanavil were superb eventhough there is no significant reason for the song. They showed Anushka at her best beauty angles with High-Definition Slow-Mo effect. The movie was brought up in a very lengthy manner. The scenes involving Nila@Sara will fulfill your moments but most of the scenes were dragging for the first half. The second half moved in faster pace since it involves scenes of court trials to gain the parental rights. Maybe the argument between Anushka and Naseer at certain point was illogical but yet entertaining. Most of the scenes involves emotional rain pouring to our heart, maybe the best two scenes that might drown deep to your heart is the Children Story Telling and Climax scene. These 2 scenes might get your tears rolling down your cheeks.

Music: G.V. Prakaash did what he's best at. Of course Viligalil oru vaanavil hit the top in the chart, yet Kathai solle poren and Venillave were also good.

Plus Point: Climax scene and Sara as Nila's cute performance. Viligalil oru vanavil song picturisation. Basically the overall movie cinematography was great. Credit goes to Nirav Shah.

Minus Point: Maybe Vikram could have been more realistic with his role. Some might say it was good but it was not that convincing.

Verdict: This movie can be watched at cinema once for some boost in emotions and Sara the cute girl.

Venghai by Hari

Story: A typical Hari movie. It seems like puzzle pieces of a few Hari movies got together. It goes something like "Hey lets kill, It's fun" and they just simply encourage murder and keep on killing people around them. Basically whenever Hari cast a Young star in his movie, he will show them as spoiled brat at first and then goes humble at the end like Thamirabharani and Seval. But this movie showed the protagonist as a spoiled brat, a humble person and at the end as a cold-blooded murderer. As usual Hari movie there is a silly bet between the villain and the protagonist which of course the protagonist will win after losing some of his loved ones. But a small change where he did not lose his significant ones this time. Its a Killing spree...

Casting: So we have Dhanush as Selvam the main protagonist, Tamannah the lead lady for Dhanush. Raj Kiran played the well respected thug(Kavalan alike) and the father of Dhanush. Prakaash Raj as the Villain. Ganja Karupu took care of the comedy side which was lame by the way. We have some supporting casts such as Oorvasi as Dhanush's Mother and Livingstone as his uncle.

Screenplay: Almost 80% of the movie scenes consist of murdering scenes for nothing. The fight scene at the college really displayed a bad example where Dhanush will fight all the goons by himself inside college compound and suddenly Raj Kiran will show up and express his power. There was an unnecessary Tamannah's vengeance in that movie. She will try to kill Raj Kiran for a short time, somehow there's no point having that scene. The comedy was real bad and lame. Romance was acceptable yet there were unnecessary emotions for the romance part. The spoiler was they seem to display violence from Dhanush side is good thing to do. Especially the climax scene where Raj Kiran will take a Sickle Blade(Aruva) and hand it over to Dhanush send off him to kill Prakaash Raj and his goons. So they were encouraging murder extremely. Song were picturized well, that was the only good part i guess. 

Music: Devi Sri Prasad's work was average, but the song videos made it look better. So music can be compromised in this movie.

Plus Point: Only Music 

Minus Point: Cinematography was terrible, seem to be not so new technology. At one point i felt like watching Karakatakaaran. A lot of Lame comedy scenes and no entertaining elements in that movie. The whole movie gave a bad moral example.

Verdict: This movie is terrible breakdown for Dhanush after winning National Award for Aadukalam. People please don't watch this at cinema and waste your money.

Transformers 3

Story: The energetic comical characters are back, with more actions, blasts and transformation. Micheal Bay always uses a tool as a vital element in the story for earlier ventures, as in CUBE and MATRIX. Same goes for this time, the PILLAR. The director fit in a robotic drama, betrayal and friendship throughout the story and displayed a sense where Transformers were away for so long from Sam Witwicky.

Casting: Almost all the cast from earlier venture was there Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, JohnTurturro, Kevin Dunn and Julie White. The significant replacement was Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as the lead lady as she replaced Megan Fox which played lead in earlier 2 ventures. Rosie played Sam Witwicky's new lady love Carly. As for her casting, the director tried to display her as the Hottest Bomb just to kill the perception that Megan Fox is irreplaceable cast as Sam's lady love. Yet Megan Fox is Unbeatable of course. Shia LaBeouf as usual brought the continuity in Sam Witwicky's character very well. There is no moment that you would think Sam looks different. Josh and Tyrese were more on combat side. While there was this very vital character named Dylan played by Patrick Dempsey. He turn out to be the turning point. John Malkovich to handle a short humour scenes. And not forgetting our Autobots and Decepticons characters, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Megatrone , Shockwave and Sentinel.

Screenplay: No doubts that the screenplay was good and well planned. Micheal Bay tried to patch up whatever weakness he had in Transformers: The Revenge Of The Fallen. Robotic Battle and less dragging scenes instead. The way how Sam's employment interconnected with Decepticons activity were shown in a very well organized manner except for the Jerry Wang scene which was funny but seem to be rushing. And of course, we expect some great transforming scenes before battle and ya we got some creative ones which will make you go WOW!!! Only two tiny spoilers. First one was there was a big question mark on how the Autobots tricked their leave from earth. And second one is there is a long gap between an ignition of some important scenes to the next one at climax. Example, Like Autobots went missing for a long gap after their great homecoming scene when Epps and Sam were struggling to destroy the tower with master PILLAR, or when the PILLAR is activated by Sentinel they didn't come back to that scene for quite a long gap which I think they could have teleported Cybertron to Earth by then. But some how  we would forget about those moments once we see Optimus Prime and Bumblebee Ass Blasting moments. One of the bad ass Decepticon Character was Shockwave and his drilling machine. Optimus Blast it out with his new Jet Pack and ripping off Sentinel.That will be  the highlights of this movie. 

Plus Point: Battle between Transformers, The transforming moments and Cinematography+CG.


Minus Point: Replacement of Megan Fox, Megatrons lack of role and Some lengthy scenes.


Verdict: Transformers 1 is the best of course. but Transformers: Dark of the Moon was better than Transformers:Revenge of the Fallen. Go hangout with friends,colleagues and have a blast.

180 by Jayendra

Story: A Love Spree with a lot of emotion and drama. Didn't emphasize a lot on entertainment. The plot was predictable and there were some elements of Philosophy. Yet this movie wont be a trendsetter for romance as par with movies like Alaipayuthey, Minnale or Vinnaithandi Varuvaya.

Casting: Siddarth had made re-entry in tamil cinema after 7 years. He had made his part well as a happy-go-lucky guy for 1st half of the movie. There were very tiny amount of overacting element at first few scenes. other than that he did very well in expressing his fear, anger and not forgetting his romantic gestures and expressions. The 2 lead lady was very attractive as in Nitya Menen was cute and bubbly while Priya Anand was Hot and Sexy. Nitya Menen had this peculiar voice made her look so cute wen she talk. All her move and the way she looked at Siddarth with love was convincing. But Priya Anand's performance was not as good as she look. She overacted in most of the scenes.Maybe for the suffering part less overacted. One thing that should be appreciated was she dubbed her own voice for herself. Basically these casts solicited love and romance through their Good Looks as in Prince Charming and Lovely Princess projection.

Screenplay: The way romance brought up was cute and sweet as in how Priya Anand gets Siddarth call her, How Nitya Menen asks Siddarth out for Movie, or How Siddarth makes Birthday surprises for Priya Anand. Of course we expect some lip locks for such movie, and yes there were 4 scenes and 1 repetition of 4th scene as Siddarth imagines it back. But don't worry you cant see those four scenes at any cinemas in Malaysia except for the last repetition scene.So that is spoiler. Nitya Menen's character was a turning point of the movie yet her love seems to be brought up in a very meaningless manner. And they fit in a short mother sentiments in between, where they introduce a mother character for a while and they killed that character in a very short time. it doesn't relate THAT much in the story. Most of the scenes were predictable. And ya another spoiler was showing a Devil's Visual throughout the 2nd half of the movie.

Music: Shareth composed for this movie, his last tamil movie was June R. Music can be said as plus point of the movie. Soft symphony with a lot of melody works suits the theme well. Nee Korinaal Naanam song was superb. It was visualize and Choreographed well.

Plus Point: Cinematography was really Good. I can say they used a very High Definition Camera as u can see the details were so clear for instance the water flow, the rain, sunshine and etc. Music was relaxing and suits the situations. A few cute and sweet romantic scenes.

Minus Point: The story line were dragging a lot. You will feel the movie lengthy. Less Humour. 1 of the  Lead lady overacted.

Verdict: Can be watched at Cinema only once for the liveliness of certain scenes.

Avan Avane-Ivan Ivane...

I would like to felicitate my blog by writing review on the latest movie Avan Ivan. I think director Bala had finally came up with a good comedy capper. Superb movie with ample of heart tickling moments. One of the greatest achievement was transforming Vishal into Walter Wanangamudi. One hell of a Character. A National Award awaits Vishal can say. I felt like watching someone else in the movie. His squint eye performance with his expressions and the voice combination will sure make people feel that he had finally proven his acting skill. And not forgetting Arya who as usual took over most part of the comedy. The performance was not so different from his Boss engira Baskaran, yet he made some improvisation on language. He made all laugh with his funny accent or style maybe. And not forgetting GM Kumar a.k.a Highness. an old man with the characteristic of a child. The combination of this 3 people really created a blast. And there are 2 more people who should get credits which are Vishal's mum Ambiga and the woman who played Arya's mum. You can see a typical Estate woman Character in them, with their spontaneous low class dialogues is a another comedy essence for the movie. As for women protagonist, the 2 heroines didnt have that much of scope to perform. Yet their attendance were well played. As for music, I dun think Bala gave that much of importance for it. But still Yuvan's music rocked. And ya not forgetting, Thalaiva(SURIYA) made Cameo in this movie. I like the way Suriya Put it in words on his Agaram Foundation. Avarode scene Short'a irunthalum, Shortage'e ilame pannittaru. He's the best. As for the climax it was typical BALA climax...so it is predictable actually. I can say Avan and Ivan both had enough scope in the plot, there is no tendency toward single character. Funny and small portion of romance,drama and action. A great movie to watch with Kaigels and Family....Enjoy.