Movie Review: Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathile

Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathile, is a story that showcasts a "life-changing evening" in a coffee shop involving an upcoming director, a family of three, the manager of the coffee shop, and the two waiters working under him, all of their lives heading towards major crises. Whether or not they overcome their problems is what the 112-minute runtime of the movie constitutes of.

While the line above reads 112 minutes, the movie seemed much, much longer. The movie is a mixture of seemingly intertwining stories, with the coffee shop as it's epicentre, and in order to focus into each and every characters' separate story, the movie has taken a chaotic way of moving forward, which results in a grueling test of the audience's patience. The way the story shifts between each character, and the placements of songs are highly erratic.

The cinematography by Gopi Amarnath deserves mention, and so does Achu, the music director. The music has been classy throughout the movie, especially the background score. The songs have also been brought to the screen in a beautiful manner, and 'Oh Baby Girl' is a definite favorite.

Now, the actors. We see Aari in his second outing, after 'Rettasuzhi', playing Ajay, whose desire to become a director puts him into an array of issues. Panchu Subbu plays the role of the coffee shop's manager, with a heart of gold. Balaji, last seen as a psychotic ex-boyfriend in 'Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Eppidi', plays Satish, the workaholic husband, and complementing him is his frustrated wife Ramya, played by Tejaswini, and his son Vishnu, played by Master Vishnu. And all these artists, fit the role to the tee.

Additional characters, working in the comedy zone are Sivaji Santhanam , Satish and Karunakaran, and though their attempts are worth appreciation, they sadly do not make us laugh. Debutant Shubha has a long way to go.

What we have in our hands is a promising cast, which has been led astray in a not-so-promising movie.

Aditya Baskaran

Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises, has been released amidst colossal hype. Not only does the iconic symbol of Batman strike a chord in every man's heart, and bring that six-year old out, it is the treatment that this comic character has gone through the hands of director Christopher Nolan that has people looking up to it. Batman Begins got our attention, The Dark Knight stunned us beyond comprehension and the much awaited conclusion is here.

Well, line one - it is a superhero movie. You walk in, expecting strong one-liners (which we call as "punch" dialogues down south, and now, please do not ignore the fact that superhero flicks sometimes can remind you of Vijayakanth movies) and some dramatic, tense moments, and a feel-good climax. Of course, TDKR is no exception. But this is a Nolan movie we're talking about. It involves the trademark cerebral feel he delivers so well, and yes, my friends, you will walk out of the screens mind-zapped as usual.

It's been eight years since Batman/Bruce Wayne's last sighting and things have been peaceful all this time at Gotham City. Wayne, away from usual life, doesn't realize that the life around him is collapsing - that a man is after his fortune and his company, and that slowly, a storm approaches Gotham, bigger than ever. Bane, an ex-member of the League of Shadows arrives to strike terror into the heart of Gotham, on a mission which he terms as "Gotham's reckoning". How Batman returns to save his city, and the emotional turmoil involved in his greatest and final stand for saving his city forms the crux of the story.

Now that's enough spoilers for you guys. Christian Bale, as Batman/Wayne has donned the mask so brilliantly that now it would seem that no one else could  possibly suit this role better. His performance through the trilogy has been simply, apt, and makes former 'Batmen' like George Clooney, Micheal Keaton and Val Kilmer look like parodies. Anne Hathaway, as the sensual jewel thief Selina Kyle aka Catwoman has pulled off her role perfectly. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake, a cop who parallels on values with Batman, and carries a similar sense of justice, performs well as usual, and packs a surprise in the end. Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate, the board member who wins Bruce's trust (and some more), fits her role to the bill, and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, well, you don't even need my opinion to know how good he was. But the show-stealers were Tom Hardy as Bane, a villain, who not only challenges Batman's mind and body, but his heart and soul as well. What Tom Hardy does, in a mask, that covers most his face and lets him use only his eyes (and his digitized voice) is something to be appreciated. The other would be the legendary Micheal Caine, who is simply touching in his emotional performance as Alfred. Gary Oldman shines as Commissioner Gordon, and while his character is given more depth than before, his screen-time is quite low.

While decent cinematography, and taut editing makes this movie feel much shorter than it's original runtime (At nearly two hours and forty five minutes, it is the longest Nolan movie ever) it is the mind-boggling music by the amazing Hans Zimmer that takes the visual experience to a whole new level.

Christopher Nolan is perhaps the most bankable director in world cinema right now, with all his films winning worldwide acclaim. His way of making movies, whose base ideology is to play with our brains, combined with his idea of bringing in visual grandeur, making his movie a sort of a massive spectacle, is simply out-of-the-world, and this movie falls in no manner. But having said that, this is definitely not his best movie ever. While the movie remains to be a winner, you will find certain moments that seem a bit too cliched, a bit too obvious, but hey, maybe it's just usual in a superhero movie.

So, is it worth a watch? Worth a watch is an understatement. Watch this movie for the performances, the larger-than-life action, for the hype and simply for the fact that this is the final part of the superhero trilogy that's made all other superhero movies look like Disney flicks.


Aditya Baskaran