The Nun - Movie

Yes the demon in Nun costume looks scary. Even in one of the earlier movies when they show this painting it had good impact. But beyond that there is nothing much.

I think its time Hollywood move's away from a scene where the demon either gets sucked into an abyss or taken away in a twister or burns to ashes in the final scene. This has been shown in so many movies to show the devil has been defeated. Now it has become so predictable its boring to go through it.

I fast forwarded most of the movie.

Lack of an engaging plot is a major problem with this movie. Not a single interesting character.

It is a snoozefest.

Coolie - My View

I go to every Rajini movie expecting something which we became a fan of in 80's and 90's. But I only end up saying may be in the next movie.

The truth is I do not see that magic anymore. It is seen here and there. We can see that old magic but it is lost in the noise.

Jailer was an exception, in Jailer we were presented with a different Rajini, a new magic which was refreshing to see.

I am a fan of Managaram by Lokesh. I didn't like Kaithi and I have not seen his other movies. Based on how everyone is raving about Vikram I was expecting a neatly done movie but Coolie did not satisfy movie.

The movie was too noisy for me which was the case with Annaththe. There was nothing to root for. The flashback was not meaty and it comes almost at the end of the movie. We travel with Rajini not even knowing his background. When we do not know why we need to root for someone it is difficult to engage with the movie.

Nagarjuna was typical villain. Soubin was different but didn't understand why he was doing what he was doing.

The plot of that machine sounded amateurish. 

While the music tries to elevate the scenes without background it can only do so much.

It was difficult for me to follow the story as well as it was going all over the place.

My one wish is Rajini would do a simple movie with a great story. I wish he gives it a try before he retires.

Perfect Days - Japanese Movie

 

Knock at the Cabin

 After a long time a Shyamalan movie. I have a liking for Shymalan on a personal level as one of his movies is linked to my personal milestone. Apart from that I liked The Sixth Sense. I also liked The Village. Devil, Signs, Old and Visit were all ok.

I had been postponing watching this movie and chose it as there was no other better choice.

I was put off by the same sex parents concept as that stands out like a forced thing. Nowadays it has become a custom to have at least one same sex couple character for DEI.

The movie becomes interesting as it moves forward and when it ends it does end well. 

But a lot more could have been done with this concept but here they have dealt it in a straightforward way which is also not a bad choice.

The question that obviously comes in our mind "what will we do in such a situation" is what makes this movie interesting.

What will we do if we are asked to sacrifice something that we love the most to save the world?

Ikiru

Just finished watching this movie and what a profound movie. This is my first Akira Kurosawa movie and I was simply blown away by the movie. When I read the story I expected the movie to be a cliche about death and life.

The movie has so many layers or we can also say the movie can be looked as having six distinct parts.

The first part introduces us to the characters and the environment. This is a short part. We are shown the lead character, his job and the people around him. We might not think many items shown here will become important in the coming sections.

The second part is where the lead character learns about his intending fate. This is also a short one. But even in these short parts the director conveys so many subtle messages.

The third part is where the lead character tries to change his ways. There are two sub plots here. One where he tries the cliched stuff of trying to live his life by spending on drinks and women. We also feel this should be the whole message of the movie. But no I was wrong. The second subplot is about the lead character realises there is much more to life than spending on drinks and women.

The fourth one is where the lead character realises what is about living and we also feel this should be the core message and the movie would be over after this part.

But there comes the most important fifth part where they play out the message. This is like a conversation within ourselves. Whatever questions we would have asked critically, all of them are asked and answered. The answer is satisfactory.

Then we have the final sixth part which shows humans will never change.

Everything about the movie was top notch. We can also say India is still in this state. May be Japan overcame all the bureaucracy but I am not sure if we will change. 

வாழை - Vaazhai

சற்று முன்பு வாழை படம் பார்த்து முடித்தேன். இந்த படம் நல்ல வரவேற்பை பெற்றதை அறிவேன் ஆனால் கதை என்ன என்று தெரியாமல் தான் பார்த்தேன். பல வருடங்களுக்கு முன்பு நடந்த ஒரு துயரமான சம்பவத்தை தழுவி இது எடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது என்பதை படம் பார்த்த பிறகே அறிந்துகொண்டேன்.

ஒரு சம்பவத்தை தழுவி எடுக்கப்படும் படங்கள் நம் ஊரில் சற்று குறைவு தான் ஹாலிவுட்டுடன் ஒப்பிடும்பொழுது. அங்கே தான் ஒரு குறிப்பிட்ட சம்பவத்தை தழுவி படம் எடுக்கும் பழக்கம் அதிகம். 

"The Sweet Hereafter" என்று ஒரு படம் நினைவுக்கு வருகிறது அதுவும் இந்த படத்தை போன்றதொரு துயர சம்பவத்தை அடிப்படையாக கொண்டது அனால் அதன் நோக்கம் வேறுபட்டது.

சம்பவங்களை தழுவி படம் எடுப்பது தவறில்லை சில நேரம் விளையாட்டில் வெற்றி பெற்றவர்களை குறித்து எடுப்பார்கள் சில நேரம் துயர சம்பவங்களை தழுவி எடுப்பார்கள் கல்லூரி படத்தை போன்று.வாழையும் அப்படிப்பட்டதே.

ஏதோ ஒரு காரணத்தால் என்னால் படத்தில் முழுமையாக ஒன்ற முடியவில்லை. நெல்லை தமிழ் அழகாக இருந்தது. ஆனால் படத்தில் அந்த கடைசி சம்பவத்தை எடுத்து விட்டால் வேறு ஒன்றும் இல்லை  காமிரா ஆங்கிள் மேக்கிங் என்று அனைத்தும் அருமை ஆனால் பல இடங்களை வேகமாக ஓட்டியே பார்த்துவிடலாம்.

Suncoast

One of the most beautiful movies I saw in the recent times. Movies about death and grief are something gives a lot to think about life. Sometimes such movies focus on the person who is dying but this movie differs from the fact that it focuses on the people around the person dying.

It shows us a different perspective of death and life. Nico Parker was awesome the scene where she expresses her feelings finally was beautifully acted. Woody Harrelson adds his charm to any role he performs. Laura Linney was great as usual.

One of the interesting thing about the film is the friendship between Nico and her school friends. Usually they villanise such characters but it was good to see that they showed real friendship.

Life is finite, it is temporary. It is fact that is difficult to accept. We always look forward to anything which gives us hope of life after death. That is one of the major comfort we get from religion and God. If there is no God life just becomes meaningless. 

Do not miss this little gem.

Extraction - Movie

Watched it with lot of expectations but was disappointed. The movie was pretty one dimensional. For an action movie to succeed we need a really scary villain and a hero for whom we root for. Both were missing in this movie.

We are shown a kid is kidnapped and the kids father is a dreaded don in India who is in jail. The kidnapping group is in Bangladesh.

Our hero goes to rescue the kid and while doing so he kills almost half of dhaka. Anyone who crosses paths with him is shot dead. More than 1000 people must have been shot dead in the movie.

The hero and his team has infrastructure almost equivalent to Bangladesh government.

The dialogues were even more horrible.

All the action scenes felt wasted.

Towards the end we don't care who is getting shot and who survives.

During end titles I noticed Chris Hemsworth is the producer and the movie is directed by a stunt director.

What might have looked good on paper did not turn out the way they wanted it.

Beautiful Boy

 

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

 I like the old Godzilla and King Kong movies for the VFX and SFX they used to have. When I collected DVDs I bought them to enjoy those effects on my Home Theater. However after some point of time we now have so many Godzilla, Kong movies it is not easy to distinguish one from the other. Same is the case with Marvel and DC movies as well.

My son is a fan of the Gen Z Kong, Godzilla movies and he can differentiate which scene is from which movie. To treat him with the experience of watching his heroes on big screen watched the latest movie on big screen in 3D.

The movie has a pretty straight forward story which we have seen in Tamil cinema since the days of MGR.

There is a bad monkey like Nambiar who tortures other monkeys and Kong comes to their rescue. There are even characters like Nagesh or Suruli both in animal and human characters. Top this story with some hollow earth scientific jargons and you have the movie ready.

I used to own a 3D TV with 3D blurays and used to analyse how good the 3D effect was in those movies. I didn't find the 3D to be very good in this movie except for some long shot scenes. Otherwise movie almost looks like a 2D movie.

Visually though the movie looks great. I realised it only after the movie was over. Not even once we think that these are not real monkeys or animals. We start to think they are real like human actors. That is the success of the VFX team.

All creatures keep growling at the drop of the hat. So be prepared for that.

A Simple Plan and Just Mercy

 

Past Lives

 

Men, Women & Children

 When we watch movies made across the world one thing that we realize is human emotions remains the same. We are flawed people always looking for ways to be better. We keep failing but we don't stop. Some do stop but they are exceptions.

Up in the Air by Jason Reitman is a movie which we can watch again and again. It captured the human emotions beautifully we can relate to all the characters. Now on the same lines Men, Women & Children is a movie based on realism where we see people who are trying to better but we fail for various reasons.

The intentions are good but the way it is expressed most of the time is not right and it causes so much pain. 

To escape from reality people try various avenues but none can give permanent peace of mind. We realize that only after the mistake. But important point is we realize. Does it mean we won't commit the mistake again? No we repeat the same mistakes. But the good part is always screaming within our head.

Sometimes the unanswered prayers or things we didn't get to buy or do are blessings in disguise.

Fireproof 2008

 I actually loved this movie. Everything was perfect. Yes there is religion in it and it plays an important part. It might put off some people but even if you keep that aside it makes a good movie. It was pleasant to see friendly supporting people all around. The movies also shows people who gossip/cheat so it does cover both sides of the coin but it does it nicely. The movie also shows it is not easy and we need to put in the effort to be good and there will be lot of things which will takes back to our old life. If we persevere that's when we see there is whole new life out there.

The world has always been selling there is nothing wrong in being promiscuous, lusting on something and it has materialized life. We are o used to that and feel everything is ok and nothing is wrong. But material things never brings happiness and sometimes it might be too late before we realize it.

We need more such movies which are pleasant to watch.

Gallipoli

 For the first 30 to 45 minutes I was wondering if I am watching the movie which I actually read about. Because the first half of the movie is not about war. You see the harsh and beautiful Australian outback and an athlete. Mel Gibson is introduced only after few minutes into the film and Mark Lee plays a more prominent role than Gibson.

The last 15 to 20 minutes the movie gets serious and we can actually feel the tension of war. The ending will definitely get through us. Many movies have captured the futility of war. Whoever wins humanity loses. It definitely gets to us when we think about so many innocent young men have lost their lives in the name of war which is more of ego battle between leaders. Even The Bible is full of wars.

It is proven again and again war will not solve problems but still we resort to war. While we as human have  lot of other challenges in front of us we ignore all that and choose to fight with each other.

The movie only stresses that point and it does that beautifully.

The Mission vs Silence

I watched The Mission over the weekend and since I had watched Silence few weeks back I couldn't avoid the comparison between the two. While both of them deal with preaching Christianity to people who haven't heard about it, I felt Silence moved me more than The Mission. 

Neither of the movies have a positive ending. While The Mission has lot of political plot but Silence was more direct about Christianity as a religion. Both movies were about how people stood by their faith in extreme situations.

The Mission had something more as it had a character who chooses what he chooses as a penance.

One reason why I found it difficult to connect with The Mission was because it felt more like a staged drama. 

We have Robert De Niro, Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons but there is very less dialogue. When there is less dialogue the scenes should speak but for some reason I couldn't connect.  

The ending of The Mission which is more or equally brutal as Silence does not evoke that feeling inside us. 

The visuals though were extraordinary. They have done a great job and it must have been very difficult without  CGI.

The movie had some great quotes and to quote some "If might is right, then love has no place in the world", "the dead live on in the memories of the living".

The soundtrack by Ennio Morricone was also not that impressive compared to his other outings but the music conveyed the ominous feeling. 

Silence - 2016

I am not a big fan of Martin Scorsese but I have watched his movies and some of them I have even enjoyed to certain extent. When I learnt about this movie recently I remembered his previous outing "The Last Temptation of Christ". That movie again had the same effect, it was not a great one but it was good. I have also read about his past with priesthood.

Coming to Silence I thoroughly loved this movie. It connect with me in so many levels. It is one of the most brutal movies I have seen. There were times when I had to close my eyes, it was so brutal.

It has a drama feel and sometimes I felt Andrew Garfield was a misfit but I forgot all about that after an hour into the movie. Yes it is a very long movie and you need lot of patience. I do not think it is also an easy movie to act.

I can also relate to this movie as similar things happens all over the world and in India it is in rising trend nowadays.

For me the movie had two levels. The first one is about God and other one is about us the humans.

One the first level, it asks important questions about existence of God, does God answer our prayers, what about the difficult times when silence was the answer to our prayers. Infact silence is the answer most of the times. We do not get what we ask for. While there was so many answers provided for not getting what we ask for in prayers it is still difficult why God would let down someone who is standing for his faith on him.

On the second level, we as human beings can be so brutal when someone disagrees with us even on a matter like God where it is difficult to prove materialistically his existence. They fight for a concept and torture someone who does not agree with the concept. They even go to the extent of mass murdering people without slightest hint of emotions.

The character who repeats the sin and comes back for confession every time also reminds us of ourselves.

Such movies while it helps you to hold on to your faith also can make you depressed about humanity of lack of humanity.

Definitely I thank Scorsese for making this movie and it will be an important movie in my journey of faith.

Trust - 2010 Movie

 

Paddleton

 

Bird Box

This was one movie which I was avoiding as I somehow could fee that it will not be good. But over a weekend when I couldn't find anything else I made the mistake of watching this. It is reimagining A Quiet Place with vision instead of sound. A monster which can find and attack you through sound or vibration makes more sense than compare to a monster which is fine with everything except you shouldn't look at it.

A invisible monster which only has the power to make you commit suicide when you look in its direction (since it's invisible you cannot look at it). Oh yes it also has the power to perform mimicry You can dance around the monster screaming loud and with your eyes closed it cannot do anything. You can run around it and mock it with a blanket over your head it cannot to do anything. Absolutely awful movie. I cannot walk around my house with my eyes closed and they go through a forest and a rapid. Sandra Bullock and those two kids can be part of Marvel or DC universe fir their superpowers. 

The best part is they keep few birds in a shoe box and survive a fall in a rapid and all with blindfolded. 

There is a Sophie's Choice moment as well.

Waste of time.