#CelluloidCritic

                                                                               Critic - No.115 Director:  Adhik Ravichandran Casts:  STR, Shriya Saran, Tamannah, VTV Ganesh, Motta Rajendran, Kovai Sarala Music:  Yuvan Shankar Raja Language:  Tamil Genre:  Action / Comedy Plot:   Dubai police officers try to track down a notorious mafia kingpin when his best friend gets caught. He starts to confess how small time gangster, Madurai Michael (STR) went on to become a national level don. Review: As much as the plot in paper sounds exciting, ‘AAA’ is overloaded with many genre conventions of a masala flick without having a proper, coherent story. What starts off as a promising 80s gangster flick, gets self-indulgent in creating scenes to glor...

    Critic - No.114 Director:  Vijay Casts:  Jayam Ravi, Syyeshaa Saigal, Thambi Ramaiah, Prakash Raj Music:  Harris Jeyaraj Language:  Tamil Genre:  Action / Adventure Plot:   An Andaman tribal Jara (Jayam Ravi), who escapes from men trying to capture his people, ends up in the care of a spoilt, rich girl, Kavya (Syyeshaa) who starts to fall in love with him. Review: A.L.Vijay is one of the young crops of filmmakers who attracted everyone’s attention through his compelling storytelling and technical finesse. However in recent times, he has made several experimental films like the mediocre ‘Idhu Enna Maayam (2015)’ and the entertaining ‘Devi (2016)’ . ‘Vanamagan’ is yet another experiment for him and also Jayam Ravi. The idea of the plot is to make the audience emphasize with the tribes around the world who are being stripped off their land by multi national companies. Despite the nobility, even in paper, this sound ve...

                                                                                                  Critic - No.113 Director:  Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin Casts: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker, Russell Brand, Jenny Slate, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier Language: English Genre:  Animation / Action / Adventure / Plot: Gru meets his long-lost charming, cheerful, and more financially successful twin brother Dru who wants to team up with him for one last criminal heist to fulfil his family trade. Review: After starting out with an emotional and sharp product in ‘Despicable Me (2010)’ , Illumination did take a few steps down in the clichéd ‘Despicable Me 2’ (2013)’ and the wishy-washy ‘Minions (2015)’. However...

         Critic - No.112 Director:  Alex Kurtzman Casts: Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella Language: English Genre:  Action / Adventure / Fantasy Plot: An ancient princess is awakened from her tomb beneath the desert with her malevolence grown over millennia and terrors that defy human comprehension. Review: ‘The Mummy’ series has always garnered the attention from audience worldwide due to its campy attitude. Except the third one on in the trilogy, ‘The Mummy (1999)’ and ‘The Mummy Returns (2001)’ had some fine moments that were embraced by many. However, this reboot make us question the reason for making a halfhearted product with such dazzling stars. ‘The Mummy (2017)’ pretty much reveals all the twist in the first 10 minutes before entering into a predictable, tedious journey on the lead characters to stop the restless evil spirit of Princess Ahmanet.  The main problem with the film is that it’s pack...

                                                                                          Critic - No.111 Director:  Patty Jenkins Casts: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Danny Huston Language: English Genre:  Action / Adventure / Fantasy Plot: ‘Wonder Woman’ tracks the superhero’s backstory when she was Diana, the princess and trained warrior in the Amazons. When a pilot crashes and tells of the conflict in the outside world, Diana leaves home to fight and end all wars, discovering her full powers and true destiny. Review: Patty Jenkins certainly must have been in pressure after series of mediocre films in the DC extended universe franchise. Even seasoned directors have been carried away by its grim and metaphysical nature but...