#CelluloidCritic

  Critic - No.136 Director:  H.Vinoth Casts:  Karthi, Rakul Preet Singh, Abhimanyu Singh Music:  Ghibran Language:  Tamil Genre:  Action / Crime / Thriller  PLOT: A hardnosed cop, Theeran (Karthi) reopens an unsolved case and goes after a gang of ruthless dacoits who have been terrorising residents along the highway for a decade. REVIEW: Partially based on the Operation Bawaria that happened at the timeline of 1996-2006, the film maker has ensured that the main theme of patriotism and the sacrifices of a policemen is depicted strongly without any preachy tone. The fear of the dacoits is injected into the audience at the very first scene of a brutal violent robbery that sets the urgency of the film’s catalyst.  With a strict eradication of any unconvincing filmic cop stereotypes or cinematic hyper intelligence, film maker Vinoth projects a detailed projection of police physical training, investigation and the psychologically traumas involved in hig

Critic - No.135 Director:  Rathna Kumar Casts:  Vaibhav, Priya, Vivek Prasanna, Indhuja Music:  Santosh Narayanan & Pradeep Language:  Tamil Genre:  Comedy / Musical / Romance PLOT: Idhayam Murali (Vaibhav) loves Madhu (Priya) but he is too scared to convey his feelings. When Priya gets engaged, Murali attempts to commit suicide but is dissuaded by a big lie said by his friend Vinoth (Vivek Prasanna) that sets a whole chain of effects.   REVIEW: ‘Meyaadha Maan’ is derived from the film maker’s own short film, ‘Madhu (2014)’ that was featured in the anthropology, Bench Talkies (2015) that was also produced by Karthick Subburaj. While the source film was based on the phone conversation that features as the first scene of this film, the director uses it as a catalyst and builds a thoroughly engaging screenplay that doesn’t really bore you at any instances. Even though the film runs about 2 and half hours, the length can’t be felt.  The main strength of the film

Critic - No.134 Director:  Taika Waititi Casts:  Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Mark Ruffalo Language:  English Genre:  Action / Adventure / Comedy PLOT: Imprisoned, the almighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth) finds himself in a lethal gladiatorial contest against the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), his former ally. Thor must fight for survival and race against time to prevent the all-powerful Hela (Cate Blanchett) from destroying his home and the Asgardian civilization. REVIEW: From the time Marvel introduced, the franchise of ‘Thor’ , I always found it the trickiest of all to connect with whole new universe and the God like structure. Starting with a slight Shakespearian tone to it, the franchise progressed into a typical action drama only to evolve into a quirky, fantasy comedy. With a similar tone as ‘Guardians of Galaxy’, ‘Thor:Ragnarok’ surprisingly passes with distinction as a full-fledged comedy fantasy. It’s not an easy task to convi

Critic - No.133 Director:  Agnieszka Smoczyńska Casts:  Marta Mazurek, Micalina Olszanska, Kinga Preis, Andrzej Konopka, Jakub Gierszal Music:  Barbara Wrońska, Zuzanna Wrońska, Marcin Macuk Language:  Polish Genre:  Comedy / Drama / Horror PLOT: In Warsaw, a pair of mermaid sisters, Gold and Silver are adopted into a cabaret group. While one seeks love with humans, the other hungers to dine on the human population of the city. REVIEW: Many movies has explored the popular ‘mermaid’ in too many angles by experimenting and attempting to tie that concept with our human society, churning out either social commentary or fantasy. In ‘The Lure’ , film maker Smoczyńska has made a dark romantic musical presented in a bizarre, sometimes self-indulging treatment. Not that she has not made her stand against the chauvinistic society, but Smoczyńska does it rather symbolically with her peculiar chaotic visual symbolism. Set in the Communist-era Poland in 1980s, the film sets off wit

Critic - No.132 Director:  Milind Raju Casts:  Siddarth, Andrea Jeremiah, Suresh, Atul Kalkarni, Anisha Music:  Girishh Language:  Tamil Genre:  Horror PLOT: Dr Krishna (Siddharth), a successful brain surgeon and his wife Lakshmi (Andrea Jeremiah), live peacefully in their beautiful house under the mountains. Their perfect life is disrupted after a family moves into the house next door. REVIEW: In a time where, Kollywood is dominated by template driven horror comedy films, ‘Aval’ has broken the dry ground through a solid, sleek supernatural thriller boasts with technical finesse. Right from the starting epilogue, the film feels and sounds like a film outside India. The main reason for this is its heavy influence of successful Hollywood films. That doesn’t mean that ‘Aval’ copies them but instead it draws influences from them and presents it with its own flavour and novel plot. The plot might not be completely original but the treatment and screenplay will keep the audie