How to be Single?

Author: Kasinath Conjeevaram Ravi Posted under: , ,

Introduction: "How to be Single?" is a romantic comedy starring Dakota Johnson, Leslie Mann, Rebel Wilson & Allison Brie, directed by Christian Ditter based on a book of the same name written by Liz Tuccillo. Does it live up to its tag of a breezy rom-com, let's find out

The Plot: Alice(Dakota Johnson) is in a relationship with Josh(Nicholas Braun), who wants to test the longevity of their relationship takes a break from it, much to the chagrin of her boyfriend, Josh. She moves to New York for a career in Law, meets up with new people and with subsequent circumstances and difficulties learn the true meaning of "How to be Single?"

Review: There was one thing that was running on my mind when the credits rolled, to check if there were any screen writers for the movie? To my shock, I found 'em(Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein, Dana Fox) and to terrify me even more, I found that the movie is based on a book. This made me realize that, we can write all the crap we want in the name of a book and still earn millions of dollars if they adapt it into a movie - That's definition of horrible writing and this movie pays homage to it! Every character that appears on-screen lacks a purpose and a road-map, even the protagonist, Alice. I was totally misguided by the movie poster, hoping it'll be a fun-filled road trip movie with ladies having fun throughout much in the lines of "Bridesmaids" but the movie totally took a detour and never really reached where it was supposed to be at all! Forget laughter, even I couldn't manage to smile throughout the movie even though it was touted as a rom-com. It was totally awful and unfunny to see Rebel Wilson's Robin trying to mock Melissa McCarthy desperately and failing epic each time - Lame! There's tons and tons of unwanted characters and I even forgot Allison Brie was even in the movie and only when she shows up here and there in this insignificant movie in an insignificant role I realized she was there. There's no silver lining of a scene anywhere to be found in this movie - 404! Apart from Leslie Mann's Meg and her story arc in the movie and Allison Brie's Lucy explaining the statistics of Datable men in NY, there's really nothing the movie offers. Ignore this movie at all cost!

Positives:
Absolutely Nothing!

Negatives:
I can go on all day!

Rating: 2/10

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24

Author: Kasinath Conjeevaram Ravi Posted under: , , , ,

Introduction: Director Vikram K Kumar's "24" is an ambitious project, not just for the director, but also to Hero Surya, who has to prove a point in-order to revive his status @ the BO. Both these people has had contrasting fortunes, with Vikram coming with two impressive movies in his kitty(13B, Manam) and Surya after a string of flops(Anjaan, Masss). Can these 2 combine to create a magic on screen? Let's find out

The Plot: Sci-Fi films with time-travel as theme is always a difficult genre to make. Ensuring the story is articulate without creating any confusion to the audience is an up-hill task which is a lot more elusive than creating a time-machine itself! There's hope however for audience as the last tamil movie on time-travel Indru Naetru Naalai  was very well-received for being funny and intelligent at the same time without picking on the brain of the audience. The plot for "24" is simple and straight-forward - there's a discovery of time-travelling watch by Dr.Sethuraman(Surya) and there's antagonist Athreya(Surya again!), who is Sethu's brother, who wants that watch and who is willing to go to any depths to achieve it, even it means killing his brother and his family, which he does, not before he ends up crippled, with his desire still eluding him. There's "I am a watch mechanic" Mani(Surya it is!), who is the son of Sethu, who has to stop Athreya from reaching his goal of achieving the watch and also avenge the death of his dear parents. The plot is pretty much the template of a tamil movie in the late 90s, only with time-travel being the difference. The simplicities only end there!
Review: Modelling an antagonist based on Stephen Hawking will only evoke laughter from the audience, if his villainism is amateurish. But Vikram is a very intelligent director, who not only makes a cripple villain look menacing but also one of the brilliant villains ever by making him remain always a step ahead of the protagonist @ any point in the movie. He always has plans A-Z well thought of before he even commits something on-screen, which was a breath of fresh-air for the audiences who are mostly used to seeing villains only with brawns but no brains on-screen often. Arvind Swamy's Siddharth Abimanyu fromThani Oruvan only comes close to Athreya in recent times. The interval block made the audiences gasp! It was the highest point of villainism portrayed on-screen in recent times, which I don't want to spoil. From there on, with each passing scene, the people who sat beside me were progressing in their seats towards the edge and by the time climax arrives, they were about to fall. Such was the writing and direction from Vikram. Hats off! The romantic portions and songs were written-off like anything on social media already. Songs, I agree upon but the romantic portions were OK to say the least. They weren't too bad but could've been trimmed a bit as they only acted as speed breakers in a  fast ride. Every single word or the things that people do on-screen have a meaning and the director has totally well thought of it, which is brilliant once again. The scene where Mani gains access to the watch is one such great example! VFX deserves a standing ovation in here. Sci-Fi movies and VFX go hand-in-hand and the VFX people have totally worked their hearts out which was evident on screen. Kudos to that team! There are a few plot-holes then and there which can be completely forgiven considering the grandeur and class of the over-all film. With a complex screenplay narrated without any hiccups or confusion, wonderful BGM, excellent cinematography, good acting and awesome direction - "24" is a must watch!

Positives:

  • Concept
  • Screenplay & Direction
  • BGM
  • Surya acting(especially Athreya)
  • VFX
  • Cinematography

Negatives:

  • Songs(A R Rahman, Surprising!) & Placement
  • Romantic portions

Conclusion: "24" actually lauched a few years back with "Chiyaan" Vikram touted to play the lead was shelved due to budgetary constraints and Vikram K Kumar had to wait, but the wait was totally worth it as the movie is already declared a BO hit! This is definitely a movie not to be missed.

Rating: 8.6/10

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Captain America: Civil War [Spoilers Ahead!]

Author: Kasinath Conjeevaram Ravi Posted under: , , , ,


Introduction: Being my first blog movie review, I would like to start with the most anticipated movie of the year - Captain America: Civil War. The movie is directed by the Russo brothers(Anthony Russo & Joe Russo), who also directed the classy and entertaining, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The movie also brought back screen-writers from The Winter Soldier - Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely. It also features an ensemble cast of Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Chadwick Boseman, Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Sebastian Stan, Tom Holland, William Hurt, Emily Van Camp, Martin Freeman, Daniel Bruhl, Frank Grillo, etc., Does the movie live up to its hype and expectations? Let's find out. 

As I mentioned earlier, the below review contains


The Plot: First and Foremost, this movie is by-far one of the best screenplays this year. Hats-off to the screen writers team for that. There's a lot of sub-plots within the main plot and all of 'em were left hanging, for the knot to be tied, only in the climax which is a brilliant piece of writing, that too in a movie based on a comic. Last time such a movie I've seen is Watchmen by Zack Synder. This really shows the inventiveness of the writers. Jumping on to the main plot - The Government is unhappy with the way, The Avengers are functioning and hence they decide to set-up a regulatory and advisory committee overseeing them. Tony Stark/Iron-Man sides with the Government on this, whereas Steve Rogers/Captain America completely disagrees with this. Each have their own concrete theories on the Government's plan which causes a friction within The Avengers camp breaking them in to 2 - Team Cap and Team Stark and the subsequent conflicts that ensues as the movie progresses with each event widening the gap

First Half: As mentioned earlier, the movie has a lot of sub-plots - One with James "Bucky" Barnes/The Winter Soldier in 1991 where-in he was tortured, brain-washed and controlled by some code words from HYDRA's henchmen ensuing in a hit-job in which the victims weren't exposed. Another with a man named Zemo, who has an agenda of his own, wants to find The Winter Soldier and control him. Zemo finds the whereabouts of the chief HYDRA henchman who was experimenting on The Winter Soldier in 1991, kills him and takes up his stuffs. There's T'Challa/Black Panther, whose father, an UN leader, gets killed in a terrorist bombing during the bill signing ceremony by the Team Stark, which the media showcase as the work of The Winter Soldier and he wants to take revenge. All these lead to The Winter Soldier being the target of The Government, The UN, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Zemo & T'Challa, with the first half ending with The Winter Soldier caught by the Government officials to be contained in a secluded location.

Second Half: The second half begins with Zemo gaining access to the location, provokes The Winter Soldier and unleashes with the same code-words as HYDRA's henchmen, posing as a therapist. Meanwhile, Sharon Carter, who was the neighbor Agent 13 to Cap, who also happens to be the nephew of Cap's love interest Peggy Carter, arranges for an escape of Cap. There's an awesome fight that ensues with Cap escaping with Winter Soldier & Falcon. Bucky, after regaining consciousness recounts the hit-job in 1991 to the Cap who also learns he wasn't the only Winter Soldier out there and there are 5 others as well and Zemo wants to control all of them. Cap plans a trip to Serbia where the facility from 1991 is available, to stop Zemo. Meanwhile the Government gives Tony Stark, a 36 hour time-frame to capture and contain Bucky. The stage is all set for Team Cap Vs Team Stark and it happens with each team adding some new folks, assembling on an air-port for the "fist of fury!", which happens to be the highest point of the movie. 17 minutes of sheer fun! Despite all the fight, the Cap manages to escape with Bucky, with the help of Black Widow. From a news, Tony Stark learns that Zemo was the one who framed Bucky and decides to go help Cap & Bucky by learning their whereabouts from Falcon who along with all from Team Cap, imprisoned in a maximum security facility in the middle of a sea. Black Panther follows Stark's trail. Meanwhile in the facility @ Siberia, Cap & Bucky are encountered by Tony who apologizes to them for the misunderstanding and they go in search of Zemo unknown of the fact that Black Panther is trailing them. Zemo meanwhile hides in a chamber, who has already killed all 5 Winter Soldiers, screening to all 3 of them, the footage of the hit-job from 1991 where The Winter Soldier is actually seen killing Mr. & Mrs. Stark taking away a secret formula from them, for the remaining 5 Winter Soldiers. Tony becomes furious and asks the Cap does he know about it. When Cap answers positive, Tony unleashes on both Cap & Bucky resulting in one of the most intense hand-to-hand combat.  T'Challa learns from the conversation that Bucky wasn't the one who blew up the UN building in which his father was killed and Zemo only did all these to avenge the death of his dear ones during the Sokovia incident. The fight ends with Bucky losing his hand and Tony's armor badly damaged. Cap & Bucky leave immediately. Also Black Panther saves the life of Zemo who tries to commit suicide by handling him to Government officials. The climax arrives with Tony after reaching to The Avengers HQ goes to look into his friend Rhodes who was badly injured in the air-port fight and receives a letter from Cap stating that each of them took decisions that each of them believed to be right and that was that. He also receives a cell-phone which Cap states in the letter that he is always ready to come to his aid with a phone-call from him which he'll always await. Cutting back, the Cap rescues all his team imprisoned in the facility under sea, as the movie cuts to black!

End Credits Scene: Bucky is shown to be frozen in a facility of Black Panther, with Bucky's consent, as Cap & T'Challa watches

Positives:

  • Black Panther
  • Spider-Man
  • Ant-Man
  • Screenplay
  • Stunt Sequences(Special Mention: AirPort Stunt)
  • Dialogues

Negatives:

  • Lack of menacing Villain
  • The Vision is under-utilized
  • Slow-paced at times

Conclusion: The Avengers might be a great movie filled with tons and tons of action that kick-started the MCU Phase II but Captain America: Civil War is an awesome movie that's completely filled with a lot of drama than action which gives it a very realistic feel rather than a comic movie. Phase III of MCU has kicked off in style indeed! In my opinion, as many say this  should've been the follow-up to The Avengers rather than Age of Ultron.

My Rating: 8.5/10

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