Unknown (2011)

The Plot
Dr.Martin Harris lands in Berlin for a biotechnology summit where renowned scientist Leo Bressler will be introducing a new type of corn that would eliminate the world's hunger. Harris meets with a car accident and he gets into a coma. After recovering, nobody admits to knowing him. There is another person masquerading as Martin Harris and even his wife is with this new man.

Martin is confused and goes about discovering his identity all over again. He is chased by a lot of people in a bid to kill him. He is helped by a lonely woman Gina and they finally discover his identity.

Martin is actually a hired assassin who is assigned to blow up the Eisenhower suite in the hotel where the summit is happening. Bressler is the target. Martin finds this before it is too late and he saves Bressler and Prince Shada, the Arabian prince who is behind Bressler's efforts.

Hits

• The suspense is well maintained
• The tempo of the film resembles the Bourne series.
• Good chase sequences.
• 2 beautiful ladies along with the brooding Liam Neeson. 

VERDICT

An interesting, fast paced suspense thriller.  

The Hangover Part II (2011)

The Plot
This time it is Stu's wedding and it is gonna be held in Bangkok. The Wolfpack is back for their bachelor party and their adventures and misadventures land them up in a mess, as usual.

Stu's 16 yr old brother-in-law Teddy is lost, Stu has a tattoo on his face, there is a monkey prancing around, Alan has a shaved head and the Chinese pocket-bullet Chow is also there to give them trouble. They use all the evidences to track things and finally Stu makes it to the marriage just in time.

Hits

• Alan's bald make-over is a shocker and Zack carries it off stunningly like a cool dude.
• The antics of the monkey as the middleman between drug dealers, are another shocking surprise. 
• Ken Jeong as Mr. Chow makes you laugh with his dialog delivery style and total irreverence. 
• Stu and Phil do their same routine as in the first part

VERDICT

Some light-hearted time pass with jokes spread over, Todd Phillips style. 

Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster (2011)

The Plot
The movie focuses on 3 individuals - Saheb, his wife Madhavi (Biwi) and a young man Babloo (Gangster) who has come to work with Saheb to eliminate him.

Saheb is a much respected man though he is broke and has to depend on the Queen for money. Saheb has his flings with another Mistress, Mahuva and the Biwi has fits of rage regularly, due to the neglect from her husband.

Babloo is sent by Gainda Singh to finish off Saheb. Gainda and Saheb have a lot of conflicts of interest due to their business dealings. Babloo becomes close to Biwi and they have a physical relationship as well. All this happens while Saheb is busy with Mahuva.

Babloo wants to overthrow Saheb and become the king and have Madhavi all to himself. In the end, one by one all the players get eliminated. It is an engaging drama with betrayal and one upmanship as the core.

Hits

• Randeep Hooda is menacing and very youthful as Babloo. He is wicked and full of energy. The top highlight of the film. 
• Mahie Gill seduces and is damn hot as the Biwi. Her fits of rage are also well enacted. 
• Jimmy Shergill as Saheb is cool, cunning and calculating. His makeover is also royal. 
• The BG score has the Arabic touch and gels with this human drama. 
• The other characters like Kanhaiya (Saheb's man shadow) and Suman (Kanhaiya's daughter and Babloo's secret admirer) also have solid parts. 

VERDICT

Intense and engaging on the lines of Vishal Bharadwaj's 'Omkara'. Has some brilliant acting as well. 

Mayakkam Enna (2011)

The Plot
The film is about a struggling photographer Karthik Swaminathan aka 'Genius'.  He aspires to become a wildlife photographer. He has a sister and a loyal group of friends. His life is sustained by his close friend Sundar. They spend their free time drinking like hell.

Sundar's date Yamini falls for Karthik and his moody ways. Karthik struggles with Yamini because he feels he is betraying Sundar and his friendship, though he too has feelings for her.

Finally Karthik and Yamini marry each other, after Sundar comes to know of this. Karthik also faces a major betrayal from an ace photographer whom he treats as his guru. He doesn't handle this betrayal properly and becomes increasingly eccentric and psychotic.

His wife Yamini bears all his mood swings and tolerates him. She loses a lot. Finally Karthik gets his big break and makes it big as a wildlife photographer. He dedicates his success to his close ones and the movie ends like "A Beautiful Mind"

Hits

• Dhanush shows myriad shades of his talent. Particularly after he tastes defeat, anguish and becomes frustrated, eccentric and psychotic, he soars on a really high plane. His best show till date that combines all his previous quality works.
• G.V.Prakash gives the best ever BGM for a Tamil film in a long long time. The film will have repeat value just for his BGM. His songs have become huge hits long time back. G.V.Prakash is slowly but surely becoming Tamil cinema's numero uno. Each of his movies has his trademark brilliance. What a talent. Almost the entire movie has his stamp of mesmerizing brilliance. 
• Richa starts performing brilliantly after she gets married to Dhanush. Towards the end, the way she portrays her pain and her solidarity towards her husband, is top notch. In the first half she is plain, grim and very serious
• The other characters like Karthik's friends, Sundar's father, the egoistic photographer etc. have all added weight to the movie. 
• The photography and the cinematography by Ramji, are a real treat to the eyes.
• Reality all over. No shades of heroism in the hero's character
• Good attempts at animation in the Oda Oda song. 
• A beautiful message about following what your heart says and persisting at it. The struggles that Karthik faces have been shown very truly. 

Comments

• Moves at an unhurried pace. Though never boring for a matured audience. 
• The way that Karthik gets his big break, seems a bit far fetched
• The movie has shades of "A Beautiful Mind" particularly in the second half. 

VERDICT

Selvaraghavan makes a return to what he does best - highly intense and emotional human dramas. A beautiful movie for a mature audience. 

Vandhaan Vendraan (2011)

The Plot
The movie is about the efforts that Arjun takes to mend his elder step brother Ramana and to bring him back home. Ramana is a dreaded gangster in Mumbai and he is wanted by an opposing gang. He has a lot of connections in the police and has a major illegal business setup in Mumbai.

Arjun uses love as a tool and he tells a love story to Ramana featuring his dream girl Anjana. Arjun tells Ramana that he can get Anjana only if Ramana surrenders as Ramana is the guy who killed Anjana's father. Arjun uses a lot of 'brain' to get Ramana behind bars.

Whether Arjun's love is actually true, whether he gets his lady love and whether Ramana mends his ways and returns back to his family is what the climax is about. It is not as cliched as expected. The ending is particularly interesting with a major twist. The movie has other cinematic elements like Santhanam's hilarious comedy track and good songs

Hits

• The twist in the climax is a major plus. It is a shocker 
• The songs by Thaman are another big highlight. Anjana and Thiranden lead the pack
• Jiiva's costumes are trendy and he looks very fit. 
• Taapsee looks very cute and her role is not as expected.
• Nanda looks menacing as the gangster. But, he is always grim
• Santhanam's comedy is a treat too. 

Misses

• Too many fights and gunfire featuring Ramana and other gangsters. Ramana misses each bullet always. 

VERDICT

An interesting film for sure. Could have performed better at the box-office than what it actually did. The climax lifts the movie considerably. 

Thulluvadho Ilamai (2002)

The Plot
A bunch of school kids in their teenage, go through the hard realities of life like sexual infatuation, drug addiction, parental pressure at home and lack of proper guidance. Each of these kids has some sort of problem from their parents at home.

They flee home at a stage and don't inform anyone at school either. They encounter a lot of difficulties and 2 of these kids even have sex with each other in the heat of the moment without any thoughts about their future.

In the end, they decide to go back home and their school principal advises their parents about how their lack of proper guidance had made their kids flee home and embarrass everyone. The movie ends on a positive note about the need for parents to handle their kids carefully between the crucial years of 15 to 18

Hits

• Yuvan Shankar Raja's cult songs. Each of them is an evergreen hit. But the picturization of a few songs border on vulgarity. Commercial compulsions I guess. 
• Vijayakumar's strong character role. He takes the cake in the climax
• Sherin looks like a billion bucks. She oozes sensuality, sexuality and no wonder her classmate loses his mind seeing her. The long hair, the seducing eyes and her voluptuous structure are a real delight that made her a sensation at the start of the 21st century. 
• Abinay acts well as the student Vishnu. He is a talent gone wasted sadly

Comments

• Dhanush's first movie. He looks insanely thin and doesn't show one shade of the superstar that he is today. His mustache getup is absolutely funny. 
• Ramesh Khanna stands out like a sore thumb in a very young cast. His usual antics are partly impressive 

Misses

• The sexual angst of students at this age is understandable. But, things go overboard at times. Could have been curbed a bit. Soft porn effect so to speak. 

VERDICT

The movie that launched Dhanush and Selvaraghavan. Has a mix of sleaze and message, and of course the heavenly Sherin. 

The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

The Plot
The film is about the pursuit for the 3 scrolls that Sir Francis Haddock had hidden away in the mast of 3 ship models. These 3 scrolls have the secret behind the cargo that was hidden in the Unicorn ship captained by Francis, that was ransacked by some pirates headed by Red Rackham.

The cargo had many gold jewels and they get sunk beneath the sea after the failed attempt by Rackham to get away with the treasure. Rackham dies after this attempt while Francis lives on and makes these 3 ship models and hides the scrolls in them. A descendant of Haddock is supposed to find these scrolls and unlock the secret behind the sunken Unicorn.

Young journalist Tintin gets to know of these scrolls and he joins hands with the last descendant of Haddock to stop Sakharine the descendant of Rackham, from getting to the scrolls first. It is a major cat and mouse game featuring the trio and finally Tintin and the forever drunk Haddock succeed in getting to the scrolls first. Their upcoming adventure in getting to the sunken treasures forms the premise for the sequel. 


Hits

• The combination of motion capture animation and traditional animation works perfectly like in all other top notch Hollywood animation films. The animation for Tintin in particular is terrific in its detailing. 
• Some sequences score majorly like the terrific bike chase sequence in Morocco, the opera singer cracking all the glasses, Tintin's dog Snowy's chase to get to his master, the flight in the storm and the fight with the pirates in the ship   
• Lots of visuals give us the WOW factor. 
• The 2 cops Thomson and Thompson who are after the pickpocket in their town provide a lot of funny moments. Captain Haddock also has us in splits of laughter with his drunken antics. 

Comments

• The climax lacked the punch and was quite plain. The premise for the sequel didn't elicit great excitement as expected

VERDICT

A good effort that entertains. But, somehow it isn't the awesome movie that one expected from this team. 

That Girl in Yellow Boots (2011)

The Plot
A British girl, Ruth is in Mumbai to look for her father, Arjun Patel. Her only piece of memory is a letter that her father wrote her before leaving her and her mother. Ruth works in a massage parlor where she has to satisfy numerous clients everyday for a mere 1000/-. She calls it a 'handshake' or a 'happy ending'. She is also given a raw deal by the many authorities she contacts to find about her dad.

Ruth also has a troubled relationship with her boyfriend who gets mixed up with some local gangsters. Ruth manages all this trauma and bravely continues to pursue her dad.

Finally in a shocking twist, she realizes who her father is and walks away, leaving everything behind due to the sheer magnitude of the realization and the weird explanation she gets from her father.

Hits

• Kalki Koechlin is the only real known face in the movie and she is an Anurag Kashyap constant. She moves around like a doll and impresses in 2 scenes - the scene where she bares her heart to her boyfriend and in the climax shocker
• Naseeruddin Shah has a small cameo as the only concerned customer for Ruth. He is natural as usual
• Ruth's boyfriend, the Kannada gangster and the massage parlor proprietor are other characters that get some screen time and gel well with the movie. 

Comments

• Beyond a point, Ruth's routine with her customers becomes quite nauseating. Overdone
• Too many foul words just for the heck of it, sometimes. 
• Slow and steady pace. 

VERDICT
Hard hitting cinema by Anurag Kashyap but, not for everyone. 

Rockstar (2011)

The Plot
Janardhan is a shy young college kid who wants to become a big musician. But, he doesn't find the inspiration. Based on his friends' idea that a beautiful girl can give him inspiration and some pain, he decides to fall in love with Heer, a dancer. Heer is about to get married. But, still they bond and Heer slowly falls for him before getting married and flying away to Prague. Janardhan is rechristened as Jordan by Heer

He is thrown out of his home after some money problems. He goes to a famous mosque and improves his music in the divine abode. He slowly starts coming up as a musician and also records a CD for a company called Platinum Records. He is soon sent abroad on a contract with Platinum to perform in Europe.

There he again meets Heer and they again bond big time. This time Jordan and Heer fall in love madly despite Heer already being a married woman. She is inconsistent and also has some health issues. On one instance, Jordan is mistakenly booked for intrusion and assault at Heer's house and he is arrested. He is not helped by his company and he becomes royally pissed off with life due to his failed love in particular

He comes back to India and is a really eccentric 'rockstar' now with his own dressing style and with his own legion of fans after his number "Saadda Haq" becomes a rage among the masses. Jordan doesn't care about protocol and his manager/well wisher has a tough time handling him.

As expected Heer is again back in his life, after she leaves her marriage and comes back to India. She is dying and is in her last stages and Jordan is her only solace and hope for some happy moments before dying. They spend time together before Jordan again gets a foreign contract. He delivers a grand performance,thinking of the love of his life as she is on the cusp of death.

A haunting emotional saga.

Hits

• Ranbir Kapoor delivers a once in a lifetime performance. He literally lives the role. The various stages, the various makeovers, the awesome dressing style as the rockstar, the fire he shows in his performances, his rage, his deep love etc. etc. One of the best ever performances. This young man is the next big thing in Indian cinema for sure. 
• The way the movie starts and how the momentum builds up from the moment Ranbir is introduced to the point he goes on stage for his live performance, is something that is to be seen to be believed. 
• A.R.Rahman lights up the movie with his soul stirring score. All the songs are an aural and visual treat. Saadda Haq stands out due to the sheer adrenaline factor. But, visuals wise, each song is equally inspiring. The background score is terrific as well. The Mozart of Madras has definitely been inspired.
• The initial scenes where Ranbir falls for Nargis as he sees her 'tango' dance have been nicely worked out. The guy's innocent longing eyes as he admires his girl are beautiful.   
• 'Kun Faya Kun' is a separate poem in itself and the way Jordan immerses in the divine surroundings and polishes his music is a real mesmerizer. 
• The cinematography is top notch. Be it the narrow lanes of Delhi, the snow clad Kashmir valleys or the lush green Europe. Pure eye candy. 
• The female who plays the journalist has the best role among the limited ladies in the movie and she really lives it up with her believable portrayal. She is very cute, sexy and really heats it up in the scene when she tries to seduce Jordan in his caravan
• Shammi Kapoor has a beautiful cameo and the legend wins us over with his calm presence. The guy who plays Jordan's manager/well-wisher is another entertaining presence. 
• The movie is visually haunting. The screenplay is also non-linear and beautifully worked out in an intelligent manner. 
• Mohit Chauhan is the voice of Jordan. He has sung all the songs in his sexy voice and he is one of the biggest heroes of  the movie. 
• The unique 'rockstar' suit is another plus. The way Ranbir carries it off is another delight. In the initial stages he wears stiff clothes, then he progresses to short kurtas and jeans before the grand 'rockstar' suit towards the end. 
• The movie has a delightful first half before an emotional roller coaster in the second half.
• The climax is really haunting. The "Parindey" song adds to the mesmerizing factor in the climax. 

Comments

• The title of the movie is quite misleading. It's a pure love story of a musician who uses his experiences at love to make some divine and addictive music.
• Jordan's transition to an overnight rage in India is quite abrupt. It's as if just because he goes to jail and is notorious with the media and the law, his popularity shoots through the roof. He even carries out a 7 city tour. This is also a take on the ways of the Indian media that is always looking for news to sensationalize. 

Misses

• The over hyped Nargis Fakhri. She doesn't know to act. She looks beautiful no doubt. But, she is the one missing link in an otherwise top notch movie. She is a horrible actress
• The movie drags at places due to the scenes between Jordan and Heer as they go around bonding and falling in love. The second half in particular loses steam in the middle.  

VERDICT

Haunting cinema not to be missed and worth experiencing many times. A royal salute to Ranbir Kapoor, A.R.Rahman and Imtiaz Ali. 

Velayudham (2011)

The Plot
A budding journalist Bharathi creates a fictional superhero named Velayudham after she witnesses the accidental death of 3 anti-social goons who were after her. This character is prominently publicized by the news media as well.

Jihadi terrorists want to terrorize Chennai and the corrupt home minister and his evil associates are also part of this scheme.

Meanwhile, the actual Velu aka Velayudham is a simple village milkman whose life revolves around his dear sister Kaveri . They create a real funny mess in their village and they are the darlings of everyone.

Velu comes to Chennai with the entire village entourage to do some marriage related purchase for his sister. Velu's village 'moraponnu' Vaidehi is madly after him and she would do anything for him.

In Chennai, Velu accidentally averts major disaster in the city on a few occasions and he is accidentally taken to be the fictional superhero Velayudham, because of his name. People are filled with hope now. Velu later comes to know from Bharathi that he is considered to be the all-pervasive Velayudham and he is shocked. He just wants to leave Chennai and continue his simple life.

But, as expected he is convinced to take up the superhero avatar after he witnesses certain atrocities. He also hears about all the shady activities from Bharathi. Now our Velu takes up his Velayudham (Assassin's Creed) avatar full time and bashes the goons, terrorists to pulp and also brings down the home minister.

He also loses his sister in a sad bomb accident and in the end he advises the public to use their anger in a constructive manner and not to waste their strength. He wants everyone to be a Velayudham rather than expect a superhero to do the job for them, all the time.

Hits

• Never a dull moment. Jet fast screenplay with good comedy by a plethora of comedians lead by Vijay, Santhanam, Saranya etc. 
• Vijay impresses in the emotional scenes in the climax and in his bare body avatar spewing thought provoking dialogs. A wholesome show by the man of the masses. He is experimenting with his hair too, in the songs. 
• The songs by Vijay Anthony are peppy and fast. 
• The action choreography will please over-the-top action buffs. They pack a punch
• Saranya Mohan is perfect sister material and she makes the heart heavy when she dies. 

Misses

• Pathetic VFX in the much hyped train fight scene. It's quite funny.
• Shameless aping of the Assassin's Creed robe. 
• Too many dialogs glorifying the hero and his 'anna'/'thambi' image
• The guy who acts as the home minister can be termed as the worst actor in the world
• A single girl shouting in the the climax in the stadium is also quite laugh worthy. 
• Vijay's dressing sense particularly his floral shirts with designs, is really gory. A guy with great personality like him can definitely dress much much better. 

Comments

• Hansika Motwani provides a real treat. She lets the hero grope her and press her. This 20yr old chick has great assets and a curvy structure as well. Genelia is dignified in comparison though she also brushes her assets against the hero's face in one scene. Great time, the hero has had.

VERDICT

Amateurish film making masked by a super fast screenplay. Time pass entertainer which is particularly special for Vijay's numerous local fans.