COOL FILMY STUFF: REVIEW

Showing posts with label REVIEW. Show all posts

Review - Ganesh (....just Ganesh)

6:34 PM | Labels: NEWS, REVIEW, TOLLYWOOD

Rating: 3/5
Punchline: Average (...just average)
Genre: Family/Romance
Type: Straight
Banner: Sri Sravanthi Movies

Cast: Ram, Kajal Agarwal, Asish Vidyardhi, Brahmanandam, Sameer, Kasi Viswanath, Poonam Kaur, Pingpong, Fish Venkat, Sudha, Rohini Hattangadi, Surekha Vani etc.

Music: Micky J Meyer
Cinematography: Hari Anumolu
Dialogues: Abburi Ravi
Fights: Peter Heins
Art: Peketi Ranga
Editing: Sreekar Prasad
Story - screenplay - direction: M Saravanan
Producer: Sravanthi Ravi Kishore
Release date: 24 September 2009

Story

Ganesh (Ram) is an orphan who always pitches in to help needy people. In one such strange situation, he is forced to act with Divya (Kajal Agarwal) that he loves her. But later on, she comes to know that he is loving her to fulfill some other ambition and his love is an act of fabrication. By then, Ganesh genuinely falls in love with her. The rest of the story is all about how he convinces her about his true love.

Artists Performance

The 26 kids who acted in this movie are wonderful. They performed naturally and added fun and purity to the scenes they are involved with. Ram is pretty good as Ganesh in this movie. He has shown lots of maturity in performance and dialogue modulation towards the end of the movie. His dances in Ganesa song are interesting. Kajal Agarwal is nice. Brahmanandam's comedy, though routine gives relief. Poonam Kaur is adequate as the friend of heroine. Asish Vidyardhi alright as a comedy villain. Rohini Hattangadi did a brief role..

Technical departments

Story - screenplay - directon: Story of the movie is wafer thin. A story like these should be narrated with tight screenplay and gripping emotions. The debutant director couldn't come up with a gripping screenplay to narrate the story in an interesting manner. However, the kids backdrop has helped in keeping the movie going. The episodes involving kids are a sheer delight to watch. The direction should have been better. Films like these will be interesting only if director projects the love between lead couple in a tender yet interesting way. Though it may look different on paper, the director couldn't translate those sweet nothings onto the screen in a convincing way. I didn't expect a couple of insensible scenes (hero cutting his wrist to prove his love and kids being ill-treated in climax) from a production house of Sravanthi.

Other departments: Micky J Meyer's songs definitely sound good on stereo. However, they are not captured efficiently onto the screen. The chalo song featuring kids is picturized well. The 'rajkumrai' song which sounds fabulous is misplaced in the movie. Background score is not good. The dialogues written by Abburi Ravi in key scenes leading to climax are good. Cinematography should have been better. Fights by Peter Heins are adequate. Editing should have been crisper as there is lots of lag in the second half of the movie.

Analysis: First half of the movie is adequate. The second half lacks pace. The climax should have been shot interestingly. Plus points of the movie are Ram and kids. Negative points are screenplay and slow second half. Stories of this type needs tremendous creativity and presentation ability from director. The runtime of the movie is around 3 hours and it seriously needs some trimming in the second half. The lifeline of the movie is the kids episode. Ganesh is not the movie for morning show crowds. It is a clean movie aimed at family crowds. The fate of the movie will solely depend on how family crowds receive it.

Read User's Comments(0)

'Shankam' Movie Review

3:07 PM | Labels: NEWS, REVIEW, TOLLYWOOD

Film: SANKHAM
Rating: 3.5/5
Banner: Sri Balaji Cine Media
Cast: Gopichand, Trisha, Sathyaraj, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Chandramohan, Srinivas Reddy, Ali, Krishna Bhagawan, Banerjee, Venu Madhav, Supreeth, Dharmavarapu, Rajitha, Seetha, L B Sriram etc.
Music: Thaman
Cinematography: Vetri
Director: Siva
Producers: J Bhagawan, J Pulla Rao
Release Date: September 11, 2009

Story:
A tale that was stale, the story begins with Chandu (gopi) who lives in Australia along with his uncle Krishna Rao (chandramohan). Having learnt martial arts, he is itching to get into a fight however he doesn't get it. Meanwhile, he chances upon Mahalakshmi (Trisha) and it is love at first sight. What Chandu does not know is, he has a father Sivaiah (Satyaraj) back in India and that too in Cuddapah. He is like god to the villagers but he has a strong enemy in the form of Pasupathi. Mahalakshmi is Pasupathi's daughter and she falls in love with Chandu. That brings him to the Rayalaseema region since Mahalakshmi's wedding is getting fixed. What happens from there forms the rest of the story.

Presentation:
The director has come up with an emotional action treat but then he has failed in the narrative though the presentation was good. The dialogues were alright, the script was written weakly and the screenplay was adequate. Background score was a letdown while two songs were nice. Cinematography was neat, editing was okay. Costumes deserve appreciation and art department did its bit. The comedy was good in parts and action sequences were okay. Gopichand tried to dabble with comedy this time in major dose but his violent part was good, Trisha looks gorgeous and she has put on weight which makes her look more pretty. Sathyaraj was graceful, Kota was good, Supreeth was wasted, Ali gave his bit with smiles, Chandramohan was standard, Dharmavarapu was okay, Venu Madhav was nice, Srinivas Reddy was hilarious, Krishna Bhagawan was witty, Banerjee was intense, the others did their bit as required.

Conclusion:
The film was slated to be an action entertainer but then it missed the punch at the right time, even the emotional scenes lacked depth. While the first half goes about with the comedy and the regular romance bits, the second half goes about with the serious sequences, melodrama and a pulsating climax. The film has good technical values but then the content lacked depth and the voltage was missing. This one might not be able to survive for long since expectations were high but have not been met.

Read User's Comments(0)

Movie review - Josh

3:34 PM | Labels: AKKINENI, NEWS, REVIEW, TOLLYWOOD

Josh

Starring: Naga Chaitanya, Karthika, JD Chakravarthy, Sunil, Brahmanandam and others

Director: Vasu Varma

Music: Sandeep Chouta

Release date: 05 September, 2009

The much awaited Naga Chaitanya starrer movie Josh finally hit the screens today. The film marks the debut of Naga Chaitanya in films. Naga Chaitanya makes a promising start with Josh. The film is set against a college back drop and is full of Josh from start to finish.

Story:

Sathya (Naga Chaitanya) is a young boy who has just entered college. He is a carefree and flamboyant young boy without a care in the world. He makes merry with friends all the time without a care in the world. The college Principal Prakash Raj finds in Sathya a bright student who is wasting his life with his wayward ways. Sathya does not pay any heed to the principal’s advice.

The son of the principal is also a student of the college. He dies while riding pillion in a bike race with Sathya driving the bike. Prakash Raj forgives Sathya and tells him that he is not to be blamed for the death of his son. This brings about a change in Sathya.

He quits college and comes to Hyderabad. Sathya meets Vidya (Krithika) a school teacher and they become good friends. Sathya finds that the situation in Hyderabad is no different and the students are ruing their lives by neglecting studies. The students are in the control of an ex-student JD Chakravarthy called as ‘Anna’. JD is a former student and now an aspiring politician.

Sathya joins the college. Why did he join the college? Does he continue his old ways or does he have a mission to accomplish. To learn about this, watch Josh on the silver screen.

Performance:

Naga Chaitanya makes a dashing debut. He shows no signs of nervousness in facing the camera. He has come up with a natural performance and shows that acting is in his genes. He is good looking and also a decent dancer. Chaitanya has also done a good job in the fight scenes. Chaitanya has definitely arrived on the scene in grand style with josh.

Karthika gives good support to Chaitanya. She does a good job in her role as a teacher who is desperate to join college and have a good time. With a little bit of luck, she is sure to make a mark in Tollywood.

JD Chakravarthy plays a negative role in the film. He does a neat job and breathes life into his role.

Prakash Raj comes up with a brief but an impressive performance. His expressions after his son has died in a bike accident are really moving.

Sunil and Brahmanadam add their bit but their comedy is just average.

Josh is full of Josh and the first half runs in a lighthearted and entertaining manner. It is only in the latter half of the second half that the film turns heavy. The director has a message for the college students.

The film is targeted primarily at the youth and hence has very little to offer to the family audience. The weak comedy is also a minus.

It is now up to the students to make the film a big hit.

Read User's Comments(0)

'Kanthaswamy' a superhero tale with a twist (Tamil Film Review)

7:39 PM | Labels: KOLLYWOOD, NEWS, REVIEW

Film: 'Kanthaswamy'; Director: Susi Ganesan; Cast: Vikram, Shriya Saran, Krishna, Raghuvaran, Vivek, Santhanam, Vinod Raj, Y.G. Mahendran, Arun Mathavan, Vinayak, Alex and Indrajith; Music: Devi Sri Prasad; Rating: ***

Director Susi Ganesan's 'Kanthaswamy' is a typical commercial pot-boiler that has style and substance. Though the Robin Hood-like story is not new, Susi has presented it with trademark superhero-movie elements -- flashy action scenes and stunning special effects.

Yet, it's not the typical superhero film and therein lies the twist in the tale.

The movie begins with people flocking to a Murugan temple. All those who submit their woes as petitions to Lord Kanthaswamy (another name for Murugan) on a piece of paper and tie it to a tree in the temple find that their problems are all solved soon.

Meanwhile, superhero Kanthaswamy becomes a phenomenon -- a caped crusader dressed as a rooster who takes up the grievances of ordinary people and resolves them. But the local police officer (Prabhu) suspects something fishy and pokes his nose in the matter.

On the other hand, brave CBI officer Kanthaswamy (Vikram) is on a mission to unearth black money and illegal wealth amassed by the rich and corrupt that lie stashed in foreign banks. He is in for a challenge when he raids the house of tycoon PPP (Ashish Vidyarthi).

When Kanthaswamy finds unaccounted cash and documents of various foreign deals worth over Rs.1,000 crore, PPP, the seasoned criminal, is not amused. At the same time, his only daughter Subbalakshmi (Shriya Saran) pretends to have fallen in love with Kanthaswamy in an effort to take revenge on him.

Watch the film to know the connection between the masked crusader and the CBI officer.

Susi Ganesan has presented the movie with a fast-paced and stylish narrative. He has conceived and executed many scenes well. He has tried to give the old story of robbing the rich to help the poor some logical elements. The twists in the tale are interesting.

The fight sequences, especially the blind-folded action scenes in Mexico, are breathtaking. The innovative camera angles and lighting by cinematographer N.K. Ekambaram make the film visually stunning. Thotta Dharani's art work is also awesome.

On the flip side, Susi's story is disappointing. While he has worked hard to make the film stylish and sleek, one wishes he had worked harder to come up with something new.

We have seen powerful 'Good Samaritans' like Kanthaswamy in films like 'Gentleman' and 'Indian'. We have also seen an 'alien' with extraordinary powers to eliminate the baddies in 'Anniyan' and an intelligent hero diverting the black money to good causes in 'Sivaji'.

The major problem with the script is the length. The director could have avoided a couple of songs and halved the comedy track by Vadivelu.

Devi Sri Prasad's music goes with the movie's mood. Two of the six songs -- 'Excuse me Mr. Kandasamy' and 'Yen Peru Meenakumari' -- are picturised well.

Vikram comes out with flying colours. His dedicated efforts have given an extra-dimension to the character. Very few people in Indian cinema could portray the larger-than-life fantasy character as easily as Vikram. His body language when he appears with a mask and wings is amazing.

Shriya sizzles in her glamorous appearance and charming acting. Prabhu renders a neat performance but he is fast becoming predictable in the role of an investigative cop. The characterization of villains leaves much to be desired. Vadivelu's comedy track passes muster.

'Kanthaswamy' is for those looking for sheer entertainment.

Read User's Comments(0)

Movie Review - Mallanna

8:25 PM | Labels: NEWS, REVIEW, TOLLYWOOD

Mallanna

Star cast: Vikram, Shreya, Krishna,

Director: Susi Ganesan

Music: Devi Sree Prasad

Release date: 21 August, 2009

The much awaited Vikram starrer magnum opus Mallanna finally hit the screens after a long delay. The film raised the expectations of the audience very much and it is a film that stars Vikram in five different roles. Let us see how far Mallanna had managed to live up to the expectations of the audience.

Story:

Mallanna (Vikram) is a CBI officer. He along with his friends who also work in different wings of the police and intelligence department forms into a team and comes to the aid of the poor. Mallanna takes the help of lord Mallanna of Srisailam in going about his plan to help the poor and the needy.

Mallanna spreads word that anyone who is in dire need of help or money should write it done on a piece of per along with their name and address an tie it to a sacred tree outside the Mallanna temple in Srisailam. The lord will answer their prayers and help them in their need. CBI officer Mallanna raids the rich and the corrupt in the state and robs the money they have amazed illegally and stashed away secretly. He then distributes the money among the poor and the needy.

Mallanna raids the residence of a rich and powerful tycoon PPP (Ashish Vidyarthi) and unearths millions of rupees. PPP then stages a drama and fakes that he has suffered a paralytic stroke. PPP even keeps this a secret from his own daughter Subbalakshmi (Shreya). She thinks that all this was only due to Mallanna and plans to teach him a lesson. She then follows Mallanna and pesters him to love her with an aim to take revenge later..

Mallanna is too smart to fall for her wicked idea. A top ranking officer Prabhu is assigned with the task of finding out as to who this mysterious Mallanna is. PPP nails Mallanna red handed with the help of fake CBI officers. He then makes him his business partner and asks Mallanna to rob the rich and give 50 percent of the money to him.

PPP also send Mallanna to Mexico to launder some money on his behalf. He senses his daughter Subbalakshmi along with Mallanna. There is another rich and corrupt AP man Rajamohan who has stashed away millions and has crossed swords with Mallanna.

The rest of the story is how Mallanna manages to hoodwink PPP and transfer the money to his own account to b distributed among the poor. Mallanna also manages to expose Rajamohan. Mallanna finally gets his love Subbalakshmi whom he marries in the end.

Performance:

Vikram is the heart and soul of the film. He carries the entire film on his shoulders and does a fantastic job. Vikram impresses in the role of a CBI officer as well as that of Mallanna. Vikram also appears in the get up of a lady, an old sadhu and as a Pizza delivery boy. Vikram dances well and his fights and action scenes have also been composed very well.

Shreya gives excellent support to Vikram. She looks sexy and stylish and plays out her role to perfection. Shreya’s new toned up body is used to the maximum by the director who has dressed her up in trendy and revealing costumes. It is only Shreya’s unkempt hair style that is a letdown.

Superstar Krishna appears in a brief but key role as a CBI officer. Prabhu does a neat job as an intelligence chief. The rest of the star cast does a good job as per the requirements of the story.

Mumaith Khan sizzles in a hot remix song “Paccha gaddi loseti paduchu pillo,,,”

Ashish Vidyarthi as the evil PPP has a limited role to play and he does a neat job as usual.

The cinematography is excellent. Music by Devi Sree Prasad is top notch and so is the re-recording. The costumes, settings and locales are all very good and make the film very rich and classy.

The story is racy and the screenplay is equally gripping making the audience glued to their sets from start to finish. The hero Vikram has rendered four songs in the film. The songs – ‘Excuse me Mr. Mallanna’ and ‘Meow… Meow…’ are racy and have been picturized well.

The film made with a cost of about 60 crore is worth every rupee spent on watching it. Mallanna is a classic light hearted racy entertainer without excessive preaching and Vikram and the director make watching the move a pleasant and thrilling experience.

Read User's Comments(0)

Movie Review - Anjaneyulu

7:08 PM | Labels: NEWS, REVIEW, TOLLYWOOD

Anjaneyulu

Starring: Ravi Teja, Nayanatara, Brahmanandam, Sonu Sood and others

Direction: Parasuram

Music: Taman S

Release date: 12 August 12, 2009

Ravi Teja coems up with another bighearted entertainer titled Anjaneyulu. The film is a typical Ravi Teja mark film which revolves entirely around Ravi Teja and his style of action and comedy. However there is hadly anything new or novel in the film.

Story:

Anjaneyulu (Ravi Teja) is a carefree young man. He loves his parents very much, his father Nazar in particular. Ravi Teja takes up a job in a private TV channel. Anjaneyulu rescues Anjali (Nayanatara) from rowdies and he falls instantly in love with her. Anjaneyulu learns that Anjali works in Airtel and he goes to her office and manages pesters her to love him.

Ravi Teja finally has his way and manages to make Anjali fall in love with him. In the office, Anjaneyulu has a honest and committed TV journalist Brahmaji. Prabhakar (Brahmanandam) is hired as a creative head to improve the TRP ratings of the channel and he crosses swords with Anjaneyulu over working style in the office.

Anjaneyulu’s parents are killed in a bus mishap. He learns that it was not a mishap but a pre-planned conspiracy by Bada (Sonu Sood), MLA Jayaprakash Reddy and the home minister. Ravi Teja then infiltrates the gang of Bada and gathers evidence and telecasts it on his channel. In the end, Anjaneyulu bashes up the bad guys and kills them all, thereby taking revenge on the killers of his parents.

Performance:

Ravi Teja as Anjaneyulu is a perfect fit for the role. He brings his dynamism and energy to the role. He also gets a chance to bash up the bad guys with full force and his fights give a lot of thrill to the front benchers. His punch dialogues also manage to draw in the applause form the audience.

Nayanatara plays out her part as Ravi Teja’s love interest in a convincing manner. Nayan however is not at her best in the film and she somehow filed to set the screen on fire like she did in some of he earlier films.

Brahmanandam raises a few laughs with his role as a creative head. Sonu Sood is okay but the director has failed to utilize him to the fullest. Nazar is good in his role as the father of Ravi Teja. Brahmaji gets a meaty role as an investigative journalist. Kota, Jayaprakash Reddy, Srinivas Reddy and others are okay.Praksh Raj makes a brief guest appearance.

Music is okay and the comedy is also okay. The film will be liked up the fans of Ravi Teja’s fans. Director Parasuram has tried his best and a little more care in the story and screenplay would have made the film even better. The film is a good time pass film in the true Ravi Teja style.

Read User's Comments(0)

Magadheera Review

11:34 PM | Labels: REVIEW

Cast: Ram Charan Teja, Kajal Agarwal, Srihari, Sunil, Brahmanandam, Sarath Babu, Rao Ramesh, Surya, Mumaith Khan, Sameer, Sekhar, Kim Sharma, Saloni & Hema
Music: MM Keeravani
Background music: Keeravani & Kalyani Malik
Cinematography: Senthil Kumar
Dialogues: Ratnam
Art: Ravinder
Editing: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Fights: Peter Hynes & Ram Lakshman
Styling: Rama Rajamouli
Co-producer: Bhogavally Prasad
Story: Vijayendra Prasad
Screenplay, & Direction: SS Rajamouli
Producer: Allu Arvind

The much awaited magnum opus Magadheera released to packed houses all over. Magadheera is a treat to all megafans. It's worth waiting 2 years.

Highlights : First Half
** Opening shot from 1609 A.D.
** Charan introduction with Bike Race.
** Bangaru kodi petta song.
** chiru guest appearance.
** comedy between sunil kajal charan.
** charan chasing bus riding on horse.
** charan kajal excelled in their characters.
** interval shot.

Highlights : Second Half
** Flash Back episode never before in indian screen.
** Badshah ( horse name ) saving charan.
** Horse race.
** War with sher khan.
** entire second half is mind blowing, spell bound.
** charan dialogue delivery is excellent.

RATING:
4/5 GENERAL AUDIENCE .
5/5 FANS RATING.

VERDICT :
SUPER HIT MEGAFANSKI INKA PANDAGA

Read User's Comments(1)

Magadheera Movie Review

6:38 PM | Labels: MEGA FAMILY, NEWS, REVIEW, TOLLYWOOD

Magadheera - Royal and spellbinding
(Friday, July 31, 2009)

The time has come for all those who were waiting to see the magnum opus. The film ‘Magadheera’ with Ramcharan Teja and Kajal Agarwal finally hit the screens and this is deemed as the most promising blockbuster beating the likes of ‘Pokiri’. How good was it, let us see.

Story

In the 16th century, Kalabhairava (charan) is a warrior general and Mitra (Kajal) is his queen. However, she is in love with him and he loves her too but never expresses it. Mitra is lusted by her relative Randev (devgill) and he is the commander in chief of the kingdom of Udaygarh. He manages to separate Bhairava and Mitra but not before he dies. The story comes to the present times when Harsha (charan), an avid biker has his life going smoothly. This takes a turn when his hand brushes with that of Indu (kajal) on a rainy day and before he sees her, he knows that there is something between them. Finally he manages to see her and love happens. But not before, Randev is born again as Indu’s relative and history repeats. Does Indu know her past? Is Harsha successful in his love? Go to the theatres and watch it.

Performances

Charan has come up with a mature performance and he has carried the film very well. Both his characters were done good justice and he reminded of his father at many places. Kajal looked bubbly, seductive and royal and she was the best choice. Devgill was a letdown as he could not emote that well, his act could have been tuned. Srihari was effective, Sunil was neat, Brahmi was regular, Sarath Babu was graceful, the others did their bit as per the standard.

Technical aspects

The main life and soul of the movie is the graphics and the visual effects department. They were well supported by a masterly cinematography. The script was without any loose ends, the screenplay was neat and the background score was alright. Editing was crisp, two songs were worth humming, the picturization of the songs was good. Art department and costumes get full marks in this.

Director’s portrayal

The director has been careful not to divert anywhere and he has shown his gift of narrative during the second half. Though the content was not much, he has been able to use his experience and kept the audience engaged. The storyline of the film finds traces of Hollywood flicks but then he has converted them enough to suit the Telugu audience.

Critic’s view

The film deserves a special credit for many reasons, notable among them is the grandeur of the movie and the amazing technical aspects. While the first half was rather weak and the take off was a bit on the slow side, the film picks up rapidly and makes up for the lost time. This is surely a path breaker in terms of Telugu film making and with the likes of ‘Arundhati’, Tollywood sure is proud to have this one in its league. It is a valiant attempt to bring such genre to the modern day audience and present it with finesse so that it fits the historical angle and the today’s angle. Though the content part may not be impressive, it is the presentation and the engaging scenes that should take the movie to a bumper success at the box office.

Highlights:

The film should be watched for undergoing an unspeakable experience with the following:

*
The bike adventure in first half
*
The Set of Udayagadh replicating the 16th century empire city
*
Background sound that brings Goosebumps
*
Wonderful canning of songs viz., Cheppinde Cheppake.., BangaruKodi petta and Dheera Dheera
*
Battle at Bhaiaravakona between Kalabhairava and Sher Khan’s soldiers
*
Climax song for its creativity

Verdict

Excellent!!!

Read User's Comments(0)

COOL FILMY STUFF

Followers

Latest videos

Categories

whos.amung.us

Total Pageviews

Archives

Page Rank

About Me

FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed

SHARE

film blog

Review - Ganesh (....just Ganesh)

'Shankam' Movie Review

Movie review - Josh

'Kanthaswamy' a superhero tale with a twist (Tamil Film Review)

Movie Review - Mallanna

Movie Review - Anjaneyulu

Magadheera Review

Magadheera Movie Review