Smorgasbord Fantasia

Muthoon means the Elder One, in the local dialects spoken on the islands of Lakshadweep.  A gritty, coming-of-age story about a young boy's search for his older brother that leads him from the aquamarine blue-seas and sand-washed islands of Lakshadweep to the seedy underbelly of the dark streets of Mumbai, Muthoon is Geetu Mohandas' second directorial and it definitely hits home with its stark hard-hitting messages on gender fluidity and forbidden love.  It 'premiered' on the OTT platforms - on Zee network yesterday and I decided to finally catch this movie as it had not released in the theatres outside Kerala, last year December. Right from the wide-angle opening shots of the sandy beaches and brilliant turquoise water that surrounds the stark island where three boys are playing out their childhood games, I knew I was in for something special here.  Mulla is a young boy full of anger and rebellious angst who only wants to find out the truths about his older brother re...

Trust Malayalam movies to skewer movie tropes on Robots saving the world! After having subjected us to horrors like Robot 2.0, I think  Android Kunjappan Version 5.25  (AKV5.25) comes as a refreshingly original take on the robot-myths in Indian movies. Treating AI/robotics as it should be, rather than muck around in murky waters of ethics and robo-genocides, the movie keeps it simple and straightforward. One of the best movies I have seen from 2019. Period. An odd-ball comedy of errors, AKV5.25 is set in a small village in Payannur, North Kerala. It follows the life of grouchy old man Bhaskaran Poduval (  Siraj Venjaramoodu  knocks it out of the park with his searing, heart-rending performance!) and his electronics engineer son, Subramanhiyan who's forced to give up good job prospects in cities like Bangalore and Kochi, as he is duty-bound to take care of his old father. Both their lives are turned upside down, when Subramanhiyan decides to risk it out in a Ja...

We knew this was coming. 42 years and 9 movies later, the genius of George Lucas is finally drawing curtains and frankly, I cannot keep calm. Rise of the Skywalker marks the end of the third trilogy of star-wars saga and the full stop on the new story-line as we know it. It is the sort of cultural identity that has been seared into the minds of us fans, deep and long. Regardless of whether you started binge-watching the series on your mobile phone in the last one week ( like my teenage nephew!) or been brought up on the staples of May the Force be with you, right from '77 or like me, got struck by the bug in my college days in the late 90's [The whole concept of a Jedi with light sabre who fights for the Light was mind blowing stuff for me, young adult! I was mesmerised by the start of this whole original series, the first of the prequels that had me enthralled and completely engrossed by the terrible transformation of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader !] this has been an em...

Asuran literally means the demon. A movie adapted from a popular Tamil novel called Vekkai by Poomani, the movie traces the past and present transformation of Sivasami , the character played by Dhanush (the actor and not the star!) as he cyclically transforms from the demon to a human and then back to being the demon - all to protect his family. It's an intense and gritty character drama about two warring families, treading through the perils of casteism and the gulf between the haves and the downtrodden have-nots.  Sivasami is a poor farmer, whose 3 acres of land is being coveted by the rich landlord Vadakooran, who intends to build a cement factory on this land. But this feud is ignited further when Murugan, Sivasami's eldest son is actually kidnapped and killed by Vadakooran's goons in a defiant act of petty vengeance taken too far. Sivasami is a drunkard, a mild-mannered quiet old man who only wants to live in peace and doesn't want to exacerbate matte...

In first of the DC Black’s stand-alone spin-off series, we examine and plumb the dark stygian depths of one of DC’s iconic villains, the arch-nemesis to the Dark Knight, the Joker . And what an epic flight of imagination is it, lent some serious credence and authenticity by Joaquin Phoenix ’s astounding career-defining performance as the lead/eponymous character. Joker unspools like a raw, bloody experiment with our minds and souls, a yawning exit wound that refuses to heal, unsettling, painful and yet indelibly scorched into our psyches. The movie is a chaotic, slow-burn psyche-eval of one of the most unhinged characters ever written about but Todd Phillip/Scott Silver ’s interpretation of Joker is fresh, is a bold riff on Heath Ledger’s iconic portrayal and invokes pity, grudging admiration and loathing in equal measure. Because let’s not forget. This is the rise of a villain , we are taking about. But the deplorable conditions of a callous, cruel society that catalyze...

So I finally managed to wrap up Stranger Things - 3!  Phew. Going to be frank, the third season ends spectacularly well - but it was a real slog to get through the initial four-five episodes till things really got going. The producers/writers/director team have crammed in all things good from the previous seasons, cranked up the horror elements dial to beyond eleven (Pun!), thrown in some really messy, gory ingredients, stretched out a non-existent plot line to cover up gaping holes in the scripts but ultimately. reach the finish line, spewing exhaust and grit, grime and gore all over the place in a final blaze of well deserved glory. So cut to the chase: It's 1985. Hawkins is still a pin prick in the Great American Hinterland, the idealistic town in the middle of nowhere but now, the kerbside shops are giving way to the Great Mall of Starcourt. The kids have hit their teenage big time and thus, have their hormones raging. Mike and El are going at it, non stop disco...

So I caught the latest reboot of the Fast & Furious franchise, Hobbs and Shaw - a spin-off featuring two of the loveable rogues from the same, Dwayne "Rock" Johnson playing the ex federal agent Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham playing Deckard Shaw, British soldier turned mercenary. The plot of course is rubbish, as is in every other F&F movie - But this time, instead of Lettie (Michelle Rodriguez) there is Hattie (Vanessa Kirby) - yet another Shaw, who's a federal agent infected by a deadly virus. Which just happens to be the property of a mysterious group, frontlined by Black Superman, a man named Brixton - yet another soldier/agent modified by cyber-genetics into a one-man army (Idris Elba having a total blast on screen!). With Brixton planning to extract the virus from his sister and release it out into the whole world, the fate of the world rests in Deckard's hands. Can they stop this formidable foe in time? Remember the two faced each other off in the ...

Malayalam film industry is a touch above the rest of Indian cinema when it comes to making original stories of the soil, come alive in myriad colors. It's a bold statement but when watching movies like Kumbalangi Nights by Fahadh & Friends , this claim clearly doesn't seem outlandish and I am convinced this is the right direction, we should be moving in. This movie is a fascinating portrayal of the cracks and fissures spider-webbing through the thin patina of a sleepy backwater tourist haven. Kumbalangi Nights rips through the concepts of dysfunctional families and even the toxic masculinity that has been the focus on many a malayalam movies for long. Aided by a fabulous, perceptive script[ written by Shyam Pushkaran ] debutant director Madhu C Narayanan brings to life, the lesser aspects of the idyllic life on a fishing hamlet, going beyond the happy facade presented to the tourist. Delving deep into the uninspired and almost wasted lives of a family of brothers. S...

Netflix Saturdays : I pledge to write a movie/series recommendation every Saturday, cherry-picking from the vast collection of Movies/TV series playing on Netflix. Well, if you were planning to binge-watch away your weekend in front of the TV/Laptop/Hand held device, hopefully my review(s) help you make an informed choice! Happy Flixing, fellas. Trust Netflix to come up with weird recommendations that turn out to be runaway winners! Whatever your data scientists are doing to improve that recommendation engine algorithm, more power to you fellas [ Sorry! couldn't resist that dig as I do analytics for a living myself ] So Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota (MKDH) just randomly came up on my Netflix list and without any inkling, I just started watching it yesterday night. You know, there are some movies that convince you in the first few frames that you are in for something special? MKDH was one of those. The first scene has a young man in a maroon track suit facing down a set of ...

Congratulations. You have made it to the end of a ten year long, 22 movie-franchise third and arguably, the most spectacular phase in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If your eyes are prickling with restrained tears or you are just full-out bawling your lungs away, then don't feel bad. We are in this together. We did avenge, some yes. We managed to piece it all back together, of what was left of the smoking mess that the do-gooder Thanos' left sautéing on the Terran stovetop with that "snaptocalypse" at the end of the Infinity War. MCU has evolved into an epic, with Iron Man being one of the first of the lot to be introduced to us and then we had this ensemble of superheroes take centre-stage in our hearts. And so with the Avengers: End Game , the third phase ' The Infinity Saga " is over [technically it is going to be spider-man 2 that will call the wraps on it], a marvellous wrap to the proceedings. Russo brothers , you guys should take a bow. Because...

DC has really been struggling to get their act together but in Shazam ! I truly believe, that they have found their most "bankable" superhero. The irony being that it essentially took a sillier premise of a fourteen year old kid forced to take on the mantle of the world's "pure-hearted" savior to actually save them the blushes. The question posed by the movie seems logical enough. What happens if a fourteen year old kid is granted super hero powers? The answer is in the hilarious scene when Billy and Freddy, teenage boys - one a nerdy DC super-fan, the other in the body of a newly-anointed superhero still figuring out his prowess - go inside a super-market to try out 'adult' gimmicks. This sort of sets the tone for the entire movie. Firmly tongue-in-cheek, irreverent to the core and yet, balanced by a believable 'super-villain' in Mark Strong playing the role of Dr. Thaddeus Siva, who takes on power in its corrupt form [ as gifted by the ...

So the first big movie for 2019 for the MCU, Captain Marvel dropped last week on Friday - and I managed to catch it, first day. The International Woman's Day datelines aren't a coincidence. The first big Marvel act headlined by a woman (also co-directed by another: Anna Boden. Go girl power!), Brie Larson dons the big fiery gloves of the super-saver of the Universe. She strives her best to bring in the big-bangs (literally, photon blasts of pure fury shot from bare hands) while juggling the flawed, human act ( amnesiac, prone to a temper with an ego to spare) and is tons of fun to watch. But is the movie good? The numbers do the talking. I think, as I write, this one's going to be become one of the top-grossing Marvel movies of all times. But is this my favorite Marvel movie? Nope. That honor still goes to... Black Panther ? Captain America: Civil War ? Infinity Wars ? Sigh. Tough one, but getting back to Carol 'Vers' Denvers. The movie opens onto a hazy ...

Will the F&F franchise that has been dragged bloody and dusty to more than eight frigging outings but still remains un-apologetically high on the style factor (Dwayne Rock Johnson with his smaller meaner and more vicious version in Jason Statham ), without muh substance ( read, sans Vin Diesel) stick the landing this time? Trailer looks fun - but if you get bored of the relentless quips and the unending bashing-up-of-each-other - then Gods save us, huh. I really have low hopes but Idris Elba might just be the X-factor that saves the day. Brings in enough menace and sincerity to that grey role.

So Tom Holland is back - that delightful little package of non-stop chatter, action and goofy jokes now heads to Europe(?). A wonderful teaser and we can't wait for him to come back ( from the dead!)

So finally putting speculations to rest, Marvel dropped the trailer on Friday :) Lots of fans have been going crazy over discussion groups, internets trying to piece together this one. Russo brothers' dedicated this one all the crazy fans. It's a wonderful franchise coming to an end. [ Meanwhile you can always catch up with Ms. Marvel opening a month before the End Game. The wait is on.