I went to see a Malayalam movie in the theaters again! Actually, I saw two, and was completely unproductive otherwise all Saturday. It was a great weekend. And next Monday, you get to see a review of the other movie!
In several parts of this film, I was reminded of Annmariya. Same single parent family, same kid with too many worries, same unusual relationship between an older tougher man and the kid. But while Annmariya took place in a world of magic and destiny where nothing ever went really wrong, this film took place in the “real” world, and was much sadder.
Week four! Woo! This is kind of working I think maybe? Although we’ll have to see how it does now that I have finished all the big name releases from last year. Oh wait! I still have Oppam!
I missed Monday Malayalam, because I was completely impractical and not time effective, and I went to see Dulquer’s new movie in theaters at the 8 o’clock show on a work night. Because it’s Dulquer! And it’s cold and grey and depressing, and Kerala is so pretty. And I was hoping to write the review when I got home, but it was midnight and my brain finger typing thoughts not coming.
Second week for this, going okay so far! Having a schedule to stick to is really driving me to watch movies. That was the initial purpose of the To-Do List, but then it just got so big I couldn’t deal with it. But needing to have a new Malayalam film watched and reviewed every Monday is good for me. Oh, and this movie in particular I have been wanting to watch since last Onam (at my local theater, we got Oozham instead).
Okay, I’m going to try something. Before, I would get a big DVD order or have a slow week at work, and post a ton of blog posts from Kerala or Tamil Nadu or whatever all at once. And then hit a point of being busy at work and running out of DVDs or whatever and post no reviews at all for a while. But that’s not good, this start and stop. So, now that the big Hindi release season is about to end, I am going to try to stick to a schedule, Monday Malayalam, Tuesday Tamil or Telugu. And then Hindi or whatever other random thing I am watching (Zindagi Gulzar Hai?) the rest of the week. Continue reading
I know I know, I should be picking off of my list. But ErosNow just added a bunch of Malayalam films and I got over-whelmed by options and decided to just go with the first one that popped up with Mammootty.
I don’t know enough about him, and Hema exhausted me, so Prithviraj has to content himself with a simple dozen reasons I love him.
This was not the best movie to watch the same time as Pink. Or maybe it was the best movie to watch? It certainly helped highlight exactly why Pink is groundbreaking! And yes, I know, it’s another one that wasn’t recommended, but it’s the last one on the Netflix list. And I really hope it isn’t the first Malayalam movie anyone watches, because ENRAGING!!!!
As I have mentioned already, I just re-activated my Netflix discs and immediately requested every Malayalam film they have available. Which means I am going to end up with some stinkers. This one wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t very good, or interesting. But not quite bad enough that I could justify stopping in the middle (it takes a lot for me to stop in the middle of a movie).
What an interesting movie! I read that it is supposed to be the start of the new age films, but it actually reminded me a lot more of Aalkkoottathil Thaniye. And other films I’ve seen from that classic 90s/late 80s era.
This was…..fine? A couple of clever ideas in the script (could tell it came from the same mind as Drishyam), Prithviraj did a good job (of course), and I guess the action was all right? But it was just sort of missing something.
I gave in! I re-upped my Netflix DVD subscription! Just because they have 2 dozen Malayalam films listed, and I am so sick of dropping subtitle files onto youtube videos, or waiting for international shipments, or paying $2.99 for googleplay videos, or squinting at eithusan on my laptop screen. Anyway, now I am cranking through all the random films Netflix happens to have available. Like this one!
I don’t quite know what to think about this movie. They left a lot of things open and a lot of things to our imagination, and there are no easy answers in it. But what I know for sure is, I love Mita Vasisht and am thrilled I finally got to see her in a lead role, instead of just showing up and giving awesome advice for a few minutes, and then going away.
What a pleasant film! Everything isn’t perfect, but if everyone works together they can make it perfect. Well, almost. But the big message is everyone working together and dealing with a bad situation as best as they can.
This movie is about a lot of different things, but what leaps out at me is they way it handled the hero’s childhood adoption into an American family. It managed the difficult task of avoiding any easy answers, acknowledging the challenges of the situation without blaming anyone for them.
My first CBI movie! Which I am aware is not actually the “first” CBI movie. But it is the first CBI movie that einthusan has with subtitles, so I wanted to jump on it before it went away. I couldn’t believe how dark it got, with the motivations and plot twists, but at the same time how clear and sensible the tone was, it never got bogged down in emotions.
Jacobinte Swargarajyam is finally on einthusan.com, yay!!!!! So, I could watch it, after missing it in theaters. I loved Nivin Pauly in it, naturally (although I have reservations about his hair). But I was surprised by how charismatic I found Renji Panicker, especially considering he just started acting a couple of years ago!
ErosNow has added so many more Malayalam films! I got all excited, until I noticed that half of them don’t have subtitles. Oh well. But at least Meleparambil Aanveedu did, so I was able to watch that!
I watched Ambe Sivam! Another Kamal Haasan movie! And, I don’t know, I had issues. Mostly with the way they handled the ending. I could see a cool idea in there, but I think it got messed up a little bit by the need to make Kamal Haasan just the coolest dude ever.
I’ve been doing the Sultan recap for days now, and it is such a manly movie. Not to say it doesn’t have really good female characters, it does, but over all it is about our male main character and how he interacts with other men. So I am going to take a break and look at a Malayalam movie which as all about women.
We are now almost a week into all Salman coverage (because Sultan has got me all excited!), but I decided it was time to take a break and slip in a Malayalam review, just for a change. And I picked the least Salman-y film of them all, Ozhimuri, all about the Matrilineal system.
Ustad Hotel was like the second Malayalam film I saw. First Bangalore Days, then Ustad Hotel, then Ohm Shaanti Oshana. At the time I saw it first, I had nooooooooooo idea what was going on for long stretches of the film. But now I have seen like 30 Malayalam films in 6 months, so I know everything!
I already did a quick post on Bangalore Days a while back, but I just re-watched it and noticed a bunch of new stuff, so I am putting out a new post and you can’t stop me! Ha!
That’s allowed, right? A second review of a movie I have already written about, just because I watched it a second time? Although, how would you really stop me? It is my blog, I am all powerful in this small little universe.
(if you want to read my first reaction, that review is here)
dontcallitbollywood 