Rifle Club – A fun ride

Official Trailer: It takes around 15mts to figure out what the team – director, writer, and the actors – is going after. They are having fun within the movie, and you can get on the insane ride if you succeed to get into their wavelength. Rifle Club is stylishly made with colorful characters, excellent performances, tangy background score. And then tons of bullets, from antique to modern guns. Plot is

 

Fast Cuts – Meiyazhagan and Lubber Pandhu

After a bunch of eardrums bursting high decibel movies Meiyazhagan and Lubber Pandhu come as a cool gentle breeze after a cyclone. Both movies have few things in common. Strong writing, well developed character arcs, focus on relationships, nuanced moments. Both are driven by director’s vision. Feel so refreshed after watching these movies. There are few nitpicks, but they don’t come in the way of wholesome treat. Meiyazhagan: From the

 

Vidamuyarchi – Cut the flab and it could have been a lean mean thriller

Official Trailer: When I heard Vidamuyarchi is an official remake of Breakdown my hopes went up. Director Magizh Thirumeni’s earlier movie Thadam was a satisfying thriller. Thadam was a director’s movie. Breakdown is an efficient lean mean thriller. It was a well-made genre movie with interesting plot twists and thrilling action sequences. It kept you on the edge of the seat five minutes into the movie. When I saw Vidamuyarchi

 

Fast Cuts – The Beekeeper, The Equalizer 3

Official Trailer: The Beekeeper Official Trailer: The Equalizer 3 I am game for vigilante movies if they are well made and don’t get into right or wrong conflict. They give us an escapist avenue, a fantasy, where bad guys get their due punishment. We know in real world vigilante justice is incorrect, need to follow the law and only courts can decide on the guilt and quantum of punishment. Thanks

 

Fast Cuts – Vettaiyan – Misses the target

Official Trailer: You sit through perfunctory opening of hero intro fight, intro song, mixed with random video footages of boys from government schools misbehaving with teachers. These scenes move so quickly with no depth. I guess even the director wants to get through these mandatory superstar fan service fast. Our hero Athiyan, played by Rajinikanth, is an encounter specialist who believes in dispensing justice taking the law into his own

 

Fast Cuts – Kishkindha Kaandam – a satisfying mystery thriller

Official Trailer: Similar to Koozhangal, director Dinjith Ayyathan puts us in the middle of action. A couple is in registrar office to get their marriage registered. There is no introduction about the couples or the guy who stands outside the registrar office. Then the husband Ajay, played by Asif Ali, gets a call. It is election time and licensed holders have to surrender their guns. His father Appupillai, played by

 

Life of Ram – Song from movie 96

While we keep getting catchy tunes and interesting compositions, not all songs have appreciative lyrics. We like the songs for combination of things – music, orchestration, melody, singer’s voice, emotion, and lyrics. Rarely all these come together in a song. One such song, which I keep going back to, is Life of Ram from 96. Music, lyrics, emotion come together. For me it is the lyrics that stand out. They

 

Maharaja – A skillfully constructed revenge thriller

Official Trailer: [SPOILERS AHEAD…] The story is a simple, a father takes revenge on the guys who assaulted his daughter. What sets this movie apart is how the movie is built. It comes across as a picture puzzle where you have to put together the pieces to view the full picture. In Maharaja we get precision engineered segments like Lego blocks. They are given to us in a non-linear fashion.

 

A narrow escape and a sliver of hope

2024 election outcome gave a mixed feeling. Happy because the alternate outcome of brutal majority would be worse.  Happiness with disappointment because we need to survive these two, Modi and Shah for another 5 years. I was debating the caption for this writeup, It could have been worse, All is not lost….yet, A reprieve for democracy, A sliver of home amidst disappointment, Blessing in disguise for the functioning democracy. Couldn’t

 

ஏழாம் உலகம் (7th World) – Book by B.Jeyamohan

As per Indian subcontinent mythology, there are seven worlds below our feet – அதலம், விதலம், தலம், கபஸ்திமல், மகாதலம், சுதலம், பாதாளம். We get our food and water from there. We can’t see them. Similar to those seven worlds below us, are there worlds within our society we are not aware of? We see different classes of people daily but never stopped to ask how their life would look like. We may