Two days, two movies
Watched two movies over a weekend packed with work.
King Kong
I had to choose between this and another movie, so I checked with IMDb. The rating for this one was a huge 8.1. The movie was ranked 166 in the list of the Top 250 movies of all time. Plus it was a Peter Jackson (of The Lord of the Rings fame) movie. So the choice was made.
A few hours down the line I realised that even IMDb could take me for a ride. I have nothing positive to say about this movie, except that it was good in flashes, those flashes being few and far between. The script was rather commonplace. There was no trace of Peter Jackson or Fran Walsh anywhere. The movie looked like a poor rehash of Jurassic Park and Titanic (and a few other Tamil flicks, which were themselves poor rehashes from Hollywood!). Only the kids two rows in front of me found the movie interesting.
Adrien Brody was wasted. But Jack Black was good as the bad Mr. Denham. Naomi Watts was passable. In toto, an avoidable movie.
Kanda Naal Mudhal
If someone in the Tamil industry has a finger on the pulse of the audience, it has to be Prakash Raj. After the success of Azhagiya Theeye, Duet Productions hits the screens with another urban romance that ispoised to already winning hearts across the state. Prasanna, Laila and Karthik are the toast of Tamil Nadu now.
Kanda Naal Mudhal is a warm movie, and the moviegoing public has latched on to it as if it were the perfect pill to escape a cold December. The movie showcases the fact that good movies don't need a star-studded cast, nor a nine-digit budget.
Crisp and neat performances, a decent screenplay punctuated with excellent songs - seems like a good formula for a hit. I'm not complaining!
A few hours down the line I realised that even IMDb could take me for a ride. I have nothing positive to say about this movie, except that it was good in flashes, those flashes being few and far between. The script was rather commonplace. There was no trace of Peter Jackson or Fran Walsh anywhere. The movie looked like a poor rehash of Jurassic Park and Titanic (and a few other Tamil flicks, which were themselves poor rehashes from Hollywood!). Only the kids two rows in front of me found the movie interesting.
Adrien Brody was wasted. But Jack Black was good as the bad Mr. Denham. Naomi Watts was passable. In toto, an avoidable movie.
Kanda Naal Mudhal
If someone in the Tamil industry has a finger on the pulse of the audience, it has to be Prakash Raj. After the success of Azhagiya Theeye, Duet Productions hits the screens with another urban romance that is
Kanda Naal Mudhal is a warm movie, and the moviegoing public has latched on to it as if it were the perfect pill to escape a cold December. The movie showcases the fact that good movies don't need a star-studded cast, nor a nine-digit budget.
Crisp and neat performances, a decent screenplay punctuated with excellent songs - seems like a good formula for a hit. I'm not complaining!
posted by Vijay Krishna Narayanan | 12/25/2005 05:42:00 PM
5 Comments:
King Kong is definitely a great movie and has many plusses. I think it would have been enjoyed more without the hype, which raised the expectations even above the 25 foot Kong.
The graphics were greatly blended and you no longer feel that the animals and humans work in a different world and merged together in screen by accident. Also the expressions vented by the Kong are to put in simple terms - realistic.
The heroine has brought out well her acrobatic skills, and the forest is so lifelike, you feel you live there. There are some thrilling scenes which will bring a scare.
The 3 hr movie can be seperated as 3 parts, the first 30 mins pretty slow (go to sleep), next 2 hrs- a thriller (wake up), and next 30 mins again ramping down (you can choose to leave early).
Overall you get your money's worth of show, graphics, dinos, kong, good looking heroine, sentiments, action, etc. A must see for those who liked Jurassic P, Aliens etc.
Bottomline: T.Rajender couldn't do it any better.
I don't have a thing for those special effects movies. But often get carried away in the hype and burn Rs. 150 and a few hours. Thanks for the review, I'll atleast keep away from King Kong's way.
Unfortunately, I can't make out much of Tamil. The only Tamil movies that I saw were those dubbed in Hindi, or the ones aired on vintage Doordarshan with subtitles. Are these movies available on VCDs (got no DVD player) with English subtitles? Would love to watch them first hand before the Bollywood remakes hit the silver screen.
KNM rocks,laila sucks.
@Anon: I'm sorry but King Kong isn't my type of a movie. Couldn't help it.
@Soumyadip: I'm plainly amazed by your zeal for other-language movies. Though VCDs/DVDs of new releases are available, none of them carry subtitles. That's the bane of Tamil cinema - it is made only for those who can understand Tamil. Maybe movie producers should consider releasing English / Hindi subtitled DVDs.
@Sheky: Yeah, I'm not very convinced about Laila as a choice for the lead role. Not unlike Kumble or Srinath (who are single-stroke batsmen), she is a single-expression actress. But thankfully, it wasn't Asin - man, I'm tired of seeing her in a clutch of recent movies!
interesting.. but I liked King Kong.. simply coz PJ had the imagination to move away from the usual King Kong type movie..
more details in my review.. (when I finally do write it :))
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