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Faster

Medium : English
Starring : Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, Moon Bloodgood
Director : George Tillman, Jr.

Another movie from Hollywood with a title similar to the recent thriller 'Un Stoppable', has been released. This time it is 'Faster', done by Dwayne Johnson in the lead role. Don't you know him ? He must not be that much familiar to the viewers, but he is more popular with his nick name , "The Rock". A regular viewer of WWF (World Wrestling Federation) shows in mini screen, can easily identify this strong man. Don't forget that he has acted in some movies like 'Scorpion King', 'The Game Plan' etc.

The movie opens by showing the Driver (Dwayne Johnson) getting out of the prison after spending many years in it. He is determined to take revenge on the people who are responsible for murdering his brother. He is killing one by one who are there in the list. He is leaving the last man from that, as he has now become a preacher of God. The Cop, who has been investigating the case, reaches the scene and shoots him. What happens to the hero and the person who had hired the killer to destroy Driver is revealed in the climax.

The color and texture of the frames, gives us the real mood of an action movie. The use of such a location, the vehicle, hero's rough appearance etc are some factors that had given the realistic look. A couple of situations treated in an unbelievable way had destroyed the seriousness of the whole environment. The first one is the way in which the hero survives the bullet injury at the hospital. If you argue that such things can happen in real life also, then it can be accepted; secondly, the same hero escaping the bullet shot on head at the climax due to the metal chip, cannot be accepted at any cost and it became the main reason for me not to promote such a venture. The hero's face is clearly shown in the cameras, but the police with the advanced technology is unable to catch him, which is also an unnatural phenomenon. Dwayne Johnson had done the serious role well with the help of his gun, with out telling much dialogues.

'Faster' is a masala action movie from hollywood having some unbelievable situations.

Rating : 4.5 / 10

Marykkundoru Kunjaadu

Medium : Malayalam
Starring : Dileep, Biju Menon, Vijayaraghavan, Salim Kumar, Innocent, Bhavana, Vinaya Prasad
Director : Shafi
Music : Berny Ignateous, Bijibal (bg score)

These days, the publicity and promotional news for any project under production in malayalam, will be normally big. If the lead role in the movie is done by a notable actor like Dileep, then it can be the talk of the town. But, in the case of his new project directed by hit maker Shafi ('Pulivaal Kalyaanam', 'Kalyana Raman', Thommanum Makkalum', 'Mayavi', 'Choclates', 'Chattambinaadu' fame) and scripted by Benny P.Nayarambalam ('Chaandhupottu',

'Thommanum Makkalum', 'Chota Mumbai', 'Annan Thambi', 'Chattambinaadu' fame), the things were different. It does not created an expected hype before its release. But, once heard the title of the movie, 'Marykkundoru Kunjaadu', nobody can forget it due to the simplicity. Dileep's previous project 'Kaaryasthan' was not the best, even then the fact to be noted is that the family audiences for his movies have helped the project to lift up a lot. Bhavana is acting with the hero after a short gap (previous one being 'Twenty 20'). Shamdatt ('Ritu', 'Vargam', 'Tiger', 'Pramaani' fame) is the cinematographer. The movie is produced by Vysakh Rajan.

Solomon (Dileep) is a jobless guy living in a high range village with his father (Vijayaraghavan), mother (Vinaya Prasad) and two sisters. Being a coward person, he has got the nick name Kunjaadu. He is in love with Mary (Bhavana), daughter of a rich man (Innocent), right from the childhood days. Her father and brothers (Anand, Appa Haja etc) has strongly resisted their relationship. The arrival of a strong bold guy (Biju Menon) in the village, has brought some changes to Solomon's life, which is shown in the later portions.

Last few releases has not been the best for Dileep. He has now realized, what the malayalee viewers are expecting from him. Thus 'Marykkundoru Kunjaadu' is a come back movie for the actor, who is in his 101st project. He has done the role in an attractive way, in his old style, without looking for the heroism and stardom. Biju Menon has got a bold character to do, which he did well. Vijayaraghavan's father character is good. Benny P.Nayarambalam's good script has been neatly handled by Shafi. The hang over of 'Meesa Madhavan' and 'Chaandhupottu' are there in few portions. The humor elements used in the movie are good. Shamdatt's cinematography covers the colorful visuals of the hilly areas of Thodupuzha at its best. Manoj is the editor. Action sequences by Mafia Sasi are good. Songs by Berny Ignateous goes with the mood. The visuals for them are done without much complaints. Bg score by Biji Bal is good, but felt loud at some areas. The dts mixing done by Ajith George, felt noisy at certain portions (don't know whether it is the problem with the theater).

'Marykkundoru Kunjaadu' is an ideal family entertainer for this X'mas and New Year season.

Rating : 8 / 10

Tournament

Medium : Malayalam
Starring : Fahad Fazil, Manu, Aryan, Praveen, Prajin, John, Roopa Manjari, Salim Kumar
Director : Lal
Music : Deepak Dev, Alex Paul (bg score)

This time, director Lal has come up with something different. After giving two sequel versions for the old hit 'In Harihar Nagar', like 'To Harihar Nagar' and 'In Ghost house Inn', the hit maker had given his new youthful movie, 'Tournament' with many fresh / in experienced faces. Heroine Roopa Manjari has done her debut in tamil movie 'Thiru Thiru Thuru Thuru'. Fahad Fazil, who came to the field through

'Kaiyethum Doorathu', had done notable roles in 'Mrithyunjayam of 'Kerala Cafe', 'Pramaani' and 'Cock Tail' in his come back. Prajin got a chance to do a role in the movie 'The Thriller'. Praveen has done a small role in 'Kadha Thudarunnu'. John, from the mini screen, has done 'Chekavar' and also a song sequence in 'Sakudumbam Shyamala'. Manu has shown his face in a musical video album before. Aryan, working as RJ in the fm radio, is a new comer in the big screen.

Venu, who worked with Lal for the previous two ventures, is the cinematographer. This time, director's brother Alex Paul was given the job to do the bg score only, thus Deepak Dev comes as the in charge of the songs. Editor is V.Saajan. This road movie starts in Kochi and the majority of the incidents are happening in and around Gundalpet, on the way to Mysore. P.N.Venugopal had produced the movie and it is distributed by Lal Creations.

The story starts as three friends (Fahad Fazil, Praveen, John) planning to participate in the cricket selection tournament at Banglore. One among them is injured and is unable to join them. Others leaves for the destination, with their friend, a wild life photographer (Roopa Manjari). At the airport, they meet another guy (Manu), who is also participating in the tournament. They missed the flight and thus the group had decided to travel by road, which later leads to a series of incidents and how they reached their destination is shown towards the end.

The title of the movie, 'Tournament' has got a tag line, "Play...Replay". In the first few minutes itself, the director had added a sequence that registers the tag line. As the journey goes on, some unexpected incidents are happening. Most of the characters are badly affected due to this. The replay version has been implemented in all such occasions. The number of twists happening there should have been minimized. Inclusion of more natural elements might have given the viewers, not to imagine themselves anything in advance, they would have also traveled with the flow. Here almost all the characters are behaving in an identical way, which is far from reality. Even then, the director is successful in keeping a couple of good suspense elements towards the end. The climax portion, which is the key point of any movie, should have been created in a more effective way. The arrangement of furniture in the truck looks like cinematic. The tribal episode featuring Indrans is an unwanted one.

Manu, who comes in a character with the Trissur slang, has got a duet song also to do; he is the best from the lot. Fahad Fazil, a relatively experienced face among the youths has done the role with ease. New comer Aryan's role is notable and he has handled it comfortably. As a new face in malayalam, Roopa Manjari is good. Praveen's character is funny, the bulky guy had tried to create comedy which is not effective in many areas. The reason for getting his stomach upset is told as a 'snake' curry, but in the previous scene it is shown that he has not eaten it. Prajin caught attention by giving a different appearance using beard. John didn't have much to do, rather than a song and a couple of jumping sequences. Salim Kumar creates some laughter. The process of adding the dialogues for characters with out lip movement in the dubbing room, has been applied in the case of Bijukuttan's introduction. The songs by Deepak Dev are in the modern style, the visuals are done in an attractive way. Among the three songs, two are coming in small intervals. Bg score by Alex Paul is ok. Venu's camera work is colorful.

'Tournament' is an youthful one from director Lal. Though it cannot be rated excellent, without big expectation, the attempt with many new faces can be watched for the different treatment.

Rating : 6 / 10

Tees Maar Khan

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Akshay Kumar, Akshay Khanna, Arya Babbar, Katrina Kaif
Director : Farah Khan
Music : Vishal - Sekhar, Shirish Kunder (bg score)

giving two hits like 'Om Shanthi Om' and 'Main Hoon Naa' with the favorite star Sharukh Khan, choreographer turned director Farah Khan had done her new movie with another star, Akshay Kumar. It was heard that Akshay had agreed to do the lead role, after Sharukh had rejected the director's request. Katrina Kaif is once again doing the heroine role for Akshay, their previous projects being 'Blue', 'Singg is Kinng', 'Welcome' and 'Namastey London'. Another major name to be noted in the technicians list is Shirish Kunder, who comes in the role of producer, script writer, editor and even he gave the background score for the movie and Shirish is none other than Farah Khan's husband.

The police force is searching widely for the notable thief, Mirza Khan (Akshay Kumar), who has escaped from their captivity, many times. He is in love with Anya (Katrina Kaif), a struggling actress who is deeply passionate for films. Mirza had committed the task to rob a train loaded with valuable materials owned by the government. He had made a plan using the actor Aatish Kapoor (Akshay Khanna). Mirza appears in front of him as a director. Aatish had agreed to do the movie and the villagers were also participated in the fake shooting episode, where the ultimate aim was to rob the train passing through that village, whether they got succeeded in their task is shown towards the end.

The story of the movie is good, but the foolish presentation of the movie had affected the seriousness to a great extend. Some of the dialogues here and there creates laughing, but the addition of some non sense ingredients had polluted the environment.. The hero's flash back is portrayed in a song, while he is in the mother's stomach, with the help of graphics sequences are good; but the hospital scene at its end is good for a situation in the cartoon magazine for children. Akshay Khanna is shown here as a well known actor, the way in which he believes the fake shooting scene as a real one, cannot be accepted at any cost. The director and the crew might be able to fool the poor villagers, but how a well known artist like him simply keep silent and obey orders of somebody who pretends to be a director. More over the camera looks like a toy only, but they were seriously speaking about putting film roll in it. We might lose our temper, when the visuals shot by the crew has been made into a movie and more over such a movie is winning an oscar award, which is a dream come true for Aatish. The director should explain, whether such a creation is included to generate humor. The two officers following the hero are looking gentle, but their activities are too foolish. The hero is succeeded in escaping from the middle of such a tight security, which is also an unbelievable episode to be noted. The 'sayamees twins' placed as the leading villains and their activities are the best example for un professionalism.

Akshay Kumar is there in his usual style. Akshay Khanna had done the comedy oriented role in his best way. Katrina Kaif is kept here to show maximum glamor. Her artificiality in performance is still there, but it is a confusing one; one might asks, is that deliberately done or is that her realistic approach, only the performer knows. Salman Khan's presence for a single song was not at all needed one. The art work done by Sabu Cyril for the railway track is ok, but the side fence is placed too close to the rails, which in turn felt that the location is a created one. The title sequence done using computer graphics of building models are colorful, but some of the names are moving fastly with in fraction of seconds, which should have been avoided. 'Sheela Ki Jawani...' song and its choreography is a catchy one. The village song is confusing by the improper mixing of real visuals with the cinematic ones. Cinematographer P.S.Vinod ('Musafir', 'Neal N Nikky', 'Striker', 'My Wife's Murder' fame) had given some rich frames.

Though 'Tees Maar Khan' gives you few laughing situations here and there, the total output will only be helpful to lose your temper.


Rating : 4.5 / 10