WORLD MOVIES

Remember the first X-men movie, a bunch of mutants with powers exclusively unique came over to take the world by a storm? By all means it was none other than Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine character that captivated our attention for its rigid and gritty bloody good illustration. Logan is the tenth film in the X-Men series and Jackman has been in nine of them, since 2000 the first movie.
               
Its 2029. Mutants are all but almost extinct for unknown reasons. The only known survivors stick together like a broken family bonded by mutual grief. Logan is haunted by all the violence and loss he incurred over his unspeakable life time and as in any other Wolverine movie is toying with the idea o "Death" which is not his best friend and had trouble overcoming the idea of "not-dying". He lives in an abandoned warehouse in a desert with Caliban (Stephen Merchant), a mutant whose skills to detect other mutants were used by dark forces. Together, they are the caretaker of Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), whose mind is ill and is now prone to seizures that could paralyze a city or kill thousands. To safeguard his imbalanced and aged mind becomes a challenge and they sort of learn to survive on saving his mind from wandering off. They aren’t exactly a happy trio, and their only hope for the future is to one day live on a boat in an even more isolated area.

"Logan" is a different sort of Wolverine movie, usually its violent yes, but not as much as you would see in Logan. Almost as expected, Logan lives a fairly inferior life some decades into the future. No new mutants have been born in 20 years and, among the last of his kind, Logan now lives in a mining land, drives a Limo and as usual picks a fight almost instantly as we know him over the last few franchises, but the biggest difference here is that the man’s weariness of the violence takes over him with guilt, agility and an unusual sorrow.

Jackman's performance is temptingly physical, with Logan on the verge of dying throughout. He takes a ton of punishment, so very violent and its no surprise why the movie has been rated R. Patrick Stewart has said this will be his last movie in this franchise as well, so it's a fitting finale for both. Logan is a gloomy farewell for its titular character, but it’s also, hopefully, a farewell for this particular phase of Jackman’s career. Again, the film is so much about Logan (Hugh Jackman), Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Laura (Dafne Keen) that making it with more compelling bad guys would've made the film even better, still doesn’t lose its sheer brilliance.

The movie tries its best to be mature enough, through the vibe it’s evident that director Mangold has sparred no hair in giving a proper end to both the characters. There are beautiful moments, too. Mangold’s camera spends most of its time outdoors, soaking up quite astounding locations, and no shortage of them. Performance-wise, the film is on the money too. For both Jackman and Stewart, this is their finest work in these roles throughout, both etched with hurt, and fearful for the future. Richard E Grant is particularly strong too, but it’s Dafne Keen who’s the revelation here. The little one breathes fire as much as Jackman does and even surpasses the anger, its almost as a contest on who can be better.
               
Verdict : If you are an X Men fan, more importantly a Wolverine maniac, this will definitely delight you, even more make it memorable to see the best of the series go off on a winning note.

Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

Arun Vijay is one talented actor who is long over due to come in to his own in Kollywood. After many sincere efforts 'Kuttram 23' could well be the solo break he has waited for.

The film opens with a priest murdered in a church after hearing the confession of a pregnant woman who is chased after by unknown men. Arun Vijay is the Assistant Commissioner who takes over the case of the missing girl whose husband has lodged a complaint.  The only witness is Mahima Nambiar a kindergarten school teacher for whom the hero falls for.  Meanwhile Arun Vijay’s brother Amit Bhargav’s wife too gets pregnant after six years of marriage.  More pregnant women start committing suicides and it all leads to a large ring of medical crime and how Arun Vijay brings it down forms the rest of the screenplay.

Arun Vijay fits the role of a young AC to the T and has given one of his career best performances and he is excellent when he becomes a normal family man when interacting with his sister in law and family.  He is one of the best action exponents in Kollywood and Stunt Silva has provided ample opportunities to show case his talent to the hilt.  Abhinaya as the sister in law has once again given a credible performance as the girl pregnant after a long time who has to face an ugly situation.  Mahima Nambiar has nothing much to do but is a pleasant presence in the proceedings.  Thambi Ramaiah the bungling cop has one scene to redeem himself and he does it with élan when he takes charge to save Arun from a damaging situation.  Arvind Akash as a ruthless killer is convincing while Vamsi Krishna in a confusing role only scores in the climax fight scene.  The actress playing the fertility doctor is very well cast.

The biggest strength of 'Kuttram 23' is cinematographer Bhaskaran KM who dishes out one amazing visual after another which even hides some gaping loop holes in the script. Editor Bhuvan Srinivasan has complemented him with seamless cuts. Vishal Chandrasekhar has scored one duet and another lilting melody which are good on the ears and his BGM too is worth a mention.  The story has been adapted from one of Rajesh Kumar’s novel and one can say that it is not going to win any awards in that category.  Director Arivazhagan begins the film with a sperm finding its egg shown in graphics and ends it on a little girl and what happens in the middle is engaging with a lot happening and curiosity sustained.

On the downside, the cop does not use any brilliance to find the culprits and most of the mystery unravels by itself.  In fact the audience guesses the medical connection well before the hero does.  It is questionable whether some small time criminals can walk into an ACs house and murder so easily.  Similarly there is a lack of a powerful antagonist and the fertility doctor and a psycho who wants to inseminate women are not so menacing. The blackmail angle is also far fetched and the murders and suicides are quite unconvincing.

Verdict : Its worth a watch for Arun Vijay's acting and the action. 

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Indiaglitz

Very rarely we do come across such engrossing and engaging entertainer on Tamil screen. Anjathey, director Mysskin's second venture can be considered among the outstanding entertainers that have come out in recent times.

Anjathey is all about two friends, whose roles in the life are swapped in a sudden change of fortunes. Sathyanathan (Narain) and Krupakaran (Ajmal) are sons of police constables living in a police colony. They remain close friends despite having divergent attitudes. Krupa wants to become a sub inspector and works meticulously to get selected. Aimless Sathya, a street rowdy, is always humiliated by his father (M.S. Bhaskar) because of his irresponsible attitude. 

Narain, provoked by the constant humiliation, decides to compete for SI selection. The rest of the story is about the drastic changes in their lives and how they deal with them.

You have a third track in the tale featuring the ruthless criminal gang led by Velu (Pandiyarajan) and Daya (Prasanna). The enthralling hunt of the police in search of the dreaded criminals and the emotional story of the two friends are entwined with each other to provide us a gripping movie.

Mysskin has made the film with style and substance. His execution of the film is smart and effective. He has executed many scenes well. The second kidnapping incident is one such scene. The emotion of the father of the victimized girl is moving. The director has made the scene multi dimensional by putting together the emotion of the father and daughter, the guilty feelings of Kripa, and the determined hunt of the police force.

That you never get bored despite the length (3 hours and 10 minutes) is a testimony to the talent of the director. The length of the climax is the only time when the narrative is dragged.

The initial scene itself is a proof to the talent of the director and the cinematographer (Magesh Muthuswamy). The thugs emerging from the bottom of the horizon in the backdrop of the blue sky is quite effective. The amazing angles keep coming through out the movie. The picturisation in dark is outstanding. Mysskin's penchant for telling you the story by visuals is something unique.

Muthuswamy and Mysskin have superbly shown a whole scene - characters entering and leaving a house - in one long low angle shot. You get to see only the feet of the characters through out the scene. Another long shot at the ending adds depth to the climax and the film.

Sunder C. Babu's tunes are hummable with two songs (Kannadasan Kaaraikkudi and Kathaza Kannala) stand out. His BGM is quite appropriate. His usage of silence in many places is praiseworthy.

Thanks.

Indiaglitz