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Pallu Padama Paathuka (2023), disgusting & shabby
Some of the finest movies have been made in the zombie genre and others feature Adolf Hitler, it is a shame that Pallu Padama Paathuka (2023) uses both this shabbily. I can’t believe that a fine actor like Attakathi Dinesh after giving films like Cuckoo (2014) and Visaranai (2016) decided to act on this trash (forgive me, there is no nice way of saying this). Gets a mangoidiots rotten rating.
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Bagheera (2023), was misogynistic, insulting & tedious
Featuring a talented actor like Prabhu Deva and half a dozen actresses can’t save a poorly thought and shabbily made film like Bagheera (2023). For a thriller film, why should so much hatred, insults and abusive words against women everywhere be passed? The misogynistic comments featured throughout the film can’t be justified by a flimsy motive and a disgusting climax. I have no hesitancy to give a Rotten mangoidiots rating for the film. The dialogues were outright vulgar, even by adult comedy measures. A young lady’s mother is casually talking about her daughter booking an overnight room, and a group of fathers of girls are boosting how many boys were…
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Single Shankarum Smartphone Simranum (2023), watch it for Shiva
I appreciate the honesty of the director, Vignesh Sha. He announces in the opening credit roll, that the audience shouldn’t expect any logic or realism in the film. Single Shankarum Smartphone Simranum (2023), starring Shiva is a comedy version of the Oscar-winning Her (2013). The screenplay was mindless and if not for Shiva, the film would’ve been tougher to watch. There were many dull moments, yet I had fun watching the film. It gets a Raw rating on the mangoidiots scale. Megha Akash has done her role as the Artificial-Intelligence avatar well. Anju Kurian appears too young as the love interest for Shiva. Sha Ra & Bagavathi Perumal played important…
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Bakasuran (2023), a convoluted revenge story
Bakasuran (2023) will be remembered for director Selvaraghavan‘s breathtaking performance as an actor, he effortlessly switches between being a nomadic devotee and being a killing machine. The performance of Natty who works on resolving why the killings happen matched with the former, and the film would’ve impressed the audience. It didn’t and the prosy screenplay didn’t help either. The film gets a raw in mangoidiots scale. The film starts with a tragedy hitting the family of the character played by Natty, this gets forgotten soon after. From there, the story travels too far and wide for no obvious reason, as a result, we are unable to root for any of…
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Vaathi (2023), a teacher story that was trite
I am not sure why Dhanush, an actor I admire for his talents, signed up for this routine teacher helping poor students succeed story. He is known for being an original actor, but in this one, his copying of Rajini’s body language felt artificial. There was little chemistry between him and Samyuktha onscreen. Samuthirakani appearing as the owner of a large private education empire comes as an unimpressive antagonist. Even with these negatives, the evergreen story of education being the greatest social equaliser was handled well, and the emotions working in most places saved the film. The dialogues about the former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam were used effectively. Vaathi…
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Run Baby Run (2023), a thriller narrated differently
Actor R J Balaji, known for his comedy roles has boldly played the protagonist in this crime thriller film. His lack of acting skills was apparent in this film, but the director Jiyen Krishnakumar‘s different narrative style saves the day. Aishwarya Rajesh, Isha Talwar, and Radhika Sarathkumar have been given limited roles. The movie gets a Raw rating from Mangoidiots. What should’ve been a nailbiting thriller, meanders its way due to a lengthy first half. The film starts with the crime and then travels into a flashback. This style gets us, the audience curious, but the absence of character introductions even in the second half robs us of our involvement. A car…
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Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (2023), is an unbelievably simple film!
What can good casting, attention to the smallest detail, brilliant acting and natural background score do? It can produce a wonderful film like Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (2023). The lead actors starting with Mammootty, Ramya Pandian and Ramya Suvi were outstanding. The film gets a ripe rating. In the first fifteen minutes, we are transported to the holy town of the Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Health Vailankanni. The camera of the cinematographer Theni Eswar doesn’t miss anything in the market or the corridors of the lodge there or the eatery during a road trip. The story is about what happens when the leader of a group of devotees on…
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Beginning (2023), a new technique used onscreen that works
When I heard about this film, Beginning (2023) being Asia’s first split-screen movie I was not sure how it will work, and will I be able to follow the two stories. Director Jagan Vijaya has done a great job in making it easy for the audience to follow, the cue was to shift the focus based on the active soundtrack. For the first few minutes, we are shown a pitch-dark screen with only background audio and then dialogues. We then see the screen split in the middle, with one story playing on the left and another on the right. After some time, the two stories converge gradually. Gets a mangoidiots…
