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Kannai Nambathey (2023), an average thriller
Udhayanidhi Stalin has proved again to be good in selecting the stories he acts with Kannai Nambathey (2023). A simple story of things going terribly wrong for two roommates and how did they handle it, was made engaging by director Mu Maran. Prasanna was the one who impresses us the most and holds the movie together in the first half, in the second half Srikanth and Bhumika join him. All others including the heroine Aathmika, Pala Karuppiah, Sathish have got forgettable roles. The film gets a Raw rating from Mangoidiots. The first one hour of the film goes brisk and keeps us hooked, unfortunately what should’ve been a gripping climax…
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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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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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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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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…
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Kalaga Thalaivan (2022), ordinary but fast paced
This is a thriller movie that has a familiar motive and sequences, yet it was engaging. Thanks to brisk editing which keeps the story moving in high gear throughout. Arav is the antagonist and the background score is by Srikanth Deva and Arrol Corelli, who were the real heroes of the film. The film gets a Raw rating from Mangoidiots. Udhayanidhi Stalin is expressionless throughout, even in the romantic kissing scene, yet due to the screenplay his character is convincing and we root for him against the villain. He is given limited action sequences, which is a smart thing by the director Magizh Thirumeni. Kalaiyarasan and Anupama Kumar have done their…
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Connect (2022), nothing new in this supernatural thriller
Nayanthara starring Connect (2022) is about a daughter handling the loss of her beloved father, a doctor who loses the fight after treating COVID patients. . As the loving girl, Haniya Nafis impresses with her acting. Sathyaraj as the grandfather makes acting appear effortless. Still, with nothing new to offer, Director Ashwin Saravanan‘s Connect fails to connect with the audience. Gets our mangoidiots rating of Rotten. The story happens during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting complete lockdown. It was painful to relieve the ghastly scenes of ICU wards with patients, doctors in hazmat suits and the dying saying their farewell through video calls. Most of…
