[Movie Review] Oru Vadakkan Selfie

'Oru Vadakkan Selfie'. The name itself can give you the whole theme of the film. It all starts with a selfie. I watched this one with my friends and so it couldn't have gone better.

Directed by Prajith Karanavar, this film stars Nivin Pauly, Aju Varghese, Manjima Mohan, Neeraj Madhav, Vineeth Sreenivasan and many such striking actors. As I said earlier the whole plot starts with a selfie. Umesh (Nivin Pauly) is far below average engineering student or in other words, he flunks every exam. He has got two besties, Shaji (Aju) and Thankaprasad (Neeraj) who are worse than him. When Umesh sees his new neighbour Daisy (Manjima), he falls in love with her. Faith brings Umesh and Daisy together only to cause much greater havoc. When Daisy goes missing, the society turns against Umesh saying he's the traitor. Against all odds, Umesh decides to bring her back and clear his name. 

The whole movie is a potpourri of Thalassery and Chennai. One side you will find the down to earth city with its own culture, politics and society and the other side, you will find the growing market of film industries and urban lifestyle. The first half was unbearably hilarious with Shaji's slapstick comedies and Umesh's attitude against everything. The next half focuses on the plot and gets a bit serious but the comedies do come and go. The movie is a good watch with some major twists and focuses more on youth with numerous references to social media and stuffs. I couldn't say the film blew my mind or anything but it wasn't a waste of money either. I enjoyed it with my friends. Hope you enjoy it too. Thanks for reading... 

[Book Review] The Lost Symbol

After reading 'Angels and Demons' and having read 'Da Vinci Code' a long time ago, I had to read the third book in Robert Langdon series. One thing about this series was that the Harvard professor, Robert Langdon, was a character that is intriguing and interesting to read about. Excited to read professor Langdon's next philosophically mysterious adventure, I got 'The Lost Symbol' from my department's library.

This one is another adventure of Harvard professor Robert Langdon. Robert encounters a strange symbol at the venue of his presentation and when Peter Soloman, Langdon's mentor and a great friend, is known to be in serious trouble, Langdon finds himself drawn to a chain of events. Secrets unknown to mankind is at the verge of unveiling. Robert along with Katherine Solomon must decide whether to reveal the secrets or let them bury deep down far from human's reach. 

'The Lost Symbol' being third in series is like the rest of Dan Brown's Robert Langdon books. So basically, it is mystery-thriller with Dan Brown's added elements of philosophy, religion, facts, science and a tinge of romance (or in other words, with no scope for romance). This time, Dan Brown explores the ancient symbols capable of revealing hidden mysteries of modern world. Knowledge is compared to a nuclear weapon itself. It is said that knowledge in the hands of bad can lead to end of mankind whereas in the hands of good, it can help in the growth of every known field and unearth the answers to the greatest of questions hovering in the minds of humans. Dan Brown's books are highly philosophical and this one's no less. 'The Lost Symbol' is not really connected to its prequels in terms of characters so you are good to start with any of the books but the themes are recurrent in his Langdon series. The most significant part of Robert Langdon series is that there are more facts than fiction, which makes it interesting to read and to understand the history through professor Langdon's eyes.

[Movie Review] The Fault in our Stars

Having read the book, I felt a strange desire to watch the movie. I have always wanted to know whether movie version is different from book version. Like most of the book based movies, 'The Fault in our Stars' was a cut and copy of the book and that made this a tiny bit dull but it was good and sticks well onto our mind for some appreciable amount of time.

Starring Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgorth, Nate Wolff, this movie is about Hazel Grace Lancaster, a cancer survivor who meets Augustus Waters at the support group run by church. Hazel feels enchanted meeting Augustus who not only redefines her life but also gives her the chance to live, laugh and love once again. 

Actually, I wanted to see this movie soon after I put down the book but I ended up seeing this a little too late. Anyway, I was glad I saw it. The movie showcased some amazing places capturing the details so wonderfully that I was awe struck. This is an emotional movie but I didn't feel like shedding tears. Maybe it's because I read the book first or maybe it's because some of the actors were so lousy in their acting that the ended up crying for wrong reason. Being a romantic movie, one must not expect great storyline but I must say that 'The Fault in our Stars' was slow, simple but beautiful movie.

[Movie Review] Big Hero 6

 

One look at Baymax will force you to watch the entire movie. Being an oscar winner is not much of a reason to watch 'Big Hero 6' but Baymax is indeed a reason to watch this film and that's how I came to watch this film.

Directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams, 'Big Hero 6' is all about Hiro Hamada, a young prodigy with a craze for technology and robotics. When his brother introduces him to Baymax, a personal health care robot, Hiro's life changes from the dumb routine of a normal youngster. Soon enough, Hiro discovers dark evil tampering with the technology invented for the good of mankind.

'Big Hero 6' is an okay movie but I am not sure why it won Oscar. The nominees included much better ones. The thing about 'Big Hero 6' that attracted me most was Baymax. That thing was the heart and soul of the movie. Baymax often repeated this line, "I am Baymax, your personal heath care robot" and this became the hilarious part when he was low on his battery. The plum robot slightly had problems fitting into the super hero costume too. Like all animation movies, this movie had its own share of comedy. This movie was definitely something different from the usual range of animation plots and overall it's good for one-time watch.

[Movie Review] Without a clue

If you like Sherlock Holmes, you will definitely like this movie. "Without a clue" might be the funniest mystery genre movie that I saw. Before seeing this movie I didn't realise that mystery movies could be so funny. 

Starring Ben Kingsley and Michael Cane, this movie is total opposite of the classic Sherlock Holmes. Michael Cane portrays the character of a Sherlock Holmes who is a brilliant detective only physically meanwhile Ben Kingsley acts out the role of John Watson who is actually the mastermind behind the observations and deductions involved in solving a case. Being sick of the way Sherlock takes credit for all the hardwork, Watson decides to end his acquaintance with Sherlock and publish the truth through his own autobiography. At the verge of publishing and having come face to face with a new case, Watson realises that he is a mere person without Sherlock and also that people won't accept the truth. 

This movie had the classic plot which almost every mystery movie has but incidental and dialogical humour mostly prevailed till the end. Michael Cane doned the role of stupid Sherlock amazingly while Ben Kingsley could have done a bit better. I am not saying that he was entirely horrible but he could have stopped smiling at some weird places. Over all, it's an old movie but it was really hilarious. 

[Book Review] Stardust

I have to declare that I have not completed this book and I will let you know the reason soon. I decided to read this book only because I saw the film first otherwise I wouldn't even have come close to this disastrous piece by Neil Gaiman (sorry but you leave me no choice).

The plot is quite simple. Tristan Thorn loves a girl. Promises a fallen star for her hand in marriage. Faces an adventure when he understands that he is not the only one who wants the star. In the journey, falls in love with the star which changes the entire deal. 

The fairy tale, of course seems a beautiful tale but the writing ruined the entire tale turning it into a some kind of horrible plot. When I first started a few pages, I did realise something was seriously wrong (even with grammar). I ignored those and (I am proud to say) I reached halfway through the book feeling that everything will be fine soon but no... no.. It seems to be becoming worse and that's when I drew my mark. That's when I stopped reading it. The film was enjoyable and interesting and that's why I wanted to read this but it's nothing like the film.

I analysed what the hell is wrong with it and I found out. The sentences are too long. When sentences are long, one tends to get bored and sort of feels dragged out of context. We feel alienated from the book as we don't become a part of it. Well that's exactly what happened here. I am not saying that this was the only reason. This is the first time I am writing a review of a book which I have not completed. I have no idea if Neil Gaiman's books are all like this. Anyway, I am not reading anymore of his.

[Book Review] Angels and Demons

When I saw two copies of 'Da Vinci Code' lying perfectly well on the book shelf of the central library in my college, I immediately wanted to read it again as I had read it so young that I could possibly have understood nothing. So I took it thinking that I can finish it off fastly and move on to its sequel 'Angels and Demons' (that's what I thought...sequel?..what was I thinking.. honestly I didn't know). When I got home did I realise that I had it all upside-down. Actually, 'Angels and Demons' was the first book in Robert Langdon series (silly me..in my defense Dan Brown should have atleast numbered.. ) and so I began "Angels and Demons". 

This book by Dan Brown belongs to the genre mystery-thriller and describes a day in the life of Robert Langdon, a Harward professor of religious iconology. When Langdon learns of the rise of the secret brotherhood Illuminati whose vendetta against their sworn enemy the Catholic Church and the mysterious past, things start to become bitter and gruesome. Along with Vittoria Vetra, a renowned scientist, Langdon tries to stop the greatest invention from becoming the greatest cause for destruction. 

This one was like the rest of Dan Brown's creations. Simply fantastic. The factual details coupled with some fictional ideas was highly interesting and exhilarating to read. I really liked the ambigrams and I did spent a few minutes looking at the intricate details given to the design. Loved that idea. Gladly looking forward to the rest of Robert Langdon series. (By the way, I gave back 'Da Vinci Code' for my college library's annual stock or something like that so I hope it will be there waiting for me once the stock whatever is over).