Latest Movie Reviews

Angels and Demons
One lazy afternoon last week, me and Nish decided to hit the theatres for the much hyped 'Angels and Demons'. After the dissappointment of the movie adaptation of 'Davinci Code', I was waiting to see if the movie makers do some justice to this one atleast and am relieved that they have just about managed to do so.
The plot revolves around the Vatican city on the onset of papal election and a threat to destroy the whole city using antimatter stolen from a Swiss research base by the 'illuminati', an ancient secret organization that seeks revenge on the Vatican church. Robert Langdon and Swiss Scientist Vittoria Vetra start on the quest for the hidden antimatter with a dead line of 8 hrs, also trying to prevent the killing of the Cardinals abducted just before the commencement of conclave.
According to me, the one actor who single handedly carried the whole movie through is Ewan McGregor(I thought he would have made a much better Robert Langdon than Tom Hanks!). He had such a charismatic presence that he seemed to direct the course of the whole movie. This movie is definitely one of his best for the indelible impression he leaves on the viewers and for his extrodinary portrayal of Camerlengo Patrick McKenna.
Ayelet Zurer manages to play Vittoria Vetra quite convincingly but her charectar has a very limited role in the movie in contradiction to the book where Vetra and Langdon are in it together with equal importance.
For those of you who have read the book like me, the movie is not even close! Its still worth a watch atleast for Ewan McGregor.

Sarvam
This Trisha-Arya starrer has very good visual effects and a story line quite different from the usual. After a long time, Trisha looks really hot in her trendy clothes and I loved her in the movie, in the role of a level-headed smart young doctor. Arya too oozes confidence in his new look and he plays a charming, young and bubbly architect, a role quite different from the ones he has played so far(His charectar in the first half reminds me of a couple of Mani Ratnam's bubbly heroes). The background score for the Arya-Trisha bits was soothing, a refurbished version of an age old Illayaraja tune.
The movie takes a sharp turn by the end of the first half after which it completely turns shade. The grim second half is a complete contrast to the colourful and lively first half which was a visual treat.
Over all a good movie for Arya and Trisha.

Provoked (This is not a recent release though)
I finally got the chance to watch this movie after missing it for a long time. This movie is based on a real life story of an uneducated, naive and helpless Indian woman who is brought to London on marraige and finds herself forced to suffer in the hands of an extremely abusive husband for 10 years when one day she snaps and sets him on fire when he is asleep. She faces a charge of murder and is sentenced to life imprisonment. The movie then goes on to show how she makes use of her jail time to transform herself into the well read and confident woman she had always wanted to be and how certain women's activists groups help her to appeal under grounds of abuse and provocation and how she ultimately wins the case, the first woman to have done so in the courts of London.
I was impressed with Aishwarya's performance and her projection of the charectar(I have always thought of her acting to be self conscious). The flow of the movie too is good where they show snippets of her past with her abusive husband side by side with the present where she strives to make her dreams come true, instead of giving a full fledged flash-back account of her miserable past.
AR Rehman's music adds flavour to the movie. A must watch for all the feminists out there!