Last weekend was fun! I finally got to watch No Country for Old Men and the new Kamal Hassan movie, …
No Country for Old Men was an interesting watch. Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin were outstanding. The movie really deserves an Oscar. It’s creepy in a good way. Anton Chigurh is probably one of the scariest killers ever seen on the big screen and I can’t think of anyone other than Javier Bardem who could have done a better job.
Rating: 8.5/10
Dasavathaaram is the first Tamil movie that I’ve watched, thanks to English subtitles. It was a major disappointment in my opinion. There was no script! Looks like the director just came up with something at the end moment, in order to justify ten Kamal Hassan’s.
List of disappointments:
Kamal Hassan’s acting was very subpar. I think he should leave commercial cinema to Rajnikanth.
More time was spent on make up compared to anything else. Not that the make up was any good! The make up looks more like a pancake. In so many scenes, Kamal Hassan could hardly move his head.
The graphics were completely screwed up.
The action scenes were very unrealistic.
The actress, Asin, was quite annoying! She plays the role of this typical village girl, who is extremely pious and only cares about her God. In every single scene, all she does is talk about God and nothing else.
There were quite a few scenes that talked about the caste system, and the color of the skin, that didn’t go down very well with me. I’m not sure if this was even required.
Way TOO long.
All in all, $16 down the drains.
Rating: 4/10
Time and Again 
Ruhi: As chance would have it, an animated film Dasavatharam is also released at the same time as this film (you can see I have been to India, can’t you?). I think that might be better.
I have not seen any film with Kamal Hassan so I have no opinion on him.. 😦
//The action scenes were very unrealistic.// 😀 the action scenes in Southie movies are always unrealistic. As for Kamal Hassan, I m with Shefaly..so no comments. Thanks for the review (read:warning) though. 😀
p.s. I left some comments in ur earlier posts some days ago. hope u got them. I’ve added u to my blog roll as a Blogging Guru 😀 😀 Blog on!
Forget about your $16 Ruhii .. think about producers 155 crores …. or is it 185 ? not sure ..
and yea.. when Kamal did 10 roles, our Rajni sir is coming with 20 different looks in his latest movie … for a song I believe .. its the remake of a Malayalam movie that did really well … really really well here ….. lets hope Rajni gets his next ( real ) hit through this one
Shefaly- I’ve seen Sadma by Kamal Hassan and it’s a must watch. He has acted in a number of Tamil movies too, but I haven’t seen them. People feel that he’s a great actor. However, I don’t think that there is anything exceptional about him. (People will beat me for this, I’m sure).
Dinu- Oh I dont need to think about the producer. 155 crores is a bogus amount to spend on this movie. The special effects were horrible and had a very ’90s feel to it. They could have definitely done a better job!
RE: Rajni movie- Errmm…I think I’m done with both Rajni and Kamal Hassan.
Reema- Thanks for your enthusiastic comment! I’m sorry, I’ve been playing catch up with the old comments. So please don’t feel bad if I’ve not responded. And thank you so much for adding me to your blogroll! Very kind of you. 🙂
RE: Kamal Hassan- Well…the man is kinda annoying. 😐
I have not seen any tamil movies. but yes, have seen a lot of kamalaa hasan movies and he is a wonderful actor! 🙂
But do check “dashavataar” which is an animated movie, if you are interested in mythology! worth seeing it once… a bit kiddish for us, but i enjoyed! 🙂
And same as reema, i have been posting comments on your blog for qite sometime and have also added you to my blog roll long back! 🙂
TC
@ Ruhi: I am told Pushpak is a good film too. But I have no time right now to catch up.
Although re Dashavataar in general I have to say, not one person I met in India could name all 10 avataars! So much for cultural awareness. At least the film will fill the gaps in people’s knowledge of our mythology…
I thought dashavataar and Dasavathaaram were the same movie but looks like I was wrong. I am a fan of Kamal Hassan’s as he is truly an outstanding actor but I didn’t want to see this movie because of the tamasha of various avatars and the bad reviews. It would surely have ruined my impression of Kamal Hassan. Yeah, I agree, he should leave commercial cinema to Rajnikant.
I am eagerly waiting for Dashavtar (the animated movie) as I liked its trailers. Seems like director has maintained a good *theme* throughout the movie. Cant say more untill I watch it.
Did ya say $16? 😀 😀 Good!!!!
Have you seen Pushpak? the mopvie with no dialogs?
@ Ruhi
Dont start thinking that I am a Rajni fan .. **really** I never saw any of his movies … once I started watching a movie .. got bored with that and stopped 😉
@ Reema
Please don’t generalize that much …… 😦 there are good movies from Kerala .. 😛
Glad that you liked No country for Old Men. For me, it was a special movie as it introduced me to maginficient world of Coen Brothers’ cinema. I just hope that they dont go on a downward spiral after NCFOM..
@ Lallopallo:
Introduction to Coen Bros? Are you serious?
They have no record of going downhill so you can relax 🙂
well,as for the movie have not seen and i have heard mixed reviews..both good and bad .. so i would review it personally as soon as i see it ..ofcourse i would mention that my own sister saw it there in US and she hated it 🙂
>>>>>However, I don’t think that there is anything exceptional about him .
well, may be this movie..but that was an understatement by any standards..
i am rajni fan and rajni , kamal never go together still i feel kamal is best …he is one of the best actors in india has got..
Shefaly, Yes, it’s true that I have only watched one Coen Brothers’ movie ( o brother where art thou) before No Country..
I had this misconceived notion about them that they make action thrillers..this is one genre I have never liked, so tended to avoid their movies.. Now, I know that their movies are much more than that..Sometime back, I wrote a post on Coen Brothers’ on my blog..
http://lallopallo.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/coen-brothers/
There is a reason why Iam worried that they may go downhill..If you look at their filmography, they never made/were involved in too many movies at the same time and all their movies were well spread out..
But after No country.., they seem to be involved in four movies at the same time..I suspect that it might impact ( or have impacted) their quality and research behind those stories, something which they never compromised in the past..
Sorry, I meant ‘ I had only watched’ in the first line.
oh, thats bad. The movie had lot of expectations. I think may it was all hype. Kamal Hassan always plays min of 2 roles in his movies. I think by this he can save money on actors. The ol ones are apooorva Sahodarangal and Indian.
😀
well, i’ve only seen chachi 420 by kamal hassan and i gotta say he was totally superb in that. Don’t know about his acting skills, but he is considered a legend, so I guess he ought to be good….
No country for old men, this movie won the oscar this year, hai na?
2 movies, i know nothing about, still i’m commenting, isn’t that something…..
Me too saw the movie.. had a good time with friends laughing at all the blunders and th atta like make up…
On No country for Old Men — Superb movie, barring the last narration which I couldn’t comprehend
Well, to tell the truth, I dozed off in No country for old men.
I liked it when the movie starts but somehow as it inched towards the end, I could not understand it at all. I was sleeping all the time.
And I saw the promo of D in a theatre in Chennai. Dozed off in that too. 😀
The action scenes in Tamil movies defy all laws of physics….so expect
nothin more.It hurt me when in an episode Lonely Planet(Discovery channel India).the anchor said(standing outside a Tamil theatre),”People come here only to watch sex and violence”(pointing at the thronging crowd outside the theatre)
Thats scene was etched into my memory,until I saw it myself.Its true.
Finally found a way 2 ur blog…
Kamal has been a sudden-bouts-of-brilliance actor always..his forte is perceived 2 b comedy since his crying & fighting skills aren”t tht gr8…nevertheless, with all the hype of his “oscar” ventures and brilliant acting abilities, he keeps trying such stunts – no idea to prove what, to whom.
As kids, we used to regularly argue abt Kamal or Rajni & we were all Rajni fans, due to his comedy, fighting and style…
Once my grandfather (can u believe it!!!) explained this phenomenon – Kamalhassan is far better looking, white skinned, brilliant, pedigreed guy compared to the black, not so gud looking and much less talented Rajni…but still Rajni succeeds and makes blockbusters everytime – leaves his fans, investors, producers, distributors & theatre owners happy!! the simple reason for this is that while Rajni has always been vocal about his acknowledgement of an almighty and a supreme power that is controls everything, Kamal has been a vocal atheist and has made fun of gods on several occasions – he has gone to the extent of calling religious as pervert!
Which not only sounds true, but also is proven everytime these guys make a movie.
apart from tht, the hero in Rajni forces him to make movies tht the masses will appreciate, whereas, the artist in kamal makes him create movies tht he likes – this disconnect doesn”t rake in money or good reviews either..
Response to one of the comments above:
Please check out with somebody who can really measure and comment on acting skills, before coming to your own conclusions on skills of Kamal and Rajni. The comments sound like you people are highly educated in cinema acting and technilogy.
Now, on the comment that Tamil cinema is only sex and violence:- I could see that the number of good Tamil films (mostly Maniratnam films, Priyadarsan films and Kamal haasan films )remade or dubbed into Hindi is very less than those sexy films remade into Hindi. Its not a healthy attitude to have reservations based on a geographical or liguistic base.
Regarding Kamal and his new film: Its amazingly executed. Its not the actor in Kamal excelled here, but the scriptwriter. I dont know how many of you have got the symbolic inter-relationships and representations presented in teh movie.
Note: I am not a Tamilian anyway, but I watch Tamil and Hindi movies …that too seriously.
Yes, the movie was pretty disappointing. But I go to Tamil movies to enjoy the atmosphere (looking for cute girls) and just for the heck of it. But you can’t write Kamal off based on just this movie. Like someone mentioned above comedy is his forte – he’s effing hilarious & that’s not easy.
I’ll have you know that Chidambaram is not a village and a pretty nice place to live in. Email me & I’ll let you know why 😛
I think it was a very good movie. Yeah the make up and graphics were below par but the script was really good. the best part of this movie is the story and dialogues. Each and every dialogue is witty and has some inner meaning. The movie has messages on various levels and its very deep. Itll be really difficult to enjoy it without knowing tamil because the way the comedy and social themes were discussed are not the in-your-face type. Its very subtle and nuanced. Forget his ten roles. Most of it was just a supporting cast. But the story/script/dialogues in itself is amazing. But yeah all the reviews have given the movie a thumbs down bcos they all r only concentrating on kamal instead of the story. And lotsa ppl went having totally different expectations and it let them down. At the end of the day it really is a very good movie.
HELLO
TO RUHI AN Shefaly
AND OTHER FOOLLS
PLEASE UNDER STAND that indian movies budget is only a 10 % of holloywood
If kamal hassan would have acted in ‘The Saint’
he would have made a lot of difference..
Or if indian movies are are made with the same budget of hollywood Dasvatharam would looked beter…
And of course ask Mr so called Val Kilmer to watch Dasvatharam and ask him to learn how to be a verstile actor either keep doing the same old acting with a ready script made top class directors of hollywood , any one act better of there is a good director and with a good script.
but it takes a lot of guts to act with a new commer or with a director who is unknown, kamal has always acted with directors who are unknown… Kamal can always do a Val kilmer role in the saint, but val kilmer cant even dream of doing a Avatar Singh, Krishnaveni Grandma, Vincent Poovaraghavan just to name a few.
HE MAY NOT POPULAR LIKE OTHER ACTORS..
AND PLEASE DONT KEEPSAYIN G THAT HOLLY WOOD ACTORS LIKE BRANDO, ALPACINAO
i WOULD DEFENIFTLY AGREE THAT INDIANS ARE INSPIRED BY HOLLYWOOD MOVIES..
KAMAL IS ONE OF THE BEST ACTORS, AND NOT THEEEE BEST..
bUT WVERYONE WILL AGREE THAT KAMA HASSAN IS DEFENITLE THE MOST TALENTED ACTOR AND DIFFERENT FROM OTHER IN WORLD CINEMA
SIMPLY BECOZ APART FROM DIRECTOE AND SCREENPLAY AND ETC, HE CAN ACT IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGE AND DIFFERENT STYLE, AND WAS ACTING HE DOES NOT WORK WITH BIG BANNERS, AND BIG DIRECTORS TO PLAY LIKE ANOTHER ACTOR…FIRST THING KAMAL HASSAN CAN ALWAYS BE A GODFATHER OR DON OR DO A TOMHANKS ROLE BUT THOSE ACTORS CANNOT DOA VIRMANDI HEY RAM AND ARE SO MANY CANT REMEMBER
KAMAL HASSAN IS THE ONLYN ACTOR IN THE WORLD WITH A TOTAL OF 75 AWARDS.