Movies by Pongal-weekend

Mr. and Mrs. Smith:

Ordinary movie. Angelina Jolie was the saving grace for this movie. 'Jolie' in French means 'Beauty'.

Winner - Vadivelu Rocks:

Thought Vadivelu kind of tries to act/speak like Vijaykanth i.e the slow way of delivering dialogues ungalalam partha enakku pavama irukku.... and vendam... enakku kovam varanthu...
But all these dialogues suited Vadivelu and from then-on Vadivelu has successfully adopted this style in his other movies as well.

Memento:

Memento had an interesting way of telling the story i.e end-to-beginning. But the story is cryptic, leaving questions like 'who is the murderer of Guy Pearce's wife'. Guess, Memento's claim to fame is that it happened to be the inspiration of Surya's character in the movie 'Ghajani'.

Kung Fu Hustle:

At last got to see the complete movie 'Kung Fu Hustle ', but this time in Chinese itself without no English sub-titles. The climax of this movie was a good spoof on how Neo(Keanu Reeves) went to sky far-up-above and then listens to some divine signs and then fights back his opponents in 'The Matrix Revolutions'. Guess, the best part about all the Chinese movies and Western movies is that they have a superb way of 'hero getting revenge over his enemies'.

American Pie - Band Camp:

Ordinary movie. The movie was below par for the genre of American teen comedy.

Bicycle Thief:

Vittorio De Sica's 'Bicycle Thief' was extra-ordinary.
The best part in this movie was the last five minutes of the movie, when the protagonist tries to steal a bicyle after getting disillusioned about the prospect of finding back his lost bicyle. The decision of the protagonist to steal a bicyle in the end made our protagonist more human and vulnerable to mistakes. And it was really disappointing to see him get caught by police/public in this act.
Another sequence which made good viewing is when the protogonist after joining his job, thinks that he has a secure future and tries to advise his wife to start believing in themselves rather than spend money in religious activities.
But, when he loses his bicycle, he himself pays his money to the soothsayer.
Guess, this movie inspired Satyajit Ray to enter film industry and make movies.
Hoping to see Satyajit Ray movies soon!

15 Park Avenue:

This Aparna Sen movie was lucky to have so many good actors. Best of the lot has to be Shabana Azmi.
The ending of the movie was more of a puzzle, but nevertheless this is a novel attempt in Indian movies.

S J Surya and his antics:

During this Pongal, whichever channel one sees whether it is Raj or Vijay or Pothigai or Sun or K or Jaya, it s all the same face which greets us 'Happy Pongal' - S J Surya. S J Surya's interviews were great fun. In one interview, he said all his movies has a 'message' and went on to explaining what is the message in all the movies he has directed.