Balaji's Thots

A strong villain brings a lot to a film. The masala films of most of our heroes feature bland, ineffective villains who rarely rise above being punching bags for our heroes. While this helps showcase our stars’ heroism and helps fans whistle and scream as their idol nonchalantly delivers both verbal and physical blows to […]

On our last day – or rather half day, since we had to exit the park in the afternoon to reach the airport –  at the Glacier National Park, we visited the Two Medicine area. This was again on the east side of the park but south of the Many Glacier area and so the […]

It was a busy and exciting day for Tamil cinema today. While a number of films in various stages of production announced their presence with Vinayaka Chathurthip-based ads and wishes, the day was dominated by our two biggest stars. First of course was the first look of Kabali, Rajni’s next film. The film has obviously […]

Its comes as a bit of a surprise that Vaalu‘s storyline primarily revolves around romance. The name Vaalu and the trailer, which was packed with punch dialogs and fights, pointed to another masala film with the romance just a distraction to facilitate a couple of duets. Instead we get a romantic film where the action […]

The plan for day 6 was our second day hike of the trip – the hike to Iceberg Lake. At almost 10 miles this trail was longer than the Grinnell Glacier trail but the elevation increase wasn’t as much and so it wasn’t considered as strenuous. Since we liked the ranger-led hike to Grinnell Glacier, […]

After the disastrous Naiyaandi, director Sarkunam goes back to delivering a message-oriented film, something he did in his sophomore effort Vaagai Soodi Vaa. But the issue here is quite local as two villages fight over a lake. The lake is the only source of fresh water for one of the villages but the people in […]

Considering that it is directed by Vijay, who has made a name for himself by delivering hits with both big stars and less popular actors, and stars Vikram Prabhu, one of our more promising younger stars, it was a tad surprising that Idhu Enna Maayam released with hardly any hype. The film starts off in […]

While I read thrillers almost exclusively, I usually read action and mystery thrillers. Harlan Coben’s The Stranger is more of a drama that deals with the repercussions of a stranger forcefully entering the lives of some people. The stranger makes an appearance right away as he meets Adam Price and reveals to him a shocking […]

The biggest question I had while watching – enduring might be a more appropriate word here – Sakalakalavallan was how any producer in his right mind had offered director Suraaj, the director of Alex Pandian, the opportunity to direct another movie. And Suraaj, for his part, reposes the confidence placed in him by delivering a […]

Since day 5 was sandwiched between two days of long, strenuous hiking, we decided to take it easy. First we hiked John’s Lake Loop. The hike through the forest gave us only a glimpse of John’s Lake through the trees. But the trail led to the very pretty McDonald Falls. The waterfall was on McDonald […]