Pudhupettai

Story of how a scrawny man, Kokki Kumar (Dhanush) becomes an underworld don and a pawn in the hands of politicians. Charting his rise from a young boy to a Scarface like figure, the film throws in dollops of violence and dappan koothu. The noise level rises to a crescendo and stays there and as body count goes up, all you want to do is escape to a quiet bar and meditate over a beer.

Rating: * +

Margin Call

A film that tries to capture the beginning of the end of the housing bubble, opens with a pink slip day at a major trading firm. One of the employees being laid off turns out to be sitting on something big and soon the unraveling starts. Not a word is mentioned about the reason for the collapse or what the collapse is all about. The films assumes the viewer has seen and heard enough to not bother detailing that aspect. Instead the focus is on the upper management of the firm and how they react to the situation. A calmness permeates the film that can throw the viewer off considering the fact that everyone is panicking but with actors like Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons and Demi Moore it is obvious that much lies below the surface. If you go in expecting Wall Street the film will disappoint. However what is portrayed here might be a more realistic view of the unraveling from an individual worker point of view.

Rating: * * +