Final report
Vettaiyan is another award-winning league film that skillfully incorporates Rajini’s signature stardom elements. It is a decent one-time watch. Directed by critically acclaimed ‘Jai Bhim’ filmmaker T.J. Gnanavel, the movie delivers a thoughtful narrative that tackles themes of society-enforced encounters and the online education industry. This crime drama boasts standout performances from Rajinikanth, Amitabh Bachchan, Rana Daggubati, and Fahadh Faasil. The dialogues are sharp, and Anirudh’s two songs add to the film’s appeal. This isn’t your typical fan boy crowd-pleaser, yet it manages to achieve the same effect in a unique way. Flip side, it runs on a single thread and preachy at times.

Go watch it for the stellar casting, Good script and thought provoking dialogues

Positives:

Negatives:

First Half Report:
The first half of #Vettaiyan stands out as one of the best scripts in recent times. Director TJ Gnanavel has crafted a crime investigation story that blends elements of social responsibility with thought-provoking message. If you’re seeking pure mass entertainment, this isn’t the film for you. However, its fast-paced screenplay and direction keep you hooked to the screen throughout. Rajini, Amitab and Fahad are simply superb.

NEW YORK (OSV News) – Fans of the 2017 film “Wonder” may recognize the character of Julian Abans (Bryce Gheisar), a student on whose adjustment to a new school the opening scenes of the touching wartime drama “White Bird” (Lionsgate) focus. Julian was the bully who persecuted the facially deformed but heroic-hearted protagonist of the earlier movie.

Having been expelled for his misconduct, Julian is navigating his present environment and wavering between the proffered friendship of an outsider and the somewhat reluctant patronage offered to him by a callous member of the private academy’s elite. Opportunely, Julian’is grandmother, Sara (Helen Mirren), decides to intervene at this decisive point.

A celebrated artist visiting Julian’s native New York from Paris for a retrospective of her work, elderly Grandmere believes that Julian will profit from her own life lessons. So, in a series of flashbacks that make up the bulk of the story, she recounts to him for the first time the travails she endured as a young Jewish schoolgirl (Ariella Glaser) in occupied France.

Initially pampered at home and popular among her peers, youthful Sara is gifted but selfish and ethically neutral. Thus, although she refrains from joining in the persecution of her school’s main outcast, partially-crippled polio victim Julien Beaumier (Orlando Schwerdt), neither does she come to his defense. Instead, like most of those around her, she simply shuns him.

As the domination of her homeland progresses, however, Sara’s life and outlook change dramatically. Soon German soldiers are rounding up local Jews, both adults and children alike, and Sara is suddenly separated from her loving parents — Max (Ishai Golan) and Rose (Olivia Ross) — and forced to flee into the woods.

Desperate to stay one step ahead of her pursuers, Sara finds that the only person willing to come to her aid is Julien. Not only does he put himself at risk by helping her evade those hunting her down, he also provides her with long-term shelter in his family’s barn.

With the active help of his father (Jo Stone-Fewings) and mother (Gillian Anderson) — who eventually come to regard Sara as their adoptive daughter — Julien succeeds in concealing Sara over the weeks and months that follow. As the two youngsters mature, meanwhile, their bond of friendship is gradually transformed into a burgeoning romance.

A paean to kindliness and the power of imagination, director Marc Forster screen version of R.J. Palacio’s 2019 graphic novel — “Wonder” was also based on Palacio’s work — lacks subtlety at times. Yet, as scripted by Mark Bomback, “White Bird” effectively tugs at the heart by showcasing altruistic heroism in the face of dire evil.

The picture’s formative moral impact, moreover, outweighs its few problematic elements, making it a valuable experience for teens as well as grownups. Both age groups will find themselves rooting enthusiastically for the central pair and joining in the screenplay’s recurring slogan: “Vive l’humanite!”

The film contains mostly stylized violence with a few brief images of gore, mature themes including ethnic persecution, a single crude term and a couple of crass expressions. The OSV News classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Copyright © 2024 OSV News

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Salem’s Lot, 2024.

Written and Directed by Gary Dauberman.
Starring Lewis Pullman, Alfre Woodard, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Spencer Treat Clark, Pilou Asbæk, John Benjamin Hickey, William Sadler, Jordan Preston Carter, Nicholas Crovetti, Cade Woodward, Kellan Rhude, Debra Christofferson, Rebecca Gibel, Mike Bash, Fedna Jacquet, Avery Bederman, Liam Anderson, Marilyn Busch, Sage Rudnick, Alyana Hill, Gavin Maddox Bergman, and Alexander Ward.

SYNOPSIS:

Author Ben Mears returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.

Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot has an abundance of characters, with writer/director Gary Dauberman seemingly uninterested in positioning one group front and center in this adaptation. Instead, the film jumps between them, ranging from adults to children, often forgetting to develop any of these characters or explain who they are and what they care about. Whether this is a casualty of trying to adapt the entire novel into a 113-minute movie or just incompetent filmmaking is up for debate (I don’t think I’ve ever read the novel, and I don’t remember anything about previous adaptations), but one thing is for sure; this story is empty and lacks scares. The only portion it comes close to working is during some third-act vampire-battling that comes with clever kills, thrills, and urgency.

Taking place in Salem’s Lot (a rural Maine town as in most Stephen King works), there is a vested interest in bringing it to life, showing off as many establishments and locations as possible. In some ways, this takes away from time that could go to actual characterization, but the effort is admirable nonetheless. Among those stores is a new furniture place opened up by Barlow and his business partner Straker (Alexander Ward and Pilou Asbæk), with the former secretly being a vampire and having the other do his bidding to prepare for a takeover. Their headquarters is also an abandoned house thought to be haunted.

Meanwhile, author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) has returned to town for the first time since childhood, having not felt right there from a young age and looking to reclaim some of that uneasiness while getting in touch with his roots. He befriends the local school teacher Matt Burke (Bill Camp, frequently and amusingly seen rocking a Boston Red Sox jacket) while learning about the town from a potential love interest in Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh.) Their first day is taking in drive-in movie experiences that intriguingly work as an effective way for her to point out other noteworthy people in town and their personalities.

Elsewhere, a group of kids playing around occasionally get bullied. The most significant of the bunch is Mark Petrie (Jordan Preston Carter), who is fearless and unafraid to lay a good punch on those bullies. It’s an impressive performance that makes the character’s inevitable and similar bravery in fending for survival against vampires more natural. In a town where good people are apparently a dying breed, Mark is someone to look up to and aspire to be, making the adults here look like cowards in comparison. It’s a talented and defiant performance that made one wish more of the film had centered on the kids in general, which would have lent more stakes to them getting snatched up and turned into vampires (one of the film’s only genuinely striking scenes observes such an abduction with silhouette lighting.)

Instead, the film doubles down on trying to make its human drama work, which also comes to involve Susan’s mother becoming increasingly irritated that she is considering dating an outsider rather than any of the men she suggests. The point eventually trying to be made here comes across as more unintentionally comical than sharply satirical about society. During this, there is also a search for the missing children, except the narrative here is trying to put so much in motion that the passage of time is hardly felt.

Eventually, everyone joins forces, including a doctor played by Alfre Woodard, reckoning whether or not they believe something supernatural is occurring. Soon after, they find themselves fighting vampires and trying to avoid getting turned, just like some of the children have. It all leads to a somewhat exciting sundown showdown at that drive-in theater, but that’s mostly due to the staging of the action and has nothing to do with caring about any of these characters or the story and themes, which feels like an insult to a Stephen King adaptation. None of this is helped by special effects that look straight out of early 2000s TV, not something that initially had a chance of going to theaters. 

Salem’s Lot is bypassing a theatrical release to go straight to Max, which begs the question, why not flesh this out into an actual series to develop the characters? As is, it feels like a string of scenes that continuously forget about essential characters, relegating much of their progression offscreen. Whatever reason there is to get engaged in any of this is sucked out dry.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com