Full Metal Jacket (1987)

[**** stars / *****] 

Private Joker/Private J.T. Davis: 

Are those live rounds?

Leonard Lawrence/Pvt. Gomer Pyle: 

Seven-six-two millimeter, full metal jacket.

Full Metal Jacket (1987), before stumbling into the hell-infested battlefields of Vietnam, begins with a relentless Marine Corps training regime depiction that tells more about what war does to ordinary, simple, vulnerable young men, than the movie's latter half.

The indoctrination, humiliation, loss of self-esteem, and the breaking down of a sane mind brings home what was terribly wrong with sending US soldiers to Vietnam. The sheer madness of it all.  

Full Metal Jacket story 
Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence (Vincent D'Onofrio) stands for the end of innocence and free will. Leonard is weak-minded and faces the savage hammer-like authority of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Lee Ermey) at the Marine Corps training center.

Private/Sergeant J. T. "Joker" Davis (Matthew Modine) tries to help Leonard, but is soon forced to abandon him, as Hartman starts punishing the entire batch for Leonard's mistakes.

This initial 40-minute havoc is cinema at its tense, harrowing best. The rest of the movie doesn't pale in comparison to the first part, but you never forget Leonard, his demented face hovering like a ghost over the nightmarish barbarism and cruelty of war.   

    
Full Metal Jacket review 
Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece is an uncomfortable but gritty watch, a stand-out war movie on the futility and stupidity of killing another human being.

(A full metal jacket is a kind of bullet used by the military. The bullet has a soft center, usually lead, and is encased by a harder metal.) 

Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015)

[**** stars / *****] 

How inventive can you get in a animation flick based on a TV series setup that involves a farmer, his farm, his dog, his sheep and not a line of understandable dialogue? 

Shaun the Sheep Movie is yet another LOL display of creative brilliance by the furry people at Aardman Animations and directors Mark Burton, Richard Starzak.   

Shaun the Sheep Movie story  
Shaun, the intelligent sheep of the herd, plans to take a break from the xerox-like farm routine, setting off a chain of events that lands all farm creatures and the farmer in the big city. 

It's up to Shaun to get everyone safe back home now, but somebody suffers a memory loss, making things worse!

Classic British comedy 
No kidding, the Shaun the Sheep Movie is animation comedy of the Charlie Chaplin silent-movie gold standard, the magic is in the lively visuals, universal human-like expressions, identifiable situations, memorable characters and fresh gags, and most of it is incredible. 

Friendship, loyalty, intelligence, courage, companionship are qualities that are embedded into the story without underlining any of it, and the laughs just keep bleating about!

Aardman Animations on the roll!
Clearly, the makers share a herded, grazing passion for making a clean funny animated movie for all ages. I can't recommend this movie enough for kids and adults alike.

The only possible drawback - the limited family audience canvas keeps proceedings sane, going naughtier or deeper is out of bounds, but I had so much fun during this woolly 84-minute joyride, can't grumble about anything at all! I had a baa...baa...blast!  

Two thumbs up!

Sarvam Thaala Mayam (2019)

[*** 1/2 stars/ 5 ] 

If you are a passionate, aspiring musician or music lover, you will identify with the struggles of the short-tempered but extremely talented musician Peter Johnson (G.V. Prakash Kumar). 

Peter is a young lower middle-class mridangam* maker's son, a aimless loafer who bunks an important college exam to make it for a favourite movie star's new release, chases a pretty nurse (Aparna Balamurali), drinks and gets into random street fights.

(*percussion instrument, usually played as an ally to the vocals in carnatic music)   

Rhythm of life 
Life changes for Peter when he chances on mridangam legend Vembhu Iyer (Nedumudi Venu) at a concert and requests the tradition-bound maestro to teach him. The rest of the movie is about Peter's against the tide struggle to beat caste-based hurdles, jealousy, while on a quest to find himself. 

Director Rajiv Menon and music director A.R. Rahman (incidentally G.V. Prakash's uncle) lift a predictable underdog story to a telling dialogue on inclusiveness, how music ('isaii' in Tamil) is for all.

Exceptional music, performances 
Veteran actor Nedumudi Venu is particularly exceptional as the unbending traditionalist, as is Vineeth, infusing life into a predictable negative shade. 

G.V. Prakash is good, if not exceptional as Peter, as is Aparna. Actors Kumaravel and Aadhira Pandilakshmi as Peter's parents are probably the most believable characters here.  

Though Menon plays on familiar beats and cliches that weigh down the energetic narration, his love and keen understanding of music is astounding. The visuals, art direction are top grade, and there are many high points. I particularly love the climatic reality show face-off and the concluding student-teacher scene. 

Sarvam Thaala Mayam (Rhythm is everywhere) is a uplifting musical drama that deserves a larger audience. You needn't know Tamil to appreciate the superb Indian classical-based A.R. Rahman soundtrack.

Recommended
If you liked Sarvam Thaala Mayam, watch Rajiv Menon's Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000), an entertaining Tamil romantic drama starring Aishwarya Rai, Tabu, Mammootty and Ajith, inspired by Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, embedded with amazing A.R. Rahman 'isaii.'

Afterword
Incidentally, Sargam (1992) is a good Malayalam musical drama on carnatic music starring two actors from the Sarvam Thaala Mayam cast, a young Vineeth as a gifted teenage singer,  Nedumudi Venu as his strict music teaching father and a scene-stealing Manoj  K. Jayan as the unpredictable, fragile friend.