Appleseed Saga: Ex Machina (2007) Ratings: Genre 3.5/5 | Overall 2.5/5

Appleseed Saga: Ex Machina is the brilliant second installment of the Appleseed (2004). It’s a continuation to the futuristic plot surrounding human girl Deunan Knute and her Hybrid worrier boyfriend Brialeos Hecatombcales. This is a continue to the Appleseed (2004) story line by taking it further towards the future and brings in better animation and better actions sequences to life. 

This time Duenan and Brialeos team up with a Bioroid Tereus who is created using DNA of Brialeos. While this takes a toll on both Duenan and Brialeos emotions they keep it aside and fight a common terrorist who threatens to disturb the known life at the Utopian city of Olympus. When the world satellite networks falls on the hand of this high tech and visionary terrorist and humans and bioroids becomes his slaves Olympuse’s own force E.S.W.A.T struggles to save the city. 

There are clear improvements to the animation quality of this movie from its predecessor with more details and more clarity and bigger and better conceptual thinking involved. Even the machinery and the war craft itself has improved. There are few familiar characters continuing their appearance in their new CG form and both Duenan and Brialeos are in their full glory with better detailing. Same goes with action sequences as well. The first half hour of the movie maybe has too much of a dose of action but soon the story falls in to place and calm down a bit. 

Talking of the plot it is slightly less appealing than from its big brother. Maybe since the viewers are already familiar with the base of Appleseed and this movie is not delivering anything extraordinary or surprising. But there is good flow though it has noticeable plot holes and weak points. But the emotions between the two main characters are somewhat deeply revealed and their relationship evolves to a new stage. 

All in all Appleseed Saga: Ex Machina is a clear improvement to its predecessor and worth checking out. As this would be last known installment of the story and the latest installment after this is a prequel. 

Genre: Animation | Action | Sci Fi

Director: Shinji Aramaki

Protégé (2007) (Honk Kong) (Cantonese)

Protégé (2007) (Hong Kong) (Cantonese)

Crime | Drama

This is another touching and shocking tale of distress and drug abuse unveiling from the land of Hong Kong proving that Asian cinema has its dynamites too. The movie is well directed with a plot that fries brain cells. And the performance of the cast is no less than respectable. It’s spinning around a cop who is deep undercover in Hong Kong’s largest drug circle, who is about to become the next Don of the trade. Will he be able to put the big brain behind bars of will his cover blow up is for you to find out? But, just like Scarface of the west Protégé from the east will leave its scars deep. And will dramatically haunt your dreams for some time.

හොංග් කොංග් පුරේ දැවැන්තම මත් ද්‍රව්‍යය ජාලයේ අඩියටම හොර රහසේ කිමිදුනු පොලිස් නිලධාරියකු සහ ඔහුගේ මතට ඇබ්බැහි වුනු අසල්වැසි සුන්දර කාන්තාවක් වට ගෙතුණු සිත සසල කරවන පුවතක් රැගත් Protégé ආසියානු සිනමා කෘතියක්. ආසියාවේ සිනමාව කෙතරම් රසවත් එමෙන්ම ප්‍රබල එකක්ද කියා ඔප්පු කිරීමට මේ චිත්‍රපටිය හොඳ උදාහරණයක්. හොඳ අධ්‍යක්ෂණයකින් සහ පෙර සඳහන් කල පරිදි සංවේදී කතාවක්ද රැගත් මේ චිත්‍රපටිය සමාජයේ එක් විෂම දුෂිත පැතිකඩක් වෙත ඔබේ දෙනෙත් විවර කරාවි.

3.5/5

-Priyantha Bandara

Synopsis: Special agent Nick (Daniel Wu) is deep undercover in the heart of Asia's lucrative crime trade as he plays protégé to one of the key players in the game, "Banker" (Andy Lau). (IMDB)

Vexille (2007) (Japan)

Vexille (2007) (Japan)

Animation | Sci Fi | Action

Vexille is another brainchild of Japanese animation geniousness. You know that Japs kick Hollywood’s butt hard when it comes to anime and Sci Fi. Vexille is flashy, sexy and futurastic! Set in an age where Japan is isolated from the rest of the world due to their experiments on human biogenetics a group of US secret soldiers enter the Japanese borders to find out the depths of their secrets the story is gripping and thrilling. The animation quality is sheer eye pleasing and when the action sequences hit the screen there is no return but to get involved and blast some mechs. For my amusement there is quite a bit of emotional value too in this than I anticipated. Wonderfully crafted animation and touching plot makes this movie a worthwhile to watch. There are few down points when it comes to facial expressions and voice acting but guess the bigger good doesn’t make you find them as real problems.

මිනිසුන් යොදාගෙන සිදු කරන ලබන කෘතිමය ජාන පරීක්ෂණ නිසා ජපානය මුළු ලොවෙන්ම වෙන්වී රහසිගතව සැඟවී ගිය සමයක ඇමෙරිකානු රහස් හමුධාවේ සොල්දාදුවන් කිහිපදෙනෙක් ජපානයට ඇතුළු වී එහි රහස් සෙවීම මේ කතාවේ සුළු හැඳින්වීමක් කීවොත් නිවැරදි. ඉතා විශිෂ්ට සජීවීකරනයන්ගෙන් යුත් Vexille  මුල සිට අගටම සීග්‍රයෙන් දිග හැරෙන විද්‍යාත්මක ක්‍රියාදාම anime චිත්‍රපටියක්. ජපන් anime කලාවට ලැදි බොහෝ දෙනෙකුටනම් මෙය අමතක නොවන අත්දැකීමක් වනු ඇති. මින් පෙර විශිෂ්ට ලෙස තිරගත වුනු Appleseed වැනි චිත්‍රපට හා සුළු සුළු සමානකම් දැක්වුවත් නැවුම් විද්‍යා ප්‍රභන්ධයක් ලෙස මෙය එක හෙලා ඉදිරිපත් කල හැකි.

3/5

-Priyantha Bandara

Synopsis: Japan, 2077: A female agent named Vexille is dispatched to Tokyo to investigate whether Japanese are developing robotic technology, which has been banned by the U.N. due to its potential threat to humankind. (IMDB)

Death at a Funeral (2007)

Death at a Funeral (2007)

Comedy

This is a comedy that happens in the least possible place for a comedy to be, a funeral. And it pulls off brilliant making some of the rude possibilities in to classic humor. Starts off as a drama slow and steady it reaches the peak of laughter few times. But if the things happen in this plot happens at a funeral in real we may see several more deaths following. Funny!!

මළගෙයක් සහ එහි සිදුවන සිදුවීම් වටා ගෙතුණු හාත්සයෝත්පාදක චිත්‍රපටියක් මෙය. එහි සිදුවන සමහරක් දේවල් සැබෑ ජීවිතයේදී සිදු වුයේ නම් තවත් මළගෙවල් කිහිපයක් ඇතිවනු නොඅනුමානය්. අනෙකුත් විනෝදාත්මක චිත්‍රපටි වලට වඩා බෙහෙවින්ම වෙනස් කතා පුවතක් රැගත් මෙය හොඳ සිනා ගොන්නක එකතුවක්. මරණය සහ එහි කිසිදා දැක නැති  ප්‍රහසනය සාර්ථක අයුරින් විදහා දක්වන බවය් පෙනෙන්නේ.

3/5

-Priyantha Bandara

Synopsis: Chaos ensues when a man tries to expose a dark secret regarding a recently deceased patriarch of a dysfunctional British family. (IMDB)

30 Days of Night (2007)

30 Days of Night (2007)

Horror | Thriller

 

Vampires are actually filthy creatures with lethal intentions. And they don’t look pleasant or sound attractive. They are not handsome nor sparkle in day light but burn and die. Someone can argue saying its all fiction. But fiction has its own ethics too. And this flick has kept its ethics well in place. The killer force of a set of vampires unleashed in a small town is the theme and start to end its just a good thrill horror ride. There is no room for romance or room to cuddle but the precise attention is on survival. However, nothing extraordinary, this starts slow and normal then gradually develop itself to a stereotype horror flick. For that reason I won’t rate it much. But overall it’s a good watch.

 

කඩවසම් පෙනුමට සහ දිලිසෙන සමට ලේ උරා බොන වෙම්පයර්වරු දුෂණය වන සමයක ඔවුන්ගේ පිළිගත් සැබෑ ස්වරුපය සහ රුදුරු ගති විදහාපාන භීතිය දනවන චිත්‍රපටියක් මෙය. මුල සිට අගට හොඳ සමතුලිත භාවයකින් යුක්තව ගලායන කතාව විශේෂත්වයකින් තොර උනත් ප්‍රේක්ෂකයා ඇද බැඳ තබා ගැනීමට සමත්.

 

2.5/5

 

Synopsis: After an Alaskan town is plunged into darkness for a month, it is attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires.

-Priyantha Bandara

Parzania (2005) (India)

Parzania (2005) (India)

Drama

 

Religion is the cause for some of the biggest problems in the world. And it is the best solution for many problems as well. Parzania is based on this very fact. There will be times that you will get goose bumps and your blood circulations speed up with anxiety. And there will be moments where your eyes will fill with tears and your heart will ache with pain. Parzania is a touching and a very emotional movie that’s seldom seeing from India. It’s about true events taken place in 2002 related to a religion based violence and a family who suffers a lethal blow. Well structured and presented it reminds of movies based on the Rwandan genocide which effectively puts some bitter reality in to the cinema platter. Wonderful performances by the cast I must say.

ආගමක නාමයෙන් අන්තවාදී ලෙස ක්‍රියා කිරීම  මනුෂ්‍යය වර්ගයා විසින් කිසි සේත් නොකළ යුතු පහත් දෙයක් උවත් එය සිදු නොවුන යුගයක් මිනිස් ඉතිහාසයේ නොමැති තරම්. අප කෙතරම් දියුණු මනසකට උරුම කම් කීවත් ආගම නමැති ශක්තිමත් ආයුධය තමන්ගේ ගැලවීමට නොව අනුන්ගේ නැසීමට උපයෝගිකරගන්නා මිනිස් මොඩයින්ගෙන් ලොවට අඩුවක් නැහැ. මේ කතාවට වස්තු පාදක වන්නේ එවන් ආගමික අන්තවාදයේ දුක්බර අත් දැකීමකට මුහුණ දුන් පවුලක්. 2002 වසරේදී ඉන්දියාවේ සිදු උණු සත්‍යය සිදුවීම් මුල් කොටගෙනය මෙය නිෂ්පාදනය උනේ. සත්‍යය වශයෙන්ම ඉතාමත්ම සංවේදී දර්ශන පෙළක් මේ චිත්‍රපටිය පුරාවටම දිවෙනවා. මා කාලෙකින් දුටු සිතට දැනෙන මනසට ආහාරයක්‌ සපයන සිනමා කෘතියක්.

 

4/5

 

Mad Men (TV show | 2007 to present | 5 Seasons)

Mad Men (TV show | 2007 to present | 5 Seasons)

Drama

 

If I list down the reasons why I love this show that list can have several pages and over 100 items. But this short review will carry only the top of that list and why you should watch it if you still don’t.

 

Number one reason I like it because of the historical corporate factor which is the core plot takes place. How an advertising agency did operated back in 1960s and how did the employees and clients were treated and business was conducted. I can relate so much of it to today’s businesses and still I get amused with each episode. Secondly the historical accuracy of people, environment, technology, literature, habits, entertainment, fashion, transport, views, attitudes etc etc that runs under the main plot. This is the life of 60s USA and presented with details for us to fathom it. Thirdly the plot and the script that works so well hand in hand just bring the best. The story is dramatic and fantastic. It puts twist over twists but still doesn’t distract you or confuse you and flow like a calm river in each episode. And then the wonderful cast and their contribution to make this magnificent series go live. Don Draper steals the whole pot while the rest adds the heat and spice to boil the soup. Without those strong performers this show will not go anywhere.

 

It is unfair to write few lines and rate this show in a jiffy. Yet words can say so much but experiencing it is the best deal. Mad Men is one of a kind show that makes TV a place in heaven amongst the crappy shows that rules it. This is nothing else that terrific and genius. Long Live Mad Men!!

5/5

 

 

Synopsis: A drama about one of New York's most prestigious ad agencies at the beginning of the 1960s, focusing on one of the firm's most mysterious but extremely talented ad executives, Donald Draper.

5 Centimeters per Second (2007)

Animation | Drama | Romance

This film made me fall in love with anime all over again. I mean it! I can swear to god that this carries the most amazing and best 2d animation quality ever. Period!! I want to watch this again and just pause at each scene to see how spectacular they are. This flick is filled with start to end magically breathtaking animation quality.
Plot wise it’s subtle and deep. With wonderful script and simple score this will remain forever in my heart.

My score 4/5

Synopsis: Takaki and Akari are two classmates in elementary school. During their time together they have become close friends. Their relationship is tested when Akari moves to another city because of her parents' jobs. Both of them struggle to keep their friendship alive, as time and distance slowly pulls them apart. When Takaki finds out that he is moving further away, he decides to visit Akari one last time.

RUN FATBOY RUN (2007)

Simon Pegg does it again. In his own British style of humor and short moments of surprised looks he nails this flick. 

The movie is about Dennis, and his x girlfriend Libby, and their kid Jake. Dennis who was once a careless man (and still is) left Libby on the altar on their wedding day 5 years back while she was pregnant and ran away! Yet Libby gives him permission to come in to her life again for the sake of Jake. Working as a security guard in a woman garment shop Dennis lives a much disorganized life, until one day he meets Whit who is a successful man from US and apparently got a crush on Libby. Realizing that he is about to loose Libby for life as Whit being a totally better person than him Dennis comes up with a crazy strategy to show his love for her. That’s to run in a marathon!!

First of all I must say that this flick is utterly hilarious. Thought it doesn’t have this one huge moment of laughter it will just keep you laughing from start to the end. Every move and word comes out of Dennis has something sarcastic, funny or towards the end more seriousness and caring. And he does conquer his quest in style. 

This movie is all about a man who decides to change himself for the only person he loves. Though he realizes it way late he quickly starts to build up a strategy and work towards it. And there are few good lessons in it. Like sticking in to a problem how hard it can be and to see it though without running away from it. 

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Sport

Director: David Schwimmer

Writers: Michael Ian Black (screenplay), Simon Pegg (screenplay), and 1 more credit »

Stars: Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton and Hank Azaria