Experiencing Ice Age : Expanding in to a deep film experience

It's an amazing experience watching film.

As a film fanatic i've experienced film's origins of silent films like Charles Chaplin films to innovative films like Avatar (2009) where 3D experience was helmed for the viewers .

Now films expands as universes. They build on book adaptations.

Like Harry Potter books which was a global phenomenon which turned into a worldwide film franchise (2001 - 2011) as well where sub-genre universes are also expanding like the films for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). 

The Lord of the rings books which came in the period of 1937 to 1949. Also expanded into a globally renowned film franchise (2001 - 2003). The Hobbit a prequel book in 1937 was published and also was expanded into a film adaptation as a trilogy in 2012 to 2014.

Film universes like Star Wars and Star Trek are solely based on the characters and it's long standing fantasy are amazing.

Comic book cinematic universes like Marvel and DC are running the hollywood now.

James Bond, Indiana Jones and Rocky are character based film universes.

And filmmakers like Wes Anderson and David Lynch create there own film style interconnected film universes in there fashion.

And I keep going on about these stuff.

This is what makes films interesting. It is not just videos created in the cameras and actors playing roles in films. They are unique. They have deep rooted character arcs, back stories and worlds of deep unique histories.

Now me in this holiday season experienced the Ice Age franchise which is an animated film universe. 

Ice age started as an independent animation which now a billion dollar global brand in animation films.

It has short films and feature films which performs well globally financially and critically.

Now as a Sri Lankan film fanatic. 

We watch films for entertainment and this is it.

The characters are beautiful, full of depth and fun.

Manny, Sid, Diego were the inception.

Then expanded with Ellie, Eddie and Crash.

Buck the amazing addition of a character who's more like Captain Jack Sparrow from "The Pirates of the carribbean" franchise.

And the best is "Scrat" the icon of the Ice Age brand. 

Now the major five feature films expand into the characters as well as a sarcastic perspective on the global history, there are some short films that build on the personal world of each and every character and specially on Scrat.

And when you follow up these and experience these sub factors of a major film franchise it gives a more fun perspective.

Now taking on the Ice Age : Collision Course (2016) which was the latest installment was kind of fun to watch when you see the Ice Age is threatened by cosmic attacks. 

The characters are fun as always. Depth, fun and cool animations were amazing.

Overall a good addition to the Ice Age Universe.

Sid and Scrat was fun as always.

And also the television specials made for seasons were also fun it brings closer to the characters.

Overall experiencing the additional short films and television specials parallely with the films were a more cinematic experience.

Lucifer - Season 02 : Y u du dis ?

Lucifer S1 was a jump start to a new unique portrayal of the devil. And I loved it.

It ends when he goes back home (Hell) realising his most feared prisoner was released his mother which excited me more hoping for a positive expansion in the "Lucifer" universe.

And.....

"Y u du dis? I cri evri tyme..." is a Sri Lankan meme reflecting on local celebrities and mocking them for doing absurd things and making the victim cry.

Now this is the expression I got when watching Lucifer S2.

It's an utter failure.

Luci's mother is a very shallow and confusing character. And with her arrival suddenly everyone is.

The creators try to revive the B-movie universes, night life culture, celebrity lifestyle and this LA vibe but its just music and images.

The story just moves like it was in the 1st season and it keeps stagnating on Chloe and Luci.

Luci's dark humour feels like preaching now.

The reason everything crashed was Luci's mom and the unstructured nature of her character.

I stopped watching from the fifth episode.

Don't waste time in this utter waste.

Watch Swapna (A Hindi / Sinhala dubbed mega teledrama : Which is also a detective story - Which is equivalent to B-rated Soap operas in US) instead.

A Disappointment.

References

Images

- Y u du dis? (2016) [Image] Available at : http://i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/013/094/nuNAS.png (Accesed date : 12/28/2016 / Time : 2.37 AM)

- Lucifer : Season 02 [Image] Available at : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4052886/ (Accessed date : 12/28/2016 / Time : 2.38 AM)

Independence Day : Resurgence (2016) - If you loved the first... This one quite tries to come out okay.

Well okay....The sequel is not like the first.... which was groundbreaking and innovative.

Which as a kid I watched like a 100 times in the VHS.

And this sequel hated globally for ruining a child hood favourites of many...

But this still comes out for me okay.

Would have loved to see Will Smith reprising his role.... well.....

Not this newbies, who kinda screws the whole story and plot with there shallow character arcs but still.... It's Independence Day sequel for me and I kinda waited for it for a long time.

I know they had two decades for this but still loved it though.

Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman and Judd Hirsch playing there roles was an amazing experience.

The stunning action sequences are typical Roland Emmerich and his love of destructing global land marks is amazing. (White House Down [2013], 2012[2009], The day after tomorrow[2004] and Godzilla[1998])

A personal favourite.

Overall - 3.5/5

References

Images

- Independence day : Resurgence (2016) [Image] Available at : http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/jeff-goldblum-bill-pullman-independence-day-resurgence.jpg (Accessed date : 2016/12/28 Time : 2.13 AM)


 

Daredevil : Season 01 - Depth and violence

Now I'm not exposed to comic books in a massive way. I may have read a couple of DC, Marvel and other standalone comic book franchises, but never a big fan or a follower.

I read books, but not comics.

But in case of movies it's different. I love movies. The whole concept of movies keeps me alive.
There are no genre specification for me. So It opens your scope in movies. It's more like my second job.

So watching comic book adaptations is a kind of a sub-genre in movies I follow.

Now I'm no authority in comic Vs. Film/Tv series analysis coz like I said.

I never was into comics.

But when you watch so many comic book adaptations you get know them.

For a Sri Lankan, Comic adaptations are purely entertainment.

And Daredevil : Season 01 - Tv series is pure entertainment.

Netflix originals are amazing.

House of Cards, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Narcos.

This is the same.

Now though I personally love Daredevil (2003), many global fans hate it.

But this is loved globally and among Sri Lankan fans due to its both substance and style.

Beauty of it is how it builds on the character arcs with depth and it's connection to the plot.

The action sequences are epic and gets better every episode.

So the season 01 was an amazing inception for the television series.

Overall - 4/5

References

Images

- Daredevil (TV Series 2015 - ...), Available at : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3322312/mediaviewer/rm2649291264

A hologram for the king : DeJaVu

This is a "Tom Hanks" film.

So seeing him itself is enough sometimes for film goers like me. (His charm and quirky acting with emotions are outstanding.)

But this is just like DeJa Vu for me reminding me of "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011)".

Same cultural clash with a more positive vibes from both countries.

Tom Hanks pulled off a good job. The depiction of substance of the story was the issue.

We see a man in a mid-life crisis and trying to sell a holographic communication device to a Saudi king. We see his internal family problems, his past career failures and also his inner struggle that goes with same existential issues that is discussed in many films.

But this is a hollywood film and it's not always the style what I as a viewer expect. Tom Tykwer as a director is innovative, We see some innovative visual takes in this film, but we get the feeling of repetition in this film.

Anyway though it felt repetitive it was a majestic in cinematographic achievement.

Well you can't expect everything right.

Overall - 3/5

References

Images

- A Hologram for the king (2016) Available at     : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980210/mediaviewer/rm387128320 (Accessed at : 12/28/2016 / 1.30AM)

Robert Langdon and Christian Wolff

2016 was built on films like these.

Lonely, smart and imaginative characters.

Jack Reacher, Dr. Steven Strange, Ms. Peregrines and Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger.

The Accountant has Christian Wolff and Inferno has Robert Langdon.


Overall both films were average considering what they were able to do with such strong plots and character arcs but still they have some innovative aspects.

Inferno

Highly anticipated though delivered very poorly due to personally in my opinion is due to lack of innovation as the predecessors. (The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Angels and Demons (2009))

The story is itself shallow having an antagonist of the plot to destroy the world but still would have pulled of a stunning visual feast if the film gave depth to Dante and his literature which was highly quoted throughout the film.

And also Robert Langdon's visions are more like hallucinations where in predecessor films he actually had some awesome thoughts to figure out the puzzles he was given.

Anyway there's Robert Langdon and it's Ron Howard. So the film manages to survive through the directors visual style.

Overall - 3/5

The Accountant

The Accountant is a rare film which have some accounting and also character study.

The film overall reprises the unique Gavin O'connor Directorial style and builds on a criminal accountant's life and how it closes.

A spiral and a confusing child hood with an amazing highly trained skill set, but lack of social skills Christian Wolff is an amazing character study.

But the film gets loaded up with too much depth of unnecessary aspects making it carried away.

Anyway this is like a super hero film for accountants.

Because Ben Affleck reprises his Role of batman in this film as well. Because he kicks ass in this film.

A great take on a very niche character.

Personally loved the film due to it's take on accountancy and the character.

And I'm an accountant in training so this is basically motivation.


Overall - 3.5/5

Both the films had 2 unique characters but did not build on them.

But there skills are amazing.

Dimantha, Black Mirror and Christmas : End of 2016

I personally loved Black Mirror : Season 01. It's style and the way the tv series was built is so unique and dark you get addicted to the characters and the story arc in a scary way.

So I actually wasted my whole November and December of 2016 to cover up the new (which is the 3rd Season) and the 2nd season. They were equally amazing.

Simply BM (Black Mirror) is about how dark technological advancements can effect on the natural human condition due to it's artificial structure. The episodes are though made in anthology style will reflect a connectivity in a small detail level making BM more of small tv series niche universe, and it actually worked out because now BM has a strong cult following and also is ranked among the best television shows in the world.

So here begins the review....

BM : Season 02

BM : S2 though not powerful as the first season thematically, is very powerful in technical development.

Episodes like "Be right back" touches on the privacy of life and how it affects through technology. The episode builds on an AI which has an awesome technicality and it is unforgettable experience for the viewers. Thematically  it is even saddening and emotional it is quite scary how human emotions can be imitated.

"White Bear" is a dramatic experience and a wild take on punishment and moral justice through technological advancement. More like a modern adaptation of "A clockwork Orange" from Stanley Kubrick but a bit of over the top in making it too atmospheric. Anyway a dark BM experience with a more experimental take on TV.

Episode "The Waldo Moment" is pure BM. It is back with the politics and media. And it expands into global conspiracy. Another experimental experience from BM.

But overall the darker aspect existed in BM : S1 is not there.

Overall - 3.5/5

BM  :  White Christmas (Special Edition)

BM Special WC (White Christmas) is back on track on par to S1. It is dark to the core with aspects of marketing, consumerism, AI and human relationships. This more of a long episode has links to the prior S1 and S2.

This makes this the first episode to expand on the universe of BM.

More like a twisted christmas special this episode questions the human mind itself and scares the hell out of the viewers when we see a replication of the human mind.

The technologies from prior season's has also have passed on to BM : WC with more modifications.

This one is pretty good. So I'm keeping it to the viewers.

Overall - 4/5

BM  :  Season 03

 BM : S03 doubles the number of episodes and the technical level of the Tv series also builds up. The universe of BM also expands.

 I will not go into each and every episode but this season quite adds up some innovations to the sci-fi universe and specially to BM universe.

This season shows promise and variety and the BM team has still got some skills in innovation.

My favourite was "Play Test". Which was structured as a virtual reality game play fused with a haunting horror/terror aspect. The sci-fi aspect questions the factors of memory and existence itself.

And episodes like "San Junipero"are also amazing it covers culture of many generations as well as the human existence itself. Breaking many social and technological taboos built in religion, Socio-cultural aspects. Basically humans play god in this episode.

A darker cyber bullying aspect is touched for the first time in the episode "Shut up and dance".

Overall BM is expanding into many darker aspects of technology touching many diverse social aspects connected to technology.


Overall - 3.5/5