Chris At The Pictures: ex machina
    • Showing posts with label ex machina. Show all posts
    Showing posts with label ex machina. Show all posts

    Sunday, 20 December 2015

    The Best Films of 2015

    12/20/2015 10:09:00 pm
    The Best Films of 2015


    Note: these are based on UK release dates.

    10. Jurassic World – Heaps of fun, properly scary at times; a full-blooded summer blockbuster

    Best bit: The Indominus breaks free

    Full review here


    9. Brooklyn – Can we make sure Saoirse Ronan is cast in everything ever, please…or at the very least, her eyes?

    Best bit: “We’ll have no more discussion about nylons at the dinner table!”

    Full review here


    8. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 – What’s that Lionsgate? A mega-budget blockbuster with intelligent allegory and a subversive ending…wow, you really weren’t kidding. 

    Best bit: “Let’s try the sewers”…no, let’s definitely not.

    Full review here


    7. Mr. Holmes – Without knowing it, Ian McKellen plays Sherlock Holmes by way of my late grandad.

    Best bit: See above

    Full review here


    6. The Martian – It’s okay, everyone, Ridley Scott is back. Best use of ABBA ever.

    Best bit: “Anywhere I step, I’m the first”

    Full review here


    5. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – I love you, J. J. Abrams, and I want to have your babies.

    Best bit: [SPOILER REDACTED]

    Full review here


    4. Mad Max: Fury Road – Crash. Bang. Wallop. Repeat until applause.

    Best bit: Am I allowed to say “All of it”?

    Full review here


    3. Inside Out – It’s Pixar taking on The Numskulls and is every bit as amazing as that sounds.

    Best bit: “Oh no, we’re an abstract!”

    Full review here


    2. Whiplash – Genuinely thought I’d have a heart attack in the middle of the cinema.

    Best bit: He’s not really gonna play right after that cra-oh, bloody hell, he is!

    Full review here


    1. Ex Machina – Whoever could have predicted that removing the influence of Danny Boyle would be a good thing? Sleek, smart sci-fi where every frame shimmers.

    Best bit: The gobsmacked silence during the credits.

    Full review here


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    Friday, 23 January 2015

    'Ex Machina' - Review

    1/23/2015 10:21:00 am
    'Ex Machina' - Review
    From prolific screenwriter Alex Garland (The Beach, Sunshine and Dredd to name but a few) comes sci-fi drama Ex Machina. A young programmer is selected to participate in an experiment run by his boss (Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac respectively) to test a revolutionary new robot (Alicia Vikander), aiming to determine whether she possesses self-awareness (picture a feature-length version of the Voight-Kampff test from Blade Runner). 

    Away from the guiding hand of long-time collaborator and master film-maker Danny Boyle, Garland has, if anything, shrugged off the limitations of a mere writer and taken complete control of the project: the film has a stripped-down, almost B-movie sensibility where any superfluous frills have been trimmed and the occasional extravagance of Boyle’s action set pieces are gone. Make no mistake; this is not an action movie. It is a science-fiction drama packed with so many ideas that – had a less-competent writer taken it on – could very easily collapse under its own weight.


    But the reason the film emerges not only unmarked but victorious is how it channels the philosophical discussion; through the three central performances. Domhnall Gleeson as shy coder Caleb channels the inner questions of the audience, reflecting our uncertainty and (understandable) fears about both the experiment and Oscar Isaac’s bearded boffin Nathan, a steely-eyed control freak convinced that he is Oppenheimer reincarnated, willingly creating something that could ultimately send his entire species back to the Stone Age.

    Alicia Vikander is perfect as exquisite A.I. Ava, bringing to bear a nuanced performance that captures the slight uncanny valley effect of a robot imitating human life. Enhanced by seamless special effects, she gives every impression of a real person restrained by the limitations of what is essentially a computer programme: her eyes rove a little too precisely and her limbs go from swift motion to stock-still in a microsecond, all the while her inquisitive nature and sleek body involving us in issues of individuality, sexuality, and even the question many films have tried and failed to ask intelligently: what does it mean to be human?

    The film is drenched in a cold and clinical colour palette whilst the music – a concoction of machine-tooled chimes and rasping electronic reverb – attempts to provoke a physical response. All this and more builds to a startling climax as the development of the plot throws our loyalties hither and thither, leading to the realisation that we are the ones being tested, not Ava: will you pass…or fail?

     ★★★★★
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