'Ex Machina' Review

Nominated For: Best Original Screenplay and Best Visual Effects.

Won: Best Visual Effects.

Ex Machina managed to slip under my radar as I didn't begin to hear about it till around December despite it's April release, and I can say that Ex Machina certainly lived up to the buzz. Alex Garland, writer and director, makes his directorial debut and certainly made a huge splash. The film follows a futuristic society in which a young computer coder is invited to a research facility owned by his company's CEO to test an Artificial Intelligence. 

The film centers on a very central core cast of only three characters and all three actors where phenominal. Domhnall Gleeson is essentially the audience's voice throughout the film as he expresses his amazement regarding this technical feat and attempts to rationalize the logistics of artificial intelligence making his character the everyman who is instantly relatable and somewhat likable. Oscar Isaac provides a terrific performance as a very conflicted, foreboding eccentric billionaire that maintains this foreboding mysterious presence throughout. 

Alicia Vikander was so convincing as Ava, the artificial intelligence, providing this neutral realm between human and robot as she must portray an artificial intelligence that is so lifelike yet doesn't quite understand humanity. The visual effects on display in this film were mind boggling. The effects used to create Ava looked really realistic and it was believable that Alicia Vikander was actually this AI inside a humanoid robotic body. One interesting aspect is that the film walks the fine line between science fiction and science exploring something that could certainly happen in real life. 

The moment the credits started rolling I began to consider one of the central themes present regarding the difference between humans and artificial intelligence. The best description I can provide for Ex Machina is that it was a very thought provoking film with incredible visual effects, terrific performances, and a very intriguing premise.

Film Assessment: A

'Chappie' Review

I recently saw Chappie and enjoyed it despite the mixed reviews  however I will admit that I even had mixed feelings about this film. The best parts of the film are the visual effects, action scenes, and Chappie himself. It is very entertaining to see Chappie become more self aware as an A.I. The parts I disliked is that there is a South African gangs present in the film that seem to serve no larger purpose for the plot of the film and are quite irritating. It was very annoying to watch them corrupt Chappie in some parts of the film. I will say that Hugh Jackman gives an incredible performance as the antagonist and this has made me very excited to see what he does in Pan as Blackbeard. This wasn't too surprising to me as Hugh Jackman seems to be great in every film. I really liked his character as he was ruthless and manipulative. Another character I liked was Chappie's creator who I felt wasn't given a large enough role to service the plot but was fun to watch. Overall, Chappie is a good film but not a great one. I would only recommend watching it if you were previously interested in Chappie.