Ex Machina

It's been a while since I've been to the cinema, hence why it's been a while since I've posted here! Happy new year! Worry no more, I have a review for the new British sci-fi film Ex Machina. This is the first film from 2015 I have seen and it was a pretty decent way to kick off a new year of cinema.

Ex Machina is the directorial debut of Alex Garland, a man whose written great sci-fi films such as Sunshine, 28 Days Later and Dredd. The film follows a young programmer named Caleb who is selected to participate in a breakthrough experiment in artificial intelligence, by billionaire genius, Nathan, to evaluate the human qualities of a breathtaking female A.I. named Ava.

First things first, the acting in this film is superb. I am a big fan of both Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Issac who are brilliant as Caleb and Nathan. They are great actors who are deservedly going up in the world and will next be seen together in the new Star Wars film. Ava is played by Alicia Vikander who is new to me but I expect big things for her career after her stunning performance as the A.I persona. The film is held up by these three and they really make the film something special with their performances. All three had great chemistry together, truly becoming their intersting characters.

The film also looks great, the cinematography is bright and crisp and full of colour. The aesthetic of Nathan's house/research facility is really well captured as well as bringing a grounded futuristic feel to the film.

The writing is good and the film is very philosophical with its themes and ideas, asking what it means to be a human and play god and the sacrifice that makes on your own humanity, there are some interesting themes at play here. These themes however are ones we have seen before in most films about A.I; this is my biggest problem with the film. I cannot remember the last A.I film I watched that felt like a different story was being played out then ones before it. This film is lucky that it pulls the genre off well enough to make us forget that other A.I films have pretty much  tread the same ground over and over again.

It would be great to see a new and original take on Artificial Intelligence and unfortunately this film doesn't provide that. Fortunately it does provide great performances and stunning visuals, and a intriguing enough plot, elevating it to one of the better A.I films around. I am rating Ex Machina a 4/5.

What did you think of the film? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Easter Reviews Part 1

So over the Easter holidays so far, I have watched a lot of films and I am most likely to watch a lot more! So for this post I am going to write short reviews for all of the films I have seen so far. Then next week I will review the rest of the films I am most likely to watch in the coming days. So please enjoy!

Paranormal Activity 3
I was a big fan of the documentary Catfish which the directors of this film previously worked on. So I was hoping that they would do this franchise some good. I liked the first film, due to its originality in the horror genre, but I wasn't a big fan of the second as its seems they just copied what had happened in the previous instalment. The third, although having the same sort of rhythm to it, was actually my personal favourite of the series! I thought that it pushed the boundaries of the previous film and delivered some pretty creative scares. If you were put off by the second film then don't turn this one down as it might regain your faith. But I must ask how much life the series has left in it?

Martha Marcy May Marlene
I reviewed this in previous post but I thought I would still give a short verdict; If you are a fan of films which have interesting plots but don't actually go anywhere with it, then this is the film for you. Unfortunately this is not the film for me.

Sunshine
Danny Boyle has no boundaries! He can take any genre and make his own brilliant film within it. Sunshine is a great film and stars some great actors including the new Captain America. A great film that felt almost like a new take on the Alien films. Some great story telling done here and it was actually quite scary in places. My only criticism is that the ending was a little bit crazy and a points I was unsure as to what was actually happening.

Reservoir Dogs
This is the first time I have seen this Tarantino masterpiece. It was a great film which had me glued to my seat throughout. A proper classic and if you haven't seen it, you need too! This really is Tarantino at his best and I don't think I have seen a bad film from the director yet. I cannot wait for Django Unchained!

We Need To Talk About Kevin
I really enjoyed this film and thought that the subject area of which it is based on was handled well. My only problem with this film is that they try to hard. They try to establish this bad relationship between a mother and her soon to be mass killer son. The director obviously wanted the audience to question whether his actions could have been prevented by better parenting. The director also wanted us to think whether the mother is just as bad as her son. The only problem is, is that they focus to hard on making the character of Kevin come across as an evil delusional child. He needed therapy and he needed to be told off by his mum every once and a while for his terrible behaviour! A good film but it could be better.

Red State
This film has been heavily slated by audiences and critics. So I didn't watch this film expecting anything special. But actually it was a good fun watch and I enjoyed it very much. It is sold as a horror but actually isn't that scary. It's more of a fun thriller that makes fun of 'America's Most Hated Family' the Phelps family. The OTT Christians that goes to soldiers funerals with banners saying 'God Hates Fags'. Great way of spreading Gods love?? The family in the film now actually catch these sinners and kill them. The whole film turns into a massive shoot up between them and the police. John Goodman steals the show as usual but Michael Parks was not far behind. Some great acting and a good film which unlike many, i recommend.

Thanks for reading!