Irrelevant But Awesome

Alexa:  I loved “Ex Machina” when I first saw it a couple of years ago, but if anything it’s even more compelling upon a second viewing. Writer/director Alex Garland crafts a truly masterful exploration of consciousness and control. The film is bound to receive a lot of comparisons to “Westworld” now because of the subject matter, but as much as I enjoy that series, the subtlety and nuance of “Ex Machina” is a far more effective critique. The script is sharp and the three lead performances are all exceptional, particularly Alicia Vikander’s work. She makes Ava so vulnerable and empathetic that it’s easy to forget she’s AI, much like Caleb does. And yet she infuses every look, every gesture, every word with undertones of something not quite human, which only adds to the suspense and discomfort that burns slowly beneath the film’s surface. Garland’s masterful direction and the movie’s expert lighting, production design and sound elevate “Ex Machina” into something beautifully ha...

Oh man, how do I even start with this one without spoiling anything? First off, it's a surprisingly complex movie (in term of plot themes, foreshadowing and overall deceit) for a cast this small. It's surprising how quickly people become skeptical of each other while essentially isolated in a building for a few days. The premise is essentially, a CEO named Nathan(Oscar Isaac) of the world's most successful search engine Bluebook selects Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) through a sweepstakes to join Nathan in his secluded compound to run a series of Turing tests (a machine's ability to exhibit behavior similar to human) on his latest humanoid robot named Ava (Alicia Vikander). The biggest theme of the movie is the grey area between humanity and artificial intelligence. Nathan and Caleb are both brilliantly flawed and instantly weary of each other, each assuming their the smartest person in the room. This is the directorial debut of Alex Garland, writer of such films as 28...