Ex Machina

Plot: Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) spends a week with super-billionaire, computer designer Nathan (Oscar Isaac). Nathan has built a female robot Ava (Alicia Vikander), who Caleb is to interview, and determine if it is a real thinking machine, or just a talk-bot. In a moment of privacy, Ava reveals that Nathan is lying about everything. Two sudden plot twists drive the movie to the end.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: The coolest part is the visual of Ava's half woman, half robot body with its transparent wire mesh. You keep looking at how her face floats on top of the wire -- very weird.

The dialog is wonderful especially between Caleb and Ava. Almost as good is the philosophical dialog between Caleb and Nathan about the morality of artificial intelligence. 

Having said that, Ex Machina, is basically conversation with robots or about robots, and the pace is slow -- in the art movie style of slowing the pace to let us process the big ideas and symbolism. I found it a too slow generally.

I liked the plot twists, and the overall ending -- though I felt sorry for one of the characters.  

Overall, I was disappointed. I liked the highly conceptual sci-fi story with many issues including sex slavery. It is an average movie bumped up by the big ideas, and dropped down by the lack of fun. The most fun is talking about it later. 

Cast: Domhnall Gleeson--convincing and engaging, Oscar Isaac--not eccentric enough, Alicia Vikander--her robot character does not have a lot of range 

Written and directed by: Alex Garland

The Music: Minimal electronica soundtrack

The Visuals: Great special effects

Rating: 2.5 stars: An average movie, I liked the big ideas, but it was not much fun.  

More: Vikander filmed the whole movie in a gray catsuit, a portion of which you saw on her hips and upper torso. The remainder digitally replaced with her transparent robot self. They left her hands, feet, shoulders natural because CGI'ing them is difficult and expensive. Link

Even More: Ex Machina is another version of Frankenstein.

2013 Top Movies

• 4.0 Saving Mr Banks
• 4.0 American Hustle
• 4.0 Star Trek: Into Darkness
• 4.0 Side Effects
• 3.5 Gravity
• 3.5 The World's End
• 3.5 August: Osage County
• 3.25 Frozen
• 3.25 Rush
• 3.25 Oz The Great And Powerful
• 3.25 The Wolf of Wall Street
• 3.25 The Wind Rises

Danny Collins

Plot: 65 year old rock star Danny Collins (Al Pacino) is still touring to hall-fulls of aging fans, and he still drinks and does cocaine. On his birthday, he catches his young wife with a boyfriend her own age. At the same time, he gets a letter addressed to himself written by John Lennon The letter had been stolen by a magazine writer, and was only delivered after 30 years. He reflects on what he might have done with his life, cancels the rest of his tour and decamps to a Hilton in New Jersey, where he flirts with Mary (Annette Benning) the hotel manager. 

He goes to visit his long estranged son Tom (Bobby Cannevale) who has an enchanting daughter Hope (Giselle Eisenberg) and a pregnant wife Samantha (Jennifer Garner). There are a few plot twists and soon he is writing songs in his hotel room, and this propels the movie to its not so predictable end.[imdb]    [photos]

Review: Danny Collins is a old man's story about finding meaning in his life. In the beginning, bad things happen to show how empty life is, in the middle we get satire on American life, and in the end we get a message about friendship and relationships. 

Like most art movies, the pace is slow, probably so that you can catch all the symbolism, or perhaps to let the audience feel-deeply. In any event the slow pace is a sleep-inducing. 

There is uniformly good acting from Al Pacino and Annette Benning, who have a nice patter. Jennifer Garner is good too. When Bobby Cannevale is ill, he has a few good moments. Little Giselle is funny and cute -- although her voice may be dubbed in half the time. 

Cast: Al Pacino, Annette Benning, Bobby Cannevale, Jennifer Garner, Giselle Eisenberg

Written and directed by: Daniel Fogelman

The Music: The best part of the music is that we don't have to listen to Al Pacino sing much. 

The Visuals: Nothing special

Rating:  2 stars: Come for the acting, it isn't that entertaining or that thought-provoking.

More: There is a grain of truth to the story. John Lennon did send a letter to an aging rocker which was delivered 30 years late; it went to English singer Steve Tilson.

Even More: Director Fogelman is known for lots of feel-good entertainment, including the musical TV show Galavant. 

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Furious 7

Plot: Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), the brother of a comatose guy injured in a previous installment, comes to get revenge on his attackers, namely Dominic (Vin Diesel) and the gang. The government funds his private effort to catch Shaw in return for finding and returning a computer device and hostage Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel.) They have road races, fistfights and gun battles in the desert, the Caucasus mountains, the Arab Emirates, and Los Angeles. 

[imdb]    [photos]

Review:  Furious 7 is highly-produced noisy, crowd-pleasing, feel-good entertainment.

Furious 7 is a fantasy movie -- a magic reality where ordinary folks can have James Bond adventures, where violence is bloodless, drivers drive off cliffs and walk away unhurt including flashy parties and bikini girls. Fantasy violence is bloodless and doesn't break bones. 

The fist fights were stylized to make the movie kid-friendly: I'm not sure I liked it, but realistic action would have been too gruesome for the breezy mood. 

There is dialog about family among the drivers. This helps provide motivation for all the not-particularly sensible action. It isn't so much about loving each other as it is a strong sense of loyalty and belonging. We care about the characters because the characters care about each other. 

Paul Walker died during the filming, so there was a tribute to him in the context of the movie, and it was tastefully done.

Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Dwayne Johnson

Directed by: James Wan

The Music: A pretty good selection of pop tracks: mostly hip-hop. I may buy one or two.

The Visuals: I liked the driving best. The fights, not so much.

Rating: 2.0 stars: Just eat your popcorn. I am glad I saw it even though it was so light weight.

More: There is a scene of skydiving in cars. Not sure how they shot that. 

Even More: This is one of the first action movies to feature a killer drone. Many more coming I am sure. 

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Kingsman: The Secret Service

Plot: A spy for the private spy agency, Kingsman, gets killed, and years later his son Eggsy (Taron Egerton) is given a try-out to become an agent. Colin Firth, Mark Strong, and Michael Caine play other agents. After drowning, fighting, parachute dropping and dog shooting, Eggsy goes out to battle mad billionaire Valentine (Samuel L Jackson) and his blade running assistant Gazelle (Sofia Boutella). [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Kingsman is a spoof of a spy movie, but the ridiculousness starts slowly and then gets sillier and sillier. There is a lot of killing but the deaths are video game style, so it is not gruesome.

Colin Firth is the best character, because he had personality. The other characters were dull, including Eggsy, who did not believably transform from druggy-dropout to ass-kicking aristocrat. Mark Strong's Merlin, who was like Bond's Q, was solid.

Kinsman's English social satire never worked for me. I was hoping for a little depth around the villain Valentine's hatred of global warming, but that never happened. Valentine is a spoof of Richard Branson, who runs Virgin Mobile/Air/Records.

In sum, Kingsman started slow, but the end was entertaining.

Cast: Colin Firth (the main character), Taron Egerton (the hero), Samuel L Jackson (I loved his lisp. Funny), Mark Strong (cool and likable), Michael Caine (really again? I am tired of him.)

Directed by: Matthew Vaughn

Based on: The graphic novel by Millar and Gibbons (who also wrote Kick-Ass)

The Music: The big action scenes have a lively orchestral score, but the quiet scenes are nothing special. Composed by Henry Jackman and Matthew Margetson.

The Visuals: The best special effect is Sofia Boutella's feet, which were electronically replaced by razor sharp, spring blades. The fights are fun, but not cool or spectacular.

Rating: 2.5 stars: Fun to watch. 

More: One fight scene shows the view as a 1st person shooter video game to make the killing not seem sadistic.

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Chappie

Plot: Robot designer Deon wants to upload his consciousness program into a spare police robot, but his boss (Sigourney Weaver) won't let him, so he steals the robot and does it anyway. The robot fall into the hands of counter-culture bandits Ninja (Ninja), Amerika (Jose Pablo Cantillo), and Yolanda (Yo-Landi Visser). Yolanda falls in love with the childlike Chappie (Shallto Copley), and he calls her Mommy. 

Deon's rival at the robot company Vincent (Hugh Jackman), disables all the police robots to make Deon look bad. Deon struggles to fix Chappie, and in the meantime all the criminals rampage around the city. 

Ninja and America take Chappie to rob an armored car, and lie to Chappie because he is programed not to break the law. 

In the end, Vincent and Chappie face-off, and the movie veers off in an unexpected direction.[imdb]    [photos]

Review: Chappie was quite a ride. Set in an absurdist future Johanessburg, the beginning is light and dull as we meet the outrageous and silly outlaws. It gets darker as Chappie gets beaten up, and tricked into crime. A major turn happens when Chappie starts thinking about his death, which is when he runs out of batteries. The pace picks up, the philosophical allegories pile on, and we get science fiction action. 

There is a term paper worth of philosophical ideas in Chappie. Obviously Chappie is a like a slave, but he also like an entitled police officer oppressing the poor people. The idea that Chappie has a soul despite being a machine says something about religious views of the self. There is also a science fiction version of immortality similar to Battleship Galatica. 

Hugh Jackman is a highlight. He played an outstanding villain, and he looks so happy when he was operating his evil robot. Dev Patel plays Deon earnestly, but his character doesn't have enough interesting dialog. 

Chappie is very mis-represented by its trailer, which look like Short Circuit, but it is violent, and not funny, although it is absurdly & surreal. 

Cast: Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Ninja, Yo-Landi Visser, Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver

Directed by: Neill Blomkamp who also directed Elysium, which I liked, and District 9, which was only ok.

The Music: Hans Zimmer's soundtrack was great. I wish I could buy that opening song.

The Visuals: The art direction, especially the graffiti, was very cool. They even put out a book on it. 

Rating: 2.5 stars: Chappie is mostly dull, but it has fun parts, and it has some thoughtful ideas. This is a 2 star movie that I barely recommend based, but kicked up 1/2 star because of its ambition and ideas. It is not fun enough to watch for 3 stars. 

More: Yo-Landi is a South African singer and rapper. She wears the same T-shirt in the movie as she did in one of her videos. 

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Jupiter Ascending

Plot: Jupiter (Mila Kunis) works for her family's house cleaning business, but soon gets picked up by outer space people who conclude she is a reincarnation of a dynastic Queen who ruled many solar systems. The main plot is that Queen Jupiter's family is not happy to have her back instead they use stratagems to claim the inheritance for themselves. One son hires two mercenary soldiers Cain (Channing Tatum) and Stinger (Sean Bean) to capture her. [MINOR SPOILER FOLLOWS] Cain begins to protect and rescue Jupiter instead, and this becomes the central love story. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Cool. There are a lot of cool visuals in Jupiter Ascending. I loved the steam-punk future and the dramatic spaceships. Steam punk devices might be the best part of the movie. This future is cool, not realistic. Early in the movie, I was all on board.

In the middle of the movie, the actions scenes become like a cool video game, as cartoony CGI characters get shot up. This would have been okay in small doses, but there was too much.

Later the action ramps up, and visually the scenes get cluttered. It doesn't help that the anti-gravity technology make all the spaceships and devices multiple pieces of free-floating gear. In high speed action, this becomes a blur.  It is hard to see what is happening and stay plugged in.

At the end the emotional blankness of the sons, couple with Tatum's poor performance, to make the final scene hollow. Channing Tatum isn't likable or relatable -- despite his great performance in Foxcatcher -- he can't seem to be an interesting tough guy. 

Mila Kunis plays an regular young woman who all this weird stuff happens to. It would have helped if she felt scared, but she always seem willing jump from the frying pan back into the fire. I suppose 21st Century heroines can't be scared. 

Jupiter Ascending has a workable plot, but it gets the emotional notes wrong. I wonder what some re-editing and a new soundtrack would have done.

Cast: Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Eddie Redmayne, 

Written and directed by: Andy and Lana Wachowski

The Music: Michael Giacchino: I loved the choral parts. It needed some rock and roll, like The Matrix had. 

Supervising art director: Charlie Revai: great design

Rating: 2.5 stars: The beginning was cool, but the film loses its way and its coolness. 

More:  What is the deal with Cain being part wolf? The only wolf-iness I saw was the pointed ears. Great pointed ears though -- world class pointed ears. 

Even More: I liked the idea of an aristocracy fixated on immortality, and the immortality being based on killing innocent people. It is a good science fiction, and it works allegorically.

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