Ex Machina (2015)

*** out of ****

Man has always had a fascination with reaching beyond his earthly capacity to try to achieve God-like abilities. And ever since Mary Shelley wrote “Frankenstein” we've seen the “man creates life" theme come up again and again in popular entertainment.  I personally find it a bit scary that man's technological ability has almost reach a point where it is no longer completely inconceivable because, at least in popular entertainment, man always forgets that the most powerful instinct of any living creature is to protect itself through whatever means necessary.

I think HAL2000 in “2001: A Space Odyssey” was the first time we saw in a movie a machine that was willing to kill so it could go on living. Since then we've seen it time and again through sci-fi like “The Terminator” and “The Matrix”. “Ex Machina” presents a similar, but much more intelligently presented, conundrum.... what do you do when the machine becomes self aware and feels the need to protect itself?

Oscar Isaac is Nathan Bateman, a reclusive billionaire that founded the world's most popular search engine (in the movie, that's Bluebook). He holds a corporation-wide contest for one employee to spend a week with him on his isolated estate – a contest that is won by programmer Caleb Smith (Tomhall Gleason). But it turns out that Nathan really wanted somebody to come to his home (which he lives in alone, and which is completely subterranean) to provide a critical eye to his newest creation, and artificial intelligence in the form of a robot named Ava (Alicia Vikander).

Ava is a ridiculously human-like robot. Yes, you can see through her clear exterior in parts to the fibreoptics and circuitry beneath, but she moves, acts and talks like a completely normal person. Caleb is to spend time with her to determine if she is actually self-aware or if she is simply appearing to be so as a result of her programming. But since she has never seen any other man beyond Nathan, her creator, she naturally feels compelled by Caleb, and due to her innocence and physical beauty Caleb also finds himself attracted to her. It's pretty freaky and intriguing at the same time.

Add to this the fact that Nathan is an abhorrent person, utterly self-centered and without empathy, and he views his creation as a “thing” not a “she”. Ava is his property, and he would think nothing of shutting her down to create a superior version. This leaves Caleb in the position of deciding if he should try to save her, or if he should simply go along with Nathan. But given that Ava suspects that her days are numbered if she stays, and she does have very human dreams and desires that she wants to fulfill, she hopes to find a way to escape her fate.

This film is interesting in that after the first few minutes there are basically only four performers in it. The sets are incredibly cold and sparse (probably representing the emptiness of Nathan's emotions) and each character is totally unlike any of the other characters. I can't single out a particular performance that shines, because all three of the primary actors (Gleason, Isaac and Vikander) are absolutely great.

The theme is very much like “Frankenstein” itself, as the creation becomes more and more self aware and more loathing of its creator. But unlike “Frankenstein”, which was meant to scare, this one is meant to provoke thought. As man becomes more and more technologically savvy, the odds of creating a computer that can think and reason is becoming more real. And do we really want to do that? What about when it wants to do something we don't want it to? Will we subjugate it and make it a slave?

Personally, I think some things are best left to God or nature (depending on your metaphysical viewpoint). “Ex Machina” explores these themes very effectively, and I was riveted throughout. Very highly recommended.

Sky High (2005)

*** out of ****

My 14-year-old daughter claims that “family movies are for little kids”. I guess it's much cooler to a teen to watch movies about maniacs running around in ski masks, hacking up young virgins. Don't get me wrong – I enjoy a good schlocky slasher movie as much as the next guy, but a good family film can be at least as much fun (especially when you watch it with your 11-year-old twins as I did). And “Sky High” is a terrific one.

Set in a slightly parallel universe where superheroes are everywhere on Earth, the greatest of all the heroes are “The Commander” (Kurt Russell) and “Jet Stream” (Kelly Preston). In their secret identifies, they are Steve and Josie Stonghold, a husband and wife realtor team. They've had a son, Will (Michael Angarano) who is now entering high school, and he'll be attending “Sky High”, a school for the children of superheroes. As he has two hero parents (most of the students only have one) big things are expected from him. One problem, he doesn't have any superpowers....

This is just a flat out fun movie. Will's angst over whether he'll develop any powers, his parents expectations for him to be a wunderkind, his relationship with the other students (including an arch-nemesis, who's dad was locked up by Will's dad) it's all “shake your head and grin” stuff. He gets stuck in “sidekick” class instead of hero class, where similar kids with no or limited powers learn to be “hero support”. Many of the kids' powers are pretty entertaining, including one kid that glows in the dark and another that melts (leading the gym teacher to tell him “That's pretty impressive. For a popsicle.”).

But there are sinister games afoot, as long-forgotten supervillain "Royal Pain" is planning revenge against the Commander, and using Will as the instrument of that revenge. Can Will figure it out before disaster strikes? Can he and his sidekick buddies put a halt to the nefarious plot? Will he ever realize his childhood pal Layla (Danielle Panabaker) is secretly in love him? Holy Prom Date Batman, the superhero angle on high school reveals all the same things to deal with as every other high school kid. Except for the “save the world” aspect, of course......

The principal of the school is Wonder Woman herself, Linda Carter, the gym teacher is B-movie superstar Bruce Campbell, and the Sidekick class teach is Dave Foley from “Kids in the Hall”. All of the little tips of the cap to other movies, to comic-book icons and to B-movie cliches are all riotous throughout. Watch it with or without your kids – it's plenty good enough to entertain adults that like to escape into a little super-hero fantasy now and then. Check it out.

True Story (2015)

** out of ****

Have you ever sat down to a meal that you fully expected to be delicious, only to find it bland, unremarkable in every way, and kind of regretting having it? That's pretty much how I felt about “True Story”.

When it comes to comedy, I find both Jonah Hill and James Franco roughly as entertaining as a solid nut punch, but I have enjoyed them both a great deal in their more serious roles. Since this film was both of them in serious roles and the subject matter seemed compelling, all the stars were aligned for it to be an enjoyable film. But much like a bad marksman, the story just can't find the target.....

Hill is Mike Finkel, a once promising investigative journalist now disgraced for taking liberties with the truth in a story published in New Yorker Magazine. Franco is Christian Longo, a man on the run from accusations of murdering his wife and children. When Longo is picked up in Mexico he identifies himself as Mike Finkel, having admired Finkel's writing for several years. Due to this attempt to use the writer's identity (coupled with Finkel's inability to get work doing anything else), they meet to discuss a true-crime book about the impending trial.

Franco and Hill both deliver their roles admirably – Hill as a self-loathing, tormented man and Franco as a cold, ruthless mystery who can never be trusted to tell the truth. As the film goes on and we learn more about them, questions appear as to the depth of Longo's depravity, and the extent of his guilt in the murders, but it's all pretty odd. He admits to killing his wife and one child, but somehow the movie tries to portray that he may be found innocent if he can prove his dead wife killed the other two kids. It all boiled down to a guy that should ride lightning (as they have the death penalty in Oregon, where the film takes place), and as a viewer I didn't care if he was found guilty of one or all of the murders.

Basically it looked like an interesting story but it turned out not to be. You never feel any real sympathy for Franco's character and though you like Hill's a bit more, it's only a marginal bit. The film ends up telling you all about guys you don't care about and their exploits, which come off as almost meaningless.

The performances are well done, but the film isn't good. It also isn't awful. In fact, it isn't much of anything.

Hot Pursuit (2015)

* out of ****

Reese, Reese, Reese. How did an actress that I enjoy so much end up in a basted turkey like this? Blackmail? One too many favours owed? Witchcraft? Because this movie is beneath the talents of an actress of your talent, and far beneath the audience's willingness to watch.

Witherspoon is Rose Cooper, a career cop with a large stick up her behind. Rules and regulations make up the whole of her personality, as she was raised by a super-cop father and she's trying to measure up. Due to an early career mishap she has been stuck in the evidence room for years, and her Captain (John Caroll Lynch) finally finds a case for her to work. They need a female officer for the team that will transport a drug informant and his wife to custody to testify at a trial. Unfortunately, the drug informant's wife is Daniela (Sofia Veraga), a shallow and pampered idiot that is more interested in creature comforts than her own safety. After cartel killers take out the husband and Rose' partner, she and Daniela are left to try to get to safety alone.

That's the summary. The script tries very hard to make the film a buddy movie, a female version of “Midnight Run”. The only problems are that the script is truly awful and the filmmaking is even worse. Fights that look about as authentic as those in a high school play, dialogue that could most kindly be described as “asinine”, and situations that only tremendous idiots couldn't think their way out of pop up again and again. Plot twists that can been seen miles away come rapid fire and in general the whole thing just leaves you holding your head so it doesn't explode.

I really don't have much use for Vergara as an actress, but Witherspoon is someone whose films I look forward to. Let's hope this dog of a movie is a blip on the radar rather than the start of a trend. Because it is simply terrible. Avoid it at all costs.

Unfriended (2015)

* out of ****

In general, I admire a moviemaker that tries to do something a little different and “Unfriended” is surely that. Too bad a nice effort was undone by the fact it sucks. Hard.

The entire film takes place on a single computer screen. A group of teenage friends are Skyping each other, and there is an unwelcome guest to the communication that they can't get rid of. Turns out it's a former friend of theirs that committed suicide, back to exact revenge on those that had wronged her. Leaving the call will somehow allow her to possess you and force you to kill yourself, so they all stay on the call as the dead girl slowly unveils the worst secrets they all have.

I'm sure this is meant to be allegorical to the dangers of cyber-bullying and the impersonalization of much of today's youth due to their obsession with “screens”, but I found this film failed at every level. You never get any explanation about how it all works (other than a single webpage stating “Don't Communicate With the Dead”), and though I admire many movies that leave things up to your imagination (“Blair Witch Project” or the original “The Haunting” for instance), this one does it simply because there's nothing they COULD put there.....

Add to that the fact that each of the teens on the call end up being a horrendous person. Their all about 17 and they've all done far more horrible things to each other than I could ever dream of doing to any friend. To a man, you don't particularly care if the “ghost” takes them out. That's how awful they are.

Admirable attempt to do something unique, and unique it is. I just thought it was a horrible movie.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015)

*** ½ out of ****

The “Mission Impossible” movie series has become almost the “anti-movie-series”. The first one was awful, the second was okay, the third pretty good, and the fourth really terrific. “Rogue Nation”, the fifth in the series, continues that trend as it is the best of the bunch (so far).

The IMF has been disbanded at the insistence of the CIA director (Alec Baldwin), who believes Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is just a rogue agent manufacturing situations to justify the division's existence. The other IMF members, Benji (Simon Pegg) and Brandt (Jeremy Renner), are absorbed by the CIA, leaving Ethan alone in the field to try to prove the existence of “The Syndicate”, a secret terror organization Hunt has been pursuing for years.  If he can prove its existence he will prove his value to his country - if he can't he will eventually be captured and tried for treason.

Does that all sound like very complicated, cloak and dagger stuff? It is, but the film frames it in a way that doesn't fall victim to the typical James Bond “this is too complex to even try to understand” disease. The plot moves quickly, concisely and smoothly, as Hunt starts to figure things out and draw his old team back together. In a film filled with great sequences and stunts, the best one has the team undertaking a plan to steal a database, involving breaking into an underground, underwater computer data facility. Right up there with the “Dubai Tower” scenes from “Ghost Protocol”, it's simply great movie-making.

The villain this time around isn't quite as compelling as the villains from the last two films, but the action is edge-of-your-seat and relentless. Pegg is entertaining as always, and everyone in the cast is excellent in their roles. Cruise is the quarterback of course, and his ability to carry an action movie has never been better (and has always been very good). They even leave the ending hanging in such a way that ensuing sequels will be easy to set up, with Baldwin probably joining the team as an "M" type of director.

Cruise takes a lot of crap in the tabloids because of his odd behavior in his real life, but the guy just keeps delivering good movie after good movie. This is another one, and along with last year's “Edge of Tomorrow” he shows that age is just a number, and his 50s will offer us a lot more fun cinema.  Very highly recommended.

Back to the Future (1985)

*** ½ out of ****

When asked about my favorite movies, I used to rhyme off a list of about 5 of them, and “Back to the Future” was always one. People would tell me it seemed out of place among “The Godfather”, “The Shawshank Redemption”, “It's a Wonderful Life” et al, but I honestly believe that “Back to the Future” is easily as enjoyable as any of them, even if it wasn't a cinematic event on the level of the others.

Go back in time to 1985.... I was 15 years old and in the tenth grade. I was deeply into action movies like “Rambo” and “Terminator”, but a friend of mine recommended I go see “Back to the Future” - he said that given how much time I spent reading about cultural history and listening to oldies that it would be right up my alley. So I went to see it. The next night I went to see it again. Then twice the next week. And once the week after that. It's one of only two films I went to see five times in the theatre....

Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is a high school senior, and the only member of his family that isn't a real underachiever. His father is a corporate doormat, his mother a drunk, his brother a dropout working at McDonalds and his sister a “lonely hearts” type. Marty is more popular, is in a band, has a girlfriend and is buddies with local mad scientist Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) so he has access to lots of fun gizmos. Brown asks Marty to meet him in the middle of the night at a local mall for an experiment, and Marty complies. Little does he know....

Doc Brown has invented a time machine and installed it in a car. When the car hits 88 MPH the machine activates and using a massive electric pulse sends the car to whatever date it has been programmed with. Through a bunch of missteps, Marty ends up in the car trying to make a getaway, and instead finds himself transported to the year 1955. He accidentally interferes with the initial meeting of his parents, and has jeopardized his existence because of it. Unless he can find a way to get them together, he will disappear into oblivion.... 

Director Robert Zemeckis is well known for his “whimsical” movies, and he clearly had a lot of fun with the whimsy here. The 1950s were an exciting era anyway, with the onset of rock 'n roll, the best looking cars in history, the popularization of television and recognition that teens were more than just older children. “Back to the Future” plays on all of these things, casting the 1950s Marty as a cross between James Dean and Elvis. His lack of understanding of the era makes for lots of laughs, and does as his “friendships” with his parents as he tries to unite them. Throw in a “buddy movie” dynamic with a little Oedipus Rex and you get the picture.

Michael J. Fox was outstanding in the lead role – I've always thought that if he were a bit taller he would have been a big leading man in 80s and 90s cinema. His comic timing is impeccable, as is Christopher Lloyd's as the mad scientist, a role much more designed for laughs. Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson are also great as his parents (there are no slackers in this cast) and Thomas F. Wilson provides countless great moments as the big bully Biff Tannen. Dealing with all this, as well as plotting to get back to 1985, make for an incredibly watchable film.

There are some that don't like it because of the massive issues it has with time travel incongruities, and though I understand the arguments I dismiss them.  It's a movie about a time machine for God's sake.  It isn't meant to be time/space accurate.....

Wonderful movie moments go on throughout, culminating in Marty's musical performance at the high school dance that is as fun as any sequence you'll ever see in the movies. Cultural references are also abundant, and especially these days when young people seem to believe nothing existed before the internet, are going to be great fun for those of use who still know who Chuck Berry, Jackie Gleason and Jerry Lewis are. It's just tremendous from start to finish – a movie for the whole family that you never get tired of.