Ex Machina

I started questioning if I was a robot maybe on the way back home because this is a deep movie that makes me think deep thoughts but then I farted and robots can't fart! BUT I then remembered I saw Bicentennial Man and I'm still screaming. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp8dt2lRwi8)

Caleb says in an early scene that a good AI not only is good at chess but, more importantly, knows that it's playing chess. That it turns out that he himself does not recognize that he is a pawn in a game gives Ex Machina a surprising bite. The film is a deconstruction of gender roles, with one man treating Ava like an object to be controlled, the other imagining himself as her white knight and savior -- and both men pay dearly for their transgressions. Also, that dance scene is amazing.

One of the qualities I look for in a woman is transparency but this is ridiculous. I've had some pretty good conversations with some pretty attractive ladies but I've never had one that immediately led me to believe that I should sellout my own species to impress her. Alright, a couple times I would've sold out my species, but they were, like, really pretty girls.

I thought this was going to be so much better. Garland's film kept my attention, but it lost my interest due to the blandness of the writing which resorts to and settles for basic genre tactics (Who's real? Who's conning whom?). But while the scipt is disappointingly rudimentary and ultimately sorely lacking in thematic meat, the cinematography and the visual effects are good, and the talented Vikander gives a very strong performance as Ava.

This was very good. It isn't a very uplifting movie, but it's a solid pinnacle for sci/fi. Quite original and very well made. The story is twisty and fairly unpredictable (when it isn't predictable) and I thought the actors all did their parts really well. I personally appreciated the simple yet realistic CGI. Quite detailed and competently made. For sure worth a watch if you like sci/fi.