SPOILERS
From the outset Ex Machina is clearly a stylish, modern, film. It begins with computer programmer Caleb winning some sort of competition at work and being flown off to his boss's private facility... which seems to be in Norway and takes more than 2 hours to fly over in a helicopter... wow, that's big.
Clearly the boss, Nathan, has something to hide because the helicopter can't go near the house and Caleb has to walk the last stretch along the river and through the woods.
When he arrives an automated system, which knows his name, takes his picture and prints him a key card for opening the door. This seems a bit silly; if it recognises him with enough confidence to give him a key, then why not just open the door for him... who needs a key? [the plot, it turns out later]
Caleb wanders in and eventually finds Nathan pummelling a punch-bag. Nice boss, he knows you are coming, knows you have arrived and can't be arsed to greet you. This, it turns out, is the least of Nathan's character flaws.
Nathan's house looks like a prison that's been designed by Ikea. And in a sense that's exactly what it is... except the furniture is probably more expensive than that because I think Nathan is supposed to be the richest man in the world, or thereabouts.
I found Nathan quite sinister from the start. He says he wants to be Caleb's friend, but clearly he's the boss. He seems to drink constantly, exercise obsessively and treat his house-keeper Kyoko pretty badly.
Anyway, we soon get down to business. Caleb is here to test Nathan's AI robot, Ava, for a week to see if she is truly intelligent. And everyone seems quite excited about that. Ava less so, perhaps.
Caleb questions Ava's appearance as a sexy robot, thinking he is being deliberately distracted. Nathan reassures him that everything is as it seems, but shows sparks of anger at Caleb when challenged on some points.
There are a few thinly disguised digs at Google from Nathan when he describes some of his technology to Caleb. Other people were too busy trying to monetise search to do it properly, he says. So how did he become the world's richest man then?
Ava and Caleb's interview sessions are shown. They are a bit disappointing, to be honest. I don't know what I expected but there seemed to be something missing in these scenes. It gets more confusing when Caleb realises that he clearly wasn't chosen at random by Nathan, and Nathan admits that he was specially selected as the best programmer in the company.
Things get a bit creepy as you slowly realise that Nathan's housekeeper is probably also a robot and that Nathan is having sex with her. In fact he seems more obsessed with human-robot sexuality than intelligence. The more the film goes on the more unhinged Nathan seems.
It turns out than Ava can trigger temporary power cuts in the house/prison and uses these opportunities to warn Caleb that he shouldn't trust Nathan. Somehow you know that even though Nathan supposedly can't hear these little chats, he probably can. But what you don't know is whether Ava really believes Nathan can hear or not.
Clearly Caleb believes that Ava is intelligent and he also feels some affection for her. Maybe more than that. He is certainly troubled when he learns from Nathan that Ava will probably be upgraded to form the basis of a new model, losing her memories and thus current self in the process.
This is where the key-cards come in. Caleb gets Nathan drunk, which isn't hard, and steals his card... allowing him to get into Nathan's private rooms and see video of previous AI models. Nathan hasn't treated them very well at all... nasty man. Caleb also has complete access to all the security software and immediately knows how to write some code to modify it! Yeah, right.
Caleb tries to get Nathan drunk again so that he can help Ava escape. But Nathan isn't drinking anything but water today...
Then we get the big reveal. This is quite clever. It turns out that Nathan knew Caleb has going to help Ava escape because that was the real test; to see if Ava could trick Caleb into loving her enough to free her.
Caleb wasn't chosen because he was the best programmer, but because he was single and lonely. Ava was even designed to match the type of girl he searches for on the internet.
At this point Caleb is looking pretty dejected and Nathan is Mr Smug. But when the escape plan begins with a power-cut Caleb calmly explains that he always assumed Nathan was listening in somehow during the previous power-cuts so he enacted his part of the plan already. Nathan's smugness evaporates, Ava is out.
The conclusion of the film is a bit clunky. There is a brief fight between Ava and Nathan which Nathan is winning until he's stabbed in the back (literally) by Kyoko, then finished off by Ava. Ava then locks Caleb in his room and gets herself some more skin (*) so she can pass for human, before leaving the complex and catching the helicopter which has arrived to take Caleb home.
Curiously the helicopter pilot doesn't seem to question the fact that his passenger has changed gender.
(* on the skin: it's not clear how far in the future we are here, but making a robot with realistic skin, eyes, hair, hands and feet seems to be almost as big an achievement as making one that is intelligent. Oddly this isn't really commented on)
I think the ending would have been more dramatic if the film had just finished with Ava leaving the complex with Nathan dead and Caleb locked in. The last few minutes didn't add anything, because we already knew what Ava was going to do (go to the traffic intersection).
The twists at the end explain some of the odd behaviour of the characters throughout the film. So I think overall Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac and Alicia Vikander do a great job. Unfortunately, at the time you are watching the film the middle part is a bit irritating... I'd go as far as to say that I got bored in the middle.
That makes it quite hard to rate this film. I'd say I mostly enjoyed it. But I think that the earlier British AI movie The Machine was more fun, despite its much lower budget.
Thursday 29 January 2015
Tuesday 27 January 2015
Dallas Buyers Club
I find myself a bit ambivalent about Dallas Buyers Club. It was OK, I quite enjoyed it, but nothing amazing. Apart from the fact that Matthew McConaughey lost 50 pounds to play the lead role and really does look like death warmed up. Apparently Jared Leto also lost 30 pounds to play the supporting role of Rayon. And it's a mostly true story.
Since I grew up in the 1980's when the film is set, I remember all the misinformation about HIV/AIDS and all the educational campaigns at the time which were trying to raise awareness. For anyone younger I think this is a really good illustration of that time. A time when a lot of people gradually realised that HIV/AIDS wasn't just someone else's problem.
SPOILERS
The story is quite simple: Texan macho-man Ron Woodroof contracts HIV from a prostitute who also serviced intravenous drug users. He develops full-blown AIDS without realising it and does nothing about his deteriorating health until he nearly drops dead. In hospital he is told the truth and given 30 days to live. He refuses to believe that he has HIV since it is a "faggot's disease".
Eventually Woodroof has to accept the truth, but he is ostracised by his friends and co-workers who are just as ignorant and homophobic as he is. In desperation he bribes a hospital orderly to steal an experimental drug called AZT for him.
But he doesn't know the proper dose, mixes the drug with cocaine and alcohol and almost poisons himself. The hospital tell him that AZT can be toxic in high doses but he is still desperate and travels to Mexico to buy more from a doctor there.
The doctor doesn't sell him AZT, telling him that he thinks it is dangerous. He shows Ron several alternatives based on vitamins and other non-toxic proteins... which seem to help Ron and his health gradually improves.
Now the film becomes a bit episodic with several "3 months later" ... "6 months later" ... jumps. Basically, Ron imports the remedies into the US saying they are for personal use, then tries to sell them. He gets busted by the FDA and then we start again.
The most interesting part of the latter end of the film is how Ron changes his attitude to homosexuals in the light of his experiences. That is truly interesting and shows how prejudice is born only of ignorance.
I didn't find the to-ing and fro-ing with the FDA all that interesting. There were some good characters and some enlightening scenes though.
The title Dallas Buys Club comes from a legal loophole that Ron Woodroof employed. He couldn't sell the substances that he imported, but it was legal for him to give them away to members of his club, for which there was a $400 per month membership fee. Sounds silly, but that's the law for you.
Incredibly Ron Woodroof outlived that 30 day prognosis by 7 years.
Since I grew up in the 1980's when the film is set, I remember all the misinformation about HIV/AIDS and all the educational campaigns at the time which were trying to raise awareness. For anyone younger I think this is a really good illustration of that time. A time when a lot of people gradually realised that HIV/AIDS wasn't just someone else's problem.
SPOILERS
The story is quite simple: Texan macho-man Ron Woodroof contracts HIV from a prostitute who also serviced intravenous drug users. He develops full-blown AIDS without realising it and does nothing about his deteriorating health until he nearly drops dead. In hospital he is told the truth and given 30 days to live. He refuses to believe that he has HIV since it is a "faggot's disease".
Eventually Woodroof has to accept the truth, but he is ostracised by his friends and co-workers who are just as ignorant and homophobic as he is. In desperation he bribes a hospital orderly to steal an experimental drug called AZT for him.
But he doesn't know the proper dose, mixes the drug with cocaine and alcohol and almost poisons himself. The hospital tell him that AZT can be toxic in high doses but he is still desperate and travels to Mexico to buy more from a doctor there.
The doctor doesn't sell him AZT, telling him that he thinks it is dangerous. He shows Ron several alternatives based on vitamins and other non-toxic proteins... which seem to help Ron and his health gradually improves.
Now the film becomes a bit episodic with several "3 months later" ... "6 months later" ... jumps. Basically, Ron imports the remedies into the US saying they are for personal use, then tries to sell them. He gets busted by the FDA and then we start again.
The most interesting part of the latter end of the film is how Ron changes his attitude to homosexuals in the light of his experiences. That is truly interesting and shows how prejudice is born only of ignorance.
I didn't find the to-ing and fro-ing with the FDA all that interesting. There were some good characters and some enlightening scenes though.
The title Dallas Buys Club comes from a legal loophole that Ron Woodroof employed. He couldn't sell the substances that he imported, but it was legal for him to give them away to members of his club, for which there was a $400 per month membership fee. Sounds silly, but that's the law for you.
Incredibly Ron Woodroof outlived that 30 day prognosis by 7 years.
Saturday 24 January 2015
Hybrid
Recommendations for movies come from all over the place. Often by the time I actually get around to watching a film I can't remember who said it was good... or if I just added it to my list on impulse for some other reason.
So, chances are, no-one ever said that Hybrid was good. Because it isn't.
And actually, it isn't really a movie. It is a television film. Which is soon pretty clear when you notice all the terrible cuts which are there solely for the placement of frequent ad breaks.
And worse, it watches like a pilot for a series... that presumably never happened.
It has 2 redeeming features:
1) The basic idea is quite interesting.
2) It falls into that narrow gap somewhere between good and unwatchable, where the acting and staging and plot is soooooo bad that it becomes quite funny.
I particularly like the Toy Weapons And Tactics (TWAT) team who couldn't creep up on a blind and deaf person without them noticing... and couldn't hit the side of a barn with a shotgun (from the inside).
And at least it is quite short at about 80 minutes.
Quite a giggle for a once-in-a-while experience, but I really don't understand why some people subscribe to TV channels that are filled with this tosh.
So, chances are, no-one ever said that Hybrid was good. Because it isn't.
And actually, it isn't really a movie. It is a television film. Which is soon pretty clear when you notice all the terrible cuts which are there solely for the placement of frequent ad breaks.
And worse, it watches like a pilot for a series... that presumably never happened.
It has 2 redeeming features:
1) The basic idea is quite interesting.
2) It falls into that narrow gap somewhere between good and unwatchable, where the acting and staging and plot is soooooo bad that it becomes quite funny.
I particularly like the Toy Weapons And Tactics (TWAT) team who couldn't creep up on a blind and deaf person without them noticing... and couldn't hit the side of a barn with a shotgun (from the inside).
And at least it is quite short at about 80 minutes.
Quite a giggle for a once-in-a-while experience, but I really don't understand why some people subscribe to TV channels that are filled with this tosh.
Friday 23 January 2015
Killing Them Softly
Didn't really get into this. It failed the 2048 test...
SPOILERS
For a while I wondered if Brad Pitt was playing the same role here as in Fight Club. He just seemed too perfect, compared to all the other characters, to be real. That and the fact that he always kills at a distance, taking the victim by surprise.
But there's no surprise at the end. The whole film is just a cynical dig at American greed. It's all a set-up for Brad's punchline: "America's not a country, it's a business. Now pay me!"
I was going to leave that as the punchline for my post too. But didn't. This is the kind of film that really annoys me. There's a decent story here that could have been told well... if the director hadn't been too eager to show off his fancy kill scenes and Brad Pitt didn't have to be the only character to not look like he'd either been dressed by his mother, or slept in a dumpster for a week.
SPOILERS
For a while I wondered if Brad Pitt was playing the same role here as in Fight Club. He just seemed too perfect, compared to all the other characters, to be real. That and the fact that he always kills at a distance, taking the victim by surprise.
But there's no surprise at the end. The whole film is just a cynical dig at American greed. It's all a set-up for Brad's punchline: "America's not a country, it's a business. Now pay me!"
I was going to leave that as the punchline for my post too. But didn't. This is the kind of film that really annoys me. There's a decent story here that could have been told well... if the director hadn't been too eager to show off his fancy kill scenes and Brad Pitt didn't have to be the only character to not look like he'd either been dressed by his mother, or slept in a dumpster for a week.
Thursday 22 January 2015
The Theory of Everything
I have seen a few documentaries and dramas about Stephen Hawking, and even managed to finish his book A Brief History of Time. And obviously he is the most famous living scientist... so we already know quite a lot about him before seeing The Theory of Everything.
What makes this film different though is that it is based on the memoirs of his first wife Jane, played by Felicity Jones. Quite noticeably it focusses on the Hawking family and how they coped with Stephen's illness. The scientific bits are pretty minimal.
That works well for me. It's not like you are going to get much insight into general relativity and quantum theory from a feature film...
...and the process of endlessly thinking about a unifying theory, working through the maths painfully slowly with colleagues, wouldn't be much of a watch either.
Somehow though I felt we were getting a rose tinted picture of Stephen Hawking. A brilliant man cruelly struck down by motor neuron disease. Battling on. We didn't see him get frustrated and angry apart from just after the diagnosis... until Jane sorted him out.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure life was very hard for Jane looking after Stephen, a home and 3 children. But I think it would have been better to see a few rows and tantrums too... since I find it hard to believe there weren't any.
Of course you can pick holes in the film's historical accuracy as much as you like. This is a drama and it works up to a point. Eddie Redmayne carries off the lead role very well, and I'm sure he'll be a strong challenger for the Oscar. There's nothing wrong with any of the characters, really. The film is beautifully shot... etc, etc.
But, for all I did like about it, ultimately this feels like a fairy story. Jane is just too damned nice. Stephen is a saint and a genius. Even when he leaves Jane it is hinted at rather than confronted. And in the end they make friends and visit the Queen.
Screenplay by Jane Austen, or one of the Brontes?
Dare I say it... maybe more of a film for the ladies. [ducks]
What makes this film different though is that it is based on the memoirs of his first wife Jane, played by Felicity Jones. Quite noticeably it focusses on the Hawking family and how they coped with Stephen's illness. The scientific bits are pretty minimal.
That works well for me. It's not like you are going to get much insight into general relativity and quantum theory from a feature film...
...and the process of endlessly thinking about a unifying theory, working through the maths painfully slowly with colleagues, wouldn't be much of a watch either.
Somehow though I felt we were getting a rose tinted picture of Stephen Hawking. A brilliant man cruelly struck down by motor neuron disease. Battling on. We didn't see him get frustrated and angry apart from just after the diagnosis... until Jane sorted him out.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure life was very hard for Jane looking after Stephen, a home and 3 children. But I think it would have been better to see a few rows and tantrums too... since I find it hard to believe there weren't any.
Of course you can pick holes in the film's historical accuracy as much as you like. This is a drama and it works up to a point. Eddie Redmayne carries off the lead role very well, and I'm sure he'll be a strong challenger for the Oscar. There's nothing wrong with any of the characters, really. The film is beautifully shot... etc, etc.
But, for all I did like about it, ultimately this feels like a fairy story. Jane is just too damned nice. Stephen is a saint and a genius. Even when he leaves Jane it is hinted at rather than confronted. And in the end they make friends and visit the Queen.
Screenplay by Jane Austen, or one of the Brontes?
Dare I say it... maybe more of a film for the ladies. [ducks]
Sunday 18 January 2015
R: Hit First, Hit Hardest
I knew this was about a guy sent to prison in Denmark. From the title I assumed that maybe he was a hard man who survived by hitting first and hardest. That is completely wrong.
The film is actually a portrayal of the violent nightmare that the main character Rune finds himself in inside. He is hard in the outside world, but in this prison "the other guys are twice your size" and he has to cope with that.
As Rune tries to just survive you don't ever really feel sympathy for him, but thank your lucky stars that you've never had to endure problems like these [I assume. If not then do you think the film was realistic?]
Life for the inmates is brutal throughout... so don't expect much of a happy ending.
SPOILERS
Rune arrives at Horsens prison after being convicted of a violent crime. The guards warn him that the other inmates are bigger, and tougher, and are expecting him.
Given the title of the film I expected Rune to lay someone out in the first 5 minutes to show the other inmates that he isn't scared. But he doesn't. You don't know if he is scared or not, because he hides it well if he is. Instead it looks like his plan is to keep his head down and just try to get through his 2 year sentence.
There are a few interesting Danishisms throughout the film. For one, everyone refers to their cell as their "house"... which I found kind of odd.
In the exercise yard Rune is attacked by an inmate who says the guy Rune stabbed outside was his friend. To make them even, Rune must attack another inmate known as The Albanian. Rune is reluctant, but clearly he wont last long on his ward if he doesn't comply and get in with the gang.
Rune does as he is told and attacks The Albanian. This is horrible and brutal. Cleverly it shows us that Rune is capable of anything and probably doesn't deserve our sympathy. That sets the tone nicely for the film: I found myself interested in Rune's plight, rather than rooting for him. We are not asked to like him, merely to try and understand why he does what he does.
For a while Rune is accepted by the gang and life is easier. He makes friends with a Moslem man called Rashid, which is frowned on by his ward but accepted when Rune figures out a way to transport drugs from his ward to Rashid's.
This bit confused me. I must have missed the part where they explained why he couldn't just give the drugs to Rashid in the kitchen... since Rashid gave him the money for the drugs there. Never mind. The point is that Rune and Rashid gain some standing by setting up this mechanism.
And then it goes horribly wrong. Rune and Rashid get a bit over confident. Rashid's ward leader finds out that Rune is involved and forces him to deliver a bigger shipment than usual. Then he doesn't pay him.
This part of the film is pivotal. Rune has done everything he can to fit in with the gang on his ward, but when he gets shafted by Rashid's boss they just lay all the blame on him. As one guy repeatedly says "There is no 'us'."
You start to feel Rune's terror as, despite his best efforts, he finds himself in deep shit with the hard men on his ward. Even worse, The Albanian has now recovered and is back.
Rune confronts Rashid who surprisingly says that everything is OK and he can explain what to do. He leads Rune to a storeroom but then locks him in and goes to do the washing up, noisily so no-one can hear Rune in the storeroom.
I thought that the room was one of those refrigerated ones and Rune was being punished by being locked in for a while... but when Rashid opens the door after a few minutes two men step out and hurry away. Rashid goes in and sees Rune bloody on the floor. He tries to wake him but is shocked to find that he is dead.
This is extremely shocking. I didn't expect it at all. It immediately slaps down any hopes you might have had for an even remotely happy ending. Any pretence that there is somehow some honour amongst thieves is also dispelled. The guys ruling this prison are evil and self-serving... that's all.
Since Rashid was working next to the room where Rune was killed he is questioned by the guards. He says nothing, but the killers threaten him with Hot Coffee if he talks - a punishment where sugar is melted in hot oil until it is black and thrown at the victim.
The film ends with Rashid preparing himself for death; then informing the guards about who killed Rune, before being beaten and subjected to Hot Coffee.
So both "R" characters, Rune and Rashid, come to a bad end. I've seen this film described as "gritty", but I think that is a bit of an understatement. It is brutal and uncompromising. I wont say I found it entertaining, but it was extremely engaging. The directors, Thomas Lindholm and Michael Noer, get the balance right between hope and despair. There's a very strong message for hard men that prison might be too tough, even for them.
The film is actually a portrayal of the violent nightmare that the main character Rune finds himself in inside. He is hard in the outside world, but in this prison "the other guys are twice your size" and he has to cope with that.
As Rune tries to just survive you don't ever really feel sympathy for him, but thank your lucky stars that you've never had to endure problems like these [I assume. If not then do you think the film was realistic?]
Life for the inmates is brutal throughout... so don't expect much of a happy ending.
SPOILERS
Rune arrives at Horsens prison after being convicted of a violent crime. The guards warn him that the other inmates are bigger, and tougher, and are expecting him.
Given the title of the film I expected Rune to lay someone out in the first 5 minutes to show the other inmates that he isn't scared. But he doesn't. You don't know if he is scared or not, because he hides it well if he is. Instead it looks like his plan is to keep his head down and just try to get through his 2 year sentence.
There are a few interesting Danishisms throughout the film. For one, everyone refers to their cell as their "house"... which I found kind of odd.
In the exercise yard Rune is attacked by an inmate who says the guy Rune stabbed outside was his friend. To make them even, Rune must attack another inmate known as The Albanian. Rune is reluctant, but clearly he wont last long on his ward if he doesn't comply and get in with the gang.
Rune does as he is told and attacks The Albanian. This is horrible and brutal. Cleverly it shows us that Rune is capable of anything and probably doesn't deserve our sympathy. That sets the tone nicely for the film: I found myself interested in Rune's plight, rather than rooting for him. We are not asked to like him, merely to try and understand why he does what he does.
For a while Rune is accepted by the gang and life is easier. He makes friends with a Moslem man called Rashid, which is frowned on by his ward but accepted when Rune figures out a way to transport drugs from his ward to Rashid's.
This bit confused me. I must have missed the part where they explained why he couldn't just give the drugs to Rashid in the kitchen... since Rashid gave him the money for the drugs there. Never mind. The point is that Rune and Rashid gain some standing by setting up this mechanism.
And then it goes horribly wrong. Rune and Rashid get a bit over confident. Rashid's ward leader finds out that Rune is involved and forces him to deliver a bigger shipment than usual. Then he doesn't pay him.
This part of the film is pivotal. Rune has done everything he can to fit in with the gang on his ward, but when he gets shafted by Rashid's boss they just lay all the blame on him. As one guy repeatedly says "There is no 'us'."
You start to feel Rune's terror as, despite his best efforts, he finds himself in deep shit with the hard men on his ward. Even worse, The Albanian has now recovered and is back.
Rune confronts Rashid who surprisingly says that everything is OK and he can explain what to do. He leads Rune to a storeroom but then locks him in and goes to do the washing up, noisily so no-one can hear Rune in the storeroom.
I thought that the room was one of those refrigerated ones and Rune was being punished by being locked in for a while... but when Rashid opens the door after a few minutes two men step out and hurry away. Rashid goes in and sees Rune bloody on the floor. He tries to wake him but is shocked to find that he is dead.
This is extremely shocking. I didn't expect it at all. It immediately slaps down any hopes you might have had for an even remotely happy ending. Any pretence that there is somehow some honour amongst thieves is also dispelled. The guys ruling this prison are evil and self-serving... that's all.
Since Rashid was working next to the room where Rune was killed he is questioned by the guards. He says nothing, but the killers threaten him with Hot Coffee if he talks - a punishment where sugar is melted in hot oil until it is black and thrown at the victim.
The film ends with Rashid preparing himself for death; then informing the guards about who killed Rune, before being beaten and subjected to Hot Coffee.
So both "R" characters, Rune and Rashid, come to a bad end. I've seen this film described as "gritty", but I think that is a bit of an understatement. It is brutal and uncompromising. I wont say I found it entertaining, but it was extremely engaging. The directors, Thomas Lindholm and Michael Noer, get the balance right between hope and despair. There's a very strong message for hard men that prison might be too tough, even for them.
Saturday 17 January 2015
Transformers : Age of Extinction
The fourth Transformers film has a completely new human cast, but sticks to exactly the same formula. We have a nerdy man (Mark Wahlberg as Cade) who wants to be a hero, one very pretty girl (Nicola Peltz as Tessa) who doesn't do much, and a bag of other people who are more or less useless as the story dictates.
I thought the last film was too long... and this one is even longer, at 165 minutes! That's about an hour too long for a film of this kind. I'd had enough way before the end, and the climax wasn't nearly good enough to make you forget all the padding that you'd had to sit through.
Even so, it is still quite entertaining because Transformers are cool. I wonder how much further the franchise can go though. They need to cut out a lot of the fat and work on the story a bit... otherwise even the fans will give up.
SPOILERS
There's not a lot to spoil here because you know most of the plot before the film starts: some Transformers want to do something that will put the Earth in peril, some humans are helping them because they are greedy / stupid / think there is no alternative, our heroes want to help Optimus Prime to stop the bad Transformers but are hindered by a lack of belief from all other humans... and the heroes win.
Far too much of the film is spent on the new human characters. And even then the characters end up woefully underdeveloped. Mark Wahlberg is a decent actor, but totally unbelievable as a nerdy inventor. Even less so as a single father to the angelic 17-year-old Tessa, who unsurprisingly turns out to have a secret boyfriend despite her father's ban on dating. The boyfriend also unsurpriingly turns out to be a nice guy... although Jack Reynor's attempt at an Irish accent is absolutely criminal.
Instead of a decent plot and a building of suspense, we get confusion about what the hell is going on. Even by the end you don't get much information on who Lockdown is, who or where are The Creators and where did the Dinobots come from?
In fact I spent most of the film just waiting for the Dinobots to appear (having seen them in the trailer). It was very disappointing how they were just thrown in at the end to make a lacklustre finale a bit more interesting.
Why did Optimus have to have that short fight with the (leader?) Dinobot? That didn't make any sense at all. Also, why didn't Galvatron / Megatron join in the battle at the end? He was supposedly a superior Transformer, but just left everything up to the pawns.
Too many loose ends. And too many stupid liberties: for example, Optimus Prime is pinned to a wall by a sword that has to be pulled out by a truck... but then at the end he jets into space on his rockets! I think the force needed to get into space is a bit more that the truck used to extract the sword.
Come on. I'm not asking for a clever story. I like Transformers. I don't need much. But I need something. If the makers can't do a decent story then just give us the robots in disguise doing cool stuff and keep it a lot shorter next time.
I thought the last film was too long... and this one is even longer, at 165 minutes! That's about an hour too long for a film of this kind. I'd had enough way before the end, and the climax wasn't nearly good enough to make you forget all the padding that you'd had to sit through.
Even so, it is still quite entertaining because Transformers are cool. I wonder how much further the franchise can go though. They need to cut out a lot of the fat and work on the story a bit... otherwise even the fans will give up.
SPOILERS
There's not a lot to spoil here because you know most of the plot before the film starts: some Transformers want to do something that will put the Earth in peril, some humans are helping them because they are greedy / stupid / think there is no alternative, our heroes want to help Optimus Prime to stop the bad Transformers but are hindered by a lack of belief from all other humans... and the heroes win.
Far too much of the film is spent on the new human characters. And even then the characters end up woefully underdeveloped. Mark Wahlberg is a decent actor, but totally unbelievable as a nerdy inventor. Even less so as a single father to the angelic 17-year-old Tessa, who unsurprisingly turns out to have a secret boyfriend despite her father's ban on dating. The boyfriend also unsurpriingly turns out to be a nice guy... although Jack Reynor's attempt at an Irish accent is absolutely criminal.
Instead of a decent plot and a building of suspense, we get confusion about what the hell is going on. Even by the end you don't get much information on who Lockdown is, who or where are The Creators and where did the Dinobots come from?
In fact I spent most of the film just waiting for the Dinobots to appear (having seen them in the trailer). It was very disappointing how they were just thrown in at the end to make a lacklustre finale a bit more interesting.
Why did Optimus have to have that short fight with the (leader?) Dinobot? That didn't make any sense at all. Also, why didn't Galvatron / Megatron join in the battle at the end? He was supposedly a superior Transformer, but just left everything up to the pawns.
Too many loose ends. And too many stupid liberties: for example, Optimus Prime is pinned to a wall by a sword that has to be pulled out by a truck... but then at the end he jets into space on his rockets! I think the force needed to get into space is a bit more that the truck used to extract the sword.
Come on. I'm not asking for a clever story. I like Transformers. I don't need much. But I need something. If the makers can't do a decent story then just give us the robots in disguise doing cool stuff and keep it a lot shorter next time.
Saturday 10 January 2015
Shock Head Soul
This is a pretty serious film. It depicts the mental illness of a real-life German lawyer Paul Schreber beginning when he was appointed a high court judge. The case is apparently famous because he wrote down a lot of his thoughts and published them as his memoirs in 1903: the book was then studied by many early psychologists / psychiatrists including Freud.
The film is a mostly a fictionalised reconstruction, but it also has documentary-like features. There are contributions from several present-day medical experts... all dressed up in period costume and answering questions as if present at a legal hearing to decide whether Schreber was fit to be released from his forced confinement.
I found it all quite heavy going. There were passages that seemed quite informative; and other sections where the actors depicted the madness of Schreber and the stress placed on his wife and family. I can't really fault the construction. There are some subtle repetitions which make you feel a bit mad yourself... and some subtle repetitions which make you feel a bit mad yourself... and some blatant repetitions which repeat over and over and give an impression of how frustrating it might be to try and work with the mentally ill.
Don't bother watching this film if you are looking for some light entertainment.
There is some CGI, but nothing too ostentatious. The director wisely avoids trying to depict madness as wacky other-worldly spirits and monsters... mostly.
A friend of mine once spent time in a psychiatric ward. I visited a couple of times and it was the scariest place I have ever been. This film did bring that back a bit. But his illness was nothing like Schreber.
So, hard to watch this film is. If you are interested in understanding mental illness or the history behind some of today's treatments, then it is worth the effort. It is quite grim though. I felt quite sad by the end of it... not so much for Schreber, because we only really see him broken, not as he once was... mostly I was sad for his family, especially his wife, who carried on and supported him to the end.
The film is a mostly a fictionalised reconstruction, but it also has documentary-like features. There are contributions from several present-day medical experts... all dressed up in period costume and answering questions as if present at a legal hearing to decide whether Schreber was fit to be released from his forced confinement.
I found it all quite heavy going. There were passages that seemed quite informative; and other sections where the actors depicted the madness of Schreber and the stress placed on his wife and family. I can't really fault the construction. There are some subtle repetitions which make you feel a bit mad yourself... and some subtle repetitions which make you feel a bit mad yourself... and some blatant repetitions which repeat over and over and give an impression of how frustrating it might be to try and work with the mentally ill.
Don't bother watching this film if you are looking for some light entertainment.
There is some CGI, but nothing too ostentatious. The director wisely avoids trying to depict madness as wacky other-worldly spirits and monsters... mostly.
A friend of mine once spent time in a psychiatric ward. I visited a couple of times and it was the scariest place I have ever been. This film did bring that back a bit. But his illness was nothing like Schreber.
So, hard to watch this film is. If you are interested in understanding mental illness or the history behind some of today's treatments, then it is worth the effort. It is quite grim though. I felt quite sad by the end of it... not so much for Schreber, because we only really see him broken, not as he once was... mostly I was sad for his family, especially his wife, who carried on and supported him to the end.
Friday 9 January 2015
Taken 2
Ah. The sequel trap bites me again. Much as I enjoyed Taken I avoided the sequel because I didn't think it would be any good. Then out comes Taken 3 and I think "Oh, maybe 2 was OK... if they made a 3rd."
What's Eddie's Law Of Sequels? Some people never learn.
Yes, they got me. Taken 2 is rubbish. Maybe that's a bit strong; quite disappointing would be a fairer assessment. It's clearly something knocked out for the money, with little thought. You can bet I wont be wasting any time on part 3.
SPOILERS
For a short action film (90 mins) we get a very long (20 minute?) build up at the start to tell us that the Albanian people traffickers are annoyed at Bryan for killing their men, his daughter isn't over her ordeal from the last film (but does have a boyfriend) and his ex-wife Lennie is breaking up with her new partner.
Yawn. It's just all a bit dull. A decent writer would have woven this into the story instead of just flopping it onto the screen as a lame intro.
But the prospect of the action to follow isn't that great either. The Albanians are coming to get Bryan and make him suffer. They have plenty of chances to kill him, but manage to f*ck it up every time because inexplicably they also want to kill his ex-wife and finish the job of selling his daughter into slavery.
So the Albanians have come all the way to Istanbul in 3 cars and have captured Bryan and Lennie. What do they do? Oh yes, put them in a room together and go to sit somewhere else leaving them with one guard outside who can't stay awake for more than 14 seconds.
The villains are just so staggeringly incompetent that you think you must be watching an Arnie film from the 1980s... but without any jokes. Sigh.
And don't get me started on the stupidity of a learner driver managing to crash a taxi through the anti-truck-bomb defences of a US embassy whilst under heavy machine gun fire!!!
It's stupid, humourless and formulaic. Compared to the first movie it is terrible. By itself it is simply mediocre. Shame. I can't believe it took over $300,000,000 at the box office... but that explains why it was made.
What's Eddie's Law Of Sequels? Some people never learn.
Yes, they got me. Taken 2 is rubbish. Maybe that's a bit strong; quite disappointing would be a fairer assessment. It's clearly something knocked out for the money, with little thought. You can bet I wont be wasting any time on part 3.
SPOILERS
For a short action film (90 mins) we get a very long (20 minute?) build up at the start to tell us that the Albanian people traffickers are annoyed at Bryan for killing their men, his daughter isn't over her ordeal from the last film (but does have a boyfriend) and his ex-wife Lennie is breaking up with her new partner.
Yawn. It's just all a bit dull. A decent writer would have woven this into the story instead of just flopping it onto the screen as a lame intro.
But the prospect of the action to follow isn't that great either. The Albanians are coming to get Bryan and make him suffer. They have plenty of chances to kill him, but manage to f*ck it up every time because inexplicably they also want to kill his ex-wife and finish the job of selling his daughter into slavery.
So the Albanians have come all the way to Istanbul in 3 cars and have captured Bryan and Lennie. What do they do? Oh yes, put them in a room together and go to sit somewhere else leaving them with one guard outside who can't stay awake for more than 14 seconds.
The villains are just so staggeringly incompetent that you think you must be watching an Arnie film from the 1980s... but without any jokes. Sigh.
And don't get me started on the stupidity of a learner driver managing to crash a taxi through the anti-truck-bomb defences of a US embassy whilst under heavy machine gun fire!!!
It's stupid, humourless and formulaic. Compared to the first movie it is terrible. By itself it is simply mediocre. Shame. I can't believe it took over $300,000,000 at the box office... but that explains why it was made.
Saturday 3 January 2015
Never Let Me Go
There is a lot to like about this film. But plenty to dislike too. I haven't read the book, so I can't comment on the faithfulness of the adaptation. Maybe the original material is just as depressing.
The performances of the 3 leads are good and I think setting everything in familiar surroundings is a good idea. But there is an elephant or two in the room that I just couldn't ignore. As much as I tried to focus on the love story, I couldn't stop thinking that they just wouldn't be so damned accepting of their lives. For me that just ruined everything.
SPOILERS
Very early on it is clear that the protagonists are being raised as live organ donors. Whether they are orphans, clones or some other kind of engineered people is never explained although there is a reference to them being all but human late in the film.
In this sense the film is quite like The Island. But it is much more brutal than that, because here the people know that they will be donors and that their lives will be short. That's what I found hard to believe: the protagonists barely seem to question their fate. They clearly don't want to die and try to delay the donations if possible... but they don't seem to fight as you'd expect... there's no talk of escaping... or questioning the morality of what is happening to them.
Within this mess there is a nice love story. A love triangle. In a different setting I might have enjoyed it an awful lot more. But I kept coming back to the question "why are you just accepting this?"
I think I know what the writers were trying to do. They put the characters in a bad situation to show how they try to make sense of their short lives. But to me it doesn't work, because the situation is not credible.
The performances of the 3 leads are good and I think setting everything in familiar surroundings is a good idea. But there is an elephant or two in the room that I just couldn't ignore. As much as I tried to focus on the love story, I couldn't stop thinking that they just wouldn't be so damned accepting of their lives. For me that just ruined everything.
SPOILERS
Very early on it is clear that the protagonists are being raised as live organ donors. Whether they are orphans, clones or some other kind of engineered people is never explained although there is a reference to them being all but human late in the film.
In this sense the film is quite like The Island. But it is much more brutal than that, because here the people know that they will be donors and that their lives will be short. That's what I found hard to believe: the protagonists barely seem to question their fate. They clearly don't want to die and try to delay the donations if possible... but they don't seem to fight as you'd expect... there's no talk of escaping... or questioning the morality of what is happening to them.
Within this mess there is a nice love story. A love triangle. In a different setting I might have enjoyed it an awful lot more. But I kept coming back to the question "why are you just accepting this?"
I think I know what the writers were trying to do. They put the characters in a bad situation to show how they try to make sense of their short lives. But to me it doesn't work, because the situation is not credible.
The Raven
It has taken me a while to get round to watching The Raven. I missed it at the cinema, then it was unavailable on video rental for some reason. I finally caught it on TV over Christmas. It wasn't worth the wait.
This is one of those films who's premise is appealing but which just doesn't deliver.
A killer is copying Edgar Allan Poe's stories. Poe is enlisted by the police to help. It all gets very personal. The story is sold as a fictionalised explanation of Poe's real unexplained death.
But it doesn't work. I thought the acting was OK and the sets were good. But there is no tension. It just bobs from one scene to the next. The characters don't develop at all. Poe seems insane at the beginning and just stays that way. The policeman is vaguely interesting, but no more. The villain is boring. The ending is boring.
Total disappointment.
This is one of those films who's premise is appealing but which just doesn't deliver.
A killer is copying Edgar Allan Poe's stories. Poe is enlisted by the police to help. It all gets very personal. The story is sold as a fictionalised explanation of Poe's real unexplained death.
But it doesn't work. I thought the acting was OK and the sets were good. But there is no tension. It just bobs from one scene to the next. The characters don't develop at all. Poe seems insane at the beginning and just stays that way. The policeman is vaguely interesting, but no more. The villain is boring. The ending is boring.
Total disappointment.
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