#299 JP3 will be Trevor Morgan's second movie starring dinosaurs: He also appeared in 1998's "Barney's Great Adventure". (From: Raptorboy2001) Prev - Next
"Ex Machina" On 5/12/2015 at 1:04:26 AM, Velociraptor87 started the thread:
What a refreshing idea for a sci-fi film. I've heard amazing things. Anyone here seen it?
Msg #1: On 5/12/2015 at 1:12:02 AM, Ostromite replied, saying: This looks really cool. I wish more movies only had two or three characters, and I wish more of those characters were Oscar Isaac with a big beard. Replies: 2
Msg #2: On 5/12/2015 at 1:19:05 AM, Velociraptor87 replied to Msg #1, saying: Oscar Isaac with a big beard. Goodness. *-* I still haven't seen Inside Llewyn Davis, but apparently I need to.
Msg #3: On 5/18/2015 at 4:52:07 PM, Cameron replied, saying: I quite enjoyed it. The one on one dialogue scenes were very interesting, and the music is great in the film. One scene I won't spoil with the main character in a bathroom alone was intense as hell.
Msg #4: On 5/18/2015 at 5:13:04 PM, Carnotaur3 replied, saying: It was okay. I didn't think it explored the concept enough, personally. Isaac is the best part of the film.
Msg #5: On 6/10/2015 at 1:58:28 AM, RezForPrez replied, saying: I watched this a few weeks back and liked it quite a bit. Dancing and the bathroom freakout are the best moments of the film.
Msg #6: On 7/27/2015 at 12:28:13 AM, Narrator replied, saying: I thought this movie would be cool but it wasn't. I thought it would explore the concept of AI and sentience in machienes but instead it just fed pseudo intellectual babble before the big beard man decides to take a few shots and abuse his asian robot sex doll.
The concept is kind of stupid too. He built a sentient AI by recording activity on a fictional version of facebook? no wonder he got himself stabbed. Replies: 7
Msg #7: On 7/27/2015 at 4:09:10 PM, Evilgrinch replied to Msg #6, saying: Terrific film. Surprised to find such a muted response. Garland is a tremendous writer and this was a great debut (though as I understand it, he basically ended up directing Dredd after Travis shat the boat).
Msg #11: On 7/28/2015 at 4:31:40 PM, RezForPrez replied to Msg #9, saying: In today's film landscape this is much more hard sci fi than not. Replies: 12
Msg #12: On 7/28/2015 at 8:02:31 PM, Velociraptor87 replied to Msg #11, saying: Agreed. I certainly wasn't comparing it to like, Isaac Asimov or 2001: A Space Odyssey. But it does explore themes fit under the 'hard scifi' umbrella - artificial intelligence becoming self aware/gaining free will, which is a pretty weighty theme to explore.
I haven't seen it but the reviews for it have been great, and I like some good cyberpunk-tinged entertainment. Replies: 13
Msg #13: On 7/28/2015 at 11:37:38 PM, Narrator replied to Msg #12, saying: yeah, so do Age of Ultron, and I robot (the movie). Ex Machina doesn't explore the themes any better than those movies, it just tries to impress the audience with extra long, static shots and minimalism and it's insulting. AOU and I robot don't insult audience intelligence by pretending to be plausible. Replies: 14
Msg #14: On 7/29/2015 at 2:04:45 AM, Velociraptor87 replied to Msg #13, saying: Right, because none of Age of Ultron was plausible and it also shat on all of the character building that the previous movies did. Age of Ultron is not comparable to Ex Machina, and I, Robot was a terrible movie adaptation anyway.
I feel like you're the only audience member who felt insulted, if I'm being perfectly honest. And, for that matter, do you really think Ex Machina was trying to present itself as totally plausible right now? We're a ways off with our robot tech from ever achieving anything lifelike, so of course it isn't plausible. I don't understand this complaint.
It's funny that you dislike long, static shots and minimalism - those can be used beautifully and very effectively, and to hear this film uses long static shots instead of lightning-fast MTV editing ala Baz Luhrmann, that makes me feel even better about it - I don't see it as a complaint. Replies: 16
Msg #15: On 7/29/2015 at 4:13:12 AM, RezForPrez replied, saying: The question of whether or not the film is hard sci fi has nothing to do with how much you like it dislike the film and everything to do with how plausible it is using a lens of current scientific knowledge. To this end the film cheats a bit by giving us an accepted genius state several times comments about not explaining things too much because reasons. The elements of the Turing test make up for this quite well and definitely give the film a hard sci fi feel seldom glimpsed in any kind of theatrical release.
Msg #16: On 7/29/2015 at 5:09:53 AM, Narrator replied to Msg #14, saying: Sentient AI just isn't a hard sci fi concept. When actual people that work on AI talk about AI it isn't the AI that we think about from pop culture and sci fi movies. The notion of sentience coming from search engine records is silly, but the movie doesn't acknowledge it's silly, it pretends it's a really cool novel idea.
The turing test is also a dumb idea. It doesn't prove sentience, it doesn't prove self awareness. People have been fooled into thinking things without agency have agency since there were humans. We empathize with houses that look like faces, for christs sake. The fact that your robot with a human face and features and voice was able to convince a human to like it is unremarkable and setting up a scenario so that it's possible for it to escape is retarded
That's not the deal breaker, though. None of the 4 characters in the movie are interesting. Issac's character is a drunk douche with no charm, caleb is a moron and the robots are... well, robots.
This movie is getting a pass because, compared to the other movies out it's restrained, seems to focus on character, and takes itself seriously, but that contrast doesn't make it good. Replies: 17
Msg #17: On 7/29/2015 at 5:55:55 AM, Velociraptor87 replied to Msg #16, saying: I guess a lot of people disagree with you. You kinda sound like that Armond White dude. I think that's his name. That weird movie reviewer.
