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Ex Machina (2014)
There is nothing more human than the will to survive
Filmmaker(s): Alex Garland

Caleb, a coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds that he will have to participate in a strange and fascinating experiment in which he must interact with the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl.

Alpha City This is a superb film. I recommend it highly. My enjoyment of films is divided between the experience when watching and the much longer incubation time afterward. The success in the former in this case fights the appreciation in the latter. This kind of science...


Published August 14, 2022
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Mystery Road (2013)
Some roads lead to murder
Filmmaker(s): Ivan Sen

A murdered girl is found under a bridge on a remote road and indigenous detective Jay Swan gets the case. Jay finds that no-one is that interested in solving the murder of an indigenous teenager and he is forced to work alone.

Wholeness in What You Sow All of us want to be genuinely ourselves, and nearly all of us are at the mercy of societal imprints with urges so great we cannot escape them. Few of us can be calm in ourselves. I suppose this is one reason...


Published August 14, 2022
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Rio 2 (2014)
It's on in the Amazon.
Filmmaker(s): Carlos Saldanha

It's a jungle out there for Blu, Jewel and their three kids after they're hurtled from Rio de Janeiro to the wilds of the Amazon. As Blu tries to fit in, he goes beak-to-beak with the vengeful Nigel, and meets the most fearsome adversary of all: his father-in-law.

People, Not Situations Getting back into thinking about how narratives get put together, I am reminded of how many radically different strategies there are in approaching a film. If you talk to the (old) Pixar guys, what you’ll hear is a focus on story, a cinematic notion...


Published July 13, 2022
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Paddington (2014)
The adventure begins.
Filmmaker(s): Paul King

A young Peruvian bear travels to London in search of a new home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington Station, he meets the kindly Brown family.

Birds Years ago, when I saw Billy Elliot, my attention was drawn away from where it was intended. I saw instead a tragic film about a little girl whose mother was more interested in a talented outsider. That mother was played by the redoubtable Julie Walters;...


Published July 12, 2022
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The Fifth Wave (2016)
Protect Your Own
Filmmaker(s): J Blakeson

16-year-old Cassie Sullivan tries to survive in a world devastated by the waves of an alien invasion that has already decimated the population and knocked mankind back to the Stone Age.

Water Films made for kids, by kids. It seems safe enough: use a best seller from the YA bookshelf. Have some reasonable action scenes. Hire a known kid actor. Insert a romance and a twist, and take the money. It should not be fair for me to...


Published July 1, 2022
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Chef (2014)
Starting from scratch never tasted so good.
Filmmaker(s): Jon Favreau

When Chef Carl Casper suddenly quits his job at a prominent Los Angeles restaurant after refusing to compromise his creative integrity for its controlling owner, he is left to figure out what's next. Finding himself in Miami, he teams up with his ex-wife, his friend and his son to launch a food truck. Taking to the road, Chef Carl goes back to his roots to reignite his passion for the kitchen -- and zest for life and love.

Street Audiences I watched this with the presumably self referential Nic Cage movie. I found that film far less self-referential than advertised, and this far more so. Favreau denies the connection that I am making here, but it hardly matters whether he intended the connection or not....


Published July 1, 2022
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Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)
It's not a diary, it's a movie.
Filmmaker(s): Thor Freudenthal

Greg Heffley is headed for big things, but first he has to survive the scariest, most humiliating experience of any kid’s life – middle school! That won’t be easy, considering he’s surrounded by hairy-freckled morons, wedgie-loving bullies and a moldy slice of cheese with nuclear cooties!

Painful I suppose the science behind this content is solid, for this and the sequels. Many of our films — primarily romantic comedies — deliberately give us a surrogate with whom to identify. And then they set the situation to be similar to those we’d experience,...


Published May 20, 2022
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Captain Underpants (2018-20)
Filmmaker(s): S. S. Rajamouli

Fourth-grade friends George and Harold have a shared love of pranks and comic books -- and turning their principal into an undies-wearing superhero.

Underawares I actually steer my kids to this area rather than ordinary fare. It has silliness and poor production values. While the stories are vacuous, they are refreshingly free of messages and morals. But the value to me is the incredible fun they have with shifted...


Published May 13, 2022
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Overboard (2018)
A riches to rags story. If only he could remember it.
Filmmaker(s): Rob Greenberg

A spoiled, wealthy yacht owner is thrown overboard and becomes the target of revenge from his mistreated employee.

Organic Endearment This is formulaic in the basics: two people repel each other, fall in love, have a complicating development, profess love in some public, dramatic way and are reconciled. Such things usually depend on the appeal of the characters and the supporting comedy. But I think...


Published May 13, 2022
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John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019)
If you want peace, prepare for war.
Filmmaker(s): Chad Stahelski

Super-assassin John Wick returns with a $14 million price tag on his head and an army of bounty-hunting killers on his trail. After killing a member of the shadowy international assassin’s guild, the High Table, John Wick is excommunicado, but the world’s most ruthless hit men and women await his every turn.

The Last Supper's Table If you come to this for the much advertised fight choreography or exciting chase scenes, you will be disappointed. We've seen more exciting of each many times. There's no new ground here, no stunts in the Tom Cruise sense to speak of....


Published May 13, 2022
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