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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 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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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 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 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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PK (2014)
Peeke hai kya?
Filmmaker(s): Rajkumar Hirani

A stranger in the city asks questions no one has asked before. Known only by his initials, the man's innocent questions and childlike curiosity take him on a journey of love, laughter and letting go.

Swaggert 31 August 2015 This should be classified in the ‘visitor’ genre where an outsider shows up and changes lives. Using my definition of noir it is reverse noir. As is common, this is someone from outer space who gets puzzled by our obsession with religion....


Published February 4, 2024
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Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
Revenge is sweeter than candy.
Filmmaker(s): Tommy Wirkola

After getting a taste for blood as children, Hansel and Gretel have become the ultimate vigilantes, hell-bent on retribution. Now, unbeknownst to them, Hansel and Gretel have become the hunted, and must face an evil far greater than witches... their past.

Children's Dreams has been some time since I was exposed to how these things work. A clever writer can start with anything and extend it toward a known formula so that it animates that formula with a new disguise. In this world, the writers are...


Published February 5, 2024
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App (2013)
Filmmaker(s): Bobby Boermans

A young psychology student is drawn into the dark and fearful world of a diabolic and mysterious App that starts to terrorize her, distributing compromising photographs, videos and text messages about herself and delves deeper and deeper into her personal life, flawlessly exposing all of her deepest secrets.

Vision promises two things. One is a lightweight system to connect an App with a movie. You download the free App and launch it. It listens to the film and synchronises some images and a little video from time to time. This is a fantastic idea,...


Published May 1, 2023
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Iron Man 3 (2013)
Unleash the power behind the armor.
Filmmaker(s): Shane Black

When Tony Stark's world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution.

Refreshing surprised that Downey has held out this long. At some point, you have enough money and want to return to your art. He says this is his last, and I believe him. What we have in this case is him on his way out,...


Published January 19, 2024
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Pacific Rim (2013)
To fight monsters, we created monsters.
Filmmaker(s): Guillermo del Toro

Using massive piloted robots to combat the alien threat, earth's survivors take the fight to the invading alien force lurking in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless enemy, the forces of mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes who now stand as earth's final hope against the mounting apocalypse.

Water, Ink I do find this man more disappointing than your average action director. It isn't that his movies are any dumber than others. They aren't. It is a reverse prejudice based on two qualities. He has a powerful visual ability, in beings, environments and...


Published May 13, 2022
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Oblivion (2013)
Earth is a memory worth fighting for.
Filmmaker(s): Joseph Kosinski

Jack Harper is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack’s mission is nearly complete. His existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.

Appropriated Appropriateness measure of a science fiction movie is whether the science and fiction are coherent. I’ve been following the Hunger Games saga and this is driving me crazy. Some technology is advanced, some adopted from the sixties. In good hands, like with Nolan’s Interstellar,...


Published February 19, 2023
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Jodorowsy’s Dune (2013)
The greatest science fiction movie never made.
Filmmaker(s): Frank Pavich

Shot in France, England, Switzerland and the United States, this documentary covers director Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, Holy Mountain, Santa Sangre) and his 1974 Quixotic attempt to adapt the seminal sci-fi novel Dune into a feature film. After spending 2 years and millions of dollars, the massive undertaking eventually fell apart, but the artists Jodorowsky assembled for the legendary project continued to work together. This group of artists, or his “warriors” as Jodorowsky named them, went on to define modern sci-fi cinema with such films as Alien, Blade Runner, Star Wars and Total Recall.

The Exuberant Eye am glad the man is alive and still making films, though they don’t drive my soul the way some work does. I like that he is aware of parallel narratives, is visual and fearless. His notions of sex and oppression are decoupled...


Published May 13, 2022
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