EX MACHINA (Fox Tower 10)—I really liked Alex Garland’s near-future drama/romance/thriller:
From Ex Machina‘s relatively realistic opening moments—it subtly calls to mind both Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs and David Fincher’s The Social Network—things spiral to stranger, creepier places. It’s not as if the themes explored in Ex Machina are new—from Asimov to Blade Runner, we’ve pondered them before—but they’re handled here with a depth and intelligence that gives them jarring impact. And the longer one watches, the more Ex Machina reveals.
WHITE GOD (Living Room Theaters)—Marjorie Skinner, who loves dogs nearly as much as I do and yet FOR SOME REASON NEVER BRINGS HER AMAZING DOG INTO THE OFFICE WHERE I CAN PLAY WITH IT, had a hard time getting through Kornél Mundruczó’s canine drama:
I’m still recovering. In order to say anything at all about White God, I have to think past the ferocity of my wish that any dad who puts his daughter’s dog out on the streets—as happens in White God—should have the miserable remainder of his life beaten out of him. I’d also be fine with personally shooting dog fight-trainers in the head. I don’t think I’m kidding!
UNFRIENDED (Various Theaters)—Courtney Ferguson got a kick out of this techno-horror, which plays out on a single computer screen:
Two years from now, it’ll probably seem outlandishly outdated, like The Net meets The Blair Witch Project. But for now, Unfriended is a fresh and timely horror flick full of economical scares.
TRUE STORY (Various Theaters)—I really like James Franco and Jonah Hill. I did not care for True Story:
Done well, there can be a sleazy, skeevy appeal to true crime; done poorly, those same stories are little more than an excuse to leer at others’ misfortune. Neither director Rupert Goold nor his actors seem sure where that line is.
LE WEEK-END (Hollywood Theatre)—Surprise Goldlbum!
Meg (Lindsay Duncan) and Nick (Jim Broadbent) are completely normal. Nothing in their situation is remarkable—not in their careers, their children, or their relationship. Their problems are average, and amusing as the couple may be, it’s around the time you start to wonder why you should care that Jeff Goldblum shows up.
Goldblum: a magical salve for everything.
As ever, we’ve got even more reviews in Film Shorts, and here are your Movie Times. This week you’ll notice a lot of science fiction in there: In addition to Ex Machina, there’s also OMSI’s continuing Sci-Fi Film Fest, which I wrote about last week, plus Blade Runner in 35mm at the Hollywood, Barbarella at the Academy, Total Recall at the Laurelhurst, and Monsters: Dark Continent (which wasn’t screened for critics) at the Living Room Theaters. THAT’S A LOT OF SCIENCE FICTION!
Quick disclaimer about that OMSI Sci-Fi Fest: While OMSI originally told me that all 14 films at the festival would be screening in DCP, turns out that’s not the case. Despite a few inquiries, OMSI was unable to tell me by my deadline which films they’re screening in DCP and which they’re just playing off a Blu-ray. (For those who don’t speak film nerd, DCP is what you’re used to seeing whenever you see a film digitally projected; Blu-ray offers lesser resolution and tends to look worse when blown up onto big screens—particularly screens as big as OMSI’s.) So: If you’re thinking about seeing stuff at the Sci-Fi Fest—and you’re OCD/picky enough to care about this kind of thing—it might be worth giving OMSI a call beforehand to see if they’ll tell you what format they’ll be using for the films you want to see.
