Ex Machina

One of the best and most original films I've seen this year and that will have me reverberating for a while is Ex Machina, starring Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, and Alicia Vikander.  This sci-fi thriller was superbly written and directed by Alex Garland.  It's a very intellectually and philosophically far reaching film with deftly nuanced performances that are both visually charged and left me spellbound in anticipation. Technology meets humanity and they are boldly flipped around; and special effects are throughout, wisely left to a minimum.  If that wasn't enough, it's a masterful thriller with enough style, anticipation, and unexpected moments to instantly be committed to following through.  Comparisons to Blade Runner, Her, Under The Skin, and others are pretty obvious, but Ex Machina is a unique turn in a different direction.  One of the nice bits of this uniqueness is how the story was set in one location with only 4 characters and against the backdrop of a very picturesque (fun fact) Norway. It is truly, as my lovely friend says from time to time "Awesome sauce!" So, I'll let that sentiment speak for anything else I could possibly say about the film.

Spectre

The latest and much anticipated Bond movie, Spectre, reunites director Sam Mendes and Daniel Craig together again for what many of us were hoping would capitalize on the success of Skyfall. For the most part, it succeeds in doing this. There are the splendid locations and set pieces, a great choice in actors including protagonist Christolph Waltz, cool action sequences, and an attempt to delve deeper into the origins of James Bond. It's a winning formula that almost wins and the movie is more than long enough to showcase these things. Now let me be clear. Spectre is a great James Bond film and certainly much better than Quantum Of Solace. After nearly a decade, Craig certainly seems much more at ease in the role and with the cast addition of Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw, this latest distillation of Bond is arguably the best yet. While notably giving homage to the past, Spectre also manages to stay relevant to the present with issues of national security, privacy, and intelligence gathering all at the center. It's a very action driven Bond movie that is certainly reminiscent of the early Connery films. However, there are shortcomings and one of them is ironically the length; and I only say this because the story does noticeably lag on in pace at certain points. There's a slow buildup and a certain anti-climactic let down, that speaks to the ambiguity of Craig's return or not in the role. I was also not happy with Mendes' use of the supporting cast, particularly the women. Talented and beautiful Monica Belluci is in like only one or two scenes. Really? Moneypenny (Naoime Harris) could have had a more active role considering the stakes of the story. The lead female character, French actress Lea Seydoux, was not really memorable or convincing in her role and her hookup with Bond felt too contrite. Dave Bautista was certainly a muted and memorable villain, (think an updated Oddjob) but he certainly could have appeared more to bolster the ending. Even the performance of Waltz as the iconic villain mastermind Blofeld, was undercut by the pacing of the film. In fact, Bond's relationship origins with Blofeld were not touched on enough here.  There was not much surprise to actor Andrew Scott's character, C, especially to fans of the tv show Sherlock, but I still have the same misgivings of story pacing and character use. At certain points after the exotic locales were used up and everything was brought back to London to wind down, viewing Spectre seemed like watching an episode of BBC tv show MI-5, which is not necessarily a bad thing but still......  I reiterate that Spectre is a good Bond film, one of the best in fact.  But it's also a daunting task to live up to the expectation that culminated in Skyfall.

The Gunman

Sean Penn's The Gunman is about an ex Special Forces soldier who has to confront the sins of his past and navigate the love of a woman (Jasmine Trinca). Exploitation of the Congo by large multinationals, military, and others, are the conditions.  So I can certainly see why Penn, serving as both producer and additional screen writer, would be interested in a project with a subject matter like this as he is notoriously opinionated about such matters and a famous humanitarian.  However, The Gunman falls way short of this endeavor, instead being overshadowed by Penn's obvious time in the gym.  It's kind of sad, because Penn is a great actor with a great supporting cast, rounded out with the likes of Idris Elba and Javier Bardem. Unfortunately,  the only exploitation that seems to be focused on here, is pumping Penn up and giving him a second wind at miserably competing with Stallone and Liam Neeson. 

The Avengers: Age Of Ultron

The second Avengers installment has the team going up against the accidentally created artificial intelligence of Ultron (James Spader).  Cutting to the chase, Age Of Ultron is descent enough with the type of action we've come to expect from the Marvel world, but it's just like it's story and ever growing characters, a bit bloated.  There are good attempts by director and writer Joss Whedon to explore and further develop the characters, particularly with characters Banner and Black Widow, but even at 141 minutes, it's a far too ambitious undertaking, and so the allusions to the lapsed time period since the last fiasco, feel forced and campy, even with the rather good editing. Here, the cgi is way too obvious an effect however cool, as in the opening sequence which felt more like the trailer of an Xbox or Playstation game.  So it becomes a problem of how do you align that tongue and cheek humor and character development and growing conflict of the last installment among the Avengers, with the seriousness of the stakes at hand.  To it's credit however, Age Of Ultron does introduce us to some great new characters, minus Ultron who seems even in this age of technology to be improbable and disappointing as a foe.  But if the Transformers AI characters could do it, you'd think. Underlying themes of AI and what it means to be conscious and all the other deeper implications were not lost on me in the effort: but in this case, I wasn't impressed.   I also like that this installment seems like other movies to be taking story direction and character cues from films like 2009's Watchmen.  The strong and perhaps universal selling point for me was watching the Avengers all coordinate and work together, simple as that. It would probably be easy to conclude that I didn't like the movie and that would be wrong.  I just was expecting more quality and a better pacing, not everything thrown out there at once rather heavy handed in segments.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road is a hell of a reboot to the franchise. Writer and director George Miller of the orginal shows that after nearly 35 years, he still has the goods. Starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, Fury Road is a visual treat to behold with visceral old school action devoid of the heavy use of special effects. It is also Miller's use of old school, tried and true film techniques that allow the action to really carry the story along.  As the viewers may know, it was never about the dialogue in these movies or even the acting for that matter.  But if you're lucky enough to get great actors like Hardy and Theron (looking like a young Sigourney Weaver), then it's certainly a plus that comes through. Miller utilizes the best elements of silent films and spaghetti westerns to more than measure up to his original and it appears that there will be more to come.  That's what's up.

Fruitvale Station

Fruitvale Station starring Michael B. Jordan is a film that chronicles the last 2 days leading up to the tragic shooting of Oscar Grant by transit police. It is directed by upcoming director Ryan Coogler, who's also at the helm for the upcoming Creed film, also starring Michael B. Jordan.  Jordan here, gives his most powerful performance to date and it's really no surprise if you've seen his previous work in film and television. What makes this movie so powerful besides great performances, is how the ordinary life events and struggles of a young Grant and his family are captured amidst the unexpected violence of the new year. Fruitvale Station is certainly a movie of it's time and before in lieu of the still prevalent racial tensions and incidents of police brutality, but it gives a more personal and honest scope to the fragility of life, than become just another extended sound bite to capturing a tragic story.

Kung Fu Killer

2014's Kung Fu Killer (Kung Fu Jungle) stars Donnie Yen as a convicted ex police martial arts instructor who is released to help hunt down a serial killer (Wang Baoqiang) targeting martial arts experts.  Overall, it's a solid enough kungfu film with good use of a somewhat improbable plot and better than decent action scenes to move the story along.  As you would expect, Donnie also serves as the fight choreographer and so there's no surprise at the action quality.  At 52 years of age, Yen is still very viable and I give him much homage, especially in the last 8-10 years for keeping Hong Kong action movies viable, relevant, and always striving to maintain integrity and authentity to the martial arts genre. Much credit is also given to Wang Baoqiang for being formidable villain and martial artist to counter Yen.