Ex Machina

First Hit:  I liked it because it was a thoughtful look at Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is a nerd programmer for the largest internet search company in the world. His company does 95+% of all searches.

The owner of the company Nathan (Oscar Isaac) lives in the middle of nowhere so that he can develop his AI ideas undisturbed by anyone in the outside world. He invites Caleb to visit him at his outpost home/lab to put his latest robot Ava (Alicia Vikander) through the Turing Test.

Upon arrival Caleb finds Nathan to be casual, yet precise clearly in-charge of what he wants and his home/lab exemplifies all this - especially with the security system. At one point we are shocked to see Kyoto (Sonoya Mizuno) serving them because we think Nathan is alone in the home/lab. She doesn't speak so the audience is left with a question about  her.

Caleb’s interviews with Ava are done through glass and it is clear this is a truly unique encounter for both of them. When we meet Ava she has a human typeface, hands and feet with the rest being see-through material and the rest is a weaved material. When asked about how Nathan programmed Ava he said he didn’t. He said he used all the decision making data people make on his internet browser which he collects and feeds into Ava. In other words she is the compilation of everyone’s choices and decisions. She analyzes these decisions and makes her decisions based on this. I found this fascinating.

Gleeson was fabulous. His curiosity and kindness help make this film move. Isaac is becoming a great actor. His previous role in “A Most Violent Year” was great and this one was even better. He uses his intensity and intelligence perfectly. Vikander was amazing. Her quizzical innocence and beauty was wonderful to behold. I was fascinated by the character. Mizuno was great and beautiful as the attentive robot. Alex Garland wrote and directed this film. He knew what he wanted and he delivered a thoughtful interesting film.

Overall:  I really enjoyed the thoughtfulness by which AI was presented in this film.

Clouds of Sils Maria

First Hit:  This film was interesting on multiple levels including the acting and the storyline.

Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) is an aging actress who is asked to play a part that is opposite of a part she played some 20 years earlier.  

Part of her reluctance to take the part is that she still relates to the young girl's part not the part she is offered. The original play and the updated play is written by a recluse who is a friend of Maria’s . Maria has an assistant named Valentine (Kristen Stewart) who is young and wants her boss to take the part. It is being directed by a young director that Valentine likes and his choice to play Maria’s old part is Jo-Ann Ellis (Chloe Grace Moretz) who is a bad girl of Hollywood because she often ends up in the tabloids.

However, when Maria meets Jo-Ann for the first time she is impressed with her intelligence and thoughtfulness. Much of the film is Valentine and Maria going over the lines in the play, which dive into their generational differences as well as their personal feelings about love and life. This film is as much about the story as it is about what they learn in reading lines together.

Binoche was really good as a star actress towards the end of her career seeing age and aging differently than when she did as a young woman. Stewart was superb as Valentine. She is both transparent and interesting. She is very relaxed in this role. Moretz is very strong and I enjoyed her part. Oliver Assayas wrote and directed this film and it felt well controlled and guided.

Overall:  It was an interesting study in people and the depth of the acting was quite good.

Lambert & Stamp

First Hit:  A wonderful film providing a thoughtful history of the people behind the rock band "The Who "and how they grew to be famous.

The film was focused on Kit Lambert and Christopher (Chris) Stamp a pair of two unlikely collaborators that decided to help make a rock band famous so that they could film them and become filmmakers. Kit grew up in a stately environment with his father being an orchestra conductor and Chris was strictly from working class beginnings.

They both had dreams of making films. Although Kit was a gay man in England where being gay was illegal, he found friends and solace with Chris and The Who. This is the band Kit and Chris identified as the band they wanted to work with. They liked the crazy approach "The High Numbers" (as they were originally called) used to create their music.

The stage antics helped as well which included destroying their equipment on stage. The film uses lots of footage they shot back then and because Kit died some years ago, he is only seen and heard through this footage.

Most of the film is narrated by Chris, his brother and actor Terrence, Roger Daltrey lead singer of The Who, Pete Townshend lead guitarist and songwriter for The Who, Heather Daltrey wife of Roger, and a number of other friends. Because Keith Moon (drummer) and John Entwistle (bass player) had already passed we only see them in film.

The story unfolds around The Who’s career, how they changed over time and how these six worked together, fought together, and, in the end, pulled together to become a well-known famous rock and roll band. The ups and downs between the members were discussed openly and honestly. In the end the audience is treated to a wonderful view of young vigor moving to older wisdom and peace.

James Cooper directed and cut the interviews and archival footage in an amazing way.

Overall: this was a heartfelt amazing film highlighting one of my favorite rock bands ever.

While We're Young

First Hit:  Uneven and the up moments happen more often than the down moments.

There are moments of insight, like when Josh (Ben Stiller) says that he’s been too focused on himself (his ego) and how he’ll be seen in the world instead of just doing the work.

He’s a documentary film maker that is 8 years stuck in a project. He’s an idealist and caught in his idealism. His wife Cornelia (Naomi Watts) has a famous documentary film maker father Leslie (Charles Grodin) and this adds all sorts of complications for all three of them.

Josh and Leslie strike up a friendship with Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried) who are almost 20 years younger than them. They enjoy the aliveness of this young couple and spend lots of time with them. But is the relationship really what it is perceived to be? That is the question Josh needs to figure out.

Stiller is OK, there is something about his intensity that worked for and against him in this role. Watts is far better and watching her learn hip-hop was funny and wonderful. Driver is strong as the guy who will bend the truth and look honest doing it. Seyfried was very good and her ability to be seen in the film this well as the fourth character shows her strength. Grodin was great as the crotchety, yet kind, documentarian. Noah Baumbach wrote and directed the film. There are strong moments as well as moments that needed to be cleaned up.

Overall:  It was enjoyable enough and there are some funny bits in this film that make it entertaining.

Desert Dancer

First Hit:  Poignant in time, a bit melodramatic, but overall a beautiful story.

Based on a true story of Afshin Ghaffarian (Reece Ritchie) an Iranian young man that wants to dance.

Dancing is illegal in Iran and the morality police will beat and jail you if you are caught. He goes to school at a school called “Saba” the one place he can be creative along with his fellow students. Upon going to the University in Tehran he joins up with others who defy the government. They start a small dance company and he’s also joined by Elaheh (Freida Pinto) whose mother was a dancer before the revolution. Her mother never danced again and numbed herself with drugs just as her daughter is doing.

The scenes of the students and the general public marching in support of a challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,  were intensely palpable. Watching the protests of a rigged election was even more important in that this was what happened. Afshin gets caught in one of these protests, is identified as a dancer and during a beating becomes an escaped fugitive.

Ending up in Paris, he makes his mark and stands up for himself. The best scenes in the film are Elaheh’s routine when she first encounters the dance group’s makeshift studio, the desert performance, and Afshin’s Paris performance.

Ritchie was very good at times and at others seemed too western in behaviors and feel to have been born and raised in Iran. Pinto was really strong and I felt her performance was the best of the group. Her sadness of her life felt very real. Makram Khoury as Mehdi his teacher at Saba school was excellent. Jon Croker wrote a good screenplay. Richard Raymond did a good job of creating some of the intenseness of the time in Iran and some of the shots in their practice studio were very effective.

Overall:  Although this isn’t a great film, it is a wonderful story.