Ex Machina: Computer Love

4 out of 5 Popcorn Kernels

Ex Macnina seems to venture on film noir - it has a sleek look, moves fluidly, and has a story seeped in emotions and seduction. It's a film that maintains the true nature of the genre, which isn't drenched in new gadgets, or explosive CGI - but is about how one gadget is taken to its final end, and how that end affects the world around it, changing lives and how we think along the way.

Because this movie is a about pace and reveal, It means there are a lot of plot points that cannot be unveiled in a review. These are moments of shock, derived from change; where the nature of the character suddenly change and twist, based upon the changing nature of other characters (good, bad or indifferent), and their arc is changed...unexpectedly in different directions.

Ex Machina has many such moments of change, and mostly because this is psychological thriller. Those seeking a chase sequence (although there is actually a short one here...lol), a shootout, or explosives will be greatly disappointed. This is a quiet movie, where the subtle nuances in dialogue come across as explosive.

The movie begins with a contest, in a tech company (think Google-Plus), where the lucky winner has a chance to meet with the owner of the company for a week. That winner happens to be Caleb (Domhall Gleeson), a small man with mildly handsome looks (all geeks seem to look like this in cinema), with an innocence about him. Before you know it he is being whisked across the lands in a private helicopter, across an expanse of green fields and vast forests - seeing this I at once realized there would be trouble afoot, its the Beauty before the Beast in movies. It is also disarming, because you wonder, who in the world would live this far from civilization; imagine how far you would have to travel just for a Slushie.

Once landed, Caleb meets with the owner of his company, Nathan (Oscar Isaac), a seemingly eccentric man himself, who appears to not be bothered by the lack of solitude, and created a world around him like a remote Planet Fitness; with weights, private rooms, juice bar, and mysterious woman-servant Kyoko (Sonoya Mizuno) - who slithers around the compound taking orders and looking very sullen and tiny. The introductions are quick, and first time cinema director Alex Garland (who also wrote 28 Days Later and Sunshine), gives us a world we can believe with minimal sets and sleek lines, in a building that could be from any era. Caleb is shown his room, and is told his real purpose: to examine a creations that Nathan has built - what he considers, the perfect A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. It's a female named Ava (Alicia Vikander) - why do all the geeks make female counterparts - and he is to test her realness while he is there.

When Caleb meets Ava, she comes across as a shy mystery, with her soft eyes, and lilting childlike voice. The special effects are very good, for while we see that Ava has a human face, the rest of her being is either made of a steel elastic or transparent with wires and lights filling her insides. We can sense Caleb's arousal (we can also understand it), for as he talks to her, understands her, we can see his giving in to her questions as more than a listener; he is captivated. Soon we begin to see her as more than a machine, and wonder as the questions and answers continue, who in fact is really interviewing whom?

Ava is very direct, and thanks to some amazing acting, her emotions seem to peep through, but not enough that you can guess what is really on her mind. She wants to be more than a machine, and the act or flirtation is handled with childlike abandon. We, as the audience, want her to be more than human too - but there is more going on in this house than meets the eye - and it is that humanity that unveils some very hidden secrets going on. Secrets that involve everyone.

The pacing of Ex Machina reminds me of A Space Odyssey, with its tranquil movements and non-overly tech look. We get small nuggets of the story, first by understanding each characters personality, and then how that changes as they interact with each other on separate occasions - each adding a little more to the puzzle - until it reaches a conclusion that chillingly affects them all. 

Like many A.I. films, this one made me also wonder: If we humans can live a life of contentment from doing every day tasks, why can't machines be content to do the same. And if you are a robot wanting to be thought of as human, do you realize you will have to just go to work and make a living just like the rest of us...and who wants that? I would rather be the A.I.

Inside Out: Mind over Matters

5 out of 5 Popcorn Kernels

Pixar has done it again (just when I didn't think they could after...dare I say it...Cars 2), with a moving and touching animated feature, which I believe, is their most complicated one to date. It is an amusing fairy tale for the children, and a deep (often funny) lesson on the human condition for adults. It does all this wrapped in color and cotton candy, while giving a rather diverse pallet of characters that we all can relate to.

In and Out is about emotions. It is also about family, growing up, and the bridge between childhood and adulthood. When I first heard of this concept, I could not thing how it could be pulled off; to have a movie depict a young girl's emotions as separate characters within her head, who acted on their own, but also made up the whole of the girl...I was like..Riiiiiiiiiiiight! Not gonna happen! But Disney has put there pixels where their mouth is, and created Inside Out, which may be their best work yet.

Inside Out is the story of a little 11-year old girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), who has moved from Minnesota to San Francisco because of her father's job. This causes big changes to her socially, having to leave her friends, school, and her hobby of ice hockey behind. It is also a big change for her emotionally, which is the basis for the movie, for within Riley's brain are the 5 major emotions that make up her personality.

The first one came at birth, setting up a control panel, who is colored a sun-shiny yellow, named Joy (Amy Poehler). Joy made Riley giggle when she was a newborn when she gazed upon her parents for the first time. For a few fleeting seconds, Joy was...well...joyful, and was not only enjoying Riley and her birth, but also herself and her surroundings, seeing that she too was newly born herself.

Then Riley got hungry.

And in stepped Sadness (Phyllis Smith), with her downtrodden blue color, and pageboy haircut. She came to the control panel to display the sadness that Riley was feeling at that moment. And so it continued, with the introduction of other emotions that Riley was soon to be feeling, like her dislike of vegetables controlled by the green Disgust (Mindy Kaling), or the purple Fear (Bill Hader), or the red Anger (Lewis Black). All these emotions made up what Riley was feeling, based upon the situation she was in.

These situations became a part of Riley's growing memory, and those memories were represented as small spheres, which contained the color that was dominant within that memory. And as a child, there was a lot of yellow spheres covering the wall in her shelf-like housing to represent the joy in Riley's life. But something happened when she moved. There was a disruption of the normal things in her life, and she realized she was on her own in a sense, and the emotions in her head were going back and forth, each trying to take control, each trying to find a way back to peace...to Joy.


From the headquarters of her emotions, there are several bridges that lead to "islands" that make up Riley's personality. There is the island of her Family, and one of her Friends, and her Activities/Hockey...and so on. They remained healthy entities, as long as Riley's emotions were in check. But there is suddenly a more dominant emotion that is starting to wander towards the controls, who wants to be noticed, who is touching the beautiful yellow memories, and tainting them, and that emotion is Sadness, and Joy is not understanding. So in Riley's mind, the characters of Joy and Sadness are having a tough time dealing with each other (and it shows in Riley at school and at home) and through a small exchange, they suddenly find themselves ripped from Riley's mind, leaving only Distrust, Anger, and Fear in control. In a little girl, whose mind has not dealt with her darker emotions, to have them at the forefront of her thinking, is not a good thing. So it stands to reason, that Joy and Sadness need to find a way back home to headquarters.

And so the adventure begins, where we begin to explore other realms of Riley's brain, because in the absence of Joy and Sadness, she is losing a grip on her friends, family, and other islands that make up her personality. They begin to crumble and fall into a pit that will make up her core, lost forever. And it is this aspect of In and Out that becomes the most amazing new world I have seen fleshed out in an animated story. Along the way we visit the parents, and enter their mind as well, and see how they think. My only question was the gender-specific nature of the parents emotions as opposed to Riley's, who only had 3 women emotions, and 2 male - did this mean that Riley would have gender-identification issues when she got older? How interesting and un-Disney that would be...but we know that animation hasn't become THAT progressive (Riley after all, can be a gender-neutral name).

Peter Docter is a great director (UP, Toy Story 3), and knows how to pull the emotional heartstrings by exposing the emotions and feelings that we all share. He also has created a very well, thought out environment; with long-term memory being represented by rows and rows of spheres, that are being pulled and discarded by other characters. These spheres go into the pit, for they are memories that are forgotten, replaced by others as she grows older. We even meet a wonderful character known as Bing Bong (a combination of many zoo animals), who was Riley's childhood imaginary friend. He wanders her mind, hoping to one day be remembered, and not end up in the pit that contains her core emotions...lost and forgotten forever.

The time with Bing Bong is the peak of animation wonder from Pixar. This journey is not only touching, but it exhibits the best talent in animation I have seen from them, especially when they decide to take a short cut to catch Riley's train-of-thought. The urgency, and the animation that happens there was mind blowing to me, and it had me on the edge of my seat. I was also impressed with the diversity of the scenes as well. In a classroom sceen, I was amazed at how diverse the class was...I don't think Disney has every used this many colors from their paint pallet.

With In and Out, it was fascinating to watch the emotions learn not only from Riley, while protecting her, but to also learn from themselves. The road from adolescent to teenager is a tough one, and they are all learning to deal with the transition. These emotions guide us in our everyday lives, and affect the lives around us for the rest of our individual lives. It is nice to see a movie that speaks not only to us, but also to what makes us...us.

P.S. watch the end credits for insides to other creatures and people within Pixar-land...very funny.

Jurassic World - Jurr-Ass-Is-Grass

4 out of 5 Popcorn Kernels

TBT (Throw-Back-Thursday), just got a little more serious with TBP (Throw-Back-Prehistoric), where dinosaurs of the past, have become trends of the day. Jurassic World isn't as good as the first two installments: Jurrasic Park, and Jurasic Park-Lost Worlds (and maybe that is because of a new generation no longer thrilled with the marvels of CGI brought to us 22 years ago by the original), but it does give you what you expect: action, adventure, suspense, a toss-away storyline, and kids who refuse to do what they are told, and wind up as a possible Lunchable for Velociraptors.

For Jurassic World, I had to put on a different lens. Sometimes a critic has to see through the eyes of the audience. Personally, there are better made movies out there than this one, and not to say this is a bad movie, I am just saying it doesn't get marks for originality. Spielberg set the bar high with the first one, and his treatment of characters and suspense was unmatched. But this one tries a little too hard to capture something the same feelings, but with less of the essential elements of the original.

This installment stars Chris Pratt as Owen (Parks & Recreation, Guardians of the Galaxy),  trying to be the sexy American sweet heart of cinema these days. His job is a sort of Dino-Whisperer to the Velociraptors of a theme park filled with a wide assortment of prehistoric creatures, called Jurassic World. It is a place safari treks, merchandising, water shows, and acres of green lush pastures where animals roam and live, both calm and dangerous (the petting station is a delight to see).

But behind this array of visitors and gift shops, like a corporation that is looking at the bottom dollar; Jurassic World has had low attendance for a time, and the people want the-next-best-thing. It is up to Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), and her job as Operations Manager to see this through, and figure out what to do to attract more visitors. Besides having this on her plate, she is visited by her two nephews Gray and Zach Young (Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson), who she assigns her assistant to watch over during their stay at the park. Her idea for increasing attendance is to create a whole new creature, from the DNA of many creatures - seems she didn't learn anything from the first two movies, and to leave Mother Nature alone.

If there is anything to be learned from these movies that constantly want to cage and capture wild, intelligent creatures, is that...these creatures don't want to be captured - from King Kong to Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The only thing here is that this new species: The Indominus Rex (I-Rex), not only wants out, but also wants lunch, namely the smorgasbord of delicious visitors that happen to be visiting the island of Ilsa Nublar, where the park sits.

And so it begins...

We come back to Owen, one of the good guys, who understands these creatures, and the corporation which includes Vic (Vincent D'Onofrio), who is head of security, who wants to preserve the destructive, unpredictable creatures as future weapons of war (collateral damage be damned), and the geneticist Henry (B.D. Wong), who is aware of how the I-Rex was created, could be aware of its nature and how to tame it, but is keeping it all a secret (for ego's sake I assume). Claire unfortunately is caught between her duty to the park, its people, and the staff that seem to be getting gobbled up every few seconds she can't make up her mind.

And let's not forget the children. Who decide to have a day of it during the safari to venture off on their own, where cell phone reception just happens to be spotty, so they have no idea what is going on, until of course it happens in all it's Spielberg essence of suspense; with shadows, and clicking noises, and hidden things moving around in the foliage.

This is of course when all the action begins, and I have to admit that it jumped off rather quickly, with little exposition in getting to know the characters very much. This may be what the audience has paid for, but I still miss the quirkiness of the characters of the first two films, as in Jeff Goldbloom, and the innocence of Sam Neill, and the kids then seemed to be a little more responsible than the ones presented here. But this movie isn't about them, now is it? It is about the action, and the special effects, which are very good - CGI done right, with a little auto-matron action going on as well - and our hero's come across with great chemistry.

I have to give a special shout out to Omar Sy who plays Barry (Intouchables, X-Men: Days of Future Past). He didn't become an early victim, and plays a role along with the other hero's that is important, and feels like he is part of their team. He is a very good actor, and I hope to see more of him. He is imported from France (I will have another article about our Black imports in cinema), and has a place among the group as a true team player. 

Jurassic World is a world we have seen before, and while the direction of Trevorrow isn't like his predecessor, it is fluid and the story moves along with enough information given about a menagerie of characters, without it getting bogged down in speeches and actor-overload. I am not sure if there will be another one, because like they say in the movie, the audience wants bigger and better...and right now, this is starting to feel a little extinct.

Avengers: Age of Ultron - The Breakfast Club with Capes

4 out of 5 Popcorn Kernels

This film reminds me of a roller coaster at an amusement park: you strap in, are pulled forward, surprised by the many dips and turns, laugh a little along the way, and propelled to an end that is at once jolting, but instantly forgettable in its emotional pull. The Avengers/Ultron feels this way - for it packs a wallop, but somehow we feel we have been here before, but with less thrills.

The premise is a simple Good vs. Evil scenario, with the usual gang of Iron Man (Downey), Thor (Hemsworth), Black Widow (Johansson), Hulk (Ruffalo), Captian America (Evans), and Hawkeye (Renner) - and of course our minority crew of The Falcon (Mackie), War Machine (Cheadle), and a little shout out to Heimdall (Elba). They bring up the rear, and sometimes you forget they are even a part of this team at all, but my beef about the Un-Diversity of the Marvel Universe will be voiced elsewhere and on another soapbox.

Avengers/Ultron is a big movie, with big stars, and big action - it's the storyline that is a bit thin for my taste, although so convoluted, that it takes forever to explain all the goings on. But in a nutshell: Tony Stark aka Iron Man is back to trying to save the world through military gadgets (when will he ever learn), and has created an Artificial Intelligence with the gem from the scepter he had stolen from Loki in the last movie. This creation is to be used as a defense system for the Earth, and its main focus is to protect it from what is dangerous (otherworldly threats most likely). It is named Ultron (Spader). Unfortunately (in a humours and frightening dialogue between it and the man-servant intelligence of J.A.R.V.I.S), it begins to realize what is really threatening Earth and the human race...is the human race itself.


And so the quest begins (once Ultron trades his digital self for a more physical self, obtaining a shell for a body), as he acquires a mechanical army, and solicits the help of two other superheroes: The Scarlet Witch/ Wanda, and her twin brother, Quicksilver/Piedro - one wields hallucinogenic and energy powers, and the other superhuman speed. They assist Ultron because their town was bombed (killing their parents), and guess who made the weaponry...you guessed it, Tony Stark. Although at first it is thought that Ultron just wants to rid the world of the Avengers, but when it is discovered that he wants to eliminate most of the world, that takes things along a whole new level of..."Oh no he didn't."

So as Ultron tries to lay waste to the land, in order to bring the Avengers to him, I am at once appalled again by the collateral damage that is presented in this movie. Although they try to evacuate the city that is being threatened, it all still reminds me of Superman: Man of Steel;  that no matter how you look at it, human beings who watch this film will still regard every smashed car that is moving, every window in a building, every leveled neighborhood, as belonging to another human being that may be occupying it. In our heads we are doing the body count, and the number is unbelievably high. How do they even have time to honor the deceased after these superheroes have done their super deeds? Why hasn't Tony Stark Industries created some super-weapon that can be installed in peoples homes, so that they can guard themselves against this kind of threat. Even The Avengers can't be everywhere at all times.

But sprinkled within this fast paced destruction, is a different kind of Adventure movie. There is a little more heart, as if this group truly spends their time together when not fighting crime. We are introduced to a Hulk/Black Widow romance that I didn't see coming, Hawkeye has a very personal life, and Iron Man and Thor have words about who has the best woman - showing us that superheroes too can find love and machismo while still wearing capes and tights.

Avengers/Ultron is a great ride, albeit a toss-away/repetitive plot of robots-gone-wild. It gives fans what they want, and we get to know the characters on a deeper level than before (Black Widow's story alone could make for an interesting subplot). It is entertaining for sure.

My only caveat is that our minority superheroes need to step up to the plate more (or at least have a stronger presence besides their stance as bodyguards and comedians to our standard heroes). I should expect more at least from Falcon, who was the very first African American superhero in comics (but then again, Storm, the most powerful of the Xmen besides Charles Xavier, hasn't gotten her due), should have a real chance to shine. Once again, we are sidekicks...but there goes my soapbox again. I'll just sit here and eat my popcorn.

Blackbird: I know why the caged bird sings

3 1/2 Popcorn Kernels

Blackbird can be a difficult movie to review. It is a movie that stands alone in its technique and character. Not many of the studios are brave (or is the work brazen) enough to put out a Gay African American coming-of-age story - leaves you to wonder who is really in the closet.

Blackbird tells the story of Randy Rousseau (Julian Walker); a young black man trapped in the cage that society and church have set for him, but like all caged animals, they yearn to be set free. In his repression he has several wet dreams about a classmate in his school, which suddenly become more intense when he becomes his partner in a rebellious play namely dubbed Romeo and Julian. These feelings are still strange to him, as he has not accepted his sexuality yet, he finds himself kneeling at his beside to an airbrushed image of Jesus above his bed, to forgive him.

Randy has a small group of supportive friends; Efrem (Gary LeRoi Gray) - the lustful realist, who cruises parks and isn't shy with his comments, and Crystal (Nikki Jane), who is also on the verge of sexual awakening and has a plan to get it over with. Both of them are aware of Randy's sexual orientation even if he isn't. They bond as the sounding board for reasoning with each other, and seem to have a natural chemistry in their acting (although Randy could use a bit more acting lessons).

Then there is the family that surrounds Randy, comprised of his mother Clair (Mo'nique), who is saddled with a heavy guilt brought about by the assumed abduction of her daughter. In her grief and turmoil, she eventually blames her son Randy, and his sins as being the cause of their grief as a punishment from God. She gives a palatable performance amidst her religiously zealot attitude, but it feels a bit too much at times, and the script doesn't do enough with it beside having her look forlorn and downtrodden with sudden bursts of anger and anguish. Her conflict is really within herself, and her emotions are hidden from others in such a way that they see her grief but don't confront it. She doesn't really get angry at her life, just at her son. It doesn't allow her to really ACT, just react, with others. And since she spends so much screen time with Randy, the son she hates, there is a distance there that the ending can't justify. It is a performance that lacks any true emotional range.

His father Lance (Isaiah Washington) is there also, having been divorced from Clair, he tries to bond with his son via short conversations while Randy walk home from school - and Lance is trailing alongside him in his pickup truck on the road (must be a kind town, that no one honks behind him at this pace). It is in these moments that have the greatest heart in the movie. In an industry where the father is deemed the ruler of bad behavior, it is good to see one who is making a difference in trying to get to know their child beyond the rules set out by society. This performance should quell the controversy that surrounded Isaiah when he did Grey's Anatomy. He shows patience, and a willingness to wait until Randy determines who he is, and that he will stand beside that decision whatever it is.

And helping him find that understanding is Marshall (Kevin Allasee), a white boy from another school, who has fallen for Randy. And while I don't like the "White Savior" in movies, where the black character comes to a cathartic experience with the help of his white counter-part, I will bypass this one, as Marshall doesn't come across as superior to Randy. Randy we can see has a lot of potential, and is very focused, and without Marshall's assistance, I can see him coming into his own. I just see Marshall as a way to get there sooner because we only have 2-hours in the movie. He is handsome, and while the interracial aspects are not brought out in this movie (which could have been a move all its own without the mother/daughter/abduction storyline), but I understand that the source material was not that of Patrick-Ian Polk.

Speaking of Patrick, who is the director, and has birthed such treats as Noah's Arch, Punks, The Skinny, and others - all giving meaning and a voice to the African American Gay Youth - gives us now a film with much less humor than I expect of him. I am sure there were such elements within the source material of Blackbird written by Larry Duplechan, but this film comes off as trying to be serious, with serious subjects, and somehow, it feels a bit watered down. I believe that may be due to the directing, but also to what is expected of big Hollywood cinema. This isn't a movie of loud talking monologues about religion, sexual orientation, or race - but it feels as if it could be. In many black movies there is That Moment - when emotions and circumstance culminates into that big moment (Malcom X his speech, Color Purple and the Juke Joint, and Selma during their confrontation), and Blackbird is missing one (despite the video/romance scene with Randy and Marshall).

But Blackbird is a movie to see, just because you can see and feel the effort it is trying to make by telling a story that needs to be told, to an audience that hasn't seen themselves represented on screen very much - and by that I mean in African American cinema as a whole. Everyone can get something out of this one, and isn't that what going to the movies is all about.