Tag Archives: Ex Machina

2016 Oscar Winners leaping ahead!

2016 Oscar Winners leaped ahead! 

written by Souranath Banerjee

It is that time of the year when decisions are made and a few extraordinary artists take the leap ahead with the golden statues shining in their hands.

Pic-12Yes, the time for the 2016 Oscar winners!

The competition was exceptionally tough this year (just like any other year), and though we always like to say that everyone nominated are all winners but then sadly, only some people actually win.

Here are the movies that ruled the Oscar stage yesterday and a flashback of all these films for a quick recap.

Spotlight (Won 2 awards)

Category: Best Picture and Original Screenplay (Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy)

spotlight-poster2My Ratings: 4.4/5. 

‘Since All the President’s Men in 1976, I think this film here, Spotlight, has taken the theme of ‘reporters unveiling a conspiracy theory’ to a new height of extraordinary.’

‘Written and directed by Tom McCarthy (his directional debut The Station Agent is one of my all time favorite), and here also, he has done a tremendous job. The pace and the overall effect of the film is so intense that it gives you the feel of a classic thriller. ‘

 

The Revenant (won 3 awards)

Category: Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Director (Alejandro Inarritu) and for Best Cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki)

revenant-poster2My Ratings: 4.4/5.

‘there is an immense amount of expectation for Mr. Iñárritu’s latest film The Revenant, and then again, when the ever-impressive Leonardo DiCaprio is in the lead, tagging with him all that debate about – can this be finally Leonardo’s Oscar moment or not?’

‘the film is shot by ace cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki who has already won two Oscars for his brilliant camera work in films Birdman and Gravity.’

 

Mad Max: Fury Road (won 6 awards)

Category: Best Editing (Margaret Sixel), Best Sound Mixing (Chris Jenkins, Greg Rudloff and Ben Osmo), Best Sound editing (Mark Mangini and David White), Best Production Design (Colin Gibson), Best Costume Design (Jenny Beavan) and Best Make Up and hair Styling (Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin).

mad-max-poster6My Ratings: 4.1/5.

‘A two hours non-stop action extravaganza, a roller coaster ride of brutal excitement, insane adrenaline rush and high-octane drama.’

‘a super-fast editing by Margaret Sixel and Jason Ballantine perfectly complements the mood of the film.’

‘Minimal use of dialogues, quick introduction of characters and real horrific violence – Mad Max: Fury Road is a treat for action genre lovers. Undoubtedly the best action flick of recent times.’

 

Room

Category: Best Actress (Brie Larson)

room-poster1My Ratings: 4.4/5.

‘Specially Brie Larson who as the protective mother, dealing with her certitudes and also her vulnerabilities has given one of the best performances I have seen in a long time!’

‘Essentially it’s a thriller that involves the account of a daring attempt to slip away from the clutches of a ruthless kidnapper but on a deeper note the film is a complex sensitive drama and an expert dissection of human psychology.’

 

The Big Short 

Category: Best Adopted Screenplay (Charles Randolph and Adam McKay)

big-short-poster2My Ratings: 4/5.

‘Based on the book with the same name by financial journalist Michael Lewis, co-writer and director Adam McKay has been successful in adding enough humor to dilute the financial jargon and make the film coherent for everybody.’

‘focuses on a group of people who noticed and predicted the devastating financial crisis well ahead and even profited from it!’

 

The Danish Girl

Category: Best Supporting Actress (Alicia Vikander)

danish-girl-poster1My Ratings: 3.8/5.

Only such powerful acting could hold the film together with enough distinction.

‘to an utter surprise to his wife Gerda, Einar has a sudden urge to change his sexual orientation and reveals that he actually wants to be Lili in her real life; he claims that he seems to be a women trapped in a man’s body!’

 

Bridge of Spies

Category: Best Supporting Actor (Mark Rylance)

bridge-of-spies-poster1My Ratings: 3.8/5.

‘Bridge of Spies is actually a biopic on American insurance-attorney James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks)’

‘Firstly, he had to defend a captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) in the American court of justice and then, he was recruited by the CIA and sent to the-then hostile Germany (Berlin being partitioned) to negotiate a spy-exchange mission between the two rival countries – America and Russia.’

 

Ex Machina

Category: Best Visual Effects (Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett)

ex-machina-poster3My Ratings: 4/5.

‘But the real winner in this 1 hour 48 min futuristic drama is the brilliant use of visual effects. The amazing special effects give the film it’s much necessary believability.’

‘A bit slow paced maybe, and mostly dialogue based but in spite of not being personally a fan of Sci Fi movies, i find it pretty impressive.’

 

Spectre

Category: Best Original song (Song: Writing’s On The Wall, music and lyric: Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith)

spectre-poster6My Ratings: 3/5.

‘Though music by Thomas Newman is as usual effective and blends well with Hoyte Van Hoytema‘s cinematography.’

‘Spectre starts with a thrilling helicopter sequence in Mexico that promises a power pact film but unfortunately, by the end of it’s almost two and a half hours run time, the film struggles to keep you entertained.’

 

Inside Out

Category: Best Animated Feature Film (Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera)

Inside-Out-Poster2My Ratings: 4.5/5.

‘This 94 min film gives the children their beloved world of funny characters and colorful fantasy but at the same time it offers enough scope for serious thoughts (and admiration) for the grown-ups.’

‘Superb voice overs by a variety of talented artists. Animation quality at it’s best but again that is kind of expected from a Pixar feature. But the best part of Inside Out is its concept – so brilliantly innovative!’

 

Bear Story – Animated Short Film (Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala)

The Hateful Eight – Original Score (Ennio Morricone)

Stutterer – Live Action Short Film (Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage)

Pic-11Amy – Best Documentary – Feature (Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees)

A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness – Best Documentary – Short Subject (Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy)

Son of Saul – Best foreign language film (Country: Hungary; Directed by László Nemes)

Poster courtesy: www.impawards.comoscar.go.com.

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The Danish Girl (2015)

The Danish Girl review

written by Souranath Banerjee

Only such powerful acting could hold the film together with enough distinction.   

My Ratings: 3.8/5.

Tom Hooper, who earlier directed films like The King’s Speech (2010) and Les Misérables (2012) has recently come up with his latest – a biopic named The Danish Girl.

danish-girl-poster3Loosely based on the lives of Danish couple Einar and Gerda Wegener, but essentially the film is inspired by the real story of Einar Wegener’s transformation into Lili Elbe, undergoing a sex reassignment surgery to physically transform from a man to a woman (one of the first in the history of sex-change operations).

The experiences of such a radical and innovative journey as a transgender pioneer is well documented in Lili Elbe’s autobiography “Man into Woman” which was published in 1933, an inspiration to the transgender movement till date.

The Danish Girl starts of by introducing us to the Wegener couple, both young artists with a pretty regular love life but soon things take a turn when Einar develops a fascination for the delicate ladies danish-girl-poster1garments and cosmetics and fancies himself as a girl, playfully dressing himself up as Lili (a fictitious character).

And soon enough, to an utter surprise to his wife Gerda, Einar has a sudden urge to change his sexual orientation and reveals that he actually wants to be Lili in her real life; he claims that he seems to be a women trapped in a man’s body!

So many years back then, such a concept was indeed a novelty and was of course resisted and condemned by many but Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe was one lucky person to finally had her wish fulfilled. But then again she had to pay a heavy price for her sexual freedom.

danish-girl-poster4Honestly for me, if it wasn’t because of the brilliance of the actors like Eddie Redmayne (Oscar winner for The Theory of Everything)Alicia Vikander (popular for her part in Ex Machina) and Matthias Schoenaerts (famous for his role in Rust and Bone), the film would not have been half as interesting as it is now; and so the casting director Nina Gold also needs a special mention here.

And thanks to cinematographer Danny Cohen for the overall look and feel of the film.

The Danish Girl is an important tale that needs to be told but somehow 2 hours of screen time made it a bit too lengthy compared to its content material.

Though surely worth a watch.

Poster courtesy: www.impawards.com

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Ex Machina (2015)

Ex Machina review.

My Ratings: 4/5.

At one time Nathan (Oscar Isaac), the genius billionaire in a drunken feat recites these words before he finally swoons away.  …In sleep, in confusion, in the depths of shame, the good deeds a man has done before defend him.

ex-machina-poster2Another time Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), the young employee shares another quote with his boss Nathan. “I am become death, destroyer of the worlds”

These lines are extracts from Bhagavad Gita. J. Robert Oppenheimer’s quoted these exact lines after he successfully tested his infamous invention – the atomic bomb!

But what exactly did Nathan create which can be so dangerous and even has the potential to destroy the world?

A robot, Ex Machina or in Latin ‘Deus ex machina’ which means ‘a god From the Machine’.

ex-machina-poster3Mastermind Nathan, the creator of ‘Bluebook’ which seems to be the ‘leading search engine’ of the world (more like google in the real world) has recently managed to develop artificial intelligence! 

His latest robotic model is named Ava (Alicia Vikander), a female version of course. Beautiful and seductive.

And for the final ‘Turing test’ (a test that determines if the machine can pass itself off as human to another human), Nathan brings in one of his company’s young employer Cabel with the sole intention to monitor Cabel’s interaction with Ava.

By one week, if Ava doesn’t qualify the test, then she will be scrapped like her earlier versions and a new model will take her place. 

ex-machina-poster4But is Ava aware of her fate? Is she capable enough to change her own destiny?

A tensed Sci Fi thriller that revolves mainly around these three characters, a perfect combination of Nathan’s arrogant intellect, Cabel’s innocent confusion and Ava’s seductive benevolence.

Norway is the actual location of Nathan’s ultramodern house, though most of the film is shot indoor, which gives a claustrophobic feel and also symbolizes Ava’s confinement i guess.

Ex Machina is Alex Garland‘s directorial debut (also famous for writing novels and screenplays such as The Beach28 Days Later…Never Let Me Go) and undoubtedly he has done a great job. 

Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac, both did great portraying their somewhat complicated characters. Swedish actress Alicia Vikander deserves a special mention since being a robot her expressions and body-language had to be very subtle yet effective.

ex-machina-poster5But the real winner in this 1 hour 48 min futuristic drama is the brilliant use of visual effects. The amazing special effects give the film it’s much necessary believability.

Rob Hardy, the cinematographer played well with the colors, mostly used Red, Green and Blue (RGB). And the music by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury compliments the visuals and often helps intensifying the tension. 

Many famous films like Steven Spielberg‘s A.I. Artificial IntelligenceRidley Scott‘s Blade Runner and then the latest Neill Blomkamp‘s Chappie – all has their individual takes on artificial intelligence but Ex Machina is probably the first one to make a psychological thriller out of it.

A bit slow paced maybe, and mostly dialogue based but in spite of not being personally a fan of Sci Fi movies, i find it pretty impressive.

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