Child 44

Child 44, the latest film from director Daniel Espinosa is a complete and utter mess of a film. The first and second acts are a complete bore and the film only has something to say near the end. It's a dark, ugly film and I don't mean that tonally. This is a hard film to watch and it wasted a magnificent performance by a man that is quickly proving to be the best actor acting today. All in all I give Child 44 a bucket and a half of Killer Korn.













The trailer for this movie is gripping and I truly couldn't wait to see the film. It seemed liked the movie would jump off the screen and find a place in your mind where it would hang out and make you think about it for weeks to come. I love those kinds of movies, films like Gone Baby, Gone, Adore, or Interstellar, those films stuck with me long after I'd seen them. I foolishly thought, basing my opinion on the trailer that Child 44 would do the same. It was a bait and switch and I couldn't have been more wrong. Daniel Espinosa, the director behind this mess brought us the Denzel Washington 2012 vehicle Safe House which wasn't a film I was wild about. It had some good moments but overall it fell flat. I'm guessing Safe House is the one reason Child 44 pulled in the on screen talent that it did. Tom Hardy was amazing in his portrayal of Leo Dimidov. Too bad is was a performance wasted on this drivel. The drivel also starred Noomi Rapace as Leo's wife Raisa, Jason Clark, Joel Kinnaman, Fares Fares, Paddy Considine, Vincent Cassel, and Gary Oldman. That is a pretty impressive cast to have in such a pretty awful film.

There are far too many story lines to follow here and that led to the damming confusion that plagued Child 44. If you've see the trailer the film looks like a can't miss (and if you have check out the trailer below). The trailer looks like Child 44 centers around a serial killer of Russian children and even the title of the film suggests that but what you get is a long, slow melodrama of a brainwashed people and the government organization that tries to keep everyone in line. In the middle of that government is a militarized known as the MGB and if someone is accused by someone else of being a traitor then the MGB roots that person out, shoots them full of drugs in order to get the names of the co-conspiritors. Then they kill that person. There is a power struggle between Leo and Joel Kinnaman's character Vasili who is in cahoots with their supervisor, Vincent Cassel's Kuzmin to destroy Leo. Leo's wife Raisa has been named as a traitor and they demand Leo denounce her knowing he would refuse to, they get reassigned to a small town far away from Moscow and they should be happy they weren't shot to death.

You have to get through that madness before you get to Leo and Raisa trying to find the killer of children. Once that storyline get's going then the movie is worth watching, and if you haven't left the theater yet you're in for a treat. Sadly the last act lasts for maybe twenty minutes at the most. The movie is based on a novel written by Tom Rob Smith and the screenplay is penned by Richard Price. The book I am quiet certain in this case is far better than the movie. The only redeeming thing about Child 44 (outside of Tom Hardy's performance) is the score by Jon Ekstrand. There are profound moments of tenderness sprinkled amongst a powerful and dramatic score but that's not enough to buy a ticket to see this film. Skip Child 44, enjoy the trailer instead (which far outclasses the movie), and I'll see you at the theater

Ex Machina

Ex Machina, the debut film from writer/director Alex Garland is a smart, intriguing, and very entertaining movie. Blessed with great performances and an intelligent, compelling story Ex Machina  is a must see film in my opinion. No explosions, no car chases, no bullets, this film is a nice alternative to what's currently playing in your neighborhood multiplexes but Ex Machina gets four buckets of Killer Korn.













Alex Garland the writer is responsible for films like the epic space film Sunshine, the fun and frightening 28 Days Later, the ridiculous Dredd (though I blame the director for that movie being the mess it was), and the novel The Beach that was adapted into the film that starred Leonardo DiCaprio. Alex Garland the director has just one film to his credit and it's damn good and if this is any indication as to what we can expect from Alex the director then movie fans, we are in for a treat. Ex Machina stars Domnhall Gleason as Caleb, Oscar Isaac as Nathan, Sonoya Mizuno as Kyoko, Corey Johnson as Jay, and Alicia Vikander as the amazing Ava. Now if you haven't figured it out yet thanks to all the other hundreds of films that have expounded on the perils of artificial intelligence, Ex Machina brings the dangers of AI to you in such a visceral way that it's hard to brush it off as merely science fiction.

Nathan is the creator of the search engine Bluebook and is a highly intelligent and incredibly wealthy man. He's also a recluse. Caleb is a coder and an employee of Nathan's from NY. Caleb has won a competition that allows him to meet Nathan at his isolated compound in the wilderness and spend a week with the genius. Once there Nathan introduces Caleb to his next big project, only after Caleb signs a non-disclosure agreement. Once all the paperwork is out of the way Caleb is introduced to Ava and that's when the cat and mouse game begins. Emotional manipulation, lies, exploiting vulnerabilities and more all come into play here through Caleb's sessions with Ava. While the movie can tend to drag a little in the middle, Alex does an excellent job with pace and I was never bored or impatient. I was never taken out of the movie by wishing things would speed up and at the end of the film I felt I experienced Ex Machina, not just watched it.

Ex Machina for the most part stars just three people. That's it. The other two actors in this movie, one is hardly on screen for more than five minutes and the other doesn't say a word so it's really just three performers. When you have that limited a cast then you better have a damn good story and this film has a great one. Thankfully Alex Garland the writer penned an incredible screenplay that will make you seriously take a look at the pros and cons of artificial intelligence that other movies have failed to do. Those other films are meant to scare you, telling you that once AI is unleashed on the world it cannot be controlled and it will destroy mankind (think Terminator and I, Robot). Ex Machina takes a completely different angle on that which is why I enjoyed this film so much. Of course the cinematography by Rob Hardy and the score by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury significantly aided in that experience. If you want a smart, thoughtful, and provocative film to see then I highly recommend Ex Machina. If you want cars hurtling through the air, explosions, and bullets flying everywhere, skip this movie and just wait, that mindless entertainment will be back on screens before you know it. I'll see you at the theater.