Movie Muser

I’d like to think that when putting Trash together the people behind it weren’t sitting there purely trying to think what would be most likely to win them lots of Oscars, but it does slightly come across like that at times. You’ve got a setting that is Slumdog Millionaire meets City of God, a plot that’s somewhat gritty but also a bit of a fairytale, a director who’s already got three Best Director Oscar nominations under his belt (Stephen Daldry), a script from Richard ‘Four Weddings’ Curtis and the lead roles given to sweet, non-professional Brazilian kids.

If they were hoping for Oscars, they failed, but the movie isn’t bad at all, using its semi-fairytale story to create something that is sort of a family/young adult film, but one that wants viewers young and old to know that the slums can be a dark and dangerous place, and that children aren’t immune from that.

Raphael, Gardo, and Rato spend their lives picking through the rubbish thrown away by Rio’s wealthier citizens, in the hope of finding things they can live off of. When they come across a wallet they are thrown into a very dangerous situation, where the local authorities desperately want the wallet back in order to protect a hideously corrupt (but profitable) system, and so the boys set out to evade the police and discover what secrets it contains.

Trash mixes a plot that’s more of an action thriller than you might expect with a real interest in setting this in a (somewhat) realistic, poverty-stricken world. Sometimes it doesn’t quite work, particularly when you get the impression Hollywood-style fantasy has simply been dropped onto the favelas, but this does ensure it’ll be accessible to a wider audience. That’s not to say it shirks showing many of the realities of the slum-dwellers’ situation, particularly the everyday dangers of a system that has no respect for you and sees you as little more than an annoyance.

Ultimately though despite gritty aspects, this is a bit of a fairytale that wants to keep you entertained and ensure that by the end there’s a smile on your face and a sense of hope. Sure that may not reflect the truth for all of Rio’s poor, but it works here.

I would say this is a good one to get your kids to watch, as it shows them a world that is very different from the one they grew up in, but still manages to be quite exciting. However, it can get quite intense at times (hence the 15 certificate in the UK), so it’s probably better for older kids and teens than anyone really young.

Overall Verdict: There may be times when it’s difficult not to wonder whether possible awards were as important to the makers as creating a good film, but they still managed to created something that’s entertaining, sometimes exciting and invests enough in the Rio slums so that it doesn’t feel completely fake.

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

While some films get bad reviews, few movies with big name actors get excoriated like Mortdecai did on its cinema release. The film was greeted with some exceptionally scathing notices, but while you can understand some of the points those reviewers were making, the fact is it’s not half as bad as they made out.

Johnny Depp is Lord Charles Mortdecai, a British art dealer with an aristocratic background and penchant for shady shenanigans. He and his wife, Johanna (Gwyneth Paltrow), owe £8 million in back taxes and don’t have much time to raise it, although a possible lifeline arrives following the death of an art dealer and the discovery that a legendary painting by Goya may have been stolen from her.

Mortdecai soon gets caught up in an international chase, with Mi5 wanting to use him to find the painting, angry Russian thinking he may already have it, and a secret agent (Ewan McGregor) possibly using the situation to makes moves on Charles’ wife.

Adapted from the series of novels by Kyril Bonfiglioli, Mortdecai is a bizarre concoction, and in many respects a bit of a mess. Yet even so it’s oddly fun. Everyone involved seems to be having a great time and they’re keen to take the audience along for the ride. And if you just let go and head off on that ride, it is fairly entertaining.

That’s not to say the critics were completely wrong. The main problem is that the film has no idea what it wants to be – it’s a little bit Peter Sellers, a tad Cary Grant and with a dose of 70s caper flick, but it never seems to decide whether it’s wants to emulate or spoof, while constantly flying off on tangent that don’t really fit with what’s going on. While everyone is having fun, they’re also all making different movies. That’s particularly true of Johnny Depp, who goes fully Willy Wonka by playing a completely insane, over the top character, who seems to have dropped in from a another film (probably a cartoon).

I started to feel that the issue was that this is a film made by people who absolutely adore everything British, and that they wanted to make a tribute to is. However, they don’t quite get how British comedy works. For example, there’s a large dose of Jeeves and Wooster in the relationship between Mortdecai and his man-servant, Jock (Paul Bettany – who seems to be channeling Vinnie Jones), yet without any proper understanding of why the dynamic between the PG Wodeshouse characters work.

It is undoubtedly a movie you’ll forget the minute it finishes, and a lot of it is more stupid than silly, but despite its long list of flaws, I did think it was oddly fun. Sure Johnny Depp needs to tone things down when he takes these sorts of role, but Mortdecai could have been a lot worse.

Overall Verdict: Bizarre and in many respects a total mess, but thanks to a bunch of actors having a lot of fun (even if they don’t quite seem sure what they’re doing) it just about carries you along for the ride.

Special Features:
Stolen Moments: On the set of Mortdecai
The Art of Making Noise: Making Music for Mortdecai

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

Young programmer Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) wins a competition to meet the legendary but very reclusive Nathan (Oscar Isaac), the owner of the company Caleb works for, on his secluded, private estate. Once there Caleb discovers this isn’t just a holiday, but that he’s expected to take part in an experiment to see whether Nathan has broken through the barrier to create an artificial intelligence that can truly think for itself, and which is indistinguishable from human behaviour.

Caleb is introduced to Ava (Alicia Vikander), an AI housed in a very human looking body. Soon Caleb is thrown into a quandary. He is extremely taken by Ava, but knows there’s always the possibility that rather than truly thinking, Ava is simply using her programming to ‘fool’ him into thinking she’s more ‘real’ than she is. With Nathan possibly switching Ava off if she fails – something Ava seems to be afraid of – and Caleb increasingly wondering how he knows whether anything is real, the situation starts to grow dangerous.

If you like a bit of thought provoking, intelligent sci-fi, Ex_Machina is the movie for you. While many of the concepts it deals with have been seen on film before, the movie finds a simple yet extremely effective way of presenting it. The setup allows you to get invested in the three main characters and also permits them to have complex discussions about the philosophy behind the experiment without it feeling contrived or unnatural.

Alex Garland’s script is also pretty smart, as it knows its sci-fi tropes and so leads your brain on a journey where engaged viewers will inevitably start wondering whether everything is as it appears. However, the movie is doing it on purpose and eventually the characters begin to start wondering the same things. Even the ending leaves things wonderfully open, as while it is definitely a fitting conclusion, the whole thing will leave you pondering just how you would know if an artificial intelligence was ‘conscious’ or not, and whether Ava fits that or is a deception that even her creator may have underestimated.

The film features some wonderful special effects to create Ava, which for most of the running time make her both incredibly human and yet very artificial all at once. Coupled with some great visuals and a smart use of putting humans in an environment that is a man-made stronghold amidst the wild and natural, it is an extremely well put together movie, and one that manages to entertain and make you think at the same time.

Overall Verdict: If you’re a fan of intelligent sci-fi, Ex_Machina is one to seek out. A simple set-up allows it to reach far greater depths than you might expect.

Special Features:
Ex_Machina: The Story (2m 15s)
Ex_Machina: The Cast (3m 3s)
Ex_Machina: The Design (2m 46s)
Ex_Machina: Creating Ava (3m 12s)
Ex_Machina: The Turing Test (1m 49s)

Reviewer: Tim Isaac