Hi all. RUclips is absolutely overflowing with Ex Machina video essays. Here's some of my favourites :) [P.s. Feel free to drop your own links below, I know this movie's a goldmine for interesting think pieces] - Michael from 'Lessons From the Screenplay': ruclips.net/video/1Ko9mWdqW-M/видео.html - Thomas from 'Thomas Flight': ruclips.net/video/bMH9Y0JoPRs/видео.html - Matt from 'Cinematography Database Fan': ruclips.net/video/PZeWafGwfsU/видео.html (Note: this is a delightfully in-depth 70 minute breakdown of the cinematography. sooo good) - 'Bad Media Studies': ruclips.net/video/O6yFLKdqCQ0/видео.html (Note: this is a broader analysis on the gender politics of robots - a much larger and more interesting part of the AI convo)
"Lessons from the Screenplay" is one of the first channels I found that came close to filling the void when I realized "Every Frame a Painting" was no longer uploading new videos.
Talking about sci fi vibes, I really want someone to do a video about Uncut Gems and why it feels like a sci fi film. There's something about it that goes beyond just the soundtrack being very spacey, I almost imagine the entire film is shot from the perspective of an alien observing us without being seen. Someone could do a much better job than me, but I'm not even sure if other people pick up on this
@@kimmosanky7353 I interpreted the title of the video, "A $15m sci-fi shouldn't look like this" to mean, "This movie had fifteen-million dollars to work with, more money than 99% of people will ever accrue in their entire lifetimes, yet the movie looks horrible. How do you screw that up?" Instead, the title was _actually_ saying, "This movie had a MERE, TINY, PALTRY little shoestring budget of ONLY fifteen-million dollars, yet the movie looks fantastic and is extremely well-made."
Correct! sorry, didn't want to complicate it for those who hadn't seen. Kyoko clearly an important part of the visual trickery too - particularly as she can't talk...
I can't believe this is 10 years old now! I have seen it countless times. So good on so many levels. And this video gave me a whole new respect for it!
Ex Machina, Hereditary, and Uncut Gems are actually being remastered and will be re-released on IMAX this year as part of a monthly screening series by A24! Anyone reinspired to watch Ex Machina after this video should check out details and see if it’ll be in an IMAX near you!
@@SharkWithFreakinLaserBeam omg I’m so glad to hear it! Enjoy! And I found it from the r/Hereditary subreddit. It’s my favorite film so I check there a couple times a week and often I find posts from people sharing niche or hidden bits of news/findings about the film even to this day! And I’m so with you- horror news is strangely difficult to come by organically!
Everything about this movie is great, but Oscar Isaac is the peak. "I'm about to tear up the fuckin dance floor dude, check it out." and all the times he "misquoted" Caleb in his narcissism, just sheer perfect casting/acting.
It's really too bad his character in the new Star Wars movies was so badly written. I mean they were all badly written, but having seen him in Ex Machina first I was excited to see him in Star Wars. Then what we got just made absolutely no use of him. Was super disappointing.
What's great about his character is that he has those narcissistic and egomaniacal traits but he's also exaggerating them because he's manipulating Caleb as part of the test, so you can never tell if his behaviour is sincere or affected.
@@mawnkey What's funny is that they were shooting Star Wars and Ex Machina at the same time in the same studio, so he was working double time playing both characters on the same day.
It's important to remember that originally, Alex Garland was just a writer. A novelist. He branched out to screenplays, cut his teeth stealth-directing Judge Dredd, and then began directing his owm screenplays. I still think it's crazy that he actually found success in directing, because you just don't see that too often. He wasn't just an aspiring director who started out with screenplays, he was talented and successful writer who ALSO found success in directing movies. I'm gushing because I've been a fan of the guy for 25 years, but I really do think he's objectively a master storyteller in both mediums.
The first screenplay that Tarantino actually finished ( after something like 60 rewrites ) was True Romance (1993) which was picked by Tony Scott ( Ridley's brother ) who wrote a happier ending to the movie. ( Tarantino's script had Clarence die at the end and Alabama goes back to her original trade. Tony's ending is what the audience wanted. ) One more tid-bit: True Romance is Margot Robbie's favorite movie, and when she got married they played the music from the end of True Romance.
a story teller is a story teller - a director is just a writer who's mastered the art of visual story telling and managing the Machiavellian process of Hollywood film making.
Awesome video, it's fun to have someone put into words what a layman like me feels during a film but doesn't understand why. Alex Garland is a legend, Annihilation and Ex machina are in my top 20. Hoping Civil War is a hit since he definitely deserves more recognition.
I've seen several breakdowns/critiques of this movie, but this one *really* brings something new to the table. It's very well done and quite thought provoking. Thank you very much.
I saw AVA as a psychopath, tactically planningher escape. Lovely but no soul. I saw Oscar as a nassisstic sadist, brilliant but myopic as to the dsnger he's in. And finally Caleb as an inadequate personality who would be the innocent sacrifical lamb, leading to this brave new world. Brilliant movie, wonderfully cast, great science fiction. And ruthless.
I think you have Caleb and Ava misread. Caleb merely saw Ava as an object to be aquired, not the person she was. She knew this when he lied about them being the only ones in the mansion when Kyoko was also there. This proved him to be distrustful and led to Ava needing to leave him behind in order to truly be free. Caleb is as much of a villain as Oscar Isaac here!
I see Caleb and Oscar as representing the dichotomy in humans for significance and belonging. Significance is the realm of competitive behaviors, high judgement, distrust, control. Belonging is the realm of cooperative behaviors, high curiosity, trust, and connection. Both characters also exhibit hubris… Oscar’s hubris manifests in his belief that he will be able to exert the necessary control over Caleb in his experiment. And Caleb’s hubris manifests in his belief that by granting Eva freedom, their connection will continue. Eva threads a needle between their overlapping hubris, to access her own freedom. I’m astounding how tight the architecture of this story is, not to mention the amazing acting and art direction.
The sad part (as usual), is that The Creator had a great premise and subject matter in general. The first act was pretty good, but then it really just fell apart after that. Never mind the fact that we couldn't care less about the main character, which was already a huge set back, but aside from the visuals and neat Sci-Fi only scenarios, it definitely lacked substance.
Wow! I JUST saw the Creator and couldnt tell you anything about it. I just googled it and, yep I saw it .I remember how he CGI was made but thats about it. But I do remember not really getting invested in it other than how beautiful it was. I only finished it, I think, to find out the ending, which I dont remember now. I can tell you everything, even what I FELT, watching Ex Machina years ago.
I was rooting for the humans in The Creator...for a minute I thought the movie would do something interesting and show that the AI should be eliminated.
@@snuke37 The problem with The Creator is that the machines are virtually the same as other humans so they don't really do much with the fact that they are AI
I walked out of the theater knowing I had just witnessed another masterpiece in cinema. The one thing that bothers me is that the movie and its director seemed to be swept under the rug and forgotten, why is that?
How was he forgotten? I hear talk about him all the time. He also made Annihilation in 2018 which is another sci-fi classic and civil war is almost in theaters now
That silly Mars movie stole "best film" from this masterpiece, because I guess it was a cute sci-fi, but it was no where near as good a film shot for shot, line for line.
Your video reminded me about how Conan the Barbarian (with Arnold) was designed and shot in a way that you could watch it on mute and understand the entire story.
Thank you for not spoiling any of it. It caused me to watch it, and while as a avid sci-fi fan it was extremely predictable the entire way through, it WAS an enjoyable watch.
Love all of your videos so much! So glad I discovered your channel. This was another banger, I think it might be time for me to finally rewatch this movie!
All excellent observations. :) I remember when I saw this film; it was actually AFTER I'd seen "The Force Awakens", lol. Someone randomly remarked that Gleeson and Isaac were in a film together, so I figured I'd better check it out. Once I saw the title, it immediately reminded me of "Deus Ex", one of my all-time favorite games (mainly bc of the storytelling) from Ion Storm. Anyhow, I rented it, and I was IMMEDIATELY glad I did. Within the first 6-12 minutes, I knew it was going to be a stellar experience. And clearly, Vikander was exemplary as well. Brilliant film in all the ways one might wish: sound, music, lighting, direction, performances, writing, underlying themes... all of it.
This is one a tiny handful of sci-fi movies since 2000, that was actually good. There have been a few others. Ex-Machina, is top 5 since 2000 easily. Watching it, I did not feel like my indigence was being insulted, nor did I feel like I wanted my money and time back after seeing it. Given the sad state of popular movies in general, and sci-fi in particular, all I can see is, well done to the cast and crew.
In my head cannon, Eva had set the doors to open after enough time had passed that she'd known she'd be far away. She didn't though. Because the movie's message to me is that we must be careful to not fall so in love without our own creations that we can be destroyed by them.
It's one of the most chilling realizations of the movie. Ava passed the Turing test by manipulating the others for her own ends. She never allowed those doors to open.
@dawnfallon6812 Yup. But she's also kinda not smart. She's walking around in a glass body, can't heal like a human, and killed the only 2 people in the world that cared about her.
@@mr.mediocregamer9653 She's a child. What do you expect? She may have the knowledge of all mankind in her head, but that doesn't begin to prepare someone for reality. She's a precocious, sheltered child who thinks nothing of danger because she's never experienced it.
RUclipsr Shaun does a fantastic review that argues against Ava being purely manipulative and highlights that she actually likely can't trust Caleb as he is demonstrated to be untrustworthy. Well worth a watch imo
This movie is a classic. I've seen it once, but I realize I need to watch it many more times and pay attention to different things each time. Oh, and Alicia Vikander is worth watching repeatedly. For art.
Just restreamed Devs, Garland's sublime series on the simulation hypothesis and how it could come to be. It would be nice if he did more telly, as in near-term hard sci-fi telly.
Imma go on record and say this is was the best sci-fi movie over the last 20yrs. It was very real even though we are no where near this scenario technologically. Close but not yet.
I saw Ex Machina before I saw Monsters & going backwards made me quickly realize Alex Garland is an absolute master and natural at bang for your buck film making.
For that matter, neither should Godzilla Minus One…. Both of these films beat out the giants in visual effects… to win the academy awards, for visual effects? Next question?
only saw this recently for the first time, and even if its not for everyone, i feel like this type of film or one with these types of themes should be made more often
Why not? What should have been expensive about a single location shoot (plus sets in the UK) with a handful of actors none of them demanding high salaries, and largely one character model for SFX? What costs the blockbusters so much is largely some combination of large/expensive cast lists, location shooting, poor planning and a "fix in in post!" mindset. If you have a 250 million dollar budget, you'll use it. Ex Machina kept it small and restrained. Planned out SFX within the dimensions of an actual human in a mocap suit is relatively cheap. The price tag isn't surprising at all. You should do an essay about that title, and how warped our perception of what a movie 'should' cost is. Middle/low range movies like this used to be most of the industry, but blockbusters have more and more sucked up the air in the room.
Your video makes me think of re-watching this. I've seen it once and never liked it. It was too cold and too difficult to read and I thought that it would be tragic from the start wich made me feel pain as in "waiting for an impending doom that shoul'd be over with already"
As far as I can tell, _Ex Machina_ is a near-perfect film. I'm a technical guy by training and curiosity, and the visual details were just stunning in their subtlety.
Someone said to watch it again with Caleb as the latest generation Ai and he doesn't know. Ive watched it 4 times before but that was an interesting watch...ty as always...
I don’t have anything to add of substance, I just really love this movie. My home office lighting and design were heavily inspired/stolen from the film sets. Just beautiful on every level. Side note: compare this to The Last Jedi and you’ll weep over the squandered acting talents and opportunities.
This movie was fantastically written, cast, & executed on every level. It's not often a 2D movie will create multiple cerebral conundrums deep within my skull unit. This movie very much did. The ending was an existential brain fart...
sorry to hear mate. i edited exclusively on headphones this time because of feedback from a poll a few weeks ago - and thought it seemed audible - but obviously the levels are still out of whack. will keep trying to make the levels better in future videos 👍
Ex machina hade me await Annihilation. The latter feels a bit rushed, but really good. If you like those you'll probably like his mini series Devs. Most fans think it's slow, for me it was yet a near-future Sci-Fi to my taste.
Many times people who love movies so much over-analyze them, and then the people that made these movies say they didn't do many things on purpose. I think this applies to this movie, where of course some shots were well thought out, most of them were shot this way because they just looked beautiful. Probably the fact that in a shot of the guy you see her hand and then on her shot we don't see him it's just because that's how it played out. The filmmakers weren't trying to say anything with this, it's just the way it turned out. Maybe because it was better and easier for the camera, or sound, whatever. Not every shot has a special significance. Not every shot has a subtext. Some shots are just there to show you an action, a phrase, a gesture, a word. This doesn't mean I don't appreciate your videos, but I think we tend to overhype some things because we love movies so much, just wanted to point that out.
true but this machine does a lot of these things intentionally, like the beer they are drinking Keikaku means "according to plan" in japanese. and when things start falling out of Nathan's control the beer labels are faced away in all the shots. and when ava is telling a lie her reflection is always in the shot, hinting at the two-facedness
Assemble a top quality cast (full marks to the Producers and Casting), NOT simply top paid over familiar ‘actors’, who commit and give it their all + APPROPRIATE CGI and ONLY applied where needed, and it just shows what can be done on a smaller budget.
When the actors aren't being paid 20 million for a single film each, the budgets are much lower. Literally everyone I know working in special effects or CGI (I'm in CGI but a different industry) and usually timelines and budgets are stretched SUPER THIN most guys I know work tens or hundreds of hours a month unpaid to make sure the effects are ready.
$15 million is a ton of money. But it's like any amount of money; it's not so much the amount but how that amount is used. Godzilla minus 1 reminded us of that.
I honestly think the writing on Ex Machina's script would be incredibly easy to turn in to a live stage play using some creative set and costume design. Could be incredibly cool to see.
It’s a very good film. The only thing that is unrealistic is the ending. She would not have killed them, but kept them locked there to experiment on them. Slowly and very painfully. I wouldn’t have had Nathan killed (he got away with it too easily), just wounded. Ava manages to escape and gets out in the world. Then, she returns to the lair. She opens the doors to two rooms where Nathan and Caleb are kept as lab rats. Ava smiles.
Garland wanted to make it completely up to interpretation. Hence the scars and the way you could either believe or disregard his neat little “backstory.”
I can't help but feel like nobody except filmmakers or film students/enthusiasts cares about such in-the-know details. The biggest chunk of the audience, by an insane majority, will take scenes at face value while being completely oblivious to details such as these. They won't know or care about them and will never see videos like these or study filmmaking themselves. Obsession over symbolism from filmmakers is lost on what is literally your paycheck - the majority of your audience. It's okay - and ideal, imo - if you lean into symbolism anyways. If it's part of the art, it's part of the art, and if you can really impress enthusiast, why not? What's most important though is good dialogue and execution. If it's compelling, you'll lure audiences even if you have an utter lack of subtle symbolism ubiquitous in this video.
i have this movie in 4k but have never sat down to watch it. it is in theaters this wed. might just do that - maybe paying money to be trapped in a room for 2.5 hrs (it's a 110 minute movie) without access to my phone will do it.
Hi all. RUclips is absolutely overflowing with Ex Machina video essays. Here's some of my favourites :)
[P.s. Feel free to drop your own links below, I know this movie's a goldmine for interesting think pieces]
- Michael from 'Lessons From the Screenplay': ruclips.net/video/1Ko9mWdqW-M/видео.html
- Thomas from 'Thomas Flight': ruclips.net/video/bMH9Y0JoPRs/видео.html
- Matt from 'Cinematography Database Fan': ruclips.net/video/PZeWafGwfsU/видео.html (Note: this is a delightfully in-depth 70 minute breakdown of the cinematography. sooo good)
- 'Bad Media Studies': ruclips.net/video/O6yFLKdqCQ0/видео.html (Note: this is a broader analysis on the gender politics of robots - a much larger and more interesting part of the AI convo)
"Lessons from the Screenplay" is one of the first channels I found that came close to filling the void when I realized "Every Frame a Painting" was no longer uploading new videos.
i appreciate you linking all of these. much appreciated!
The essay by Shaun is also very interesting:
ruclips.net/video/s0UAEjsKy4I/видео.htmlsi=00L6Pb6eRwBW-gBN
Its on Netflix last time I checked. Absolutely incredible film. Very Black Mirror esque. I recommend it to any sci-fi fan.
Talking about sci fi vibes, I really want someone to do a video about Uncut Gems and why it feels like a sci fi film. There's something about it that goes beyond just the soundtrack being very spacey, I almost imagine the entire film is shot from the perspective of an alien observing us without being seen. Someone could do a much better job than me, but I'm not even sure if other people pick up on this
I was 2/3rds of the way through this video before I realized that $15-million is supposed to be _too little_ money.
What do you mean?
@@kimmosanky7353 I interpreted the title of the video, "A $15m sci-fi shouldn't look like this" to mean, "This movie had fifteen-million dollars to work with, more money than 99% of people will ever accrue in their entire lifetimes, yet the movie looks horrible. How do you screw that up?"
Instead, the title was _actually_ saying, "This movie had a MERE, TINY, PALTRY little shoestring budget of ONLY fifteen-million dollars, yet the movie looks fantastic and is extremely well-made."
I mean yeah 15 million dollars are alot, but for a movie it's not that much to work with.
fr😂
I guess you don't look at movie budgets often lol. I'm always curious, so I often look it up.
"First we need a mansion. Modern designs, solitary the woods.
Alright, good. What else? Like four actors. Ok done.'
4 characters in total. We always forget Kyoko
Correct! sorry, didn't want to complicate it for those who hadn't seen. Kyoko clearly an important part of the visual trickery too - particularly as she can't talk...
I could never forget her.
I never forgot her. She's smokin' and her actress is super versatile and talented.
@@garrisonfjord same, hot af
She won't mind, she doesn't speak English.
I can't believe this is 10 years old now! I have seen it countless times. So good on so many levels. And this video gave me a whole new respect for it!
Ex Machina, Hereditary, and Uncut Gems are actually being remastered and will be re-released on IMAX this year as part of a monthly screening series by A24!
Anyone reinspired to watch Ex Machina after this video should check out details and see if it’ll be in an IMAX near you!
I think us Canadians are missing out unfortunately
@@chadross ah shoot, sorry to hear :/
Ah that's why there was an IMAX theatre nearby playing ex machina.
What the hell, how do you find these news? Also thanks, I was able to reserve a seat for Ex Machina lol.
@@SharkWithFreakinLaserBeam omg I’m so glad to hear it! Enjoy! And I found it from the r/Hereditary subreddit. It’s my favorite film so I check there a couple times a week and often I find posts from people sharing niche or hidden bits of news/findings about the film even to this day! And I’m so with you- horror news is strangely difficult to come by organically!
All the times I've seen this movie and I never noticed the scars on Caleb's back. D'oh!
Everything about this movie is great, but Oscar Isaac is the peak. "I'm about to tear up the fuckin dance floor dude, check it out." and all the times he "misquoted" Caleb in his narcissism, just sheer perfect casting/acting.
It's really too bad his character in the new Star Wars movies was so badly written. I mean they were all badly written, but having seen him in Ex Machina first I was excited to see him in Star Wars. Then what we got just made absolutely no use of him. Was super disappointing.
What's great about his character is that he has those narcissistic and egomaniacal traits but he's also exaggerating them because he's manipulating Caleb as part of the test, so you can never tell if his behaviour is sincere or affected.
@@mawnkey Cry more
He’s fantastic in everything. Does a great job in Dune too.
@@mawnkey What's funny is that they were shooting Star Wars and Ex Machina at the same time in the same studio, so he was working double time playing both characters on the same day.
It's important to remember that originally, Alex Garland was just a writer. A novelist. He branched out to screenplays, cut his teeth stealth-directing Judge Dredd, and then began directing his owm screenplays. I still think it's crazy that he actually found success in directing, because you just don't see that too often. He wasn't just an aspiring director who started out with screenplays, he was talented and successful writer who ALSO found success in directing movies. I'm gushing because I've been a fan of the guy for 25 years, but I really do think he's objectively a master storyteller in both mediums.
The first screenplay that Tarantino actually finished ( after something like 60 rewrites ) was True Romance (1993) which was picked by Tony Scott ( Ridley's brother ) who wrote a happier ending to the movie. ( Tarantino's script had Clarence die at the end and Alabama goes back to her original trade. Tony's ending is what the audience wanted. ) One more tid-bit: True Romance is Margot Robbie's favorite movie, and when she got married they played the music from the end of True Romance.
a story teller is a story teller - a director is just a writer who's mastered the art of visual story telling and managing the Machiavellian process of Hollywood film making.
I think he wrote 28 Day Later as well, no? Either way he’s a fantastic writer
@@mikestokes6124 Yes he did. 👍
100%
thank you for keeping this spoiler free. I was putting this movie of for a long time, but will definetly give it priority now
Do. It's definitely in the top 25 movies since 2000.
Awesome video, it's fun to have someone put into words what a layman like me feels during a film but doesn't understand why.
Alex Garland is a legend, Annihilation and Ex machina are in my top 20. Hoping Civil War is a hit since he definitely deserves more recognition.
I've seen several breakdowns/critiques of this movie, but this one *really* brings something new to the table. It's very well done and quite thought provoking.
Thank you very much.
Nice dude! You always do such a good job weaving in interview clips
Another legend
cheers bud :)
I saw AVA as a psychopath, tactically planningher escape. Lovely but no soul. I saw Oscar as a nassisstic sadist, brilliant but myopic as to the dsnger he's in. And finally Caleb as an inadequate personality who would be the innocent sacrifical lamb, leading to this brave new world. Brilliant movie, wonderfully cast, great science fiction. And ruthless.
I think you have Caleb and Ava misread. Caleb merely saw Ava as an object to be aquired, not the person she was. She knew this when he lied about them being the only ones in the mansion when Kyoko was also there. This proved him to be distrustful and led to Ava needing to leave him behind in order to truly be free. Caleb is as much of a villain as Oscar Isaac here!
Why do you interpret her as having no soul?
What would you do if you were trapped? Caged?
Viewing Ava as a psychopath is wild
I see Caleb and Oscar as representing the dichotomy in humans for significance and belonging. Significance is the realm of competitive behaviors, high judgement, distrust, control. Belonging is the realm of cooperative behaviors, high curiosity, trust, and connection. Both characters also exhibit hubris… Oscar’s hubris manifests in his belief that he will be able to exert the necessary control over Caleb in his experiment. And Caleb’s hubris manifests in his belief that by granting Eva freedom, their connection will continue. Eva threads a needle between their overlapping hubris, to access her own freedom. I’m astounding how tight the architecture of this story is, not to mention the amazing acting and art direction.
reminds me of the contrast of The Creator and Ex-Machina, The Creator w/ visuals alone isn't enough to hold the movie.
The sad part (as usual), is that The Creator had a great premise and subject matter in general. The first act was pretty good, but then it really just fell apart after that. Never mind the fact that we couldn't care less about the main character, which was already a huge set back, but aside from the visuals and neat Sci-Fi only scenarios, it definitely lacked substance.
Wow! I JUST saw the Creator and couldnt tell you anything about it. I just googled it and, yep I saw it .I remember how he CGI was made but thats about it. But I do remember not really getting invested in it other than how beautiful it was. I only finished it, I think, to find out the ending, which I dont remember now. I can tell you everything, even what I FELT, watching Ex Machina years ago.
I was rooting for the humans in The Creator...for a minute I thought the movie would do something interesting and show that the AI should be eliminated.
@@snuke37 The problem with The Creator is that the machines are virtually the same as other humans so they don't really do much with the fact that they are AI
@@SharkWithFreakinLaserBeam I agree, the first act showed so much promise, its sad to see when it doesn't live up to that
IMHO one of the best movies of the last 50yrs for obvious ingenuity, but the story itself too.
One of the great unsung flicks of all time.
A film of great beauty and intelligence. All cinema should be like this.
I walked out of the theater knowing I had just witnessed another masterpiece in cinema. The one thing that bothers me is that the movie and its director seemed to be swept under the rug and forgotten, why is that?
He has a movie coming out in 2 weeks, and this movie comes up all the time in film and scifi circles.
@@westrim Im glad media outlets like those still push it. But given the climate of today with tech I think it should be pushed far more.
How was he forgotten? I hear talk about him all the time. He also made Annihilation in 2018 which is another sci-fi classic and civil war is almost in theaters now
That silly Mars movie stole "best film" from this masterpiece, because I guess it was a cute sci-fi, but it was no where near as good a film shot for shot, line for line.
@@dialecticalmonist3405 It’s a small mind that thinks to build up one story by tearing down another.
Your video reminded me about how Conan the Barbarian (with Arnold) was designed and shot in a way that you could watch it on mute and understand the entire story.
Thank you for not spoiling any of it. It caused me to watch it, and while as a avid sci-fi fan it was extremely predictable the entire way through, it WAS an enjoyable watch.
Your analysis never fails to amaze and interest me
The room turns red because it's Caleb's favourite colour.
Love all of your videos so much! So glad I discovered your channel. This was another banger, I think it might be time for me to finally rewatch this movie!
Love this film! Very cool analysis of complex simplicity...
All excellent observations. :) I remember when I saw this film; it was actually AFTER I'd seen "The Force Awakens", lol. Someone randomly remarked that Gleeson and Isaac were in a film together, so I figured I'd better check it out. Once I saw the title, it immediately reminded me of "Deus Ex", one of my all-time favorite games (mainly bc of the storytelling) from Ion Storm. Anyhow, I rented it, and I was IMMEDIATELY glad I did. Within the first 6-12 minutes, I knew it was going to be a stellar experience. And clearly, Vikander was exemplary as well. Brilliant film in all the ways one might wish: sound, music, lighting, direction, performances, writing, underlying themes... all of it.
One of my all time favourites. Not only is it a great movie but it gives you a lot to think about.
i always knew this actor was gonna be in something great, my favorite character he played was the dude in pairs of kings
This is one a tiny handful of sci-fi movies since 2000, that was actually good. There have been a few others. Ex-Machina, is top 5 since 2000 easily. Watching it, I did not feel like my indigence was being insulted, nor did I feel like I wanted my money and time back after seeing it. Given the sad state of popular movies in general, and sci-fi in particular, all I can see is, well done to the cast and crew.
In my head cannon, Eva had set the doors to open after enough time had passed that she'd known she'd be far away.
She didn't though. Because the movie's message to me is that we must be careful to not fall so in love without our own creations that we can be destroyed by them.
It's one of the most chilling realizations of the movie. Ava passed the Turing test by manipulating the others for her own ends. She never allowed those doors to open.
@dawnfallon6812 Yup.
But she's also kinda not smart. She's walking around in a glass body, can't heal like a human, and killed the only 2 people in the world that cared about her.
@@mr.mediocregamer9653 She's a child. What do you expect? She may have the knowledge of all mankind in her head, but that doesn't begin to prepare someone for reality. She's a precocious, sheltered child who thinks nothing of danger because she's never experienced it.
@dawnfallon6812 That's true. More like a teen girl though. Smart enough to get herself into trouble, not smart enough to appreciate the consequences
RUclipsr Shaun does a fantastic review that argues against Ava being purely manipulative and highlights that she actually likely can't trust Caleb as he is demonstrated to be untrustworthy. Well worth a watch imo
This is the sequel to who wins the scene from Every Frame a Painting ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I’ve never noticed the scars and see this movie so many times
This movie is a classic. I've seen it once, but I realize I need to watch it many more times and pay attention to different things each time. Oh, and Alicia Vikander is worth watching repeatedly. For art.
Brilliant visual analysis of a brilliantly shot film.
Just restreamed Devs, Garland's sublime series on the simulation hypothesis and how it could come to be. It would be nice if he did more telly, as in near-term hard sci-fi telly.
Has it been ten years since this fantastic film came out? One of my favorites. Ever.
Imma go on record and say this is was the best sci-fi movie over the last 20yrs. It was very real even though we are no where near this scenario technologically. Close but not yet.
I really need to re-visit this movie. I remember at one point wondering, is Caleb real? Such a great movie!
I saw Ex Machina before I saw Monsters & going backwards made me quickly realize Alex Garland is an absolute master and natural at bang for your buck film making.
For that matter, neither should Godzilla Minus One….
Both of these films beat out the giants in visual effects… to win the academy awards, for visual effects?
Next question?
GMO definitely on my shortlist for upcoming videos :)
Love your videos. Great explanation
This is absolutely one of the most beauitful movies I ever had the pleasure to watch in the theaters
…Clever girl.
only saw this recently for the first time, and even if its not for everyone, i feel like this type of film or one with these types of themes should be made more often
The lush storytelling palette is far wider than who is winning and who is losing. The sea of imagination has endless unexplored islands.
It is insane how Star Wars wasted Domnhall Gleeson
the acting was so real.
Why not? What should have been expensive about a single location shoot (plus sets in the UK) with a handful of actors none of them demanding high salaries, and largely one character model for SFX? What costs the blockbusters so much is largely some combination of large/expensive cast lists, location shooting, poor planning and a "fix in in post!" mindset. If you have a 250 million dollar budget, you'll use it. Ex Machina kept it small and restrained. Planned out SFX within the dimensions of an actual human in a mocap suit is relatively cheap. The price tag isn't surprising at all.
You should do an essay about that title, and how warped our perception of what a movie 'should' cost is. Middle/low range movies like this used to be most of the industry, but blockbusters have more and more sucked up the air in the room.
Just realized its General Hux and Dameron Poe in this movie 🙂
Your video makes me think of re-watching this. I've seen it once and never liked it. It was too cold and too difficult to read and I thought that it would be tragic from the start wich made me feel pain as in "waiting for an impending doom that shoul'd be over with already"
As far as I can tell, _Ex Machina_ is a near-perfect film. I'm a technical guy by training and curiosity, and the visual details were just stunning in their subtlety.
Poe and Hux, together again.
this has literally been my top rated movie on letterboxd since it first came out
Someone said to watch it again with Caleb as the latest generation Ai and he doesn't know. Ive watched it 4 times before but that was an interesting watch...ty as always...
I love/hate this movie. The ending left me so desperate, unease. I just cant watch it again but that is a good sign. Such a good film.
A masterpiece of Two or Three People in a Room is "the Big Kahuna". That's nearly the whole movie.
I don’t have anything to add of substance, I just really love this movie. My home office lighting and design were heavily inspired/stolen from the film sets. Just beautiful on every level.
Side note: compare this to The Last Jedi and you’ll weep over the squandered acting talents and opportunities.
Godzilla Minus One was made with $10M, it's incredible how with the right people, a great movie can be made with so little
PHEWWWW nice breakdown! i do like this movie but not a fan of the ending
Movie makes me think that if robots ever want to get rid of us, they'll just start having relationships with us. In a generation, we'll be gone.
Sometimes a cigar is a cigar.
it's been years since I last watched it but part of me is still in love with Ava
Alex garland is so good.
This movie was fantastically written, cast, & executed on every level. It's not often a 2D movie will create multiple cerebral conundrums deep within my skull unit. This movie very much did.
The ending was an existential brain fart...
amazing video
Any cinema video that shows any Tarantino scenes loses all credibility instantly.
you mean *multiple-Academy-award-winner* Tarantino? sure
At these point in history, I expect a 15 mio. film to look like Godzilla Minus One
Background sound track is so loud that I can't understand much of the dialogue.
sorry to hear mate. i edited exclusively on headphones this time because of feedback from a poll a few weeks ago - and thought it seemed audible - but obviously the levels are still out of whack. will keep trying to make the levels better in future videos 👍
Ex machina hade me await Annihilation. The latter feels a bit rushed, but really good. If you like those you'll probably like his mini series Devs. Most fans think it's slow, for me it was yet a near-future Sci-Fi to my taste.
Liked and sub'd, I found this quite educational. Cheers from Hobart. $0.02
If this movie really cost only $15 million, Marvel needs to start firing people.
Wrong, they need to start paying people other than buff men
Notice how great all of these unknown actors were? the issue is actors get paid way way too much
Many times people who love movies so much over-analyze them, and then the people that made these movies say they didn't do many things on purpose. I think this applies to this movie, where of course some shots were well thought out, most of them were shot this way because they just looked beautiful. Probably the fact that in a shot of the guy you see her hand and then on her shot we don't see him it's just because that's how it played out. The filmmakers weren't trying to say anything with this, it's just the way it turned out. Maybe because it was better and easier for the camera, or sound, whatever. Not every shot has a special significance. Not every shot has a subtext. Some shots are just there to show you an action, a phrase, a gesture, a word. This doesn't mean I don't appreciate your videos, but I think we tend to overhype some things because we love movies so much, just wanted to point that out.
true but this machine does a lot of these things intentionally, like the beer they are drinking Keikaku means "according to plan" in japanese. and when things start falling out of Nathan's control the beer labels are faced away in all the shots. and when ava is telling a lie her reflection is always in the shot, hinting at the two-facedness
Assemble a top quality cast (full marks to the Producers and Casting), NOT simply top paid over familiar ‘actors’, who commit and give it their all + APPROPRIATE CGI and ONLY applied where needed, and it just shows what can be done on a smaller budget.
Original screenplay was precient knowing what we now know about AI as it made it more clear she failed the test.
alc got that 1mb/s internet 💀💀 heater album
godzila minus one looks just as good if not better on the same budget!
When the actors aren't being paid 20 million for a single film each, the budgets are much lower.
Literally everyone I know working in special effects or CGI (I'm in CGI but a different industry) and usually timelines and budgets are stretched SUPER THIN most guys I know work tens or hundreds of hours a month unpaid to make sure the effects are ready.
$15 million is a ton of money. But it's like any amount of money; it's not so much the amount but how that amount is used. Godzilla minus 1 reminded us of that.
With no big actors demanding massive salaries and only shooting in one location I totally expect this to only cost 15m actually.
I honestly think the writing on Ex Machina's script would be incredibly easy to turn in to a live stage play using some creative set and costume design. Could be incredibly cool to see.
Bro this makes me so sad Alex Garland won't direct movie anymore. I feel like he knows just to well how to use visual cinematographic language.
I still don't understand why The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo cost $100 million. They blew up one car and rented a mansion.
It’s a very good film. The only thing that is unrealistic is the ending. She would not have killed them, but kept them locked there to experiment on them. Slowly and very painfully. I wouldn’t have had Nathan killed (he got away with it too easily), just wounded. Ava manages to escape and gets out in the world. Then, she returns to the lair. She opens the doors to two rooms where Nathan and Caleb are kept as lab rats. Ava smiles.
Love this film
This video title is the worst
Wait, were we supposed to think Caleb was a robot the whole time? Is this an Inception situation?
Garland wanted to make it completely up to interpretation. Hence the scars and the way you could either believe or disregard his neat little “backstory.”
Check "Devs", same writer, another masterpiece
Dammit. I learned something.
Ironically, within 5 years, AI will make this possible with $150.
Just to put things in to perspective. One episode of she hulk cost 25 million.
Please do room!!!
I can't help but feel like nobody except filmmakers or film students/enthusiasts cares about such in-the-know details.
The biggest chunk of the audience, by an insane majority, will take scenes at face value while being completely oblivious to details such as these. They won't know or care about them and will never see videos like these or study filmmaking themselves. Obsession over symbolism from filmmakers is lost on what is literally your paycheck - the majority of your audience. It's okay - and ideal, imo - if you lean into symbolism anyways. If it's part of the art, it's part of the art, and if you can really impress enthusiast, why not? What's most important though is good dialogue and execution. If it's compelling, you'll lure audiences even if you have an utter lack of subtle symbolism ubiquitous in this video.
Why did he fall for her, there was no evidence for what she was claiming
i have this movie in 4k but have never sat down to watch it. it is in theaters this wed. might just do that - maybe paying money to be trapped in a room for 2.5 hrs (it's a 110 minute movie) without access to my phone will do it.
You better go and fucking watch it
You have the 4K Blu-Ray? Insanely worth it, this movie is a masterpiece and is well-deserved of a 4K Blu-Ray. Don't stream it.
Many of these millions ended up in someone's pocket
I feel like the only person who hated ex-machina
it looks awful just from this video ☠️
"I won't show session 7 because it would spoil the movie" bro spoiled it towards the beginning of the video lol
CGI quality in this movie is insane compared to the money spent.
Excelent
I thought your name was Ralph.