rupertmanband Reviews

Ex Machina (2014)

Frankestein Redux with Sexy Hardware

[5/10 · 3 June 2015]

A stylish take on Shlelly's Frankenstein exploring the idea of the Turing Test.

Taking a job with a rich eccentric computer genius away from civilization may seem like a dream job at first, but something is amiss, otherwise there wouldn't be a movie.

Exactly how does one determine that one is talking to a real person and what that really means to both parties and this isn't just about robots, but people as well. At what point does one lose one's objectivity when doing a job that should be just a job, but becomes far more than the job.

Some things about this movie don't make much sense, but that kept the budget within reason and this movie is tight and uncluttered, a sterile set for a sterile relationship.

Who the hell builds a robot without an off button?

Somehow, AF709 may have been a better angle to play and closer to AI.

Not great, not horrible.

Charlie Victor Romeo (2013)

Words and acting trump special effects with well done 3D

[9/10 · 11 May 2015]

A theater piece shot in 3D with a minimal set, a simple idea, yet yielding high drama and action simply from the transcripts of these aviation disasters.

This is a play where it is all about the words and the fact that those words are what really happened. Highly riveting and the blackouts are used to great effect. Here the adrenaline is genuine, not some CGI roller-coaster and it is made more compelling because if you have ever been a passenger on a airplane, it takes you where you probably wouldn't choose to go.

If you are going on a flight somewhere you probably wouldn't want to watch this movie. I am certain that this will never be an in-flight movie. You may want to consider the train or a bus after watching this.

Not a popcorn, action adventure, or any other kid of movie genre that is commercial - this is theater and an art film, not typical product.

The 3D is simple, effective and done as if that is just the way to shoot films, without the usual gimmicks and in your face rudeness of many 3D movies.

Goodbye to Language (2014)

I saw this at the AFI Silver in 3D last Saturday.

[1/10 · 21 April 2015]

Worst. 3D Movie. Ever.

Quite possibly the worst French film I have ever seen and I have seen quite a few, An SNL parody would have been better. This is the kind of movie that makes Ed Wood seem an Orson Welles by comparison. I am perplexed that the AFI would include this in a 3D movie festival but apparently the name Godard counts for something,.

Best line - "the dog looks depressed," No kidding.

Everything about this movie shows contempt for whoever watches it. The 3D is a textbook example of things one should never do with 3D, too close and too far and too jerky with parallax shifts for no apparent reason and for some reason intentionally shifts the parallax from left right to up down while rotating the image. The audio has intentionally annoying cuts and gaps adding to a sense of discontinuity that needed no help what so ever.

Literally, the best part of the movie was the frequent pooping.

Notable, Fritz Lang's Metropolis appears on the TV screen in the room where the man and woman do their best to hone ennui to a dull edge while Rotwang and Maria add some gravitas that goes nowhere.

MERDE!