Sarah was out of town this weekend, so I watched two movies. The first, Ex Machina, is a sci-fi/suspense film starring Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, and Alicia Vikander. Isaac plays Nathan, the head of an AI company. Gleeson plays Caleb, a coder who wins an invitation to join Nathan at his laboratory. Caleb and Nathan are to test out Nathan's latest AI creation, Ava.
Nathan has an unsettling demeanor at times, and Caleb begins to suspect that Ava, who he has kind of fallen for, will be retired and no longer exist. Turns out the test is to see if Ava will use Caleb to try to escape, which she does. The film asks questions about AI and the viewer is put in the difficult position of rooting for Ava when in fact she might lead to humans' extinction. In the end, Ava does escape, thanks to both Caleb and Nathan's carelessness.
I thought Ex Machina was unnerving at times and very engrossing. Isaac plays the part of the enigmatic villain very well. Gleeson alternates between flummoxed and conniving, and Vikander effectively portrays a not-quite-human humanity in trying to manipulate both of them into getting what she wants.
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I've done random listenings many times over the years. I tend to stop after two or three times because it strikes me as kind of ridiculous, but this time I'm looking at it differently. How many songs do I have that I never even listen to? So it's more of a listening journal this time. Maybe I get some ideas for future playlists.
