Adventure/Sci-fi, 144 Minutes, 2015
I have no way to be impartial about this film. It’s a movie celebrating the drive and utility of science and, more broadly, intelligence in general. When it challenges its characters, it also challenges its audience. How could I begin to dislike a movie that says, without snark or caveat: “Smart is goddamn sexy.”
“Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace” on IMDB
Sci-Fi/Adventure, 136 Minutes, 1999
I won’t be seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens [IMDB] for at least a few more days. I hate crowds nearly as much as I adore the franchise, so will sneak into an early matinee sometime soon. All of the fuss has made me think of the last “Star Wars” premier I was excited for. (more…)
Sci-fi/Comedy, 106 Minutes, 2015
As part of our Extra-Life 2015 Marathon our team, The Vidiots, raised hundreds of dollars for sick kids and, as a unwarranted slap in the face, we made them watch this. They were protected, somewhat, by the portable games they were playing, but several still suffered terribly.
In the past few weeks I’ve covered over a dozen examples of A.I. in film. They’ve ranged from simplistic, overly fantastical, stories of 8-bit computers achieving sentience and emotional beach-balls causing national disasters to serious, cerebral explorations of what the true meaning of intelligence, life and existence really is.
For each movie that I covered, there are a dozen more that I neglected. To close on a high-note, then, I’d like to touch on a handful of classic personal favorites that have helped to mold the genre.
As you’ve likely heard, essentially non-stop for the last 48 hours, STAR WARS! TRAILER! STAR TRAILER! TRAILER WARS! STAR TRAIL WARSER! Yup, the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer dropped the other day and, yup, it were awesome. In fact, here it is!
Yup again, awesome. Han Solo. Darth Vader’s helmet. All the feels.
Sci-fi/Drama/Romance/Comedy, 126 Minutes, 2013
After starting it, I was instantly convinced that I would love this movie. I also instantly regretted waiting so long to see it. In some cases my initial reaction is wrong. The movie squanders it, tosses it away, and I feel betrayed. In this case it somehow just kept getting better.
Sci-Fi/Thriller, 108 Minutes, 2015
While technology remains incapable of creating anything resembling true artificial intelligence, the topic has been popular amongst philosophers and futurists for well over a century. One of the most debated questions is deceptively simple: how can we tell if something is really intelligent and not just faking it? This is the question of the film.
“The Iron Giant: Signature Edition” on IMDB
Sci-Fi/Thriller, 108 Minutes, 2015
In 1999, untried director Brad Bird [IMDB] convinced Warner Bros. to give him $70 million to create a period sci-fi animated feature based on Ted Hughes 1968 novel The Iron Man. Due to some bizarre circumstances he was given significant control over the production and was able to follow his vision. He made the movie that he wanted to make. It was amazing.
Not all explorations of A.I. need to be long, bladder-testing epics (I’m looking at you, misters Spielberg and Kubrick). Sometimes all you need is a few minutes. The following five shorts are all less than 10 minutes long, yet each deftly explores major themes of artificial intelligence and would give any feature film a run for its money.
Sci-Fi/Thriller, 109 Minutes, 2014
Despite it seemingly being tailor-fit to my taste, this completely failed to register on my radar when it was released. It was only when I started researching movies to include in this Month of A.I. that I discovered it.
“The Martian” on IMDB
