In ‘Ex Machina,’ writer/director Alex Garland balances futurist forecasting with classic noir elements and a beautiful woman.
Film: Review of Tech Thriller ’Ex Machina’
Category: Reviews
‘The House’ Review: Director Desiree Lim delivers a genre mash up in slick, sometimes silly ‘The House’
Tweet The House Unrated Running Time: 109 minutes Grade: C+ Vancouver-based filmmaker Desiree Lim re-teams with her frequent collaborator, actress Natalie Skye for the genre mash-up The House and the result is a cool, stylish drama part ghost story but…
‘The Island President’ Review: Director Jon Shenk makes the climate change issue into a story of one man’s amazing journey
Tweet The Island President Samuel Goldwyn Films Rated PG Running Time: 101 minutes Grade: B REVIEW BY STEVE RAMOS A talent for storytelling is what separates veteran documentary filmmaker Jon Shenk from the scorched landscape of reality television. His belief…
‘Martha Marcy May Marlene’ Review: Elizabeth Olsen breaks out in suspenseful cult drama
Tweet Martha Marcy May Marlene Rated R Running Time: 101 Minutes Grade: A Perfect ambiguity brings filmmaker Sean Durkin’s suspenseful drama about a young woman (Elizabeth Olsen) escaping an abusive cult to a daring close that leaves audiences wondering…
‘Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football’ Review: Stories of tolerance and football come together on a high school field in engaging doc ‘Fordson’
Tweet Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football North Shore Films Unrated Running Time: 92 minutes Grade: B REVIEW BY STEVE RAMOS For Fordson High School football players in the working class section of Dearborn, Michigan, the big game involves hunger, thirst…
TIFF 2011: ‘Livid’ Review: French filmmaker duo Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo create a frightening fantasy
Tweet Livid The Weinstein Company Rating: TBD Running Time: 88 minutes Grade: B REVIEW BY STEVE RAMOS The French filmmaker duo Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo are undisputed masters of horror thanks to their incredible debut thriller Inside (A l’intérieur),…
TIFF 2011: ‘Damsels in Distress’ Review: Whit Stillman returns with quirky female comedy
Tweet Damsels in Distress Sony Pictures Classics Rating TBA Running Time: 98 minutes Grade: B REVIEW BY STEVE RAMOS Up-and-coming actress Greta Gerwig and long-absent filmmaker Whit Stillman make a comic dream team in the hip and intentionally odd…
‘The Help’ Review: Bryce Dallas Howard makes a villainess to remember in Civil Rights-era melodrama
Tweet The Help Walt Disney Studios Rated PG-13 Running Time: Minutes Grade: C+ Movie baddies are seldom as delicate and pretty as Bryce Dallas Howard’s Southern belle Hilly Holbrook. Howard (yes, Ron Howard’s daughter) is equally funny and revolting as…
‘Horrible Bosses’ Review: Jason Bateman delivers steady laughs but fails to save workplace-as-hell comedy
Tweet Horrible Bosses Warner Bros. Rated R Running Time 93 minutes Grade: C+ The showiest scenes in director Seth Gordon’s workplace-as-hell comedy Horrible Bosses belongs to veteran comic actress Jennifer Aniston who looks fit and fabulous as a sex-crazed dentist…
‘The Hangover Part II’ Review: The Party Boys are Back for Another Night Out With Added Laughs
Tweet The Hangover Part II Warner Bros. Rated R Running Time: 101 Minutes Grade: B In this summer’s race of movie sequels, the party boys of The Hangover Part II are laggards. After all, Captain Jack Sparrow is back for…