It has been a few freakin’ MONTHS since we actually went out to a movie! It’s been a long dry spell in terms of movies that we actually want to go out and see, so finally comes along a movie that was exactly right for us: Ex Machina.
Ex Machina (2015); saw this on April 26, 2015 at the Americana Pacific Theaters.
I guess it speaks of the time we live in that there are more and more interesting movies being made about what the future has in store for us. Even though I wasn’t a big fan of either Her or Transcendence, I’m still happy that movies like that are being made as the technology is around now where imagination can run wild and it becomes a spectacle on our screen. Ex Machina imagines that the Artificial Intelligence breakthrough is right around the corner and we get to see it in a personal way.
The story starts off with Caleb, an employee at a Google-like company, winning an opportunity to meet the CEO and stay with him in his remote compound for a week. It’s certainly a dream opportunity but he soon finds out that the CEO actually wants Caleb to do something for him: perform a Turing Test on the CEO’s highly-secret AI robot. The Turing Test tests whether a human can determine if he or she is talking to a computer or a human – if unable to tell, the Turing Test is passed. We’re way beyond that basic determination though in this situation, as Caleb is immediately made aware that Ava is a robot. But he begins to start connecting with Ava, which of course leads to complications.
A review I read for Ex Machina pointed out that frequently this movie’s twists are not easy to predict and frequently when you think you’ve figured it out, the movie changes course. That’s very true and it makes the movie extremely entertaining. I won’t spoil anything here except to say that the relationship between Caleb and Ava was fascinating and the special effects that bring this movie to life are amazing. Oscar Isaac (soon to be seen in the new Star Wars!) is also fantastic as the CEO, Nathan. Long story short: check this movie out!
Update: There’s a dance scene that occurs halfway through the movie that completely comes out of nowhere and is AWESOME.
Update 2: Looks like there’s a GIF of it and it is now on this site because it must be:
and maybe UPDATE 3 which is an actual clip from the movie of this scene? Oh yes….
Pirch looks a lot like something out of Ex Machina but this is actually a place you can go to in order to see and touch the highest of high-end appliances for your home. It’s freakin’ amazing. You’ll curse your station in life when you realize that there are no prices listed anywhere. As the old adage says, “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.” With that in mind, it was still a lot of fun to look at these various kitchen and bathroom fixtures and dream.
Enough of that! Let’s look at pictures!
April 24, 2015 – The LA River From the Metrolink
The ride home on Friday I ended up having a seat on the second level of the train. That ended up being a good vantage point to see into the LA River – so pictures are what I took!
April 25 & 26, 2015 – More Things We Did at the Apt
We had some more things to do. One of those was getting those orange IKEA chairs for our breakfast nook – they’d been sold out the last few times we went and finally they were back in stock. Score! We also had the need for a console table in the entry way, and after various ideas, we picked one on Wayfair.com that fit the bill. Larry put that together yesterday while I watched movies on HBO.
Today, we put up some pictures. It’s amazing how much that small detail adds to the apartment. Feels a lot more like home.
