Jupiter Ascending

Written and directed by Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski from the makers of The Matrix Trilogy, this charming story of Jupiter Jones, (Mila Kunis) a young girl born under the night sky destined for greater things. 

She grows up in the family business as a chamber maid and is seen to be cleaning and fixing toilets until one day a fine looking creature from outer space Cain Wise (Channing Tatum), genetically engineered military server comes to earth to seek her out. His indestructible spirit is on a mission to protect and transport the lady to her greater destiny which is on another planet in another galaxy.

Unbeknown to our planet and many others, we had been seeded by alien royalty and are under the rule of the Abrasax Dynnasty of which  Kaleque (Tuppence Middleton), Titus (Douglass Boothe) and Balem (Eddie Redmayne)  are  Aires. Planet earth is about to be harvested in order to give these rulers eternal youth.

Where does Jupiter come into this? Well as it turns out, she is the most perfect molecular  reincarnation of the parent of this dynasty and she actually owns earth. This girl has power in her hands she never even knew about.

Kalque, Titus and Balem were her children in a past life and each one is more corrupt and greedy than the next. The cause is down to the commodity known as  time and it's eternal youth is only obtainable by the death of human beings.

This story has a certain amount of romance aimed at the teenage soul. As usual, amazing effects which are becoming less impressive the more we see.  There was a little too much action which became tedious.The acting was  excellent and in my opinion, the story was  good.

I don’t see this film having a sequel but it probably will. Some things are best left alone.

Ex Machina

Man’s fascination to become a creator of life has been expressed through fiction over the ages in the likes of Frankenstein. However when it comes to making the sexuality of the artificial life female, man never ceases to aim for physical perfection.

Written and Directed by Alex Garland,this film is a calming masterpiece with few characters and not much action. It is pure storytelling through characters and script.

Domhnall Gleeson plays Caleb, a young man who works for the biggest search engine in the world, has won a competition within his company to spend time with a top CEO in his secluded home in the mountains.

It is top secret and he is dropped into the middle of nowhere by helicopter and given instructions on how to find the rest of the way on foot.

The multi billionaire Nathan played by Oscar Isaac is extremely intelligent and it is no coincidence that the chosen winner is this boy. He has actually been hand picked using data from his browsing history.

Nathan is a man of extremes. He appears to be a bit of an alcoholic by night and a fitness freak by day. He has spent much of his time alone and this in itself has given rise to such eccentricities. In any case, it’s a new angle of mad scientist and a far more realistic approach than the classic freaky haired white coated professor.

His creation is a Ava played by Alicia Vikander,  a beautiful robot girl with a sorrowful demeanor. Caleb has been instructed to carry out the Turing test. To find out if the machine can exhibit intelligent behavior and can learn emotions.

Ava gently flirts with Caleb and is able to stir emotions in him.

The film leaves you with many thoughts about many future possibilities of artificial intelligence. Well worth seeing. 

Into The Woods

This film was an adaptation of a musical and well known story about lots of other stories. That’s originality out the window for a start.

On a positive note, it was pleasing to the artistic eye, richly painted with both colour and darkness with good use of scenery and costume. Portraying a tragic tale in monotonous, repetitive rhyme,

It was an impressive ability of all the cast to sing such unmelodious and unmemorable songs.

Particularly the very young and talented Daniel Huttlestone (previously in Les Miserables ) born September 17 1999.  Originating from Essex, this boy sang with a strong accent, characteristic of Dickens’s London and suggesting his station in life. Tracey Ullman played his mother.

The film was heavily laden with very big names but with so many characters it was hard to decipher whose story it was.  

Meryl Streep’s amazing ability was put to great use in this film with her spell binding wrath.

 Jonny Dept’s Wolf character was cringe worthy as it bordered on paedophilia.  If he had been a real wolf he may have got away with it but not as a man dressed up as a wolf. The words that spilled from his mouth as he pursued the little girl in a red cape were inappropriate, as was the sinister way he played the role.

Halfway through the film we hit a conclusion and I would’ve been happy to leave it there but then a strange turn of events took us down another path and the film carried on.  In a world of so many distractions who could carry on concentrating on this.

I left the Cinema not understanding whether or not this was for adults or children. I came to the conclusion that it’s one of those artistic pieces you dare not criticize or you will be found out to lack culture.

The film had some good moments, namely Meryl Streep, but all in all it was drawn out for too long.