Film: While We'are Young, Directed by Noah Baumbach (2014)

Another good movie by Noah Baumbach! It's all about "the old" vs "the young" in art. In Baumbach's story - it's film making.
The young can pitch you anything and you will love them for that. You are old and uncertain and self-doubting and you can't complete things. The young make things with ease. They record stuff and pass it on as "documentaries"...They are shameless, cool, and master the game of appearing authentic. They steal from anybody and everybody and make it their own. They can justify their lack of artistic integrity with irresistible charm. The young can use "fuck you" playfully but -- fuck you "young" - for real...It's all going to pass...Enjoy your 15 minutes of fame while it lasts.

Highly enjoyable - if you are in the "industry" or if you are "old"!

Film: Ex Machina, Directed by Alex Garland

Went to see the film because it was generating some buzz. It started out as a limited release and then it was suddenly showing in a lot more theaters. 

I watched it with patience that it did not deserve. As the film progressed, my patience started to transform into curiosity as to how this is going to work out and finally it turned into disappointment. First of all - a lot of ideas were thrown out and never developed (from semantics to automated neuropschylogical testing). A lot of name-dropping occurred as well -- from Wittgenstein to Jackson Pollock -- without actually deriving any meaning from that. Name-dropping was a fancy backdrop and did not create a CONTEXT for the action. Some of the issues discussed were so tired and tiresome: e.g. global loss of privacy , the internet as Big Brother, behavioral patterns as source of the new enslavement of the individual by the big technology corporations. The display of the 'enslaved', 'closeted' robots (all women), interchangeable, and disposable - was the lowest point of the film. This part belonged to "dungeon" movies aesthetics, if there is such a genre.

Isn't it sad that the underlying message of the film eventually turned out to be that the robot "becomes" human when it learns to lie, back-stab, and be manipulative? This is the test for humanness? Please...If the movie sends a cynical message that does not mean that it is very intelligent or intellectual... The final shot was quite ridiculous - the robot's (now human) dream to stand on a cross-section and observe what happens IS accomplished!? I thought the director would at least send her to manage The Big Software Corporation ...

Oscar Isaac is unrecognizable in the role of Nathan and as good as ever. Hope he gets the role he deserves in the future.

Film: Wild (2014), Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée. Based on the book of Cheryl Strayed

Watching this film, one can't help comparing it to other films based on the metaphor of the road or endurance  or self-discovery - films like "On the Road" or "Into the Wild" and going further back - "Easy Rider" or even -- "The Odyssey." The comparison is not in favor of "Wild." It relays a very personal story, as opposed to generational, unlike the above-mentioned films. And being so personal, or individual, it does not possess the intellectual baggage to turn this story of ordeal into a more meaningful one. If it wasn't for the final monologue of the character which injected some meaning and some element of self-analysis, the film would have remained a mix of painful memories recalled against the backdrop of some beautiful natural vistas or somewhat threatening landscapes. If it wasn't for the sentimental scene with the little boy and grandma with the lama it would have left the viewer unperturbed by Cheryl's earlier misfortunes.
And "Election" is still Reese Witherspoon's best film.