"Ex Machina" (2015)

[bigburner]

Sci-fi fans listen up. A very good film from first-time director Alex Garland awaits you.

Nathan (Oscar Isaac) is a billionaire Bill Gates / Steve Jobs / Jack Mar type who lives in a remote house / laboratory where he invents and experiments with artificial intelligence and robotics. The result of his work is a rather attractive and intelligent female robot Ava (Alicia Vikander). Nathan invites one of his employees Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) to come to his house for a week and interact with Ava, ostensibly to evaluate her capabilities. Unfortunately for some of the characters in this story things don’t turn out as planned.

It is a rare treat to watch such an intelligent sci-fi film. It could so easily have degenerated into the usual predictable crap, but it didn’t.

Nigel.

[Chris D]

I'm looking forward to this. it remind me of the pilot episode for the "new" Outer Limits, "Valerie 23".

[madmac]

Fascinating !!

[Renron]

Watched this film with 2 of my sons last week. Plot is recycled "The Machine" available via Netflix, it was done with excellent CG and looked very good on screen. The genius who wrote the script for the AI was not a likeable character and would have made a good politician as he thought he was a gift to humanity and the world revolved around his desires.
It was a very pretty movie, we enjoyed it, but found it too predictable. The character AI study was excellent, and human AI interaction / dialogue was complex on many levels. When is a question, an answer?
Overall we enjoyed the film, but none of us would pay to see it a second time. On the plus side, it was better than Tusk. ;O
I miss the depth of the first Matrix.

Ron

[Chris D]

FWIW, this movie has been announced as being the first BD that will be coming out with DTS:X for the home. DTS:X is DTS's version of next-gen object based audio. The BD will be coming out July 14th, and I'm not sure there will actually be DTS:X AVR's out by then. Onkyo has announced theirs, and I think they're coming this summer if I remember right.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=16835

Regardless, this is good to see, the full arrival of object based audio, which is AWESOME. Looking forward to seeing this on BD at home, eve if I'm applying Dolby's object audio processing (DSU) to it when it comes out, as I won't have DTS:X myself until later this year at the earliest.

[Ovation]

I didn't think my space would allow for an Atmos (or other) setup (small, drop ceilings) but I've looked into it and I think I can squeeze in a minimalist setup (5.1.2--5 basic "surround" speakers, .1 for the sub (though I have two, they work as one) and .2 for 2 ceiling speakers). My space is short enough front to back that two ceiling speakers should cover it and, if I'm clever enough, I can suspend them from a wooden beam that is just overhead of the sweetspot. I don't have the space for the full-blown 9.2.4 option I've read about, nor do I think my room warrants it. However, I will not race to upgrade. I will just keep it in mind when the time comes. It will be easier to justify as timbre matching the ceiling speakers is not considered essential, from what I've read (they don't make speakers like mine any more) and I'll only need a pair, not a bunch. Also excellent motivation for not moving the setup to a bigger room. I do look forward to trying it out one day.

[Chris D]

Ah, but do remember that object-based audio (e.g. Atmos) is much more than just putting in ceiling speakers. I myself am still running a classic 7.1 setup and haven't yet put in the ceiling speakers, and Atmos is AMAZING on my system. It's much more clear and precise on both audio reproduction, and sound placement. And the new multichannel sound processing is almost as good as the new native Atmos signals themselves, or by some reports, even better. Dolby calls their version "Dolby Surround Upmixing", or DSU, which replaces previous processing like DPL IIx or DPL IIz, and it can be applied from any input, all the way down to mono, to however many channels and their placements that you have. I think DTS is naming their upcoming version of the processing "Neural:X".

Even with my 7.1, Atmos was definitely a good purchase for me. Eventually I want to go to a 9.1.4 setup as a minimum. 9.1.8 would be even better. But that's not going to be in the cards until next year at least.

[Ovation]

I guess by the time I get a new AVR, Atmos (and others) will be standard features, so I'll get to try it out with or without ceiling speakers. However, unless a whack of cash suddenly falls in my lap, the upgrade won't be for awhile (I took advantage of the "old geezer quota" and I'm going back to grad school to get a PhD--those costs come before my "man-cave" gear). However, I did enter a contest that could see me win an Atmos capable AVR (tiny chance, of course, but not impossible). If that happens, I can scrounge up enough for a pair of speakers to try it out.

[Chris D]

Good luck in the contest! Yikes, going for your PhD. Yeah, not going to have much free time for A/V. Of course, you could always put on music and listen while studying.

[Ovation]

Good luck in the contest! Yikes, going for your PhD. Yeah, not going to have much free time for A/V. Of course, you could always put on music and listen while studying.

I can only listen to music if I'm doing mundane tasks (end of semester paperwork, using the online library catalogue to search for material, etc.). If it requires any concentration on my part (especially some of the, unfortunately, jargon-laden journal articles I will be reading by the dozens for the next few years), can't really have music, except, on occasion, some low-volume baroque music to drown out ambient noises I might find distracting. Otherwise, I start paying attention to the music rather than my work.

The PhD experience will be unusual. I'm a bit beyond the typical student's age range (I'll be 48 when it starts). I'm going to be a teaching assistant this fall--for a professor younger than I am, for a course I have taught six times myself (same academic level, but at a community college rather than a full-blown university). Should make for interesting times.

[wkhanna]

Hi Paul.

V excited for you to be perusing a PhD.
Being a little more experienced & mature should benefit you.
It is never too late to expand your knowledge.

Well done!

[madmac]

I can only listen to music if I'm doing mundane tasks (end of semester paperwork, using the online library catalogue to search for material, etc.). If it requires any concentration on my part (especially some of the, unfortunately, jargon-laden journal articles I will be reading by the dozens for the next few years), can't really have music, except, on occasion, some low-volume baroque music to drown out ambient noises I might find distracting. Otherwise, I start paying attention to the music rather than my work.

The PhD experience will be unusual. I'm a bit beyond the typical student's age range (I'll be 48 when it starts). I'm going to be a teaching assistant this fall--for a professor younger than I am, for a course I have taught six times myself (same academic level, but at a community college rather than a full-blown university). Should make for interesting times.

I'm right there with ya' Ovation in regards to having music playing while trying to concentrate on something else. I think most of the guys here on the forum are the same. Because we take our music and audio seriously, we have to in most cases, sit down and listen to it! This is especially true if something I really love is playing. I simply cannot be doing something else and ignore it...........I'm seriously drawn to it and........MUST listen to it !

[Renron]

Congratulations, being older and wiser will help you when it comes time to "bite your lip".
BTW, Thread Drift.

Ron

[Ovation]

Congratulations, being older and wiser will help you when it comes time to "bite your lip".
BTW, Thread Drift.

Ron

True, on both counts. Of course, I'm one of the mods, so as long as I approve, the drifting can go on.

That said, anyone who wants to get back to the discussing the film itself should feel more than welcome to do so. I might even get around to watching it one day so I can contribute more directly to the conversation. :T

[Renron]

Ovation,
Just a friendly reminder........
I did enjoy the movie and especially the "see-through" special effects of the machine's body. Clear body parts won't be a spoiler to those who haven't seen the film yet.

[Chris D]

So I rented "Ex Machina" the other day on BD. First, the audio--as I mentioned, this is the first BD to have DTS:X object based audio. The interesting detail is, no AVR has been released yet for the home that can decode DTS:X! So selecting that track, my BD player (PS4) output DTS-HD, as it should. The audio quality was excellent. Some ethereal/light techno music sounds surround the theater, sounding very crisp and clear. I can only imagine that once equipment exists and we can actually hear the track in full DTS:X, it will be superb, subtly enveloping the viewers and making the experience much more immersive.

The movie itself... ehhh. So-so. All the subjects/themes/story plots seem to have been shown before in sci-fi, with AI, robotics, the questions of AI becoming sentient and how to define life, AI vs its creator, etc. So I didn't really find this that fresh.

I would summarize it as, "for a viewer that is relatively new to the sci-fi genre and hasn't been exposed to many stories of AI becoming sentient, this would be a delightfully interesting and thought provoking film. For the rest of us, it's familiar territory, and more light entertainment". Glad I rented it, but it probably won't be a repeat view for me.

:3: out of :5: for me. Add another 1/2 to 1 full star for the audio quality, if you want to do a reference viewing in your home theater.

[Renron]

Chris,
I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the film. My review mirrors yours. The sound you hear in the background (very faintly) sort of sounds like rain falling, is the clack of relays opening and closing. It's from the early days of computing, and punch cards being processed. You may have to be an old fart like me to remember those sounds.
Movie wise, I'd watch it again on Netflix, but I wouldn't on PPV.
Ron

[Kevin D]

Might have to rent just for that! I rode out hurricane Elena inside a South Central Bell central station when I was 8, and haven't forgot those sounds.

Kevin D.

[George Bellefontaine]

I rented this. It was okay, but I felt the pacing just a bit too slow. I saw the ending coming early. I wouldn't care to watch it again.