Society has always had the need and the want or desire to play God throughout history of cinema (e.g. Frankenstein, Ex Machina). Of course like all of them, they are usually destined to be doomed. So for today’s film, I chose to watch the newest film in Artificial Intelligence entitled Morgan. Morgan (Anya Taylor Joy) is a new breed of artificial intelligence kind of humanoid that was breed as an organism by scientists as an experiment. One afternoon, Morgan has sort of a metal lapse and she attacks a scientist. The corporate company that is paying for the experiment decides that it wants to send in a risk-management consultant by the name of Lee Weathers (Kate Mara). Lee must decide whether Morgan is a valued asset or to terminate a dangerous asset. The film also stars Rose Leslie (The Last Witch Hunter) as Dr. Amy Menser, Michael Yare (Game Of Thrones) as Ted, Toby Jones (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) as Dr. Simon Ziegler, Chris Sullivan (Stranger Things) as Darren, Boyd Holbrook (Gone Girl) as Skip, Vinette Robinson (Sherlock) as Brenda, Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) as Dr. Cheng, Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight) as Kathy, and the film was directed by Luke Scott (Loom).
The idea for the film was there and for the most part they did a fine job, but maybe the execution didn’t go off as planned. The first part of the film is kind of boring as it’s getting you up to speed with what is going on and exactly who Morgan is. The real excitement in my opinion is when Paul Giamatti shows up to test Morgan as to whether she is an asset for the company or not. That is when the intensity of the film really starts to build up because for a while all you get are pieces of a secret until that secret is finally revealed to you as to why she was locked in the box again. Giamatti is really just there to mess with her mind and prove that she in fact is not human and therefore is not capable of feeling real emotions. He is a ball buster and the only one who is going against science. I didn’t recognize Anna Taylor Joy until I saw that she was in the film The Witch. She was phenomenal in that film and she did a pretty good job in this one as well. One thing that I will say is that she was kind of freaky looking to me which might have been a very small aspect for what they were going for. The one thing I didn’t understand was what was the point of the character of Skip? He really doesn’t serve a real purpose in the film, but he’s just there. There’s a big twist at the end of the film, but if you do the math you’ll figure it out as soon as it happens. I saw the ending coming as soon as it started to unfold which doesn’t bother me too much, but they could have done better with that. Overall, it’s just an OK film that was looking to explore a different aspect of A.I. in cinema. I commend them for that, but it won’t change my grade this time. I am going to give the film an C+ for a final grade.
I have decided after seeing what a friend was doing with his challenge that I would rate the month of February as far as the films I watched. So, I have decided to list my top 25 films of each month and we are starting with the month of February. I will look at all the films I watched and I will rate them from 25 to 1 with one obviously being my favorite film of that particular month. At the end of the year I will rate the top 25 of the year if I make it to that point and hopefully I do. Obviously there are films that are left behind from the list considering some months have 30, 31, and this year February has 29 days. So, some films are unfortunately left behind and I will tell you that The Witch, Sharknado 3, The Punisher, and Black Mama, White Mama are left off the list. I’m not really going to explain why, but rather just show what my top 25 was. So, here is the list:
There hasn’t been a movie that I had been looking so forward to seeing than this week’s release of Salem Witch Trials period piece The Witch. Being from Massachusetts, it’s one of the most interesting tales and stories that you hear about growing up. For a family living in a time when accusations are running rampant all over New England, they move to a new area to start a new life. Things begin to take a nasty toll for the family when the youngest child is kidnapped while the oldest was supervising the child. Right after the events, things take a nasty toll as the family begins to fall apart as they are being haunted by the idea of witchcraft and possession. The film was based off of old Salem 1600’s folklore that surrounded that time period. The film stars Anya Taylor Joy (Vampire Academy) as Thomasin, Ralph Ineson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One) as William, Kate Dickie (Prometheus) as Katherine, Harvey Scrimshaw (Oranges And Sunshine) as Caleb, Ellie Grainger (The Village) as Mercy, Lucas Dawson as Jonas, Bathsheba Garnett (Mean Girls) as The Witch, Sarah Stephens as The young Witch, and the film was written and directed by Robert Eggers.
Stephen King was quoted as saying, “The Witch scared the hell out of me. And it’s a real movie, tense and thought-provoking as well as visceral.” Just what in the hell was Stephen King talking about or seeing when he said that. I wondered if we were watching the same movie? Was the film thought provoking? Sure I guess at times it could have been, but where were all the scary parts that scared the hell out of him? The film is basically 1600’s fan fiction come to life on the big screen in a film that is just flat out boring. There were no jump out of your chair scenes as the film was mainly psychological. The one thing I can say about the film that was positive was the fact that the acting was absolutely superb. They made you believe that you were in the 1600’s with the hard to understand old English language and they made you believe that the family was falling apart due to paranoia. This was a film that you legit could end up walking out on if you’re not a completest like me so you know I stuck around for the whole film. To me the last five to ten minutes of the film was the most exciting part of the film when all of the good stuff started to happen. If you want suspense then watch the trailer and save yourself the time because all the good stuff is in that. The film did not live up to the hype in my opinion. That is why I am going to give the film a D+/C- (right on the borderline) and I’m doing so because of the costumes and the acting. Other than that, it doesn’t deserve a higher grade. Watch the film at your own risk!
365moviesin365dayschallenge 