Ex Machina (A24)
Alex Garland, writer of 28 Days Later and Sunshine, makes his directorial debut in this pseudo-futuristic thriller that I found to be haunting. He plays into all of the elements we’ve seen before about artifactual intelligence, but approaches it from an entirely new angle – the testing phase. What happens when you pay God and what are the consequences of the actions? Ex Machina was a bit too sci-fi for my top 10 list, which is why it’s hiding within this bonus article, although it’s easily one of the best films I’ve seen this year. I love the otherworldly feel that somehow lands firmly into a place of believability. Could something like this be going on right under all of our noses? It’s a bit frightening.
