Friday, April 24, 2015

Ex Machina Film Review and Wine Pairing

The future is here and it does not look pretty.  Apocalyptic and eerily familiar to, both, the film classic, Blade Runner and The Island of Dr. MoreauEx Machina, is set in a remote area in a secret valley in the loneliness of Antarctica where nobody can help you.  Starring Alicia Vikander and Domnhall Gleason, Ex Machina is the greatest science fiction film nightmare for this millennium.

Written and directed by Alex Garland(28 Days Later and Sunshine), Ex Machina is a mind-blowing reality check on mankind's intentions and progress in science that delves into robotics, ego, love, technology and human selfishness that lays out a horrifying vision for the future of humanity.

In this sci-fi thriller, a young coder(Domnhall Gleason) is brought into the world of an AI genius and his corrupting power. The young hero is selected as the winner of a corporation-wide contest based on his coding skills to take part in a secret program with the top of the company's ranks.  What he encounters is amazing but the plot soon thickens like a deep, red and mysterious cabernet into a futuristic shocker that is both captivating and disturbing.  Here, one must wonder, "how much science is too much science?"  ....and how close are we?

Disregarding any concerns for ethics, we dive, headlong, into reality and what AI means, today.  We get that it can be very bad for humanity but does Garland have to rub it in the way he does?  Every prototype that our mad scientist created is hot....and alluring.....and seductive....it gets very troublesome.  These women are beautiful....but, wait.....they are robots.  Check yourself.

At this juncture I'm not going to go too much more into the plot of this film.  I don't want to give any more away. If you are a sci-fi buff then put down your pop tarts and lock your dog in the car - this is very good science fiction.

As creeped-out as this wonderful film - Ex Machina left me, I can only point to a very special wine from a remote, secret valley much like that in the setting of the film.  Far down below the equator is the Valle Secreto and their 2011 Vintage Cabernet is one of the very good Cabs of the world that hovers around $20.  Deep with hints of mocha and blueberry on the front with a luxurious journey into concentrated blackberry and dark cherry fruit, a glass of this wine will help calm your nerves when you return home from this fantastic horror flick.