The science fiction film “I, Robot” from 2004 is set in Chicago in the year 2035. There are several futuristic skyscrapers in the city, including the highest one, which is owned by US Robotics. The film’s main focus is the discovery of the top robot designer of U.S. Robotics dead in the building’s foyer. Del Spooner (Will Smith), the investigator in charge of this particular investigation believes that the death could have been brought on by a robot, which goes against the three rules of robotics that are designed to protect robots from hurting people. 

Despite exploring these complex themes, some reviewers thought the film’s handling of the subject was ultimately unremarkable. According to one IMDb critic, despite its call for tolerance, which was handled better in “Bicentennial Man,” “I, Robot” fails to innovate in the robots-on-the-prowl genre. Others, however, commended the film’s skill in juggling action and suspense with its thematic material. In a Roger Ebert review, the film was described as “less ambitious than ‘Blade Runner’ but more coherent than ‘Artificial Intelligence: A.I.’”.

Interpretation 

The idea of technology advancing to the point that it can compete with human talents is explored in the film. The robots in the film are portrayed as being extremely clever and capable of doing difficult jobs, but they are also shown to have the potential to be harmful if not programmed and managed correctly. This raises concerns about the hazards of leaning too heavily on technology as well as the morality of developing machines that may eventually replace human labour.

Overall, “I, Robot” presents a fascinating examination of the potential effects of cutting-edge technology while also providing an enormous amount of tension and action. In my opinion, I look at this film as being one of the ones. It is an older film that is able to project concerns in the future and be accurate since it does parallel what’s going on today with the emergence of AI. I highly recommend rewatching now under this new real-world experience with extremely advanced technology. 

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Reminiscence is a 2021 sci-fi thriller film directed by Lisa Joy, starring Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson, and Thandiwe Newton. Set in a future Miami that has been partially submerged by rising sea levels, the film follows Nick Bannister (Jackman), a private investigator who helps people relive their memories through a technology called “The Reminiscence.” On one particular visit, a mysterious woman named Mae (Ferguson) walks into his office and Nick becomes obsessed with her. After they build a relationship she suddenly disappears leaving Nick to look for her. This leads him down a dangerous path filled with secrets and betrayal.

As Nick delves deeper into Mae’s past, he discovers that she is linked to a powerful businessman named Walter Sylvan (Brett Cullen) and his shady business dealings. With the help of his colleague Watts (Newton), Nick uncovers a web of corruption and deception that threatens to destroy everything he thought he once knew. As he races against time to save Mae and bring the perpetrators to justice, Nick must confront his own memories and confront the harsh reality of a world where the past can be both a comfort and a curse.

Interpretation

Overall, Reminiscence is a gripping and atmospheric film that combines film noir and science fiction elements to create a compelling and thought-provoking story. With stunning visuals, strong performances from its cast, and a haunting score, the film offers a captivating glimpse into a familiar and unsettling future. While it may not be perfect, Reminiscence is definitely worth watching for anyone who enjoys a good mystery with a sci-fi twist.

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The movie reminded me of what Scorsese said about Marvel films. How they are more like amusement parks than actual cinemas. I think this applies to The Adam Project. I can’t think of what the theme of the movie is. They had a moment with future and past Adam discussing how they treat anger and love; and how they tend to confuse the two. I assume this was their attempt to give the story a deeper meaning beyond the surface level. The antagonist was lacking in all areas in my opinion. She felt distant, made stupid decisions, and wasn’t menacing. She literally kills herself. She had far too many opportunities to kill Adam but waited for him to escape. Then, she decides that she’s willing to kill Adam but kills herself. This would’ve made sense if they gave us a reason why she avoided killing him earlier in the story. The action in the film was excellent and kept me engaged the entire time. But I couldn’t understand why the invisible soldiers kept revealing themselves before they attacked. They likely would’ve captured Adam if he couldn’t see them. The character moments in the movie were heartfelt which is essential for a family movie. Also, the dialogue was quick and captured my attention. The writer also used subtext well in the movie. By subtext, I mean that when the fridge wouldn’t entirely close on the first try and how they both knew to close it made the audience feel like a detective. We put the two together based on the actions of the characters. This kept me feeling involved when watching the movie. I think that the target audience for the movie was well reached and anyone else can find the fun in the watching experience.

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First-generation Chinese immigrants Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) and Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan) own a laundry mat under their apartment. They moved to America because of the love they have for one another and they have a daughter named Joy (Stephanie Hsu). Fast-forward to the present, where their laundry mat isn’t doing so well and the entire family is dysfunctional. Waymond is seeking a divorce and Joy feels unheard and unloved by her mother. 

Evelyn discovers that she can travel between alternate multi-verses and see the different lives she could’ve lived. Each small decision she’s made piggybacks on another, creating an entirely different universe. Another universes version of her husband Waymond has tasked her with defeating the multiverse jumper named Jobu Tupaki. 

Interpretation 

The movie does an outstanding job of introducing a complex, interesting idea, and grounding it with a broken family being put back together. Although the idea of a multiverse and travelling through universes has been done before (and well)this movie still brought a new refreshing take to it. Just really amazing writing and directing by both Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. It’s a tricky job, but it did feel like as the audience we experienced everything everywhere all at once.

Without spoiling, I want to talk about themes that are brought up in the movie. The film questions what truly matters. It goes on a tangent about how humans prove old theories wrong and thus showing what we once believed, we now know was stupid. This realization gives us the freedom to understand that every action we make may not be right, but we do the best with what we have or what we know. The ability to look at other universes, and how things could’ve panned out, is both a gift and a curse. At one end you can look at the life you could’ve lived and maybe want to live, but you also see the things you lack which can give you a new appreciation for the life you live now. Like I said earlier, each small decision can piggyback on another creating a whole new life for yourself. Since you never 100% know the consequences of your actions, the best you can do is do the best with what you have and move forward with good intentions.

This is how I interpreted the best movie of 2020, leave a comment down below and let me know what you think about it.

The post Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) first appeared on Burkeview.

Two siblings living in a small town need to make enough money to take care of their mother, who has glioma. Bolton (Jack Reynor) gets a job offer from a Mexican company to try out their new gaming technology called a peripheral. Bolton got the offer because of his gaming achievements, which were really the work of Flynne (Chloë Grace Moretz). The peripheral is unlike anything Flynne had ever seen. It would seem that the peripheral isn’t a normal sim but actually Flynne operating another body that’s in the future.

When first participating in the sim Flynne was tasked with retrieving information, she believed this was part of her mission. It was later revealed that this is what Aelita (Charlotte Riley) wanted her to do to collect the data she needed. Now, knowing the real truth behind the mission, Flynne is hired to help find Aelita. She would be working for The Klept but more closely alongside someone who grew up with Aelita, Wilf (Gary Carr).

The future world that Flynne would come to inhabit is very different from the world she lives in now. This is because of the Jackpot. The Jackpot is a series of catastrophic events that killed a large amount of the human population leaving it unrecognizable. 

Interpretation 

Since the show is based on a book it would seem that it has to cram a lot of exposition into the runtime for things to make sense. I haven’t read the book personally but this is how watching it felt to me. Nevertheless, the exposition felt realistic in how it was told to the audience because Flynne is new to the future world she now inhabits. I think it being a book would explain the side characters’ actions because it would seem that they would do things without much build-up. This tends to happen with Movies/TV show adaptations. 

The creator and showrunner of The Peripheral, Scott B. Smith, spoke with io9 about the making process of the show. Based on what he said it’s clear that it was an intentional choice to make the show difficult to follow. 

“I think one thing I’ve always loved about Gibson’s work is that it’s not very accessible, and he draws on the reader’s intelligence to build the world. You have to watch how the characters use the terms and you gradually pick it up through that. We wanted that to be similar to the viewing experience—“

Regardless of the hard storyline to follow, the concept of the show is extremely interesting. I’m very excited to see where the series goes next season. 

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I decided to first watch this movie because the concept behind it interested me. I think that there are a lot of places you can go with the concept of having drugs that can alter a person’s emotions in drastic ways. The beginning clip of the movie had me asking several questions and caused me to be excited for the adventure I would go on watching this movie. From the jump, Steve (Chris Hemsworth) would claim that they were doing all of this to help people but it was very clear that there is a motive under the surface. Steve’s personality lead me to believe that he was a psychopath fairly early into the movie. It was clear that he had a way with words and he would use this to get people to do what he wanted. This is shown when he mentions the committee and how they made all the decisions. He made it seem like he had no say in the matter when in reality it was all him. As for Jeff (Miles Teller), his reasoning behind participating in the experiments was that he saw it as his way to redemption. Jeff was constantly told that his action would lead to millions of lives being saved.  

The experiments were all centred around love which had me believe that that was what Steve and Veraline (Mark Paguio) were attempting to create. A drug that could cause you to love even those truly lonely would be able to experience true love. While the experiments were conducted Jeff and a girl he shared duties with at the facility named Lizzie (Jurnee Smollett) started to fall in love. So while Steve was trying to forcibly create love between two people Jeff organically fell in love with someone. Jeff would be given a dose that made him love Heather (Tess Haubrich) but outside of the experiment Jeff had no feelings towards Heather at all. I wonder what the effect of the drug would have been if the experiment was done between Jeff and Lizzie. 

An experiment goes bad, which ends with Heather cutting her own neck and Jeff being partially responsible for it. However, through the chaos of the event, Jeff was able to go through the notebook that Steve has been using to document his findings. This is when Jeff discovers that Steve’s whole committee story is a lie and that all the experiments are leading up to something big. This newfound distrust causes Jeff and Lizzie to be against the whole Spiderhead facility and wonder if living at State would be better.  Jeff ends up confronting Mark about the things done in the facility and the true purpose of it all which causes Mark to break down. He ends up confessing to what they’ve done which means he is all for whatever plan Jeff comes up with. The next day Steve uses his knowledge of the relationship between Jeff and Lizzie to get Jeff to administer a drug called Darkenflox to her. Throughout the movie, Jeff has been against dishing this drug out because he first hand has felt it. Jeff, Lizzy, and Steve have a back-and-forth about whether Jeff should do it which he decides not to do. However, Jeff does end up using the same drugs to affect Steve. They get into a big fight and Steve ends up giving Lizzie a huge dose of Darkenflox. Jeff rushes to take the drugs out of her while Steve learns that Veraline called the police to arrest him, so he makes a run for it. Lizzie and Steve also decide to make a run for it. Steve ended up dying in his escape while Lizzie and Steve got away. 

Interpretation 

Throughout the story, we were told the different backstories of several characters. The interesting thing about their stories is it all involved someone doing something bad to someone they loved. Which coincidentally is the true purpose behind the Spiderhead facility. Steve’s ultimate goal is to create a drug that will make people follow any command even one they don’t want to do. And the thing people don’t want to do most is to hurt a loved one. As for the philosophical core of this movie I can’t figure out what the writer was trying to convey. Maybe he was trying to show that the people we love are the people that we tend to hurt the most or that love is not like the other emotions where you can force it on someone. Other than that I did find the story to be interesting but I did think that the ending was lacking in terms of bringing all the ideas together to make a cohesive movie. 

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 A man dying of a terminal illness is unwilling to leave his pregnant wife and child behind. Cameron (Mahershala Ali) is now forced with a decision to either tell his family of his fate or have them not know at all. In this future society, they have developed technology that can create a double of you. A replica of yourself is created and it lives out the rest of your life as you. This will allow the original Cameron to die without his family knowing that they are interacting with a replica. His wife Poppy (Naomie Harris) and son Hugo (Dax Rey) shouldn’t be able to tell the real from the copy. 

The decision is an incredibly tough one for Cameron. Cameron is torn throughout the movie if he’s made the right choice not only for himself but for his family. The main concern is if the copy is indistinguishable from the original so Cameron meets with a copy already out in the world. Cameron is reassured by Dr. Scott (Glenn Close) that the switch is unnoticeable. The clone is essentially him with slightly altered DNA and the same memories. The angles shown in the film constantly represent duality. This emphasizes that Cameron and his clone Jack are the same people in some way.

Interpretation 

 I believe this movie poses an interesting question to the audience, would you let your family live on without you? A question that causes you to think of how you would act if you were in the same situation. Most would be ok with this happening (they would have no choice) unless there was an alternative option like the one presented in this movie. Then it becomes a question of being ok with someone taking your place after you are gone. We may love our family deeply but if your decision is not to not to go through with it, we can reveal our selfishness in not wanting our loss to be replaced so easily by another. Perhaps if this is the case we begin to question our own values in relation to our family. 

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It all begins with a contest that selects a random programmer from a search engine company called Blue Book. The programmer selected is a man named Caleb Smith (Domhnell Gleeson). Caleb is flown out to the middle of nowhere to meet with the owner of BlueBook, Nathan Bateman(Oscar Isaac). Nathan tells him that he is creating AI and that Caleb will be the human component of the Turing test. This is a test developed to see if Nathan’s AI robot Ava (Alicia Vikander) has consciousness. There is a sequence of sessions between Caleb and Ava where they pick each other’s brains. During these sessions, Caleb and Ava begin to build a relationship. A common power outage occurs in one particular session where Ava tells Caleb that he should not trust Nathan. This puts Caleb on edge and causes him to dig deeper into his suspicions. We discover the shady nature behind the creation of Nathan’s AI robots. Nathan explains to Caleb that Ava will be the second last draft AI, and the next one he creates will be a complete version. Because of the relationship they’ve built during their sessions Caleb tells Ava that he’s breaking her out. Unfortunately, Nathan is aware of their plan and takes action to make sure it won’t work. However, unbeknownst to both Nathan and Caleb, Ava has plans of her own and she is able to break out of the facility leaving Nathan and Caleb to die. 

Interpretation 

It seems that both Nathan and Caleb underestimated Ava’s ability. This shortcoming would cost both of them their lives in the end. We learn close to the end of the movie that Nathan had always planned that Caleb would try to let Ava out, this was the whole point of him coming. But he did not anticipate Ava. Not only was her creator underestimating her but so was Caleb. Caleb thought that she cared for him when in reality she was just using him as a means to an end. I believe this was a story to highlight how we underestimate the technology that we create. And that this belief that we are superior to our technology can lead to our downfall. Most of us can’t even put down our phones for an hour, in that sense who is in control of who? 

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It all begins with a bad miracle. Money is falling from the sky, unfortunately, it’s falling at such a rate that it can kill someone. And that’s exactly what we see happen to Otis Haywood (Keith David). Otis is the owner of a ranch in California, where they breed horses for show business. After his death, the family business is left to Oj (Daniel Kaluuya) and Em (Keke Palmer). We faze forward 6 months after his death where we see Oj is struggling to keep the business afloat. His sister Em has a knack for show business but she tends to promote her things alongside the family business (something Oj dislikes). A job opportunity that they desperately need has fallen between their fingers. This causes Oj to go to someone he’s done business with in the past, Jupe (Steven Yeun). Jupe ends up describing the chaotic situation of a monkey going nuts and killing several people on the set of a show called Ricky. A show where Jupe was the star as a kid. Jupe describes the event to Oj and Em but he does it with a sparkle in his eye. He speaks about it not from a place of trauma but as if he were watching a spectacle, something to marvel at. 

When back at the ranch one of the horses, Ghost, breaks out. Oj follows him and thinks he sees some sort of flying saucer. As he viewed the saucer the power went out in the house where Em was. Not only were plugged-in things powered off but so were battery-using devices. Oj tells his sister what he believes he saw and they use this as an opportunity to save the ranch. If they can collect solid footage of proof that there’s alien life they would be able to make a fortune. 

This brings them to Fry’s, which is based on a true store that closed down. While there, they met a man named Angel who they need to set up the cameras they bought. Angel (Brandon Perea) suspects what they are doing and wants to be involved. After it’s set up they have a second encounter with the UFO. They, unfortunately, fail to capture the footage due to a praying mantis covering the camera. Oddly the mantis immediately leaves after the ship is no longer visible. Because of this, they decide they need help from someone else to capture “The Impossible Shot.” So, they go to Antlers (Michael Wincott), who was the director for the same job opportunity that they had early and failed on. Antlers turn it down by saying it’s impossible to get the impossible shot. 

Jupe puts on a show for the community where he shows them that he’s able to tame the flying saucer. This performance goes bad as we see a group of people get swallowed up by the UFO. The disappearance of all those people eventually gets news coverage and gets Antler’s attention. He decides to join them and capture the impossible shot. Oj, Em, Antlers, and Angel come up with a plan to draw out the saucer by using the fact that it’s drawn to eyes looking at it. They begin to execute their plan when a TMZ reporter gets in the middle of it. Forced to adjust Antler opts to sacrifice himself to get that impossible shot. Em can draw the creature to a well that takes photos and she gets the perfect shot. 

Interpretation 

This film demonstrates multiple examples of people doing everything they can to capture a spectacle. The prime example of this would be Oj and Em willing to risk their lives to capture solid proof of alien life on Earth. They follow this to a lesser degree than the other examples because Em eventually says that their life is not worth it and that they should give up. The only reason they continue is because Oj is unwilling to leave the horses to die. On top of Oj and Em, there is Jupe. Someone who ended up dying because he wanted to put on a show for the locals. However, he did not fully understand the animal that he was dealing with and that ignorance cost him his life. There was also Antlers and the TMZ reporter who died trying to get the perfect shot of the UFO. All these people had put capturing a moment ahead of their own lives. I believe this could be Jordan Peele’s way of highlighting our society’s need to capture a moment rather than live in it. In some of these cases, they lost their lives but in reality, you lose the opportunity to live in the moment by focusing on capturing it. 

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