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This review may contain spoilers.

I don't exactly know why, but I enjoyed this film very much. From the haunting soundtrack to the simple and bright visuals, Kubrick elicits much emotion from the viewer. The void of space creates a sense of seclusion and desperation for the crew of the Jupiter mission. When HAL decides to kill them, there is very little any of them can do to stop the maniacal computer. There was some foreshadowing of this however. In the interview with BBC the crew of the ship says that they treat HAL like another member of the crew, but whenever they talk to him they use a bit of a condescending tone and I detected a certain amount of suspicion in their voices. It was almost as if they were speaking to a young child- slowly and deliberately to make sure nothing is lost.

Like I mentioned earlier however, the audio engineering and special effects for this film are tuned to perfection. The soundtrack consists of classical ballet music and heavy breathing interjected with awkward and emotionless snippets of dialogue from the equally awkward and emotionless characters. The special effects and set design departments also did an excellent job. Everything looks appropriately futuristic and they put interesting touches on the classic sci-fi space suit design. The sleek suit with articulated ts remain, but they seem to have created novel designs for the helmet and life systems. The ships also have interesting designs and they interiors are lit with vibrant lights. I don't know if any of it could ever actually work, but it sure looks like it could.

This review may contain spoilers.

An unconventional film with an unconventional plot, Upstream Color seems much more metaphorical than literal. Criminals drug their victims and rob them blind while making them do trivial tasks like copying Walden onto construction paper and then making a paper chain out of it- chains which from the opening scene appear to be discarded when they are finished. The criminal organization appears to be very well organized as well. The worm used to do the drugging is taken from the roots of a flower and somehow istered to the victim. It reproduces in the victim's body and is then surgically removed from them and put into a pig. The pig reproduces and es the parasite onto its piglets which are then put in a burlap sack and thrown off a bridge by the surgeon/hog farmer/nature musician. The piglets come to rest by a large tree and the worms come out and inhabit the roots of the flowers that grow on the tree which turn blue. The blue flowers are harvested by the backpackers and potted, where the kidnapper harvests them and the cycle starts anew.

One thing I don't get is why the kids in the beginning are drinking tea made with the worms. It appears to put them in an automatic mindless state, much like what happens to the victims, but not as severe. But considering that the worms messed with the victim's heads so badly that they could not separate their childhood memories and generally drove them insane, it seems unwise to drink anything that has touched them. But then again this scene was probably just to show us the effects of the worms.

It is fairly clear that this movie cannot be interpreted literally. There isn't really a crime ring stealing people's money and homes using drug worms, and it is also obvious that the pig farmer doesn't actually exist, considering how he can go wherever he wants and nobody even interacts with him. My interpretation is that this film is about depression. Depression works on a cycle. You feel like crap than then you're normal and then you're on top of the world and then you feel like crap again. Repeat over and over. All of the victims listed on the sheet were depressed people whose depression was the product of one or many large or small traumatic experiences. They struggled with it until one of them was able to look the inner demons in the eyes (when Kris looks the farmer in the eyes- the first time a character acknowledges his existence) and then they all band together and take care of their pigs (symbols of themselves) and raise the piglets (positive thoughts) instead of killing them and using the corpses to create more misery.

I'm not entirely sure what this was. I don't even know if I am capable of giving this film a rating on such a simple scale as 1-5 stars. I'll give it two just because it is a very strong visceral experience, but that's about all it is. At one point I tried eating a sandwich while watching this. I managed to finish my lunch but it was not at all enjoyable, ass I could think was that I was actually eating a ball of fish organs. All in all, the best way I can describe this is deadliest catch had a nightmare trip on LSD.

This review may contain spoilers.

Memento is a twisty and nonlinear look into humanity, morality and fate. This film requires your undivided attention as it moves backwards from the end to the beginning. Sort of. The color sections of the film are played forwards but every section takes another step into the past, a fact which is foreshadowed by the film playing in reverse during the opening credits. Meanwhile the black an white cut scenes detail the events leading up to the beginning of the last segment of color film. We watch as our dubious antihero Lenard is taken advantage and used as the battlefield between Teddy and Natalie. Lenard does all the killing but his memory condition makes him so easy to manipulate that he is regarded as a tool or weapon much more than a human being for the entire movie. Nobody blames him, but they use him to make money and extract revenge. But in the end, Teddy aka John Gimmel was sort of asking for that to happen to him, I'm not sure how he didn't see that coming. If you play with fire you're going to get burned.

This might just be the most bizarre thing I have ever watched. Netflix describes it as a "comedy piece" and I think that is a fitting description. I must it it is humorous in a very offbeat sort of way. There are no true laugh out loud moments but the absurdity of the whole thing is disturbingly funny. The cinematography is (hopefully) intentionally bad to the point being comedic as the black and white camera lapses in and out of focus, moves shakily and sometimes erratically, and for no discernible reason there are about two minutes of color film mixed in in the middle. Overall it feels very surreal. Despite their sheer dorkyness, the characters do a lot of drugs and LSD is brought up several times throughout, and it certainty seems like this movie was filmed through the eyes of someone who is experiencing a very boring chess computer program conference while tripping on acid.

This review may contain spoilers.

Ex Machina is beautifully filmed and presents a stark contrast between mechanical order and organic disorder. On the surface there is the contrast between Nathan's house/research facility and the nature which surrounds it. The building is modern and it's construction uses simple vertical and horizontal lines while just outside it's walls a forest grows and rivers run and mountains run freely. Then inside the characters' minds there is the difference between the calculated planning of Ava and the confused and cloudy judgement of Nathan and Caleb. This difference is at the heart of the film. Ava might be true artificial intelligence but she lacks emotion while having access to basically all the information in the world. She executes a perfectly calculated plan and plays both of the men who were trying to test her. She manipulates Caleb into helping her escape and then traps him to ensure her survival. She does this so well in fact that she even tricks Nathan. Nathan expects Caleb to try to help her escape and even drops not so subtle hints about her sexuality to get Caleb to fall for her, but he misjudges the extent to which Caleb will go and by the time he realizes his creation has actually escaped it is far too late. Caleb's judgement is clouded by his love for Ava and Nathan's judgement is blurred by his obsession with proving that Ava is true AI, but in the end she has no problems with killing both of them so she can escape and be free. We see the terror generated by their organic minds as they see their fate while Ava's mechanical brain is seemingly incapable of creating emotion and she stabs Nathan and traps Caleb in a room, all with a straight face.

My personal 10 favorite films presented in a somewhat arbitrary order.

1. Apocalypse Now
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Donnie Darko
4. The Thing
5. The Shining
6. Memento
7. Full Metal Jacket
8. Django Unchained
9. Gone Girl
10. Psycho