Alex Garland’s unnerving and captivating "Ex Machina" continues to haunt me, seven months after I first watched it. Those who haven’t seen it should, and those who have know exactly the feeling I’m talking about. The film centers on Caleb, a young and likeable programmer who works at a Google-inspired tech company. He is chosen as the winner of a competition to visit the company’s billionaire and Boo Radley-like founder. Upon Caleb’s arrival, we meet founder Nathan Bateman (ironic surname choice?) whose mannerisms immediately make our antennas go up. Nothing explicitly out of the ordinary happens until the latter half of the movie, about which I won’t spoil. However, I will say this: This movie forces not only the characters to question their maker(s), but also makes the audience do the same (think: Frankenstein). "Ex Machina" is a powerful exploration of contested topics including ethics, philosophy, psychology, and sexuality. Analogies about Jackson Pollock paintings, for instance, make Garland’s sci-fi story artistically relatable. There is a twisted sense of trepidation you inevitably feel while watching this movie, one that will stick with you for days following. Few films achieve this high degree of effect, but I am determined to find those that do. If you wished there was an "Ex Machina 2" right after the credits rolled, here are 10 movies to hold you over until that day (hopefully) comes.
1. "Never Let Me Go"
Based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel of the same name, Alex Garland (pre-"Ex Machina") adapts this dystopian drama into a tale of friendships, morality, and mortality. What does it mean to be human?
Watch the trailer here.
2. "I, Robot"
Are robots entitled to the same ethical laws that are given to people? If you read that question again – and again – and still don’t have an answer, watch this movie. Will Smith stars and is credited as an executive producer.
Watch the trailer here.
3. "Splice"
An animal-human hybrid, two attractive and smart genetic engineers, and an ambitious experiment on the brink of revolutionizing medical science – what could go wrong?
Watch the trailer here.
4. "War of the Worlds"
Adapted from Orson Welles’ novel of the same name, this film epitomizes the paranoia felt about the atomic age, and its repercussions. It shows Welles’ idea which implies that humans are just part of the larger chain of evolutionary processes. Travel back to the Cold War era in this epic movie.
Watch the trailer here.
5. "THX-1138"
George Lucas (yes, that George Lucas) made this underappreciated masterpiece while studying film at USC. It presents a dystopian world – shocker – where robotic police keep the peace. That is, “peace” being a relative term; everyone is subdued with drugs that prohibit any sort of human-like emotion, sexual desire, or nonconformity.
Watch the trailer here.
6. "Contact"
The accomplished and reputable Carl Sagan, a professor and astrophysicist among many other professions, wrote the novel on which this 1997 movie was based. Jodie Foster stars along with Matthew McConaughey in this tense and thrilling movie revolving around the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Watch the trailer here.
7. "Her"
Ever wonder what would happen if Siri was a person? Meet “Samantha,” (Scarlett Johansson) a voice-recognition operating system who can joke, fall in love, and explore her own existence.
Watch the trailer here.
8. "Children of Men"
It’s 2027 and humanity as we know it is on the edge of extinction. How far would you go to save someone who holds the only chance of survival? Oh, Alfonso Cuarón ("Gravity") directs; enough said.
Watch the trailer here.
9. "A.I. Artificial Intelligence"
Steven Spielberg’s continuation of Stanley Kubrick’s (the aforementioned "2001: A Space Odyssey") original idea lives up to this film’s literal title: Haley Joel Osment ("The Sixth Sense") is a young robot programmed with the ability to feel love. Think Pinocchio meets Frankenstein.
Watch the trailer here.
10. "Blade Runner"
Philip K. Dick’s original novel, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” serves as the backbone for this action-packed 1982 adaptation set in 2019. Ridley Scott ("The Martian") makes you fall in love with Harrison Ford all over again, as he ruthlessly investigates the connection between man and intelligent machine – and more significantly, if they are even different at all.
Watch the trailer here.
