Posterized: Alex Garland of "Ex Machina" Fame
Friday, April 10, 2015 at 6:00PM My schedule has been in complete disarray so I haven't yet seen Ex-Machina, opening today in limited release, but I've heard many thumbs up from the critical community.
As an early adopter of this year's "it" girl, Alicia Vikander, I'm excited to see her as a cyborg or whatever she plays in the movie. But we'll get around to Alicia and her men (Domnhall Gleeson & Oscar Isaac) after we see the picture.
Ex Machina (2015) marks Alex Garland's directorial debut but his name is already a familiar one at the movies from adaptations of two of his novels, and as a screenwriter himself. He has also served as an executive producer on a few movies, not pictured here like 28 Weeks Later (2007) which of course spun off from the film he wrote, and this summer's Big Game (2015) an action film starring Samuel L Jackson as the President of the USA.
HOW MANY GARLAND-RELATED FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN?
THE BEACH (2000) based on his novel
28 DAYS LATER (2002) original screenplay
THE TESSERACT (2003) based on his novel
SUNSHINE (2007) original screenplay
NEVER LET ME GO (2009) his screenplay adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel
DREDD (2012) his screenplay adaptation based of the comic strip character Judge Dredd
If you've read any of his novels -- the only one that hasn't been adapted for the screen is "The Coma" -- you win bonus points, and must share your feelings. It's the law.
Reader Comments (17)
Or, to make that last line be a Dredd reference, because I am the law and the law has spoken.
I've seen 4. The Beach, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Never Let Me Go, the one I'm most fond of.
Has the world come around on Never Let Me Go and love it like me? Please?
The Beach, Sunshine, Never Let Me Go and Dredd. Dredd was really good, I liked Never Let Me Go, Sunshine was forgettable and The Beach was meh.
@BrianZ - I loved both book and film versions of "Never Let Me Go". To be fair I think the film did receive a fair amount of critical praise, it was just too depressing to make it a big hit. The whole cast was excellent and Mulligan, Garfield, and Knightley affected me deeply.
I have seen all of Alex Garland's work every since "The Beach" except for "The Tesseract".
"Ex-Machina" got glowing reviews in the UK, I plan to see it soon. What a filmography, how is it that he receives so little attention?
I have a major issue with the screenplay of Never Let Me Go (bias alert: it's one of my favorite books of all-time). In the novel, it takes you 75 pages or so to figure out what's going on. You connect with the characters before learning their fate. When the movie starts out in a hospital environment, you lose that shock factor. They become victims before you even know them.
I see/read everything he is in any way a part of. Alex Garland is brilliant.
I've seen Never Let Me Go and 28 Days Later. Never Let Me Go made me ugly cry and I love it so much. Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield were so amazing and heartbreaking.
Like The Beach, do NOT like 28 Days Later(though I think 28 Weeks Later is a HUGE improvement and way way better), and I think Sunshine is very good.
I read the novel Never Let Me Go and think it's fabulous! Haven't gotten around to watching the film yet.
28 Days Later is a great film, I thought Sunshine was very good until it became a monster-in-the-house picture, and I can't remember much about Dredd other than I wished I saw it in 3D.
so no one has seen THE TESSERACT? i'm curious because it's jonathan rhys meyers but i guess it went directly to cable or something?
Let's see.... Garland truly impressed me in "Meet Me in St. Louis", "A Star is Born" and of course "The Wizard.... pardon me? huh..... what? me....her...him OH! Never mind....
i've seen "28 Days Later" and the first half of "The Beach". Oh so good.... and then the video game starts......
Lady Edith - because, dare I say it, his screenplays are the weakest part of the films!
The only other one I've seen is Sunshine (and I completely agree it goes off the rails when it turns into a monster-in-the-basement flick in the third act) but I am a huge, huge, HUGE fan of Never Let Me Go.
It's nearly my favorite film of the last few years. I am constantly trying to get people to watch it, but then afterwards have to convince them that it's actually not "too depressing," because it's SF and not really taking place in our world... but it feels like it. (Quite similar in that regard to another dystopian film I love, Children of Men.)
I like the novel too, but I think the screenplay is a splendid adaptation that does a few things better. For example, Kathy's heartbreaking final narration is ONLY in the film:
"What I'm not sure about is if our lives have been so different from the lives of the people we save. We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through, or feel we've had enough time."
I get ferklempt just reading it!
The Coma is one of those books I pick up every few months and read straight through. It's very sharp, smart writing that is accessible as well. The black and white illustrations from his father are wonderful.
3 - I liked 28 Days a lot, I kind of loved Sunshine, though I get the complaints about the last act, and Never Let Me Go is one of my favorite films, ever. Mulligan & Garfield & Rampling & that killer script and soooo much else about it - I just love it all. I'm dying to see Ex Machina, but I'm afraid it won't get a wide enough release to allow for that.