Here's A Few Sci-Fi Stunners Currently Streaming
Plus, we've added streaming TV recommendations to the newsletter!
No matter when or where they are set, sci-fi movies always have something interesting to say about our world. It could have the budget of Star Wars or a small indie picture, but if the writing has insight and the director has vision, it will be a thrilling ride.
The best ones tend to be both thoughtful and wildly entertaining, like the four that we have recommend today. Themes will range from artificial intelligence to the multiverse to language, but you can bet that when the credits roll your imagination will be soaring. There’s tons of great sci-fi films available to stream, but try one of these four if you haven’t yet.
After you’ve checked out our recommended movies this week, scroll on down to our brand new Streaming TV Corner!
Drew recommends…
Ex Machina (streaming on Netflix)
Unlike most sci-fi, the reason Ex Machina is so unsettling is because it’s so plausible. Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is a programmer at Blue Book, a giant search engine company that seems like a fictional stand-in for Google. He wins a contest to spend a week at the private mountain estate of the company’s enigmatic CEO, Nathan (Oscar Isaac). Caleb quickly learns that Nathan is experimenting with artificial intelligence, and the reclusive CEO has chosen him to conduct a Turing Test on Ava (Alicia Vikander), his robot creation. Basically, can Caleb tell if Ava is human or robot? Does she actually possess consciousness?
Ex Machina is aware that our society is already having these types of debates about artificial intelligence, which is what makes this movie so fascinating and freaky. If Google had already created an A.I. being similar to Ava, would anyone be that shocked?
Written and directed by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Annihilation), Ex Machina centers on its three main characters set inside Nathan’s remote and aggressively sleek residence. Oscar Issac plays the macho tech-bro Nathan with the swagger and hubris you’d expect from a Silicon Valley mastermind. He lifts weights, muses over Jackson Pollock paintings, and downs kale smoothies. Despite Nathan’s narcissism, Caleb can’t help his own curiosity and amazement at what the CEO has accomplished in Ava. Vikander is remarkable in this role, deftly portraying Ava as a robot convincingly portraying a human.
The film starts as an intriguing slow burn before ratcheting the tension up for a truly enthralling and jaw-dropping ending. Amid all of this, Ex Machina also just looks gorgeous and the lighting is sublime (it should be no surprise that it won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects). However, it’s the ideas about A.I. and man playing God that set Ex Machina apart from almost any other sci-fi movie you’ve seen before.
Coherence (streaming on Amazon Prime)
Mind-bending sci-fi movies tend to be big-budget blockbusters, like The Matrix or Christopher Nolan’s Inception and Interstellar. However, one of the films that scrambled my brain the most in recent years was made with a $50,000 budget (For reference, Interstellar had a $160 million budget). Coherence, about a group of friends that experience strange happenings during a dinner party, is a micro-budget sci-fi masterpiece.
Filmed over five nights at the writer-director’s house, the actors had no script -- only notes on their characters -- so the dialogue is almost entirely improvised. This lends an unpredictable and spontaneous feel to this cerebral mystery with a sci-fi twist. As the friends try to figure out what is going on and if they can really trust each other, the audience is forced to reevaluate things with each new revelation.
It’s best to go in to Coherence without knowing too much (the trailer doesn’t give away anything big). This film really floored me when I decided to watch it on a whim. There’s no name recognition for any of the actors or director and since it had a shoestring budget, there are no special effects like we are used to in sci-fi. Plus, at under 90 minutes, it makes for brisk viewing -- I watched it a second time just days after I first saw it. It’s eerie, it’s suspenseful, and you’ll hardy believe a film so small can leave you so stunned.
Billy recommends…
Arrival (streaming on Amazon Prime)
Audiences tend to try and put films into categories or genres. One that is the most controversial are films that try to send a message and films that are there for entertainment only. The truth is that even the most entertaining movies have messages to them. Films like Get Out and Jaws are prime examples of big movies doing that extremely well. The Denis Villeneuve-directed film Arrival is my favorite example of an entertaining film that also has a clear message.
Villeneuve is a master filmmaker when he gets the film right. He does that more often than not, Arrival being my favorite of them all. Let’s focus on the entertainment aspect to Arrival first. Arrival is an alien invasion first and foremost. That always makes for an exciting movie, but I can safely say that Arrival is the first alien invasion movie that does not focus on the action. This is no Independence Day. The audience stays entertained because of the wonder of the situation these characters are in.
When I first decided to write about Arrival I thought about making this a one-word snippet that simply said, “Amy Adams.” The reason being that Amy Adams is magnificent in this movie. She carries the emotional weight throughout the whole movie. She wraps up wonder, confidence, confusion, and sadness all into one incredibly complex character. Adams plays a linguistic professor (formal study of language) and she is asked to try and communicate with the aliens that have invaded earth.
Language and Empathy. These are the key themes to this film and these themes are what have stuck in my mind since seeing Arrival for the first time. Using language to promote empathy in Arrival leads to an important message that is not said enough. Knowing another language or culture makes it easier to be empathetic. Being empathetic may be the most important trait of being human and that message is what keeps me coming back to Arrival. I implore you to give this one a shot. You will be entertained and moved.
Okja (streaming on Netflix)
Friendly creature movies are such a strange and awesome niche genre. The most prominent example being E.T. These friendly creature movies are fun because of how sweet these creatures can be. As if they were a pet or something. Okja uses that formula, but adds a much darker twist.
In E.T. we go on an incredibly fun ride with kids who are trying to protect the creature from big bad people. The creature named Okja is a scientifically modified creature that is designed to be eaten. From the conception of this creature we know that it is going to be taken to be distributed as food, but a young girl becomes attached to her friend. She does not understand the purpose of Okja so we go on a fun, intense, and emotional journey trying to save this massive pig/hippo/cow from the big bad corporate organization.
This adventure is like E.T., but if E.T. was rated R and a commentary on animal cruelty/corporate greed. The intensity, language, and violence lead to a really strange, but effective watch. The intensity strengthens the relationship that is created between Okja and the little girl. The strong language hits home the theme of corporate greed in the face of adversity. The violence plays to the emotion we feel when we see an animal treated wrongly. These three elements enhance the experience we have with Okja and the little girl.
Don’t let the idea of sci-fi confuse you. This one stays on earth, but uses science to extreme proportions to increase the effectiveness of the satire. If you are looking for a fun/emotional ride that will bring you fits of rage, but by the end, tears of joy, then this is the sci-fi movie for you.
STREAMING TV CORNER
We’ve added a new feature to the newsletter this week! As you can see from the heading right above this, we have installed a Do You Like Apples TV Corner. We’re starting with two items:
1) What we are watching this week: It’s self-explanatory but this is where we will update you with what we are currently watching on streaming TV. Since there are (roughly) a gazillion new shows out there and everyone is always looking for TV recommendations, we’ll share what we have enjoyed streaming lately.
What we are watching this week…
Billy: Crashing (streaming on HBO Now)
This show is incredibly unrealistic, but in the best possible way. We follow around Pete Holmes who is trying to find his way in the comedy world after he catches his wife cheating on him. The world's biggest comedy stars immediately start gravitating towards young Pete. Or, young Pete? The show never establishes Pete’s actual age. Anyways, the annoyance of Pete immediately hitting it off with comedy stars like Artie Lange and Sarah Silverman is washed away by the charm of the show. The jokes are funny, the emotional beats hit hard (particularly the season finale of season 2), and it’s fun seeing a guy try and do something that many people never had the guts to do. Give Crashing a look.
Drew: PEN15 (streaming on Hulu)
For those that were in middle school during the early 2000s, this Hulu comedy is a funny and enjoyable nostalgia hit, from the soundtrack to the fashion. Here’s the interesting wrinkle though: the show’s creators (Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, both women in their 30s) star as their 13-year-old selves, which leads to some uncomfortable hilarity as they get bullied by (and crush on) actual teenagers.
2) The Office episode of the week: Part of why we started this newsletter was to help you find new and exciting things to watch instead of falling back on a comfort show (like The Office or Friends) that you’ve already seen a million times. However, let’s face it — we watch these shows over and over because they are so damn lovable. We understand that you won’t always take our fantastic movie recommendations (really, it’s fine…), so every week one of us will bring you a personal favorite episode of The Office to watch instead.
The Office episode of the week
Drew: “The Client”
Did you know Chili’s is the new golf course? That it’s where business happens? In this season one classic, Michael and Jan Levinson (no Gould) meet a client at Chili’s while the rest of the office does a table read of Michael’s hidden movie script, Threat Level Midnight, starring Agent Michael Scarn. “May we have an awesome blossom, please, extra awesome?”