Spindrift: The Avengers, Joker, and the Year of the AI

This week I’m going to be doing something a little different.

Instead of focusing on one particular subject, like my past articles, I’m going to be talking about a few different things that are on my mind right now. This won’t be permanent, but a will be doing this every once in a while.

So let’s begin with Avengers.

As you probably know Avengers: Age of Ultron is coming out May 1st and people are more than excited. Other than Star Wars, this is easily one of the biggest movies coming out this year. Because of the amazing success of the first Avengers, this one has a lot to live up to. James Spader as the villain, Ultron, should be quite the treat although I’m not sure if he’ll be able to live up to Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. This Avengers movie is also freshening up the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with new characters like Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Vision. I’ve heard good things about the movie so far and I’m exited to see how it ties into the previous movies and leads into wave 3 in the MCU. I can only hope that I’ll have as much fun with this movie as I did Guardians of the Galaxy.

Staying on the note of superhero movies, I’d like to talk about the picture of Jared Leto’s Joker (from the upcoming Suicide Squad) that has been floating around the internet. I’ve heard recently that the tattoos aren’t actually going to be on the character in the movie, but that they were on him for the purpose of promoting his 75th anniversary of the Joker’s first appearance. This is probably a good thing due to the backlash coming from the fans, although I didn’t have such a problem with them. The only one I didn’t care for was the one across his forehead that said “damaged.” I do, however, like that we are getting a fresh new look at the Joker that we’ve never seen before. Leto looks like an absolute lunatic in the picture and I think that’s a good thing. His take on Joker is obviously going to stray from Heath Ledger’s more subtle portrayal in the Dark Knight. Now I just need to hear his voice and insane laugh and I’ll be happy. I should note there were also leaked photos of the Joker in a white suit which is also something we’ve never seen in the movies.

Moving on to a different topic now, 2015 seems like it’s really showing off artificial intelligence in movies. We started the year off with Chappie, last week we got Ex Machina, and now Age of Ultron is rolling in. By no means do I have a problem with these kinds of movies because artificial intelligence is something that intrigues me very much. The way that someone determines if something has a consciousness is quite the interesting process and I would recommend any of the movies I just mentioned to look into it, although I have a feeling the Avengers film won’t exactly go into depth with the topic. Ex Machina, on the other hand, does a brilliant job at presenting you with artificial intelligence and really pulling you in. Deep down, it also speaks about the truth of humanity and what determines life. Chappie was also a good movie but didn’t focus on AI as much as the Ex Machina. One of the most impressive parts of Ex Machina to me though was the fact that it was the director, Alex Garland’s first movie. He is definitely a director that I will be looking out for in the near future and you should too.