Life gets boring, problematic, and stressful. You're not as good as you wish you'd be, and it's no point denying that you're on the right path to success. What if you could make it just a bit less tiresome? A bit more exciting? A bit more relaxed? What if drinking just a bit of alcohol every day could solve your life problems? Experiments can be dangerous. Limits once set might be too narrow. And substance abuse is a long and windy road that can take you to the top and pull you down as just as easy. Drunk - a great picture of the drinking rollercoaster and a few guys adding to their lives a bit (and a bit more) buzz.
Are only genes responsible for our intelligence, skills, predispositions or personality traits? Or are we, as children, born a blank page and our childhood, upbringing, and actions stimulate our growth to the extent that we can be entirely different beings than our family members and distant ancestors? Some were willing to take part in quite an engaging experiment to check whether you can raise a child in a pre-scheduled way so that he or she could become someone specific. For all these parents who instill in their children their unfulfilled ambitions, for all families, which struggle due to unfulfilled expectations, and for us all an outlook on parenthood and growing-up. Can, finally, human beings be devoted for the higher purpose of science, or don't we all have the right to the so-called normalcy? Birthmarked.
When gianormous creatures destroy your habitat, you gather your forces together. You experiment with technology, intelligence, compatibility of your peers, and human strength. You create a weapon. Every weapon is the extension of the human body: a knife: an extension of nails and hands, a spear: of an arm, a bow, gun, missile: a combination of the former with a bigger impact and a larger scale. The human imagination created another extension: a Jaeger: operated by a human brain and body, able to crash the monsters of the underwater world. An appreciation of the human intelligence, the fact that women can be equally good as men even in the seemingly masculine tasks, and a whole lot of positive ideals in the battle against the forces of nature. While some science-fiction ideas actually came true, we should wait for what the future holds. Maybe we will also need a hyper-innovative extension of ourselves to last millennia. A 2013 film with a 2018 sequel, Pacific Rim.
Selected few have access to the future. They see in cards, tea leaves, crystal bowl or the palm of your hand. Without a hesitation, they can forecast your life destiny, your choices, and things which will happen to you in a few years' time. But to see is not actually to be there and witness with your own body and soul. Have you ever dreamt of inventing the time machine and being able to travel in time? An army of scientists and physicists have the same dream. What if the journey to and back could immediately influence your close family and friends? What if it could question you ever appearing on Earth? A 1985 cult film with two subsequent sequels (1989 and 1990), showing you how cool traveling in time can be. And how misjudged our expectations about what is yet to come. Back to the Future.
What are the limits of personal closeness? How many years do you have to stay in a relationship to feel free to talk about your traumas, exchange your dreams, body fluids, and show your best and worst emotions? Is it enough to know each other for a day? What are your barriers and which you are not willing to break under any circumstances? Can relationship change the way you look at things and why some people just happen in our lives for some reason? An interesting experiment and a modern view of emotions and intimacy. Duck Butter.
Our brains are extraordinary. They allow us to remember images, sounds, smells, numbers, and bring back memories from years before. They make it possible for us to learn, speak, write, communicate, and survive. Their individual structure put us in categories of predispositions, making some of us science and maths-oriented, others: artists, soothing our senses; skillful parents and teachers, bringing up generations of the future; businessmen, creating jobs for millions; doctors, immune to the disgust of blood and guts, and engineers, building everything from nothing. Our minds made us survive millennia and push our civilization towards the better, healthier and stronger. For some, being a genius means failing at other aspects of life adjustments, as you cannot achieve anything without sacrifices. Temple Grandin, a woman who revolutionized the cattle industry, despite being a woman in a man-dominated world and in spite of suffering from autism. Enjoy.
It's difficult enough to be a scientist. To devote endless hours for research, skip your favorite talk show, chose less profitable future. It's challenging to devote your life to books and experiments, while tangible results are uncertain. It's painful to put in extra hours for studying, while your friends are having fun or developing their love life. It's brave to offer your life for the higher good, while millions are way more into earthly pleasures. But to be a woman scientist is an entirely different matter. Men don't have to choose between family and career, they don't have to be equally good mothers and employees, manage households and convey scientific theories. Men don't have to explain their love affairs, younger lovers, negligence at home. Men are not criticized by the army of other men. They are admired. Women are patronized by men and ostracized by women. As if it wasn't difficult enough to be a scientist. Someone finally has to beat the system. There was one woman who outwitted many men, who was awarded not one but two Nobel Prizes for achievements in science. Marie Curie. An inspiration for many, maybe also for you. Enjoy.
Medical and technological advances spring up like mushrooms after rain. Granted a certain amount of money, you can have control over the features of your child: you can choose an egg, a sperm donor, even a surrogate. Let's take a step further, possibly in the future you will be able to choose more specific features: hair color, the shape of eyes, level of intelligence. It might be possible that you will produce a better you, without flaws, without defects and genetically predisposed diseases. But what if your plan went slightly wrong? What if, instead of a perfect creature, you'd create something a little bit too perfect? Morgan.
We are fascinated with the idea of Robinson Crusoe virgin exploration of the unspoiled paradise. We make use of our inventor's instincts, survival skills and knowledge which we have accumulated for centuries. Since we cannot really discover any new lands as the era of Great Explorers has been over for centuries, we look beyond our ability of eyesight and comprehension. And since the exploration of the Earth and the Moon can be already included in the human achievement list, it's time for more distant places. A thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining mission of one man and one lonely planet. The Martian.
The artificial intelligence created in a distant villa of a brilliant but disturbed IT genius. A clever but tricked yuppie taking a part in an experiment. A beautiful but mysterious robot. What can be considered genuine in the world of technology? Can a robot be conscious of its being and can it (she?) love like every human is capable of loving? A minimalistic debut of a director but an experienced film-maker. Intellectual fable between three main characters. I wish there would be more such films as Ex Machina, and many more roles aspiring to the talent of Alicia Vikander who proves to be my definition of brilliant.








