Ex Machina, A Most Violent Year, The Gambler: this week’s cinema releases reviewed

EX MACHINA ★★★★

What does it mean to be human? That’s the question asked by writer/director Alex Garland in this superlative sci-fi tale, as computer programmer Domhnall Gleeson and tech genius Oscar Isaac clash over a beautiful – and possibly dangerous – Artificial Intelligence played by Alicia Vikander.

A MOST VIOLENT YEAR ★★★★

The second film this week for Oscar Isaac sees him play an Al Pacino-esque immigrant businessman in early 80s New York. He tries to live the American Dream but it’s not always that easy, in this moody and intense thriller.

THE GAMBLER ★★★

Mark Wahlberg attempts to prove he’s got brains as well as brawn, starring as a literature professor with self-destructive tendencies. But although his performance is pretty impressive, the film can’t compete with the gritty 1974 original. 

MORTDECAI ★★

Johnny Depp gets upstaged by his own facial hair in this limp farce about a roguish art dealer on the hunt for a missing painting.

ALSO RELEASED THIS WEEK:

BEYOND CLUELESS ★★★

LE MAISON DE LA RADIO ★★★★