2 Best Movies to Watch by Sahatchai Chumrum

Staff & contributors

The big ideas swirling at the center of The Creator are about human heartlessness versus AI compassion, man’s coldness versus robot warmth. Unfortunately, the movie winds up being an unwitting example of the former: visual effects take precedence over emotion here, meaning you rarely feel any of the intended poignancy of this story about a soldier driven between warring sides by love.

Part of that effect might be because the premise is an iffy one to swallow, as The Creator drops during a time when the once-theoretical threats posed by AI start to become disconcertingly real. But mostly, the sterile feeling of the film is a product of the writing, as a shallow script prevents most of the cast from ever making their characters compelling. Though its lifelike effects are something to marvel at, The Creator never quite convinces us that any of its humans are real — a pretty gaping flaw for a movie that wants to sell us on the idea that robots might one day be sentient.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Science Fiction

Actor: Allison Janney, Amar Chadha-Patel, Anjana Ghogar, Brett Bartholomew, Brett Parks, Chananticha Chaipa, Charlie McElveen, Dana Blouin, Eoin O'Brien, Gemma Chan, Ian Verdun, Jeb Kreager, John David Washington, Karen Aldridge, Ken Watanabe, Leanna Chea, Mackenzie Lansing, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Marc Menchaca, Mariam Khummaung, Mav Kang, Michael Esper, Monthatip Suksopha, Natthaphong Chaiyawong, Niko Rusakov, Pat Skelton, Pongsanart Vinsiri, Rad Pereira, Ralph Ineson, Robbie Tann, Sahatchai Chumrum, Sawanee Utoomma, Scott Thomas, Sturgill Simpson, Syd Skidmore, Teerawat Mulvilai, Veronica Ngo

Director: Gareth Edwards

Rating: PG-13

The tags raunchy and irreverent get thrown around on Netflix like I throw around the word fascinating. But make no mistake about it, this was disgusting right off the bat. There’s not a lot to the jokes, though, other than terrible accents and caricatures and small dick references. It feels like a reenactment of a mid standup comedy bit that went on too long. It's a fun bro movie that tells conservative Pinoy culture to suck it, but it’s a visual and narrative mess, and it has the balls to try and end on a meaningful note when it never attempted any semblance of it throughout.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Caira Lee, Donna Cariaga, Enrique Gil, Kenneth Won, Kumron Jivachat, Miguel Almendras, Mihk Vergara, Nikko Natividad, Pepe Herrera, Red Ollero, Sahatchai Chumrum, Sunshine Teodoro, Vern Kaye, Wipawee Charoenpura

Director: Victor Villanueva