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    ‘Afraid’ Review: John Cho Stars in New AI-Themed Horror Movie

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    A family surrenders control of its life to artificial intelligence with predictably dire results — for this movie’s viewers.Curtis and Meredith (John Cho and Katherine Waterston) should have had their spidey senses tingling when their new digital assistant, AIA, dismissed one of its competitors with a breezy “Alexa, that bitch?”Instead, the couple and their three children, all of whom are endowed with a mix of entitlement and shopworn neuroses, give AIA (pronounced Aya, and voiced by Havana Rose Liu) the keys to their lives. The new gizmo is more than convenient, you see — AIA, which sees and hears everything, anticipates then solves everybody’s problems.Watching any movie in which artificial intelligence goes rogue (and there are a lot), it’s hard not to think that humankind is rushing to its doom because we were too lazy to manually turn on a light or pick a song. But before we get to the age of the machine, films like Chris Weitz’s limp techno-thriller “Afraid” are attempting to ring an alarm bell.As AIA takes control of every aspect of its new household — the movie feels as if it’s set five minutes into the future — it quickly becomes obvious that this assistant wants to be the boss. This scenario’s predictability could be forgiven were the movie effective on any level, but it just isn’t, from Cho and Waterston’s wooden performances to jump scares that would not startle Scooby-Doo.Early on, Meredith drops a reference to HAL 9000, the malevolent computer from “2001: A Space Odyssey.” This suggests an awareness of the dangers of ahead, but does she change her behavior? Of course not: Unlike AIA, these humans don’t learn.AfraidRated PG-13 for the occasional bad word. Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘The World to Come’ Review: Cold Comfort

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCritic’s Pick‘The World to Come’ Review: Cold ComfortKatherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby play two women who share a gradually recognized love in upstate New York in 1856.Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby in “The World to Come.”Credit…Vlad Cioplea/Bleecker StreetFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETThe World to ComeNYT Critic’s PickDirected by Mona FastvoldDramaR1h 38mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.Though shot in Romania, “The World to Come,” directed by Mona Fastvold, conjures an almost artisanal feeling of life in rural upstate New York in 1856. Generically, it plays like a western — a romance in untamed territory where snowy landscapes foster isolation, not explorative possibilities. When her young daughter dies of diphtheria, Abigail (Katherine Waterston) does not anticipate “a better world to come.”Still, the shy Abigail’s life improves when she meets a new neighbor, Tallie (Vanessa Kirby), who becomes her brash and effusive foil. Abigail can’t decipher Tallie’s relationship with her husband, Finney (Christopher Abbott), whose outward civility masks an abusive streak. Abigail’s husband, Dyer (Casey Affleck), a farmer with a fondness for mechanical tools, initially seems like the less polished of the men.[embedded content]Despite pervasive voice-over supplied by Abigail’s writerly diary entries, “The World to Come” leaves much unsaid. When Tallie asks Abigail what she thinks about the two of them together, Abigail says she does not “know how to put it into words.” (The screenplay is by Ron Hansen, of “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” and Jim Shepard, from a story by Shepard.)Waterston and Kirby are both superb at creating characters whose attraction must be shown to grow by degrees, without overt admission. Affleck and Abbott, too, navigate a tricky dynamic, playing men who perhaps lack an understanding of their own compassion or brutishness. The use of film stock, natural light, narrow compositions and an offbeat, clarinet-heavy score by Daniel Blumberg all contribute to the sense of a story dusted off from the past.The World to ComeRated R. Discreet sex; animal slaughter. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes. In theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More