A Glean movie guide
Minds of Machine
The future is already here.
From sentient companions to digital overlords, explore the best of AI cinema.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Ex Machina
A tense, claustrophobic examination of consciousness and the ethics of the Turing test.
Caleb, a coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds that he will have to participate in a strange and fascinating experiment in which he must interact with the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl.
- 02
Her
A soulful look at how artificial intelligence might reshape human intimacy and connection.
In the not so distant future, Theodore, a lonely writer, purchases a newly developed operating system designed to meet the user's every need. To Theodore's surprise, a romantic relationship develops between him and his operating system. This unconventional love story blends science fiction and romance in a sweet tale that explores the nature of love and the ways that technology isolates and connects us all.
- 03
2001: A Space Odyssey
The definitive space epic featuring HAL 9000, cinema’s most iconic and unsettling AI.
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.
- 04
Blade Runner 2049
A visually stunning masterpiece that questions what it truly means to be born versus made.
Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.
- 05
After Yang
A quiet, beautiful meditation on grief and the digital memories we leave behind.
When his young daughter's beloved companion — an android named Yang — malfunctions, Jake searches for a way to repair him. In the process, Jake discovers the life that has been passing in front of him, reconnecting with his wife and daughter across a distance he didn't know was there.
- 06
The Matrix
The ultimate action-philosophy hybrid where humanity battles a world-spanning simulation.
Set in the 22nd century, The Matrix tells the story of a computer hacker who joins a group of underground insurgents fighting the vast and powerful computers who now rule the earth.
- 07
WALL-E
A charming journey about a lonely robot who discovers the heart of humanity.
A robot who is responsible for cleaning a waste-covered Earth meets another robot and falls in love with her. Together, they set out on a journey that will alter the fate of mankind.
- 08
Upgrade
A brutal, high-octane thriller about a man who lets an AI chip take control of his body.
A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that he also has superhuman strength and agility — skills he uses to seek revenge against the thugs who destroyed his life.
- 09
M3GAN
A sharp, modern horror-satire about the unintended consequences of unregulated AI toys.
A brilliant toy company roboticist uses artificial intelligence to develop M3GAN, a life-like doll programmed to emotionally bond with her newly orphaned niece. But when the doll's programming works too well, she becomes overprotective of her new friend with terrifying results.
- 10
Ghost in the Shell
A landmark anime that explores the blurring lines between human souls and digital networks.
In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster' begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster.
- 11
Moon
A gripping character study of isolation and the complex bond between a man and his base AI.
With only three weeks left in his three-year contract, Sam Bell is eager to return to Earth. Stationed alone at a Moon-based facility with his computer assistant GERTY, an unexpected accident sets off a series of unsettling events that shake his isolation.
- 12
The Terminator
The foundational sci-fi slasher that turned the AI uprising into a cultural phenomenon.
In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?