Custom image created by Evan D. Mullicane
Published Feb 6, 2026, 7:00 AM EST
Evan Mullicane is the senior editor and founder of Screen Rant's anime section. Having started as a writer for the Comics Team at the beginning of the Pandemic, Evan was swiftly promoted from writer to editor, and then from editor to lead of Screen Rant's newly established anime vertical.
Throughout his time with Screen Rant, Evan has made a handful of appearances at conventions such as Anime Expo and San Diego Comic-Con, and has interviewed some of the biggest names in Anime and Comics history.
In addition to editing anime and manga articles for Screen Rant, Evan is also a science fiction and fantasy author. In 2018 and 2019, his short story "The Demon's Mother" won honorable mentions from the Writers of the Future contest.
You can find Evan on Twitter @EvanDM and BlueSky @evandmu.bsky.socia
Netflix is finally making the 2010s' best sci-fi thriller widely available, and it still ranks among Oscar Isaac's best movies, even 11 years after it was first publicly released.
Ex Machina Is One Thriller Every Science Fiction Fan Needs To Watch
One of director Alex Garland's best films, 2015's Ex Machina is a science fiction film starring Domhall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, and Alicia Vikander. The film follows a programmer named Caleb (Gleeson) who visits the reclusive tech giant Nathan (Isaac) at his isolated home in the middle of the woods.
Nathan reveals to Caleb that he's essentially cracked the code on artificial intelligence with the invention of a female robot named Ava (Vikander). What follows is tense and thought-provoking as Caleb tries to test Ava's humanity by connecting with her.
The movie is one of the scariest involving AI, mixing horror with cerebral questions about the nature of intelligence and what it means to be human. Critics and audiences seemed to love the film too, as it currently has a lofty 92% fresh critic score and a respectable 86% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Oscar Isaac Delivers a Career Best Performance In Ex Machina
While Oscar Isaac's Nathan might not be the main character in Ex Machina, he's still the driving force behind much of the plot. Isaac's take on Nathan mixes the actor's inherent likability with a level of smugness appropriate for a big tech CEO.
Beneath these surface elements, though, are shades of unreliability that only heighten the film's already ample tension. Nathan is an elusive character, seeming friendly while still being emotionally distant.
It's a tough act, but it truly shines among Isaac's best performances.
Ex Machina Is One Of The 2010s' Best Science Fiction Films
The 2010s was a great decade for science fiction. Between huge franchise revivals like Blade Runner 2049 and big book adaptations like Garland's own Annihilation, the decade had a lot to offer fans of science fiction films.
Even when looking at the wider competition, however, Ex Machina stands out as a particularly strong piece of science fiction. The film is self-contained, with a plot that is easy to follow, making it more accessible than most heady sci-fi movies.
Despite being relatively simple to grasp, the film deals with weighty topics and handles them expertly. All of it leads to a gut-wrenching finale that feels inevitable and tense. Now that Ex Machina has come to Netflix, there's never been a better time to watch it. Fans of science fiction and Oscar Isaac won't be disappointed.
Release Date April 24, 2015
Runtime 108 minutes
Producers Allon Reich, Andrew Macdonald
English (US) ·