Steve Jobs

Plot: This is a biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender). It focusses on three days of his life, the launch of the Macinosh, the launch of Next computer, and the launch of the first iMac. In each launch he talks with his ex-wife, daughter, assistant Joanna (Kate Winslet), Woz (Seth Rogan) and ex-Apple CEO John Sculley (Jeff Daniels) about business and about their lives.  [imdb]  [photos]

Review: .he dialog is outstanding, sparkling, sharp, and fun-to-listen to. This is great because the movie is filled with write Aaron Sorkin's dialog. This movie could have been dull, but the script is great.

I love the relationship between Steve and Joanna, Kate Winslet's character. Joanna is the only one who can talk directly to Steve, and cut through his bullshit. Kate Winslet is great in this movie.

I like this movie, and it is important to separate the film from whether one likes Steve Jobs as a person. In this film, he is not necessarily a successful person. CEO's are often assholes; especially self-made ones. The longer they are in the top job, the pushier and less connected they are.

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogan, Jeff Daniels

Directed by: Danny Boyle

Written by: Aaron Sorkin based on Walter Isaacson's book

The Music: Mixed instrumental tracks by John Debney, the best being Think Different, and  augmented with Bob Dylan and period pop music

The Visuals: It is mostly dialog, but I loved the conference room scene with the water running down the windows, and the shadow of the running water on the ceiling. Pretty cool.

Rating: 3.5 stars: The dialog is that good!

 

More: Info on the historical accuracy is on Wikipedia

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Bridge of Spies

Plot: In 1957, Russian spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) is put on trial in New York, and Jim Donovan (Tom Hanks) becomes his defense attorney. 1950's America hates and fears the Russians, and Donovan encounters bias legal rulings. Abel is convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Meantime Francis Gary Power's is captured when his U-2 spy plane is shut down over Russia. Donovan does a back-channel negotiation to trade Powers and Abel. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Bridge of Spies is a simple story told as a metaphor for civil liberties shrinking in post 911 America. In America the main story was about hatred and persecution, and in Europe the story was about the oppressive power of government. The message is that the difference is respect for the law. 

Tom Hanks kept the slow-moving story interesting with his clever expressions and readings. He does a good job with the old-time phrases. 

Mark Rylance who plays Abel is a blank cypher -- not interesting at all. Donovan's wife was played by Amy Ryan, and while she had a small part, she has one knock-em-dead facial expression at the very end that I loved. 

There is a lot of German dialog, and while some it was fast; the vocabulary was simple enough for me to understand most of it. 

Despite the high powered cast, it is a simple moral fable, it is well-told, but beyond the fairly simple political message, there isn't much there. It is a good movie to start a conversation.

Don't go to see Bridge of Spies thinking it is a new James Bond or Mission Impossible. One of my main disappointments with Bridge of Spies is that it is not the movie the trailer makes it seem to be. It isn't cool to be a spy in the real world.  Abel is one of the least cool people.

After all is done, I am left admiring James Donovan and his adherence to American values. It strikes me that in the battle against radicalism, Americanism is a good weapon. 

Cast: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance

Directed by: Steven Spielberg; Written by the Coens. 

The Music: The music is very spare. Mostly silent.

The Visuals: Mostly dialog. One excellent scene is when Power is shot down, and he is dangling from the plane as it falls. The other great visual is when the escaping East Berliners are shot trying to climb wall. All the 50's era stuff is interesting in a Mad Men way. 

Rating: 3.0 stars: It's a standard 2.5 star movie with an extra half star for the political message. 

More: Here are photos:

Donovan with President Kennedy

Rudolf Abel

Even More: Here is a story about the Donovan's from their home town paper in Lake Placid.

Sicario

Plot: FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) is assigned to a militarized drug task force along the US-Mexican border. Her new colleagues, Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) and Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), are using aggressive, bloody tactics on their raids on drug runners and king-pins. Kate and her partner Reggie (Daniel) follow along in increasingly adventurous raids which lead to a dark and morally-clouded finale.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Dark. Intense. Gripping and Exciting too.

What does law enforcement do in the name of the greater good? Plenty of shooting.

Sicario is a top movie with good characters, big action, subtle action, and a message. I really liked it even though it left me feeling bleak and empty by the end. 

Benicio Del Toro's Alejandro is a force of nature; Alejandro has a long past with politics, criminals, retribution to his family; he is strategic, emotional, and brutal. Del Toro makes this performance look easy.

Emily Blunt's Kate is super-competent, but she and her boss are conflicted about bending the rules to get the bad guys. As the rules get bent into pretzels, her conscience becomes the surrogate for the audience's.

This is a well-made,thoughtful movie with great characters and a moral issue to chew on. I loved it.

Cast: Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Donovan

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve

The Music: Great soundtrack by Johann Johannsson. Often drum heavy, but hitting the emotional beats hard exactly. The final song, The Beast, echos the bleak, dark mood of the final scenes. The music played over the soccer game is some of the saddest music ever. The soundtrack should get an Oscar.

The Visuals: The best visual was the soldiers sneaking up to the smuggler tunnel with the setting sun behind them. All or nearly all the bloody shooting is off-camera, so it is not a gory as it could be.  

Rating: 4.0 stars: Even though Sicario is serious, it is still exciting, and parts are fun to watch. 

More: "Sicario" means hitman in Mexico; it originally meant a Jewish Nationalist in Roman Palestine.

Even More: Last week at The Martian, no one asked "Why save Watley?" even though spending the money used to save Watley on vaccinations for poor people would have saved many more lives. Utilitarianism says the best outcome is the one where the most people are in the best condition. 

In Sicario, the USA justifies a lot of killing using the utilitarian principle that by killing these drug smugglers today, more people will live elsewhere. That is, extra-constitutional, extra-territorial violence doesn't matter in the name of the greater good.

In The Martian there is a different moral calculus, that we had a absolute moral requirement to rescue the astronauts because they took the risk on our behalf, and we needed to expend any cost to do so. 

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The Martian

Plot: Because of an emergency Mark Watley (Matt Damon) is left for dead on Mars by his ship Captain (Jessica Chastain), but he isn't dead. He needs to figure out how to grow food and signal for help. In time, he connects with NASA and his old crew is involved in his rescue attempt.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: The Martian is a dramatic and engaging film with big stakes and interesting characters. I liked it. 

Two things make the movie great, the clever script and Matt Damon. The script threads a delicate balance of irreverent, light-heartedness with a long series of life and death challenges. Matt Damon is great too. He is human and also capable.

Unlike Tom Hanks in Cast Away, Matt has technology to communicate with; there is plenty of dialog even though no one is physically present.

While the arc of the story is easy to guess, the problem solving steps are fascinating. In this way, it is a technical journey from problem to problem as much as it is a physical journey across Mars and across Space.

Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Krisen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mackenzie Davis

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Written by: Drew Goddard, based on the book by Andy Weir

The Music: Music is a highlight with orchestral music by Gregson-Williams supplemented with disco and pop tracks like Starman by David Bowie

The Visuals: The space scenes are outstanding. I want to see a making of movie video. It looked like so much fun floating around weightlessly on the Hermes from chamber to chamber.

The Mars scenes were solid, but not cool. 

Rating: 3.5 stars: Strong movie. Dramatic. Interesting. About something.

More: When Lewis says on the radio, "... this is Hermes Actual." It means that she is the commander of the Hermes. 

Even More: The movie script was better than the book because it drops the boring parts. The book is interesting because it explains the science better. I'd like to see an article on the whether the science of The Martian is actually reasonable.

Yet More: Unlike every other rescue movie, there is no crying wife and kids at home. It is refreshing NOT to this well-worn trope here.

Everest

Plot: Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) runs a Mount Everest guide service, and for $65000 each he is guiding climbers including Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin) to the top. They are delayed, and on the way down there is a terrible storm. In the extreme conditions everyone struggles to survive. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Everest was a little disappointing. The film isn't interesting until climbing starts, and it is exciting until the snow starts. I found the climbing action confusing because it was hard to tell who was who in all the gear. I didn't think the climbing action was interesting, although the falling was exciting.

I found the conversations with the wives too predictable, and the final conversations were really sad -- but predictably sad. How often do we have wives introduced so someone could cry? Kiera Knightley, Rob's wife, had a great tearful phone call -- sure looked like real tears. Good actress.

I liked the helicopter rescue scene -- dramatic and interesting.

Overall, the dangerousness of the climb was the message. How dumb were these people to risk there lives on the mountain? And also, if I were in there shoes, I'd be just as stupid and try to push ahead to the top and then probably die.

So after thinking about how I'd probably die on the mountain, ask me if I liked it. Well? No not really. Made me feel mortal, which I am after all. This is not an escapist movie.

Cast: Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Kiera Knightley

Directed by: Baltasar Kormakur

The Music: Above average modern orchestral music with a interesting moments.

The Visuals: I saw this in 3D on a premium screen, not IMAX, but I paid $3 more that regular. I was disappointed. There are a few good mountain shots, but it is not spectacular movie. 

Rating: 1.5 stars: It deserves 2 stars but it gets only 1.5 because I don't like thinking about my own death. Excuse me, I'm going to listen to some funeral music.

More: .

Even More.

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Shaun the Sheep Movie

Plot: Shaun the Sheep devises a plan to take a vacation, but it goes wrong and The Farmer gets lost in town with amnesia. Shaun and the other sheep head to to town to rescue him, but The Farmer has become a celebrity hair stylist and does not want to leave. In town, Shaun and friends are hunted by the animal control officer. After many adventures the animals go back to the farm, and everyone appreciates how nice their familiar routine really was. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Clever, cute. Fun-to-watch and never boring. No dialog to carry the story, just a few Scoobie-Doo style vocalizations that vaguely sound like words. Yet, it is easy to follow the simply plot.

One of the best had the dog in a hospital operating room. The dog needs to hide the fact that he does not know how to operate, and he gets too distracted by the bones in the anatomical skeleton in the room.

Another great scene is when the sheep disguise themselves as people and go to a restaurant. They don't know what to do, so they all imitate another diner -- funny and silly.

With sheep away, the pigs take over the house, and act like piggy people -- also pretty funny.

Having said all this, it is a simple movie with simple emotional beats. It is well-told. 

Written and directed by: Mark Burton, Richard Starzak

The Music: Good songs. I bought Big City by Eliza Doolittle. 

The Visuals: It's mostly claymation with a few computer effects. Its cute and the animation is not distracting in either a good or bad way. 

Rating: 2.5 stars: Fun to watch and all, but it is still pretty simple. No human drama or clever social commentary.

More: I want a T-Shirt with the psycho dog from the jail on it. 

Even More: Shaun the Sheep has had his own TV show in the UK since 2007.

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The Man from UNCLE

Plot: In 1963, American spy Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Soviet spy Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) need to find a nuclear scientist to preventing him from selling bomb-making secrets. They track down his daughter Gaby (Alicia Vikander) in Berlin and go together to Italy. All the while Illya and Solo are in a constant rivalry.  They crash a ritzy party, break into a secret lab, and almost drown in a harbor. In they end, their governments decide they need to work together to make a sequel.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Man from Uncle is a light spy film -- great for summer movies and drive-ins. It is a little bit jokey, a little bit campy. The violence is bloodless and the story doesn't require much attention. It works; Man from Uncle is fun to watch in that popcorn movie kind of way. 

An example of the tone is when Illya was driving a boat in the harbor and being chased by bad guys in another boat. Solo casually steals and eats someone's lunch while the chase scene goes in and out of view in the window over his shoulder. 

Director Richie spends time developing the characters. Illya is a little crazy, and can go out-of-control. Solo is into clothes and art theft. 

Don't look for any messages or moralizing. Solo is a thief on the side, and they run up a high body count. They don't kill each other, so friendship rules to that extent. 

Cast: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander with Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Debicki

Directed by: Guy Ritchie who also shares writing credit

The Music: Loved the music by Daniel Pemberton. Very evocative. Almost all the tracks are good. I also liked a few of the period songs. 

The Visuals: I loved the beautiful pictures of Italy. The spy action was not as showy as a Bond movie and as mentioned, sometimes a little comic. Being set in 1963 there is some Mad Man like attention to period gadgets and fashion.

Rating: 2.5 stars: because it is fun to watch. Not higher because it is forgettable. 

More: I remember the original series. I regularly watched the re-runs. 

Even More.The original concept for the Man from Uncle was developed by Ian Fleming the author of 

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