Steve Jobs (2015)

Directed by: Danny Boyle

Written by: Aaron Sorkin & Walter Isaacson (novel)

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, & Seth Rogen






I've seen Ashton Kutcher play Steve Jobs and now Michael Fassbender.  Who's next?

Before I begin, I must admit that I missed the first 5 to 10 minutes of the film.  (I was running a little late.)  And also I fell asleep a couple of times.  Not sure if that was because I didn't really like this film or I was tired.  Probably both.

I felt that the actors gave a great performance, but I was just over all the fighting that was taking place.  This film put Jobs in a bad light, which I heard was true for the most part.  He was difficult to work with and had a struggling relationship with his family at the beginning, but this film left out how he changed over time.

I'm more of a "show me, don't tell me" type of person.  This film told me too much, and barely showed me anything.  It was pretty much Jobs fighting with everyone.  And I mean everyone from his assistant to his daughter.  There was so much dialogue, I would space out.  I started thinking about what I was going to eat for dinner and where I was going to go shopping. Then if you missed a piece of the argument, you seemed to miss the whole thing so I just waited for the next one to begin.

Perhaps I need to rewatch it to love it,  but for now 3 popcorns.  I expected more.  But this film has split reviews.  You either love it or hate it.  So you never know, you might like it...

Crimson Peak (2015)

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro

Written by: Guillermo del Toro & Matthew Robbins

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, & Tom Hiddleston






I never really watch horror films.  The main reason is not because they're scary, but because they're funny.  I always seem to end up laughing and ruining the movie for others.  Maybe it's a defensive mechanism so I'm not scared.  Because I do get scared, mainly haunted houses.  Hate those.

Anyway, I laughed at this film too.  The "ghosts" were poorly made.  They are more translucent bones with muscles.  The ghosts were a mixture of red meat and skeletons put together, and the CGI just made it awful.  Perhaps the red coloring they used.  I can see why they made it that color, to match the red clay that is underneath the house, but it was a poor choice.  The best ghosts were at the end of the film, but no spoilers.

The film was okay.  I liked it overall.  Only parts I didn't like were the ghosts, those were crappy, and the unanswered questions.

When writing a script, once you finish, there should be no more questions that the audience still has. Unless it's like Inception where the answer is either one or the other, such as if it was all a dream or not.  But this wasn't the case for Crimson Peak.

The questions I had were: why is there red clay under the house? And why doesn't Lucille (Chastain) and Thomas (Hiddleston) get older?  Why are they immortal?  (I hope these questions don't spoil anything.)

So I feel like the second question is pretty important to the plot.  Just saying.  So that kind of sucked, not knowing the answers and all.

But other than that, it was pretty good.  I wanted to know what was going to happen.  The film kept me hooked and there was mystery, excitement, and some laughs, though those were probably not intentional.  So I do think people should see this movie, but it's more of a rent it or see it in the morning type.  3 popcorns.

Grandma (2015)

Directed by: Paul Weitz

Written by: Paul Weitz

Starring: Lily Tomlin, Julia Garner, & Marcia Gay Harden








Before I begin my review, I should probably explain what Grandma is about, since I know there hasn't been as much marketing for this as there is for mainstream films.

This independent movie stars Tomlin as Elle Reid.  One day Garner's character Sage, Reid's granddaughter, comes to ask her grandmother for $630 in order to get an abortion.  Reid doesn't have the money, so her and Sage go all over town visiting various people from their old friend, to the baby daddy, to past loves.  Like Tomlin in real life, Reid is a lesbian.  And by being gay she has made a lot of mistakes and has developed this "screw you" kind of attitude.  This makes it difficult to find the money to get an abortion.  Old feelings come up and Reid has to figure out if getting the money is worth more than her pride.

That was a crappy summary, but only because it was not that great of a film.  Without the strong names behind this film, I doubt it'd be a movie.  The film was a little all over the place and the pacing dragged.

When I had taken a screenwriting class, one of the basic rules was to keep the audience wanting more by always having a question for them to ask.  The only question that was constant was if Sage was going to be able to get an abortion?  The film felt like it would try to come up with more questions by getting Elle and some other character together to cause some tension from the past, but it was not explained thoroughly, so it caused me to lose interest.

Another basic rule of screenwriting was to have the characters develop of time.  Let the audience see that they have changed.  Sage changed.  Elle's daughter Judy (Harden) changed.  But the main character, Elle, to me seemed to have overall stayed the same from when she first began.  And she's the main character!

Also, another problem I had with the film besides the writing was...well actually it probably still has something to do with the writing.  In the film, Elle is an author of famous poetry books, or something.  So I'm not sure if their intention was to create the film like a book, because they tried to provide chapters in the film.  After a specific scene with a character, there would be a transition of a number and a word on a white background to explain the next character that was about to appear.  I didn't think that was necessary and it kind of took me out of the moment.

It was not a bad film.  It just had nothing to keep me interested in continuing to watch it.  But I watched till the end, 3 popcorns.

Freeheld (2015)

Directed by: Peter Sollett

Written by: Ron Nyswaner

Starring: Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, & Michael Shannon







Michael Shannon is all over the big screen this week.  First 99 Homes and now Freeheld.  You go Shannon!

Freeheld is about Laurel Hester (Moore), a cop who is also a closeted lesbian.  She's been on the force for twenty-something years and no one knows.  She's worked her ass off to get to where she is today and she feels that by letting out her secret it can all come crashing down.  Unfortunately, her life does come crashing down, but not because she's a lesbian, but because she gets cancer.  Once she realizes that she's going to die, she wants her domestic partner Stacie Andree (Page) to have her pension.  But because they are not married and are only domestic partners, this is easier said than done.  Both women fight for equality with the help of Dane Wells (Shannon), Hester's partner (cop wise), and Steven Goldstein (Steve Carell), a gay Jewish activist for gay marriage.

I liked almost everything about this movie, except Carell.  To me Carell playing a gay Jewish activist was not believable.  He seemed like he was trying too hard to be gay or maybe I've seen him in too many straight roles.

The film is overall good.  It starts off a little slow with Hester and Andree getting to know one another and falling in love, but once Hester develops cancer it speeds up.  I do, though, think it is necessary for the audience to see how their relationship developed in the beginning because we get a sense of what both women are fighting for in the end.

I think if you have seen Still Alice, where Moore is also sick, you may not be as emotional towards this film as it was intended.  I just hope Moore can stop playing the sick roles soon.  I mean she's good at them, but still.  Haha, still, get it?

Anyway, 4 popcorns.

99 Homes (2015)

Directed by: Ramin Bahrani

Written by: Ramin Bahrani, Amir Naderi, & Bahareh Azimi

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, & Laura Dern







What a fantastic independent film!  I have nothing but praise for the realistic nature that this film is comprised of.

99 Homes stars Garfield as Dennis Nash, a single father and unemployed construction worker.  He lives with his mother (Dern), a freelance hair dresser, and both of them together can barely pay the rent.  In fact, they can't and therefore get evicted by Rick Carver (Shannon).  Rejection after rejection, Nash takes a job from Carver and becomes a handyman and then eventually starts evicting people from their homes.  He made a deal with the devil, but will he be able to get out of it or turn into one himself?

BAM!  Great summary right?  Just kidding, but that is the premise of the film.  I did not think Garfield would be believable as a single father considering how young he is, but somehow it worked and he was phenomenal.

The reason for my adoration of the film is because I loved the reality.  The evictions that were taking place occurred with all types of people, and it was edited in such a montage way, that the tension built up where eventually the audience that I was a part of could not take it anymore.  You heard sniffles, some curse words whispered, it was amazing.  My mouth was literally open through some of the scenes I was so shocked.  But this is probably the actual process of what's it is like to work for the devil and evict people.  It's crazy.

I suggest every single person see this film if possible.  It isn't one to miss especially with the recent housing crisis.  Let me know what you think in the comments.  5 popcorns!

The Martian (2015)

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Written by: Drew Goddard & Andy Weir (novel)

Starring: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, & Kristen Wiig







Matt Damon is stuck in space again.  Well, Mars actually.

The Martian is pretty much just that, as well as how to get him home before he dies.

Now I've never been a huge fan of Damon.  (He seems a little cocky right?)  Anyway, I still saw the film because it has Michael Peña, and I love him.  Anyway, the film was pretty good, but recently there have been no bad space films.  At least for me there haven't.

Now I'm pretty sure you can figure out the ending and essentially the whole film without watching it by just knowing what it is about.  It isn't rocket science.  Get it?  ;D

The actor's performances were believable.  I was iffy at first with Wiig starring in a more dramatic role, but she still brought some comedy and it worked out in her favor.

Pretty much everything was good.  There aren't any main negatives other than I didn't feel much emotion about his situation.  If I cried, I'd give it 5 popcorns, but I didn't.  So 4 it is.

Sicario (2015)

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve

Written by: Taylor Sheridan

Starring: Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, & Benicio Del Toro







Sicario follows Kate Macer (Blunt), an FBI agent, to assist a portion of the government that is trying to take down the Mexican drug cartel, who previously had killed some of the members on her team.  Unfortunately what she thinks she is getting into is completely off kilter and ends up trying to survive in Mexico while keeping sane.

The person that I went with to see this film, loved it.  He thought it was fantastic and "messed up," but in a good way.

I on the other hand, thought it was okay.  Either it was because I was tired or the film was dragging, but I fell asleep a few times.  Now I am pretty sure that me falling asleep is a indicator of what I felt about this film.

First off, I was a little confused.  I suspect that the confusion was attributed to how Macer felt by being in Mexico and working with the government to take down the drug cartel, which is not exactly her speciality.  In addition to it not being her speciality, the people she was working with would keep her in the dark on their mission and to where they were going.  Now I'm not sure if that is why I was a little lost, because she was too?  Or was it just bad writing?  Was I supposed to be just like Macer and fuddle my way to find out the government's objectives?   In other words, I don't know what happened, except at the end.

The ending was great, but no spoilers.

Secondly, the film dragged.  It was talking, talking, talking and then some action.  Then more talking and then another action sequence.  But the talking did not always explain the action that followed.  Plus some of the dialogue seemed redundant and not necessary, but that's just my opinion.

This just was not my kind of film.  But it could be yours?  Maybe?  I give it 3 popcorns.

Pan (2015)

Directed by: Joe Wright

Written by: Jason Fuchs

Starring: Levi Miller, Hugh Jackman, & Garrett Hedlund






I wasn't expecting much when I first came to see this film.  I had heard it was bad, but I wasn't expecting it to be this bad.

There were many negative qualities that this film possessed, but lets first begin with the positives.
1) Garrett Hedlund is hot.
2) The cinematography is amazing.

That about sums it up.

As for the negatives, I think it is at the fault of the director and writer.  Despite the beautiful shots, the editing was half good, half bad.  Probably due to them having hired two editors.  Another film problem is the acting.  The actors performed horribly.  The most realistic performance was by the newcomer Miller, while everyone else was overacting, probably because they were in Neverland.

Another horrible thing, was the "never birds."  When those birds came out, I was just said..."What the f__k is that?"  It did not match the style of anything else in the film.  Their eyes were popping out and it was a skeleton with feathers!  It was ridiculous.  Those birds made it go down one popcorn, it was that terrible.

But what really made the whole movie bad was the combination of existing world attributes and Neverland's attributes.  I'm not saying you cannot mix fantasy with reality, but they mixed it incorrectly.  It was if Wright was trying to imitate Moulin Rogue with modern songs sung by the pirates.  Another reason why it probably didn't work is because when I think of Peter Pan, I think of the Disney movie.  And therefore I base my whole premise on the Disney films.  Warner Bros. tried to make their own story and it failed miserably.

This movie gets a kernel.  Don't see it ever.