By Robin E. Simmons
STEVE JOBS
In the recent past we have had two movies focusing on Steve Jobs. Our fascination with the life changing gadgets he helped market seems to have no end. Moviegoers and critics alike dismissed Ashton Kutcher’s look-alike but superficial impression. Alex Gibney’s revealing documentary STEVE JOBS: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE presented a disturbing portrait of Jobs’ personal and professional life. Danny Boyle’s STEVE JOBS, freely adapted by Aaron Sorkin from Walter Isaacson’s biography, is set behind the scenes at three of Jobs’ product launches and ends in 1998. This surprisingly standard drama in three acts stars Michael Fassbender as Jobs and Academy Award®-winning actress Kate Winslet co-stars as Joanna Hoffman, the head of marketing for Macintosh. Was she really the only person who could speak the truth to Jobs? I wonder. Seth Rogen is Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (the real genius behind Jobs?) and Jeff Daniels is former Apple CEO John Sculley. Sorkin’s unsentimental, talk-heavy script and great cast shed no new light on the mystery of Jobs. Not his obsessive, often-dark personality nor his truly visionary genius. But, does genius really trump bad behavior? I say No. However, I did appreciate Fassbender’s incarnation of Jobs at his worst and best. I must say, the last scenes were dismaying. His actual last words were, “Oh wow! Oh wow! Oh wow!” Are we being set-up for a sequel of Jobs in heaven? Now that’s a movie I’d like to see. Now playing at Cinemas Palme d’Or.
PAN
Joe Wright directs Jason Fuch’s screenplay (freely adapted from J. M. Barrie’s original material) as a Pan origin story. I couldn’t get a handle on this surprisingly grim tale that is unquestionably a treasure trove of visual riches and startling computer graphics. The classic characters are all here. Hugh Jackman gives his all as the iconic pirate Blackbeard. Rooney Mara is fine as Tiger Lily and I liked Amanda Seyfried as Mary. But the satisfaction level of the movie about an orphan kidnapped to Neverland is less than I had desired and not the promise of the exquisite poster or trailer. Now playing.
BRIDGE OF SPIES
This often sly, true-life spy thriller has been bouncing around Hollywood for a long time. It is a perfect family film for year’s end and will likely be Oscar© nominated for Best Film and Best Director.
A reliable Tom Hanks is an American lawyer who, at the height of the Cold War, is assigned the job of negotiating the release of a U-2 spy plane pilot who was shot down over Russia. Do you remember this event? (U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers later became a traffic reporter for Los Angeles radio station KGIL.)
Steven Spielberg produces and directs this surprising, often bizarre story about dealing with Eastern European thugs. The engaging screenplay’s by Matt Charman. The production values of this great looking picture are top notch. The biggest visceral thrill is the great set-piece when the Russians shoot down “our” spy plane.
Tom Hanks does his all-American ordinary man thing. Hard to imagine anyone who could be better. However, I was a tad disappointed as the movie seemed to end more than once. Or even twice. I hate this trend of multiple faux endings. But I liked this movie that says a lot about the amoral world we live in and especially issues dealing with the Russians. Now playing at Cinemas Palme d’Or.
CRIMSON PEAK
Just in time for the holidays, this R-rated horror from the fantasy-fueled gothic mind of Guillermo del Toro stars Mia Wasikowska as Edith, a young woman swept away to a house on top of Crimson Peak’s blood red mountain after her heart is stolen by Sir Thomas Sharpe, a seductive stranger. But Sharpe’s sister is keeper of dark family secrets. Secrets. Luckily (?) Edith can talk to the dead and seeks to understand the mystery of the ghostly visions. But what if that understanding reveals monsters of flesh and blood? Guillermo is at the peak of his considerable powers here. The visual richness and detail of the remote Crimson Peak mansion is alone worth the price of admission. Now playing.
NEW FOR THE HOME THEATER:
THE BROOD
David Cronenberg’s 1979 film firmly set the “body horror” tone for some of his future movies. This pristine transfer is about a disturbed woman (Samantha Eggar) receiving a radical form of psychotherapy at a remote, mysterious institute. Meanwhile, her five-year-old daughter, under the care of her estranged husband, is being terrorized by a group of demonic beings. These two story lines connect in a tale of monstrous parenthood. The always-compelling Oliver Reed co-stars. Not for all tastes. As always, there’s a generous array of Criterion quality extras. Criterion. Blu-ray.
DOPE
Malcolm (newcomer Shameik Moore) is a straight A high school senior who loves old school rap. But he’s in the middle of an unwanted adventure involving shady drug dealers, offbeat weirdos and a backpack that could bust his chances of getting into Harvard. Rick Famuyiwa writes and directs this high-spirited coming of age caper that was produced by Forest Whitaker. Universal. Blu-ray.
SHARKNADO 3
It’s a good thing there’s no such thing as too over-the-top for screenwriter Thunder Levin as he continues his original, self-styled Syfy Channel shark tornado sub-genre with a third outrageous outing. No criticism can really be applied because some movies exist for no other reason other than the zeitgeist demands a steam valve to escape the pressures of too much pomposity and pretension and seriousness in the media and real life. This time around, when a mass of sharknados threatens our East Coast, chainsaw-wielding hero Fin (Ian Ziering) risks his life to save his kids on Spring break. But, wouldn’t you know it, as he makes his way south, the damn sharknados merge and grow even bigger than before! Some people see these movies as a metaphor for ignoring global warming. Besides Ziering, co-stars include Tara Reid, Cassie Scerbo, Frankie Miuniz, David Hasselhoff and Bo Derek (!). In addition, lots of celebrity cameos include: Mark Cuban, Ann Coulter (!), Michele Bachman (!), Jerry Springer and too many more to list here. The extras are sui generous with deleted scenes, extended scenes, a gag reel, and much more. Cinedigm/Syfy/Asylum. Blu-ray.
Comments? RobinESimmons@aol.com
