Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs directed by Danny Boyle, starring Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seith Rogen, and Jess Daniels.

This is a gimmick movie in that it takes place in three separate times of Steve Jobs life, that of a certain launch of a product.  Then the movie weaves a story of around the character of those three launches.  I like how this movie does a warts and all reveal of Jobs, showing his genius and jack ass mentality in equal measure.  This gimmick works in wonderful ways and is used as more staging pieces and visual ques than anything else.

The actors in this movie are what make this movie sing and worth watching.  Everyone involved brings their A-game as this movie is basically a character study of Steve Jobs and the people around him.  Seth Rogen does his best acting since I've seen him acting, and that's saying something from me, because I'm not the biggest Rogen fan in the world.  But this movie belongs to Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet who are just amazing in every scene they are in.  Playing off of each other in wonderful ways and prove that acting is just more than memorizing and saying lines.  They both embody their characters and breath life into them.  

Watch for the gimmick of the structure but stay for the acting, it is well worth it.   

The Revenant

The Revenant directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, and Domhall Gleeson.

Easily better than Inarritu's previous movie Birdman and one of the most visually stunning movies I've seen in a long time.  This movie needs to be seen at least once because there's no other movie out there that's even like this one.  This movie is one of kind as it rests on a revenge plot: man versus man.  But this movie also has the man versus nature element of it that truly sets it apart from other movies of this genre.  Character is here but not much depth as the man versus nature aspect of the story dominates the entire movie but not in a bad way by any stretch of those words.  This is one of the best man versus nature movies I've ever seen.   

The reality on display is simply amazing as the production and costume design fully step up to their game to compliment the reality trying to be conveyed.  

This movie completely transported me to the pioneer era it was representing as it did a no holds bar visualization of that time period.  Much like 2001: A Space Odyssey, the medium is the message here as the visuals convey the entire story.  What visuals are on display.  The landscape becomes a solid character in this movie, much like the monolith was a character in 2001.  It's brutality on full display in every frame but yet the harshness of that brutality is weighed against the beauty of the wilderness.  Nature isn't evil as it is fighting against man as much as man is fighting against it.

Yes, the bear attack scene was intense in it's viciousness and sudden-ness so much so that when it was over I watched it again and was still amazed at it a second time around.  The only other scene that compares to this is when the main character has to survive a blizzard and gets into his dead horse for warmth.  Both of these scenes in their gory, bloody detail show not only a will to survive but further establishes the landscape as a character, showing the viewer that the landscape is more than woods and snow.  There is more out there than just what a person can see and that something isn't evil but is just part of life and how a person survives is up them. 

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice directed by Zack Snyder, starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne, Gal Gadot, Holly Hunter, and Jeremy Irons.

The title of this movie alone foreshadows everything that is wrong with this movie and most likely everything that will be wrong with future installments of this "series" of "connected" movies.  I don't think it will be the Dawn of Justice but in reality will be the Dawn of Messiness, Sloppiness, and Impatience.   

This is DC's attempt to catch up with Marvel, it stalls right out of the gate, and falls flat on it's face.  There is no patience here. There is only a madcap scramble to catch Marvel and this movie reeks of that dash, instead of doing a patient world building, which these characters desperately need.

Blame the screenplay and writers for the movie being this bad, bloated mess it turned out to be.  DC's whole philosophy for connecting movies and continuity seems to be lets throw everything at the screen, see what sticks, and then weave it all together.  I feel sorry for all the actors involved in this "project" because there is a good series lurking in this mess, if it only had the time to develop, then I think it would be rather exciting.  But unfortunately all development seems to be regulated to how comic continuity is handled these days - meaning none at all with only pretensions of it being there.  All that is left of any continuity are shadows made by ghosts.

All the trouble I had with Man of Steele is just amplified here.  What we have is a bunch of good actors just sidelined to running around, staring at things, and reacting to things.  There's not a lot of scenes where they are acting together, with these caliber of actors all in the same movie that's a real crime, and the movie is severely lacking because of it.  Without this focus on character there's no investment into anything they are doing.  DC seems to be on welfare investment - relying on previous knowledge or unrelated movies as the groundwork for these characters.  They haven't worked for anything and don't really seem all interested in working for anything.

I will say this though, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman was a pure revelation in this movie.  She stole every scene she was in - the few she was in - and her only down fall was that she wasn't in enough scenes.  I really hope they do well by her movie but as they previous track record seems to be, I doubt it will be all that good.

Daredevil Season 2

Daredevil Season 2 starring Charlie Cox, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Vincent D'Onofrio, John Bernthal, Royce Johnson, Rosario Dawson, and Elodie Yung.

I'm just going to say this once again as I've been saying it since Marvel started producing it's own property: Marvel has done it again.

Completely addicting this season turned out to be as it further explored these characters with such a depth that it should shame normal dramas since this is basically a comic book show. 

I've never liked the Punisher as a character but this drama series brought life to a character that I always thought was rather a one trick pony.  They completely fleshed him out and really made me want to see more of him, know about this history, and his future.  It also helped that John Bernthal played him with such an energy and commitment making him a convincing and sympathetic character, who's character is basically out for revenge.  Then throw in Elecktra who just sparkled with a fire and energy, as she played well off of Charlie Cox's Daredevil.  This show had everything this season as it further wove the tapestry of the world building of Daredevil.  Even the secondary characters got plenty of time to shine in the light. 

Good series looking forward to more seasons.

Killing Floor

Killing Floor written by Lee Child.

I really liked the movie Jack Reacher with Tom Cruise so I thought I'd give the first book in the series a try.  Not a bad book but not overly great, a good way to pass the time but I would watch the movie over reading the book.  This book isn't what the movie is based but I felt the movie did a better job of a story line.  The story line for this book wasn't that great and I could see most of the plot devices and story twists happening a mile away, which made this book feel real long and the pacing slow.  I don't plan on reading an more in the series after this book because it didn't engage me enough to want to read any more but I do plan on seeing more movies of Jack Reacher as long as Tom Cruise is still playing the character. I like his take on the character. 

Not bad for a Summer read though just not good enough to want to read more.

Creed

Creed directed by Ryan Coogler, starring Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone.

A good continuation of the Rocky movie.  Nothing really new here, though which is OK.  All the typical themes, motifs, and story plot points are all hit here but the main character played by Michael B. Jordan does a wonderful job of selling this movie.  His charisma and acting ability alone are worth watching this movie for as he continues to prove he was no fluke in the little known movie Chronicle and every other movie he's been in since that one.  This movie is odd in that it's like a reboot but yet not one that feels gimmicky.  This reboot feels more organic in tone than most which feel more forced.  Not a classic movie by an means but a good one to pass the time and a good continuation of the Rocky franchise.

Sleeping with Other People

Sleeping with Other People written and directed by Leslye Headland, starring Alison Brie, Jason Sudeikis, Adam Scott, Jason Mantzoukas, Margarita Levieva, and Amanda Peet.

Romantic comedies are only made good by two things: chemistry and character.  This movie has both of those as it further explores the themes brought up with When Harry Met Sally, that is can a man and woman just be friends without having sex.  The answer is obviously no but Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis share some wonderful scenes together as their chemistry sparkles along with their distinct personalities.  A good romantic movie if not a little more crude on some levels than normal, not in a shocking, gross out comedy way but in a real life conversational type of way that doesn't feel exploitative, only more natural like two friends just talking things through, and that fits in perfectly with the movie. 

Dead Beat

Dead Beat written by Jim Butcher.

Another brilliant book from Jim Butcher that furthers the story of wizard P. I. Harry Dresden.  This story fleshes out some more characters in Harry's life and also has one of the best action scenes in the Dresden Files series that involves the T-Rex Sue from the Chicago museum.  I'm still a huge fan of how Butcher uses each book in this series as stepping stones for the over all arcing plot that he has planned.  I've never seen any series do what he is doing with the Dresden Files.   

The Bourne Identity (book)

The Bourne Identity written by Robert Ludlum.

Considering this book was written in the 70's I was surprised at how well paced it was, with a tight story that was far superior to the movie and explained a lot of the glaring plot holes in the movie.  I can't for the life of me figure out why the movie didn't adhere closer to the plot of this book because it is vastly superior in all shapes and forms.  I don't read to many action books but if all action books were like this one, this is one genre I could read more of.

Zootopia

Zootopia directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Jared Bush, with the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Bonnie Hunt, Tommy Chong, J. K. Simmons, and Alan Tudyk.

One of the best kids movies and family to be made - hands down.  It's basically just a buddy cop movie for kids and all the better for it.  It also isn't trying to make some kind of political statement but instead relies on the old tried to true formula - character is the best thing.  Create good characters and no matter how crazy or insane the story line, it won't matter one bit because the characters will move the story line a long. 

I just loved the premise of this movie. 

The world building of this movie was also out of this world as it showed so much of the world in the beginning but then only explored a few sections of this world leaving everyone at the end of it just wanting more.  A sequel will be justifiable and well deserved.  That's another thing that made this movie work is that it didn't try to do to much but stayed focused on the two main characters, then let them walk through the story and introduce the world as they solved the mysterious macguffin of the story.  This movie has more heart, focus, passion, characterization, story, and better acting than about 75% of the movies that Hollywood churns out. 

Extraction

Extraction directed by a guy I don't know and I hope I don't judge his entire career based on this movie, starring Kellan "Wooden" Lutz, Bruce "I'm here to pick up a pay check and there's nothing wrong with that" Willis, and Gina "Just stick to the action scenes and not the acting scenes" Carano.

Simply put one of the worst action movies I've ever seen. It's not even by the numbers as it tries so hard to be by the numbers.  I honestly felt sorry for some of the bad guys in this movies as the choices the "good guys" made, made no sense to me.  The fight scenes are boring, lacing any form of passion or heart.  The characters and dialogue are not even by the numbers but completely boring and they even manage to go a few levels below boring.  There were so many times the movie felt shot for TV versus shot for the movie theater.  Then my wife informed the main character was one of the vampires from the Twilight movie and then it all clicked for me as they were trying to ride the wave of his "popularity" with this action movie. 

A good example of how not to make a movie.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn directed by John Crowley, starring Saoirse Ronan, Hugh Gromley, Brid Brennan, Maeve McGrath, Emma Lowe, Barbara Drennan, Gillian McCarthy, Emory Cohen, and Domhnall Gleeson.

This is a good old fashioned movie with little story line but high on characterization.  They don't make a lot movies like this anymore.  Movies now-a-days are more concerned with over the top action scenes, out of control computer effects, and budgets that could fund most small nations for decades.  It was amazing to find a movie that was concerned with none of this but was only concerned with the story about a woman growing up in America - specifically in Brooklyn (of the title and that specificity is crucial to the story) - away from her home county of Ireland. 

There is absolutely nothing complicated about this story as it ushers in all sorts of storytelling techniques from the Golden Age of movies.  I just don't hardly see many movies this brave and daring to rest the entire story on the shoulders of one single character.  But I've got to admit I got caught up in her story.  I felt for her as she left her country to come to America.  I felt for her leaving everything behind - mother and sister.  Her lack of friends.  Her starting completely over from nothing and then moving her way up slowly but surely.  I couldn't help but root for her to succeed.  The movie's greatest addition is when she finds a boyfriend from Brooklyn.  His character not only brought a jolt of life to the movie but also sparked some fire in the main character and not in the sort of way that said a woman needed a man to complete her life but in a way a true friend brightens the life of a person.  Watching their relationship grow was a thing of beauty.  Then the true test of her growth was shown when she went back to Ireland and the choices and decisions she  made there really showed how she had grown.

Truly a gem of movie that needs to be seen and talked about more.

Crimson Peak

Crimson Peak directed by Guillermo del Toro, starring Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, and Charlie Hunnam.

Honestly, I thought this movie was more style over substance and was one of del Toro's worst films he's made.  I had no real connection to any of the characters.  They felt more cliche and cardboard than most cartoon characters feels.  Even the production design, which I think was supposed to be the big draw of this film felt rather flat and stale.  No where near as inspiring as some of this other movies.  Out of all of his movies this one definitely feels like a by the numbers one.  Guillermo del Toro's movies normally seem to have a lot of life to them even if there camping it up but this one is his most lifeless movie he's ever done.  The movie as a real Edgar Allen Poe feel to everything about it - from the story to the visuals - I just wish it had conjured up some of Poe's eeriness and creepiness instead of what followed as complete waste of my time.  

The Peanuts Movie

The Peanuts Movie directed by Steve Martino, with the voices of Noah Schnapp, Venus Schultheis, Alexander Garfin, and Hadley Belle Miller.

I'm not a huge Peanuts fan but I've got to admit this is one of the best Peanut media related projects ever made.  It completely captured the spirit of Peanuts with every single frame of this film.  It did a proud salute to Charles Schultz and everything he stood for.  All in all it was a great movie to see and a worthy addition to any family collection of movies.  I also loved how Blue Sky integrated hand drawn animation in with the computer animation - it totally gelled with Schultz's vision and made the movie that much more perfect.  

Burnt

Burnt directed by John Wells, starring Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Daniel Bruhl, Emma Thompson, Uma Thurman, and Alicia Vikander.

I read a lot bad reviews for this movie and all I can say is those reviews were partially right but mostly wrong.  This movie wasn't bad at all.  It's not a great film but it is infinitely better than most of the Hollywood slop that gets churned out by barrel loads.  I will also say this, I will watch Bradley Cooper in about anything.  This is his movie through and through. His character and persona totally dominate every frame of this film and the film is all the better for it.

 In fact it was an entertaining movie.  Not over staying its welcome and never once did I feel I was wasting my time.  It's wasn't some kind of pandering, political movie but was just a movie about a man that was his own worst enemy and about his him being able to handle and fight against himself.  I don't run across many movies like this.  Most movies seem to want to have a die hard enemy to battle with but not all movies need this if the main character is built right and interesting enough he or she can be their own worst enemy.  By doing that a movie takes a great risk in believing in the character to help sell the story but if pulled off it will always be an interesting movie.  

Cooper does an amazing job of building this flawed character that is at time an asshole but yet most times I found him completely interesting and sympathetic.  Then everyone else Cooper surrounded himself with in this movie did a great job of feeding off of him and selling this simple story of man versus man.  

Everest

Everest directed by Baltasar Kormakur, starring Jason Clarke, John Hawkes, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Robin Wright Penn, Keira Knightley, Emily Watson, and Sam Worthington.

There's not much to say about this movie. 

Just about everyone dies.

There's not really a happy ending to speak of and I found myself not really caring one way or another about any of it because I didn't find myself invested in any character in this movie.  There are a lot of actors in this movie but the movie doesn't really give any time to them to make them any sort of engaging.  They are more or less the set pieces of the movie while the mountain "Everest" is the main character.  But even that main character I found dull and boring.  This is very boring and pandering movie that wants to be more than sum of its parts but is no where near close to those parts. 

If you see the movie The Martian, the planet Mars is a main character in the movie and the movie goes to great lengths to build this character. Everest, by comparison, seemed written by a confused person who had no idea what that mountain was or is but yet hit all the right dictionary points of the mountain but nothing that made the mountain live and breath as a character.  I didn't even find the visuals of this movie that engaging either.  All in all it was a boring waste of time.

A Good Dinosaur

A Good Dinosaur directed by Peter Sohn, with the voices of Jeffery Wright and Frances McDormand.

Not a great Pixar movie but a good one, which I will take a good one over a terrible Cars 2 any day of the week.

This is basically a journey type of movie only it doesn't have the in depth characters to fully support the journey that takes place.  Instead this movie relies on the visuals to sell what happens.  In the end what great and amazing visuals it turns out to be with enough wonder to keep the kids and adults entertained the whole time.  They are enough to make this movie worth seeing once but I don't think a second viewing would benefit it much.  Even the concept of a meteor not hitting earth and wiping out the dinosaurs isn't fully explored in any kind of detail but is used more a gimmick and nothing more. 

Goosebumps

Goosebumps directed by Rob Letterman, starring Jack Black, Amy Ryan, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, and Ryan Lee.

Honestly this was a fun little movie that shouldn't have been as good as it turned out.  I'm not saying it's a great movie but it's very entertaining as it fully knows what kind of movie it is and doesn't shy away from it.  I don't know if having a fully knowledge of the Goosebumps books would help in understanding this movie better or not?  I don't have any kind of knowledge of them other than the author's name and the genre they books spawned - which served me well with this movie. 

I did like the over the top aspect of action that really starts of the movie off and rolling.  Then there's enough character development to understand the characters and establish them.  All in all not a waste of time like I thought it was going to be.  

Black Mass

Black Mass directed by Scott Cooper, starring Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson, Kevin Bacon, Peter Sarsgaard, and Adam Scott.

There is a good movie lurking in this jumbled, mediocre movie that was made instead.  The good movie would have been two stories.  One about Whitey Bulger's risen empire in Boston and other would have been about the FBI agent who helped him achieve this power.  There are flashes of this story in the mess we have but nothing of it's substance is ever given light, that is shame because it could have one great mob story.  All the actors, direction, and production design serve the movie well, it's just the lack of focus of the screen plays lets everyone involved down.

This is also one of Johnny Depp's best performances in years where he isn't doing some kind parody of himself.  But other than that most of actors in this movie are wasted by the terrible screenplay.

Bone Tomahawk

Bone Tomahawk written and directed by S. Craig Zahler, starring Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Richard Jenkins, Lili Simmons, and David Arquette.

One of the best films I saw made last year.  I would put it in my top 5 of  movies for that year and it might go even higher as the years go on and I see more movies made that year.  This movie didn't leave my mind for weeks after I saw it as it stayed there turning around and around while I thought about the different aspects and themes that made it so good.  I don't normally see a movie this focused or this good.  It had a very old school feel to it and I mean that in the highest compliment possible.

It was so refreshing to see a character based movie where the characters stayed true to their character and didn't deviate from their central core.  Many movies now-a-days haven't grasped this concept of characters being true to who they are instead of changing their true self for plot motivated reasons that are illogical and absolutely stupid.  There is none of this here as these are some of the best characters I've seen in a movie in a long time.  They let reason and logic influence their decisions and don't let emotions and feelings cloud things but when emotions and feelings do cloud things they are quick to realize that is happening.  In effect they act normal, rational people.  Then you through into the mix some good actors who really help to bring these characters to life and by good actors I mean every character in this movie is inhabited by a good actor.  There is no great acting on display here but there doesn't need to be as these actors more than compensate for no "A" list actor and this movie all the better for it.  Every scene is like a master class in acting and aren't just thrown into the movie for the sake of being there as they further expand on each character.

This movie has a minimalist feel to it as it doesn't get carried away with special effects, production design, or super crazy editing.  Many of scenes are shot on location or at least seem like they are shot on location which adds the effect of being immersed in the scene without anything flashy to get into the way.  The actors respond to this approach with such greatness as they whole heartily give their best level of performance.      


The characters and story are the star of this movie with a director who understands this and doesn't get in the way of what is happening.  I could tell with each frame and scene of this movie that he had complete faith in the story, characters, and screenplay.  Then he also had complete faith in his casting and the actors he hired to populate the movie.  Like I said above I don't find many movies with this much faith - most movies rely on cheap gimmicks, special effects, or soap opera story telling to hide the poor story or screenplay.  Not this movie. 

It was also refreshing to see a movie that supported marriage between a man a woman.  Many movies seem to get on a political platform about marriage now-a-days, so it was good to see a movie that bucked that tread and instead was forth right in marriage.  Not a perfect marriage but then what marriage is perfect?  But it is a marriage where the two people are in love with enough scenes to convey this message without being preachy with hyperbole. 

As my brother pointed out about this movie - the violence in this movie happens fast and brutal.  There is no long drawn out Hollywood style of fight scenes here - when the action and violence happen it movies quickly, with such brutality that it further empathizes the reality this movie is supporting.