STEVE JOBS

GRADE: A+

Starring Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jeff Daniels

Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin

Directed by Danny Boyle

Rated R (Profanity)

Reviewed by Paul & Patrick Gibbs

 

We don't really care anything about Apple or Steve Jobs. Paul marginally prefers the Mac operating system to the PC (particularly if that's the one he's currently used to using), but isn't passionate about it, and that's about as close as we come to giving a flying hard drive about the whole Apple revolution, the state of the computer industry today, and what Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Murray Bozinsky or anyone else contributed to it. We recognize that nearly everything we do is shaped by the work these people did to create the computers of today, but just don't really care. It's not our thing. 

But we loved Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin's Steve Jobs. 

 As with The Social Network, the clear spiritual father to this film, it's a matter of brilliant writing, filmmaking, storytelling and acting pulling us into a film based on a subject matter which does nothing to interest us.  Whether or not he's fair or accurate (and we are not the people to judge this), Sorkin has a gift for turning modern tech moguls into Shakespearean tragedies. This time he's employed a unique narrative structure: three acts, each taking place backstage as Jobs is getting ready

to debut a new product. In 1984, the Macintosh computer. In 1988, the NeXT box. And in 1998, the iMac.  The interaction between jobs and his associates reveals him to be brilliant (though more with vision than actual technical know-how) but to see the least difficult to get along with. Michael Fassbender's Jobs has an ego which may even eclipse his remarkable talents, and he clashes with everyone, from close associate Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet) to tech wizard to Apple II designer Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) to team member Andy Herzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg) to Apple CEO and surrogate father figure John Sculley (Jeff Daniels), and most especially with his ex-girlfriend Chrisann Brennan (Katherine Waterston). Jobs' most complex relationship (and the one at the heart of the film) is with Brennan's young daughter Lisa (played by different actresses at three ages) who Chrisann and a blood test claim is Steve's daughter even if he refuses to acknowledge it.

Sorkin's supremely witty and insightful dialogue is as strong as it's ever been. As usual, it's a minor distraction that everyone in the film (sometimes even young Lisa) would qualify as one of the more clever members of the Algonquin Roundtable, but it's difficult to complain about dialogue, and Sorkin always manages to add enough depth to his characterizations to avoid his work feeling phony. And his work here is more than ably enhanced by the excellent direction of Oscar-winner Boyle and a phenomenal cast that doesn't miss a single note. Fassbender will get the lion's share of the accolades, and nothing said will be undeserved. It's among the best performance he's ever given, and when you consider such work as his supporting turn in 12 Years A Slave that's high praise indeed.  His Steve is charismatic enough to make us understand the mogul's magnetism and yet repellant much of the time (as Rogen's Wozniak declares "It's not binary: you can be decent and gifted."). Underneath the egotism there's a layer of insecurity, beneath that is more egotism, bemath that there's neurosis, and beneath that there's more egotism. What's beneath that? The film doesn't definitively answer, nor should it.

Fassbender is more than capably supported by the rest of the cast. It's very difficult to pick the stand outs among such a talented ensemble: Daniels brings gravitas and credibility to his role, Winslet matches Fassbender's intensity and magnetism in every scene, and Rogen shows presence and dramatic chops never hinted at in films like The Green Hornet. And we always have to draw special attention to Stuhlbarg, our pick as the most underappreciated actor working in film today. Boyle's direction is both more restrained and just as inventive as ever. He's taken a script he feels like a wordy stage play and directed it as a visual, visceral film without ever letting his directorial touches become self-indulgent or overbearing. And he helps bring a heart to the film in a way few other directors can. There are moments in Steve Jobs which would probably plays too hokey and sentimental coming from almost anyone else, but Boyle has developed a sincerity (most prominently on display in Slumdog Millionaire) which reminds us of us Steven Spielberg. He can make even contrived or seemingly sappy moments feel genuine.

There's sure to be a lot of debate about whether the film is fair or accurate. We don't know and honestly don't care that much. We still don't care about Steve Jobs, but we care a lot about Steve Jobs because it's an excellent film.

BRIDGE OF SPIES

GRADE: A+
Starring Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, Alan Alda
Screenplay by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Rated PG-13 (violence, profanity)
Reviewed by Paul & Patrick Gibbs

It's common knowledge that the filmmaker whose work we most eagerly anticipate is Steven Spielberg. To us every new Spielberg film is a major event, bigger than most of our favorite geek franchises. And if Spielberg has been our biggest influence among directors (which he certainly has), the Coen brothers are likely the screenwriters who have influenced us most. To have Ethan and Joel writing a Spielberg film is simply too good to be true. Now we understand how sports fans felt in the early '90s when they saw Magic Johnson passing the ball to Michael Jordan at the Olympics. But Spielberg and the Coens have very different styles, and the question has always been how well they would mesh. And would the Coens distinctive voice survive in Spielberg's hands? The answer to the first question is that they have meshed very well to create an excellent film. The answer to the second is that, as with any Spielberg film, his creative voice is easily the most prominent and apparent. You're never going to confuse Bridge of Spies in style or content with The Big Lebowski. But the Coen's touch is still unmistakable to those fans willing to look for it. This is far and away the best script the brothers have written for another director, and Spielberg and his first-rate cast have brought it to memorable life.

The story begins in 1957, with the capture of suspected Russian spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) after a tense and expertly staged chase which feels like Spielberg's homage to The French Connection.  Abel, a simple and soft-spoken man with a Northern England accent, isn't exactly Boris Badenov, but amidst the tension of the Cold War he instantly becomes the most hated man in America.  Insurance lawyer James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks) is drafted to defend able. While at first reluctant to take on such an unpopular task, Donovan quickly finds his conscience demands it. A firm believer in the constitution who insists "Every person matters," Donovan can't allow Abel to go without the best defense he can give, despite the disapproval from the public, friends and even Donovan's own family. Cold War fear and paranoia runs deep, and we glimpse it from varied points of view, including memorably from Donovan's 10 year old son Roger (Noah Schnapp), who panics after being shown a "duck and cover" cartoon at school featuring every silly 1950s "How to Survive a Nuclear Attack" cliche except climbing inside the refrigerator with Indiana Jones.

It's in this atmosphere that Donovan has to defend Abel, and without ever doing so as overtly as Robert Redford did in The Conspirator, Spielberg is relating this to 21st century debates about fair trials and how constitutional protections apply to a non-citizen who is accused of crimes against the United States. While the film takes a very definite and non-ambiguous stand, the clear War On Terror subtext is subtle and understated. Abel's defense makes up roughly the first half of the film, and it largely rests on the acting of Hanks and Rylance, who are not only excellent individually, but work together with perfect chemistry. Hanks' All-American nice guy role couldn't be called much of a stretch for the beloved actor, which may cause some viewers to wrongly undervalue what he brings to the film in terms of sincerity, emotional gravitas and sheer ability to carry a movie in a way few others can. Hanks causes us to instantly identify with Donovan, and as always he's an actor who makes everyone around him better. Rylance, a stage great just recently becoming familiar to film and television audiences, doesn't really need anyone making him better, and his performance will rightly earn Oscar buzz. Rylance's stage training shows in all of the best possible ways in a performance that uses every tool at an actor's disposal to dig deeply into the character, but at no time does his performance come across as stagey or theatrical. It's a masterpiece of understatement, and it's almost astonishing how much is conveyed in simple looks between the two characters. It's somewhat disappointing to see Amy Ryan and Alan Alda given relatively little to do in their scenes as characters who amount to little more than "The Wife" and "The Boss", but actors of their caliber always add to a film even in minor roles, and Spielberg is wise to keep the focus on Donovan and Abel, the heart and soul of the story.

At the same time that Abel is being tried, American pilot Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) has his U2 spy plane shot down over the Soviet Union (in a harrowing action sequence featuring some dazzling Spielbergian money shots) , and is taken prisoner. A swap of Abel for Powers is soon proposed, and Donovan is asked to broker the exchange, which takes him to Berlin for the second half of the film, and here it remains compelling and also becomes surprisingly tense and even thrilling, considering that Donovan's cloak and dagger exploits consists primarily of negotiating with Russian and East German officials. The negotiations with Russian official Ivan Shischkin (Mikhail Gorevoy) are particularly unsettling, between his Peter Lorre accent and his vaguely ominous way of acting as if he's making this up as he's going along while it's clear he knows exactly what he wants. Stellar work from Spielberg's longtime cinematographer and editor Janusz Kaminsi and Michael Kahn adds immeasurably to the atmosphere, as does the musical score, which for once is by Thomas Newman (usual collaborator John Williams was temporarily sidelined by an illness). The score is a fascinating mix of Newman being Newman (especially in the moving end credits theme) and Newman being Williams. Every patriotic swell to punctuate a dramatic moment sounds as if the composer is thinking to himself "WWJWD?" or more likely Spielberg was was whispering it in his ear, as whether it feels like you're hearing Williams or Newman, the dominant voice of the soundtrack is clearly Spielberg, who knows what he likes and is clearly getting it. It's an effective and dramatic score that's good enough to own and listen to, but it's a little hard not to wonder what Newman would have done without the the specter of Williams hanging over him. But if the second half of the film has an MVP, it's Hanks. Without him as the anchor it wouldn't be nearly as compelling and powerful. This is the modern day Jimmy Stewart version of Tom Hanks we remember so well from his classic '90s performances, and he still does it as well as ever. Hanks manages to simultaneously convey an everyman relatability and a idealism that never feels forced or corny, and whatever he feels we feel. For all the strength of it's other excellent parts Bridge of Spies would come crashing down with anyone other than Hanks at it's center, and for that reason it's an Oscar caliber performance whether it feels especially new or not.

 While the period piece espionage atmosphere occasionally brings to mind Spielberg's Munich, that was a much less overtly uplifting and more morally ambiguous film. Bridge of Spies feels like Spielberg following Lincoln with a film that is similarly character and dialogue oriented, and deals with many of the same themes: integrity, the U.S. constitution, and human worth. Donovan, like Lincoln (and like so many Spielberg protagonists before him) is a man of moral courage trying to do what's right while large forces pull him in different directions. Like Lincoln, Bridge of Spies benefits from a complex view of those different forces, but in the end has the moral certainty and sentimentality of Spielberg. As always, that can be a plus or a minus depending on your point of view. For us Bridge of Spies is a tense, compelling and ultimately moving story about the importance of being true to who you are and doing what's right. And it's ably told by the best storytellers in the business.

THE MARTIAN

GRADE: A+
Starring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Kate Mara, Michael Pena and Chiwetel Ejiofor
Screenplay by Drew Goddard
Based on the novel by Andy Weir
Directed by Ridley Scott
Rated PG-13
(Intensity, language, disco music) 

Reviewed by Paul and Patrick Gibbs
 

It's not easy to create a sci-fi film which appeals as much to devotees of real science as to the average moviegoer, but the makers of The Martian seem to have pulled it off in this extraordinarily entertaining and engrossing film. While there's a lot of credit to go around, three names stand out: director Ridley Scott, screenwriter Drew Goddard, and perhaps most of all, star Matt Damon. Of course, the story of The Martian actually began with novelist Andy Weir, who wrote a great book. But we all know a great book doesn't always inherently translate to a great movie (just as a great movie doesn't necessarily mean the book it came from was great), but this is a case where it has. 

Damon stars as Mark Watney, a crew member of the fictional Ares IIII Mars mission, who is apparently killed in an accident just as the rest of the crew is fleeing the planet to avoid a devastating storm. But Mark isn't dead. He is, however, alone on the red planet, with no way to contact NASA, and nothing to keep him alive but a small habitat shelter, limited supplies and his own intelligence.  If this sounds a little like Cast Away meets Apollo 13, it is, though instead of talking to a volleyball Mark keeps a videolog, where Damon's talent for  humor is allowed to shine. Damon is hilarious, making dry asides and generally reminding us what a remarkably engaging screen prescence he is and why he is one of the last true movie stars. And as funny as he is, he's equally adept at the dramatic elements of the film, making us feel his fear and loneliness at having a whole planet to himself, and his steely resolve that he will not die there.  It's a performance for the ages, and one that may surpass Jason Bourne as his definitive star turn, and absolutely should gain him another Oscar nomination.  

Damon is ably supported by a great cast, both on board the Ares III and at mission control. His crewmates include the always excellent Jessica Chastain as Commander Lewis, leader of the mission, and Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan and Aksel Hennie as the rest of the crew. Mission control is represented by top-notch veterans Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean and Kristen Wiig, along with rising star Donald Glover and appealing newcomer MacKenzie Davis. Every one of these performers manages to make an impression and adds greatly to the film, and yet the strong ensemble never overpowers the fact that it's Damon's movie. Much of the credit goes to Goddard's excellent screenplay. Goddard has stayed remarkably faithful to the novel, while still having the cinematic savvy to recognize that the structure has to be tweaked to fit the medium of film. And his sense of humor meshes seamlessly with Weir's. Of the many Oscar nominations the film deserves, Best Adapted Screenplay is high on the list.

Two more well deserved nominations would go to cinematographer Dariusz Wolski and director Ridley Scott. Scott is one of cinema's great talents, but even fans like us have to admit his output in recent years hasn't exactly been stellar, with even his better recent films having some fairly serious problems. But The Martian ranks alongside classics like Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator as one of Scott's very best films, and certainly his best in over a decade. His visual talent is unsurpassed among living filmmakers, and he can be brilliant with actors, as he is here. But where his recent films have tended to ramble, even with a a nearly two and a half hour run time The Martian feels lean. No time is wasted. His more recent films have also had a dismal quality, but here Scott is clearly having fun, and that will translate to the audience.

As pure storytelling, The Martian may well be the best of the recent rush of astronaut films which in at least some way acknowledge actual science. It may not be 100% accurate, but it comes infinitely closer than most Hollywood sci-fi epics without sacrificing any of the entertainment value. It's a film that has something for nearly everyone, and will rank highly on our respective lists of the best films of 2015.