Tag Archives: Kate Winslet

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is like a stage play. The movie is filled with speeches delivered with more passion in the film than one would imagine they might have been in real life. Those speeches are also likely more eloquent than were their real-life antecedents.

The script is by Aaron Sorkin whose screenwriting includes The Social Network, Moneyball and A Few Good Men. Sorkin loosely adapted his screenplay from Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography, published shortly after the death of the Apple giant.

The film is brilliantly directed by Danny Boyle. He includes cinematic elements—split-second flashbacks are particularly effective—but gives his actors plenty of room to shine.

Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) is a man with a narrow focus: his products and their introductions to the world. He has difficulty with personal relationships. He is an egotistical perfectionist who is concerned about design as well as function of his products. He also is obsessed with his own public image and his legacy.

The story is told in three acts, each preceding a product launch: in 1984, the MacIntosh; in the late 80s, the NeXT “black cube” computer; in the late 90s, the iMac.

Jobs interacts throughout the film with Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet), Apple’s marketing chief. She is the one person who is rarely intimidated by Jobs and, of necessity, is able to abide his casual disregard for other humans.

Jobs’ Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) has cashed in his chips but hovers on the perimeter, seeking acknowledgement from Jobs for the Apple II computer. Apple CEO John Scully (Jeff Daniels) who Jobs recruited for the position has a respectful but sometimes tempestuous relationship with Steve.

Three young women portray Jobs’ daughter Lisa, most notably Perla Haney-Jardine as the oldest version, at age 19. The evolving storyline involving his daughter makes Jobs seem like less of a selfish jerk.

Steve Jobs is not a bio-pic. The 2013 film Jobs, starring Aaron Kutcher in the title role, came closer to being a life story but it stopped at 2001. Click HERE to read my review of that earlier film. A documentary Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine was released last month and is available on demand from iTunes and Amazon.

The actors, screenwriter and director of the new film create a close-up view of the man, his vision, his drive and his many flaws. The music of Daniel Pemberton adds to the tension and gives the scenes momentum. It’s an interesting and entertaining way to look at this intriguing visionary.

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Insurgent

 

Insurgent, as the 2nd film of a quadrilogy, is like a middle child in a family. The eldest and the baby get more attention and certain perks, so the middle children have to work hard to be noticed.

The main task of the second film of a series is to set up the final films. At the same time, there must be a few hooks to give the film an identity of its own. Insurgent manages to hit its marks on both counts.

Insurgent offers cool dream sequences (apparently inspired by Inception) and the addition of Naomi Watts (as a brunette!) to the cast. Not to mention… the two main characters act on their mutual attraction.

To refresh, civilization in this dystopian version of Chicago is based on all people being selected for one of five factions, according to personality testing. Those who crossover into multiple categories are referred to as Divergent. In the 2014 film, Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley), after being pegged as Divergent, chooses the Dauntless faction, where she meets and falls in love with Four (Theo James).

As we pick up the action in the new film, Tris and Four are living on the run, away from the city, where political turmoil is wreaking havoc. Erudite faction leader Jeanine (Kate Winslet) is now in charge. Upon their return to the bombed out landscape of Chi-town, the pair meet up with Evelyn (Watts) who leads the factionless brigade. She is also revealed to be Four’s mother, though their relationship is far from warm.

The film’s highlights include trials conducted by Candor faction leader Jack Kang (Daniel Dae Kim) with heavy doses of truth serum injected before testimony. Later, the sequences that occur after Tris turns herself into Jeanine for more faction testing are fun to watch as Tris’ mind goes through weird dreams. They are even trippier than the effects that present the opening production logos.

Woodley, Winslet and Watts are the acting stars among a large cast that also includes Miles Teller, Ashley Judd and Octavia Spencer.

As a fan of dystopian future settings, I like this one. (Although it seems odd that most of the bombed-out building shells are still standing 200 years after the destructive war.) The POV flight through the dried-up Chicago River bed isn’t quite as thrilling as the zipline ride from the top of the Hancock building in Divergent, but it does present a creative vision.

While Divergent focused on introducing the characters and the scenario, Insurgent seems more concerned with advancing the storyline. The film, which is violent throughout, ends with a bang as a new political coalition stands by to be fully realized in Allegiant—Part 1. That film will comes to theaters in March 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Divergent

There are similarities: A grim vision of the future, young people facing off against each other, young people facing off against authority, unconsummated sexual tension and… cool costumes. As happens in another recent movie, a ceremony near the film’s beginning brings the citizenry together as it tears families apart.

But—–Divergent is not The Hunger Games and Shailene Woodley is not Jennifer Lawrence.

In a bombed-out futureworld Chicago, Tris Pryor (Woodley) faces a choice she must make: Which of five factions will she choose to join? The smart folks are Erudite, the peaceful people are Amity, those who cannot lie are Candor, the brave and daring are Dauntless and the selfless belong to Abnegation.

Tris does not fit neatly into any one of those categories, so she is destined to be Divergent (according to personality testing). However, when choosing time comes, she picks Dauntless.

Her training is brutal, but she makes it through with help from one of the team leaders, the hunky Four (Theo James). He realizes that she’s a bit brainy for Dauntless, but he makes it work. It’s not a spoiler to tip that they fall in love.

The Dauntless leaders get their crew involved in a political battle. Erudite, led by Jeanine (Kate Winslet) is looking to overthrow the government run by Abnegation, whose leaders include Tris’ parents.

Divergent establishes its characters and tells its story clearly. Its violence is direct but not gory. The effects are good but not overbearing. A favorite scene is a nighttime zipline ride from the top of the John Hancock building. Wheeeeee!

Shailene Woodley received an Oscar nomination for her work in The Descendants. She was good in last year’s The Spectacular Now. For Divergent, she has been handed the keys to a franchise. Her acting chops are strong. But can she command an action role? I say yes. (Her Spectacular Now co-star Miles Teller is a fellow Dauntless trainee, FYI.)

Woodley may have the prettiest eyes in movies, but her look is not glam. She’s not a hardbody, but manages to pull off the athletic moves necessary to play Tris. (Not all of that work can be done by stunt doubles.)

The key to the success of Divergent will be, as with the Potter/Twilight/Hunger films, the passion of fans of the books. But for those of us who did not read the Divergent book, the movie is solidly entertaining. While it resolves its main plot issue, there will be more to come. The sequel Insurgent is due out in March 2015.

 

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Labor Day

Director Jason Reitman has gone straight. Labor Day is a melodrama that’s quite different from his usual style.

Jason Reitman is known for hip, edgy movies that have a biting wit. Thank You For Smoking, Juno, Up In The Air and Young Adult have specific points of view on modern American life. They have memorable flawed characters. They have killer opening sequences.

Labor Day, set in a small New Hampshire town over Labor Day weekend 1987, has its flawed characters. But the story has no significant agenda/message. And its title sequence is standard and ho-hum. Reitman wrote the script, based on the novel by Joyce Maynard.

Frank (James Brolin) is an escaped prisoner who chooses young Henry (Gattlin Griffith) and his divorced mom Adele (Kate Winslet) to hide him out in their home. Over this long weekend, Adele, a lonely woman who is beset with anxiety, finds comfort in the arms of this not-so-frightening convicted murderer.

Frank cooks! He feeds his chili (whose ingredients include coffee) by the spoonful to Kate. (He has temporarily tied her and Henry up so that, should authorities bust in, they would not suspect they were aiding and abetting the convict.) When a neighbor (J.K. Simmons) brings a basket of ripe peaches, Frank makes a peach pie with help from Adele and Henry. Yes, the pie making is sensuous.

Along with romancing mom, Frank is nice to Henry. He’s also nice to Barry (Micah Fowler), a handicapped kid who Adele agrees to watch for a few hours.

Reitman teases with flashback snippets of Frank and Adele’s respective early lives and episodes that made them the people they have become. As the flashbacks become more complete, so do the characters.

Of course, most of the film is a flashback, narrated by the adult Henry (Tobey Maguire). The actor portraying the young Henry, Gattlin Griffith, is impressive in his understated performance.

As authorities intensify their manhunt, Frank and Adele make a plan to leave town and take refuge in Canada. This decision leads to the film’s climax, which will not be revealed here.

Reitman’s effort to go mainstream is partially successful. He tells this suspenseful story well, but it moves very slowly at times. Should there have been more graphic evidence of Frank and Adele’s romance? Probably yes, but they wanted a PG-13 rating—more evidence of Reitman’s desire to play to the masses.

Sadly, Labor Day feels like a Lifetime/Hallmark movie with upgraded acting.

 

 

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“Carnage”—[No Bodily Harm, Just Bruised Egos]

When a stage play is brought to the screen, especially a play with just one basic setting and only four characters, making it work as a movie can be tricky. “Carnage” works.

The most important credit goes to the writer, Yasmina Reza, whose play “God of Carnage” won the ’09 Tony for best play. With tweaks from director Roman Polanski, her movie script brings us relatable situations and characters direct from our modern day lives.

Next, let’s credit Polanski for taking this one long continuous scene and making it visually interesting. Set in a New York apartment living room (with side trips to the kitchen, bathroom and hallway), the story benefits from good shot selection. The direction gives us varied angles, close ups and wide shots, without calling attention to itself.

Of course, the actors are ones who bring the script to life. Kate Winslet and Christopher Waltz are one couple. Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly are the other. All four deliver excellent performances.

The two couples visit together after their sons have been involved in a playground incident. One couple wants the other to apologize for their child’s aggression. As the discussion continues, other subjects are addressed. Food is shared and later, booze. The couples engage in verbal warfare, first with the opposite couple and then with their own spouses.

Many of us who are married with children have been in similar situations. You want to be nice, but sometimes tensions build. In “Carnage,” there are moments that will make you uncomfortable and there are moments that will make you laugh out loud. You may shift your allegiance and identification from one character to another (and maybe back again).

I like “Carnage.” Despite its being one 80-minute long conversation, it is not boring. Does “Carnage” have a message or two? Maybe. That’s for you and your spouse to discuss on the drive home from the theatre.

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