1980s

Steve Jobs Review

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Back in 2013, there was a Steve Jobs biopic with Ashton Kutcher playing the titular man. Even with having one of the most influential men of the late 20th century as its subject matter, the film bombed both critically and commercially, despite a good performance by Kutcher. Can director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin come together to give Steve Jobs the film he deserves?

Steve Jobs stars Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogan and Jeff Daniels and is directed by Danny Boyle. The film follows Steve Jobs (Fassbender) behind the scenes of his three most famous PC demonstrations, the Mascintosh, The NeXT and the iMac, as well as the backroom deals that lead to him leaving the company.

While I would have thought the three-act structure, each featuring similar set-ups would have grown tired quickly (how many variations can you think of what amounts to a tech demo?), I was thoroughly surprised how each one managed to feel completely different. Aaron Sorkin (of The Social Network and Moneyball fame) brings a totally unique way of viewing Jobs’ life, through these three distilled fragments instead of a traditional narrative, and it completely fits the film. While some of the character interactions in the films feel a bit contrived, with the main players in Apple Inc. reappearing at each tech demo, the film manages to keep it together, even joking at how contrived one scene near the end is.

Sorkin’s script is a shining point in the film, with his signature quick-fire dialogue making certain scenes a joy to watch. I wouldn’t have thought that a film about creating computers would have been interesting to listen to, and even thought the film is full of ports, routers, modems and other jargon, it’s still incredibly compelling. The back and forth between Jobs and his aide Joanna Hoffman, as well as the verbal sparring between Jobs and the mother of his child allow the actors to show off their range, but the scenes that I had the most enjoyment were the exchanges between Jobs and Andy Hertzfeld, an original Mac Team engineer, as they try and fix the Macintosh before the reveal. Throughout these scenes, Jobs demeans and undermines Hertzfeld, who just has to grit his teeth and go along with it if he wants to keep his job.

The acting by all is remarkable. Michael Fassbender is on a roll in 2015, with another excellent performance under his belt. He portrayal of Jobs is very different from the charismatic public speaker that was usually seen. Here, we get an almost psychopathic artist, who knowingly screwed over several of his co-workers, showing us a much darker side to the CEO. Kate Winslet as Job’s confidante Joanna Hoffman is good, and she is almost unrecognisable underneath her dark hair and thick glasses. Seth Rogan, known for his comedic roles breaks typecasting as Steve Wozniak, Apple’s original co-founder, coming off as a shy and quite nerdy character. There is even a surprising turnaround performance by Rogan in the third act where Wozniak explodes at Jobs.

My only real problem with Steve Jobs is that for all the build up and rehearsals of the unveiling of the new computers that had been designed, we never see the reveals. While these were obviously not integral to the story, it would have been a nice addition given how much the film hyped up these scenes. My eyelids did drop at one point during the third act but my interest in the story kept me awake to see it till the end.

In conclusion, Steve Jobs has everything, a great cast list, a seasoned director and a script written by one of the greatest living screenwriters today. Criminally, the film has been pulled from several showings to due to its poor response in America, but if you are able to get to a showing, I would highly recommend that you see Steve Jobs.

Score: 8/10 A gripping film, where we see the madness behind the man.

Pixels Review

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I wasn’t really looking forward to going to see Pixels. I had read and heard lots of reviews that were slating the film and I wasn’t feeling particularly motivated to go and watch it. But, as it was on its final few days in the cinema, I thought I may as well go for the sake of film journalism.

Pixels stars Adam Sandler, John Gad, Kevin James, Peter Dinklage and Michelle Monaghan and is directed by Chris Columbus. After aliens misinterpret a collection of 80s video games in a NASA probe as a declaration of war, it’s up to veteran gamer Sam (Sandler) and his friends to save the world.

The acting (if I can even call it that) is all over the shop. Adam Sandler as usual is just playing himself, an overgrown man-child who never knows when to shut his mouth. According to several people in the film he’s meant to be a super-smart guy who invented gadgets at university but the way Sandler saunters around the screen, it conveys the exact opposite. Josh Gad is alright as the more socially awkward gamer Ludlow, always clutching at Sandler’s sleeve for support, but it quickly turns into him screaming at an insanely high pitch. Peter Dinklage is wasted in the film, I feel a little bit sorry that he had to perform some of the worst lines ever committed to paper (and then don’t feel sorry because he probably only did it for the money).

The script is the main problem with the film. The story has thousands of plot holes and doesn’t have any coherence in its tone or logic. For instance, Kevin James, who plays the President of the United States (because that’s totally not self-aggrandising) in the beginning says that his wife hates him, but throughout the film they are seen to be smiling and having fun together. It’s as if the two screenwriters, Tim Herlihy and Timothy Dowling wrote the script over a lazy weekend and then never revised it, just giving it straight to the actors on the first day.

The jokes are the same childish attempt of humour that were in Grown-Ups (1 and 2) and can be seen coming from a mile off. Many jokes are made at the expense of the three gamers, most of which are based around the tired, outdated stereotype that all gamers are basement-dwellers that still live with their parents. For a film that is trying to fly the flag for video games, Pixels instead just demeans the audience that it’s trying to pander to. the film also is laden with homophobic and racist jokes, with an entire sequence where Josh Gad is screaming at a platoon of Navy SEALs, using homophobic slurs to try and pump them up so they can take on the alien video game characters.

Although, these jokes are nothing compared to how the film depicts women. The film obviously doesn’t pass the Bechdel Test (although that’s not a mark of quality), since all the women are either crying in the closet while drinking wine, demonised by their husbands or are a literal trophy, given to the gamers after beating the aliens at Donkey Kong. It’s cringe-worthy to see a film in 2015 that still treats women as the tropes of the damsel in distress or as objects that are given in exchange for good work.

While there were a few lines that I smiled at, such as when Professor Toru Iwatani, creator of Pac-Man appears and tries to appeal to the alien version of Pac-Man. It’s a really nice scene, but it’s swiftly ruined by a crass bout of profanity when Pac-Man bites his creator’s hand off. This was my favourite scene of the film, until I started reading up on the film for this review, when it was revealed that it wasn’t the real Professor Iwatani, and instead just an actor. Knowing that it isn’t the actual creator having a sweet moment with his creation, the scene is robbed of all the impact that it managed to have.

To be honest, Pixels isn’t Adam Sandler’s worst film. But with its uninvolving action sequences, lame jokes and it somehow seeming to drag on forever (despite being only 106 minutes), Pixels is one of the dullest of the year.

Score: 2/10 It will bring you to tears by how boring it is.

Alois Nebel Review

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Preface

I was once doing some research for my film studies course and came across a film trailer for a Czech film called Alois Nebel. I noted it down for further research later and promptly forgot about it. A week ago I was looking through my old work and came across the name once again and so decided to try and find a copy to watch. And now, the review.

Review

Alois Nebel stars Miroslav Krobot, Marie Ludvikova and Karel Roden and is directed by Tomas Lunak. Based on the comic book trilogy of the same name, the film follows train dispatcher Alois Nebel during the 1980s in Czechoslovakia, where hallucinations of the dark past he witnessed seems to seep into his present.

First of all, Alois Nebel is gorgeous. Instead of traditional animation being used, rotoscoping was employed to create the visuals. For anyone who doesn’t know, rotoscoping is when and animator draws over a live-action performance. It is beautifully created here; it makes the animation look realistic, to the point where some scenes come scarily close to the uncanny valley. There were several times during the film where I forgot I was watching an animation due to the craftsmanship at work.

The animation allows for some beautifully crafted shots throughout Alois Nebel. Sweeping shots of Prague Central Train Station and the fireworks above it on New Years Eve, or wide shots of manor estates during the winter are executed brilliantly, and with meticulous attention to detail. Even Nebel’s small station on the Czech-Polish border is designed to precision, giving the small location so much character.

The animation, along with the stark black and white contrast of the film emphasizes the desolate atmosphere of the Czechoslovakian countryside that we see throughout the film. The opening chase scene in a dense forest, or later in the film where we see the the howling wind accompanied by the falling rain or snow, Alois Nebel is one of the few films that creates a sense of being truly alone, with nothing but nature surrounding you on all sides.

The story is split between Nebel’s present, the 1980s and then ending of the Soviet Union and fleeting scenes of his childhood at the latter end of 1945. You might want to look up on your Eastern European history before you watch, because I became a bit lost at what was happening during the frequent flashbacks. Understanding what is happening in these flashbacks is the key to understanding the beginning, the ending and the strange character known as The Mute, who slips in and out of the story like a ghost.

The film does have its fair share of unsettling scenes. Several brutal scenes of electroshock therapy are explicitly shown during the film, as well as a bloody axe murder during the closing scenes. These scenes however are gone as quickly as they turn up, meaning we only get brief flashes of brutality before we are transported off to the next scene.

In summary, Alois Nebel is a beautifully crafted film. While the story may confuse a few, if you work it out you will find a deeply dark yet human story about a lonely man finding purpose and love in a desolate and chaotic time. If you’re bored of animation being family-friendly films with talking animals as it’s main characters and are looking for something with a bit more drama, Alois Nebel is a fine choice.

Score: 7/10 Nearly flawlessly created, a great effort for a first time director