Steve Jobs (2015) Review

Review by Brandon Fu
Directed by Danny Boyle
Rated: R (for language)

Steve Jobs(Boyle, 2015) tells the story of none of other than...Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Inc., and the genius behind revolutionary consumer electronics. Of course, this movie has been attempted before in the form of Jobs(Whiteley, 2013), which was absolutely horrible with Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs(I get shudders just thinking about it). Unlike most biopics, this movie actually tells the story of: Why? Why is Steve Jobs so impressive? Why is he hailed as a genius? Why is he so controversial? It's quite refreshing to see this.

STORY:

This is not your average biopic. It was three arcs, like most movies, but it isn't really a telling of his life. It's more like the behind the scenes and dialogue that happens before three extremely important product reveals. We see his interactions with people like his "daughter", Steve Wozniak, John Sculley, and Joanna Hoffman before those reveals.

I liked the scenes in which he is actually interacting with those people, because with most Aaron Sorkin written movies, the dialogue is snappy and in the center of everything. The entire movie is essentially dialogue, and it actually works, unlike most movies. If a movie with only dialogue actually works, then it's great. If it doesn't, the film tends to suck. Good thing Aaron Sorkin was there, with The West Wing and movies like The Social Network(Fincher, 2010) under his belt.

A particular interaction Steve has with those people listed above that I enjoyed was with his "daughter". The girl is actually his, but he is just super in denial about it, and we see him slowly wise up to the fact that this girl is actually his daughter. It gave for some really heartfelt scenes.

As for the writing and story itself, I felt like I wanted more. The movie only shows the period before the three product reveals, and we never get to see Steve Jobs talk to the audience or actually give a presentation. I would have wanted to see that. I also would have wanted to see more of the "starting in a garage" scenes, with more of his origin. However, we only get tiny flashbacks to the times he had with Steve Wozniak and John Sculley developing Apple. I wouldn't have minded having a longer run time to fit in more flashbacks or make those flashbacks longer.

ACTING:
Everybody in this movie kills it. Michael Fassbender is A MILLION TIMES better than Ashton Kutcher, and actually pulls off an American accent quite consistently throughout the movie. Everybody is top notch, including people you wouldn't expect, like Seth Rogan as Steve Wozniak. I bought him as a dopey, socially awkward guy, who just wants some recognition. There were very tiny points in the movie where there was overacting by Jeff Daniels as John Sculley, but it wasn't anything major enough to take away from the movie.

VERDICT:

Overall, Steve Jobs is obviously the better of the two Steve Jobs biopics. It is expertly written, with fast, snappy dialogue, as well as tense moments brought about by expert directing. Its actors and actresses were top notch, but despite that, the movie wasted potential screen time that could have been put towards the origins of Steve Jobs. Still a great movie, and one definitely worth watching.

7.5/10

The Martian (2015) Review

Review by Brandon Fu
Directed by Ridley Scott
Rated: PG-13 for some strong language, injury images, and brief nudity

The Martian(Scott, 2015), is this year's Interstellar, with fantastic visuals and a return to form from a slipping Ridley Scott. Since his last movie, Exodus: Gods and Kings(Scott, 2014), Scott has improved practically everything about this movie. Unlike Interstellar, The Martian is actually funny, and serious at the same time. One of the best movies of the year so far.

The Martian tells the story of Mark Watney(Matt Damon), a stranded astronaut on Mars who has to communicate with NASA and face some personal problems in order to triumph and return to Earth. After his crew leaves Mars after a huge sandstorm and Watney is presumed dead, he uses his knowledge as a scientist in order to survive until rescue comes after him.

There is both a Mars part of the movie, with Mark Watney as the focus, and there is also an earth part, with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jeff Daniels and their interactions with NASA and JPL in order to get him back. I would have wanted less of the earth scenes, as it would have made Mark Watney's story more impressive, and much more interesting to watch.

Something that is quite obvious about this movie is that the cast is absolutely awesome. With people like Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, etc., it is obvious that a movie with this caliber of stars would be incredible, and it is. Matt Damon is plays the part of a stranded person to the tee. A lot of the scenes that could have been extremely serious are brightened with the humor of the movie. However, this relaxed nature of Mark Watney means that there are almost no scenes in which we see him break down and actually realize his loneliness. There are scenes like that, however, it should have had more of an emotional triumph instead of a physical one.

Unlike most of the cast, there is one person who is a sore thumb that sticks out: Donald Glover(AKA Childish Gambino). Due to his lack of acting experience, I can't buy him as a JPL nerd who spends all day writing code and solving equations. If there were scenes that show his prowess as a mathematician, then I would have bought it. Instead, we are just given Donald Glover a weird introduction and a scene in which he explains his thoughts through models of spaceships. It is not that big of a deal, but purely basing off of his previous performances and hip hop background.

Another aspect of the movie that I really enjoyed was the science aspect, and how everything was able to be explained to the audience. It made sense, and it was fun to see Watney solve his problems through science.

Visually, this movie is stunning. It gives a huge amount of scale, and you really do feel as if you are alone on a planet. When most people think of Mars, they think of huge, vast, red land with no physical interest. However, this movie has a lot of jagged mountains, with huge hills and dunes. Though not as visually impressive as Interstellar, still impressive none the less.

To put it quite simply, The Martian is a great movie and return to form for Ridley Scott. It's funny, moving, realistic, and fun to watch. Though without its mishaps, this film is definitely worth watching.

8/10

District 9 (2009) Review

Review by Brandon Fu
Directed by: Neil Blomkamp
Rated: R (for bloody violence and pervasive language)

District 9 (2009) is set in Johannesburg, South Africa, which has had an alien ship over it for the last twenty years. They once drilled in there, and took all the aliens out, and now all the aliens live in the slums known as District 9. Nicknamed "The Prawns", the aliens live with discrimination from the population of Johannesburg, which urges the prawns to leave. They can't, due to the state of their ship. Sharlto Copley plays Wikus Van de Merwe, an executive at Multinational United (MNU), who is in charge of moving the prawns from District 9 to a camp a couple hundred miles out of the city. He ends up being exposed to their biotechnology, and becomes a kindred spirit for the alien cause. This is definitely one of the most unique ideas for a movie in recent years, and is definitely a great movie.

First off, the concept is awesome. On one end, it talks about the discrimination of the prawns, and ends up being a strong tale of friendship and mutual respect between different races. It is also incredibly awesome in terms of action. Due to MNU being an evil corporation in charge of many things, including weapons, the alien technology interests them greatly, but are unable to wield them due to the fact that they only work with prawns. Towards middle and end of the movies, the use of these weapons is definitely awesome. You know that game Titanfall, when the mechs collect all the bullets and shoot them back at people? Yeah, it comes from this movie.

Even though there are many good action moments, the writing of the script slows it down completely. There is a strong use of monologuing, and you would think that films don't do it no a days, but still. On top of this weird writing during tense moments, there are also some camera operation problems. It feels the Bourne series on steroids, with shaky cam EVERYWHERE. It definitely takes away from the movie, but most movies use this technique a lot. This is mainly because certain actors are incapable of making action scenes believable, and the use of shaky cam usually brings a feeling of urgency and panic. I don't like it at all.

The performances were also great. Sharlto Copley brings a breakout performance, and I hope that he sees more attention because of this movie. He brings heart, emotion, and even some grit and ruthlessness. He is the pinnacle of performances in this movie, and it is fun to have him as a main character. There is one performance that seemed a bit overacted though, which was an MNU colonel in charge of hunting down people. He was fine though.

All in all, District 9 is a wonderful narrative about oppression and rising against the system, yet at the same time it brings great action and great performances. Definitely one of the best movies in the last couple of years.

4.4/5

Jurassic World (2015) Review

Review by Brandon Fu
Directed by: Colin Treverrow
Rated: PG-13 (for intense sequences of science-fiction violence and peril)

Jurassic World is a visual-based movie about a hybrid super dinosaur that ruins everything in the theme park known as Jurassic World. Visually pleasing, and incredibly filmed, this movie is definitely one worth checking out. It is aesthetically identical to the original Jurassic Park, with Steven Spielberg as the director of that film. The great parts awe, while the worst parts make you scratch your head and question how awesome the movie is.

Of course, whenever you are able to cram so many actions scenes into one movie how could it not be awesome. Even though there are so many action scenes, it feels as though it is not chaotic. You always know where things are happening and what the context of it is. This film is also a master of tension, using what isn't there as a tool to scare viewers. If you haven't seen the movie, just know this, the ending is AWESOME. And yes those of you who have seen it, you know what I'm talking about.

Let's get the good out of the way. Visuals: Awesome. Pacing: Great. Chris Pratt: Kinda shitty. Oh wait.

Yes, sorry for you guys out there who love the lovable Andy from Parks and Rec, or the goofy Starlord for Guardians of the Galaxy, but Pratt's Owen Grady is just a condescending, eye-rolling, stuck-up, know-it-all asshole who you like just because he is Chris Pratt. That's it.

This film tends to be a little...weird. The aunt of the two kids, Claire, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, is constantly in her business savvy suits and pumpkin haircut straight out of the 60s. She is constantly wearing heals, just for the screenplay to make fun of her while she runs funny in mud, or trips and falls. It's the screenplays fault this is in here, and it's just a nitpick to be honest. She is also a terrible role model, as she can't protect children, can't feel for them, and has no other duties in her life than to be a career-loving workaholic. A terrible role model. A combination of all of these culminates into an ending that feels out of place, and definitely worse than the action scene before it.

A film should not just be an action fest and explosions. The film implements this in order to take away from the less interesting parts of the movie. Again, you could just shut your brain off and take in the brilliant and spectacular visuals.

3.6/5

Inside Out (2015) Review

Review by Brandon Fu
Directors: Pete Doctor, Ronaldo de Carmen
Rated: PG(for strong thematic topics and some action)

Pixar has done it again!

Inside Out tells the story of Riley and her family who have moved to San Francisco, and Riley's emotions during this move. All the emotions are personified, with Joy(Amy Poehler), Fear(Bill Hader), Anger(Lewis Black), Disgust(Mindy Kaling), and Sadness(Phyllis Smith). This is the first original Pixar property in a while, and oh my god it is AMAZING! If you have not seen it yet, you are missing out on a movie that is on the level of Monsters Inc., Toy Story Series, and Up.

The idea itself is really, really good. After a while, you realize that all the brain's functions are personified, with regions like long term memory, subconscious, etc. This was really refreshing to see, as the last couple of Pixar movies were not original (Cars 2, Monsters University, Toy Story 3). Seriously, I cannot rave about this any more than I am right now. It's definitely a must see this summer.

First off is the voice acting. It's awesome. With people like Lewis Black, who fits the bill perfectly as Anger, to people like Amy Poehler, the real star of the show. All the voice acting is top notch, but the one that really stuck out to me was definitely Lewis Black. The screams of anger, and his gravelly voice were definitely meant for anger personified. There really is no one that is bad in this movie, except maybe Phyllis Smith as Sadness. Her voice itself fits the character impeccably, but her voice acting experience here definitely shows due to her lack of presence, even though she is one of the emotions that gets more screen time. Mindy Kaling turns in a good performance too, but she outshined by most of her cohorts.

Like any other Pixar movie, Inside Out make you question yourself. For example, it can be seen that in everybody's mind, they have their own Joy, Sadness, Anger, etc., and in the middle of the movie, I was thinking of how my control center would look like and how my emotions would appear. Along with these cool concepts, Pixar brings its signature heart mixed with comedy. The movie is funny, and definitely will make you giggle to yourself. However, the ability for this movie to pander to both adults and children is astounding. At one end, this movie is about growing up, while on the other end, this movie brings a strong message(I won't say what the message is, but if you see the movie, it's really obvious). Above all else, this movie will bring you to the brink of sadness and maybe make you cry. Not kidding.

Overall, Inside Out is in the pantheon of one of the best animated movies of all time, and not seeing it is doing yourself a disservice. It's original, has heart and emotion, is funny, and anybody can watch it. This is THE movie to watch right now. No doubt about it.

4.8/5

Avenger: Age of Ultron (2015) Review

Review By Brandon Fu
Directed By: Joss Whedon
Rated: Pg-13(for action)

Avengers: Age of Ultron is about the Avengers team, made up of Iron Man(Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America(Chris Evans), Hulk(Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye(Jeremy Renner), Thor(Chris Hemsworth), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), as they fight the artificial intelligence known as Ultron(voiced by James Spader), who was made by the collective minds of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. New players, Scarlett Witch(Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver(Aaron Taylor Johnson), are also here, but they play a much smaller role then advertised. 

Let's get the plot out of the way first. Essentially, it is exactly the same as the first Avengers movie. Villain gains power, villain acquires army, villain threatens to destroy the world, and avengers must stop him/her. But, the avengers movies must follow this kind of guideline due to the fact that there are these large numbers of superheroes that are teamed up, and the only way as to poise a challenge to them is to put an army in their way and threaten the world as we know it. Although these kind of movies are AWESOME, and it is great that technology is able to portray such great action scenes, the concept in general puts writers in a corner. It's not that the plot is bad, but I have seen it before and I am pointing out a problem that can happen in the future.

Second, the action. Everything for this movie is ON POINT. The cgi, the choreography, the witty banter between teammates are all great. Speaking of witty banter, the writing in this movie is amazing. The actors and actresses have already established their chemistry, and the fact that they are able to seamlessly make fun of each other and play off one another is genius on Joss Whedon's part. If this idea was introduced ten years ago, it wouldn't have happened due to the segregation of Marvel properties and the state of computer generated images. So the fact that this movie even exists is great. 

Lastly, the performances. Obviously, everything was on point, except for two. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were bland and uninspired. Sure, you felt a connection between them, but when compared to X-Men's Quicksilver, our Quicksilver is no where near as cool. Another performance that stood out to me was Ultron. Rather than being the stereotypical robot, he actually had personality and showed weakness, anger, sadness, and joy. He was rather fun to see, and a great villain, though not as good as Loki.

Overall, Avengers: Age of Ultron is a great sequel, doing what it was supposed to do. It had great action, great acting, and great writing. If you haven't seen it, you are missing out on one of the best visual experiences of the year.

4/5

Kingsman: The Secret Service Review (2015)

Review by: Brandon Fu
Rated: R (for sequences of strong violence, language, and sexual content)
Directed by: Matthew Vaughn (X-Men First Class)

Kingsman The Secret Service tells the story of Eggsy(Taron Egerton), a gifted, yet troubled youth who inherits a job at a secret government agency: The Kingsmen. Him, along with his mentor Harry Hart(Colin Firth), take on the likes of Samuel L. Jackson with a lisp, and his badass sidekick with FUCKING SWORDS FOR LEGS. Yeah, it's that kind of movie, in which the shit is so over the top that it actually makes it really, really fun.

Let's get the boring stuff out of the way. Everybody in this movie did there job (AKA everyone was pretty badass), except for one: Michael Caine. His character is very passive and it feels like Mr. Caine just phoned it in for one of the billions of movies he has been in.

The obvious pro to this movie is the action. With his experience from X-Men First Class, Vaughn is fully capable of filming fight scenes and firefights. On top of the well filmed action, everything in those action scenes are OVER THE TOP. It is very fun to see things like umbrellas that shoot bullets or lighters that are also hand grenades, so much so that it harkens back to the old bond films that had these gadgets (I'm looking at you Q).

Although this movie is awesome (which it is, duh), there are a couple problems with it. The parts with action are AWESOME, but the parts that in between the fighting are kind of boring and dumbs down the tone of the movie. Especially you, Michael Caine.

Overall, this movie is extremely funny and BADASS(yes I know I used that a lot), but has some bumpy spots. But, you have a girl with sword legs, excessive gore, explosions, Samuel L. Fucking Jackson, and gadgets that make you reminisce about the old bond movies. What more could you want?

3.5/5