#2,217: Steve Jobs

The Peanuts Movie - ★★★★☆
I was worried this might just be a catalog of classic Peanuts bits. And you know what, even though it was, I was right on board after a couple of minutes. The adaptation to 3D works, the modernized bits blend gently with the not-modernized-at-all bits, and I really liked how Charlie Brown is portrayed as a good, smart kid who is reasonably resourceful, popular, and capable, just lacking in self-esteem. I think this should become a classic.

Housebound - ★★★½☆  
I went into this one cold, which is of course the best way to see every movie, and on this one it paid off. It was almost a slow reveal just how much of a comedy this is. Couple speed bumps when the plot turns around, but this movie was a pleasant surprise.

Spotlight - ★★★★☆
I like watching characters in movies perform their jobs brilliantly because of how much I would like to have a job where I myself could have the opportunity to do excellent work.

I haven't thought this part through, but maybe I always prefer a horror movie that keeps its distance a little and lets the horror speak for itself, instead of getting your face right in there.

Steve Jobs - ★★★½☆
I think that this was a good movie - my favorite Danny Boyle in fact - but also that it's bad history. I don't mind so much, but I bet the Apple-flavored internet crowd that was all mad about this would have loved a Citizen Kane-style angle of "this is obviously a story that's about a real guy, but legally, we assure you, it's not him." But this is a different era.

#2,213 - Spectre

Our Brand is Crisis - ★★★☆☆
No no, the plot is something to do with an election. The movie is about revenge. Selfish, shameless, futile revenge. And how it fixes everything.

The Host - ★★★½☆
This was more fun than I was expecting. Maybe I always have a fondness for a movie whose real villain is bureaucracy.

Trumbo - ★★★☆☆
This is a structurally weird movie. Trumbo just wins and wins and wins. I bet it's fun for a bunch of actors to fill out the supporting cast of Hollywood legends.

Spectre - ★★★☆☆
It's fine; it's a Bond movie.
• Maybe the worst song on record though?
• Blofeld could have been handled better, but at least it wasn't a Khan situation.
• Do Bond movies ever have a B-story? - Is this the looming influence of Mission: Impossible?
• I think a little continuity adds flavor to the 007 movies, but in this case: too much.

A Year of Gangbusters! IV

One time, Jeffrey Jay was on Gangbusters! and it was terrific. 

Also, the Gangbusters! 1-year Anniversary Show! is on Friday. 

#succinct #brief #compact #tothepoint #onpoint #eliminateneedlesswords #elementsofstyle #strunkandwhite #ebwhite #charlottesweb #weboflies #houseofcards #brevity #brevityisthesoulofwit #atwitsend #atworldsend #letsbooboo #terse #condensed #condensation #condescension #itmeanstalkingdownto #itsmenstalkingdowntown #somepercentagemustwork #notallstalking #thereallisaching #pithy #epigrammatic #verbose

#2,209: Bridge of Spies

Exam - ★★½☆☆
I was hoping this movie would remind me of Cube, and it kind of does, but it's not as satisfying. It doesn't commit hard enough often enough.

Circle - ★★★☆☆
Where Exam felt like a movie written straight-ahead, front-to-back, based on someone's notion of an interesting way to start a script, Circle feels like a movie written with an outline, maybe even an idea of how a movie might end and constructed from there. The opening here might be a little more clumsy, but it marches swiftly on towards a bold conclusion, which is a much more satisfying thing to do.

Closer to the Moon - ★★½☆☆
This is a kind of interesting story told in a sort of boring way.

Bridge of Spies - ★★★★★
This movie had everything! Spies? check! Bridge? check! A maybe too-safe feeling hero? check! Lovely, deliberate, and motivated camerawork? check!

I had a really great time watching this, especially with all the on-screen spying going on. I was a little disappointed when the bridge finally showed up, because I didn't want to get to the end of the story. I didn't know I could be more satisfied with my movie-going experience until the credits finally rolled and some goof in the back shouted out 'that was terrible!'

Plus, if you live in the US, take your ticket stub to participating Burger King restaurants for the promotional tie-in Bridge of Fries! Mine came with a Tom Hanks of ketchup.

The Prayer, by Matthias Schubert

As crowdfunding videos go, this is a pretty good one. And as filmmakers go, Matthias is a pretty good one too.

He's the cinematographer of the two best feature films I've helped to make: The Selling and Diani & Devine Meet the Apocalypse, as well as an awful lot of commercials I've found myself working on over the past year. I trust him to make a movie worth making. Help him do that on Seed&Spark.