#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.

#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.

#2,205: Sicario

The Double - ★★½☆☆
Really dug how the opening tosses you in the deep end. Liked seeing what life was like for Sam Lowry's co-workers. Probably a bad sign that I found the actual plot less interesting, once it finally got in gear.

Miracle Mile - ★★☆☆☆
Fun to see my neighborhood 30 years ago. Almost any time a character is going somewhere in this movie they're going the wrong direction in reality. I was never not interested to see what this movie had next in store. Feeling very interested in remaking (or at least swedeing) this.

John Wick - ★★★☆☆
I think I heard a little too much about this one in advance, but like John Wick himself, it lived up to its reputation. Stays just on the right side of the line between action movie world-building and goofiness that tends to trip up your Ultraviolets and such.

Sicario - ★★★½☆
• Denis Villeneuve is someone who seems very interested in whether the ends justify the means.
• Everyone who manages to actually hurt Kate is an employee of the United States government.
• Benicio Del Toro IS Jack Reacher IN Sicario!
• I'm happy that serious movie season has arrived.

#2,201: The Martian

The Queen of Versailles - ★★★★☆
Wow. That's what I said aloud over and over while watching this.

Race to Nowhere - ★★½☆☆ 
I thought this was going to be about tigers and helicopters, but I was wrong. It's about how homework is too hard. I was very suspicious of this movie, doubly so now that I see how old it is. I'll believe that No Child Left Behind has caused some drastic and unfortunate changes in schools, but I'm not sure I buy these kids as the average sample.

An Honest Liar - ★★★½☆
Good on this doc for (1) being about something that interests me, (2) telling the stories I (and presumably plenty of others casually aware of Randi) already know efficiently, and then (3) hitting me with a couple of increasingly surprising stories I didn't already know. ✓

The Martian - ★★★★★
Nothing says autumn in Hollywood like a big space movie. I think it's great that this is a movie full of hope. The hope almost squelches the horror.

Really solid for also being such a faithful adaptation. Confusing though, that Sean Bean plays a character that survives. Looking forward to this being corrected in the director's cut.