This movie definitely has some great acting and great writing. Of course every time Aaron Sorkin writes anything (his last movie being the Social Network in 2010) you know that there will be some very impressive dialog. I was most impressed with the acting of Seth Rogan who proved in this movie that he can definitely act and because of that, its highly unfortunate that most of his movies have been so bad when he has written, acted and starred in them.

This movie is highly unusual in that its really 3 stories told in real time; the release of the Macintosh in 1984, the release of the Next Computer in 1988 and finally the 3rd act, the release of the IPOD in 1998. The connecting thread throughout these 3 acts was Steve Job’s relationship with his daughter Lisa. At first Job’s denied he was Lisa’s father and at the end he fully believed and embraced the fact that she was his daughter. Along the way there was his turbulent relationship with the woman who he had Lisa with and his constant arguing early on that he was not the child’s father, even coming out with a 28% algorithm that proved that 28% of American men could have been her father.

What is most amazing about this Apple Computer history lesson and the career of Steve Jobs is we all forgot that the Macintosh was a huge failure for Apple in 1984 and that Jobs first computer with Next was also a huge and overpriced disaster. Despite all of this, Apple rehired Jobs in 1997 and he completely turned the company around even though Apple Computer was 90 days from going under financially. Now some 18 years later, Apple is the most valuable and most important company in the world.

Other connecting threads of this movie were Steve Jobs relationship with Steve Wozniak and his close friend and adviser Joanna Hoffman and his rudeness and ruthless behavior towards everyone who worked for him. It is probably well known the difficult and argumentative relationship Jobs and with Wozniak, but I for one never heard of Joanna Hoffman. Its amazing that Steve Jobs was able to accomplish what he did in his life being so rude to so many people but over time he did improve this part of his personality. Steve Jobs was 100% driven to change the world and he just did not care how he was able to accomplish this along the way.

The big flaw in this movie is that it is really NOT a biography of Steve Jobs, after the book “Steve Jobs” written by Walter Isaacson. This movie is only about 3 incidents in Job’s life and at times was like a soap opera of arguments and conflicts, which did include many moments of great acting. I for one would have rather seen an accurate biography of Steve Job’s life even if the movie was 3 hours long instead of this movie, which was good for what it was, but I think overall not what most people would expect or even want to see.

The 4 main actors in this movie: Seth Rogen, Michael Fassbender Jeff Daniels and Kate Winslett are all very good in their roles and despite the obvious flaws in this movie I do recommend it.

Steve Jobs IMDB

Was this movie a period movie or horror movie? Who knows? What this movie was more than anything else was extremely bad. There is a funeral at the beginning, followed by a ghost that shows up that was never explained, the mention of Crimson Peak that was never explained, followed by a love story that was staged in a city in the 1870’s, followed by the relocation of the main female character and her new husband to a huge mansion that is falling apart.

The story and connections of the different scenes have no rhyme or reason. Nothing is ever explained. While in the mansion the husband and wife meet up with his sister who is living there and for some reason (also never explained) they have both killed his many wives over the years, for reasons completely unknown. The soil in the outside of the mansion is red clay but is the clay red because of all the dead women they buried? There is an oil rig in the front of the house that is digging for something, but this is also never explained. Is the director and writer trying to make people think that they are insane or stupid watching this horrible movie? What is the point of a bad movie like this. Why would someone read the script and decide to make a horrible movie from a horrible script?

Guillermo del Toro directed this bad movie, but why he did this is a mystery. Jessica Chastaine is barely recognizable as the husband’s sister and why is she in this very bad movie? Mia Wasikowska is a relative newcomer who should also have never taken the part in this movie. While watching this disaster I could barely believe that it was only 2 hours long because it felt like 4 hours. I almost walked out about 3 times.

Do yourself a huge favor and MISS this horrible movie.

Crimson Peak IMDB

This is one of the better spy movies about the Cold War that have come out in the last 20 years and considering the importance of the Cold War, there should have been more movies like this made about what went on during this very difficult time in our Nations history.

The main character in this movie, played by Tom Hanks is James B. Donovan and he is an important American who should be more famous considering the important things he did for this country. After the trial of a Russian spy (Rudolf Abel), who was defended by Donovan, he was commissioned by the CIA to negotiate the prisoner swap Francis Gary Powers, who was a pilot who was shot down at 70,000 feet in a spy plane and the Russian spy. Where this true story got very complicated was when the United States wanted two prisoners in return for the Russian spy; Gary Powers and an Economics student who was arrested in East Germany, Fredrick Pryor. The politics of the negotiations between the Russians, East Germans and the United States all being handled by Donovan was for the most part interesting, but there were times when the movie stalled and was rather boring.

This movie hit the mark for the most part and was a good story to know about during the Cold War. Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg both did a solid job as the lead actor and director in this movie, but I don’t see this movie necessarily being up for best picture or best director, perhaps because the subject matter is not strong enough. At the end of this movie it was mentioned that James B. Donovan was also hired by President Kennedy to negotiate the return of American prisoners after the Bay of Pigs and was able to negotiate the release of 9 times more people than he was originally commissioned to return, which is another great accomplishment that more Americans should be aware of. Movies about true history events and great Americans like Donovan is another reason why we go to the movies, to learn about world history that most of us are not aware even happened.

I definitely recommend this movie.

Bridge of Spies IMDB