September (1 1/2 Stars)

This has to be one of the most bizarre movies I have ever seen and I am quite disappointed by it, it is a German film and I normally enjoy German films but this one…I don’t know.

The film is about 4 families/relationships living and how their lives are effected by the 9/11 Terrorist attacks. It’s sort of a snap-shot in time into four families. There is not real storyline and there is no real progression through the film. There are just four stories that sort of meander through the film. It’s a film that leaves you with more unanswered questions rather than solutions and resolutions.

It reminds me a lot of Crash or Brooklyn’s Finest a meandering storyline that tries to be arty and I don’t know, maybe I am missing something, but I just don’t get them. I think this film was lost on me. I’m not a fan of the whole genre of films.

Dad’s Army (1 1/2 Stars)

I wasn’t overly looking forward to this film, something told me it just wasn’t going to be all that great. I suppose it was because I was never really a huge fan of the television series, whilst it was funny and there was the odd laugh, it just seemed all a bit too silly – I mean no one could be that stupid and incompetent really?

Well the film is much like the TV series and I don’t think you have to be a fan of the TV show to appreciate this film. I just felt that despite a great cast that has some of Britain’s finest actors in it: Bill Nighly, Toby Jones, Michael Gambon, Bill Paterson, Sarah Lancashire, Mark Gatiss and Alison Steadman, I just wasn’t that inspired.

Throughout the film it almost seemed like copyright prevented some catchphrases and the theme music being used but perhaps the sustained cloak and dagger references to the tv show were just there to entertain those who were a fan.

As for the storyline, I just felt that it was worthy of a 30 minute TV episode but it had been dragged out to make a feature film, and it was painfully too long.

Whilst I did enjoy the moderate nostalgia trip, it did make for an incredibly dull two hours at the cinema.

 

Steve Jobs (1 1/2 Stars)

 

This film had potential and the acting from Kate Winslet and Michael Fassbender was outstanding. I just ended up with a headache from watching this film. However, my Dad really liked the film and he is the computer gig who lived through this period…so maybe if you’re a computer geek you may enjoy it more.

The film is set around three events and focuses on the making of Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender). The first two, his failures of the overpriced and non-customisable Macintosh in 1984, The all-glamerous non-substance NeXt Cube (1988) and then finally the game changer: The IMac. The film takes place in the same building, or at least it really looks like the same building and towards the end Apple have customised it backstage – so I think it is the same building. It mostly revolves around Steve’s relationship with the mother of his child, Chrisann (Katherine Waterstone), his daughter, Lisa, his ‘work wife’ Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet), as well as Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen), John Sculley (Jeff Daniels) and Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg).

The film is basically the same arguments played over three scenes from 1984-1998. You get the difficult and strained relationship of Chrisann and Steve, who Steve thinks is just trying to get money out of her. His daughter Lisa, who he refuses to acknowledge as his daughter and who can see if under immense difficultly to cope with her mother – yet he never steps in to help. Then his strained relationships with co-workers, Joanna who tries to keep Steve’s personal and business personas on track. His Co-founder Wozniak; the real brains behind apple and the struggling relationship to acknowledge their beginnings and Andy Hertzfeld – a key engineer who Steve bullies to get things his way.

The film is designed to show Steve as an asshole, he’s not an engineer – he’s a conductor. He plays those with talent to get the image of a computer from his head. Let’s face it, he had some brilliant ideas, but the film leaves you with the impression that he is the star – undeservedly so. The film selectively shows Steve at his most stressful points of his career, the three launches – a time when the worst comes out in people – especially Steve.

One of the things I really liked was the homage to Alan Turing – with the apple rainbow logo meant to represent him…Steve merely says Apple was taken from a list of words that were aesthetically pleasing. Is that the real reason behind Apple? Or is it like the Lisa, the origin is clear but Steve can’t handle the truth so makes up a lie to cover it?

I think you’d appreciate this film more if you didn’t get a headache from the arguing and like computers. Maybe it’s a good thing the film stripped away from of the foundation myths (such that Steve was fired unfairly from Apple) and presented the real person, but I can’t help question if the one-sidedness was really necessary. What was he like outside of the highly stressful computer launches?