Short Reviews – November

Quick looks at more recent movies


Crimson Peak (2015) – A visually stunning, gothic romance/horror film that simply has no guts, no heart, nothing behind a beautiful face.  Utterly predictable modern version of a hundred previous versions of this story.  If you don’t mind the shallowness of the storytelling, you will fall in love with the “look” of this one.

Rating – ** Not Impressed

Steve Jobs (2015) – Aaron Sorkin takes on the life of the most influential person in media and technology of the last twenty-five years of the last century (and then some).  It may not get all the facts perfectly right, but it feels like it gets the basic dichotomy of Steve Jobs.  The very things that made him an utter asshole to live with were the things that made him the marketing and inventive genius that he was.  Michael Fassbinder as Jobs and Kate Winslet as his confidante and marketing executive, Joanna Hoffman, are brilliant here.  It’s not a “fun” movie, but it’s a powerful one.

Rating – *** 1/2 Worth a Look


The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) – I am so divided on this movie.  Because of what it is and what it could have been.  It is a charming little story that you will enjoy watching.  It could have been so much more.  There’s not a lot of depth here.  The characters are pretty stock, and the “relationships” (there are two “romance” storylines here.  Neither is is particularly developed).  As a junior league foodie, I really wanted the food to have more of a central place in the story.  It really felt like they stopped developing the story several steps shy of making a remarkable movie.  Instead, they made a heartfelt, warm little movie that you won’t regret watching.

Rating – *** Worth A Look