FILM 13
THEPHUKETNEWS.COM FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2013 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2013
IN BRIEF Cate Blanchett in director’s chair
Jobs
Jobs half-done
FILM REVIEW J.P. Mestanza editor2@classactmedia.co.th
As for the movie’s portrayal of Jobs the man, you get the impression he was headstrong and hardworking, as well as being awful and selfish. The film doesn’t give you any other options
Director: Joshua Michael Stern Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas, Victor Rasuke, Dermot Mulroney Running time: 122 minutes
J
obs would have been the greatest TV movie of all-time. Its pacing is perfect for the small screen. The characters, wonderfully acted, would put soap operas to shame. A story that could be told in under 90 minutes, with perfectly timed commercial breaks. The problem with bringing this to the big screen instead, then, isn’t the quality, the acting, or the editing. Simply put, we all know how this story is going to end, so making the audience want to take that ride all over again without it becoming a history lesson is an inherent challenge. Yes, we see a side of Steve Jobs that was usually hidden underneath black polo neck sweaters (spoiler: he’s not a nice man all of the time), the iconic businessman who originally didn’t want to admit he was a dad. Making the invention of the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone and iPad side points, the film’s, ahem, job, is to give us a well-told, entertaining account of the rise of Apple. The Social Network, the story of Mark Zuckerberg and the rise of Facebook, which won several Academy Awards, is the only other film to date that has depicted the rise of a modern technology giant of the internet age. Jobs could have been just as good, but instead settles for just good enough. Much of the film feels forced. The film skips over Jobs’ time after his firing from Apple, never giving the audience a chance to see how he mended relationships and created a second-tier computer company – a time crucial in the man’s life that served to mature him as an inventor, businessman, and father. As Steve Jobs, Ashton Kutcher (The Butterfly Effect, Two and a Half Men) has the mannerisms and speech of his subject down beautifully. It’s a fairly strong performance that could have been buoyed a bit better by Josh Gad (The Internship, She Wants Me) who plays Job’s partner, Steve Wozniak. Gad certainly looks the part, but doesn’t fare well in the more dramatic scenes. A big criticism relates to the number of montages per act. Granted, the last thing audiences want to see are detailed discussions about integrated chip designs and the technical jargon that comes with them.
SFX Coliseum Phuket (Central Festival) Diana (E) Elysium (E) Elysium (E/G) Elysium (T) First Love (T) Jobs (E) Pain & Gain (E) Riddick: Rule of the Dark (T)
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15:00, 17:25, 19:50, 22:05 15:05, 17:30, 19:55, 22:20 13:25, 15:50, 18:15, 20:40 14:15, 16:40, 19:05, 21:30 14:20 16:20, 19:00, 21:40 13:20, 16:00, 18:40, 21:20 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00
G oing f rom in front of the camera to behind it, Oscar winning actress Cate Bla nchett w ill be making her directorial debut when she tackles an adaptation of Herman Koch’s novel The Dinner. The novel is set on a summer’s evening in Amsterdam where two couples meet for dinner and discuss decisions that could affect the rest of their lives. The book is being adapted for the screen by Oren Moverman, who also wrote and directed The Messenger and Rampart. Blanchett has directed plays in the past and is still considering whether or not to appear in her directorial debut. She is set to star in the soon-to-bereleased Woody Allen film Blue Jasmine and is currently shooting Cinderella, scheduled for a 2014 release.
Frasier star joins Expendables 3
But to glide over the development process and sheer vision that comes with Jobs’ many groundbreaking designs becomes laughable and even predictable after a while. There are too many fast edits with freeze frames of engineers with smiles on their faces, nodding their heads together, pleased at how their unexplained work turned out. As for the movie’s portrayal of Jobs the man, you get the impression he was headstrong and hardworking, as well as being awful and selfish. The film doesn’t give you any other real options, creating a superficial representation of, by all accounts, someone who was a very complicated man that matured later in life. Someone capable of incredible creativity, boundless zeal, and extreme bouts of sudden anger. On the plus side, Jobs does get points for accuracy, even using Steve Jobs’ actual childhood home as the backdrop for the Apple start-up days, details that surely came from the consultation of Wozniak and Daniel Kottke (one of the original engineers for Apple) early in the production. In sum, it’s a solid film with a decent impersonation of one of the icons of our time by Kutcher, and worth watching for the nostalgia and chance to learn a bit more about how to persevere in business. But it’s not going to win any awards – and will eventually become future Sunday TV fodder, where it deserves to end up.
X-Men star Kelsey Gra m mer w i l l take another unexpected step in his career when he joins star-studded action f lick Expendables 3. Grammer, who was previously best known playing snobby intellectuals on TV shows Cheers and Frasier, will play a former mercenary and ally of Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li and the rest of the gang as a character called Bonaparte. The character was originally rumoured to have been filled by Nicolas Cage, but he has since dropped out of the project. Grammer will join a cast that will includes Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas, Mel Gibson, UFC fighter Ronda Rousey, Victor Ortiz, Glen Powell, and more. The movie, which is currently being filmed in Bulgaria, is set for an August 15, 2014 release.
US BOX OFFICE TOP 10 Film
Gross
1
Prisoners
$21.4M
$21.4M
2
Insidious: Chapter 2
$14.5M
$60.9M
3
The Family
$7M
$25.6M
4
Instructions Not Included
$5.7M
$34.3
5
Battle of the Year
$5M
$5M
6
We’re the Millers
$4.67M
$138M
7
Lee Daniels’ The Butler
$4.3M
$106M
8
Riddick
$3.67M
$37.2
9
The Wizard of Oz
$3.02M
$19.7
$2.86M
$86.5M
10 Planes
SFC Jungceylon Phuket (Patong) Diana (E) Elysium (E) Jobs (E) Pain & Gain (E) Riddick: Rule of the Dark (E) Vehicle 19 (E)
Weekend gross
14:10, 16:35, 19:00, 21:30 14:20, 16:40, 19:00, 21:20 16:00, 18:40, 21:20 15:00, 19:30, 22:10 14:40, 17:10, 19:40, 22:10 17:40
As some movies and movie times change every Thursday morning, after The Phuket News has gone to press, the accuracy of the following information cannot be guaranteed. For up-to-date information, visit sfcinemacity.com, or call the cinemas directly: SFX Coliseum Phuket 076-209000 and SFC Jungceylon Phuket 076-600-555.