I guess we all knew it was coming, but we still couldn’t wait for the arrival.
Finally theres a new feature film coming out about the ‘Father of the Digital Revolution’ aka Steve Jobs. He will go down as one of the greatest innovators of all time, he was a pioneer of the personal computer revolution and a co-founder of Apple. He also co-founded Pixar animation studios and was the executive producer for Toy Story. His story is one known and admired by many, and we finally get to re-live his life through cinema.
The two founders of Apple, both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak will be played by Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad. Everyone loves a movie based on a true story, it adds a sense of depth and reality to the film and we believe that we can really connect with the characters. The trailer successfully portrays that, showing glimpses of Steve Jobs life as he goes through both good and hard times in order to grasp success. Though we usually associate Ashton Kutcher as a goofy character, he plays the inspiring nerd very convincingly and his evolution in the film is quite inspirational. The film will premiere August 16th and I encourage everyone to go see it. Maybe you’ll find a little inspiration.
Baz Luhrmann has never been accused of being subtle. His films (Romeo and Juliette, Moulin Rouge) are camp extravaganzas filled with anachronistic music and visual overdoses of color, so it’s no surprise that the trailer for his adaptation of “The Great Gatsby,” an American masterpiece with a reserved, grimy tone and a passive narrator, created a buzz as mercurial as the mysterious Jay Gatsby himself. Like a shot of prohibition era bathtub whiskey, reception is divided between those who are happy to have another serving of the classic, and those who are turned off by the unconventional flavor of the new direction. The title character isn’t introduced until the third chapter in the book, so his characterization up to that point is revealed by the gossip of clueless speculators. Likewise the Internet is crawling with trolls ripping into the guts of an unfinished movie – that won’t be released until Christmas – based on a two minute put together by a marketing team with no emotional or creative input into the finished product.
This isn’t the first time F. Scott Fitzgerald’s bacchanalian portrait of the “roaring twenties “ has made an appearance on the screen. Its predecessors aren’t exactly memorable, except perhaps for the lack of chemistry between Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. Luhrmann’s version, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey Maguire, offers a refreshing perspective on the themes of greed, obsession, and opulence that defined the tale of a man, ashamed of his modest upbringing, who turns to bootlegging and other illicit activities to raise a fortune and regain the woman he lost.
Those who criticize Luhrmann for failing to replicate the serious tone of the book should keep in mind that Mr. Gatsby is ultimately brought down by his futile attempts to recreate the past. Adaptations that aren’t given the space to roam from the source material are seldom met with critical praise.
Though the film takes place in 1920s, elements of the trailer are unmistakably modern, perhaps as an attempt by Lurhmann to apply the story’s theme to a contemporary audience. It was shot in 3D with a budget that was well over a hundred million dollars, which is unusual for a film not featuring talking robots, nuclear explosions, and masked vigilantes.
Much of the criticism also comes from the trailer’s score, which features music from Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Jack White’s cover of U2’s “Love is Blindness” instead of tunes native to the time period. It’s not known yet whether Luhrmann will use modern music for the film itself, but based on his previous work, it would not be a surprise. It may not be a bad thing if he does. The book was written over fifty years ago, and chances are, much of the movie going public has not read it. Fans of the novel do not need to be persuaded to buy the ticket, but if the film hopes to turn a profit, it better attract those who aren’t familiar with it.
In any case, any press is good press, and the current uproar incited by the trailer has to be good news for the film’s producers.
