Little Monsters (2019)

Director: Abe Forsythe

Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Alexander England, Josh Gad, Kat Stewart

Have I Seen it Before: No. And I’m very, very mad at myself for having waited as long as I have to fix that.

Did I Like It: If Lupita Nyong’o is in a movie, my temptation is to reduce my opinion to one simple question: Is the film featuring as much Nyong’o as it possibly can. The Star Wars sequel trilogy is frequently frustrating*, whereas Us (2019) was easily my favorite movie of that year. Here, the movie threatens to derail by not delivering on its promise for quite some time, but after Nyong’o does show up, she gives a delightful comic performance that is not necessarily in line with her other performances, only underlying the range she possesses. Is there anything she can’t do? And with the implied answer to that question, is it possible I’m going to find the majority of films frustrating because they don’t even bother to have the minimal amount of Nyong’o on display?

Beyond that, I can only suppose I had some hesitation about watching the film was because my patience level for anything zombie had been absolutely sapped by The Walking Dead, but even with a different cast (the kids are all great and believable, which is more than enough to earn the film a recommendation) this film would work. I realize now that I’m not sick of zombies entirely, but instead sick of the zombie apocalypse. Were this story to have taken place during an apocalypse, all the characters would have to look forward to is more zombies. Bleak, sort of exhausting, and no amount of comedy is likely to change that. Here, with a relatively isolated outbreak, the situation is dire, but there is hope.

That’s all I really need out of a story. That, and Nyong’o.

*Even when it is good. Star Wars - Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017) is an the best entry since Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (fight me, I don’t care), but yet my only complaint is the obstinate rationing on Nyong’o.

Jobs (2013)

Director: Joshua Michael Stern

Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas

Have I Seen It Before?: Nope. With all of the Jobs movies coming out of the woodwork in the years after his death, there didn’t seem to be room for the one with the guy from “That 70s Show.”

Did I like it?: Is it important for the cast of a biopic to look like the people they are playing?

If it is, then this film succeeds to a far greater degree than either of the other competing Jobs biopics, Danny Boyle’s <Steve Jobs (2015)> or the comedic iSteve (2013). Asthon Kutcher’s main qualification for being in the film is that he does resemble the younger Jobs. To his credit, he even manages to adopt some of the inflections that we all would hear during Apple product launches. It’s an admirable impression. The film even attempts to drive home this point before the end credits begin by showing various members of the cast next to their real-life counterparts. They certainly took a little extra time to go through SAG membership for the precise look they wanted.

Unfortunately, I don’t think resemblance matters all that much as long as there is some attempt to adapt the life of the subject into an engaging film. It didn’t matter that Joaquin Phoenix bore almost no resemblance to Johnny Cash, with the right haircut anyone could look like Andy Kaufman (including Jim Carrey), and Michael Fassbender is the more affecting of the Steves Job. Boyle’s film certainly has the more vibrant screenplay and is more interested in trying to make its subject into a film character.

This hits all the bests of the Jobs story in the correct order (even though they inexplicably had Wozniak work on the Macintosh, which he didn’t), but can’t spend more than fleeting moment on each beat to fit it all in the constrictive shell of a biopic. It is all surface. I don’t feel like I understand Jobs as a man and a figure any better after this film. For that, you might need to read a book. I don’t quite see Jobs as a character with an arc, either. For that, you’ll have to go with another film.

There’s also plenty of perplexing aesthetic choices, especially with a subject like Jobs at the center of the film. I like REO Speedwagon, but I’ve read the Isaacson biography twice, and I’m reasonably sure that Jobs probably didn’t care for them. There’s enough Bob Dylan in the mix to make sure that we all know the filmmakers know how to read Wikipedia page.

One thing is for certain. Jobs would have hated the font they chose for the end credits. Say what you will about the Danny Boyle film, but they definitely got the design of Steve Jobs right.