Danny Boyle

I worried the cute premise would be delivered without invention, essentially beating a joke to its death. The script actually was clever in both the overall plot and in small details: the fact that not only The Beatles were forgotten, a simple example.

A more impressive example: the scene in which Jack plays "Let It Be" to his parents, "the first people in the world to hear it!" There's room for small jokes, including the running joke of listeners mis-remembering the line as "Leave It Be" or show more "Let Him Be". But also a very clever creation of what it must feel like for anyone creating something and ensuing frustration when the wonder and satisfaction of the resulting efforts aren't perceived or shared by others. The film assumes the viewer brings in personal appreciation of the song, a safe assumption since it's widely admired as a great pop song and likely that many if not most viewers are Beatles fans. It follows the viewer shares Jack's frustration when his audience doesn't immediately react to the genius of the song, something not immediately true if the song were original to the movie, no matter how good it might be. This scene contrasts with an earlier, in which Jack's first-time singing of another Beatles classic is immediately appreciated by his audience. The viewer effectively merges into Jack's viewpoint in a powerful way, for which films (and novels) are justly celebrated.

While the romance is predictable and indeed, a tired trope ("You've had ten years to make your move", says the Girl to the Boy), the casting and acting breathe life into the characters. show less

A play in three acts. Each act occurs just before the launch of a new product. The acting is strong and the dialog is snappy, but the psychological analysis is boring. It is kind of fun, because it is about history I remember, i.e, I knew someone who owned a Macintosh, I remember when the computer lab had NeXTs in it, and much more recently, I quite liked the colorful iMacs when they came out.

What's funny is that the notion of being present at a product launch or announcement bores me to show more tears, and I can not understand the drama. Why does this even matter? show less

Danny Boyle (Sunshine) directed this wildly energetic, Dickensian drama about the desultory life and times of an Indian boy whose bleak, formative experiences lead to an appearance on his country's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Jamal (played as a young man by Dev Patel) and his brother are orphaned as children, raising themselves in various slums and crime-ridden neighorhoods and falling in, for a while, with a monstrous gang exploiting children as beggars and prostitutes. show more Driven by his love for Latika (Freida Pinto), Jamal, while a teen, later goes on a journey to rescue her from the gang's clutches, only to lose her again to another oppressive fate as the lover of a notorious gangster.

Running parallel with this dark yet irresistible adventure, told in flashback vignettes, is the almost inexplicable sight of Jamal winning every challenge on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?," a strong showing that leads to a vicious police interrogation. As Jamal explains how he knows the answer to every question on the show as the result of harsh events in his knockabout life, the chaos of his existence gains shape, perspective and soulfulness. The film's violence is offset by a mesmerizing exotica shot and edited with a great whoosh of vitality. Boyle successfully sells the story's most unlikely elements with nods to literary and cinematic conventions that touch an audience's heart more than its head. --Tom Keogh show less

Steve Jobs is an asshole backstage at product launches.

It's extremely well done for what it is. Kate Winslet is great. But watching someone be mean for two hours isn't exactly entertaining.

Concept: F
Story: D
Characters: C
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: A
Music: C

Enjoyment: C plus

GPA: 2.2/4