The Zachtastic Movie Blog

Biographical pictures are somewhat hard to do - if one presents too much information and essentially follows a famous figure throughout their entire life, that film suddenly becomes boring. On the flip side, if a biopic presented too little information on one of these famous people, then the audience is left disappointed, hungry for more. That’s the challenge that director Joshua Michael Stern, writer Matt Whiteley and controversial star Ashton Kutcher have with Jobs , a biopic about the life of the late Apple, Inc. CEO Steve Jobs. Considering that Steve Jobs’ life was somewhat unknown until some years ago, can these two rise to the challenge and make a biographical film worth remembering? The year is 1974, and Steve Jobs (Ashton Kutcher) is a dropout at Reed College, despite the fact that Dean Jack Dudman (James Woods) is allowing him to audit classes. Fast forward a couple of years, and Jobs is working at the Atari building in his hometown of Palo Alto, California. Whilst...

There are some films that tackle serious issues (whether they be from the past or present) with the purpose of truly moving us to change society. And then there are films that have an agenda of simply winning awards. From the trailer, it appeared the latest concoction of The Weinstein Company - The Butler (and no, I am not calling it by its “proper” title) - would be just that, a drama about race that is made mainly to win the hearts of Academy voters. However, does director Lee Daniels’ new film ultimately rise above expectations and become something more than that? Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker) grew up on a cotton farm while the customs of the Antebellum South are still slowly phasing out. Some years after seeing his father killed right in front of his eyes, he then leaves the farm and soon develops the desire to become a professional domestic worker. More time passes, and now Gaines is working in Washington, D.C., while he is married to a nice woman named Gloria (Opra...

Normally a film like The Cove - the 2009 recipient of the Academy Award for Best Documentary - would make me roll my eyes, but its message of the sanctity of dolphin life actually affected me more deeply than I ever could have imagined. Also, my viewing of the film sparked an eternal contempt for Sea World. I had expected that the new documentary Blackfish would be trying to capitalize on the success of The Cove when considering its central goal being to oppose the captivity of killer whales. With that in mind, will Blackfish have the same impact as its counterpart? The story of Blackfish more or less begins at the capturing of multiple orcas off the coast of Iceland in 1983, which included a very young male named Tilikum. Over the years this killer whale became infamous for the deaths of three different individuals; however, one death that the film specifically focuses on is the controversial attack on prolific SeaWorld Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau. After her bruta...

It seems that nowadays movie studios are trying to find the next Harry Potter . Whether that potential cash cow may be a fantasy, science fiction or action franchise, Hollywood is noticeably making an effort to find something that can replicate the success Warner Bros. had with the J.K. Rowling novel series. Back in 2010, 20th Century Fox tried their hand with Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series with a film based on the first novel, and while it was a solid commercial success it didn’t receive the greatest praise from both critics and audiences. However, they are apparently still hopeful because now the sequel is in our midst; can Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters hopefully improve on its predecessor’s missteps? After saving Olympus - and to an extent, the world - Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) is back at Camp Half Blood trying to live his new life as a demigod. However, one day things turn ugly as the protective barrier surrounding the camp is destroyed. For years the camp h...

Woody Allen is one of the oldest talents working in Hollywood today, and also one of the most productive, considering that he is releasing a new film every single year. However, this insane pace at which he seems to be working is obviously working for him since a good majority of his recent films have been positively received - particularly Midnight in Paris , which won him his second Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. With Blue Jasmine , can Woody Allen once again prove that despite his age and the rapid pace at which we works, he can churn out some truly fantastic work? Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) was once a wealthy New York socialite, until she discovered that her husband Hal (Alec Baldwin) was involved in very shady business dealings and countless affairs. Now that her life has essentially fallen apart, the now single and broke Jasmine decides to move to San Francisco to live with her working class sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins). After moving in, she then decides ...

Late last year, a foreign film named Amour took the critics and awards season by storm. I never got a chance to watch it when it was released, but I do know that it focused on a marriage teetering on the brink of oblivion as an elderly couple battles the effects of aging and dementia. Still Mine is much of the same basic set-up, except with a somewhat lighter tone and the fact that it’s based upon a true story. With that, can this film make the same impact that its darker counterpart made months ago? Craig (James Cromwell) and Irene Morrison (Geneviève Bujold) have been a happily-married couple in St. Martins, New Brunswick for over sixty years. At one point in their elderly lives, Craig begins to notice that his wife is slowly succombing to the effects of Alzheimer’s. Also soon realizing that their somewhat large home is no longer suitable for to Irene to live in, Craig decides to build a smaller, more manageable house on their land out of love for his wife. However, a b...