What Else I Watched This Week (2/17)

• Game Of Thrones (HBO)
• Dexter (Netflix)
• The Olympics
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (DVD)
• Queen: Days of Our Lives
• Led Zeppelin: Dazed And Confused 

Stuff I Found on the Internets: Vol. 3 Olympics Edition

• Some Math Behind the Speed Skating Uniform Controversy 
• The Biggest Problem for Electric Cars.... The Grid
• A New Tool That Seals Bullet Wounds in Seconds With High-Tech Sponges
• We are Getting Closer to Achieving Nuclear Fusion Using Lasers
• The Fastest Way to Cook Ravioli 
• 8 of Your Favorite Cult Movies Brought to Life as 8-Bit GIFs
• Yarn muscles'' 100 times stronger than human muscles

New Fantastic Four Cast Annouced

Thought that the Fantastic Four franchise would get a rest after those lack-luster 2005 movies? So did everyone else. That hasn't stopped 20th Century Fox from bringing it back for the summer of 2015. The film will be directed Josh Trank (Chronicle) and will

star Kate Mara (House of Cards) as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Miles Teller (Project X) as Mr. Fantasic , Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station) as the Human Torch, and Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) as The Thing. However Teller and Bell could possibly change, as its has been reported that the two are not yet officially attached to the film.

Guardians of The Galaxy Teaser Released

The latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film. If your like me and know nothing about the Guardians of the Galaxy, heres a quick crash corse. The Guardians are a team of adventurers led by Peter Quill a.k.a Star-Lord, portrayed by Parks and Rec's Chris Pratt. Along side Pratt will be the explosive Rocket Racoon, played by Bradley Cooper, the deadly and green-skinned Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan) and tree creature Groot voiced by Vin Diesel.

Stuff I Found on the Internets: Vol. 2

• DARPA's New Space Plane (Infographic)
• Some of the new Technical Innovations
• This Guy has WAAAY too much time on his hands
• DARPA is developing "transformers" that look straight out of Attack of the Clones
• A site devoted to thew wealth of documentaries available on Netflix
• 9 of the Most Beautiful Buildings We Ever Tore Down

This Week on The Internets: Vol.1

Image: Courtesy EADS

• More Drones!
• The Best Science and Engineering Visualizations of 2013
• The Chevy Volt of Jet Liners
• Some Awesome Doors
• Oculus Rift Could be the Future of Film

What I Watched Week

• Game Of Thrones
• Oceans 12
• Gasland Part 2 
• Dexter
• The Olympics

Quick Review: Gravity

Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: George Clooney, Sandra Bullock
Genre: Thriller
Year: 2013
Run Time: 90 min
How: Theater

Awards: 

• 2013 Golden Globe for Best Director
• Nominated For 10 Academy Awards

First things first, for all you physics nerds out there, this movie should have been called "Momentum." When I first heard about this movie, I was none to thrilled about the idea of and hour and a half of George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. Now that I've seen it, I didn't mind it. Clooney is .... well, Clooney.

I must say this film was absolutely gorgeous, disaster porn ... in space.

Score: 8.1/10

What Ive Seen Recently

Its been a while since I last blogged so here are some things I've seen recently.

• Her
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Gravity 
• Anchorman 2 
• Man On Wire 
• Dexter (Showtime)
• Game of Thrones (HBO)
• The Hobbit: Desolation Of Smaug
• Gasland Part 2 (HBO)
• Vice (HBO)
• American Hustle
• The Wolf Of Wall Street

What Else I Watched This Week

• Inglorious Basterds 
• Fetching Cody
• Hard Knocks (HBO)
• Witness: Rio (HBO)
• Heir To An Execution (HBO)
• George Harrison: Part 1 (HBO)
• Community (Hulu)

New Star Wars Taking a Cue From Original Trilogy

Many people have mixed feelings about Disney's acquisition las year of LucasArts for the tidy sum of $4.05B, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't one of them, especially after they announced that there would be three new films. This new trilogy will be the first not to be headed creator George Lucas, and instead by Star Trek director J.J. Abrams. Fan boys can breath a sigh of relief, as Abrams has announced that still untitled Episode VII will be shot entirely on 35mm Kodack film.

Abrams has long been a proponent of film over digital when it comes to shooting his movies, saying it makes it "feel real" and that film gave "a familiarity and comfort, a real warmth." The switch back from the all high definition of the prequels should help evoke the feel of the originals. Though Disney has released very little information about the story, George Lucas did come up with some story treatments back in the 80's, some of which can be found here.

Ben Affleck to Play Batman in Superman Sequel

Ben Affleck has been a hot name in Hollywood the past couple of years, the. The Oscar winning Actor/Director/Writer/Producer behind films such as Good Will Hunting, Argo and The Town has been reported to have shifted his sights back to the world of superheros. Affleck will be donning Batman's cowl and cape opposite Henry Cavill for the 2015 Man of Steel sequel directed by Zach Snyder (300, Sin City). Not since his role in Daredevil has Affleck played a comic book character. It should be interesting to see how Affleck approaches the role compared to the way Chirstian Bale portrayed the Caped Crusader in Christopher Nolan's iconic Dark Knight trilogy. The film will also feature Amy Adams, Lawrence Fishbourne, and Diane Lane.

Quick Review: Jobs

Director: Joshua Michael Stern

Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Josh Gad, J.K. Simmons, Matthew Modine, Dermot Mulroney, Lukas Haas

Genre: Biopic

Year: 2013

Run Time: 122 Minutes

How: Theaters

If you have been alive within the last 10 years, chances are you have heard the name Steve Jobs. The late Apple founder undoubtedly changed our world, but does this new biopic really do justice to the man who brought us personal computing and so much more. 

The film opens with an older Jobs about to unveil the iPod. Ashton Kutcher does a solid Jobs impression for the most part, but occasionally the makeup seems obvious and all to often I found myself seeing too much Kutcher and not enough Jobs.

Soon enough we find ourselves in 1974 Portland, following young Steve, who has dropped out of Reed College, but is still attending classes, including a calligraphy course which made a deeply impactful for him. After studying at Reed and experimenting with LSD, Steve spends  seven months in India studying Zen Buddhism.

Jobs returns to Palo Alto and begins working for a budding Atari, designing  the circuit board for Brick Breaker. Even at Atari, Job's berating aggressive management style is apparent, as he yells a developer who insists color isn't possible on the primitive machines. Jobs recruits his neighbor, computer wiz and fellow Steve, Steve "Woz" Wozniak (Gad) to help. Jobs stumbles upon one of Woz's pet projects, which allows a computer to be hooked up to a monitor and keyboard. Steve sees the massive potential of Woz's creation and quickly works to convince Woz that they should sell the primitive Apple 1. After a presentation at the Homebrew Computer Club, Jobs gets an offer from the owner of computer parts store. The pair begin producing computers in Job's parents garage (actually filmed at Job's childhood home), bringing on a few friends to help.

Selling the Apple ones, Jobs immediately begins work on the Apple 2 which will be a all in one device, complete with keyboard, monitor and color graphics. The film explores the growth of Apple, the failures of the Lisa, Newton and original Macintosh, as well as the boardroom drama that unfolded in the 90's, which led to Jobs being ousted and eventually brought back to run his struggling company.

Kutcher does manage to capture Job's silver tongue as well as his rage. Kutcher even became a fruitarian and  went barefoot in order to channel the real Jobs, something which landed him in the emergency room. Job's attention to detail and desire for perfection are not overlooked, as seen when he fires a programmer who doesn't share his view on the importance of type face .Josh Gad is an endearing, laid back Woz, complete with crazy hair. His presence and technical know how is a strong counterpoint to the outspoken Jobs.

All things considered this is a fascinating story and Kutcher give a great amount of effort, but ultimately it falls short. The film seems like it can't make up its mind, trying to focus on both the company and the man, but doing neither too spectacularly. It often felt like parts of the story were merely glossed over and barely addressed, like his rivalry with Bill Gates or his girlfriend becoming pregnant and his prompt declaration that the child was not his. 

The film ends with a side by side comparison of all the real people and their actor equivalent, which seemed like a "look how well we cast these people" ploy, which would be cool, if this was a better movie.  It is a truly ambitious film, but lacks execution. Director Joshua Michael Stern was probably not the man who should have been trusted with this project, based on his limited and unimpressive track record (Swing Vote, Neverwas). 

The film has received backlash from Woz himself, saying that while the acting was on point, he was "abhored" by the script. It looks like anybody looking for a great Jobs biopic might just want to hold out for the Aaron Sorkin adaptation of the Walter Isaacson biography, which is currently in the works.

Ultimately for a film about the Machiavelli of the Mac, a man  whose vision revolutionized the computer, music, and communication industries, the film fails to live up to the man. A shame for a movie that could have been so much more.

Rating: 5.3

What Else I Watched This Week 8/12

• Hard Knocks (HBO)
• Dexter (Showtime)
• 30 For 30: The Marinovich Project (Netflix)
• Eastbound and Down (HBO)
• Drunk History
• Goldfinger (Netflix)
• Momento (Netflix)
• Too Big To Fail (HBO)
• Jobs (Theaters)
• Bobby Fischer vs The World (HBO)
• The Newsroom
• Steve Jobs: One Last Thing 

Eastbound And Down Returns

Kenny Powers will be back on HBO for a fourth and final season. Danny McBride's absurd character will once again be gracing us with his brash antics in 8 new episodes.

It has been confirmed that Lindsay Lohan, fresh out of rehab, will be joining the show as the daughter of one of the main characters.

Eastbound and Down will premier on HBO  at 10:30 on September 29th.