Steve Jobs (2015)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

A Major Disappointment

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Steve Jobs is a biographical film with a unique narrative. It showcases 3 moments of Jobs life. The Macintosh launch, the Next black cube launch and the imac launch. At each launch he interacts with 5 key characters. His partner in crime the genius Steve Wozniak, his work wife Joahanna Hoffman, his Father figure / Apple CEO John Sculley, his technician Andy (dont know which one) and his daughter Lisa. While this narrative is able to showcase the trials and tribulations of his personal and professional life, it also reduces his life to 15 conversations which most probably did not really happen. Some of these are really hard to care about particularly if you are not a Steve jobs or Apple fan. While the acting by each actor is brilliant particularly Seth Rogen (maybe a career best and the only scenes worth remembering) and Kate Winslet (amazing as always), there are some conversations where I found myself laughing at the seriousness at which they were taken. Such as John sculley and jobs arguing about whether they should have put in the hard disk in a computer or not. I mean seriously who cares. The narrative also handicaps Danny Boyle's trade mark style of quick action punctuated by an awesome OST and background. Its as if the entire weight of the film rests on the chemistry, the dialogue of those 15 conversations which are well as I said nothing really exciting. This film is a perfect example of how bringing the best in the business may not be enough to create magic. Arguably the best screenplay writer in Hollywood, an Oscar winning director and a stellar cast about an ultra dramatic real life genius of our times still cannot make a great movie. If you want to catch the making of a tech giant. Might as well re-watch The Social Network (ironically a superb script by the same Aaron Sorkin) also showcasing a rude, egoistical, selfish genius of our times. Final recommendation : Skip this iBore and watch this only good scene of the movie KR PS On a personal note, I have never understood the charm of the apple products. I have always found them too much show and too little use. Further, they seem fuelled by blatant capitalism which makes people pay for things that can be got for cheaper and most probably not needed in life. But then that's my POV and i tried hard to not let it come in the way of the movie but maybe it did...

Steve Jobs was a fascinating, though complex, individual, so having a film based on him was always going to peek interest. Then there is the talent involved in 'Steve Jobs', director Danny Boyle who has made some very good films, one of today's most talented script-writers Aaron Sorkin and Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet as the leads.Found 'Steve Jobs' to be a good and interesting film, albeit not one that will appeal to all viewers as can be seen from the polarising reviews. There is a lot to like here, and the good points are actually excellent. At the same time, considering the involvement of such fine talent and subject matter, 'Steve Jobs' also had potential to be, and perhaps should have been, more than good, great even. There are also a few issues here, and fairly sizeable ones, though there is much more good than there is bad.There could have been more complexity to Jobs himself, difficult to do for a perfectionist who was very difficult to work with. Can definitely understand the criticism of 'Steve Jobs' being a pretty one-dimensional portrait of the man that magnifies his flaws. For something featuring heavily, his personal/family life could have been better explored and delved into more, there is heart with the relationship between Steve and Lisa but the final fifteen minutes or so to me came over as contrived rather than emotional and although Katherine Waterston does a good job her role is underwritten.At times, the film is jumpy and also could have shown more of the launches themselves and showed how they were received rather than being told afterwards, for a film so heavily reliant on the backstage/behind the scenes aspects. Actually really liked the script on the most part, it is though talk-heavy and with scenes having a lot to take in there are instances where it's not easy keeping up. Also didn't buy Jobs/Scully's final scene together, which went against what was seen with their acrimonious confrontations before. However, 'Steve Jobs' is very well made visually. It's unfussy but never cheap, actually it is very slick. It may feel like a filmed play, which is also down to the structure of the film, but for me it wasn't a problem. Boyle directs in a restrained fashion, while showing plenty of engagement with his material. The music is both low-key and lively when used.While not perfect, Sorkin's script is one of the high points of 'Steve Jobs'. It's thought-provoking, intriguing smart and rapid-fire, with plenty of wit, intensity and snappy put-downs. The story, following an unconventional yet fascinating three act structure dealing with three different launches that Jobs revolutionised, goes at an energetic pace and is kept afloat by the intensity of the characters (especially Jobs and Joanna). Things move quickly and there is plenty to be interested by, one just can't help feeling that some aspects could have been delved into more. Jobs and Joanna have plenty of intensity in their chemistry, while Woz's final scene and the big scenes between Jobs and Scully are especially powerful. Other than Sorkin's script, 'Steve Jobs' best asset is the acting. Fassbender may not look like Steve Jobs but he is nonetheless terrific and is an incredibly compelling presence. Winslet's performance is tense and deeply felt. Michael Stuhlbarg steals scenes in his not large screen time, while Seth Rogan demonstrates why he should do more dramatic roles and films and Jeff Daniels has not been this good in quite some time. Waterston does well with limited screen time and her role underwritten.Concluding, good film but not a great one. 7/10 Bethany Cox

STEVE JOBS is an interesting look at the man behind Apple, one of the most successful businesses in history. It sheds light on Steve Jobs' character and reveals the workings of his mind through three set-piece conferences set in various eras important to Apple's history. Michael Fassbender gives a solid enough turn as the man although you can't help but feel that any actor could have done an equal job. Seth Rogen is surprisingly decent as Steve Wozniak while the great Michael Stuhlbarg steals all of his scenes as usual. Danny Boyle's direction threatens to distract at times but he keeps it restrained more often than not. Most interestingly, this is a warts-and-all biopic that shows the ruthlessness of big business in a similar way to THE SOCIAL NETWORK and THE FOUNDER.

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, in reference to this movie, was once quoted as saying, "(Steve Jobs) is not a photograph it's a painting."After reading the book and then recently seeing the movie, I would agree. Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs is a favorite of mine and the movie is pretty good, but no where near as detailed.The movie is not really 'Steve Jobs'; he was so much more than the asshole portrayed in the movie. Yes, true (as Isaacson's bluntly objective book confirms) Jobs was a massive jerk; a sometimes mean, vicious, sarcastic person who believed he was God's gift to computers, and a ruthless businessman. He wasn't a code-writer or an engineer. He was a visionary. He knew what we wanted before we wanted it. His mind was years ahead of technology. Kurt Cobain changed the face of music; Steve Jobs changed the face of computing forever (I don't own a single iThing) and he did it his way.Writer Sorkin did an excellent job adapting Isaacson's book for the screen, doing it in three acts that coincide with three of Jobs' biggest business 'accomplishments': The introduction of the Macintosh (1984), NeXT (1988), and the iMac (1998). (The NeXT was a disaster. A $13,000 - in today's dollars - perfectly square useless brick. But, fun-fact, the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, used a NeXTcube to run the world's first webserver!). There was so much to Jobs' life and so many more people in his life detailed in the book, that it must have been a difficult adaptation for Sorkin. However, the point was taken – Jobs was a brilliant, albeit flawed person.It's fun to watch the movie, and it's faced-paced so you won't be looking for the 'NeXT' scene button. Take it for what it is, a subjective portrait.