Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution, to paint a portrait of the man at its epicenter. The story unfolds backstage at three iconic product launches, ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac.
The story of Ray Kroc, a salesman who turned two brothers' innovative fast food eatery, McDonald's, into the biggest restaurant business in the world, with a combination of ambition, persistence, and ruthlessness.
Director:
John Lee Hancock
Stars:
Michael Keaton,
Nick Offerman,
John Carroll Lynch
As Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea, and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.
Director:
David Fincher
Stars:
Jesse Eisenberg,
Andrew Garfield,
Justin Timberlake
U.S. Olympic wrestling champions and brothers Mark Schultz and Dave Schultz join "Team Foxcatcher", led by eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont, as they train for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, but John's self-destructive behavior threatens to consume them all.
In 1974, high-wire artist Philippe Petit recruits a team of people to help him realize his dream: to walk the immense void between the World Trade Center towers.
Director:
Robert Zemeckis
Stars:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
Charlotte Le Bon,
Guillaume Baillargeon
During the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
The NSA's illegal surveillance techniques are leaked to the public by one of the agency's employees, Edward Snowden, in the form of thousands of classified documents distributed to the press.
Director:
Oliver Stone
Stars:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
Shailene Woodley,
Melissa Leo
The story of New Zealand's Robert "Rob" Edwin Hall, who on May 10, 1996, together with Scott Fischer, teamed up on a joint expedition to ascend Mount Everest.
Director:
Baltasar Kormákur
Stars:
Jason Clarke,
Ang Phula Sherpa,
Thomas M. Wright
Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.
His passion and ingenuity have been the driving force behind the digital age. However his drive to revolutionize technology was sacrificial. Ultimately it affected his family life and possibly his health. In this revealing film we explore the trials and triumphs of a modern day genius, the late CEO of Apple inc. Steven Paul Jobs.Written by
Anonymous
In one scene, John Sculley (Jeff Daniels) offers Steve Jobs a bottle of Château Margaux, a premier cru Bordeaux wine. In Arachnophobia (1990) Daniels played a doctor with a case of Château Margaux, of which he was extremely protective. See more »
Goofs
Before the 1984 Mac launch, we see Mike Markkula begin the shareholders meeting with sales projection while Jobs and John Sculley talk backstage; this didn't happen in real life as John Sculley had presented shareholders with this information. See more »
Quotes
Steve Wozniak:
We will know soon enough if you are Leonardo da Vinci or just think you are.
See more »
Crazy Credits
The film's title is never shown in the opening or closing credits. See more »
As someone who has worked in computing for 30 years, I was greatly looking forward to Danny Boyle's new 'biopic' (using the term fairly loosely) about Apple founder Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender). Whilst I can't claim it was a bad film, I was ultimately slightly disappointed by the result.
The film zeroes in on some specific snapshots of Jobs's career, all centred around his famously theatrical product launches. During the course of three acts we see the preparations leading up to his launch of the original Mackintosh, his Next educational 'cube' and the gloriously different iMac.
As these acts span 14 years, we see the ongoing battle between Jobs and the flaky mother of his daughter (Katherine Waterston). We also see the often despicable way in which he treats his staff, including disparaging his closest colleague and co-founder Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen). In fact the only person he shows much respect for – at least for a while – is his boss and CEO John Sculley (Jeff Daniels).
During these exchanges, it is difficult to find Jobs remotely likable. He is portrayed – probably very accurately – as a man with fixated views, unable and unwilling to bend at all. In this capacity Fassbender turns in a predictably classy performance.
Trying to pour oil on continually troubled waters is Jobs's PA Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet), looking less like Kate Winslet than she has for a while. Winslet is the best thing in the film.
The script is by "West Wing" writer Aaron Sorkin, and it is extremely dense: I pity the poor couriers who had to deliver the screenplay to Fassbender and Winslet, and can only imagine the look on their faces when they realised they had to learn it all! And it is the script that is frustrating. I found the historical aspects of the roller-coaster ride of Jobs's career, supported by some great inserts of historical snippets by Arthur C Clarke and Bill Gates, fascinating. But the continual refocusing on the relationship with the daughter (Lisa) I found less compelling. And some of the right-angles taken by the dialogue strain credibility: when Sculley suddenly branches off into deep psychological counselling with Jobs on his childhood, minutes before a major presentation, it just doesn't ring true.
Above all, it was extremely frustrating that the story took you to the point in each act of an announcer saying "And now let's welcome to the stage STEVE JOBS " and then the action cut away to the next scene. You never got to see Fassbender let rip at channelling the famous Jobs charisma to his assembly of baying geek disciples.
While there are occasional snatches of Danny Boyle's usual flair, it views as a fairly atypical Boyle film: just getting all the dialogue in leaves little time for much stylised delivery.
So in summary its a workmanlike film but, for me, unfortunately one of the disappointments of the film year to date.
(Please visit bob-the-movie-man.com for the graphical version of this review. Thanks.)
12 of 23 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
As someone who has worked in computing for 30 years, I was greatly looking forward to Danny Boyle's new 'biopic' (using the term fairly loosely) about Apple founder Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender). Whilst I can't claim it was a bad film, I was ultimately slightly disappointed by the result.
The film zeroes in on some specific snapshots of Jobs's career, all centred around his famously theatrical product launches. During the course of three acts we see the preparations leading up to his launch of the original Mackintosh, his Next educational 'cube' and the gloriously different iMac.
As these acts span 14 years, we see the ongoing battle between Jobs and the flaky mother of his daughter (Katherine Waterston). We also see the often despicable way in which he treats his staff, including disparaging his closest colleague and co-founder Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen). In fact the only person he shows much respect for – at least for a while – is his boss and CEO John Sculley (Jeff Daniels).
During these exchanges, it is difficult to find Jobs remotely likable. He is portrayed – probably very accurately – as a man with fixated views, unable and unwilling to bend at all. In this capacity Fassbender turns in a predictably classy performance.
Trying to pour oil on continually troubled waters is Jobs's PA Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet), looking less like Kate Winslet than she has for a while. Winslet is the best thing in the film.
The script is by "West Wing" writer Aaron Sorkin, and it is extremely dense: I pity the poor couriers who had to deliver the screenplay to Fassbender and Winslet, and can only imagine the look on their faces when they realised they had to learn it all! And it is the script that is frustrating. I found the historical aspects of the roller-coaster ride of Jobs's career, supported by some great inserts of historical snippets by Arthur C Clarke and Bill Gates, fascinating. But the continual refocusing on the relationship with the daughter (Lisa) I found less compelling. And some of the right-angles taken by the dialogue strain credibility: when Sculley suddenly branches off into deep psychological counselling with Jobs on his childhood, minutes before a major presentation, it just doesn't ring true.
Above all, it was extremely frustrating that the story took you to the point in each act of an announcer saying "And now let's welcome to the stage STEVE JOBS " and then the action cut away to the next scene. You never got to see Fassbender let rip at channelling the famous Jobs charisma to his assembly of baying geek disciples.
While there are occasional snatches of Danny Boyle's usual flair, it views as a fairly atypical Boyle film: just getting all the dialogue in leaves little time for much stylised delivery.
So in summary its a workmanlike film but, for me, unfortunately one of the disappointments of the film year to date.
(Please visit bob-the-movie-man.com for the graphical version of this review. Thanks.)