General Magic

Showtime screwed up the audio when they first broadcast this, which led to dozens of permanent bad reviews here, because the music was louder than the dialog. The problem has been fixed, I have watched the stream in the Showtime app and it now sounds fine.

It's a fascinating tale for people interested in technology and even though I was working in the business at the time and know some of the people in the movie, I had never heard the whole story before.

This is a very interesting documentary about the development of technology as we know it today and how failure can turn into success. I learned a lot about the development of the smartphone.

It tells the story of a technology company called General Magic and their struggle to make a smartphone, all while trying to keep it a secret from other companies that could steal their ideas.

It is easy to understand. I like how they illustrate things. For example, they use ocean waves to describe the coming and going of companies. The story is told by former General Magic employees, who know best about what happened since they were a part of it.

They frequently cut to show beautiful landscapes throughout the film. My favorite one is a beach, but they also show city skylines, forests and other interesting places. The music is very 80s and helps establish the time period. The message of the film is that sometimes, failure for one person can help another person to success.

It has some very mild profanity and there is mention of somebody being naked, but it is never shown. I give this 4 out of 5 stars and recommend if for ages 12-18 as well as adults.

Reviewed by Kayenta C., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic. For more reviews by youth, visit kidsfirst dot org.

Seriously, who signed off on the audio mix for this? I couldn't watch for more than 10 minutes due to the obnoxiously loud music. Half of the time I could not understand what was being said. Even when I could understand, the loud music was just too much to take and made me want to turn it off. I can only guess that something went wrong when this was handed off for broadcast, because I find it hard to believe it went out the door like this.

If you listen very closely you can hear people speaking. This has got to be the most stressful documentary I've ever watched. Even with headphones on I can barely make out around 90% of what people are saying..

I really enjoyed learning about General Magic. I wasn't aware of the vision this company had, it's seems like they were right about so many things. Very interesting and I would very much recommend this film.