Steve Jobs
"What do you do? You're not an engineer. You're not a designer. You can't
put a hammer to a nail. I built the circuit board! The graphical
interface was stolen! So how come ten times in a day I read Steve Jobs
is a genius? What do you do?" -Steve Wozniak
"Musicians play their instruments. I play the orchestra." -Steve Jobs
The biographical drama Steve Jobs is directed by Danny Boyle and stars Michael Fassbender
as Steve Jobs, Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffman, Seth Rogen as Steven Wozniak,
Jeff Daniels as John Sculley, Michael Stuhlbarg as Andy Hertzfeld, and
Katherine Waterston as Chrisann Brennan.
Steve
Jobs is made up of three different events in the Apple co-founder's
career. The first is the unveiling of the Macintosh computer in 1984.
Unfortunately, the computer suffered backlash due to performance issues and
sales which resulted in Jobs being fired from Apple. The second event was in
1988 when Jobs unveiled yet another new computer called NeXT, which was just a
black cube that was not even at all up to par with competing computer companies. Jobs eventually drops out of the NeXT phase and returns to Apple inc. in the
1990s. The third event happens in 1998 when Jobs unveils the new product iMac
(which we all know what happens from there i.e. iPod, iPhone, iPad, iTunes,
etc.). During these three periods of Steve Jobs' life, he deals with problems
of all sorts such as his daughter coming into his life, financial issues with
his daughter's mother, criticism from people who know him, and conflicts
regarding his place at Apple. All of these battles that Jobs faced are
definitely justified because this guy was a total f***ing jerk!
^C'mon Steve! You can treat people decently, can't you?^
I can tell you truthfully that I knew
enough about Steve Jobs' influence on technology, but nothing on what he was
like as a person. It was just a couple of days before when I found out that
most of his employees did not like him. Michael Fassbender, as the man himself,
really embodies the definition of being a professional and insane. From the
first scene of the film, Jobs was clearly ego-maniacal. He had to do everything
perfectly and was a narcissist. He didn't want to acknowledge the people who
helped him create Apple, which upset me a ton. Throughout the film, Steve
Wozniak asks Steve Jobs if he could acknowledge the Apple 2 team who helps with
programming and specs. He completely disregards Wozniak's wishes and instead insults them. I read up on the real Steve Jobs a little bit more after watching the film and realized that Michael Fassbender portrayed Jobs perfectly. If Fassbender doesn't get at least nominated for an Oscar, then I personally write a strongly worded letter to the Academy.
^Michael is just waiting for his nomination to be announced^
Aaron Sorkin's adapted screenplay definitely hindered Michael Fassbender's excellent performance. We get to see how Steve Jobs psychologically conducted himself backstage just before keynotes. It's amazing how the king of adapted screenwriting does it again and you can clearly hear and see the details in the tech jargon that can and sometimes will go over peoples' heads. Despite the confusion of computer statistics, Sorkin really nails it with Steve Jobs' co-workers, showing us how pissed off they really were with their boss.
^Poor Woz. He just gets beaten up for being a good guy^
The performances of everyone, not just Fassbender, really made me invest in their characters: Steve Woziak as the pushover nerd, Joanna Hoffman as the voice of reason to Jobs, John Sculley as the helpful CEO who does his best to back up Jobs, and Andy Hertzfeld as Lisa Brennan's (Steve Jobs' daughter) healthy father figure. The rock solid acting ability of these actors and actresses really punched my gut and made me feel so many emotions. The most of which I felt every time Jobs' daughter and Jobs were on screen together trying to repair the damage Jobs has done.
^Wow. Steve actually has a beautiful heart underneath his ugly demeanor^
There were definitely some parts which confused me and at times couldn't follow. There were scenes in which Steve Jobs is having an argument with someone and it cuts to another scene of Jobs' past kind of explaining the situation, but it would cut in and out from that scene back to the present scene. I couldn't follow the editing at times because it would cut in and out too fast.
^Steve gets it! Please just hold on a second!^
Although some of the editing and some of the writing caused some confusion, I can absolutely get behind Steve Jobs as a film overall. I felt heartbreak and heart-warmth that I didn't even expect out of a movie about what goes on backstage with Steve Jobs. This is how biopics should be made: A psychological burrow into what makes an influential human being tick.
Pro
- Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs
- The rest of the cast's performances
- Smart writing
- The emotional feels!
- Some editing can confuse the audience
- Maybe a bit too smart writing...
4.7/5
Watch the trailer here
Steve Jobs is rated R for Language
Steve Jobs is in theaters everywhere now
No comments:
Post a Comment