Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs (2015)

*** (out of 4)

Excellent performances highlight this wonderfully written and masterfully directed bio of Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender), a genius who changed the world even though he was unable to see what damage he was doing to those closest to him.

Danny Boyle's direction is spot-on in regards to being able to bring Aaron Sorkin's words to life. As I said, on a technical level the film is a marvel and you're also going to witness one of the greatest performances of the year but at the same time there was just something that didn't sit right. I'm honestly not sure what it was but there was something here that prevented the movie from being what I'd consider great.

I really loved Sorkin's screenplay and especially the dialogue. There's a lot of "intelligent" stuff being talked about and I liked the fact that they really didn't dumb anything down or try to make the film appeal to more mainstream crowds. I really thought the film broke down into four thirty-minute short films with each of them based around a various launch. Each launch also deals with the same thing and that's to show that Jobs really wasn't a very likable guy. Whether it was not being a good father or not being good to the mother of his child, the film doesn't hold back any punches. In fact, STEVE JOBS main goal appears to show how flawed the man was.

The greatest thing about the film is without question the performance from Fassbender. This role was rumored to be with many different actors but Fassbender certainly makes it his own and there's not a single second where you're seeing an actor doing a performance. Even though he doesn't look like Jobs the actor certainly becomes the character and makes you believe everything you're seeing. Kate Winslet is also wonderful in her head-to-head battles with Jobs and I thought her and Fassbender were excellent playing off one another. Seth Rogan and Jeff Daniels are both good in their supporting roles as well.

The film has a terrific, fast-paced style that director Boyle perfectly nails and I thought his directing skills were perfect for the screenplay. As I said, there's a lot of great stuff in this movie but it still fell a bit short of actually being a great movie.

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.)

This biopic of Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) centers on three product launches; Apple Macintosh in 1984, NeXT Computer in 1988, and iMac in 1998. Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet) is his ever-present right-hand man. John Sculley (Jeff Daniels) is his father figure and CEO of Apple. Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) is always vying for acknowledgment of the Apple II. Chrisann Brennan (Katherine Waterston) is the mother of Jobs' daughter Lisa. Reporter Joel Pforzheimer follows him throughout.

These are all very interesting performances. Fassbender, Winslet, and Daniels all deliver. Seth Rogen is surprisingly good in a non-comedic role. Waterston is terrific as the baby mama. There is no denying that Aaron Sorkin knows how to write unique dialog but it feels non-real. I believe that this would be one of the best movies of the year if it's about Stephen Jet. Sorkin has written some of the greatest work around like West Wing, Newsroom, and others. They all have a superior to reality feel. This is altered realism but I think everybody is more interested in the actual truth. There are some great scenes. There are big scenes. This is a perfect creation.

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.

Thismay be the most interesting way to tell the story of Steve Jobs. We see almost nothing about his life or who he was, other than what we get from his interactions with his daughter, his assistant and Steve Wozniack. Although it leaves a lot out, it is still surprisingly effective.

And what we have is a very limited arc, from failures to success. We never get beyond 1998, so there is no iPod, iPad, iPhone or any of the things that have since made Apple a giant in the tech field. But again, this makes for some interesting storytelling.

Steve Jobs fails to explode off the screen like The Social Network or Charlie Wilson's War did. There's all the things to love about Aaron Sorkin's writing and the acting is terrific, but Sorkin's screenplay lacks the enjoyable bite of his previous efforts and the whole thing comes off rather lacklustre.

On the film's highlights - Fassbender leaps off the screen in the first two minutes and never lets go. He looks nothing like Jobs himself did but he perfectly captures the frustrating ego that everyone loathed and matches it with high spirit and a bit of humour. His condescension is so real that we snarl at it. Winslett also makes her mark very early on, nailing an accent and vanishing into the part of Johanna. Her chemistry with Fassbender is palpable. Seth Rogen crushes the role of Steve Wozniak, a casting choice I've been thrilled about since 2014, nailing the low self-esteem and nervous ticks of the nerdy genius. Watching Rogen perform we can see his anger but also the slight plea for their friendship to endure. We all know that one friend who feels like they're doing us a favour by being friends with us, and watching Fassbender and Rogen banter back and forth we can see it in real time. Jeff Daniels rounds out the four-person highlight as Apple's CEO, and truly stands out as a great supporting player.

Probably the most talked about feature of Steve Jobs is the three-act narrative filmed in different styles. Its been reported on a million times and all I'll say is I loved it. The transition between the three events are also clever, montages of real media reports and pictures. There's even a very cleverly used Simpsons gag that helps inform the audience. I also loved the playful score and the cinematography that emulates the walk and talk of the West Wing.

The screenplay is Steve Jobs' greatest aider and abetter. The film's best scenes are written masterpieces - two fights between Jobs and Wozniak in particular take your breath away, a harsh comment where Jobs cuts down his 5 year old girl's beliefs are harsh, the recurring references to Jobs' adoption are clever and the two Andys joke is a nice funny recurring gag. However, Sorkin's screenplay at times feels like a textbook, and with so many words floating around its easy to lose track of what's happening. Some of the lines of dialogue are so pretentious its easy to get taken out of the film. It's also annoying to see Sorkin recycle his classic Sorkinisms "Don't talk to me like I'm other people" and "well one day you'll have to tell us how you did it". When you've seen them a couple of times, they lost impact right where they're needed most. Sadly, Sorkin starts to get too smart for his own good.

I didn't care much for the story arc Jobs went on. He is vehemently opposed to being Lisa's father and hurts the little girl by saying the computer was not named after her. Then all of a sudden he's a caring father and the girl's mother (played wonderfully by Katharine Waterston) is portrayed as the film's villain. In the final act, Jobs has a very clunky reconciliation on the rooftop and says things that simply don't fit right with the story.

There's a lot of talent involved in this movie that I really wanted to love. Fassbender and his co-stars all do exceptional work and Sorkin delivers a number of wonderful scenes, but at the end of the day I can't help but walk away feeling like Jeff Daniels' character, mourning for the things that could've been achieved.