Review of Steve Jobs (2015) by Patrick L — 29 Feb 2016

"Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" is the Steve Jobs biopic I was waiting for".

Movie Review: Steve Jobs.

Date Viewed: October 23 2015.

Directed By Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, 127 Hours and Slumdog Millionaire).

Screenplay By Aaron Sorkin, Based on the novel "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson.

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Seth Rogen,.

Kate Winslet, Jeff Daniels, Katherine Waterston, Michael Stuhlbarg, Perla Haney-Jardine, Sarah Snook and John Ortiz.

Finally, a Steve Jobs movie that's worth seeing. Director Danny Boyle's take on the late Apple CEO is pure dynamite. Big stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale were originally considered to play Steve Jobs but both of them dropped out of the project.

The filmmakers decided to go with Michael Fassbender, who was Oscar nominated for playing a cruel slave owner in "12 Years a Slave". I know people have said that he doesn't look like Steve Jobs at all but Fassbender does a good job of not imitating Jobs. He captures his essence and his brilliance and he gives an Oscar-worthy performance. He's way better than Ashton Kutcher's portrayal of Jobs, he completely choked his role to death.

Some people have also said that Steve Jobs was not somebody who was neglectful of his daughter and ex-girlfriend. People who like Steve Jobs can criticize this biopic all they want but it's a better movie compared to the 2013 "Jobs" movie which starred Kutcher and Josh Gad. With the director of "Slumdog Millionaire" at the helm and Aaron Sorkin (of The Social Network) penning the screenplay, "Steve Jobs" is a passionate portrait about the Apple giant.

The film is divided into three different timeframes, the first act focuses on Job (Fassbender) dealing with technical problems before the launch of the Apple Macintosh in 1984. At the same time, Jobs is also dealing a Time magazine article that exposed his paternity dispute with his ex-girlfriend, Chrisann Brennan (Katherine Waterston). Steve denies that he is the father of Brennan's child but he still shares time with her five-year-old daughter, Lisa over MacPaint art.

Chrisann is angry at Steve over his denials and his refusal to support them with housing despite the fact that he is wealthy. Steve's only close friends are his marketing executive, Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet), his boss and CEO John Sculley (Jeff Daniels) and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen). The Macintosh failed to meet expectations and the struggling Apple ousted Jobs from the company.

The second act of the story takes place four years later where Jobs is preparing to launch the NeXT computer. He also spends time with nine-year-old Lisa and he accuses ex-girlfriend Brennan of behaving erratically towards her and using her daughter to get money from him. Steve Wozniak shows up to support his co-founder and friend even though he predicts that the NeXT computer will be another failure. Jobs confronts and gets into Wozniak for quotes in which he criticized his difficult behavior in the work place.

The third act takes place ten years later and a few things have changed. When Apple continued to decline, the company fired Sculley, they purchased NeXT and they bring Steve Jobs back as CEO. Jobs is preparing to premiere the iMac but he is also confronted by Lisa who is know a teenager headed to college. Lisa is furious with her father for allowing her mother to sell the house he bought for them and threatening to withhold her college tuition. Jobs claims that he did not mean it but this news is threatening to destroy any amends he has left for Lisa.

This behind the scenes look of the man who started a digital revolution is riveting. In a rare departure from his usual stoner guy roles, Seth Rogen is terrific as Steve Wozniak. This is his best work yet. Kate Winslet brings potent energy to her role as Joanna Hoffman and Jeff Daniels delivers a breakneck performance as Apple's then CEO John Sculley.

This movie is a fantastic portrait of Steve Jobs. It is well-written, competently directed and strongly acted. Put your Apple tablets down and see this movie for yourself.