Transpiring virtually in real time, these moments work on a number of levels, equally effectively: While Jobs welcomes colleagues and well-wishers (and some not-so-well-wishers) from his past, Sorkin’s script is able to revisit all manner of biographical material without dreary exposition or billboard scenes.
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#STEVE JOBS 2015 REVIEW MOVIE#
The movie takes place in three discrete 40-minute chapters, each of which finds Jobs on the verge of presenting one of his signature products.
#STEVE JOBS 2015 REVIEW FULL#
That exuberant musicality is on full display in “Steve Jobs,” but Sorkin’s real breakthrough here is with structure. Sorkin - best known as the creator of “The West Wing” and for his screenplay for “The Social Network” - is famous for his crackling dialogue, which harks back to Hollywood’s rat-a-tat-tat Golden Age and is usually delivered by way of breathless, circuitous walk-and-talks. It’s perhaps the closest thing to the thrilling immediacy of live theater that audiences can get at the multiplex right now. Propelled by an ingenious script by Aaron Sorkin, given vibrance and buoyancy by director Danny Boyle, “Steve Jobs” is a galvanizing viewing experience. Unburdened by the distraction of spot-on impersonation and conventional Great Man milestones, Fassbender and his fascinating, often off-putting character steer clear of the dreaded biopic shallows to explore murkier psychological depths. Rather than a literalistic rehash of the life and career of the man behind the Apple personal computing empire, “Steve Jobs” creates an impressionistic inner portrait, a Shakespearean character study in three tautly constructed acts in which Jobs’ contradictions, demons and most searing primal wounds are revealed in constantly peeling layers. Michael Fassbender, who plays the title character in the movie “Steve Jobs,” looks nothing like him. One wonders how Fincher would have dealt with it or whether he left the project, realising that no director could possibly compete.“Steve Jobs” movie review: Not your typical biopic – The Denver Post But, like the actors, he also plays second fiddle to Sorkin’s dominating script. His often distracting jukebox of song choices has also been largely replaced by mood-enhancing orchestral choices. This is admittedly faint praise but it’s worth recognising a leap in maturity, with a stronger focus on performances over his trademark flashiness. It’s Boyle’s best film for years, however. Winslet is a strong presence, even if her Polish/American accent wavers distractingly, while Rogen is given precious little to do. If his semi-autistic egotist comes a second place to Jesse Eisenberg’s similarly frustrating Mark Zuckerberg, that’s not through lack of trying. Fassbender succeeds and gives a self-assured, Oscar-friendly turn. The dialogue stifles, as is often the case with latter-day Sorkin, and the actors are tasked with trying to wrangle enough breathing space to offer up something of their own. While The Social Network opened up a similar world and made it engaging to viewers who would proudly flaunt their lack of Facebook profile, Steve Jobs is aimed at the die-hard iPhone fetishists. While there’s something to be admired about a script that’s unwilling to make things overly easy for the viewer, Sorkin’s terse prose and immediacy assumes enormous prior investment and an unwavering interest in the cult of Apple. The staples (breakneck pace, frantic walk and talks, comfortably smug one-liners) are all there in an almost overwhelming quantity. With a Sorkin script at play, we’re never unsure who the ultimate auteur of the piece is. We also see a personal sub-plot slowly increase in importance with a paternity wrangle involving an ex-girlfriend, played by Katherine Waterston and her five-year-old daughter. Throughout the film, recurring characters progress alongside Jobs, including Kate Winslet’s no-nonsense head of marketing Joanna Hoffman, Seth Rogen’s little-seen computer programmer Steve Wozniak and Jeff Daniels’ stern CEO John Sculley. The first takes place in 1984 as Jobs prepares to unveil the Mac, the second in 1988 as he splits from Apple to launch a rival computer with his company NeXT and finally in 1998 as he returns to the fold to revolutionise the industry with the iMac.
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The film takes the unusual route of focusing on three key product launches, acting as equally weighted self-contained plays, of sorts. But, to his credit, he’s respectably restrained, easing up on the unnecessary flourishes and allowing his actors, and Sorkin’s talky script, to dominate.
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His hyper-kinetic style, growing tiresome since 2013’s misjudged thriller Trance, clashes with what would essentially act as a fact-based document of the lauded tech icon. Boyle isn’t an automatic fit for the material.