Thoughts on the 2015 Steve Jobs movie?

The joke was obvious enough for anyone with half a brain to catch. 😉

Just a heads-up, watch how you word things. You're skating pretty close to being offensive.

The full trailer just dropped!

Looks decent enough; I'll give it a look. Let's just hope Boyle doesn't screw this one up.

Caught a movie at the theater yesterday.

Still processing my thoughts on it. The film is pretty uneven and definitely stirs up some controversy. For the most part, it focuses on the psychological profile and those internal struggles—the drives and motivations—of Steve Jobs himself.

My rating so far is a 3/4.

Two hours of pure filler. I totally get what they were aiming for—trying to peel back the layers and show the actual human being behind the legend—but man, they picked a terrible way to go about it. The whole thing basically boils over into just five people, four of whom carry the weight while one acts as a breather (Steve Wozniak). It’s just three rounds, spaced out by years, centered around three major product launches. And then, after all that buildup, the ballads don't even lead to anything meaningful. Like, why was Steve Jobs such a massive jerk to everyone? Why was he so dogmatic about tech even though he wasn't really the innovator himself? Why did he refuse to acknowledge his daughter, only to crave her presence at that final keynote? All we actually learn about the guy is that he loved losing his cool on people and had a serious streak of vengeance... and that's pretty much it. "That's just how he was," the movie tells us. Honestly, even Ashton Kutcher's take felt more substantial than this...

briskhound2 said:Honestly, I think I preferred Ashton Kutcher—or rather, Steve Jobs—over this whole mess.

Are you actually being serious right now?😲>

Joshua Kern said:Are you actually being serious right now?😲

Why not? It’s a tighter movie, I guess... the only issue was they didn't have a massive budget to play with. Honestly, the fact that Soarkin wrote it, Boyle directed, and Michael Fassbender starred doesn't mean much to me if the plot fails to actually pull me into the lead character's world. The only part that actually held my interest was that verbal showdown with Steve Wozniak—but even then, the pacing felt off because there was zero context. Like, nobody explained why he was being so incredibly stubborn about not acknowledging anyone else, or why he'd go from defending Steve Wozniak one second to absolutely tearing him apart the next like he was at a firing range...

I found the theatrical structure of this piece to be quite masterful. It prioritizes the mythos surrounding Steve Jobs over the man himself, weaving his legacy subtly through minute details and his complex dynamics with the other characters and his own overarching philosophy. I’ve always been a fan of Soarkin’s dialogue, but here, there is even a slight, sophisticated nod toward the style of Mamet.

The trailer didn't grab me—honestly, everything I read about Steve Jobs and this movie just made him seem unlikable, which left me with zero interest in watching it.
But.
I actually liked the film. The decision to split it into three distinct acts worked, and I appreciated that the narrative stayed focused on the same core group of people. Plus, we actually get some answers to certain questions—not all of them, mind you, but enough—even though I was convinced right up until the end that we wouldn't.

Michael Fassbender was absolutely stellar. Kate was great too, though he definitely carried more of the weight 😁.

Honestly, I’d hand them both an Oscar right now just for those performances.

I started watching the movie and just gave up. Honestly, watching a neurotic Steve Jobs is exhausting, and I don't really care about his life story beyond the basic highlights we all already know.

The movie is nothing but pretentious garbage; honestly, just a total waste of time.
After watching it, I felt like a complete idiot.

After watching that Jobs movie with Kutcher back when it first dropped, I really wasn't feeling the whole idea of another biopic about the same guy...

I mean, Kutcher might actually look more like Jobs—they really nailed the resemblance—but man, you just can't get into it. It’s hard to connect. And honestly? The movie itself was pretty forgettable.

Now, this one? This is definitely more thoughtful and polished. The characters feel solid, the dialogue is snappy and dynamic, and you actually find yourself getting sucked into the story and feeling for the people on screen.

It’s probably not the absolute best work from either Boyle or Sorkin, but this collaboration really works! Sure, they're dramatizing certain parts of Jobs' career to build a psychological profile that works for cinema, but hey, if you were expecting a documentary, you're looking at the wrong thing anyway.

Anyway, I wanted to circle back to an older post because there was a really interesting point made there...

Hannah Watson85 said:I love how we actually get some answers to the questions (not all of them, obviously) even though up until the very end I thought we wouldn't.

That’s actually something Sorkin explained once. It’s almost like he's testing the audience's patience. He weaves these subtle hints about certain themes into the script—things that seem secondary but are actually central to the plot. It keeps you glued to the screen, wondering if you'll get all the pieces by the end. Then, suddenly, you realize the wait was totally worth it. It's a clever little trick... 🙂