Reely Bernie Faves: Steve Jobs (2015)

I’m a sucker for historical fiction as it toys with timelines and actual events but holds true the atmosphere of the period, character impressions, and the filmmaker’s freedom to interpret. As the late, great Roger Ebert would say, “I look to books for facts and movies for feelings.”

Despite fabricating a few incidents and compartmentalizing Steve Jobs’s technological feats, Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin preserves the tone of Steve Jobs’s unparalleled and fascinating ego. Using three backstage room settings for his new computer launches, Sorkin provides a platform to expose Jobs’s humanity, no matter how difficult it is to accept or appreciate.

What I admire most about this movie is its ability to magnify minimalism. Until its cathartic denouement outdoors, most of the scenes are shot in sterile, claustrophobic sound stages. Without looking anything like Steve Jobs, Michael Fassbender catapults Sorkin’s dialogue into high strung flesh, and we come to believe we are witnessing the evolving genius of Steve Jobs. It is absolutely fascinating, and after six viewings, I still discover nuances in both the acting performances and screenplay. (My only qualm is Kate Winslet’s ever changing Polish accent.)  

Most will place Sorkin’s writing masterwork, The Social Network (2010), above this one, but I’d rather watch an arrogant, self-entitled marketing genius than a bunch of arrogant, self-entitled brats who have billions come to them because of a social media idea. Both are tremendous movies (the soundtrack to The Social Network is the most provocative of the last two decades), but what Sorkin, Director Danny Boyle, and Michael Fassbender can accomplish in three backstage rooms in Steve Jobs (2015) still blows my mind.

Thank you for reading! Your thoughts?

Reely Bernie Faves:

1. Amadeus (1984)

2. Magnolia (1999)

3. Poltergeist (1982)

4. Pulp Fiction (1994)

5. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

6. The Godfather Part II (1974)

7. Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)

8. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

9. Goodfellas (1990)

10. Nosferatu (1922)

11. Pollock (2000)

12. Kicking and Screaming (1995)

13. Jaws (1975)

14. Fargo (1996)

15. Citizen Kane (1941)

16. The Blair Witch Project (1999)

17. The Endless Summer (1966)

18. Back to the Future (1985)

19. Angel Heart (1987)

20. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

21. The Goonies (1985)

22. Trainspotting (1996)

23. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

24. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

25. Bambi (1942)

26. The Paradise Lost Trilogy (1996-2011)

27. Psycho (1960)

28. Parenthood (1989)

29. Swingers (1996)

30. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

31. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

32. Smoke (1995)

33. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

34. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

35. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

36. City of God (2002)

37. 1917 (2019)

38. Black Swan (2010)

39. School of Rock (2003)

40. Mulholland Drive (2001)

41. Groundhog Day (1993)

42. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

43. The Greatest Showman (2017)

44. National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)

45. The Florida Project (2017)

46. Cinema Paradiso (1988)

47. So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)

48. Shadowlands (1993)

49. Steve Jobs (2015)

50. ¡Three Amigos! (1986)