i tried watching the west wing (that's sorkin, right?) a few times but was put off not only by the one-note stylistics (all steadicam walk-and-talks, all the time, it seemed) but by the overbearing and obvious liberal wish-fulfillment premise which seemed to run away from political reality even as the self-consciously clever dialogue wanted to insist on its hard-boiled-ness.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 3 July 2015 23:17 (eight years ago) link
but you know, i'm far far far from an expert so i'm maybe i'm missing the upside to the "sorkin touch"
― wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 3 July 2015 23:18 (eight years ago) link
West Wing almost certainly the worst widely-acclaimed TV series ever made for exactly those reasons imo
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Saturday, 4 July 2015 00:03 (eight years ago) link
I mean, he's a good drummer, you have to give him that.
― ... (Eazy), Saturday, 4 July 2015 00:04 (eight years ago) link
I have to stop saying "why would anyone make this?"/ "why would anyone pay to see this?" On recent biopic threads, but really, who cares?
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Saturday, 4 July 2015 00:40 (eight years ago) link
I mean, is the answer to the q. About why people make these things anything more than "to make money"?
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Saturday, 4 July 2015 00:42 (eight years ago) link
I know that's the purpose of most commercial film making but generally people enjoy making them too and other people often enjoy watching them.
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Saturday, 4 July 2015 00:46 (eight years ago) link
― wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, July 3, 2015 7:17 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
otmfm this show is complete garbage, fuck walk-and-talk completely and forever too btw, hate that lame bulllshit technique
― marcos, Saturday, 4 July 2015 01:16 (eight years ago) link
Sorkin aside I don't even get the idea of their being an interesting movie in Jobs' life.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Saturday, 4 July 2015 01:18 (eight years ago) link
Well, the book version sold more than 3 million copies...
― ... (Eazy), Saturday, 4 July 2015 01:24 (eight years ago) link
RIP
― hunangarage, Saturday, 4 July 2015 01:28 (eight years ago) link
social network was good and so was sports night but I can't really deal with sorkin's fake mametisms beyond that.
― akm, Saturday, 4 July 2015 02:13 (eight years ago) link
Too bad that Amazon ebook software that can track actual pages read wasn't around.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Saturday, 4 July 2015 02:16 (eight years ago) link
Well, the book version sold more than 3 million copies... --... (Eazy)
I guess I can't imagine that being very cinematic. Story is at least as sordid as Facebook one though so maybe I'm wrong.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Saturday, 4 July 2015 05:39 (eight years ago) link
i'm sure the one-two punch of "social network" and "jobs" will rival eisenstein's "ivan" in its complex, nearly mad depiction of the paranoia and personal cost of great power
― wizzz! (amateurist), Saturday, 4 July 2015 16:51 (eight years ago) link
but nonetheless i doubt it will match the real classic of the genre
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/2831/tuker88p01.jpg
― got bent (mild cheezed off vibes) (s.clover), Sunday, 5 July 2015 05:57 (eight years ago) link
oh, i actually remember really liking that movie! (when it came out, which dates me)
it was one of the first movies where i recognized that it was doing some unusually things stylistically
― wizzz! (amateurist), Sunday, 5 July 2015 18:25 (eight years ago) link
and really, can any movie starring jeff bridges be that bad?
― wizzz! (amateurist), Sunday, 5 July 2015 18:26 (eight years ago) link
http://cdn.bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ripd_ver3_xlg.jpg
― bizarro gazzara, Monday, 6 July 2015 01:42 (eight years ago) link
Tucker was the first film I saw in a theatre!
― Love, Wilco (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 6 July 2015 02:08 (eight years ago) link
Tucker is v underrated - love Dean Stockwell as Howard Hughes - film seems to be in limbo at the moment, at least as far as a UK DVD/Blu is concerend
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Monday, 6 July 2015 08:02 (eight years ago) link
Getting pretty much raves from Telluride, other than a bunch of folks saying "Great movie, last 10 minutes is bad Danny Boyle."
― half the staying power of Erasure (Eazy), Sunday, 6 September 2015 13:41 (eight years ago) link
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie/steve-jobs/review/820561
Last 10 minutes are basically of a piece with the rest. It's all in service of redeeming unapologetic exceptionalism.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 October 2015 13:20 (eight years ago) link
I think A.S. might worship Jobs to the extent he despised Zuck?
Yup. I wasn't a great fan of Social Network, but at least that film didn't particularly sentimentalize its subject's assholery.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 October 2015 13:25 (eight years ago) link
why millennials suck 2: why boomers rule
― playlists of pensive swift (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 13 October 2015 13:57 (eight years ago) link
I hope this is the last movie about this guy, RIP and all, nice computers guy, but sort of a depressing figure to elevate to heroism.
― nomar, Tuesday, 13 October 2015 14:06 (eight years ago) link
I'm going to intercut this with Miles Ahead (a la Godfather Saga) and call it "Think Different"
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Tuesday, 13 October 2015 14:07 (eight years ago) link
I do think he's an interesting subject, but I find it hard to believe that what makes him interesting is better explored in a (presumably) cheesy biopic than in an essay.
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Tuesday, 13 October 2015 14:08 (eight years ago) link
interesting this is widely described as Sorkin's rather than Boyle's (who ocassionally makes good pulp, othwise atrocities like Slumdog Millionaire). I guess the director reigns supreme unless there's a Pretentious Middlebrow TV Guy involved.
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 October 2015 15:09 (eight years ago) link
Sorkin has defeated almost every director and even his bout with Fincher was a draw.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 October 2015 15:16 (eight years ago) link
I'd say Sorkin won a few sequences of that movie outright (anything with the depositions or Rooney Mara for example) but overall the film is Fincher.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 13 October 2015 15:23 (eight years ago) link
I liked this spoof....
"What would I do? I'd shut Apple down and give the money back to the shareholders"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeiI8cd5rO4
― Lee626, Tuesday, 13 October 2015 15:30 (eight years ago) link
First third or so I thought: jeez, if $5 million was the difference between Boyle and Fincher, they should've crowdsourced the difference. Starts out theatrically in a bad way, but everything but the score improves as it goes on. Not a landmark but good.
― I know some Civil War re-enactors you might want to talk to (Eazy), Friday, 16 October 2015 05:10 (eight years ago) link
Edelstein on Boyle: "He's the deftest superficial director alive."
― I know some Civil War re-enactors you might want to talk to (Eazy), Friday, 16 October 2015 06:01 (eight years ago) link
Surprised this is getting such a limited release, given how ham they went with national TV/print ads last month.
― I know some Civil War re-enactors you might want to talk to (Eazy), Saturday, 17 October 2015 17:19 (eight years ago) link
I enjoyed this, without knowing it was Sorkin it involved prior, but I had an inkling it might be him prior to the credits running, which was confirmed when Steve's daughter Lisa called his iMac "Judy Jetson's E-Z Bake Oven"
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Monday, 26 October 2015 21:12 (eight years ago) link
Movie flopped. Can't wait for the next Steve Jobs movie, though. The man was a visionary, a genius, and deserves as many movies or books as it takes to get it right. After all, he's been dead for what, 10 years? Maybe? It's about time we have gotten to the bottom of this mystery, this enigma, who has been gone for so long.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 26 October 2015 21:17 (eight years ago) link
I still can't believe there was a Jobs movie with Kutcher playing him
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Monday, 26 October 2015 21:23 (eight years ago) link
there needs to be a Woz movie, with the Woz just making exasperated faces in regards to Job's antics for two hours
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Monday, 26 October 2015 21:27 (eight years ago) link
anybody remember the Pirates of Silicon Valley TV movie? that shit was dire - fuckin' Noah Wylie
The film opens with the creation of the 1984 commercial for Apple Computer, which introduced the first Macintosh. Steve Jobs (Noah Wyle) is speaking with director Ridley Scott (J. G. Hertzler), trying to convey his idea that "We're creating a completely new consciousness." Scott, however, is more concerned at the moment with the technical aspects of the commercial.
The film then flashes forward to 1997 as Jobs, who has returned to Apple, is announcing a new deal with Microsoft at the 1997 Macworld Expo. His partner, Steve Wozniak or "Woz" (Joey Slotnick), is introduced as one of the two central narrators of the story. Wozniak notes to the audience the resemblance between "Big Brother" and the image of Bill Gates (Anthony Hall) on the screen behind Jobs during this announcement. Asking how they "got from there to here," the film turns to flashbacks of his youth with Jobs, prior to the forming of Apple.
The earliest flashback is in 1971 and takes place on the U.C. Berkeley campus during the period of the student anti-war movements. Jobs and Woz are shown caught on the campus during a riot between students and police. They flee and after finding safety, Jobs states to Woz, "Those guys think they're revolutionaries. They're not revolutionaries, we are."
― nomar, Monday, 26 October 2015 21:29 (eight years ago) link
ridley scott!
JOEY SLOTNICK!
― Love, Wilco (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 26 October 2015 21:39 (eight years ago) link
I remember one scene from that where this really bad extra is on the beach chatting with other nerds and someone makes a disparaging remark about Jobs and the dude goes: "What? You're criticizing STEVE, man?" and starts shoving him and trying to kick his ass and shit
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Monday, 26 October 2015 21:43 (eight years ago) link
idk there is such a thing as a visionary and genius who's a boring human and doesn't deserve conventional Hollywood biopics
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 26 October 2015 21:48 (eight years ago) link
Jobs movies would be more interesting as historical fiction. like Jobs traveling back in time but having the procedure shrink him and being eaten in the bathtub by William Henry Taft
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Monday, 26 October 2015 21:50 (eight years ago) link
*Howard
Perhaps i'm just simple but i rlly liked this movie. Probably part of it is my confirmation bias b/c the movie reaffirms why i always liked the woz better. Also, I don't have time for a 500-page biography and i had no idea about his fucked up family issues, so the movie served me well as an abridged version of that. But now I wonder how close to the mark the movie is, factually. In any case, Woz himself approved of its portrayal of Steve, so at least they got that much right. Those last ten minutes, tho... Yeesh.
― davey, Tuesday, 27 October 2015 00:58 (eight years ago) link
the Kutcher movie outgrossed this one in first week of wide release
America has spoken, Fassbender
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 11:49 (eight years ago) link
pirates was great!woz and ballmer as extra-dimensional narratorsanthony michael hall as bill gates sputtering, "I GOT THE LOOT, STEVE"
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 27 October 2015 20:45 (eight years ago) link
totally mystified by why this movie is bombing. it's not bad! i thought it was surprisingly slight, and even though the aesthetic & acting & filmmaking were obviously leagues better than the Kutcher one, it wasn't the definitive biopic i was expecting. the 3 scenes in real time structure didn't really work because the same thing is happening in each scene, it all feels like one thing, and because they're always in a PANICKED RUSH, we don't really learn much. i didn't get any sense of why Jobs was a genius, but it was pretty clear how and why he was a profoundly shitty parent and husband.
really confused though why this isn't doing well. 2 years between biopics not enough? lack of interest in SJ? apple over saturation?
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 27 October 2015 21:04 (eight years ago) link
movies don't always bomb b/c they are bad and succeed b/c they are good.... i just think that the filmmakers overestimated the public appetite for stuff about steve jobs. i also think the kutcher biopic might have salted the earth a bit.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 21:07 (eight years ago) link
def the two years between biopics - a ton of people with enough interest to go and see a steve jobs biopic already did it 2 and a half years ago. aaron sorkin and danny boyle aren't too much of a draw i wouldn't have thought. and surely fassbender fatigue is setting in, kind of hate his guts at this juncture after thinking he was the best thing since sliced bread in hunger.
― you too could be called a 'Star' by the Compliance Unit (jim in glasgow), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 21:08 (eight years ago) link
def think there was an overestimation of the number of ppl who give a flying shit about SJ (it takes more to make a hit movie than a best seller)
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 21:10 (eight years ago) link
Some of the blame goes to the marketing. It's a challenge right now to put out a movie about Jobs that doesn't seem too famillar/annoying, He Changed The Way We Live, or too negative, The Cold Truth Behind The Warm Computer.
I thought the movie was good but mostly forgettable, with entertaining writing and good pacing throughout, and good performances from Rogen and others. I thought a lot about what Fincher's version could have been like, and how the detail of it likely would have nail its era (a la The Social Network), more than this did.
The Alex Gibney documentary is slightly stronger, also worth seeing.
― I know some Civil War re-enactors you might want to talk to (Eazy), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 22:44 (eight years ago) link
Also, they really went hard with advertising from the Mad Men finale onward, and so a slow rollout hasn't served it well.
― I know some Civil War re-enactors you might want to talk to (Eazy), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 22:45 (eight years ago) link
The Walter Isaacson book was a big deal, and best seller, and emerged right after his death (still just a mere 4 years ago!). People were interested. The Ashton movie seemed like an afterthought, since his death was still fresh and the book seemed to be a good final word (so to speak). So then another movie, coming so quickly, inspired by the aforementioned book, but with lots of facts changed and still not that far off from Jobs' death, seems a tad overkill, if not a step back. That it was written by Sorkin not too long after the likeminded "Social Network" (released just a year before Jobs died) just pushes it even further toward redundancy.
Did any of these things factor into its dudness? Maybe, but certainly all of these things at once could not have helped.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 27 October 2015 22:51 (eight years ago) link
there should be like an hbo show about the pdp-11
― playlists of pensive swift (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 22:53 (eight years ago) link
maybe the next steve jobs movie will do better.
― pplains, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 00:01 (eight years ago) link
What About Jobs?
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 00:06 (eight years ago) link
def think there was an overestimation of the number of ppl who give a flying shit about SJ (it takes more to make a hit movie than a best seller)― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 21:10 (Yesterday) Permalink
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 21:10 (Yesterday) Permalink
I think this is otm. Much as he's worshiped by biz and tech types, it's not like he's a beloved personality with the public at large. I mean, people may think that he's brilliant, but that's way different than thinking his life would make an interesting movie. His story is way boring compared to, I don't know, Stephen Hawking, Abraham Lincoln, or the members of NWA, to give three financially successful recent biopics.
― intheblanks, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 00:29 (eight years ago) link
Also the ads I saw for this were so dire, "Come watch this generically handsome guy be an haughty jerk, and I don't know, maybe he learns to become a father or something. Also Seth Rogen."
― intheblanks, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 00:31 (eight years ago) link
Feel like anyone genuinely shocked about this flopping probably just knows too many people who revere Steve Jobs.
― intheblanks, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 00:32 (eight years ago) link
i want a movie about the guys who designed those soviet personal computers that ignatiy vishnevetsky has been tweeting about
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CSCEtzFUcAABJOE.jpg:large
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 00:34 (eight years ago) link
He's the guy who managed the guys who made the iPhone/Toy Story is not a terribly exciting hook to most people. I suspect a Gates biopic would be more interesting, at least you'd have anti-trust shenanigans for drama.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 00:37 (eight years ago) link
don't know if a gates movie would have broader appeal, but at least you'd have the mid-life turn to serious philanthropy, and probably some heartfelt stuff with melinda
― intheblanks, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 00:42 (eight years ago) link
jobs himself is kind of boring, his products are far more interesting
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 00:51 (eight years ago) link
Contrast that with the trailer that shows people using ,Facebook underscored by a children's choir singing "Creep." Something as good as that would have made a difference. And without it "the Facebook movie" would have been a niche thing too.
― I know some Civil War re-enactors you might want to talk to (Eazy), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 01:53 (eight years ago) link
No one seems to be interested in Steve Jobs' stint as the founder and CEO of NeXT computers, even though it was probably the one time in his life when he had the most direct personal responsibility for running a company, designing its products and ensuring its success.
― Aimless, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 02:13 (eight years ago) link
is that isaacson book worth reading?
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 03:17 (eight years ago) link
His story is way boring compared to, I don't know, Stephen Hawking, Abraham Lincoln, or the members of NWA, to give three financially successful recent biopics.
second half (third?) of straight outta compton was p much excruciating but omg what a fucking relief (tho hardly unpredictable) that the nwa movie crushed the steve jobs movie(s)
― playlists of pensive swift (difficult listening hour), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 03:21 (eight years ago) link
http://book12.ru/photos/robbins/fe44c9c999d6261a34d14fa42171d611.jpg
― playlists of pensive swift (difficult listening hour), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 03:26 (eight years ago) link
the next Jobs movie will be about Steve Jobs in Hell watching all the movies about him and reviewing them
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 03:34 (eight years ago) link
shavian
― playlists of pensive swift (difficult listening hour), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 04:07 (eight years ago) link
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, October 27, 2015 11:17 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
not really
― johnny crunch, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 04:23 (eight years ago) link
i didn't think so, tbh, but it did seem like the only book i saw anyone reading for like five months after it came out
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 04:29 (eight years ago) link
The first "act" is the best use of Fassbender's sourness I've ever seen, and Kate Winselt was unrecognizable (to me) for a few minutes until the Sorkinspeak coaxed out the Oscar begging. Sorkin's tics are so recognizable that I couldn't even hiss when he constructs the movie so that the hippie ex-girlfriend is a frivolous airhead for spending $1500 on aroma therapy or whatever while the misanthrope genius is saving the world from Walkmans.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 19 December 2015 02:44 (eight years ago) link
Haven't seen this, and don't want to, but Tom Scharpling (on a recent Best Show) describing the films heated screaming matches between Fassbender and Daniel's over Super Bowl ads and Apple updates was hilarious.
― pitchforkian at best (cryptosicko), Thursday, 28 January 2016 22:56 (eight years ago) link
Fassbender and Jeff Daniels yelling at each other is oddly compelling.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Monday, 26 September 2016 18:29 (seven years ago) link
i love that scene--especially with the crosscutting between shouting matches at different times.
― ryan, Monday, 26 September 2016 19:00 (seven years ago) link
This is hagiography. I know our culture lionizes charismatic assholes but did they really need to show him being heroically protective of Woz?
― lukas, Saturday, 18 September 2021 04:04 (two years ago) link
Oh look, he's late for a keynote because he's trying to be a good parent. AYFKM
― lukas, Saturday, 18 September 2021 04:12 (two years ago) link
Marveling at Mr Soto's capsule review a few posts up. I don't need to see the film now.
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 18 September 2021 08:00 (two years ago) link