Back Rowe Reviews
Real Time Movie Reviews from the Back Row of a Theater

Jobs (PG-13)

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Directed by: Joshua Michael Stern
Starring: Ashton Kutcher
August 2013

This review was originally tweeted in Real-time from the back row of a movie theater and appears @BackRoweReviews. Though efforts were made to tease rather than ruin this movie’s memorable lines and moments, some spoilers may exist in the following evaluation. The original tweets appear in black, while follow-up comments appear in red. For concerns over objectionable content, please first refer to one of the many parental movie guide websites. All ratings are based on a four star system. Happy reading!

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Town hall meeting...introducing a tool for the heart.
Inspirational from the word go.

Jobs walks across campus Hobbit-style.

A drug-induced psychosis—hearing classical music in a wheat field.

Stirring things up at Atari. The genesis of Pong.
Boy do those two names bring back memories. Oops…just dated myself.

Friend’s advice, “Nobody wants to buy a computer.” Thankfully, Jobs didn’t listen.
Apparently, in real life, Jobs maintained this notion not his steadfast sidekick Steve Wozniak. But the movie is called Jobs not Woz, so…

“Welcome to Apple Computer.”

Social currency. Make the small things unforgettable.
A shaping philosophy of things to come.

Jobs salvages Macintosh. It’s “insanely good.”
Quality parts make a quality computer. Rocket science to the rest of the industry.

Windows...a blatant rip-off.

Personal/product disconnect plagues Job’s life and work.

A natural extension of the individual. Well said.

Final analysis: an effective biopic that paints in broad strokes while missing some of the fine brush work.

To whit, Pixar, iPhones, iPads and Jobs’ final days before passing.
It would’ve been nice if the movie had featured these Jobs accomplishments and covered his life up to his untimely death. As such, the movie feels like a book with the final chapters torn out.

Still, I wasn’t ready for the movie to end, so the old writer’s adage of always leave them wanting more is fulfilled.

Rating:
3 out of 4 stars. A seamless performance by Kutcher and a fitting tribute to an uncompromising visionary.

Final thought: I write my reviews on tech Jobs pioneered. A debt of gratitude is owed for how he’s changed our lives.

I was initially a bit dubious over Kutcher’s casting in the title role, but I must admit that he delivers an utterly convincing performance as the late inventor extraordinaire. The unheralded technologies pioneered by Jobs (listed above) should’ve been included in the movie, even if in a post-movie crawl of all of his accomplishments. Still, the movie does a fine job of capturing the essence of the man, his shortcomings and his many achievements. This biopic is yet another of Job’s products that’s worth consuming…insidious.