This week movie rental was one of the big Oscar contenders of last year, Steve Jobs. We however not so long ago also saw his story portrayed in the 2013 film Jobs.
The 2013 film had Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs and covers most of his career including the creation of the first Apple computer and way up to the creation of the iPod.
The latest Steve Jobs film, however, gives us Michael Fassbender as Steve and is more about the man himself, and takes place at keynote speaker moments up to the launch of the Apple iMac.
I would personally say if looking for a film about the timeline of Apple Jobs, may be a better watch for you, the new Danny Boyle film, Steve Jobs, centres around the man himself.
Both films show Jobs to be a passionate and confidence person, who knows exactly what he wants. The Steve Jobs film shows more about the tough relationship he had in respect of being a father to his daughter, Lisa and her mother Chris Ann.
He certainly has moments where he seems to care, a drawing Lisa created online inspires the casing of the iconic iMac for example, but in general, he appears to throw money at them, rather than show parental love.
Not that it is just family, he can be off with, in this film, Steve ‘Woz’ Wozniak, who would probably be the closest to a best friend to him, is told of his failings and Jobs refuses his one request to give the creators of the Apple 2 credit.
Woz is played in this film by Seth Rogen (surprisingly in Jobs, he was also cast by an actor known for his comedy roles, Josh Gad)
Possibly the main difference is this latest film has a lead in Apple marketing exec, Joanna Hoffman (played by Kate Winslet) whereas she is not featured in the Jobs movie.
Other main characters featured are Andy Hertzfeld, an Apple mac designer, played by Michael Stuhlbarg in Steve Jobs/Elden Henson in Jobs. Also in both, is John Sculley, the man best known for firing Jobs from Apple. He is played by Jeff Daniels in Steve Jobs/Matthew Modine in Jobs.
As someone who uses an Apple product a lot, I found both films to be great insights into one of the most well-known figures in the world today. Steve Jobs is a great character drama, as you would expect from writer Aaron Sorkin but it does leave you wanting more, only covering a significant period of his life. No mention of an iPhone or Ipad, although his dreams of creating an iPod are mentioned.
Jobs was a much better overview of Apple, but it did have a feel of a made for TV drama, I personally felt Fassbender was a much better Jobs than Kutcher.
Steve Jobs was considered a box office failure and with Jobs also not being a major success, it is a shame we may never get a true biopic that tells us all, although as always there is plenty of reading material that we can absorb and read or we can even find documentaries to watch on our apple products =)
Have you seen either film? Do you have a favourite? Would you like a Steve Jobs 2 which followed the creation of the iPod etc
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