Another biographical drama where its lead actor playing the title character has received an Oscar nomination. Perhaps Will Smith would have had a better chance at a nomination if they renamed Concussion to “Omalu.” Anyway, this is the second attempt at a Steve Jobs film, the “better” one apparently since no one remembers the first one starring Ashton Kutcher. But here’s a film about Steve Jobs, who passed away less than five years ago. Check it out:
The story we get is Steve Jobs starting in 1984 with the Apple Macintosh voice demo. It fails before the unveiling, and Jobs threatens the engineer to fix it – such an inviting approach. There’s then a paternity dispute with his ex-girlfriend, denying he fathered her 5-year-old daughter. Eventually they bond and he provides support. Over time he faces conflicting issues with Apple, even forced out ,for his pushes on Macintosh. His confident, Joanna Hoffman, is the marketing executive, and upon discovering his next steps for the future, provides strong commercial support. However, she also keeps him balanced between his work and relationship with Lisa and her mother.
This film wasn’t my favorite, but it wasn’t bad. Michael Fassbender’s performance was definitely notable, and given his resume I didn’t doubt his ability to pull it off. Kate Winslet was a slight surprise because I didn’t know what to expect from her, but I was certainly delighted to see her onscreen. In a way, their performances were less to create Steve Jobs as a conflicted and multi-dimensional man and more to present what he represents in our memories – an innovator with a vision that has impacted us on a grand scale. Having said that… I’m not sure that was the best route. I don’t think I really cared much at all for what was happening and for these characters. Similar to Carol, the performances were strong and it had a good execution, but I just didn’t need the film in my life – I haven’t really been impacted much or gained much by watching it. At least not this year. Steve Jobs, while interesting portrayal given Fassbender’s performances, just lacked a bit of an organic presence. Now, whether this was an acting choice, a director’s choice, or the writer’s choice is questionable, but I don’t plan to watch this film again.
Well, let’s talk Oscars:
Best Actor – Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs. I think his transformation and general performance warrants the nomination. He’s not winning unless the voters really have it out for Leo and want to piss off half the world supporting him, but for an undertaking like this it was pretty good.
Best Supporting Actress – Kate Winslet. If anything, Kate was my standout for the film. For this I’m glad she won the Golden Globe, but I don’t see her winning another Oscar right now – especially for this role which was nowhere near her performance in The Reader. I’m still rooting for Alicia Vikander for this, maybe Rachel McAdams as a fallback.
Rating: B/B-
Ice the Burn 