Jobs

Jobs

Rated PG-13 and Released in Grand Rapids 8/16/13

Reviewed 8/23/13 at Celebration North in Grand Rapids, Michigan

with Gary and Mark

I liked this movie probably more than a lot of viewers. Critics are saying this is no Social Network and they are right. That movie was more exciting. All three of us thought Jobs was an intriguing film that kept our attention easily to the end. Ashton Kutcher plays Steve Jobs and while Kutcher has more TV under his belt, he really delivers an outstanding performance on the big screen.

One minute you are impressed with Steve Jobs and all of his creativeness and forward thinking; the next minute you think he's the biggest jerk and almost feel sorry for him. In the 1970s the hippy-like and awkward Jobs humbly begins in his parents' garage with a bunch of other mega nerds including Apple co-creator Steve Wozniak (Josh Gad). Through Jobs' perseverance he gets their garage-built computer in stores and then he builds, builds, builds the business. Along the way he seems to transcend into a full-of-himself innovator that is ruthless in his demands and a brute to everyone around him, even those in his shrinking circle. This leads to his ousting after the company goes public in 1984. Subsequently, things don't go so well for Apple as does Jobs, with his quest for Macintosh, is getting in the way of the one objective for the Board of Directors - profit! Approximately one year later the Board bullies founder Jobs out. Not much goes on in the next 10 or so years. Jobs tidies up his personal life: marries, starts a family, begins a relationship with his estranged teen daughter and starts a company.  The story concludes around 2001 where he is presenting his next big idea - a "device" that plays music - to a cheering crowd of Apple employees. The movie may end, but as I type this review on my new MacBook Air with my iPhone 5 sitting close by, we all know where innovation led the creative genius of Steve Jobs, and Apple, after that.

QUIET Rating system: 3 1/2 Js

Quality: JJJj

Understood story:  JJJJ

Interest: JJJJ

Entertainment:  JJJj

Time:  JJJ