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Hippity-Hoppity
Pros
Fascinating depictions of character traits, and historical accuracy.
Cons
Didn't delve into certain specifics as much as might be desired.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Nice retelling of history, with good acting and excellent delivery.
There they go, down the bunny trail. The bunny trail to massive, computer-fueled riches, I mean.
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are two of the Information Age's archetypical players, so it's only right that they be portrayed in the medium most suited to the Age: audio-visual. Because, evidently, nobody reads in the Information Age.
Including me, it seems. The movie is based on a the book, "Fire In The Valley," by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine, which is probably pretty darned good ('cause the film rocks).
Anyway, the actors do a fine job with the sundry real-life personages. Anthony Michael Hall, in particular, does a startlingly-good rendition of a very creepy Bill Gates.
Which brings up another point: this movie is not afraid of stepping on some toes, even when those toes are attached to dudes who carry billions of dollars around as spending money. As one might grasp from the title, this is a movie about how Jobs and Gates were not involved in invention and innovation at the outset of the Computer Revolution, they were also hungrily plundering every technology, from every source, they could lay their hands on.
And plunder they did. It's quite amazing (if accurate) to notice that the genius of these men was not so much in the technological development arena, but in their command of nascent business concepts. From salesmanship to financing to licensing to management...these guys were not afraid of demolishing old, archaic models, and starting something wholly new.
Of course, they were wrong sometimes, too. Which is also covered in the film. In particular, Jobs' treatment of his babymomma is dealt with extensively, and brutally.
The film uses some other tactics that are nifty, as well. The main (dual) narrative is carried by voiceovers from the characters of Steve Wozniak and Steve Ballmer; in real life, both are mighty computer titans in their own right, but obvious second fiddles to the ubergeeks Jobs and Gates. This lends an authority of insight that might otherwise have been lacking, but doesn't intrude on the "main" characters, or force them to tell their own stories, which would have been distracting and come across twice as false.
Some of the plot elements are certainly dramatized, and some are apocryphal, and some are just stupidly fake, but most of it follows the true storyline of history. And what a wild ride it is.
I would have liked to just a bit more about where the two men came from...about their parents and home lives and upbringing. But that's not a major shortcoming.
All in all, a solid story, well told. Check it out-- you won't be sorry.
If you dug this review, you might want to check out my books, which are available on Amazon, via my website: www.benmalisow.com
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are two of the Information Age's archetypical players, so it's only right that they be portrayed in the medium most suited to the Age: audio-visual. Because, evidently, nobody reads in the Information Age.
Including me, it seems. The movie is based on a the book, "Fire In The Valley," by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine, which is probably pretty darned good ('cause the film rocks).
Anyway, the actors do a fine job with the sundry real-life personages. Anthony Michael Hall, in particular, does a startlingly-good rendition of a very creepy Bill Gates.
Which brings up another point: this movie is not afraid of stepping on some toes, even when those toes are attached to dudes who carry billions of dollars around as spending money. As one might grasp from the title, this is a movie about how Jobs and Gates were not involved in invention and innovation at the outset of the Computer Revolution, they were also hungrily plundering every technology, from every source, they could lay their hands on.
And plunder they did. It's quite amazing (if accurate) to notice that the genius of these men was not so much in the technological development arena, but in their command of nascent business concepts. From salesmanship to financing to licensing to management...these guys were not afraid of demolishing old, archaic models, and starting something wholly new.
Of course, they were wrong sometimes, too. Which is also covered in the film. In particular, Jobs' treatment of his babymomma is dealt with extensively, and brutally.
The film uses some other tactics that are nifty, as well. The main (dual) narrative is carried by voiceovers from the characters of Steve Wozniak and Steve Ballmer; in real life, both are mighty computer titans in their own right, but obvious second fiddles to the ubergeeks Jobs and Gates. This lends an authority of insight that might otherwise have been lacking, but doesn't intrude on the "main" characters, or force them to tell their own stories, which would have been distracting and come across twice as false.
Some of the plot elements are certainly dramatized, and some are apocryphal, and some are just stupidly fake, but most of it follows the true storyline of history. And what a wild ride it is.
I would have liked to just a bit more about where the two men came from...about their parents and home lives and upbringing. But that's not a major shortcoming.
All in all, a solid story, well told. Check it out-- you won't be sorry.
If you dug this review, you might want to check out my books, which are available on Amazon, via my website: www.benmalisow.com
