Whatever your mood, there’s a Steve Jobs movie for it

Global Business

FILE – In this Oct. 14, 2008 file photo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs smiles during a product announcement at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. Jobs became renowned for conjuring a “reality distortion field” that made people believe whatever he wanted. If he were still around, it’s easy to imagine that Jobs would be summoning all his powers of persuasion to protect a legacy that’s getting muddied with each cinematic take on his fascinating life. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

“Steve Jobs,” the latest movie about the Apple founder opens Friday and is loosely based on the book by Jobs’ hand-picked biographer Walter Isaacson.

One Associated Press review said it presents Jobs as a tortured soul who also “tortured those around him while striving to design machines that were made better than he was.”

Since Jobs died in 2011 — and even before that — movies have been made about his life, varying in town from serious, to comedic, to documentary. View just a few of them here:

1. The latest one: “Steve Jobs”

Written by Aaron Sorkin, who won an Academy Award in 2011 for “The Social Network,” the film unfolds in three acts that take place before three presentations orchestrated by Jobs: the 1984 debut of the Macintosh computer; a 1988 showcase for the NeXT computer; and the 1998 unveiling of the iMac. None of the pre-event scenes or dialogue actually occurred, but the drama is designed to capture the relentless drive and haunting demons that made Jobs who he was. Director Danny Boyle describes the movie as a “heightened version of real life” while Sorkin calls it a “painting and not a photograph.”

2. The first one: “Pirates of Silicon Valley”

This made-for-TV movie was made nearly 20 years ago and follows the lives of Jobs and his lifelong competitor Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. It’s based on the book “Fire In The Valley.” Although the movie depicts Jobs as the hipper of the two men, the more nerdy Gates ends up outmaneuvering his rival to get the technology that became Windows and helped turn Microsoft into the world’s most valuable company at one point, the AP reported.

3. The one with Ashton Kutcher: “Jobs”

This 2013 film featured Ashton Kutcher who was credited for nailing many of Jobs’ mannerisms, including the way he walked. The film follows him from college dropout to starting Apple in 1976, leaving the company, and then returning in the greatest comeback story in corporate history, the AP reported.

4. The funny one: “iSteve”

The parody film “iSteve” starring Justin Long as Jobs was written in three days and shot in five, Variety reported.

5. Documentary: “Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine”

This documentary from another Academy Award winner, Alex Gibney, leaves viewers with an appreciation for Jobs’ achievements and a disdain for his often boorish behavior. It’s a particularly damning portrait because it’s told through clips of Jobs himself and interviews with some of the people who knew him best.

5. Documentary: “Steve Jobs: One Last Thing”

This 2011 PBS documentary exampines Jobs’ difficult, controlling reputation and through interviews with the people who worked closely with him or chronicled his life, provides unique insight into what made him tick.

7. Documentary: “Steve Jobs: iGenius” aka. “Steve Jobs Visionary Genius”

This 2012 biography by Director Tara Pirnia covers his ground breaking iPhones, iPads and iPods, to paternity issues and finding the sister he never knew.

8. Jobs in his own words: Steve Jobs’ 2005 commencement speech at Stanford

At his Stanford University commencement speech, Jobs urges students to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks — including death itself. He had been diagnosed with cancer in his pancreas in 2003 but did not tell his employees until 2004 saying he had undergone a successful operation to remove the tumor, ABC News reported. In subsequent years he appeared thin and gaunt at public appearances. Read the full text of his commencement speech.

Story compiled with information from the Associated Press


Karen Blumenthal talks to CCTV about Steve Jobs

What kind of legacy did Steve Jobs leave? One person to speak to would be Karen Blumenthal, who wrote a book about him.
She talks to CCTV about what kind of leader Jobs was.

Karen Blumenthal talks to CCTV about Steve Jobs

What kind of legacy did Steve Jobs leave? One person to speak to would be Karen Blumenthal, who wrote a book about him. She talks to CCTV about what kind of leader Jobs was.