Last night, I was Facebook messaging
a friend pretty late at night when she finally asked me point blank: why aren’t
you asleep? An hour earlier, I had gotten home from the movie theater after
seeing Ashton Kutcher’s new movie, Jobs.
“I can’t sleep because I’m mad I
didn’t invent the iPod,” I type back. A seemingly infinite series of haha’s follows. Even though it sounds
ridiculous, this is truly the reason why I couldn’t sleep last night.
Whether you like his personality or
not, Steve Jobs changed the world. The movie portrayal of his life does an
excellent job of showing us everything: the good, the bad, and the ugly. What I
really liked about the film was that they didn’t make Steve Jobs into something
that he wasn’t. They didn’t sugar code it: Steve Jobs was an asshole. However,
he had a vision, and acted upon it. Whether you agree with his methods or not,
you cannot deny the simple fact that Steve Jobs was a revolutionary.
Ashton Kutcher did a phenomenal job
staying true to his role. He didn’t shy away from the tough scenes, and when he
was supposed to be mean, he was mean.
He pulled it off, despite the fact that we’re all used to seeing him playing
“the good guy.” Steve Jobs is no Kelso from That
70’s Show. However, the fact that he was able to play a character so out of
his norm goes to show that Ashton Kutcher is the real deal. And let’s face it,
he is more than capable of pulling off the long hair of the 70’s.
When he received the Ultimate Choice
Award at the Teen Choice Awards, he gave a speech that now has over three
million views on YouTube. In this speech, he talks about the desire to upset
the norm, to be innovative, to take risks. This speech made me realize why he
did such a great job portraying Jobs. He believes in the importance of visionaries.
Which brings me back to my point:
Why couldn’t I have invented the iPod? Why can’t I revolutionize the world?
Well, as corny as this is about to sound, this movie answers my question with a
simple you can. The dichotomy between
Jobs’ horrific personal choices and his brilliance in the world of Apple
Computers kept me entertained from beginning to end. Although I thought the end
came too soon, my overall “grade” for this movie was a “thumbs up.”
And as the credits rolled, they
showed pictures of the real-life innovators next to their actors. This was
definitely a pat on the back to the casting directors, who were able to find
talented actors that looked EXACTLY like the characters they were playing. In
particular, I thought Josh Gad did a fantastic job with his character, Steve
Wozniak. When Steve Jobs lack of emotion made a few scenes hard to watch, “Woz”
filled the void with his genuine, heartbreaking input.
After the screen finally went black, I
walked out of the movie theater, drove home, and opened up my Mac to check
Facebook, with a newfound appreciation for my little silver best friend.
SIDENOTE: I didn’t put this together
until I saw the movie, but Jobs named his company Apple to make a correlation
between these new “home computers” and the apple in the garden of Eden:
something you just have to have. How
clever of you, Steve.
For those of you who want to watch
Ashton’s speech at the Teen Choice Awards, a YouTube clip is below. I strongly
recommend watching it! Even though the audience wasn’t really listening, it’s a
good message for everyone to hear.
SCREENPLAY PAGES WRITTEN: 60
NOVEL PAGES WRITTEN: 133
No comments:
Post a Comment