Jobs

The acting is fine, but the movie ends up being more like a really expensive corporate pep rally for Apple employees than a nuanced depiction of a fascinating but flawed man. The best biographical dramas reveal something meaningful about their subjects -- not just what they accomplished, but what made them exceptional and larger than life, as well as flawed and human. Films like Coal Miner's Daughter, Lincoln, and Amadeus portray more than singers, politicians, and composers; they depict the genius, troubled individuals behind the legends. Aside from a few failures (the way Jobs ignored/refused to acknowledge his first child and later dissed his crew of early Apple employees) Jobs, on the other hand, is a bland celebration of him as the founder of Apple, not as a man.

Anyone who read a couple of Jobs obituaries -- not to mention any serious Apple follower -- will already know nearly everything depicted in the film. There's no dramatic tension outside of a boring board of directors decision to oust Jobs in 1985 that led to a personal crisis ... which isn't covered in the movie. Instead, the movie fast forwards several years, during which Jobs got married and reconciled with his daughter. None of the personal issues that make that time period so compelling in Jobs' life are even mentioned.