好莱坞金童成电影版《乔布斯传》唯一亮点

    我有点被吓到了。

    虽然我对电影《乔布斯传》（Jobs）的总体评价是“无聊”，甚至《财富》杂志（Fortune）的亚当•拉辛斯基给出了更刺耳的“糟糕透顶”这样的评价，但我认为电影主演艾什顿•库彻表现得太好了。他的表演甚至让我回想起当初与史蒂夫的几次会议和交谈，这些回忆或好或坏，但从来都不无聊。而且，电影还让我回想起每次跟史蒂夫谈完之后，我都会心潮起伏——要么愤怒，要么被他蛊惑。艾什顿不仅模仿了史蒂夫的外表——棕色胡子、没有胡子、灰色胡子等等——也抓住了史蒂夫的机智多变，以及有些疯狂的怪癖。

    我知道肯定有很多人会说：“我非常了解史蒂夫，他肯定不是那样。”对此，我认为a) 得了吧，这只是一部电影，而且b)想想还有谁会比艾什顿演的更好？当然，如果史蒂夫在世，他恐怕也会讨厌艾什顿的表演。诚然，艾什顿的表现达不到“出神入化”的地步。但他和运行安卓的三星（Samsung）手机一样，正如我之前所说，两者都很棒。

    电影主要表现了乔布斯在里德学院（Reed College）的学生生活（其中包括由詹姆斯•伍德饰演的一名教授，这个配角纯属浪费胶片），还描述了苹果公司（Apple）的诞生，以及乔布斯被放逐与回归的经历。所以，这部电影的精彩之处在于，看着这位通常有些粗暴的天才如何创立一家标志性的科技公司，最后又遭到邪恶的风投亚瑟•洛克（J•K•西蒙斯饰演）排挤，（农夫保险公司（Farmers Insurance）？）由德蒙特•莫罗尼饰演的迈克•马库拉在关键时刻却并没有支持史蒂夫。演员马修•莫迪恩做了一次有趣的戏路改变，饰演成为苹果公司CEO的前百事公司（Pepsi ）高管约翰•斯卡利。

    电影中确实有几位明星，但毕竟电影只有较低/中等的预算（据报道为850万美元），当然这不见得是坏事。而且，我认为制片人凭借手头的资源（特定时期的汽车和场景等）做了大量的工作。电影对细节的关注值得称赞。史蒂夫在伍德赛德的大庄园比较简陋。饰演劳伦•鲍威尔的女演员有一头漂亮的金色长发。艾什顿最初告诉我们：“我们在史蒂夫和沃尔茨发明第一台苹果电脑的车库进行的实地拍摄。”太酷了！

    整部电影之所以令人感觉平淡无味，更多是在于电影的叙事、连续性和其中的对话。史蒂夫辞退马库拉（他本人肯定记得当时的情景）时，史蒂夫和董事会成员艾德•伍拉德跟他说：“带上你的黄金降落伞走吧。”可惜，现实中没有人会那么说。（只有记者会这么描述一笔收购。在公司内部，你会说：“……接受这个慷慨的条件吧。”）此外，这部电影有些拖沓，高潮刚刚到来——乔布斯光荣回归——电影却戛然而止。

    I got a little freaked out.

    While overall the new movie Jobs rates a definitive 'MEH' from me, and an even harsher, "soooo bad," from Fortune's Adam Lashinsky, I thought Ashton Kutcher in the lead role was pretty damn good. Even to the point where it brought back memories of my various meetings and conversations with Steve, which were sometimes great, sometimes horrible -- but never boring. And it reminded me of how amped I would get -- angry or enthralled -- after talking to him. Not only did Ashton get the many looks of Steve -- brown beard, no beard, gray beard, etc -- but also the mercurial and often maniacal mannerisms.

    I know, I know there are going to be all kinds of people who say, "I knew Steve really well, and he was NOTHING like that." To that I say, a) hey, it's a movie and b) imagine someone doing it orders of magnitude better. Of course Steve himself would probably hate Ashton's performance. And true, Ashton wasn't insanely great. But he was as good as a Samsung running Android, which is, as I said, pretty damn good.

    The movie focuses on the years between Jobs' student days at Reed College (which includes a wasted cameo of James Woods as a professor) and tracks the birth of Apple (AAPL), and then Steve's banishment and return. The dramatic narrative therefore is watching this often abrasive genius figure out how to build an iconic tech company, only to have it snatched away from him by the evil VC Arthur Rock, played by J. K Simmons, (Farmers Insurance anyone?) Dermot Mulroney is Mike Markkula, who doesn't stand by Steve at a crucial moment, while Matthew Modine does an amusing turn as former Pepsi (PEP) exec John Sculley, who becomes Apple's CEO.

    Yes there are some stars in the pic, but overall the film has a low/medium-budget feel to it, (reported to be some $8.5 million) which is not necessarily a bad thing. And I think the filmmakers did an adequate job with what they had (period cars and scenes etc.). Attention to detail was pretty good. Steve's hacienda in Woodside was sparsely furnished. The actress who plays Laurene Powell has beautiful long blond hair. And Ashton told us at the premier that, " ... we shot in the actual garage where Steve and Woz created the first Apple." Cool!

    It was more the storytelling, continuity, and dialogue that fell flat. At one point when Steve is firing Markkula (and who knows if it really happened that way) Steve and board member Ed Woolard tell him to "Go ahead. Take the golden parachute." Um sorry guys, no one would say that. (Only reporters would characterize a buyout thusly. Inside a company you would say, " ... take this generous a package.") Also the movie dragged a bit, and then just as you get to the good part -- Jobs triumphant return -- it's over!