Steve Jobs will always be a legend, and for that reason, he will always be celebrated. Be it books, movies or documentaries, the man who revolutionized the personal computer in 1980s and then the smartphone in late 2000s, will be remembered. Continuing the trend of honoring Jobs, the documentary “Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine” saw a wider theatrical and VOD release today, with an initial score of 75-percent at the movie review aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes.
The documentary was first released at the SXSW back in March this year, and was followed by a trailer back in late-July. The movie has since enjoyed a rather controversial stature owing to its depiction of Jobs as a cruel, merciless business tycoon with little to no heart. The documentary also keeps much of its focus on Jobs’ personality rather than his contributions to Apple and the tech industry in general. This, understandably, I might add, irked die-hard Jobs’ fans, top of which is Apple executive Eddy Cue, who termed the documentary “an inaccurate, mean-spirited view of my friend.”
Although the movie has technically been “theatrically released” today, its screening is pretty limited, with only 65 theaters in 50 different markets having put up Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine. Even over at Rotten Tomatoes, while there are 30 fresh reviews out of the 40 total, the aggregate summary seems to depict that the documentary fails to grab Jobs’ personality properly. Of course, there is no shortage of Steve Jobs’ fans in the world, so that’s hardly a surprise.
We say that we are not surprised by this, because Jobs has had his share of controversies. From the way he ran his empire, to his denial of paternity for his own daughter, Lisa, Steve has been into controversies. Hence, it doesn’t really come as a surprise that people are divided when a movie aims to portray him in a particular light. What most Jobs’ critics seem to overlook, however, was that Steve was just a human, and cannot be “all hero” or “all villain”; there has to be some middle ground. That’s where we’ll find the real Steve Jobs, always.
Other than the theatrical release, the movie is also available on a number of video-on-demand channels, including iTunes, VUDU, Xbox Video and the PlayStation Store. Rental prices vary from service to service, with iTunes offering the cheapest experience at $4.99 for the HD version of the movie.
Check out the trailer, in the video below.
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