Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine

First Hit:  A very interesting and accurate view of Steve and his relationship to the people at Apple and his life.

I had a working relationship with an employee who worked very closely with Jobs in the late 1990’s. A few of the stories he told about both Steve’s brilliance and tyrannical behavior were reflected in this film.

What I liked most about this film is the way the makers weaved a way to show both. What I was disappointed about was there wasn’t much about his relationship with Steve Wozniak and his early on main rival,

Bill Gates. However, the dramas that were only briefly referred to including; the 5 other CEOs like John Scully whom Jobs thought almost ruined Apple, were mildly sufficient. The famous product reveals were covered well and was his struggle with owning his paternity of his first daughter Lisa.

Many of the interviews were revealing and when one person, who was a lead engineer on one of  Jobs' projects, lost his wife and family to the effort he gave jobs, I could really feel his pain - so did he.

Alex Gibney did a very good job of piecing together archival footage and recent interviews with friends, others, and family.

Overall:  This was a very interesting film about a driven man.

The Armstrong Lie

First Hit:  The longer I sat there, the more flabbergasted I became at the total arrogance and lack of forthcoming honesty by Armstrong.

It isn’t often that I want someone to suffer for their arrogance, Lance Armstrong is someone that I hope, loses every penny he made from cycling. I mean every penny.

He worked hard at fooling his friends, family and us, the public. I would find it difficult to ever believe anything that comes out of his mouth. His responses are always calculated, measured and for his best interest. He is a serial liar.

This film uses his comeback ride (2009) in the Tour as a basis for viewing his past history of doping and the impact he had on doping and cycling. I really feel for the teammates he hurt and chastised.

Alex Gibney wrote and directed this film and for him it was a way to exercise some anger and sadness towards Lance.

Overall:  This is a hard film to watch because it shows how many bike riding athletes will cheat and will lie about their performance. Most all of the Tour podium standers in the 2000’s got there by cheating.

We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks

First Hit:  Extremely thought provoking and with new disclosures by Snowden in the news, very timely.

I was driven to and enjoyed learning more about PFC Bradley Manning who decided that the information he had access to, needed to be public.

We, the public of the United States, pay for all of what the government does. We are the employers of our government, we’ve entrusted them with them to make the right decisions about what we do, how we do it, and in the name of protecting us the people who pay them.

Granted I wouldn’t agree with all the decisions our government employees make, but given the type of information of what our government is doing in our (my) name; I think there needs to be more transparency and accountability. 

The film is mostly based round the organization called WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. Assange is a nomadic internet expert and coder. He developed WikiLeaks as a place for people to confidentially post information which would normally be hidden from public view. Assange also lives a nomadic life in crash houses and hotels.

The sharing of information to WikiLeaks by Bradley Manning brought them both into the headlights of public press only after Adrian Lamo let everyone know it was Manning who posted the confidential information. One of the sadder parts of the film was Adrian Lamo, who leaked that it was Manning. 

This guy is troubled about his own history of hacking troubles, the law and his struggles to relate to people. Added to the overall story are the legal troubles Assange is embroiled in because of charges two women have brought against him.

Alex Gibney wrote and directed this interesting film which begins to bring to the forefront the story about government secrecy and transparency.

Overall:  I’ve been thinking about this film for a week now – that’s a good sign that it told a story.

Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer

First Hit: Could have been good, but it dragged and meandered.

I had heard of Spitzer as he started cleaning up problems as Manhattan’s District Attorney. He brought down the Gambino Crime Family.

Then as New York State’s Attorney General he went after white collar crime. He was hard-nosed, arrogant and efficient at prosecuting criminals. However, he got caught up in his own stuff and was caught hiring high priced prostitutes for his own pleasure (he was referred to as “Client 9”) and ended up leaving office.

The idea of this film was to give some in-depth background to how all this happened. The film did this in many different ways but was shallow. I never really got the gist of who this guy is or was.

Although there is plenty of interview screen time, I felt Spitzer was guarded and defensive in all his responses with little transparency. We’d heard about his famous temper but only a couple of the other interviewees actually told their experience.

Alex Gibney wrote and directed this but he did not create an interesting or cohesive story.

Overall: Not really worth the time to watch this film. You can get a good view by reading Wikipedia.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson

First Hit: Interesting story and well made film about an elusive man who hid behind a caricature of himself and in the end tried to live up to the image.

When I first read “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” in Rolling Stone Magazine I was dumbfounded. I thought, oh my God, somebody can write like this and it gets published.

The man who wrote this and other wonderful tales of life and life on the campaign trail was Hunter S. Thompson. Hunter wrote about the revolution of the 60s and 70s, he ran for sheriff of Aspen, he loved guns, and he had very strong feelings about politicians.

As with many others during this time, drugs and alcohol were a large part of his lifestyle which became part of his stories. The sadness about this approach is that he used the drugs and alcohol as fuel for his writing and with most efforts that rely on this sort of fuel; the piper pays and usually pays early.

Hunter had talent and he squandered much of it away and as the years went by his output became less focused, interesting, and tended to rehash old subjects. A very poignant part of the film was his own admission, and the film’s review, of what it is like when he began to live his legend and perception of himself versus living his life.

Two of the more interesting parts of the film were his discovery of the deep honest truth of Jimmy Carter and George McGovern both of whom I held, and still hold, in high regard as they ran for office.

Director Alex Gibney did a wonderful job of lacing together, interviews, archival footage, and the two previous films made about Hunter. I have tended to be concerned when a bio-documentary is listed at more than 90 minutes in length, but this film used its two hours fully, wisely and judicially.

Overall: This was an interesting film and will probably only reach a limited audience who read some of his stories, knew of him, or is might be interested in Gonzo writing.