Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine (2015)

The public just can't get enough of re-mythologizing their hero Steve Jobs (1955-2011).  Or so book publishers and movie producers hope.  This documentary film by Alex Gibney is one of three new works about the Apple co-founder that came out in 2015. He's collected the obligatory archival footage and interviews with insiders.  There's also the bio-drama that was released a few weeks after Gibney's film, Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" (which received praise from Steve Wozniak, who helped as a consultant).  Then, there's the new biography by the Jobs insider Brent Schlender, Becoming Steve Jobs; The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart Into a Visionary Leader (March 2015), which tries to move beyond what he thinks are negative stereotypes. I'm not sure there's much more to say about Jobs after Walter Isaacson's 2011 biography Steve Jobs.  Apple's current CEO Tim Cook, a keeper of the kool-aid, calls both new films "opportunistic."  For me, Jobs is a case study in the distinction made by David Brooks between resume virtues and eulogy virtues, and also a reminder that every person is more than their worst flaws.