The new Steve Jobs movie is out and critics are mad about it. One critic said the movie is racing in high gear from start to finish. To celebrate the release of this movie, we look at other films that give us a glimpse into life in Silicon Valley and startups. Here they are.
Movies
Pirates of Silicon Valley
Pirates of Silicon Valley is based on Michael Swaine’s book Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer. The movie explores the rivalry between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, and the development of the personal computer.
The Social Network
This movie was adapted from Ben Mezrich’s 2009 book, The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal. The movie chronicles the founding of Facebook and the lawsuits that followed it. It also takes a look at the friendship and eventual fallout between Mark Zuckerberg and his friend, Eduardo Saverin.
However, Facebook Founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said much of the movie’s plot is not factual.
The Internship
The Internship is a comedy film about two laid-off salesmen who apply for a job at Google, while competing with much younger applicants.
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs is a biographical drama about the life of late Apple co-founder in which Michael Fassbender plays Steve Jobs. The movie is an adapted screenplay of Walter Isaacson’s biography of the same name.
Antitrust
The movie is about a group of young programmers who come to work in a large corporation. All seems well and good until hidden truths about the boss start to unravel.
Middle Men
Middle Men is a 2009 comedy about Jack Harris, an internet business man, who made a fortune brokering online transactions for the porn industry. It is based on the life of Christopher Mallick, a man associated with internet billing companies Paycom and ePassporte. Christopher himself sponsored the movie, to chronicle his rise to fame. It has been tagged “Hollywood’s greatest vanity project” and it flopped massively.
Series
Silicon Valley TV Series
Technically not a movie but permit me to slip this one in. Silicon Valley is a HBO comedy series. It focuses on six men who founded a startup while living in a live-in incubator in Silicon Valley. So far, two seasons of the show have aired.
Betas TV Series
The TV show follows the development of a dating app by four friends. It also follows their activities as they look for an investor. The show is produced by Amazon Video.
Documentaries
The Pixar Story
The Pixar Story is a documentary that looks at the first few years of Pixar Animation Studios. It profiles the contributions of John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs in making the studio the success it is today.
Startup.com
Startup.com is a documentary based on the story of govWorks.com, a dot-com startup that didn’t survive the dot-com burst. The company’s story is a reference point to help startups learn from failure and mistakes.
e-Dreams
This is another documentary that chronicles a failure story. e-Dreams portrays the rise and fall of Kozmo.com. The movie highlights how the lack of a business plan can lead to a startup’s failure.
Revolution OS
Revolution OS traces the history of the free software movement and the history of Linux, GNU and open source. The movie features interviews with hackers and entrepreneurs, some of whom contributed to this movement.
Something Ventured
This documentary takes a look at the rise of Venture Capitalism in the 20th century. It follows how entrepreneurs and venture capitalists built great companies like Apple, Intel, Cisco, Atari and others. The film includes interviews with venture capitalists and entrepreneurs who were around in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
Photo Credit: Missud via Compfight cc
