Alex Gibney makes a subtle, but salient, point in THE INVENTOR: OUT FOR BLOOD IN SILICON VALLEY. While recounting the curious story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, the billion-dollar company she founded, he draws the obvious comparison between Holmes and her idol, Thomas Edison, but he doesn’t stop there. Using the tropes of a suspense… Read More »
THE CIRCLE
It is possible that those years of my wayward youth spent toiling in the Valley of Silicon have colored my view of THE CIRCLE. The, at least to me, mundane observations about that particular corporate culture fall with a resounding thud as we see the way work and personal life intermingle, with everything one could… Read More »
FOR HERE OR TO GO — Andrea Chase takes you Behind the Scenes of FOR HERE OR TO GO? — Rishi Bhilawadikar and Rucha Humnabadka Interview
Many years ago, I worked a hi-tech job in Silicon Valley, and though I worked side by side with people who had come there from India on work visas, I had no idea of the struggles with which these bright and talented people were dealing. FOR HERE OR TO GO? , though set in 2009,… Read More »
WHY HIM?
Long before he was mild-mannered chemistry teacher turned fearsome drug lord on Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston made his mark in television comedy by, among other things, keeping Malcolm in the middle, and tending to Seinfeld’s teeth. Those comedic chops stand him in good stead for WHY HIM?, an intermittently hilarious hybrid of the buddy film… Read More »
COMPANY TOWN — Deborah Kaufman & Alan Snitow Interview
The 2014 election for the supervisor of District 3 in San Francisco became the referendum on tech for filmmakers Deborah Kaufman and Alan Snitow. The two candidates, Aaron Peskin and Julie Christensen had different approaches to the issues, including the effect of the so-called “sharing economy” on affordable housing in San Francisco. When we spoke… Read More »
STEVE JOBS: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE
There is one moment in STEVE JOBS: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE that sums up the documentary and the man. It’s when an engineer who worked on the Mac in the 1980s reads the obituary he wrote of Jobs and begins to weep. This after revealing that his three years at Apple cost him his… Read More »