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A shameless Infomercial. Only with class, wit and dignity.
Here is a documentary that is so polished and pristine that if not for the footage in the closing credits, you'd swear that this was something that came right out of Apple's PR camp. The aesthetics of the film successfully mirror Apple's aesthetics and could almost pass as a commercial. And the movie is so damn upbeat that even when Apple is being criticized by former employees it seems to strengthen the companies image, not dampen it.

Okay, so I'll just come out and say it. It's a good documentary. A great one, actually.

The director rewinds the clock to the very beginning and shows just how much of an uphill climb innovation really is. There is no voice over narration. The documentary is pushed forward by interviews by former engineers, co-founders, marketers, collectors and pundits of the Apple legacy. Every last single person interviewed is refreshingly candid. Especially a former product engineer who says just how haphazard things were thrown together during...

Scattershot look at Macintosh
This film suffers from a lack of focus; it's probably an exaggeration to say it is "about" the Macintosh, although everything in it has a relation to the Macintosh. There are lengthy segments with a Macintosh collector (his house and a shed are full of old Macintoshes) and with someone who built a work-alike replica of the Apple I. The first 20 minutes (of an 83-minute film) deal with Apple Computer before the Macintosh, with an emphasis on the Apple II.

The film is compiled from a large number of interviews, although most of the interviewees are peripheral figures such as retailers, bloggers, commentators, and collectors. Only three real Macintosh insiders were interviewed: Andy Hertzfeld (who with Bill Atkinson designed most of the original Macintosh software), Guy Kawasaki (an early Macintosh software "evangelist"), and Jim Reekes (one of the original QuickTime developers). Reekes describes himself as a "recovering engineer" and is much less star-struck than the rest of...

A perfect companion to "Revolution in the Valley" book.
Like all things Mac, this is a one-sided look at the global love affair with Apple. That's OK, though. If you have a Mac and want to understand just how it became such a good machine, get this DVD. But do yourself a favor and read "Revolution in the Valley" first.

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