Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Review: The Social Network


When the unconventional posters for The Social Network were released in conjunction with its dramatic, innovative trailer, the world knew this movie would be something else. Or maybe I'm just obsessed with trailers. No matter.

The Social Network is directed by David Fincher, who isn't really a household name despite the fact that he's directed films like Benjamin Button and Fight Club. Martin Scorcese, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron...they tend to make "bigger" films in the sense that they make a billion dollars. Fincher, on the other hand, is a little more selective; he's less prolific, and his films rarely ever graze the $100 million mark. But this guy knows what he's doing. After all, got Aaron Sorkin on board, who is one of the most beloved screenwriters I know of for his show, The West Wing, which ran for seven fast-talking seasons. If you know Kevin Smith, you know he's infamous for writing long-winded monologues for his characters. Sorkin is known for dialogue as well, but in a different way. He writes fast-paced give-and-take conversation like no other. Social Network is very much an idea that Sorkin was meant to write the words to. He captures Zuckerberg, Parker, the Winklevoss twins beautifully, and without any trepidation. Despite the fact that the media has downplayed the reality of the caricatures Sorkin created in comparison to the actual people, I beg to differ. Their souls are right there on film. Watch an interview with Zuckerberg, or Parker, and you'll recognize what Sorkin brought to the screen right there. I loved Sorkin's Zuckerberg, but his Winklevoss twins were spot on, and oh so humorous they stole every scene they were in.

The film stars Jesse Eisenberg, who has been on the rise the last couple of years seemingly out of nowhere. He's been around for maybe ten years, but in 2009 he did five films in the course of one year. Considering he's only done like 20 films, that's a quarter of his career in one year. That year's Adventureland and Zombieland put him in the big leagues, and he was soon acting alongside some of the biggest names in showbiz. Now he's starring in a film that he's been nabbing nominations for like crazy. He's expected to be announced as an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor later today.
"omg you guys, just hand over my Oscar already"
 And this guy was born to deliver lines written by Aaron Sorkin, which is awesome. And if you haven't seen the movie yet, be prepared to get the creepy crawlies at the intensity of his cold staring black eyes as he bites his words from his mouth. Beautifully done.

Justin Timberlake has a major role as Sean Parker, the guy who invented Napster, and also a driving force behind why Facebook is the biggest, coolest thing ever these days. Andrew Garfield portrays Eduardo Savarin, Zuckerberg's financial partner when they started Facebook, whom Zuck eventually coldly cut out of the company. His strong performance may have contributed to his landing the new Spider-Man reboot movie (which I still have not formed opinions about). Armand Hammer, otherwise known as Armie Hammer, but come on, let's just call him by his name people, it's so much funnier, plays both Winklevoss twins. Which is also awesome.
Also he- er they. Er he. Look great in a suit.
The story of Facebook, as told by The Social Network, is a story of an insanely smart dude, someone who understands how people tick maybe better than he understands how he himself ticks. It's the dramatic story of friendship, of betrayal, and of a rise to a kind of fortune people don't even dream of because it's so impossible.
"Yeah, well, people always thought being this
gorgeous was too impossible to dream of too
but here I am"
Look, people have said that it's too dramatized, it's unfair to Zuck, it doesn't tell the whole story, or whatever. And yeah, Zuckerberg rented out a theater and took the whole company to see the movie when it came out, supposedly in a show of good humor and acceptance or something. Yeah I don't buy it. This guy is smart okay. He obviously can't decry the film, because it makes him look bad. Instead, support it, be kind, be cool. It's all about being cool. Then take the office to see it to demonstrate to them that you're awesome, you get movies made about you, you're cool, you're in charge, and you will screw them over if they mess with you. Sounds smart to me. YOU CAN'T FOOL ME ZUCKERBERG!

Now I'm gonna link this to Facebook.

Director: David Fincher
Rated: PG-13 for sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and language.
IMDb page
Trailer:

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

okay okay you've convinced me. I'll see the damn movie lol ;)

also i deleted ALL my "like"d pages, all my interests and favorites, so facebook adds will get NO money from me! i just cost several companies 0.0001 cents (rough guess)

now if EVERYONE would do this, we could make social media marketing obsolete.

~Lacey

Welcome!

Find out which films to absolutely skip and which you can't miss. THese are my opinions on current films and timeless classics