The Social Network

             I recently wrote a piece about my Oscar picks and why I think The King's Speech shouldn't win best picture. I felt kind of odd while writing it because I had to say after every movie I talked about that I hadn't actually seen the movie yet. Well, I've decided to change that. I have now seen six of the ten best picture nominee's and I plan to see all of them. I'm going to write an official review for every film, as well as a final list putting the nominees in order of my personal preference. This is the first of the best picture reviews and I thought I'd start off with the movie I think will win best picture: The Social Network





I've posted this trailer before. isn't it just great?

              The Social Network is about Facebook. Hollywood made a movie about Facebook. And it is amazing. Immediately you need to recognize that this movie is all about the dialogue. I mean really it's about the characters, most good movies are. But the characters are defined as well rounded human beings through the incredible, no, beautiful dialogue. The credit for this needs to go fto Aaron Sorkin, the screenwriter, and as anyone who has ever watched West Wing knows, the man can write dialogue.

            Jesse Eisenberg stars as Mark Zuckerberg, a nerd who has trouble communicating with people who goes on a drunken programming binge after he gets dumped by his girlfriend and makes a website that allows you to compare the 'hotness' of any two Harvard girls. This website is called Facemash. It recieves 22,000 hits in two hours. Zuckerberg becomes a celebrity. He comes up with/steals from a pair of competitive rowers the idea for an exclusive social network based in Harvard called The Facebook. He decides to borrow some money from his best friend Eduardo and make it a reality. Andrew Garfield plays Eduardo Saverin and does a great job as someone who is trying very hard to be Mark's friend. He's really trying. But it is hard.
           Justin Timberlake proves himself to be a very capable actor as Sean Parker, inventor of Napster and Lucifer figure in this Shakespearian tale of greed and betrayal. He tempts Zuckerberg with the promise of fame, celebrity, and wealth.
            I don't think I'm spoiling anything by telling you how the film goes. Zuckerberg ends up in lawsuits with both his best friend and the twin rowers, settling for sums of money that seem massive to us, but are small potatoes to Zuckerberg the worlds youngest billionare.
            Fincher does a great job directing as always, the cinematography is well done, the music by Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails mastermind) and Atticus Ross is incredible, really a highlight of the film.
            
            The story is really a return to the Shakespearian tragedy, a type of story that hollywood has never fully appreciated, going in more for the feel good triumph over adversity type films, like The King's Speech. Only time will tell if the academy will go with the old boys made-to-win an Oscar story, or the true (ish) tragedy of Facebook.

           The Social Network is an excellent film. Great script with incredible dialogue, good direction (as one should expect from Fincher), great acting by every cast member especially the three young stars, a beautiful score, and despite knowing how it's going to end from the beginning, the final shot is one of the most touching things I saw this year. A beautiful movie, go check it out.

4/4 stars

Alex Johnston