David Fincher is an amazing director with such classics as Fight Club and Seven in his resume, along with more contemporary hits, such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The Social Network looked to be a boring bio-pic that showed the creation of Facebook in the early trailers. When I sat down to watch it, though, I had a sudden inspiration in me, like the future me told me that it would be amazing. Which it was.
The movie is about Mark Zuckerberg (Jessie Eisenberg, in an award-deserving performance), a Harvard student, who, through the influence of multiple other people, programmed and started Facebook. Thrown from his senses by Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), the creator of Napster, Mark has to make his own decisions, as he is pushed by his former bestfriend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), who ends up suing him, to stop holding grudges for being better than he at something. The Winklevoss Twins (played by Armie Hammer), the people who initially came up with the idea of an exclusive social network, sued him for stealing their idea. As things begin to unravel, you see the full board of the story, all from three different view points, none of them stated as complete fact: the viewer must make that decision.
Best Aspects: The AMAZING writing, which WILL, not deserves, but WILL, win the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. The acting was also amazing, and the cinematography was fantastic.
Bottom Line: A+. Great movie, one of the best this year. It is coming out on DVD in early January.
I too enjoyed the hell out of this David Fincher gem. Although there is a brief description of the basic layout of the film, the film itself works on many technical, emotional, & psychological levels that have generally been overlooked or not mentioned at all. This one could quite possibly be the front runner for this year’s Oscars for: BEST EDITING, BEST SCORE, BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY, BEST DIRECTOR, & BEST PICTURE. But what do I know? I’m new to this.
While I agree, I also disagree. Do I THINK it will win all of these? Yes. Does it DESERVE all of these? No. Best Editing, Adapted Screenplay and Sound Editing, and Director, absolutely, bravo to Fincher, but picture should go to Inception or Black Swan. Black Swan deserves Supporting Actress, Actress, Cinematography, possibly director in this case, and especially costume design and art direction. Whereas Inception WILL win and DESERVES to win Best Original Screenplay and Best Score.
THINK & DESERVE
Not sure why that last comment cut me off. THINK & DESERVE tend to be somewhat relative terms when dealing with awards season. Aside from “The Fighter” winning for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Bale) & BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Leo), these 3 films will “oligopolize” the remaining major awards. “Black Swan” will ultimately get many nominations: BEST PICTURE, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST ACTRESS, BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY, (possibly) BEST ART DIRECTION & BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, & (longshot) BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (but for Hershey, not Kunis). Sadly, it will only win BEST ACTRESS (Portman). “Inception”, I think, will quite possibly get the most nominations over all other films, but I believe it will ultimately win (perhaps the most Oscars over all others) for: BEST SOUND, BEST SOUND EDITING, BEST VISUAL EFFECTS, BEST ART DIRECTION, BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, & BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (if they don’t choose “The King’s Speech”). That leaves “The Social Network” quite possibly winning for: BEST SCORE (Zimmer’s won a couple of times before), BEST FILM EDITING (a toss-up with “Inception”), BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY, BEST DIRECTOR, & BEST PICTURE. All 3 films are pretty damn deserving though.
Agreed, but I think sound editing and almost all editing will go to The Social Network. I mean, it was damn impressive acting. Aft Direction, Costume and Cinematography, Director, Actress, and Supporting Actress (I agree on Hershey over Kunis) should go to Black Swan, Picture, Score, Visual Effects and original screenplay should go to Inception.