Review of "The Social Network"

The Social Network (2010)

Directed by David Fincher

Written by Aaron Sorkin

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, Justin Timberlake, Max Minghella, Rooney Mara, and Rashida Jones

Review by Jennie Brouse

Synopsis: Beginning all the way back at Harvard University, where the creator of Facebook attended school, this is an in depth look at how internet phenomenon Facebook came to be. 

Review: This is the story (albeit slightly fictional) of Mark Zuckerberg (the creator of Facebook).  I could already tell I was going to like this movie when the opening scene came on the screen.  The movie begins with Zuckerberg and his then-girlfriend at a bar, talking at lightning speed about Zuckerberg’s obsession with getting into a final club. This is also the moment when Zuckerberg’s soon-to-be ex-girlfriend delivers the wonderful line: “Dating you is like dating a Stairmaster!” She says this because it is so tiring talking to Zuckerberg, he is so smart and always steers the conversation to something interesting, and the person talking to him never gets a second to breathe.  He’s always thinking.  The Stairmaster line is one of many great one-liners in this incredible movie. 

Since I’m already talking about the writing, I may as well give my props to Aaron Sorkin now—the screenplay is absolutely superb.  Every scene, the dialogue is right on.  After seeing this movie for a second time, I realized how much I missed the first viewing.  This is definitely a movie you should see more than once.  The actors are speaking back and forth so fast it’s hard to keep up at times, but this is exactly what draws me to the movie, the fact that you have to keep up.  It’s far from condescending; instead of assuming the audience is dumb (which is what a lot of movies tend to do these days), it assumes that the audience is intelligent, and will know exactly what’s going on.  This is a credit to director David Fincher, who knows how to make a scene really resonate (which is also obvious from his previous films, such as Se7en, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Fight Club).

In addition to the wonderful writing, the actors who bring it to life are spot-on as well.  Jesse Eisenberg delivers his lines with such great timing I almost just had to laugh at how good it was.  I was especially blown away by one particular court room scene, when the opposing lawyer asks Zuckerberg if he has his attention, and Eisenberg delivers his lines with a completely straight face, telling the lawyer that he only has the minimum amount of his attention.  The supporting actors deliver as well: Andrew Garfield is very believable as Zuckerberg’s former best friend and co-owner of Facebook.  Armie Hammer is brilliant, playing both of the Winklevoss twins (who Zuckerberg collectively calls the “Winklevi”), who accuse Zuckerberg of stealing their idea of “Facebook.”  Justin Timberlake is terrifyingly good as the manipulative, charming Sean Parker, owner of internet giant Napster and Zuckerberg’s soon-to-be business partner, who slyly slips in on Facebook’s giant success without Saverin’s knowledge. 

Even the bit parts, such as Rooney Mara’s portrayal of Zuckerberg’s girlfriend Erica, Max Minghella’s portrayal of the Winklevoss’s friend Divya, and Rashida Jones as a worker in the law firm named Marylin Delpy, are great.

I’ve been watching the all the award shows lately, and while watching them I remember thinking, “I know The Social Network is good, but I don’t know if it’s good enough to win Best Picture at all the shows.”  But now I know that it is: after seeing it for a second time, I now believe it’s worthy of a Best Picture win at the Oscars.  It’s such an interesting, fascinating movie that never gets boring and never feels like it’s running too long.  If you haven’t seen The Social Network, please give it a shot.  And if you have, see it again; it’s definitely worth a second viewing.  The writing, acting, and directing are truly phenomenal.

Overall Rating: 5/5

Review of "The Girl Next Door"

The Girl Next Door (2004)
Directed by Luke Greenfield
Written by David Wagner, Brent Goldberg, and Stuart Blumberg
Starring Emile Hirsch, Elisha Cuthbert, Timothy Olyphant, Chris Marquette, and Paul Dano
Review by Jennie Brouse

Synopsis: A nerdy, reserved, and naive senior is about to graduate high school, when he realizes that nothing exciting has ever happened in his entire life.  The second he realizes this, an insanely beautiful woman moves in next door.

Review: Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) is just an innocent, honor-roll receivin' kid whose only real interest is to graduate high school and go to his dream college: Georgetown.   Although getting good grades in school and just waiting until he can go to college was satisfying for awhile, now he is becoming restless for something exciting to happen in his life.  He gets just that when a beautiful woman moves next door, and when she catches him watching her get undressed from his bedroom window, she decides to come over and introduce herself.  His parents tell him to show Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert) around town, and that first night they get to know each other pretty well, atleast on Danielle's behalf.  To get back at him for seeing her almost naked, she tricks him into getting out of her car and stripping in the street, and then she drives off, leaving him there with no clothes.  For Matthew and Danielle, this is just the beginning of their tumultuous, but hilarious, relationship.  All of this is new to Matthew, and he's just along for the ride, going along whatever crazy idea Danielle comes up with next.  To make things even more interesting, Matthew finds out from his porn-obsessed best friend that Danielle is a porn-star.

Although initially wary of his new girlfriend's porn-star status, Matthew realizes that he doesn't care what she does.  The only problem now is that she has to leave for Las Vegas for a porn convention, and then to possibly do more work, which means she won't be Matthew's neighbor anymore.  Now, Matthew has to convince Danielle to quit the adult movie business, which means he has to go toe-to-toe with Kelly, (Timothy Olyphant) Danielle's manager, who wants her to continue with this business, because he believes she will be the next big thing in porn flicks.  So now Matthew's life is really interesting: he has to balance school and grades and an upcoming scholarship speech with a porn-star girlfriend and a manager who quite possibly wants to kill him. 

Although this movie may sound really raunchy, it's actually very endearing and sweet.  And although it's not very believable, it's fun to believe something like this would happen.  An innocent 17 year old boy falls in love with a not-so-innocent 19 year old porn-star girl, and it just works.  It's cheesy and funny and kind of makes you want to roll your eyes, but you don't because you're too busy smiling at the fact that a teen movie can actually be kind of cool.

Along with Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, this is a teen movie you may actually want to check out.

Overall Rating: 3/5

Upcoming Review: Still The Social Network

Review of "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist"

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)
Directed by Peter Sollett
Screenplay written by Lorena Scafaria
Based on the novel Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn
Starring Michael Cera, Kat Dennings, Aaron Yoo, Rafi Gavron, and Ari Graynor
Review by Jennie Brouse



Synopsis: While trying to get over his ex, Tris, Nick goes to play a show with his band, only to find that Tris is at the show.  Tris also knows a girl named Norah, who also happens to be at the show.  Because Tris tries to embarrass Norah about not having a boyfriend, Norah resorts to pretending Nick is her boyfriend, without even knowing that this same Nick is Tris's ex.  Because of Norah's momentary lapse of embarrassment, Nick & Norah meet and go on an all-night adventure.  It's sometimes crazy, sometimes hilarious, sometimes absurd, but always awesome.

Review: If you go into watching Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist with the idea that it's going to be a typical teen comedy, you will be pleasantly surprised.  Although it has it's cliche teen moments, it's much more than that. 

With Michael Cera and Kat Dennings playing Nick & Norah, two witty, music-loving teens, the movie feels surprisingly original.  In fact, all of the supporting characters seem pretty original, too.  Starting with Nick's band, The Jerk Offs, which consists of Nick and his two laid back, down for anything gay friends, Thom and Dev, to Nick's inconsiderate ex Tris, to Norah's drunk friend, Caroline.  All bring their own crazy personalities to every scene they're in, and as the movie goes on, all the craziness just gets more and more enjoyable to watch. 

After Nick & Norah's initially awkward meeting, Norah is about to leave when Nick's friends decide to put them together in Nick's car and send them off on an all-night New York City adventure, in the hopes of getting Nick over Tris and into Norah.  Norah goes along, but only because her and Nick are both out to find the secret show their favorite band is playing, Where's Fluffy? 

On a journey to find their favorite band, craziness ensues at just about every stop, from trying to relocate Norah's drunk friend when Nick's band-mates lose her to Norah punching Nick in the throat when things go (temporarily) awry between the two.  With a fitting soundtrack and a super fun plot, and great performances from the cast, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is worth checking out.  As mentioned before, it is not a typical teen movie.  It's a lot smarter and a lot more funny.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Upcoming Review: The Social Network (2010)

Review of "The King's Speech"

The King's Speech (2010)
Directed by Tom Hooper
Written by David Seidler
Starring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter
Review by Jennie Brouse



Synopsis: When his father dies and his brother are unable to be King, a relucant Duke becomes King George VI of Britain, which forces him to face his ultimate fear: making speeches to people around the world while having a stammer. In order to better his speech, King George starts taking lessons with an unlikely speech coach, who not only helps him with his stammer, but helps him become the person he really needs to be.

Review: Although Black Swan takes the prize for the strangest movie I've seen in 2010, The King's Speech takes the prize for being the most innovative. Although a serious movie at its heart, there were plenty of funny and endearing moments. And although all three of the main actors' performances were great, the relationship between King George VI (Colin Firth) and his speech coach Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) was especially wonderful. The writing by David Seidler was fantastic as well, creating some very humorous moments between Lionel and King George (or Bertie, as Lionel calls him), as well as some very serious moments where the audience can see how important the relationship between Bertie and Lionel really is.

A particularly humorous moment occurs when the King goes along with Logue's unprecedented style of teaching, and begins to yell curse words, in order to get rid of his stammer. Logue also has the King rolling on the ground, laying on the ground with Bonham Carter sitting on his chest, making crazy noises and moving his tongue all-around, and, the best of all, singing.

While all of these things were done in order to better the King's speech, Logue also wanted to do these exercises in order to coerce the King into dicussing his life (because Logue believes that people's stammering results from an occurrence in their lives). This is one of the main reasons why Logue and the King develop such a strong relationship: because Logue sees that, to help the King overcome his stammer, he has to know him as a person to really be able to teach him something.

Overall, I'd say go see The King's Speech.  The strength of the screenplay by Seidler matched with the performances from Firth, Rush, and Bonham Carter make for a movie that should not be missed.

Overall Rating: 4/5

Upcoming Review: The Social Network (2010)

Review of "Black Swan"

Black Swan (2010)
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Written by Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, and John J. McLaughlin
Starring: Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder
Review by Jennie Brouse



Synopsis: A devoted ballerina finally gets a leading role in one of her ballet company's productions, but, as opening night gets closer, the pressure of it all becomes too much for her to bare.

Review: Black Swan is a unique movie, to say the least. I guess you wouldn't expect anything less from director Darren Aronofsky, who brought you Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler. In Black Swan, Nina Sayers lives to be a ballerina. She dances day in and day out, and lives in the hope that she will get the part of the Swan Queen in the company's upcoming production of "Swan Lake." Once she actually does land the part, though, things go haywire. Her dance instructor, Thomas (Vincent Cassel), tells her that she's perfect for the part of the White Swan, but she'll need to work to become the Black Swan. Nina's relentless quest for perfection to become the Black Swan send her on a downward spiral to nothingness. As the movie goes on, Nina slowly loses her mind.

Although not my cup of tea (I enjoyed The Wrestler more), Black Swan is a good movie. It's thrilling and scary and will keep you trying to make sense of the movie long after it is over. It makes you fall into a sort of dream world; it makes the audience feel how Nina feels, unsure of what is and isn't real. The performance from Portman as Nina is wonderful as well, as are the performances from all of the supporting actors.

Overall, I would say to see the movie for the performances. Portman is great, Kunis is great, Hershey (as Nina's extremely overbearing mother) is great, Cassel is great, and Ryder is great (and incredibly scary). So if you want to see an incredibly well-acted, albeit really creepy thriller, go see Black Swan.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Upcoming review: The King's Speech

Review of "127 Hours"

127 Hours (2010)

Directed by: Danny Boyle

Screenplay by: Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy

Adapted from novel Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston

Starring: James Franco, Kata Mara, and Amber Tamblyn

Review by Jennie Brouse

Synopsis: A daring, adventurous young man goes canyoneering by himself in Moab, Utah, where his arm gets caught under a boulder, and he is forced to decide what's more important: his life or his arm?

Review: Armed with a strong director, a strong performance from Franco, and a beautifully written screenplay, 127 Hours is the type of movie that will make you believe anything is possible. Centered around the life of Aron Ralston, a mountain climber and perpetual adrenaline junkie, this movie will make you want to laugh, cry, cover your eyes, always tell someone where you're going, cringe, smile, and maybe even do something with your life.

Aron Ralston is a young man who doesn't really think about what his life's going to be like in the future; infact, he doesn't really plan at all. He just lives everyday as it comes, looking for the next dangerous adventure he can embark upon. This kind of carefree lifestyle seems appealing, but as the viewers learn along with Aron, it's not the type of life you want to have when you die, because what will you have to look back upon once you are gone? This is exactly the premonition Aron has as his arm is caught between a rock and a boulder, and he thinks he is going to die. He realizes that he should talk to his family more, and that he shouldn't be alone so much.

This movie is great because it is a journey. The journey that one takes through his thoughts: his memories, his dreams, his future aspirations...all while having his arm caught between a rock and a huge boulder. As well as the terrific acting and directing, the score (from the wonderful A.R. Rahman) and cinematography (Enrique Chediak and Anthony Dod Mantle) are beautiful also. If you like character studies (that are actually nonfiction) and enjoy a good adventure, you'll enjoy this movie.

Overall Rating: 4/5