First given out in 1975, the César Award is the national film award of France. Some even think of the César Award as the French equivalent of the American Academy Awards. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, and the award ceremony is held in Paris each February. The name of the award comes from the late sculptor César Baldaccini, and the trophies are actual sculptures of the artist.
The 36th Cesar Awards were presented on Friday, February 25, 2011. Of note to Americans, The Social Network won "Best Foreign Film."
The 36th (2011) César Award winners:
Best Film: "Of Gods and Men" ("Des Hommes Et Des Dieu")
Best Director: Roman Polanski, "The Ghost Writer"
Best Foreign Film: "The Social Network"
Best Actress: Sara Forestier, "Le Nom Des Gens" ("The Names of Love")
Best Actor: Eric Elmosnino, "Gainsbourg"
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Alvaro, "Le Bruit Des Glaçons" ("The Clink of Ice")
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Lonsdale, "Of Gods and Men" ("Des Hommes Et Des Dieux")
Best First Film: "Gainsbourg" ("Vie Héroïque")
Best Original Screenplay: Baya Kasmi, Michel Leclerc, "Le Nom Des Gens"
Best Adapted Screenplay: Robert Harris, Roman Polanski, "The Ghost Writer"
Best Documentary: "Océans"
Best Animated Film: "L’Illusioniste" ("The Illusionist")
Best Short Film: "Logorama"
Best Newcomer (Female): Leïla Bekhti, "Tout Ce Qui Brille"
Best Newcomer (Male): Edgar Ramirez, "Carlos"
Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat, "The Ghost Writer"
Best Sound: Daniel Sobrino, Jean Goudier, Cyril Holtz, "Gainsbourg"
Best Cinematography: Caroline Champetier, "Of Gods and Men" ("Des Hommes Et Des Dieux")
Best Editing: Hervé de Luz, "The Ghost Writer"
Best Costume Design: Caroline De Vivaise, "La Princesse De Montpensier"
Best Art Direction: Hugues Tissandier, "Les Adventures Extraordinaries D'Adèle Blanc-Sec"
Saturday, February 26, 2011
"Night Catches Us" Dominates 2011 Black Reel Awards
The Academy Awards are tomorrow night. As we get closer, I'm catching up on movie awards from other organizations. A few weeks ago, the winners of the Black Reel Awards were announced. Night Catches Us dominated, while Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls only won 3 of the 10 nominations it received. It is a shame that neither film received a single Oscar nomination.
2011 Black Reel Award winners:
Outstanding Film
Night Catches Us, distributed by Magnolia Pictures
Outstanding Director
Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes-The Book of Eli
Outstanding Actor
Anthony Mackie – Night Catches Us
Outstanding Actress
Kerry Washington – Night Catches Us
Outstanding Supporting Actor
Wesley Snipes – Brooklyn’s Finest
Outstanding Supporting Actress
Phylicia Rashad – For Colored Girls
Outstanding Score
The Roots – Night Catches Us
Outstanding Song
“Shine” by John Legend from Waiting for Superman
Outstanding Ensemble
For Colored Girls, distributed by Lionsgate
Outstanding Breakthrough Performance
Tessa Thompson - For Colored Girls
Outstanding Feature Documentary
Waiting for Superman
Outstanding Independent
Preacher’s Kid, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Outstanding Independent Short
Katrina’s Son - Ya’ke
Outstanding Independent Documentary
For the Best and For the Onion
Outstanding Television Documentary
If God is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise
http://blackreelawards.wordpress.com/
2011 Black Reel Award winners:
Outstanding Film
Night Catches Us, distributed by Magnolia Pictures
Outstanding Director
Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes-The Book of Eli
Outstanding Actor
Anthony Mackie – Night Catches Us
Outstanding Actress
Kerry Washington – Night Catches Us
Outstanding Supporting Actor
Wesley Snipes – Brooklyn’s Finest
Outstanding Supporting Actress
Phylicia Rashad – For Colored Girls
Outstanding Score
The Roots – Night Catches Us
Outstanding Song
“Shine” by John Legend from Waiting for Superman
Outstanding Ensemble
For Colored Girls, distributed by Lionsgate
Outstanding Breakthrough Performance
Tessa Thompson - For Colored Girls
Outstanding Feature Documentary
Waiting for Superman
Outstanding Independent
Preacher’s Kid, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Outstanding Independent Short
Katrina’s Son - Ya’ke
Outstanding Independent Documentary
For the Best and For the Onion
Outstanding Television Documentary
If God is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise
http://blackreelawards.wordpress.com/
Review: "Sweeney Todd" is Bloody Good" (Happy B'day, Dante Ferretti)
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 21 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic bloody violence
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITER: John Logan (based on the musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler; originally stage by Harold Prince)
PRODUCERS: Richard D. Zanuck, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, and John Logan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dariusz Wolski, ASC
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon, A.C.E.
2008 Academy Award winner
MUSICAL/DRAMA/HORROR
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jamie Campbell Bower, Jayne Wisener, and Edward Sanders
Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) brings the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim to life in his wonderfully gruesome film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, based on the Tony Award-winning musical by Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. Burton keeps most of the songs from the musical and joins his frequent leading man, Johnny Depp, for the sixth time to make fantastically macabre movie magic, one that demands that the audience accept the gory reality of murder if it’s going to be entertained by bloody revenge.
Escaping two decades of false imprisonment in Australia, Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) returns to London and vows to kill the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) and his nefarious henchman, Beadle Bamford (Timothy Spall), who framed him on trumped-up criminal charge in order to steal his wife. However, Barker has learned that his wife, Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly), poisoned herself, and his now grown daughter, Johanna (Jayne Wisener), is Turpin’s ward.
Adopting the guise of Sweeney Todd, Barker resumes his trade as a barber. He sets up his business in his old Barber Shop above the pie-making premises of Mrs. Nellie Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), who falls for the mad barber. After killing a rival who threatens to expose Sweeney’s real identity, Todd devises with Mrs. Lovett an inhuman scheme that will both get rid of the body and save Mrs. Lovett’s ailing meat pie business. Todd begins to murder his customers, cutting their throats, and Mrs. Lovett uses their flesh as the filling for her pies.
Meanwhile, Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower), the young sailor who rescued Sweeney from the sea, has fallen madly in love with Johanna and becomes the target of Turpin’s ire, for Turpin wants to marry his young ward. Mrs. Lovett’s pies soon become the talk of London, and as business booms, she dreams of respectability and a life at the seaside with Sweeney as her husband and her young charge, Toby (Edward Sanders), alongside as her adopted son. Sweeney Todd has only one thing on his mind – cutting Judge Turpin and Beadle Bamford’s throats so severely that their arterial sprays will paint his walls.
While it may be true that Johnny Depp doesn’t have a quality singing voice, he is a great actor, and his frequent collaborator Tim Burton is a great director. In Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the two of them make a splendid film musical, as good, and in some ways better, than recent screen musicals Chicago, Dreamgirls, and Moulin Rouge.
Depp, all brooding, smoldering, and quite mad, as Sweeney Todd is mesmerizing on screen. His Todd is a rich character capable of so many moods and so very capable of feigning civility and humanity when there is never a moment in this movie when Todd isn’t at heart, a freaking homicidal maniac. It’s no wonder that Depp earned his third Oscar nomination as a lead actor. His colleagues in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can see how wonderfully fertile this character is, simply because this amazing actor can create a profound character, almost out of thin air.
Burton, often criticized for focusing on whimsical, macabre, and almost pop gothic films instead of “serious” subject matter, seems to distill everything he has done thus far in cinema into this one gruesome, luminous jewel. Burton’s creative and technical collaborators have fashioned some of the most imaginative and decorative costumes and sets. His cinematographers, editors, and lighting crews have made inventive uses of the tools and equipment of their trades and crafts. Burton is not only able to get the best of his technical staff, he is also able to get them to go out of the ordinary when it comes to creating visual splendor. Sweeney Todd is the movie where everything he has done has come together to produce the epitome of his visual style. It’s like an astonishing colorful ode to Italian filmmaker, Mario Bava, an influence on Burton.
That’s not to say that this is the Burton/Depp show alone. Stephen Sondheim’s music is not only divine, but is also excellent at storytelling, character defining, and mood making. Helena Bonham Carter, a thoroughly underrated and underutilized actress, is a surprisingly spry singer with a beautiful voice. She’s a scene stealer here, and one can argue that the film is as much her Mrs. Lovett’s as it is Depp’s murderous Todd. To put it simply, the people who made this movie made a great movie, a deliciously demented great movie.
9 of 10
A+
NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 1 winner for “Best Achievement in Art Direction” (Dante Ferretti-art director and Francesca Lo Schiavo-set decorator) and 2 nominations: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Johnny Depp) and “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood)
2008 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood) and “Best Make Up and Hair” (Ivana Primorac)
2008 Golden Globes: 2 wins: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Johnny Depp); 2 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Tim Burton) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Helena Bonham Carter)
Friday, April 25, 2008
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – R for graphic bloody violence
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITER: John Logan (based on the musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler; originally stage by Harold Prince)
PRODUCERS: Richard D. Zanuck, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, and John Logan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dariusz Wolski, ASC
EDITOR: Chris Lebenzon, A.C.E.
2008 Academy Award winner
MUSICAL/DRAMA/HORROR
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jamie Campbell Bower, Jayne Wisener, and Edward Sanders
Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) brings the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim to life in his wonderfully gruesome film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, based on the Tony Award-winning musical by Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. Burton keeps most of the songs from the musical and joins his frequent leading man, Johnny Depp, for the sixth time to make fantastically macabre movie magic, one that demands that the audience accept the gory reality of murder if it’s going to be entertained by bloody revenge.
Escaping two decades of false imprisonment in Australia, Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) returns to London and vows to kill the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) and his nefarious henchman, Beadle Bamford (Timothy Spall), who framed him on trumped-up criminal charge in order to steal his wife. However, Barker has learned that his wife, Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly), poisoned herself, and his now grown daughter, Johanna (Jayne Wisener), is Turpin’s ward.
Adopting the guise of Sweeney Todd, Barker resumes his trade as a barber. He sets up his business in his old Barber Shop above the pie-making premises of Mrs. Nellie Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), who falls for the mad barber. After killing a rival who threatens to expose Sweeney’s real identity, Todd devises with Mrs. Lovett an inhuman scheme that will both get rid of the body and save Mrs. Lovett’s ailing meat pie business. Todd begins to murder his customers, cutting their throats, and Mrs. Lovett uses their flesh as the filling for her pies.
Meanwhile, Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower), the young sailor who rescued Sweeney from the sea, has fallen madly in love with Johanna and becomes the target of Turpin’s ire, for Turpin wants to marry his young ward. Mrs. Lovett’s pies soon become the talk of London, and as business booms, she dreams of respectability and a life at the seaside with Sweeney as her husband and her young charge, Toby (Edward Sanders), alongside as her adopted son. Sweeney Todd has only one thing on his mind – cutting Judge Turpin and Beadle Bamford’s throats so severely that their arterial sprays will paint his walls.
While it may be true that Johnny Depp doesn’t have a quality singing voice, he is a great actor, and his frequent collaborator Tim Burton is a great director. In Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the two of them make a splendid film musical, as good, and in some ways better, than recent screen musicals Chicago, Dreamgirls, and Moulin Rouge.
Depp, all brooding, smoldering, and quite mad, as Sweeney Todd is mesmerizing on screen. His Todd is a rich character capable of so many moods and so very capable of feigning civility and humanity when there is never a moment in this movie when Todd isn’t at heart, a freaking homicidal maniac. It’s no wonder that Depp earned his third Oscar nomination as a lead actor. His colleagues in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can see how wonderfully fertile this character is, simply because this amazing actor can create a profound character, almost out of thin air.
Burton, often criticized for focusing on whimsical, macabre, and almost pop gothic films instead of “serious” subject matter, seems to distill everything he has done thus far in cinema into this one gruesome, luminous jewel. Burton’s creative and technical collaborators have fashioned some of the most imaginative and decorative costumes and sets. His cinematographers, editors, and lighting crews have made inventive uses of the tools and equipment of their trades and crafts. Burton is not only able to get the best of his technical staff, he is also able to get them to go out of the ordinary when it comes to creating visual splendor. Sweeney Todd is the movie where everything he has done has come together to produce the epitome of his visual style. It’s like an astonishing colorful ode to Italian filmmaker, Mario Bava, an influence on Burton.
That’s not to say that this is the Burton/Depp show alone. Stephen Sondheim’s music is not only divine, but is also excellent at storytelling, character defining, and mood making. Helena Bonham Carter, a thoroughly underrated and underutilized actress, is a surprisingly spry singer with a beautiful voice. She’s a scene stealer here, and one can argue that the film is as much her Mrs. Lovett’s as it is Depp’s murderous Todd. To put it simply, the people who made this movie made a great movie, a deliciously demented great movie.
9 of 10
A+
NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 1 winner for “Best Achievement in Art Direction” (Dante Ferretti-art director and Francesca Lo Schiavo-set decorator) and 2 nominations: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Johnny Depp) and “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood)
2008 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Costume Design” (Colleen Atwood) and “Best Make Up and Hair” (Ivana Primorac)
2008 Golden Globes: 2 wins: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Johnny Depp); 2 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Tim Burton) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Helena Bonham Carter)
Friday, April 25, 2008
-------------------
Friday, February 25, 2011
75 Episodes of "Hikaru No Go" Anime Available for Download
VIZ MEDIA DEBUTS ANIME SERIES HIKARU NO GO AND MÄR FOR DOWNLOAD FROM MULTIPLE LEADING ONLINE CONTENT OUTLETS
iTunes, PlayStation® Network, And Amazon Video On Demand Begin Offering Both Hit Adventure Series To Rent Or Own
VIZ Media has announced the availability of hit anime series HIKARU NO GO and MÄR for Download-To-Rent / Download-To-Own (DTR/DTO) from leading online content providers iTunes, PlayStation® Network, and Amazon Video on Demand.
The complete series for HIKARU NO GO (Episodes 1-75) and MÄR (Episodes 1-52) will be presented dubbed and uncut, and will be available immediately from the iTunes Store in the U.S. (www.iTunes.com) and Canada (www.iTunes.ca). As a special promotion, Episode 1 from each series will be available for FREE download through August 23, 2011!
Amazon Video on Demand and the PlayStation® Network video delivery service, available exclusively for the Sony PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) and PlayStation®3 (PS3™) entertainment systems, will offer Season 1 of HIKARU NO GO and MÄR, beginning with Episodes 1-3. New installments will be released every Monday. Episode 1 from each series will be available for FREE download through March 22, 2011.
All episodes are $0.99 each for Download-To-Rent and $1.99 for Download-To-Own across all platforms.
HIKARU NO GO is a unique story that revolves around the ancient Japanese strategy game of Go, and is based on the manga written by Yumi Hotta and illustrated by Takeshi Obata (also published domestically by VIZ Media). Hikaru Shindo is like any sixth-grader in Japan: a pretty normal kid with a two-tone head of hair and a penchant for antics. His life completely changes when he finds an old bloodstained go board in his grandfather's attic. The ghost of an ancient go master named Fujiwara-no-Sai was trapped in the board and soon becomes a part of Hikaru's consciousness. Together Hikaru and Sai make an unstoppable go-playing team!
MÄR is based on the hit manga series by Nobuyuki Anzai (creator also of FLAME OF RECCA), published in North America by VIZ Media. An ordinary middle-school boy with an overactive imagination, Ginta Toramizu dreams about fairy tales and make-believe lands. One day at school, a gate appears and he enters the World of MÄR, the world of his dreams. Within the World of MÄR exist ÄRM: accessories with unique powers. Soon, Ginta stumbles upon Babbo, an ÄRM that can speak, and learns that he has been summoned to this mythical world to stop the Chess Pieces, a group of rogue soldiers, from destroying the World of MÄR. Now part of Team MÄR, Ginta and Babbo fight in War Games against the Chess Pieces to save the MÄR World. But will Ginta’s mission be compromised by his ally’s secrets?
For more information on the HIKARU NO GO and MÄR anime and manga series, please visit VIZAnime.com.
(Belated) Happy Birthday, Laura
I was so focused on calling you yesterday that I forgot to post this greeting. Better late than never... I hope.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Oscars, "Black Swan" Buzz Yahoo! Search Engine
83rd Annual Academy Awards Projections from Yahoo!: According to Yahoo! Search, Black Swan Reigns Supreme and the Web is Buzzing About Co-Host Anne Hathaway
--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The 83rd Annual Academy Awards are set to air on Sunday February 27th. As the world prepares for Hollywood’s biggest night, Yahoo! looked at which films and actors are getting the most buzz online.
According to Yahoo! the web is excited about Hollywood’s big show:
Searches for “when are the Oscars” are spiking on Yahoo!
Searches on Yahoo! for “Oscars 2011” are up 1403%
Oscar ballots are spiking on Yahoo! up 38%
Searches for the award show are split between males and females
States searching for “Oscars” the most: California, Illinois, Texas, Washington and New Jersey
Older viewers: those under 24 only make up 16% of searches for “Oscars”
Black Swan Reigns Supreme: According to Yahoo! the top searched nominated films are:
1. Black Swan
2. True Grit
3. 127 hours
4. The Kids Are Alright
5. Inception
6. The Fighter
7. Toy Story 3
According to Yahoo! the top searched nominated actresses are:
1. Natalie Portman
2. Nicole Kidman
3. Jennifer Lawrence
4. Annette Bening
According to Yahoo! the top searched nominated actors are:
1. Javier Bardem
2. James Franco
3. Colin Firth
4. Jeff Bridges
According to Yahoo! the top searched Oscar hosts are:
1. Anne Hathaway
2. Ellen DeGeneres
3. James Franco
4. Alec Baldwin
5. Hugh Jackman
6. Whoopi Goldberg
7. Jon Stewart
8. Chris Rock
9. Steve Martin
Hostess with the Most:
Yahoo! users searched for Oscar co-host Anne Hathaway more than all of the “Best Actress” nominees.
Can’t get enough of the Oscars? Check out Yahoo! Movies’ exclusive coverage complete with predictions, nominees, polls, photos and more: http://oscars.movies.yahoo.com/
--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The 83rd Annual Academy Awards are set to air on Sunday February 27th. As the world prepares for Hollywood’s biggest night, Yahoo! looked at which films and actors are getting the most buzz online.
According to Yahoo! the web is excited about Hollywood’s big show:
Searches for “when are the Oscars” are spiking on Yahoo!
Searches on Yahoo! for “Oscars 2011” are up 1403%
Oscar ballots are spiking on Yahoo! up 38%
Searches for the award show are split between males and females
States searching for “Oscars” the most: California, Illinois, Texas, Washington and New Jersey
Older viewers: those under 24 only make up 16% of searches for “Oscars”
Black Swan Reigns Supreme: According to Yahoo! the top searched nominated films are:
1. Black Swan
2. True Grit
3. 127 hours
4. The Kids Are Alright
5. Inception
6. The Fighter
7. Toy Story 3
According to Yahoo! the top searched nominated actresses are:
1. Natalie Portman
2. Nicole Kidman
3. Jennifer Lawrence
4. Annette Bening
According to Yahoo! the top searched nominated actors are:
1. Javier Bardem
2. James Franco
3. Colin Firth
4. Jeff Bridges
According to Yahoo! the top searched Oscar hosts are:
1. Anne Hathaway
2. Ellen DeGeneres
3. James Franco
4. Alec Baldwin
5. Hugh Jackman
6. Whoopi Goldberg
7. Jon Stewart
8. Chris Rock
9. Steve Martin
Hostess with the Most:
Yahoo! users searched for Oscar co-host Anne Hathaway more than all of the “Best Actress” nominees.
Can’t get enough of the Oscars? Check out Yahoo! Movies’ exclusive coverage complete with predictions, nominees, polls, photos and more: http://oscars.movies.yahoo.com/
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Review: "The Social Network" All-American and All-World
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 17 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux
The Social Network (2010)
Running time: 120 minutes (2 hours)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content, drug and alcohol use and language
DIRECTOR: David Fincher
WRITERS: Aaron Sorkin (based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich)
PRODUCERS: Dana Brunetti, Ceán Chaffin, Michael De Luca, and Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeff Cronenweth
EDITORS: Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
COMPOSER: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
DRAMA
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, Justin Timberlake, Max Minghella, Rashida Jones, Joseph Mazzello, Brenda Song, Josh Pence, and Rooney Mara
The Social Network is perhaps the most critically acclaimed film of 2010, having won close to 20 best picture honors from critics groups and organizations. Directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network is a fictional account and dramatization of the founding of Facebook, the hugely popular social-networking website.
The film begins on a fall night in 2003, when Boston University student, Erica Albright (Rooney Mara), breaks up with Harvard undergrad, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). A computer programming genius, Zuckerberg sits down at his computer and lashes out in a flurry of blogging and programming that launches “FaceMash.” Zuckerberg’s new website not only captures the attention of the entire Harvard campus, but also gets the attention of a trio of budding entrepreneurs. That night, in his dorm room after the breakup, leads to what will become “The Facebook” which will eventually become the global social network, Facebook. This revolution in communication, however, brings Zuckerberg both success and a horde of broken friendships, partnerships, and lawsuits.
The Social Network is about several things. It is about Mark Zuckerberg, about the founding of Facebook, about a clash of privileged and ambitious personalities, and about perception and point of view. Most of all, The Social Network seems to be about the beginnings of a map to the future. The triumph of Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay is how he compressed all of this and dramatized in two hours what was probably dull and tedious in real life – including Zuckerberg’s legal wrangling. Sorkin makes nerds come across as sexy masters of the universe. Slimy bastards (like Justin Timberlake’s Sean Parker) seem like rock stars. Parties are shinier, and Harvard’s campus is like a hub, the nexus where all exciting places meet.
And the performances meet and match Sorkin’s exceptional screenplay. Jesse Eisenberg has made a career of playing likeable, amiable dweebs, but as Mark Zuckerberg, he turns that on its head with this outstanding, sublime performance. Eisenberg’s Zuckerberg is like a god, a genius whose indomitable spirit smolders behind a mask of petulance, detachment, and a pout. Zuckerberg should be so Garbo-cool.
I’ve thought for a long time that Justin Timberlake had the dramatic chops to pull off good roles; now, I have proof. Timberlake makes Sean Parker (founder of Napster) cool and attractive, the guy you’d want in your corner, and you’d still forgive his cocaine habit and general sliminess. Andrew Garfield almost steals the film as Eduardo Saverin, a character who is the only adult in the room (which makes him a tragic fall guy). Armie Hammer makes the most of his every moment as the twins, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (with actor Josh Pence doing body double duties) by giving each brother a separate, distinct personality.
The one who pulls it all together and makes The Social Network arguable the best film of 2010 is director David Fincher. The phrase, “visionary director,” gets thrown around a lot about talented hack directors (like Zack Snyder), but since Fincher’s mid-90s film, Se7en, it has been obvious that he is a true visionary. Fincher makes The Social Network operate like a suspense thriller; that’s why Sorkin’s tale of conniving nerds is never boring and always gripping. Here, computers, programming codes, and the Internet are like shiny guns, weapons that make these nerds seem like crazy, sexy, cool gangstas.
The Social Network is compelling drama – mesmerizing, hypnotic, and engaging. Everything about it works, and everyone involved should get credit for their great efforts, especially David Fincher.
10 of 10
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
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