Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Social Network, The (2010)

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Posted by Ross Oba (Member # 3433) on 09-30-2010, 09:15 PM:

I do not use Facebook nor do I intend to. However, this film is stunning. It is definitely not a movie strictly about Facebook itself, but instead is a movie about the Internet age and the business behind it. It's sharply written, beautifully directed and amazingly scored. This is without a doubt the best movie I have seen this year.

Also, who knew that Justin Timberlake could act? I have seen several of his performances in the past but this one takes the cake. He definitely pulls off the big shot persona that his character requires.

5/5

Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 10-01-2010, 03:59 AM:

Enjoyed! [thumbsup]

Posted by Carol May (Member # 4068) on 10-03-2010, 10:11 AM:

Agree with both posts, very, very good performances, and Timberlake, whose music would make a good CIA torture tool, was excellent.

I would say that for those who are not technical at all, they would still enjoy the good v. evil (or less evil v. more evil) moral aspect of the story. It's a universal story of how humans act and react, the setting is simply up to the minute. It'll be interesting to see how it looks in 10 years.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 10-05-2010, 11:41 PM:

This movie was boring as hell. But not as boring as Michael Clayton.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-06-2010, 01:16 AM:

Why is the topic title "Social Network, The"? Who's going to search for it that way?

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 10-07-2010, 06:25 PM:

Folks:

Saw the film Tuesday and enjoyed it a lot. You do not need to be familiar with Facebook to understand the film.

Mike

Posted by Jake Spell (Member # 5294) on 10-07-2010, 09:22 PM:

Saw this the other day at the Terrace auditorium #1 35mm with dts sound. No presentation problems.

I really enjoyed this movie, It is mostly about facebook, as to be expected, but also shows a lot about current society. The acting is good all around, everyone fitting into their role perfectly. Not the best movie ever, but def a good one.

7/10

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 10-09-2010, 04:01 PM:

CINEMA: 13th Avenue Warren, Wichita, KS
AUDITORIUM: 13
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital Cinema DLP/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: "The Warren curtain is going up!" (no it's not...oh wait, there it goes.)
RATING: Three and one half stars (out of four)

HOLY CRAP. The trailer for the Coen Bros version of "True Grit" is freaking awesome. Made all the other trailers look like crap. Of course, the trailer immediately behind it was for "Burlesque", so...

""Social Network" is so good I want to get the script and study it, scene by scene, in the hopes I will absorb the essence of great writing." (Aimee Mann, on Twitter)

What makes this movie great is the dialogue, the pacing of the dialogue, and Trent Reznor's soundtrack contribution. This thing flows along like a well-produced spoken word music video. The time flies and not a moment is wasted.

(Pretty sure I've said that about another movie. Recently.)

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 10-10-2010, 02:08 AM:

A shit-ton of time was wasted in the opening scene where Jesse Eisenberg rapid-fires his dialog (extremely annoying and not at all like the real Michael Zuckerberg, it's just what Jesse Eisenberg does... it's the ONLY thing he can do). Despite the rapid-fire dialog and my EXTREME annoyance at it, the scene still seemed to drag on and on and on. Neither character ever became interesting. None of the characters in the movie did. The way Eisenberg played Zuckerberg, I can't imagine the guy being able to function cognitively in any situation. He played him like a complete ditz who can't pay attention to anything for more than 2 or 3 seconds. Again, nothing like the real Zuckerberg.

I just really wish they would have picked someone besides Jesse Eisenberg. He is a one-trick pony.

Posted by Jennifer Pan (Member # 2035) on 10-11-2010, 02:00 PM:

I won't say its the best movie of the year. The acting played by Jesse and Justin was meh. They basically played themselves. Andrew was the better of the two. The story was somewhat interesting, but it seemed to drag quiet a bit. Probably a made for TV movie would best describe it.

[The Jen]

out of 5

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 10-13-2010, 10:09 PM:

I generally really enjoyed this movie, but I thought Jesse Eisenberg's acting was downright annoying. His voice was grating beyond belief.

On a side note, I'd love to hear the soundtrack of the film from Trent Reznor (which is released in a lossless 5.1 Bluray album release)

[Avalon Theater, 35mm/Dolby Digital]

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 10-22-2010, 09:33 PM:

I expected that this film would be amazingly boring, and I had no interest in seeing it until it started to get positive reviews.

I finally saw most of it last night. I was generally impressed. I have no idea how much resemblance the film bears to reality, but the story is compelling and the pacing is nearly perfect (there is not a dull moment in the entire film). I enjoyed it, which is rare for a film where none of the characters is the least bit likeable. I am generally a fan of David Fincher ("Zodiac" was one of my two favorites of 2007), and he does not disappoint here.

Many reviews compare this film to Citizen Kane. I don't see the two as being related in the least, with respect to either structure or content. Maybe I'm just stupid. Or maybe the reviewers are just so sick of crappy movies that they are overly excited when something this decent actually gets made and released. Anyway, I don't get it.

Visually, the film looks pretty bad, though. Picture is soft and there is little shadow or highlight detail. Not surprisingly, it was shot on video, for no apparent aesthetic reason.

Anyway, it's the best current film that I have seen in the last few months, and I can actually recommend it as being worth seeing.

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 11-11-2010, 10:41 PM:

Only became interested when the film vastly over-performed at our location. Thought 'the facebook film' would be a hard sell. Did well at the stand as well.

This was a decent film. I'm sure the story is pure fantasy apart from the bare bones but there's enough quirky dialogue and a decent pace to keep it entertaining. It felt like a long Gilmore Girls episode but a little more serious. The soundtrack is incredibly effective, provides a lot of emotion and feeling to gloss over the fact you're watching nerds bitch and get rich. I've not seen a lot of Hollywood this year but this was a good effort from a big studio. A 3.5 out of 5 for me.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 11-13-2010, 06:29 PM:

So I finally got around to seeing THE SOCIAL NETWORK and -- blah!

1. I don't really see any dramatic tension going on here. He wants to do something...and then he does it. No real obstacles standing in his way. No real challenges for him to overcome -- except, perhaps, his social awkwardness (which he does not overcome).

2. The protagonist is unlikeable -- I can't relate to this loser -- and he's no different at the end than he was at the beginning.

3. Cinematography LOOKS LIKE CRAP -- what? was there a special on yellow filters or something? it looks like they filmed through a jar of urine. But "it was shot with the Red" so I guess that means everything is okay.

4. Despite the fact that the movie's automatic popularity arises out of it's "social relevance" it nonetheless cannot honestly claim historical accuracy.

5. The ONE thing it might going for it is "snappy" dialog. But do real people really talk like this? No. They don't.

6. I take that back -- the BEST thing the film had going for it was the youth choir rendition of "Creep" in the trailer.

Of course, it'll win ALL the Oscars but since when does THAT mean anything anymore?

All I can say is, I'm glad I didn't pay $14 plus parking to see this or I'd be really annoyed. Even so, at $7.50 for a Friday twilight show at the AMC, I'm STILL wishing I'd seen it Monday-Thursday for $5.

Compare this movie with, say, AMADEUS and you will see why I'm not impressed. Neither Mozart nor Salieri is presented as "likeable" but it is fun to watch the tension develop between the two. AMADEUS is not necessarily historically accurate but at least it is a recounting of an actual legend -- and the story is far more riveting than SOCIAL NETWORK. Finally, compare the cinematography and, yes, the dialog -- and SOCIAL NETWORK does not stand a chance.

Even a ROAD RUNNER/COYOTE cartoon does a better job of telling a loser's story than SOCIAL NETWORK.

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 01-25-2011, 08:30 AM:

quote: Ross Oba
Also, who knew that Justin Timberlake could act?

Well, the Academy left him out [Frown]

I can't believe it.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-25-2011, 10:17 AM:

I can, there was nothing special at all about his performance. Anyone could have done it.

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 01-25-2011, 02:18 PM:

Joe-We know you couldn't pull it off, there would be too many one-liners

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-27-2011, 12:00 AM:

I find it amusing how you refer to yourself in the plural-tense.

And I can be a dick to the nth degree. The role would be too easy.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 01-27-2011, 12:34 AM:

I'd say that Timberlake's part was performed adequately. But adequate isn't "Oscar-deserving."

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 03-01-2011, 08:15 PM:

We finally watched this last night. My wife wanted to see it. I was indifferent to it. So we rented it...

I don't get it. The score was great? What score? I don't even remember anything about the score. You could play it for me now along with a bunch of other scores that I've never heard and I don't think I could tell you which one was for this movie.

The main character was somewhat interesting to me, and on some levels I can kind of relate to him... but I didn't really care about him. Overall, I found this movie to be boring. I don't think I cared about any of the characters come to think of it. How this movie ended up being mentioned in the same sentence as The King's Speech is a real mystery to me.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-01-2011, 09:44 PM:

The score is special because it is by Trent Rez Nor. He was the star of some heavy metal band back in the 90's named after a phallic symbol the members were obsessed with. Same music by someone else and it would not be considered special.

He cleans up well since he lost the girly make-up, I guess.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 03-01-2011, 10:42 PM:

Trent Reznor's music isn't for everyone. The music score to The Social Network isn't radio friendly pop music. I liked the score for its unconventional style and how it still fit the movie. So many movie music scores, even Oscar winning scores, have the usual traditional orchestral sound and are often endlessly repetitive.

Roger Ebert said this about the score and its Oscar win on his web site:

quote: Roger Ebert
Original score went to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for "The Social Network," an urgent composition that drove the film's headlong momentum. Its strength was to serve the film almost single-mindedly; nobody left humming it, or perhaps even particularly remembering it, but that was a strength.

I also have another theory why some Oscar voters chose to honor Trent Reznor: he has been pretty friendly to the movie industry since the early 1990s allowing them to use his music in movies and in the marketing of certain movies.

The first movie trailer for 300 was arguably better than the movie itself. The Nine Inch Nails instrumental Just Like You Imagined off The Fragile really set the tone for the trailer.

The "precursor" mix of the NIN song Closer is integral to the opening title sequence of Seven. I like the soundtrack to David Lynch's Lost Highway a lot more than the movie. Nine Inch Nails has a couple tunes on that. Man on Fire lifted music out the The Fragile album.

There are theories about there being more to Paul Newman getting his Best Actor Oscar for The Color of Money than just the performance in that movie. He made Hollywood a shit load of money over a few decades. Helen Hunt won an Oscar in As Good As It Gets not long after she starred in Twister a movie that made a lot of money but a movie I have an increasingly difficult time watching because it seems to get worse with each viewing.

Anyway, it seems a little like the "you scratch my back I scratch yours" thing at work.

Posted by Tony Gallimore (Member # 5358) on 03-03-2011, 01:46 AM:

Mixed feelings all the way around. The storyline was weak in development as was Zuckerberg's characterization. Is Zuckerberg really that dull? Don't think so. I'm not a participating Facebooker, and I wasn't enticed to become one. No sale for me! [Confused]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-03-2011, 02:00 PM:

I agree with Ebert about the score driving the film's momentum, because without it, the movie has next to none.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 03-04-2011, 10:54 PM:

I would say that the bits streaming off of the satellite into my TV did more to propel the momentum of the movie than the score did.

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 03-05-2011, 01:37 AM:

I really liked the score. I think it is outstanding!

I really liked the movie as well and wrote and predicted that it would win for Best Picture which of course it didn't.