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David Fincher's The Social Network

Goose

By Goose,
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Goose

Goose

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There's a very interesting/controversial background so yeah I think there's a good reason for it. I just don't think anyone really cares about the history except a very small number of geeks.

Is Facebook mentioned by name in the trailer, been a while since I saw it. Just wondering if they're hoping to play it as a thriller/court room drama rather than "you know that website you play farmville on? This is a movie about how it started. Oh, and it's 2h 30m". Best to keep it low key, intriguing because everyone knows the guy who set it up is still alive and well and very rich. If you play up the Facebook angle it's going to be difficult to market the film one imagines.

Saying that, we knew how Apollo 13 ended and that was still solid entertainment.

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lordcookie

lordcookie

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Surely the Facebook angle is the hook? If it is just a thriller about an unnamed website it seems all a bit pointless. I'm sure the vast majority of people who use Facebook don't have a clue about what went on/is going on behind the scenes and I don't think us knowing the man in still alive and stinking rich really has much bearing in whether or not this story would be interesting to the general public.

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Darragh

Darragh

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I can't help but feel that if it comes to be known as "the Facebook movie" by the general public, it could suffer a bit, performance-wise. Even already I've seen people get that "Facebook movie" idea into their head and interpret it as something mad, like it's a narrative that has been constructed surrounding the mechanics of Facebook, rather than being the story of its foundation. It's taken a bit of convincing on my part to bring them around to the idea that it's a story that's well worth telling.

Oh, I'm probably thinking about it a bit too much.

Anyway! Yeah, Goose, "Facebook" is mentioned a few times in the trailer. Without watching it again, one instance that stands out is when Zuckerberg says something like "if you invented Facebook, you would have invented Facebook" at what looks to be a meeting with the dudes that are suing him and their lawyer.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Goose

Goose

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There's an early review up on SlashFilm.

The Social Network is Fincher’s best film since Fight Club, which is saying a lot considering I LOVED Zodiac. It is also my favorite movie of the year (so far). The razor-sharp rapid-fire dialogue in Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay will likely draw comparisons to quotable films like Wallstreet and Glengarry Glen Ross. After returning home from the screening, I was tempted to read the screenplay — that’s how good it is.

Does sound like the film has been edited down a great deal since first reports, that review states the current cut is 2 hours, down from three iirc.

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Darragh

Darragh

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Devin Faraci's review is up over at CHUD. Presumably one of his last reviews at the site. Link.

Absorbing and hilarious and smart, The Social Network is a very old fashioned movie about a very new world. It's the most accessible movie Fincher may have ever made, but that doesn't mean it's missing his touch. I'd love to see Fincher and Sorkin collaborate together again. I'm also excited to see The Social Network again. I walked out of it knowing that this was a damn fine film, but I suspect a second viewing may reveal it to be a great film, an All the President's Men for the Farmville generation.

9/10

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  • 2 weeks later...
Roboplegic Wrongcock

Roboplegic Wrongcock

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Saw this earlier and wow it's amazing. :D

Seriously it's non stop from the get go. For once the entire cinema was silent as the amount of tech babble meant that if you didn't listen and concentrate you would be lost for a few mins as the structure of the movie is never made clear with on screen guides as it flips backwards and forwards in time and different characters perspectives. Fincher expects you to keep up with him.

I don''t think anyone comes out of this looking very well Sean Parker especially , but Zuckerberg though he has asshole tendencies you end the movie feeling sorry for him all that money and the girl that inspired it. wants nothing to do with you.

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Silent Runner

Silent Runner

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+1 to everything robo said. It’s easily the best thing I’ve seen in the cinema this year and it might be Finchers best yet. It’s a fascinating story brilliantly told, acted and directed. I already want to see it again.

I loved that they left some ambiguity as to the reasons for Marks actions and the last shot is perfect.

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Cheyenne

Cheyenne

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Heh, time to change it up a bit.

It's something of an oddity. Well-written, well-made, acted well and very entertaining to watch, but a complete non-event. It's basically two hours of people talking at tables, and it's done with enough flair to remain effortlessly watchable throughout, but nothing of real interest seems to happen. There aren't any moments that I think will live on or can be used to sum up why the film works/doesn't work, it just seems to flow. Overrall the film to me felt like a springboard for the primary actors' careers.

"Wow, nice to see that Timberlake can act a bit"

"Jesse Eisenberg can bring some more nuance to his near-stereotyped geek persona"

"Andrew Garfield has some emotional range"

That's what I took from it. Which is a shame as it's written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher, and while it's undeniable that their input is what made the potentially dull plot watchable, it feels as if they're simply running on auto or some other tired phrase used to imply 'not their best'. Sorkin's dialogue is quick and witty, but not very memorable. Fincher does his best to make these endlessly talky scenes vibrant, but at times they can seem overwrought, while other parts seem to be from another movie. There's one particular scene involving rowing that appears completely pointless to the film, but is thankfully very well-done, so it's not as jarring as it might have been.

So yeah, breezily watchable, but far from the best that Sorkin and Fincher have produced in their careers. As for the actors? Probably the best performances of their young careers to date (of the films I've seen, natch).

***

3
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Silent Runner

Silent Runner

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There's one particular scene involving rowing that appears completely pointless to the film, but is thankfully very well-done, so it's not as jarring as it might have been.

That rowing scene was hilerious;

the tilt-shift (I think that’s the name) photography, the boring race and then the whole “I’m Prince Albert” bit. Totally weird. Maybe it was put in to give us a break from the heavy courtroom stuff.

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