Movie #135 Holy Rollers *2010*

Jesse Eisenberg - Sam Gold
Justin Bartha - Yosef
Ari Graynor - Rachel
Kevin Asch (Director)

My girlfriend and I have a bit of an inside joke.  While trying to explain if we enjoyed a movie or not we will start by saying "It's a well made movie".  That basicly means that there wasn't anything wrong with the film, but it wasn't entertaining in any way.  It is a polite way to say "I have had more interesting blackouts".

Holy Rollers is a well made movie.  It is the story (based on actual events) of a small gorup of Hasidic Jews in New York that got involved in a drig smuggling ring.  This unlawful organization had them running fack and forth from Europe to NY trafficing Extasy.  Why Hasid's?  Airport security never stopped them.

This film is the first feature of Kevin Asch.  I joke that it is a well made movie, but it really is.  It is not great ever, and it is pretty bland throughout (espicially considering all the potential for excitement, exotic locations and danger) but his techincal skills are there.  You could see that the nothing was done sloppy, it just wasn't interesting.  I mean you have the Hasidic cluture, a branch of Jewism that not many people (including myself) know much about and I feel like I didn't learn anything about their ways or beliefs.  You have a Central Europe drig scene, but the shots in the clubs and with the "gangsters" were sterile and polished.  I wanted gritty and dangerous.

The brightest light in the movie for me was Ari Graynor.  She is a beauty to behold and she did a fine job in the role of the Jewish temptrest.  You might have seen her in Nick and Norahs Infinite Playlist or Youth in Revolt. I think she has a bright future in front of her.  I would love to see her oppsite Emma Stone in a female Sherlock Holmes type.  Who am I kidding?  I would watch the two of them in anything!

Jesse Eisenberg (of Social Network fame) is the lead role in this.  He does a fair job with a weak, watered down script.  The other performances aren't really worth mentioning.  They aren't bad, they just aren't very good.  I give Holy Rollers **1/2.  Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.

Movie #122 The Social Network *2010*

Jesse Eisenberg - Mark Zuckerberg
Andrew Garfield - Eduardo Saverin
Justin Timberlake - Sean Parker
Armie Hammer - The "Winklevie" twins
David Fincher (Director)

The Best Film of 2010 in my opinion.  This movie is so good I was afraid to watch it again.  This is not the first time that this has happened.  I watch a movie once, or I watch it a bunch and aquire a love for the film then I suddenly stop watching it.  I get scared that somehow it won't live up to its own hype that I have developed in my head.  The first time I watched this movie it was in a nearby college town with my girlfriend.  We left the theater and I knew right away that I had seen something special.  At the time I couldn't put it into words.  I hope I can do a better job of that now.

Let me start with the script.  The script was penned by Arron Sorkin.  The head writer for The West Wing and Sports Night television shows.  I (not one to watch television) have never seen so much as 1 episode of either of these programs, but I understand that they were both considered to be very well written and acted.  Mr. Sorkin is known for his ferocious, machine-gun-like dialogue.  This is completely on display.  "Words are like weapons".  I know that sounds trite, but there are no explosions, no car chases, no Mexican standoffs in this picture.  All the drama, all the suspense and all the vitriol comes from the spoken word.

And who is responsible for how those words are spoken?  David Fincher.  The director of Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to name a few.  But his responsibility doesn't stop there.  If you are in aggreance with the auter theory then you believe that a director is the creative force behind a film as a whole.  Of course they have to work with all sorts of people: Sound, effects, writters, camera and lighting, and so forth.  But all of those tasks are (or should be) in service of telling telling the story which is the job of the director.  In The Social Network Fincher's fingerprints are all over this movie.

Lets talk for a second about the sound and score.  The film was scored by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Atticus Ross.  This is an electric, pulsating score that washes over you like a warm bath.  I tried to constantly notice the music in the film, but the movie is too damn captivating.  I couldn't focus on any one element of the movie because all of the elements are so well woven. 

In brief, The Social Network is the story of the founding of Facebook.  It is how a smartass 19 year old had (or stole) an idea to make a website that would change the way people communicate in first part of the 21st century.  Courtroom drama stuff?  It could have been in the hands of lesser talent.  Lesser film makers would have turned this story into another Pelican Brief or The Rainmaker or some other John Grishman stories.  Instead Sorkin and Fincher look deeper than that.  The themes in The Social Network are themes that have been in stories since stories were first told.  Revenge, greed, friendship, power, trust.

When I first watched the film I knew one thing.  The performance were mostly good but none of them were outstanding.  Eisenberg was very good in by far his most difficult role.  I loved Justin Timberlake in the newest version of Pontius Pilate, Sean Parker.  The only one that I didn't really care for was Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin.  I though he was not committed to the role. He seemed to be acting in front of a green screen while the rest of the cast was on set.  I don't know what changed with this viewing, but I take it back.  I felt this time around that he at least held his own with the rest of the cast.  At this point I need to mention Armie Hammer in the role of both twins.  My girlfriends favorite part: "I'm 6'5", 230lbs and there's two of me".  He is dreamy.  But seriously he was great.  I can't imagine playing two roles.  Twins.  They need to look and act similar, but they have to have different personalities.  And he pulled it off.  Also props to Fincher and his special effects team.

There is one scene that I want to talk about from solely a visual perspective.  That is the big rowing match on the Thames river.  I have no idea how Fincher achieved that look.  I have never seen anything that looked like that as far as I can remember.  I hope there is something on bonus content that explains how he made that segment look like that.

I could go on and on about this movie and I am sure that I will be watching it a few more times before the end of my year. I wish this film good luck at the Oscars.  I give The Social Network ★★★★★.  Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.   Wow.  I made it to the end of this blog and realized that I blogged about this movie already (Movie #25)  Check out that post as well!



http://365degreesoffilm.blogspot.com/2010/10/movie-25-social-network.html

Movie #25 The Social Network

Late in this movie Jesse Eisenberg as co-founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, asks one of his defense attorneys out for a bite to eat after a long day of depositions.  She rejects him instantly.  This is the Social Network movie in a 5 second span.  To say that The Social Network is about Facebook is to say that the movie "Network" is about journalism.  The Social Network is about alienation, obsession, revenge, privilege, ambition, control, jealousy and how having friends affect those issues.  Director David Fincher weaves these themes into every scene without ever hitting you in the face with them.

The movies opens with Zuckerberg getting dumped by his girlfriend after an exhilarating all be it brutal and nasty war of words in a bar.  He goes back to his dorm and starts down a path that begins with drunken blogging and end with him being the youngest billionaire in history. He creates a site where people can rank college girls against other college girls by their "hotness".  This prank ends up crashing the Harvard servers in 2 hours after 22,000 hits.  The campus elite get word of this and recruit Zuckerberg to launch a social networking site that would be exclusive to Harvard students.  Zuckerberg takes that idea and grows it over the next few weeks into what would become The Facebook.  He is aided by his best (only) friend Eduardo Saverin, played be Andrew Garfield.  Saverin puts up the cash for the venture.  He is also being targeted by one of the campus clubs that Zuckerberg wants to be a part of.

The Facebook grows and grows.  They expand it beyond the Harvard campus into the other Ivy League schools, then nation wide using college email addresses as a means of keeping it exclusive.  You are part of a club if you are on The Facebook.  The story takes a turn once the FB team is introduced to Sean Parker.  The creator of the music stealing service Napster.  He is a familiar character.  IF not by name then by his actions.  He is the person Zuckerberg wants to be.  He is cool.  He talks fast, he orders food for everyone at the table, he is surrounded by beautiful women.  He is the antithesis of fame and success.  Although it is all an illusion.  He is broke.  He is crashing at random peoples houses. He is a leach.  Saverin sees it, Zuckerberg doesn't and Parker becomes the crowbar that will divide the two of them.

The film is brilliantly narrated through not one, but two trails Zuckerberg is a part of.  The depositions are a narrative device used to create flashbacks, all the while pushing the story forward.  The first case is Saverin suing Zuckerberg for stealing FB from him.  The other comes from the Harvard trio that claim they first come up with the idea of the social network.  Jesse Eisenberg was given a monstrous task.  Playing a character that at no time is sympathetic.  Not for one instance is the protagonist of the films looked at in a matter that would make the audience care about him.  And he does it brilliantly.  He is aided by director Fincher.  Who never misses an opportunity to exclude Zuckerberg.  In so many frames of the films Zuckerberg is on one side of the screen while everyone else is on the other.  He never once attends a party.  Not even the 1,000,000 member party for FB.  He is isolated either by choice, or by fear.  You decide which one is sadder.

Aaron Sorkin penned the script.  he is probably best know for his work on the TV show The West Wing.  I never watched that show, but I have heard that is was great. I can definitely see where it could be.  He writes the legal scenes with razor sharp jabs and prickly honesty.   He also has fully developed, flushed out characters.  Everyone's motives are clearly understood, but only when they are supposed to be.  Sorkin seem to write more in the silences than he does in the dialogue.  And that is saying something because this film is packed full of dialogue.  That opening scene is reminiscent of His Girl Friday.  I'm not sure if is refreshing, stimulating or intimidating to write a script where everyone is at a Harvard education level of speaking.  But Sorkin nails it.

I could blog about this movie for hours so I will touch on a few other things that really caught my attention.  I am sure that I will be seeing this again the theater again.  First, the score.  The music for The Social Network was composed by Trent Reznor of "Nine Inch Nails" fame.  It is dark and atmospheric.  It is the perfect accompaniment to the mood of the film.  At a couple of points in the film I thought it was a little loud.  As if it wasn't mixed quite right, but overall it was excellent.  It reminds me a lot of the music in There Will be Blood.  Not in style, but in utility.  Next would be Fincher's use of camera.  I literally gasped at a few shots in the movie.  There are only a few working directors that can get away with such bold shot selection.  Not to mention the perfect use of CGI.  How do I know it is perfect?  I couldn't find it.  Finally is the performances.  I though Eisenberg was perfect.  Garfield as Saverin seemed a little overwhelmed.  Perhaps it was because his character is a bit of a patsy.  But the performance that stood out for me was Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker.  What a great, meaty role.  The enfant terrible.  TImberlake dives headfirst into the role and it pays off in spades.

Well, I am off to go see Let Me In.  The remake of last years Sweedish film Let the Right One In.  Look for that review later today or tomorrow.  I'm sure I will be reposting about The Social Network later so look for that as well.  To view more check out the trailer below.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SocialNetworkMovie?v=53OUHupfqws&feature=pyv&ad=6836107426&kw=the%20social%20network%20trailer