Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Social Network (2010) - Fincher's a-hole biopic leaves me cold (and more anti-Facebook than ever)

9/17/2016

The Social Network (2010) - Fincher's a-hole biopic leaves me cold (and more anti-Facebook than ever)

♥♥♥

Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg behind the huge tagline for David Fincher's The Social Network

The Social Network tells the story of how a group of assholes created the platform that made the rest of the world a bit more socially distanced, unsympathetic, frat-boy-like assholes like themselves: Facebook.

The film is written by Aaron Sorkin (Moneyball (2011)), based on (but apparently more accurately; written around the same time as) Ben Mezrich's (Reaper (1998)) The Accidental Billionaires (2009), and directed by Coloradoan master filmmaker David Fincher (Se7en (1995)). Like many of Fincher's films, The Social Network is deeply competently made and phallocentric. He brandishes a peanut-sized heart here with a film that doesn't really awaken any emotions, despite dislike for several of its characters. It races towards the finish line and in doing so feels pretty shallow, not unlike the invention it portrays.

The actors do fine jobs, although it is sad to watch Jesse Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale (2005)) as alienated and humanly blunted as we get him here. Armie Hammer (J. Edgar (2011)) plays a pair of twins, which are the film's most sympathetic and funniest characters.

The Social Network is without a doubt among the most overrated films of the year.

Related reviews:

David Fincher: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - Fincher's Nordic noir is technically astute but overlong and redundant

Alien 3 (1992) or, The Monsters Go to Jail!

Watch a teaser trailer for the film here

Cost: 40 mil. $

Box office: 224.9 mil. $

= Huge hit

[The Social Network premiered September 24 (New York Film Festival) and runs 120 minutes. Sorkin began writing and researching based on a 14-page book proposal, while Mezrin was also writing his book. Filming took place in Massachusetts, Maryland, California and England, beginning in October 2009. The film opened #1 to a 22.4 mil. $ first weekend, staying atop for another week and spending a total of four weeks in the top 5 in North America, where it grossed 96.9 mil. $ (43.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 16.9 mil. $ (7.5 %) and the UK with 16.8 mil. $ (7.5 %). Several people portrayed in the film, including Zuckerberg, found that it was historically inaccurate, especially in upping the drama of the lives of the main characters. The film got nominated for 8 Oscars: It won for Best Adapted Screenplay, Score and Editing. It lost Best Picture to The King's Speech, Actor (Eisenberg) to King's Speech (Colin Firth), Directing to King's Speech (Tom Hooper), Cinematography to Inception and Sound Mixing also to Inception. It was also nominated for 6 Golden Globes, winning 4, and for 6 BAFTAs, winning 3. It was on at least 78 critics' top 10 list of the year, topping 22 (including Roger Ebert's), reportedly the most for any film of the year. In its first week out on DVD and Blu-ray, it made an additional 13.4 mil. $ on that. The Social Network is certified fresh at 96 % with a 9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Social Network?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this month ... (3-25)