The Social Network

For You

Did you like "The West Wing?" Did your parents? How about "Dawson's Creek?" Point being - this is a dialog movie. Lots of talking with few (very few) moments of cinematic greatness. The Social Network is serious, and I know we all take facebook seriously, but this is a bit of a stretch. Its a great movie for Moms and Dads, considering they still can't quite figure out where this thing came from in the first place, and I would recommend that all of you see it. It talks about programming, and smart kids, and college. This, as far as I'm concerned, is a good thing. Great even. However, skip the theater. You'll leave underwhelmed and thirteen dollars short.

For Me

James Cameron writes a script with male characters only, then later inserts lady names for one or two. This lends itself to extremely strong and charismatic female roles. Aaron Sorkin did the opposite. He produced a screenplay full of whiny self absorbed women and then replaced them with whiny self absorbed men. Sorry y'all but this is a movie for dudes. Scratch that, boys.

There was another movie that came out the same weekend as The Social Network - Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. As far as I'm concerned Mr. Fincher's version was much more applicable. Aparently nothing seems to have changed in twenty years. The only difference now is that entrepreneurship is the new Wall Street and its just as corrupt, scathing, and disgusting to watch. Men are still obsessed with power and desperate for approval.

Not to be a hypocrite, but the performances were outstanding and the dialog was top notch. Cinematography was utterly watchable (sorry Jacob, but it wasn't beautiful - I hate The Red), the characters were engaging, and I was completely engrossed. But this movie didn't surprise me. Didn't wow me. Or do anything new in cinema that I hadn't already seen before. Have any of you idiots that raved about The Social Network ever seen anything by Mike Leigh? Anything?

Bottom line, I don't think this movie had a point. It was meta - and that's it. I kept asking myself why the marketing team for this film never mentioned that it was a David Fincher film. Now I know why: it sucked.

PS If you don't like my opinions, please refer to the title of this blog.

Heartbreaker

I think the OR Books ladies and I are going to see Heartbreaker soon. The trailer is really silly and cheesy, but you can check out a clip here that redeems the movie just a little bit bit.

I absolutely adore Romain Duris. Check him out in The Beat That My Heart Skipped. Its based on a film called Fingers with Harvey Keitel. This one you can skip. Pun intended.

Die linkshändige Frau

Decided. Watched The Left-handed Woman yesterday at Anthology Film Archives. Its a six o'clock movie.

Hi New York,

Made it. Have a schedule now and getting ready to watch some serious movies. Not serious movies, just serious movie watching. Real progress will begin with whatever film Tomasz and I see when he's here this week. Far more excited about the act of picking at this point. Don't disappoint.

Best,

Crystal

PS Saw Inception. Tomasz and I got into such a heated phone argument he hung up me. Twice. Thanks Mr. Nolan.

I've Already Told You About This

My roomie and savior Claire is Swedish. I like Swedish films. Especially when they're made by Roy Andersson.

Its okay if you don't know whether you should be giggling or not. Life on this big blue marble is a crapshoot, and you can laugh, or you can cry about it.

Check out his commercials too.

New York Has Made Me Smarter

As you can tell by my taste, I am far more refined now that I live in New York.

Running a Lot

I was at a whimsical Austin dinner party last night where one guest brought up Apocalypto. Her only comment was that it had a lot of running in it. It made her want to run five miles a day. Really? Not the fact that it is insanely violent? And brutal? And made by that crazy guy? Nope. Just the running.

New to Me Asian Flicks

Tomasz and I were thinking about watching an Asian film today (how racist) and these were what we came up with:

Chocolate

Don't bother. It's really really really bad, full of montages, and reminded me of a student film. In my defense, this was Tomasz' pick.

Ichi the Killer

I'm embarassed to admit that I haven't seen anything by Takashi Miike. This is definately THE NEXT movie on my list, especially since Suzanne said she dumped a guy for making her watch it. My interest is piqued.

Thirst

I've already seen this one, and it has quickly become one of my new favorites. Romantic in a warped and masochitic way (think Secretary with Maggie Gyllenhal).Thirst is the latest film from Korean director Park Chan-wook, who stole our hearts with operatic tales of revenge in Sympathy for Mr. Vengance, Oldboy (rent this one already), and Lady Vengance. Its a vampire movie, but Thirst concerns itself more with male and female emotional woes. Love is the worst thing to happen to anyone - and I totally agree.

Not Sunny, But Hot as Balls

Tomasz and I were gonna go to Hamilton Pool today, but without the sun, the whole trip looses its luster. Now we're thinkin about a movie date with the roomies. Splice, anyone?

I had no intention of seeing this movie, until I realized two things:

1. My other options are Robin Hood (no way Ridley- I'm not giving you any of my money), Prince of Persia (only at the dollar theater), and Iron Man 2. Let's be honest, its too late for me to see the latter.

2. Manohla Dargis recommended it. Not kidding. That's enough of a reason for me.

(We'll talk about whether or not she is supposed to be sexy and what the hell for later.)

PSA

Remember when your girlfriend made you watch that movie with Drew Barrymore and you knew you were never going to get back those two hours and all you could think about was how to secretly check your cell phone and how funny your facebook status updates are and how leaving the room would make it too obvious that you have far better taste than everyone?

You were Time Raped.

It wasn't your fault, and don't be afraid to talk about it.

Time Rape* belongs to Ben Slamka.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

For You

Overall, I'm glad that the success of this book is getting people to sit through a foreign film. At the theater. If you liked the book, the movie will be a bit of a let down (nothin' new for us book nerds), but there will be some semblance of tension. It's a bit of a ride to see exactly how the director chose to handle the sticky situations. I can't believe I'm saying this, considering how dedicated I am to the cinematic experience, but this one can be watched at home with the same result.

For Me

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one long episode of "CSI Miami." The musical cues were crazy obvious (and totally laughable), way too much time was spent on emails, and I'm positive that the acting was terrible. The great thing about foreign films is that you USUALLY don't notice this since you're too busy reading and shit. Not the case here. Sorry dudes, but this movie is bad.

At the theater. Credits roll.

Ben: Well I couldn't tell what anyone was saying. Thankfully though that guy really knew how to shoot email. I always knew who was being sent and email, and who was recieving an email. Nice job on the email.

End scene.

Ondine

A movie with Colin Farrell and mermaids. Fuck yea.

Seriously though, I doubt this movie will be all that great, even though it is written and directed by Neil Jordan - who shocked the shit out of us with The Crying Game and made it bearable to watch Tom Cruise again in Interview with a Vampire.

But unfortunately, Mr. Jordan's latest movies The Brave One (Oh, Jodie) and Breakfast on Pluto were a complete fail.

Not to mention that the trailer for Ondine is awful awful awful. It's up to you, but I'll almost definitely see it and let you how much it sucked.