The Social Network

Anyone who remembers the 2011 oscars will remember this movie. The movie watching world was split into two parts at the time,  the "King's Speech > Social Network" and  the "Social Network>King's Speech" groups. The point to note here is that supporters of the King's speech too did not think that the social network was a bad movie unlike the Social Network supporters who thought that the King's Speech was boring and predictable. That alone says milions about the movie's reach and connect with the audience.
So, the social network is a movie by David Fincher who gave us Fight Club, Seven, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the more recent The Girl with the dragon tattoo (Daniel Craig version).This movie is basically about a wannabe nerdy douchebag who wanted attention and fame, in the process of which he loses all his friends. Yeah, if sesame street tried to make the movie that would be the plot. It stars Jessie Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield (the new spiderman) and the himesh reshamiya of hollywood Justin Timberlake. I wonder how bad Zuckerberg blogged about the oscars after they got snubbed. I guess it would have gone something like this "Academy, I know you have done your homework so you know that money isn't a big part of my life but currently I'm in a place where I could buy out the King's speech therapist and his palace and turn the speech therapist's home into my ping pong room." Seems legit, right?

When?/How?

There was a lot of hype about this movie when it came out. The concencus of which was, it's a movie about facebook. I guess that had worked for its benefit in the long run as a movie about facebook will receive about as much attention as Aishwarya Bacchhan agreeing to strip. But, just like the latter, the news is false. The Social Network is very little about facebook, it wouldn't be entirely correct to classify it about Mark Zuckerberg either considering the historical inaccuracies and close observation suggests it's not a courtroom drama either. The Social Network, for me would fall somewhere between a movie about Zuckerberg and courtroom dramas. See it with that mindset and you'll enjoy it. If you see it as a movie about facebook, you'll be sorely disappointed with the ending as many King's Speech Fans are.

The Good

The social network would fall on my list of the top 10 feature films of the decade 2000-10. (I added feature so that the classics from Pixar could be disqualified. ) The reason being multi-dimensional. The first one I'll like to discuss is Direction. David Fincher has been known to be a director for thrillers and for him to direct a screenplay which, to a large extent was drama was a stroke of genius. The crib most people have with dramas is that they are slow paced and Fincher doesn't let that happen. Maybe he learned something  after Curious Case of Bejamin Button's fall at the oscars. Something about the camera work in his movies is always just so engaging. Anyone who has seen Fight Club, Seven or The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo will know what I'm talking about here. The second dimension is the acting. A young cast with Jesse Eisenhower leading is superb in their own roles. Even our Himesh Reshamiya is not so bad, although that it could be said that he didn't have to do much, just be himself. But Jesse Eisenhower is essentially the big daddy here. He kills it with his cool, comfortable dialogue delivery almost all of which is written to perfection. Very tarantino-ish minus the funny factor if you ask me. The second best performer would be Andrew Garfield who was a lot better in this movie than in the new spiderman movie which was FUBAR for me. (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition for those unfortunate souls who haven't seen Saving Private Ryan yet) The third dimension I'll be talking about is the music. This aspect of the movie really stood out here. Trent Reznor provides a different type of background for  drama entirely and it works perfectly for the movie. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, go see it. There's a version of Creep by radiohead playing in the background that is just so damn haunting it will chill your bones. Creep-Scala. 

One more thing I would like to discuss is the ending. Which has been a put off for many. The ending, for me was like alcohol. Yo hate it the first time you see it, the more you think about it, the more apt it seems. The movie ends with Mark Zuckerberg sending his ex a friend request. The scene was basically representative of how zuckerberg had given up on trying to be a douche. Thing is, you don't expect the movie to end at that note. That's why it's a put off for some and if you think of the movie with the perspective I just mentioned it fits in a lot better and is kind of perfect. 

Another wierd effect it had on me at least is that I found typing a lot cooler after this. They had these old school keyboards in the movie which Seeing Zuckerberg take out a dozen networks to get profile pics of students was just too cool and I'd be lying if I said I didn't pay more attention in C++ classes after watching this movie.

The Bad

Engaging as it is, The Social Network is not without flaws. Most of which emerge when you come out of the theater. There are many historic flaws in the Social Network. Zuckerberg basically denied the whole thing, which was obvious from the word go. But the thing that did it for me was when I saw what Sean Parker looked like in real life. 

Does this look anything like the guy who would pick up chicks in clubs and be like the ultimate party guy? They just got this character so wrong. It's like hiring Shah Rukh Khan to play The Joker. Some things just do not fit. Let's just put that aside and take this movie as it is and consider that the whole thing is factual, you'll enjoy it. There's nothing much wrong with the movie otherwise. One could say that characters come up with monologues out of thin air but then, you don't really mind that in the movie. It actually adds to the movie than taking away it's legitimacy level. Also, to all school guys out there, the freshers party scene in the social network is.. (sigh).. not even close to true in India. I wouldn't be lying if I said I had expected strip poker but, I was disappointed. 

When Do I see it?

Social Network is an ideal movie for nerds. It's the ultimate "muggu revenge" saga. There is a scene in a movie when Zuckerberg just walks out of the class after the CS teacher asked him a question and tells him "Better men than you have tried and failed at this class." and he tells him the answer to his question coolly and walks out. Ultimate bitch please moment. I would love to do that one day. Although I think it would go like "42 is the answer." and the teacher goes "sorry, no.. " and then it would be like "Oh... really.. I'll just go back to my seat.. please continue..". So, with that image in mind, I would like to say that the Social Network is a fun movie and can be seen at almost any time and some of the best possible options would be if you've been thrown out of the class for indiscipline/ you friends ditched you for a movie/ dumped by a girl or some random depressing shit. This movie will lift your spirits and will give you hope that it doesn't matter what they did.. just do the following steps:

1. Come up with a good Idea

2. Ask your friends to join

3. Make it big

4. Screw you friends over

5. Get a gazillion dollars 

See.. simple enough..

Final Verdict

The Social Network is a great movie, not entirely factual and badly advertized but still, if seen for what it is, a very enjoyable time. With some awesome acting and great direction, the social network is one of the best movies of the past decade. A must watch for today's nerds. Watch it for the dialogue, for the acting, the brilliant music and watch it to beleive that yes, nerdy coders can get laid. There is hope, my fellow brothers..!!

Django Unchained

Sorry for the long hiatus, now that people have stopped giving a shit about Confessions or Compliments regular posts from now on. Just like the unapologetic director of this movie, i will offer neither an emotional explanation nor a reason for why I decided to stop. In other words "Let's get this review started niggas"..
Django Unchained is a movie by Quentin Tarantino about .. well.. a slave(Jamie Foxx) whose wife has been taken captive by a ruthless white guy(Leo) and he pairs up with a bounty hunter (Christopher Waltz) to get her back. Now the highlight here, not taking anything away from Jamie Foxx, Leonardo Di-Caprio and waltz is Quentin Tarantino. The man has literally redefined what movie-making is about. Let me put it like this, if steven spielberg was showing the death of a man, it would probably go something like this.
1. the victim would tremble (close ups)
2. Killer's hand trembles
3. the man would die
4. the killer would look at his gun
5. regret what he has done
6. be scarred for life
7. the corpse would be gruesome beyond imagination
8. John Williams would be going ape-shit on the orchestra
9. and you would probably feel a little something in your heart.
 Jump to Tarantino, most probably
1. the killing would be done in a matter of seconds
2. blood would gush out like a busted water balloon on holi
3. the song playing in the background would be the kind you play in a rave
4. Killer says some borderline psychopath cum sarcastic line like "coffee?"
5. You bust out laughing, feeling no regret at all..
Before going for this movie, just take that picture into your mind.

When?

I've seen this movie 3 times already and the first time I saw it was alone on my laptop I guess. I have this tradition of watching a movie before I go to sleep. Mostly it was just Star Wars but I decided to go with something different this time. The thing with Star Wars was that I usually got sleepy in the middle portion and would have a good night's sleep dreaming about light sabers. The decision to watch Django Unchained turned out to be a bad one after all, the reasons for which shall become clear later in the review.

The Good

There are some questions that are just factual inquiries, things you don't debate, the answers to which are clear as day. Stuff like "Is Untouchablity bad?", "Is Megan Fox Hot?", "Do the twilight movies suck?".. one does not simply debate these questions. So, when it comes to "The good in a Tarantino Movie".. the answer I'll give you first is "The Dialogue"..  A tarantino fan can identify a tarantino movie just by 2 mins of dialogue.. It's that memorable. That as Leonardo DiCaprio says".. Dialogue should be your first, second, third, fourth and fifth concern.. after that you can start thinking about acting, direction, screenplay and music." This movie is perhaps the only movie where the acting comes on comparable levels with the awesome dialogue. The actors are pitch perfect. This movie has a more linear storyline than any other tarantino movie so far so it might be enjoyable and a good starter for those who haven't seen/enjoyed any tarantino movie so far. For die hard tarantino fans, it's not a disappointment either.
Let's take the case of The Dark Knight. Now, whenever most people see the dark knight, even though you know that the acting's good, the scene is deep, the action's great but admit it, more than half the time you were waiting like all others for the Joker to come on the screen. The dynamic guy, to come and blow the roof off Gotham. There is always one guy in every movie who does that. In Silence of the Lambs it was Hannibal Lecter, Joker in The Dark Knight, Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man. Here, there are four. Leonardo DiCaprio, Christopher Waltz( God bless you oscars!), Jamie Foxx and Sameul L. Jackson, who once again proves that he can be the best performer in a movie even if he is introduced halfway in it. Now, let that sink in. Feel a little something? yeah, that's called ass kicking.
Another thing I really liked about the movie was that even though the theme of the storyline is so serious and the dialogue is pretty racist and highly offensive (I can't emphasize this enough) at no point did I get intense or  offended while watching the movie. In a wierd way the whole movie was a fun time. Many people have classified this genre as black comedy (and no fellow noobs, black comedy is not comedy by  black guys) and I see their point. This movie has a lot of violence and action sequences in it but at no point does it become an action movie. There is a shot in the movie where the violence is gruesome and when you cringe because of the brutality of it all and that would be the scene of mandingo fighting but the rest of the gun violence is mostly, and don't call me a psychopath/sadist for this, was kind of fun. I actually laughed out loud when a group of black guys killed off their owner with a rock. Judge me all you want, but when you see it, you will too. There is a lot of goodt in this movie and if I covered them all I would probably have to write another novel. So now we move on to..

The Bad

There is hardly anything wrong with the movie when you see it for the first time. It has its flaws but this is stuff that I could live with and if corrected, would have changed the movie's tone in general. There are two kinds of responses I got for this film. The first one being the kind who say this is the best quentin tarantino movie since pulp fiction (personally I put Reservoir dogs ahead of both unlike most.. but that's another story) and the second kind being the ones who say that the movie was completely random. Now, the second kind did enjoy the movie but as monsieur candyland says "If I was to take this hammer here and bash in their skull, I would find that they too had enjoyed the movie for the same three reasons as everybody else.."

For the sake of saying though, the movie is predictable and a little bit long although it doesn't really feel like it when you watch it for the first time. Oh, and yeah for the easily offended, avoid at all costs.

When Do I see It

Tarantino movies are usually all time movies. You could watch it after a funeral and still laugh your ass off. (I know that's a bit over the top but what can I say, that's what the movie is .. ) My advice, watch it with friends who love tarantino movies and you'll have a blast. And make sure that you have time to see it because the first time I saw it, I couldn't sleep during the movie and so.. lack of sleep made me miss classes. (In hindsight, it was probably worth it). If you haven't seen it by now, do it as soon as possible. Better yet, see it in theaters. (All those willing, just inbox me. We'll go in a group. Release date is 29th march. This nigga is ready.) 

Final Verdict

Being the tarantino movie as it is, I feel the urgent need to say something awesome, cool, witty, sarcastic and meaningful at the same time. But I hardly have any words left. Everything I say will probably be just a rehash of the lines of the movie. Let's put it like this I have a sincere feeling that people will be quoting from this movie in trolls for a long, long time. As Lord of the rings gave us the "One does not simply troll.." this movie can give us about 10 more.