Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart Love Shack tingling Baton Rouge

I can drive the drama MotherLoad did (all this, so I was temporarily MIA, my apologies), and when I got home there was a little gem in the history of email, like manna from heaven. According to Life & Style Scene Queens and shines Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, the movie "Dawn in Baton Rouge, which will shake idea. Set. At home. Love and sparks. ZOMG!    Life & Style Scene Queens can show that

Very Naughty Animals

The Social Network Makes Stalking Acceptable

The Social Network

David Fincher’s latest film, The Social Network has been called both a “masterpiece” and “the film that defines a generation.”  Once you get pass the initial hype, and the tendency for critics and bloggers to go gaga over everything Fincher touches, it becomes clear that these associations are not quite true.  While The Social Network is one of the better films to hit theatres this year, it is the Facebook application itself and not the movie that will be remembered in the history books.

After being dumped by his girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara), Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) takes to his blog and trashes her character over cyberspace.  This leads to the idea of creating a website that allows students to rank all of the female students on campus.  An instant hit amongst the students, Mark’s program end ups crashing the Harvard computer system.  While this raises the ire of both the school faculty and the female students, it also brings Mark to the attention of twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer).  The Winklevoss twins approach Zuckerberg about creating a Havard version of MySpace.  Although Zuckerberg agrees to help them with their project, Zuckerberg ends up working on his own website, The Facebook, with the aid of his best friend Eduardo (Andrew Garfield).  Soon The Facebook becomes a global hit and Zuckerberg not only finds himself meeting the likes of Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), the brains behind Napster, but also finds himself in the middle of multiple lawsuits.

While the film looks at the creation of Facebook, The Social Network is a legal drama first and foremost.  The film looks at the question of ownership in today’s society.  In one scene Zuckerberg makes a great point where he questions if someone who makes a nice chair, must they pay everyone who has ever made a chair before them.  Fincher never picks a side on the issue of who actually created Facebook, he merely lets the evidence play out and forces the audience to decide for themselves.

The interesting thing about this movie is that the hero is actually the villain.  Although Zuckerberg is clearly a genius in regards to the way his brain functions, he is far from a likeable person.  He is socially awkward and wants desperately to be a part of everything he despises mainly because it is what the cool people do.  In fact, all the major developments in the film stem from Zuckerberg’s childish habits.  Erica even remarks to Mark, although it could really apply to bloggers as well, that writing crude comments online is what angry people do in the dark.  Although the lawsuits involve millions of dollars, Fincher makes a point to remind us that, at the end of the day, the participants are still immature boys looking to impress the opposite sex.  

The Social Network has more to say about the nature of mixing friendship and business than it actually does about the impact of Facebook on today’s society.  Some of the best moments in the film are found in the tension between Sean and Eduardo.  Sean is the cool kid that Mark wants to be.  Sean not only talks the talk but has the vision and the experience to back it up.  Eduardo on the other hand is the loyal friend whose school taught approach to business limits his imagination in regards to how big Facebook can actually be.

The performances in the film are outstanding.  The Social Network features one of the best works from an ensemble cast you will find all year.  The performances coupled with Aaron Sorkin’s brilliantly written script and David Fincher’s stellar visual eye packs a big punch.   My only knock on the film is that, since it is primarily a legal drama, The Social Network never looks at the effects Zuckerberg’s creation has on society.  The program was designed to bring people together online, yet it is actually alienating people from each other in the real world.  What I mean by this is that people connect less now face to face, as everything from making plans to sharing stories is done online.  It is this reason why I have problems with the whole “the movie defines a generation” chant some are spewing.  It is a great film but not one that really impacts society the way you hope it would.  Still, as far as legal dramas go, The Social Network is one of the best.

Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival Give Bloggers Some Love

The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is showing love to the blogging community by providing a 25% discount on tickets for friends, family, and readers. A huge thank you goes out to the festival organizers for their wonderful generosity. Clearly deals like this do not come around every day! I highly encourage those in the Toronto area next week to check out as many of the Reel Asian films as possible. Not only do you get a chance to see films from around the world, but you get to take in the film festival experience at a affordable cost. I have included the promotion below:

SPECIAL OFFER from Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival for friends of Big Thoughts From A Small Mind - save 25% on regular prices! Enter promotional code blogsm99 when you are purchasing regular screening tickets online at www.reelasian.com. Valid to November 8 2010.

Please note: the code is not valid for youth screenings (since they are already $5), Richmond Hill and for festival passes / screening 4-packs.

The Reel Asian International Film Festival runs from November 9th – 15th. The full list of films and schedules can be found at www.reelasian.com.

Piranha Meal Deal A Bit Fishy

Piranha

Why do major studios spend big money to make B-movies? Attempting to recapture that “it’s so bad that it’s good” appeal which certain B-movies have is rarely achieved by today’s standards. Sure there have been exceptions, most notably Black Dynamite and, to a lesser extent, Machete. Yet more often than not the films end up being plain silly. This is evident when you watch films such as Drag Me to Hell, My Bloody Valentine 3D and the recent release of Piranha.

After living for millions of years in a tomb underwater, thousands of fearsome prehistoric piranhas are released after an tremor occurs. Fortunately for the piranhas there is plenty of food available as the tremor just happens to coincide with the annual Lake Victoria Spring Break week. Soon sheriff Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue) and a marine biologist, Novak (Adam Scott) find themselves trying to not only stop the piranha invasion, but attempting to save Julie’s son, Jack (Steven R. McQueen), and the object of his affection, Kelly (Jessica Szohr), in the process.

It is hard to truly classify Piranha as a horror film as it aims to be more of a reimaging of the original Piranha film series. The problem is that the film does not know when to quit. It is like a joke that is no longer funny, yet the comedian is still trying to get as much mileage out of it as possible. For example, a good portion of Piranha is dedicated to spoofing the whole Girls Gone Wild franchise. Besides being several years late in regards to the subject, there is a point where the film becomes the very thing it is spoofing.

Every aspect of the film, with the exception of the plot, is done to great excess. Both the nudity and the violence are so gratuitous that the film ends up being a cheesy comedy instead of a horror movie. Similar to director Alexandre Aja’s previous films, The Hills Have Eyes and High Tension, Piranha has numerous scenes where Aja goes to extremes to generate some form of reaction from the audience. He fills the screen with scenes of the piranhas eating male and female genitalia, severing various limbs, and even a scene where a piranha devours a woman from inside out. Yet unlike his earlier works, these scenes do nothing more than causes fits of laughter instead of screams of terror.

If anything, the most shocking thing about Piranha is the cast that the film manages to pull together. Besides Shue, the film features the likes of Ving Rhames, Richard Dreyfuss, Jerry O’Connell, Christopher Lloyd, and even Eli Roth. It is perplexing to imagine what drew them all to this particular film? As neither the plot nor the campy humor is really that appealing. Out of all of the actors, only O’Connell and Lloyd seem to hit the right over-the-top tone that the film aims for. Elisabeth Shue does the best she can with the material she is given, but the fact that someone with her talent even did this film is probably the scariest thing of all. 

Halloween Pics

Movie Marketing Monday

Welcome to the Riley’s

Very intrigued by this one, it could be one of the sleeper indie hits for the year.




Wrecked

I have been on an Adrien Brody kick for the last month so it was only a matter of time before this caught my eye.