The Social Network: Is Mark Zuckerberg's status worth our attention?

Plot:

In 2003 computer whiz kid Mark Zuckerberg started a social networking website that would revolutionise the way the world communicates.  Six years later he had made his first million. However, Zuckerberg soon found himself in legal disputes, as he discovered that many of the 500 million people he had ‘friended’ were waiting to see him fall.

The main aim of a site like Facebook is to communicate with your real friends via the virtual medium of the internet. Right from the beginning of The Social Network, we are shown countless times that the creator Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is a social-misfit. From the very start, we see his inadequacies towards girls, his best friend Eduardo Saverin, and life in general. The first scene shows that having a 'normal' conversation with Zuckerberg is excruciating and five minutes in, you are praying that he isn't going to act like that throughout the whole film as he is so awkward and so crude that you might actually have to leave the cinema. 

Luckily, the narrative of the film distracts from his incredulously painful personality and you actually become hooked on the story. It entices you in, and you can't take your eyes off it. In the first twenty minutes we see Zuckerberg as a twisted individual who actually got initial recognition for creating a college site in which girls are rated by other students on their looks. This all stems from Zuckerberg seeking revenge on a girl for dumping him. Our opinion on Zuckerberg changes throughout the film, this is prompted by the arrival of Sean Parker, founder of Napster and played by Justin Timberlake. The performances of Timberlake and Andrew Garfield (Saverin) are solid and Garfield even outshines central performer Jesse Eisenberg at times. 

The film is directed by David Fincher and it is worth noting that the film bears no resemblance to Seven, Fight Club or Panic Room. It seems as though Fincher hasn't completely stamped his mark on the film and he has let the material flourish. This actually carries the film, the dialogue is second to none and you would expect nothing less from Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing and there is nothing fancy, dark or edgy in the directorial style. The fact that Fincher has stepped back and concentrated on the material compliments the film perfectly. 

There are elements that seem baggy on occasion and others that just don't really work, like the addition of Saverin's manic girlfriend. However, the film makes up for it, the plot is completely coherent and the transitions between dorm-room nerds typing away to the two simultaneous lawsuits against Zuckerberg are very smoothly done. Also what is key to the film working is that Sorkin has taken a neutral viewpoint, the film is not biased in any shape or form and we see the good and the bad sides of the trio of main characters. 

What I feel the audience gets out of the film is a completely riveting story of a friendship that goes horribly wrong and the sense that we really know Zuckerberg. At the same time, it seems the only person who really understands Mark Zuckerberg is Mark Zuckerberg.

5/5

The Town: Nuns with machine guns

Plot:

As he plans his next job, a longtime thief tries to balance his feelings for a bank manager connected to one of his earlier heists, as well as the FBI agent looking to bring him and his crew down.

Lets be honest. Ben Affleck has been in some stinkers over the years. These include 'Gigli' known as one of the worst films of all time, the historical car crash that was Pearl Harbour and Kevin 'Clerks' Smith's Jersey Girl. Affleck's performances in these films gained him various unwanted Raspberry nominations and made his brother seem like Laurence Olivier in comparison. Could this be blamed on the media's creation of the 'Bennifer' phenomenon? Who knows. The better question is has he learned and improved?

In recent years, Ben Affleck directed and wrote the screenplay of the fantastic Gone Baby Gone in which his brother Casey shines again but what that film prove is that there really is substance to Ben Affleck. That film showed a knack for direction and storytelling which there were glimpses of in his first screenplay, Good Will Hunting. 

The first thing to say is that The Town does not have a script like that of Gone Baby Gone. The premise is one that has been seen before, most notably from Heat, Michael Mann's cold classic. The influence of Heat is evident throughout the film, from the hard-nosed, yet extremely likeable supposed villains to the bullet-ridden, car chases. There are two notable differences, in Heat there isn't a clear good and evil, whereas in The Town, Pete Postlethwaite proves how an evil Irish gangster can still be scary. 

The other film that the Town owes a debt to is Point Break, where presidents masks and surfers were the fashion. This film is not Point Break or Heat. It is predictable and you can see most of it coming...However, it is thoroughly entertaining, it keeps you interested and it offers something different from what we have seen for quite some time in the form of heist movies. What it proves is that Ben Affleck has it. He has the ability to become an even better director but this is a well directed film, it does everything, it moves in all the right directions. The film is technically sound, from the sped up Boston skyline at the beginning, to the final narration. The characters make the film so watchable, at times Jeremy Renner overshadows Affleck and and Rebecca Hall which is not a bad thing.

However predictable, the film really keeps you, overly long but who cares, I think Affleck deserves a break and The Town will surely deliver that. 

4/5