The Social Network (2010)

[rmontro]

I didn't see a topic on this film, so thought I would start one.  I know the facts of this film are supposed to be highly fictionalized, and I don't even use Facebook, but I think this is one of the most interesting films I've ever seen.  The social interactions among all the business dealings are fascinating.

SPOILERS AHEAD

For instance, it's hard not to feel outraged for Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) for the way he was treated.  But when you look at it, you have to admit his approach to the company showed very small time thinking.

As much as Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) is depicted as an unlikable douchebag, it looks like he really had the right idea, and was instrumental in taking the company into the bigtime.  He got them the investors that made Saverin's contributions look minute in comparison.

Still, I'd like to know what kind of settlement Saverin got (it was undisclosed).  I hope it was huge (I'm sure it was).  Although huge is relative when we're talking about this kind of money.  I didn't really care so much about the Harvard boys, although I guess they were ripped off too.  They were settled with as well.

[VCRTracking]

I love the Honest Trailer:

[Spartan Girl]

Erica's speech at the beginning of the movie is a speech that Nice Guys have had coming to them for years:

"You're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you are a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that it's not true. It's because you're an asshole."

[VCRTracking]

 The Social Network is definitely Sorkin's voice, his distinctive dialogue and rhythms all over it.  I think what Fincher brings to it is, just like how he kept Gone Girl from looking like a Lifetime movie, he keeps TSN from looking looking and feeling like a typical "teen movie".  Even Fincher's choice of Trent Reznor scoring the movie. Reznor's "Hand Covers Bruise", a both dissonance and delicate cue that perfectly captures Zuckerberg's wounded pride and ego after he's dumped. Sorkin's original choice of the song that plays as Zuckerberg walks home was Paul Young's "Love of the Common People", a more pop sounding song from the 80s. 

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

Erica's speech at the beginning of the movie is a speech that Nice Guys have had coming to them for years:

"You're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you are a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that it's not true. It's because you're an asshole."

That's a great line delivered devastatingly by Rooney Mara. She said later they did a LOT of takes:
 

Quote

 

"Yes, very much so," she said. "You know, the first day we did an 8-page scene, and it took about 6 minutes to do it all the way through. I think we did it about 99 times?"

Compared to a spartan director like Clint Eastwood (who rarely demands more than two takes from an actor), Fincher can sound punishing. Still, Mara says that his notes were always about dialogue and feeling, and that his method actually paid dividends for her and scene partner Jesse Eisenberg.

"It's interesting, because I was worried," she told us. "I was like, 'God, I'm gonna burn out, I'll get flat, it'll feel robotic,' but it never felt like that. Every single time, it really felt like a different scene and fresh. David knew exactly what he wanted and gave such specific notes, and because [screenwriter] Aaron Sorkin's dialogue is so fast and so specific, we had to stay on our toes the entire time. Me and Jesse really tried to stay fresh for each other, so it always felt very real and in the moment."

 

Watching the scene I could see how without Fincher's direction the emotions could either have been overplayed or Sorkin's dialogue could be delivered too glibly. (Think Rory on Gilmore Girls):

Edited May 29, 2017 by VCRTracking

[JustaPerson]

I love The Social Network. I watch every time it plays on television. I hadn't seen a David Fincher film before it, and after I was a big fan. It also introduced me to Andrew Garfield and that's always good. 

[BitterApple]

I think Zuckerberg is a grade-A asshole, but I love this movie and the trailer is one of my all-time favorites.

[Spartan Girl]

Regardless of how much was actually true, the ending scene of Mark morosely sitting there refreshing his "friend request" to Erica while the end cards talk about the success of Facebook was perfect. We all could be billionaires with the world at our feet, and yet most of us will only care about how friends us on social media.

[methodwriter85]

I went to college a couple years after The Social Network took place, and I love absolutely everything about how they nail that 2003-2006ish time period. Really just nails it, right down to the girls wearing peasant skirts with their tank tops and Mark's t-shirts over button-down collared shirts. Not to mention that this is the first peer group that really used social media as a big part of their lives.

Josh Pence is hot. Shame they had to cover his face. The social commentary on the movie was interesting- Armie basically said that when they finally got to meet the real Winklevoss, they ambushed them with all these questions and felt like stalkers. LOL.

I kind of felt bad for Mark when he tried asking out Rashida Jones, but then I have to remember his "Erica Albright is a bitch" rant.

[CaughtOnTape]

This movie has one of my all-time favorite scenes in any movie in it.  The chicken conversation.  Joe Mazzello's "What's he talkin' about?" is delivered so perfectly and I die laughing every time.  So hilarious.