The Social Network - Obviously, this movie is about the founding of Facebook. It was written by Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) and directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en, Benjamin Button). This was a fantastic movie. Many critics put it at the top of their list for 2010. I will not go that far, but it was a very good movie. The writing is superb, though the dialogue can be challenging, to say the least. Sorkin did this sort of thing with the West Wing, too. It is very smart, very fast, full of subject-specific lingo and jargon, and very deadpan and dry. This made it clever, realistic and challenging, but it was also rewarding if you can "get it" and keep up. The young actors were fantastic, though my favorite characters may have been the supporting roles of Erica Albright (Rooney Mara) and the Winklevoss twins. What's cool is that the Winklevoss's are played by one guy, using split-screen and super-imposition. For instance, another actor's body is used for a lot of the scenes, and the main actor's face is super-imposed onto the head. Pretty cool. Anyway, this movie gives us a glimpse of social life at Harvard, the insecurities of being a brilliant student, and the competitiveness of the dot-com generation and the world in which it resides. Thought I enjoyed the bit of the movie that took place at Harvard the most, it thrives throughout. Very rich, very clever movie. And this is saying a lot when, upon first hearing about this idea of a movie, I thought it would be extremely boring. But, good movie all-around. Fincher does not miss much, and neither does Sorkin.
Winter's Bone - This is one of those movies that was a low budget, cult festival hit that received very enthusiastic reviews. So, I got it on Netflix. Jennifer Lawrence, who plays the main character Ree Dolly, is getting rave reviews and there is a lot of Best Actress talk surrounding her performance. The movie is about a young, redneck (I know that's not PC, but it's true) gal whose mother is practically an invalid and essentially leaves it to her to raise her two younger siblings by herself. Her father, and most of her family and those in her social community, appear to be meth "cookers." It is a way a life. They all live in ramshackled cabins in the woods where the yards are littered with trash and debris. This isn't unlike much of what I saw in small-town South Georgia where I grew up, except this story takes place in rural Missouri. But over the years her father has been in and out of jail for drug issues, and he has been recently arrested again. Though she has not seen him in a while, she finds out from the sheriff that after getting bonded out of jail, he has gone missing. The clincher is that he put up his family's home, where Ree lives and takes care of her mother and siblings, for the bond. So, if he does not make his appearance, she loses the house. Thus, she has to go on a journey to find her father and she runs into lots of trouble along the way. A star is born in Jennifer Lawrence. She is tough, beautiful, and extremely natural at playing this very raw and desperate character. Amazing performance by this gal (she will next be in Matthew Vaughn's X-Men quasi-reboot). The movie could be a little slow and hard to understand, and it was gloomy, but it was gripping. And despite the dark and gritty plot-elements and characters, the cinematography was fantastic. Highly recommended movie, if you are looking for some good performances and a gut-wrenching story.
Below is my movie ratings and rankings list for those released in 2010, which I have seen thus far. I keep this running list and add movies to it as I see them and review them. As you can see, I thought Inception was the best movie I've seen this year. Moreover, it may be the best movie I have seen in a long time.
1. Inception - 9.75/10
2. The Town - 9/10
3. The Social Network - 9/10
4. Shutter Island - 8.5/10
5. Robin Hood - 8/10
6. Kick Ass - 7.75/10
7. Winter's Bone - 7.75/10
8. Iron Man 2 - 7.5/10
9. Hot Tub Time Machine - 7/10
10. Clash of the Titans - 5/10
...
Alice in Wonderland - 3.5/10
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