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Arts & Entertainment

Weekend Movie Forecast: <em>The Social Network </em>Vs. <em>Let Me In</em>

By

Robert Horan

Published Oct 1, 2010

Modified Oct 1, 2010

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Although we reported on the The Social Network in last week's forecast, we thought we should remind y'all that it's now in wide release as opposed to just being the opening film at the NYFF (where only cultured people with disposable income and subscriptions to the New Yorker can attend). Last time we reported that it had a 100% on metacritic, which considering it was only seen by 8 critics, it was bound to go down. After 28 other critics saw the movie, the score did go down...to effin' 98%. Heralded foreign films and darling indies don't even get that, and this was a studio film, so you should probably see it...now. It's usually more fun to quote the scathing reviews because of how clever and witty they are, but there really aren't any bad reviews for this movie, so we'll quote a positive one. Joshua Rothkopf from Time Out New York says: "It’s a grandly entertaining reminder of everything we used to go to the movies for (and still can’t get online): sparkling dialogue, thorny situations, soulful performances, and an unusually open-ended and relevant engagement with a major social issue of the day: how we (dis)connect. Forget about damage control—if I were billionaire site exec Mark Zuckerberg, I’d be down on my knees in gratitude for an origin story this brainy, suggestive and, yes, flattering. Sort of."Sex, money, Jewish paranoia, algorithms—this is merely the movie’s first half hour. The Social Network zings along like nothing attempted since the heady days of Paddy Chayefsky. (We might be looking at the heir to his darkly dazzling Network.) Splitting into deft complexity, Sorkin’s tale toggles to ominous legal conference rooms, developing a pair of shoulder angels for Mark to hear out: his betrayed cofounder, Eduardo (Garfield, the heart of the film); and larky Napster flirt Sean Parker (Timberlake), inviting him to dream bigger. Never preachy, the film becomes a referendum on pushy ambition, both in business and private matters, that’s the signature of Facebook itself, turning a nation of users into self-promoters. These characters will, one day, be us: alienating our 'friends' while linking with the world. Do movies ever attempt to analyze the entire weave of life? Now they do."

 

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By

Robert Horan

Published Oct 1, 2010

Modified Oct 1, 2010

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Click on the film stills for more details and reviews on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include The Social Network, Case 39, Let Me In, Ip Man, Leaving, Freakonomics, Hatchet II, Douchebag, The Hungry Ghosts, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Charley Varrick, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

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Robert Horan

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