The Social Network (2010)

I was absolutely blown away with this movie I really didn't expect much of it, I know it was getting award recoginition but I originaly chalked it up to a down year in film this year, but HOLY CRAP this just blew me away.

From Mega-Director David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac, Benjamin Button) comes the story of the creation of one of the worlds most popular websites, Facebook. Who would have honestly thought a movie about the creation of a website would be this good, I sure as shit didn't.

The Social Network boasts a tremendous cast with Jesse Eisenberg portraying world's youngest Billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, and Andrew Garfield portraing his best-friend/co-founder, Eduardo Saverin and Justin Timberlake as Napster founder, Sean Parker.

Mark is a student at Harvard who is a computer whiz. One night while on a bender he creates a website comparing the hottest girls on campus which gets 22,000 hits that night crashing the Harvard network. A few weeks later he is approached by a few jocks looking to setup a sort of match.com but for Harvard students which leads Mark to the idea of TheFaceBook. We see the whole start-up and the eventual lawsuits that come when dealing with Billion dollar ideas. People get screwed and friendships get ruined but as the tagline says, "You don't get to 500 Million friends without making a few enemies".

The movie is just all-around fantastic, I didn't want the movie to end. Thats my only gripe with it, its only 2 hrs long but I could have sat through so much more, it's that enjoyable. This is definetly my front runner for the Oscar this year and it already won the Golden Globe so it seems like a lock.

I extremly reccomend seeing this movie, it iw wonderfully well written and brillently acted, anyone who has ever used Facebook would have some intrest in the film and even if you dont have an account it is a truly griping story of human interaction in the modern age.

The Social Network recieve 9 "Andrew Garfield as the New Spidermans"...out of 10.

True Grit (2010)

My love-hate relationship with the Coen brothers films continue with their 2010 remake of the John Wayne fronted classic True Grit. As is the case with most remakes, the originals are better. This just had a bit of a different tone than the original and i felt like it suffered because of it. The main issue is Jeff Bridges stepping into John Waynes role as U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn.

Wayne doing the role was perfect for him. He was funny at times and serious at others. Whereas Bridges didnt really convey an comedic relif and often times the accent he was using was very difficult to understand, often going minutes of converstaion without understang a single bit of the dialogue. Matt Damon stepped into a doomed role as Texas Ranger LaBeouf. The character was annoying when Glenn Campbell did it in '69 and Damon couldnt do much better, very poor casting in my opinion. The real break-out and truly great performance was given by Hailee Steinfeld, in her debut film, where I think she actually did a better job in the role of Mattie Ross than Kim Darby did in '69. And even though they give top billing and went out and got a know actor in Josh Brolin for the role of Tom Chaney, he barely gets any screentime as the role did in '69.

The film starts with the Tom Chaney killing the father of Mattie Ross, who then arrives to retrieve her fathers body and close out all of his outstanding affairs. When she learns that have yet to catch Chaney she enlists Cogburn to seek him out and eventually LaBeouf insterts himself into the manhunt.

The film was meidocre at best, I deffinetly reccomend seeing the John Wayne version instead. It has a different tone and was just all around more enjoyable compared to this remake. The one truly good thing to come out of it is Steinfeld who after giving a great performance should see a lot more work in her future as long as she doesn't squander it like many child actrs do.

There is talk of an Oscar for Jeff Bridges for his role, I may however disagree, but it would interesting if he won because John Wayne won the Oscar for the role at the 1970 Academy Awards show. It would seem as though it is just an automaticly great role is he wins, hell even if he nominated.

True Grit recieves 6 "Is that you John Wayne? Is this me?''s...out of 10.

Black Swan (2010)

Director Darren Aronofky (Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler) brings us Black Swan, a psychological thriller starring a favorite of mine, Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel.

The film is beautifully done, brillantly acted and holds a very artistic value. Natalie Portman was fantastic and will most likely, or at least should, win the Oscar for Best Actress. I guess im a bit of a fanboy for her but she is truly deserving as she was flawless in her role as Nina Sayers.

The film overall is an Allegory for the classic story of The Swan Lake. Nina who is the best dancer at the most prestigious ballet studio in New York and their forthcoming production has her cast as the Swan Queen. Nina struggles with the role as she can do the White Swan flawlessly but is too stiff and obssed with being perfect to convincingly do the role of the Black Swan. She lives with her overbearing mother who controls virtually every aspect of her life. But when Lily (Kunis) steps in to the studio Nina begins to loosen up but at the same time descendsinto madness as she believes Lily is trying to steal the role. We see this slowly build up, all coming to a head on the Ballets opening night.

Natalie Portman truly owns the movie and is perfect in every aspect. It not often that these artsy films that end up with a lot of Oscar consideration end up being really enjoyable for me but this was a suprise and I was not disapppointed like I was expecting, My only gripe is that it could have been a little darker in content and reveal her insanity at a slower rate but other wise beautifully done.

Black Swan recieves 8 "Red Eyes"... out of 10.

Dinner for Schmucks (2010)

Dinner for Schmucks brings about a comedy with some of my favorite Comedic Actors currently on the circuit. With names like Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd (Anchorman), Zach Galifnakis (The Hangover) and Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) theres no way they could make a bad movie...and they did not dissappoint. This screwball comedy delivers with the laughs and as many great comedies do, delivers with the hilarious one-liners.

Rudd plays a Finance Exec, Tim, who is in line for a promotion but in order to get it his boss lays down a challenge, bring the biggest Idiot to a dinner competition. In steps Carrell, Barry, who is a divorced IRS agent who spends his free time collecting and modeling mice. Hyjinks ensue when Barry nearly destroys everything in Tim's life, pushing his would-be fiance away while vieing for the promotion. Everything culminates in the final half-hour filled with laughs as the dinner table is finally reached and the "idiots" are presented.

The jokes are great and Carrell's awkwardness comes through yet again, often times being uncomfortable, but never-the-less funny. Galifinakis and Carrell really steal the movie away from Rudd as Boss and Employee, Rivals and Wife Stealer. Their "battle" at the dinner table is the defining moment in the movie and one of the funniest scenes in recent memory for me at least.

This movie is actually pretty funny but it could have been a lot better. Quite frankly I would like to have seen some funnier dialogue and one-liners from Jemaine Clement akin to a lot of episodes from FotC.

Dinner for Schmucks recieves 7.5 "That's what she Saids''...out of 10.

#1 - Mass Effect 2

Very Difficult Choice... My Love of Science Fiction versus My Love Of History. Mass Effect 2 is just so well put together and a beautifully done Space Opera to say the least. This game is just epic in every facet and Sheppard is one of the Greatest Video Game Characters ever created. Bioware is without a doubt the top studio producing games right now. ME2 is similar to Heavy Rain in that every action takes the story in a different direction. You can choose to be the good guy, the bad guy or maybe even the average guy. ME2 also provides a multitude of classes to play as each having a unique style that can be advantageous at time and detremental at other times. You are also given control over a large group of characters that you recruit and build up a rapport with. As far as the plot goes I can't recall much off hand, this came out in like the 1st or 2nd week of January which is when I played it, I keep intending to give another play through but never got around to it. Gamers can start with #2 but I do not reccomned it because Bioware implemented a great design so ME2 actually utilizes your save file from the first game and your decesions have outcomes in the 2nd. I Played ME2 on the PC and a version of it is coming out for the PS3 in Jan/2011 so technically it could win GOTY again. However, Mass Effect 3 is due to hit shelves in November 2011 so watch out cause Mass Effect 3 is my front runner for Next Year!

#2 - Red Dead Redemption

Very difficult choice between one and two Red Dead was one Hell of an adventure and I Loved every bit of it. The easiest way to describe Red Dead is that it's Grand Theft Auto set in the Old Time West. With a thrilling Narrative and Open World setting Red Dead Redemption is a thrill ride that doesn't relent untill the very end, it goes down in a Blaze of Gunfire! You play as John Marston, a former outlaw looking to go Straight but the Law wont let him. You essentially become the errand boy for some very powerful lawmen who want you to hunt down your old gang in exchange for your family. Along the way you meet a series of true characters that keep the plot driving foward. The game ends in a very unusual fashion so any potential players be fore warned...the ending is EPIC!

#3 - Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

I only recently started playing the AC2 series. I played the 1st Assassin's Creed and I really did not like it. But a lot of people told me just move on to #2, its so much better. So Gamefly had it for like 10 bucks so I bought it. It took me 3 months or so to finally pop it into my PS3 and it has been love ever since. Took me about 5 days to finish AC2 so I quickly made sure I got my hands on Brotherhood which would tie up most of the story that was left untold. Warning: Do NOT Play Brotherhood without having already played AC2 you will be lost beyond all belief because the game throws you right into the action at start up. Brotherhood adds in a new bit of depth giving you control over your own Assassins Guild where you train random citizens, send them out on missions and have them accompany you and take out targets completly undetected. Although the game is shorter than the first part you really need to play in quick succession because it is a much more rewarding experience. AC2 takes place in 15th Century Florence Italy and Brotherhood changes it up to 15th Century Rome with the main character, Ezio, looking to take down the Borgia rule over the country and papacy.