Before you watch The Social Network, you must understand that it is not a documentary – it’s a Hollywood movie. Hollywood knows full well that the promise of the ‘true’ story behind the creation of Facebook has enough gravitas to put bums in cinema seats. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is quoted as saying, “I don’t want my fidelity to be to the truth; I want it to be to storytelling…”, and Dustin Moskovitz (played by Joseph Mazzello) described it as a “dramatisation of history”.

The story as told by the movie is simple – a brilliant and slightly awkward Harvard student creates a website that reinvents social networking on the Web, but the remarkable success of his creation impacts the relationships dearest to him, and not always for the better.

The movie is remarkable as a blockbuster in the sense that it relies heavily on character development with little to no sex, violence, effects or profanity as a drawcard. It’s not terribly funny, although the cleverly constructed script does squeeze in a few laughs here and there. And that’s where the quality is – a compelling story, weaved artfully with a fantastic script and some pretty solid performances from the young cast to boot.

Jesse Eisenberg is impressive as Mark Zuckerburg without being brilliant – it’s a role that shows potential for greater things than the awkward teenager disposition we saw in Adventureland and Zombieland (no relation). Other notables include Rooney Mara and Andrew Garfield (who is rumoured to be in line to play Peter Parker in an upcoming Spider-man reboot. Yes, another one…).

I was intrigued upon hearing that Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor would be behind the soundtrack but disappointed when the credits rolled and I couldn’t remember hearing it at all. Perhaps this is a good thing? Maybe it blended in so well that I was oblivious to it’s awesomeness.

This is a difficult movie to rate because I’m well aware the story of Facebook is probably more intriguing to me than the average viewer, but regardless of who you are there is no denying it is a well-written, skillfully constructed film atypical to it’s generation. I’m looking forward to your opinions though!

Rating: 6.5/10

Since then Shyamalan has attempted time and again to recreate the mystique and intrigue of The Sixth Sense, and with the exception of maybe one or two features (in my opinion The Village was very entertaining), has never come close.

When I noticed a tweet by Riccardo Webb stating his rather candid assessment of Shyamalan’s most recent fantasy foray, The Last Airbender, I got to thinking again about Shyamalan’s career. I knew that the young director had not enjoyed the critical acclaim of his breakout film for at least a decade, but what I didn’t realise was just how mathematical the decline was. A quick glance at IMDb (again, I love this site), revealed a startling statistic:

Since The Sixth Sense, every movie that Shyamalan spouts forth declines steadily in rating, as decided by the users of IMDb (movies require thousands of votes before even qualifying for a rating, so it’s a pretty solid indication of a movie’s quality), with The Last Airbender managing only 4.4! Will Ferrell’s, um, seminal masterpiece Land of the Lost pips The Last Airbender with a rating of 5.3. I have seen Land of the Lost. I would rather lick the bum of a dead donkey than sit through that diabolical excuse of a movie again.

Needless to say, I will not be forking out cash to see The Last Airbender. Let’s pray this is as low as Shyamalan can possibly go, and that the undoubtedly talented director starts making some decent movies.

At the recommendation of my favourite video store, Absolutely Fabulous, I watched the comedy drama Lars And The Real Girl (2007) yesterday evening. The movie tells the story of Lars Lindstrom, an awkward, socially-challenged small town 20-something who develops a relationship with a lifelike female doll he purchases on the Internet. At the recommendation of the town doctor (who is also a psychologist), the various people in Lars’ life are encouraged to support the delusion to help expose the reason for it.

You’d be forgiven for expecting, on the basis of that synopsis, a collection of pranks and cheap laughs bound together by a few ‘aaaaw’ moments. That’s what I expected. But what humour we do find in Lars is thoughtful, subtle and always meaningful, while the rest of the movie is woven together with a simple yet profound story carried by poignant writing and a masterclass in acting.

While most Hollywood blockbusters rely on breaking the boundaries of CGI, violence, sex, big-name actors or potentially offensive language to ‘engage’ audiences, Lars relies almost entirely on the acting talents of a relatively new cast to do the job, and it succeeds. Ryan Gosling is astounding as the title character, showing with aplomb his aptitude for method acting, and we’re also treated to stand-out performances from Patricia Clarkson as Lars’ doctor and Emily Mortimer as his compassionate sister-in-law. The lovable ensemble produce a movie littered with memorable scenes that ask piercing questions about love, life and ‘normality’ against the snowy, monochromatic and yet quietly beautiful backdrop of Ontario, Canada.

Lars And The Real Girl was surprising, refreshing and atypical – not your ‘normal’ Hollywood film – but then again, maybe normal isn’t normal at all. Maybe we’re all just diverse, delightfully different versions of normal. Lars himself embodies every heart’s plea when he tells his doctor of his beloved doll, “She doesn’t feel sorry for herself or anything, she just wants to be normal.” We all want to be normal, and maybe none of us are.

Every now and again you stumble across a movie that you can’t help but think should be made compulsory viewing for all human beings – this is one of those.

Rating: 9/10

Connor (Sean Patrick Flannery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus), cleverly blended with Billy Connolly, David Della Rocco (no idea who he is either), sprinkled with a generous dose of a particularly loony Willem Dafoe, combined in a sumptuous stew that grabbed the attention of a generation of movie goers who ten years later have a special place in their hearts and on their DVD collection shelves for The Saints.

You’ll understand then why I, being one of these fans, would have been thrilled to have heard that a sequel was in the works. The sequel, like it’s predecessor, never made it to cinemas. I should have taken that as the first sign of impending disaster.

I rented The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day as soon as it became available and settled down to enjoy more Irish cussing, blazing gunfights and theatrical performances. What I got amounted to about the same level of entertainment I derived from my last bout of diarrhea.

Some movies should never have sequels. Ever. They are freaky successes, that might never have happened, that we’re glad happened. But that’s it. It’s the curse of the Original Success. Forgive me, but Live should never have made another album after Throwing Copper for the same reason – it’s just impossible to live up to the quality once you strike gold like that.

All Saints Day was not just bad – it was difficult to watch. I wanted so desperately to give it a chance but it kept slapping me in the face. Troy Duffy (yes, same director) tried so hard to repeat the same recipe and fell horribly short, relying on unecessary slow motion (a cardinal action movie sin) scenes, ‘witty’ dialogue that I could seldom make out let alone laugh at, an unworthy replacement for Dafoe in a dodgy-Southern-accented, sloppy-gum-chewing Julie Benz, and a previously unseen Mexican for comic relief. He wasn’t funny though. So much for that.

Perhaps the only redeeming moment in the whole film was the single occasion Billy Connolly owned the screen – at least he was semi-convincing if not uncharacteristically serious.

My advice… if you never saw The Boondock Saints, don’t watch this movie. If you did see The Boondock Saints and love it like I do, don’t watch this movie. It’s a marvel to me that it scores 6.7 out of 10 on IMDb.

Rating: 3 / 10

Please feel free to add your comments and thoughts!