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The Social Network
Director: David Fincher Writers: Aaron Sorkin (screenplay), Ben Mezrich (book) Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug and alcohol use and language. Synopsis: The story centers around Mark Zuckerberg’s days at Harvard when he created the incredibly popular social networking site Facebook and the allegations that soon began to surface that Zuckerberg stole the idea for the site from his classmates. |
Lars’ take: They couldn’t put enough money into the project to make me want to go see it. It could be a perfectly good, entertaining movie, but I don’t care about the subject matter. I don’t want to see a bratty college kid and his rich friends make a billion dollars.
Joel’s take: I’m a huge fan of David Fincher and I think Aaron Sorkin is a fantastic writer. Having the two of them collaborate on a film is very exciting to me, but I can’t say I’m overly excited for a movie about the Facebook guy. Because of the talent level of the people involved, I’m sure it’s a good film but I find myself wishing they had collaborated on a different story instead.
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Let Me In
Director: Matt Reeves Writers: Matt Reeves (screenplay), John Ajvide Lindqvist (screenplay and novel Låt den rätte komma in) Stars: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Cara Buono, Elias Koteas MPAA Rating: Rated R for strong bloody horror violence, language and a brief sexual situation. Synopsis: An unpopular 12-year-old boy befriends the girl who moves in next door to him, who he soon discovers is a vampire. |
Lars’ take: If you are standing at the ticket booth about to purchase a ticket for Let Me In, turn around and go get a copy of Let The Right One In, the original Swedish version of this great story. Let Me In is going to be watered down for an American audience. It was made exactly how it should have been made the first time. Save your money.
Joel’s take: It won’t be better than the original, so the best case scenario for this movie is that it’s a shot for shot remake of Let The Right One In. And the last time someone tried a shot for shot remake of a great film, we ended up with the Vince Vaughn/Anne Heche version of Psycho. The most likely outcome is that they have completely changed and Americanized the film and that everything that made it unique and memorable in the first place has been edited out to appeal to a wider audience. That being said, it’s nice to see Elias Koteas is still getting work.
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Case 39
Director: Christian Alvart Writer: Ray Wright Stars: Renée Zellweger, Jodelle Ferland, Ian McShane, Bradley Cooper MPAA Rating: Rated R for violence and terror including disturbing images. Synopsis: A scrunchy-faced social worker brings a 10-year-old girl into her home to protect her, but soon discovers that supernatural forces threaten anyone who gets close to the girl. |
Lars’ take: This actually looks like it could be a decent supernatural/suspense thriller. Unfortunately, they showed you the whole movie in the trailer. So all the suspense and thrills are gone. It’s also really reminiscent of The Ring – a little girl brings harm to everyone around her unbeknownst to her.
Joel’s take: Can we stop making horror movies about creepy kids? It’s so overdone these days. I never liked kids much to begin with and the abundance of creepy and evil kids in horror movies really isn’t doing anything to help all that. On top of that, there are definitely a lot of similarities between this film and The Ring, both in the plot and the overall look and feel of the movie.
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Freakonomics
Director: Heidi Ewing, Alex Gibney, Seth Gordon, Rachel Grady, Eugene Jarecki, Morgan Spurlock Writers: Peter Bull and Alex Gibney (segment “Pure Corruption”), Jeremy Chilnick and Morgan Spurlock (segment “A Roshanda by Any Other Name”), Eugene Jarecki (segment “It’s Not Always a Wonderful Life”), Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (segment “Can a Ninth Grader Be Bribed to Succeed?”), Seth Gordon (intro and transitional segments), Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (book) MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for elements of violence, sexuality/nudity, drugs, and brief strong language. Synopsis: A group of documentary filmmakers “explore the hidden side of everything.” |
Lars’ take: This looks like it could be another really decent documentary with an interesting topic. But I don’t know. It could also just be hipsters getting together making the ultimate hipster documentary. Either way, I think it’s going to be really well put together and really entertaining.
Joel’s take: I know a lot of people really love these books, but it just seems like something that doesn’t really translate well into a movie. Freakonomics is about crunching numbers to come up with interesting statistics, which doesn’t really sound very cinematic. It could work, but I have a feeling it could get tedious to watch.
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Hatchet II
Director: Adam Green Writers: Adam Green Stars: Danielle Harris, Kane Hodder, Tony Todd MPAA Rating: Unrated Synopsis: Marybeth returns to Louisiana seeking revenge after narrowly escaping the wrath of Victor Crowley in the first Hatchet film. |
Lars’ take: All the positive reviews for this movie tack on the phrase “of slasher films.” “This is the greatest of slasher films.” I don’t like slasher films. I don’t think it takes a lot of effort to write a slasher movie. If you like them, I think this one would be a good one for you to see. But it’s not for me.
Joel’s take: You can’t actually convince me that there was a movie called Hatchet that came out in 2007. I have no memory of that film whatsoever. The fact that there is a Hatchet II is baffling to me. But the original must have done well enough to warrant a sequel, so there must be something here. They obviously assume there is an audience for this and if you are that audience, then more power to you.
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This week’s recommendations …
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HoboTrashcan’s Confidence Rating System
Since we force Joel and Lars to make a recommendation each week (using the classic “If a gun was pointed to your head and you had to pick one” scenario), we are also having them rate their confidence in their pick using HoboTrashcan’s patented Confidence Rating System. The system is on a scale of one to five, which breaks down as follows:
- Eddie Murphy – Like every film Eddie Murphy has done in the last decade, avoid this movie at all costs.
- Nicholas Cage – The movie is most likely awful, but like Cage, there is a chance it may still surprise you.
- Samuel L Jackson – With this rating, you don’t know what you are going to get. It could be another Pulp Fiction or it could be Jumper.
- Bruce Willis – Like Bruce Willis, chances are the film is good, but there’s always a possibility it’s another Surrogates.
- Morgan Freeman – The highest possible rating. The film, like Morgan Freeman himself, is a lock to be entertaining.