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Happy new year, too. That's exciting. I'd make a joke about how we're all gonna die this year, but Brian would be mad and make me watch Neil DeGrasse Tyson videos.
As someone in the software industry, as well as the tech-startup field, I can add that this movie is incredibly accurate and realistic, both to the technology used and the general feel/vibe around software development. This was especially awesome for me, because I've traditionally been extremely annoyed by fake computer interfaces in movies (cough Jurassic Park). All the commands and tools used by Zuckerberg are real things, which adds a cool layer for people in the know, because it gives you an idea of how the initial versions of FaceMash and FaceBook were engineered (standard apache/mysql stack according to this movie). I really like that kind of attention to detail from Fincher, which also shows up in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
I still haven't seen this movie. Maybe I should get on that.
I've avoided the movie because I heard it was basically:
Two guys write a computer program. 
Get very rich & famous and everyone is happy 
Fall out. 
Start suing each other. 
Everyone all bitter and twisted. 
- movie ends.
Not one for complete downer movies so can someone tell me if I've got it all wrong because I'm a big fan of the Sorkin. (although not of MoneyBall with its huh-ending that just runined it).
Great episode!
Found this from Fincher on The Social Network.
The Social Network (2010): "You don't get scripts like that every day. You don't get a studio coming to you saying, 'We just fucking love this script. Let's make it into a movie.' So often people are mitigating against the disaster or trying to cover the downside and saying, 'Well, OK, look, the script is great, but...' ['Can you make something out of it?'] Yeah. I mean, 'Who can you get who will make us feel good about the investment?' And when you come back and you say, 'How about Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield and Armie Hammer, and Justin Timberlake?' They go, 'That sounds great!' You can't turn that stuff down."
Fincher Explains Reasons Why He Made Each of His Films
http://www.firstshowing.net/2011/exclus … his-films/
Two guys write a computer program.
Get very rich & famous and everyone is happy
Fall out.
Start suing each other.
Everyone all bitter and twisted
but still rich and famous.
So it's kind of a bittersweet ending...
^thanx for the info and I'll leave it on my not-right-now list. (which is where I should have left Moneyball and its [spoiler(ish) removed] ending.)
Last edited by Fido (2012-01-02 19:57:54)
^thanx for the info and I'll leave it on my not-right-now list. (which is where I should have left Moneyball and its "huh?!" ending.)
All I can say is what I said in the commentary itself - the subject matter of Social Network was of no interest to me before I saw it, and I couldn't imagine how it could be an interesting, entertaining movie. And yet, somehow it was.
To be fair, I haven't seen Moneyball yet, because if there's one thing I care less about than Facebook, it's baseball... and yet I've heard a lot of good things, so I'll probably check it out.
I gather that Social Network and Moneyball decided to stay (basically) true to the real-life events they portrayed, and real life rarely comes with tidy happy endings. So if that's not your thing, fair enough.
Nitpick: her name is actually Rooney Mara, not Mara Rooney. Which is fucking confusing, so I can understand.
While we're on the topic: Armand Hammer. That's his ACTUAL NAME. It's like naming your kid Dove Bar.
I prefer when movies just kinda stop and don't tie up all the loose ends. I thought the ending of this movie was particularly great. I only got about halfway through before my tired brain felt like it was going to have a meltdown trying to keep up with the movie and the commentary at the same time, so I dunno if you guys took issue with the ending or not, though judging by the intros, I'll guess that you all liked it?
Sorkin, tho... Man, I dunno about that guy. I've liked all of his movies that I've watched so far, and I like that he writes characters so well, but there are times when people will be talking and talking and talking and I'll kinda zone out, and then they'll suddenly all stop talking and be looking at each other with that "wow, that line was really important" look on their faces and I'll snap out of my trance and think "oh god, I just missed something I shouldn't have missed..." It happened in this movie right at the beginning when that girl got pissed off. I'm so glad she explained why she was pissed, cause I was lost for a second there.
That's also affected by Fincher's propensity to have a throw-away character have the last line of their one scene be something tremendously intriguing. Meaningful look. Cut.
While we're on the topic: Armand Hammer. That's his ACTUAL NAME. It's like naming your kid Dove Bar.
Ohhhhhhhh, ARM AND HAMMER. I thought an "armand hammer" was a kind of hammer or something.
No, it's a kind of oil baron/millionaire.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea … aking-soda
Armand "Armie" Hammer the actor is the great-grandson of Armand the tycoon, named for him.
EDIT: as is a rather large museum in Westwood. Teague's even been there.
Last edited by Trey (2012-01-03 23:09:26)
No, it's a kind of oil baron/millionaire.
Who apparently, himself, was named after the baking soda. Crazy people, man. Crazy people.
Which, on that topic, note the shirt:
Last edited by Gregory Harbin (2012-01-04 06:20:44)
One correction:
The Hall of the Mountain King sequence was NOT shot in tilt shift. Nor was it motivated by Fincher wonkery. Long story short, they shot at the real Henly-on-Thames event but they were not allowed to put their actors in the water. Nor were they allowed to change the scoreboard in crowd shots, or add anything saying "2004" on it. Early on they knew that many of those shots would have to be composits. They also needed the scene to tell 2 story points at the same time: 1) Facebook goes international, and 2) The Winklevi decide to sue. So they needed the scene but they needed to get over some real logistical issues.
Fincher decided to shoot elements and layer them, and do a shallow defocus entirely in post to essentially blur out any incriminating evidence. It produced a tilt shift like effect, but absolutely none of it was done in camera, nor was it conceived as such when they shot. The directive to use the music was Fincher's choice, and he and Trent went back and forth on the interpretation. The blu-ray does a side by side comparison of the original track and its...startling.
The Hall of the Mountain King sequence was NOT shot in tilt shift.
I'll have to listen to it again but I'm pretty sure we did say as much. I recall making the point that some things closer to the camera -- characters' heads, etc. -- pass through the defocused area but remain focused, which would not be possible with in-camera tilt shift. It's clearly emulating tilt-shift photography, but we did note it was a post effect. The reasons behind it we did not know, though.
I wrote it before you guys got to that part. I was reacting to comments earlier in the commentary.
Budget:$1,000 (estimated)
Oh, I can't wait!
Budget:$1,000 (estimated)
Oh, I can't wait!
You don't have to, here it is. http://www.collegehumor.com/embed/66534 … -network-2
College Humor videos are often surprisingly good, but this one wasn't one of their better efforts.
I didn't much like this movie. Mainly because the central character is an unlikeable douchebag and the film never seems to know how to handle it. It never seeks to explain why he's acting the way he does and what motivates him - he appears to be a dick because he wants to be. He's a borderline sociopath. The film seems to want to counteract this by making all the people he's up against equally unlikeable. Then at the end the film wants the audience to feel sorry for him, and this was a bit too forced and sudden for my liking.
The official website for the film, 500millionfriends.com, has the screenplay available for free download. That's where I got it from.
Great commentary dudes - would like to hear more commentaries on Fincher and Ridley Scott films if you ever get the time.
Just a quick addendum - The Insider (Michael Mann) is another "recent period" movie made just after the actual events portrayed in the movie. In fact, the time period between the events depicted in The Insider and the movie is even shorter than The Social Network.
Enjoyed the film, for many of the same reasons mentioned. Great script, great director, great music, well done all around.
Also, if you're a fan of Mr. Garfield go get caught up on Doctor Who, he's in a two-parter:
Season 3, Episode 5 & 6
Holy crap, I'm not the only person who will go and watch a film based entirely on Trent Reznor featuring in the soundtrack.
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