Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake in the David Fincher movie ‘The Social Network’

The 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich was a large influence on attracting the screenwriting services of Aaron Sorkin to the table for the movie we’re reviewing. The David Fincher directed movie The Social Network (2010) earns our attention today.

(From left, Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin and Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg in the David Fincher movie The Social Network).

The movie The Social Network begins in the fall of 2003 with the fictionalized Erica Albright, a student at Boston University as portrayed by Rooney Mara, dumping Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg, portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg in the movie and feeling scorned, insults Albright on his LiveJournal blog. Fueled by that scorn and alcohol into doing something noteworthy, Zuckerberg creates a precursor to Facebook called Facemash wherein he hacks individual online databases at Harvard University for pictures of female students, later posting the photos online while asking fellow students to rate the girls on physical attractiveness.

(Armie Hammer and Josh Pence as Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss in the David Fincher movie The Social Network).

Many, many people took notice of the cynical tackiness of the approach in addition to the wild popularity of scheme led to a segment of Harvard‘s computer servers crashing not due to the initial breaches but due to the volume of people engaging in the ranking. Also taking notice were Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra, who had a vision for a social media network.

(From left, Max Minghella as Divya Narendra and Rooney Mara as Erica Albright in the David Fincher movie The Social Network).

The trio invited Zuckerberg to develop a social media network for them, with Zuckerberg seemingly agreeing to the proposition while immediately turning to his friend Eduardo Saverin for seed money to develop a social media platform that would grow into the modern day Facebook. Narendra was portrayed by Max Minghella. Saverin was portrayed by Andrew Garfield. A physical and digital combination of Armie Hammer and Josh Pence portrayed Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss.

(From left, Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker and Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg in the David Fincher movie The Social Network).

The introduction of Sean Parker as portrayed by Justin Timberlake was introduced to filmgoers through litigation brought in separate concurrent claims against Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook by Winklevoss, Winklevoss and Narendra on the one hand and Saverin on the other. Sy as portrayed by John Getz and Marilyn Delpy as portrayed by Rashida Jones were serving the Zuckerberg point of view. The drama for how the different interests of what became Facebook, in both scale and profitability, were at stake in the litigation. That very real human drama was dramatized in the movie was the cinematic point.

(From left, Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, John Getz as Sy and Rashida Jones as Marilyn Delpy in the David Fincher movie The Social Network).

That the movie The Social Network did a solid job of communicating the drama of growth, ambition, substance use, sex and greed were all strongly in evidence in making a moving story for this movie. The acting met the task of conveying the story for me, with kudos from me on that level as well. I give the David Fincher movie The Social Network 4.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, January 6, 2024

Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Sigourney Weaver in the Ivan Reitman movie ‘Ghostbusters’

We head back to the mid-1980s by looking into the Ivan Reitman directed supernatural comedy Ghostbusters (1984). Set in New York City, New York, the film follows the ghost-catching business of three eccentric parapsychologists. The movie script was written by Dan Aykryod, Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis, each who also star in or play supporting roles in the movie.

(From left, Harold Ramis as Egon Spengler, Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz, Bill Murray as Peter Venkman and Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore in the Ivan Reitman movie Ghostbusters).

We meet the eccentric parapsychologists, Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, as employees with easy and undemanding work at Columbia University. Called to the New York Public Library to investigate what presents as a legitimate encounter with a ghost, the dean at the university nonetheless dismisses this notion as well as Venkman, Stantz and Spengler. The trio now needed to find new work, choosing to capture and eliminate ghosts from an old, disused firehouse that serves as their new business location. Business initially is slow. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis portrayed Venkman, Stantz and Spengler, respectively.

(From left, Rick Moranis as Louis Tully and Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett in the Ivan Reitman movie Ghostbusters).

The trio, with Janine Melnitz as portrayed by Annie Potts as their receptionist, cut a commercial to advertise their business. Following a bizarre paranormal experience in her apartment, cellist Dana Barrett contacts the ghostbusters with justifiable fear. This paranormal experience occurs down the hall from socially awkward neighbor Louis Tully, who makes his amorous feelings for Barrett known. Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis portrayed Barrett and Tully, respectively.

(From left, Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz and William Atherton as Walter Peck in the Ivan Reitman movie Ghostbusters).

Contacted by Barrett, Peter Venkman inspects her apartment while failing to initiate physically intimate relations during this visit. A subsequent call to remove a glutinous apparition from the Sedgewick Hotel hotel introduces the notions of the nuclear-powered chamber to hold ghosts in their basement, the need for care when using proton pack weapons to capture ghosts, and, ultimately, a flippant bordering on deadpan style of conducting business that somehow manages to work. Supernatural activity accelerates to the point that hiring additional ghostbuster Winston Zeddemore, as portrayed by Ernie Hudson, makes sense.

(From left, David Margulies as Lenny Clotch and Tom McDermott as Archbishop in the Ivan Reitman movie Ghostbusters).

With the ghostbusting business growing coupled with a suspicion of the equipment used to store the captured ghosts, Walter Peck of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) visits the headquarters of the business demanding an inspection. Venkman outright refuses. Peck, portrayed by William Atherton, gets the ghostbusters arrested. New York City mayor Lenny Clotch pulls the men out of jail, bringing the four ghostbusters to see him and the Archbishop , Gozer, and a comically big emblem of a confectionary company that isn’t in fact real. David Margulies, Tom McDermott, and a combination of Slavitza Jovan and Paddi Edwards portrayed Clotch, the archibishop and Gozer, respectively.

(Slavitza Jovan as Gozer in the Ivan Reitman movie Ghostbusters. Paddi Edwards voiced the character Gozer).

I have found endless joy in watching Ghostbusters as directed by Ivan Reitman, which helps me rate the movie at 4.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, October 25, 2023