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

Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara and Christopher Plummer in the David Fincher movie ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’

Drawn from the posthumously published Stieg Larsson book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo of 2005, David Fincher offered edgy suspense, menacing thriller elements, appalling crime and an unlikely heroine and hero pair overcoming powerful forces pitted against the very serious forces of societal politics, family politics and dark secrets that have been hidden for better than forty years. Today we review The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011).

(From left, Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist and Robin Wright as Erika Berger in the David Fincher movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

Daniel Craig portrayed Mikael Blomkvist, co-owner of a prominent magazine based in Sweden. After losing a libel lawsuit to businessman Hans-Erik Wennerström as portrayed by Ulf Friberg, Blomkvist is looking to step away from the magazine when wealthy Henrik Vanger, as portrayed by Christopher Plummer, offers him an unusual request that eases and causes strife in the relationship has with his magazine co-owner and married lover. That co-owner and lover, Erika Berger, is portrayed by Robin Wright.

(From left, Goran Visnjic as Dragan Armansky and Steven Berkoff as Dirch Frode in the David Fincher movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

That proposition from Henrik Vanger is vetted through Vanger’s lawyer Dirch Frode, as portrayed by Steven Berkoff. A delicate and criminal background check offered by Dragan Armansky, as portrayed by Goran Visnjic, introduces the hacker and girl with the dragon tattoo that provided the incredibly detailed and personal background check of Mikael Blomkvist. The offer Vanger makes to Blomkvist is to investigate the 40-year-old disappearance and presumed murder of Henrik’s grandniece, 16-year-old Harriet Vanger.

(Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander in the David Fincher movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

Lisbeth Salander, as portrayed by Rooney Mara, is the hacker who investigates quite deeply, tactfully, and with an exceptional level of quality for the business run by Dragan Armansky. Dark events in Salander’s past add depth to her story, which is as brutal in the present and past tense. The Lisbeth Salander storyline rivals everything that Mikael Blomkvist finds while investigating Henrik Vanger’s family, the business now run by Martin Vanger, or the antisemitism that runs underneath many of the metaphorical rocks moved about during this investigation.

(From left, Stellan Skarsgård as Martin Vanger and Christopher Plummer as Henrik Vanger in the David Fincher movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

We see much in the background of Lisbeth Salander both in parallel to the work being performed by Mikael Blomkvist and then in concert with that work. We are introduced to some honorable work by Holger Palmgren, as portrayed by Bengt C.W. Carlsson, and then much less than honorable work by Nils Bjurman. Yorick van Wageningen portrayed Nils Bjurman. The notion of there being mystery, thriller and criminal elements within The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo are addressed in edgy and difficult detail within the movie.

(From left, Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander and Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist in the David Fincher movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

The directness of the content without effort to tread lightly on the source material of the novel underlying this movie offers something compelling in the direction for this film. There are credible hints for the type of movie we have here that still leaves much in terms of depth for you to find and enjoy within a new or fresh viewing of the film.

(From left, Joely Richardson as Anita Vanger and Yorick van Wageningen as Nils Bjurman in the David Fincher movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

That there are many layers to the source material that are brought to the screen adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo speak credibly to the achievement that screenwriter Steven Zaillian and director David Fincher make with the movie. Working with difficult themes for mature themes without crossing a line into confusing messages or gratuitous exposition were accomplishments of delivery that lets me respect the work done here. I grant The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as directed by David Fincher 4.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, January 29, 2022