MINI FILM REVIEW: The Social Network

Stressful. That is how I will describe The Social Network. Why? How could a movie be stressful? Because I spent majority of the film with the thought flying through my head, 'What idea could I think of?' and 'How clever is it that they came up with Facebook.'

Mark Zuckerberg is portrayed as a very complex character. He seems like a bit of a social desperado at the beginning. His attitude in the film is quite dismissive at times but I like it - why shouldn't he have been like that just because he is young? At the end, however, he really made me angry in regards to how he treated his business partner, won't spoil it for anyone.

It is a perfect Generation Y film, there is so much talked about in the film that is relevant to our generation such as Napster, Myspace and most importantly, Facebook. (I jokingly told my mum I had to test her knowledge before she watched it and asked her if she knew what 'Napster' was, she didn't know...)

Justin Timberlake is actually a very good actor and his character Sean Parker, angered and annoyed me too.

The well written film makes them out to a real basket case in the start who somehow managed to turn Facebook into a billion dollar empire. It reminds me of the start of E.M Forster's novel, Howard's End that says 'only connect' and yes, that is all we really want to do in life.

Here is the trailer:



And here are some quotes from the film:

Sean Parker: One suggestion: Get rid of the "the". Just *Facebook*. Flows better.

Mark Zuckerberg: As for the charges, I believe I deserve some recognition from this board.
Ad Board Chairwoman: I'm sorry?
Mark Zuckerberg: Yes.
Ad Board Chairwoman: I don't understand...
Mark Zuckerberg: Which part?

Marylin Delpy: The site got 2200 hits within 2 hours?
Mark Zuckerberg: Thousand.
Marylin Delpy: I'm sorry?
Mark Zuckerberg: Twenty-two *thousand*.

Marilyn Delpy (Rashida Jones): "What are you doing?"
Mark Zuckerberg: "Checking in to see how it's going in Bosnia."
Marilyn Delpy: "Bosnia? They don't have roads, but they have Facebook."

Marilyn Delpy: "You really hate the Winklevoss twins, don't you? "
Mark Zuckerberg: "I don't hate anybody. The Winklevi aren't suing me for intellectual property theft. They're suing me because for the first time in their lives, the world didn't work the way it was supposed to for them."

Lawyer: "Mr. Zuckerberg, do I have your full attention?"
Mark Zuckerberg: "No."
Lawyer: "Do you think I deserve it?"
Mark Zuckerberg: "What?"
Lawyer: "Do you think I deserve your full attention?"
Mark: "I had to swear an oath before we began this deposition, and I don't want to perjure myself, so I have a legal obligation to say no."
Lawyer: "Okay...no. You don't think I deserve your attention."
Mark Zuckerberg: "I think if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall, they have the right to give it a try, but there's no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie. You have part of my attention - you have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing. Did I adequately answer your condescending question?

MINI FILM REVIEW: Wall Street Money Never Sleeps

Having not seen the first film, Wall Street that was made in 1987 (word is, it inspired many people to become stock brokers) - I went to see the 23 years later sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps last night.
The trailer is below but in my opinion, it doesn't seem to capture the feel of the movie very well - it only gives you an idea of what the film is about and where it is set. The full story line is a little bit too long and complex for me to explain on here but if you would really like to know you can read about it here.
Personally I could not understand all the technical stockbroker talk in the film, yet the film was very well written, entertaining and had some fabulous lines in it. It is also very slickly made with plenty of fantastic shots of New York and the characters seem to live and work around beautiful furniture.

Michael Douglas is amazing in the character of Gordon Gekko. An ex conman / business man who gets out of jail and basically treads an interesting path in the film to become a ridiculous weathly businessman again. He is charasmatic, complex and intriguing. There is a fantastic scene at the beginning of the film where he gets out of jail and is handed one of those, huge old brick mobile phones.

It is one of those films I would have loved to have studied at university, as the filmmaker Oliver Stone, has definitely put a lot of symbolism and meaning behind the film. There seems to be a lot of parallels between the film and financial crisis - particularly at it's very worst point last year. As I watched the high pressure scenes with businesses and stockbrokers facing large decisions, I was thinking that must have been the atmosphere for many people in simlar jobs when things were getting into sticky stituations last year.The film also touches upon the issues of greed and speculation - both things that cause many problems in the world.

There are, however, some fantastic quotes in the movie by Gordon Gekko:


It's not about the money - It's about the game.


Someone reminded me I once said "Greed is good". Now it seems it's legal. Because everyone is drinking the same Kool Aid.


The one thing I learned in jail is that money is not the prime asset in life. Time is


How about you stop telling lies about me and I will stop telling the truth about you


The government is like an ex wife. You give them half and they still want more




Have you seen the movie? Do you want to see it? What do you think?