Cooper The Social Network

The film The Social Network, directed by David Fincher and with a screen play by Aaron Sorkin, tells the story of the beginnings Facebook, the world's number one multi-billion dollar social-networking website. At first the plot line to this movie doesn't seem too enthralling, but in reality this film captivates the viewer through its intense scenes of drama off set with a little bit of comedy, and its unique way of story telling. It predominantly tells the story through the use of flashbacks between flipping from one lawsuit back to the other. All the flashbacks have low lighting providing the film with a much more dark presentation, and these flashbacks emphasize key-points in the creation of Facebook and someone can create the world's most popular social network, but at the same time not have friends.
One of the strengths of the movie was its young cast. Jesse Eisenberg does a phenomenal job playing Mark Zuckerberg. He made you hate how Mark Zuckerberg was an asshole who deserved to lose his friends, but at the same time made us appreciate him. His best friend and co-founder of Facebook, who is suing Zuckerberg throughout the movie, is played by Andrew Garfield who also does a stellar job. My personal favorite role in the movie was Justin Timberlake who plays the scumbag – Sean Parker. Sean Parker is the creator of the Napster, which was a music file-sharing(stealing) program. It has been awhile since I've hated a character so much in a movie, and thats a huge compliment to the ex-NSYNC member Justin Timberlake.
In conlusion, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and would definitly see it again. The acting was well done, the script was well written, the plot was intense, and the movie kept it going throughout the entire time.

Hales, The Social Network

The best aspect of The Social Network was definitely Aaron Sorkin’s screen adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s book. I’ll admit that in the first scene I sighed from exhaustion and thought, ‘This film is going to wear me out.' But thankfully, what was annoying in the first scene (with Mark Zuckerburg and Erica Albright constantly bickering, bantering, and generally talking over each other,) proved to be charming and compelling throughout the remainder of the film. In the conference room during his two trials, Zuckerburg practically humiliates most everyone else in the room. However, the shining star of Sorkin’s biting dialogue is given to the president of Harvard when he is approached by the Winklevoss twins. He basically tears them a new one and sends them packing, yet in the most sophisticated and eloquent way imaginable. The only problem with such brilliant wit being doled out to most characters in the film is believability. Everyone knows that Harvard is an amazing school, but viewers cannot be expected to believe that everyone who ever came into contact with the university is blessed with such a caustic and almost Mensa-level manner of speaking.

In fact, there were many instances in which I couldn't help but wonder mid-scene, "Did that really happen?" Some of their behavior was just so bizarre, such as Sean Parker's complete disregard for humanity in general (speaking of, Justin Timberlake did a wonderful job portraying him, he went from charming to despicable in the span of two scenes.) But of course, this is a movie, and not meant to be an accurate historical representation of factual events. Yet I do hate when a film is set up in a way that I find myself straying from the film and thinking of real life instead. 

Eduardo Saverin was the most likeable character for me. He seemed to go about everything in an honorable way, and gave Zuckerburg the benefit of the doubt until absolutely proved other wise. When it was obvious that he had been screwed over, he went about protecting himself in the most mature and gentlemanly way. It was refreshing to see him lose his composure every now and then too. My favorite quote from the film is when Saverin gets fed up with Zuckerburg at a hearing and says, "Sorry, my Prada is at the cleaners, along with my hoodie and my 'fuck you' flip-flops, you pretentious douche bag!"

 Another interesting aspect of the film is the use of editing in the law suit scenes. It kept it exciting to have the instant change from one conference room to another. At first, when the viewer isn’t yet aware of what’s going on, one only wonders why Zuckerburg is wearing a different outfit when the scene cuts from the Winklevoss to the Saverin scenes. This is especially effective in keeping the momentum going in a two hour film. There were certainly a few things that could have been cut down, such as party scenes. But everything moved so quickly, I didn’t mind sitting around for 30 minutes over standard feature lendgth time. 

Iqbal, The Social Network

It’s interesting to see that practically everyone wrote about this movie. The Social Network is a movie based on the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, and also about the making of Facebook. Facebook has become one the biggest success stories of our generation. It spread like wildfire went it was made available to the general public. The movie takes a course through the making of Facebook. The movie starts off showing a scene in which Zuckerberg is sitting in a room full of lawyers. The scene gives the audience a taste of what was actually going on behind Facebook. I really felt the movie was well edited. Also, each of the actors acted well on their own accord. However, I was very impressed with Jesse Eisenberg who played Mark Zuckerberg. In my opinion, he grasped the character very well. I have seen him acting in Zombieland and wasn’t that taken aback by his acting as I was by The Social Network. Eisenberg portrayed a character whom was not only brilliant but also a social outcast. Even though according to Mark Zuckerberg, majority of the story for The Social Network is fiction, the story developed in the movie very smoothly. The scenes kept switching from the discussions of the different scenarios with lawyers to the scenarios the way they actually happened. It was also interesting to see how an innocent program blew up to this massive business. It was also interesting to see the ups and downs that come along with great success. It showed the reality of how having fame and money at a young age effected people. There were several key points in the movie *SPOILER ALERT*. One was in which Zuckerberg got dumped by his girlfriend Erica Albright which then led to him making the rating program which allowed students to rate girls on Harvard’s campus. The next one came when the Winklevoss twins and Divya called Zuckerberg over to help them program Harvard Connection. Another key point was when the facebook was launched by Zuckerberg, which led Saverin to lend money to Zuckerburg to start it and also the Winklevoss twins realization that Zuckerberg stole their idea. It continues onto the next point where Zuckerberg moves to California and meets Napsters founder Sean Parker. The last point in the movie was the breaking of the friendship between Saverin and Zuckerberg. The movie kept my interest especially by the contrast between the room with the lawyers to the actual reality of what happened. I also found it astonishing how the Zuckerberg kept his cool while he had four people suing him. Also, I found it pretty heart breaking that Zuckerberg just sat there and allowed his friendship to be destroyed. In all, The Social Network was a good movie with great performances by underrated actors.

Kozaites: Social Network Review

David Fincher proved once again his superb skills as a film maker with this year’s ‘The Social Network’. Assisted by Aaron Sorkin’s script loosely based on the founding of the internet website Facebook and its sordid upbringing. At the center of the story is the morally ambiguous and socially awkward Mark Zuckerberg, who through the course of the film gains billions at the cost of friendship. At the end of the movie his stark loneliness accompanied by The Beatles song ‘Baby You’re a Rich Man’ is chilling and leaves you sympathizing with the tragic figure.
The method of story telling within the movie was extremely effective, concerning the flashback and non-linear narrative. Though despite this employment it is interesting to note that the film begins at the earliest part in the story (the breakup scene) and ends at the latest part of the story (final day of legal arbitration). The contrast of these two scenes also shows how Facebook has changed human interaction; in the world before Facebook you would go out for a beer with your friend, in the world with Facebook people hide behind computer screens.
Another strong suit in this movie was the strong acting from the relatively young cast. The fast paced dialogue in the first scene between Rooney Mara and Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake’s portrayal of paranoid and smarmy Sean Parker, as well as Andrew Garfield’s overall intensity all showcase the talents of these fine young performers.

Cardon - The Social Network

The Social Network has finally come along and given our generation a decent movie to define our time. Jesse Eisenberg who plays Mark Zuckerberg has been in other impressive movies such as Zombieland, Adventureland, The Squid & the Whale, and The Emperor’s Club. Then we have Justin Timberlake portraying the little shit who is Sean Parker. Like he said in the movie, he did change the music industry without a doubt. Andrew Garfield plays Eduardo Saverin, Mark’s best friend and the economic backer for the beginnings of facebook. Not to sound corny but there is something my mom always tells me to remember and that is, money & power aren’t evil themselves but the love of money & power is evil. That is exactly what got in Zuckerberg’s way. He became power hungry, but the more power he gained the lower his approval rating became. The movie appropriately depicts the impact that these young men have had on social networking throughout the past five years. Not only is facebook widely used amongst teens and college students, but parents have also begun to sign up. They are reconnecting with high school friends, college, friends, and old neighborhood friends. Sadly our generation hasn’t offered many other significant contributions to the world, but facebook is definitely an enormous stepping-stone. The quote that defines Zuckerberg’s actions is from his “girlfriend” Erica, "You are going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're a nerd. And I want you to know from the bottom of my heart that that won't be true. It'll be because you're an asshole."

Griffin: The Social Network

My preconceptions before viewing “The Social Network” (David Fincher 2010) were that it would be a highly paced, over-sexualized blockbuster with an overload of special effects, but it turned out to be none of those things. Rather, the film is an in-depth chronicle of the origins and development of Facebook, but more principally, the film is about the characters that created Facebook, fought over it, were changed by it or were destroyed in the process.

The story unfolds in Harvard dorm rooms of the co-founders, Eisenberg’s Mark Zuckerberg and Garfield’s Eduardo Saverin. These scenes make up the past tense as it were of the film, while extended deposition scenes make up the present and set up future events while exploring the conflicts set up in the dorm room days. Though the film portrays several years of events, the editing is clever and quick so the narrative never loses momentum or becomes too convoluted. Often, the film cuts back and forth between deposition scenes with aloof Zuckerberg or the haughty and stubborn Winklevoss twins and scenes where these very characters first met or are fighting, etc. So the technique of juxtaposing past and present and future events is one of the film’s key elements for establishing tension and suspense.

Another facet that lends “The Social Network” credibility is Aaron Sorkin’s adapted screenplay. As in his writing for “The West Wing”, the dialogue is quick, witty, sharp, sarcastic and comedic when necessary. The opening scene of the film is Zuckerberg and his girlfriend drinking at a college bar. Her unrequited love forms one of his key personal conflicts throughout the film, which grows into the notion that Zuckerberg is just a nerd who never had a real girlfriend and his invention of Facebook compensated for weakness he felt in himself. But the opening scene is a sprightly and sardonic exchange of words which embody Sorkin’s style and abilities. Having such a skilled writer of dialogue like Sorkin is critical for this movie because so much of it happens in boardrooms and over long wooden tables with lawyers.

Fisher: The Social Network

I had no intention of seeing this film in theaters and was expecting it to be a bust, simply because I was cynical of a movie whose main storyline is derived from Facebook; the ultimate societal conformist's internet outlet since it went public in March 2009.   I have confidence in David Fincher as a director; him being responsible for movies like Fight Club, Se7en, and Zodiac.  So I was expecting something stable in terms of plot, character, and story development.  I was not disappointed by the solid and comprehensive narrative arc presented by Fincher.  As for my expectations in terms of acting, the only recognizable names/faces too me were Jesse Eisenburg as Mark Zuckerburg and Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker.  I was skeptical of these actors performances due to their limited resumes and my unfamiliarity with their work.  However, I had seen Zombieland and Alpha Dog so my hopes for an adequate performance were not completely dashed.

This films best feature was the way the ties between the people were presented.  The entire picture focuses completely on the interpersonal relationships between the main and supporting characters.  All of the the shots in this film are close to medium range in order to emphasize the idea to focus on the characters and how they act and emote in each scene/situation. It is interesting to note that throughout the film, they make Mark out to not care for his friends and is simply focused on realizing his idea of Facebook.  While this may or may not be the truth of the endeavor, they choose to cast Zuckerberg in that light.  This dramatically alters the view of the those watching.  It causes them to sympathize more with the people that he had to step over and sheds light on their struggle that was overcast by the ingenuity of Zuckerberg.  In fact, I go could so far to say that this film is promoting that lying, cheating, and stealing; as long as you get to the top first, is favorable and is a strategy used by those with initiative.  We see this in the film as he takes the original idea from the "Winklevi" as Mark calls them, kicks his best friend and co-founder out of the company, and get away with it. America, F*** Yeah.

Westerfield- The Social Network

It's important to keep in mind while watching David Fincher's latest film that it was intended as a dramatic piece and as such some of the details regarding the Facebook lawsuits and the events leading up to them have been modified to better suit the narrative. Probably the best example of this is the character of Erica, Mark Zuckerberg's girlfriend at the beginning of the film. That she is in fact fictional does no harm to the movie, but her character serves as a point of insight into the motivations of Zuckerberg. The final scene works metaphorically to illustrate the way he attempts to compensate his need for acceptance with the creation of Facebook, sending her a friend request and continually refreshing the page to see if she's accepted or not, the scene running long enough that we get a sense of futility.
The screenplay functions around this emotional center and as a result does something worthy of praise. It takes events such as legal proceedings and computer programming, things that should intrinsically be boring to the general audience, and through the use of a non-linear narrative structure permeated with sharp and well-written dialogue makes them fascinating. The main story takes place during the legal proceedings of the two lawsuits with flashbacks establishing how we got to that point. This allows us to contrast the character relationships (Zuckerberg, Eduardo and the Winklevosses) in the beginning with what they will become pending the lawsuit and creates a dramatic tension that drives the rest of the story. A linear narrative may have worked fine but it would not have been as effective because, as Fincher is clearly aware, The film is more concerned with the transformative process of the characters than the end result. We already know how the story ends.

Phillpott--The Social Network

I thought the best feature from the movie The Social Network was the portrayal of Mark and Eduardo's friendship. The entire movie Mark is a bit of a jerk, but for some reason Eduardo is his friend (and basically his only "true" friend throughout the entire movie.) He supports Mark in anything Mark wants to do when it comes to Facebook. The movie unfolds their relationship in small increments. By flipping between the two lawsuits and what happened up to the lawsuits, the audience is allowed to see what truly happened. It is not from one perspective; the audience sees everything as it really occurred.

I thought the character development of Eduardo was the best in the entire film. He starts off as Mark's friend who puts up the money to start Facebook. Then, he becomes the CFO of Facebook. Eventually he is screwed over by Mark and loses almost everything he had as a shareholder of Facebook. In the end, we are presented with the summary that he and Mark settled on an undisclosed amount for the lawsuit. I found his character fascinating because even when Mark begins to push him aside for Sean Parker, Eduardo still is just being a good friend. Then to see him get so anger at Mark when he finds out what Mark has done to him was just brilliant. His reaction was exactly how you imagine someone who has been pushed over the edge would respond. Mark has lost the only person who really likes him for "him." Everyone else just wants to be his friend because he is rich and the inventor of Facebook. In my opinion, seeing them go from friendship to hatred was the strongest part in the entire movie. I really enjoyed seeing The Social Network because of this.

Himmelberg, "The Social Network" Review

Before going to see "The Social Network", I was excited and intrigued ,because I am an avid facebook user, but I didn't have any real expectations because I didn't know exactly what angle they were going to tell or what exactly it was going to be about; I simply knew it based on facebook. Though the movie is definitely an interesting topic for all ages, because facebook is such a huge part of our culture today, it is especially poignant to my generation. I think it would suffice to say that we are probably the primary users of facebook, so this movie really hits home for us.We have grown up in a new age of technology and watched it evolve before our eyes in the matter of only a decade. The internet being one of the leading technologies that has changed, Facebook especially. The only real worry I had before seeing it was that maybe it was a little to early to making a movie about facebook. A writer or story teller cannot fully and correctly tell a story until they are removed from the situation and have had time to reflect on it. Facebook is still a growing website and all the people that are depicted in the movie are still very much alive and young, so my only hesitation was that maybe the makers of this film had decided to make this movie too soon because the material was still very raw.

Overall I ended up really liking the movie. It was all about the creation and beginning of Facebook. What really caught my interest though was that instead of focusing solely on the company/website and it's formation, it focused on the people behind the company and all the conflicts that went on in order for facebook to be what it is today. The angle that they take, focusing on the people rather than the idea is great, because all humans can relate better to a story if they have felt a similar emotion and know what the characters are going through. It was also fun to hear the full background story behind the phenomenon that is facebook and by adding in the characters stories woven into the development of the company makes it more real for the audience. We see strong friendships, jealousy, deceit and love throughout the movie. All of these things are so perfectly portrayed to seem very juvenile and young, fitting Mark perfectly at that age. They portray Mark and his friends 20 year old minds, which probably had no idea that this small website they created just because it was "cool", would become sucha huge deal.

The other very interesting thing that the director does is that throughout the movie you go back and forth between the past and the present. To learn the full story of facebook you start out before the idea comes into Mark Zuckerburg's head, finding out the trigger that caused him to start thinking about Facebook. Then we flash to a deposition in the present, because Mark is being sued by two different people at the same time. So part of the movie is in a room asking questions about the lawsuit and the rest of the movie is in the past painting the picture scene by scene of how the company got started out of a Harvard University dorm room. By taking us back and forth we get more attached to the characters and find out more about them then we would have from simply seeing what they were like in the past. We also get a lot more movement, which keeps the audience watching and not getting bored. I think this style of film is very well done and suits its purpose perfectly.

There were only a few things that I came away from the movie thinking. First, it warned you about the internet and how easy it is to get information once it is put up there. It perfectly portray's the culture of our society today, we don't like actual interaction with people anymore, we'd rather talk to them on the computer and be able to look at them without the hassle of physically being with them(absolute laziness) One thing that the movie doesn't do that would have been useful is that it doesn't tell us what facebook is like today. Facebook has evolved incredably since the early 2000's ( which is where this movie is left off ). It would have really been interesting if they had, made a flash to the recent present and shown what facebook is like today. Another interesting thing that they could have done at the very end or during the credits would have been to put up real photos of the guys for their college days compared to now. All of the characters in the movie are real people so it would have been alot better if we go to see their real photos.