National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Review

 

        Merry Christmas to you all. I hope everyone has managed to celebrate with your family or friends in this challenging time we are now living in. What can I say about National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Other than the fact that people forget that it’s a third entry in the Vacation series and the only good sequel to a classic. Having watched both Vacation movies in different time, I can understand why this one is good. While still being funny and not relying on having to watch the first or second movie. 

1. What’s a National Lampoon?

        So to those who have no clue to what "National Lampoon" is, let me give you the very basic. It was a satirizing magazine back in the day. Sort of like "MAD" magazine, it was poking fun at just about anything. The brand was popular that it spun off to include movies and live theater to name a few. 

        One of the first successful "Lampoon" movies was Animal House. It was a game changing comedy movie back in the day and it was partly inspired by the articles within the magazine. Someday I’ll have to talk about Animal House. 

        The Vacation series started as a small story that John Hughes wrote from his odd trip to Disney Land. The story named “Vacation ‘58” detailed how the road trip went to the theme park. It’s a great read and it was surprising that his Dad actually threatened Walt Disney. Anyways, the film was commissioned, and it was a breakout hit for Hughes who wrote the script and for director Harold Ramis. Who would later star in Ghostbusters among other comedic classics. 

2. Griswold Vacation

        What makes Christmas Vacation work is that it doesn’t involve a journey like the first or second movie. Instead, it’s celebrating the holiday that involves a somewhat normal family. For instance, Clark celebrates it to the Nth degree by having his house decorated with a variety of lights and to get the biggest tree. Not knowing that it won’t fit. We actually do have a scene that really captures in essence why Clark is all in on the Holiday. 

        While stuck in the attic, he views some old family reels that involved him and his family celebrating Christmas. He wants to recreate that experience but make it even more bigger and gaudier. Although everything keeps going wrong, but it's one of those things where it doesn't deter him in the slightest. 

        But I feel what makes it equal to the first one is that it has a good supporting cast. The family comes in and it’s really something where they each stare at the door with doom when they hear the doorbell ring. With the touch having it pitch lower like it’s a funeral bell. The family is a good kind of annoying. Always on Clark’s case about everything. 

        Although one in particular steals the show. Cousin Eddie is the good hearted buffoon that Clark want’s nothing to do with. The charm is that he’s from the rural parts of the country and has his quirks that annoy Clark. One redeeming thing about Eddie is his family, especially his daughter. The scene involving her and Clark is sweet since he has the Christmas spirit to cheer her up. Since her family is broke. 

        The real framing story is Clark expecting a bonus to construct a pool. His boss is a real curmudgeon, and it gets to a point where Eddie does something drastic. It’s one of the things that I’ve noticed in the good Lampoon films. Where they have the working class and affluent clash in a sense. Here its Clark’s festive spirit intruding on the neighbors who intentionally become the butt of the joke. And him not getting something from his cheapskate boss since he believes he deserves it.

3. Legacy

        Every time it’s December you can find the movie along with other holiday films from Warner Bros. in every store. I think it says a lot that it holds up 30 years later, since it’s relatable. Having to put up with family and your boss can really dent a person who’s trying to celebrate the holiday. 

        It’s only fitting that I bring up the sequel to this specific movie. No, not Vegas Vacation which doesn’t even have "National Lampoon" on it. Cousin Eddie has his own movie that has the guts to say Christmas Vacation 2. Just to put it bluntly, it’s horrible, terrible, and any other negative word that summarizes just how horrendous the movie is. 

4. Overall

        Bottom line, Christmas Vacation is the last great "National Lampoon" movie before the name got associated with crap. It’s a holiday classic that isn’t crass or too vulgar. But one that is hilarious for anyone who wants to watch the Griswolds trying to celebrate the holidays.

Scrooged Review

 

        Finally, some technicolor in my yearly look at holiday films. This one I discovered last year when it was on AMC as a rerun. Just by the name, you know that the film is partially based on Charles Dickins’ A Christmas Carol. While Scrooged follows the basic story points of the story, the whole approach is contemporary and adds some snarky humor to it. 

1. Retelling a Classic

        Not to sound like a broken record but the film does take some liberties with how it’s being told. Frank Cross is a television executive who’s a real slime. He is assigned with putting together a live taping of the Dickins’ classic story for his channel. Making more of a jerk is when he makes all the workers continue production during the holiday. 

        Bill Murray owns the role as Frank, and he can easily make the character become sleazy and just a plain jerk. What I like about him is that he has competition since he sees his competition who is more professional than him. Cross also has a woman in his life who tries to bring him down from his massive ego. Claire tries to bring him down to Earth when Frank is just being a controlling boss. 

        And as you expect, he is visited by the Three Ghosts of Christmas: the past, present, and silent future. I’ll talk about them in a moment since there’s other stuff going on during the movie. I feel that the movie tries to at least have different sub-plots go on that tie to the central story. They work for the most part and gives the film its own identity. Like one where Frank let’s go of a worker, Elliot, who disagrees with him on the content of the live show. 

        As we follow him, he becomes demented and tries to kill Frank with a rifle. Another is when Frank’s assistant Grace having a son that can’t speak. He’s the heart of the film and is supposed to be the Tiny Tim in the film. None of it I think feels like it’s overkill, but it makes the film highlight the main thing about Frank. That his crappy actions have consequences. Which ultimately sets him up to see various ghosts and humbling up. 

2. Film’s Tone

        This is the only thing that may make people not like the film. The whole film has a very cynical tone that makes it different from the other holiday films. I genuinely think that it works for our times, even though it came out during the late 80s. For instance, the story is well known that for the late Richard Donner to even consider to make the film a comedic holiday film with an edge is something to admire. 

        Anyways, how the spirits are done matches with what the film is going for. To teach Frank a lesson in humility and to be caring. One thing that I like is that they are presented as paranormal and physical. In fact, the whole film leaned more into the ghost parts since Ghostbusters was Murray’s best film at that time. The spirits really scare and abuse Frank to drive the message even further. 

        Out of all the ghosts that I like, the Ghost of Christmas Future has an interesting design. Even though it’s limited with looking like Death incarnate, the film has the spirit have a television head to show Frank’s expression. One scene that I like is near the end, Frank is just trying to process what’s going on. Behind him is tv’s playing the live show and the spirit grows to try and grab Frank. It’s scary and I love it.

        The film manages to balance being a dark humor and being sweet. It’s a whiplash of emotions when you’re laughing at the cynical part and then you see the sad scenes which involve Frank missing out on his family get together. The whole conflicting tones could’ve failed since it would be jarring. It works since it’s never abrupt and our focus stays on Frank trying to process what he’s seeing and just taking it all in. 

3. Overall

        This is my third film that I watched of the late Richard Donner. He did a great job making a holiday film that doesn’t involve guns and action. Since he made Lethal Weapon prior to this one which takes place during the holidays. Scrooged is a different holiday film that isn’t meant for anyone but broadens itself in a slew of holiday classics. 

Miracle on 34th Street (1947) Review

 

        Another look at a classic this time. Miracle on 34th Street is probably the only holiday film to garner three Academy Awards and being nominated for Best Picture. So far, it’s  the only holiday film to be the first to be nominated with that distinction. Although it’s nearly 80 years old, I feel that it’s progressive and relevant enough about the holiday. 

1. Kris Kringle

        The film takes place between two holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. You can probably label this film as a cross holiday film if you really think about it. Anyways, we see an old man named Kris see the annual Macy’s Parade. He notices a Santa who is drunk and is offended. So much so that he talks to the event organizer Doris. She thinks he’s good enough to be the replacement. 

        As the film goes on, Doris gives him the job as the Macy’s Santa in their premiere store. Throughout the film, Kris starts to behave as Santa. Meanwhile, Doris is a single mother to Susan who doesn’t believe in anything. Fred, Doris’ friend tries to tell her that Santa is real but she doesn’t believe it. 

        Kris steals the show since he has the personality that is representative as the jolly man. He doesn’t have that creepy vibe most people get when picturing Santa Claus. In this film, he is represented as an honest and understanding person when he talks to the other workers in Macys. 

For instance, he talks to the janitor Alfred. He likes to wear the Santa suit since he likes seeing kids be happy with gifts. Kris encourages him to do that, only because the store psychologist chides Alfred for doing that. 

        Near the end, the film transitions from a drama to a legal one. The fortunate thing is that it isn’t bogged down by procedures. Even the lawyers say that the whole thing is silly since the idea of proving that Kris is Santa is just unreal. The film isn’t about proving anything, but a film that is more so on the idea about believing which I’ll get into. 

        One thing that separates Kris from the other Santa’s in film is that he has a sense of responsibility about what the holiday has become. That great moment is when he gets hired to work at Macys. He is told by the floor manager to push specific toys, which he doesn’t agree to do. When meeting with one of the kid’s parents, he says that a different store has a toy. It goes to show just how helpful and kind Kris is as a Santa.  

2. A Film about Faith

        Don’t worry, this film doesn’t get into the religious angle about faith. But on the idea of just believing about fantasy from a child’s perspective. Since the film shows Doris as a person who is just about the facts. Meaning that any sort of fantasy that turns out to not be real would just confirm to her that it’s all fake. What I like is that we get small glimpses on why she thinks that. It’s personal and the film doesn’t really stop to really get at it. It’s subtle in its approach.

        And that it permeates in her daughter, who is supposed to believe in that stuff. Susan is the sweetest child, but the knock on her is that she doesn’t believe in fairy tales or anything fantasy. So much so that when Fred and her see a float looking like a giant, Susan thinks Fred is full of it. 

        Fred is the representation of the adult who still believes in the fantasy. Albeit not like acting like an immature guy, but who still believes on the idea of Santa since he’s the representation of the holiday. Susan ultimately sees Kris and ultimately learns to be a kid when Kringle teaches her on using her imagination. 

        The film really hammers home this idea since the holiday is tied to it. That faith is about believing in something. When applied to the film, people often can’t grasp just how Kris is a Santa even though they know that the character isn’t real. 

3. Legacy

        As I mentioned earlier, the film did garner three Academy Award wins and was nominated for Best Picture. The success of the film had multiple adaptations later in the 20th century. From a Broadway play to a made for tv film during the 70s. It was remade in the 90s by the same studio. 

        It wasn’t successful and only getting mixed reviews. What I think went wrong was just the whole approach of the film. It tried to be serious and leaned heavily into the faith aspect and involving religion. Which is never implied in the original and that the original never took itself that seriously with the subject matter. Ultimately the film is about a child’s view on fantasy and whether they believe it or not. It’s not a hard thing to grasp if you consider things from their point of view. 

4. Overall

        This film is certainly up there as the best holiday film. Albeit a prestigious one since it won multiple awards. I think it holds up in today’s lens since the holiday has been commercialized. It’s a classic that has to be watched. 

It's A Wonderful Life Review

 

        It’s been an interesting moment in time compared to last year. Year 2 is finally wrapping up with this experiment of me talking about movies. In case you’ve noticed that I barely do them, mostly updating them to Sunday. It was something where I watched different movies weekly and tell you guys how I feel about them. Just to put it out there, I’m not going anywhere. Priorities have shifted on my end that explains about my low input. Regardless, let’s end the year with a look at some holiday films. So here’s what I think of It’s A Wonderful Life. 

1. George Bailey

        The story is pretty interesting. It’s mostly about this man named George Bailey. We begin the movie with angels, they’re represented as galaxies or something at least tangible. Anyways, we see them notice an event that will happen to George and send his guardian angel to help. George from what we see throughout the film is a positive and humble person. 

        We see him grow up from a child to an adult in various points in time. Albeit from the angel’s point of view. Even stopping the film to discuss if they’re close to the important event. It threw me off since I thought that the movie was loading. Effective as it is, we see that George has made some decisions that has an impact on the town. 

        What I like is that although the film takes a while to reach the holiday, we get to see and understand just what kind of person George is. He has principles that make him endearing. Which is ironic since we see him running a family bank. The opposite of him is the curmudgeon Mr. Potter who’s a slime of a banker. George stands up to him as he is willing to help out the civilians in the town who need money. 

2. A Different Christmas Story

        This is a different kind of story just by how it’s told. It has a shade of “A Christmas Carol” where George is transported to a different reality and one where we see him as an honorable man. I believe that what makes it classic is that we see him as an amalgamation of the values of what the holiday is supposed to represent. 

        For instance, he is a good man and has an unshakeable will to help people. When we see him in his lowest, he’s desperate and is bitter in the situation that he’s in. It’s pretty shocking since you start to like the guy, but when he snaps you feel it. You feel bad because you want George to be happy and cheerful. It works since for anyone to really care about the character is to make him hurt. 

        I think it works because we see just how much of an impact he made for the various people including his brother. When he sees the different reality, people don’t know him and learns that the city he loves becomes a second rate Vegas. He feels humbled because he never could’ve imagine just how much good he has done. Not to be preachy but it’s relatable. No one considers just how big of an impact we can do or shape one person. 

3. How it Became a Classic

        It’s interesting how this film became a forgetful movie to an absolute gem of a classic. When it came out, it didn’t make enough money to be considered a hit. It was derided and received mixed reviews when it came out. When it became time to renew it before it became public domain, there was a clerical error that unintentionally made the movie part of the public domain. TV studios began to broadcast the movie around the holidays. Although they had to pay the royalties since the movie is based on a short story called "The Greatest Gift".

4. Overall

        It’s A Wonderful Life is a great holiday film and a rebound film for historical purposes. Through it’s broadcast on television, the film got introduced to a new audience and an appreciation for it grew. Some may have a cynical view on it just how much the holiday has morphed. Although it's a personification of what it should be about. Absolutely, the film is a classic.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles Review

 

        John Hughes owned the 80s in terms of making comedies and drama. He wrote and directed many classics such as National Lampoon’s Vacation which is loosely based on his own account of going to Disneyland. After that, he revolutionized how high school was portrayed with The Breakfast Club. Many people consider that film to be his best all around. Personally, The Breakfast Club is one of his best films, although I will attest that Planes, Trains and Automobiles to be the definitive film.

1. Road Trip

        The film is simple to follow. Neal is an ad executive who is trying to get home for Thanksgiving. While trying to reach Chicago, which was John Hughes recurring city which any of his films take place, he meets Del. A traveling salesman who sells curtain shower rings who accidentally steals a taxi from Neal. A series of events bring the two together as Neal tries to make it home for Thanksgiving. 

        What makes the film work is the two main leads. The synergy between Steve Martin and the late John Candy manage to gel together as two strangers. Additionally, just the character development of the two show just how talented they were as comedians. Since we’re shown very little of Neal, we can interpret that he’s easily inconvenienced with anything. More so that nothing goes his way.

        Del meanwhile is that kind of guy who is an awe shucks person. He’s very endearing and as the film progresses and leaves Neal confounded, he manages to know people that owes him favors. Just the personality between the two showcases one of the various highlights in the film. One of my favorite scene is in the beginning. The two manage to find a hotel but it’s the last available room, with one bed. As Neal becomes annoyed by Del, he goes on a tirade. Del defends himself by asserting that he knows what he is. 

        It’s my favorite scene because it represents just how the two are. As the film progresses, they lighten up and get into more predicaments. Just to give the audience a break from the succeeding inconveniences we get to really know them. For Del, I don’t want to give anything away but the ending involving him is tragic. It really helps Neal change his personality as the film continues. 

2. Just Go with It

        If there’s a recurring motif that pops up is the idea of just going with it. This motif rears its head in the movie since Neal tries various ways to get to Chicago. With Del helping him and unintentionally annoying his new friend. As we see throughout the film, Neal faces obstacles that impede him from his journey. The best scene involving just him is the reason why the film got an R rating. 

        Neal reaches an airport to find a rented car, only to realize that it’s gone. He goes and complains to the clerk and proceeds to use the F word to her. The punch line is the best part, which I won’t spoil. It just represents how Neal has to take the punches and his new friend bailing him out. As I mentioned prior, Del doesn’t feel inconvenienced and does what’s right to help Neal.

3. Overall

        Planes, Trains and Automobiles is the best Thanksgiving film to watch in that time. I feel that it’s also a transition film since it involves getting home for the holidays. Anyway, the film is an absolute gem. 

Rocky Review

 

        Whenever you think of Sylvester Stallone, Rocky Balboa will always be the one character that he will forever be associated with. It’s one of those down to earth and humble films where anyone can put themselves into any daunting situation and have Balboa be the representation. To this day, Rocky is the only sports movie to win Best Picture.

1. Rocky

        This is one of the most lovable characters ever to be put into any screen. As I mentioned prior, Stallone will always be associated with the boxer. We see him box inside a church and get paid a petty sum. At a glance, he appears to be a well-meaning guy, since he’s known throughout the neighborhood. The only thing is that he works for a loan shark and shakes money from people. What I like about the character is that he has depth.

        Everything about him is spelled out or shown when he interacts with people. He’s a tough guy but he’s a softie. The best moment is when he visits the pet shop and tries to make Adrian come out of her shell. Just by the conversation, Rocky makes her laugh. It turns the movie from a sports film to a drama. Due in part that Balboa is a good person, but what he lacks is the passion to go further. 

        Meanwhile, we see the main antagonist Apollo Creed. He decides to schedule an exhibition fight and picks out Rocky. The film is in no way a macho filled that you may think of. It has a blue collared feel to it that there’s emotion when Rocky interacts with the other characters and gets into arguments. In this one scene in particular, Mickey the boxing trainer visits Rocky to help him train. Rocky turns him down and gets mad that he wouldn’t help him years prior. 

        Much like in his future work in First Blood, Rocky’s personality is more than what he appears to be. With him dating Adrian and seeing her brother, we get to know him personally and overall care about him when the fight draws closer. Even before those moments when he walks a young girl home after he spots her with the wrong crowd. It’s a hidden gem to make a character relatable, since we have to empathize in order to really be invested.

2. Training Montage

        Everything in the film works its way to this famous moment. It’s the whole representation of what the whole movie is about thematically. Which is about persistence and going the distance for our favorite boxer. What can I say but it’s the one to really lay the foundation of how to do a montage. The music is what sells it as well. Lastly, the one shot where Rocky runs and jumps the steps of the Philadelphia museum of art and raising his arms has been the defining image of the character and the city. 

3. Legacy

        The film was a hit and deserved to win Best Picture in its time. It continued with 5 sequels, each feeling that it would be the last one since it got more personal with Rocky. Although, what I feel gets lost in the other films is that it couldn’t possibly top the first one. It focused more on the machismo instead of the personal drama that is going on with Rocky. Well, there are subplots where his health was hindering him and other aspects that hit close to home for him. 

        It seemed that it would be crazy to spin off the franchise. The expectation is that Hollywood was out of ideas and to have a spin off with Apollo Creed’s son was something that people didn’t need to see. Fortunately, Creed is the film that I will say is the definitive Rocky sequel and a good passing of the torch film. 

4. Overall

        This film is a must watch for any film lover and sports fan in general. Need I say more?

Taxi Driver Review

 

        It’s about time I get to review a Martin Scorsese film. Taxi Driver is the first Scorsese film that I bought and led to my ever-expanding collection of movies. How I heard of this film was out of all things a Seth Rogen comedy. His film Neighbors had a bit where the frat next door to Rogen’s family had a De Niro party. I think Zac Efron was in a Taxi Driver costume. Anyways, Taxi Driver represents why I love 70s cinema. 

1. Travis Bickle

        De Niro steals the show when he plays the loner Travis. We see him walk into the taxi place in search of a job. Everything that we need to know about him is in this scene. Additionally, just what he wears which is a U.S. Marine jacket when he and the interviewer make that connection that they fought in Vietnam. It's just crazy to seeing DeNiro young in this film. My first exposure was in one of the Meet the Family movies. 

        What I like about him is that he has a level of depth to him where we don’t know how to feel about him. He has monologues that we hear throughout the film that is from his diaries. We can interpret that as him being morphed from the conflict in southeast Asia. Which is why he’s a blip in New York City. He doesn't think what's normal to us. One of thing he does is going to a porn theater, which was a thing at that time. It's because he thinks it's normal and tries to take a woman to accompany him which i'll mention next. 

        To even expand on just how mentally not well he really is, he tries to date. For one thing it’s charming when he talks to Betsy. Since she is working for a politician’s campaign. Travis walks in faking wanting to help just to have a moment with her. It goes predictably south and to really drive the point even further. As he tries to apologize to her, the camera that is on him moves to the hallway. 

        The overall thing that is being communicated is this idea of alienation. Again, Travis is not well and he tries to stay sane when he drives. The little things make him go progressively to the deep end is attributed to what he sees when he’s driving. More so when Bickle picks up a customer who tells him he wants to kill his cheating girlfriend. It shows that Travis is becoming part of the rut of New York. 

        One last thing is that I want to bring up the music. I love it for the most part and it was composer Bernard Hermann’s last soundtrack he conducted before his passing. I like it because it’s somber and it doesn’t have moments where it’s too overtly depressing. It’s one of those soundtracks you can listen when it’s raining. 

2. New York

Those shots of New York from the 70s is really something to see. Looking at the film is like seeing a time capsule come to life. It serves the point that the environment is what Travis wants to get rid of since he sees it as a threat. Albeit he becomes part of the problem when he becomes intwined with the seedy parts. 

        I feel like people don’t know that New York City at that time was the opposite of what we think of the city now. It was notorious for being corrupt with the cops being sketchy. In fact, it was the basis for the Al Pacino film Serpico. Additionally, the city was just about unsafe for anyone since the subways were prone to mechanical failures. 

        Time Square wasn’t even a cool place when we hear the location. It was littered with drug users and prostitutes in every corner of the site. Just to put it in summation if you skipped what I just typed down, New York City was bad.   

3. Legacy

        The film was received greatly and it helped Robert DeNiro’s stardom reach further. I feel that since he has become an example of being a method actor, meaning an actor becoming the character in the movie and trying to live the lifestyle of the person in the movie. DeNiro and Scorsese had worked prior in Mean Streets, and they continued more in their collaboration such as King of Comedy, Cape Fear, and Goodfellas to name a few. 

        Whenever I bring up this movie, Joker from 2019 is usually associated with it. Just to make my opinion of that movie brief, it was ok. My main gripe was that it tried to be Taxi Driver, but the main character in the other film is too closely associated with the Batman villain. Meaning that any sense of unfamiliarity with him is nonexistent since we know just who the Joker is with prior media exposure. Maybe next year I’ll talk about Joker, but I feel that Taxi Driver is a better movie in comparison. 

4. Overall 

        Whenever you come across a review that has little to say about a classic, you know it’s well. I will say that the film may come across as depressing to some. Taxi Driver is one of Martin Scorsese’s best films in an ever expanding and illustrious filmography.

The Social Network Review

 

        I’ve never thought that this film would be one of my personal favorites. I tried to find where it was streaming to no avail. Of all the tv channels that were available, Freeform was the one to have it on demand. The film has everything I like that makes me appreciate film. It is the best film of 2010 and the best of the decade. 

1. This Generation’s “Citizen Kane”

        You may have heard of the film I just referenced. Citizen Kane is considered the greatest film ever. While it’s a general term since it was groundbreaking for the time, the gist of it is that it has an idealistic man rise in riches. Only to have his pride be his downfall. I’ll be talking about Kane some other time, but for the moment let’s talk about The Social Network.

        It’s mostly about Mark Zuckerberg co-creating Facebook with his friend Eduardo Saverin. Through a series of events, he manages to create an expansive social media site, while also making some enemies. What makes it great is that it’s mostly a non-chronological story. Meaning that the story is told any way but straight. Since, it would be boring to see it play out chronologically from the start to end.

        It just works since Aaron Sorkin is a great screenwriter. Every dialogue is snappy, and David Fincher is talented enough to have the entire movie be interconnected with scenes overlap to raise the tension in the scenes involving deposition. You can say that the film is a mix of various genres and sub genres that makes it interesting since every actor is in their A-Game. 

        This is Mark’s story, although I will admit that the film was too early to have been made. Generally, a movie about someone famous or in this case something changing the status quo tends to be made after the person is dead. At that time, it’s too early since the site was slowly becoming a juggernaut. With foresight, there could possibly be a sequel considering what has happened to the site. 

        Aside from Jesse Eisenberg portraying Zuckerberg, Andrew Garfield steals the show. He plays Eduardo, which is weird since he’s British and Eduardo is Brazilian. Anyways, he’s Mark’s friend and usually tries to bring him down to Earth. That mostly involves being his only friend and keeping up with him. 

        Lastly, what I like is that we see a reason as to why Mark creates Facebook. We see that he’s just a regular Harvard student with gifted computer skills. He wasn’t in any exclusive clubs, and decided to create the site as his answer to the exclusive school clubs. It’s even referenced in the scene where Mark argues with Eduardo for freezing the company’s account. Mark doesn’t want to go back to being a nobody. 

2. Interconnected Legal Drama

        As I mentioned before, Mark Zuckerberg co-created Facebook and made some enemies. The way we see Facebook be invented was Mark being dumped by his girlfriend. In a fit of drunken rage, he created a site where he used pictures of girls in various dorms to rate. From there, the Winklevoss twins see him and invite him to create their exclusive Harvard social network. 

        Mark inevitably uses the twin’s idea to create his own social network. With that, he faces a series of legal battles about who create or stole Facebook. Within the legal moments, he comes in contact with Sean Parker. I’ve never thought it was possible to hate Justin Timberlake in a role. He nails it as being the slime who sees Mark and helps him grow the website.

        Part of the reason why the legal moments are interesting is that when you watch it, the scenes are cut together with Mark facing the Winklevi and facing his own co-creator. It weaves perfectly where it doesn’t feel jarring. Mostly it be boring to watch a legal hearing about who stole or created Facebook. The best moment is when Mark answers with his cold attitude and shutting down the Winklevi.

        Some may see this subplot as unnecessary, since the main focal point of the film is between Mark and Eduardo. Gradually the film shows the twins attempting to find ways to get Mark. Eventually suing him for stealing their idea. The moment with this twin is actually a special effect. Armie Hammer plays the twins, during the shoot he’d be one of them and a stand in would be in place for the other brother. To say they have bad luck, is amplified when they row in competition and come close to first. 

3. My Favorite Scene

        This is my favorite scene in the movie, it involves Sean and Mark. As Mark goes west to grow Facebook, he sees Parker again. He invites him to a club and from there, Sean has Mark where he wants him. The music is loud and they talk loud. Sean tells him a story involving the creation of Victoria’s Secret, which if you could switch the various parts of the story to fit Zuckerberg, it would work. 

        Aside from Sean telling the story, he brought up that he created Napster since the girl he liked was dating a jock. Mark asks if he ever thought about that girl. It still shows that Mark hasn’t gotten over his breakup. At another instance, he thinks he can get back together with his ex, who blows him off. It could be his “Rosebud”, the thing that motivated him to try and get back the person he lost that he cherished the most. 

4. Overall

        What can I say, I love The Social Network. It was snubbed for Best Picture, but I think it’s more memorable since it involves something that is part of our life now. The film works since at its core its about a friendship falling apart. And how one man tried to make 500 million other friends.