The Social Network and other mysteries on planet earth

amolbhatia50k

Sneaky bum time - Vaccination status: dozed off
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Everywhere I see this movie getting rave reviews and hardly ever a 'less than 4 out of 5' rating.

I thought it was distinctly average. I feel the only reason people liked it was that it was about Facebook which, for some reason, is a big part of everyones lives. As a standalone movie it had a nothing story to tell. Sometimes real life stories have great tales to tell that are inspiring and interesting and thought provoking. This was not one of those times. This was just about a high school kid who used someones else's idea. Wow.

Am I the only one who didn't like it? Have there been other movies that are so universally acclaimed that you didn't like?
 
Another one I felt the same way about was Hurt Locker. But I've had that argument here already with someone who told me how I wouldn't 'get' that movie, given it's premise and setting. I think it was gb.
 
amolbhatia100 said:
Everywhere I see this movie getting rave reviews and hardly ever a 'less than 4 out of 5' rating.

I thought it was distinctly average. I feel the only reason people liked it was that it was about Facebook which, for some reason, is a big part of everyones lives. As a standalone movie it had a nothing story to tell. Sometimes real life stories have great tales to tell that are inspiring and interesting and thought provoking. This was not one of those times. This was just about a high school kid who used someones else's idea. Wow.

Am I the only one who didn't like it? Have there been other movies that are so universally acclaimed that you didn't like?
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I don't give a shit about Facebook and I thought it was fantastic.

To write this off as "the Facebook movie" is like saying Fight Club is about fighting.
 
Do you find other works by Sorkin and Fincher boring also by any chance? Because I love most of their stuff(don't remotely care for Benjamin Button and not too fond on Studio 60 though), and well they both did brilliant jobs here for me.
 
I thought The Hurt Locker was shite.

The first set-piece was great but it went rapidly downhill from there. Every character was a walking cliche, the sub-plot with the kid was lumpen and schmaltzy, the narrative predictable and banal and it was all so poorly acted I ended up not giving a shit about anyone in the film. Most mediocre film to win a major Oscar I can think of.

I didn't like Inception either. A film to make stupid people think they're clever (I've ripped that line off from another caftard, who used it about another film but I reckon it's bang on in this instance). It bored the hell out of me.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I thought The Hurt Locker was shite.

The first set-piece was great but it went rapidly downhill from there. Every character was a walking cliche, the sub-plot with the kid was lumpen and schmaltzy, the narrative predictable and banal and it was all so poorly acted I ended up not giving a shit about anyone in the film. Most mediocre film to win a major Oscar I can think of.

I didn't like Inception either. A film to make stupid people think they're clever (I've ripped that line off from another caftard, who used it about another film but I reckon it's bang on in this instance). It bored the hell out of me.
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Agree with the first part of this post.

Although the oscars already lost their credibility a year before when Slum Dog millionaire won a bazillion oscars. I mean nice movie and all but it really wasn't anything special. The fact that a lot of roles were played by kids who have grown up in that setting seemed to create a huge bias.

Then again Titanic won tons too, so..
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Would you believe I wrote my Hurt Locker rant before reading this post?!?

Turns out there are some things we agree on!
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Hehe

Who would have though eh? :smirk:

I think we better go back putting on our Cal? and FV costumes.
 
Hurt Locker was excellent for American audiences. Its rather predictable that foreign audiences didn't like it. Inception was one of e best of all time (and will be remembered as such over time). For Nolan to pull something like that off with a massive budget was impressive.
 
What would Americans get out of Hurt Locker that non-Americans wouldn't?

I forgot Nolan made Inception. I thought Dark Knight was shit an' all. Another movie that belongs in this thread. Memento is one of my all-time favourite films but I don't like his blockbusters one bit.
 
Raoul said:
Hurt Locker was excellent for American audiences. Its rather predictable that foreign audiences didn't like it. Inception was one of e best of all time (and will be remembered as such over time). For Nolan to pull something like that off with a massive budget was impressive.
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I think I've had the hurt locker discussion with you too!
Not going there!

I wouldn't put Inception on such a high pedestrian for the simple fact that it missed one core ingredient that makes an all time great movie, which is great acting. But that's a personal thing. I know it's the kind of movie that puts its all its eggs in the 'plot' basket rather than the 'acting' basket. But usually the movies I consider amongst the greatest of all time leave enough room to breathe for outstanding performances by the actors to come through and not just the story. My take.

But I did really really like it.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
What would Americans get out of Hurt Locker that non-Americans wouldn't?
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That's a can of worms opening right there.

Apparently noone else can relate to a war because the 'war on terror' (tm) is the only war to have ever happened in the history of mankind.

(shit I went there, it was just too tempting)
 
On the Americans/Non-Americans thing. I just watched - and thoroughly enjoyed - Restrepo. If ever a movie might not appeal outside the states it's this one (an embedded documentary which is highly sympathetic to American troops in Afghanistan) but I thought it was class.

I just think Hurt Locker was a very average piece of film-making that got lucky.
 
Inception, just like The Dark Knight did after its initial monster hypetrain died, has already started to fade from GOAT discussions. It's not going to be put in the same category as No Country or There Will Be Blood or the LOTRs of the 2000s onwards yet alone as one of the best of all time.

I like his blockbusters, they aren't remotely as great as made out to be, but they are very good, but I definitely prefer him in more thriller-esque type mode, give me Begins over TDK any day of the week and give me everything bar Insomnia over Inception anyday of the week also. At least his films don't make me want to commit suicide like The Island and Transformers 2 did.
 
What is Hurt Locker about? Yanks killing towel heads en mass or something?

And yeah, you're pretty much spot on about Nolan, PM.
 
I liked Lord of the Rings, but who thinks it's amongst the greatest of all time?
Haven't heard anyone say that, ever.

I just can't such a blockbuster big budget movie as one of the greatest. They usually simply lacks the humility, attention to detail and artistry in storytelling and performance to be regarded so highly.
 
I'm sure this has been said before but movies being a one size fits all kind of product, loads of external factors determine an individual's verdict on a film.

I saw The Hurt Locker only recently, on a bedridden, slow weekday afternoon and I loved it. Had I seen it during its accolade accumulating spree having shelled out money on a Friday night, I would be underwhelmed. It also puts the American/Non-American debate into perspective, on the other end of the spectrum

An acquaintance of mine got preview passes for The Social Network and he loved it. May be for its content, may be for being among a select elite bunch who got to see the film beforehand.

I'm with Pogue on Nolan here. Memento (also apparently Following which Spoony and some of my friends believe is the works) was awesome. Both Batmans and Inception wasn't to my fancy.

 
Salvation said:
I'm sure this has been said before but movies being a one size fits all kind of product, loads of external factors determine an individual's verdict on a film.

I saw The Hurt Locker only recently, on a bedridden, slow weekday afternoon and I loved it. Had I seen it during its accolade accumulating spree having shelled out money on a Friday night, I would be underwhelmed. It also puts the American/Non-American debate into perspective, on the other end of the spectrum

An acquaintance of mine got preview passes for The Social Network and he loved it. May be for its content, may be for being among a select elite bunch who got to see the film beforehand.

I'm with Pogue on Nolan here. Memento (also apparently Following which Spoony and some of my friends believe is the works) was awesome. Both Batmans and Inception wasn't to my fancy.
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True about the first bit but it changes from person to person. The amount your mood or the circumstances you find yourself in whilst watching the film affects your opinion of it varies from person to person. Personally, I find that with me it's very minimal. I kind of switch off completely from other things and almost watch movie with a very similar anticipation unless it's a Hindi movie I'm being forced to watch!
 
amolbhatia100 said:
I liked Lord of the Rings, but who thinks it's amongst the greatest of all time?
Haven't heard anyone say that, ever.

I just can't such a blockbuster big budget movie as one of the greatest. They usually simply lacks the humility, attention to detail and artistry in storytelling and performance to be regarded so highly.
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Blockbusters are about making a shedload of money...and perhaps this puts a constraint on directors. I guess it's similar to the music industry. Real art isn't about making money but it's a form of an expression, but I suspect the majority of don't care about being compromised...

And yes, Salv, watch Following. It's when Nolan was an artist with integrity.
 
amolbhatia100 said:
I liked Lord of the Rings, but who thinks it's amongst the greatest of all time?
Haven't heard anyone say that, ever.
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For real? I mean it shows up in pretty much every GOAT list it's eligible for, and will probably go into most of the ones that matter when it becomes eligible for them since nearly every person that matters voting on them loved them, i'd be hugely surprised if it's not in both the BFI and AFI list in 20 years time.
 
Spoony Youngblood said:
Blockbusters are about making a shedload of money...and perhaps this puts a constrain on directors. I guess it's similar to the music industry. Real art isn't about making money but it's a form of an expression, but I suspect the majority of don't care about being compromised...
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Of course. Which is why I generally don't hold 'blockbusters' in such high esteem, barring exceptions.

Music I believe is slightly different. While in the current music scene, I feel the less commercial artists are untouchable by the commercial ones, when I go back a 2-4 decades, the mainstream music was magnificent, whatever the intentions to create it were.
 
The review thing is a bit funny. SN got rave reviews, in fact I don't recall a bad word said against it. To me, that makes no sense. Does everyone have the same taste? Toy Story 3 and Inception also got similar reviews despite both being distinctly average... I suspect these types of reviews give people the impression that they have to like them(movies) or else they're strange.

I'll give the next Nolan movie 5/5. I expect a cheque in the post Nolan and co....
 
Zen said:
For real? I mean it shows up in pretty much every GOAT list it's eligible for, and will probably go into most of the ones that matter when it becomes eligible for them since nearly every person that matters voting on them loved them, i'd be hugely surprised if it's not in both the BFI and AFI list in 20 years time.
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What is BFI and AFI?

I'm not one who slides so heavily on the side of uncommercial cinema. I quite like a mix of the two. But for me, LOTR is just a whole of great entertainment.
But I don't think I'd rank it up there with the likes of Shawshank Redemption which was just a superb piece of cinema.
 
Zen said:
For real? I mean it shows up in pretty much every GOAT list it's eligible for, and will probably go into most of the ones that matter when it becomes eligible for them since nearly every person that matters voting on them loved them, i'd be hugely surprised if it's not in both the BFI and AFI list in 20 years time.
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Be prepared to be surprised.

amolbhatia100 said:
Of course. Which is why I generally don't hold 'blockbusters' in such high esteem, barring exceptions.

Music I believe is slightly different. While in the current music scene, I feel the less commercial artists are untouchable by the commercial ones, when I go back a 2-4 decades, the mainstream music was magnificent, whatever the intentions to create it were.
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We're taking about making money not what's better. I doubt A Prophet or Four Lions raked in a fraction of what Inception did... why? The point is companies know what sells. And also know how to sell it. Whether it's the music industry or the film industry.
 
amolbhatia100 said:
What is BFI and AFI?

I'm not one who slides so heavily on the side of uncommercial cinema. I quite like a mix of the two. But for me, LOTR is just a whole of great entertainment.
But I don't think I'd rank it up there with the likes of Shawshank Redemption which was just a superb piece of cinema.
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That's such an average film full of clichés and stereotypes. Oh and a typical Hollywood ending...
 
Somehow I doubt Nolan wrote and directed Inception with the sole intention of making money.
 
Nolan's not the only person involved is he. That said, he ripped off Paprika, regardless.
 
Spoony Youngblood said:
Nolan's not the only person involved is he. That said, he ripped off Paprika, regardless.
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No he's not, just like every other movie.

When you get 200 million dollars to make your movie you have to compromise. I'm sure Nolan would've liked to make it an R rated movie for instance. The money men are always going to want to have their say.
 
Saliph said:
No he's not, just like every other movie.

When you get 200 million dollars to make your movie you have to compromise. I'm sure Nolan would've liked to make it an R rated movie for instance.
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Which is precisely my point.
 
Saliph said:
I don't give a shit about Facebook and I thought it was fantastic.

To write this off as "the Facebook movie" is like saying Fight Club is about fighting.
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I really enjoyed it and I fecking hate Facebook!
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I thought The Hurt Locker was shite.

The first set-piece was great but it went rapidly downhill from there. Every character was a walking cliche, the sub-plot with the kid was lumpen and schmaltzy, the narrative predictable and banal and it was all so poorly acted I ended up not giving a shit about anyone in the film. Most mediocre film to win a major Oscar I can think of.

I didn't like Inception either. A film to make stupid people think they're clever (I've ripped that line off from another caftard, who used it about another film but I reckon it's bang on in this instance). It bored the hell out of me.
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Sounds like you've given up on life Pogue. That or you're being ironic by hating movies that most people love simply because they're popular!
 
Spoony Youngblood said:
Which is precisely my point.
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So because he gets $200 million to make a movie he wrote he's no longer an artist with integrity? Bullshit.

Nolan made the movie his way, probably with a few constraints. If the studio interfered too much and he wasn't happy we'd know about it. I'm pretty sure the producers had their say during the filming of Memento too. It's nothing new.
 
Saliph said:
So because he gets $200 million to make a movie he wrote he's no longer an artist with integrity? Bullshit.

Nolan made the movie his way, probably with a few constraints. If the studio interfered too much and he wasn't happy we'd know about it. I'm pretty sure the producers had their say during the filming of Memento too. It's nothing new.
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Spot on.

Nolan isn't unique in this regard.
 
Saliph said:
So because he gets $200 million to make a movie he wrote he's no longer an artist with integrity? Bullshit.

Nolan made the movie his way, probably with a few constraints. If the studio interfered too much and he wasn't happy we'd know about it. I'm pretty sure the producers had their say during the filming of Memento too. It's nothing new.
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When an artist compromises, he loses integrity. Didn't Cassandre something along the same lines? I suspect there are a lot more compromises made when making a blockbuster compared with a low budget movie. It's no surprising his earlier work was better. I suspect he had almost complete control over his work.

Show me the money.
 
I really, really liked The Social network, and I don't particularly care for Facebook.

Didn't really like Inception, though.
 
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