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.

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Jesse Ventura

My avatar is an sports figure-turned politician.  After breaking records and winning championships in two major sports leagues at a young age, he decided to retire early and pursue other facets of life.  The next two years of his life are spent in Tibet with the Dali Lama.  Upon his return to society he announced his ideas for reform and his intentions of running for office.  The public was eager to see change and he won the ensuing election in a landslide.

During his years in office he solved major political disputes, brought democracy to six more countries, cured cancer (by allowing stem cell research), put out two platinum albums, and killed the devil.

Bill Clinton

However, we have to keep in mind that this is a sports figure/politician that does have his faults and three marriages, two mistresses, and one divorce. 

Tiger Woods

But the people love him for all of his faults and accomplishments.  And he returned their love by winning the first interstellar war as commander and chief of the earth's armed forces.  For this he was awarded the moon, which he turned into a luxury low-gravity resort and golf course.

In his later years he bought three teams from professional sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB) and moved them all to Las Vegas where he built his stadium/casino that could host all three teams at the same time in one night.  This is where he lived out the rest of his days attending luncheons, meetings and the occasional strip club.

Beowulf

Demons have heels?

 This entire movie could have been reedited in my opinion.  It was the first movie that I have seen strive for realism in their animation.  This film honestly looks like all of the budget went into the CGI and they had to rush to finish it, so they twisted the story, skipped a few years and made the dragon his son in order to create adequate enough ending to distract the viewer from the fact that they are watching another Hollywood botch of a literal "epic" tale, not just a classic.  However, the fact that this story was written so long ago allows the producers and directors to play with it and, to my dismay, add their own creative minds into the mix.  In my eyes, this was simply an attempt to make money by taking a timeless Old English epic, bastardize it, and lure in the viewers by tossing a few star names into the digital mix; lets not fail to mention the full digital frontal by the computerized Jolie... that will bring in a crowd of thousands on its own.

All of these were mashed into one movie to produce some form of "finished" product to be presented to the capricious audience that the majority of America is.  If I were forced to pick out one scene in this movie to completely reedit, it would be any scene that they deviated from the original tale, which occurs throughout the film.  However, a good scene to reedit would be the scene when Beowulf goes to kill the demon in the cave.  In the film, and in the book, he takes along his glowing dragon horn that he received from King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) and the sword Hrunting from Unferth (John Malkovich).  However, when he enters the cave is where the story completely changes.  In the film, Beowulf (Ray Winstone) succumbs to the seduction of the demon (Angelina Jolie) and bears her a child, resulting in the birth of the golden child/dragon and his ultimate demise. Instead of this happening, they could have stuck to the original tale where he slays the demon of the water with a giant sword forged by titans and returns to the mead hall with Grendel's (Crispin Glover) head.  Then, Beowulf later meets his fate after slaying a dragon that has no relation to him.  Instead, they introduced Beowulf to his "femme fatal" so to speak in the embodiment of a naked, golden Angleina Jolie-demon with some crazy rattail.

Wolfman del Toro

Despite having the same titles the 2010 and the original 1941 The Wolfman clash in many respects.  The story lines do not match up exactly and the technology used during the filming, editing, and production differs drastically between the The Wolfman films.  For and example, in the 1941 film there were no special effects used like in the 2010 version.  The make up used by the actors portraying the wolfman is different also.  The 1941 wolfman, Lon Chaney Jr. used animal hair and facial cosmetic glue to create the wolfman effect.  Benecio del Toro is subject to all that the make up and effects that the 2010 movie industry has to offer.  These movies in my opinion are in different categories in this day and age.  I would consider the 1941 movie a ambitious attempt to create magic in cinema for one of the first times in the film industry.  While the 2010 film is a suspense film using the storyline from a classic. Not much improvement in the acting department either.

Starship Troopers

Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dein)
Starship Troopers

Dominate: The dominate of the frame to me would be Johnny Rico. However, the bug taking up the entire center of the screen in the background does take much of the focus away from Rico.

Lighting: The lighting of the image is natural.  However, the fact that they are on another planet may change that perception but to me it looks like earth for the most part. In a high key setting with high contrast brings out the bright elements of both objects on the screen.

Character Proximics: The shot is close to Johnny Rico but has a massive bug in the background. This gives the viewer a chance to see the real size of the bug and the take in the full scope of the screen shot.  The proximics between Rico and the bug in this frame would be public.