Cinematic Throwbacks: October 2010
2010:
The Social Network was kind of looked at as a joke when they first announced they were making it. Like, why are they making a movie about Facebook?
But the film got the great David Fincher to direct, and the great Aaron Sorkin to write it. Any film with that pair is guaranteed to be great. And the Sorkin dialogue especially is where this film just soars.
Jesse Eisenberg, who up until this was known as kind of an actor who always played the meek nerd, went totally the other way as Mark Zuckerberg. He's a total prick, but you totally buy into his seedy brilliance.
This film also gave Andrew Garfield his big break, and he is great too, and tremendously sympathetic (I always relate to his arc in this).
Fincher's sharp casting eye with this film also ended up launching Armie Hammer, Rooney Mara, and even Dakota Johnson.
And yes, he even found the one role that that p.o.s. Justin Timberlake can play credibly. I mean, if you gotta cast someone to play a self-involved, slick-talking, manipulative piece of shit who cares for no one around them and just uses people for their own gain, he IS kind of spot on casting.
This wasn't on my top 10 of that year originally, but over the years it's probably been one of the 2010 films I have rewatched the most. It's just a great film to get sucked into.
It's a REALLY dark, bleak film. This film has death scenes that are really horrifying. It has a bullying subplot that gets really uncomfortable to watch. The central relationship is quite sad, really. Basically I can see why this film was not a big hit.
Chloe Moretz is the vampire, and this coupled with Kick Ass had me dubbing her as "Natalie: The Next Generation". Kodi Smit McPhee is the bullied boy who befriends her, a shy kid who is like a wounded little bird. He doesn't know until well into the film that she is a vampire.
The best scene in the original film involves the vampire girl stepping in at the end of the film to just lay waste to the boy's bullies. That sequence is kind of shoehorned in at the end here, but it's again a great capper.
Okay, so since this month was very thin on anniversaries of movies that mattered to me I figured I'd just look at the missing years (1990 & 2000) and see what did come out that I remember:
October 1990:
Avalon: I remember watching this in school once.
Miller's Crossing: One of the lesser known Coen Brothers films.
Mr. Destiny: I HATED this movie. It was a ripoff of It's A Wonderful Life but it was so hostile and mean.
Night of the Living Dead: This was the remake. I'm pretty sure I saw this before the original.
The Hot Spot: Young Jennifer Connelly. That is all. I was too young to be watching this. 😉
Sibling Rivalry: I actually saw this in the theater cause I watched Cheers and this had Kirstie Alley. I know the highlight of the movie was Jami Gertz being super cute in it.
October 2000:
Bamboozled: One of my least favorite Spike Lee movies. I just thought it completely missed the mark.
Meet The Parents: I always liked this one, but the sequels kind of soured me on it. Plus the Deniro comedy run got stale, and Stiller did a lot of pure crap after this.
The Ladies Man: I liked this one, one of my favorite SNL spinoff movies.
Cherry Falls: Ultra cute young Brittany Murphy in a slasher flick about a killer hunting virgins. I should watch this again tbh.
Pay It Forward: I don't remember too much about this, but I remember it getting a lot of heat for the ending and for being overly sentimental.
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2: This got so much hype because of the original, and it was SO bad.
Requiem For A Dream: I fucking loathed this film at the time. Have only seen bits since but I can respect some of the filmmaking technique involved.
Next month:
A few biggies. The great Unbreakable turns 20. Home Alone turns 30. Home Alone is fucking THIRTY. HOW?
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