How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
January 11, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Pick of the Week
For people who can follow fast conversations: The Social Network
My favorite movie of the year, The Social Network threw me for a loop over the summer when I found myself thoroughly enjoying something I figured would, at best, whelm me. I mean, come on, a movie about Facebook? How good could that be? Had I not had some fairly insistent friends by the side, I don’t know that I would have seen the thing much before its home media release. I liked the trailer enough, yet one too many assumed negativities got the best of me: Justin Timberlake would be a distraction, the storyline would fail to sustain and, well, the general idea that The Social Network wouldn’t live up to the hype.
Well, I was wrong on all three. And further, The Social Network was way better – and I mean waaaay better – than I mentally gave Aaron Sorkin credit for. If Charlie Wilson’s War was the cinematic equivalent of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, then The Social Network is The West Wing. It’s just so bloody fantastic.
For one, Jesse Eisenberg’s spot-on Zuckerberg (or what I assume to be a spot-on Zuckerberg) is exactly that. His exhausting yap, twitches, eye flickers, frozen stares and, yeah, forlorn looks are wonderful. Of the Globe nominees for Best Actor that I’m familiar with – Eisenberg, Colin Firth and Mark Wahlberg – Eisenberg would bank the win were I in charge. Firth’s character errs too on the side of, oh, whiny bitch to garner any sympathy from me. And Wahlberg was out-acted by three of his co-stars in The Fighter, so…
Moreover, Einsenberg is backed by an impressive ensemble. This includes Andrew Garfield, Rooney Mara and, yes, Justin Timberlake. Timberlake, in fact, is one of the most refreshing things about the movie at large. He plays suave, prima donna way entirely too well, and for him not to be contending with Garfield on Sunday for supporting actor makes zero sense.
For the haters who didn’t give this one a chance because they figured it to be a movie “about Facebook,” be rest assured it’s anything but. The Social Network is about Facebook as much as Little Fockers is funny. Facebook is merely the backdrop, a framing device, if you will, for a juicy story devised from mostly equal parts creativity, jealousy and betrayal. Thoroughly entertaining throughout, the two-hour runtime just zips by.
Disc includes: Making-of documentary (feature length), four featurettes, early cut of Trent Reznor’s soundtrack, “Ruby Skye Sequence” multi-angle interactive feature
For people who’ve led a personal ban against swimming in the ocean since about 1975: Piranha
Here’s a fun piece of trivia for you. Richard Dreyfuss, as we know, starred in Jaws as ichthyologist Matt Hooper. Piranha, the original 1978 piece and not the remake that this post is concerned with, came out three years after Jaws and is probably inspired (largely?) by Jaws. Piranha 3-D, as I said, is a remake of 1978’s Piranha. And lo and behold, Dreyfuss appears in the fish disaster movie as a near-reincarnation of Hooper. Wild!
I dunno, that kind of thing feeds the geek in me. Much in the same way that The Producers (the big screen musical) was fun a few years back upon the subtle realization that it is, in fact, an adaptation of an adaptation – and over two mediums! An adaptation of an adaptation, of course, sounds like something built for Charlie Kaufman.
Anyway, Piranha was mostly a win for Dimension. Made for something in the arena of $24 to $30 million, the movie earned around that in the States alone, and then tallied another $38 million from foreign markets. A sequel, to be called – hmmmmm – Piranha 3DD, may be in theaters as early as September.
The obscure titleage (it’s a word) of the follow-up is worthy of discussion here, wouldn’t you say? I mean, forgive me if I’m wrong here, but I don’t think up until now I’ve noticed anything of the mainstream sort tackling the issue of what to call a sequel to a movie that already has a 3 (let alone a D) in the title. The sensible thing to do would be to take the Christopher Nolan route and rename the sequel something else entirely (Batman Begins begets The Dark Knight) yet for branding’s sake I doubt that’ll be the norm. Only the book publishing industry, I think, takes “risks” like that.
Anyway, unless I’m missing something obvious, 3DD is completely inane. Much in the same way AVP: Aliens vs. Predator 2 would’ve been had it kept what I remember to be its working title.
Disc includes: N/A
For people who heart really any “celebrity”: Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff
I’ve never quite understood people's shtick with David Hasslehoff. He was on Baywatch, and at times his public life plays out like a prized wet dream of People magazine. He can hold his own against Ozzy Osbourne’s candid Brit wife. I get it… I think. But the Dancing with the Stars and the reality TV show and now a Comedy Central Roast of the guy… are the people who keep tabs on the dude simply without life? Who, really, sets aside time for The Hoff?
Even so, I feel like Comedy Central is a smidge off on their timing of this roast anyway (It aired back in August). Hasselhoff’s gig on America’s Got Talent ended two years ago. His legendary Hoff-drunk video surfaced on the web even prior than that. It’d be like the network deciding tomorrow that they’re going to look into a Betty White roast.
Disc includes: N/A
January 11, 2011
Blu-ray
Alpha and Omega
Army of Shadows (Criterion Collection)
Dances With Wolves 20th Anniversary Edition
The Devil Wears Prada
The Endless Summer
Gabriel Iglesias: I'm Not Fat... I'm Fluffy
Murder of Crows
Once Upon A Time In America
Piranha
Raging Bull
Rob Roy
Robinson Crusoe On Mars (Criterion Collection)
The Social Network
Sordid Lives, The Series
Unfaithful
The Universe: 7 Wonders of the Solar System 3D
The Universe: Complete Season 5
DVD
All in the Family: The Complete Eighth Season
Alpha and Omega (DVD +)
Army of Shadows (Criterion Collection)
Arthur Rosenfeld: Tai Chi (Collector's Edition)
Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff
Criss Angel Mindfreak: The Complete Season Six
Dances With Wolves (20th Anniversary Edition)
Dr. Who: Dominators
Dr. Who: Meglos
ER: The Complete Fourteenth Season
Funny or Die Presents: The Complete First Season
Greek: Chapter Five
The Green Hornet Strikes Again (75th Anniversary Edition)
The Green Hornet: Movie Edition
The Green Hornet: Original Serials (Collector's Edition)
Hot in Cleveland: Season One
Louis C.K.: Hilarious
Murder of Crows
Once Upon A Time In America (Special Edition)
Piranha
Raging Bull (DVD +)
Robinson Crusoe On Mars (Criterion Collection)
Rules of Engagement: The Complete Fourth Season
Skins: Volume 4
The Social Network
Sordid Lives, The Series
Spin City Volume 1
Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players
Top Shot: Season One
The Universe: 7 Wonders of the Solar System 3D
The Universe: Complete Season 5