One of the casualties of TIFF is that when it’s over I have to catch up on my regular movies. And yet, I always end up somewhat movied-out. And then I panic. All the movies that come out during the film festival are often gone by the time I want to see them.
So it was with great pleasure that I managed to catch not one, but two flicks in the past week. One set in high school, one set in university (ish). One an homage to 80’s teen flicks and one very NOW. And both made me incredibly grateful that I’m no longer a student.
But back to the movies.
First, The Facebook.
Did you know it was called THE Facebook first? At least Aaron Sorkin made me believe that. His apparently-far-from-the-truth script, with David Fincher’s direction, was snap-snap-snappy. Everything a movie in the golden-digi age of twitter/facebook (groupon?) should be. Fast. And, like said age, gone in the blink of an eye. Or the click of a mouse. Or whatever: the was one fast-paced flick.
As one wise friend so succinctly said: it’s too soon. And it is. We’re still IN the age of Facebook. While the youth of today may have already moved on (or at least the most technically-savvy of ’em) the rest of us are still figuring out how to stalk people and find friends and fans. We may not be wasting quite as much time as we did at first. But then again, we might be.
Still, it’s kinda cool that some young geek who didn’t care about the money is the world’s youngest billionaire. And that he screwed his best friend over in the process. And boy-yoy-yoing there were a whole lotta lawsuits going on. But I wasn’t as interested in the boardroom table talk as the interaction with the characters. Maybe I’m being nitpicky. Jesse Eisenberg, who usually bugs me, was very intense and despite playing Mark Zukerberg with a bit of an Aspergerian slant (according to one of my pals), he was on fire. As was Andrew Garfield – felt sick for him the entire time. Even Justin Timberlake rose to the occasion – and he’s usually the kiss of death in movies. But is it THE movie of the year? Pas pour moi… But it’s definitely the dialogue of the year. Both within the movie itself, and the conversations about it….
MOAM Likes The Social Network.
Easy A, on the hand?
LOVED.
Yeah, I know, it’s a totally different kind of flick. So what?
Maybe it’s a love of John Hughes (RIP), or maybe it’s because it feels like the screenwriter here was writing this baby for all of us who were actually 16 when 16 Candles came out (yes, I’m dating myself. No, not in that way) This is one teen flick that was sooo totally not just for teens. Emma Stone pulls off what everybody else thought Ellen Page did in Juno: she’s quirky, foul-mouthed, sharp as hell. Only in this case, I bought it.
After inadvertently starting a rumour that she’d lost her virginity, Olive (Ms Stone) finds herself at the mercy of nasty god-squad highschoolers – while saving her fellow outcasts by letting everybody think that they’re getting a piece of her too. Of course things spiral out of control. There are many inspired-by-80’s-flicks moments here, including a kick-ass montage of the J-Hughes Boy Hotties, and I couldn’t get enough of ’em. And get this – the parents/teachers/authority figures in the flick? Laugh-out-loud funny!!
Also – Penn Badgley. Who knew? Re-owwww.
Of course you’ll all go see The Social Network. But don’t forget about Easy A. It’s like the little movie that could – but may be out of theaters any day now to free up more space for The Social Network… about the little geek that did.
Students these days….Geniuses, cyber-bullies, scammers, sexters… A far, far cry from St Elmo’s Fire and The breakfast Club…..