PopMatters: The Mad Man and the Comedy Writer

My latest article on PopMatters: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/131880-the-mad-man-and-the-comedy-writer-two-sides-of-the-american-dream/. I explore the connections between the modern-day hit Mad Men and the pop sitcom from the past The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Movie Review: The Social Network (Directed by David Fincher, 2010)

David Fincher's new biopic of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg proves a sentiment regarding movies articulated by Roger Ebert: what's important isn't what a movie's about, but rather how it's about what it's about. I have no particular interest in computer programming or American business practices. I am only a casual user of Facebook. However, I was deeply engrossed in every last frame of this superlative film.

Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, of West Wing fame, manage to depict, with novelistic detail, what it means to be a 21st-century entrepreneur. If Orson Welles' Charles Foster Kane, based loosely on the publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst, showed the simultaneous beauties and horrors of American ambition in the twentieth century, Fincher and Sorkin's Zuckerberg, based to one degree of accuracy or another on the actual man who runs Facebook, does the same for our times.

The Social Network revolves around two separate deposition hearings in which Zuckerberg is sued for various crimes and misdemeanors, including stealing the very idea of Facebook from a couple of his fellow ivy-leaguers and unfairly cutting his friend and former CFO out of the company's profits. While scenes of characters sitting around and talking have great potential for boredom, Sorkin gives us crackling, fast-paced dialogue reminiscent of the great screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s (think His Girl Friday). The depositions are used as a framing device, much like the journalists' interviews on their quest to find 'Rosebud' in Citizen Kane, which helps us follow the troubled journey by which Facebook came to be. We see Zuckerberg, played with incredible verve and sensitivity by indie favorite Jesse Eisenberg, during his days at Harvard. In one of the best opening scenes I have seen in a long time, all of the film's major themes are established. Zuckerberg chats with a current girlfriend, and we instantly understand our protagonist's arrogance, social awkwardness, and technical brilliance. Zuckerberg's broken heart leads him to not only say nasty things about his ex on his personal blog, but also create an application for Harvard students in which they rate the "hotness" of various girls on campus. The site has so many hits within a few hours that the entire Harvard computer network crashes. Zuckerberg is put on academic probation, but his career built on being an insistent outsider begins.

Along the way, we meet a set of twins, both played by the talented Armie Hammer, who first plant the Facebook idea in Zuckerberg's head. The fact that Zuckerberg agrees to work with the twins on the project and then steals it outright results in one of the framing depositions. Justin Timberlake--yes, that Justin Timberlake--plays the founder of Napster, a Mephastophiles-like figure who advises Zuckerberg on business practices to expand the burgeoning Facebook. Zuckerberg's friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) is arguably the only sane character in the film. He works with Zuckerberg on the Facebook in its initial stages but becomes wary of the young entrepreneur's arrogance and unchecked ambition.

The reason The Social Network soars above most standard Hollywood biopics is that Fincher brings creative visuals to the project, and Sorkin brings a complex and tightly constructed script. Fincher depicts the world of future billionaires that is Harvard in a style that alternates between naturalistic and delightfully stylized. Long tracking shots follow Zuckerberg as he darts about the New England campus with his backpack bouncing behind him. Later, he depicts Silicon Valley hedonism with the same careful attention to detail. We get a sense of the quick pace at which the phenomenon that is Facebook developed and spread. We are caught up in the whirlwind inside Zuckerberg's mind.

The Social Network will no doubt deservedly be recognized during awards season. It is rare that a film with such a popular appeal so starkly captures the mood and central concerns of our time. The most obvious antecedent for Fincher's Zuckerberg is Daniel Plainview from P.T. Anderson's There Will be Blood. If oil drove American entrepreneurs to both madness and genius in the early part of the twentieth century, the Internet is doing the same now. Zuckerberg, as depicted in Fincher's film, recklessly chases after the American dream, even while it descends into the American nightmare.

PopMatters: Jack Black in "Gulliver's Travels"

My thoughts on a new Jack Black trailer at PopMatters:

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/130707-mixed-emotions-on-the-gullivers-travels-trailer/

Movie Review: Get Low (2010)

The fact that Get Low is almost watchable at times is a testament to Robert Duvall's unparalleled acting abilities. There is very little from a narrative, visual, or thematic standpoint to keep the viewer engaged in this dull and painfully slow film. I spent much of the movie's running time waiting patiently for Duvall to do something clever or naturalistic. Most of the time, I didn't have to wait long.

Get Low is purportedly set in the American South of the 1930s, although it is conspicuously devoid of identifiable regional details. Duvall plays Felix Bush, a much-aligned hermit shrouded in mystery. The storied actor has come full circle now, since he started his illustrious career playing another loner, the creepy Boo Radley in To Kill a Mocking Bird. Bush has the odd idea of throwing a "living funeral" for himself. He hires Chicago-born funeral parlor owner Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) to make the "arrangements." The intention is for local townspeople to come together and tell everything they know about the eccentric Bush. In reality, Bush has a thing or two to tell the townspeople, namely while he has become a hermit. The film sets itself up for a great Shayamalonesque twist ending once Bush reveals to the local people, and the audience, the deep, dark secrets of his past. The movie's denouncement, though, comes off more lame than revelatory. We are left shrugging our shoulders and muttering 'this is it?'

Nevertheless, I can't emphasize enough that Duvall truly is in prime form. He has never been more truthful and honest in his acting as he is now. I just wish the film's script and visual style could better support his remarkable work.

Memorable Moments At the Movies

On August 14, 2010, At the Movies, the revolutionary movie review show pioneered by legendary film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, aired its final episode. The show's demise is indicative of changes in America's film culture. The days in which full-time professional critics dominated the cinematic conversation are over. Television coverage of movies leans heavily towards gossip and celebrity news and away from cinematic discussions. While the end of At the Movies was met not with a bang, but a whimper among the general public, many cinephiles watched the final installment with lumps in their throats. For years, Siskel and Ebert demonstrated that the medium of television is not merely a vast wasteland of depravity, but may also serve as an edifying tool. The two newspaper men from Chicago arguably taught a generation how to think critically and intelligently about film. Siskel and Ebert were not overly didactic, however. They entertained the public while simultaneously educating them.

While the magic of Siskel and Ebert's glory days has never been fully recaptured in the show's later years, final hosts A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips brought integrity back to the program following the disastorous reign of Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz, showbiz personalities who demonstrated little sense of intellectual curiosity or competence. At the least, Scott and Phillips were able to facilitate the kind of honorable swan song the show deserves.

Since the airwaves will no longer be blessed with the presence of Siskel and Ebert's glorious brainchild, it is a perfect time to revisit some of the great At the Movies moments from the recent and distant past.

Following are a few brief clips from (or related to) the show that never failed to make film lovers smile:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvMiW5wWrGE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Siskel and Ebert review Martin Scorsese's GoodFellas (1990)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jga_yqTiqhI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Siskel and Ebert disagree about the merits of David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGyADDahm54&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Siskel and Ebert on the Tarantino Generation (1992)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8NV8H-uXMA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Siskel and Ebert talk to David Letterman about The Right Stuff, Terms of Endearment, and some truly terrible films (1983)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U7xtlqtWok&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Roger Ebert talks to Larry King about the death of Gene Siskel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHfMpq7H9qQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Roger and Gene play themselves (animated, at least) on an episode of The Critic

http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkwVz_jK3gA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
A collection of At the Movies bloopers from the 1980s. Note: This video contains explicit language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed_2JIyyTEY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The final moments of At the Movies with A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips

PopMatters: Mike Reed's People, Places, & Things

My review of Chicago jazz group Mike Reed's People, Places & Things' live record Stories and Negotiations appears today at PopMatters, international zine of all things pop culture:
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/130330-mike-reeds-people-places-things-stories-and-negotiations/

PopMatters: Why Godard Leaves Me Breathless (In a Good Way)

I'll be blogging regularly about music, film, books, and more for PopMatters, international pop culture zine. You can find my first article, about Jean-Luc Gordad's Breathless, here: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/130328-why-godard-leaves-me-breathless-in-a-good-way/. Make sure you check out all the excellent articles on PopMatters, by the way :)