releasing this week: The Social Network

There’s actually only three films going on general release this week so I figured I’d just write a bit about all of them. Though, it’s The Social Network that I think is the must see this week. Despicable Me is a close second though… but I haven’t seen it but I’m very much looking forward to it.

So, first up, the one that I’ve seen. The Social Network.

Because I was feeling organised that week, I have actually written a review so you can go on over and have a look at that if you are so inclined. It’s here

If, like me though, you don’t like reading too much about a film before seeing it, even though my review is spoiler free, I’ll tell you a bit more about it here…

Ostensibly, The Social Network is about the founding of Facebook and the subsequent fall out over who invented what, when and how much, or what, they actually did. In practice though, the fact that they are talking about Facebook is pretty irrelevent… so, if you’re worried about that then don’t be.

There really are only two things you really need to know about this film. First of all it’s directed by David Fincher, of Fight Club, The Game and Se7en fame. Excellent director, Seven held the spot as my favourite film for a good few years.

The second thing you need to know is that it’s Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay. This man is responsible for some of the best dialogue I’ve ever heard and some of the best TV I’ve ever see, he wrote The West Wing.

This is all high praise I know, but I really do think you should see this movie. Now, it’s not that loads happens in it, there’s no car chases or explosions, but it is an extremely well crafted piece of drama… So if you’re up for that, get yourself a ticket and head on down. It’s playing in almost every cinema around the country, including the likes of the more arthouse cinemas like the IFI and Light House.

Despicable Me is a new 3D kid’s adventure film from the writer of Horton Hears A Who!.

At the heart of our story is Gru, formerly the world’s number one supervillian and now looking to regain his throne. He adopts three little girls to use them in his dastardly plot but will he be able to shield himself from their innocent natures and carry out his plan? Probably not I guess.

The main reason I’m into the film is because I love those little minions. They’re so cute. Yes, it’s true, I will go to a film just because of that. G-d help me if they decide to make a movie about this, I’d be there twice on opening night.

Anyway, the minions have really been at the heart of the marketing campaign for this film and, for me, it has worked. I have no idea what they have to do with anything but I want to find out. Undoubtedly after seeing it I’ll want to buy 5 of them. But I’m sure they’re not all that this film has going for it. It came out in the US a while ago and reports seem to be good – presumably there must be something more to it than the little fellas. Also it has Steve Carell, I like him, so that’s nice.

Lastly we have Vampires Suck.

I’m sure you won’t be shocked to hear that this film comes to us from the people who brought you such err… films… as Disaster Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie and Meet The Spartans. Their names are Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. In case you haven’t yet guessed, this one is a spoof of the Twilight series.

I’ve never any of Friedberg and Seltzer’s films. I never want to see any of their films. I have however enjoyed reading reviews of their films. I particularly liked this quote from the Meet The Spartans review by Josh Levin in Slate magazine.

“This was the worst movie I’ve ever seen, so bad that I hesitate to label it a “movie” and thus reflect shame upon the entire medium of film. Friedberg and Seltzer do not practice the same craft as P.T. Anderson, David Cronenberg, Michael Bay, Kevin Costner, the Zucker Brothers, the Wayans Brothers, Uwe Boll, any dad who takes shaky home movies on a camping trip, or a bear who turns on a video camera by accident while trying to eat it. They are not filmmakers. They are evildoers, charlatans, symbols of Western civilization’s decline under the weight of too many pop culture references.“

I’m almost tempted to watch one just to see what the fuss is about. I probably won’t though, I value my eyes too much. It probably is worth mention though that, despite all the negative reviews, Friedberg and Seltzer’s films are commercially successful. I don’t know what says really.

As far as I can tell, pretty much the only thing this film has going for it is Ken Jeong. He only ever seems to be in films for a few minutes but he’s always funny in them. Still. There’s no way I’m going to see this.

So that’s all the new films, hope you enjoy the rest of the week. Talk to you again soon.

The Social Network, Despicable Me and Vampires Suck are all on general release in Irish cinemas from Friday 15th October 2010.