Introducing: Thoughts After Rewatch

After the succesful introduction of Cinephile Problems just yesterday, here’s yet another new feature at this blog: Thoughts after Rewatch. How many times does our perception of a certain film or performance change after a rewatch? Maybe the first time we weren’t in the right frame of mind or the movie itself reveals things you didn’t catch upon first viewing. Or there’s the other side. Like I mentioned a few days ago with my review of The Usual Suspects, the plot features a big twist that won’t ever let you enjoy the show as much as you did the first time. In this section, I’ll link to my original review and I’ll expand on whatever I picked up the second (or third, or fourth) time around. The first film to get the TAR treatment is The Social Network.

The Social Network was one of the best films of 2010. Directed by one of my personal favorites, David Fincher, and boasting a talented young cast, this film (along with other gems like Inception and Black Swan) lost the top prize at the Oscars to The King’s Speech (still can’t get over that). Sometimes I walk by my movie shelves and this one always seems to be staring at me, so I decided to give it another spin. I will not mess with my initial rating; however, some things have changed:

The good: Andrew Garfield’s performance as Eduardo Saverin is even better and more nuanced than I initially thought. His snub at the Oscars still bothers me to this day. I’d go as far as saying he should’ve won. Rooney Mara, who was nominated a few months ago in the Lead category for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo wouldn’t have seemed out of place in the Supporting race that year for her stellar albeit brief turn as Erica. J. Edgar’s Armie Hammer was also worthy of note as the Winklevoss twins. Jesse Eisenberg’s performance is still cinematic gold and Aaron Sorkin’s wonderful script is just as sharp.

The bad: Although Justin Timberlake did a fine job in portraying Napster founder Sean Parker, his character is almost a complete joke. I don’t know much of the real Parker, but I don’t think he was this dumb. Disney Channel star Brenda Song as Saverin’s crazy girlfriend is very irritating and over-enunciates her words.

The ugly: Nothing, really. This movie isn’t perfect but it’s pretty damn close.

Favorite scene: Eduardo is in California to celebrate a Facebook milestone when he discovers his shares have been diluted to less than 1 percent. A great scene for Eisenberg but the best for Andrew Garfield. No Oscar nomination? I’m hurt.

Favorite line: “You are probably going to be a very successful computer person. But you’re going to go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole”. – Erica Albright (Rooney Mara) to Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg)