The Social Network: PEEK-A-BOO! I see you...

 4 out of 5 Popcorn Kernals

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The Twins Trick: How one actor played two parts with two bodies...

Shakespeare did it best: Stories built upon human emotion and connections tend to last the longest. In The Social Network - a film mainly about geeks on the rampage - works well because the central premise of love, betrayal, friendship, and loyalty are so inter-weaved in the story, that on some level we can all relate to what these characters are going through.

The Social Network, on the surface, is about the rise of Facebook as a social-media monolith who's growth has yet to reach its full potential. The story is presented with Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), a Harvard student, in court. He is being sued by his best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) - who funded the Facebook project, and twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (Armie Hammer - amazing technology which you can read in my link above), as the ones who fueled the idea of Facebook to Zuckerberg, by commissioning him to build a social networking site for them for the Harvard campus. Well, he promised to build this site, but took their idea a little further, and on their time, created Facebook - while delivering them what they wanted at a very low scale. When they saw the popularity of Facebook hit the national market, they went ballistic. We also have an appearance by the Napster creator, Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), who crawled under Zuckerberg's wing, to take Facebook to a more financial level (first changing the name from The Facebook, to just Facebook "It's more cleaner," he said).

With all these players in line, and the girlfriends that hit a more human chord with them, The Social Network becomes a film filled with backstabbing ideas, leeching friends, the fight for one's ideas, and the cost of friendship. The pace is smooth, as we slip into these men's lives and their social worlds. It shows how power can come from anywhere, and when it does, it brings a lot of drama with it. There are no car-chases, no Matrix-slow-mo fight scenes, no near-death mayhem, but we are filled with intrigue at what we may/may not use, but how it can change a nation in an instance. We are pulled into this story because these are the people and lives we never see, and that can be happening right now as we speak.

I found it fascinating about the precise of Facebook. It was a way to make us all kings of our castles, and we invite others into our world based upon our own standards. It reminded me of those lines at those exclusive clubs, where your entrance is based upon a standard you are unaware of, but you hope to meet. Just as social networks are built in high school and college, so it is here.

I also wanted to give a nod to the actor of Eduardo Saverin. An American Born / British actor, who has honed his craft in England, and has a lot of appeal as the best friend of Zuckerberg. His loyalty, even in it's betrayal, is exhibited in a full range of emotion that had me drained. He did write the book "The Accidental Billionaires, " which the movie is based, and in a small way is about him. But it makes sense, for he became the outsider, and allowed us to see who these characters were from a different standpoint - as one of us.

And it works.

Buried: You Took My Breath Away

4 out of 5 Popcorn Kernals

See Trailer Here

Darkness.

That is what we start off with in this film by Rodrigo Cortes. This is what we are left with when this movie is over and the lights come on. This is what I was left with hours later, after seeing this very inventive, very clever film, doing something that seemed simple, but made it thrilling.

When the film begins, we are introduced to darkness on the screen, and many in the audience began calling the projectionist, thinking something was wrong. But we soon hear shuffling, hands scraping, a cough, frantic movement, and flick-flick-a flame appears from a lighter, and we notice man's face, mouth gagged, sweat and dirt cover him, and soon, we are informed that this is Paul Conroy, a truck-driver in Iraq, who has suddenly found himself trapped in a wooden coffin, buried alive.

Hoping For A Brighter Day

Paul Conroy is played by Ryan Reynolds, and he pours on the acting chops for a film that focus' mainly on him and that wooden tomb for most of the movie. He soon has some tools at his disposal: a cell phone, left by the people who put him in there so that he can negotiate the terms of his release with others he may know, the lighter, a pen, a canteen of alcohol, a few glow sticks, a flashlight, and a knife. All very simple objects that can be used for him to maintain his sanity and to some aspects his life. The other tools are the actors, which he contacts via the cell phone, and although we never quite see them, we can feel the anxiety, the hope, the lax, the anger in their voices, and gain a little more insight on how Paul arrived there, what his life was like back home, and who he is as a person; while he calls person after person on a cell phone that has only so much battery life.

Paul too has only so much time, as he sucks up the oxygen in a coffin that is large r than most, but still very closed in. The audience will feel that effect too, and as Paul's air runs out, I too found myself gasping with tension. And what tension there is. I can understand why Rodrigo references Hitchock. With camera angles and movement, close-ups and pull-backs, he creates a mood and feel of desperation. And the dangers! Paul is surrounded by the elements: the canteen of liquid, the dirt surrounding him, the flame of the lighter, the air he breaths. Each element can save his life, but each element is a danger to each other, and the way this is exibited is astonishing.

The final moments of this film will have you leaving the theatre still reeling on what you have just seen, and wondering how it was all done. This will be a film many colleges will dissect, from the acting to the directing, it rises above your expectations...while leaving others buried in your subconscience.

Case 39: Foster Care Will Never Be The Same Again

 1 out of 5 Popcorn Kernals

Watch Trailer Here

Okay maybe now I understand the delay of this movie, considering that it was filmed in 2006 in Canada, released to America in 2008, delayed to be released in 2009...then finally released in 2010. Sounds like a bad case of something all right.

Maybe they are trying to get in on this years Halloweed crowd, or they have a secret vandetta on orphanages. Why is it whenever we are introduced to a child caught up in the foster care/adoption system, they turn out to be a lot more than we bargained for? Then again, this movie could have bargained for a lot more than it delivered with this collection of fine actors.

Another Day In Hell's Kitchen

Case 39 is about a social worker Emily Jenkins(Renee Zellweger), who is assigned to investigate the family of 10-year old Lillith (Jodelle Ferland), from what appeared to be abusive parents, as her grades and emotional state have been declining in school.She has already been saddled with 38 other cases, and this would be her 39th. Upon a visit to the parents home (Callum Keith Rennie and Kerry O'Malley) she is treated with disdain by a pair of zombie-like guardians that creep her out, and when the same parents come into the office and change into the model suburban pair, Emily knows something is up. Taking the child aside, she is told that her parents, "Want to return her to Hell"...and later in this movie she discovers just how they plan to do it. She decides, with the child's coaxing, to fight for the right to be Lillith's guardian until an adoptive family comes along.

Well the union seems perfect for a while, until lives are threatened, especially the one of her present colleague Douglas (Bradley Cooper). Emily suddenly realizes she may have bitten off more than she can chew...or that can chew her.

Once the lights went out in the movie theater, and the opening scene came on, I knew I was in trouble. The look of the film is rather cheap, with a score that scared me more than the actual plot. Usually I don't notice the score of the movie, as it turns to gentle piano when Emily's cooing for this child, or when it pounds with scorching violins at the turn of some action; but this was way off, and distracting. I hear the piano and was thinking, "That was sweet, but not THAT sweet," and the sound of a car revving up is NOT action, it's a car revving up - because I hear the rush of music, anticipate something is going to happen, and all she is doing is driving down the street. PLEASE!

Renee Zellwegger and Bradley Cooper are waisted in this film, and I could tell they did not know how to react in a horror setting, and their fear seemed just a little too acted for me. Thank goodness for little Lillith at the films mid-point, because when she goes from sweet to sour, it is a moment to sit up in your seat; but a child emulating adult motives only can keep your attention for so long, before you realize there are other actors in this movie too.

I have to give a special nod (because not many critics will) to Adrian Lester as Wayne. He has done much television, and still shows that good acting still comes from Britain. I would liked to have seen more of him, as he is the calm to Zellwegger's culminating storm, as she attempts to understand and take command of the evil spirits this child is forcing upon her. But aside from him, this film is evenly spread with a good minority cast, and the actors - despite the deadpan script of one liners - give it their best. The direction by Christian Alvert is so choppy it could have been on The Food Network. There were obvious reshoots up until the actual movie's release date, but with a slow paced script, uneven editing, and a thin as air plot which all may have looked good on paper...but this movie should have been wrapped up tight, and sealed in case no.40.