Can't really say this is a surprise considering how much money this earned at the box office, but I was expecting more from Disney, more specifically a Best Picture for your consideration ad for Toy Story 3, not for a lazy re-imagining from Tim Burton. As the award season goes on I imagine more qualified films will make a push.

(Courtesy: Entertainment Weekly)

Here is a look at Viggo Mortensen in David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method.  The film also stars Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung and Keira Knightley as Sabrina Spielrein, the girl who causes a rift between the mentor and protege. 

(Courtesy: The Playlist)

Now this is the trailer for The Fighter that I anticipated to begin with. David. O Russell's take on the true life story of Mickey Ward would not be a shot-by-shot remake of Rocky. The trailer that featured during the season finale of Mad Men eludes to a domestic drama with Ward's (Mark Wahlberg) family leading him down a path that may benefit everyone but Mickey.

Deadline is reporting that Tom Hardy has been cast in a "lead role" in the upcoming third Batman film, reuniting Hardy with Inception helmer Christopher Nolan. It hasn't been said whether he will be playing a villain or not, but the rumor mill has started regardless.

After being sent on assignment to see Buried, I was in the mood for a pick-me-up, so I snuck into a showing of Easy A. It definitely delivered a light-hearted and uplifting experience.

I'd definitely recommend checking out Easy A if you're looking for a lighthearted good time.

Deadly Friend is a film that was released much later. Computers still weren't common-place, and very few people had much idea what they were capable of. The film came out after the wave of anti-technological films had begun to recede.

In this film, the protagonist is a nerdy anti-hero who is trying to become romantically involved with the attractive blond girl next door. He is also a genius roboticist. When the love interest is shot by an overly armed neighbour, the nerd implants chips from his home made robot to save her life. The result of this medical experiment is that she loses her own personality and becomes a homicidal maniac.

In spite of how stupid and pointless Deadly Friend is, it's still almost worth seeing for the infamous basketball scene.

What these two films illustrate is that the fear of the unknown sparked the creation of a sub-genre of film that has now essentially died out. As the general public became more aware of what technology is and isn't capable of, it became more difficult to make a movie about how scary computers are. It is a bit of a shame that movies critical of technology aren't really being produced anymore, considering that many members of the new generation of movie goers can't stop texting for long enough to sit down and watch a movie.

There was a time when the response to the word Facebook was only, "huh?" Now we live in an age where many cannot go without it. Social networking has been primed for a lampooning for a considerable while and who better to deliver that than Fight Club helmer David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin?

If there a difference between dedication and obsession Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) doesn't know it. He created Facemash to spite an ex-girlfriend (Rooney Mara). Said site later grows to become so popular he crashes the network at Harvard. The Winklevoss twins want him to create the most exclusive site for Harvard students, but Zuckerberg is beyond that. He wants a billion dollar entity. Zuckerberg then spends the rest of the time defending it from the man he thought was a good friend in Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). And a lurid lifestyle never before experienced offered by Napster founder Sean Parker sends Zuckerberg to unparalleled heights right before the fall.

It's ironic that Zuckerberg created Facebook. A man that alienated from society, why create a social network? Because then he creates the rules, and you have to play by them. Eisenberg, for some time, has lamentably been labeled Michael Cera-lite, but he comes into his own in The Social Network. There is a lingering trace of malice behind Zuckerberg's cold eyes in the light of the reflection of his monitor and he has proven to moviegoers everywhere that he is his own man. Michael Cera couldn't dream of pulling off this performance.

The book struggled to get past the conventions of most rock n' roll biopics. The source material from which the film is based never elevates past debauchery and courtroom drama. Sure, the story lends itself to sex and drugs, but more was expected - whether it was a reflection of this generation, or a condonement of greed and excess in the aughts - and I can't help but feel it wasn't delivered. The film, however, exceeds everything expected of it. It's been compared to Citizen Kane as the film of its generation: a story of a young man who obtained everything he ever wanted and found out the taxing toll of getting what he wish for. I wouldn't hail The Social Network as a masterpiece yet, but after a few more viewings it could grow on me.

I had always been a fan of Sorkin's work on The West Wing and his script pops here with every barb hoisted between Zuckerberg and Saverin. Everything uttered onscreen feels alive and is delivered handily by Eisenberg, Garfield and Timberlake as the main triumvirate of Social Network. Garfield - recently casted as the new Spiderman - is superb here and in a different world where the Academy didn't vote for acting categories by who has paid their dues Garfield, and Eisenberg would get nominations.

By the way could they have cast a more perfect personification of everything that is celebrated in this country than Armie Hammer? He has it all: strength, wealth, and rugged good looks. As one man playing two of the most self-entitled people on Earth he does his job admiringly, even if I dislike the characters he plays.

The editing is superb. I don't want to spoil anything, but the way Fincher splices three ongoing stories at once simultaneously takes it to Memento-like levels of storytelling. This isn't his best work, but it is certainly his most polished. Trent Reznor's score infuses the film with a dance beat that continues long after Zuckerberg feels like leaving the floor.

I'd like to think we live in a world where Reznor's works and Daft Punk's Tron Legacy score could compete come awards season, but I don't think we're at that point yet. As with all of David Fincher's recent films, Jeff Cronenweth's cinematography is so distinctive you know it right away. Keep on the lookout for when Zuckerberg tosses a beer to one of Sean's friends, it's why filming in digital allows for new opportunities.

What needs to be asked at the end of The Social Network is this: are new technologies such as Facebook and Twitter bringing us together? Or merely putting up another wall?

***1/2 out of ****