I first saw this movie when I was little (much younger than 13) and was somewhat mentally scarred by it for a while... My mother instantly regretted having me see the movie, even though we watched it together... She had forgotten how terrifying it is, I forgive her.
As an adult, watching this again, I am reminded and terrifyingly surprised just how scary it is.
In the beginning, the movie begins as a somewhat satirical overlook of cookie-cutter "McMansion" American suburban life. The father of the story's family is depicted as a stereotypical simple-minded middle-aged and middle-upper class American male, pregnant with the trademark "beer belly."
As the events unfold however, Steven Spielberg's writing, along with the rest of the production, shine through... With horrifying special effects, sound design, and nightmarish imagery make this film unforgettable and captivatingly sublime. The cast performs well and suits their characters near perfectly.
The end result is a masterclass surrealist horror that is by far one of the best, if not the best, ghost movies ever made.
Yes, Mark Zuckerberg is a real person. Yes, he is one of the founders of Facebook. Yes, he went to Harvard. Yes, he did actually create a site that had people rank university students on their level of perceived attractiveness. No, it had nothing to do with getting revenge on any girl. In fact, the site also included pictures of male students, who were also subject to ratings. The site was up for only a weekend. Mark accepted responsibility and apologized fully.
This film depicts him as a promiscuous man, at times showing him to ogle his interns. This is total fiction. Mark began dating student Priscilla Chan at Harvard, who is far from a groupie (there was never any groupies)... She is a pediatrician and has a medical degree. They married back in 2012 (two years after this film was made) and have two kids together. The depicted personality of Mark in the film is fictional to the point of absurdity.
Mark did not "steal" Facebook from the Winklevoss brothers. The idea of online social networking already existed. Mark did not deprive them of anything. He simply lost interest in their conception of a social networking site, and focused on a better one. As I am not familiar with these brothers, I cannot say if how they are portrayed in the film is accurate or not. Most probably not.
A year after this film was released, co-founder Eduardo Saverin fled to Singapore after renouncing his American citizenship in order to avoid paying hundreds of millions in taxes back to the society he had profited so much from. He is a multi-billionaire today, worth an estimated $11.3 billion. Mark had decided to push Saverin out of the company due to his apparent lack of cooperation with Zuckerberg, although the exact details are protected by non-disclosure agreements.
Overall, the film is well-acted, directed, but it's not a biography, and would be better suited for maybe satire, or alternate history. And a pretty nonsensical one at that.
"Dear old world," she murmured, "you are very lovely and I'm lucky to be alive in you."
What a charming, spirited, and wholly restorative this treasure of a book is.
And how lucky I am to be alive to read it.
Mandalorian
Set in the world of star wars, Mandalorian is a story of a bounty hunter. Mandalorian gets payed to hunt people. However, his aim changes when he is tasked to bring a creature, or a baby, live. Mandalorian meets this creature and his journey continues to deliver it.
Spread through 8 episodes, mandalorian is everything that new age star wars movie isn't. It's fun, engaging, and character driven. In mandalorian, we see a warrior, a trained hunter who cannot be defeated. Director Jon Favreau's depiction of mandalorian is of like dark knight Batman. He has similar fighting styles, cold backstory and deep voice. His code of conduct is to not kill anyone besides his target.
One thing Favreau excels in is Cinematography and camerawork. He excels in using modern age cgi at its best. He did that in lion king, jungle book and now in mandalorian. Mandalorian feels like a fresh breath of air while watching. It's like Favreau took a sinking ship and made it float.
Another noteworthy aspect is the background score. It's downright amazing. The mandalorian theme is addicting and satisfying. It blends down the star wars music here and there to keep the core alive
Over all mandalorian is a perfect show to binge watch this weekend
Come for the horror. Stay for the drama.