30 Minutes or Less tells the story of 2 sets of friends. The first is a 20-something slacker who delivers pizza, Nick (Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Zuckerberg of The Social Network) and his friend, Chet (Aziz Ansari, Tom Haveford of Parks & Recreations). Chet is a teacher and on his way in life, but Nick just wants to hang out and play video games and watch action movies. The other set of friends are lazy Dwayne (Danny McBride, Kenny Powers of Eastbound & Down) and his somewhat simple minded, yet incredibly good with explosives, friend Travis (Nick Swardson, Terry Bernadino of Reno 911!). Dwayne and Travis bandy about all day, but when they aren’t watching Friday the 13th in 3D or blowing up watermelons with explosives made by Travis, they are cleaning Dwayne’s dad’s pool. Dwayne’s dad, The Major (fantastic character actor Fred Ward), a former Marine major, has recently won the lotto, but it doesn’t make him any less hard on his son. After pushing Dwayne too much one time, Dwayne decides to kill his dad and take the rest of lotto money and open a tanning salon/prostitution ring. While getting a lap dance, Dwayne is told by the dancer, Juicy, that she knows someone that can do the deed for $100,000. Dwayne doesn’t have that kind of money, but he figures he can get someone to rob a bank for him because that’s “what rich people would do.” They wouldn’t get their hands dirty, but they’d have someone rob the bank for them.

While Dwayne and Travis come up with their foolproof plan (key part of the word being fool), Nick and Chet have a falling out when it’s revealed that Nick slept with Chet’s twin sister and Chet broke up Nick’s parent’s marriage. After their fight, Nick goes to his pizza delivery job. Dwayne and Travis are watching TV and see a commercial for a local pizza restaurant that guarantees delivery in 30 minutes or less, hence the title of the film, and they decide they found out how to get the person who will rob the bank for them. Nick just happens to be the one delivering the pizza to the hideout of Dwayne and Travis, who are wearing monkey masks. They knock him out and when Nick comes to, he has a bomb strapped to his chest. The amateur crooks tell Nick he has 10 hours to rob a bank for $100,000 or they will blow him up. They tell him they will be following him, so if he goes to the cops, they’ll cut their loses and blow him up. Nick leaves frantically and goes the only place he knows, to see Chet, who’s teaching. After some persuading, Chet decides to help Nick out.

The rest of the movie has some great scenes of mistaken identity, bank robbery and a super great payoff. One thing that really sets this movie above typical action-comedies of the past is the chemistry of the actors. Swardson and McBride are great together as the bumbling crooks and Eisenberg and Ansari play off each other so perfectly. Speaking of Ansari, it’s safe to say that this is going to be his breakout role. Fans of Parks & Recreations know how funny this guy can be, but now it’s time for the rest of the world to jump on his bandwagon, and after this movie is seen by everyone (like it should be), that bandwagon is going to be pretty heavy. The comedy here is a laugh a minute and Ruben Fleisher (Zombieland) does a great job directing. At a running time of only 83 minutes, the pace is fast and there isn’t a dull moment to be had. Keep a look out for the very funny Michael Pena as the killer for hire.

This summer has been a great this year for R-rated comedies with Bridemaids and Horrible Bosses, and you can certainly add this to the list or great, summer comedies.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Thoughts?

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Winner: The King’s Speech – Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Winner: Colin Firth for The King’s Speech

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Winner: Natalie Portman for Black Swan

Best Achievement in Directing
Winner: Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Winner: Toy Story 3- Randy Newman (“We Belong Together”)

Best Achievement in Editing
Winner: The Social Network – Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Winner: Inception – Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Pete Bebb, Paul J. Franklin

Best Documentary, Features
Winner: Inside Job – Charles Ferguson, Audrey Marrs

Best Short Film, Live Action
Winner: God of Love – Luke Matheny

Best Documentary, Short Subjects
Winner: Strangers No More – Karen Goodman, Kirk Simon

Best Achievement in Costume Design
Winner: Alice in Wonderland – Colleen Atwood

Best Achievement in Makeup
Winner: The Wolfman – Rick Baker, Dave Elsey

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Winner: Inception – Richard King

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Winner: Inception – Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo, Ed Novick

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Winner: The Social Network – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Winner: Christian Bale for The Fighter

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Winner: In a Better World – Susanne Bier (Denmark)

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Winner: The King’s Speech – David Seidler

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Winner: The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Winner: Toy Story 3 – Lee Unkrich

Best Short Film, Animated
Winner: The Lost Thing – Shaun Tan, Andrew Ruhemann

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Winner: Melissa Leo for The Fighter

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Winner: Inception – Wally Pfister

Best Achievement in Art Direction
Winner: Alice in Wonderland – Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara

Source: IMBD

He’s sort of right, sadly. While I think there’s plenty of fans that would love more surprise cameos (here), zombies, and fun, Jesse Eisenberg got all Oscar on us with The Social Network, Emma Stone playing around with Spidey, and well, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the screenwriters, have a ton of projects on their plate, I doubt if Sony could get them back all on the same page again.

The broadcast for the Academy Awards will air Sunday night on February 27th.

Nominations were announced on January 25th at 8:30am est.

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem for Biutiful
Jeff Bridges for True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network
Colin Firth for The King’s Speech
James Franco for 127 Hours

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence for Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman for Black Swan
Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale for The Fighter
John Hawkes for Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner for The Town
Mark Ruffalo for The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush for The King’s Speech

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams for The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter for The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo for The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit
Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom

Best Achievement in Directing
Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for True Grit
David Fincher for The Social Network
Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech
David O. Russell for The Fighter

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Another Year: Mike Leigh
The Fighter: Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson
Inception: Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right: Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg
The King’s Speech: David Seidler

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
127 Hours: Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
Toy Story 3: Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich
True Grit: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Winter’s Bone: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Biutiful: Alejandro González Iñárritu (Mexico)
Dogtooth: Giorgos Lanthimos (Greece)
In a Better World: Susanne Bier (Denmark)
Incendies: Denis Villeneuve (Canada)
Outside the Law: Rachid Bouchareb (Algeria)

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Black Swan: Matthew Libatique
Inception: Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech: Danny Cohen
The Social Network: Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit: Roger Deakins

Best Achievement in Editing
127 Hours: Jon Harris
Black Swan: Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter: Pamela Martin
The King’s Speech: Tariq Anwar
The Social Network: Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall

Best Achievement in Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland: Stefan Dechant
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1: Andrew Ackland-Snow
Inception: Guy Hendrix Dyas
The King’s Speech: Netty Chapman
True Grit: Stefan Dechant

Best Achievement in Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland: Colleen Atwood
I Am Love: Antonella Cannarozzi
The King’s Speech: Jenny Beavan
The Tempest: Sandy Powell
True Grit: Mary Zophres

Best Achievement in Makeup
Barney’s Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
127 Hours: A.R. Rahman
How to Train Your Dragon: John Powell
Inception: Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech: Alexandre Desplat
The Social Network: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
127 Hours: A.R. Rahman, Rollo Armstrong, Dido (“If I Rise”)
Country Strong: Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges (“Coming Home”)
Tangled: Alan Menken, Glenn Slater (“I See the Light”)
Toy Story 3: Randy Newman (“We Belong Together”)

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Inception
The King’s Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Inception
Toy Story 3
TRON: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Best Documentary, Features
Exit Through the Gift Shop: Banksy
GasLand: Josh Fox
Inside Job: Charles Ferguson
Restrepo: Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger
Waste Land: Lucy Walker

Best Documentary, Short Subjects
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

Best Short Film, Animated
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, a Journey Diary

Best Short Film, Live Action
The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

Source: Oscar

The reason? To impress a girl. Aww. Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History will be the title of the forthcoming book, says LA Times.

Feel free to read the LA Times original 2004 article on Thad Roberts the love-torn thief in question here (via /Film).

Thoughts?

I think this is an incredibly interesting choice. I personally loved Reznor’s score for The Social Network more than the film, and Ross composed a haunting score for Book of Eli on his own. Good stuff, and a great way to make this adaptation his own. Thoughts?

Source: IGN

The Film:

It’s interesting that a film maker like David Fincher would make a film like The Social Network, considering his past films. You’ve seen and heard the ads promoting it with a high-praising quote calling it “the movie of the year that also so brilliantly defines the decade“, when actually it’s about the people that defined our lives over the last few years and not the film itself. But the film cannibalizes an earlier Fincher film as if he has forgotten this quote: “You’re the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.” Mark Zuckerberg isn’t Charles Foster Kane and The Social Network isn’t Fight Club.

Technically, the film is a marvel. David Fincher is on top of his game, with some expertly handled camera movements and shots, with his typical moody cinematography, and a edgy score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. If there’s a better looking or directed film this year, maybe it’s from Christopher Nolan (Inception) or the Coen Brothers (True Grit), but The Social Network, in technical film making terms, might be the best of the year. Much as that marvels certain film-goers like myself, to use a cheesy analogy here, we don’t “like” a Facebook status update for the technical qualities of how our friend posted it, but what it is that we decided to “like”. And so with that, technical attributes of David Fincher aside, The Social Network is a film about smart pricks who befriend and step-on other smart pricks, which makes it very hard for an audience to warm up to any of these pricks.

Based on Ben Mezrich’s novel The Accidental Billionaires, Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay is pitch-perfect in terms of smart, witty writing, yet again, as much as it’s technically well-crafted, it fails to have us like anything about these characters, since they’re all one-dimensional. In the film, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), is no different than Sean Parker, the creator of Napster, who displays an arrogant self-importance. Facebook and Napster are ideas that changed daily lives, yet Sorkin’s script needed us to either acknowledge or dismiss their cultural importance, but it instead force-feeds us this notion by telling it to us. It’s no wonder the real Mark Zuckerberg is wisely distancing himself from this film; every character here is a hollow caricature. I’m not excusing the events that maybe or may not be true, but when the film hinges itself on an arc of Zuckerberg gaining a heart by paying his ex-friend off and restoring his title as Co-Founder of Facebook is a wash. What’s worse is how this great screenplay implodes at the ending with Zuckerberg refreshing the page of the girl (Rooney Mara) that broke his heart and drove him into creating Facebook, awaiting her reply to his friend request, proves the one-dimensionality of the characters.

The Social Network is far from Fincher’s best, which is Zodiac, but it is a technical marvel and should be applauded as such. To be considered a generational statement like an Easy Rider showcases our ADD. What was Fight Club then (here)? The simple fact is, The Social Network is just a good – okay, maybe really good film amongst other good films. It’s overly crowded and needlessly vapid at times, which friend requested Panic Room has serviceable Fincher.

The film makes you feel sorry for Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), but I feel for Mark Zuckerberg, the real Mark Zuckerberg, and I can hear him quote Tyler Durden: “Hey, you created me. I didn’t create some loser alter-ego to make myself feel better.”

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Sony’s high-def transfer and audio is stellar all around. Fincher’s drab appearance to the mood and cinematography could make it hard for fine details and clarity, maybe even offering up digital errors hurting the transfer, but no. It’s easy to “like” the HD picture. The DTS audio is equally nice, maybe more so since I was a huge fan of the score. But it’s a dialogue-driven film, so most music and effects are rear speaker worthy, with the center speaker taking the stage, and it’s never faulty. Great stuff.

Sony offers up a two-disc package, with all extras in HD.

Disc One:

Commentaries: For the first track, Fincher goes solo. His track is usually pretty solid with info on the tone and making of the film, but it comes alive when he discusses the changes to the real story for dramatic purposes. The whole Zuckerberg versus the film was a hot button issue prior to the film’s release, so this is an interesting section of the track. Sony edited him when he cusses, which is odd, and there’s some gaps. It’s worth a one-time listen.

The second track has Aaron Sorkin, the screenwriter, with the cast, and it’s a equally decent. Both tracks are companions to each other, as the film, the writing, the real people are discussed.

Round out the extras on Disc One is just BD-Live material.

Disc Two:

How Did They Ever Make a Movie of Facebook?: This four-part documentary, running 90 minutes, is purely a making-of, so it’s full of interviews, on-set footage, but no real live Facebook interviews. Sad, but to be expected. It’s broken up into four parts, making it easy to wade through a pretty good look at the making.

Jeff Cronenweth and David Fincher on the Visuals: A quick discussion about the visuals and how shooting digitally helped the film. It’s pretty technical.

…on Post: Running 17 minutes, this is pretty interesting piece on the nature of editing (making a movie out of 268 hours of footage) and sound, completing the film, and more discussion on the the digital nature of the film. Good stuff, especially for would-be filmmakers.

The next few feaurettes cover the music/score of the film in Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and David Fincher on the Score; In the Hall of the Mountain King: Music Exploration; and Swarmatron. The nature of the score, the music instruments, and themes are discussed. And rounding out the extras is Ruby Skye VIP Room: Multi-Angle Scene Breakdown is just that, a scene breakdown with multiple angles.

Conclusion: Far from great and Fincher’s best, but an interesting drama on a stellar Sony Blu-ray disc.

The Film: Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

So what film does the man consider the best of 2010? Read below to find out!

1. Toy Story 3
2. The Social Network
3. Animal Kingdom
4. I Am Love
5. Tangled
6. True Grit
7. The Town
8. Greenberg
9. Cyrus
10. Enter The Void
11. Kick-Ass
12. Knight and Day
13. Get Him To The Greek
14. The Fighter
15. The Kings Speech
16. The Kids Are All Right
17. How To Train Your Dragon
18. Robin Hood
19. Amer
20. Jackass 3-D

Source: The Quentin Tarantino Archives

Blu-ray has the list of special features:

• Two audio commentaries:
  • David Fincher
  • Writer Aaron Sorkin and cast
• How Did They Ever Make a Movie of Facebook?: a feature-length documentary in four parts
• David Fincher and Jeff Cronenweth on the Visuals
• Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter and Ren Klyce on Post
• Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and David Fincher on the Score
• Ruby Skye VIP Room: Multi-Angle Scene Breakdown
• In the Hall of the Mountain King: Reznor’s First Draft
• Swarmatron

No cover art has been revealed just yet.

Check out the nominations below, are these what you would have picked? Or has the ball been dropped?

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Nominees:
Black Swan (2010)
The Fighter (2010)
Inception (2010)
The King’s Speech (2010)
The Social Network (2010)

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Burlesque (2010/I)
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Red (2010/I)
The Tourist (2010)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Nominees:
Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network (2010)
Colin Firth for The King’s Speech (2010)
James Franco for 127 Hours (2010)
Ryan Gosling for Blue Valentine (2010)
Mark Wahlberg for The Fighter (2010)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Nominees:
Halle Berry for Frankie and Alice (2010)
Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole (2010)
Jennifer Lawrence for Winter’s Bone (2010)
Natalie Portman for Black Swan (2010)
Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine (2010)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Johnny Depp for The Tourist (2010)
Johnny Depp for Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Paul Giamatti for Barney’s Version (2010)
Jake Gyllenhaal for Love and Other Drugs (2010)
Kevin Spacey for Casino Jack (2010)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Anne Hathaway for Love and Other Drugs (2010)
Angelina Jolie for The Tourist (2010)
Julianne Moore for The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Emma Stone for Easy A (2010)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Nominees:
Christian Bale for The Fighter (2010)
Michael Douglas for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
Andrew Garfield for The Social Network (2010)
Jeremy Renner for The Town (2010)
Geoffrey Rush for The King’s Speech (2010)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Nominees:
Amy Adams for The Fighter (2010)
Helena Bonham Carter for The King’s Speech (2010)
Mila Kunis for Black Swan (2010)
Melissa Leo for The Fighter (2010)
Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom (2010)

Best Director – Motion Picture
Nominees:
Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan (2010)
David Fincher for The Social Network (2010)
Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech (2010)
Christopher Nolan for Inception (2010)
David O. Russell for The Fighter (2010)

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Nominees:
127 Hours (2010): Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
Inception (2010): Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right (2010): Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko
The King’s Speech (2010): David Seidler
The Social Network (2010): Aaron Sorkin

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
Nominees:
Burlesque (2010/I): Samuel Dixon, Christina Aguilera, Sia Furler(“Bound to You”)
Burlesque (2010/I): Diane Warren(“You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me”)
Country Strong (2010): Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges(“Coming Home”)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010): Carrie Underwood, David Hodges, Hillary Lindsey(“There’s A Place For Us”)
Tangled (2010): Alan Menken, Glenn Slater(“I See the Light”)

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Nominees:
127 Hours (2010): A.R. Rahman
Alice in Wonderland (2010): Danny Elfman
Inception (2010): Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech (2010): Alexandre Desplat
The Social Network (2010): Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Best Animated Film
Nominees:
Despicable Me (2010)
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
The Illusionist (2010)
Tangled (2010)
Toy Story 3 (2010)

Best Foreign Language Film
Nominees:
Biutiful (2010)(Mexico/Spain)
The Concert (2009)(France)
The Edge (2010)(Russia)
I Am Love (2009)(Italy)
In a Better World (2010)(Denmark)

Best Television Series – Drama
Nominees:
“Boardwalk Empire” (2009)
“Dexter” (2006)
“The Good Wife” (2009)
“Mad Men” (2007)
“The Walking Dead” (2010)

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
“The Big Bang Theory” (2007)
“The Big C” (2010)
“Glee” (2009)
“Modern Family” (2009)
“Nurse Jackie” (2009)
“30 Rock” (2006)

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
“Carlos” (2010)
“The Pacific” (2010)
“The Pillars of the Earth” (2010)
Temple Grandin (2010) (TV)
You Don’t Know Jack (2010) (TV)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
Idris Elba for “Luther” (2010)
Ian McShane for “The Pillars of the Earth” (2010)
Al Pacino for You Don’t Know Jack (2010) (TV)
Dennis Quaid for The Special Relationship (2010) (TV)
Édgar Ramírez for “Carlos” (2010)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
Hayley Atwell for “The Pillars of the Earth” (2010)
Claire Danes for Temple Grandin (2010) (TV)
Judi Dench for “Return to Cranford” (2007)
Romola Garai for “Emma” (2009)
Jennifer Love Hewitt for The Client List (2010) (TV)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Alec Baldwin for “30 Rock” (2006)
Steve Carell for “The Office: US Version” (2005)
Thomas Jane for “Hung” (2009)
Matthew Morrison for “Glee” (2009)
Jim Parsons for “The Big Bang Theory” (2007)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Toni Collette for “United States of Tara” (2009)
Edie Falco for “Nurse Jackie” (2009)
Tina Fey for “30 Rock” (2006)
Laura Linney for “The Big C” (2010)
Lea Michele for “Glee” (2009)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
Nominees:
Steve Buscemi for “Boardwalk Empire” (2009)
Bryan Cranston for “Breaking Bad” (2008)
Michael C. Hall for “Dexter” (2006)
Jon Hamm for “Mad Men” (2007)
Hugh Laurie for “House” (2004)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama
Nominees:
Julianna Margulies for “The Good Wife” (2009)
Elisabeth Moss for “Mad Men” (2007)
Piper Perabo for “Covert Affairs” (2010)
Katey Sagal for “Sons of Anarchy” (2008)
Kyra Sedgwick for “The Closer” (2005)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
Scott Caan for “Hawaii Five-0″ (2010)
Chris Colfer for “Glee” (2009)
Chris Noth for “The Good Wife” (2009)
Eric Stonestreet for “Modern Family” (2009)
David Strathairn for Temple Grandin (2010) (TV)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
Hope Davis for The Special Relationship (2010) (TV)
Jane Lynch for “Glee” (2009)
Kelly Macdonald for “Boardwalk Empire” (2009)
Julia Stiles for “Dexter” (2006)
Sofía Vergara for “Modern Family” (2009)

Source: IMDB

Here’s the top ten from Box-office Mojo:

1. The Social Network ($15.5 mil)

2. Life As We Know It ($14.6 mil)

3. Secretariat ($12.6 mil)

4. Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole ($7 mil)

5. My Soul To Take ($6.9 mil)

6. The Town (6.3 mil)

7. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps ($4.6 mil)

8. Easy A ($4.2 mil)

9. Case 39 ($2.6 mil)

10. You Again ($2.4 mil)

Opening this week will be Conviction (October 15), Jackass 3D (October 15), Red (October 15), and Carlos (Limited).

Technically, the film is a marvel. David Fincher is on top of his game, with some expertly handled camera movements and shots, with his typical moody cinematography, and a edgy score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. If there’s a better looking or directed film this year, maybe it’s from Christopher Nolan (Inception) or the Coen Brothers (True Grit), but The Social Network, in technical film making terms, might be the best of the year. Much as that marvels certain film-goers like myself, to use a cheesy analogy here, we don’t “like” a Facebook status update for the technical qualities of how our friend posted it, but what it is that we decided to “like”. And so with that, technical attributes of David Fincher aside, The Social Network is a film about smart pricks who befriend and step-on other smart pricks, which makes it very hard for an audience to warm up to any of these pricks.

Based on Ben Mezrich’s novel The Accidental Billionaires, Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay is pitch-perfect in terms of smart, witty writing, yet again, as much as it’s technically well-crafted, it fails to have us like anything about these characters, since they’re all one-dimensional. In the film, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), is no different than Sean Parker, the creator of Napster, who displays an arrogant self-importance. Facebook and Napster are ideas that changed daily lives, yet Sorkin’s script needed us to either acknowledge or dismiss their cultural importance, but it instead force-feeds us this notion by telling it to us. It’s no wonder the real Mark Zuckerberg is wisely distancing himself from this film; every character here is a hollow caricature. I’m not excusing the events that maybe or may not be true, but when the film hinges itself on an arc of Zuckerberg gaining a heart by paying his ex-friend off and restoring his title as Co-Founder of Facebook is a wash. What’s worse is how this great screenplay implodes at the ending with Zuckerberg refreshing the page of the girl (Rooney Mara) that broke his heart and drove him into creating Facebook, awaiting her reply to his friend request, proves the one-dimensionality of the characters.

The Social Network is far from Fincher’s best, which is Zodiac, but it is a technical marvel and should be applauded as such. To be considered a generational statement like an Easy Rider showcases our ADD. What was Fight Club then (here)? The simple fact is, The Social Network is just a good – okay, maybe really good film amongst other good films. It’s overly crowded and needlessly vapid at times, which friend requested Panic Room has serviceable Fincher.

The film makes you feel sorry for Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), but I feel for Mark Zuckerberg, the real Mark Zuckerberg, and I can hear him quote Tyler Durden: “Hey, you created me. I didn’t create some loser alter-ego to make myself feel better.”

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Here’s the top ten from Box-office Mojo:

1. The Social Network ($23 mil)

2. Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole ($10.8)

3. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps ($10.1 mil)

4. The Town ($10 mil)

5. Easy A ($7 mil)

6. You Again ($5.5)

7. Case 39 ($5.35 mil)

8. Let Me In ($5.3 mil)

9. Devil ($3.6 mil)

10. Alpha and Omega ($3 mil)

Opening this week will be Life As We Know It (October 8), My Soul To Take (October 8), Secretariat (October 8), It’s Kind of a Funny Story (Limited), As Good As Dead (Limited), I Spit On Your Grave (Limited), Inside Job (Limited), Marwencol (Limited), Nowhere Boy (Limited), Stone (Limited), and Tamara Drewe (Limited).

The film will stars Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield, Joseph Mazzello, and Armie Hammer. Scott Rudin, Kevin Spacey, and Michael De Luca will be producing.  The story was written by Aaron Sorkin and will center on the origins of the popular social networking site Facebook.