Cornwall ON – It’s rare now that I ever get any time off. It’s election season – Christmas is coming up, and we’re growing way too fast for me and my little elves to keep up with what’s going on around locally, nationally or in the world!
I decided to take the afternoon off and go see a movie with my wife and another dear couple. We decided to go see The Social Network – ie the movie all about the creation of Facebook, and it’s founder Mark Zuckerberg.
What intrigued me most was the combo of Aaron Sorkin as writer and David Fincher as director, and I wasn’t let down. Both spouses went along as good sports as my amigo and I work in technology so we were being humored, (They wanted to see Red which had an amazing cast but looked kinda crappy story wise.) but this movie was a producers dream.
No stars and box office! Both of our spouses enjoyed the movie in spite of the subject and we chatted about it afterwards at Remingtons here in Cornwall Ontario.
The script was crisp and the movie seemed to rip by and was over before we knew it. The acting was solid (Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg) and the dark twisted moral of the movie; that the new American Dream, is that it’s ok to steal as long as you have a really good legal team and lots of money came through loud and clear.
As someone that went through the Hollywood machine and had their work stolen it was refreshing to see it all explained as clearly as it was in this movie. Somehow the “Founder” of facebook came out the hero at the end; not such a bad guy, even though he essentially stiffed the people that “inspired him”, shafted his best friend that funded the project, and essentially was motivated by being rejected by a girl because of his inability to communicate.
Facebook is a wonderful tool. It’s changed the way we live much like Napster did, but did it change us for the better? Are the values of the Facebook world intrinsically good or is facebook simply a way for those with retarded social skills to find their way in the world?
An intriguing scenario and a great movie to watch in a gloomy Sunday afternoon. Check out the movie while its in theatres; but I wouldn’t recommend the Galaxy theatre in Cornwall where we saw it.
Two tix, one popcorn, (we passed on the extra 80 cents for butter!) and one drink came in just under $30. The Theatre was nearly empty. We had to sit through commercials, and then because someone didn’t clean the gate on the projector there was a green line running down the middle of the screen for most of the movie and probably damaging the print for future screenings.
Hollywood may complain about less people going to theatres, downloading, and the net, but the reality is that if you don’t make going to the movies a better experience then people will go less.
We shouldn’t have to go to Ottawa or Montreal to see a movie when there’s a perfectly good theatre here in Cornwall. Nearly $8.00 for popcorn is kinda nuts. $3.00 for water is also kinda nuts.
Two thumbs up for The Social Network – Two Thumbs down for the Galaxy theatre.
Official Trailer
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB95KLmpLR4
Whatcha think Canada? Did you see The Social Network and what did you think? You can post your comments below.
I enjoyed the movie, I assumed it was a bit biased because the bestfriend (his name is escaping me at the moment) helped in writing the book that thr movie was based on.
On the other hand, I really enjoy galaxy, on Tuesday after noons you can get two movie tickets, a drink and large popcorn for $15!! And as much as I enjoy the sentiment of The Port, it has surely been past it’s prime for a few years now. Galaxy is pretty clean, usually sticky and the staff is always nice to converse with. If there was something wrong with the film, we would tell them and the problem was always resolved. But everyone has their bad night, too bad you had to go when they were having theirs.
Lee Lee popcorn was $6.57, water was $2.99. They actually charged tax on water which I have a hunch ins’t even HST chargeable. Not sure how you got to $15 for two tix, drink and popcorn? Drinks were actually more expensive than water and the popcorn came dry with no topping. Butter was .79 extra.
You can’t compare the Port to the Galaxy. The Port has problems that probably won’t be solved under the current ownership as valiant as he tries. The Port also has the best popcorn in town. Two can actually go to the Port with a popcorn and drink for under $20. It’s a shame that the city can’t help support a group to save the building before the roof goes.
If the Galaxy wants to charge top dollar, over price their concessions and not bother to check what’s on the screen that probably explains why the place was empty.
Add to that commercials, broken terminals to buy your tickets, two people at the admission booth sending us to the popcorn counter to buy our tickets while waiting for popcorn purchasers in front of us, is not consistent with their price points.
Going to the movies was a ritual for the world. Before TV and Radio people would literally go almost every day. Radio and TV didn’t kill movies, and the internet, cable, and other options shouldn’t either as people do want to go out and share experiences in a dark room munching on popcorn and candy.
The studios via the theatre companies have priced themselves out of the market for what they offer.
For me as a movie lover and filmmaker I can’t tell you how frustrating yesterday was.
I’m not really disposed to the whole teenage drama in this series (even so, I accept it was well executed in this episode). Nonetheless, it feels like plot is beginning to kick off in a strong direction, this series may have potential beyond this first installments.