Winter's Bone

So you know that joke, "I hear banjo music - paddle faster?" Then you remember how totally skeeved out we all were when we saw Deliverance... quite possibly the most terrifying film I can remember back then because it was so... real. And raw. And even though a lot of that film was sort of ridiculous, the people it represented were real people who live off the ordinary map of suburban Americana. The people who live in poverty and who eek out an existence by whatever means available; back then it was bootlegging and edging toward the farming of marijuana and now it's come all the way to cooking meth. And those people will still creep you out in Winter's Bone.

So enter the world of Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) who is 17 and the closest thing to a responsible adult to her two younger siblings and her mom. Apparently Mom has just abdicated, and Dad is wanted by the law and missing. Just to make life interesting is the fact that Dad put the family home up for his bond, and if he doesn't turn up the family will be summarily evicted. So Ree mans up and heads into the woods and into a world where what and who you know will keep you alive or feed you to the pigs.

Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor (John Hawkes) and Best Adapted Screenplay this is a film with amazing chops made on a shoestring with a virtually unknown director (guarantee Debra Granik won't stay unknown for long and she should have been nominated as well.) Lawrence and Hawkes are both crazy good and I was fascinated by the careful relationship that they create. This is just a great little film; both real and raw and sure to creep you out and break your heart. Because people really do live like this. Website here.

The Social Network

I admit it - I'm on Facebook. I started to keep in touch with my kids and don't consider myself a devotee; although I do check in daily and post occasionally and have... a few.... friends. Got back in touch with a few folks from high school, still keep up with the kids and have actually made some real live friends, as in the kind you genuinely care about, all on Facebook. So I was naturally curious to see the story behind the phenomenon. As stories go - The Social Network is entertaining; even fascinating from the perspective of how fast technology moves in our modern age. But as movies go, I have to say this is a one trick pony at best.

Not that Jesse Eisenberg doesn't work his butt off in a stilted, humorless genius kind of way. Mark Zuckerberg himself called the performance "interesting" in a stilted, humorless kind of way on SNL. Not that Justin Timberlake doesn't make you just hate on Sean Parker or that Andrew Garfield doesn't make you all squishy sad for poor undervalued Eduardo Saverin. The truth is that none of these people have anything that might be called a personality. Maybe that's true in real life, but it's certainly true in this movie. So aside from the events and their consequences, that Zuckerberg made an obscene amount of money in what may or may not have been a morally repugnant way, there isn't much in the way of movie. Which makes it kinda like Facebook.

I will go on the record as a lone wolf on this one; everyone else on the planet seems to think this film is Oscar worthy, it's won like a gazillion awards including Best Picture at the Globes, yadda, yadda, yadda. If you don't know the story, it's worth a viewing just to see what all the fuss is about. But I'm pretty sure you know the story, and the producers of this film are so sure about that that they don't even bother with a synopsis on the website. If you're looking for something about, I don't know, people with messy things like emotions, relationships or a conscience - look elsewhere.