The Social Network (2010)

David Fincher is on a roll. With ZODIAC (2007), CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (2008) and now his latest effort, THE SOCIAL NETWORK, he's directed three of the best American films in recent memory. On paper, the idea of a film devoted to the founder of Facebook may sound rather vacuous but Fincher and company have made a fascinating film both as an entertainment and a wry dramedy on an adolescent Charles Foster Kane. This film moves, never letting up for an instant and the film editing by Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall is a near remarkable achievement. Of course, there's the razor sharp screenplay by Aaron Sorkin which is the jumping off point for this look at Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg (superbly embodied by Jesse Eisenberg), an arrogant, clueless if brilliant Harvard student lacking social skills and the most rudiment of elements of compassion or empathy. The irony is too obvious, an alienated young man and a fish out of water in the social structure of an ivy league university founds an internet site for other people to connect with each other. In addition to Eisenberg, there's excellent work from Andrew Garfield (NEVER LET ME GO), Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker (the founder of Napster), Rooney Mara and in a marvelous turn as a pair of twins, Armie Hammer. The pulsating score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross propels the film forward as much as the editing.