So what I have discovered so far is that it is extremely difficult to keep writing in a blog unless you are really dedicated to it.
I set out to write about what I was watching in order to make it a more meaningful experience and so far it's an epic fail.
However, I will write briefly about 127 hours, Black Swan, The Fighter, and the Social Network. I don't usually like focusing on the big films that everyone has seen, but they were all good in their own way. 127 hours was a story of perseverance and hope and kind of freaked me out. However, it also made a statement (I think) about how people can become wrapped up in themselves and make very selfish decisions. In the film the audience is reminded that we live for others and not just ourselves. We must care for ourselves, but with the idea in mind that we build a better future.
The Black Swan also weirded me out a bit, but for different reasons... it was a horror/psychological mind destroyer of a film. Natalie Portman did a phenomenal job making you feel like you were also becoming crazy. It was also sad to see such a real and gritty performance because she made the character "believable." I can believe that shitty relationships with parents will permanently (yes, irrevocably) harm a person. Part of Natalie's twisted reality comes from her weirdly dominating mother... so glad my parents loved me without adding too much of their own baggage to my life.
The Fighter was just a lot of fun to watch... maybe the most enjoyable of them all (although Social Network may have been more so...). Christian Bale does indeed do a great job making the drug addicted brother come alive, but Mark Wahlberg does an excellent job as the hard working and persevering boxer. Amy Adams is delightful (I loved her in sunshine cleaning too), but Melissa Leo really did transform into a different person for the role; she was visually unrecognizable. However, after watching Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit, I think the younger woman did the better job (I am biased by "the Dude").
Lastly, The Social Network is a fascinating recounting of the conception and founding of Facebook. It made me want to quit right away but I didn't... I think what struck me most is that a movie about a website about making friends (or just "finding hot chicks") was about a man pushing his closest friends away. Regardless of what really happened between all of those characters, it makes me sad that Zuckerburg pushed so many people away to create his empire. I hope that all the hurt he caused and felt has made him come to value true friendship more.
At the end of the day, it does crack me up that Facebook was all about finding hot chicks and using an exclusive means (@Harvard.edu addresses) to make those women find men attractive. Is all heterosexual men do, meant to attract females?? I hope it's not but when I look around at those around me, I sometimes wonder. I also wonder if it's not just heterosexual men, but all of us...
