DVD Review: The Social Network

Rated PG13 for some language, some sexuality

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Rashida Jones, Armie Hammer

After being dumped by his unofficial girlfriend, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg has a night of binge drinking and posts on his Livejournal throughout the night as he creates a Hot or Not type website database of most of the girls at school, getting their pictures by hacking through the school's network. By 3am, his site has gone live and the link is out. Thousands of students flock to the site to check it out and rate their fellow co-eds. The site gets so much traffic so quickly that the network crashes.

It's eventually traced back to Zuckerberg and after hearing what he did, he is soon approached by the Winklevoss twins to create a Harvard social network site so the students can connect and hook-up, sort of like a dating site. Seeing the potential of a social networking site for college students, Zuckerberg puts the Winklevoss project on hold and starts his own social networking site - The Facebook.

This film primarily shows the early haydays of the Facebook social networking site and the first of several lawsuits Zuckerberg has had to dealt with since the site was created. In this film, the main case is the Winklevoss's claiming Facebook was their idea while Zuckerberg claims that their site was more of a dating/hook-up site whereas Facebook is something different.

It was interesting to see the evolution of the now very popular site (which is no longer just for college students - anyone with a valid email address can be on Facebook). It was also interesting to see the part that Napster founder Sean Parker played in Facebook.

One thing to note though, while the film at first glace seems to be autobiographical, it is anything but. Several sources have coming saying that the real Mark Zuckerberg is nothing like the character that portrays him in the film.

If you like docu-dramas be sure to check this one out as it was definitely worth seeing. Also, the movie's score by Trent Rezner and Atticus Ross was excellent as well!

DVD Review: The Runaways

Rated R for language, sexuality, drug and alcohol use

Starring Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon, Scout Taylor-Compton

It's the 1970s and a late teenage Joan Jett is a rockin' female guitarist wanting to be in a band. 15 year old Cherie Currie is into the glam rock of David Bowie.

After a chance meeting a teenage hangout, music producer Kim Fowley likes Joan's idea of an all girl rock group and puts her in touch with drummer Sandy West, telling them to put something together. Liking what he hears, Fowley decides to audition a bombshells for a singer and spies Cherie in one of the teen hangouts. Despite her hesitation to sing suggestive lyrics, she gives in to Fowley's demand and lands the gig.

The girls head out on the road for a tour that summer, with Cherie quickly losing her good girl looks and innocence on the road. It's a time the girls - Cherice, Joan, Sandy and Lita Ford will never forget and for some of them a launching pad to even bigger careers.

While this film is based somewhat on the autobiography put out by Currie, it is to be noted that a good bit of the film is fiction, as they cut out certain parts of the band's history and condensed the timeline as well. It was definitely an interesting film to watch, despite it not entirely being an accurate documentary.

Also, even though it is Fanning's movie (and boy does she play jailbait well!) with Stewart backing her as Joan Jett, I do wish they gave a little more screentime to Scout Taylor-Compton's Lita Ford, as she went on to have a bit of a well-known career as well. Lita and Sandy were just background characters, having very little dialogue or screentime in the film.

If you like autobiographical films (regardless of accuracy) or The Runaways, Joan Jett and/or Cherie Currie you might be interested in checking out The Runaways, however put the kiddies to bed first as there's quite a bit of sexual content in this one!

DVD Review: Babies

Rated PG

This documentary by French filmmaker Thomas Balmes follows 4 young babies from 4 different cultures as they grow from birth through their first year. With little dialogue and no subtitles, we witness as the 4 youngsters experience their first year of life, reaching important milestones and discover the world around them.

Ponijao is from a tribe in Opuwo, Namibia Africa. We see him spend his days nursing with mom and eventually playing with a slightly older sibling outside and in the dirt.

Bayar is from Mongolia and like Ponijao, he too has a slightly older sibling whom he has a bit of a rivalry with. His parents seem to be farmers as Bayar often comes in contact with the livestock.

Mari is from Tokyo and she spends her days being immersed in the Japanese culture as we see her in daycare when she is only a few months old. She also has a bit of a frustration when playing with some of her toys later on.

Hattie is from San Fransisco and like Mari, she is immersed in the local culture as well by joining her parents in family-friendly yoga classes. She also seems to be in a pretty sterile world, compared to Ponijao and Bayer who are often getting dirty outside.

This 80 minute documentary was cute and interesting as the viewer learns and sees how various cultures around the world can shape the people that live there at such a young age and affect who they are. It was also cute during the end credits to see each of the 4 babies several years later (around the age of 3 it seemed).

Think National Geographic but with a focus on babies and this is what you get!

Should note though, while it isn't portrayed as explicit or wrong, there is some nudity, as we see mothers freely breastfeed their babies in front of the camera and at times Ponijao and Bayer aren't wearing pants or diapers, revealing themselves as well (at one point, Ponijao curiously lifts up the front of his brother's loincloth before "discovering" that he too has a penis).