that opens The Social Network, which sets
the tone for the talky, hyper-articulate, put-
down parade that follows, though I'm also a
great admirer of the way Rabbit Hole begins,
establishing Nicole Kidman's character in a
nonverbal way: She's lost a son and has
learned to cope with her grieving by gar-
dening and baking, two fields that restore a
certain measure of control in her life. We see
bols of new growth -- and then the neigh-
bor comes by to invite her to dinner,
accidentally stepping on a plant in the
process, and from Kidman's reaction, we re-
alize just how fragile she really is.
Pierce: The best-written scene of the year
comes from Aaron Sorkin's The Social Net-
being dumped by his girlfriend during a
concerto of dialogue that finishes with the
perfect line: "You're going to go through life
thinking that girls don't like you because
you're a tech geek. And I want you to
know... that won't be true. It'll be because
you're an asshole."
ation -- one of those rarities in Hollywood: a
main character who's allowed to be a bastard
for the entire movie and, unlike As Good As It
Gets or a hundred other such films, never en-
counters that one thing that makes him want
to be a better person. And because he's been
written by Noah Baumbach, he comes across
as the real deal, matched only by Lenny, the
deeply flawed father in the Safdie brothers'
Daddy Longlegs, who crushes sleeping pills
find a babysitter.
Winter's Bone shows both vulnerability and re-
silience in her gritty quest to solve the mystery
of her father's death. I must also concur with
Debruge, though, that as a new father, Lenny
the busy dad from Daddy Longlegs resonated
for quite a long time with me, although I'd
never do anything that selfish to my kids.
the under-appreciated Kick-Ass steals the film
with her, um, "colorful" language.
work), Omar (Four Lions), Eames (Inception)
son as Olive's parents in Easy A; Jennifer
Lawrence as Ree in Winter's Bone; Chloe
Moretz as Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass
can't believe that this movie exists, and the
fact that it took this shape is even more as-
tonishing to me. It's impressive that the cast
was willing to go "full gay" (to twist an idea
from Tropic Thunder), defusing whatever ho-
mophobic tension might arise through com-
edy (as opposed to the insulting I Now
out by having Adam Sandler ogle Jessica Alba
for the whole movie).
since Scott Pilgrim vs. the World's Edgar Wright
and Michael Bacall brought Bryan Lee O'Mal-
ley's characters to life with the same wit and
comics. Yet it's hard to ignore that Aaron
Sorkin created a masterful and memorable en-
semble in The Social Network as well.
Easy A