The Social Network

The Facebook Movie

So the other day, the Writing Wars team got together and went to see The Social Network – the recent “facebook” movie. We all went in with different expectations but came out in absolute awe.

Personally, I am not a big fan of non-fiction and am somewhat prejudiced towards them. I was prejudiced towards the Network as well. But David Fincher had me pleasantly surprised.

And how? The Social Network has everything “bad” you would expect in non-fiction. It’s completely deprived of special effects, any kind of “cool” action, and it’s painfully restricted to “telling a story”

Also, you don’t really see anything you won’t see in life anyway (ex: no elves, no bank robberies, etc)

No Elves? Impossible

So, how is The Social Network successful? I’ll tell you. The Social Network has excelled at every aspect it could at – the acting, the directing, the choice of cast, and even the script, unoriginal though it was, has left me very happy.

The actors do a terrific job at delivering their parts, Jesse Eisenberg in the lead and Andrew Garfield in the role of Eduardo Saverin.

The idea itself is very smart; almost all teens in North America have facebook accounts and therefore would be drawn to anything facebook-related.

And drawn they were. I mean, $23 million in its first weekend? For a non-fiction, that’s huge!

And even though the plot is based on a true story, it was dramatized for effect and rightly so. The key thing that Social Network has that most non-fiction movies don’t is: fun.

The Social Network is made for entertainment, not for education, and that’s what makes it awesome.


Of course, like anything out there, the movie also has flaws. And they struck me pretty hard.

Minor Nuisances

First of all, some parts of the movie are just plain annoying. Those were the times when I would sit there, listen to dialogue, and be like “man, where is the action? Why is there NOTHING HAPPENING?”

I would also comment on the overall “dramatization” of the script. Like I said before, the movie doesn't have a “this is out-of-this-world” feeling, which is normal for non-fiction. But, some parts of the script leave you thinking “ok, this did NOT happen like that!”

So, there’s kind of a gap between realism and unrealism, which is not good.

But overall, this film is a masterpiece. So, go my readers, spend the $11.75, and watch the Social Network. You have my personal word that it’ll be worth it. And if not – write me in the comments, write about what you thought of the movie, and we can discuss the aspects.

Peace out

Will Rock

Flowers For Algernon

A science fiction epistolary written in 1st person is not something I would normally read, being the fantasy-lover that I am. Of course, exceptions exist for all, and Flowers For Algernon is an oddball for me.

Indeed, when I first heard of the novel, I did not think I was going to read it. But then I stumbled across an excerpt, a very brief one too, and my fate was sealed.

Without spoiling anything that the back of the novel won’t spoil anyway – the main character is intellectually deprived. And the whole novel is his own diary (a.k.a. epistolary), and the author did his best to make it realistic. The diary is as you would expect a dumb person’s diary to be – full of nonsense, grammar and spelling mistakes, and just things that make you laugh (at the person, of course).

That’s why I had to read that book! It was a challenge. It was something new. It was a world different yet the same, recognizable and not, predictable though unexpected.

At first that was enough to get me through the pages. After all, it’s not all the time that you need to think on every sentence just to get what it means. But of course, it got annoying. And most conveniently it stopped.

Arthas: Rise Of The Lich King

Expanded universes are... interesting things. While they cut some room for creativeness and originality, they give you a nice head-start by covering setting, characters, and sometimes plots.

Indeed, some expanded universe novels are nothing more than the video game storylines put on paper.

Fortunately and unfortunately, that is the exact situation with Arthas: Rise Of The Lich King.

Let me get one thing straight – I loved the book. Not once, not even in parts where I will express concerns, did I put the book down. And you shall all see why.

The book is divided into 3 parts. The 1st part (and the shortest one) takes place before the game (WarCraft 3) and is taken from WarCraft lore. The second and third parts are re-tells of the main campaign from Arthas’s point of view (for the most part), complete with actual quotes from the game, and completely deprived of anything new. Is that good or bad? Well, I can’t answer that. This really varies from person to person, and you choose for yourself what you like.

Now, to analyze the writing itself.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

So I was watching Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and I was like “Yeah, k, whatever. Just another romantic comedy. Sleeeeepy…”

And then there was a “BAM!”

Say what? He’s fighting some crazy boyfriend, and the screens shows us “40 hit combo”!?!

That’s where the movie turns into a video game. And that’s where the movie becomes awesome.

Indeed, Scott Pilgrim may very well be the first of its genre. While there are movies based on games and game universes (such as Street Fighter, or Mortal Kombat), this movie actually is a video game. Unfortunately, it’s a PG-13 rated one.

Warbreaker

In a land where magic is fueled by breath and colour, war is brewing. Only a diplomatic marriage can keep the peace, but the king of Idris is hesitant to give up his daughter to a court of gods. If he does, his lands will be safe and his daughter married to a divine ruler. If he doesn't, his people will be conquered. The decision seems simple, but the king has two daughters.

The story follows two princesses, Siri and Vivenna, as they're thrown into  the politics of Hallandren, the land of Returned gods. While Vasher, a mysterious man, seeks his own goals, and  Lightsong, a Returned, seeks to find out about his past.

Warbreaker, by Brandon Sanderson, is more colorful (pun intended) than his previous series, Mistborn. It's also more lighthearted, more funny, and a very different kind of book in general.

The magic system, as in all of Brandon's books, is once again unique and fascinating. It allows its users to animate objects by draining colour out of the inanimate and breaths out of the people. Confusing? A little, but Brandon manages to explain the mechanics of his world in the prologue, (meaning the very start,) making the magic system easy to understand as well as intricate and realistic.

Dinner for Shmucks

This review was written by Ilan, a new contributor to Writing Wars, who we are delighted to have join our team. With his help, new posts will become much more frequently available for you guys to enjoy. Because of this, we would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his work. You should too. Enjoy.




Dinner for Schmucks
Junk Food or a Square Meal?
Ilan Tzitrin

 Dinner for Schmucks” is easy to deride. One may claim that it is about schmucks and has been made for the same demographic, or that this review is a comeback by an insulted intelligence, or that in a plethora of modern comedies that are at once superficial, overblown, only strenuously funny and generally artless, “Dinner for Schmucks” has found its deserved place. One may make all those claims for the sake of rhetoric, but, while serving as textbook blurbs, they wouldn’t be entirely accurate. To be sure, “Dinner” is often cursory and empty, but at times it is fun and amusing. Digging deep into its topsoil of mediocrity, one may find in the bedrock a semblance of a heart and purpose, if one looks hard enough indeed.

The Last Airbender

When a TV series is turned into a movie, it’s usually somewhat-successful amongst the hardcore fans of the series. When an anime cartoon is made into a full-length film, it is usually a disaster.

Such is the case with The Last Airbender. This pathetic attempt to make a movie out of a cartoon was easily the most frustrating film of 2010 by far. Like wow.

I’ll try to review this properly, hard though it may be, by starting with the positives.

The movie does have some good effects. The magic or “bending” scenes had some nice animations, with fire, water and huge rocks rising from the earth. That was neat.

Also, at times, the movie does succeed at being funny. Though, not “haha” funny. You know when someone says something really stupid and you laugh in your head thinking “wow, what an idiot”?  I had a lot of those moments when protagonists and other important characters did anything besides standing still.

Starcraft 2

So I decided to start my blogging career with something not as obviously related to writing, as say a book, but rather something that is a little to the side – and yet relative on this website nonetheless. That’s right, a video game.

And not just any game, but the one and only Starcraft 2, the giant of today’s PC gaming industry. The giant that sold 1,000,000 copies worldwide on its release date, and 500,000 copies the following day. The giant that marks Blizzard’s 8th super-success in a row. The giant that keeps us up at night, like mindless drones who obey the overmind.

So how the hell is this related to writing you might ask? I’ll tell you how. Starcraft’s storyline was written by a department of professional writers, who have spent little over 7 years writing it’s script. And this goes beyond the main campaign. These writers had to create an entire universe from scratch, which is an essential skill for any fantasy writer.

Salt

Russian spies, American agents, guns, chase scenes, Angelina Jolie, what else does an action buff need?

Nothing really. Salt is like a steroid filled drink enough to satisfy anyone thirsty for action.

But what if you're the kind of sophisticated person that likes to watch movies for things other than pretty pictures? What if you're the kind of person that prefers a tight knit story above an eye popping explosion?

Well in that case Salt may not be for you.

Now, the film does have a fairly tight story, one with plenty of twists, and stands out amongst most spy films because of this. But if you've watched as much movies as I have, you'll see these twists coming at you like a two ton truck from miles away--which translates to about an hour of the movie.


 And if you know how the movie will end, what's the point of watching it?

The Blade Itself

For the first book review on this site, I chose something that sounded almost as bloody as Writing Wars itself. Which is...The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie.

Now if you haven't heard of Joe, you're either living in a bunker still reading Tolkien (there's nothing wrong with that,) or you haven't been reading fantasy for around the past four years. Or you have, in which case you've been reading the wrong kinds of books. Why?

Because The Blade Itself is a book that expands genre conventions. How?

Well...by mixing dark comedy, and the sort of grittiness and brutality you would expect from authors such as George R.R Martin, brewing the two together into a book that is stuck somewhere between a Dark Fantasy, and A Sword and Sorcery one, (Some of you may know this as Heroic Fantasy,) Joe manages to create a unique stew, worthy of anyone who reads fantasy. However, it tastes bitter sweet.

 What makes The Blade Itself, (for lack of a better word,) so awesome, is its characters. An old torturer, a shy barbarian, an arrogant noble, I mean when has ever such a unique interesting cast been assembled? I think never, but there might be a reason for that.

Inception

 Ahh, Christopher Nolan. I've seen what kind  of movies this guy can make. The Dark Knight, The Prestige...I mean what else could you want from the guy, his movies are practically heaven on screen. Everyone I know likes them.

But when Christopher postponed making Batman 3 in order to make a movie based on his own ideas, called Inception, everyone I knew began to doubt.

Could Christopher make another good film? Why yes. Could he make something to live up to The Dark Knight? Ahh well...that's where the doubts came in.

The trailer revealed the movie to be about...a thief of sorts called Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) who has the ability to enter peoples dreams and extract information from them. His usual scheming life is disrupted when he is given an assignment to perform Inception: a much more dangerous procedure than extraction, which attempts to implant an idea into a persons mind while they sleep.