This can be demonstrated by the fact that I actually prepared a review of the Coen Brothers stunning re-imagining of the classic western True Grit for this week — only to discover that it was months away from being released, on DVD.

The Internet can be an interesting place to get oneself in trouble.

The Social Network is ‘a story’ about the one of the most influential forces within the Internet. Regardless of whether you believe Facebook is a scourge upon our attention-spans or a wonderful tool to connect with others, this story about founder Mark Zuckerberg is rife with Shakespearean levels of betrayal and hubris.

Let me just say this, Aaron Sorkin’s script is much more enjoyable if you can restrain yourself from poking around after you’ve watched the film, looking for Zuckerberg’s reaction to a movie that portrays him in a maladjusted light.

Director David Fincher’s treatment of the Sorkin script is so beautifully crafted that it pains one later to discover that its most powerful moments were dramatic fabrications. Such is life. Nothing this well-done can be 100 per cent real.

In the story of Facebook, there are certain undeniable truths — persons involved, lawsuits fought and settled — everything in between falls into dramatic speculation.

That much has been said by the world’s youngest billionaire who has since taken shots at the filmmakers for framing his motivations for making Facebook around a fictional girlfriend who scorns him in the opening scene of the movie.

“I’ve been dating the same girl since before Facebook,” he told an audience at Stanford University. “…they can’t wrap their head around the idea that someone might build something because they like building things.”

When it comes to The Social Network, my advice is, ‘don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story’. This is a great story with elements of truth.

Jesse Eisenberg is impressive as the younger Zuckerberg whose raw talent distinguished himself as a bit of a high-tech rogue on the campus of Harvard in the early 2000s, facing academic suspension for youthful outbursts of ingenuity.

Enter the Winklevoss Twins — Olympic rowers who approach Zuckerberg with an idea resembling Facebook — a campus-wide social network that would help them get girls.

When Zuckerberg disappears into his dorm room for months on end to emerge with a better version of the Winklevoss’s social networking idea, his early collaborators cry foul.

Most compelling is the betrayal between Zuckerberg and his best friend/financier Eduardo Saverin, who was tricked out of his 34 per cent of Facebook stock by failing to read the fine print after Zuckerberg added Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) to the corporate mix.

The lawsuit negotiations, which earned the Winklevoss’ $65 million, and Saverin an undisclosed amount, are the framework through which the filmmakers examine the rise of the website beyond university campuses into the mainstream.

The only bad thing about this movie is the sense that you want to believe every bit of it, even though you can’t.

That curious sensation is both a credit to the movie and a terrible flaw — a credit in that this movie evokes a far broader range of emotions in viewers than your average comedy; a flaw in that sitting through such pure idiocy can be really painful at times.

There is every indication that achieving a physically painful state of ‘stupid’ was the desired effect that the filmmakers sought to capture.

It is interesting to take a look at the divisive critical response. In nearly 200 reviews, over half of them gave a poor review, despite an immensely likeable cast, including Jemaine Clement and Zach Galifianakis.

In the tineiest way you could classify this movie in a similar vein as ‘The Cable Guy’ or ‘Observe and Report’ — films billed as zany comedies that end up taking an audience where some aren’t expecting or willing to go.

It is as though the very nature of these characters strike at some cruel part of ourselves that we don’t like to admit exists.

Paul Rudd plays Tim Conrad, an ambitious, financially overextended employee of an equity fund who finds himself in a position to climb the corporate ladder.

To impress his boss, Tim agrees to take part in an annual dinner hosted by his employer. In this ‘Dinner For Remarkable People’ each attendee brings a guest — the most delusional misfit they can find — to be judged against the others in a cruel contest of dim-wits.

As a pioneer in this new frontier of self-debasing comedy, Steve Carrell was the obvious choice for the role of Barry Speck.

On the surface, Barry seems to be an extension of Carrell’s character ‘Brick’ from Anchorman with a smidge of Michael Scott from TV’s The Office.

But this amateur taxidermist and Grade ‘A’ schmuck, is in a class all his own. Recruited into Tim’s dinner plans, Barry proceeds to destroy Tim’s life over the next 24 hours through a variety of well-intentioned acts that go all wrong.

If you can make it to the point in the movie where the dinner begins, the film begins to show its sweeter side.

Further exploration of Barry’s character introduces the element of pity. It’s hard to keep laughing when you pity someone, when you finally understand why they do such incomprehensible things.

Some might argue that pity and comedy aren’t two emotional buttons that should be pushed at the same time. I’m inclined to agree.

Regardless, it is an interesting sensation and one should not miss the chance to see Jemaine Clement, Zach Galifianakis and some bizarre taxidermy.

It’s been a really slow couple months for movies hasn’t it?

Perhaps it was the unconventional casting of Adrien Brody and Topher Grace, combined my slightly embarrassing obsession with YouTube clips from the original film — y’know, the one where a wounded Arnold Schwarznegger barks “Get to the choppa!”

Since Ronald Moore’s Battlestar Galactica, I’ve learned that ‘re-imaginings’ of classic themes, if executed properly by the right people, can be wonderful enlightening things.

But this latest Predator, a serious effort to strip away all the B-movie directions of the past decade and return to the purity of the original, falls short. It’s just…meh.

For context’s sake, in 23 years since the original movie came out, Predator has earned a loyal cult following.

Followups like this are bound to suffer from the same syndrome as the Star Wars prequels — they’ll never quite live up to the expectations of those who studied  them frame-by-frame as kids.

We’re never as forgiving as we are when we’re 12, when my friends and I would rewind and re-watch the parts when a person’s head and spinal column are mercilessly ripped from their corpse.

Therefore, I would temper my criticism by saying that if I were 12, this movie would be ‘the cat’s pyjamas’, or whatever it is the kids say, these days.

It starts off interestingly enough — with Adrien Brody (Royce) waking up from a nap to find himself plummeting through the atmosphere.

On the ground and unaware of his surroundings, he gathers together a group of military types from all over the world who each shared Royce’s jarring opening experience.

Through the revelation that they are on another planet and that each of them are accomplished killers, the group comes to the realization that they are prey to some unknown hunter.

Let the hunt and the physical and emotional whittling away of characters begin.

Laurence Fishburne makes a brief and somewhat underwhelming appearance.

Brody does his job well and doesn’t seem too out of place in the role of a mercenary and natural leader of the group while wooing South American sniper Isabelle (Alice Braga).

Braga’s strong female role seems like a lifeline for any unfortunate female viewer who finds themselves enduring this celebration of adolescent male themes.

Topher Grace (that 70s guy) is ridiculously pathetic in this movie though it’s not entirely his fault. Grace simply wasn’t as convincing as Brody at making his bad script sound believable.

Passably watchable, only time will tell if Predators will have enduring power of the original film — a power which vaulted two of its stars become state governors in the U.S. (Schwarznegger – California, Jesse Ventura – Minnesota).

If you can get past a few rather divisive elements in Denzel Washington’s newest DVD release, The Book of Eli, a somewhat enjoyable and beautifully photographed experience awaits you.

Those limiting factors would appear to be film fans’ tolerance for more post-apocalyptic, dystopian themes in a somewhat saturated market.

The second part of it is Denzel himself, who’s shown me surprisingly little flexibility over the years as an actor. Denzel always just plays Denzel, the righteous, but unassuming (dare I use the word ‘Christ-like’ in an action movie review) hero.

The Book of Eli, finds Denzel at perhaps his most righteous and unassuming as this film walks a fine line between limb-severing action sequences and more weighty themes of morality and spirituality in a forsaken world.

Fans of classic western films might also find something of interest and value to them in The Book of Eli. Our hero is a lone traveller who has walked across the burnt-out shell of the continental United States, 30 years after some apocalyptic event.

The setting is not unlike the Wild West, or Mad Max — roaming bands of motorcycle thieves, cannibals, shanty towns run by mad men obsessed with power.

Between entertaining action sequences, which most often finds our hero Eli dispatching a dozen or so assailants singlehandedly, we are introduced to the cruel necessities of this world; how a tube of chapstick, or a mouthful of clean drinking water can be immeasurably valuable.

Thirst draws our outlander hero into a settlement run by an obsessed megalomaniac named Carnegie (Gary Oldman). Carnegie has long sought what is perhaps the most treasured commodity on the planet, an intact copy of The Holy Bible, which had been eradicated by the survivors of the apocalypse.

Carnegie sees the book as an essential tool of power, a means to enslave the weak and desperate around him.

Our hero Eli, who views the book’s powers in a very different light, happens to carry the only known copy in existence.

In his escape from the town, Eli picks up a straggler, a young woman named Solara (Mila Kunis) to whom he imparts the intriguing concept of ‘faith’ — a foreign concept in an environment where trust is not possible.

And faith they will need if they are to escape the clutches of the evil Carnegie and deliver the book to safety.

There are plenty of opportunities for this movie to turn in ‘preachy’ directions, but instead directors the Hughes brothers have struck an interesting discussion of both the darkness and the light inherent in religion. Whether an action movie is the right place to discuss such things is for you to decide, but it works in my opinion.

In the homestretch there are some nice plot twists that lead to some great moments.

If you happen to have a nice TV, the movie is visually stunning enough that you won’t regret renting or downloading a Blu-Ray, or high definition copy for an extra buck or two.

Although, the graphics, special effects (when they appear) and the set designs are worth the money Marvel put into this movie, the acting and storyline was below par.

As this movie was publicly stated to be “rushed”, it still holds true to the Iron Man original.  With Robert Downey Jr. returning as Tony Stark, we find at the beginning that Stark has publicly announced his super-hero status.  The United States Government finds this information very interesting, and is demanding that Stark share his secrets, which of course he refuses.

The original cast lineup is back, with only one character change, and a couple new faces.  The beautiful Scarlett Johansson enters the cast as the Black Widow, Natalie Rushman, and will leave all the men in the audience drooling over her in her tight black outfit.

Another new face is Samuel L. Jackson, taking on the role of Nick Fury, who reminds Marvel Comic fans that the long awaited Avenger movie will be sought after upon it’s make and release.

Jon Favreau directed Iron Man 2, as with the first in the sequel, and portrayed the movie in Favreau style.  Choosing the original cast is always the best way to go, although fans were pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Don Cheadle playing Lt. Col. James “Rhodey” Rodes.  Replacing Terrence Howard from the original, Rodes plays Stark’s best friend and a front man for the Government.

Gwyneth Paltrow does a fabulous job as Stark’s assistant, Pepper Potts, and finds herself promoted to CEO of Stark Industries early in the movie.  Potts takes the role very seriously, as Stark has never stepped up to the plate and run the company as it should have been.

With all the characters in line, the movie begins with Potts’s promotion, and her confusion at the depleting state of health with Stark.  Rushman creates some drama among the ladies, but as always, Potts is the lady of the house.

With few fight scenes to keep the audience engaged, the movie doesn’t lead into the action until almost half hour in.  Even then, the “action” is second rate at best.  The second action scene doesn’t arise until close to the end of the movie but is worth waiting for.

Overall, Iron Man 2 is worth watching for all the Marvel fans out there, but definitely second rate to the original.  I guess that’s par for the course with any sequel, but this movie had much higher expectations than delivery.  Hopefully when the Avengers comes out, fans will have more to work with.

I’m never quite satisfied with other people’s summations of ‘bad’. This is, after all, Ridley Scott we’re talking about, not Snakes On A Plane.

My own conclusions are somewhat at odds with the Russell Crowe-hating consensus out there. While flawed in some regards, Scott’s treatment of this classic 13th century tale looks and feels more believable that anything I’d seen thus far.

Conspicuously absent from Scott’s unique ‘prequel’-style screenplay was the sense of playful, swashbuckling fun that has been imbued into the Robin Hood franchise by everyone from Errol Flynn to Disney.

Scott’s vision of 13th century Europe is as oppressive as one’s eyes can handle, with much attention paid to achieving a sense of historical realism, visually.

Kevin Kostner’s feathered hairdo wouldn’t last two minutes in this sodden, plague-ridden hardscabble world.

But as Lady Marion Lockesley, Cate Blanchett radiates a harder, stronger beauty than the breathless swooning damsels of the past — she’s a woman in a real bind.

The obvious criticism of this film is its similarity to Scott’s last historical epic, Gladiator, wherein he uses Russell Crowe to push the same virtuous and heroic buttons all over again.

At some point you just have to remind yourself to relax and enjoy yourself, it’s a movie.

Clocking in at well over two hours, Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood won’t leave you yearning for more. But I was strangely satisfied with the re-imagining of this overdone tale, set in the days before the Robin Hood was named an outlaw, and cast into a life among thieves in Sherwood Forest.

For example, I never thought I would be praising Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs for anything. And against all better judgment I think Russell Brand is a true artist.

To best understand where Get Him To The Greek, comes from, one must travel back in their DVD rental history to 2008’s expectation-surpassing comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

This Jason Segel vehicle introduced a handful of characters that has re-emerged several years down the timeline in Segel’s newest film.

In Get Him To The Greek, one of those characters, notorious rock star Aldous Snow, has been languishing in a drug-fueled career death-spiral since the release of his insipid album African Child.

When mid-level record company lackey Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) comes up with an idea to resurrect Snow’s career with a anniversary concert, Green is given 72 hours to collect Snow from the UK and get him to the stage of L.A.’s Greek Theatre.

Hilarity ensues in the style of most Judd Apatow produced comedies — each scene more shocking and bizarre than the last.

P. Diddy (I can’t believe I’m actually writing this) is worth the price of admission alone, though he plays a secondary to role to Jonah Hill who proves he can anchor a movie as well as any overweight, funny-looking comedian.

Get Him To The Greek is painfully funny, deliciously inappropriate and a bright star among an otherwise dull field of new releases.

Keep the kids far away from this one.

Starring Miley Cyrus as the lead character in this movie was probably Sparks’ first mistake.  Although Cyrus has adoring fans in the young teen ages, and Disney has made her millions, she is not the best choice for big screen drama.

The movie opens with a family making the dreaded trek to see the dad.  Cyrus plays Veronica (Ronnie), the very bratty, selfish teen, along side the always beautiful Kelly Preston playing Cyrus’ mother, Kim and cute lovable Bobby Coleman as Cyrus’ little brother Jonah.

Heading to the ocean to spend a summer with their estranged father Steve, played by Greg Kinnear, Jonah is terribly excited as he misses his father desperately, but Ronnie could not be more upset.

As the story line unravels in this movie, Ronnie hits the beach to find some fun, and Jonah hangs with dad to renew their father and son bond.  As Ronnie wanders the beach, she “bumps in to” Will Blakelee, played by Liam Hemsworth, the rich kid who hangs out on the beach playing volleyball.

After an awkward initial meeting, Will is instantly intrigued by Ronnie’s pouty, dark nature, and chooses to pursue her, with imminent success.

As much as I love the tear-jerker stuff that Sparks can put on paper, the movie just goes from bad to worse here.  With all the cheesy cliché’s included, the plot line, setting and characters are an almost exact replica of Sparks’ last released movie, Dear John.

Last Song showcases the volleyball-playing rich kid heading off to college (Hemsworth), and Dear John showcased the guitar-playing college bound rich kid (Amanda Seyfried).  On top of that similarity is the musical prodigy rebelling from her estranged father (Cyrus) in Last Song, and the rebellious teen turned soldier estranged from his father (Channing Tatum).

The settings are the same, plenty of time spent on the beach with half naked bodies all over, and both movies featuring a main character with a deadly disease.

Probably the best part of this whole movie is the acting by young Jonah, and his innocent character.  Expect a few tears though, with the reuniting of father and daughter, and their journey to summers end.

If you are a true sentimental, and love Nicholas Sparks’ former work, which he is definitely famous for, then by all means, but rent it before you buy it.  It’s definitely not the same standard as “The Notebook” was.

Overall, I did enjoy the movie as mindless, heartstring tugging drama.  Rave reviews?  No.  Nicholas Sparks’ best work?  No.  Enjoyable entertainment, yes.

Coming together for Date Night was a no brainer for these two and is just another success to add to their resumes.

Claire and Phil Foster are just a boring couple from New Jersey, stuck in a rut and worried about their future together.

When Phil decides to shake up date night with a trip into the city, their night turns from boring and routine to outrageous and crazy.

When the two can’t get a table at Claw, the hottest new restaurant in Manhattan, the two steal reservations under the name Triplehorn.

After numerous bottles of wine and a meal they can barely afford, trouble arrives in the form of two thugs.

When two armed men escort them from the restaurant, the Fosters find themselves in a simple case of mistaken identity.

They’re not the Triplehorns but big names in the world of crime think they are because what kind of people steal dinner reservations?

Now the two are running for their lives all over New York in a hilarious goose chase for a flash drive containing black mail photos and the real Triplehorns.

They are aided in their insane plans from private security and tech junky Holbrooke Grant, played by Mark Walberg, who has an obsession of constantly going shirtless and keeping Claire in fits of giggles and flirtatious chatter.

When the two realize that turning to the police may put them in even more danger and not everyone is as they seem, the two have no choice but to take matters into their own hands and bring down a crime lord and crooked public figures.

The Fosters go from being the average American couple to repeat offenders in a matter of hours, breaking into offices and apartments, stealing files and running from the police, all to hunt down a computer sticky thingy and save their butts.

The two comedian actors definitely do not disappoint in the hilarious yet suspenseful film.

With witty remarks, gun fights, car chases and one laugh after another, it’s not a movie to miss.

Three friends that are down on their luck, decide to take a little vacation to their old stomping grounds of the ’80s.  Heading to their winter resort party central of their younger days, friends Adam, Nick (Craig Robinson), Lou (Rob Corddry) and Adam’s nephew Jacob (Clark Duke) head on a journey filled with surprise.

As they arrive at the once thriving resort, the men find it to be a run down dump in the current year.  Deciding to stay anyway, the group figures a night of laughs, alcohol and a hot tub might be just what the doctor ordered for their turbulent lives.

With Adam having been dumped by his girlfriend, Nick with a job that is going nowhere and a cheating wife, and Lou living as a suicidal alcoholic, the men needed a break.  Jacob has an addiction to video games and never leaves his basement abode to see the real world or the sun.

As the group enters the hot tub, a spilled drink on the controls reveals the true use of the tub, which is a time machine.  The men are sent back to 1986 to a night that holds traumatic and dangerous memories for all of them.

With many references to the ’80s hit, Back To The Future, the movie carries us through many of the age-old situations when watching time travel unfold.  Not wanting to change history, running into old friends and enemies, finding a loved one was once a drunk or overly promiscuous, making sure the love that existed and is meant to be continues to the future, and ensuring that the ones who were meant to be born, are still born, such as Jacob.  All of the classics of the time travel world are included in this comedy.

With some interesting appearances by actors such as Crispin Glover as Phil, a bellhop for the hotel, who gives us a comedic storyline all on its own through the entire movie.

Another guest star on this film is Chevy Chase who pops in and out of the movie as the hot tub repairman.  With a fairly non-descript role in this movie, he still lends some of his unorthodox humor to the movie.

Not a movie I would run out and buy, but worth watching for some of the simple, mindless, classic ’80s humor.