The New Wave: 10/1/10

Don't be fooled by the creepy poster with that zombie eyed Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network is probably the most electric film you'll see all year. Leave it to David Fincher to find a way to make the origin of the world's most popular social network, Facebook, into an exciting fast-paced thriller. Then again maybe we have the witty script by TV god Aaron Sorkin to thank? Whatever. Those looking for their first chance to see if future Spider-Man Andrew Garfield has the chops need look no further than this. You can check out my review of The Social Network here.

The only way to cure my disdain over this American remake of awesome vampire romance Let the Right One In was to make it as good as its predecessor. Chloe Moretz continues her meteoric rise as a vampire forever stuck as a 12 year old. Kodi Smit-McPhee, still looking pale and skinny after starring in The Road last year, is the lonely boy she forms a dangerous relationship with. So is Matt Reeves' version up to snuff? Well....you can find out my thoughts on it right here.

Female might relish the chance to spend 90 minutes locked in a box with Ryan Reynolds, but for us guys it's a worrying experience. I'm more and more impressed by Ryan Reynolds acting choices of late, and Buried is probably his biggest challenge yet. He's all along to carry the drama in Rodrigo Cortes' thriller, but he's got some help with a few nifty camera tricks and a taut premise. You can dig up my review of Buried by clicking here.

Davis Guggenheim scared  the pants off those of us with half a brain in the Al Gore documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Now he's back to shock us in a whole new way by exposing the inept school system in our country that continues to leave as many children behind as possible. Since controversial DC school chancellor Michelle Rhee appears as herself in the film, my question is whether she can spin it into some sort of acting career? I think she's gonna need it sooner rather than later.

A lot of people were impressed by Adam Greene's campy slasher tribute flick, Hatchet, back in 2006. Others less so. I didn't see it so I can't comment, but I figure if you're going to make a slasher flick then you might as well have as much fun with it as possible. By bringing back Candyman's Tony Todd it's a step in the right direction.

This Renee Zellwegger weak looking horror appears old for a reason: It is. It was shot four years ago then shelved for various reasons. I'm guessting because the J-horror craze has already died a rapid death here in the States. Zellwegger stars with Bradley Cooper(this is back before he was "cool") as a social worker who realizes that her latest charge has some seriously dark mojo workin' around her. Zellwegger still looks like a pufferfish to me. Sorry, it had to be said.

Just mentioning the world "economics" makes my eyes glaze over and my nose clog up, so any movie dealing with the subject has a lot working against it right off the bat. Freakonomics was a massive hit when the book came out a few years ago, selling around 4 million copies by doing something I wouldn't have even though possible: combining economics with pop culture. I'm completely ignorant to the Freakonomics craze, so I'm hoping that means we'll find out cool stuff like the total gross income for a nerf herder on Dagobah. Stuff like that would be awesome.

A Walt Disney produced documentary about the rise and fall of Disney's own animation studio? Featuring interviews with some of the folks expressly blamed for the demise? Dude. Count me in.