At a time when Wikileaks is about as exciting as The Bourne franchise meets The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo franchise it already seem old hat to say so, but The Social Network is (so far) the film of 2010. This at least is what 85 critics from all points of the compass have concluded for Sight and Sound, the world's top English movie mag. As I did in my review, S & S now compare the movie to Citizen Kane. It may not be that good, but its take on rivalry, business, friendship, youth, money and media, and startlingly fresh mise-en-scene, turn it in to a very original and satisfying film that has won plaudits from all types, and even made money. I predict it will win much at the Oscars.
THAT HANDSOME MAN A PERSONAL BRIEF REVIEW BY TODD SWIFT I could lie and claim Larkin, Yeats , or Dylan Thomas most excited me as a young poet, or even Pound or FT Prince - but the truth be told, it was Thom Gunn I first and most loved when I was young. Precisely, I fell in love with his first two collections, written under a formalist, Elizabethan ( Fulke Greville mainly), Yvor Winters triad of influences - uniquely fused with an interest in homerotica, pop culture ( Brando, Elvis , motorcycles). His best poem 'On The Move' is oddly presented here without the quote that began it usually - Man, you gotta go - which I loved. Gunn was - and remains - so thrilling, to me at least, because so odd. His elegance, poise, and intelligence is all about display, about surface - but the surface of a panther, who ripples with strength beneath the skin. With Gunn, you dressed to have sex. Or so I thought. Because I was queer (I maintain the right to lay claim to that
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