The Social Network

It looks like such a simple idea and the obvious step in modern, social technology. But behind the Facebook phenomenon we find a ground breaking genius who changed the way of modern networking and communication forever.  

Directed by David Fincher, The Social Network tells the story of the founders behind Facebook, and its fairy tale success, reaching 500 million active users in less than six years.

The cast includes Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Brenda Song, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella and Rooney Mara.

Having just been dumped by his girlfriend, Harvard freshman Mark Zuckerberg, spends the following night hacking in to the university intra-net, and creates the website Facemash, comparable to "Hot or not".

The site invites fellow students to grade the looks of female sophomores, and during its first four hours on-line it attracted a staggering 450 visitors and 22,000 photo-views.

Zuckerberg is charged with breach of security and violating copyrights, but even though he face expulsion, the charges are soon dropped.

Spurred by his success, and baffled by the attention the site received, Zuckerberg soon started taking the first steps towards developing the social networking site - today known as Facebook. 

Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in history, but his success have lead to vast legal complications. And the lawsuits by three Harvard students claiming he stole their idea, has a central part of the plot.

The geek who became a billionaire

It's a cleverly portrayed success story about the geek that became a billionaire, and compellingly shows how Facebook satisfied, and perhaps also created, the need of global networking. 

Although skilfully acted, Jesse Eisenburg's portraial of Mar Zuckerburg sometimes feels slightly too "geeky" and even close to autistic.

Justin Timberlake, playing Napster founder Sean Parker, who joined the Facebook team at an early stage, proves that he's far more than a talented singer.

The film feels highly relevant to most of us, as many could easily confess to finding it hard to even imagine an every-day life without Facebook.

Or as Entertainment Weekly put it: "How on earth did we stalk our exes, remember our co-workers' birthdays, bug our friends, and play a rousing game of Scrabulous before Facebook?"