Let Me In, The Social Network, Tony Curtis’ Memoir and More Yes List Culture Picks

Each week, The Daily Beast scours the cultural landscape to choose three top picks. This week, Let Me In conjures up a 12-year-old vampire far more memorable than Edward Cullen, The Social Network seems to have the Oscar in the bag, and Tony Curtis’ memoir provides insight into the Hollywood great.

Let Me In Is the Anti- Twilight

Let Me In has no hunky werewolves or sparkling vampires, and its central female character isn't a simpering teen waiting to be rescued—she’s a bloodthirsty vampire. Unlike Stephenie Meyer’s megahit Twilight, this coming-of-age story isn't throbbing with high school romance—it’s drenched in blood and horror, writes The Daily Beast’s Jace Lacob. The film, released this week, is a remake of the well-reviewed Swedish film Let the Right One In, and writer/director Matt Reeves explains that he insisted that the 12-year-old characters are unlike Bella and Edward; their relationship is a tender one, built on a shared sense of being lonely, bullied outcasts. The movie doesn't explore teenaged love, but rather how people can become trapped in repeating patterns that can only be broken by a pivotal moment. Who knew vampires could be deep, too?

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Exploring The Social Network’s Fashion Trends

After weeks of buzz over the best-reviewed movie of the year—Rotten Tomatoes gives it a perfect score of 100 percent— The Social Network finally hits theaters Friday. Hailed as defining this decade and this generation, critics are fans of the snappy Aaron Sorkin-written script and the award-caliber performances by Jesse Eisenberg (as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg) and Andrew Garfield (BFF-turned-foe). The Daily Beast rounds up the critics' raves. The movie is sure to cast ripples through popular culture and offers a new sartorial standard for success in the digital age, writes The Daily Beast's Rebecca Dana. The Social Network is a fashion flick, defining the look of the Internet mogul just as Wall Street defined the businessman. And that standard is: dumpy. Hoodies, cargo shorts, and generally baggy clothes bought by moms create the new ultimate status symbol—utter disregard for personal style.

Plus: Piper Palin vs. Willow Smith: Who’s the Most Stylish 9-Year-Old?

Remembering Tony Curtis: His Memoir Actually Told All

A sad week in Hollywood: Legendary actor Tony Curtis passed away Wednesday at the age of 85. The Some Like It Hot actor shared his life story two years ago in his memoir American Prince, holding back nothing about his marriages, sex life, and classic films. Publishers were reluctant to give the go-ahead to the book, but they were convinced by his friend Swifty Lazar, who told a story of Curtis (born Bernie Schwartz) returning to New York after a Hollywood screen test and seeing old pal Walter Matthau standing on the street. Curtis rolled down the window as he passed Matthau and shouted, “Walter, it’s me, Bernie! I went to Hollywood, they changed my name to Tony Curtis, I made a couple of movies, I fucked Yvonne de Carlo!” Curtis’ memoirs tell of his affair with a young Marilyn Monroe, but still keep a strange distance from the reader, writes The Daily Beast’s Michael Korda.

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