SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t seen the movie, and don’t want to know elements of the plot, don’t read what’s below.
One of the benefits of having finished The Albatross (soon to be available in fine bookstores everywhere) is that I can now get back not only to reading stuff that isn’t theology, but can also go to movies, something I’ve sorely missed in the last year. Yesterday I treated myself to a view of “Gone Girl” at Doc Films (the University’s superb student-run movie series). I was at first dubious about going, as I’d heard the movie had mixed reviews, but I found on Rotten Tomatoes that it was in fact rated highly and fairly consistently by critics. (The New Yorker’s mixed review by Anthony Lane, one of my favorite critics, was an exception.)(
It was a very good movie, and if, like me, you favor movies that really disturb you, this one that will. I won’t give away all of the plot, which is quite contorted, except to say that it involves a woman who, in a fit of revenge for her husband’s mistreatment and infidelity, fakes her own disappearAnce and death, hoping to get her husband convicted and executed. But things go awry and she winds up back with her husband, who had already been arrested for the murder. Each hating each other, but forced to remain married by media pressure over the miraculous reappearance of Amy, which was a great story, they’re doomed to a life of misery.
The performances of Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne, the husband, and Rosamund Pike as Amy, his conniving wife, are superb; Pike was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, but the movie, unaccountably, was not. (Pike was also in one of my favorite unknown films, “An Education“:, which was a great coming-of-age film as well as Carey Mulligan’s first appearance onscreen. See it!) There are also creditable ancillary performances by Neil Patrick Harris as Amy’s ex lover, Tyler Perry as Nick’s lawyer, and especially Carrie Coon as Dunne’s faithful sister and Kim Dickens as the relentless detective who pursues him. Even one of my favorites, Sela Ward, makes a cameo appearance as a t.v. interviewer.
The movie is not a masterpiece that will live forever, but it has a tight, absorbing plot, good acting, excellent cinematography, and an ending that leaves you, well, feeling discombobulated. It was based on a 2012 novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn, which I haven’t read.
If there’s any fault, I suppose it would be a failure to explain Nick and Amy were attracted to each other in the first place. In the beginning of the movie Nick appears suave and smart, but he transmogrifies into a bit of a doofus as the movie progresses, why Amy is consistently brilliant and seductive. But that’s trivial, for Affleck’s performance is almost as Oscar-worthy as Pike’s. At any rate, this is a movie not to miss.
Here’s one of the two official trailers:
Now, what other recent movies should I see?
I liked the way that one of the TV reporters was an obvious parody of Nancy Grace whom I have never liked.
Nightcrawler is a must! When I watched Gone Girl, I thought it would be a while before I could watch a thriller half as decent. But then I watch the Nightcrawler with Jake Gyllenhaal (one of my younger favorites) and found it even more riveting. I highly recommend it.
Yes, Nightcrawler is an exceptional film, and it is also at times deeply disturbing. This one fits the criteria, PCC.
I’ll second Nightcrawler. I viewed with someone who came out of the theater saying the Gyllenhaal character was unrealistic; I told her that I’ve actually worked for 2 managers who were every bit that sociopathic. There is a scene where Gyllenhaal threatens to give his videos to a rival TV station if Rene Russo doesn’t have sex with him that is one of the most powerful scenes in any movie. It transcends cinema, becoming a fusion of literature and visual art. If ever there was a “Scene Hall of Fame”, it would deserve to be in it. Did anyone else notice the power of that scene?
my recommendation: do not see The Gambler
Know when to walk away, even John Goodman fans.
Whiplash, about a jazz drummer at a music school, was just released last week here in UK. If you can find a screening it is not be missed. It has to be one of the most disturbing and exhilarating films I’ve ever seen. Whether it is particularly deep (or even authentic) or not I haven’t quite made my mind up yet, but its certainly one hell of a roller-coaster ride.
I go to see around 50 or 60 new releases a year, and I have to say Whiplash really stands out from the pack. But if you don’t wanna take my word for it just check out the reviews.
Also last year’s ‘Calvary’ was really excellent, it’s a (very) dark comedy and a sympathetic look at a good-hearted Catholic priest in Ireland and where he fits in a country that is getting less and less religious and after all the scandals etc. As a ‘militant atheist’ I have to say it’s about as good a ‘faith’ film as I can imagine. Check it out.
“I go to see around 50 or 60 new releases a year…”
I find myself wanting to see far fewer films than I once did. I am not sure if this reflects the state of the art, or just a change in myself.
I’d probably say the latter, because there really were loads of good films last year, then again I suppose I’m something of an obsessive cinephile. The output from the major studios obviously isn’t great these days(barely seen any big budget films at all lately actually), so if you don’t have access to a good independent cinema showing a wide range of indie and arthouse stuff then yeah, probably not much reason to go that often.
Knowing nothing about this movie except your review would make one curious. She fakes death to get husband convicted and then remain married because of media pressure.
Might think she would be doing some time but never mind.
There are reasons shown in the film why she doesn’t get prosecuted, even though both the husband and the detective know a crime has been committed by her (she also kills somebody else near the end).
I recommend Wadjda, an excellent film that lets you peek into the Saudi world we scarcely know.
Interesting bit of trivia, from IMDB:
Homesman, Birdman, Nightcrawler
I definitely want to see Birdman. The reviews I have seen make it seem excellent.
it is excellent. i saw it in 2 screenings, and both times walked away feeling supremely satisfied and entertained.
Mmmm… Ben.
Does it include a lot of friendly muslims as to fight the stereotype?
the C O N T E N D E R, starring Ms Joan Allen, of http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1100998-contender and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208874/?ref_=nv_sr_1.
Is utterly “disturbing” as Dr Coyne writes although, as entreated, not terribly “recent.” Of one of its actors: Mr Gary Oldman repeatedly upbraids the film after its creation ( and even afore its release) for: how he in particular, ‘in it’ as Congressman Runyon, comes across = apparently castigating it for how he “personally” comes across !
All of it quite ‘real’ ! UNTIL — until its ending.
Re that: ending ( the president’s speech, that is ) is utterly lovely but not real.
In my lifetime plus, likely, within very many more lifetimes thereafter, such an end ( during “current [ not futuristic – like ] events” and of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlioUeIUuts ) will never.ever occur. Would be nice; and ‘it should’ occur — but is, whilst I breathe in and out, NOT ever gonna happen.
A plausible surprise near the initiation of the president’s speech is most credibly portrayed by all of the actors involved in ‘the reveal’ — and the entire film very, very well directed by Mr Rod Lurie.
Ms Allen’s performance is unquestionable; and the thesis to which she holds her character throughout is timeless: don’t ask, let alone expect ANY response to, THAT about which is none of your business to ask in the first place.
Available as 126 minutes’ worth from most public libraries including upon interlibrary loan programs and @ amazon for pennies. Likely too, all of film is available on youtube.
Blue
Nightcrawler and Birdman.
.and, as other have said, Imitation Game. Imitation Game was great, marred only slightly by an ending that seemed rushed, truncated.
Yeah, it was an excellent movie definitely, though it wasn’t such a shared misery at the end 🙂
Chef
The hundred foot journey
Imitation Game
I am very much looking forward to watching The Imitation Game. In addition to the story, and the past history of the studio, Benedict Cumberbatch plays the leading role. He is my pick for most impressive new (to me) actor of the past few years. Incidently, the kids and I just watched Star Trek: Into Darkness last night in which Cumberbatch played the role of Khan Noonien Singh, and did it very well.
I liked the plot in the Star Trek movie b/c I did not know going into it what the plot would turn out to be. It was fun to gradually realize it as it played.
The Theory of Everything (based on the life of Stephen Hawking), with an incredible performance by the actor (forget his name, sorry) who played Hawking and looked *just* like him.
Eddie Redmayne, he did a wonderful Richard II at the Donmar Warehouse a couple of years ago.
Redmayne is a fine actor – loved his performance and singing in Les Miserables and on various TV dramas. I still have to go see TTOE.
Interstellar – speculative scifi in the spirit of 2001 and Solaris.
It’s not a movie, but Amazon presently is streaming the pilot episode of an adaptation of Philip K Dick’s “The Man in the High Castle,” and it’s a fantastic bit of dystopian alternative history.
I had a funny experience watching Interstellar which was perhaps not unusual. I was following the plot ok until about 1/2 way through. Then I got completely lost and I had no idea what the hell was going on. Then it all fell back together again, and I found it one of the most daring and enjoyable big-budget sci fi movies in a long time. They actually managed to convey what it might be like experiencing space-time in 5 dimensions to a general audience. That was really cool.
I was so frustrated with the ending of Gone Girl, the book, that I did not want to see the movie. Maybe I’ll rethink that after your post.
My favorite last three movies are The Theory of Everything, The Imitation Game, and Selma. (Don’t wear mascara to any of these!)
Actually, Mulligan’s first film role was as Kitty Bennet in the Keira Knightley version of Pride & Prejudice.
But I concur that An Education is well worth seeing.
I was stunned by Mulligan’s performance in that movie; I had never heard of her and it was a tour de force. I thought it was her first film. She was of course also the star of one of my recent favorites, Never Let Me Go.
If you are in the mood for stuff on the more documentary side (both on graphic arts), I recommend “For No Good Reason” (2013, on Ralph Steadman) and “Tim’s Vermeer” (2013, directed and produced by Teller & Penn Gillette, respectively).
Oh, yes, Tim’s Vermeer was fascinating!
Gone Girl – I read the book and saw the movie. Gillian Flynn wrote both the novel and the screenplay, and she decided to introduce some variations in the script so that readers seeing the film would still have some surprises.
That said, I recommend Rosewater (if it’s still playing anywhere. If Jon Stewart ever decides to give up comedy and The Daily Show, he may well end up as Oscar material someday. Tomorrow, as a birthday treat, I’m going to see Into The Woods.
We just saw Into the Woods and I recommend it. I felt it could have been better, but it was still very enjoyable.
I liked Into the Woods too.
It’s a couple of years old now, but The Hunt (Danish title: Jagten) is a really good – but hugely disturbing – film.
O, excellent suggestion … … The Hunt.
This film — I concur: mightily disturbing it is — placed Mr Mads Mikkelsen for the first time on my nota – bene – these – specific – actors’ radar.
Blue
Mrs. Gnu dragged me to “Gone Girl” against my wishes. She was right and I was wrong. Good movie and for exactly the reasons PCC said.
A couple of Australian films:
If you’re into minimalist sci-fi, there’s a wonderful little time travel film called The Infinite Man.
The psychological horror movie The Babadook was very unsettling, yet made for compelling viewing.
I went to see Paddington for my 69th birthday treat. And what a treat! I have met Mr Whishaw and never saw him as a bear . . .
Like Mr Redmayne he has starred as Richard II, this time for the BBC.
I’d love to see that, with then children who’re all grown up now.
…*the*
As for television, I am going to recommend the mini-musical series Galavant on ABC. I am not a fan of musicals, but this one has me grinning from ear to ear every week. It is absolutely delightful. here and here are typical samples. Sorry about the commercials.
I just picked up the Blu-Ray of Gone Girl to watch with my wife, so I’m averting my eyes to any spoilers.
I had a long lasting grudge against Fincher for ruining Alien 3 and I swear it’s just barely slipping away now enough to enjoy his more recent movies. 🙂
As many interviews attest, it wasn’t director David Fincher who ruined “Alien 3”. Whatever his version of this picture would have been will never be known
It was the studio, 20th Century Fox, that “ruined” it (at least in his estimation), taking it away from him (it was his first feature film, and he didn’t have anything like the clout that he now has) and changing it in many ways to which he was totally opposed.
For this reason, he long ago disowned it.
To be fair to Fincher, the studio interfered on that film to such an extent that Fincher disowned the final product. Then he went and made Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac, and The Social Network – all great films.
Alan Turing’s Imitation Game tells the story of one of the founders of the information age who also helped break Enigma encryption, thereby shortened the war by 2 years and saved 14 million lives. Great performance, concise showing the effects of German stealth to make the codebreaking salient and important.
Neither of my suggestions made it to the big screen in my neck of the northern Michigan woods(perhaps they were screened in the Big City)so I had to (unfortunately) resort to DVD and my TV. Both are from Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki’s home base. The Wind Rises, written and directed by Miyazaki, is simply marvelous and was nominated for Best Animated Movie in 2014, losing out to the juggernaut that was Frozen. Becoming available on Feb. 17 on DVD is another Studio Ghibli production, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, directed by Isao Takahata. It has been nominated for a 2015 Academy Award and the buzz on it has been intense.
Boyhood. Haven’t seen it yet but heard tons of good things about it. Got 98% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Yes, Boyhood was very good.
Snowpiercer. It’s a refreshingly original dystopian movie. A bit too violent, though.
I saw the trailer for that, and thought it might be one of the worst movies ever. Am I wrong? I would be glad to be wrong.
My personal take is the film is an interesting exercise in style, though perhaps lacking a little in substance. Fills a similar niche and purpose as the film Equilibrium.
sub
Crap, I can’t read this all because I’m going to read the book.
I’m looking forward to seeing Paddington this week some time. 🙂
I kind of liked Foxcatcher. Loved Mr. Turner!!
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Wild was very worthwhile.
I’m in the “why does it have such high ratings did they see the same movie I saw” camp. I blame myself for having bad taste in movies though I guess haha.
The most recent movie that I would recommend, is Margin Call from 2011.I dont know if that counts.
What i also wanna do, is commend you for being able to look past Afflecks behaviour on the Maher show and judge his performance in “Gone Girl” objectively.
I know i couldnt, because like you “I have no words for his brand of unthinking and petulant liberalism that ignores facts when he doesn’t like them.”
I tip my hat to you ,sir.
I started reading Gone Girl but gave up half way through. There was not a single decent human being in the whole thing you could relate to, and I realised I simply didn’t care what happened to any of them. Guardians of the Galaxy is more my kind of thing.
Go see A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night by Ana Lily Amirpour, an Iranian living in London. It came out in Paris last week. It’s a subversive criticism of Iranian society, disguised as a romantic vampire film. And this time the girl is the vampire! and justice superhero and she falls for/is redeemed by a beautiful innocent boy. Great music, loosely based on Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive which was also set in a destroyed city (Detroit). The scenes of petroleum pumps and smoke stakes are images of pure evil. And it manages to really be an up film!
I have not seen “The Wild” yet but screenwriter Nick Hornsby also wrote the
Great films “High Fidelity” and “About a Boy”.
All the friends who have seen it, like it.
I was disappointed in the book, Wild (the narrator got on “my last nerve”, to use another one of those phrases we hate;-), but I do want to see the movie for the Pacific Trail scenery and I do usually like Reese Witherspoon.
Saw a charming little movie from 2013 on DVD last night: Le Week-end, with Jim Broadbent and Leslie Duncan, and from the book by Hanif Kureishi.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2392326/
I found the book absorbing and well-written; but can’t say I came away liking the protagonist all that much.
As an antidote I read Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods”–loved it.
I loved everything about A Walk in the Woods except when he was so mean to that woman he met along the way. I’m sure she was very annoying, but he seemed overly mean-spirited. Generally really love Bryson.
That didn’t trip me up, so I guess it didn’t bother me. 😉
They are not the most recent (in fact this short list will vary from the 1930’s to 2009) But nevertheless, since you enjoy “disturbing” films, I’d love to recommend a handful of my favorites. I’m sure you’ve probably seen at least one of these:
*Freaks, 1932, Tod Browning
*A Clockwork Orange, 1971, Stanley Kubrick
*Taxi Driver, 1976, Martin Scorsese
*Natural Born Killers, 1994, Oliver Stone (original script written by Tarantino)
*The Devil’s Rejects, 2005, Rob Zombie
*Antichrist, 2009, Lars Von Trier
These are all powerful films in one way or another. Whether shot in artsy interesting ways, or being layered with multiple messages/meanings/etc..
I’m a lifelong horror film lover, and although most of these are not horror, they are quite disturbing. I hope you enjoy and would love to hear your take on them.
Performances were excellent. There was most assuredly plot gap regarding what the FBI did at all. Apparently, they were so compelled by her testimony and “wounds consistent with rape” that they didn’t feel the need to review the tape of her entering the kidnapper’s home of her own free will (which she begged them to find), and contrast that with her claim that she was kidnapped. And what was the deal with the evidence of multiple pints of her blood from apparent blunt force trauma of which she showed no wounds? What was the time-frame for recovery? A few weeks?
“…except to say that it involves a woman who, in a fit of revenge for her husband’s mistreatment and infidelity, fakes her own disappearance and death…”
Sleeping With The Enemy starring Julia Roberts.
What about The Imatation Game about Alan Turing and Theory of Everything about Hawking?
I watched I Origins today. Before watching it, I though the movies was based on a real story, on real scientist, but it’s not. The movie was good, but a review from you about the scientific process and the conclusion of the movie will be interesting.
Update: I just got back from seeing Into The Woods, followed by a meeting with a friend who treated me to birthday drinks and dinner at a local Benihana’s. The movie is definitely worth the time. It’s a musical mashup of four of the best-known Grimm fairy tales (Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack the Giant-Killer and Little Red Riding Hood) with a dash of morality play and a running Dr. Who in-joke thrown in. I’m not a big fan of musicals, but this one is very engaging, and I recommend it.
Scallops at Benihana’s with the usual show of culinary dexterity and birthdays being celebrated at three other tables. It’s far better to come home to the SOTU address after a good movie and a good meal than to have sat home all day for it. I was just going to order pizza, but that can wait for another night.
P.S.: Isa, She who must be obeyed in this household, is not happy with having been left without her human for nearly ten hours. She has been yowling and demanding cuddles (cuddles are what passes for fusses around here). She is not happy with only her sister feline for company.
And I’ll bet you didn’t even bring her any scallops.
Oh, yes I did.
There should have been another comma after “yes”.
Oops! Lost a bet. 😀
Ex Machina
It’s directed by Alex Garland, (who wrote the adaptation for Never Let Me Go)
A young company employee wins a competition to visit his bosses home and whilst there is basically used to carry out a Turin Test on an android.
Thought provoking, intelligent and never what it seems
Just noticed that it isn’t out in the states until April
(It currently has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes)
Gone Girl was terrible (imho). Massive plot inconsistencies, characters about whom one could care less and lashings of style over substance – so par for the course for a David Fincher movie.
I think “Gone Girl” is one of the best movies of the year. Here’s my comments from an email exchange with a friend about the movie…
This is my (obviously) short review of “Gone Girl” on Twitter ( https://twitter.com/140SizeReviews/status/519127670894768129 ): “Gone Girl: David Fincher’s film of Gillian Flynn’s novel is both a great Hitchcockian thriller & a satiric commentary on the 24hr news media”
SPOILERS AHEAD!
My Twitter review is constrained by the 140 character limit there, so it’s at best a summary of my overall impressive of a movie while trying to avoid giving out spoilers.
Beyond that brief review, though, I think the film is very complex in its references. The icy blonde is a common component of Hitchcock’s thrillers, as is having a psychopath as a killer (so that, along with being tightly plotted, is why I think of this as a Hitchcockian thriller). The main difference is the icy blonde and the psychopath are one and the same person (which never happens in a Hitchcock film).
And I do think Amy is either a psychopath or sociopath (given the lengths she went to in her elaborate plotting) with some bipolar tendencies (such as her planning on whether or not to commit suicide on certain dates with the post-its she had on her calendar, which she only removed when she changed her mind on the planned day). And Nick may also have some psychopathic or sociopathic traits as well (such as being somewhat manipulative of people around him), but just not as strongly as Amy does.
And beside it being a thriller, the film is also a satire on the way the current TV news media doesn’t care about impartially reporting the news at all and really want to cast these events as a narrative with a dramatic storyline to drive up ratings. It’s all portrayed as evil villains and their poor victims, with things like personal redemption on live TV being highly sought after for higher ratings. Facts don’t matter at all – it’s more like a type of theatrical production.
Amy knew how the news media works and played that into her whole plan. But when she saw on TV that Nick also figured out how to manipulate the media to his advantage, she thought that he was a kindred spirit after all (i.e. a psychopath or sociopath much like she is) and only then wanted to return to him. That’s when she did the twist of murdering her obsessive ex-boyfriend and concocting the kidnapping storyline to feed to the media so she could get away with it.