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Gone Girl Movie Review: Gone Girl starring Ben Affleck & Rosamund Pike

Posted on January 2, 2015 Written by Pinar Tarhan

(There are some spoilers.)

Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck)’s beautiful wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) is missing under suspicious circumstances. Police detective Boney (Kim Dickens) and officer Gilpin (Patrick Fugit) get right on the case, with Boney giving Nick the benefit of the doubt and Gilpin ready to blame Dunne.

As the audience we’re neither with Boney nor Gilpin: if he did it, it’s too obvious. If he’s innocent, also too obvious. But we know it’s a David Fincher movie, and it will probably not be black and white. And expectedly, things turn out to be all shades of grey:

While Nick tries to manage his in-laws and the media reaction with the help of his twin sister Go, we see he’s not exactly the doting husband he wants others to believe. He seems clueless about his wife’s daily activities, friends or diary, and to top of it all, he’s having an affair with a 20-year-old (and going to great lengths to hide it from others).

From the beginning of the movie, we have some flashbacks, with the voice-over from Amy, guiding us through their relationship, from the great start to troubling times, until we see Nick’s violent and dangerous side. And around the time cops are sure Nick’s behind her disappearance, and possibly murder, we hear this brilliant line from Amy:

“I’m so much happier now that I’m dead.”

So yes, she’s making a run for it to make Nick pay for being a lying, cheating bastard. And if you think she is taking things too far, just wait till you see how much further she’s willing to go, and how she handles her back-up plans…

Gone Girl is one crazy, psychotic mystery/thriller/drama that might make you question certain things in life, like how well you actually know the people you are with, how dangerous certain kinds of people can be and well, whether or not getting married is a sane idea in the first place.

Despite the original elements in its story, and some seriously fantastic acting from Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl is far from a smooth, fast ride. I’m aware that this was intentional, but the unevenness in pacing created moments, at least for me, where I struggled to stay engaged in the movie. It flows faster and better once we find out what Amy is up to, and how truly disturbed and calculating she is, but until then, I kept wishing some scenes were left in the editing room.

Because no matter how different and captivating a movie is, 149 minutes isn’t generally the amount I’m ready to give to a mystery/ drama/ thriller. Well-done epic movies? Sure. A decent piece in a trilogy where you don’t have the chance to get bored because every scene (and interaction) is necessary? Yeah.

But for me, Gone Girl would be even better at 139 minutes. Hell, at 129 or a little less, I could have jumped at the “masterpiece” wagon.

Because when a film is rated at 8.3 on IMDB (already grabbing a place on the site’s 250 best movies list) and has earned more than 350 million dollars at the box office against its 61 million budget, you want to be blown away by every second of the movie. There’s no place for boredom.

Call me sentimental, traditional or whatever, but I still prefer Se7en. At a little over 2 hours, it is tighter, creepier and has the more satisfactory ending. (Se7en is also on IMDB 250 and rated over 8 (8.7.,to be exact)-hence the comparison).

And the problem is with establishing your “villain” to be so brilliant is this haunting question: didn’t she have anything better to do with that Harvard degree and brain of hers than to take revenge? No attempts at world-domination? Trying to save the world or destroy it? And why let herself stoop to such a level if she is so awesome? Isn’t pretending to be someone else to find yourself a partner something losers, or at least very irrational people do?

Her motives and actions don’t match the IQ and OCD-thinking we’re given, and that’s another con if you think about the movie too much.

That said, I love Fincher, and this was a solid movie. But worth the rating and the box office-smashing? Not to me.

How did you feel about the movie? Please let me know in the comments.

Fun Gone Girl Trivia

The movie was written by Gillian Flynn, who adapted it from her own novel.
Scoot McNairy, our lovely protagonist from Monsters, plays one of Amy’s victims.
Director David Fincher (Fight Club), while mainly known for his dark mystery/thrillers (Se7en, Zodiac, Panic Room, The Game) has also found huge success with dramas (The Social Network, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.)
In the shooting script, Nick Dunne is mentioned to be in his 30s. Ben Affleck is in his early 40s.
Some of Rosamund Pike’s films include Pride and Prejudice, Jack Reacher, Surrogates and Fracture.

Also on Ben Affleck

State of Play starring Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel Mcadams and Helen Mirren

The Company Men starring Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Maria Bello & Kevin Costner

Also on Rosamund Pike

Surrogates starring Bruce Willis, Rosamund Pike & Radha Mitchell

Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen

Fracture starring Ryan Gosling & Anthony Hopkins

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The Americans starring Keri Russell & Matthew Rhys: Complicated, Flawed, Engaging – Just Like It’s Characters

Posted on August 11, 2013 Written by ripitup

The Americans – Premise

1981.

To outsiders, Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip (Matthew Rhys) are a typical, young American couple with 2 kids, Henry (10) and Paige (13). They try to raise their kids the best they can while they run a travel agency together.

In reality, they are two highly trained KGB agents, partnered up to get married and pose as an American couple while they get their missions done. While they love their kids, their feelings for each other are a bit more complicated and difficult to define.

Their latest mission, however, brings back horrible memories from Elizabeth’s past, and how they deal with it brings them a lot closer.

And as if their jobs, their new relationship dynamic, and raising two kids who don’t have a clue what their parents are up to weren’t hard enough, the father of the new family next door is a good FBI agent (Noah Emmerich), whose mission is mainly about catching KGB agents…

Review: Slight Spoilers

The Americans is a solid spy drama/thriller with its own brand of comic relief. I don’t know about you, but it is truly entertaining to me to watch a married couple dispose of a body (or some other dangerous mission/setback of the sort) and then prepare breakfast for their kids in the next scene.

The relationship of our couple is also one of the most original and intriguing I have seen so far. There is always the feeling that Philip has always been into Elizabeth, though she seems to be just falling for him. It’s fun to watch two partner agents falling in love after about 15 years of marriage, 2 kids (and working together).

And them falling in love complicates the hell out of things, because Elizabeth is no Sydney, and Philip is no Vaughn. And no the difference isn’t just that Syd and Vaughn weren’t married and worked for the CIA.

Sydney and Vaughn, despite a whole lot of obstacles they had to overcome to be together, never crossed certain lines. Like they never killed a relatively innocent person to not to be exposed. Or Sydney never had sex with someone for a mission. She’d tease and flirt, but then she’d use her fighting skills to get the rest done. And Vaughn, though he spent less time on the field than her, never slept with someone for a mission either.

Then there are the exes who came before Liz, and Liz’s feelings for Philip. And they have two kids, an actual company to run, deadly missions to compete, pasts to confront… Man, their life is hard…

It’s also an almost constant battle of wills as Philip is the more cautious one, while Liz is more reactive and passionate. It’s family vs. country, love vs. duty, honesty vs. deception and their emerging feelings make things riskier and more dangerous each episode.

Sure, Alias will always be my favorite agent-themed series and I’d rather do Sydney’s job if I absolutely had to (it’s more about the lines she crosses and lines she doesn’t cross), and I’d rather date Vaughn (I mean knowing my husband has to seduce/date/marry/have sex with other women is just…. not for me.)….

There’s a lot of grey since there are barely any completely moral characters apart from the kids, and probably FBI agent’s wife.

And I could probably do without the cliché of the agent’s extra-marital activities of the agent (she’s pretty, we get it, but things would have been more original if he could have kept it in his pants.)

I’d also rather have more action than drama, less screen time with the Russian spy chick (after the affair starts) and less flashbacks on Liz’ past.

But despite its flaws, The Americans has a certain flavor of its own and I have a lot of fun watching it. The cast is great, and it’s interesting to root for one character during one scene and totally hate her/him in the next.

Oh, and the soundtrack rocks.

I’m looking forward to season two, though I prefer the first half of the season. And the pilot is one of my favorite episodes.

Beauty and The Beast : It’s Fun – Stop Wishing for Its Demise Already!

Posted on October 15, 2012 Written by ripitup

Beauty and The Beast starring Kristin Kreuk and Jay Ryan

Beauty and The Beast TV Series — Kristin Kreuk and Jay Ryan. Image via onthedemo.com

It probably sucks that most TV writers can only have a short time of relief and feeling of success when a single disappointment about the rating figures can send a lot of movie writers and bloggers predicting the lifespan of the show, and not being generous or optimistic about it at all.

Sure, it is great to have sold a script, and then have your series picked up among so many others- but then you have to worry about keeping the interest level high, all the while knowing not all of your target audience will watch it when it airs on TV, that Nielsen doesn’t reflect the actual popularity of your show, and that a lot of weird viewers will stop watching it just because the lead guy is too “hot”, or the show resembles quite a few old ones…

Yes, a lot of people already started predicting and/or wishing the demise of Beauty and The Beast, but I’m not one of them. Let’s go over the plot, and then I’ll share my reasons of why it might be worth a chance.

NYPD detective Catherine Chandler (Kristin Kreuk) still hasn’t quite gotten over her mother’s death 9 years ago- the two assailants would have killed her too, hadn’t it not been for a mysterious “beast” that saved her. Of course her version of events was attributed to trauma, and she believed it when they said it was probably just a wild animal.

But a current case reveals clues about a dead doctor/military guy named Vincent Keller and as she digs, she realizes that Vincent Keller is “the beast” from that night-he tells her that he joined a military experiment without being fully aware of the consequences, had his DNA changed and gained the ability/curse to turn into a furious and freakishly strong beast when he got an adrenaline rush.

Even though he tries to get her to leave him alone for both their safety, she can’t- she decides that they will both be helping out each other- and make him realize that he is anything but a monster.

So there you have it- a police procedural led by a young pretty female detective, protected by her ally – some drama, action, mystery and romance.

If you expected the wheel to be reinvented, this is not the show for you. If you don’t like to see pretty people on TV, this is not for you- although I have to say they haven’t gone half as overboard as The Vampire Diaries when it comes to casting attractive people. And you will have to live with the fact that the show is sci-fi, and not fantasy- as far as the beast is concerned.

If you’re OK with the cast of attractive actors, the sci-fi element, the case-of-the-week and the upcoming romance, great. So am I.

Now, people compared this to The Hulk. Scientist/experiment gone wrong/uncontrolled power/life led in secret? I see their point.

Some compared it to Moonlight, the short-lived vampire show starring Alex O’Loughlin – and I was too reminded of it. The-not-exactly-human helping solve crimes and protecting innocent people/watching over the girl he saved years ago/partnering up and falling in love with her…Check, check, check all the way.

But come on-as much as I loved Moonlight and was sad to see it go, Moonlight was hardly the first to use the vampire-seeks-redemption-while-falling-in-love-with-the-girl-he-is-watching-over concept. Hello, Angel of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, anyone? He is a good vampire, has watched over Buffy ever since she became a slayer at 16, helped save people, fell in love with her…

But hey, I am definitely not saying Angel’s concept was original. It was cool and fun, but I’m pretty sure someone somewhere did it-many times-before.

So Beauty and the Beast is a fun show, with cliches I’d not change. It’d be a letdown if the Beast didn’t have his human sides, or if he was exactly Fairy-Tale-like-all fury , all the time. It’d sure suck without the emotional bond between its characters. Angel had Buffy, Mick had Beth (Moonlight) and hey, Vincent will have Catherine.

Now, I won’t be complaining a lot of if it is cancelled. I’m still not over Awake– now that show was emotionally gripping, extremely powerful and refreshing- and I still think cancelling it was a crime against creativity and good TV. I know it is all about ratings and revenues, but they give you more seasons, not necessarily good TV.

But I will be enjoying this show as long as it remains fun and on the air. I can’t promise not to mourn over Last Resort, however, should it be cancelled.

So sit back, and tune in if it’s your kind of thing. If it isn’t, good thing you have a gazillion alternatives.

Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter starring Michael Shannon & Jessica Chastain

Posted on February 14, 2012 Written by ripitup

Take Shelter movie poster — Take Shelter starring Michael Shannon & Jessica Chastain. Feat. Kathy Baker.

Take Shelter Story

Curtis (Michael Shannon) is a family man in his mid-30s. He works in construction, and tries to deal with the fact that he has a deaf daughter as well as he can. He has a happy enough marriage with wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain).

The problem is, he has started to things that indicate a heavily destructive storm coming, and yet nobody else seems to either see them or care. These visions are combined with seriously disturbing nightmares, and Curtis tries to cope in two ways: He starts researching mental illnesses, inspired by the fact that his mother (Kathy Baker) was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and he also starts building an underground storm shelter.

He spends & borrows a lot of money without letting his wife know, and his visions have started to affect his work.

Is Curtis mentally ill? Or is he actually gifted in sensing things other can’t? Either way, it looks like Curtis’ personal and professional life will crack before he can find out…

Take Shelter: Worth watching – despite the pace

I was looking forward to Take Shelter ever since I saw the trailer, which does a great job of reflecting both the premise and the mood of the movie. The problem is, what looks extremely gripping in a 2-minute trailer may not always be that exciting in a 2-hours-plus movie.

The acting is top-notch-especially with Michael Shannon. He is so good, he leaves you wondering why the hell he hasn’t scored a Golden Globe or even Oscar nomination. Jessica Chastain also does a great job as the loving wife who doesn’t know what to do with her husband as he is not letting her in. So no problems with the cast.

I fell in love with the premise right after the trailer. Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, what can be more intriguing than a protagonist that is likable and relatable, but yet that secretly makes us fear the safety of his family- because of him. And we keep wondering about his mental state, and whether or not he is crazy.

The movie, to me, has only one weak point-and that is the pacing. The director takes a little more time than necessary, and effective, to show us Michael’s state of relationships and mind. The premise is strong enough and the acting is good enough to make you deal with the dragging parts, but I think the movie would have been a lot more effective, had it been about 20 minutes shorter.

But all can be forgiven if you make it to the end, as it is pretty good. Some believe it is open to interpretation, some believe it couldn’t have been less ambiguous. Decide it for yourself. But one thing is for sure- despite the too slow moments, this movie is just not the same old story.

It also has a brilliant title, and question. Should Curtis take shelter with his family against the storm, or should he shelter them against himself?

Currently rated at 7.7. on IMDB. I will give it a 7, though if the pacing had been a little faster, this movie would be a deserving 8.