(Not Really a) Review: Gone Girl, or Required Viewing for Engaged Couples

Kansas City

Hell hath no fury like Amazing Amy.

This is a multiple choice quiz about the film Gone Girl, written by Gillian Flynn and directed by David Fincher.

1. The word "Gone" in the title Gone Girl refers to

1. a. the disappearance of Nick Dunne's wife.
   
2. b. the kidnapping of Nick's wife.
   
3. c. the suspected murder of Nick's wife;
   
4. d. the suspected suicide of Nick's wife.
   
5. e. the insanity of Nick's wife (as in "She's far gone, her mind's all messed up.")
   
6. f. all of the above.
   
7. g. none of the above.
   

2. The word "Girl" in the title Gone Girl refers to

1. a. Nick's wife Amy, played by Rosamund Pike.
   
2. b. Amazing Amy, Nick's wife's alter-ego.
   
3. c. Nick's twin sister Margo Dunne, who looks nothing like him.
   
4. d. Amy's mother Marybeth Elliot, who has already set up a website to find her missing daughter just one day gone.
   
5. e. Detective Rhonda Boney, the lead investigator in Amy's disappearance.
   
6. f. Nick's mistress Andie, played by Emily Ratajkowski a.k.a. that girl from the "Blurred Lines" video.
   
7. g. Both a and b.
   
8. h. all of the above.
   
9. i. none of the above.
   

3. The music of this film is amazing because

1. a. one of the scorers was Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.
   
2. b. it was scored by the duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for 2010's The Social Network.
   
3. c. it was scored by the duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross who won a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media in 2013 for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which came out in 2011.
   
4. d. the score is unnoticeable but leaves a haunting and disturbing feeling, which greatly enhances the film's exploration of psychosis and psychotic behaviour.
   
5. e. all of the above.
   
6. f. none of the above.
   

4. Rosamund Pike's performance was exceptional because

1. a. she is really pretty and nice to look at even though she is psychotic.
   
2. b. she portrayed her character so effectively that it made engaged couples think twice about tying the knot.
   
3. c. she achieved different physical appearances for her different states of mind.
   
4. d. she screams and moans rather loudly when having sex.
   
5. e. she might receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress this year.
   
6. f. all of the above.
   
7. g. b and c only.
   
8. h. b, c, and e only.
   
9. i. none of the above.
   

5. Neil Patrick Harris's performance was disappointing because

1. a. his face looked really old in this film and I don't like it.
   
2. b. I am so used to seeing him in comedic roles that I half-expect him to break into a smile and say something funny.
   
3. c. his sex scene with Rosamund Pike was weird since we all know he's gay.
   
4. d. I covered my eyes when his throat was slit with a box cutter, which prevented me from seeing him act out his death scene.
   
5. e. all of the above.
   
6. f. none of the above.
   

BONUS: On a scale of 1 to Amazing Amy, how psychotic is your partner?

via Screen Crush

Psychotic? But she's adorable!

Gone Girl. USA. 2014.



Original rating: 8 / 10
Nail-biting suspense: + 0.1
Tyler Perry as Tanner Bolt: + 0.1
Neil Patrick Harris's death: - 0.1
The adorable reporter from Almost Famous as a grown-up and judgmental cop: + 0.1
Final rating: 8.3 / 10





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The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Not the kind of dragon art style I imagined as her tat.

I think most, if not all, "Americanized" films—remakes of foreign films, translated into English (with or without accents from the country the story originally hailed from) and with big-time actors—are a waste of money and time, most especially when the original film was brilliantly done. Now you know where by biases lie. But then again, there are some good points to this version.

Just a taste of a big plus reason to watch this film

Title card/opening credits. To post a snapshot would not give justice to this sort of music video that clearly sets the mood of the entire film: dark and disturbing. The music added more bang for your buck there. One thing that was consistent in both film versions is the treatment and gravity of the subject.

Needless to say; it's graphic.

Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander is great and she deserves the noms, but I can't help comparing her to Noomi Rapace, who really awesomely rocked the part before her. Touch-move, Rapace was first. But it's all good—even with Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, and their Swedish-accented English.

"I am insane(-ly great)!" Nod!

Style. The overall look of the film is a welcome improvement: more sophisticated outfits, a really nice newspaper office, and comfy home interiors. Black, white, and subdued colors and lights work. It's noticeable maybe because of the two-year age gap. Swedish style circa 2009 wasn't bad, but I guess Hollywood owns this aspect.

A big contrast to the film's theme and tone—and it looks comfy, too.

A different take. Basically, this version made research into the past more engaging as opposed to the original Swedish version that made the whodunit search a real thrill to watch. It's probably a good thing since I already knew who did it; no more suspense there. The film also focused more on the characters and relationships.

Are you going to stare or are you going to fuck—or cuddle?!

I don't want to rant about the liberal changes this version had taken, but there are a few I feel strongly about: an easy clue to solve the number mystery of the past, their version of Lisbeth and her relationship with Mikhael, and the ending. It also seemed that this film opted to spoon-feed interpretations of character relationships when I didn't have a problem discovering them on my own while watching the original version. See now why I'm biased to the Swedish film?

In the end, it's a good watch—more so, if you haven't seen the original (or read the book)—and we have David Fincher primarily to thank for that.

I've already seen the next two films of the Swedish trilogy. (Yes, I should read the books.) If there are Hollywood remakes of those in the works, let's see then if they can even the score.

Round 1: Swedish Original, 1. Hollywood version, 0.5.


The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo gets a seven out of ten, for being a rather tasteful remake of an already brilliant Swedish film adaptation of the Stieg Larsson bestselling novel.



*GIF by me; screencaps courtesy of VLC




You may also want to read the review for original Swedish version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and other book/movie reviews of The Millenium Trilogy.

Män som hatar kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)

Girls who look like that most likely have a dragon tattoo somewhere.

This film was based on a book of the same title. But you don't really need to know that.

This film also has a Hollywood version, which will come out this year. But you also don't really need to know that.

What you do need to know is that this is an excellent film, and is possibly the best Swedish film I've seen. Then again, I haven't seen that many Swedish films. Maybe just some Ace of Base videos and an ABBA documentary.

This film is a mystery thriller. A whodunit, to be more precise. We're looking at a missing girl, who may or may not have been murdered. I don't really want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet.

Anyway, one thing I appreciated after seeing this was the language of cinema. There is actually a correct way to tell stories visually. That is the reason a good film will always be a good film, in whatever language. The styles may differ, the content may vary, but the language remains the same.

This film has succeeded in telling a really great suspense story. I honestly expected to be yawning ten minutes into the film. Instead, I found myself sweating at the palms. Partly because the summer heat is starting to swelter at this time of year. And partly because it was a damn great suspense story. And also partly because Noomi Rapace was great as Lisbeth Salander.

Even her non-acting is acting.

Of course, credit should probably go to the brilliant director, Niels Arden Oplev.

Now this got me worried about the remake. Would it be as good as the original? Or rather, would it be as effective as the original? Whatever. Who's the director? Oh, it's David Fincher. Okay, he'll do. The Social Network was okay. But more importantly: Rooney Mara, who plays Lisbeth Salander in the Hollywood version.

Punks. Not. Death.

By the way, I don't like her as Lisbeth Salander. She's... eeewww. So here's a prettier photo of her which you can take with you in your dreams.

Mmm... Rooney Mara.

Wait a minute. According to W Magazine:

Fincher’s film departs dramatically from the book: Mikael Blomkvist is more gentlemanly, Salander is more aggressive—and the ending has been completely altered.

Damn you, Fincher!

But wait. What are you all worried about? This is the Swedish version. Go watch it. The original is always the best.


*some info from IMDb
pics from Alt Film Guide Electrifries, and W Magazine


Män som hatar kvinnor. Sweden. 2009.


Rating: Nine out of ten.



You may also want to read the review for The Girl Who Played With Fire.

The Social Network

By mumblingmaya
Fri 5 Nov 2010, ~11:00

The movie starts with flashbacks that interject with the literal narrative of two federal cases filed against Mark Zuckerberg by the Winklevoss twins and by his former(?) best friend Eduardo Saverin.

This can be a little confusing since in one of the flashbacks, we see Mark Zuckerberg being tried by Harvard's disciplanary committee for hacking into their system and creating FaceMash, so people might think there are three cases there.

I also found that full-circle moment in the end about Mark Zuckerberg's being an asshole cheesy.

Justin Timberlake was suprisingly good, meaning I didn't expect him to do well in this film. But he succeeded in making me despise Sean Jay Parker. Shout outs to Brenda Song for transitioning from The Disney Channel, even though her role was insignificant, if not derogatory.

I saw this with a computer programmer friend and he was having a geekgasm the whole time. I'll admit that the SMO person in me geekgasmed as well. But mostly, I loved the Winklevoss twins' 1990's references that really say, "Generation Y, I'm talking to you," and Andrew Garfield's cuteness, and Aaron Sorkin's writing. And yes, the soundtrack is killer.

Sting Lacson's review after the jump

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Sum up this film in two words: Classic Hollywood.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button leads the Oscar race with thirteen (13) nominations, and it truly is a cinematic work of art.

The screenplay was adapted (as everyone would probably know by now) from a short story of the same title by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Though the storytelling is quite clear, there are times when we sense the writers' hesitations on whether to focus on the life of Benjamin Button, or on the love story between him and Daisy. They could have focused on the love story all the way; all the incidental events would have been covered anyway.

There are others, however, who keep insisting about the obvious parallelisms between Benjamin Button and Forrest Gump. Now, while I would not deny that there are parallelisms, these parallelisms are not obvious, as some of you would state. Although both films are indeed penned by Eric Roth, Benjamin Button was co-written with Rob Swicord (and both Roth and Swicord are nominated for their adaptation). To state that Benjamin Button is a copy of Forrest Gump would be to belittle Eric Roth's talent, as well as underestimate Rob Swicord's input. Besides, the similarities never manifested itself as I watched the film, even though I knew beforehand of the Button vs Gump debate (sounds like a US Supreme Court case).

And that is because David Fincher did a marvelous directing job. Fincher treats this like a Hollywood classic, with brilliantly-designed sets as far as period films are concerned. Fincher also utilized the beautiful cinematography of Claudio Miranda, who did a great job of photographing the American South in all its splendor. My only problem was his consistency in treatment, with the flashbacks and the scratched film inserts not really providing much in the overall look.

Now in the acting department, what can you say with Cate Blanchett in front of the camera? Nothing. Just soak in Cate Blanchett's beauty. While the others can also soak in Brad Pitt's gorgeous mug, his performance is also noteworthy (as it is also nominated for an Academy Award). Most viewers would already know before watching that this is a story about a man who ages backwards physically, and the question on most people's minds is what about his wisdom? Does it age forwards or backwards? And the answer to that is in Brad Pitt's performance.

All in all, I would say that this may be the strongest contender for Best Picture, not because I really loved the film, but because this film conforms to the classical Hollywood template, which the Academy is a sucker for. Now unless the Academy's new composition has more radicals than conservatives, this film will most likely take home the Best Picture award, as the other epic dramas set in the South have done before it.


Rating: Nine out of ten stars.


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director for David Fincher, Best Actor for Brad Pitt, Best Supporting Actress for Taraji P. Henson, Best Adapted Screenplay for Eric Roth and Rob Swicord, Best Original Score for Alexandre Desplat, Best Editing for Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, Best Cinematography for Claudio Miranda, Best Costume Design for Jacqueline West, Best Sound Mixing for David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, and Mark Weingarten, Best Makeup for Greg Cannom, Best Art Direction for Donald Graham Burt and Victor J. Zolfo, and Best Visual Effects for Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, and Craig Barron (whew!)