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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 10-03-2014, 04:30 PM:
 
CINEMA: 13th Avenue Warren, Wichita, KS
AUDITORIUM: 14
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital Cinema/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None
RATING: Two and one half stars (out of four)

THE PLOT: The doggone girl is gone. Wackiness ensues.

Our setting is a small Missouri town where a guy can walk into a bar (called "The Bar"), complain about his wife to the bartender over a board game, and take an incoming call on the bar's wireline from somebody who just happened to know he'd be there like he was Perry Freaking Mason. Ever notice that, Perry Mason fans? Mason could be anywhere visiting with anyone and everybody and their mother would know to call him there. They'd know where he was, and what the phone number there was. Anytime, day or night. Damnedest thing.

As it happens, we later learn our bar patron is in fact co-owner of the bar with the bartender, who is also his sister. Little stuff like this is revealed when necessary, much like the bazillion plot twists that unravel through this movie. I won't reveal how exactly the whole thing unfolds aside from that it gets completely ridiculous and goes on for far too long, even if some of it is done brilliantly. The relationship is unfolded through the movie much the way the relationship unfolded through "High Fidelity", of all things.

Ultimately, it's not as dark as the trailer or poster make it out to be. In fact, it's actually got some funny moments. And unless you've already read the book, I'm certain nobody is going to guess the endgame.

I'll just say that I'm in complete agreement with the defense attorney's final assessment.
 

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Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 10-06-2014, 03:29 PM:
 
I thought it was a damn good movie. Started off a tad shaky where Fincher sacrifices a little more of a relaxed style with his studied restrained flow and his predictable muted color pallette. Even Trent's score initially slightly grates and reminds us of an updated version of an 80s score which is a cross of that you see in a Gilliam and a Mann movie. But then as the movie picks up, Reznor's score picks up too and shines.

I actually didn't predict the twist would come out the way it did, but I honestly thought to myself "would it be nice if the twist was actually this and the filmmakers used it" and the twist ended up exactly what I was thinking about. So in a way, I thought of the twist beforehand but I did not predict it being in the movie. I liked the way the movie flowed in that direction.

Tyler Perry who gets way too much grief for his movies is, not surprisingly, relaxed and good in this movie. Affleck shines. And Pike was perfectly cast.

Saw this at Regal Atlantic Station. Here is the thing. It was a common width screen where the top down masking actually was used by the multiplex. Most screens don't even bother to do that these days. I know people on here don't like common width screens, but at least they used masking.
 

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Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 10-07-2014, 07:21 PM:
 
It certainly wasn't a bad movie, but still, I miss the somewhat edgier David Fincher of the past and it really dragged on a bit in certain occasions.

I also didn't predict the plot twist at the end, but the movie would've been better if it quit shortly afterwards.

And please, can we turn down the product placements a bit? This is a Fox movie, not a Columbia Pictures one, so why all the Sony products? And yeah, I barely noticed all those fine AB Inbev products, but they surely looked delicious...
 

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Posted by Shlomo Rubin (Member # 7089) on 10-12-2014, 07:51 AM:
 
Saw the movie last night, i think it was very good, kept me awake for all 149 minutes (of course the fact that i had an array degraded error which got the movie stuck for a few seconds 4 times ) well acted, well written, the only thing that pissed me off is the ending, personally i think if they would have let him some how manipulate her it would have been awesome. but.. still telling all my friends to go see it
 

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Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 10-15-2014, 08:05 AM:
 
the 7.1 surround mix is fantastic by the way.
 

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Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 10-16-2014, 06:19 PM:
 
It's a bit of a personal preference, but David Fincher usually does both sound and music right, or at least he knows to get the right people behind it.

And I fully agree, even for a movie without blasting action scenes, the sound mix is rather great.
 

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Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 10-18-2014, 09:40 PM:
 
^As a director of music videos, you'd like to think his sound was pretty good.

"What are you thinking?"
"What are you feeling?"
"What have we done to each other?"

The primal questions of marriage comprising the underlying theme of David Fincher's Gone Girl shine a light on an uncomfortable, confronting truth: that marriage is inherently beset with elements of emotional manipulation. For the purposes of this story, this theme is naturally taken to a science-fictionesque nth degree and like any propaganda film - for this operates much like a propaganda film - there are seductive elements of truth which draw us in to it's unpalatable thesis.

Like the uncomfortable, intrinsic link between sex and violence (which the film also plays on), Fincher exposes this fundamental truth of marriage for the purposes of unsettling us - and it works. But unlike propaganda, his intentions are admirable and twofold: the unsettling nature of the film makes for a great thriller; and it forces us to question the nature of our own relationships. Assuming we arrive at the conclusion that our relationships are little like Nick and Amy's (the film's protagonists), the result is marriage affirming. If not, then watch your back!

The film's most overt theme, however, is that of the perverse influence of mass media. When Nick (Ben Affleck) stumbles upon the mysterious (presumed killed) disappearance of his beautiful wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), trial by media delivers him a swift guilty verdict and the public obediently falls into line. In the film's most exaggerated assumption, social justice becomes actual justice as law and order agencies duly follow suit and Nick finds himself in a spot of bother, especially when the skeletal remnants of his cupboard are publicly exposed and the local penalty for murder is lethal injection. Although this part of the story represents the film's most tenuous link to reality and, again, borders on science fiction, it works (if only just) within it's own universe.

Gone Girl is everything we like a Fincher film to be: it's tense, intriguing and it's replete with complex but economically delivered plotlines and characterisations. As such it sits alongside his best work in Se7en, Fight Club and The Social Network.

9 out of 10.
 

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Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 10-20-2014, 05:31 AM:
 
To me, this was a movie that had a ton of potential and started off really good but then fell apart. The acting was great and the setup was building to something exciting.

Unfortunately it started to drag on and was a good half hour too long. The story also went a little too far into the realm of ridiculousness. I thought it could have really rescued itself and become great if

Spoiler Alert - Click to Toggle

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Ben Affleck would have strangled his wife when they fought before the interview at the end. The movie could have ended with him getting led out in handcuffs. I really hate endings that aren't really endings like the actual ending was.

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