Movie Review: Gone Girl

Gone Girl is the latest in director David Fincher's long line of grim, who done it, procedural flicks and as of now, stands tall as one of the best films of the year. Adapted from Gillian Flynn's uber popular novel of the same name, Gone Girl is a dark and thoroughly engrossing nail bitter, loaded with stellar performances, gorgeous cinematography and tons of jaw dropping moments, stemming from both the film's roller coaster plot, and the sheer technical brilliance displayed by it's director.

Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike star as Nick and Amy, the most fucked up cinematic couple of recent memory. Things start off great for the pair; two young, hip urban professionals, gallivanting around New York City without a care in the world. They're kind of smarmy faux intellectuals, who seem to spend more time having sex in public than actually working for a living. The good times come to a screeching halt however when a series of Great Recession sized problems derails their sexy, yuppie dream life. They both lose their slick writing jobs, Amy's trust fund runs dry and Nick's mother comes down with stage four cancer back home in Missouri. The couple leave the city defeated and move down to the sticks to care for Nicks dying mother...and that's when the fun begins. By the time we catch up with them on their five year anniversary, the loving spark in their relationship has transformed into a five alarm blaze of spite and resentment. Amy suddenly goes missing and ol' Nick becomes the prime suspect in her disappearance.

Between Flynn's screenplay and Fincher's uncanny eye, Gone Girl is a veritable stimulation overload. Affleck and Pike bring their characters to life with intense passion, but Pike as "the Amazing Amy" walks away with the MVP trophy on this one. She rattles through Flynn's rapid fire dialogue with ease while giving off that patented, tortured Fincher-esque vibe that is utterly entrancing. Kim Dickens shines as the small town detective assigned the case, equal parts skeptic and hardass, while even Tyler Perry excels as Nick's celebrity defense attorney. Who'd have seen that one coming huh? Fincher's posse from The Social Network returns to help spruce Gone Girl up to Oscar frontrunner levels. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score is as unnerving as the film's characters just as Jeff Cronenweth's cinematography is stunning as usual. Really, I don't think you'll see a more beautiful murder scene than in Gone Girl. That's Fincher for you though. The man who brought strap-on knife dildos, orange juice laced napalm and frosty Swedish sodomy to the big screen has just done it again, with semen releasing box cutters.

Sound weird? Cause it is! This movie is literally one giant head trip. The film opens with a shot of Nick caressing the back of Amy's skull, wondering just what the hell is going on inside. Gone Girl's first act does sort of drag a bit, feeling like a lethargic version of last year's Prisoners and actually had me worried for a second, then the second act takes a hard left turn and launches the film into high gear. Forget everything you think you know about Amy and Nick, about traditional crime and noir flicks, even about Fincher because when Gone Girl goes off the rails there's no stopping this twisted psychological train wreck.  This is some of Fincher's spryest directing in years, it's wild, terrifying and in a weird way, channels the spirit of Tyler Durden with some of the most unreliable narration since the Project Mayhem days, guaranteed to leave you squirming on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Gone Girl, it's David Fincher doing what he does best...thoroughly fucking with his audience.

Movie Review: Prisoners

Prisoners is easily one of the most jarring films in recent memory. I'm talking heart racing, fist clinching, pants shitting film making at it's best/most excruciating. I was not prepared for director Denis Villeneuve's methodically dark thriller and left the theater feeling gutted. It was only after a second viewing that I could fully digest and appreciate this gargantuan, labyrinth of a film.

Gargantuan is right. With a run time of 153 minutes and laced with some of the gnarliest (graphic/disturbing) content imaginable, Prisoners feels like fucking Gone With Wind...from hell. The film centers on a pair of rural Pennsylvania families whose two young daughters are kidnapped on Thanksgiving. The turmoil these families endure and how they react under such hellish circumstances make up the emotional core of the film. The subsequent police investigation and the white knuckle cat and mouse game with multiple suspects that ensues provides the thrills.

Hugh Jackman plays a desperate father hellbent on finding his child. Paul Dano is superb as the mentally unstable public enemy #1 suspect in question, while Viola Davis and Melissa Leo are both heartbreaking and mystifying as wounded mothers/aunties. Villeneuve's cast is basically all around awesome, but Jake Gyllenhaal's take as Detective Loki is easily the standout performance of the film. Loki (yes that's his name) is a lone wolf detective with a checkered past and a spectacular fucking haircut that becomes the film's anchor when all the gruesome shit starts to hit the fan. Yes, the anti-social SVU investigator with neck tattoos is the lone voice of reason in the sick sad world of Prisoners. That's how fucked up things get in this flick. Jackman screams and gets nuts like Michael Keaton in Batman, Dano gazes with lifeless doll's eyes and Gyllenhaal is jumping fences and twitching like Spider-Man with PTSD . Oh, and everyone cries. A lot.

Although bleak in content, Prisoners' is visually, an absolutely gorgeous film to behold. Shot by legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins (The Shawshank Redemption, A Beautiful Mind, No Country For Old Men, Jarhead, The Assassination of Jesse James..., Skyfall) every frame onscreen is a masterwork. The cold Northeastern landscape almost comes to life, with danger lurking behind every rain soaked tree branch. Deakins' visuals, coupled with Johan Johansson's minimalist score (think uber minimal, like listening to yourself breath in a dark closet...with snakes) creates Prisoners' legitimately haunting atmosphere. Hats off to director Denis Villenueve for assembling such amazing talents to pull this thing off. Also, his use of long takes and subdued pacing raises the tension meter by 1000%. When shit actually happens and the utter silence (aside from mouth breathers like me in the theater) is broken, it's down right electrifying. I mean Jesus, the "car scene" is worth the price of admission alone.

Make no mistake about it, Prisoners is a dark and morbid film. I'm not even talking about the kidnapping stuff either. There are so many tragic themes brought up in this movie, it plays out like a twisted philosophy lecture. What would you do to save your child's life? Terrence Howard's character woefully claims that he would die for his daughter...but what if that's not enough? In extreme circumstances, do the ends justify the means? Vigilantism vs law and order, eye for an eye type stuff. Struggles with faith, hope and utter despair. It's a technically dazzling film with amazing actors and the most spellbinding imagery since The Place Beyond The Pines, but be warned, Prisoners is not an entertaining fun night out at the movies. It has the fly on the wall procedural craft of Zodiac, and the gory shell shock effect of Seven. It's the craziest damn Law & Order: SVU you could imagine and is one of the best films of 2013 thus far.

under-covers: The Pixies/Henry Lim and His String Quartet

Perhaps, one of the greatest guilty pleasures in my life: the perverse enjoyment I get listening to musicians covering other artist's songs. The weirder the cover, the better! It doesn't matter how awkward or horrible the quality (shitty cell phone video, I'm looking at you), I'm an absolute sucker for this stuff. Here's the latest installment of "under-covers."

The Pixies, one of the most influential and underrated rock bands of the past two decades. Like a lot of people my age, this is the song that first exposed me to the band thanks to the end credits of David Fincher's Fight Club. The song fit so perfectly with the film's theme/finale, I wondered if it was written specifically for the movie! I had no idea who The Pixies were but quickly fell in love with the tune. No wonder, I had grown up on bands like Weezer and Nirvana who worshiped The Pixies pretty hard. Anywaaaaaay, here's the song:


That's so rad. Kim's backing vocals are absolutely haunting. Also, DAT droning guitar wail.

Well here is the cover, from a diehard Pixies fan and a nifty string orchestra backing him up:

Dude's voice is no match for Frank's in terms of sheer insanity, but he sure don't sound bad either. That lovely young woman doing backup vocals is heavenly (audio & visual you dig?) and although I miss the drums, the string arrangement does a phenominal job of highlighting the song's melancholy undertones. So yeah, I love this cover. I still enjoy the original version more, only because it's just one of the coolest fucking songs ever written.

What's your take on this?

Movie Review: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The feel bad movie of the season is upon us. As many of you loyal readers know, I'm the type of misanthrope who enjoys spending his free time during the holidays watching a marathon of violence, sexual abuse, and psychological carnage on the big screen. David Fincher's long awaited adaptation of Stieg Larsson's novel, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has finally arrived in theaters. It's a long and viscous film. But while it's a bleak and draining experience, like the Swedish winter itself, it's also jarringly beautiful.

I remember I was initially upset this movie was even being made. Larsson's novels, dubbed "the Millennium" trilogy, had already been adapted into a series of films in his native Sweden in 2009. Thanks to the power of Netflix, I watched these films and quickly fell under the spell of Lisbeth Salander aka, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. As noted before here at Jim's Fear, I'm not too fond of bumbling Hollywood remakes/cash grabs of superior foriegn films (LET ME IN =/ ). That being said...I'm a huge David Fincher fanboy so my initial fears of this adaptation were quelled when I heard he was attached to direct.

IKEA...you've never been?

Luckily, I was correct. Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo succeeded in not royally pissing me off and for that, I congratulate him. The film centers around disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (played by Daniel Craig) and his unlikely ally, punk rock/techno-junkie Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), as they investigate a 40 year old murder mystery. Of course there's a whole lot more going on in this film, enough to fill past the 2.5 hour mark! Part thriller, part crime caper, some dramatic romantic flare thrown in, and a whole lot of squeamish "adult" content, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is probably unlike any other film released this year. Of course, my main problem with this movie is that, it's already been done before.

As much as I love Fincher and enjoyed this new film, I must say I still prefer the previous Swedish version to this American one. True, Fincher's stylish camera work cannot be matched and his new film is supposed to be even more true to Larsson's original novel, something(s) just couldn't match the original. Rooney Mara's take on Lisabeth is breath taking and easily one of the best performances of 2011. In fact I'd say she's the best thing about this version. Noomi Rapace's portrayal of Lizabeth in the Swedish films is iconic and amazing for different reasons.The original film was more fluid/engaging and featured a stoic, almost two dimensional/Terminator- ish Rapace, playing Lisbeth like Joan Jett on crazy pills. Fincher's new film is the exact opposite. His Dragon Tattoo is sterile and exhausting but showcases a more open/moving portrayal of Lisabeth by Rooney Mara, who comes across as a reluctant gutter punk vixen. Both are amazing in their respective films, but for my money, it's the 2009 Swedish film > 2011 Hollywood version in the end.

Lisbeth Salander(s)

Of course on it's own this is still a very good movie. I'd say it mixes the brutality of Fincher's Seven, with the cold criminal procedural element of Zodiac, and the forlorn longing that underscored most of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It might not sit well with the faint of heart (movies with violent rapes and murders are kind of polarizing like that) but still a gripping film.

Movie Review: The Social Network

failbook CAN succeed.

New David Fincher film, The Social Network. Go see it. Really, what else needs to be said?

That's how I convinced myself to actually see Facebook's two hour+ origin saga in theaters. I honestly had zero interest in the subject. As far as I was concerned Facebook was just the new Myspace, which defeated Friendster and LiveJournal before them, another here today gone tomorrow site, meant for trolling, spying, drunk girl pics...and keeping in touch with people you don't care enough to talk with IRL.

So David Fincher, the dude who warped my fragile eleven year old mind after watching Seven on loop all day (thanks to the wonders of 90's illegal pay-per-view/black box piracy), whose Fight Club served as The New Testament for the frustrated teenage geeks of my generation and whose Zodiac so drastically engrossed every fiber of my being I forgot to study for a big final exam and...well yeah; his newest project was about facebook. Was I excited? NO. Will I force myself to watch anything David Fincher directs? YES.

Low and behold, the movie is amazing. From the opening scene on, which highlights Aaron Sorkin's brilliant, rapid fire dialogue, I was hooked. With movies like this, based on factual real life occurrences, the plot is almost irrelevant in some respects. We all know the Titanic will sink in the end. Mark Zuckerberg  is the genius/asshole who created facebook and got filthy rich doing it. No surprises here folks. It's Fincher's cinematic craftiness that shrines through however and makes The Social Network one of the most gripping films of the year. No nudity, no guns, no violence, just great performances (amazing casting as far as I'm concerned, and Arnie Hammer steals the show playing BOTH Winklevoss twins), Trent Reznor's haunting musical score and superb storytelling. Kudos to Fincher, Sorkin and everyone involved with this film for breathing such life into what could have been (and I assumed to be) a boring ass movie about the origins of Facebook. Instead we get a poignant tale of loneliness, alienation, and the ills of modern high tech society. Stuff all us John Doe & Tyler Durden disciples dig you know?



Is this my favorite David Fincher flick? No way. Is it my favorite film of the year. Definitely not. Is it a damn good movie worth seeing. YES.