Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike and Neil Patrick Harris in the David Fincher movie ‘Gone Girl’

A psychological thriller directed by David Fincher plants an intriguing movie premise. Add that Gillian Flynn wrote the screenplay for Gone Girl (2014) based on her own 2012 novel named Gone Girl adds another level of interest that brings us to this movie today. Add the really dark place this movie takes a marriage for the characters central to the story offers something dynamic.

(From left, Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne, Lisa Banes as Mary Elizabeth Elliott and David Clennon as Randall Elliott in the David Fincher movie Gone Girl).

The movie opens on the fifth anniversary of the marriage of Nick Dunne and Amy Elliott Dunne, portrayed respectively by Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. Amy has disappeared. A series of children’s books by Mary Elizabeth and Randall Elliott, as portrayed by Lisa Banes and David Clennon, had been wildly popular, placing an immediate spotlight on what is quickly identified as a disappearance with significant media attention.

(From left, Rosamund Pike as Amy Elliott Dunne and Neil Patrick Harris as Desi Collings in the David Fincher movie Gone Girl).

Detective Rhonda Boney and her team, including officer James Gilpin are called in to investigate the Dunne’s Kansas City, Missouri residence in furtherance Amy’s disappearance. A string of incriminating evidence implicates Nick Dunne in the disappearance, with the suspicion that Amy’s disappearance may have escalated to death in a case of domestic violence. Besides the evidence at the family household, factors back to the family’s previous home in New York City, New York are revealed through flashbacks. Boney and Gilpin were portrayed by Kim Dickens and Patrick Fugit.

(From left, Patrick Fugit as Officer James Gilpin and Kim Dickens as Detective Rhonda Boney in the David Fincher movie Gone Girl).

With the slow play of revelations against Nick Dunne, Amy’s husband turns to Tanner Bolt, his attorney, and Margo Dunn, his twin sister, for support. The continuing revelations of evidence that make Nick look guilty includes, for example, that Nick had an affair with a former student of his named Andie Fitzgerald. Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon and Emily Ratajkowski portrayed Tanner, Margo and Andie, respectively.

(From left, Tyler Perry as Tanner Bolt and Carrie Coon as Margo Dunne in the David Fincher movie Gone Girl).

The mounting pressure of the evidence feeds into the pressure applied in the media, including that of legal opinion host Ellen Abbott, to have Nick Dunne arrested and evidence of Amy Elliott Dunne’s death confirmed. The psychological component of that offers compelling sympathy for the viewpoint, while circumstances brought about in response to some of that media attention brings Desi Collings, a wealthy ex-boyfriend of Amy’s, into the picture. The beauty of this tension, with the dark statements about the Dunne marriage in particular, connected with me in ways that I mean not to undersell. Neil Patrick Harris and Missi Pyle portrayed Collings and Abbott, respectively.

(From left, Missi Pyle as Ellen Abbott and Emily Ratajkowski as Andie Fitzgerald in the David Fincher movie Gone Girl).

The achievement that Gillian Flynn as writer and David Fincher as director brought to this movie makes this something that I recommend. The film holds up to additional viewings and reflections after the fact, including with the deliberate discomfort that the film both raises and delivers upon. I give Gone Girl as directed by David Fincher 4.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five stars.

Matt – Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Titus Welliver, Jamie Hector and Amy Aquino in Season Four of ‘Bosch’

The Michael Connelly character Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch first premiered in a series of books begun in 1992. As this is written, the character has led to 24 distinct books and two distinct television shows. We focus here on the fourth season of the series Bosch (2014-2021), starring Titus Welliver in the title role for the series.

(Titus Welliver as Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch in season four of Bosch).

Season four of Bosch picks up three months after season three with subject matter from the Connelly books Angels Flight of 1999 and Nine Dragons of 2009. Irvin Irving, as portrayed by Lance Reddick, has been named police chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. As with Irving’s ascension to police chief, threads from previous seasons visit upon the police department, the larger community of Los Angeles, California and the personal lives of the police, members of their families, and the stakes for the cases under investigation with this season.

(From left, Jamie McShane as Francis Sheehan, Tamberla Perry as Gabriella Lincoln and Winter Ave Zoli as Amy Snyder in season four of Bosch).

Important threads for this season tug on racial strife, with the murder of civil rights attorney Howard Elias, as portrayed by Clark Johnson, serving as a central catalyst. Elias was in the process of representing a black man accusing LAPD of police brutality. Irving appoints Bosch to lead a task force, which includes Jerry Edgar, Santiago ‘Jimmy’ Robertson, and sergeant Amy Snyder and Gabriella Lincoln. Jamie Hector, Paul Calderon, Winter Ave Zoli and Tamberla Perry portray Edgar, Robertson, Snyder and Lincoln, respectively. A significant storyline involving Francis Sheehan, as portrayed by Jamie McShane, emerges that captures the attention of this this task force.

(From left, Amy Aquino as Grace Billets and Jamie Hector as Jerome (Jerry) Edgar in season four of Bosch).

Grace Billets, as portrayed by Amy Aquino, continues to serve as lieutenant for the Hollywood division of the LAPD, where the Elias investigation is based. While trying to manage the personalities of the multiple threads of police officers already mentioned, Billets is juggling an assignment as captain without the job title, which presents difficulties that are felt in their own ways by threads of the past for Bosch with Edgar, Robertson and Snyder. Calderon’s own past plays a part in this investigation, while Jerry Edgar has familial struggles with his wife, Latonya Edgar. Ingrid Rogers portrayed Latonya Edgar.

(John Getz as Bradley Walker in season four of Bosch).

Bradley Walker, as portrayed by John Getz, played a relevant role in the fourth season. While having the ear of Irvin Irving as the president of the police commission for the LAPD, in addition to being a former officer, Walker had requested ongoing updates into the investigation into Elias. Harry Bosch had suspected Walker of complicity in the death of Marjorie Phillips Lowe, Bosch’s mother. Things worsened when Bosch‘s ex-wife and the mother of Madeline Bosch, Eleanor Wish, was murdered. The background between Wish and Reggie Woo became more transparent after the murder, with the relationship between Harry and Madeline becoming more visible. Madison Lintz, Sarah Clarke and Hoon Lee portrayed Madeline, Eleanor and Reggie, respectively.

(Sarah Clarke as Eleanor Wish in season four of Bosch).

The fourth season of Bosch offered a good deal of clarity for the larger story being told across the lives of the central characters of the Amazon original series Bosch. With that longer range storytelling, in combination with groundwork laid for additional seasons of the show, I recommend this series. I grant season four of Bosch 4.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, November 12, 2022

Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, and John Goodman in ‘Argo’

Winning Academy Awards for best picture, best writing, and best achievement in film editing, the film Argo (2012) tells a story based on actual events depicted in a book written by a CIA operative and a 2007 Wired magazine article. The underlying events of the story traced back to a three year hostage crisis in Iran that began in 1979. Based on the fact that the end result was something I knew walking in, I found the movie better than it had to be.

(From left, Bryan Cranston as Jack O’Donnell and Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in Argo).

Argo stars director Ben Affleck as American intelligence officer Tony Mendez, Bryan Cranston as Jack O’Donnell, Alan Arkin as Lester Siegel, and John Goodman as John Chambers. Mendez, O’Donnell, Siegel and Chambers were key members of the American effort to get six members of the American embassy in Tehran in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution of 1978-1979. The film took pains to provide the historical context of the time, along with the series of bad ideas to get six Americans to safety.

(From left, John Goodman as John Chambers and Alan Arkin as Lester Siegel in Argo).

The six Americans holed up in the Canadian embassy in Tehran were Kathy Stafford as played by Kerry Bishé, Joe Stafford as played by Scoot McNairy, Mark Lijek as played by Christopher Denham, Bob Anders as played by Tate Donovan, Lee Schatz as played by Rory Cochrane, and Cora Lijek as played by Clea DuVall. Mark and Cora Lijek were a couple.

(From left, Kerry Bishé as Kathy Stafford, Scoot McNairy as Joe Stafford, Christopher Denham as Mark Lijek, Tate Donovan as Bob Anders, Rory Cochrane as Lee Schatz, and Clea DuVall as Cora Lijek in Argo).

Argo as a film was praised for its cinematic experience, as well as the acting in particular of Alan Arkin and John Goodman as film producers that helped bring the fiction of a film within Argo called the same thing. Historical complaints of note for the film included that the Canadian embassy’s part in the rescue was larger than portrayed, that British and New Zealand embassies had turned the Americans away,  and that the actual danger for the six American captives, Mendez, and Ken Taylor (as played by Victor Garber) may have been less than portrayed.

(From left, Victor Garber as Ken Taylor and Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in Argo).

The story of the “exfiltration” of six Americans from Tehran, Iran in the midst of a political revolution in the late 1970s during the presidential administration of Jimmy Carter made for good cinema. I appreciated the movie at the time of its release, and I enjoyed it again upon watching the film just recently. My recommendation is that you watch the film. I offer the movie Argo 4.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Saturday, June 13, 2020