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

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

Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and the film ‘Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood’

Have you ever thought a fictionalized, highly stylized slow burn of a fictionalized telling of the place and time of the Charles Manson murders would come to the movies? 50-years after the events that inspired the story, director and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino brought us just such a fictional retelling of the time, the place, and an fact-adjacent retelling of those events in his fictionalized Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (2019).

(Left to right: Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth, Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton and Al Pacino as Marvin Schwarz in the film Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood).

A largely ensemble cast offers a fairy tale setting of sorts to the Hollywood film industry of the late 1960s. Al Pacino is introduced early in the film to introduce the primary protagonists, namely Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton and Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth. Dalton is a former television actor in the fictionalized National Broadcasting Company (NBC) series Bounty Law, which is purported to have been a cowboy series starring Dalton as the lead with Booth as Dalton‘s stunt double and close friend.

(Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate and Rafal Zawierucha as Roman Polanski in the film Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood).

Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood has Dalton, circa 1968 and 1969, renting a home next to Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate. Rafal Zawierucha portrays Polanski as Margot Robbie portrays Tate. The original Manson murders had Tate and others becoming the victims of the murders that are facts that are adjacent to the story in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.

(Left to right: Margaret Qualley played Pussycat, Dakota Fanning played Squeaky Fromme and Austin Butler played Tex in the film Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood).

Three hippies and others from the Manson clan that lived on Spahn Ranch, or Spahn Movie Ranch, at the time the Manson murders were taking place over multiple weeks in 1969. Squeaky Fromme, Pussycat, and Tex were three of the figures portrayed in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. Dakota Fanning, Margaret Qualley, and Austin Butler played those three, respectively.

(Left to right: Emile Hirsch played Jay Sebring, Timothy Olyphant played James Stacy and Julia Butters played Trudi Fraser in the film Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood).

In pulling together some of the era exposition of the film, Jay Sebring as portrayed by Emile Hirsch brings Polanski and Tate to a party at the Playboy Mansion of Hugh Hefner. Rick Dalton has dreams of getting closer to Polanski and Tate, yet at this point has no chance of interaction with them per the nature of the social circles of the town. Later, Dalton interacts with James Stacy as portrayed by Timothy Olyphant and Trudi Fraser as portrayed by Julia Butters on the set of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) television show Lancer (1968-1970). It is partly through work such as this that Dalton is able to employ Cliff Booth while maintaining their friendship.

(Left to right: Mike Moh played Bruce Lee, Luke Perry played Wayne Maunder and Kurt Russell played Randy in the film Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood).

Luke Perry‘s final acting role before his untimely death was in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood as Wayne Maunder. Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth both interact with stunt coordinator Randy, as portrayed by Kurt Russell, on the set of American Broadcasting Company (ABC) show The Green Hornet (1966-1967). The pretext for this was an attempt to land Booth work, which led to establishing Booth in a way where Booth meets Bruce Lee as portrayed by Mike Moh.

(Left to right: Margot Robbie, Leonardo DiCaprio, writer and director Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt from the film Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood).

Much of the above is background to introducing you to many of the people and characters populating the place and time of Los Angeles, California, err Hollywood, back in the time of the Charles Manson murders. The film definitely offers a sense of place regarding the look and feel for what Hollywood is and was. I am assured by those who lived it that the feel of time and era were solidly portrayed as well. The exposition of feel, look, and place were a substantially told and experienced part of the film that I enjoyed. Some may struggle with parts of this, as the storytelling was slow at points. I think this is realized in the Rotten Tomatoes rating for the movie, which landed at an audience score of 70% fresh at 3:00 PM EST on Thursday.

The flourish in bringing about the telltale conclusion of the movie, with flare and the forthright smacking of the audience directly between the eyes from a cinematic perspective, were present. It would have been a significant disappointment for me had this been missing. The final sequence that brought much of the tale to resolution, upon reflection a day after seeing the film, has grown on me since the initial viewing. The style of the film was top notch. The purpose and exposition of the film was appreciated and of high quality in romanticizing the period of Hollywood that Tarantino grew to appreciate film. The slower storytelling through the opening almost two hours of the movie, I think, is perhaps the biggest opportunity of anything I see in this offering. I rate Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood at 4.25-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Saturday, August 17, 2019