Gone Girl

First Hit:  This was like watching two different films – the first section, a long ~2 hour segment was fascinating, the last part was a very different film and not as interesting although more pointed.

I’m really not sure why this story was created this way.

In the first two hours the audience watches Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) squirm to try to prove his innocence of killing his missing wife. Affleck is perfect at giving the sense that he’s innocent as well as guilty all at the same time. His enigmatic personality is well used in this role because as soon as you believe he’s innocent then he does something that makes you wonder.

When the film moves to show Amy Dunne’s (Rosamund Pike) story it adds to the film greatly. However, as this section moves forward, there is a point about 2 hours into the film where I think it takes a turn too far to the left. As we watch Amy’s escape plan fail, it gets to the point where her sickness is pushed more into physicality of action.

It is at this point that her actions with Desi Collings (Neil Patrick Harris) where the second film begins. From here I was reeling from the change of view and pace of the film. And although I found the new story interesting, it was so much more upfront and in your face than the previous two hours.

Affleck is absolutely amazing as his ability to be enigmatic and be two sides of the story as required by the character. He was perfect for this part. Pike was absolutely beyond amazing. She was sublime in her ability to pull off the character she was supposed to be. She was amazingly calculated, vulnerable, steal skinned, and intellectually manipulative. Tyler Perry as lawyer Tanner Bolt was really a fun and good part of the film. Carrie Coon as Margo Dunne (Nick’s twin sister) was very good. Harris was also strong in his role. Kim Dickens and the lead detective was also very good. Gillian Flynn wrote an interesting screenplay from her own novel, however the story at the end was either too jolting or miss-directed. David Fincher directed this film and as separate parts these films were well directed, but as a single film, it was more difficult to watch the two pieces made into one film.

Overall:  For the most part this film was very good but be jarred as I was, I think the transition could have been better.

The Social Network

First Hit: An absolutely wonderfully engaging film.

From the first opening moments this film puts you on notice; pay attention to the dialogue and that this film is about the main character Mark Zuckerberg.

Jesse Eisenberg clearly makes Zuckerberg his character and you’ll not be able to take your eyes off him when he is on the screen.

This film is not authorized by Zuckerberg and therefore there are questions about it truthfulness. Yet much of the film comes from interviews and court records which came to pass because Zuckerberg was sued by a college roommate and other college acquaintances in which he had made a business agreement with.

Regardless of the exact truth, the story is engaging and mostly because of the fine acting by Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield as his roommate and initial CFO Eduardo Saverin, and Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker (Sean Fanning) founder of Napster. The story doesn’t delve into the workings of Facebook and the decisions to add types of functionality into the product.

The story is about Zuckerberg and some of the motivations and single mindedness around creating Facebook as something that would change the world. The film is a study in different types of people and what motivates them. My only downside to this film was that the first scene showed an intense and somewhat angry young man, I wondered how Zuckerberg had gotten this way.

Eisenberg is wonderful at bringing the single mindedness of Zuckerberg to life. Watching Zuckerberg in interviews, especially the hour + long one recently held at a computer museum, it is clear that Eisenberg matched the fact that Zuckerberg is extremely intelligent and is unafraid to chart his own course and willing to make mistakes along the way. Garfield is strong as the jilted and shocked roommate who started with owning 7% of Facebook stock which was stripped to .03% by Zuckerberg. Timberlake is spot on as the wonderkind Parker (Fanning) who brought down the music business with his file sharing program and who shared his knowledge of what it takes to create a huge internet based business. Aaron Sorkin wrote the intense and wonderfully succinct screenplay. David Fincher expertly directed this team of actors through the complexities of the subject.

Overall: This is a very entertaining and interesting film, well worth the price of admission.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

First Hit: I got bored waiting for this film to find legs and when it did it lasted too long.

I loved the premise of this film, someone whose body goes from old to young. It reminded of a conceptual story I’m familiar with whereas one is born old, as he lives he gets younger each day and dies as a twinkle his parents eyes.

However, I digress here because this film wasn’t as interesting as my memories of listening to this story. 

The premise is that Benjamin Button (played by Brad Pitt) is born in a body that looks 80+ years old. His mother dies giving birth to him and his father, for inexcusable reason, can’t stand this old looking baby and drops him off at home for aging people.

Benjamin is raised by the house attendant named Queenie (played by Taraji P. Henson), a young black woman who can’t give birth on her own. Benjamin looks old but has the curiosity of a child and slowly (very slowly) he gets younger looking as he gets older.

As a child he is befriended by a young girl named Daisy (who is played at various older ages by Cate Blanchett). We follow Benjamin through his life and slowly watch him get younger. We also follow Daisy’s life and watch her as she gets older.

They meet at middle age and have a wonderful fulfilling life, until Daisy gets pregnant and Benjamin leaves because he doesn’t think he can be a dad as he digresses into being a kid and baby himself (although his mind will be old).

David Fincher the director appeared to get caught into seeing just how subtle he could make the changes in Pitt’s getting younger and Blanchett’s getting older, therefore the film ended up being really long. The computers digitized both Pitt and Blanchett into looking younger than they really are for certain scenes and these shots make them glow (angelic like) when, looking angelic wasn't the intended effect. There is a lot of makeup used on both Pitt and Blanchett and, in fact, the 80 something dying Blanchett telling her daughter who her father is, is the base point of the film. Given that both Pitt and Blanchett are great actors; they did their best with an overly long, drawn out storyline that needed a good pair of hedge shears.

Overall: I was very disappointed by this film from the outset. The opening scenes were tepid and didn’t do much to set the stage. The film was, at least, an hour too long and there were multiple scenes in their entirety that could have been cut with no dramatic affect on the film whatsoever.