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David Fincher's "Gone Girl"


Presto-digitation
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A spoiler-free blurb after seeing Gone Girl:

 

 

Very entertaining film. I admit I was riveted. However, I could not decide if it wanted to be a straight up thriller or a satire, and it times it felt jarringly like both. Now I imagine that’s a product of the source material (I’ve since learned it’s done faithfully to the book, knowing nothing about it prior to seeing the movie), but maybe that kind of thing reads better than it films. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked, but it had some tonal problems that were hard to reconcile at times...(is this thing f***ing MAD or just plain silly?!?). It couldn’t decide if it was Se7en or Death Becomes Her….LOL.

 

The thing that really saves it is the sense of satire because that quality becomes a bigger picture point that excuses some of the many illogical and fantastic occurrences which simply do not bear close scrutiny as merely a pure thriller/drama. But the very thing that saves it is also the thing that gives it a bit of a Sybil-complex too.

 

On a Fincher scale it doesn’t rank at the top for me, but pretty middling. It just so happens that an average Fincher film is still far better than most. Still, it’s no Zodiac, but it was a good time and led to discussion afterward.

Edited by Presto-digitation
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If it provokes a discussion right afterward, I say the movie did something right.

Nothing like a good talk about what you just saw on the way to the car in the parking lot, eh?

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If Affleck is in it then it's a big :no: :no: :no: to this film. And Rosmund Pike looks perpetually surprised these days so she always looks like she's in the middle of a nail-biting scene even when she isn't. Maybe that's why they chose her? Just to make sure I don't watch it I just read the plot on wiki and the ending is daft, in fact the whole thing sounds daft as fuckk! :LOL:
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Not worth seeing if you've read the book, I bet.
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Is he the one that did the horrible Alien 3?

 

Yes. Fortunately he also did Zodiac, Fight Club, The Social Network, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, and Se7en too.

 

Oh really? I don't care for any of those movies either, so I guess at least he's consistent with movies I don't care for. :LOL:

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Is he the one that did the horrible Alien 3?

 

Yes, Alien3 was his first feature, and even he says he didn't like how it came out, He's certainly upped his game since then.

 

Not surprised. Fox, especially when Tom Rothman was in charge, had a horrible reputation for ruining the creative decisions of directors. After Alex Proyas directed I, Robot, he vowed not to work for that studio again and the guy who did Babylon A.D. disowned the theatrical cut because the studio tampered with it against his wishes.

 

And don't get me started on X Men 3. Singer knew how to make a good story and character development out of the series. Brett Ratner is a hack.

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Not worth seeing if you've read the book, I bet.

Mara, two lady friends told me just today that it is better than the book. "A rare thing", one of them said. Edited by goose
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Is he the one that did the horrible Alien 3?

 

Yes, Alien3 was his first feature, and even he says he didn't like how it came out, He's certainly upped his game since then.

 

To be fair, he had little time to prepare with Alien3. Some of the sets were already built and didn't fit the script by the time he came on board as a last-mintue replacement. There's another cut of the movie out there that's supposed to be more true to the original vision. One notable change is that the alien actually comes out of an ox instead of the dog. They also find Ripley washed up on the shore of a lake after the crash in the beginning instead of lifting the wreck out of the lake with a crane. More scenes about how poor and non-technologically advanced that place really was, and how big a lice problem they really had.

 

There's lots of stuff like that in this non-theatrical version.

 

I own the Alien Quadrilogy and upon rewatching Alien3 (the theatrical version, mind you) I didn't think it was all THAT bad, it just had the impossible task of trying to live up to Aliens and (moreso) Alien.

 

EDIT: This other version is called the "Assembly Cut".

Edited by Del_Duio
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Not a fan of Rosamund Pike. Didn't like her in Barney's Version either. She is so wooden.

Couldn't the director have found an American (or Canadian) actress to play that part?

Or maybe they wanted someone who was unlikeable from the beginning.

That chick is weird. What kind of a name is Rosamund? It sounds like a man's name.

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Is he the one that did the horrible Alien 3?

 

Yes, Alien3 was his first feature, and even he says he didn't like how it came out, He's certainly upped his game since then.

 

To be fair, he had little time to prepare with Alien3. Some of the sets were already built and didn't fit the script by the time he came on board as a last-mintue replacement. There's another cut of the movie out there that's supposed to be more true to the original vision. One notable change is that the alien actually comes out of an ox instead of the dog. They also find Ripley washed up on the shore of a lake after the crash in the beginning instead of lifting the wreck out of the lake with a crane. More scenes about how poor and non-technologically advanced that place really was, and how big a lice problem they really had.

 

There's lots of stuff like that in this non-theatrical version.

 

I own the Alien Quadrilogy and upon rewatching Alien3 (the theatrical version, mind you) I didn't think it was all THAT bad, it just had the impossible task of trying to live up to Aliens and (moreso) Alien.

 

EDIT: This other version is called the "Assembly Cut".

 

I think it's unfortunate the storyline had to be set on a prison planet of all things and the alien was more obviously a guy in a suit. It was just this huge step down from the former two movies. That's nice that the extended cut expands on the storyline a bit. It's too bad they had to kill off Newt and Hicks after all they did to be able to escape in the former movie. I think that was the biggest bummer of all when I first saw the movie.

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Is he the one that did the horrible Alien 3?

 

Yes, Alien3 was his first feature, and even he says he didn't like how it came out, He's certainly upped his game since then.

 

To be fair, he had little time to prepare with Alien3. Some of the sets were already built and didn't fit the script by the time he came on board as a last-mintue replacement. There's another cut of the movie out there that's supposed to be more true to the original vision. One notable change is that the alien actually comes out of an ox instead of the dog. They also find Ripley washed up on the shore of a lake after the crash in the beginning instead of lifting the wreck out of the lake with a crane. More scenes about how poor and non-technologically advanced that place really was, and how big a lice problem they really had.

 

There's lots of stuff like that in this non-theatrical version.

 

I own the Alien Quadrilogy and upon rewatching Alien3 (the theatrical version, mind you) I didn't think it was all THAT bad, it just had the impossible task of trying to live up to Aliens and (moreso) Alien.

 

EDIT: This other version is called the "Assembly Cut".

 

I think it's unfortunate the storyline had to be set on a prison planet of all things and the alien was more obviously a guy in a suit. It was just this huge step down from the former two movies. That's nice that the extended cut expands on the storyline a bit. It's too bad they had to kill off Newt and Hicks after all they did to be able to escape in the former movie. I think that was the biggest bummer of all when I first saw the movie.

 

The guy in the suit wasn't the bad-looking part for me. The CGI they used looks spotty at best and silly at its worst. You can really notice it nowadays if you rewatch it. It doesn't blend in well with the backgrounds / rest of the scenes at all. Looks almost green-ish too, to me.

 

But yeah, you were so psyched Newt and Hicks (and Bishop, to some extent) survived Aliens and then they just up and take a shit all over you right away in this one. :(

 

So it's like they killed off both of Ripley's daughters, in a way.

 

As an aside, there's a new game that came out yesterday that's supposed to take place 15 years after the events of the first Alien where Amanda Ripley goes out in search of her mom and the Nostromo. It actually looks pretty good too. Back to a single alien, and this time I guess you can't kill it at all which makes sense considering she's not going to have the giant machine guns and tanks and stuff the marines bring ~50 years later in Aliens. I don't know if they'll consider it canon or not but it's a pretty good story idea if nothing else.

Edited by Del_Duio
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Let's also be fair...his worst film was his first and it was -- for the most part -- a music video director making his debut with the Alien franchise following James Cameron. His work on subsequent films is far superior to that film. He should not be judged solely on Alien 3.

 

:D

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Is he the one that did the horrible Alien 3?

 

Yes, Alien3 was his first feature, and even he says he didn't like how it came out, He's certainly upped his game since then.

 

To be fair, he had little time to prepare with Alien3. Some of the sets were already built and didn't fit the script by the time he came on board as a last-mintue replacement. There's another cut of the movie out there that's supposed to be more true to the original vision. One notable change is that the alien actually comes out of an ox instead of the dog. They also find Ripley washed up on the shore of a lake after the crash in the beginning instead of lifting the wreck out of the lake with a crane. More scenes about how poor and non-technologically advanced that place really was, and how big a lice problem they really had.

 

There's lots of stuff like that in this non-theatrical version.

 

I own the Alien Quadrilogy and upon rewatching Alien3 (the theatrical version, mind you) I didn't think it was all THAT bad, it just had the impossible task of trying to live up to Aliens and (moreso) Alien.

 

EDIT: This other version is called the "Assembly Cut".

 

I think it's unfortunate the storyline had to be set on a prison planet of all things and the alien was more obviously a guy in a suit. It was just this huge step down from the former two movies. That's nice that the extended cut expands on the storyline a bit. It's too bad they had to kill off Newt and Hicks after all they did to be able to escape in the former movie. I think that was the biggest bummer of all when I first saw the movie.

 

The guy in the suit wasn't the bad-looking part for me. The CGI they used looks spotty at best and silly at its worst. You can really notice it nowadays if you rewatch it. It doesn't blend in well with the backgrounds / rest of the scenes at all. Looks almost green-ish too, to me.

 

But yeah, you were so psyched Newt and Hicks (and Bishop, to some extent) survived Aliens and then they just up and take a shit all over you right away in this one. :(

 

So it's like they killed off both of Ripley's daughters, in a way.

 

As an aside, there's a new game that came out yesterday that's supposed to take place 15 years after the events of the first Alien where Amanda Ripley goes out in search of her mom and the Nostromo. It actually looks pretty good too. Back to a single alien, and this time I guess you can't kill it at all which makes sense considering she's not going to have the giant machine guns and tanks and stuff the marines bring ~50 years later in Aliens. I don't know if they'll consider it canon or not but it's a pretty good story idea if nothing else.

 

The game sounds cool. Sounds like it would be a neat idea for a movie too.

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Just picked this up last night actually haha.

 

So far it's pretty nerve-wracking. I haven't even seen the alien yet and already I'm shitting my pants going through dark corridors. The look is straight out of the original movie and is incredible. They even have those circular crawlspace shutter doors!!!

 

A few times I'd open a door and look down a hall and go "yeah ,right I'm not going down there!". My current weaponry? A SINGLE FLARE. So yes, this is gonna' be pretty realistic as no way in hell any normal person would have a shot against a Xenomorph who's had time to learn the layout of its domain.

 

The voice acting of Amanda Ripley is .. ah, not so hot to be honest. The rest of the game is super polished though. And bonus: The gamestop guy gave me the Nostromo edition by accident! You can choose to play the "Crew Expendable" mission which is the tail end of the original movie using either Ripley, Dallas, or Parker. And who the hell doesn't want to do that?? HURRAH!

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Not a fan of Rosamund Pike. Didn't like her in Barney's Version either. She is so wooden.

Couldn't the director have found an American (or Canadian) actress to play that part?

Or maybe they wanted someone who was unlikeable from the beginning.

That chick is weird. What kind of a name is Rosamund? It sounds like a man's name.

Not a fan of Rosamund Pike. Didn't like her in Barney's Version either. She is so wooden.

Couldn't the director have found an American (or Canadian) actress to play that part?

Or maybe they wanted someone who was unlikeable from the beginning.

That chick is weird. What kind of a name is Rosamund? It sounds like a man's name.

 

Jessica Chastain would have been a great choice.

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I'll see it later. Saw Zodiac for the first time recently and I get the feeling I'll be rewatching that one in the future.

 

I'm going through his filmography and it's about time I see Fight Club. Don't know if I'll ever watch The Social Network though.

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