That's a fairly glib start to a review of a movie that I really liked, but it is true. The first half of Gone Girl is a fairly standard "did he or didn't he" mystery thriller. Then, about an hour in, the perspective shifts entirely and suddenly you realise that you're watching – perhaps – the most pitch-black comedy that you've ever seen.
Despite the abrupt shift, I still think that Gone Girl holds together extremely well as one whole movie. Ben Affleck's Nick manages to inspire sympathy without ever being truly likable while Rosamund Pike's Amy (the star of the show in my opinion) is brilliant, terrifying, hilarious and despicable in various combinations and occasionally all at the same time.
David Fincher's direction is both classy and clever (as usual) and several scenes are particularly outstanding due at least as much to his brilliance as that of the actors involved in them. My one complaint would be over the length – it really didn't need to be two and a quarter hours long. There were certainly a few moments, particularly in the first half, when I wished that the movie would hurry up and get to the point just a little more quickly.
Watch Gone Girl is a movie unlike any that I've ever seen before and as such largely defies further description. I would recommend this movie to all (with a warning that the adult rating is well earned) but especially those with a dark sense of humour. The darker the better.
Storyline
On the occasion of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne reports that his wife, Amy, has gone missing. Under pressure from the police and a growing media frenzy, Nick's portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble. Soon his lies, deceits and strange behavior have everyone asking the same dark question: Did Nick Dunne kill his wife?
Watch Gone Girl (2014) : Full Length With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.
Release Date : Oct 03, 2014
Runtime : 145 minutes
Genres : Mystery, Thriller, Drama
Production Company : Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Regency Enterprises, New Regency Pictures, Pacific Standard, TSG Entertainment, Artemple - Hollywood
Production Countries : United States of America
Casts : Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Tyler Perry, Neil Patrick Harris, Missi Pyle, Patrick Fugit, Kim Dickens, Casey Wilson, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Emily Ratajkowski, Scoot McNairy
Plot Keywords : falsely accused person, marriage crisis, based on novel, cheating husband, missing person, newspaper reporter, search party, criminal lawyer, wife murder, neo-noir
Enough with the copycat comments! Everybody is so keen to criticize this film, while completely ignoring its good parts. Was there some plot weirdness? Well, yeah, we are talking humans winning versus machines here. But most of it was decent.
In this film you get to see more machine types, more character ambivalence (do you even remember the first Terminator? it was machine fascism!), more hints to the previous movies and, most of all, hints of the direction of the Terminator concept. I don't want to spoil it for you, but you must be blind not to see it is a good thing.
Other good things in this movie: Moon Bloodgood, the Oh-girl; Michael Ironside, just as fun as ever, even if having some scenes. And there is Sam Worthington, who is actually the main character and more like Help from BSG, but twice as cool, NOT Christian Bale aka John Connor.
I am surprised to see that both Terminator the series and the new Terminator are bringing some modernism to the old age concept of machine war. They are obviously not without flaw, but considering the alternatives and, even more, my expectations, I would say that saying this film was bad must be just some fashionable thing to say right now.
Storyline
In 2003, in the Longview State Correctional Facility, the criminal Marcus Wright is on death row, and is convinced by the cancerous Dr. Serena Kogan to donate his body to her research and he accepts. In 2018, after an unsuccessful attack to a Skynet facility, only John Connor survives, but he discovers that Skynet is developing the powerful new model T-800. Out of the blue, Marcus appears naked and with amnesia in the location. Marcus befriends the teenager Kyle Reese and the girl Star who help him to survive the lethal machines and they travel together in a Jeep. Meanwhile the resistance discovers a signal that might turn-off the machines and John offers to test it. When Kyle is captured by a machine and brought to the Skynet headquarters, Marcus decides to help the youngster and heads to Skynet; on the way, he saves Blair Williams who suggests to him that he should meet John Connor first. But Marcus steps on a mine and is submitted to surgery, when a secret about his origins is ...
Watch Terminator Salvation (2009) : Full Length All grown up in post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor must lead the resistance of humans against the increasingly dominating militaristic robots. But when Marcus Wright appears, his existence confuses the mission as Connor tries to determine whether Wright has come from the future or the past -- and whether he's friend or foe.
Release Date : May 20, 2009
Runtime : 115 minutes
Genres : Drama, Action, Thriller, Science Fiction
Production Company : Columbia Pictures, The Halcyon Company, Wonderland Sound and Vision, Warner Bros.
Production Countries : Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, United States of America
Casts : Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard, Helena Bonham Carter, Common, Roland Kickinger, Michael Ironside, Jane Alexander, Chris Browning
Plot Keywords : saving the world, artificial intelligence, prophecy, san francisco, cyborg, killer robot, gas station, machinegun, post-apocalypse, army, firearm, revelation (book), twist in the end, wartime, los angeles
The best thing about this movie is how satisfying it is. It doesn't leave you frustrated or confused. You can't really complain that it didn't explore certain ideas or follow through. By deciding to have an official ending to this trilogy's story, the themes surrounding watch Batman are very fresh. We don't know where he'll end up. It's not the same old thing about whether he can continue to be Batman or not, which was already getting repetitive in watch Spider-man 2. The conclusions are not as important as the feelings they invoke as they come about. Nolan is especially good at capturing the complete tension of actually not knowing what will happen and deeply questioning what you *want* to happen and why.
This movie is bigger than the previous two, far more ambitious. There are no obvious annoying weaknesses that usually come with films in general, especially blockbuster action movies. All of Nolan's movies have deep psychological themes and this takes those in another new direction. I thought Inception was hugely original and insightful about the way people think. That level of abstraction and depth is present in this film. Bane bursts into it, his reputation is quickly established. Nolan uses people's expectations and anticipation to the fullest. We are left to wonder about what has happened in the 8 years since the events of The Dark Knight. Why have the characters become the way they are now?
In the latter half, it does seem like the movie is trying to pull off so many different plot points and connections, but they all work. The cast is very large and impressive. You don't see "good acting". You see fascinating characters. They're just playing their part in the grand story that's being crafted. There are many unfamiliar faces but they all have a strange, unique look to them. We often see a person's flaws and previous decisions coming back to haunt them. They find out the hard way what mistakes they have made. Where their limits are. Where they lose control.
The score is almost tribal, very raw and energetic. You don't get much chance to pay attention to it but many parts of the movie are pounding with excitement. There are countless quotable lines and disturbing slices of dialogue. They cut deep. The Joker was a great character and this is a very different movie but the themes are just as dark, only perhaps indirectly. Underneath, it's very sinister. Writing and efficiency appear to be among Nolan's greatest strengths. The story has many layers that interweave and apparently they came in under budget.
Perhaps the most important thing about Catwoman is that she's completely believable. When she beats up men, you don't roll your eyes. She's feminine and powerful in her own way. She fits into the world and we completely understand her motivations. She doesn't have a huge role but a very important one.
I didn't find myself moved but maybe I'm too cynical. I was more affected psychologically. Curious about humanity and all the different sides of it you see in this movie. It goes to many extremes. I felt humbled by my complete lack of life experience. What do I know about anything? How could I possibly understand half of the characters? I haven't been through anything or achieved anything compared to most of them. Michael Caine gets a bigger role this time. He was always critical but this time he's very much the emotional core.
I thought Christian Bale was overlooked in watch The Dark Knight full especially. The movies hinge on him. Bruce Wayne's just a man but also incredibly inspirational. Bale's famous for completely committing to his roles and it pays off. Tom Hardy is impressive as Bane but I suppose that's no surprise. The rest of the leads are similarly awesome. There are many references to the earlier films. Very few questions are left unanswered. It's always nice when film-makers really think it through and make an actual decision and get all the details right.
Storyline
Despite his tarnished reputation after the events of The Dark Knight, in which he took the rap for Dent's crimes, Batman feels compelled to intervene to assist the city and its police force which is struggling to cope with Bane's plans to destroy the city.
Watch The Dark Knight Rises (2012) : Full Length Following the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman assumes responsibility for Dent's crimes to protect the late attorney's reputation and is subsequently hunted by the Gotham City Police Department. Eight years later, Batman encounters the mysterious Selina Kyle and the villainous Bane, a new terrorist leader who overwhelms Gotham's finest. The Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy.
Release Date : Jul 20, 2012
Runtime : 165 minutes
Genres : Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Production Company : Legendary Pictures, Warner Bros., DC Entertainment, Syncopy
Production Countries : United States of America
Casts : Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Juno Temple, Liam Neeson
Plot Keywords : crime fighter, terrorist, secret identity, burglar, hostage drama, time bomb, gotham city, cover up, superhero, villainess, tragic hero, batman, terrorism, destruction, vigilante, fictional city, dc comics, catwoman, cat burglar, statue, flood, hostage killed, criminal underworld, bane, talia al ghul
