Gone Girl (2014)

Director: David Fincher

Writer: Gillian Flynn

Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris

Okay so this wasn’t my original “G” movie but to be honest since my neighborhood video store closed I wasn’t able to find 2013’s Gravity anywhere for under ten dollars. Sorry, but it could’ve been horrible and not worth my money. So I randomly picked again and came across David Fincher’s Gone Girl. Now I know it’s based on a book but I haven’t read it…Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry. Having not read it I can’t say if it did the book any justice, but what I can do is say that as a film it blew me away.

The movie is basically about this guy named Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) who on the day of his fifth wedding anniversary comes home to find that his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) has gone missing. So the police get involved, the news spreads like wildfire to basically the entire town and eventually across the U.S. and due to Nick’s apparent lack of concern, people start getting suspicious, as his behavior resembles that of a sociopath. (Pretty much everyone starts to think he murdered his wife). So then as we move on we are given, through flashbacks, a clear image of what Nick and Amy’s marriage was like: at first almost too good to be true; however, we then discover that it was in fact slowly deteriorating which has us very confused about what we think actually happened. It’s awesome.

So I really can’t say much more about the plot because honestly it would be doing you a disservice. I would usually recommend not watching a trailer but seeing as I had seen it plenty of times before watching the movie and had no idea what was coming, I think you’ll be good.

First of all I have to comment on the visuals, which were great. At times it felt a little darkly lit but what I loved was the simplicity of how the movie was shot mixed with the slightly faded and even kind of greenish filter. There were moments where we would be with Nick inside his house, which would be darkly lit but with bright, constant white flashes coming from the reporters outside. It was done in such a way as to almost make me feel like I was being harassed as well, as they were on the brink of being extremely disruptive. But they weren’t and it added to the overall feel of the movie. There’s also a shot of Nick’s wife that appears twice in the film (I won’t say when) of her leaning on him and looking straight into the camera (or Nick’s eyes) and after having figured things out, the second time I saw it I literally got chills.

Aside from the visuals, the performances were top notch. Ben Affleck has proven, within the past few years, that he has talent. I mean I don’t think I’ve ever come across an actor who makes what he does seem so damn effortless. He has this very modest way about him while still managing to become a completely different person, in this case Nick Dunne. Also, Rosamund Pike? Damn! She was absolutely perfect for this role and gave such a haunting and, in a way, confusing performance. She had me so invested in her character and gave just the perfect amount of energy to pull off such a complex character. This, however, leads me to the one issue I had with the movie...Neil Patrick Harris. Yup, he’s in it…

I adore Neil Patrick Harris. He’s charming, attractive, and…not the right casting choice to play Desi Collings, Amy’s obsessive, and frankly very creepy, boyfriend. Even Tyler Perry  (who, yes, was also in this movie) seemed like a good choice. But seriously Neil Patrick Harris? Now don’t think I’m objecting because of his sexuality because, trust me, that’s NOT my problem. My problem is that I simply think he plays the delightfully funny guy very well, and while I respect him for branching out, I just don’t think this role fit him well and, therefore, it kind of took a little bit away from his scenes for me. Just saying…you can totally have your opinion but that’s mine.

Okay so I would definitely recommend this movie. I could go on and on about things I loved and not about those I didn’t. Ben Affleck fans out there will love it, as will fans of movies in the “who done it” genre. It’s slow paced but in a way that will somehow have you entertained throughout the entire two and a half hours. And that’s saying something…

The Frozen Ground (2013)

Director: Scott Walker

Writer: Scott Walker

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Vanessa Hudgens, John Cusack

Rated: R (violent content, sexuality/nudity, language, drug use)

So apparently I had seen this movie before – something I wasn’t aware of until the random scene involving a moose happened. I wasn’t sure that was a good thing…

The Frozen Ground stars Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and believe it or not, Vanessa Hudgens (yes, the girl from High School Musical). Obviously when I randomly picked this movie and saw that Nicolas Cage was in it my first response was “well it has to be good I mean its Nicolas Cage!” (Jokes, people. I joke sometimes.) As most avid movie watchers know, Oscar winner Nicolas Cage has been in numerous films that are…well…just plain awful. I mean Drive Angry? The Wicker Man?? Left Behind??? Don’t even get me started. Nicolas Cage, man, what the hell happened?

Okay let’s not talk about how Nicolas Cage is basically bipolar when it comes to the movies he’s in. Now lets talk about the film. So I’m sure a majority of film lovers or critics probably didn’t expect much from this movie – probably because of the casting choices – and to be completely honest, I didn’t either. I thought Vanessa Hudgens was a particularly peculiar choice and basically expected her to simply suck. Well…I was wrong and she surprised me very much.

Alright briefly I’ll explain what the movie is about. It takes place in Anchorage, Alaska in 1983 and it’s based on the true story of Alaskan State Trooper, Jack Halcombe (Nicolas Cage) and his search for serial killer, Robert Hansen (John Cusack) who after thirteen years of going unnoticed has been discovered again after a series of murders occur (all of young women – mostly “street girls.”) None of the girls had escaped except for one, Cindy Paulson (Vanessa Hudgens) who approaches and then aides Halcombe in locating and arresting Hansen all before the next murder takes place.

While I did have a few issues with The Frozen Ground, I was actually pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I thought, despite Nicolas Cage’s history, my disliking of John Cusack, and my overall doubts about Vanessa Hudgens that they all gave some pretty awesome performances. I was especially pleased with Vanessa Hudgens, as this is such a different character from those I’m used to seeing her portray. You are welcome to disagree if you’ve seen it already but you can’t deny she tried. I mean she’s literally gone from being a Disney kid to starring in pretty sophisticated movies. But that doesn’t include Sucker Punch; let’s just not talk about that one…

As I said, John Cusack is pretty much the opposite of my favorite actor for personal, and frankly pretty stupid reasons, but I actually thought he gave the best performance of all three of the main leads. I mean if an actor or actress can make you hate them as much as I hated him in this movie, that’s saying something. He ain’t no Officer Daniels, but hey, he was good.

I thought the movie was also overall well balanced. By that I mean that there was a fare share of drama, thrills and suspense but also scenes during which we could get to know some of the characters. I respected this aspect of the movie because I think that there are so many movies that try to be so many genres at once that the film just feels like an unorganized mess. (Dirty Girl – two reviews back – would be an excellent example of this.)

For the parts of the movie I didn’t like I’ll begin with talking super briefly about the soundtrack. Now this was technically something my mom mentioned so I’m just going to sum up what she said, which is similar to how I felt by the end of the movie. While the music wasn’t bad, it just didn’t really fit at certain moments. Seriously Nicolas Cage would be opening his file cabinet or something on top of which was just this mega-intense music. Honestly if someone who couldn’t see were watching the movie and no one was telling them what was going on they would probably think that instead of opening his file cabinet, Cage was dying a painful and dramatic death. Of course this movie is dramatic so the music did seem appropriate for the most part but during some scenes me – and my mom – were both just thinking, Mr. Composer Sir, you my friend need to calm down.

The next issue I had was the chemistry between Nicolas Cage and Vanessa Hudgens. While I thought they were both quite good, I literally felt that the chemistry between them was practically non-existent. This could have been because the script during scenes where they interacted with each other wasn’t strong or simply because I watched Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense three days after but I just didn’t buy their characters’ connection. There is a particular scene that takes place in a skate rink with the two of them eating pizza and talking about Cindy’s childhood and abusive father and then the story of Halcombe’s sister’s death and while it was obviously a touching moment, I wasn’t moved at all just because of the lack of on-screen chemistry.

The last problem I had wasn’t the cinematography but the never-ending shaky camera. One big decision the director and cinematographer of a film must make together is if the camera will be held steady on a tripod or if it will be handheld. Handheld camera work is often used to evoke some sort of emotion from the audience, for example in Jaws, cinematographer Bill Butler managed to convince Spielberg to use shaky camera work throughout the entire film in order to make the action feel more intense and real. Having the technique used for the whole film was obviously a good choice as Jaws is considered to be an extremely visually intense movie today but for The Frozen Ground I just didn’t think it added anything to many of the scenes. I don’t know, watch the movie and see what you think. Maybe I’m just being picky.

Well, to end my “F” review, I’ll recommend this movie to anyone who’s a fan of Nicolas Cage, Vanessa Hudgens or John Cusack as they all deliver solid performances. It’s an entertaining crime thriller that will have you at least a little on edge for the most part.

Oh and I also have the mention that originally the random movie I picked for the letter F was Fifty Shades of Grey and I literally almost cried. That movie looks like nothing I ever want to experience on screen (or in real life!) so I had a fiesta when I realized it hadn’t even been released in theaters yet. I thank whoever decided not to release it in 2014, you deserve a special place in heaven.