Film Review: Gone Girl

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Ben Affleck, bestseller, Carrie Coon, David Fincher, Film Review, Film Review: Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl, Hollywood blockbuster, Kim Dickens, Missi Pyle, movies, Neil Patrick Harris, Patrick Fugit, Rosamund Pike, thriller, Tyler Perry

This autumns most anticipated thriller Gone Girl is finally here and it doesn’t disappoint. Adapted by the author herself, Gillian Flynn has turned her bestseller successfully into a Hollywood blockbuster.

On their fifth year wedding anniversary Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) arrives home to find his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) has disappeared. He calls the police assuming someone broke in and abducted her, but as the investigation unfolds things just don’t add up.

Detectives Boney (Kim Dickens) and Gilpin (Patrick Fugit) soon change the investigation from abduction to murder and Nick becomes their main suspect.

However the police aren’t the only ones watching Nick’s every move, the media is all too present, dissecting his every gesture and creating a modern day witch-hunt.

As the story unfolds, with many twists, turns and surprises, we learn through flashbacks, narrated by Amy herself, all about how Nick and Amy met, fell passionately in love and had to leave their lives in New York behind and help Nick’s mother unsuccessfully fight cancer.

But things aren’t as they seem as Gone Girl play’s with perspective and the situation looks very different from Nick’s point of view. His problem is: will anyone believe him?

With the media showing the world what they think, Margo’s (Carrie Coon) unwavering belief in her twin brother Nick and an obscure treasure hunt supplying some answers, it isn’t surprising the Gone Girl keeps its viewer enthralled and highly entertained.

Both the well constructed script by Gillian Flynn and the direction provided by director David Fincher successfully manage the delicate balancing act between too much and too little information, unbalancing their audience at the perfect moment.

As further the story unravels the more bizarre the film becomes, but in a very enticing and captivating way. A lot of this great entertainment is down to the main actors; Affleck is both sympathetic and highly suspicious as husband Nick, and Pike is one-dimensional when needed and vindictively complex when called for.

Even the side characters lend both humour and interest to the film: Neil Patrick Harris is fantastically creepy as Amy’s high school stalker boyfriend, Tyler Perry says exactly what the audience is thinking as a high-powered lawyer who made a name for himself defending murderous husbands and Missi Pyle is perfect as a talk-show host with a piranha-esque bite and smile.

But what is really surprising about Gone Girl is the unique look it takes at society, class and agendas, how happiness turns into ruins, how lies, deceit and the ever-present media form and destroy perceptions, even when the truth seems more obvious – and it’s funny! At times so much so that there are laugh out loud moments, but don’t think you’ll leave the cinema with a giggle, your head may be spinning a little, you’ll feel a little confused, a “what the f***” may not be too far from your lips and you’ll definitely be thinking about Gone Girl for a while.

Overall Gone Girl and David Fincher have achieved something rare, a hyped up film that lives up to its promises.

coming comet

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Apophis, Armageddon, Astronomers, Ben Affleck, Bruce Willis, miscellaneous, nature, random, science, thoughts

Ever seen “Armageddon“, that action si-fi staring Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck. In it a team of big burly oil rig workers go up into space to drill through and blow up an asteroid crashing down towards earth. Of course Bruce saves the world in good old Willis style, a firework of meteoric rock filling the sky. Interestingly enough this scenario may not be too far off reality.

The other night I was flicking the channels and stumbled upon a science show talking about the asteroid Apophis. The first time I heard about this hunk of rock and gas was in 2004. Astronomers had calculated that this near earth asteroid could possible enter our atmosphere in 2029 and collide with earth, but luckily that has proved to be incorrect.

My not so scientific mind couldn’t follow the calculations and measurements but what I did understand was that when Apophis passes by earth in 2029 it will be closer to us then our communications satellites.  With only 30,000 km between us and this spinning rock we will be able to see the asteroid on Friday the 13th of April (weird coincidence) as a moving bright light in our sky.  But it will be our lucky day as Apophis will pass us by and not destroy earth after all.

However there is a tiny chance, 1-10,000 (larger than the possibility of winning the lottery),  that Apophis will change it’s mind and decide to demolish life as we know it in 2036. So lets hope that by then NASA will have trained Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck to be the hero’s we have seen them be on the silver screen. And if not maybe someone else will relish the chance!

But either way we will be hearing a lot more about Apophis in the years to come, some hot air and a hunk of rock spinning around in space keeping our eyes fixed on the nights sky.

Film Review: Argo

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Alan Arkin, Argo, Ben Affleck, C.I.A “extraction” expert, entertainment, Film Review, film review argo, Films, Iran 1979, John Goodman, movies, Tony Mendez

Argo, the new Ben Affleck movie, is based on the real live events that took place in Iran in 1979.  It kick-starts when an angry mob storms the American Embassy in Tehran and take 50 Americans hostage.  Six embassy workers escape through the back and seek refuge in the residence of the Canadian Ambassador.

Back in Washington everyone is up in arms and the task to get the six back home falls to the C.I.A “extraction” expert Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck). Many plans are being considered, but none seem feasible or safe.

Faced with this problem Mendez comes up with the ridiculous idea to get the six out under the guise of making a SiFi film. With the help of special-effects expert and Academy Award winner John Chambers (John Goodman) and prominent producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) Mendez creates a bogus film company called Studio Six and even invites the media to a fake press conference. With posters, storyboards and a buzz backing up the story Mendez then enters Iran under the pretence of scouting for locations and issues false identities for the six Americans in hiding to fly them out.

The story sounds so implausible it’s hard to believe that it is true, that it worked is even more unbelievable. This incredible story wasn’t declassified until 1997 and really makes for a good movie. Affleck proves his doubters wrong again and like in “Gone Baby Gone” he surrounds himself with formidable actors, even in the supporting roles.

Argo is a great film and even though Affleck takes the liberty to spice up the action a bit towards the end, the film has an authentic feel to it. After all Argo never claims to be a documentary. The only downside to the film is that the science-fiction film Argo was never actually made, a film that Goodman’s character Chambers describes as ‘a twenty-million-dollar Star Wars rip-off” and you can’t help but feel that Arkins as Siegle is right when he stipulates “If I’m going to make a fake movie, it’s going to be a fake hit.”

The closing scene of Argo also seems to be too drawn out, there is no need for it and it detracts from the clever suspense filled film that Argo otherwise is. But overall Affleck has done good and Argo is well worth the price of a ticket.