Drama

GONE GIRL (2014)

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Ben Affleck (Nick Dunne) continues to prove that he can act and is capable of layering a character. He’s already proven himself adept at directing three very intelligent films to date (Gone Baby Gone, The Town and the Oscar winning Argo). Here, he has the challenge of creating a character that is flawed and three-dimensional and does a great job.

David Fincher directs this intelligent thriller based upon Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel about a woman who goes missing and the husband who is left behind. To say anymore would be to do the viewer a great injustice. No spoilers here.

Rosamund Pike as Amy Dunne cements her status as legitimate leading lady, although how much depth she has an actor… She delivers a decent enough performance but we are not always allowed in and this may be a problem in future work.

Carrie Coon is great as Nick’s twin sister, Margo, and arrives on the scene after showing her chops in the recent HBO series, The Leftovers. Kim Dickens plays the right side of world-weary as the detective assigned to the missing persons case, Detective Rhonda Boney. She is always brilliant; fantastic in Deadwood and a joy in Treme and Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous) plays her sidekick, Officer Jim Gilpin well.
Tyler Perry announces his intention of being treated as a serious actor playing the celebrity lawyer, Tanner Bolt and is present enough for you to buy his work.

Avoiding all reviews or write-ups about this film before I’d seen it as I wanted to approach it with no knowledge in order to experience it free of any pre-conceptions. Surely, the best way to see any film, right? Apart from the more extreme side of cinema, where a warning sticker would separate the weak of heart from the crazy, bungee-diving audiences.
But, I digress, the pedigree is present, so let’s see.

Trent Reznor and long-time collaborator Atticus Ross create an amazing soundscape that never infringes upon the piece nor allows you to feel settled.

This is the third time they have scored a Fincher film, taking home an Oscar for Best Soundtrack for The Social Network and also, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Their soundtracks have been have been pigeon-holed into such genres as Dark Ambient, Post-industrial experimental and electronica for the ad-men but it is not so easy to categorise. The use of ambient electronic  sounds to create a Lynch-like unsettledness adds to the film perfectly.

Fincher is a master of brilliantly creating a world where the audience is left guessing until he feels it time to reveal and he does just that here.

A brilliant thriller that may just make some waves at the Oscars next year.

4/5

What did you think?
Please feel free to leave a comment if you agree or not with my thoughts.
All discussions welcome. (Excepting trolls, who are not welcome :O)).

LOCKE (2013)

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Drive, she said.

One Hardy and his car and it ain’t Mad Max.

This is interesting from the off. How do you make a film about one man driving in his car for the WHOLE film dynamic?

The script for one has to be tight and the performance has to be on target, otherwise what’s the point?
Fortunately for the viewer, Tom Hardy has the acting chops to take us on a journey, literally and metaphorically on that ever-so exciting run from Birmingham to London.

Hardy plays Ivan Locke, who has to make a night-time car journey from Birmingham to London for reasons that will be made clear as you watch.

Tightly directed by Steven Knight who had to wait several years until Tom Hardy was finally available to fit him into his schedule. It was worth the wait. Hardy delivers a performance filled with nuance and layer.

It is very watchable and really shouldn’t be. On paper, one actor onscreen and several top names that only get to give good voice sounds boring, right?

Vocal support comes in the guise of Olivia Colman, Ruth Wilson, Andrew Scott (brilliantly funny), Ben Daniels, Tom Holland, Bill Milner and Danny Webb.

Clearly there is a reason that Locke has to make the journey otherwise it would be fricken boring and this is testament to Knight’s script that he sets the stakes high enough to keep us on board.

The running time is 85 minutes and there is not a gunshot/bomb/terrorist/ kidnapping in sight, yet the tension is palpable.

I watched this after a 4 day festival and my 3 companions all fell asleep, not because the film was boring, each of them stated they wanted to re-watch it. The blame clearly lays in the over doing it of the fest. It intrigued me enough to stay awake and see it through.

A very different thriller that keeps you interested even though you’re on the M6 for the lion’s share of it, possibly one of the most boring motorway journeys in the world made truly engaging.

3.5/5

BUY THE BLU RAY DVD HERE

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