Gone Girl

Title - Gone Girl. Director - David Fincher. Main cast -  Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike. Genre - maybe mystery, thriller (?). These raisins were pretty much all I knew about this going into the cinema. And that's the best way to see this fine film. With no background at all. So, even though I'll try to avoid spoilers, I'd suggest not reading any more of this until you've seen the film.
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Okay. So.....For fuck AND fuck's brother's sake as well. What a satisfying 'big' film. Very much against type for a studio picture. The performances are nicely tuned to the bi-polar nature of the story. Pike is superbly icy and unhinged. Affleck plays a more aggressive version of The Affleck but it's positioned in the sweet spot, almost like a Tendulkar cover drive. The supporting cast fill in the cracks with farce or pathos or whatever is required at any given point. Uniformly sound.

Fincher himself said on an Empire magazine podcast interview that he didn't know what actual genre Gone Girl was. He suggested it skips from missing person mystery to thriller to dark satire. I'd probably add elements of police procedural, black comedy and the unreliable narrator but he's basically on the money. The satire angle is the most audacious. Fincher and the writer Gillian Flynn (from her own novel) rip the piss out of the mainstream media and suburban American marriage and society without really condescending too much (well, one particular TV host comes off as a vulgar caricature but I'm guessing that's sadly accurate in the U.S.).

I've heard that some reviewers (?) have suggested the film is misogynistic. I can see where that's coming from but I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt to Fincher and Flynn. I actually think it reads more like a parody of the warped views of the bottom drawer misogynist. [Hear Helen O'Hara on the Empire podcast 'Gone Girl Spoiler Special' for more on this]. As you may be able to tell, I'm still chewing over the plot points and character motives of this film nearly two days after seeing it. Will be for a few more days, I'll wager. Quality cinema. Thank you Mr. Fincher. A proper film-maker (putting Bennny Button to one side, of course).

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

This will be a brief write-up as I have to admit to a bit of 'Middle Earth fatigue'. In short The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is okay, a bit better than An Unexpected Journey and not as good as The Desolation of Smaug. I'd actually like to see one film with the Bilbo/Gollum face-off of the first and the titular battle of this one wedged into the second film somehow. Instead, we'll get extended versions, director's cuts, anniversary editions, blur, blah, blamph.......

There were some nice touches - the 'battles within the Battle' featuring Legolas (Elf) vs Bolg (Orc) and Thorin (Dwarf) vs Azog (also Orc), as well as some grotesque 'war beasts' (basically huge Orcs with battering rams for heads or catapults on their backs. Visually very Jackson-esque.

On the clumsy side - The character of Alfred from Laketown was an annoying prick and really changed the mood of the film (as well as being used for the same 'gag' a few times over).

A pet hate of mine is the irritating habit of characters in (usually modern American) movies to exclaim "I got this" or "I've got this", alongside "Let's do this" and  "Let's end this". Fucking horrible. And a dwarf has a crack at it here. Bugger off. It's getting close to "It's showtime!" and "What do you want from me?!" for annoying clichés.

But finally it's the big birds that save the day again. It reminds me of this Big Train sketch. I was told you had something....a little stronger. Come on.

Interstellar

I like so many things about Interstellar that I'm quite willing to ignore or disregard the missteps. I don't care if the physics are a bit unlikely or inaccurate. I'm satisfied with the dumbing-down of some of the dialogue. Shit, I was even happy with the occasional clichéd 'cowboy' attitude of McConaughey's character. None of this bothered me at all during the film, and it's only since reading some reviews that I've come across the criticisms. In fact, the only problem I had with Interstellar was the ear-splitting volume of some of the audio (possibly a cinema issue).

So maybe I should go over some of the positives. To begin with, this film had a great feel to it. I can't put my finger on it. Maybe simply the cinematography of Hoyte Van Hoytema was key. Maybe because it recalled some old sci-fi that I'm partial to (Star Trek, 2001, Silent Running, Hitchhiker's Guide, etc). Maybe the throwback music of Hans Zimmer. Not many films can manufacture a good feel, but I reckon this succeeds.

I loved the hinted dystopian future set up here. Dusty, blight-threatened corn fields, technology in retreat, memories of 'food wars' past. It's a cool stepping-off point. And that fucking dust almost made me reach for my Hello Kitty mask. Dead amazeballs.

The performances were mostly fine. One or two of the 'minor' astronauts came across a bit 1970s but that added to the odd, 'going backwardly forwards' mood of the film. I thought the stand-outs were Mackenzie Foy (as the young Murphy Cooper) and Bill Irwin (as the voice of the robot TARS). The robots got the majority of the funny lines too.

I also like the fact that multiple readings can be made of the guts of this film. I'm not about to go into it as it would spoil the broth. That and my head hurts when I think too deeply about it. But though it's very Nolanesque to offer a quandary, Interstellar isn't as complex as Inception or Memento. It even takes pains to simplify the science somewhat (McConaughey actually flips over a monitor in a spaceship to draw a black hole and some squiggles on a whiteboard!).

Finally, the essence of this film is the father-daughter relationship shared by McConaughey's character, Coop and Mackenzie Foy and Jessica Chastain's Murph. The early scenes are really well played and the emotional wrench of Coop's decision is a solid solar-plexus punch. Maybe I wouldn't have been affected as much if I'd seen this film before my daughter was born but it certainly pushed the right (wrong?) buttons. Another Nolan winner. It might be brilliant.





(NB. I'm not really partial to Silent Running. I think it's pretty boring actually but it did pop into my mind, especially regarding the robots)