Gone Girl

Movies
#21

It’s been a while since I’ve seen this, but I thought she only went to NPH because she needed him for money. Obviously she didn’t actually want to stay with him, and as soon as he started trying to control her, she started scheming.

I understand how political it is, but at the end of the day, it would be a sexist double standard limiting women if you could only write positive roles for female characters. Sometimes a genre trope is just a genre trope. Anyone but an MRA bigot should realize that fiction & reality are two different things.

#22

Oh yeah. She was never sincerely with NPH. But I’m pretty sure seeing that interview was the catalyst for the particular way she got out of that situation.

#23

I saw this over the holidays and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Pike has been a crush of mine for ages, so getting to see her flex her acting chops in addition to providing the eye candy was great. But what surprised me was how good Affleck was. I vacillated between thinking “He’s innocent, man!” to “Well crap, he’s guilty!” and back again more than a few times before the reveals started to happen.

Plus, the addition of NPH to any movie immediately raises its quality quotient by 25 percent right off the bat.

#24

We rarely go to the theater anymore, but did because the wife wanted to see it. I wasn’t particularly interested, but got into it once it started, and agree that Affleck knocked it out of the park.

Another great, and mostly overlooked Affleck performance can be found in Hollywoodland, in which he plays George Reeves (kids, ask your parents). For people like myself of <ahem> a certain age, it really resonated.

#25

Another thing I loved was the pacing. At about the hour and 15 minute mark, I was asking myself how they could possibly keep the movie going for another 75 minutes…and then wham, we get the second half of the story. It was at that moment I realized the story was far from being over.

#26

The problem with this movie for me is that it’s a movie of two halves, the first half is great, with the tone being predominantly realistic; the second half, from when you see the wife in the car and you start to understand what’s going on, the movie veers off into a whacky, unrealistic sort of thing that contradicts the tone of its first half. It’s also fun to watch, but it’s like a different movie glued on to the first.

#27

But the tone is part of the plot! It’s almost another red herring, making us think this is a whodunnit when it’s really a thriller.

The experience of watching Gone Girl reminded me of watching a Tilda Swinton thriller called Julia. On paper the plot is completely absurd, and it just keeps getting more & more ridiculous as it goes along. But while you’re watching it you believe everything that happens.

#28

Nah, it just became extremely implausible to me at that point. I could have handled the change in tone from what I thought was going to something that was really going on, that was much darker. But this reveal was so implausible it was just silly. Entertaining enough (because of the great cinematography and acting) but still a silly story that doesn’t really make any sense in terms of human beings with real lives and motivations.

#29

Human beings rarely make sense when they commit crimes in films.

And if films just stuck with depicting only the plausible, they would be boring as hell. Everyone would be caught quickly thanks to not being movie style brilliant.

There was really nothing that was overtly silly in any character’s actions. Implausible? Of course. Silly? Not really.

#30

No need to go further. I’m always amazed at the number of criminals that get caught because they just can’t shut up about what they did.

#31

I think she’s a silly, highly implausible character.

#32

Well, can’t argue with that.

#33

To each their own. I don’t consider her any sillier or any more implausible than the vast majority of characters found in thrillers, mysteries, etc… Pike was just great in the role.

#34

Just saw this. I was really scared by the end of the movie. It’s almost as if this was a mystery, and then, it changed into this game of chess drama, and then by the end, a thriller that chilled me to the bone.

Fincher never disappoints. He needs to team up with Reznor more often.

P.S. I went to college in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. So it was pretty shocking to see the movie opening with scenes from the town. In my head: WTF, the movie is set in Cape Girardeau, Missouri?!? It can’t be!

Also, the parallels at the start of the movie between me and my wife were a little spooky. Like when he mentions that it’s their 5 year anniversary? Me and my wife were celebrating our 5 year anniversary today, and watching this movie together. And when he opens the movie by saying he wants to break her head open so that he can see what she’s thinking? Creepy but true! There were other parallels too, but thankfully they didn’t extend to deeper into the movie.

#35

So, er… how long to get this movie out of your head?

I had constant nightmares last night, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I must have only gotten three hours of sleep tops. I can’t stop thinking about it.

#36

I think your wife is out to get you.

#37

Just avoid any mistakes Ben made in the movie and you’ll be fine!

#38

I wonder if Rock is having an affair with a hot college freshman?

#39

SECRET affair!

#40

What the heck is in Cape Girardeau, Missouri anyway?

— Alan