Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

    I never read the book, nor knew anything about it. I simply went to see the movie because the trailer looked like an interesting thriller.

    It's not.


    This is what happens when someone has sat around in a writer's coffee shop since they were 18 and have no actual life experience. They write something they THINK will be interesting, and by interesting I mean, throw in something totally sick and disgusting on top - just to show how INTERESTING they are.


    It plays like a vile Lifetime movie.

    I don't know what Ben Affleck was thinking, or Rosamund Pike for that matter.

    House payments, I guess.

    P.S. The LARGE audience wasn't buyin' it either - they all groaned loudly at the ending and INSTANTLY walked out.
    "Running down a dream, that never would come to me." Tom Petty

  • #2
    Re: Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

    Ha - best quote about the writer and director ever!

    This is a messy, messed-up film about the funny games of coupledom — Nick and Amy’s, but the filmmakers’, too. Together, Flynn and Fincher just get sharper and nastier as they go, a set of claws creeping out from within a paw, two freaks speeding down the highway to hell, bones dragging at the rear of a hearse, the wedding announcement whipping and warped in the wind: just married.

    http://grantland.com/hollywood-prosp...-movie-review/

    Just saw the critic who wrote the piece won the Pulitzer Prize - he definitely called it right.

    Wesley Morris is a staff writer for Grantland. He won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for criticism for his work at the Boston Globe.
    Last edited by Exponent5; 10-04-2014, 02:28 PM.
    "Running down a dream, that never would come to me." Tom Petty

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

      Originally posted by Exponent5 View Post
      Ha - best quote about the writer and director ever!



      http://grantland.com/hollywood-prosp...-movie-review/

      Just saw the critic who wrote the piece won the Pulitzer Prize - he definitely called it right.
      I haven't seen it yet, but I remember John August talking about it as a 'one cool thing,' and he thought it a was a compelling story structure. He also mentioned how he didn't know how they could translate it into film... at least that's what I recall.

      I thought the idea of two storylines unfolding in opposite timeframes was a really cool twist on convention, but you're saying, nay? At some point I will see it, because I'm interested in the idea of it.

      I'll return for comments once I've had a proper viewing of it.
      Best,
      FA4
      "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy b/c you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -- Edward Snowden

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

        I went in with no expectations and came out really enjoying it.

        I thought it was an effective thriller where at a certain point I can honestly say I had no idea where it was going.

        Fincher was on point although I wish he had more fun with the story given it's pulpy nature. Also, he could've shaved off 15 mins easily.

        I think it's interesting you pointed out that the writer seems to have no life experience. I thought it was a pretty mature (except for the obviously crazy things people did) look at relationships and the expectations men and women have for each other. I don't think an 18 year old could have that kind of perspective.

        I think Gillian Flynn did a great job structuring a complicated and somewhat dense story.

        To me the biggest problem was Ben Affleck. He was adequate but didn't convey the subtleness and complexity his role demanded. He needed to toss our emotions around with just a look but unfortunately he doesn't have the chops to pull that off. Rosamund Pike was fantastic though.

        PS - What was the last movie Wesley Morris actually liked?

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

          Originally posted by Exponent5 View Post
          I never read the book, nor knew anything about it. I simply went to see the movie because the trailer looked like an interesting thriller.

          It's not.


          This is what happens when someone has sat around in a writer's coffee shop since they were 18 and have no actual life experience. They write something they THINK will be interesting, and by interesting I mean, throw in something totally sick and disgusting on top - just to show how INTERESTING they are.


          It plays like a vile Lifetime movie.

          I don't know what Ben Affleck was thinking, or Rosamund Pike for that matter.

          House payments, I guess.

          P.S. The LARGE audience wasn't buyin' it either - they all groaned loudly at the ending and INSTANTLY walked out.
          I tend to instantly walk out of any movie after it's over.

          Given the fanaticism of your post, I imagine you'll be screaming in rage at your television come Oscar season.

          This is on track to become Fincher's highest grossing film. Love it. Maybe now we can get that GWDT sequel going?

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

            Well... Now.... I'm really looking forward to it. #lovedavidfincher
            "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy b/c you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -- Edward Snowden

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

              Book was great. Author also wrote the script so I imagine that was hard to narrow it down.

              Movies are objective. What one likes, another hates. That'll never change.
              Quack.

              Writer on a cable drama.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

                biggest piece of misogynistic bullshit since Fatal Attraction or Basic Instinct (take your pick)

                thank you, David Fincher, for having the courage to finally shed light on the epidemic of men who are wrongfully framed for murder by their shrewish bitch of a wife!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

                  Just saw it in a packed theater. Personally I thought it was an excellent film, but knew it would rub some the wrong way.

                  Towards the end of the film, most of the laughs were not "with" the plot / characters, but "at" them. It goes into some unbelievable territory.

                  But overall I loved it.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

                    Originally posted by JoeBanks View Post
                    biggest piece of misogynistic bullshit since Fatal Attraction or Basic Instinct (take your pick)

                    thank you, David Fincher, for having the courage to finally shed light on the epidemic of men who are wrongfully framed for murder by their shrewish bitch of a wife!
                    Actually, I thought this was a refreshing take on the issue of domestic imbalance. We always see abusive men and poor defenseless women (I'm not arguing that this is or isn't the case in real life, but it can't be empowering to women that they're always victims in film), but here the tables are turned and the woman is clearly the dominant player. You're essentially crying foul because a woman was made to be a villain. Isn't that exactly what true gender equality is about? That women can be heroes and villains alike?

                    It's actually probably good that you brought this issue up (I mean, ffs, it was going to come up eventually, this is DDP...), because I come from a polar opposite viewpoint of the film: I think this was one of the better portrayals of women in cinema this year (not best, if only/mostly because I'm too tired to exhaust the list of other prominent women in film and definitively declare GG the best).

                    SPOILERS AHEAD (and maybe behind?).

                    In GG, we have four principal female roles: Amy, Margo (Nick's sister), Detective Boney, and Ellen Abbot (who had an unusually significant portion of screen time for her role). Arguably, that's two heroes (Margo, Boney) and two villains (Amy, Ellen).

                    Each of these people plays a different type. Amy and Margo play against each other: the manipulator and the supporter. Ellen and Boney play against each other: the fool and the wise woman.

                    You have other women in minor roles that also play against each other: Andie (the lover, and a victim of Nick's inability to control himself), and Greta (the motel girl, and a perpetrator).

                    If you really boil it down, Amy is careful and controlled - exactly the way her parents taught her to be. She's used to smiling for the cameras, putting on the show. Nick is the opposite: he's careless, selfish, and has almost zero control over his situation (even when he could and should, such as with revealing the truth about his mistress, the clues, the woodshed, etc.).

                    If you look closely at Amy's character, you can see that she's deeply, deeply flawed, but you can also see a desire to make people happy. Everything stems from that well-set up childhood. But it spiraled from there. Look at the way the info is revealed, though. In fact, as I'm writing this, I'm kind of floored by Flynn's brilliance here:

                    When we learn of Amy's two previous lovers, it's through Amy's parents telling Det Boney about Desi (Neil Patrick Harris, the rich guy/stalker). But Nick keeps defending him, and essentially he seems harmless. Then Amy's parents talk about Tommy O'Hara (the one who did "something bad" and got charges pressed against him). Nick didn't know about this guy, and almost seems alarmed.

                    But as the story unfolds, we see that Tommy did nothing wrong. He got played, just like Nick's getting played. So we think: "That bitch..." But then he goes to Desi, and it's important that he does, because it's now that we realize that with Desi, Amy wasn't actually lying. And the events later in the film lead me, at least, to believe that Desi contributed grossly to Amy's spiral into the character we know at the end of the film. She was young, and presumably a nice girl when she started dating him, but she had grown up in a very f--ked up way, and so when Desi forced his own issues onto her, this contributed to her withdrawing from the world. In real life, this often leads to the kind of personality that compulsively lies. It's an attempt to please people without ever placing trust in them, because you don't know who people really are.

                    So Amy and Nick have a normally f--ked up relationship -- she's pretending to be normal, he's pretending to have his s--t together -- until she catches him cheating in a way that betrays her trust to the core of their relationship. As Nick begins to stop trying to have his s--t together (jobless, playing video games, cheating), she stops trying to be normal (starts manipulating on an extreme scale again).

                    Anyway, holy f--k, I spent way too much time and effort on that.

                    I am curious, though... Would the movie suit you better if it were about an abusive, stalker husband and an innocent wife just trying to get away from him?

                    I think Gone Girl has some of the best character work of this decade. I also think you're playing it a little too fast and loose with the M-word.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

                      Ya'll are crazy. Saw it today. Never read the book. Loved it. Typical Fincher. Dark, twisty and cynical as fvck. #FincherIsGod
                      @TerranceMulloy

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

                        Originally posted by Eric Boellner View Post
                        You're essentially crying foul because a woman was made to be a villain. Isn't that exactly what true gender equality is about? That women can be heroes and villains alike?
                        No, I'm crying foul because this woman is made a "villain" by fulfilling every woman-hating fantasy in the Poor Male Victim pantheon:

                        Falsely accuses men of rape? Check!

                        Uses sex as a means to manipulate and control men. Check!

                        Intentionally gets pregnant to trap men into marrying/staying with her. Check!

                        true gender equality means not using misogynistic stereotypes to pander to the worst instincts of audiences who have been conditioned for generations to believe that they are true

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

                          It's a really great film, doesn't capture the book completely though, and there's a few things they cut out which I wish they would of found a way to keep in, mourning the loss of the blue book boys.
                          It's the eye of the Tiger, it's the thrill of the fight

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

                            Originally posted by JoeBanks View Post
                            No, I'm crying foul because this woman is made a "villain" by fulfilling every woman-hating fantasy in the Poor Male Victim pantheon:

                            Falsely accuses men of rape? Check!

                            Uses sex as a means to manipulate and control men. Check!

                            Intentionally gets pregnant to trap men into marrying/staying with her. Check!

                            true gender equality means not using misogynistic stereotypes to pander to the worst instincts of audiences who have been conditioned for generations to believe that they are true
                            I totally agree with this statement. However, I think the author, Gillian Flynn, has it both ways--the world of her novels is misogynistic and it is not. Here's why. I read all three of her novels (wanted to see what all the fuss was about). They all have a female protagonist who is both victim and victor in the misogynistic world in which she lives. The protagonists are not self-aware intellectuals who rise above that world; rather, they do the best to use it to their advantage. Isn't that what a femme fatale does? I'm not particularly fond of that type of female protagonist, but I would definitely say she is supposed to be an empowered character rather than a victim.

                            The problem is, it never comes across in her books that the author is particularly aware of this dichotomy, and that's the problem for me because then it leaves the reader/audience confused as to what world view is being expressed.

                            I haven't seen the movie yet, so I can't comment on that.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Gone Girl is everything that's wrong with writers

                              I haven't seen it yet. Wanted to read the book first then didn't get to it, yet.

                              However, as a woman writer, I'm really glad a woman got to adapt her own bestselling novel for the screen.

                              As for misogyny in general ... creating female characters who are unrealistically perfect in every way, always serving the man (perfect mom, perfect wife, perfect secretary/office wife), yet asking nothing in return, is also a form of misogyny.

                              I think this has fed woman haters who expect those characters to step off the silver screen and into their lives (their beds) ready to serve them only to find these women rarely, if ever, exist.

                              We've seen every conceivable type of male good guy and bad guy each with their psychology explored through story. But it's all too rare with women characters.

                              It makes people uncomfortable to see female characters who contradict our society's over-idealized vision of what a woman should be. But the "shoulds" were never realistic to begin with.
                              Last edited by sc111; 10-05-2014, 07:24 AM.
                              Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X