Director Dissection with Seanc and Rauldc

Yeah, i was surprised by some of your opinions here. Was refreshing seeing something different tho as pretty much everyone else agrees with those four.

Looking forward to your Coens discussion. If you end up doing one of the ones i haven't seen i may join in for that one.

Here is my 8 ranked. I still have not seen Alien 3 or Button.

1. Se7en
2. Gone Girl
3. Panic Room
4. Zodiac
5. Social Network
6. The Game
7. Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
8. Fight Club

Now admittedly, I haven't seen Fight Club in years but I absolutely disliked it the first and only time I saw it.

I've only seen six Fincher's films. Here are my rankings :

1. The Game
2. Fight Club
3. Zodiac
4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
5. Se7en

* The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (I won't rank it because I barely remember it)

I've only seen "The Game" once, but I had so much fun watching it, that I had to rank it first. Even though I imagine it doesn't really have much rewatchability credit.

Do you not like Se7en Jeff, or just like all of them?

I fairly like all of the first four and would probably rate them all between and +. Even Se7en, I'd rate something like

It's just one of those films that is universally praised, yet it really didn't do anything for me. Most people point out the great story and atmposphere with Se7en, but when I watched I found it too be pretty predictable and at times boring, even the big climax moment which left me indifferent. It also doesn't help that I wasn't at all a fan of performances by Pitt and Spacey, whose work I mostly enjoy.

I'd say it may very well be both of their best performances to date. It's certainly my favorite from Pitt.

I've only seen 4 of his films but this is how I'd rank them

1. Zodiac
2. The Social Network
3. Fight Club
4. Se7en

__________________
Letterboxd

I have to admit I wasn't overly excited when Rauldc wanted to do Fincher. He has two movies that I consider big time favorites but past that he is a director I respect more than I love. His movies are so pulpy that they just don't get me excited or even give me any real sense of anticipation. I always know I am going to watch his stuff with intrigue because of that greatness he has in him, and despite being mostly a pulpy director his films have a style and rhythm that are very easy to get lost in. The atmosphere he sets with his camera and music are on par with anyone else working. I guess I just wish he would steer away from his dime store novel tendencies a bit more. All that said I enjoyed my viewings, only hating a couple of his films, and those top four film are fantastic. Hard to believe that a director I only feel so-so about has four movies that I would say I love. Maybe I am under rating him a bit. Either way the rambling is over and on with the rankings.

1) The Social Network An absolutely perfect film. The first time I saw it I thought perhaps it was just timely and wouldn't hold hope. 4 or 5 viewings later and I know it is timeless. Not the normal Fincher story but all his undeniable aesthetics are there. Every time I watch it I am excited for the next scene.

2) Zodiac Apologies to All The President's Men but this is my favorite procedural. I love the characters in the film and I love watching them work. Again the Fincher aesthetic is there but no pulp in this thriller which is what sets it apart.

3) Se7en Now we get into the pulp I have mentioned too many times already. It had to be said once more though, because this is probably the greatest of those types of film. This is the Fincher to watch if you want to know what the director is about.

4) Fight Club This rating should come with the caveat that I am long over due to revisit. Might be ten years since my last viewing, which would have been my second. I will get back to it eventually but really don't see it gaining ground on those above.

5) Gone Girl I really didn't expect this to hold up on a second viewing as well as it did. Lots of humor that keeps it rolling for me. The Fincher aesthetic in full effect.

6) Panic Room I really don't think this is a very strong film but it is hard for me to rate anything where Whitaker and Foster have all the screen time very low. It ends up being a decent pressure cooker that would have been better off staying a very fond first time theater watch.

7) The Game See above. I never consider Penn or Douglas favorites but they do command the screen.

8) Benjamin Button Not going to give this a rating because I only watched it once upon release and it has faded from memory tremendously. The gimmick is the only thing that stuck. Feels the least like a Fincher joint as well.

9) Alien3 Going to give this the nod over Dragon Tattoo just because I feel like this film is made for somebody, just not me. In other words I don't think the premise was bad for an Alien movie.

10) Dragon Tattoo When I think about everything I wrote above my ratings I wonder how much of that is influenced by this being the last Fincher I watched. I really dislike this movie. Trashy in all the worst ways. Technically sound, just trashy. I should have snuck it a Zodiac viewing towards the end of our Fincher cycle. Still plenty of time for him to make a few more great ones.

__________________
Letterboxd

The two things that I love about Fincher is the way he creates his films atmospheres and also the dark gritty look to his films. Use of things such as shadows give his films a cold dark feel.

For me, Se7en embraces everything you want in a psychological thriller. Pitt, Freeman, and Spacey all deliver. It's easily my favorite of his. An easy top 100 film for me.

Just on the precipice of my top 100 would be Gone Girl. This is the type of movie that can showcase what Affleck is capable of and it did. I also think Pike did a really good job.

I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed Panic Room. A lot of that was because of Foster, whom I've grown to be a pretty big fan of.

Zodiac is a film I should like more than I do, but I find I respect it more than I like it. The cinematography is great in it as well.

Likewise for Social Network. I was a little disappointed, but I still respect it.

The Game was a nice first time watch. I don't know how it would hold up on future watches.

Tattoo and Fight Club I cared for neither of these, though I certainly need to see Fight Club again.

That's a wrap for Fincher. Coen Time!

Coen time indeed. Time for Sean to gush like a school boy. I won't get to watch anything this week but I will be looking forward to you guys getting us started.

Lineup is:

Blood Simple
Miller's Crossing
Barton Fink
The Man Who Wasn't There
A Serious Man
No Country For Old Men

4 of these will be only a second viewing for me so I am pumped.

And I have actually only seen two of these before, so it will be sweet.

Absolutely PERFECT line-up!

I love The Coens, yet I feel like an amateurish pretender since I have actually only seen 1 movie here (guess which one).

Anyways, I'm a fan of what I've seen and I have wanted to dive all the way into their filmography for a long time. Perfect opportunity to do so inside one of the best threads on the forum and I'm glad to be a part of it, raul and Sean. Thanks for letting me join this one

Can't wait to get started. My nominees are of course, No Country for Old Men, because no matter how much I tried to pick something else because it was too obvious it just had to be that way. It was almost too perfect but whatever. I had to. The other is Miller's Crossing because it is the one I have always really wanted to see from them.

Glad to see a mix of old and new here too.

__________________
/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

I haven't watch the first two early Coens, or The Man Who Wasn't There, but the other three are great. Even though A Serious Man got the best picture nod, I still think it's usually considered a bit insignificant when talking about all of their films, which I think it's a shame, because it's one of my favorites from them.

Just for fun, if I had to make a top 5...

1.Inside Llewyn Davis
2.True Grit
3.Barton Fink
4.The Big Lebowski
5.A Serious Man

With No Country for Old Men at a very close 6.

It didn't thrill me first time around. That's a big reason I picked it. I am hoping a second watch is just the ticket. I am a huge Llewyn Davis fan by the way. It will be on my next 100, with like 20 other Coen movies.

I think it's their most separate movie in terms of tone, and style that I've watched, it doesn't scream Coen when you watch it, I think maybe that's why some people weren't exactly taken initially, but who knows. I do think it's one of their best written though, and even one of their funniest. With that though, it is one of their most bleak, especially when talking about their comedies.

Inside Llewyn Davis though, oh yes, I think it's a masterpiece. It has everything I love from them, and more. It'd be in my top 30.

Going to try to kick this off today with Blood Simple. Been wanting to watch that for awhile now.

Same here. There's a really nice blu ray boxset that includes that, Miller's Crossing, Fargo, and Raising Arizona that I've been meaning to pick up for years, but for whatever reason it's still not in my collection. Sometime very soon I'll have to pick it up, and marathon all of them in a single sitting, because even though i've watched the last two in that list, it's been too long.

Blood Simple



Pretty darn good film. I loved the camerawork of the film and how it puts the viewer in a very eerie spot. I like also how we don't know much about the people who are involved, kind of adds a bit of mystery to the madness in my opinion. The dialogue as is with most Coen films, really helps to engage me in the story. I thought the acting was good too, and I seem to always enjoy the work of Frances McDormand. Big fan of the ending, which ultimately elevated the films total rating for me as well. I didn't expect to like this as much as I did, but I'm glad that I did. It's a notch below tier 1 but there's certainly no reason to not put it into tier 2.

Glad to see this going!

I have Blood Simple ready to watch as well, so I'll hopefully join in soon!