Gideon58's Reviews

That's the same rating I gave to A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints --

Great minds think alike I guess.

GONE GIRL

David Fincher, a director with a gift for epic storytelling onscreen with work like Fight Club, Zodiac, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button under his belt, found a slightly more intimate story but employed his accustomed gloss to the material and knocked it out of the park with Gone Girl, a stomach-turning and disturbing tale of questionable moral barometers that become part of a media circus that all parties found far from their control and the irreparable damage left in its wake.

This 2014 shocker stars Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne, a guy who comes home one day to find the glass coffee table in a million pieces and his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike)nowhere to be found. As this story slowly unfolds over a thirty day period, we learn that Amy is a famous writer and that everything she and Nick shared was in her name and that Amy paid for the bar that he and his twin sister, Margo (Carrie Coon) run together. Needless to say, as the case comes together, the lead detective (Kim Dickens) becomes convinced that Nick has murdered his wife. Once again, I have another fascinating piece of film making here that is extremely difficult to review without spoilers.

After Amy's disappearance, we are given two separate looks into Nick and Amy's marriage that are completely different...one is in Ben's mind and the other is in a journal written by Amy which make us think we know exactly what's going on, but we're not even close.

Gillian Flynn, who adapted the screenplay from her own novel, has crafted a story that creates doubt from all directions from which the story materializes and I'm pretty sure that is the intention. This viewer never for a single minute believed that Nick murdered his wife; however, also allowed certain red herrings in the story to get past me so that once it came into focus exactly what was going on here, I felt like I had walked into the story about half way through and had missed something but I really didn't. There is some satisfaction provided at the conclusion, but there's just as much left unexplained and up in the air, which definitely made me wonder about what's going to happen to these people after the credits roll.

Fincher's direction is crisp and focused and he has gotten superb performances from his well-chosen cast. Affleck offers his best performance since Hollywoodland as Nick and Rosamund Pike is a revelation as Amy, a richly complex performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress. Dickens and Coon provide effective support along with Neil Patrick Harris, surprisingly solid as a victim of Amy's web of deception. It's not an easy watch and despite an ending that is a bit on the ambiguous side, the story provides some semblance of justice but leaves all kinds of doors open to the viewer's imagination for the future of the players involved here.

I didn't think Gone Girl was anywhere near a masterpiece but I pretty much loved it. They should make more movies like it.

Maybe I'm misreading this, but you're sounding a little contradictory here...it's no masterpiece, but you wish they'd make more movies like it?

Charlie Bartlett

The recent passing of Anton Yelchin motivated me to check out the 2007 comedy Charlie Bartlett, a somewhat entertaining variation of Ferris Bueller's Day Off that, despite some uncomfortable lapses into melodrama, is worth watching because it actually provides an epiphany for the lead character that movies of this genre rarely do.

The title character (Yelchin) is a spoiled rich kid who has been kicked out of his chi-chi private school and is now entering public school for the first time, jumping head first into that primary goal for all high school teenagers: popularity. Charlie starts by befriending a mentally challenged giant (Dylan Taylor) and the school bully (Tyler Hilton) who help him start a business as the school psychiatrist, operating out of the boys' bathroom and selling prescription drugs to his patients, which he learns about via therapy he is receiving under orders from his clueless mother (Hope Davis). Throw in Charlie's immediate conflict with the school's tight-assed principal (Robert Downey Jr.), further complicated by Charlie's attraction to his daughter (Kat Dennings) and you have all the makings of a classic teen comedy.

Director Jon Poll and screenwriter Gustin Nash are definitely in tune with their target and have definitely seen their share of teen comedies, because the influence of a lot of teen comedies is definitely felt here, particularly Ferris Bueller, evidenced in the conflict between Charlie and the principal, though it gets a little more serious here than it did in the '85 film because of the principal's daughter and consequences this principal faces that Ed Rooney never dealt with in the 1985 classic.

There's a also a rather contrived subplot regarding the students revolting because of the school planning to install security cameras in the student lounge. This plot not only distracted from the primary story, but I just found it hard to empathize because when I went to high school, we didn't even have a student lounge. We had the theater and the cafeteria.

What we do have here is a charming performance by Anton Yelchin that lights up the screen and he is matched perfectly by Robert Downey Jr., bringing a richness to his role as the troubled principal that is not in the screenplay. Kat Dennings was a refreshing leading lady for a comedy like this and also loved Tyler Hilton as the reformed bully. If you liked Ferris Bueller's Day Off, you'll like this and Yelchin proves to be a gifted young actor who was taken from us from too soon.

Charlie Bartlett has been on my watchlist for a while because of Robert Downey Jr., but I haven't gotten around to it yet. It sounds like I'll have to bump it up on my watchlist a little bit.

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I remember seeing some of that movie when it came out, but didn't care for it/didn't pay attention. Didn't realize Anton Yelchin was the star of that.

THE LONG HOT SUMMER

They don't make 'em like this anymore. 1958's The Long Hot Summer is a wonderfully entertaining, old fashioned southern soap opera, that despite some dated elements, still delivers, but is most famous for introducing one of our most beloved acting teams, who also became the off screen gold standard for Hollywood marriage.

Paul Newman plays Ben Quick, a drifter with a shady past who arrives in the sleepy southern town called Frenchman's Bend, Mississippi, where he immediately gets involved with the town's wealthiest family, the Varners. Will Varner (Orson Welles), the family patriarch is an old fashioned dictator who finds in Ben the son he wish he had instead of his son Jody (Anthony Franciosa), the lazy and dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks heir apparent who finds himself competing with Ben for the keys to the kingdom which he always assumed were going to be his automatically. Will's daughter, Clara (Joanne Woodward) is a spinsterish schoolteacher who's been in a dead end relationship with a mama's boy (Richard Anderson), but finds herself fighting an attraction to Ben, not realizing daddy is already arranging their marriage behind her back.

We also meet Jody's trampy wife, Eula (Lee Remick), who has men driving buy the estate hollering her name while keeping Jody at arm's length and Minnie (Angela Lansbury), Will's devoted mistress who is tired of being a mistress and wants to be Will's wife.

This film made history by introducing the steamy onscreen chemistry created by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward here...Newman, in particular, has rarely been this sexy and charismatic onscreen. Newman brought a similar character to the screen the same year in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, but this character isn't as much of a downer as Brick Pollitt and Newman really seems to be enjoying himself. He and Woodward burn a hole through the movie screen with their chemistry.

Orson Welles' scenery chewing as Will Varner might be a matter of personal taste, but I thought it was appropriate for this kind of southern melodrama. Remick and Lansbury make the most of their underwritten roles and Anderson isn't blown off the screen either. Loved Mabel Alberston as his mother too, who spent most of the 1960's playing everyone's mother on prime time television. If you loved Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, you'll love this...an absolute must for Paul Newman fans.

I thought Charlie Bartlett was not good at all. It's sad that he died but i thought Yelchin was pretty terrible to be honest, it is the only film i've ever seen him in.

Have you seen Alpha Dog? I thought Yelchin was excellent in that.

I have seen Alpha Dog. Damn, Yelchin made zero impression on me at all. I can't even remember him in that and i forgot Charlie Bartlett even existed until i saw your review.

You should squeeze a re-watch of Alpha Dog onto your watchlist.

Might do that sometime.

RIDE ALONG

the 2014 action comedy Ride Along doesn't really offer anything new or innovative in terms of originality or film making technique, but this cop/buddy/action/adventure is worth watching for one reason and one reason only...Kevin Hart.

Hart plays Ben, a video game junkie and security guard who has just found out that he has been accepted into the Atlantia, Georgia police academy, much to the chagrin of his future brother-in-law, James (Ice Cube), a rogue cop who is currently trying to bring down a major arms dealer (Laurence Fishburne). Ben wants to prove to James that he is worthy of marrying his sister (Tika Sumpter) so James decides to take Ben on a ride along to see if Ben has what it takes to be a cop.

Needless to say, James sabotages the ride along with staged incidents and Ben does get wind of this and insists on a chance to prove that he's worthy and ends up being more of an asset than James ever imagined.

As I mentioned, the film is rampant with predictability...we pretty much see everything that happens in this movie five minutes before it actually happens, but we forgive because of the comic powerhouse that is Kevin Hart. Hart has the ability to command a movie screen in a way that recalls Eddie Murphy in films like Beverly Hills Cop and Trading Places...the guy is so damn funny that the mediocrity of the material is almost forgotten.

Ice Cube manages to hold his own opposite Hart and makes a perfect straight man. Fishburne is an acceptable villain and John Leguizamo and Bryan Kallen offer yeomen support, but this is the Kevin Hart show all the way and he never makes you regret it. If you're a Hart fan, you'll be in heaven here because he makes this movie a lot more fun than it probably was on the paper.

I haven't seen the 1958 version of The Long Hot Summer, but I saw the 1985 TV movie starring Don Johnson, and I remember it being a very good movie. I'll have to make sure to watch the Paul Newman version before I submit my list for the 1950's countdown.

I've never seen the TV remake, but, as mentioned in my review, Paul Newman is amazing in this movie and any serious Newman fan will be in heaven here.

The 2007 comic book adventure Spiderman 3 is an overblown and overlong visual extravaganza that is, at its essence, Sam Raimi and company just going to the well once too often.

This film introduces a bigger and badder villain for Spiderman and an equally obnoxious nemesis for Peter Parker. Spidey's relationship with MJ is also shaken up with a new woman (Bryce Dallas Howard) coming into his life and issues from the first film are addressed as well. And if that weren't enough, there is a gooey black entity from another world that decides to attach itself to Spiderman as its earthly host, causing a complete and confusing change in Spiderman's personality.

A good sequel definitely has to offer something new or something demanded from the previous films in order to find appeal but this is another case of a screenplay that just tries to encompass way too much while simultaneously leaving too much unexplained, which is a pretty dandy trick if you think about it. How Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) actually becomes the Sandman is done with a little too much razzle dazzle to be completely viable, not to mention his almost immediate grasp of his power or how this black entity affects Spiderman in one way but then when it attaches itself to Brock (Topher Grace) the photographer trying to get Peter's job at the Bugle, it has a completely different effect on him.

The screenplay also errs in trying to keep Peter's relationship with MJ (Kirsten Dunst) important because it turns her into a self-absorbed diva who wants everything to be about her and then we're supposed to care when the story tries to put her in jeopardy later? Peter's issues with Harry (James Franco) also took way too long to resolve themselves, but this was one part of the movie that worked for me, with some really standout work from Franco, who embraced the return of Harry's brain for this final film of the trilogy. And like most comic book adventures, the film had about four too many endings and was about 45 minutes too long.

Tobey Maguire still manages to infuse some likability into this superhero despite some dumb behavior for the character, but it's time to get this guy a costume that doesn't tear at the bicep and pectoral areas every time he gets in a fight with a bad guy. Thomas Haden Church was quite credible as Marko, but I just didn't buy the Sandman...how was it every time he appeared he got bigger and bigger? It was also nice to see JK Simmons and Elizabeth Banks' roles beefed up a bit. I was kind of hoping the attraction between Peter and Banks' character might be addressed in this film, but I don't want it enough to have a Spiderman 4...with Andrew Garfield's reincarnation of the character, let's hope this trilogy is cinema history now.

HONEYMOON IN VEGAS

Director and co-writer Andrew Bergman had middling success with a 1992 comedy called Honeymoon in Vegas that holds interest and sustain selected chuckles despite an unfocused screenplay that the leading actor manages to rise above somehow.

Jack Singer (Nicolas Cage) is a 2nd rate New York private eye specializing in cheating spouses, who made a promise to his mother (Anne Bancroft) on her deathbed that he would never marry, but is gently pressured into flying to Vegas with girlfriend Betsy (Sarah Jessica Parker) and getting married. Upon their arrival in Vegas, Jack and Betsy are spotted in their hotel lobby by a professional gambler named Tommy Korman (James Caan) and we learn that Betsy is a dead ringer for Tommy's deceased wife, Donna.

Instantly obsessed, Tommy has an invitation sent to their suite for Jack to join a high stakes poker game in Tommy's suite. Jack puts Betsy off from the wedding chapel long enough to attend the poker game, where he is set up to lose $65,000.00. Tommy agrees to forget about the debt if Jack will let Betsy spend the rest of the weekend with him.

We have nothing terribly original in terms of storytelling, in fact, the story takes a couple of unnecessary detours, but where Bergman scores here is in his creation and casting of the character of Tommy Korman. James Caan is an absolute revelation in this role, giving one of his richest characterizations playing a character that, on the surface, is basically a mustache-twirling bad guy, but Caan breathes a charm and humanity into this character that is just intoxicating, making this character instantly likable...so likable that we almost forgive what he is doing here, almost to the point of being on his side, until he shows his true colors in the final act, where he is upstaged in the silly finale by a bunch of Elvis impersonating skydivers (don't ask).

Nicolas Cage works very hard to make us like Jack, but he plays the role a little too straight-faced, as if Bergman forgot to remind him that he was appearing in a comedy, but Sarah Jessica Parker is a lovely leading lady and there is effective use of Las Vegas and Hawaiian scenery, but the Elvis impersonators that seem to punctuate every scene get a little tiresome as do some very tired covers of Elvis' most famous songs utilized for the soundtrack, but I found the film surprisingly watchable due to the charismatic star turn by James Caan, which almost made up for the rest of the film's shortcomings.

MAN'S FAVORITE SPORT?

Veteran director Howard Hawks proved he still had what it took to produce viable screen entertainment with an entertaining and surprisingly sexy 1964 comedy called Man's Favorite Sport?, an amusing battle of the sexes that took traditional roles for men and women in relationships during the 1960's and flipped them.

Rock Hudson stars as Roger Willoughby, a sporting goods store employee and author of a best selling book about fishing, despite the fact that he has never gone fishing in his life. When forced to enter a fishing tournament, Roger must depend on a public relations expert named Abigail Page (Paula Prentiss) to try and pass him off as a fisherman for this tournament.

I'm pretty sure this sexy slapstick comedy was a real eye-opener in 1964 as it reversed traditional roles for men and women...we actually had a film centered around a sport where the central male character knew nothing about the sport and didn't really have any shame about it. We were also introduced to a leading female character in Abigail who made no bones about her attraction to Roger from their first meeting and doesn't wait for the guy to chase her. I love the scene where she calls Roger to get a sleeping pill and her roommate asks her when she's coming home and she replies, "I don't know". Pretty grown up stuff for 1964.

Director Hawks proves that he has not lost his skill with razor sharp dialogue delivered at a lightening pace, delivered here in a way that recalls his 1940 classic His Girl Friday. Rock Hudson shows an unforeseen skill with actual slapstick comedy here...the only actor doing comparable physical comedy during this time was Jerry Lewis but Hudson fully commits to it here. Prentiss is an unconventional but fun leading lady and there is effective support from John McGiver as Roger's boss and Norman Alden as an Indian con man. Kudos as well to Henry Mancini for a great title song and a bluesy score. It's a little dated, but it's still a lot of fun.