Author Topic: Bondo's Great Directors  (Read 70525 times)

Bondo

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Re: Revisiting Great Directors
« Reply #20 on: March 30, 2010, 08:39:50 PM »
Panic Room (David Fincher, 2002)

Before she was choosing between a vampire, a werewolf or a life as a lesbian rocker; Kristen Stewart was living the idyllic childish life fighting off robbers.

As the mysterious popularity of The Game continues to keep it out of reach, I move on to the fourth film in my David Fincher marathon, Panic Room. Having watched Se7en and Fight Club, I would not have anticipated saying it, but this is my favorite so far. Those films both reach a bit while this one sticks with a pretty simple premise and just nails it completely. The basic premise is you've got a mother (Jodie Foster, who plays the tough woman who isn't going to take crap from anyone as well as anyone) and her daughter (Kristen Stewart) moving into a new house complete with a "panic room," safe against intruders. Well, naturally the first night they are there three intruders (Forrest Whitaker, Jared Leto and Dwight Yokum) show up, looking for something left by the previous resident. The interplay of the safe room and the rest of the house creates a lot of tension without anything so dramatic as a gun to the head. You see two sides who seem pretty equally matched as they try to turn the situation in their advantage.

Leto and Yokum get stuck in too too (though still effective) roles but it is Foster (and her cleavage), Whitaker, and yes, Stewart who really stand out here. As her first major role, at 12, it is really quite a feat (something she tops two years later in Speak which probably remains her best performance). And for those who said she looks a little boyish in the discussion of puzzlement over the Twilight stars' rise as dreamy idols, she probably will never look quite as boyish as she does here given her hair styling. It is so short she can't even play with it...also not a lot of lip biting.

After the grainier/rougher style of Se7en and Fight Club, the cinematography here is spectacular. I'm going to credit Darius Khodji, who incidentally also worked Se7en, for the magnificent shots here. His work in some other films like My Blueberry Nights (which I've heard receive praise though I've never seen it) and the US version of Funny Games certainly supports his role in making this film so effective.

Anyway, this is just really enjoyable entertainment.

Rating: 4/5
« Last Edit: March 30, 2010, 08:41:49 PM by Bondo »

Bondo

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Re: Revisiting Great Directors
« Reply #21 on: April 03, 2010, 09:32:57 PM »
The Game (David Fincher, 1997)

I'm not even going to bother with a screen capture or an in-depth write up here. I'm going to write this off as a sophomore slump for Fincher and move on to the final two films in the marathon. The basis for the thrill in the film, the game, is just so implausible that it never manages to be thrilling. I was bored through the whole thing. What a waste. I should have included Aliens3 instead or something.

I guess if I need to say something, I'd say the script is mostly to fault but there are so many moments and music cues that make me think it would be more fitting if it just went "duh duh duhhhhhhh."

Edit: I was probably too harsh. I still think the implausibility is a fatal flaw but it is doing some interesting things here.

Rating: 2/5
« Last Edit: April 11, 2010, 11:24:28 PM by Bondo »

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Revisiting Great Directors
« Reply #22 on: April 03, 2010, 09:42:54 PM »
Really? I found this to be one of Fincher's better films even though I do have some major problems with the film.

Bondo

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Re: Revisiting Great Directors
« Reply #23 on: April 03, 2010, 09:59:37 PM »
Really? I found this to be one of Fincher's better films even though I do have some major problems with the film.

The idea works in theory. Maybe you were better than me at suspending disbelief about it being made to work. The end of the game certainly has a powerful impact though.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Revisiting Great Directors
« Reply #24 on: April 04, 2010, 12:26:09 AM »
For me it was a great play because you're constantly wondering what real and what is a farce. And that alone made the film good for me.

Bondo

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Re: Revisiting Great Directors
« Reply #25 on: April 07, 2010, 10:45:07 PM »
Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)


This definitely feels like the culmination of Fincher's body of work thus far. You've got the investigative elements of Se7en, some of the twistiness and dramatic tension of The Game or Fight Club and the visual splendor of Panic Room. As his first period piece he does a great job with art direction. The Chronicle office is a spectacle of overt colors that certainly have since fallen out of fashion.

This is a decidedly more mature crime thriller than Se7en. It is forced into this partly by the real life material, but this isn't just a pulp novel based around a hook, it is a detailed look into the actual investigative process. It shares some common aspects in that it does to some degree find itself with the conclusion of Morgan Freeman's character that they simply put the clues together for the record and aren't so much good at finding the killer and stopping him. We see a mirrored story as you have a police pairing (mainly Mark Ruffalo) and a journalist pairing (Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey, Jr.) where each has one determined member and one that is less committed for one reason or another.

In addition to the great performances here, the script is the real star. For as tense a film as this is, it has so many really funny moments. Also, the complexity of jurisdictional conflicts and the many difficulties in sorting out the various suspects never seems forced or convenient toward the production of a more complex investigation.

For all the good comments, I will say that it drags a bit in the middle and is quite a hefty movie. For the occasional viewing, this is certainly Fincher's best film, but if I were to pick one film to revisit soon after this marathon, I'd still have to say Panic Room.

Rating: 4/5

Junior

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Re: Revisiting Great Directors
« Reply #26 on: April 07, 2010, 10:49:39 PM »
Zodiac was probably close to the best movie released that year. Which is a tough thing to do.
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Clovis8

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Re: Revisiting Great Directors
« Reply #27 on: April 07, 2010, 10:51:16 PM »
I agree Zodiac is not a light film but it is Fincher's best and one of the best procedural crime films of all time.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Revisiting Great Directors
« Reply #28 on: April 07, 2010, 10:53:05 PM »
Zodiac was probably close to the best movie released that year. Which is a tough thing to do.

Statements like this break my heart, especially knowing how much you love TWBB.

Bondo

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Re: Revisiting Great Directors
« Reply #29 on: April 07, 2010, 10:57:29 PM »
Zodiac was probably close to the best movie released that year. Which is a tough thing to do.

Statements like this break my heart, especially knowing how much you love TWBB.

I call foul, no mentioning PT Anderson in my great directors thread. Anyway, as far as 2007 goes, Juno and great director Jason Reitman ftw; though I do think after this viewing, Zodiac would make my top 10.