Still there after All Those Things..

Gone Girl is an extraordinary movie that picks on (simultaneously) intense parenting, scheming wives, cheating husbands, doting siblings, obnoxious media, enthusiastic policemen – and a lot more - all in one swift stroke of genius from David Fincher (Fight Club, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo). Nick (Ben Affleck) and  Amy (Rosamund Pike) are a copybook couple in New York – the recession and career changes takes them to faraway Missouri – wherein the chinks in the armor of their marriage (who has the money? Kids, anyone? How about old flames, or pretty young things?) – begin to unravel. Yes, Amy is long gone – but in a black comedy of extremes, she makes her way back to Nick’s life – or does she? This is a stellar thriller-cum-drama rolled into one. Unmissable.

16/20

Of Fights and One's Identity

The Hurricane (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0174856/) fails. Denzel Washington is as superlative as ever, and the aggression metamorphosing into calm inner strength is quite brilliantly executed. What really fails are the contradictions with the real life of Reuben Carter. If you scratch the surface of this movie, it falls leagues in your eyes on grounds of sheer authenticity. It seems that "artistic license" here has quite distorted a person that was not quite a pleasant character, pretty much throughout his life

Two of the best movies that I have ever seen are Trainspotting (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117951/) and Fight Club (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/). While the former stops at seeking one's identity and finding a modicum of sanity after working through a set of hilarious self-destructive capers, the latter is truly a dark movie about alter ego. The fact that your alter ego can actually surpass you in everything, and bring his plans to fruition, and finally break free of you, has more than a passing appeal in our unceasingly boring existences. Edward Norton's daily existence closely mirrors that of Neo in the Matrix' first installment. Who knows if a sheer genre can be carved out of the unexpected outcomes of monotony in urban life!

A few unrelated ones

Michael Douglas is perhaps the only actor who can hold a candle to the long line of Italians for his sheer intensity on screen. The Game (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119174/) is a simple "victim of a con job" with numerous twists, some barely believable, but entertaining nevertheless - what stands out is the lead's intensity and the frantic pace of the movie. A relatively hackneyed theme, well executed - just as in the case of Cloverfield (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/) - NYC under attack for the umpteenth time, but the footage over a Handycam and the relentless pace superbly executed. Who was it that said that we discover something new every day? Director David Fincher of the former has to his credit Alien, Seven, Fight Club, Panic Room and Zodiac. He could do worse. Definitely one to comprehensively cover, as it were

Speaking of good movies, there are movies that one watches that one wishes were not made. I am not speaking of the good-intentioned flops, the tributes to sheer lack of talent. I speak of plagiarisims and ripoffs so poorly done and such obvious and shoddy attempts to milk a genre, they bring discredit to all concerned. In the Name of the King (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460780/) should have known better than to shamelessly rip off LOTR. And poorly too. Hope it does not put the brakes on Jason Statham's rise to reasonable fame. If you seek period pieces of recent make, I strongly recommend Beowulf (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0442933/) while Tristan + Isolde and 300 also make for decent viewing.