Ranking Fincher's films

"Filmmaking isn’t if you can just strap on a camera onto an actor, and steadicam, and point it at their face, and follow them through the movie, that is not what moviemaking is, that is not what it’s about. It’s not just about getting a performance. It’s also about the psychology of the cinematic moment, and the psychology of the presentation of that, of that window."

Well, here we are guys, days before most of you get to see Gone Girl and about 2 weeks until I get to see it (no, seriously, fuck my life) we reached the end of my David Fincher Blog Event. Hopefully you guys liked the series and perhaps it even got you in the mood to watch or rewatch some of his movies.

Fincher, a guy who is nicknamed 'the prince of darkness', is for me the most talented director working right now. And hopefully through one of my lists it was also evident that this guy has a great sense of humour, a knowledge that may come quite handy when you realize just how many hilarious things there are in Gone Girl.

But don't worry, it's still dark, creepy and morally repugnant. Fincher you know and love.

Soundtrack Wednesday - Gone Girl

 While it's still a little over a week till the whole album is released four tracks showed up on soundcloud today. I think this will become my favorite of the three scores Reznor and Ross did for Fincher. Sugar Storm on its own is so gorgeous. I can almost taste sugar and snow while listening to it. Just like You sounds like something straight from David Lynch's movie and I think The Way he looks at me plays in a certain montage that is bound to make everyone lose their shit.

Are you ready to meet Amazing Amy? + 5 essential performances by Rosamund Pike

The first reviews for Gone Girl arrived. Here's what the critics are saying about Rosamund Pike's performance as Amy - my most anticipated performance of the year:

Top 10 performances in David Fincher's films

Whenever there is a new Fincher's movie there is always Oscar talk. Sometimes people do get in but on occasion they're not the ones who most root for to be nominated - what the fuck did Brad Pitt actually do in The Curious Case of the Benjamin Button? Another thing? I was always baffled by Eisenberg being the one who was nominated for Social Network.

Scene of the Week - The Social Network

The Henley Royal Regatta

directed by David Fincher

This is one of the many scenes in the Social Network that are so well directed it just takes your breath away. But it's probably also the most memorable scene for most of the people. Just what the hell is it about this scene? It's not really connected to the main narrative, it's sticks out of the movie but doesn't distract.

Top 10 Music Moments in David Fincher's Films

One of the many things I adore about Fincher's movies is how perfectly the man uses the music in them. He directed music videos before the became the movie director so he certainly understands the rhythm and how to make the footage go perfectly with the music. Not only are the soundtracks for his films brilliant, it's also about those particular songs that fit the movie so well, that frame this particular scene so superbly, you cannot possibly imagine anything else accompanying them. Here are my favorite music moments from Fincher's movies.

Top 10 Funny Moments in David Fincher's films

 One of the most amazing things in Fincher's movies is that as dark as they may be they miraculously manage to have hilarious, sometimes even laugh out loud funny moments. Whether it's Robert Downey Jr.'s character genius lines in Zodiac, Tyler pissing and - doing worse things - into people's soup in Fight Club or snarky Harvard president being absolutely dismissive of his students, Fincher's films have really wonderful moments of humor which I always appreciate.

I hate tonally black and white films - just because something is a thriller doesn't mean you have to sit there stewed in dark tension for 2 hours straight. So let's take a look at some of the funniest moments in Fincher's films.

I'm sure Gone Girl will bring a few of those as well. Tyler Perry's "would you look at this stupid motherfucker incriminating himself?" looks at Ben Affleck are already so funny and we just saw a little bit of that in trailers.

(I didn't bother rewaching Alien 3 for this, though, I'm sure there are some great moments of unintentional humor, Benjamin Button was shockingly devoid of funny bits despite all its warmth, the funniest thing about Panic Room was Jared Leto's acting and The Game, while did have few golden moments of Douglas being disgusted, didn't make the cut)

Visual Parallels: Zodiac + Se7en

Zodiac and Se7en. On paper they should be very similar - they both deal with the hunt for a monster - enigmatic, evil man killing innocent people. They both have good characters chasing after the bad guy. Finally they are both directed by David Fincher. But although so similar on the surface, and sharing so many visual similarities, they are completely different. And completely unequal.

Performances I Love - Morgan Freeman in Se7en (+ few words about John Doe and the box)

When people talk about Morgan Freeman nowadays they tend to talk about how his laziness is almost up there on the levels of tardiness depicted by Johnny Depp's recent professional behaviour which is quite frankly embarrassing to witness. They talk how he stumbled from the set of Transcendence right to the set of Lucy without so much noticing the difference, or at least so it looks judging by the quality of his performances and the level of interest he seems to have in the projects. And when people talk of David Fincher's Se7en they always, always sing praises for Kevin Spacey, hailing his John Doe as one of the most memorable cinematic killers and nominating his performance left and right, completely ignoring everyone else who is in this movie. Let's break these two patterns, shall we?

63 things I love about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (that no one talks about)

Brilliant Alex who runs terrific And So it Begins has this fabulous series where he writes about things he loves in movies that no one seems to be talking about. Alex has kindly let me borrow this idea for my today's post which is the first one in the David Fincher event I'm organizing here on the site in anticipation for Gone Girl. Over the next two months most of the posts on the site - soundtrack Wednesdays, scenes of the week and performances I love - will be all about Fincher's previous movies.

Amazing Amy is Gone - Anticipating Gone Girl

 (all the spoilers are written in light font, to read them highlight the text)

"When I think of my wife, I always think of her head. The shape of it, to begin with. The very first time I saw her, it was the back of the head I saw, and there was something lovely about it, the angles of it. Like a shiny, hard corn kernel or a riverbed fossil. She had what the Victorians would call a finely shaped head. You could imagine the skull quite easily. I’d know her head anywhere. And what’s inside it. 

I think of that, too: her mind. Her brain, all those coils, and her thoughts shuttling through those coils like fast, frantic centipedes. Like a child, I picture opening her skull, unspooling her brain and sifting through it, trying to catch and pin down her thoughts. What are you thinking, Amy? The question I’ve asked most often during our marriage, if not out loud, if not to the person who could answer. I suppose these questions stormcloud over every marriage: 

What are you thinking? How are you feeling? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we do?"

- the opening lines of Gone Girl