David Fincher is an unusual entry into the canon of modern-day acclaimed auteurs. He's a widely-revered filmmaker, and rightfully so, but he tends to eschew the types of movies that usually garner American filmmakers their enormously influential reputation. Fincher is known for his grimier thrillers that don't ease up on the blood or the violence. The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo, Se7en, Gone Girl, Fincher loves seedy cinema. Considering his exceptional batting average as a filmmaker, thank goodness for his fascination with these darker corners of storytelling. Heck, the fact that his lone dud, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, was a much more traditional drama indicates why Fincher stays in this lane so often.
Welcome to Land of The Nerds, where I, Lisa Laman, use my love of cinema to explore, review and talk about every genre of film imaginable!
Showing posts with label David Fincher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Fincher. Show all posts
Monday, June 1, 2020
Friday, March 1, 2019
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button's Unique Story Deserved A Less Derivative Movie
When a movie makes a whole lot of money, the studio behind said movie (as well as other rival studios) tend to want to replicate that box office success. Normally this is done through sequels, spin-off's, cinematic universes, all that jazz, but back in the day it was a lot more common for studios to just make new movies that were clearly executed in the mold of prior box office successes. For example, two of the biggest movies of the 1990s for Paramount Pictures were its pair of Best Picture winners Forrest Gump and Titanic. Making sequels to such lucrative movies is a problematic idea because, for Forrest Gump, the key creative people behind that movie are just so busy while for the problems with making 2 Tit 2 Anic should be self-evident.
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Good Men Become Obssessed With Finding The Signs Pointing To Answers In Zodiac
We all love a good mystery. Why you think mystery novels, whether they're aimed at adults or youngsters, tend to sell like hot cakes? Mysteries tend to sell well because they offer up all the confusion and uncertainty of everyday life, but typical mystery books/films/TV shows also offer up something life, more often than not, doesn't offer: a tidy conclusion. You get to find out what bad guy committed whatever mystery is driving the plot and his motivations by the end of these mystery tales in sharp contrast to real life where, frequently, those kind of answers are never found. Pieces of mystery based entertainment allow us to indulge in getting the kind of closure on atrocities we may never find in reality.
Labels:
1970's,
2007,
Alien 3,
Classic Write-Up,
David Fincher,
Jake Gyllenhaal,
James Vanderbilt,
March 2007,
Mark Ruffalo,
Movie Review,
Mystery,
Newspaper,
Robert Downey Jr.,
The Social Network,
Zodiac,
Zodiac Killer
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
The Downward Trend In Quality In The Alien Movies Began With Alien 3
How do you follow a one-two punch like Alien and Aliens? Well, really, you should just leave a good thing alone, especially if you haven't got a great idea for a third movie burning a hole in your pocket. But 20th Century Fox was determined to make more entries in the franchise after the big box office bucks generated by Aliens. From their determination to wring another Ellen Ripley adventure out of the franchise sprung Alien 3, which ended up being the feature-length directorial debut for one David Fincher. Yes, that David Fincher, the guy responsible for The Social Network, one of my favorite movies of all-time.
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Spend Seven (Or, Technically 127) Minutes In Thrilling Heaven With Davin Fincher's Excellent Thriller Seven
Though his most acclaimed movie may be the 2010 masterpiece The Social Network, which is very much a restrained down-to-Earth movie in many respects, David Fincher's 1995 thriller Seven reminds us all that this guy isn't just a cinematic auteur but also someone along the lines of Sam Raimi that loves to freak out his viewers with some truly sadistic imagery and sequences. You can see that in his most recent feature, Gone Girl, which has plenty of over-the-top kills and buckets of blood when the time comes for it. Fincher knows excellent shot composition and thoughtful narratives like the back of his hand but the guy also knows how to do grimy violence for shock value in a tantalizing manner that furthers the man's versatility as a filmmaker.
Labels:
12 Years A Slave,
1995,
Andrew Kevin Walker,
Brad Pitt,
Classic Write-Up,
David Fincher,
Gone Girl,
Hannibal,
Moneyball,
Morgan Freeman,
Movie Review,
September 1995,
Seven,
The Big Short,
The Social Network
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Even Kids Will Likely Find Trolls Too Lacking And One-Note To Fully Enjoy
In the esteemed pantheon of movie adaptations of toys, Trolls can at least take pride in the indisputable fact that it's better than the Transformers sequels and Battleship. And amongst its DreamWorks Animation brethren, it's better than the last two Shrek movies! That's sort of the extent of the highest praise I can offer Trolls, a movie that exists solely to sell toys and albums and makes very little attempt to cover that up. Like, I'm not naive, I know there toy executives slobbering over the infinitely better movie Zootopia since that one had limitless potential for stuffed animals and the like. But there's at least a great movie there, so who cares if they make some toys off it?
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Aaron Sorkin Written Steve Jobs Movie Loses Home At Sony, But All Hope Is Not Lost
It's been a rough road for the Steve Jobs biopic written by Aaron Sorkin. David Fincher was supposed to direct it, make it a nice Social Network reunion, but he passed. Then, Danny Boyle came on as director, only for lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio to pass. Christian Bale, who had been floated around as a lead for the project when Fincher was directing, reattached himself to the project, and then left it. Michael Fassbender was in talks to play the lead of Steve Jobs, while Seth Rogen, Jessica Chastain and Scarlett Johnansson were in discussions for roles in the feature.
Friday, October 24, 2014
Christian Bale Will Be The Steve Jobs We Deserve And Need
You can call me crazy, but I think the newest Steve Jobs biopics casting for the role of the famed icon is a bit of an upgrade on Ashton Kutcher. This new Jobs movie has been in development for ages now, with Aaron Sorkin writing and directors like David Fincher passing on it. But Danny Boyle is confirmed to direct and now we have an actor confirmed to play Steve Jobs himself!
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Gone Girl Review
My procedure for movies based on books is to not give the literature that inspired the feature a read prior to seeing the film. It's not that I'm against books in general, it's just that I want to treat the film as a separate entity as much as possible. Gone Girl adds an interesting facet to this tactic though by having Gillian Flynn, the woman who wrote the book that this movie is based on, write the films screenplay. If her books are anything like this films writing in terms of quality, I'll be sure to check out any and all of her work ASAP.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Did Ben Affleck Kill His Wife In The Trailer For Gone Girl?
Three years ago, The Social Network hit theaters and changed this particular moviegoers life forever. It was one of those movies that's just so amazingly well made, it never fails to boggle your mind. The following year, the director of that fantastic movie, David Fincher, handled a new interpretation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and then took a three year break that ends with this falls Gone Girl. Here's the newest trailer for that new movie.
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