Today I tried something different and made 2 videos for my channel. One that summarized the movies I saw in the theater in January and another the movies I saw at home. If you read my reviews you already know my opinion but this is a summary. I would love if you took a look and subscribed to my channel.
Thanks!
Definitely going to ruffle feathers on this review. When I got home from Comicon I decided to watch a movie last night and put on Gone Girl (trying to catch up). Gone Girl is a very well made completely preposterous movie that I just couldn’t get behind. I realize I’m in the minority on this one and I’m ok with that.
It’s very hard to talk about Gone Girl without giving away spoilers. Basically it is about a man named Nick played by Ben Affleck who’s wife played by Rosamund Pike is missing. A detective named Rhonda begins to suspect Nick of murdering his wife.
All the performances are good in Gone Girl. It is well directed by David Fincher using his typical harsh lighting and overall style.
I really loved the commentary it gives on our 24 hour news cycle although I’m not sure we needed two TV women in Missi Pyle and Sela Ward. Carrie Coon, Neal Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry are all good in their various roles. Of the entire cast I actually thought Pike was the weakest performance-wise. Again, I know I’m in minority on that one. It was very predictable and one note.
All that said, the movie requires the viewer to accept a character makes and executes a plan with perfect precision, never making mistakes. To me it was a preposterous twist I just couldn’t buy. Nobody is that perfect. It made the character a lot less interesting because he or she could do no wrong. And then the ending was bizarre and impossible to believe. It made no sense given everything we have been told about either characters. There is no way. I was left thinking again and again throughout the movie ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’.
Because this particular character twist is so over-the-top their actions and story became very predictable. They are the psychopaths we’ve seen a million times in a million other movies (and law and order episodes for that matter).
Occasionally I will like a predictable movie that does what it’s trying to do well but usually that is because I bond with a character or it has special effects or other unique appeal. I didn’t have that in Gone Girl. It reminded me of a movie like The Village or Signs (not that bad) but slickly made, good performances but a plot that defies credibility and made me groan.
I just didn’t buy the plot so despite good performances and interesting commentary, the movie was in the end a frustrating experience. I really didn’t care for it.
I’d also say it is a hard R definitely adults only for sexuality, violence, blood, gore and language.
That said, I can see if you can go with the scheming and plan than you’d like the movie. I just couldn’t. Sorry…
Content Grade- D, Overall Grade- C
I have not read the book it was based and so don’t know how it relates to the story in the book.
Big night at Annie awards for How to Train Your Dragon 2. It’s certainly an entertaining movie and hopefully these awards will help keep Dreamworks afloat.
Put Dragon on your Oscar ballot!
Very happy to see Gravity Falls and my beloved Simpsons win in tv sections. Go Annies!
My friend from England finally got to see Big Hero 6 and loved it as much as I did. Great review!
Today I had a fun new experience. Since 2013 they have had one of the most successful local comicon’s here in Salt Lake and I’ve wanted to attend but since I don’t read comic books I wasn’t sure it would be worth it. Well, this year it happened to fall on the week after my birthday so I thought why not? and I decided to go to Comicon.
It started today and it was a mixture of fun and not so much fun. Luckily I think next time I will know what not to do and have more fun. When I arrived I didn’t know which part of the Salt Palace Convention Center the Con was on so I parked on the West Side. Big mistake. I wish the organizers had put a sign or something because I had to walk to the very most East side through 3 other convention halls. I should have brought my cane but I figured I could rest. Big mistake.
Anyway, I got to the festivities and I had a good time shopping for about an hour and a half. I got some hair chalk, a necklace made of scrabble pieces and a t-shirt inked with a wood lithograph with a cool design of Elsa.
I also got a picture taken with the delorean from Back to the Future and got to donate to Parkinson’s research. Win-win.
I got my picture taken with R2D2 which was pretty cool
And a glitter tattoo
Then I headed over for my photo op with Carrie Fisher. It was $70 and I had paid for an autograph. The website had said to not arrive early. 15 minutes tops. I got there at 23 minutes before the session and the line was a mile long. It took me nearly 2 hours waiting. The whole thing was so disorganized and frustrating and then when I got there I had to take the photo on the floor with her dog.
I really don’t care that we were sitting on the floor or that her dog was there it was just the whole process was very frustrating. Why not give groups of people 10 minute windows to get their photos or make them more expensive so there is less interest. Anything rather than have me on my feet waiting in line for 2 hours. With my feet and knee problems standing like that is the worst thing and it was very frustrating. I also never got my autograph because we had to wait in another line for that. Forget it.
It was also incredibly hard to find any staff and just a general aura of confusion. I think there were only two small booths that were tough to find and I thought it was strange that nobody greeted me with a map and guide when I arrived. For the prices they are charging and attendance they are getting they need to step it up for next time.
Anyway, next time I will just save my money and go to the celebrity row they had and no lines and were much cheaper. I met lots of cool people including Ralph Macchio from Karate Kid. He was very nice.
Next time I go I will bring a lunch because the food concessions were small in number and long in lines. I got some pecans to hold me over (and luckily had eaten a fairly big breakfast).
Well, then I did a little more shopping and got to say hi to Olaf and Elsa.
Then the highlight of the day was a panel with Jess Arnell, Jim Cummings and Rob Paulsen. They are all amazing voice actors and they spent about an hour reading script from Harry Potter in tons of voices. It was hilarious and brilliant and amazing. It made the day! (Sorry it is shaky in spots).
I’m making it sound like I had a terrible time which isn’t true. I really did have fun and if I go again I will have way more fun because I will know what to avoid. As for the moment it’s late, my feet are killing and I am ready to zonk out. Happy Comicon!