Gone Girl - 2014

"Gone Girl" - 2014
Dir. by David Fincher - 2 hrs. 29 min.

Official Trailer #2

by Clayton Hollifield

Finally, the movie year of 2014 has begun.  Yeah, there's been a lot of movies out this year, and a ton of them that I didn't even need to see to know that I didn't need to see them.  There's been fun stuff like "Guardians of the Galaxy" (or any of the other comic-book adaptations), but "Gone Girl" is the first movie of the year that I've just gotten lost in the story, and not had much of an idea where things were going to end up.  Not only that, it was a great ride from beginning to end, a tense thriller with twists and turns that just don't let up.

On his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) comes home to find a mess, but he doesn't find his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), anywhere.  There is blood, but no body, and the police, led by Detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens), tries to get to the bottom of things, which appear less clear than they initially appear.  First assumption: she's been killed, and that Nick is probably responsible for it.  And just like every time a pretty blonde wife disappears under suspicious circumstances, bloodsuckers like Ellen Abbott (Missi Pyle, playing a Nancy Grace clone) turn it into a 24-7 media circus.  Nick and his twin sister Margo (Carrie Coon) do what they can to clear his name, but it's pretty much all they can do just to keep out of the media's lenses, and they don't really even stay a step ahead of the police in this matter.

First things first, this is easily the best film I've seen this year.  I mean, I haven't seen "Godzilla" yet, but I feel safe in saying that this is in the discussion for best movie of the year, to this point.  As much as I enjoyed "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "Gone Girl" is probably the best possible argument to let director David Fincher tackle the other two books in that series.  His visual sense, mastery of suspense and tension, and expert pacing (this was a two-and-a-half hour film, preceded by twenty minutes of trailers, and never once felt like it was lagging or wasting time) are all on full display here.  The questions that drive this film, namely what happened to Amy and whether Nick did it, aren't answered on accident, and when they are answered, the answers raise more questions than I had before.  This is a complicated story, and there are lot of threads about, and it doesn't get any more confusing than necessary.  That is masterful storytelling.

I also loved the casting in this film, all the way around.  For people who have nothing better to do than hate Ben Affleck, casting him as Nick is kind of an act of trolling (which I whole-heartedly endorse).  If you don't like him, you're going to be inclined to immediately believe the worst about his character, which "Gone Girl" makes clear is at least partially the result of training by decades of sensationalist, irresponsible media coverage of these kinds of crimes.  If you're a fan, watching what happens when an imperfect man and his life is suddenly put under intense pressure and scrutiny is going to be a painful, uncomfortable experience.  The story isn't entirely about the standard knee-jerk media coverage of crimes like this, but the way that coverage affects both how the principals in the story are treated and how they must behave to avoid adding to the flame that's attracting all of the moths. This aspect of "Gone Girl" was handled well, cleverly, and was boosted by the casting of Tyler Perry as a sort of a "celebrity lawyer."  It's almost impossible to have a neutral response to Perry - he's a huge star who has done nothing of note aside repeatedly playing a comedy character in drag, so it's really easy to view him as little more than a buffoon (which is my bias showing), which is pretty much exactly how you should feel about lawyers who are famous pretty much for being on Nancy Grace's show.  As an aside, Perry is also physically larger than Ben Affleck (which is saying something), which is a necessary component of Nick's relationship with Tanner Bolt; it's a subtle thing, but requiring someone physically larger to direct Nick plays up to the distinct possibility that Nick murdered his wife in a rage.

There's a lot of this movie that I won't talk about, just because to spoil much of anything would be awful.  That makes it exceedingly difficult to talk about Rosamund Pike's performance throughout the film (the story is told in a somewhat non-linear fashion, but that aspect doesn't make the film difficult to understand), but a lot of the story rests on her shoulders, and she carries it.  She kind of kicks everyone's ass, in this department.  Beyond that, "Gone Girl" is a successful film.  I mean, it's the first movie in a while that I want to encourage people to see.  It's the kind of movie that theatres are made for; you need to be locked in a dark room away from the world's distractions, devoted to nothing more than paying attention to this story to get the most out of it.  There are some movies that don't suffer from being broken up or from periodic distractions.  "Gone Girl" isn't one of those films.  The tone is remarkable and enveloping, the mood is involving (no matter where the material heads), the acting is top-notch, and the story flat out kicks ass.  This isn't a cool movie, it's one that will find it's way into some of your worst fears, and take you on a ride from there.  So see it, like right now.

4.5 / 5 - Theatre

Undercover Brother - 2002

"Undercover Brother" - 2002
Dir. by Malcom D. Lee - 1 hr. 26 min.

Official Trailer

by Clayton Hollifield

I remembered liking this movie a lot more when it came out.  Oh sure, there were still funny bits, but I was a little let down this time around.  Comedies don't always age well, and there's some integral plot points in "Undercover Brother" that have come and gone in the real world, and maybe that's partially to blame.  But not everything is built to last, and it's true here.

Undercover Brother (Eddie Griffin) is a one-man operative, trying to fight for the rights of the downtrodden.  But, during a bank-based sabotage mission, he crosses paths with Sistah Girl (Aunjenue Ellis), who is also on a mission from B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D., an organization that's dedicated to pretty much exactly what Undercover Brother is doing on his own.  When retired General Warren Boutwell (Billy Dee Williams - think Colin Powell) spurns a Presidential bid to launch a chain of fried chicken restaurants, the organization brings in Undercover Brother to get to the bottom of things.

Perhaps the easiest comparison for "Undercover Brother" is "I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka," and with "Black Dynamite" coming down the pipeline about ten years later.  The humor is based on the same blaxploitation films, and on racial stereotypes, and on fighting "The Man."  And I mean that literally - the big bad guy in the film is literally called "The Man."  So if you're not into those films, either the originals or parodies of them, "Undercover Brother" is not the sort of movie that's good enough to convert you.  But if you're into it, there's plenty of things to enjoy, even silly little stuff like Brother navigating his convertible Cadillac through a series of spins, all while keeping his Big Gulp of orange soda perfectly balanced, so that not even a drop spills on his interior.  It's also worth noting that the film picks up considerably in the third act, which is the final showdown on The Man's island fortress.  I mean, part of the showdown between Undercover Brother and Mr. Feather (Chris Kattan) is scored to Michael Jackson's "Beat It," which is awesome in itself.

I will say that a comedy based on the premise of a black man running for president will have, by the current year of 2014, lost a lot of it's punch.  Chris Rock made a movie in this same time frame with a much more serious, albeit still a comedic approach to the topic ("Head of State"), and I suspect that re-watching that film now would yield the same result.  Right now, this is no longer a comedic premise, it's been reality for six years now.  And I'll tell you straight up, I'm more than willing to trade the potency of a pair of middling comedies for breaking what once seemed like a unbreakable barrier in American poliltics.

So, what's left then?  As I see it, there are three main reasons to watch "Undercover Brother."  First off, this is pretty much peak Denise Richards.  If you ever liked her at all, throw this film in between your evening viewings of "Starship Troopers" and "Wild Things" to change up your pace.  Secondly and thirdly, Dave Chappelle and Neil Patrick Harris are fantastic in their supporting roles.  Chappelle plays Conspiracy Brother, which sums things up nicely, and he made the most out of what he had with outstanding energy.  NPH plays Lance, B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D.'s intern, hired because of affirmative action, much to everyone's consternation.  NPH pops up here and there until he gets more to do in the final act, including unleashing a series of Mortal Kombat-style fatalities on some guards who make the mistake of calling him a "sissy."  Aside from the retrospective meta-awesomeness of that, this film was made a couple of years before NPH's role in "Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle," but he's no less hilarious here than he is in those films.

It might be a bit of a back-handed compliment to say that it's worth watching "Undercover Brother" for a couple of supporting roles, but them's the breaks.  Chappelle has done so few films, and NPH is rightly known to be hilarious now, but back then both were surprises.  Besides, if you haven't seen "Undercover Brother" before, you might get more mileage out of the playing off of stereotypes that the first two acts of the film relies upon.  It's not like this is a long film, or a difficult one to get through, so quit whining, okay?

2.5 / 5 - TV (HD)

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle - 2004

"Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" - 2004
Dir. by Danny Leiner - 1 hr. 28 min.

Red Band Trailer

by Clayton Hollifield

Just like, like it or not, every generation gets the awful Fleetwood Mac cover that they deserve, every generation also gets their own stoner icons.  For the last decade, that's meant Harold and Kumar, and their odyssey started here, with "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle."  Thankfully, this film is both good and weird, and stands on it's own outside of any altered states.  To be sure, if you're not at least neutral on this subject, you'll probably get as annoyed at the references as I do when watching a movie about a drunk, but I maintain the oddness in "H&K" is enough to provide a rich comedic environment for most viewers.

Harold (John Cho) works at an investment firm, and an inconsiderate pair of douchebags decide to ruin his weekend by dumping some work on him at the last second, so that they can hit some strip clubs.  Harold's roommate, Kumar (Kal Penn), deliberately fouls up an interview for medical school, and lets Harold know that he doesn't consider any work sufficient reason to change their weekend plans, which are to get baked as hell.  So when they fulfill their plans, they naturally get a little hungry, and go on a quest to eat a mountain of White Castle burgers.  This proves to be more difficult than one would think, and not just because they're both stoned.

So let's get the discussion of weed-related humor out of the way.  First point that this film makes is that indulging doesn't automatically equal loserdom.  Harold has a decent job; although he's low in the pecking order, that's more due to his age than anything else.  And Kumar is very smart (and very confrontational); although he's screwing up his future education options, he's doing it on purpose.  As he puts it, "Just because you're hung like a moose doesn't mean you have to do porn."  He's not really portrayed as a particularly bad influence, just the more easy-going of the comedic duo, versus Harold being the more uptight one.  For the most part, the things that happen to Harold and Kumar could happen with or without marijuana's involvement, although it does give an explanation for the surreal progression of events, and how the audience is just supposed to take things at face value.  But "H&K" isn't really a PSA or anything, not like this one that's part of the movie:

I'm invincible!!!

For the most part, "H&K" is about a couple of buddies who have the munchies, and keep finding themselves in improbable situations.  Director Danny Leiner is also responsible for "Dude, Where's My Car?", which features a similar manner of story and storytelling.  Thankfully "H&K" got to go for an R-rating, which frees up a lot more comedic space.  This type of story can be very difficult to pull off, and it's done so largely successfully here.  There are many small roles with familiar faces that add to the weirdness of the film, none more so than Neil Patrick Harris' few minutes of screen time.  It's impossible to talk about this film, or the franchise, without mentioning how spectacularly funny NPH is, playing a drug-fueled, hetero sex-crazed version of "himself."  It's a textbook example of how to destroy any preconceptions anyone might have about the roles that an out gay actor can play, with the understanding that there really wasn't a textbook for that prior to NPH's turn here.  The lesson: he's an actor, of course he can convince you that he wants a muff burger.  That's kind of his job.  And he's pretty good at it.

"Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" succeeds because it's funny, weird, surreally episodic, and because it has all the things a good late-night movie needs.  There's a hot girl, dream sequences (Kumar's romance sequence with a giant bag of weed is messed up and awesome, even after multiple viewings), doofus bad guys, substance abuse, a nonsensical quest, and eventual victory for our heroes.  This is a solid film, and I enjoyed it quite a bit, despite never having tasted a White Castle burger myself.  So even a minor thing like that shouldn't hamper anyone's enjoyment.

3.5 / 5 - TV