Showing posts with label Neil Patrick Harris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Neil Patrick Harris. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

David Fincher Returns With Another Modern Masterpiece: Our Review of "Gone Girl" (2014)

Directed By: David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven

Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Carrie Coon, Tyler Perry, Kim Dickens

Rating: R for a scene of bloody violence, some strong sexuality/nudity, and language

Run Time: 2 hours, 29 minutes

Synopsis: After discovering his wife Amy (Pike) missing on the morning of their 5th anniversary, Nick Dunne (Affleck) becomes the prime suspect in the eyes of the police, media and the public. As Nick stumbles around trying to clear his name, it becomes clear that neither Nick nor Amy was being 100% truthful with each other, with devastating results.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello dear readers! While Sarah and I were back in Michigan this past weekend for a wedding between two dear friends of ours, we were able to sneak in a visit to a local movie theatre with another dear friend of ours to catch David Fincher's latest film, Gone Girl. Now, this is a film that I personally had been anxiously waiting for as I'm a huge Fincher fan (even took a Fincher film class in college), and while we're a few days late with this review we think it'll be worth it because we've had many thoughts about this film percolating in our brains. So without further ado, let's get to it Sarah. 

Gone Girl is based on the hit 2012 novel of the same name written by Gillian Flynn, who also had the pleasure of adapting her own work for the film's screenplay. It stars Ben Affleck (Argo) as Nick Dunne and Rosamund Pike (The World's End) as his wife Amy, both of whom were once-successful writers in New York City that lost their jobs after the recession and moved to Missouri when Nick's mother was dying of cancer. On their fifth anniversary, Nick comes home to his McMansion to discover a scene of struggle in the living room and Amy missing. What follows is an investigation into Amy's disappearance that takes many twists and turns, with a looming question over whether Nick killed his wife, and whether this married couple really knew each other at all.

Sarah: Right now is a good time to warn our readers that since it's been a number of days since the film came out and a couple of years since the book came out, we're going to discuss non-spoiler aspects of the film first and then touch on some spoiler territory at the end of the review. Don't worry, we'll give fair warning when that section is coming up.

A: Indeed we will. So Sarah, while we hadn't read the book prior to seeing the film, as I mentioned earlier this was one I was very much looking forward to and I know you were as well. Now that we've seen Gone Girl, what are your initial thoughts on it?

Monday, June 2, 2014

MacFarlane's New Film is Classic MacFarlane, For Good and Bad: Our Review of "A Million Ways to Die in the West" (2014)

Directed By: Seth MacFarlane (Ted

Starring: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Neil Patrick Harris, Amanda Seyfried

Rating: R for strong crude and sexual content, language throughout, some violence and drug material

Run Time: 1 hour, 56 minutes

Synopsis: Albert (MacFarlane), a cowardly sheep-farmer, gets dumped by his girlfriend Louise (Seyfried) in favor of the more dashing and richer Foy (Harris). During a bar brawl, Albert steps up and saves the new girl in town, Anna (Theron), from being seriously hurt. Impressed by Albert's heroics and wanting to help him win Louise back, Anna helps train Albert in gun-shooting so he can win a duel with Foy. But unbeknownst to Albert, Anna is the reluctant wife of Clinch Leatherwood (Neeson), the deadliest outlaw in the land, and who will eventually be arriving in town.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello dear readers! We're back yet again after seeing only one of this past weekend's two big releases, Seth MacFarlane's new comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West. This is MacFarlane's second feature film directorial effort following the smash hit that was Ted. This time he took things to the Old West and decided to cast himself in the star role of Albert, a cowardly sheep-farmer, but surrounded himself with some more than capable actors in Charlize Theron, Neil Patrick Harris, Amanda Seyfried and Liam Neeson to name a few.

Sarah, as some of our readers might know, we're big fans of MacFarlane's work with Family Guy and we loved Ted. So we were certainly looking forward to seeing how this one would fare. And now that we've seen A Million Ways to Die in the West, how did you feel it fared?

Sarah: Yes, I was really looking forward to this one. To say we're big fans is a bit of an understatement. Family Guy is pretty much quoted once a day, at least, in this house. 

Now that we've seen A Million Ways to Die in the West, I have to say, I'm a little let down. And here's why: it wasn't because of the jokes, those were gold, it was that we heard all of them in the trailers! There were some great set-ups for the jokes that we had already seen, but it was still a disappointment because we knew the punch-lines. What did you think?