Director Spotlight: David Fincher
Plus: our top 5 Fincher movies and the best of what's new to streaming in December
It’s hard to believe it’s been six years since David Fincher last made a movie. After 2014’s Gone Girl (recommended below!), Fincher went off to make House of Cards and Mindhunter for Netflix, but now he’s back with a new feature film. Mank arrives on Netflix today with Oscar buzz and high anticipation.
The movie tells the story of real-life Hollywood screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, the co-writer of Orson Welles’ 1941 classic Citizen Kane. Considering its subject and director, Mank is catnip for movie lovers, so let’s get you ready for Fincher’s latest in this edition of Do You Like Apples with a deeper look at some of our favorite Fincher movies streaming now.
Since it's the first week of the month, you can also find the best of what’s new to streaming in December below, as well as reviews of a couple new releases. But first, we both wrote a little about Citizen Kane’s significance to movie history and why it’s worth watching 80 years later...
Citizen Kane (streaming on HBO Max)
Billy: Citizen Kane is obviously a classic, but revisiting this movie for the first time since freshman year of college makes you much more aware of the lasting impact it has. From the now classic film structure, rise-and-fall storyline, and captivating camera movement. Take a step back and realize that these techniques and story structure were almost completely new at the time. Orson Welles’ hubris is well-known now and that confidence was needed to make a movie like this. He was obsessed with performing, promising greatness, and delivering on that. All of that context hopefully helps make this experience great, but Citizen Kane doesn’t need my praise. It works all on its own without the context for how it was made. It is fitting that David Fincher is directing a movie profiling how this movie was made because he is a director who has taken many cues from Welles over the years.
Drew: There is a wrong way to watch Citizen Kane. Everybody is aware that Orson Welles’ masterpiece is considered perhaps the greatest film of them all, so the temptation is to demand that the movie prove that to you when you watch it. No film can withstand that unfair pressure, so I’d recommend forgetting all that and just enjoying Citizen Kane in whatever way makes sense to you. Get drawn in by its rise-and-fall American story. Marvel at the innovative and unprecedented camera movements and lighting. Wrap yourself in the mystery of “Rosebud.” If you plan on checking out Fincher’s Mank, there is no better time to visit or revisit Citizen Kane, but don’t treat it as some intimidating and untouchable artifact or, worse, a statue to be toppled. Engage with Welles’ 1941 creation on its own terms.
Director Spotlight: David Fincher
Billy recommends…
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (streaming on HBO)
The world is still not quite sure why David Fincher chose to direct The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Much too sweet to be a Fincher film. While the sweetness is there we still get some of the perverse themes he loves to put into all of his movies.
Fincher directs a sprawling epic that has a unique lens on the power of time. A baby is born a decrepit old man who is aging in reverse. Creating memories we all get to experience, but he has to take in/reflect on those moments from a distance. This old… young… man-child??? Oh who knows what to call our lead character Benjamin Button, but he is constantly waiting to close the age gap so he can truly relate to the people he loves. Luckily Button gets to age into the always handsome Brad Pitt. While he is an old man living at an old folks home he meets a young Daisy Fuller. Initially played by a very young Elle Fanning and ages into the wonderful Cate Blanchett.
Pitt is reliable like always, but his character is extremely stoic and introspective. A character we want to ride along with in his reversed-lived life, but this almost 3 hour epic can stall a bit for how quiet it is trying to be. Thankfully we have absolutely gripping supporting actors (Tilda Swinton being the most outstanding) who are loud and vibrant. Plus a lead actress performance by Cate Blanchett that is magnificent.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is on the bottom tier of David Fincher’s filmography, but that would be the top for most directors' career. Here we get a needed departure from his typical emotionally draining movies. A focus on how powerful our lives are all seen through the eyes of a man forced to live life differently. Bringing heartbreak that will almost kill you and great joy to bring you back. Allow Fincher to fill your heart up because it is about the only time that he is going to attempt doing that.
Zodiac (streaming on Amazon Prime)
*Re-post from a July 2019 newsletter
Jake Gyllenhaal proved he could lead a movie with Zodiac. There is no doubt that he had proved himself as a talented actor with movies like Donnie Darko and October Sky, but had hit a little bit of a snag at this point in his filmography. He was trying to do the blockbuster thing with minimal success. Zodiac was his coming out party proving that he could lead a movie that came from a top notch director in David Fincher.
Zodiac taps into the obsessive nature that many of us have with murder mysteries. Fincher sets Gyllenhaal into motion as a cartoonist who becomes obsessed with the mystery of the Zodiac killer. At first it is a fun interest that is almost endearing, but the interest morphs into a self-destructive lifestyle. Gyllenhaal spirals into a non-violent maniac beautifully. We are rooting for him the whole way because it seems that he is truly trying to find out who this psychopath is, but as he gets closer and closer to cracking the case we begin to question his methods. The performance is the reason we care so much and it doesn’t get enough love from widespread audiences.
Drew recommends…
Gone Girl (streaming on Hulu)
I still shake my head at the audacity to make this truly twisted story into a mainstream Hollywood hit that made $369 million worldwide. With Gone Girl, Fincher mashed up high and low art, polishing a trashy reality TV surface with top-notch acting and precise storytelling. It’s evident that Fincher gleefully dug into this dark and pulpy story of a missing wife and a husband suspected of her murder. And the results are glorious.
Gone Girl is difficult to write about because of its huge twist, so I will avoid getting too close to what happens in the film. Adapting from her own bestselling novel, Gillian Flynn crafted a cracker of a psychological thriller for the screen. The book is a totally gripping read -- one of those impossible-to-put-down page-turners -- but the movie version fleshes out the book’s themes with gutsy relish. This film has a lot to say about media sensationalism, compatibility, love, and marriage. None of it is very heartening.
The cast seems to be on board with this tone. Ben Affleck delivers possibly the best lead performance of his career, portraying the Midwestern “nice guy” Nick Dunne. Affleck modulates his character so well that you believe him when he claims innocence, just as you suspect that he may not be what he seems from the outside. While his complex performance surprised many, it’s Rosamund Pike that owns the movie. In an Oscar-nominated role as Amy Dunne, Pike has the cool intelligence and icy resolve that makes Amy a pretty iconic character only six years later. Fincher filled out the rest of the cast with actors that won’t allow you to lose interest for a second: Carrie Coon as Nick’s wry sister, Neil Patrick Harris as Amy’s former flame, and, amazingly, Tyler Perry as high-powered attorney Tanner Bolt.
While Gone Girl fits neatly into Fincher’s career of harrowing thrillers, it’s astonishing how deep he sunk into his own pessimistic worldview on this one. But, the thing is, while the core is warped and more than a little sick, the outer shell is wildly entertaining and endlessly fascinating. No one can Trojan horse a bleak message into a riveting thriller quite like David Fincher.
Se7en (streaming on HBO Max)
*Re-post from a March 2019 newsletter
I’m going to make a strong statement and say that Se7en is one of the most unforgettable movies of the past 25 years. If you’ve seen it, it’s lodged permanently in your cranium. From the moody visuals to the devastating climax, this noir-crime thriller is decidedly not the see-it-and-forget-it type.
Released in 1995, Se7en is director David Fincher’s first great film. He’d go on to make a half dozen more gripping and unnerving works, like Fight Club, Zodiac, and The Social Network, but here is where he started to hone his skills. It helps that he had a killer cast too. Brad Pitt is the young and tireless detective and Morgan Freeman is his old and jaded partner. Pitt’s wife is played by Gwyneth Paltrow, then just an up-and-coming actress. Finally, Kevin Spacey plays the zealous and articulate serial killer John Doe.
Se7en is not one for the faint of heart. This is deeply disturbing and spine-chilling stuff, which is about what you’d expect from a movie about two detectives tracking down a serial killer designing his crimes after the seven deadly sins. But if you can handle the grim and grotesque atmosphere, the pacing is beyond thrilling and the finale drops like a hammer. Crime movies don’t get much more unforgettable than this.
The Social Network (streaming on Netflix)
Top 5 David Fincher Movies
Billy:
Zodiac
The Social Network
Gone Girl
Se7en
Fight Club
Drew:
The Social Network
Se7en
Fight Club
Zodiac
Gone Girl
New to streaming in December 2020
Netflix
50 First Dates
The Da Vinci Code
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Runaway Bride
Nocturnal Animals (December 16th)
Rango (December 28th)
Amazon Prime
Air Force One
A League Of Their Own
Anaconda
Dr. No
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
The King’s Speech
The Natural
The Pursuit Of Happyness
True Lies
Hulu
Any Given Sunday
Con Air
Eyes Wide Shut
Goldeneye
Goldfinger
The Color of Money
The Lord Of The Rings
HBO and HBO Max
The Beguiled
Gladiator
Meet Me in St. Louis
Michael Clayton
Misery
Phantom Thread
Risky Business
Shaun Of The Dead
True Grit
Recent Release Mini-Reviews
Happiest Season (streaming on Hulu)
Click here to read Billy’s review
Hillbilly Elegy (streaming on Netflix)
Click here to read Drew’s review
Links
Warner Bros. dropped a bomb on the entertainment world yesterday when they announced that their 2021 movie slate will be streaming on HBO Max the same day they debut in theaters. Yes, that means blockbusters like Dune, The Matrix 4, and Space Jam 2 will be available to stream the same day they open in theaters. It’s officially a new world. What that means for struggling movie theaters is an open question.
If you’re interested in learning more about Citizen Kane and how it relates to Mank, check out the following: Roger Ebert’s review of Citizen Kane from 1998, David Fincher’s recent New York Times interview, and this YouTube video on the screenwriting controversy behind Citizen Kane.