Gone Girl vs Interstellar

Well, we decided to review these movies together since we went to see both of them within one week and also as they both are mainly dramas we thought they were comparable, to some respect at least. We focused mainly on character development in the comparison part.

Gone Girl

To get it off our chests: the female characters were great. Very unconventional for a Hollywood film. Truly intriguing in a way we haven't seen in some time on modern cinema screen. Interestingly the source material and screenplay is by a woman (which is freaking awesome since there aren't that many females involved in that level of film making), but you wouldn't know since both male and female characters are wonderfully complex and neither sex is left undeveloped. And the fact that "the public" might think that being a woman has anything to do with being capable of creating complicated and realistic male characters need to read their Jane Austens, George Eliots or Agatha Christies.

The building of characters was executed brilliantly: all of them were more than just the sum of their actions, like we all are. A great example of this is the wife: how she isn't just a femme fatale or a sociopath, but something beyond that. Or how the husband behaves like a complete middle-aged prick but then he isn't that at all in fact.  Also, that building up of characters was woven expertly to the story when more was always revealed about the characters and the viewer's expectations changed as well. One way of knowing whether a movie has good characters is trying to describe them to someone who has not seen the film without mentioning their appearance, occupation or actions.  

Relationships between people were gripping and quite believable. We liked the fact that the film took it's time to explain the characters' motives, while also leaving things to the viewer to discover. Thanks for perpetuating the myth of women lying about rape, by the way. We get that it's meant to make her look more sociopathic, but seriously, there would have been other ways to establish that. 

General overview and opinion: Visuals were good, particularly we enjoyed the camerawork and editing. The cinematography reminded us of classic, golden age Hollywood Hitchcock, like Vertigo. Even though the music wasn't melodically memorable, it fit the story and was efficient in building tension and mystery. The story was very coherent: you could easily retell it and not miss any of the important bits, but the idea is also very simple and in itself interesting. All in all, a very entertaining, thought-provoking and just an insanely good cinematic experience (and we didn't even think of the run time).     

Interstellar

Word of warning: we have not had good Nolan experiences in the past....so we did go in with some prejudices. We like to fancy that we're pretty good at setting them aside though. Although the movie is quite long it only has one main character, not that it's a bad thing, eg. The Deer Hunter. The reason why we found it to be a problem here is because he's just not that developed or interesting; we could not describe him outside of his profession or actions. The same issue extends to the supporting characters as well, apart from a few scenes with Michael Caine or Matt Damon, who we could assign to have more personality because their motives are more prominent than their actions. Some motives are given to the others as well, but they leave a more fleeting impression.

We thought that the the crucial relationship would be that of the father and daughter, but then in the end it wasn't? Because then they had another focus as well (that of Dr Brand), but they forgot that there needs to be a relationship...It was a repeat mistake from Nolan as this happened with the last Batman film as well. They never truly conversed about anything of significance for a lasting human relationship. Those conversations they did have didn't reveal anything important about characters or interpersonal relations. The conversations seemed to only serve the purpose of continuing and furthering along the story. In complete opposition to Gone Girl, the way that the characters reacted to other people's behaviour and actions or to diverse situations made no sense. For instance, how on earth would a father leave his dying daughter to live with a woman with whom he has no such relationship. Instead, Nolan should have just picked a relationship to focus on so that the story wouldn't have been so incoherent and all over the place. It would've been far better to focus on one theme and then following through thoroughly. 

Lastly, we just have to say that Nolan's female characters....kind of suck. We detest the fact that women are always portrayed through men and that women seem to be some kind of a "standard" for goodness or that they are the "reward" for the man.

General overview and opinions: The visuals were stunning as one would expect, the editing disturbed us a bit as it wasn't smooth and didn't really fit the content. The music exceeded our expectations a little, but that wasn't very hard considering that we were expecting Hans Zimmer's "best of". In relation to the length, it felt like 2 hrs 50 minutes. That has a lot to do with the incoherence of the story and bland characters. The idea of the story was a freaking brilliant one, which makes us pretty sad because it would've been SO good had it been truly explored. We would've been way more interested had it been philosophical debate and moral dilemma about saving the human species.   

The Importance of Being Annoying

These are our top jerks. They're people who are either really stupid, manipulative (in a sociopath way, not the normal manipulating since we all do that), possessive, or, for the lack of a better word, simply plain assholes. Also, these are all characters who are MEANT to be annoying jerks, since the list for inadvertently annoying characters is a list for another day.

1. Mr. Sheldrake in The Apartment. He was already on our villain list, so check out the description for his character there. He's a total douchebag. No further exposition required.

2. Lucy Steele in Sense&Sensibility (2008). She's a real conniving biatch. She's totally a sociopath; she has no regard for other people's feelings besides her own. She'll lie to get whatever she wants, and is incredibly pretentious to boot. 

3. David Brent in The Office. When we said really stupid, this is who we had in mind. He has no filter whatsoever! He's just so pathetic and mindbogglingly obnoxious. 

4. Stan in The Deer Hunter. He's also appeared on a previous list. We don't really know what else to say as the picture really speaks louder than words here.

5. Shane in The Walking Dead. He's a real delusional maniac. He is the embodiment of the expression 'possessively jealous douchebag'.  

6. Mae Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She sure knows how to nag somebody to death. She's also incredibly mean-spirited and selfish in addition.

7. Mr. George Wickham in Pride and Prejudice. This guy always has a hidden agenda, one can never trust his word. Also, it's pretty established that he has no morals whatsoever.

8. Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. As well, a villainous guy. Ugh, that's all we can say about him; and that all we want to do is punch him in the nuts.

9. Biff Tannen in Back to the Future. We think pretty much everyone has met this guy at some point of their lives. He's the one doing cat-calling right now.

10. Mr. Thorpe in Northanger Abbey. Okay, he's a million times worse in the book; he would be in the top three if this depiction was completely accurate. As it is, he still annoys the crap out of us with his high-handedness. Plus he's pretty creepy.

11. Colin Sullivan in The Departed. He's a lying prick, which is why he's on this list. He has some more depth in his character though, and it makes him almost sympathetic. Almost, as he doesn't have his own personality but instead he's just one big facade.  

12. Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life. We don't know anyone who wouldn't hate this character. The quintessential cranky old guy.

Family business part II

Right, then it's dads. The same rules apply as with mothers. We omitted some characters from the list as they have similar traits to others on this list (eg. the sheriff from The Walking Dead is pretty similar to our #2, otherwise he'd be on the list).

1. Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird. Similar to Mrs. Brisby with mothers; this was a no-brainer. I don't know of anyone who wouldn't want him to be their dad. Also, maybe he's our #1 because our dad is very like Atticus....We guess we're just really lucky.

2. Jesse Keys from Taken. Even though he's portrayed as a father only for one episode in the series, needless to say, he leaves quite an impression. This man would do anything for his family.

3. Captain Von Trapp from The Sound of Music. He's maybe more complex in some ways, as he has to come to terms with his wife's death and overcome his parenting issues. After that, he's one awesome dad! 

4. William Dorrit from Little Dorrit. Now here's one truly complex character. He loves his children, but he's very selfish as well. He puts so much weight on the family honour that he's completely blind (perhaps even consciously) to his favourite child's needs.

5. Big Daddy Pollitt from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He doesn't seem to really love the people around him, rather he feels that they are his property. But the film explores the change in him, which enables him to actually start caring and loving his family.

6. Mr. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Those of his family whom he loves, he really loves and he looks out for them. The rest he just ridicules and ignores. Looking from that point of view, he might not be the best father all around, but he is an interesting one.

7. Chris Gardner from The Pursuit of Happyness. It's amazing how this dad can keep his parenting so good even amidst all the adversities he has to face. Also, we LOVE the fact that they aren't playing to the stereotype that black men bail on their families (although there is some talk in the beginning of the film about it, but then they disprove that notion).

8. Mr. Emerson from A Room with a View. He's very encouraging, kind and loving as a father. He is also very liberal in bringing up his son. The reason he's not higher is because he's a minor character so he's not given that much screen time.

9. Maurice from Beauty and the Beast. Probably the best Disney dad. He's very lovable and also prepared to do everything to ensure his daughter's happiness.

10. Dad Kusakabe from My Neighbour Totoro. He's very involved and has a lot of imagination. He can "regress" to a child and play with his kids. 

Family business part I

It's time for the best mums to come to the limelight. Now by the term best we don't necessarily mean the most suited to be a mother, but once again their rankings are determined by the intrigue of their characters and also by how much they care about their children. 

1. Mrs. Brisby in The Secret of NIMH. There was never any argument here; she's incredibly resourceful, brave and caring. She would do anything for her kids.

2. Maria in The Sound of Music. Yeah, yeah, we know, she's not their biological mum and she starts out as the kids' mentor, but she IS their mother in the end. She's very tender and optimistic. You'd want to tell all your problems to her and she would help just by being there.

3. Lisa Clarke in Taken. First of all, she's a single mum, and a really great one at that! We like her unconventional mothering. Her daughter is the single most important thing to her in life, which is why she ranks so high.

4. Mrs. Thornton in North & South. She's more severe than the previous characters and it shows in how she treats her children. Her daughter's a complete fool so Mrs. Thornton doesn't take any of her nonsense, but then she respects her son immensely and shows it freely.

5. Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Her only objective in life is to keep her son safe, and she does it in a pretty awesome kick-ass style.

6. Peg in Edward Scissorhands. She's a sweetheart and obviously very hospitable. We think all the kids in the neighbourhood must love her.

7. Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. She's the most humiliating mother, and we definitely would not want her to be our mum. But holy cow, is she entertaining! Also, she does care about her children's wellbeing, even though she's more concerned about their pecuniary welfare.

8. Paula in The Goodbye Girl. She's probably the most relatable mother on this list. Not that we have kids, but looking at our friends and family, we sure see a similarity. She loves her kid, but she's human as well, and doesn't play into the mythos of motherhood.

 

9. Lady Tremaine in Cinderella. Okay, she's a horrible person and a terrible stepmother, but she does take care of HER kids. In addition, she's an intriguing villain and character to boot.

10. Kate in East of Eden. Right, she wasn't, or isn't a good mother by any standards. Her character is so compelling though (especially as a mother) that she definitely earned her place here.

Royal business part II

Now the same for the princes. Same rules apply as before, though.

1. Beast from Beauty and the Beast. He's the most princely, we mean, one look at him and you know he's a prince. Granted, he's immature and selfish, but isn't that how we all picture royalty? Plus he has great character development because of those defects. 

2. Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke. He's just as interesting a character as Beast, but he's #2 because he doesn't really appear in his "prince" element in the movie as he's in exile from his kingdom.

3. Prince Albert of York from The King's Speech.  Yes, we know he gets crowned king halfway through, but it still counts. He probably cares most about his people, which is why he's #3.   

4. Moses from The Ten Commandments. He's a great prince - he builds a freaking city for the Pharaoh. He also seems to be unbiased in his judgements. A bit too melodramatic as a character, we must say.  

5. Asbel from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. He's not really portrayed as a prince either, since most of his people get killed, but he does care a lot for his people and tries to exact vengeance for them.

6. Prince Albert from Young Victoria. This guy's a real do-good-er, a visionary. He has people's best interest at heart - especially the underprivileged. 

7. Prince John from The Adventures of Robin Hood. He's THE deliciously evil prince that we all love. He's a terrible ruler and we don't think there would be a lot of people volunteering to be his subjects, but his scheming is a joy to watch.

8. Tristan from Stardust. Now here's a guy you wouldn't ever expect to become a king. He's a silly schoolboy, but entertaining enough to make it to this list.

9. Hamlet from Hamlet. We had to go with Sir Olivier here. Yeah, it's really hard for us to get into Shakespeare (maybe we're not deep enough...), but Hamlet's an interesting enough of a character and completely insane. 

10. Erik from The Little Mermaid. He's with Tristan on the schoolboy-level, but in comparison to the older Disney princes, his character is rather well-rounded and somewhat developed. We're not so convinced of the dreaminess of this character, though.

Addicted to work

It's time for our favourite workaholics to emerge to the surface. They are ranked in order of character development and also how badly they are addicted to their work (and by that we mean their occupation, not what they can achieve through it). 

1. Meryl in Trigun. She's one of the best characters ever created, especially considering it's anime. Her journey is a delight to follow; she starts off as a complete workaholic, but then through certain events she comes to find something more important. She's still a total workaholic though as she reinvents her work during the show. 

1. Sam Tyler in Life on Mars. He is sharing #1 because he's just as bad as Meryl. So much so, that he dumps his girlfriend because the work comes first. He also goes through a journey much similar to Meryl's, except he rediscovers what he was missing in his work...which makes him actually worse of a workaholic than Meryl, but she maybe develops more as a character. 

3. Linus Larrabee in Sabrina. He spends so many nights in the office that he has had a bedroom built in there. He practically has nothing else. His work signifies something else than just plain business though, which makes him an intriguing character.

4. Nicholas Angel in Hot Fuzz. He's a caricatured version of Sam, except Nicholas' workaholism is even worse than his, we'd say. He would be a pain in the butt to work with, he even works when he's supposed to relax.

5. Leslie Knope in Parks & Recreation. She's just as much of a workaholic as all the previous four, she just knows how to balance her life better. Part of the reason why she's such a workaholic is because she's ambitious. Pretty awesome, since you don't really see female characters with political ambition who are optimists as well.

6. Ed Exley in L.A. Confidential. He volunteered to work during the holidays, needless to say, he doesn't have much of a life. He has another purpose for being such a workaholic though, which is why he's not in the top contenders. 

7. Walter Fane in The Painted Veil. Once again, Walter seems to be a workaholic to achieve something else with his work (ie. make the world a better place). Also, he seems to work to ignore his problems.

8. Mr. Kralik in The Shop around the Corner. Even when he's fired his last thoughts go to work. He does seem to have more of a life than the others on this list as he has time to write letters and be with his friends (who all seem to work with him....So he's still abnormal in that sense).

9. Dwight Schrute in The Office. We think the picture tells pretty much why he's on the list. Also, check out the performance reviews episode.

10. Niki Lauda in Rush. He seems to be working so hard because he's ambitious, not because the work has some intrinsic value for him. He works very hard though, earning a place here. The movie was totally snubbed the year it came out, may we add. 

11. Mr. Thornton in North&South. He works to provide for his family and to better his town (give jobs etc.) He finds value in his work because of the results it produces, not for the work itself.