Jane Heller

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

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Movie Day: "Gone Girl"

October 5, 2014

Gone Girl

I saw the movie the other day, but I wanted to let it sit and marinate in my head before writing a post about it. I wanted to be fair. I wanted to figure out if it could have been my too-high expectations that made me disappointed in the movie. I wanted to decide if my opinion about it was skewed because I’d enjoyed Gillian Flynn’s novel so much.

But here’s the thing: I just didn’t love the movie. Did. Not. Love. It. At. All.

The book is a twisty page turner with a he said/she said narrative that leaves you breathless to get to the end to find out what the hell happened to Amy. There’s no question that having the answer leaves the moviegoer at a disadvantage, plot wise; we all know how the story ends (despite rumors that director David Fincher and Flynn, who adapted her novel for the screen, had changed it). So there’s that.

But the book had nuance. The characters were interesting. They weren’t likable but so what; they were layered enough that you kept reading, kept wondering about their fates, kept appreciating Flynn’s skill at depicting a marriage that began with such promise and deteriorated badly.

If only the movie had been structured with the same sense of nuance. Instead – and I know I’m in the minority here; the reviews have been glowing with the exception of the NYT, Washington Post, New Yorker and a few others – I found the film plodding, too long, one note. For me it was the story of a lunkhead and a psycho, period. Ben Affleck, as Nick, who is portrayed in the book as being a charming deadbeat, isn’t particularly charming. He walks like a robot and coasts along looking bewildered. And Rosamond Pike, as Nick’s missing wife Amy, while a British beauty who masters the American accent, is, as written, a cartoon; by the end of the movie when she’s soaked with blood she’s more like Carrie at the high school prom than a whip-smart nutcase.

I did like some of the secondary characters: the female cop, the sister, the stalker ex (Neil Patrick Harris was super creepy). But where was the pace? Shouldn’t it have picked up as we moved toward the big Ta Da finale? And what happened to the snarky humor that was so welcome in the book? Gone, girl. That’s where it was. Gone. The whole exercise made me want to go home and watch my DVD of “The War of the Roses,” another dark film about marriage but one that entertained and had brilliant performances by its leads.

Sigh.

 

 

Filed Under: Mainly Jane, Movies Tagged With: Ben Affleck, David Fincher, Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl, Rosamond Pike, The War of the Roses

Movie Day: "Argo"

November 10, 2012

There was good news and bad news about today’s special Cinema Society screening of “Argo.” The good news was that I really liked the movie. The bad news was that the reason we didn’t screen it earlier, before it was released, was because we were getting Ben Affleck for a Q&A and reception – and Ben had the flu and couldn’t be there. Everybody was disappointed, but apparently he’s planning to come up from LA as soon as he’s better and try again.

So. The movie.

What a riveting thriller. Even though it’s based on a true story and I knew how the events would turn out, it was so suspenseful that I had a knot in my stomach and got teary when it was over.

It’s the story of the covert and seemingly hair-brained operation to rescue six Americans during the Iran hostage crisis. A CIA “exfiltration” specialist named Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with a plan to convince the Iranians that he and the six Americans are merely scouting locations for a science fiction epic – all in order to get them out of the country safely.

Alan Arkin is hilarious as the Hollywood producer who goes along with the project. So is John Goodman, the makeup man and part-time operative pal of Mendez’s. Bryan Cranston plays Mendez’s boss at the CIA and delivers as always. Affleck somehow manages to star in the movie as well as direct and produce it, and he’s developed into a fine actor, if a little one-note.

Will “Argo” be nominated for Best Picture? Without a doubt. Is it more entertaining than, say, “Lincoln?” Absolutely. “Lincoln” has the prestige and Daniel Day-Lewis, but “Argo” is a whole lot more fun while it, too, teaches us about history.

 

Filed Under: Mainly Jane, Movies Tagged With: Alan Arkin, Argo, Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Cinema Society, John Goodman, Santa Barbara

Couldn’t Somebody Besides Ben Affleck Make A Movie About The Yankees?

February 24, 2011

From today’s “Page Six” in the New York Post:

Former Yankee Mike Kekich is desperate to block Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s movie “The Trade,” based on the huge scandal when he and fellow pitcher Fritz Peterson swapped wives in the 1970s.

Die-hard Red Sox fan Affleck and his brother, Casey, are rewriting a second version of the script and have hired veteran sportswriters to help reach out to Yankees from that era. But Kekich, who’s believed to have created a completely new life and family in New Mexico, is refusing to participate.

A source tells us, “Kekich is panic-stricken. He has moved away and has a new identity. He is freaked out that those working on the movie found out where he is. He isn’t too keen on having the scandal dredged up again after all this time. Other Yankees from that time have also been really unhelpful with facts and details of what happened. They are stonewalling.”

The amazing drama started in 1972 after the two hurlers, old friends, joked about swapping wives. They followed through on it, although word didn’t get out until the spring of ’73. Marilyn Peterson moved in with Kekich, but it didn’t last. Susanne Kekich and Fritz are still married and live in New Jersey and Colorado. Kekich reportedly remarried and had another daughter.

Actresses being considered include Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz and Rebecca Hall. Ben Affleck recently confirmed he and Casey were rewriting the script, and hinted that Damon may direct. It wasn’t certain that he and Damon would play the pitchers.

Affleck recently told MTV, “I’ve come to have a little more respect for the Yankees. There are some of those guys . . . that look like good guys . . . But as an institution? Disdain. Contempt.” About the movie’s subject matter, he said: “Guys [bleep]ing each others’ wives — that’s those Yankees.”

The script hasn’t yet been shown to Major League Baseball or the Yankees, another source confirmed. Reps for Affleck, Damon and the team declined to comment.

I don’t deny that the Peterson-Kekich scandal would be the basis for an interesting movie. I and other fans of a certain generation remember it vividly. Even in the swingin’ 70s it was shocking stuff, particularly set against the straitlaced world of baseball. And I admire Affleck as a director; I thought “The Town” should have been among the Best Picture Oscar nominees. I just wish somebody would make the film who doesn’t have “disdain” and “contempt” for the Yankees.

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Fritz Peterson, Matt Damon, Mike Kekich, The Town, Yankees

Couldn't Somebody Besides Ben Affleck Make A Movie About The Yankees?

February 24, 2011

From today’s “Page Six” in the New York Post:

Former Yankee Mike Kekich is desperate to block Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s movie “The Trade,” based on the huge scandal when he and fellow pitcher Fritz Peterson swapped wives in the 1970s.

Die-hard Red Sox fan Affleck and his brother, Casey, are rewriting a second version of the script and have hired veteran sportswriters to help reach out to Yankees from that era. But Kekich, who’s believed to have created a completely new life and family in New Mexico, is refusing to participate.

A source tells us, “Kekich is panic-stricken. He has moved away and has a new identity. He is freaked out that those working on the movie found out where he is. He isn’t too keen on having the scandal dredged up again after all this time. Other Yankees from that time have also been really unhelpful with facts and details of what happened. They are stonewalling.”

The amazing drama started in 1972 after the two hurlers, old friends, joked about swapping wives. They followed through on it, although word didn’t get out until the spring of ’73. Marilyn Peterson moved in with Kekich, but it didn’t last. Susanne Kekich and Fritz are still married and live in New Jersey and Colorado. Kekich reportedly remarried and had another daughter.

Actresses being considered include Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz and Rebecca Hall. Ben Affleck recently confirmed he and Casey were rewriting the script, and hinted that Damon may direct. It wasn’t certain that he and Damon would play the pitchers.

Affleck recently told MTV, “I’ve come to have a little more respect for the Yankees. There are some of those guys . . . that look like good guys . . . But as an institution? Disdain. Contempt.” About the movie’s subject matter, he said: “Guys [bleep]ing each others’ wives — that’s those Yankees.”

The script hasn’t yet been shown to Major League Baseball or the Yankees, another source confirmed. Reps for Affleck, Damon and the team declined to comment.

I don’t deny that the Peterson-Kekich scandal would be the basis for an interesting movie. I and other fans of a certain generation remember it vividly. Even in the swingin’ 70s it was shocking stuff, particularly set against the straitlaced world of baseball. And I admire Affleck as a director; I thought “The Town” should have been among the Best Picture Oscar nominees. I just wish somebody would make the film who doesn’t have “disdain” and “contempt” for the Yankees.

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Fritz Peterson, Matt Damon, Mike Kekich, The Town, Yankees

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About Jane Heller

Jane Heller is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her fourteen breezy, witty novels of romantic comedy and suspense are now entertaining millions of readers around the world, along with her two books of nonfiction.

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