film criticism by maryann johanson | handcrafted since 1997
No official “press” screenings for me this week — it’s all FYC screenings. That is, “for your consideration.” These are specialty screenings that the studios hold for members of critics’ organizations, AMPAS (the “Academy” that awards the Oscars), and other industry guilds who will be voting on their year-end acclaims in the early weeks of … more…
Fincher rivets us through what could have been an interminable two-hour-and-forty-minute runtime, by daringly jumping through a crime spree that spanned decades with brisk panache, boiling it down into slices of suspense, drama, and fear, with a bit of media criticism thrown in sideways for spice.
A movie is never more of a crushing disappointment than when you’ve gotten your hopes up, when against your better judgment you’ve bought into the hype and the advertising and the how-can-it-miss high concept. Imagine how sad the entire geek community is going to be if Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man sucks. (But it can’t suck, right? Right? I mean, it’s Sam Raimi. It’s Spider-Man. Please, whatever movie gods there are, don’t make it suck. Don’t do that to us.)
Ardently violent and disturbing anarchic, Fight Club is not for everyone. Bizarre and absurd and bleakly funny, director David Fincher’s (game) film is also darkly, sneakily misogynist in a sweeping, generalizing kind of way.
