“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is one of David Fincher’s best films, which is saying a lot. This psychological thriller was adapted from the novel of the same name by Swedish author Stieg Larsson and fits right into Fincher’s wheelhouse. It’s dark, intense and twisted, and it’s a must-see film.

Story

The film follows the intertwined stories of two main characters: Mikael Blomkvist, a disgraced journalist, and Lisbeth Salander, a fiercely intelligent and unconventional computer hacker.

The film begins with Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), a journalist at Millennium magazine, losing a high-profile libel case against corrupt businessman Hans-Erik Wennerström. With his reputation tarnished, Blomkvist feels he has no choice but to take a leave of absence from the magazine. He is then approached by wealthy retired industrialist Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), who offers him a job to investigate the disappearance of his niece, Harriet, who vanished 40 years ago. Vanger believes that Harriet was murdered by a member of his own dysfunctional family.

Meanwhile, Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a skilled computer hacker with a troubled past, is introduced when she conducts a background check on Blomkvist for Vanger’s lawyer. Despite her social awkwardness and unorthodox appearance, Lisbeth is a brilliant investigator, and her report on Blomkvist ultimately leads to his hiring by Vanger.

As Blomkvist delves into the Vanger family history, he uncovers a series of brutal murders connected to Harriet’s disappearance. He realizes he needs assistance and, after learning about Lisbeth’s skills, recruits her to help him with the investigation. Together, they form an unlikely partnership, with Lisbeth using her hacking skills and Blomkvist’s journalistic expertise to unravel the mystery.

Rooney Mara as Lisbeth

Rooney Mara delivers a stunning and breathtaking performance as Lisbeth Salander, who is one of the more unique and compelling characters we’ve seen in years.

Mara was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar and delivers one of the best acting performances I’ve ever seen. She brings to life the fascinating character of Lisbeth, starting with her edgy, punk rock-inspired looks. The character is a natural blonde, so Mara’s eyebrows are a very light blonde while her funky hair with short bangs is died jet black, creating a haunting look that often makes it appear she has no eyebrows at all. So much of Mara’s acting here is done with her eyes, showing ranges of thoughts and emotions with a simple look. She’s also sexy as hell, making her an unforgettable character.

Lisbeth’s interactions with the creepy social worker Bjurman (Yorick van Wageningen) are jarring, from the scenes of brutal sexual violence to her triumphant revenge scene. Fincher doesn’t hold back in telling this story and Mara is more than up to the task.

Mara also has excellent chemistry with Craig. Blomkvist shows up to Lisbeth’s apartment to confront her about her illegal investigative methods but also to recruit her for his project. He asks her, “How would you like to help me find a killer of women?” The look on Lisbeth’s face tells you so much about her character and Mara nails it.

Fincher brings it all together

Fincher initially didn’t picture Mara in the role as Lisbeth, but she won him over with her audition and he pushed to have her cast in the role. Armed with an excellent story and Craig and Mara in the lead roles, Fincher worked his magic to create an unforgettable film.

The entire cast is excellent, with Plummer, van Wageningen Stellan Skarsgård and Steven Berkoff standing out for their performances.

Fincher grabs our attention immediately with the sound and visuals of the opening title sequence. The look of the film is dark and realistic, matching the subject matter perfectly. Fincher is no stranger to intense dramas, and he doesn’t hold back with the more intense scenes of this film. Yet everything comes across as extremely realistic, which delivers maximum impact for the audience. He’s not playing for cheap thrills.

Before Fincher’s film, there was a Swedish film adaptation of the novel, released in 2009, directed by Niels Arden Oplev and starring Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander and Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist. The Swedish film was followed by two sequels, adapting the subsequent novels in the series. The Swedish version is very good, but Fincher’s version takes things to another level.

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” grossed a solid $232.6 million on a $90 million budget. It didn’t have a great opening weekend despite the buzz but it grew with word of mouth and excellent reviews. Many fans are hoping Fincher considers making sequels to the film. I certainly wouldn’t object to seeing more of Rooney Mara as Lisbeth.

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You have to give Damien Chazelle credit for trying. “Babylon” was an ambitious project. But despite all of the big stars, wild scenes and stunning visuals, the film is a disappointing mess. All of the brilliant cinematography doesn’t count for much when the audience can’t connect with the characters or the story. The 3-hour run time makes these flaws even more annoying. I couldn’t wait for the movie to end.

The film generated a lot of buzz around the opening party scene that features stunning shot of the beautiful and charismatic Margot Robbie dancing up a storm. Robbie draws you in and you can’t take your eyes off of her. She executes her elaborate dance moves in her spectacular red dress in the middle of what can only be described as managed chaos. It’s the best scene of the film and it goes on for quite a while, yet even this scene falls flat. All of the moves are overly choreographed and stylized. There are various couples engaging in sex in the middle of all the frenzied dancing, but none of it is remotely natural or believable. Rather, it comes across as awkward as opposed to erotic, reminding me of robotic orgy scenes in “Eyes Wide Shut.” Everyone is supposed to be having fun, but they just seem like they’re pretending.

Things slow down a bit with the rest of the film, which sadly does little to make anyone become more interested in the characters. The stories revolve around several stars of Hollywood’s silent film era and the excesses of those times. But many of these scenes do little to advance the story, but rather give Chazelle an excuse to create elaborate, cinematic scenes showing how these films were made. The scenes look great, but most are tedious and boring. You always feel like you’re watching a stylized movie . . . the film never grabs you and makes you feel like you’re there. It just feels like a bizarre series of sketches with little purpose.

A lot of acting talent is wasted here. Brad Pitt has proven his acting chops again and again, but here he seems robotic as he recites his poorly written lines. There’s little that’s believable about his character or his performance. His character is a silent film star, living the life of a rich and adored celebrity, who then struggles with the emergence of talkies. But the audience isn’t given a chance to become emotionally invested in his plight.

Margot Robbie does her best with her part, but she’s asked to deliver an over-the-top performance. She delivers, but there’s little to like about her character beyond her stunning appearance. Tobey Maguire gives a creepy and memorable performance as he guides us through an underground party with disturbing visuals that we’d prefer to forget.

The ending is the film is supposed to make the audience feel nostalgic about the silent film era in Hollywood through the eyes of the lead character Manny (Diego Calva). But flashbacks to characters in their glory days don’t land as well if the audience doesn’t care about those characters.

Sadly, it’s not surprising that this film bombed at the box office. It’s difficult to imagine how a director who delivered the brilliant “Whiplash” could also create this self-indulgent disaster, but even the best creative minds have their misses. Don’t waste your time on this one.

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1.5/5 Stars

“Michael Clayton” is a slow burn, with an ending that delivers quite a punch. It’s the type of film that many love but doesn’t fit neatly into the modern economics of Hollywood. Studios rarely make dramas like this for broad theatrical release anymore.

George Clooney plays Michael Clayton, a middle-aged lawyer who works for a large law firm as its fixer. He cleans up messes for clients who get into trouble – stuff like accidents, domestic issues, etc. He’s also having his own problems as he tries to dig out of debt from a restaurant venture gone bad due to his alcoholic brother.

Clayton gets pulled into a crisis when the firm’s top litigator Arthur (Tom Wilkinson), threatens to blow up the firm’s largest case by exposing how the client chemical company (fictional U-North) knew its product was killing people. Arthur is a brilliant but troubled lawyer with mental health issues, He strips naked during a deposition while declaring his love for the lead plaintiff, a young, pretty woman from a farm in the Midwest.

The cast in this legal thriller is excellent. Clooney delivers one of his best performances as Michael, playing it straight and leaving aside the playful attitude we see in so many of his popular performances. He’s right out of central casting as the middle aged, big firm lawyer who is doing his best to remain calm as he deals with Arthur and his own issues.

Wilkinson, on the other hand, is brilliant as the manic Arthur who feels liberated by his decision to finally come clean about his client’s misconduct after grinding on the class-action lawsuit for years. He gives us some of the most memorable scenes of the film.

Clooney and Wilkinson were recognized with Oscar nomination for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, but Tilda Swinton came away with an Oscar win as Best Actress for her performance as Karen Crowder, U-North’s awkward but ambitious general counsel. She’s desperate to succeed in her lofty position in the high-stakes, corporate world, which puts her in a difficult position as Arthur blows up the company’s case. Her problems escalate as she looks for ways to handle the mess.

The film perfectly captures the vibe of a prestigious New York law firm. It’s stuffy, cold and intense. There’s not much happiness there, which adds to the sense of gloom for Michael. Sydney Pollack, one of the producers of the film, is also excellent in the role of Marty Bach, the managing partner of the firm who must make sure Michael is handling Arthur’s mess while also navigating a possible sale of the firm. Michael O’Keefe easily handles the role of Barry Grissom, the kind of asshole you’d expect to find at one of these big firms.

The film was written and directed by Tony Gilroy, who received Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director in his directorial debut. Critics loved it. Along with the acting nominations noted above, the film also received nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Score. The film earned $93 million at the worldwide box office with a budget of $21.5 million, making it a commercial success as well.

“Michael Clayton” is one of those dramas that Hollywood used to consistently produce for adult audiences who cared about characters and plot. Much of that creative energy has shifted to television in recent years, but we can still enjoy a gem like this film.

I had never seen “The Game” so I was happy to see this film pop up on one of my streaming services. Starring Michael Douglas at the height of his powers along with the always entertaining Sean Penn, the film had star power along with a very intriguing story.

Nicholas Van Orton (Douglas) is a successful and wealthy banker who seems to have everything. He looks like Gordon Gekko but Douglas plays him without the cockiness and bluster. He’s a straight-laced guy living a very comfortable life. His brother Conrad (Penn) is the opposite as we learn quickly when Nicholas meets Conrad for lunch. Their conversation sets up the contrast between the characters, and then Conrad offers up an odd birthday gift. He wants Nicholas to take part in a personalized, real-life game. Nicholas is skeptical but then reluctantly agrees to accept after looking into it. And then things spin out of control.

The story has so many twists and turns that it’s sometimes hard to keep up. The audience is often left guessing as to whether Nicholas is truly experiencing a game or if it’s all real as his life spins out of control. The end of the film is over-the-top, with a final plot twist that will surprise most viewers.

Yet the movie is flawed. It’s difficult to explain this in detail without giving away the ending, but too many of the details don’t add up. It’s too hard to believe the story. We’re used to suspending disbelief in fantasy films like superhero movies or ghost stories, but the setup here is grounded in the real world.

Still, the movie is brilliantly shot and paced. I didn’t realize this was a David Fincher film until the closing credits. It makes sense, as the entire feel of the film fits his style. But Fincher admits he probably should not have directed this film due to problems with the story, particularly in the third act. His wife told him not to take on the project but he didn’t listen. The frenetic ending of the film delivers plenty of entertaining twists and action, but you’re left asking yourself how this is all possible.

While the film is far from perfect, the performances from the cast make up for the problems with the story. Douglas is brilliant as you would expect. He’s able to handle such a wide range of emotions without ever overacting. Events if the events around him seem far-fetched, his reactions always come across as authentic. Penn dials it up and delivers a manic performance that fits the character. He’s perfect for this role, even if this is far from the best performance in the film. Deborah Kara Unger is fantastic as Nicholas’ love interest. It’s surprising that her career fizzled after this film. James Rebhorn delivers his usual great performance as he convinces Nicholas to give this crazy idea a try.

Do I recommend this movie? Yes. It’s a fun ride from a brilliant director featuring great performances from a stellar cast. But the film has issues that will leave some viewers less than satisfied. You’ll probably enjoy it if you can get past some of the unbelievable sequences and treat this as a suspenseful popcorn movie. Just don’t ask too many questions . . .

The film follows three days in the life of constantly working New York City paramedic Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage), who is so exhausted and depressed that he has begun to hallucinate. His most frequently recurring vision is of a young woman named Rose (Cynthia Roman), who he failed to save from a fatal overdose. Throughout the three days in which we witness his life, Frank is teamed with three different partners, each of whom seem to reflect different aspects of his personality and his viewpoint toward his job. Larry (John Goodman) does his best to not take his work home with him, looking at his work as simply a job by which he refuses to let himself be haunted. Marcus (Ving Rhames) is the polar opposite of Larry, a Christian who views his job as working the miracles of the lord, bringing the dead back to life. Tom Wolls (Tom Sizemore) represents pure, unchained id, a man who encourages Frank to release his own demons through naked aggression aimed at the patients he is meant to be helping.

Along the way, Frank saves an old man named Mr. Burke (Cullen Oliver Johnson), who is ultimately so far gone that he spends his recovery in an intensive care unit, repeatedly flatlining and being revived again. His former junkie daughter, Mary (Patricia Arquette), forms a tenuous bond with Frank, and the two of them find some hope for redemption in each other, though without the expected romantic subplot that would have undoubtedly been exploited in a lesser film. Though Arquette’s performance feels oddly flat and this is not Scorsese’s best film, it is also far from his worst, which makes it vastly superior to the average movie. Bringing Out the Dead is a fascinating look at a profession that is oddly underrepresented in the movies, and the depths of the human soul that profession must regularly plumb.

Hidden Netflix Gems is a new feature designed to help readers answer that burning question, “What should I watch tonight?” It will be updated every Saturday before the sun goes down.