The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Dir: David Fincher
Writers: Stieg Larsson (novel), Steve Zaillian
Starring: Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard

Having seen Stieg Larsson's novels all over the subways a couple of years ago, I did some research into the brightly-covered book and learned that it might be something interesting to read. If anything else, I'm a sucker for cultural phenomenons--I begrudgingly read the Twilight novels, after all. So I read all three books pretty rapidly, watched the Swedish films, and though I wouldn't call the books or the Swedish movies my favorites, I do think Lisbeth Salander is one of fiction's greatest characters.

When I heard Hollywood would be adapting the book, I was sure to be disappointed with their directing choice, since the book was so mainstream, and they'd probably want to make it palpable to a broad movie-going audience. I almost jumped with joy when they named my favorite gothic auteur, David Fincher, as director. He's directed some of my favorite films of all time, like Seven, Fight Club, and The Social Network. If there's something Fincher readily understands it's human darkness and high-tension atmosphere.

I liked Rooney Mara as Salander, who admittedly played Lisbeth completely differently than the stellar Noomi Rapace in the Swedish versions. The extras on the blu-ray show how closely she worked with Fincher on getting this character across on screen - with the clothes, make-up, sideways glances, demeanor, and telling camera angles. One of my favorite angles was in the scene after Lisbeth is raped by her government-appointed guardian, after she has washed away the pain, and she sits smoking, thinking and the camera zooms from above and goes over her until her face is up-close, but upside down. She's hatching a devious plan.

And though Lisbeth is the epitome of darkness, Mara still plays her with vulnerability just under the surface. She's intelligent, offputting, and cold but she can still feel sadness, pain, and even love. Daniel Craig also impressed me as Lisbeth's foil--the straight-laced, kind of metro journalist. When I think of Craig, I think of Bond, and he easily shed that persona here with his somewhat bumbling ways. When he gets scraped by a bullet, leaving a slight gash, he is frightened and needs Lisbeth to take care of him. Bond would have kept running after the bad guy, and save the girl for after.

All in all the film impressed me more than the Swedish film and even the book. The story might have been hard to follow at times, but Fincher still had me. I hope he gets to direct the sequels!

The Best: Rooney Mara. She redefined Lisbeth and carried the entire movie; you couldn't look away when she was in a scene. I'm eager to see her in her next role...I hear she's already filmed a Terrence Malick flick with Ryan Gosling (though I'm sure that won't come out any time soon) and she's currently filming mere blocks away in Central Park with Steven Soderbergh for something called The Bitter Pill.

Fact: While filming a scene in a diner, the cast and crew were surprised to find out that Ellen Nyqvist, daughter of Michael Nyqvist, the first actor to play Mikael Blomkvist, was working there as a waitress while attending school. Upon finding out, they wrote in a few extra lines for her, allowing her to interact with her father's successor, Daniel Craig.

Rating: ********* (9 out of 10)

The Usual Suspects (1995)

Dir: Bryan Singer
Writer: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwait, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio del Toro, Kevin Pollack

There is probably no other movie that I've seen more than The Usual Suspects. I know the script by heart, the beats of the music as it coincides with a beat in the editing (coincidentally, I just found out the editor was also the composer on this movie - no wonder it works so beautifully!), and nearly every intricacy in the plot. I use the word 'nearly' because this movie is more rewatchable than any other movie: there's always something new to ascertain.

In fact, when I sat down to write this the line running through my head was when Verbal Kint looks up at Dave Kujan with his bad hand and says, "How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss?" How am I supposed to write a review of one of my favorite movies of all time? How do I get it right?

For starters, my thirteen-year-old self watched the rented movie in the basement of our family's house in Leavenworth, Kansas. I remember following along raptly, sometimes confused, but always curious. When it ended, I was dumbfounded. I rewound it and watched it again. I probably said something to myself like "That was the best movie ever!" I saw this movie in the midst of my introduction to Hitchcock, and it makes sense since this movie has a very updated 'noir' feel to it. There's no icy blond, but there is something dark to unravel at hand.

Kevin Spacey gives one of the best performances of his career as Verbal Kint, and along with his other 1995-starring roles in Swimming with Sharks and Seven, I became a bonefied fan. For a time, there was nobody more chameleon-like than him. This movie also marks major debuts for director Bryan Singer and writer Christopher McQuarrie; unfortunately I don't think either of them have topped this masterpiece since.

This maze of a movie is taut, sometimes funny, and always mysterious. It also has one hell of a twist ending. It was great rewatching it with a friend who had never seen it (but the ending was spoiled for him). It still hasn't lost it's power nearly 17 years later (woah!), and because they keep on releasing different version with new extras, I currently own three copies of The Usual Suspects on DVD. Rewatchability is always a major factor for owning a DVD--I know I have some movies that have little rewatchability factor.

The Best: the final scene. It's perfect. And also? The eerie ghostlike presence when the name 'Keyser Soze' is uttered in the film. The lines are great! The art direction, too! The music! The editing! Fenster's unintelligible accent! Seriously, everything is great.

Fact: Al Pacino read for the part of Dave Kujan (Palminteri), but had to pass due to scheduling conflicts. Pacino has since noted that this is the film he regrets turning down the most.

Rating: ********** (10 out of 10)

2 Days in the Valley (1996)

Dir: John Herzfeld
Writer: John Herzfeld
Starring: James Spader, Danny Aiello, Jeff Daniels, Eric Stoltz, Teri Hatcher, Charlize Theron

This movie isn't quite remembered by many people. It's odd, given that it's a decent movie, but perhaps it's because it was trying to be as slick as Tarantino after Pulp Fiction. Not very many movies come close to that one. It's got some comedy simmering there beneath the crime thriller it's masquerading as.

The many characters in the film are all caught up in a web of intrigue starting with two hitmen (Spader and Aiello) whose interests diverge, so to speak, after the first scene. The movie then follows the cool (to the point of frigid) and stylish Spader to his waiting-in-the-wings girlfriend played by Charlize Theron in one of her first roles. Aiello ends up in a less-controlled situation and his bumbling character Dasmo falls into some bad luck but also the funniest parts of the movie.

And then there's Eric Stoltz and Jeff Daniels, vice cops who stumble on the hitmen's work. Daniels is so ferociously angry, it's strange after seeing him in something like Dumb and Dumber. He does it well, though. Stoltz seems to have been playing the same role for years, but his perceptive cop gets him into trouble, too.

The ride is enjoyable, but this writer/director did nothing quite as good as this. This type of movie was, in my opinion, later perfected with Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight, and to an extent, Ocean's Eleven. 2 Days in the Valley goes just a bit more grittier in the California heat, but Soderbergh was able to slick it up. In the end, the movie plays well, but I can't help but compare it to all the better movies that came before and after.

Best: I have to give it to Danny Aiello and his scenes with Glenne Headly. He's a lovable gangster and defends Headly's assistant character from her mean-spirited boss. Plus, he's the best comic relief in the movie.

Fact: This was Charlize Theron's first credited role in a film; previously she had an uncredited role as Young Woman in Children of the Corn III. Later in 1996 she appeared in That Thing You Do! and the following year in The Devil's Advocate.

Rating: ******* (7 out of 10)

Rear Window (1954)

Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: John Michael Hayes (script), Cornell Woolrich (short story)
Starring: James Stewart, Grace Kelly

My father introduced me to Hitchcock films when I was in middle school, starting with Pyscho. I keenly remember the small video store in Kansas we would frequent, with its bulky, brown plastic VHS covers. I loved horror films, and Hitchcock was definitely a master, so I thank my dad for the introduction.

The other night I was hanging out with two girlfriends pondering what to watch when one of them mentioned a classic, maybe a horror movie. "Do you have any Hitchcock?" she asked.

Do I have any Hitchcock!

I didn't want to go with the obvious Pyscho, nor what I consider his masterpiece Vertigo, so I asked if they'd seen Rear Window. Neither had, and I got to enjoy the movie again with two people who had rarely, if ever, seen Grace Kelly on screen.

Rear Window's brilliance can be surmised simply by how often its premise is replicated in modern thrillers. But none can match the Hitchcock pieces together this mystery, with cunning shots and clues only for the viewer's eyes.

James Stewart plays a photojournalist recently injured and holed up in his New York apartment for six weeks with a broken leg. The window in his apartment overlooks a whole community that loves leaving their shades open - explained easily by the summer heat. He begins to suspect one of his neighbors of murdering his invalid wife and keeps his binoculars trained on the apartment looking for clues. The other characters in the complex add sympathy (Miss Torso, Miss Lonelyhearts), and also become conversation points for his girlfriend that stops by frequently.

His girlfriend (Grace Kelly - probably mostly just playing herself), is a Park Avenue society girl who is unbelievably beautiful and wears designer gowns just to sit in his apartment. Craggy Stewart remarks on how she's not fit for the life he intends to lead of photographing wartorn villages across the globe. But she believes his story about his neighbor, and soon starts doing all his dirty work outside of the apartment.

The movie works slowly, but that's what I love about Hitchcock and classic films - movies these days act like people don't have any sort of attention span. And I understand that a lot of people don't, but there's no need to do away with slow-building tension! There's time to think, which is necessary in this type of storytelling - you have all the clues laid out for you, how will you make your conclusions? Do you agree with Stewart? Do you agree with his detective friend who doubts him? My friends and I debated throughout watching, which added more fun to viewing it with people who hadn't seen it.

The truth and the culmination are a thrilling payoff, and certainly deserved it's Best Screenplay Academy Award nomination. Stewart and Kelly are great, and the directing superb. One of the best Hitchcock films.

The Best: Kelly's entrance scene. I've never seen an actress' beauty illuminated more brilliantly than when Kelly's face comes into focus on screen, first from a side angle then full-on from the front - meant to feel like a dream Stewart's having, and actually wakes up to. Kelly's make-up, beauty, and costumes in the film are all breathtaking!

Fact: There's a sheen on everybody's faces in the movie, since it's supposed to take place during the middle of the summer in New York. It all seemed very realistic, but upon further investigation apparently it was also all real heat: one-thousand arc lights were used on the set to simulate daylight, and once during the movie the amount of heat they produced set off the set's sprinkler system!

Rating: ********* (9 out of 10)