What is your favourite David Fincher film and why?

IvaBigWun

For me he is one of the best directors working today.

Let's look at his body of work in chronological order:

Alien3



A troubled shoot and a film I believe Fincher no longer wants his name associated with.

I cant say I enjoyed this.

5/10

Seven






My 2nd favourite film of his. Just amazing from start to finish. I can still remember the feeling I got when I first saw

Spacey's character walk into the police station

and then after when

the van was starting to come down the road with the head in the box.

Probably the most tension Ive ever felt during a movie.

I can watch this film almost annually and still love it.

10/10



The Game



Perhaps the most under-rated film of his. Full of plot holes and many "but what if he didnt do that? How could the other thing have happened?" type of questions but still a fun flick.

7/10


Fight Club





My third favourite of Fincher's. To be honest it's hard to separate this, Seven and Zodiac. The

twist at the end seems so obvious on second viewing

but still great on the first. This is the film that made me want to watch anything else that Fincher was going to make.

10/10


Panic Room



A slight letdown after Seven and Fight Club but still entertaining. Forest Whitaker as always steals the show.

6 and a half/10

Zodiac



By a small margin this is my favourite of his. So much so that it made me post up a poll that saw over 500 people take part in on here

Im about to watch it for around the 10th time which is some going considering its only out for 6 years or so.

Its cinematography, its mood, its attention to detail in the different eras, its tension.

Oh boy, the tension.

Its as close to a non horror Horror film you'll get with, most of the time, the viewer's imagination running riot, eg: when we think

the Zodiac throws a baby out a pickup truck's window

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEvnwKFUnI0

It has a solid 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and is by far Fincher's most under-rated work in a career where all his movies - bar The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - have been glorious home runs.

So is it the best film of the past 10 years? For me, yes. With Gone Baby Gone and Fincher's other recent The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo taking the silver and bronze.

10/10


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button



Jesus no.

What happened here? Far and away one of the most dissapointing films Ive ever seen. The only movie of Fincher's Ive only watched once and never returned to.

A rare misfire.

3/10



The Social Network



A fun film. Im not sure I was too mad about how much liberty the script took with real life events. But if you can put that to one side it's a very easy watch.

8/10



The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo



The very wrong Bond like titles at the start aside this is magnificent. I rewatched it for about the 5th time over the weekend and Im still catching things I didnt see on the first viewing.

The

rape scene

is among one of the darkest, most tension filled scenes ever seen in mainstream cinema. My only criticism of it would be that it's far too easy to figure out who that bad guy is.

Hopefully he remakes the trilogy in full.

10/10


Gone Girl





I think I was expecting more from this film given the hype surrounding it. That said Ive only seen it once so far so it might grow on me.

The twist of

his wife been batsh*t crazy

was genuinely jaw dropping for me.

7 and a half/10


What is your favourite David Fincher film and why? (no one line answers please, give us some detail)

Agent Coulson

Seven..

Because of what was in the box.

Edit; spoilered as asked.

IvaBigWun

Poll added.

IvaBigWun

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Seven..

Perhaps you should spoiler that other part. There are, amazingly, some people who havent seen it yet.

brevity

I love Zodiac. The era, the attention to detail, the sense of menace that runs throughout the movie. I love it all.

That scene in the break room where the 3 detectives interview the Zodiac suspect is excellent filmmaking.

catallus

Whose head was in the box?!

IvaBigWun

brevity wrote: »

That scene in the break room where the 3 detectives interview the Zodiac suspect is excellent filmmaking.

As is that final scene.

That look and tension between Jake Gyllenhaal's character and the possible bad guy is fantastic.

brevity

It's this one:

http://klipd.com/watch/zodiac/im-not-the-zodiac-scene

errlloyd

His films are all outlandishly good, but I went with Social Network. I dunno why, but I adore that film.

sticker

Fincher is my favourite director for some years now. Loved se7en, fight club and more recently really liked Dragon Tattoo. But The Game gets my vote for favourite... Probably not his best work, but after 10 or so watches, it gets my vote..

That said, Ben Button is a close second... I know it's not as well received as his other work, but I think it's a masterpiece.

dark crystal

Seven all day long. It's a masterpiece. I remember seeing it in the cinema and just being blown away by it and it's still in my top 10 films of all time.

I'd probably put Panic Room in second place.

Burgo

How does the assembly cut of alien 3 compare to the theatrical release?

e_e

The Social Network for me. One of the few films of the past few years that just feels so of the moment and Eisenberg delivers a blinder of a lead performance. I love how both the electronic score and digital cinematography contribute to the the themes of modern life and how we relate through technology too. Everything about the film just gels so well, not to mention the superb script.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yczul_609Gg

brevity

Just as an FYI, his next movie is going to be a remake of Strangers on a Train.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/13/ben-affleck-david-fincher-gone-girl-hitchcock

The team behind Gone Girl are hoping to capitalise on the film’s success by making another thriller.

Deadline Hollywood reports that actor Ben Affleck, director David Fincher and Gone Girl author and screenwriter Gillian Flynn are set to create a new version of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 film, Strangers on a Train.

Based on a 1950 novel by Patricia Highsmith, the original film is predicated on a conversation between two men in which they discuss “swapping” murders – agreeing to kill someone disliked by the other in order to hide the motive

Alfred Borden

Ashamed to say I have only seen four of the above. Will try to get the others watched by end of week.

Dirty Dingus McGee

I love Seven its just so unbelievably dark and the mood that he creates is incredible.Also for some reason I just love films where it rains a lot as a way of creating mood/atmosphere.

Turtyturd

Not much love for Fight Club so far, but it gets my vote. It had become a cliche go to favourite film for some, purely on the name and on the fight scenes alone but it's much deeper than that. The twist is one of the best in cinema history and you can't tire of seeing Jared Leto getting the sh*t beat out of him.

cloud493

Have to be the social network. Not that keen on fight club, and I thought gone girl wasn't nearly as good on the second viewing.

.ak

Se7en is one of my favourite movies. So it gets my vote. But, in terms of direction, I do actually prefer the stylized Fight Club and innovation of direction and cinematography used in Panic Room, although the latter is a fairly average movie all over.

e_e

cloud493 wrote: »

Have to be the social network. Not that keen on fight club, and I thought gone girl wasn't nearly as good on the second viewing.

Yeah have to confess Fight Club did very little for me. Some of the film's fanbase (wannabe internet badasses with Tyler Durden avatars who take the film's satire at face value) don't help matters either. Although I know it's a tiny minority of people who like the film.

I do like Fincher a lot but out of what I've seen Zodiac and Social Network are the ones that have the most below the stylish surface. Gone Girl didn't hold up so well on the rewatch for me either.

Skerries

brevity wrote: »

Deadline Hollywood reports that actor Ben Affleck, director David Fincher and Gone Girl author and screenwriter Gillian Flynn are set to create a new version of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 film, Strangers on a Train.

Based on a 1950 novel by Patricia Highsmith, the original film is predicated on a conversation between two men in which they discuss “swapping” murders – agreeing to kill someone disliked by the other in order to hide the motive

clearly they haven't seen the brilliant "Throw Momma from the Train" :D

Mike Litoris

errlloyd wrote: »

His films are all outlandishly good, but I went with Social Network. I dunno why, but I adore that film.

Same here.

I was trying to figure out which one but so many are excellent. I haven't watched any of the older films in a while, Gone Girl being the most recent on release, so on memory it has to be Social Network probably because of its pacing. I suppose I found it really interesting and there wasn't a single dull moment throughout the film I can remember.

I would have picked Zodiac mainly for the atmosphere created but I thought it dragged a little in places.

ArPharazon

I can watch The Social Network again and again and never get bored of it.

IvaBigWun

Who is voting for Alien 3 and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?

unplayable

yeah +1 for social network. its just a masterclass. one of my favourite movies to rewatch.

Mike Litoris

IvaBigWun wrote: »

Who is voting for Alien 3 and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?

Alien 3 kind of looks like Atari Jaguar. Yep, thats gotta be it!

JaseBelleVie

Seven (also stylised as Se7en, which I think is way cooler! ) got the my nod.

I remember seeing this when I was only about 14 for the first time. And my God, it was so brilliant. The tension, the atmosphere (that permanent, oppressive rain), the griminess of the whole city, the budding love/hate relationship between Mills and Somerset, the

reveal in the police station ("You're looking for me.")

, and of course that finale.

I just found the whole film to be one of the most perfect and brilliant pieces of cinema ever made. I never tire of watching Se7en. The writing and the plot is as intricate and brilliant as any, the set-pieces are superb, the acting is top notch (never has

Kevin Spacey

been so menacing or sinister in any role he's ever played). But it is just the sheer atmosphere of depression, gloom and doom that hangs over the whole film. The endless parade of mutilated and slaughtered bodies, the never-ending rain, the run-down urban decay, the world-weary and cynical characters. It all adds up to make this film the very antithesis of light-hearted and bright. The Sound of Music this ain't.

But it's all about the ending, right? I mean. Wow. Who in the name of Jesus saw that one coming. The brilliance of the twist and the final stunning revelation means that Se7en will always be a film that people come back to and that people want to see for the first time.

Gluttony

Greed

Sloth

Lust

Pride

Envy

Wrath

"'The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for'...I agree with the second part." -Somerset

Adamantium

I'd love to see him do a science fiction movie, as much I loved Interstellar, I remember thinking this could be a resurrected Kubrick film if Fincher had his hands on the project. His films wow for me as an cynical adult the same way Star Wars and Jurrasic Park and co had my jaw on the floor as a kid. That sort of childlike sense of wonder/unerving getting under your skin but done with proper adult themes and stories

Zodiac for me is probably for his best. IMO, It's the best directed film ever, ever.


Dear lord that

lakeside scene plus the basement scene where it dawns on Graysmith just where he is and with who and the lights slowly start going out

. It has the only scene in a film ever that made me genuniely disturbed (everybody who has seen it knows the scene) and angry knowing that's likely exactly how it happened (giving Fincher's obsessions with details and perfection) as it was depicted on film.

This sums how and why mainstream Hollywood could be great again creatively:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPAloq5MCUA

His creepy knowing smile at the end is fcuking hilarious:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGtVthP1b2Q

UrbanFret

How can the girl with the dragon tattoo be a fincher movie. He remade it scene for scene.
Se7en is his best work.

Adamantium

"Not many people have basements in California"

Harvey Low Fat Milk

Zodiac for me. I think it's a masterclass in procedural police filmmaking which is a genre I usually have no time for. Attention to detail, direction, music and the performances are uniformly excellent. The Social Network, Seven and Fight Club would compete for second place.

Oafley Jones

IvaBigWun wrote: »

Fight Club


My third favourite of Fincher's. To be honest it's hard to separate this, Seven and Zodiac. The

twist at the end seems so obvious on second viewing

but still great on the first. This is the film that made me want to watch anything else that Fincher was going to make.

10/10

Love Fight Club, possible contender for favourite movie of the 90s for me. I've been meaning to re-watch it lately, but I don't remember the ending being telegraphed in the slightest. Curious as to why you thought it was so obvious?

IsMiseMyself

Fight Club, for me. I read the book and I ****ing hated it. Couldn't get into the style and I hated the character, so I quit about halfway in. I'd heard good things about the film so I watched it after giving up on the book, maybe five years ago now, and it still stands as one of my favourite films of all time, and easily one of the best book adaptations ever. That said, I do actually think Fight Club was always gonna be a far better film than book.

Oafley Jones

IsMiseMyself wrote: »

Fight Club, for me. I read the book and I ****ing hated it. Couldn't get into the style and I hated the character, so I quit about halfway in. I'd heard good things about the film so I watched it after giving up on the book, maybe five years ago now, and it still stands as one of my favourite films of all time, and easily one of the best book adaptations ever. That said, I do actually think Fight Club was always gonna be a far better film than book.

You can't really compare the two if you've only read half of it. There's a soap opera type quality to the book's ending that I sometimes find interesting, but I prefer the definitive place the movie ends up.

edit: Just bought the kindle edition there because I remember it almost reading like a screenplay. Just skimming it and it reads incredibly close to what's on screen e.g. Bob's introduction is almost verbatim.

Mr Freeze

I've said it before, and I will say it again, I have to watch Zodiac soon.

Regarding Alien 3, I like the Assembly cut. Watched it a few years ago and thought it was a big improvement.

I didn't vote as I have not seen all the films.

Decuc500

IvaBigWun wrote: »

Who is voting for Alien 3 and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?

I voted for Alien 3! The new cut is excellent. It's obviously not his best film. That's Zodiac or The Social Network. But I've seen Alien 3 the most out of all his movies and love revisiting it every now and then.

It's problem is you can't help comparing it to the previous Alien movies. Taken on its own terms it's a dark, subversive and blackly funny sci-fi movie.

bnt

Se7en, for sure. Absolutely hated The Game, though that may have more to do with the premise and Michael Douglas.

JP Liz V1

Se7en is a masterpiece, brilliant performances all round

sticker

I will whole heartedly defend Benjamin Button - It immediately struck a chord with me. I'm not 100% sure why, I became a father for the first time when I watched it and after 4 or 5 viewings since, I genuinely feel it’s a beautiful, warm tale with plenty of charm.

I love Finchers darker stuff (The Game got my vote for Number #1 here) so I not a raving sentimentalist fanboy, but Ben Button would be in my 10 top of all time without any effort and I struggle to find how many find it a hugely flawed piece.

grames_bond

Fight club for me, Chuck Palahniuk is one of my favourite authors and the movie is just the perfect adaptation, loved every aspect of the movie and will not get tired of watching it!