Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
David Fincher, a long-standing maverick of Hollywood, is the man behind the highly anticipated Gone Girl, due to premiere at the New York Film Festival tomorrow night. Since Fincher’s latest, based on the best-seller by Gillian Flynn, is wooing critics, we’ve decided to curate the director’s most powerful endeavors of the last 30 years ranked by their must-see intensity.
Gone Girl follows the media circus surrounding a man’s (Ben Affleck) innocence when his wife (Rosamund Pike) suddenly goes missing. Though he’s a master of his craft with an extremely recognizable flair, Fincher has been consistently snubbed by Hollywood bigwigs over the course of his three-decade-long career.
Needless to say, the man (who has already won a freakin’ Palme d’Or!) is long overdue for an Oscar. Will the Academy’s pretty boy, Ben Affleck, help lead the charge to a Fincher win? (“Hey guys, you gave me two of these things already… you think maybe you could grant my pal Dave one?”) If you’re headed out to see Gone Girl this weekend, add these definitive Fincher titles to your Queue to stream before Gone Girl opens wide on October 3rd.
'Fight Club' (1999)
Fincher’s controversial adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s page-turner, starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, became an instant cult classic and a permanent fixture in the top ten lists of film buffs and average moviegoers alike. An unconventional coming-of-age tale cloaked behind bloody bare-knuckle boxing and corporate sabotage, Fincher added to the gritty rawness of the subject matter by filming primarily at night and favoring natural light from city buildings and street lamps. This kind of cinematography has become so defining of the director that we barely have to check the credits on anything he touches. [GoWatchIt]
'Se7en' (1995)
Spawning one of the most disturbing scenes and memorable movie quotes in history — “What’s in the box?!”— Se7en left us feeling angered, hollowed, and soggy. Nearly every outdoor scene was filmed in the middle of a downpour, adding to the darkness of John Doe’s (Kevin Spacey) serial crimes corresponding to each of the seven deadly sins. Though we don’t meet John Doe until the second half of the film, Fincher keeps the audience completely hooked, already fearing the killer well before he appears on screen. [GoWatchIt]
'Zodiac' (2007)
Perhaps Fincher’s most underrated feature, Zodiac recounts the mysteries behind the serial murders of the Zodiac killer, who took San Francisco by storm back in the ’70s and was never caught. Jake Gyllenhaal portrays real-life newspaper cartoonist Robert Graysmith who became obsessed with the Zodiac after the killer sent coded messages to the San Francisco Chronicle. Fincher’s powerful three-hour crime drama feels more like a horror film. By the time the credits scroll to Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” the chills are unavoidable. [GoWatchIt]
Heineken - "Beer Run" (2005)
For the 2005 Super Bowl, Fincher partnered with Heineken to create a snapshot of a night in the life of Brad Pitt, set to the Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter.” Ranked among Entertainment Weekly‘s most memorable Super Bowl ads in history, Pitt realizes he’s out of Heineken just as he’s getting into the thick of studying his script. Going on a beer run, however, means having to dodge paparazzi hungry for the latest scoop on what was happening with him and Angelina Jolie.
'Panic Room' (2002)
Fincher’s twist on the old “trapped with strangers in the house” theme bred one of Jodie’s Foster’s most memorable roles and broke Kristen Stewart into Hollywood relevance. Fincher’s ability to capture everyone’s worst nightmare on screen threw audiences for a loop. [GoWatchIt]
Madonna, "Vogue" (1990)
Well versed in the music video scene at this point in his career, Fincher pulled out all the stops for Madonna’s infamous “Vogue.” The industrial set, choice of black and white, and excessive uses of mirror shots and crossfades made us feel like we were right there in Madonna’s dream with her.
'The Social Network' (2010)
Though this is one of Fincher’s safer films based on a fairly straight-forward account about Mark Zuckerburg and the birth of Facebook, this should have been the director’s gimme Oscar, similar to Scorsese’s Departed year, but unfortunately it lost to totally untimely period bore, The King’s Speech. Fincher’s ability to make even Harvard look seedy is uncanny, showing the mudslinging side of accidental genius and emotional turmoil of acquiring too much money too quickly. [GoWatchIt]
'House of Cards,' "Chapter 1" (2013)
From the moment Kevin Spacey broke the fourth wall while strangling a dog to when he first starts controlling the media through Zoe Barnes, we knew we were in for a Fincher thriller when the Netflix original first premiered. House of Cards is an interesting Fincher project because it encompasses all of his greatest feats in a technical sense — long tracking shots, winding birds-eye POVs, and ever-so-delicately lit interior scenes — while sticking to the familiar theme he loves so much: manipulation between anti-hero and institution. [Watch on Netflix]
Billy Idol, "Cradle of Love" (1990)
I’m going to let Decider’s music expert Conrad Doucette take it away on this one:
For a 1990 release, “Cradle Of Love” is one hell of an ’80s video. There are the pastel colors, in the form of a pop art Billy Idol singing, sneering, and swaying over the sultry proceedings. There’s the sweaty silhouette of sex, as seen through afternoon sun-drenched blinds. And there are the standard, decade-defining yuppie visual clues: black leather, red wine, white shirts, and California-shiny hardwood floors. The hulking Apple desktop and the shiny (and awesome!) cassette deck are the icing on this very sleek cake.
Nike - "Fate: Leave Nothing (2008)"
This Nike spot makes us wish Fincher directed sports movies. It tells the story of paralleling lives of NFL stars, the Chargers’ LaDainian Tomlinson and the Steelers’ Troy Polamalu, who finally run into each other — quite literally — on the turf. Always one to incorporate a suspenseful score, his minute-long spot highlighting two very different young men with the same dream, feels far more significant than a commercial.
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