Carrie (2013) **

It's been 40 years since Stephen King published his first novel. Over the proceeding decades we would see an onslaught of King's work translated to the big screen, some with great results and the others resulting in garbage, but that's the way it is with a body of work that is continuously wanted by an eager public.

This is the third time that the first novel by King has been presented, the first being Brian DePalma's early classic that exhibits all that DePalma was to be, good or bad, and starred and excellent Sissy Spacek as the title character. There was a sequel somewhere, a TV remake (neither of which I can comment on because why should we bother). This newest version comes to us from director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry), bringing us an examination of a scared, uninitiated high school girl from an actual woman. Who would have thought...

The story is the same. Carrie White (Chloe Grace Moretz) has lived a sheltered life with her mother (Julianne Moore), a religious zealot trying to make amends with what she considers a hedonistic past. As always, this goes great for a senior in high school who becomes a woman in the middle of gym class. a guilt ridden fellow student decides to have her boyfriend take Carrie to the prom to make amends, but other students aren't as guilty as she. If you have seen any other the previous incarnations, you know the rest.

The film is your basic rehash of the original film and book. There is nothing new here. It's the same animal as 40 years ago. The big finish is epic and satisfying, but the ending leaves something to be desired, almost taking a twist into action overload Michael Bay territory. This is where the original film has the advantage over this new model. The ending here is just to much for a film such as this. It just doesn't gel with the rest of the film.

As always, remakes are remakes and Hollywood still tries to milk an old franchise for all its worth. Carrie is a simple rehash that isn't even twisted around a bit to bring us something new. Unless you're viewing this for free, skip it. You've seen the original. Go find a nice independent film or documentary. Experience something new.

Gone Girl *****

We get caught up in the whole idea of thrill rides when we talk about the soundbites that come from merchandising films, especially in the last decade or so. We're promised a roller coaster, but we get the usual, mundane drive to work that we've seen time and again. In Gone Girl we get the opposite. What starts out as your typical Lifetime movie fodder suddenly slams on the brakes and becomes something original in that it takes our emotions on the thrill ride that we're always promised, but rarely receive.

Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) leads a mundane life with his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) in South Eastern Missouri. After a pedestrian encounter with his twin sister (Carrie Coon) discussing the chore that going thru the game that has become their anniversary has become, Nick returns home to find his wife missing and the signs of something being afoot. Cue the impending investigation, the secrets that Nick and his wife hold close to their chest, and the transformation from helpless victim to heinous villain and back again.

Gone Girl is a difficult movie to discuss with someone who hasn't seen the film because you lose the central pivot of the film that everything is centered on. Just as with his previous work, David Fincher has chosen to take us on a ride where we think we know where the hell we're going, but the bus took a right instead of a left and takes us to a shocking new direction that delights us because we just don't know what's going to happen next. That's what makes a movie great- it takes us somewhere we've never been before.

Another aspect of Gone Girl is the way it manipulates the audience and the commentary that this makes with society today, in particular reality television. I can't really call it a commentary. It's more like a metaphysical conversation with the way people turn on a dime emotionally on the screen and the way our emotions as an audience are twisted. You will wonder how gullible these people are, being told how to feel by the talking heads on the television, all the while you're making your decisions on how you feel about the characters based on what you see on the screen. Your feelings for these characters will change more than once as the movie progresses and it's great. It's wonderful to have a film that doesn't have characters that fit right into their cookie cutter positions. It's even better when they can't figure out which little slot they belong in, either.

David Fincher has delivered another masterpiece that can be considered a thrill ride. The audience is emotionally whipped around on his Gone Girl roller coaster, the main difference being that you don't see the curves coming or the big drops that cause our hearts to race and adrenaline to flow. They're just dropped on you. It's like a sunny day after a week of rain. You've almost forgotten what a great film looks like.