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RANK FIVE FINCHER FILMS

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For some reason, the Ringer is doing a David Fincher week. Anyway, I think the discussion on ranking his five best films is interesting (not including “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” “The Game,” “Panic Room” or “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” here). For the interest of centering the discussion on these five films and because I’ve asked friends irl, I’d like to know where y’all stand on ranking: “Zodiac,” “Fight Club,” “The Social Network,” “Se7en” and “Gone Girl.”
 

treble

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5. Se7en - The best part of this movie is the title sequence, which prestige TV shows have been ripping off for more than 20 years now.
4. Fight Club - I haven't watched this in a while. I think my main issue with it is the same as with Se7en. I just don't think Brad Pitt was a good enough actor, yet.
3. Gone Girl - The cast is perfect, even Tyler Perry is great.
2. The Social Network - Can't believe this lost to the fucking King's Speech at the Oscars.
1. Zodiac - Pretty much a perfect movie, I think. Probably my favourite movie, period.
 

Epic Springs

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Se7en, Fight Club, Panic Room, Benjamin Button and Social Network.

I'm in the minority who LOVES PR. Fincher is one of my favorite directors. Maybe I'll add a write-up later. MAYBE.
 

Laz

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Fincher is a lot like Ridley Scott to me where I can agree that he has a metric shitton of talent but he only has a couple movies I'm at all interested in, and exactly one of them features Sigourney Weaver.
 

Big Beard Booty Daddy

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5. Se7en - The best part of this movie is the title sequence, which prestige TV shows have been ripping off for more than 20 years now.
4. Fight Club - I haven't watched this in a while. I think my main issue with it is the same as with Se7en. I just don't think Brad Pitt was a good enough actor, yet.
3. Gone Girl - The cast is perfect, even Tyler Perry is great.
2. The Social Network - Can't believe this lost to the fucking King's Speech at the Oscars.
1. Zodiac - Pretty much a perfect movie, I think. Probably my favourite movie, period.

Fight Club is one of my favorite movies ever, but if I'm being honest, this might be the way I'd rank them. Fincher is my favorite living director after Guillermo del Toro, and I love every movie of his I've seen, the only ones I haven't seen are Benjamin Button and Panic Room.
 

Epic Springs

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If I were to rank the ones on your list:

Zodiac
Gone Girl
The Social Network
Se7en
Fight Club
 

HarleyQuinn

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My rankings...

#1: Se7en. Yeah, Pitt isn't the best but the mood, the lighting, the cinematography. Just great and it's been a modern day blueprint for the 'serial killer' movie for a reason.
#2: Zodiac. Fantastic. I think it actually may be Fincher's best movie but I prefer Se7en on watchability.
#3: The Social Network. I haven't seen this in a while so maybe my opinion will change but I remember it being well directed, just didn't care much for it on the whole though.
#4: Gone Girl. Solid with great acting. I actually prefer Panic Room to this and Social Network.
#5: Fight Club.
 

Brocklock

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1. Zodiac - A masterpiece. A mostly talky 3 hour movie with not a lot of big exciting set pieces and yet it's fascinating, paced better than a lot of superhero movies, and flies right by. I'd say it's close to a perfect movie.

2. The Social Network - Another movie that I think is close to a masterpiece. Jesse Eisenberg has never been better and probably never will be again. Just a pitch perfect performance. The mood, atmosphere, and score is still haunting and it feels like one of the most important films of the last 20 years.

3. Se7en - Not in Silence Of The Lamb's league, but still a great 90's serial killer movie. The more I watch, the more I appreciate Morgan Freeman's performance and it's one of his best. Pitt is kind of miscast here idk, he has some really great moments and some iffy moments but he's too much of an oddball actor to me to be playing this type of part. But it's not even that big of a problem. as the movie has so many memorable moments and big scenes. It's another movie that is paced really well and the seven deadly sin plot ensures it's always moving.

4. Gone Girl - Just a rock solid movie. Ben Affleck is perfect as Nick (Especially after reading the book, Affleck nails Nick's douchey essense), but I do find the first half following him sort of dull at times on rewatches. Rosamund Pike is so good as amy (Maybe too good cause it's hard to buy her in some of her recent parts). The whole casting is perfect with everyone nailing their role, although this is the movie I was starting to get impatient with Fincher's visual aesthetic.

5. Fight Club - I really like this movie, just the other four are better. It never really resonated with me like with the other four movies. Pitt and Norton are both great and this is Fincher clearly in the zone when it comes to his visual style. That style was getting stale in Gone Girl, but it fits this movie so well.


Also, since I don't think it was mentioned I do like his remake of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo a lot and I think his style elevates that movie.
 

treble

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I re-watched all his movies before Mank comes out. I think I'd still rank them the same, but I did like Fight Club more on (I think) second viewing. Same goes for Panic Room, which didn't have much of an impact on me the first time I watched it, but I enjoyed quite a bit.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I liked a bit less this time around, though. I don't dislike it, I just don't care about the plot at all and the rape scene is pretty disturbing.
 

Epic Springs

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Panic Room is one of my favorite films. It doesn't get recognized as much in Fincher's filmography sadly but I love everything about in from the cast (Jodie Foster, FORREST F'N WHITAKER, Kristen Stewart before Twilight overexposed her and Jared Leto before he started making trash music), to the CGI closeups, to the overall intensity (especially in the final act).

Can't wait to watch Mank this weekend.
 
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treble

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Yeah, Leto stood out to me especially in Panic Room. I'm not really a big fan of his, but I thought he was really good.

Honestly, Fincher almost always has great supporting casts. The Game is maybe the only movie of his I can think of that doesn't really have any stand-outs.
 
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