Girl. Wild. Gone. Great books to good movies, 2014.

Gone Girl: If you can read the book before seeing the
movie, it's totally worth it for the added twists and turns.
If you can't, read it anyway for much deeper snarkiness
from Amazing Amy, or rather, Avenging Amy.

Girl. Gone. Wild. 

Wild. Gone. Girl.

Gone. Girl. Wild.

Mathematically, I think there are nine possible orderings of these three words. Up until last year, 2014, the only arrangement I’d heard was the first one, which is usually phrased in the plural and usually does not refer to a girl gone on her own destiny. But this past year I couldn’t help but to think up different configurations of these three words, which start to sound silly if you say them over and over, in all different ways.

Labor Day: Part romance and part thriller,
but the show stealer is the boy's
coming of age story. If you like a
good old fashioned cooking kitchen,
you'll love this set.

Fresh thinking came courtesy of two books by two incredible writers -- Wild and Gone Girl -- which were turned into two blockbuster movies with thanks to the production company of Reese Witherspoon, aka Elle Woods turned June Carter turned Strong Girl. If you do an internet search on Pacific Standard, you will likely pull up an article about Reese Witherspoon’s so-called fledgling career, in spite of her Academy Award win, box office draw, and mighty filmography. In her 30s she realized that Hollywood had no meaty roles for her, nor for any woman. (Female roles are usually subordinate and typically go to the teen-esque female actors, for the few short years they are teen-esque, whereas men get roles long into their creaky years.) So, long story short, Reese Witherspoon started her own production company and is making her own movies. So far, Bob and I are loving them for their adventure, innovation, acting, and storytelling prowess. In her interviews, RW says she’s always been a reader and that’s where she’s drawing her material – from books.

Wild: read the book before, during, or
after you see the movie. Audio book
is also good listening on long road trips.
Cheryl Strayed taught at my MFA
program but did I go to her seminar? No.
I'd never heard of her and I was tired.
#hindsight

Girls gone wild books, you might say.

Two of her movies in 2014 came from books that had a big impact on me: Wild by Cheryl Strayed, and Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn. If you have not yet read these two books, get thee behind my blog and read these books! Whatever is your daily surge, these books will pull you out and send you somewhere else, in a good way.
     Both movies were created by award-winning directors (Jean-Marc Vallée and David Fincher) yet neither were nominated for an Oscar award, outside of the two lead actors, Reese Witherspoon and Rosamund Pike, pitting two great performances against each other when both need to be celebrated for brilliance.

Across 19 non-acting categories, there are 35 women who have been nominated compared to 149 men. As my family will attest, these Oscar snubs burn me. It’s as if women’s decisions and women’s stories are not valued in Hollywood. Not a big deal if mainstream movies were not so powerful in how women are perceived. Not a big deal if I wasn’t a woman. If my daughter or mother were not women. If half the population were not women.

Our mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives are more than girls gone wild.

To answer my frustration for these obvious omissions of recognition, I’ve decided to celebrate artistic achievement in the motion picture industry here on my blog, by listing the movies I loved in 2014, and some of the amazing talent behind them. I center on the two aforementioned flicks, plus another book-driven movie, Labor Day, which was also driven by a celebrated director but completely panned by critics, I think unfairly.

Here goes.

Some of Terri’s favorite movies of 2014, which should have received copious awards in many categories from many awarding entities, including the most maddening of them all, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka the Oscars):

Best production company: Pacific Standard (Wild and Gone Girl)

Best movie adaptation of a memoir: Wild

Best movie adaptation of a thriller: Gone Girl

Best movie adaptation of a romance novel: Labor Day

Best actor in a movie adaptation of a memoir: Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

Best actor in a thriller: Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)

Best actor in a romance: Kate Winslet (Labor Day)

Best adapted screenplay: Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl)

Best wilderness cinematography: Wild

Best mood-evoking color-toned cinematography: Labor Day

Best satire on the 24/7 news industry: Gone Girl

Best authors for original movie-making material and page-turning, closet-hiding, shushing-others til you’ve read the very last page material:

Nonfiction, Memoir: Cheryl Strayed (Wild)

Fiction, Thriller: Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl)

Fiction, Romance/Thriller: Joyce Maynard (Labor Day)

Best characters who ultimately created their own destiny:

Cheryl Strayed (Wild) – no job, no man, but her own destiny

Amy Elliott-Dunne (Gone Girl) – pretty creepy, but her own destiny

Adele (Labor Day) – hot guy, but her hot guy, forged family, her own destiny

Honorable mentions for fantastic supporting acting roles:

Laura Dern (Wild)

Josh Brolin (Labor Day)

Ben Affleck (Gone Girl)

Neil Patrick Harris (Gone Girl)

For me, it was a good year for books turned to movies, and discovering new authors. Oscars be damned. Heads up on what to watch-for on TV: Mary Karr’s series of memoirs (Liars Club, Cherry, and Lit) are being turned into a television serial starring the fabulous Mary Louise Parker (ala Weeds’ Nancy Botwin). It’s a good time for memoir-lovers. (Although, admittedly, Gone Girl and Labor Day are not memoirs, and I still loved them. My cup runneth over.)

Your thoughts?