Nancy’s Reads & Reels: 'Gone Girl,' 'People Like Us' and 'Savages'

Talk about a “page turner.” Gone Girl is the very definition of that. I neglected such urgent matters as reading War and Peace, doing the dishes and filling the bird feeder to dive into this book. Narrated by Nick and his wife, Amy, the book alternates chapters. After losing their writing jobs in New York, they move to Nick’s hometown and no one is happy—especially Amy. When Amy disappears, Nick is the obvious suspect. If you are headed to the beach and want a book that you can’t put down read Gone Girl.

People Like Us is a movie to see if you just want to sit in an air-conditioned theater and not be assaulted by screen violence. Chris Pine is Sam who returns home due to the death of his father and learns that his father has left a pile of cash to Frankie (Elizabeth Banks), a single mother with a troubled son (Michael Hall D’Addario). Sam discovers that Frankie is his half-sister. Michelle Pfeifer is Sam’s mother and Olivia Wilde his girlfriend. The acting is good enough but the story makes you want to shout at the screen: “TELL HER THAT YOU ARE HER BROTHER AND THAT YOUR FATHER LEFT HER A PILE OF CASH!”

Savages is an Oliver Stone movie that should only be seen by extremely mature people and under no circumstances should children be allowed in the theater. A four-year-old was brought in by his, I assume, half-witted mother when we saw it. It’s the story of two attractive, well-educated young guys (Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch) who are successful at growing and selling marijuana in California but then a Mexican cartel wants to move in on their business and much blood and gore ensue.

Their mutual girlfriend (Blake Lively) is abducted by a menacing Benicio Del Torro but I have to say, and spoiler alert here, the audience only gasped when the leader of the Mexican cartel, Salma Hayek, took off her wig (despite beheadings and eye gouging). John Travolta also stars as a corrupt DEA agent.