This was the thriller of 2014: cool, scary, simmering. "Gone Girl" didn't nab a best-picture Oscar slot as some were predicting it might, but star Rosamund Pike is up for best actress. Whatever. What matters is that this David Fincher-ized version of Gillian Flynn's blockbuster novel is thoroughly involving. If you haven't read the book or seen the film, I won't say much to spoil things, except that "Gone Girl" is about an unhappy marriage, a wife who goes missing, and a husband who becomes the prime suspect. Fincher, as always, calibrates the tension just right, and he's brought out arguably Ben Affleck's sharpest performance as the under-suspicion hubby. Fine support comes particularly from Carrie Coon as the husband's no-bull twin and Kim Dickens as a tough detective.

- KRISTINA DORSEY