7. The Place Beyond The Pines
Well, we're back with Gosling again. Though he's been singled out for deception here, it's honestly not his fault. It's just that his carved-from-handsome-rock face can cover up all manner of plot, simply by being so goddamned photogenic. So when The Place Beyond The Pines' promotion campaign came out, all we really saw was Gosling's sullen visage, interspersed with occasional shots of Bradley Cooper, Dane DeHaan and Emory Cohen looking moody. So naturally, we expected Gosling to be the main star of the show. Hell, even if you didn't, you at least expected him to see out the first act. They've aged up Gosling before see Derek Cianfrance's other effort Blue Valentine or the lesser-seen All Good Things so it's not completely beyond exploring, and you would've thought it to be practically expected in a film such as this, which explores the theme of fatherhood and consequences. Yet despite featuring heavily in the trailers and the marketing, Gosling found himself shot out of a window come act one's close, and the whole thing gravitates away from the single-protagonist set-up we thought was going to happen in favour of much more fragmented fare. It's a good volte-face which allows the three other leads to fully flex their dramatic muscles, but you've got to admit it came as a shock. I fully expected to see that bleach-blond bonce around much longer, and was certainly gazumped by the dramatic shift after he took that tumble onto the driveway.