Critics have set a high bar for the hotly buzzed "Gone Girl," which bows at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's New York Film Festival on September 26 before opening wide October 3. While the two-and-a-half hour thriller's Oscar status remains up in the air, players Affleck and Pike and director-writer team Fincher and Flynn are all picking up praise. Fincher seems to be returning to the hardboiled storytelling of 2007's "Zodiac," another long and twisty thriller where the criminal investigation is a red herring for a much darker, deeper exploration of American life. Here's a sampling of the chatter.