Tonight I saw Gone Girl, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.
Remember when Scott Peterson's attorney called him a 'cad' for having an affair with Amber Frey, but implied that didn't make him a murderer? That his wife Laci's disappearance wasn't necessarily connected just because of his bad behavior?
Well, Nick Dunne (Affleck) has found himself in a similar situation.
Without giving anything away about what his character is actually guilty of doing, Nick's wife Amy (Pike) has gone missing and his judgment has been admittedly poor as the small Missouri town where they reside rallies to search for her.
On his side are his hot-shot attorney Tanner (played to perfection by Tyler Perry) and his twin sister Margo (Carrie Coon); both think he's a certain degree of idiot, but neither thinks him a murderer. Sure, his wife is/was an uppity, cold New Yorker with few—if any—friends to speak of, and he's an out-of-work writer, numbingly co-owning the town bar with his sister, but for all their typical married couple problems, he had no reason to kill her.
And that's about all I can tell you about the story.
Those who were fans of the book for which the film is based won't be disappointed in how the original author, the amazing Gillian Flynn, adapts it for the big screen. The characters gain even more dimension, and smaller players emerge stronger and more visible in the chaos.
I wasn't surprised I loved this film, but I was shocked at how long it was since it felt like it went so fast (it's actually well over 2 hours). I loved being on the edge of my seat, though I knew (generally) what was going to happen. I adored seeing the state where I went to college re-capture all of its small-town charm with endearing cops and annoying neighbors amongst the flood of do-gooders. I relished in the graphic scenes of sex and violence; none of which felt gratuitous.
I appreciated the way the men gasped more than the women did in my theater, and no matter how unlikeable the characters became, I still ended up rooting for them in some weird, warped, dark way.
The world needs more satisfying twisty thrillers like this one.
Showing posts with label Ben Affleck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ben Affleck. Show all posts
Friday, October 03, 2014
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Argo
Last night I saw Argo, starring Ben Affleck and Bryan Cranston.
Tony Mendez (Affleck) is an 'exfiltration' specialist for the CIA, which means he specializes in removing people from dangerous situations. Jack O'Donnell (Cranston) enlists Mendez to formulate a way to get six American Embassy refugees, currently in hiding at the Canadian ambassador's residence, home safely from an Iranian disaster zone. The year is 1979.
Though unconventional, Mendez has an idea to coach the six into portraying themselves as a Canadian film crew to get them out of the country. The general consensus is that the proposal "is so crazy it just might work," so the seal of approval is granted by the CIA to move forward with the plan.
Sounds like a great idea for a screenplay doesn't it? The twist is that this story is true. Painfully accurate, as a matter of fact. The events in this film really did happen and were unknown to the world until President Clinton de-classified the operation in the 1990s.
One may assume that because we know the ending the movie's sense of suspense will suffer, but that's not the case. Affleck, who also directed the film, has created a thriller masterpiece here. He's given us a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction plot, duplicated the physical appearance of the actors to look eerily like their real counterparts and delivered a film full of heart, humor and humility.
Though I knew how the story ended going into it, there were moments where I was actually holding my breath watching it all play out. The casting, the acting, the pacing, the writing—all superb.
It will be hard for another film to surpass the greatness of this one for me this year. Get to the theater right away and take it all in. You won't be disappointed (and do remember to stay for the credits).
~~~
Tony Mendez (Affleck) is an 'exfiltration' specialist for the CIA, which means he specializes in removing people from dangerous situations. Jack O'Donnell (Cranston) enlists Mendez to formulate a way to get six American Embassy refugees, currently in hiding at the Canadian ambassador's residence, home safely from an Iranian disaster zone. The year is 1979.
Though unconventional, Mendez has an idea to coach the six into portraying themselves as a Canadian film crew to get them out of the country. The general consensus is that the proposal "is so crazy it just might work," so the seal of approval is granted by the CIA to move forward with the plan.
Sounds like a great idea for a screenplay doesn't it? The twist is that this story is true. Painfully accurate, as a matter of fact. The events in this film really did happen and were unknown to the world until President Clinton de-classified the operation in the 1990s.
One may assume that because we know the ending the movie's sense of suspense will suffer, but that's not the case. Affleck, who also directed the film, has created a thriller masterpiece here. He's given us a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction plot, duplicated the physical appearance of the actors to look eerily like their real counterparts and delivered a film full of heart, humor and humility.
Though I knew how the story ended going into it, there were moments where I was actually holding my breath watching it all play out. The casting, the acting, the pacing, the writing—all superb.
It will be hard for another film to surpass the greatness of this one for me this year. Get to the theater right away and take it all in. You won't be disappointed (and do remember to stay for the credits).
~~~
Sunday, February 06, 2011
The Company Men
This morning I saw The Company Men, starring Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones.
Bobby Walker (Affleck) is not a corporate asshole. Sure, his wife calls him one during a heated argument, and he does favor golfing and nice cars to the blue collar lifestyle, but at the end of the day he's a good guy. He adores his children, stays faithful to his wife and doesn't willingly try to harm anyone in his life's work.
His boss Gene (Jones) at the GTX Corporation is less of a good guy, but he does genuinely care about his employees and is incensed to learn that Bobby has been let go in his absence. He's even more pissed when it happens to him a few months later.
This is all the fault of the Big Bad CEO, James Salinger (Craig T. Nelson) who will step on anyone (even his best friend Gene) to "save" the company and his inflated salary.
An almost too-fitting film for our times, watching this felt like seeing Up In the Air turned inside out. Instead of the office side of the layoffs, we see the repercussions.
Each man deals with his loss in a different way: Bobby genuinely tries to land a new gig but the offers just aren't there. Phil (Chris Cooper) dies his hair to look younger (at the recommendation of a placement specialist), Gene goes into a state of denial.
If all of this sounds straightforward and predictable, it is, but I can't overstate how well it all plays out.
The families of the men define how they react, regardless of their pride; the safety net we all want to think is there for us collapses in a very un-movie-like way for several characters. Their pain, though difficult to watch, is refreshingly real.
The performances by Affleck, Jones and Cooper are nothing short of top notch. They aren't "too" Boston to be believable, but still capture the assumed manliness of that slice of America.
There are also great supporting stars here: Maria Bello as the devious downsizer, Rosemarie Dewitt as Bobby's practical wife, and Kevin Costner as the rough brother-in-law who dislikes Bobby, but still reaches out to help him.
I was glued to the screen from start to finish by this satisfying, honest film. Everyone who's ever been in dire straits (and that's all of us, I think) should see it.
~~~
Bobby Walker (Affleck) is not a corporate asshole. Sure, his wife calls him one during a heated argument, and he does favor golfing and nice cars to the blue collar lifestyle, but at the end of the day he's a good guy. He adores his children, stays faithful to his wife and doesn't willingly try to harm anyone in his life's work.
His boss Gene (Jones) at the GTX Corporation is less of a good guy, but he does genuinely care about his employees and is incensed to learn that Bobby has been let go in his absence. He's even more pissed when it happens to him a few months later.
This is all the fault of the Big Bad CEO, James Salinger (Craig T. Nelson) who will step on anyone (even his best friend Gene) to "save" the company and his inflated salary.
An almost too-fitting film for our times, watching this felt like seeing Up In the Air turned inside out. Instead of the office side of the layoffs, we see the repercussions.
Each man deals with his loss in a different way: Bobby genuinely tries to land a new gig but the offers just aren't there. Phil (Chris Cooper) dies his hair to look younger (at the recommendation of a placement specialist), Gene goes into a state of denial.
If all of this sounds straightforward and predictable, it is, but I can't overstate how well it all plays out.
The families of the men define how they react, regardless of their pride; the safety net we all want to think is there for us collapses in a very un-movie-like way for several characters. Their pain, though difficult to watch, is refreshingly real.
The performances by Affleck, Jones and Cooper are nothing short of top notch. They aren't "too" Boston to be believable, but still capture the assumed manliness of that slice of America.
There are also great supporting stars here: Maria Bello as the devious downsizer, Rosemarie Dewitt as Bobby's practical wife, and Kevin Costner as the rough brother-in-law who dislikes Bobby, but still reaches out to help him.
I was glued to the screen from start to finish by this satisfying, honest film. Everyone who's ever been in dire straits (and that's all of us, I think) should see it.
~~~
Friday, September 24, 2010
The Town
On Wednesday, I saw The Town, starring Ben Affleck and Rebecca Hall.
Doug MacRay (Affleck) was the good kid from a bad Boston family. Dad is behind bars, mom has disappeared and his best friend, troublemaker Jim (Jeremy Renner) has taken him in as an adopted brother.
When we meet Doug and Jim, they're robbing a bank with their friends, and we see that Doug shows compassion for their hostage Claire (Hall), while Jim is more prone to aggression, beating an assistant manager savagely because he suspects he tripped the alarm.
Following the crime, the group needs to be sure the witness won't talk, so Doug follows Claire, quickly learning the emotional ramifications of what they did to her. He shows genuine compassion for her pain during a meet-cute at a laundromat and they begin dating.
Meanwhile, overzealous FBI agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) is determined to put a stop to this dangerous group and begins to put the pieces of the crime together.
From there it's a cat-and-mouse chase of further violence, action and mayhem leading up to a tense ending that had me holding my breath.
Affleck as a director is clear in his aim to make Boston its own character. Shots of the city are alternately beautiful and harrowing, depending on the neighborhood, and the ever-present accents never let us forget where they are.
He's also good at action scenes, getting just enough angles to keep it interesting without confusing us.
As for the performances, Jeremy Renner stands out as exceptionally evil, while Affleck appears sincere and conflicted at the life he's chosen vs. the life that was chosen for him.
Although it's a formulaic good-guy, bad-guy story, with the intent that the audience will root for the redeeming bad guy, I still enjoyed the ride and look forward to see what Affleck will come up with next.
~~~
Doug MacRay (Affleck) was the good kid from a bad Boston family. Dad is behind bars, mom has disappeared and his best friend, troublemaker Jim (Jeremy Renner) has taken him in as an adopted brother.
When we meet Doug and Jim, they're robbing a bank with their friends, and we see that Doug shows compassion for their hostage Claire (Hall), while Jim is more prone to aggression, beating an assistant manager savagely because he suspects he tripped the alarm.
Following the crime, the group needs to be sure the witness won't talk, so Doug follows Claire, quickly learning the emotional ramifications of what they did to her. He shows genuine compassion for her pain during a meet-cute at a laundromat and they begin dating.
Meanwhile, overzealous FBI agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) is determined to put a stop to this dangerous group and begins to put the pieces of the crime together.
From there it's a cat-and-mouse chase of further violence, action and mayhem leading up to a tense ending that had me holding my breath.
Affleck as a director is clear in his aim to make Boston its own character. Shots of the city are alternately beautiful and harrowing, depending on the neighborhood, and the ever-present accents never let us forget where they are.
He's also good at action scenes, getting just enough angles to keep it interesting without confusing us.
As for the performances, Jeremy Renner stands out as exceptionally evil, while Affleck appears sincere and conflicted at the life he's chosen vs. the life that was chosen for him.
Although it's a formulaic good-guy, bad-guy story, with the intent that the audience will root for the redeeming bad guy, I still enjoyed the ride and look forward to see what Affleck will come up with next.
~~~
Friday, September 25, 2009
Extract
On Sunday I saw Extract, starring Jason Bateman and Ben Affleck.
Writer/director Mike Judge has made me laugh in the past with the cult classic Office Space, and the doomsday comedy Idiocracy. As a fan of his, and just about everyone in the cast, I was greatly anticipating this new flick. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to anticipate.
Bateman plays Joel, a self-made business owner who runs an extract (as in "vanilla") factory. He's in a marriage that no longer sexually satisfies him, and desires an affair with a new temporary employee Cindy (Mila Kunis). However, he loves his wife, so he doesn't want to cheat without having leverage.
In a drunken, horse-tranquilized conversation with his friend/bartender Dean (Affleck), he decides it would be a good idea to hire a jigolo to seduce her so he wouldn't feel guilty consummating with Cindy. She takes the bait and immediately embarks on a passionate affair that lingers long past the "one time" that Joel hired him.
And to make matters worse, there's been an accident at the extract factory that causes their financial future to come into question. There is a con artist in the midst and a snake of a lawyer (played almost too well by Gene Simmons) to take advantage of the situation.
Add to that an annoying neighbor and you have pieces of about ten different movies; some of which are funny, some of which are not.
The standout performance here is undoubtedly Ben Affleck who comfortably resumes his Dazed and Confused stoner-stupor and delivers laughs each time he opens his mouth.
But sadly, despite the other star power, the story falls flat and feels false in too many ways (con artist unbelievable, Joel's marriage not authentic, etc.)
In an effort to prove how rare we intelligent entities are in suburban America, Judge forgot to make the story smart enough.
~~~
Writer/director Mike Judge has made me laugh in the past with the cult classic Office Space, and the doomsday comedy Idiocracy. As a fan of his, and just about everyone in the cast, I was greatly anticipating this new flick. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to anticipate.
Bateman plays Joel, a self-made business owner who runs an extract (as in "vanilla") factory. He's in a marriage that no longer sexually satisfies him, and desires an affair with a new temporary employee Cindy (Mila Kunis). However, he loves his wife, so he doesn't want to cheat without having leverage.
In a drunken, horse-tranquilized conversation with his friend/bartender Dean (Affleck), he decides it would be a good idea to hire a jigolo to seduce her so he wouldn't feel guilty consummating with Cindy. She takes the bait and immediately embarks on a passionate affair that lingers long past the "one time" that Joel hired him.
And to make matters worse, there's been an accident at the extract factory that causes their financial future to come into question. There is a con artist in the midst and a snake of a lawyer (played almost too well by Gene Simmons) to take advantage of the situation.
Add to that an annoying neighbor and you have pieces of about ten different movies; some of which are funny, some of which are not.
The standout performance here is undoubtedly Ben Affleck who comfortably resumes his Dazed and Confused stoner-stupor and delivers laughs each time he opens his mouth.
But sadly, despite the other star power, the story falls flat and feels false in too many ways (con artist unbelievable, Joel's marriage not authentic, etc.)
In an effort to prove how rare we intelligent entities are in suburban America, Judge forgot to make the story smart enough.
~~~
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Gone Baby Gone
Tonight I screened Gone Baby Gone, starring Casey Affleck and Ed Harris.
I love it when movies make me think.
There are those that say they simply go to the movies to be entertained, and while that's important, if a movie forces me to calculate decisions as I'm watching, or question my morals when I've left the theater, I have to rank it a little higher on the list than the fluff. And this one did.
The story tells of two young 'private investigator' types (Affleck and Michelle Monaghan) who get caught up in a missing children case with the Boston PD only to arrive at disastrous results. But that's merely the beginning.
What unfolds is a story of deceit, vigilante justice, moral integrity, betrayal and heartbreak. And I'm still making up my mind about the characters.
Affleck gives a terrific performance as the quintessential good guy and Harris is equally good as the tried-and-true tough cop.
But the twists in the writing and the exciting camera work are really what make this a thrilling Departed-like ride.
Proof positive that the other Affleck (who directed and co-wrote this) is at his best behind the scenes.
I love it when movies make me think.
There are those that say they simply go to the movies to be entertained, and while that's important, if a movie forces me to calculate decisions as I'm watching, or question my morals when I've left the theater, I have to rank it a little higher on the list than the fluff. And this one did.
The story tells of two young 'private investigator' types (Affleck and Michelle Monaghan) who get caught up in a missing children case with the Boston PD only to arrive at disastrous results. But that's merely the beginning.
What unfolds is a story of deceit, vigilante justice, moral integrity, betrayal and heartbreak. And I'm still making up my mind about the characters.
Affleck gives a terrific performance as the quintessential good guy and Harris is equally good as the tried-and-true tough cop.
But the twists in the writing and the exciting camera work are really what make this a thrilling Departed-like ride.
Proof positive that the other Affleck (who directed and co-wrote this) is at his best behind the scenes.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Hollywoodland
Today I yawned my way through Hollywoodland starring Ben Affleck and Diane Lane.
I can't put my finger on exactly what I disliked about the movie, except to say that there just wasn't much to it.
The acting is strong—Diane Lane as a controlling older mistress (Toni Mannix) and Ben Affleck as the doomed TV star (George Reeves). While they were the main characters in the story, the supporting players were more exciting. Robin Tunney plays a colorful and cunning gold digger (Leonore Lemmon), leaving the viewers to doubt if the late actor's fiancé ever loved him at all. And Adrian Brody's portrayal of investigator Louis Simo is easily the best performance in the film.
That said, for such an interesting real-life story, the Hollywood version falls short.
Sure, there are brawls in the street and innocent people turning up dead and scorned husbands, wives and lovers...but none of it is enough to get the pulse racing.
And at the end of the day, if Reeves really did kill himself, you have to wonder why. He had a successful (if not ideal) TV career and was on a path to directing and producing features. There was no shortage of women in his life and he still had a substantial fan base.
A senseless tragedy, no matter how it happened.
I can't put my finger on exactly what I disliked about the movie, except to say that there just wasn't much to it.
The acting is strong—Diane Lane as a controlling older mistress (Toni Mannix) and Ben Affleck as the doomed TV star (George Reeves). While they were the main characters in the story, the supporting players were more exciting. Robin Tunney plays a colorful and cunning gold digger (Leonore Lemmon), leaving the viewers to doubt if the late actor's fiancé ever loved him at all. And Adrian Brody's portrayal of investigator Louis Simo is easily the best performance in the film.
That said, for such an interesting real-life story, the Hollywood version falls short.
Sure, there are brawls in the street and innocent people turning up dead and scorned husbands, wives and lovers...but none of it is enough to get the pulse racing.
And at the end of the day, if Reeves really did kill himself, you have to wonder why. He had a successful (if not ideal) TV career and was on a path to directing and producing features. There was no shortage of women in his life and he still had a substantial fan base.
A senseless tragedy, no matter how it happened.
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