Classic Movie Review Dazed and Confused

Dazed and Confused (1993) 

Directed by Richard Linklater 

Written by Richard Linklater 

Starring Wiley Wiggins, Jason London, Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey, Joey Lauren Adams, Ben Affleck 

Release Date September 24th, 1993 

Published September 25th, 2023 

Dazed and Confused captured a moment in time, a transition period for American culture. The last vestiges of the Baby Boom giving way to the start of Generation X. It's the end of the last great period of rock n'roll before it gave way to disco and eventually, pop music. The film is set just before AIDS arrived to rob the world of so many, many souls, both through the death of so many, and the many children who would never be born due to the fear of death by sexual activity. Dazed and Confused lives in this calm before the next storm. 

In 1976 we had a little distance from the turmoil of the 1960s and we hadn't yet seen the rise of the Evil Empire, a.k.a The Reagan administration. 1976 was a brief moment where we were allowed to breathe and relax and wait for the next trauma to visit the nation. Vietnam is a recent wound but one that we have a couple years distance from. Like I said, 1976 is a unique moment in time. Dazed and Confused reflects this moment by showing us a relatable but deeply disaffected group of young people, unmoored, exhausted, and just seeking a little break from the outside world via the various available intoxicants. 

The story, such as it is, of Dazed and Confused falls primarily on Randall 'Pink' Floyd (Jason London), the star Quarterback of his Texas High School. Pink is growing more and more disenchanted with the role of golden boy. When the Head Football Coach sends out a letter that is players must sign a drug and alcohol free pledge, Pink decides that he won't say it. This comes from two points of view, one, he just wants to see what the coaches reaction will be. The other point of view is that Randall doesn't want to play football anymore. Anyone with just a passing knowledge of High School Football in Texas knows that this is not decision that will go over well. 

The second track of story follows the incoming freshman of the school. Wiley Wiggins stars in Dazed and Confused as Mitch Kramer. Mitch becomes the prime target of the new senior class as part of an annual rite of passage in this small Texas town. Because Mitch has an older sister who is going to be a senior, the senior boys decide to punish Mitch extra hard. The tradition is such that new seniors, those going into the final year of High School in the fall, must spend the summer making sure to 'initiate' the incoming freshman. 

The initiation involves wooden paddles and spanking. It's a painful initiation into High School life and one the seniors relish as they've been through it themselves and are eager for the chance to become the aggressors. This is no more true for anyone as it is for now two time senior, O'Banion (Ben Affleck). The most loud and nasty of the senior bullies, classmates theorize that O'Banion failed his senior year just so he could come back and paddle freshman for one more year before he heads off to some dead end job. Ben Affleck invest O'Banion with a blank eyed stare that communicates both a depth of fear of the future and a deep sense of masculine insecurity that underlines the homo-erotic aspect of this bizarre rite of passage. 

Freshman girls don't get off easy either, though thankfully, they are free of spankings. For the incoming Freshman girls, the punishment appears to be voluntary. A group of girls who wish to be accepted as popular by the senior girls submit themselves to being forced to roll around on the ground and be covered in condiments before they are thrown into the back of a truck and driven thru a car wash. It's a different kind of ritual, for sure, one embodied by Sabrina (Christin Hinojosa), a freshman who was selected by one of the seniors and ends up being invited to travel with the Senior girls to various places and parties on this first night of summer. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review The Flash

The Flash (2023)

Directed by Andy Muschietti 

Written by Christina Hodson

Starring Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Ben Affleck, Michael Shannon, Maribel Verdu 

Release Date June 16th, 2023 

Published June 14th, 2023 

Let's address the elephant in the room. There are numerous stories regarding the life of Ezra Miller that demonstrate that they may not be a good person. There's been allegations of abuse, grooming, and other types of criminal behavior, including kidnapping and, for a time, he was even suspected of murder. It's incredibly hard to objectively look at Miller's work and separate that from the person. I'm going to try and do that in this review but I want to make it very clear that regardless of how I feel about Miller's work and the movie The Flash, Miller has a lot of things to answer for and this review is not intended in any way as a co-sign of Miller the person. 

The Flash stars Ezra Miller as Barry Allen, super-hero. Having been introduced in the Snyder-verse of the DCU, The Flash is now almost the last of a dying branch of a franchise. And yet, despite that negative energy running in the background of the movie, The Flash manages to be quite good. Against many odds indeed, director Andy Muschietti, famous for his deft and ingenious work on It Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, has delivered a rousing, emotional and wildly inventive super hero blockbuster. It's not without its flaws but those may be inherent to behind the scenes development where producers plotted this film with sequels in mind that are now unlikely to happen. 

We pick up the story of Barry Allen as he is helping Batman/Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), respond to a heist that turns into a dangerous and deadly building collapse. Baddies have stolen a deadly biological weapon from Gotham General Hospital and while Batman goes after the weapon, it's up to Barry to save the patients and staff of the now collapsing and on fire hospital. In a visually dynamic, if slightly tedious segment, Barry rescues a group of babies falling from near the top of the collapsing building. In time lapse we watch as Barry comedically but necessarily snacks while in the air, snatches baby after baby out of the air, saves a nurse and a therapy dog, all while a massive building is collapsing over them all. 

This is an objectively terrific display of the powers of The Flash and the humble, sweet, but unusual character of Ezra Miller's The Flash. Miller's Barry Allen is sweet, shy, and anxiety ridden. He's a reluctant hero whose journey is one in which he confronts his mistakes, his past, his pain and trauma, and grows up before our eyes. He becomes more and more of a hero as he discovers himself and sees the errors of his ways. He's always been headstrong, even as his nature is to wilt in front of people. Here that headstrong quality is met with a self-examination that causes Barry to become more responsible, more like the hero Batman/Bruce Wayne believes he can be. 

It's a terrific arc that takes on a tragic, sad, and lovely melancholy as Barry longs for his late mother and the family that was shattered by her murder. Following a conversation with his father (Ron Livingston, currently behind bars, accused of killing Barry's mother, Barry uses the speed force to travel back in time to see if he can save his mother. Barry's mother is played by Maribel Verdu and she is utterly incredible in this relatively limited role. In her brief screen time, Verdu elevates otherwise familiar material about how we mythologize and simplify the memories of our beloved parents with an ethereal kindness, an impossible level of charisma, and a radiant loving presence. Verdu floored me in her few scenes. 

In lesser hands than hers, and director Andy Muschietti, Barry's mother, Nora Allen, could be a plot device. But with the incredible work of actor and director, the role feels rich, alive and beautiful well beyond the plot and her function within it. The mother/son chemistry of Verdu and Miller is incredibly powerful and it builds to an emotional climax that I was not expecting, one that hit me right in the heart. I'm perhaps personalizing this too much, but having lost a really great mom, one very reminiscent of this conception of Nora Allen, I was deeply touched by their bond. That this is also the motivation for the plot and all of the action that Barry takes in this plot means that the whole movie gets a charge from this chemistry. It's so strong for me that I think the movie might be as good, or even better on a rewatch because you would go in knowing just how powerful that relationship is and how devastating and emotional it all will become. 

Click here for my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Air

Air (2023) 

Directed by Ben Affleck 

Written by Alex Convery 

Starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker 

Release Date April 5th, 2023 

Published April 7th, 2023 

Air takes advantage of the collective nostalgia of sports fans of the 1990s. It's a powerful force that alters our critical thinking and places in a welcomg headspace regardless of our critical faculties. Thus how we get a movie about corporate titans, literal billionaires, becomes a shaggy underdog narrative about overcoming the odds. Never mind that Nike always had the means to land Michael Jordan and make him the global brand he became, it's more compelling to pretend that they had no chance and were some kind of upstart in an industry they'd made a billion dollars in in just a decade of existence. 

Our culturewide nostalgia for what Michael Jordan represents leaves us willing to center a story about the triumph of a black entrepreneur that is centered on the success of the white men who proved capable of seeing his worth and willing to bend their profits to his will. Yes, there was still plenty of stakes in 1984 and there was always the chance that Michael Jordan could have gotten hurt or developed a disinterest in greatness, but we know that didn't happen and that fact makes this story much easier to be nostalgic about. 

The makers of Air are aware of the issues we are bringing with us into seeing Air. The film is aware that Nike is the weird cult of a billionaire's personality. The filmmakers are aware that they are taking a story of black excellence and centering it on a group of white men, Nike was well aware that they were seeking athletes they could exploit for financial gain that would mostly go to the white men exploiting them. The film pitches these problems in dialogue and bats them away by telling you a pretty good story about charismatic characters in a complicated and fast paced fashion. Does this excuse the sins involved? No, not in the least, but there is no denying the entertainment value of our blinding nostalgia. 

Matt Damon stars in Air as Sonny Vaccaro, basketball guru. Hired to define the Nike Basketball brand, Vaccaro works alongside marketing guru, Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman), to find athletes willing to be paid to wear Nike basketball gear. As we join the story, it's 1984 and Nike ranks third in the world in basketball shoes. Adidas and Converse are numbers 1 and 2 and the biggest stars are making deals with them. This includes the top 3 picks in the 1984 NBA draft, Hakeem Olajuwon, Sam Bowie, and Michael Jordan. Nike has high hopes for maybe inking  a deal with someone named Mel Turpin. 

Then, late one night, Sonny Vaccaro watches Michael's legendary NCAA Tournament winning shot from the 1982 NCAA tournament championship. In that legendary video, he sees something that no one else had seen before. In Sonny estimation, Michael Jordan, then a Freshman, was actually the first choice to make this game winning shot. Of all the stars at the disposal of legendary College Basektball coach Dean Smith, he chose to draw up a play that relied on Michael Jordan to make the most important shot. On top of that, Jordan appears unafraid of this kind of pressure, he's calm and he confidently hits a shot that hundreds of other players might not have the nerve to make. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor (2001)

Directed by Michael Bay 

Written by Randall Wallace

Starring Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Sizemore, Alec Baldwin

Release Date May 25th, 2001

Published May 25th, 2011 

The blockbuster Pearl Harbor turns 10 years old this month and so I decided to look back on it with new eyes a decade later.

Movies are not living things; they don’t grow or change or evolve over time. Once a film is completed it will, generally speaking, be as it is forever. What does change? We do. We age and we mature and our intellect and tastes evolve over time. Our ever evolving tastes and growing intellect can change the way we experience a movie.

It is with this in mind that I endeavor to look back 10, 20 and 30 years at some of the most well remembered movies of all time and see how my own evolving tastes effect the way I experience these movies. I invite you to join me on this unique journey and offer your own insights ever changing opinions.

Evolving the human element

The blockbuster Pearl Harbor turns 10 years old in May of 2011. My first experience with Pearl Harbor was not good. I was in my second year as a full time film critic for a now defunct website called Bikkit.com. The website and my original Pearl Harbor review are long gone but I can recall a scathing, often snide review that may have invoked the words jingoistic and manipulative.

I have always been very hard on director Michael Bay. He has an extraordinary talent for scope and scale and could be fairly considered a modern day Darryl Zanuck or D.W Griffith, filmmakers of the grandest vision. Disappointingly, for all his talent for staging massive productions, Bay has never evolved the human element of his filmmaking.

Disingenuous and insincere

The characters in a Michael Bay film are stick figures weighted down by leaden dialogue and sublimated by large scale special effects. Sadly, Pearl Harbor is no different from any other Michael Bay film. Despite a harrowing historic tale, Bay delivers characters in Pearl Harbor that never resonate and never come to life before our eyes.

So busy is Michael Bay restaging one of the worst days in American history with painstaking detail, he forgets to populate his stage with characters of resonance whose experiences we can believe in. Two false, forced romances and several coat hanger characters--actors assigned to hold up archetypes of real people—leave Pearl Harbor feeling disingenuous and insincere.

Faux romance

The glossy, 1940’s style romance of Pearl Harbor is a cheesy throwback that lacks passion because it’s infused only with nostalgia. Ben Affleck is a terrific actor but teamed with Kate Beckinsale in a series of facile romantic encounters he leaves no real impression beyond his handsomeness and her beauty.

Josh Hartnett brings a soulful quality to the character of Danny and his struggle with falling for his best friend’s girl but Michael Bay has no interest in exploring or allowing these characters to expand upon the difficulty of their situation. Instead, we get scenes of the happy couple swimming and frolicking in the sand as stand-ins for real interaction.

The dual romances appear in Pearl Harbor not because the story was of interest to Michael Bay or screenwriter Randall Wallace. No, the romance exists solely as a marketing ploy, a way to sell a war movie to mass audiences. Instead of being honestly romantic the love triangle subplot cheapens the movie and makes all around it feel hollow.

Undeniably awesome CGI effects

There is tremendous power to be found in the action scenes of Pearl Harbor. I have no honest idea how well Michael Bay and his exceptionally talented team captured what December 7th 1941 was like but the veterans of that day, interviewed on the Pearl Harbor DVD, offer no criticism.

The action, especially an extraordinary dogfight sequence early in the film while Affleck’s pilot Rafe McCawley is fighting with the British against the Germans, is as exciting an action sequence as any you’ve ever seen. The Pearl Harbor sequence is a monotonous onslaught of special effects and CGI but they are very effective special effects and CGI and you are hard pressed not to be compelled by the action.

Gorgeous Cinematography

The cinematography of Pearl Harbor is immaculate. The deep focus and bright colors of Pearl Harbor add to the scope and scale of the story and create some unbelievably beautiful pictures. The gorgeous orange skyline of a scene where Hartnett and Beckinsale go for an unscheduled flight around the Hawaiian Islands threatens to create the romance that the actors never muster.

In many ways Pearl Harbor is a remarkable film. Michael Bay has the vision of Howard Hughes and the limitless imagination of old school directors like Howard Hawks and Victor Fleming. Bay only lacks the human element. Were Michael Bay ever to figure out how to make his characters as compelling as his special effects he would be a rival to James Cameron and Steven Speilberg as a mainstream artist.

A decade later the same result

Unfortunately, in the 10 years since the making of Pearl Harbor Michael Bay has not developed the human touch; in fact with his Transformers movies he has regressed even further into a director of automatons.

In the end, my experience with Pearl Harbor 10 years later was not much different than it was the first time. I’ve dropped the word jingoistic as it seemed a little harsh in retrospect and I have offered a little more praise for the effects than I did the first time but my overall experience of the film is fundamentally the same. I still don’t like it, the flaws that I saw as a young, fiery junior critic are still seen as flaws to the much calmer, measured and professional critic of today.

Movie Review The Company Men

The Company men (2011) 

Directed by John Wells 

Written by John Wells 

Starring Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Craig T. Nelson

Release Date January 21st, 2011

Published January 20th, 2011 

John Wells made his nut as the Executive Producer and creator of the hit series ER. For all intents and purposes John Wells never has to work again. Yet, with multi, multi, multi millions of dollars in the bank John Wells is hanging himself out there as a director and making the movie “The Company Men,” a real American Dream movie about a self made man who decides to risk it all for an ideal that has too long ago passed away in the overwhelming light of modern corporate/Wall Street culture.

Tommy Lee Jones is Gene McClary CFO of a company that used to make ships, now they make corporate deals that have next to nothing to do with shipbuilding. In fact, with every new move the company he formed with his best friend (Craig T. Nelson) gets further and further away from their humble beginnings in the stockyards. The people that came up with them are dropping like flies as every move of the stock price is accompanied by more layoffs and firings.

Among those losing their job in the corporate carnage is up and comer Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck). As one of many heads of sales in the shipbuilding division; Bobby looked like a future CEO. Sadly, with shipping dying and his salary near the top he's out and he's not alone. Soon to join Bobby on the unemployment line is Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) , a veteran salesman and one of Gene's oldest friends. Phil came up from building ships in the yard and now, just short of his retirement age he is out of a job.

Bobby's story comprises much of the runtime of “The Company Men” as he and his wife (Rosemarie Dewitt) cope with a big mortgage, two expensive cars and two frightened kids. Unwilling to swallow his pride Bobby scours the country for a job that will keep his family in their home. When he finally is forced to make a choice his only option is to take a temporary job working for his brother in law (Kevin Costner) working construction.

Phil's story is even darker and has a powerful and devastating conclusion that, though it is predictable, nevertheless impacts strongly. Chris Cooper is extraordinary as a man who fiercely clings to his pride to the point that it devastates him. Phil is the impetus for a hopeful and miraculous finish that I will leave you to discover by watching the wonderful fairy tale that is “The Company Men.”

The values at work in “The Company Men'' are deeply liberal but not in the stereotypical sense. “The Company Men '' exerts the true dream of liberalism, fair treatment for all. While the right accuses the left of simply wanting handouts, “The Company Men '' demonstrates a corporate titan and multi-millionaire who acts in the best interest of his employees and sets about using his money to create opportunities not handouts.

The notion is I am My Brother's Keeper. We are our brother’s keeper and that doesn't mean giving something away, it means that when you succeed you use your success to create an opportunity for others to succeed. I have always used a metaphor to demonstrate how I feel about people with money and people without and it goes like this: once you have climbed the wall to financial stability throw a rope back so that the next person can climb up there with you.

Too many of the rich in America are pulling the rope up behind them, taking their wealth and squirreling it away for reasons that only they understand. “The Company Men” gives life to my dream of a corporate culture where opportunities are created and success is decided by those who grab the opportunity given and make the most of it.

Tommy Lee Jones's Gene is fascinating because he does what so many with money will not do, he throws a rope back. It's not about him giving something away, he decides to create something, build something, innovate something and in the process he gives others the opportunity to create and innovate alongside him.

Thank you John Wells, “The Company Men” is a movie of relevance and necessity. This is the movie that so many other modern polemics wish they could be; a story of hope against the sorrow of our tough economic times. “The Company” Men is a guide post for how our country could get turned around if there were more men of means like Gene willing to take a risk and throw a rope back over the wall.

Movie Review: The Town

The Town (2010) 

Directed by Ben Affleck

Written by Peter Craig, Ben Affleck

Starring Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, Chris Cooper

Release Date September 17th, 2010 

Published September 16th, 2010 

Ben Affleck has spent the past decade, give or take, getting a hard time for his choice of friends, relationships and films. Since his break out success, and Oscar win, for “Good Will Hunting,” the knives have been out for the Boston native. At times it's been deserved, “Armageddon” and “Gigli” are terrible films, oftentimes it has not been deserved, his personal life is none of our business and “Jersey Girl” was unfairly maligned by those attacking 'Bennifer.'

Though he may deny it, the digs did get to Affleck in the mid 2000's and it drove him away from Hollywood for a time. Back in Boston he got the nerve to go behind the camera and the result was the highly compelling crime drama “Gone Baby Gone” starring his little brother Casey. Growing bolder from that success, Affleck is back in front and behind the camera for his latest effort, another gritty crime drama, “The Town.”

In “The Town” Ben Affleck stars as Doug MacRay a life long resident of the crime riddled neighborhood of Charlestown. Doug was born into crime and as a grown up he has taken up the family business; robbing banks. With his highly efficient, professional crew, including his best friend Jem (Jeremy Renner), Doug plots highly detailed heists that leave law enforcement officials baffled.

The latest heist however has an unexpected twist. In a fit of pique over a silent alarm trigger, Jem takes the bank manager, Claire (Rebecca Hall), hostage, a first for this crew. Doug manages to convince Jem not to kill her but releasing her is a decision that will come to haunt them all.

With Jem suspicious of what Claire may have seen of the crew and wanting to go back and finish her off, Doug decides to protect his hot headed friend by tracking her himself. However, upon meeting Claire in person he is drawn to her and against all good judgment a romance develops.

As all of this happening an FBI Agent, Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) catches the bank robbery case and seeing the level of efficiency involved, he becomes even more determined to catch the bad guys. Claire is the main lead and with her direct link to Doug you can imagine the intrigue and drama. Add Jem's growing suspicions and hothead tendencies to this mix and you have a recipe for piping hot drama.

”The Town” burns with drama, tension, excitement and action. Overcoming the challenge of directing and starring, Ben Affleck dominates the screen and turns in an Oscar caliber lead performance. The romance between Affleck and Rebecca Hall is subtle, natural and would be downright sweet if we weren't aware of just how it came to be.

Affleck and Hall do a tremendous job of bringing us into their world and nearly making us forget about the rest of the plot when they are together. That feeling is brilliantly shattered in the film's most effective scene, when Jem bumps into Claire and Doug having lunch at an outdoor cafe.

Jeremy Renner and Jon Hamm are tremendous back up for Affleck and Hall in the leads. Renner's string of brilliant performances, stringing back to his stunning debut as Jeffrey Dahmer through last year's Oscar nomination for “The Hurt Locker,” continues here as he essays a hotheaded psycho who with a cool streak of mean that separates him from similar characters in other crime dramas.

Jon Hamm does something similar to Renner, taking a character that is quite familiar and giving the expectations a twist. The key to Hamm's performance is his focus on the job, being an FBI professional, right down to the clipped speech direct manner, over looking cool. Hamm is essentially the good guy, he's fighting criminals but he's not afraid of playing the heavy and letting the audience not like him even as we know from a moral standpoint we should admire him.

It’s a trick of the best crime dramas to get the audience to abandon their better judgment and come to root for the bad guys. It’s exciting to have your values challenged and live vicariously through eyes and lives of those who live outside the law. Most will never have this experience but we can all easily understand the allure of easy money and of the bad guys who do things we know we could never do.

Ben Affleck and the crew behind The Town certainly know this appeal of the bad guy and the bad deed and they cleverly manipulate that appeal to draw the audience into this criminal world as well as into the forbidden romance between Doug and Claire.

“The Town” is smart, compelling, fast paced and exceptionally well crafted. Watch out for Affleck at the Oscars as “The Town” could bring nominations for Ben in front of and behind the camera.

Movie Review State of Play

State of Play (2009) 

Directed by Kevin MacDonald 

Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, Billy Ray 

Starring Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman, Jeff Daniels, Helen Mirren 

Release Date April 17th, 2002 

Published April 16th, 2002 

Some of my favorite movies of all time have featured crusading journalists. All The President's Men is, of course, the best known, but my favorite is Ron Howard's underrated The Paper. I know I am likely alone on that one but Howard's bustling newsroom filled to overflow with quirk ridden reporters and columnists makes me smile every time I watch it. Michael Keaton may be best remembered as having played Batman but for me he will always be the ink stained wretch who kept after the story even after the paper had gone to press. Randy Quaid, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall and Marisa Tomei round out a brilliant cast in a movie that dripped with ink.

Now comes State of Play, another crusading journalist story, this one with the kink of having notorious reporter hater Russell Crowe as of all things a reporter. It's a sensational piece of casting, working for the aforementioned kink and because Crowe is just so charming. What source wouldn't turn cartwheels to help this guy get a scoop.

Crowe is Cal McCaffrey, a 15 year veteran newsman at the Washington Globe. While the rest of the industry is on laptops and blogging, Cal is still all about the pen and the kind of shoe leather journalism that gets you information you could never get in an email or a Facebook posting.

McCaffrey is investigating an odd double homicide when his best friend, a Congressman named Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) suddenly comes to the center of all Washington headlines. Collins' top assistant and secret bedmate has been killed or maybe committed suicide and the Congressman is in hot water. He turns to Cal for some sympathy and boy does Cal owe him one.

You see, Cal has a history with his best pals' wife (Robin Wright Penn) and doesn't think the Congressman is going to let him forget about it. So, Cal quickly helps the Congressman with some crisis strategy and even crosses an ethical line by trying to convince one of the paper's online bloggers, Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) to not report certain details about the Congressman's affair.

Eventually, the murder Cal is covering comes to cross paths with his pals political scandal and Cal has no choice but to join the two stories and begin looking for answers. Answers about the murder, about a potential Government and Corporate conspiracy and some very uncomfortable questions about his best friend the Congressman.

Russell Crowe joined the cast of State Of Play a week before shooting began, Ben Affleck shortly after Crowe, and yet both are terrifically well cast.. Crowe is especially good, coming to perfectly embody the role of a hardscrabble reporter. With his greasy, floppy hair and a guy that says he spends all day hunched over a keyboard, Crowe owns this character and it is through him that State of Play succeeds.

Affleck is strong as well but he's much more in the background of this story than the commercials may be. Scenes where we are focused on Affleck's Congressman are arguably the weakest of the movie but that is no comment on Affleck's performance but rather of how compelling the newsroom scenes with Crowe, Rachel McAdams and the great Helen Mirren as their crusty editor are.

We are left wanting more of those scenes and are a little letdown when Crowe is offscreen so other information can be imparted.

There are some little inconsistencies in this allegedly modern newsroom. First comes with a line from McAdams about people wanting to read their big scoop stories and 'get ink on their fingers' as if the story weren't going online well ahead of the print edition. The other minor niggling detail is, really could a scandal ridden Congressman really walk into a shady hotel or even less plausibly, A Washington D.C Newsroom, without someone hitting Twitter or Facebook within seconds with the news that said scandal ridden Congressman has just walked in.

The film and the plot have neither the time or the inclination to tackle such modern technological issues. Realistically, the film doesn't have to address these things for it to be a highly entertaining popcorn thriller but someday some movie will and that movie will be the definitive movie of the modern newspaper.

State Of Play aims to pay tribute to old school journalism and tackle the modern problems plaguing modern journalism and in the performance of Russell Crowe and in an end credits montage, elements of State of Play are indeed like a Hallmark card to a dying breed of dogged journos.

It is as a thriller where State of Play aims to find an audience and it is a good if not great one. When Crowe accidentally stumbles into some serious danger you will hold your breath waiting for him to be safe again. There are one or two of those moments in State of Play and they are tense and exciting enough and the ending just twisty enough for me to say check out State of Play.

Movie Review: Extract

Extract (2009) 

Directed by Mike Judge

Written by Mike Judge 

Starring Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Ben Affleck, Mila Kunis, Dustin Milligan, Clifton Collins

Release Date September 4th, 2009 

Published September 3rd, 2009 

Writer-Director Mike Judge has a tremendous talent for creating memorable, well observed characters. From the moronic Beavis and Butthead to the best approximation of the American everyman on TV in King of the Hill to his put upon corporate drones in Office Space, Judge's talent for character is the glue that holds his work together.

For his latest effort, the dark comedy Extract, Judge has his talent for character working in abundance. It's unfortunate that his terrific characters are stranded in a meandering mess of plot that doesn't seem to know what to do with them.

Bateman is the star of Extract as Joel the owner of a company that makes sweeteners or Extract. Joel is married to Suzie (Kristen Wiig) but the spark has gone out of the marriage, they haven't had relations in over a month. Joel confesses this to his best friend Dean (Ben Affleck), a scraggly haired bartender at a sports bar. Dean suggests drugs.

First he offers a horse tranquilizer. When that succeeds in zonking Joel out he offers a bizarre solution to Joel's problems. You see, Joel is thinking of cheating on his wife. He has his eye on Cindy (Mila Kunis) a temp at the Extract company. However, he feels to guilty to cheat. Dean's ingenious plan is to get Suzie to cheat first thereby absolving Joel.

As Joel is still whacked on drugs, Dean calls Brad (Dustin Milligan) a good looking doofus who will seduce Susie in the guise of cleaning the pool at Joel's home. Meanwhile, Joel has problems at the factory as well as an industrial accident cost an employee, Step (Clifton Collins) a testicle. He set to sue the company and blow a deal to sell the company to a major corporation.

Cindy is a key to both stories but in ways that never really connect plot wise. There is a whole lot going on in Extract but Mike Judge just isn't certain what he wants to do with it all. He's aware, it seems, that his characters are funny, they really are, but they are funny without a purpose.

The plot is like a spinning top that after 90 minutes finally loses momentum and simply ceases to move. After running out of funny things for his characters to say and do, Judge simply ends the movie and on a note that really has zero to do with anything that happens in the rest of the movie.

I will give you just a hint, the end involves Joel's irksome neighbor played by comic suppporting all star David Koechner. That Koechner is brilliantly funny in the role is without question. Why his seemingly unrelated character figures into the film's ending is an utter mystery, I think even to Mr. Judge.

Extract ends with a bizarre black comic whimper that fails to payoff even the modest arcs that set up early on. Still, because of Mike Judge's talent for great characters and a stellar cast, I am recommending Extract. Just don't be surprised if at the end you are left wanting.

Movie Review Smokin' Aces

Smokin' Aces (2007) 

Directed by Joe Carnahan

Written by Joe Carnahan 

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Chris Pine, Ray Liotta, Alicia Keyes, Taraji P. Henson, Andy Garcia, Jason Bateman

Release Date January 26th, 2007

Joe Carnahan was getting his ass kicked. On his first blockbuster assignment, Mission Impossible 3, Carnahan was dealing with a restrictive studio, a demanding star in Tom Cruise, and an unwieldy script that just never made sense for Carnahan’s style of filmmaking. While it would have been a dream project for anyone in Carnahan’s position, leaving Mission Impossible 3  was a blessing for Carnahan who went back to his own work. With the blockbuster behind him, Carnahan was able to make Smokin’ Aces a movie that is perhaps the purest distillation of Carnahan’s style of filmmaking. 

Smokin' Aces is the result of Carnahan's studio movie frustrations. An ultra-violent, multi-character action pic with a final act that kicks the doors down. Smokin' Aces crosses a dash of Tarentino with a hint of Guy Richie and a little Scorsese. But this is no mere homage to other filmmakers. The final act of Smokin' Aces is all Carnahan, an operatic denouement that turns a jaunty exercise in major film violence into a grand guignol of violent drama and revenge fantasy.

Simply put, Smokin' Aces kicks ass.

In a penthouse hideout in Lake Tahoe, Buddy 'Aces' Israel (Jeremy Piven) is hiding out, waiting for the feds to finish his deal. Buddy is turning state's evidence against the mobsters who made him a star lounge act on the Vegas strip. However, do not make the mistake of thinking Buddy is just another snitch. This move comes after his attempt to transition from lounge act to gangster nearly got him killed.

While Buddy hides out his old mob buddies have thrown a one million dollar bounty down on his head and every top hitman in the world wants a piece. Converging on Lake Tahoe are some of the most bloodthirsty cutthroats in the business of cutting throats. Worst of this lot are the Tremor brothers (Chris Pine, Kevin Durand, Maury Sterling), crazed terrorists with no fear of killing in broad daylight, in front of thousands of witnesses. Throwing bombs, literally, the Tremors are as subtle as a jackhammer but they are efficient killers.

On the slightly more subtle side, Georgia (pop star Alicia Keyes) and her girl Sharice (Taraji P. Henson) plan on stealth but carry a 50 caliber machine gun in case things get nasty. On the international front, Pasquale Acosta (Nestor Carbonell) is an efficient killer who specializes in the quiet kill. Assimilating himself to any situation he gets up close and personal with his victims and kills with icy determination.

The most underestimated and lethal killer is a shape-shifter named Lazlo Soot (Tommy Flanagan). No one has ever seen his real face, he specializes in masks and various torture techniques. Standing against this evil menagerie are a pair of FBI agents, Carruthers (Ray Liotta) and Messner (Ryan Reynolds) who have no idea just how bad things are about to get as their boss (Andy Garcia) works on Buddy's witness protection deal.

That is just a thumbnail sketch of the plot of Smokin' Aces which also makes room for roles filled by Ben Affleck, Common, Jason Bateman, Martin Henderson and Peter Berg. These roles may or may not be essential to the film's finale but they all combine for one of the funniest, gaudiest and largest  ensembles of any movie ever. Smokin’ Aces featured stars who would go on to dominate much of the next decade as blockbuster leading men. It’s a testament to how much people believed in the vision of Joe Carnahan back in the day. 

Joe Carnanhan made a killer debut with the movie Blood Guts and Octane back in 2000 and Narc in 2002. But with Smokin' Aces, Carnahan affirmed his directorial chops with a slick, stylish modern thriller that while it evokes many comparisons, in the end, it's all Carnahan After two acts of snarky, over the top violence, the third act of Smokin' Aces becomes a hardcore drama in which Ryan Reynolds' FBI agent steps forward and takes over the picture.

Reynolds had never been known as an action hero or a great dramatic actor before Smokin’ Aces 2006 release but in the final scenes of Smokin' Aces, Reynolds matured before our eyes and quickly showed the ability to take over and dominate a scene with something other than snappy one-liners. The former Van Wilder is a true badass in Smokin’ Aces, an early example of the full power of his superstar charisma. 

Smokin' Aces is a high octane violent spectacle. A superstar ensemble cast brought together by a then rising star director made for one seriously cool movie that has somehow become lost to history over a decade and a half later.. Many considered Smokin' Aces derivative at the time and that perception perhaps lingers, but for me, the cool factor is just undeniable and that goes a long way to redeeming whatever elements may feel overfamiliar today. 

And then there is that killer third act which takes Smokin' Aces from just another ultra-violent modern thriller into a whole other realm of high cool. Smokin Aces is so cool that it’s no wonder that Carnahan has never been able to recapture the magic of it. Carnahan has floundered over the last decade doing punch ups on terrible movies and delivering some of the most forgettable directorial efforts of the last decade and a half. It’s a shame but at least he will always have Smokin’ Aces as a reminder that at his best, Carnahan made one heck of a great action movie. 

Movie Review Hollywoodland

Hollywoodland (2006)

Directed by Allen Coulter 

Written by Paul Bernbaum 

Starring Ben Affleck, Diane Lane, Adrien Brody, Bob Hoskins

Release Date September 8th. 2006 

Published September 7th, 2006 

The death of Adventures of Superman star George Reeves is one that has haunted Hollywood for years. Did this once successful TV actor take his own life during a party in his home in 1959 or was he murdered? The new mystery/biopic Hollywoodland does not purport to answer any that question. Rather, Hollywoodland exists to ask some probing questions about the death of George Reeves. A question that may be answered by Hollywoodland is whether audiences will ever again accept Ben Affleck as a big time movie star. If people cannot let Ben off the hook for his movie mistakes, after his exceptional performance in Hollywoodland, they may never will.

By 1959 the career of George Reeves. formerly TV's Man of Steel, Superman, was seemingly over. After breaking off hsi relationship with Toni Mannix (Diane Lane), the wife of Hollywood power broker, Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins), George Reeves (Ben Affleck) found his once promising Hollywood career suddenly shut down. Trapped in a loveless relationship with a woman he had met only months earlier; and with a serious drinking problem, Reeves went to bed on June 16th 1959 with little promise for good things in his future.

Does that mean that Reeves went to his bedroom that night and took a German luger pistol and put it to his head and pulled the trigger? No one seems to know for sure. Reeves' mother, Helen Bessolo (Lois Smith), is certain that her son would not kill himself. So certain is Helen that she moves from her home in Illinois to Los Angeles where she engages the services of a private eye named Louis Simo (Adrien Brody).

Better known for his headline making than his detective work, Simo was once a prominent studio detective until he gave away confidential information about a starlet's death to a newspaper. Now, working out of a fleabag motel room, Simo's most consistent work is following and photographing cheating wives. That is, when he is not fighting with his ex-wife Laurie (Molly Parker) over the care of their son (Zach Mills).

The death of George Reeves looks to Simo to be exactly the case the LAPD said it was; a simple suicide. But with cash in pocket from Reeves' mother and the chance to make some big headlines, Simo takes the case and finds far more than he bargained for.

Louis Simo is a fictional creation of screenwriter Paul Bernbaum and director Allen Coulter who use Simo in Hollywoodland as a shorthand character to reveal real life mysteries. The things that the Simo character uncovers and the questions he asks are legitimate mysteries that have kept the death of George Reeves in the headlines for years. This fictionalization does nothing to dampen the real life mystery of the death of Superman.

The one problem with Simo as a character are the subplots attached to him. Director Coulter, best known for his work on HBO's Sex and the City and Six Feet Under, gives far to much screen time to Simo's problems with his wife, her new boyfriend, and the issues with his son. And on top of all of that Simo has a girlfriend and another case he is investigating. Each of these Simo subplots take far too much time away from the far more intriguing real life story of George Reeves and his mystifying death.

This is not the fault of Adrien Brody who rises to the challenge of this difficult role. The first half hour of the film is spent establishing Simo as a character and admittedly, it tries the patience of audiences who came for the George Reeves story. A testament to Brody's talent is that he holds these scenes as well as he does. The scenes still try the patience but they are certainly less irritating because of Brody's magnetic performance.

Ben Affleck delivers a tremendous performance as George Reeves in Hollywoodland. A subject of derision for the past few years because of missteps like Surviving Christmas and Gigli; Affleck is redeemed as the failing actor who could not escape the shadow of his most famous role. Affleck brings to Reeves the charisma and magnetism that Reeves exhibited on television, but where Affleck really excels is in bringing out Reeves' sad, tortured soul away from the glare of the stage lights. 

Like Andy Kaufman, who suffered every moment of his time on the television series Taxi, George Reeves hated the role of Superman. Reeves knew that playing a kiddie show hero, as his Superman was portrayed, would typecast him as not being a serious actor. We know this from the testimonials of Reeves' former flame, Toni Mannix and while anything she says regarding Reeves is colored with bitterness over their break up, it does track with Reeves' post-Supeman life where he struggled against the kid show stereotype.

When Superman finally ends and Toni is unwilling to help Reeves's career by talking to her husband, Reeves ends it and gives Mannix a motive to kill him. Of course, the volatile studio head Eddie Mannix also had plenty of motive to want Reeves killed. Reeves cuckolded the studio head and since Mannix had a reputation for punishing his enemies, the Mannix murder theory isn't farfetched/ These are a couple of plausible but wholly unprovable theories that the film covers but nothing close to a resolution of the mystery is approached. Despite the strong conjecture, you are likely to leave Hollywoodland thinking Reeves took his own life/ 

Movie Review: Clerks 2

Clerks 2 (2006) 

Directed by Kevin Smith

Written by Kevin Smith 

Starring Brian O'Halloran, Kevin Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith

Release Date July 21st, 2006 

Published July 20th, 2006 

I am a huge Kevin Smith fan. I own all of his movies, have listened to the DVD commentaries, I even loved Jersey Girl! So maybe I am not the most objective person to review Clerks 2. Dante and Randal, the lead characters of the original Clerks, are like old friends of mine because of the many repeat viewings of that film and revisiting them is like seeing old friends after a longtime away.

Nevertheless, it is my job to review movies and that provides me the pleasure of once again indulging in the pop culture literate, bathroom humor and far out scatology of my old friend, whom I've never met, Kevin Smith.

In Clerks, Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal (Kevin Anderson) had a very eventful day at work at the Kwik Stop and adjoining video store, and Dante wasn't even supposed to be there that day. They played hockey on the roof, sold cigarettes' to minors, a guy died in the bathroom, and Dante broke up with his loving girlfriend Veronica to go back to his old girlfriend Caitlin and lost her when she accidentally screwed the aforementioned dead guy in the bathroom; she thought he was Dante.

10 years later, Dante and Randal are still working at the stores. That is until they find the building burned to the ground in an accident likely to have been Randal's fault. Months later the boys are not exactly better off. Having accepted work at Moobies fast food restaurant; they remain underappreciated wage slaves wasting their lives.

Things may be turning around for Dante. He has decided to marry his new girlfriend Emma (Jennifer Shwalbach Smith) and she has in turn promised him financial security in Florida courtesy of her father. Facing the loss of his closest, really his only friend, Randal decides to make Dante's last day in Jersey memorable or convince him not to leave at all.

Dante may have another reason, aside from Randal, not to leave Jersey. His boss Becky (Rosario Dawson) and he, have been carrying on a hot flirtation that includes at least one passionate tryst in the kitchen after closing time. Becky is sad to see Dante go and makes this clear in one of the films many flights of fancy, an all out, cast wide musical number set to the Jackson 5's ABC.

In the fantasy world of Kevin Smith that has made room for angels and god and actors who play several different characters within the same sphere of people; who can begrudge a giant musical number. It's a bit of a stretch, especially since the original Clerks was grounded in reality, but its such a joyous and lively choreographed number I can forgive the loss of realism.

Its even easier to forgive once the film gets back to its own manufactured reality and begins to give new life to these beloved characters. The relationship between Dante and Randal is mined for great comedy and in the end a little pathos and love. Like Jay and Silent Bob, Dante and Randal are heterosexual life partners, forever entwined in each others lives and we want nothing more than to see them together forever, in a totally not gay way.

Admittedly, much of Clerks 2 plays like Kevin Smith's greatest hits. The scatology, the pop culture references, an argument involving Star Wars and Jay and Silent Bob holding up the walls, all of this is crammed into Clerks 2. And yet, despite the been there done that vibe, these characters are so fun and the humor so strong that who cares that it's all a little too familiar.

My favorite scene in the film is one that many might consider the most played out and predictable. Randal and new Moobies co-worker Elias (Trevor Fehrman) along with a customer played by former Alias cast member Kevin Weisman get into a debate over the merits of Star Wars vs Lord of the Rings. Kevin Anderson nails this scene in typical Randal fashion making salient points about arguably the most meaningless things.

Again, I am not the right critic to review Kevin Smith's work. I am an apologist and an unabashed fan of his work and I forgive him almost anything. Even I can see the cracks of Clerks 2 but I won't acknowledge them beyond forgiving them and focusing on the positives in the film of which there are many. Is Kevin Smith basically delivering a greatest hits collection with Clerks 2? Yes. But when your greatest hits are this good its worth it.

Movie Review Paycheck

Paycheck (2003) 

Directed by John Woo 

Written by Dean Georgaris 

Starring Ben Affleck, Aaron Eckhardt, Uma Thurman, Paul Giamatti, Colm Feore, Joe Morton 

Release Date December 25th, 2003 

Published December 24th, 2003 

In the just over 10 years that John Woo has been working in the Hollywood system of filmmaking, we have yet to see the potential that was promised in his earlier Hong Kong work. It's interesting then that he would work on a film based on a story by Philip K. Dick, the legendary science fiction writer whose work has also been difficult to capture in a Hollywood film. An element of both Woo’s best works and Dick’s best writing have been seen in flashes but neither are fully realized. Paycheck goes no further toward capturing the best of either Woo or Dick, and in fact may be a huge step back for both.

Paycheck stars Ben Affleck as Michael Jennings, a reverse engineer who copies a work of technology and changes it just enough to step around copyright laws and delivers a similar product to a different company. For liability purposes, Jennings' works alone, often secluded for months at a time cut off from the outside world. At the end of his work, his memories are wiped clean through a disturbing, dangerous process that literally cooks his brain, burning away the portions of his memory that relate to his work.

Jennings is well paid for his work, often with six-figure paycheck. His next job however is for more money than he could have imagined. Michael's friend Rethrick (Aaron Eckhart) offers him an eight-figure paycheck for a job that will take up to three years of his life. At that price, three years is worth it and Michael takes what should be his last job.

Three years later, Michael wakes up in Rethrick's office with his memory wiped clean. With no memory of the job or anything of the past three years, Michael's only concern is picking up his sizable check. However, when he arrives at the bank he is shocked to find that he has signed away his money, stocks and has only a bag of 19 personal items which he doesn't even think are his. Through a series of odd encounters, each of the 19 personal items comes in real handy in saving Michael's life as he pursues the reason why he refused his paycheck. There is also a minor romance with a biologist named Rachel played by Uma Thurman, which is merely functional and unnecessary to any description of the plot.

Where to begin with the disappointments of this film?

It's big dumb and loud. The film doesn't even have John Woo's usual stylistic virtuosity to fall back on, assuaging style in favor of a more bland action movie mode, save for Woo's trademark doves. There isn't even a scene where Affleck carries Woo's trademark double handguns, one gun in each hand. There is the usual standoff this time with two characters standing in a subway with a train coming. Sadly, it's not as cool as it sounds.

The most egregious problem, as I see it, is the shoving aside of Philip K. Dick's sci-fi story in favor of a generic Hollywood action movie. The story of Paycheck is a man who builds a machine that can see the future. He then forgets the future he saw, and only through a Sherlock Holmes set of clues can he reconstruct his memory to save the future. The implications of seeing the future, of seeing your own future and changing your fate, these are high minded ideas that are hinted at in the film but quickly shoved aside for gunfire and car chases.

Ben Affleck is my boy but Paycheck is a second consecutive misstep after the god-awful Gigli. There is still hope for Ben with Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl coming in March but he needs to begin choosing his material a little better.

Only Spielberg's excellent Minority Report has come close to showing the potential of Philip K. Dick's material on screen. More often than not, Dick's idea-driven stories are like Paycheck. A clothesline from which to hang huge special effects and stunt sequences that may or may not be technical marvels but are definitely less interesting than the ideas that are the core of the stories.

As for John Woo, it's becoming increasingly apparent that it was hype as much as talent that brought him worldwide attention. Woo has turned out a few exciting action pictures since coming to Hollywood but for the most part he has become a cog in the Hollywood money machine, pumping out easy to market, demo-driven, action trash. Special effects films that have posters before they have scripts that he brings a modicum of style but little else. What a shame.

Movie Review: Daredevil

Daredevil (2003) 

Directed by Mark Steven Johnson

Written by Mark Steven Johnson 

Starring Ben Affleck, Jon Favreau, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Garner, Michael Clark Duncan 

Release Date February 14th, 2003 

Published February 13th, 2002 

Ben Affleck has this amazing quality that very few actors have, he feels like an old friend. His participation in the commentary tracks for Kevin Smith's Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma, where his self -deprecating wit and frat boy charm remind you of someone you know. It is those same qualities that he has brought to every role he has played and it is endearing to those in the Kevin Smith fandom, maddening to those outside that cultish group.

This may explain the mixed reviews of Daredevil, where people like myself are willing to cut Affleck a lot of slack artistically, and allow the film to skate on his charm and the unreal beauty of co-star Jennifer Garner. Daredevil is yet another Affleck guilty pleasure.

When Matt Murdock (Affleck) was a kid, he was a nerd who was picked on by neighborhood bullies and never fought back because of his father's advice. One day Matt was taking a shortcut home when an accidental toxic waste spill cost him his sight but enhanced his other senses to superhero proportions. Young Matt's tribulations don't end with losing his sight however, as Matt witnesses his father's murder. Of course, he never actually saw the killer, only sensed the killer's calling card, one red rose.

Years later Matt is a lawyer who, by using his uniquely enhanced senses, defends only clients he knows are innocent. When things don't go well for Matt in court and it seems a bad guy got away with a crime, he uses his alter ego to deliver the justice the courts did not. Matt's alter ego is the urban legend Daredevil, a red leather-wearing hero who the police refuse to believe exists.

The difference between Daredevil and most other superheroes is his willingness to cross that line between good and evil and actually kill the bad guys that most superheroes are content to leave for the police. Though Matt/Daredevil has been able to convince himself that his quest is just, his skirting the line between justice and vengeance is exposed when he is confronted with real good in the form of Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner). Though she isn't pure as snow, her fighting skills are lethal as shown in a killer fight sequence set in a park. Her father is a partner of the evil Kingpin, whether she knows that or not is in question. Elektra is a good person and Matt falls for her immediately.

The relationship is put to the test however when Elektra's father is killed and she blames Daredevil, though the real killer is Kingpin's number one henchman Bullseye (Colin Farrell). This leads to another sensationally choreographed fight sequence between Affleck and Garner and leads into a shocking climax, which sets up the film's final battle inside of a church. Director Mark Steven Johnson is a perfect technician, he knows how to film the action and step back and allow his actors to do their jobs.

Johnson rightly keeps the film faithful to the comic's noirish antihero roots. How odd is it to see a superhero kill a villain intentionally.

The films supporting cast is excellent, including Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin, Joe Pantoliano in a rare good guy role as journalist Ben Urich and Jon Favreau rounding out the cast as Affleck's oafish law partner. Colin Farrell as Bullseye shows he learned something from Al Pacino in The Recruit and that is how to unapologetically chew scenery. Bullseye is a terrible villain, but Farrell is so terrifically over the top you can't help but enjoy his performance and revel in the character's fate. Daredevil gets extra points for Kevin Smith's giddy cameo as a morgue worker.

What Daredevil relies on in the end is it's two leads, Affleck and Garner, and they work perfectly. Though Affleck's overly earnest voiceover threatens to push the film over into self-parody, his humor and charm carries the film over the rough spots. As for Garner, words have not yet been created to describe how beautiful she is.

The films CGI effects don't always work and the editing is choppy and at times, but I liked enough of the effects and stunts to give them a pass. I also liked the film's soundtrack of rock ballads that while somewhat lame in their MTV style editing still are kind of cool because they are well placed throughout the film.

As much as I liked Daredevil, it pales in comparison to it's superhero brethren like Superman, Batman and Spiderman. However, in the same way Blade is cool, so is Daredevil. It's moody and atmospheric, has it's share of shocks and surprises and some well-timed humor.

In the end what it all boils down to is, Affleck is da bomb in Daredevil, Yo!

Movie Review Stolen Summer

Stolen Summer (2002) 

Directed by Pete Jones 

Written by Pete Jones 

Starring Aidan Quinn, Bonnie Hunt, Kevin Pollak, Brian Dennehy 

Release Date March 22nd, 2002 

Published November 14th, 2002 

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Project Greenlight attempted to combine the reality TV genre with the art of filmmaking and the result was Pete Jones's childhood drama `` Stolen Summer. But was Project Greenlight a success?

The film stars previously unknown child actor Adiel Stein as Pete O'Malley, a misguided second grader who is concerned that he won't get into heaven. So Pete sets out on a quest and after he finds out that the Jewish people in his neighborhood weren't interested in being saved he sets about trying to convert them. Pete's theory is if he can help Jews get to heaven he can get himself in. So Pete sets up a lemonade stand outside the local synagogue to give away lemonade and talk about heaven. The Rabbi of the synagogue is Rabbi Jacobsen (Kevin Pollak) who finds Pete to be a little curious and after speaking to him takes to the odd little boy. Rather than being upset by the boy or trying in vain to explain the Jewish faith he simply accepts the kid's quest and figures he'll grow out of it.=

Aiden Quinn plays Pete's domineering father Joe who doesn't have time to keep track of what Pete's doing, with his job and seven other children. Pete's mother (Bonnie Hunt) is tolerant of it as long as he doesn't get in trouble. After a fire at the Jacobsen home where Joe saves the Rabbi's son Danny (MIke Weinberg), Pete strikes up a friendship with Danny while Rabbi Jacobsen seeks a way to repay Joe for saving his son. 

We quickly learn there is something wrong with Danny and it's revealed that he has leukemia, for Pete this means he has to find a quick way to get his friend into heaven. Since neither knows anything about religious conversion they agree on a series of athletic events, swimming, running and the like. Meanwhile Rabbi Jacobsen wants to pay back Joe's good deed by awarding Joe's oldest son Patrick (American Pie's Eddie Kaye Thomas) a college scholarship from the synagogue. Joe's pride however will not allow him to accept it to the great dismay of his son and his wife. Does Joe's pigheadedness come from anti-Semitism or just pride, we aren't certain.

So this is it, this is the best material of all the 7500 plus screenplays submitted. This is the one. It's not a bad screenplay, but it's not great either. The film has the feeling of a better than average TV movie. It is certainly not as interesting as the documentary of the film's creation which aired on HBO. The series Project Greenlight had all the best and worst elements of reality TV, short of having people voted off the set. The film Stolen Summer has none of that intrigue or passion. A production so fraught with drama should produce a better film than a movie that could fit easily into the wonderful world of Disney.

I will say this for Pete Jones and his crew, Stolen Summer is a technically solid film. The acting is sharp amongst the older actors, Pollak especially. Hunt and Quinn could do this material in their sleep, and to their credit they stay awake and give strong performances. Watching Aiden Quinn in Stolen Summer does make you long for the jerk he showed himself to be behind the scenes, the bravado, the backstabbing, the "why in the hell am I here?"

In the end the film is swallowed by the TV series and rather than watching Stolen Summer, audience members spend most of the film searching for the cracks in the armor that were obvious in the making of the documentary. We watched the film's one special effects scene to see if it turned out better than it did on TV. We watched the scene with the kids swimming knowing that it took forever to shoot and that the kids were freezing cold. The audience is unable to separate the film and its production and thus the film gets lost.

Movie Review Jersey Girl

Jersey Girl (2004) 

Directed by Kevin Smith

Written by Kevin Smith

Starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Will Smith, George Carlin, Liv Tyler, Raquel Castro 

Release Date March 26th, 2004 

Published March 25th, 2004 

Screw Gigli

In my review of Gigli, I must admit a good deal of my venom can be attributed to the effect that dog was going to have on Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl. With moron entertainment writers attempting to consume Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, any chance Jersey Girl had at reaching the wide audience it so richly deserved was lost. The only comfort is that great movies are never appreciated in their time. Jersey Girl, Kevin Smith's most mature and blatantly romantic film, will play endlessly on TV where casual movie watchers will have the chance to discover this egregiously overlooked, wonderfully heartfelt film.

Ben Affleck stars as Oliver Trinke, a big time P.R guy. Ollie has bigtime clients for whom he crafts terrific lies, manipulations and exultations. On the bright side Ollie is honest, even lovable in his private life where he has big love with Gert (Jennifer Lopez). When Ollie takes Gert home to Highlands New Jersey to meet his father Bart (George Carlin) she passes the final test and he asks her to marry him. It's not long before she is pregnant and the couple’s happiness seems unending.

However this is only 15 minutes into the movie, obviously something big has to happen. While giving birth to her daughter Gert has an aneurysm and dies. Ollie is devastated. Gert's death affects every aspect of his life. He neglects his baby, named Gertie for her mother, he alienates his father by dropping the baby on him while he goes back to work. And finally in one devastating moment of truth, Ollie blows up at work and is out of a job.

Seven years later Ollie is living back in Jersey with his dad and instead of power lunches manipulating magazine editors, Ollie drives a street sweeper. He does have a much better perspective on his daughter Gertie (Raquel Castro) whom he is absolutely devoted to. Not just her though, the memory of his wife has held him back from any other woman for the past seven years. That changes when he meets Maya (Liv Tyler) , a video store clerk with a quirky straightforward manner that is disquieting and endearing at the same time.

The film’s main conflict arises from Ollie's desperate need to go back to the way things were before his wife died and his new reality in New Jersey. This is Kevin Smith's most mature and smart writing in his relatively short career. Taken from his own experience as a first time father (his daughter Harley has a blink and you'll miss it cameo), Smith writes from a knowing and observant perspective that feels as real as anything he wrote in the equally observant Chasing Amy.

Smith clearly loves this material and that feeling flows through every aspect of Jersey Girl from the actors who share his passion to the look of the film which is the most professional and tightly controlled of his career. I must admit however there is a part of me that longs for the grainy, misshapen, happenstance look that made Clerks and Chasing Amy feel so real life. This film is clearly the Hollywood dream factory of perfect architecture, makeup, lighting with far less of the lived-in feel of Smith's earlier films.

What is it with this hatred of Ben Affleck? No actor has had to suffer the kind of blatant jealous bile, other than maybe Tom Cruise. For me, Affleck can damn near do no wrong, I mean, I loved Daredevil! In Jersey Girl, much as Kevin Smith's direction feels more professional and mature, so does Affleck's performance which ranks right behind Chasing Amy as his best work. Watch his breakdown in the hospital and the speech to his baby daughter immediately after and I beg you to tell me how you cannot love this guy.

The supporting cast is also terrific, especially George Carlin as Bart. This is a performance that would garner some very good buzz if Gigli had not rendered this film dead on arrival. Liv Tyler sparks perfectly with Affleck as the free spirit with a big heart and a mouth with no filter. Unlike the game playing of most romantic comedy protagonists, Tyler's character says what she thinks and acts on it, a characteristic that helps make Jersey Girl so different from most mainstream films of its genre.

Young Raquel Castro is the real star of Jersey Girl. Once you get over the initial shock of how much she looks like Jennifer Lopez and you start watching her performance you forget she's acting. Those cute kid moments are there, but watch for a scene late in the movie after she and Ben have had a huge fight. The scene is one of forgiveness and great tenderness and she plays it so well.

Maybe I'm the wrong guy to review this movie. I am horribly biased in favor of Smith and Affleck and I have a connection to the film’s plot on an emotional level that affects my objectivity. When I had what I believed was my one true love, she died. Unlike Ollie in the movie, I was left with nothing to remember of her except the pain of the loss. Anyone who says that Affleck overplays the pain of that hospital scene doesn't know what he or she is talking about, they obviously have never lost someone they care about.

Sorry to get maudlin and personal but I always try to write from a very personal reference point and so a film like this has an inside track with me. All of that aside, I honestly loved this movie. Jersey Girl is funny, smart and sweet. Kevin Smith's writing has always been strong and here his direction is beginning to catch up with his writing. It's a shame he has passed on directing The Green Hornet but if it means another Clerks or another more romantic and personal film like Jersey Girl then maybe he and we are better off, though I think Green Hornet would kick ass.

Finally can we please lay off the Affleck bashing? If you don't like Affleck fine but I challenge you to listen to the commentary tracks on the Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Jersey Girl DVDs and come away still hating the guy. Face it Affleck is da bomb!

Movie Review: Changing Lanes

Changing Lanes (2002) 

Directed by Roger Mitchell 

Written by Michael Tolkin 

Starring Ben Affleck, Samuel L Jackson, Toni Collette, Sidney Pollack, William Hurt, Amanda Peet 

Release Date April 12th, 2002 

Published April 11th, 2002 

Each and every one of us has been there. We've all done it. All of us have done something that to this day we still regret. Be it cheating, lying or stealing, often all three at the same time. Ethically there is no justification for these actions but at the time it was what suited our needs and we were able to rationalize it to the point where we can live with the consequences. It is such a moral quandary that is at the heart of the gripping drama Changing Lanes.

Lanes stars Ben Affleck as high-powered attorney Gavin Banek who, while on his way to court to file some very important papers, has a minor fender bender with a man named Doyle Gipson played by Samuel L. Jackson. Gipson is also on his way to court, he is trying to save his marriage by buying a home and therefore convincing his wife that he has changed. You see Gipson is a recovering alcoholic. Fate is a funny thing and Gavin, in a hurry, tries to pay Doyle off to forget what happened. Gipson refuses, so Banek takes off and leaves Doyle on the side of the road. When Doyle asks for a ride Gavin replies "better luck next time". What Gavin doesn't know is that he has lost his precious file and Doyle has it.

This setup could have lead to a series of action movie clichés like gunplay and fistfights and vows of revenge, but director Roger Michell and writers Michael Tolkin and Chap Taylor choose instead to make a more grounded film. They allow the characters bruised egos and bravado to carry the story through its series of plausible arcs.

Affleck has never been better. I thought I might have a hard time taking him seriously, as by reputation he doesn't take himself seriously. And for the first half of the film I was having a hard time believing him. However through a series of well written scenes and strong supporting actors (Toni Collette as Gavin's colleague and former lover, Amanda Peet as Gavin's wife and director Sydney Pollock as his boss), Affleck proves he can carry a drama as well as he can do comedy.

Sam Jackson is easy to take for granted. Myself, I walk into his movies and assume he'll be great and he hasn't proved me wrong yet. In Changing Lanes, Jackson plays a man who desperately wants to be a good person but can't resist trouble. As William Hurt as Doyle's AA sponsor says, Doyle is addicted to chaos.

Changing Lanes shows the thin line between right and wrong and does so with honesty and a clear vision. Right and wrong are merely choices with morals and ethics as the lowest common denominator. The film never allows anyone to become a villain. Each character is able to explain the motivation behind their seemingly unethical acts and they do so in ways that are actually very understandable. 

Amanda Peet's character is most effective at getting this point across, explaining her motivations that are on the surface sad and depressing but the underlying reason is a plausible decision she has made to be comfortable instead of happy. In the end there is very little black and white just a lot of gray. We would all like to do the right thing all the time and expect others to do so as well, but we don't live in a fairy tale.

Changing Lanes is no fairy tale, it is an honest observation of humanity, wart and all. Few films have the courage to do what this film does. It avoids formula and actually attempts to say something. For those of you who are just looking for a popcorn movie you may think this to be a little heavy but trust me, the film as a whole is as entertaining as it's message is resonant.

Movie Review He's Just Not That Into You

He's Just Not That Into You (2009) 

Directed by Ken Kwapis 

Written by Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein 

Starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly Bradley Cooper, Justin Long 

Release Date February 6th, 2009 

Published February 5th, 2009

A book based on a line of dialogue from a TV show goes on to become a massive bestseller and adapted into a major motion picture. Shouldn't the TV writer get the credit? After all, Michael Patrick King, the Sex and the City writer and his staff, were the ones who came up with this bit of mini insight. Comedian 

Greg Behrendt merely filled in the margins around that line with banal generalizations, a few John Gray Mars and Venus cribs, and humor aimed at the lifeless Lifetime TV movie crowd. It was that episode of Sex and the City about Berger telling Miranda what men really think that had the 'He's Just Not That Into You' epiphany.

And let's be real here. There was more insight into relationships in that one 22 minute Sex and the City episode than there are in the 300 some pages of Greg Behrendt's book and the nearly 2 hour movie based on it. Skip the movie and the book, let's watch Sex and the City. Unfortunately, I had to see the movie and what a chore it is. Despite one of the most impressive casts this side of a Love Boat-Fantasy Island crossover episode, He's Just Not That Into is a brutal exercise in monotonous, whiny neuroses. If I wanted that I would tape my therapy sessions.

Ginnifer Goodwin is the ostensible lead of He's Just Not That Into You and the poor girl makes a sad, sad spectacle of herself as Gigi the whiniest and most neurotic of a cast full of whiny neurotics. Her Gigi can barely read street signs, forget the subtle signals of human interaction. When she goes out on a semi-decent date with Conor (Kevin Connelly) she seems normal, just a little clueless about the signs that he isn't really that into her. Later, as she waits for him to call for another date she spends endless, ear splitting minutes detailing exactly why she is certain he will call again, including a mind numbing dissertation on the banal phrase 'Nice meeting you'.

Needless to say, Conor doesn't call back. That however may or may not have anything to do with the supremely needy vibe that Gigi puts out, but because he is obsessed with Anna (Scarlett Johansson) a girl he slept with once and now hangs out with while not getting any anymore. He cannot understand why they aren't sleeping together anymore even though they still hang out. Anyone else want to wack this guy with a baseball bat? With his pal Alex (Justin Long) he rehashes a brief conversation he had with Anna over the phone, who he called right after his date with Gigi, and how she said she would call him right back but didn't.

Anna, you see, was at a grocery store and struck up a flirtation with Ben (Bradley Cooper) just as Conor was calling. She jumped off the phone with Conor despite the wedding ring on Ben's finger. Further, despite that ring, she pushes the flirting, getting his card ostensibly so he can pass it along to an agent friend of his, she's a singer. Ben is able to control himself for a little while though he and his wife Janine (Jennifer Connelly) have been arguing throughout the massive redecoration of their new home. She wants to talk tile patterns and whether he has actually quit smoking and he just wants to have sex with Anna.

All of these various troubled relationships are presented in the most general fashion with little character development and no really interesting dialogue. Director Ken Kwapis and writers Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein definitely do justice to Greg Behrendt's book but in so doing, they are left with the same lackluster, limp dating advice that populates that absurdly popular book. Kwapis is a terrific television director, he's done some fine work with The Office but in features, yeesh. His resume includes Beautician and the Beast and, ugh, License To Wed.

Then again, he also directed the original Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants which is a movie of great warmth, humor and empathy, all of which is absent from He's Just Not That Into You. Then again, Sisterhood is based on a much better book than He's Just Not That Into You. Not that I have read Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, I have read He's Just Not That Into You and I feel very comfortable making the assumption. Ken Kwapis has some talent, how he has made such terrible films, and one pretty good one, remains a mystery to me.

Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston and Drew Barrymore round out the all star cast of He's Just Not That Into You and they seem like they may be in entirely different movies. Affleck and Aniston actually escape the dreary humor free children mincing their way through this abyss of stupidity that is He's Just Not That Into You. As a couple who've been together for seven years without getting married they are saddled with the same mindless problems of the rest of the cast but they are onscreen so little and neither allows for any real whining about their problems, they miss out on the sad fates of the rest of the cast.

Poor Drew Barrymore arguably gets it the worst of anyone in arguably the smallest role in the movie. Shoehorned into the plot as Anna's best friend, Drew has a technology problem. With her MySpace page, her cellphone, her home phone, her work phone, her home email, her work email, she has to check every one every few minutes to get updates on her latest relationship. It's exhausting to be rejected in so many forms and she longs for the days of an answering machine. Ugh! Can someone just get this girl a blackberry? An IPhone? Something! Honestly, if modern tech is this hard for you, just give up. Go live in a cave somewhere.

And Drew's role is minuscule compared to Ginnifer Goodwin's Gigi who, if she were a real person, would likely have died from forgetting how to breathe. This is one of the most dull witted characters ever brought to the screen. I like Goodwin, she's an attractive girl who I know is not this mentally challenged. The character she is saddled with in He's Just Not That Into You is a flibbertigibbet moron who could barely read traffic signals, forget body language or even a direct answer from a guy telling her he is never going to call her.

Ladies, this movie is meant for you and the people who made it think that Gigi represents you. They think all of these ludicrous, brain-dead morons stand in for a type that you can relate to. This is what Hollywood thinks of you. If that is not a massive insult I don't know what is. Granted, the men in this movie don't get off easy, Kevin Connelly's Conor is pathetic beyond words, Bradley Cooper's Ben is pathetic and a jerk and Justin Long's Alex is arguably more clueless than anyone else in the film, likely because he is the stand in for Author Behrendt, as the advice giver of the group.

It is Alex who advises Gigi, regarding Conor, that 'He's Just Not That Into You' and fails to communicate that to her because he wasn't writing it on a brick and clubbing her with it repeatedly. His banal generalities about why men do what they do and why women don't get it are the thesis statement of He's Just Not That Into You and they boil down to nothing more insightful than that simpleminded title.

Movie Review Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone (2007) 

Directed by Ben Affleck 

Written by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard 

Starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Amy Ryan, Titus Welliver 

Release Date October 19th, 2007

Published October 18th, 2007 

Ben Affleck has long been unfairly maligned as an actor. Yes, he made Gigli and Paycheck and Reindeer Games and they are no picnic, fair. But those movies do not define his talent. The vitriol aimed at Ben Affleck has long seemed like over the top piling on and more than a little jealousy, from my perspective. Now, with the release of his directorial debut Gone Baby Gone, Affleck haters will have to eat their words. In a season of Oscar shortfalls, Gone Baby Gone is the fall season's first film to exceed the awards hype.

Casey Affleck stars in the moody, noirish Gone Baby Gone, based on the Dennis LeHane of the same name. Casey plays Patrick Kenzie, a small-time detective in the slums of Boston. Along with his girlfriend Angie (Michelle Monaghan), Patrick usually handles missing person cases involving bail jumpers and child support deadbeats.

Imagine Patrick's surprise when a family involved in a high profile kidnapping seeks his help in finding a missing four year old girl. Amy Madigan plays the child's concerned aunt who hopes that Patrick can use his familiarity in the neighborhood to get better leads than the cops can get. Needless to say, the cops aren't entirely happy for the help.

Morgan Freeman is Jack Doyle, the local police chief in charge of missing children cases. Ed Harris and John Ashton are the two detectives leading the case who accept Patrick's help grudgingly and quite skeptically. Soon witnesses and suspects begin to pile up and so do a few bodies and Patrick finds himself wrapped in a very dangerous mystery and a moral crisis.

Gone Baby Gone plays like a police procedural but there is so much more to it. As the movie goes on Casey Affleck's Patrick is forced to make choices that no one would want to make. Choices that require an examination of his morals and ethics and his sense of right and wrong. The script by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard doesn't make the decisions easy or overly dramatic. The plot elements of Gone Baby Gone develop organically, natural to the story being told.

It's a rare modern movie that gives characters time to make moral decisions that aren't forced or pathetic. Patrick will be haunted by his choices, right and wrong. The consequences are aired and examined and smartly dispatched in one of the best scripts of the year.

Casey Affleck comes to life in Gone Baby Gone. Long known as Ben's little brother, Casey steps out of big brother's shadow with a performance that combines toughness, street smarts and sadness. Never angsty or overly dramatic, Casey's Patrick reveals himself slowly as just a good man turned into a reluctant crusader by some ugly circumstances and a promise he made to a grieving mother.

Affleck is matched grit for grit with Michelle Monaghan who nails the south Boston accent and the neighborhood's tomboy chic. Sexy with just a touch of naivete, Monaghan is the perfect dramatic and romantic foil for Casey Affleck's street smart tough guy detective. Together they spark with terrific romantic chemistry that gives the perfect impression of a relationship begun long before we meet them.

The third lead character in Gone Baby Gone is South Boston, a hard knocks area of one of America's most well known city's. Ben and Casey Affleck are quite familiar with these streets and this neighborhood having grown up there and as a director Ben Affleck gives gritty life to these downtrodden, drug and crime ridden streets.

That familiar turf is likely what drew Ben Affleck to the work of Dennis LeHane on whose series of novels Gone Baby Gone is based. Like Affleck, LeHane is from Boston and knows these streets, these crimes and these people. The naturalistic dialogue comes from a very knowing place in both Affleck and LeHane and while they are unafraid to expose the dark side of Boston even as you can sense a certain loyalty and love in the way they draw these characters.

Gone Baby Gone is the first film of the fall of 2007 that, for me, exceeds the awards expectations. Casey Affleck's confident and concise performance and the terrific adapted screenplay by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard seem like locks come Oscar nomination time. And here's hoping that the long time, unwarranted public disdain for Ben Affleck doesn't affect his chances of being nominated for directing Gone Baby Gone.

Ben Affleck's work here is as gritty and hard boiled as a young Scorsese with the polish of modern Hollywood production. Gone Baby Gone is Ben's baby and it succeeds on his talent. This one is a must see.