I like Ben Affleck more as a director than I do as an actor and “The Town” is an efficient, if implausible, entertainment. Affleck has good taste and the movie is well-cast, shot, and edited. Affleck is wooden as an actor and I just don’t buy him as a tough guy. That said, I would have liked to see him swap roles with Jeremy Renner who is largely wasted in the Johnny-Boy Nutzo role. Renner, at least based on his work in “The Hurt Locker,” would have brought so much more to protagonist than Affleck. Pete Postlethwaite and Chris Cooper are terrific in supporting roles.
Then there is “Winter’s Bone,” the critical darling of the summer. If you missed it the first time around, do yourself a favor and rent it. It is a chilling movie that features a sensational lead performance (one that we should be hearing about come Award season). Everything about the movie is sure without being over-the-top. This is one of the special movies of the year, the kind that gives you faith in the medium. And that’s word to Uncle Teardrop.
"Fatih in the medium" is spot on. I finally saw this for the first time over the weekend and was completely blown away. I've no idea what the novel is like but this screenplay was perfect. My wife and I were especially grateful for the meal we ate after we saw the film.
er, Faith.
Alex, you mean you didn't like Gigli?
I liked Ben as the rough guy in Dazed and Confused.
I was blown away by Jennifer Lawrence's performance. It's just note-perfect - the way she moves, the way she speaks, it's an amazingly accomplished performance for a young actress. John Hawkes, who's been solid in everything for years, gets a chance to stand out as Teardrop and he really makes the most of it. I expect nominations for both. Dale Dickey is also especially good as the wife of the chief bad guy.
Alex, I happened to see this movie over the weekend with a bunch of family and friends, and the consensus was that it was OK, but not deserving of all of the awards hype. There were a couple of really effective scenes (in particular, the police chief confrontation and the scene at the lake), but on the whole, I thought it moved VERY slowly. Also, other than the main character, all of the other people were just so unlikeable, if not outright disgusting.
Maybe I'm just too used to today's action movies.
I didn't find is slow at all. I thought it was tense. Uncle Teardrop wasn't exactly likable, was he? But he did have some integrity and goodness in him, though he was right telling the girl she was smart to be 'faid of him. And it didn't matter to me that everyone else wasn't likable because the girl was a true heroine. Least that's how I saw it.
[8] I pretty much agree with all of that. Also, I don't know that there's no one else likable - you like those kids and you like her best friend. The neighbor lady seems kindly as well.
[8] I meant to cite [7], obviously. Long day.
Ben (yawn) Hackfleck