ben affleck | the m0vie blog

Look! Jack Kirby’s Designs for Argo!

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Darren

I’m actually reasonably happy with Argo winning Best Picture. I’ve given up on the idea of the Academy Awards ever mirroring my own tastes, and Argo is a pretty great film from a director who is developing into a wonderful talent. And the awards last night spread the love around. It’s hard to hate a ceremony that can give Quentin Tarantino a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Django Unchained.

Anyway, in celebrating the success of Argo, how about a look at Jack Kirby’s original designs for the fictitious movie Lord of Light (which became Argo)? Kirby was a comic book legend, who created The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Captain America, Thor and countless other iconic comic characters. In the seventies, Kirby had an ever heavier science-fiction bint, creating his wonderful Fourth World and The Eternals and O.M.A.C. As part of the operation to rescue the escaped diplomats, Kirby designed these storyboards for the movie, which actually hit upon several of the author and artist’s favourite themes – including advanced god-like beings and the merging of the rational with the mystical.

Check out his sketches below. Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Academy Award, Academy Award for Best Picture, Argo, arts, awards, ben affleck, captain america, django unchained, fantastic four, JackKirby, Michelle Obama, Movies, quentin tarantino, x-men | 6 Comments »

International On-Line Film Critics’ Poll Nominees Announced…

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Darren

The nominees for the 2012 International On-Line Film Critics’ Poll 2012 have been announced. Open to all films released in the United States between November 2011 and November 2012, it allows for a slightly different playing field than the Oscars typically does. It also means that I am (as a non-American) far more likely to have seen all the nominees, with only Lincoln yet to see among the Best Picture nominees. Anyway, I will be sending in my ballot soon enough, but take a gander at the full list of nominees below. It’s a strong list, to be sure.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Academy Award, Academy Award for Best Actor, Academy Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, arts, awards, ben affleck, Daniel Day-Lewis, Dark Knight Rises, Lincoln, Movies, oscar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tree of Life, United States, Visual effects | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Argo

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Darren

Argo might not seem like it, with the action unfolding amidst the Iranian embassy siege and the stakes involved in the rescue of six hostages, but it is something of an affectionate love letter to cinema from Ben Affleck, who is emerging as one of the most talented actors-writers-directors of our time. From the moment that the grain scratches across the retro Warner Brothers logo to the closing credits where fact and fiction compare and contrast, Argo feels like a celebration of movie magic. Perhaps it’s a little tooself-congratulatory at points, as films made by Hollywood about Hollywood tend to be, but Affleck’s direction keeps the movie surprisingly focused. The film maker does an exceptional job wringing real tension from a true story – no small accomplishment, and a testament to his ability.

Standing out from the crowd…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Affleck, alan arkin, Alice Cooper, Argo, ben affleck, Bryan Cranston, Central Intelligence Agency, film, hollywood, iran, Iran hostage crisis, Movie, non-review review, review, Titus Welliver, Tony Mendez, United States | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Extract

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Darren

I’m honestly not quite sure what to make of Extract. Ironically for a movie about a factor producing flavour additives, the movie seems lack a flavour of its own. Is Mike Judge’s effort a quirky and eccentric anything-goes laugh-out-loud fest, or is it a more conventional cookie-cutter comedy? The film seems to fluctuate between the two extremes, at times playing incredible safe and yet occasionally swinging for the fences, adding to a vaguely disjointed feeling to the whole thing.

Meeting of the bored...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: ben affleck, Clifton Collins Jr, DavidKoechner, Extract, film, j.k. simmons, jason bateman, Kristen Wiig, Mike Judge, mila kunis, Movie, non-review review, review | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Sum of All Fears

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Darren

The Sum of All Fears is a strange little beast. By changing the nature of the movie’s threat from Middle Eastern terrorists to a secret cult of Nazis, the film seems to want to avoid seeming “heavy” or “relevent.”However, any form of entertainment that depicts a nuclear attack on a US city on the same scale as that depicted here, seems to carry a lot of weight with it anyway. I think that’s really the core problem with an otherwise reasonable solid film, the fact that it has difficulty balancing what should be an uncomfortable viewing experience with an attempt not to upset anyone.

Ryan, Jack Ryan...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: ben affleck, films, harrison ford, Jack Ryan, Jennifer Garner, Middle East, Movies, nazis, non-review review, nuclear weapons, Patriot Games, review, terrorists, The Sum of All Fears (film), United States, Warfare and Conflict | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Takers

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Darren

The obvious point of comparison for Takers is The Town, Ben Affleck’s bank-robbing thriller that opened around the same time. However, I think it’s a misleading comparison, if only because Affleck’s film feels far more specific and nuanced in scope than this heist thriller. Instead, I think the best point of reference for this particular feature film is to consider is as “Heat for the MTV generation.” Of course, any film’s going to come out quite badly from that synopsis, but I do think it’s fair, as it speaks to both the strengths and (perhaps more importantly) the weaknesses of this particular film.

Are the crew being taken for a ride?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, bank robbery, ben affleck, fiction, film, Idris Elba, los angeles, Matt Dillon, Montage (filmmaking), Movie, Movies, non-review review, Online Writing, review, Rosemarie DeWitt, SAT, Takers, the wire, United States, Wire | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Darren

Jay and Silent Bob is a movie that runs hot and cold from scene to scene. More a collection of random jokes set against an ever-shifting premise than a fleshed-out over-arching story, the film frequently fluctuates between brilliantly and subversively hilarious, and just a little bit awkward. While the randomness of Kevin Smith’s original Clerks was a large part of the appeal, the mish-mash approach doesn’t work so well this time around. Part of it is, perhaps, that this movie does clearly have a plot (a roadtrip to Hollywood), but I think it might also be a question of the characters involved.

While Jay and Silent Bob work well in supporting roles, it seems perhaps a bit much to ask them to carry their own movie. It’s a criticism Smith seems to accept, even including it in the movie itself. “Bluntman and Chronic and their stupid alter egos Jay and Silent Bob only work in small doses, if at all,” an anonymous on-line “militant movie buff” writes about a fictious movie to star characters modelled on the pair. “They don’t deserve their own movie.”

Well, at least he’s self-aware.

The latest in the Jay and Silent Bob cycle?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: ben affleck, Bluntman & Chronic, Bluntman and Chronic, cameos, chasing amy, clerks, films, George Carlin, hollywood, jay, Jay & Silent Bob, jay & silent bob strike back, jay and silent bob strike back, kevin smith, matt damon, Movie, Movies, non-review review, pop culture, review, silent bob, view askew, view askew universe | 5 Comments »

On Second Thoughts Re-View Review: The Town (Extended Cut)

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Darren

Sometimes when I see a movie a second time, I see a little bit more. Sometimes it’s watching an alternate cut or something, but it can be as simple as watching the movie a second time and knowing how it’ll end the whole way through. So I thought I’d try something new. I’d make notes on what I thought of certain films when I saw them a second time – let’s call it a “re-view review”, eh? Maybe they’ll become a semi-regular fixture.

When I first caught The Town, I admitted to being a bit disappointed with it. It was a good film, but it wasn’t quite as consistently brilliant as many people had led to me to believe. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed it (get more of my thoughts on it by checking out the review) but it just seemed like something was missing from the film, even if I didn’t know what. So, when dad returned from the video shop with it on Friday, we all sat down to watch the special “extended cut” of Ben Affleck’s film. And I absolutely loved it.

Hamming it up a notch...

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Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: al pacino, arts, ben affleck, boston, Federal Bureau of Investigation, films, heat, John Hamm, michael mann, Movies, re-view review, robert deniro, the town, Town | 17 Comments »

Pete Postlethwaite

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Darren

The quote from Spielberg about “probably the best actor in the world today” has been doing the rounds today, understandably, as well as Postlethwaite’s good-natured response (he remarked that it sounded like “a beer commercial”), but I think the below quote pretty much sums up my respect for Postlethwaite and his strength as an actor.

There are some moments that work. Pete Postlethwaite, as a big game hunter who flies onto the island with a second wave of dinosaur mercenaries, doesn’t step wrong; he plays a convincing if shallow character, even if he’s called upon to make lengthy speeches in speeding Jeeps, and to utter arty lines about “movable feasts” and having “spent enough time in the company of death.’‘ He alone among the major characters seems convinced that he is on an island with dinosaurs, and not merely in a special-effects movie about them.

– Roger Ebert reviews Jurassic Park: The Lost World

It’s not his best role, nor his most notable. However, even then he managed to shine on the screen, and – when I think of him – that’s the quote that comes to mind. His career featured any number of fantastic films (The Usual Suspects, Inception), but he always brought his best – even when the movie probably didn’t deserve it. I won’t go on at length, because far more authoritative and eloquent individuals have already offered their feelings.

Rest in peace. You will be missed.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Academy Award, ben affleck, Brassed Off, In The Name Of The Father, Lost World: Jurassic Park, Pete Postlethwaite, steven spielberg, Usual Suspects | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Town

Posted on October 23, 2010 by Darren

It’s interesting to see how well Ben Affleck has redeemed himself as a director. After seeing Gone Baby Gone two years ago, I was willing to forgive the actor his roles in bad films like Jersey Girl, Phantoms and even Daredevil. I know he did Gigli too, but I can never forgive him for that. His second film behind the camera, The Town, demonstrates that he isn’t a one-hit wonder – but I have to admit that perhaps I am a bit disappointed. It isn’t that The Town is a bad or even an average film, it’s just one that I heard so much about that I had almost psyched myself up to watch. It’s a well-made exploration of urban decay which tackles its subjects with what seems (to a guy educated and living in a different country) to be a lot more honesty and neutrality than most films on the same subject matter.