The Town (Blu-ray/DVD Ultimate Collector’s Edition)
The Town (Blu-ray/DVD Ultimate Collector’s Edition)
Ben Affleck follows his acclaimed Gone Baby Gone directorial debut by directing, co-writing and starring in a taut thriller about robbers and cops, friendship and betrayal, love and hope and escaping a past that has no future. He plays Doug MacRay, leader of a Boston bank robber gang but not cut from the same cloth as his fellow thieves. When Doug falls into a passionate romance with the bank manager (Rebecca Hall) briefly taken hostage in their last heist, he wants out of this life and out of the town. As the Feds close in and the crew questions his loyalty, he has one of two choices: betray his friends or lose the woman he loves. Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Titus Welliver, Pete Postlethwaite and Chris Cooper also star. Ben Affl
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Good Will Hunting [Blu-ray + Digital Copy]
A true motion picture phenomenon, this triumphant story was nominated for 9 Academy Awards(R) — winning Oscars for Robin Williams (Best Supporting Actor) and hot newcomers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (Best Original Screenplay). The most brilliant mind at America’s top university isn’t a student … he’s the kid who cleans the floors! Will Hunting (Damon) is a headstrong, working-class genius who’s failing the lessons of life. After one too many run-ins with the law, Will’s last chance is a psychology professor (Williams), who might be the only man who can reach him! With acclaimed performances from Academy Award(R)-nominee Minnie Driver (Grosse Pointe Blank) and Ben Affleck (Shakespeare in Love, The Town) — you’ll find Good Will Hunting a
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Honor (As Well As Romance, Retribution and Remorse) Among Thieves,
Ben Affleck returns to his old stomping grounds–the working class neighborhoods of Boston–for his second directorial effort “The Town.” A solidly constructed crime thriller, “The Town” is at its most successful when it’s exploring the specific dynamics of the area in question. Affleck has a sense of the place, the language and rhythm of its inhabitants, that lend an authenticity to the film that elevate it beyond typical genre fare.
That’s why he has achieved success working in an area and with characters identifiable to his own upbringing. His previous Boston efforts include “Good Will Hunting” (a screenplay Oscar for Affleck) and “Gone Baby Gone” (Affleck’s acclaimed first feature as a director). “Gone Baby Gone,” in many ways a standard detective plot, was a huge revelation for being surprisingly hard edged and cynical (it helps to be adapted from a Dennis Lehane book with similar qualities)–and it is that cynicism that made it one of my favorite films of its year.
Now adapting Chuck Hogan’s “Prince of Thieves,” Affleck casts himself as the stoic lead Doug MacRay. Raised in the Charlestown area, MacRay has been unable to break away from the legacy of his youth, his father, and local crime bosses. He runs a successful crew in robbing banks and armored cars. On a job gone wrong, a bank manager (Rebecca Hall) is temporarily taken hostage. When MacRay’s best friend on the job (Jeremy Renner) becomes concerned she might know something to identify them–Affleck sets off to observe her as she lives uncomfortably close to the crew. But getting a little too cozy, he starts to idealize her as an opportunity to escape the life he now feels trapped in. One more big score and maybe he can get a fresh start.
Affleck plays the role with a tight lipped intensity and calm. It’s left to the dynamic Renner to provide the menace and unpredictability within this tale. Turning on a dime, Renner is terrific here (as he almost always is–even in lesser films). Small roles by Chris Cooper, Blake Lively, and Pete Postlethwaite help illuminate how MacRay, while basically a decent guy, went wrong. Jon Hamm adepts himself well as MacRay’s FBI foil. The cast is uniformly excellent, the action sequences are well choreographed, and the grittiness feels real and alive. However, the romance between Affleck and Hall (so inherent to the plot) is actually the least successful element of the film. The biggest lapse of logic comes after Affeck has identified that he’s being tailed by the FBI. Instead of laying low–both for her sake and to appear uninvolved–Affleck continues to date Hall openly, even lunching in a sidewalk cafe. And when she learns the truth, I’m not sure her character has been developed sufficiently to make her choices appear logical.
In the scope of the picture, however, these are small gripes. “The Town” is most assuredly a successful and rich thriller for adult audiences. Affleck displays range and restraint as a director–and if that’s not enough, there’s a terrific cast working at the top of their game! Check it out! KGHarris 9/10.
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|Applause,
I went into this movie knowing absolutely about it, there was little advance hoopla that I can recall, that usually accompanies a major motion picture.
The idea of mask wearing, semi automatic toting nuns at once seems invigorating and slightly surreal, but the viciousness, and sloppy impulse control of one of the robbers played brilliantly by Jeremy Renner (of Hurt Locker) immediately brings us crashing into the reality of what’s happening.
These hardened ruthless criminals hide behind a funny mask, and will eliminate anyone who gets in their way. So they kidnap the attractive female bank manager played adorably by Rebecca Hall for leverage, and let her go.
Upon checking her drivers license, and discovering she lives in their neighborhood, the psycho wants her eliminated to cover their tracks. Ben Affleck’s character takes the card and decides to investigate her, and discover what she knows. One thing leads to another, and the lives of everyone involved starts to move in ever decreasing circles as the FBI investigation starts closing in.
The story is brilliantly told, and the theater audience responded to the irony of the conversations between the criminal and his unknowing victim.
Ben Affleck’s character seems a little at odds with his criminal life, and you wonder why he is a bank robber, nevertheless he has a well developed dark side, and is very resourceful, resourceful enough to be the the architect.
But you also get the sense that here is a guy could go straight if he chose to, and that dilemma of wonder is what makes this movie so great. He makes the good choice of distancing himself from an addicted ex girlfriend, yet makes bad choices as well. But in order to get to that place of going straight he is forced to make criminal but understandable choices, some of which may surprise you.
You can tell that this is somewhat of a passion project. The movie is set in Boston as was Goodwill Hunting for which he won the Oscar for Best screenplay with Matt Damon. Here Affleck shows he is perhaps the under admired element of that partnership as he wears not only a mask but the multiple hats of Director, Actor, and Writer, and as the architect of this movie pulls all those elements together.
The Town is one of those movies that just works on every level, without falling into the trap of just another formula caper movie. In some ways the mask wearing robbers reminded me of the the Presidential mask wearing robbers of Point Break (Pure Adrenaline Edition)starring Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves.
As I think back on the best movies of the last several months I think of the over the top antics in Machete, the intellectual stimulation of Inception, and now the mystery and dilemmas of The Town. The Town manages to convey some Indie style while not following the typical Hollywood formula.
It would be remiss not to mention the brilliant ensemble cast, Jon Hamm of Mad Men as the FBI agent, and Jeremy Renner. Particularly though I found Rebecca Hall to be an amazing and beautiful talent. According to the imdb star meter her popularity has risen 570% in the past week. She also starred as Vicky in the Woody Allen movie Vicky Christina Barcelona, and I predict her star will continue to rise.
If you like this movie I think you will also love Point Break [Blu-ray]The Bank Job, and The Lookout, a personal favorite.
And at the end of the movie the audience applauded. I hope this was helpful. This is definitely one to catch in the theater. I think you will love it.
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|A Crime Thriller With Depth!! Go See It!,
I’ve wanted to see The Town ever since I saw the first previews of it. First, the story seemed quite intriguing: what happens if a man falls in love with the woman he anonymously took hostage while robbing a bank? Another thing that made me want to see this film is that, unlike many crime dramas, this one seemed to escape the artificially polished Hollywood-ish feel. I had to see it.
…And I was correct on all counts! The Town, which was co-written, directed, and features by Ben Affleck, was every bit of what I thought it would be. The directing was very “real” feeling (especially capturing the working-class feel of Charlestown, MA very well). The script was quite good, not once seeming over-the-top or under-developed. The cast and acting was very good.
But I reserve a separate paragraph for talking about the plot and its execution. This film is somewhere between a crime thriller, a character study, and a romance. It has enough teeth to excite those who like car chases and heists but enough depth of emotion to satisfy those who want strong characters and plot lines. The story revolves around Doug McRay, who robs banks with his friends from Charlestown. On one heist (the movie opener), they deviate from the plan and take a hostage. After letting her go (she never saw them), Doug decides to follow her and talk with her. They end up starting a relationship. The questions: how can Doug keep this secret, and how can he get out of his life of crime?
The plot’s execution was very well done: fast enough, slow enough. By the end, you have really identified with Doug McRay and may end up feeling as conflicted as he.
For its great story line, believable direction, and its originality, I give The Town 5 stars and recommend it highly to you.
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|Good film crafting,
There were few films in 1997 that enjoyed more publicity than Good Will Hunting. Most of the hype centered on the two tyro actors who penned the screenplay. It seems that they had been friends for years and in between college obligations, drinking and socialising, they had been toying with a script on the side. What started out as a rather average comedy, soon evolved into a sophisticated drama. In fact, it could hardly avoid getting better as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck must have received a ton of brutal criticism from every Hollywood executive that they approached.
The true miracle is not that two actors, unknown for writing, could get a script accepted in Hollywood but that the script was so good that it put every other effort for the year in the shade. In my opinion, the motion picture academy was correct in awarding the Oscar for best screenplay to Good Will Hunting. Everything about the script suggested writers with a profound understanding of the human condition; even now I half suspect there was an element of that old saying about an infinite number of monkeys on typewriters.
For those interested in this Cinderella story within a movie, you should listen to the director’s track on the DVD. It offers a unique insight into the background of the writing and filming of Good Will Hunting. It becomes clear from Ben and Matt’s reminiscences that they had a ball during every part of the process. Not only that, they took advantage of their opportunity, to offer support roles to friends and family; a situation that rarely occurs outside of independent film. Surprisingly, one of the best support performances was produced by Casey Affleck, who is Ben’s cousin, (I think).
The script took a bit of a risk by making the main character a super-genius. Not only is it difficult to portray a person with such talents but it is nearly impossible to do so while making him likeable. After all, the tall poppy syndrome is strongest when it comes to intellect. We can all aspire to wealth and with plastic surgery, even beauty is not unattainable but the brains you are born with is the most you’re ever going to have. However, Matt Damon proved me wrong on both counts.
Will Hunting was undeniably bright. The scene in the Harvard bar were he takes on an educational supremacist is worth watching again and again just for the superb timing that was employed. Will also manages to win our sympathy despite his I.Q. Not so much because he acts like “one of the boys” but because we discover early on that for every blessing he received in the brain department, he was given a matching curse in his life. An orphan who was raised by a series of abusing foster parents is unlikely to have much room left for pride.
The catalyst which helps Will break out of his life is Gerald Lambeau, (Stellan Skarsgård). He is an award winning mathematician and professor at MIT where Will works as a janitor. Their paths cross when Will off-handedly solves a difficult maths problem which Lambeau had set for his post graduate class. But whilst there relationship is important, it is little more than a subplot; a segue toward Will’s eventual meeting with Sean Maguire, a psychiatrist played by Robin Williams.
Sean is invited by Lambeau to work with Will. The two are old friends but even so, Sean was only approached after four other therapists had been run off by Will’s destructive insights and bitter insults. Sean is a bird of a different feather however. He shares a common background with Will, and if anything, he has had more pain in his life than Will may ever see. In a strange way, Sean becomes Will’s mother to Lambeau’s role as ambitious father.
The film is rich with detail and is a wonderful medium for the support actors. Ben Affleck’s role as Will’s best friend is not as visible as Matt Damon’s but he carries it off with just the right amount of fatalism and aggression. Will’s Lady friend Skylar, is also worth special mention. Minnie Driver takes a seemingly token “love interest” role and breaths real depth into it. Without her efforts, Will’s final choice would not have rung true and might have marred the whole film.
Good Will Hunting is a tribute to the dreams of American youth. Both because two young men managed to reach the pinnacle of their craft on their first outing but more importantly, because it deals with one young man’s struggle to overcome his troublesome past while reaching out to grasp life, love and happiness. It’s touching, entertaining and at the same time inspirational.
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|A film that rooted itself in my soul and has never left,
Every now and then, a movie comes along that absolutely blows your world apart. It gives you a perspective on life that you never had before. It weasels its way into your psyche, unbeknownst to you, and takes root…becoming a major part of your inner workings. It’s like Inception! When I first saw Good Will Hunting (1997) in 1998 when it came out, I had no idea that 13 years later this little indie film written by two wet-behind-the-ear kids from “Bahh-ston” would be one of my favorite films of all time. I mean…these two guys, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, are my contemporaries and I was 24 when this movie touched my heart and soul. That’s pretty incredible writing from two young guys in their 20s, which won them both Oscars for Best Original Screenplay. Good Will Hunting is firmly planted in my Top 25 films of all time. And I doubt it will ever leave. Especially because the film is as fresh and critical today as it ever was. Repeatedly, over and over, this movie gets to me like so few do.
It’s a perfect film (5 out of 5 stars) about the inherent flaws and failures that go hand-in-hand with life’s greatest successes and achievements. The human condition, especially the condition of being a man, is flopped onto the operating table in Good Will Hunting and surgically dissected into all the psychological bits and quirks that somehow magically come together to create each of our lives. The emotional and intellectual depth present in the script, the acting, the dialogue, and all the details of this film, belies its book cover. If by some odd chance you haven’t yet gone on this journey with Will Hunting, then by all means, get into this film now and for many years to come.
I watched Good Will Hunting for the umpteenth time tonight, but for the first time in over a year and the first time in HD. Having seen the film in the theater, on VHS, on DVD, and on TV, I know it like the back of my hand. And yet in HD, there were details that were brought to my attention like never before. Textures in the actors faces, colors that were brighter than they’ve ever been, locations that popped out, and dialog that reminds us all why we enjoyed The Social Network (2010) so much this past year. Director Gus Van Sant has never been better in his cinematic craftsmanship, then with his work on Good Will Hunting. He brings his artistic flare and unique storytelling techniques to a more mainstream presentation than his typical indie fare. It’s films like this that make someone’s career, or bring it back to life. And it did that for all the major players here. It brought the incredible filmmaking talents of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to the attention of Hollywood, both for acting and writing. It brought Gus Van Sant into the light of mainstream Hollywood directing. It really introduced us to Stellan Skarsgård, Minnie Driver, Casey Affleck, and Cole Hauser, all of whom are well known actors now, who got there talents showcased in this film. And it finally gave Robin Williams his much deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, after being nominated for his incredible work in Good Morning Vietnam (1987) and Dead Poets Society (1989).
It’s hard for me to write about Good Will Hunting because its the kind of complex, intelligent, yet very emotional story that is really best told through film, not writing. I love reading good prose like anyone, but film has a way of bringing that prose to life through its visuals, emotions, and music that our brains just don’t create for us in our imaginations quite so viscerally. That being said, I’ll do the best I can here! Matt Damon stars as Will Hunting, a mathematical genius in the form of a young man who was an abused orphan. Hunting has struggled all of his life, moving from foster home to foster home, job to job, and brawl to brawl. But living in South Boston, he’s made some extremely close friends…brothers really…played ironically and fortuitously by real life brothers Ben & Casey Affleck and Cole Hauser. It absolutely helps sell the realism of the relationship between these actors that 3 out of 4 of them grew up in Boston together in real life.
After Will gets into another fight to defend his tough ‘Southie” reputation, he gets arrested and put in jail. And this time he can’t intellectualize his way out of it. But before being arrested, he catches the attention of a math professor at Harvard, played brilliantly by Stellan Skarsgård. Professor Gerald Lambeau challenges his students to solve a complex math problem that he puts up on a chalkboard. Working as a Janitor at Harvard, Will puts the solution to the math problem on the chalkboard one night while cleaning, and eventually gets discovered by Lambeau, who convinces the Judge to let Will out of jail under his guidance and care. But in return, Will has to attend weekly therapy sessions to address his issues with violence and crime. After going through a string of different types of therapists,…
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|One Of The Best Contemporary Dramas Available!,
This movie goes off the charts in all the most important ways, in terms of storyline, ensemble acting presented, contemporary humor, revealing truths about life and the problems associated with a young, brilliant, but emotionally troubled young man trying desperately to make sense out of a crazy world. What is so amazing and so remarkable about the film is that it was the handywork and dreamchild of two relatively unknown (at least up until then) actors and screenwriters in the persons of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, boyhood friends and denizens of the greater Boston area.
Add to this superb screenplay the support of wonderful actors like Robin Williams, who won a best supporting actor oscar for his role as the psychiatrist who unlocks the secrets to the protagonist (Will Hunting)and allows him to grow and mature. Minnie Driver is also excellent as the love interest drawing Will Hunting toward his beckoning adulthood. She is also the occasion for the single best line in the film; “You like apples? I got her phone number! How do you like them apples?” This film works so well on so many levels that it is really a shame that it lost the Oscar for best picture to “Shakespeare In Love”, for this is a far more powerful, enduring, and worthwhile film experience. if you haven’t seen it, I recommend you RUN to the nearest video store and rent it. And after you swoon before its magic, you’ll want to come back to Amazon.com and order a copy for your personal video library. Enjoy!
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