Didn’t John Woo used to have a style? I mean, I know he had birds and he had the guns pointed at each other, but didn’t he have some style? He’s got no style in Paycheck, which ends up being one of the best movies John Badham never made.
It’s a complete time waster, the kind of […]
Entries Tagged as 'Ben Affleck'
Paycheck (2003, John Woo)
August 9th, 2009 · No Comments
Tagged: Ben Affleck· Dean Georgaris· Joe Morton· John Woo· Paramount Pictures· Paul Giamatti· Philip K. Dick· ★
State of Play (2009, Kevin Macdonald)
April 19th, 2009 · 1 Comment
Who has the least personality when it comes to State of Play? Director Kevin Macdonald? He shoots the most boring Panavision-sized frame I think I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen a Brett Ratner movie from start to finish, but… Macdonald’s boring. He’s not bad, he’s just not any good at all. The lack of a […]
Tagged: Ben Affleck· Billy Ray· Helen Mirren· Jason Bateman· Kevin Macdonald· Matthew Michael Carnahan· Paul Abbott· Russell Crowe· Tony Gilroy· Universal Pictures· ★
Dogma (1999, Kevin Smith)
April 12th, 2009 · 3 Comments
I have a hard time identifying my biggest problem with Dogma. Is it the lack of good narrative? Smith’s script, which does have some very funny scenes in it, is one of the worst attempts at an epical plot I’ve ever seen. It’s inept. It’s pat. Combined with some of the terrible performances, the whole […]
Tagged: Alan Rickman· Ben Affleck· Jeff Anderson· Kevin Smith· Linda Fiorentino· Lions Gate Films· Matt Damon· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Hollywoodland (2006, Allen Coulter)
May 28th, 2008 · No Comments
Hollywoodland is not a narrative mess. It’d be a far more interesting (and far less boring) two hours if it were. Instead, Paul Bernbaum’s plotting is intentional and considered. Neither Bernbaum nor director Allen Coulter seem to understand the problems with having two protagonists, not having anything to do with each other, juxtaposed for a […]
Tagged: Adrien Brody· Allen Coulter· Ben Affleck· Focus Features· Paul Bernbaum· ★
Gone Baby Gone (2007, Ben Affleck)
February 22nd, 2008 · No Comments
There’s one singularly profound moment in Gone Baby Gone, when Affleck plus vieux has one of those filmic moments directors rarely have. He takes a broken, melodramatic scene and makes it sublime. It’s a wonderful moment, coming just after the film’s second ending and before the third and fourth. The film has a lengthy list […]
Tagged: Aaron Stockard· Ben Affleck· Dennis Lehane· Ed Harris· Miramax Films· Morgan Freeman· ★★★
Mallrats (1995, Kevin Smith), the extended version
May 3rd, 2006 · No Comments
Of all my youthful indiscretions, I think my affection for Kevin Smith is–today–the most embarrassing, simply because it perplexes me. I watch Mallrats and I don’t get how I could have watched and liked this film multiple times. By 2000 or so, I didn’t. But from 1996 to 1999, I must have watched this film […]
Tagged: Ben Affleck· Gramercy Pictures· Kevin Smith· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
