Next up will be "Endymion" and "The Rise Of Endymion". The plan for this year seems to be to read 'series' of books in order, with the odd unconnected book in between. This way I hope to finally finish Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series and Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series before the end of the year. Such long books, though.
I have seen two movies this weekend: "Gone Baby Gone" and "Superhero Movie".
First up, "Gone Baby Gone".
May I start by saying that I quite like Ben Affleck. Sorry, but there was a real need to write that. I will explain.
Of late Ben Affleck has been on the promotion circuit in the UK. After many delays "Gone Baby Gone" has finally gotten itself a UK cinema release. It has been interesting to observe that in literally every single interview with the man, there has been a comment on the supposed antipathy of film critics towards Ben Affleck as an actor.
Well, I certainly wouldn't consider Ben Affleck to be the greatest actor of his generation. He is not even the greatest movie star of his generation, which, of course, has got nothing to do with acting ability. This, as I see it, puts Ben Affleck into the same category as 99% of the actors working today, and those people do not get the same level of criticism.
Who to blame? The tabloids? The fame game? The fact that for a period of time Ben was in love with J-Lo?
Oh, dear. Give the guy a break, will you, please?
So, then. Ben's directorial debut. Will the critics like him more as a debutant Director? Is "Gone Baby Gone" worth a look?
Oh, yes. You just might say that.
"Gone Baby Gone" is, perhaps, not as completely assured a Lehane adaptation as Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" (the revelatory final 40 minutes maybe could have been paced a little better), but it is frequently a very good and sometimes great movie. Casey Affleck proves that his breakthrough in "The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford" was no flash in the pan. His baby faced, quiet and introspective private investigator, with a streak of street wise steel running through him, is just a brilliant piece of work. Definitely one of the performances of the year. Casey Affleck is the pivot around which "Gone Baby Gone" turns. He is rarely off screen and easily holds his own against great turns by Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman and the Oscar nominated Amy Ryan. Only Michelle Monaghan is a tad underused as Casey Affleck's sidekick/girlfriend, although she does have a great couple of scenes towards the end.
"Gone Baby Gone" is much more than just a private investigator/mystery/thriller. It is a throwback to one of those great Robert Altman and Arthur Penn movies of the 1970's. Downbeat, naturalistic, subdued, bleak, with an almost documentary feel. Real streets and real people, not film sets and actors playing it downtrodden and dirty. "Gone Baby Gone" swims deeply in some very murky and morally dubious waters. This is the question: How prepared are you to do the correct thing, when it is not necessarily the right thing?
What would you have done when faced with the question posed to Casey Affleck at the end of the film? Do you lose your soul or do you lose your conscience?
See it. "Gone Baby Gone" is one of the best films of the year. I cannot recommend it enough.
Next up, the remarkable "Superhero Movie".
Yes. I did say remarkable. Remarkable for all of the wrong reasons. I had assumed, for good reasons, that the worst movie I would see at the cinema this year would be "Meet The Spartans". How completely wrong that prediction has turned out to be.
"Superhero Movie" is truly a piece of poo. A terrible, awful, abomination of a movie. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. I wanted to pluck out my eyes. I wanted to throw myself off a tall building. I wanted to fight the group of lads sitting a few rows in front of me, because they were laughing at this lamentable piece of rubbish. I wanted to give up going to the movies. I wanted to join a monastery and dedicate my life to basket weaving and caring for lepers.
I like stupid, but "Superhero Movie" is just not funny, guy. Basically it is a remake of "Spider-Man" with fart and poo jokes, and the odd nod to other Superhero universes. Cheap and nasty and... Er... poo like.
(Da da da daaaaaa!) Hang on! There is a good bit.
Pamela Anderson filled the outfit of the Fantastic Four's Invisible Girl a damn sight more spectacularly than Jessica Alba ever did. A shame then that Pammy is only in the movie for about 30 seconds. In fact, much respect to Pammy's costume designer. Pammy's costume was a miracle of industrial engineering. I shudder to think of the gravitational pressures that had to be overcome when that costume was being built. If they had miscalculated, all hell could have broken loose and somebody could have died.
"Superhero Movie" is a very bad film. See it and weep.
3 comments:
I read the book "Gone Baby Gone," and I'm glad to hear the movie's so good -- it came out here at the same time as all the Oscar movies were out, and I missed it. Sounds like I'll have to catch up.
I thought Gone, Baby Gone was an excellent film, but it also left me feeling incredibly depressed about my chosen career path. It's been months since I saw it, and because of that, I still can't figure out whether I'd recommend it.
Hey J! Don't forget we will see you at the Sex Pistols with luck.
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