Affleck’s redemption. He emerges as a strong director with a vision. Let’s hope he doesn’t miss being a fawned-over movie star and goes right back to romantic comedy leading man roles.

I have relentlessly bitched about Ben Affleck. His too-long face, his god-awful movie choices and his ceaseless past fame-whore pursuit of GQ glamour. But with GONE, BABY, GONE and now THE TOWN, he shows a strong hand at high-tension directing, a fearless non-pretty boy part for himself, and a co-writing credit (alongside Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard) that displays sharp dialogue and complex characters. Affleck also allows co-stars Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner room to almost steal the movie from him.

As long as Affleck doesn’t want another try to usurp George Clooney-as-Clark Gable, he’s back and in great rough-edged form.

Career redemption. Affleck has done it by taking small roles and building a character actor resume. (Jennifer Aniston, take note. No one wants to see a 40-year-old looking for Mr. Right.)

Affleck’s career, up until recently, was thrust upon us. He has wisely re-fashioned himself as a working-class actor, building on his Irish-American Boston roots.

We are told that Charlestown is the mecca for bank robberies. It’s a family business passed from one generation to another. Doug MacRay (Affleck) is the brains behind a highly successful bank robbery and armored truck heists gang. But they never make any serious money – they are always going for the next heist!

What do these guys do with their money? They live like immigrants and pick up their clothes at the neighborhood Salvation Army store.

The gang is made up of several men including ex-con James “Jem” Coughlin (Jeremy Renner). A childhood friend of MacRay’s, he spent nine years in prison taking the rap for MacRay. MacRay owes him. Coughlin is also the muscle for the gang – he’s got a very bad hair-trigger temper. Coughlin’s druggy sister, Krista (Blake Lively) is MacRay’s occasional hook-up, but he is not the father of her toddler – I think.

The gang owes the operational aspects of their work to florist Fergus Colm (Pete Postlethwaite), who must take a hefty cut of the proceeds. MacRay’s father, Stephen (Chris Cooper), in prison for life, used to work for Colm. MacRay is carrying around a bruising question – what happened to his mother? She left when he was a young child and no one has ever told him why or where she went. It has damaged him.

The gang’s latest bank robbery goes awry when Coughlin beats up a bank manager and takes the assistant manager, Claire (Rebecca Hall), hostage. They let Claire go, but keep her driver’s license. She’s new to the neighborhood, but the guys are sure they might run into her around town.

FBI Special Agent Frawley (Jon Hamm) is fed up with this gang and is determined to catch them using Claire. Coughlin wants to dispose of her, but MacRay decides to meet her “cute” and, taking a liking to her, they start dating. He wants to change his life but, quoting Michael Corleone in THE GODFATHER: PART III: “Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in.”

Claire is such a good girl, I was surprised Affleck didn’t film her handing out blankets to the homeless.

According to Hollywood movies, the only way a woman can meet a guy is if she works in a flower shop, volunteers at a Boy’s Club of America, or has a parent in a nursing home. All others must put ads on Craigslist.

Coughlin wants to do one more big, big heist and MacRay doesn’t like the set-up but is forced by loyalty to Coughlin and threats by Colm. He decides to go for it knowing the gang is being shadowed by the FBI. What he really wants to do is run away with Claire.

That doesn’t make Kristy happy.

Affleck gives all his actors close-ups, but there is not one beauty shot in the lot. Hamm is terrific as the tough FBI agent on the case and he and Affleck have a memorable HEAT-like mano-a-mano scene. Affleck has done his heist-thriller research.

Affleck has also surrounded himself with a superior cinematic team. The choreographic mayhem, the editing, and the camera work are terrific. The car chases, gunplay, chaos, and police procedurals are first-rate.

Ben, you might very well eclipse Matt. Just stay away from Kevin Smith.

Quite the directing debut by multi-talented Ben Affleck and (forgive me for appearing to damn with faint praise – I promise that is not my intention), a more substantial achievement than most of his in-front-of-the-lens work, GONE BABY GONE is a wonderfully lurid, compelling film noir, populated by well-drawn characters, and fleshed out with intelligent casting and sure-handed direction.

A neighborhood gumshoe (Casey Affleck) investigates the disappearance of a child, encountering turbulent resistance from the child’s family, the community, and the police. Nothing is what it seems, as we slowly, satisfyingly learn. If I were to choose my favorite aspect of the film, it would be the dialogue, which feels grittily genuine, and provides for many unique exchanges. Next would be performances. Topping the list, not surprisingly, is Ed Harris as a complex cop. Amy Ryan is winning awards left and right, including the National Board of Review Best Supporting Actress award, all of them deserved. But Casey Affleck is no slouch; in fact 2007 was his year more so than any other actor’s, having given this performance as well as his (so-called co-)starring role in THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD.

At the NBR Award Ceremony in January, the younger Affleck introduced his brother, who was to receive an award for his auspicious Directing Debut. He casually sauntered to the mic, and while he was not sparing with off-handed compliments for brother Ben, he did temper them with statements such as “He did a nice job, but I wish he hadn’t made me take those two sixty-foot jumps into the water if he knew he wasn’t going to use the footage,” and also criticized how one drug-den scene turned out. Then he casually sauntered off the way he’d sauntered on. A radiant, confident Ben Affleck promptly leaped up onto the stage and, gesturing in the direction of his brother’s departure, exclaimed, “That…is why I deserve this award!” Which got big laughs, and elevated him even further in my estimation.

2007 was the year of failed third acts. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, 300, WAR DANCE, SUNSHINE and EASTERN PROMISES to name several. GONE BABY GONE survives the curse, but just barely, as the protagonist makes a critical decision toward the end which had audience members coming down harshly against the character, slightly tainting the entire viewing experience. On the other hand, perhaps leaving the viewers debating isn’t such a terrible thing. One of the many purposes a film serves is to generate debate. However, an alternate ending is presented on the DVD, as part of the supplementals, which wouldn’t have prompted such audience polarization, with Affleck explaining why he decided not to use it.

The DVD xtras, incidentally, are good. Affleck’s feature-length commentary is intelligent and indicates that he thought out practically every iota of the film’s many components.

And his brother’s 60-foot jump is also included in the Deleted Scenes section.

A terrific morally-challenged crime tale aptly directed by Ben Affleck.

Director and co-screenwriter (with Aaron Stockard) Ben Affleck certainly knows his way around the underbelly of Boston. These people are still living through The Great Depression. I was terrified. Clearly using the locals as scenic background, everybody is morbidly obese (not that there is anything wrong with that) and living in apocalyptic ruins.

Affleck shows a genuine feel for directing – he keeps out of the way, doesn’t do anything fancy to cause attention to himself, allows the actors to express themselves, and has delivered a fine, emotionally-driven crime story.

Granted, Affleck has terrific source material. GONE, BABY, GONE is adapted from a novel by Dennis Lehane who wrote “Mystic River.” It has the same feel of Boston riddled with a sense of resigned doom.

Ben, stay in front of the computer keyboard and behind the camera. Directing may not bring out the paparazzi following you into Starbuck’s or get you on the cover of GQ again, but you will be respected for something less fleeting and arbitrary than movie stardom.

Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) find missing persons. When 4 year old Amanda goes missing, the girl’s aunt, Beatrice McCready (Amy Madigan), and her husband Lionel (Titus Welliver)comes to them to ask for their help. Patrick is well-known in the neighborhood and she thinks this will help the investigation. Someone knows something and no one is talking to the police.

Amanda’s mother Helene (Amy Ryan) is a piece of work: she is a drug mule, coke and heroin user, lousy housekeeper, and a bad mother. Patrick and Angie agree to assist the police only to find out they have stepped into a world of Haitian crime lords, pedophiles, crack addicts, and evidence-planting cops.

Patrick and Angie are like two teen crime fighters dropped into a den of lions. Patrick takes a lot of humiliation for his clean-cut look and impassive face devoid of any hard living. The thugs duly notice. What is he doing without an apple martini in his hand?

Finding Amanda brings Patrick and Angie into the police investigation headed by Detective Remy Broussard (Ed Harris)and his partner Detective O’Malley (Robert Wahlberg). Highly decorated chief of police Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) has his own personal reason for wanting to find Amanda. While all the supporting characters are terrific, I especially liked (but could find no credit listing on imdb.com) Helene’s trashy neighbor who is outstanding as the personification of what Affleck wants to say about this world.

Affleck directs with a sure hand, allowing Freeman, Harris and Madigan to do what they do best – make a strong impression. He gives them their scenes. Affleck has a harder time with Casey. His face rarely moves. It’s sweet to give a family member a starring role, but as written and directed, this character should have been played by someone with the emotional depth of an actor like Ryan Gosling.

The screenplay twists and turns with an unusual outcome. I did find a moral flaw in Patrick’s final action; however, the viewer is left to decide. I had a much better comeback for Jack Doyle, but then Patrick would have had to slink away defeated. I like moral ambiguity since nobody ever says ‘I killed because I felt like doing something evil.’

A Focus Features and Miramax Films presentation of a Back Lot Pictures production
MPAA rating R / Running time — 126 minutes

A mature and satisfying noir-mystery with Affleck finally redeeming himself.

I recently got an email from Los Angeles’ premier public relations guru Edward Lozzi. Coinciding with the opening of HOLLYWOODLAND, Ed sent out an email he had sent to Jim Nolt on March 7, 2000 discussing his relationship with George Reeves’ paramour Toni Mannix. Lozzi met elderly Toni in1979 and became her confidante. Lozzi wrote: “Yes, George Reeves was murdered. Yes, Toni Mannix was mean enough, connected enough, and had motive enough to make it happen. And yes, finally, she told me what she did. Was it the truth? Was she fooling with my head on her way out? Did she know Lenore [Reeves’ fiancé] would want to know this is what she did? Who knows? All I know is that what she told me soon before she died became an anchor around my neck for a long time. I am just the messenger, and for me at this time, it was right to bring it into the record.”

HOLLYWOODLAND is a gripping noir telling of the 1959 death of TV’s ‘Superman,’ George Reeves (Ben Affleck). Quickly it was announced Reeves’ death was a suicide, but HOLLYWOODLAND suggests that it might have been murder. Apparently, rumors flew. Private investigator Louis Simo (Adrien Brody) is hired by Reeves’ mother (Lois Smith) who refuses to believe her son shot himself.

Simo starts investigating and soon finds out that there was a quick and dirty cover-up. Through frequent inter-connecting flashbacks, we see how struggling actor Reeves landed in the Hollywood fast track once he embarked on a love affair with much older Toni Mannix (Diane Lane), the wife of the powerful General Manager of MGM, Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins). They began living together and Toni happily paid all the bills.

When the role of Superman comes along, Reeves doesn’t want to do it. Talked into doing it, he soon hates the cape. He wanted to be a serious actor, not the guy doing studio promotions crashing through walls for kids. He becomes ashamed of being typecast as the superhero.

When ‘The Adventures of Superman’ ends, Reeves’ can’t get another job.

Even with the adoration and influence of his mentor-lover, Reeves dumps Toni for a much younger socialite hellion, Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunney). Toni is devastated and Eddie is quite sympathetic to his wife’s cruel dismissal. He ruins Reeves’ plans to direct a movie in New York. But was that enough? Did Eddie have Reeves’ murdered as a gift to his wife? Did Toni arrange it? Did Leonore, fed up with Reeves’ unemployment and drinking, do it? She was there the night Reeves’ died and it took those present 45 minutes to call the police.

All of this, and Simo is having problems with his ex-wife, his P.I. business, his former colleagues, and his girlfriend.

I understand that Ben Affleck is not doing any press junkets for HOLLYWOODLAND. Good move Ben! Your work here is impressive and you show an understanding and sympathy for the character. As long as you stay away from whoring yourself out to the tabloids and magazines and show everyone you want to be a serious actor (as well as staying away from Jerry Bruckheimer and Kevin Smith projects), there might still be a career for you. You have the face and physique for thrillers and mysteries. Leave romantic leads to Hugh Grant.

The director, Allen Coulter, gives HOLLYWOODLAND a fluid, sexy pace, and Brody’s languid style is well suited for this Hollywood noir. Diane Lane is perfect as the wounded, older woman casually cast aside. While screenwriter Paul Bernbaum leaves solving this mystery up to the viewer, he should have laid the blame somewhere. After all, lovers come and go, what was Toni and Eddie’s true motive, if indeed, they contracted his murder?

Credits:
Director: Allen Coulter
Screenwriter: Paul Bernbaum
Producer: Glenn Williamson
Executive producers: Jake Myers, J. Miles Dale, Joe Pichirallo
Director of photography: Jonathan Freeman
Production designer: Leslie McDonald
Editor: Michael Berenbaum
Costume designer: Julie Weiss
Music: Marcelo Zarvos

Cast:
Louis Simo: Adrien Brody
Toni Mannix: Diane Lane
George Reeves: Ben Affleck
Edgar Mannix: Bob Hoskins
Helen Bessolo: Lois Smith
Leonore Lemmon: Robin Tunney
Art Weissman: Jeffrey DeMunn
Howard Strickling: Joe Spano

Columbia Pictures / Revolution Studios presents a City Light Films/Casey Silver production
Running time — 121 minutes / MPAA rating: R

Groveling Pat O’Brien of Access Hollywood licked Jennifer Lopez’s toes during his hour-long adoration fest for NBC’s Dateline. What an exclusive! Their first interview as a couple!

Bulletin from Reality to O’Brien: They are not history’s greatest love story. The British monarchy survived Princess Diana’s death and films will continue to be made long after Ben and Jen are gone.

Doesn’t O’Brien have an ounce of dignity left in his long career? O’Brien played hoops with Ben and watched Jen cook dinner for him. O’Brien disgraced himself by slobbering over these two as if they spoke to him from The Burning Bush. The Network treated it as if O’Brien had interviewed Saddam in hiding. This hour-long ad (“outtakes” played for days on The Today Show and all over tabloid TV) backfired shamefully.

O’Brien you lied to me!

This is a significant movie because it brings into question all the machinations that produced it. Lopez and Affleck are “supposed” to be huge stars. Who talked them into this dreadful script? The script, with its awful dialogue, had to be unreadable yet it moved forward. Why? First, it is written and directed by Martin Brest who made 1992′s SCENT OF A WOMAN. Al Pacino got an Academy Award for Best Actor beating out, among others, Clint Eastwood in UNFORGIVEN. Brest also directed 1998′s soggy MEET JOE BLACK. Did he do Brad Pitt’s career any favors?

Apparently, co-writing an Academy Award script (Affleck and Matt Damon wrote 1997′s Best Original Screenplay GOOD WILL HUNTING) does not necessarily mean you can read a script any better than anyone else. Well, William Goldman did co-write the script for DREAMCATCHER.

Another problem boldly presents itself. Affleck is a big man. IMDB.com lists his height at 6’2″. Traditionally, and yes I know there are major exceptions to this theory, actors and actresses are small in stature. There is something about the medium of film that greatly favors small actors. For every Kevin (“I’m six feet tall”) Costner, there are scores of “midgets” like Tom Cruise (famously called “a midget” by a colleague) and “leprechauns” like Colin Farrell (why has the British press labeled him a “lusty leprechaun”?) How tall is Olivier Martinez? Al Pacino is 5’6″. Only a very skilled director and cinematographer can frame a tall actor properly. This bizarre truth is clearly evident in GIGLI. Affleck’s face is way too long for the camera angles employed and it’s distracting. Most of the time he looks droopy. Tiny Lopez doesn’t fare any better. She actually looks tough and worn out. Her skin looks rough! So here is what we have so far: Horrible script and bad cinematography.

The acting? Well, it makes you wonder how in the world Brest directed Pacino to an Oscar. Again Affleck tears up. What is it with him and crying on camera? Didn’t I make a special plea to him to stop it? After a night of lovemaking, our stud Gigli lies against Ricki’s shoulder like a baby. She pats his head!

I blame Martin Brest for GIGLI’s spectacular failure.

Gigli (Affleck) is a mob enforcer who is constantly berated and humiliated by Ricki (Lopez). The banter is not cute. If indeed the character of Ricki is supposed to be an upfront, dedicated lesbian where in the world would sexual chemistry between her and Gigli come from? And all the talk between them about vaginas! Ricki gives us a Gray’s Anatomy lecture and it is not only long and hard on the ears, it’s boring.

Gigli is not the kind of gangster you want around. He is constantly referred to as incompetent. So his boss entrusts the task of kidnapping the D.A.’s “retarded” brother Brian (Justin Bartha) to stupid Gigli and then sends in Ricki to watch both of them. Tiny Lopez threatens to kick Gigli’s 6’2″ ass! Gigli’s mom (Lanie Kazan) humiliates herself by flirting with Ricki and kissing Gigli on the mouth. Christopher Walken shows up because Revolution Studios met his “quote” and Al Pacino shows up because he owed Brest a favor (or it was two days work and he has a huge court battle pending with Beverly D’Angelo.)

GIGLI is a wake up call to movie stars. Actors are really at the mercy of agents, writers, directors, cinematographers and the entire technical crew. Movie stars, if they really cared a twit about their careers, should be romancing writers, not each other.

Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Martin Brest
Producers: Casey Silver, Martin Brest
Executive producer: John Hardy
Director of photography: Robert Elswit
Production designer: Gary Frutkoff
Music: John Powell
Costume designer: Michael Kaplan
Editors: Billy Weber, Julie Monroe

Cast:
Larry Gigli: Ben Affleck
Ricki: Jennifer Lopez
Brian: Justin Bartha
Mother: Lainie Kazan
Robin: Missy Crider
Starkman: Al Pacino
Stanley Jacobellis: Christopher Walken

DAREDEVIL opens with our superhero crashing through a church. He’s hurt. He took a really bad fall, but don’t worry, he’s got a medicine cabinet filled with vicodin. The story then unfolds at the beginning, as young Matt Murdock is being raised by a less-than-honorable prizefighter dad, Jack “The Devil” Murdock (David Keith), in Hell’s Kitchen. Shocked at seeing his father rough up a guy, Matt is then blinded by a hazardous chemical and, though not bitter, aims to help others less fortunate then himself. Recovering in the hospital, Matt quickly notices that, even though he is blind, his other senses are stronger. He puts himself through law school and builds a life for himself.

Now, twenty years or so later, Murdock (Affleck and an army of stuntmen) works with his disgruntled partner Foggy Nelson (Jon Favreau) helping the under-privileged. Why Foggy keeps complaining about having poor clients and keeps working for them is one of the mysteries of the sloppy screenplay. New York City is under the spell of a crime boss known only as Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan). Murdock meets up with socialite/martial arts expert Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner), the daughter of Ambassador Natchios (Erick Avari). When the Ambassador is murdered, Elektra decides to avenge his death. Elektra thinks Daredevil is responsible. Kingpin’s chief henchman is the dashing Irish villain, Bullseye (Colin Farrell), who utters the definitive comic book line: “I want my own bloody costume.”

But he never gets it.

The blind superhero thing is lost on me. Affleck, wearing Al Pacino’s wig * , looks lost in a rushed production. Affleck does not have the emotional range to play blind. Isn’t acting hard enough? I like him in his self-effacing interviews, especially his recent comment that he is certainly not leading an “unexamined life,” though his comments on the celebrity life is incredulous ** . But am I the only one that notices Affleck’s acting instrument is his mouth? Slightly open is “concern,” barely open is “grief,” wide open is “lust,” somewhat open is “confusion,” and open is “intelligent.” Held tight shows “introspection.” If Murdock had the kind of heightened sensory acuity claimed, why would he have to look far off in the distance when spoken to? Sound vibrations, as well as a person’s breathing, would direct him right at a person’s eye level. Matt’s blindness means he can’t see people’s reactions but his heightened sense of hearing should give him the skill to tell by a person’s vocal inflections if they were being deceptive.

The problem with DAREDEVIL is, regardless of the glut of PR hype, Affleck doesn’t have sexual charisma. He can’t hold the screen – with or without the mask. I’ve done a quick survey among my female friends. Affleck is just not “hot.” We know Affleck isn’t always in that costume and it is stuntmen who are in the fight sequences and leaping off buildings. CGI effects dominate the film, but when the character of Daredevil is on screen, it has to be played by someone who can deliver nuance and a sense of inner turmoil, or how about fun? Having a high profile personal life, or being named “The Sexiest Man Alive” by People Magazine, does not translate on the screen.

A great deal has been written about Daredevil’s costume. Well, it’s safe to say the costume is still cloaked in darkness and mystery. The tiny devil horns are barely visible. We do see at lot of shots of boots hitting the pavement. The question about Affleck’s hair continues in DAREDEVIL. Hair, and the lack thereof, is a big character in DAREDEVIL. Murdock may have a hornet’s nest on top of his head but everyone else is bald. Bullseye, New York Post reporter Ben Urich (Joe Pantoliano), Kingpin, and Ambassador Natchios are all bald.

Colin Farrell plays Bullseye and, even though I have absolutely no objectivity regarding Farrell (after THE MINORITY REPORT, THE RECRUIT, and reading his interview in the March issue of Playboy, he can do no wrong), his Bullseye nearly takes the movie out of Affleck’s hands. Lucky for us, an actor like Farrell can communicate sexual vitality. When Farrell is on screen with Garner their chemistry ignites the movie. So why kill off Bullseye and keep Kingpin for the sequel? It doesn’t make sense. Will Kingpin – all three hundred pounds of him – really suffer in prison? Why does Daredevil let him live, but kill Bullseye?

While the director, Mark Steven Johnson, does give the production an interestingly dark and moody, washed-out look, where is the story? How is it Daredevil can leap off buildings and fly around New York City? What’s with Murdock “seeing” when it rains? Shouldn’t Daredevil move to Seattle? Couldn’t the writer, again Johnson, have come up with a better story than the tired, old, now-standard one about a son avenging his father’s death and an over-the-top grinning crime boss? While DAREDEVIL may be staying true to it’s comic book roots, the movie audience is entitled to something fresh and novel. We’ve seen this movie before.

The entire movie looks like an assembly line production pieced together merely to give a movie star the biggest perk of all – a franchise. In Affleck’s case, DAREDEVIL is another failed attempt.

* According to Vanity Fair’s March cover story on Ben Affleck, his hair is all his. It just looks really, really fake in movies.

** However, a very public life does pay well indeed. Affleck was paid $12.5 million for GIGLI and $15 million for John Woo’s upcoming film PAYCHECK. Vanity Fair quotes Ben on the price of stardom: “You have to become a whore. Nobody’s paying anybody money out of the goodness of his heart. What is it worth to whore your private life and have every aspect of it totally exposed? When you consider that, I feel like I’m underpaid.”

Cast:
Matt Murdock/Daredevil…Ben Affleck
Elektra Natchios…Jennifer Garner
Kingpin…Michael Clarke Duncan
Bullseye…Colin Farrell
Foggy Nelson…Jon Favreau
Ben Urich…Joe Pantoliano

Written and Directed by…Mark Steven Johnson