ScreenCrave.com » Ben Affleck

Terrence Malick’s Latest Gets New Title and Rating

Damon Houx — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:48:56 +0000

Terrence Malick – cinema’s greatest mystery man – won last year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes for The Tree of Life, and with another film in the can it was wondered if his latest would play at the fest. That film (once titled The Burial) was not on the schedule, perhaps because back-to-back wins would be a very hard feat to pull off. But now we’ve got a new title for the film. It’s called To The Wonder, and it looks like it’s nearing release because it has an MPAA rating.

It got an R rating for “some sexuality/nudity.” Oooooh. The film stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem, Rachel Weisz, and Barry Pepper – though with Malick’s editing style, it’s possible that one or more of these actors could be cut out of the film or show up for scant seconds.

There’s a synopsis that hit a couple months back, and Collider noted it, it says

“It concerns a philanderer (Affleck) who, feeling at loose ends, travels to Paris, where he enters a hot-and-heavy affair with a European woman (Olga Kurylenko). Said Lothario returns home to Oklahoma, where he marries the European woman (in part for visa reasons). When the relationship flounders, he rekindles a romance with a hometown girl (McAdams) with whom he’s had a long history.”

If Terrence Malick was younger, this title (and probably his films) would be called twee, though there’s a philosophical bent to his movies that makes such a description look silly. What’s interesting here is that Ben Affleck is working with Malick. The two have known each other for a long time, and Affleck thanked the director in his Gone Baby Gone credits, and Malick also received thanks for Good Will Hunting. Perhaps working together had some effect on Argo.

It looks like the producer are shopping the film at Cannes, so perhaps it just doesn’t have domestic distribution yet – Malick’s never been a big earner. But it seems likely that the film will hit theaters sometime this fall for awards season. Malick is keeping busy, though, and he’s already shooting his next two films back to back. He got the fever for the flavor of filmmaking again. And that’s pretty exciting.

Do you think To The Wonder will make sense in context?

Ben Affleck’s ‘Argo’ Trailer Offers 70′s Hair and Awesome Story

Damon Houx — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:34:30 +0000

Ben Affleck’s Argo looks like a crazy-awesome, intense semi-comedy. Whatever one expected of the auteur behind Gone Baby Gone and The Town, it’s hard to guess this would be the project. During the Carter Administration, an American embassy was raided and six of its employees went into hiding. Ben Affleck’s character figures a way to get them out: pretend to make a big Hollywood movie. It’s based on a true story. Check out the trailer.

Affleck leads a cast that includes Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin and John Goodman, and a lot of 70′s hair and character actors. It looks intense, but also quite funny – there’s definitely a “Man on a Mission” vibe to the whole thing, and the Hollywood backdrop means there’s going to be at least a little bit of fun to the piece.

What will be interesting to see with the film (and it’s October 12 release date) is if this is finally the year the academy gives Affleck his due for his directorial work. Granted, the man has an Oscar for writing Good Will Hunting, but that was almost Ben Affleck 1.0. Affleck 2.0 – the writer/director – has gotten supporting nominations for his cast (Jeremy Renner for The Town, Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone), but his work behind the camera has been ignored. But that’s all contingent on this being good. Which it looks.

What’s your favorite Ben Affleck project?

Ben Affleck to Direct The Stand

Damon Houx — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:42:56 +0000

Warner Brothers has made their choice for adapting Stephen King‘s thousand page-plus tome The Stand and their choice is Ben Affleck, according to Deadline Hollywood. Affleck would then be brought on to both write and direct the project after finishing his current feature Argo.

It’s been a strange trajectory for Affleck. He found work at first during the independent cinema boom in the 90′s, having made memorable appearances in the works of directors like Kevin Smith and Richard Linklatter, but his script (written with Matt Damon) for Good Will Hunting won him an Oscar for writing, and got him a best supporting actor nomination. Hollywood quickly called, and he appeared in two Michael Bay films, only to eventually wear out his welcome as a leading man.

2007′s Gone Baby Gone was a smaller release, but showed that Affleck had chops behind the camera, while 2010′s The Town showed that he was not only a good director, he could also make a profitable picture that played to adults. The Stand will likely be targeted as a multi-film picture with a blockbuster budget, which makes this a huge leap up.

Though King has expressed reticence about a film (perhaps after the okay but not great mini-series), he thought The Town was the second best film of it’s year, and felt the same about Gone Baby Gone. Hopefully that means he’ll give this the thumb’s up.

Do you like Affleck more as a director or actor?

Ben Affleck May Join Leonardo DiCaprio In Baz Luhrman’s ‘The Great Gatsby’

Travis Woods — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:38:14 +0000

Well, it looks like the star-studded cast of Baz Luhrman’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby might just get a little bigger—in addition to nabbing Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, Tobey Macguire as narrator Nick Carraway, and Carrie Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, Luhrman just might be able to add Ben Affleck to the cast as Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, if Affleck’s schedule can accommodate it.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, there’s a major conflict in that Luhrman plans on beginning filming in August (in 3D… sigh), while Affleck is aiming to direct the political thriller Argo in September .

Both sides are working to make the schedules work out, so that Affleck can tackle another directorial project, while still allowing Luhrman to utterly destroy a timeless piece of American literature with camp and trendy cinematic gimmicks used by studios to increase ticket prices. Because if there is one thing American moviegoers want to see, it’s a Prohibition-era tale of bootlegging, the decline of the American Dream, and the emptiness at the heart of extreme wealth… in 3D!

No word yet on how Affleck and Luhrman are working to accommodate either person’s shooting schedule.

What would you think of Ben Affleck as Tom Buchanan?

First Photo: Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams in Terrence Malick’s Untitled Film

Krystal Clark — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 22:01:22 +0000

Terrence Malick is a serious mystery. The reclusive director is known for taking abnormally long breaks between films, but he’s decided to change his pattern. Malick has two recently shot films that have yet to hit theaters. The first one is The Tree of Life, which stars Sean Penn and Brad Pitt, and the other is an untitled drama that features Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams. Over on THR, they debuted the first image from the latter film. Check out the full photo…

As we previously stated the film doesn’t currently have a title. All we know, is that Affleck and McAdams co-star alongside Javier Bardem and Olga Kurylenko. How did Kurylenko get a role in this? We have no idea. This film is described as a romance drama that has an ensemble cast. Ensemble usually means more than four, so where’s everyone else hiding?

Back in August we reported that Affleck had replaced Christian Bale in a Terrence Malick in film, and this must be it. At that time, there were rumors that Affleck’s role would be of a fisherman.

How does the man do it? As much as people complain about invasion of privacy and paparazzi. We haven’t see or heard anything about this movie in months!

What do you think of the first photo from Malick’s latest?

Ben Affleck to Direct George Clooney’s Argo

Krystal Clark — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 23:50:46 +0000

Ben Affleck is two for two when it comes to directing high quality dramas, and it looks like he might have found project number three. According to EW, Affleck is in talks to direct Argo, a political thriller that’s set up a Warner Bros through George Clooney and his producing partner Grant Heslov. Affleck loves good material, and this film is right up his ally.

Argo is based on an article that appeared in Wired magazine about “a stranger-than-fiction CIA rescue operation during the occupation of the American embassy in Tehran in 1979, when six U.S. diplomats were held hostage. The CIA hatched a scheme involving disguises and a fake Hollywood film crew on a location-scouting mission to help get the captives out of the country.”

If everything goes according to plan, and Affleck does take on Argo, it will mark the first time that the director has ever worked with Clooney. His brother Casey and close friend Matt Damon have both worked with the actor in the past in the Oceans‘ film series.

What do you think of Affleck and Clooney teaming up? Do you think Argo is a good fit for the director?

The Company Men: Movie Review

Justine JC — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:27:35 +0000

Aside from Jason Reitman‘s Up In The Air, Oliver Stone‘s Wallstreet: Money Never Sleeps and a couple of snooze-worthy doc’s, few filmmakers have utilized our current economic climate on the project-front. First feature-length writer/director John Wells takes a stab at a little social/economic commentary in his film The Company Men, starring Ben Affleck (watch interview), Tommy Lee Jones, and Chris Cooper. The film’s up for a nationwide release this Friday. Check out the review below…

The Players:

Writer/Director: John Wells
Producers: Paula Weinstein, Claire Rudnick Polstein, John Wells
Cast: Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Maria Bello, Rosemarie DeWitt

The Plot:

Bobby (Affleck), Gene (Jones), and Phil (Cooper) epitomize the extravagance of white-collar lifestyle. They’ve got the corporate jobs, the beautiful wives, the obnoxious sports cars, and five pairs of golf clubs. When a corporate downsizing leaves them jobless, they’re forced to not only face the new realities of American life, but to redefine themselves as men.

The Good/Bad:

Relevance: I’m generally an avid supporter of films with relevant, widely relatable themes. The message The Company Men promotes couldn’t possibly be more pertinent to America’s current “condition”. On one hand, this reemphasizes a powerful facet of cinema: a vehicle to spread awareness. However, it also, arguably, negates several of the central ideas behind the concept of entertainment: distraction/amusement. This film is a harsh reiteration of the economic crisis that continues to plague most of America. So, in short, gear up for a reality check if you were expecting two hours of popcorn fun and Swedish fish.

The Good:

Leading Men: Very sharp, subtle performances by Affleck, Cooper and Jones. It was perfectly easy for the audience to feel the weight of each man’s crisis – you didn’t feel as though you were watching actors perform, rather, human beings responding to tragedy.
Supporting Cast: The supporting cast was particularly strong – specifically the wives. Each represented a different stereotype: Jones’ wife was your classic gold-digging slag, Cooper’s was slightly aloof, and Affleck’s was incredibly supportive and encouraging. Casting these parts appropriately was critical. Why? Because the three correlating plot-lines intend to highlight a variety of family dynamics, and how each is impacted by the bread-winner’s “fall from grace,” if you will.
Themes: Regardless of your socio-economic standing, solid work ethic, a supportive family, and good ol’ faith matters most. I apologize if that sentence echoes a shitty Lifetime movie, but it is what it is.

Overall

I very much appreciated/enjoyed this film. Though there isn’t much to report other than good acting, a good story, and a good slap in the face for those of you who have yet to be impacted by the state of the economy. If you’re down for that, buy a ticket. Otherwise, see something a little more uplifting – like Yogi Bear!

Rating: 7/10

The film opens nationwide Friday, December 10th.

Will you be seeing the film?

Matt Damon to Direct Yankees Movie Written By Ben and Casey Affleck?

Krystal Clark — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 22:41:00 +0000

Is Matt Damon ready to take a step behind the camera? According to close friend, fellow actor, and director Ben Affleck he is. Affleck recently sat down with MTV to promote his latest film The Town and spoke about another joint project him and his younger brother Casey have been working on. It’s called The Trade, and the siblings wrote the script and they want Damon to direct it.

The Trade centers on two real life pitchers for the New York Yankees, Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich, who during the 1970s swapped wives and lives. In other words, they were swingers. When asked about the status of the film, Affleck shined some light on Damon’s possible involvement with the production.

“I don’t know how it’ll come together, acting and directing, but Casey and I have decided to write it together,” Affleck said. “Once the script’s kind of ready, then it’s like: Who’s doing what? What’s the time frame? Matt, me, Casey directing? Particularly for Matt, he’s had this extraordinary career where he’s worked with these great directors. He’s a great director who just hasn’t directed a movie.”

Both Afflecks have already lost their directing virginity, Ben with Gone Baby Gone and The Town, and Casey with I’m Still Here. Come on Matt, it’s your time to shine. We’d personally love to see Damon’s directing aesthetic in comparison to the Afflecks.

Do you want to see Damon direct The Trade?

The Town Giveaway Winners!!!

Laura Aguirre — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 21:32:21 +0000

It’s time to reveal who will the winners are of our The Town giveaway. First, thank you to all who participated. We received a lot of them. To those of you who missed out we were giving away a number of things from jackets to duffle bags to coaster sets all in honor of The Town. All you had to do to was leave a comment on who you thought would be the better bad-ass in The Town, Jeremy Renner or Ben Affleck? Let’s see if you won…

Congratulations to:

Grand Prize Winner – Port Authority Men’s Jacket

Winner – Steve – “Ben Affleck. The fact that he can shows his face after back to back stinkers from Gigli to Surviving Christmas takes a lot of courage.”

2nd Prize Winner – Black Heavyweight Duffle Bag

Winner – eug – “Renner facing bombs in Hurt Locker. Affleck was in Daredevil a bomb. Nuff said?”

3rd Prize Winner – Men’s Charleston Townie T-Shirt and Ladies’ Black “Irish Pub” Long Sleeve T-Shirt

Winner – Ali – “Jeremy I think is able to show more commitment as a badass — not that I don’t love ben affleck – he’s talented, it’s just in past roles where he’s been slightly bad or something, he always has a guilt thing and well is a bit more softhearted.”

And our two last winners:

Winner 1 (Reversible beanie) – Kevin – “Affleck. he was a total badass in daredevil and paycheck.”
Winner 2 (Set of 4 coasters) – Nick – “Jeremy Renner is the correct answer to this question. The first movie I saw with Renner as a major player was 28 Weeks Later, in which he is a complete bad-ass…”

Thank you again to all of you who commented. The winners will receive an e-mail shortly. Please respond ASAP so we can get your prize shipped out! If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, the prize will be given to another commenter.

Check back often for more movie news, reviews, interviews, and cool giveaways.

The Town Giveaway – Over $200 in Prizes

Laura Aguirre — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 18:30:30 +0000

***WINNERS POSTED! Find out if you won here!***

We’re having another giveaway and it’s super awesome! We’re all excited about Ben Affleck‘s The Town, right? It’s got the man himself and freaking Jeremy Renner along with a star-studded cast and is already getting great early reviews out of Venice Film festival. So! In celebration we have a chance for you to win win clothes, coasters, and perhaps, a duffle bag? Yes! All from the film. Check it out…

The Town is a tale of four men living in Boston who are persecuted by the FBI for robbing banks. This is Affleck’s second feature film after Gone Baby Gone.

With that said, what you have to do to win is leave us a comment below regarding the following: Who do you think will be a better bad-ass, Jeremy Renner or Ben Affleck, and why?

Winners will be picked at random, so get your answers in by noon on Monday, September 20, 2010. We’ll post the winners later on that same day.

The Prizes include…

Grand Prize Winner –

Port Authority Men’s Jacket valued at $90

2nd Prize Winner –

Black Heavyweight Duffle Bag valued at $49

3rd Prize Winner –

Men’s Charleston Townie T-Shirt/Ladies’Black “Irish Pub” Long Sleeve T-Shirt valued at $38

And two other winners will win:

A Reversible beanie valued at $15
A Set of 4 “The Town” Coasters valued at $5

Good Luck!

The Town hits theaters September 17, 2010. Check out the trailer.

Remember that in order to play:

You must leave an e-mail address that we can reach you at (we promise not to spam you).
You must have a shipping address within the United States.
If you win, you will have to respond to an e-mail that we will send to you. If you do not respond within 48 hours, your prize will be given to another contestant.

Extra Rules and regulations:

RELEASE AND INDEMNIFICATION:

BY ENTERING THE SWEEPSTAKES, ENTRANTS RELEASE AND HOLD HARMLESS WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC. AND EACH OF ITS RESPECTIVE PARENTS, DIVISIONS, AFILIATES, SUBSIDIARIES, AGENTS AND ADVERTISING AGENCIES (COLLECTIVELY, “WBEI”) FROM AND AGAINST ANY AND ALL LOSSES, DAMAGES, RIGHTS, CLAIMS, AND ACTIONS OF ANY KIND ARISING IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, FROM THE SWEEPSTAKES OR PARTICIPATION IN ANY SWEEPSTAKES-RELATED ACTIVITY (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE REMOVAL FROM THE SITE OF, OR DISCONTINUATION OF ACCESS TO, ANY MATERIALS), OR RESULTING DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, FROM ACCEPTANCE, POSSESSION, USE, OR MISUSE OF ANY PRIZE AWARDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE SWEEPSTAKES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION PERSONAL INJURY, DEATH, AND/OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, AS WELL AS CLAIMS BASED ON PUBLICITY RIGHTS, DEFAMATION, AND/OR INVASION OF PRIVACY.

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Early Reviews: Ben Affleck’s The Town

Krystal Clark — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:36:20 +0000

Festival season is in full swing with the Venice, Telluride, and Toronto Film Festivals opening back to back. Over the past week we’ve been bringing you early reviews from some of the most talked about movies on the circuit and the latest is The Town. It’s directed by/ stars Ben Affleck, and is based on the book The Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan. The trailer makes the film look quite intriguing, but does it live up to the hype?

The Story:

Brushing aside the light alt-indie trappings of his well liked directorial debut, ‘Gone Baby Gone’, this new soulful shoot-em-up, ‘The Town’, plays it straighter than a pool cue, offering the sort of solid, proficiently written cops ‘n’ robbers yarn that is the stuff of a thousand ‘Bluffer’s Guide to Moviemaking’ tomes. The film follows the genre rule book line by line, detail by detail. It’s hard to fault ‘The Town’ as a slice of robust craftmanship. But it’s a movie that has little to distinguish it from a very large collection of similar tales.” [Time Out London]

“The script, credited to Peter Craig, Affleck and Aaron Stockard, taps into the right veins of provincialism and sarcasm but moves less surely between reckless action and intimate drama.” [THR]

The Acting:

“Jeremy Renner gives a superheated performance as the team’s loose cannon, and Jon Hamm’s unflappable special agent character gives him a few key moments to play and relish.” [HitFix]

The Direction:

He really is two for two with the films he’s directed. I perhaps slightly prefer Gone Baby Gone, because it was less traditional, but The Town is a very assured and very powerful second feature all the same. And unlike that dream movie, there is real action here, with blazing guns, exhilarating car chases and violence with authentically fatal consequences.” [Empire]

“Ben Affleck is, at heart, an extremely conventional storyteller.” … “largely successful, impressively acted, impeccably shot by Robert “There Will Be Blood” Elswit, and it tells its story with an impressive eye for what makes Boston special. I love filmmaking about a specific place, where your location is a character just like anyone onscreen, and Affleck’s Boston is impressively rendered as a real place. [HitFix]

Overall:

“The film, which allows its flawed hero an ending he perhaps doesn’t deserve, has a good mix of moments recalling a Bostonian version of The Wire and the car chases and gun fights of more orthodox thrillers. It should help Affleck on his way as an actor/director of some note.” [This is London]

It sounds like Affleck has once again created a gritty masterpiece that centers on the moral dilemma of a man and the influence of those surrounding him. He’s turning into quite the filmmaker.

What do you think of the early buzz surrounding The Town?

New Poster for The Town Has Crazy Nuns!

Mali Elfman — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:21:58 +0000

Not long ago The Town which stars the impressive cast of Ben Affleck, Jon Hamm, Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Chris Cooper and Rebecca Hall released their first trailer, which had WAY too many big spoilers in it but did show quite a bit of promise for a romantic, suspenseful, crime-thriller. The film was also directed and partly written by the star of the film Ben Affleck, who has more than proved his strength behind the camera with Gone Baby Gone — being in front and behind is a bit scary, sadly his brother was busy creating I’m Still Here. Hopefully he succeed in multi-tasking where others have failed.

Check out the poster and more on the film below…

ScreenCrave.com » Ben Affleck

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The Company Men: Movie Review

The Players:

The Plot:

The Good/Bad:

The Good:

Overall

Rating: 7/10

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The Prizes include…

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