Posts

Showing posts with the label ben affleck

GONE BABY GONE - REVIEW

Image
Directed by Ben Affleck, Gone Baby Gone was a 2007 neo-noir mystery starring Casey Affleck as a private investigator hired to solve a missing person case along with his girlfriend, played by Michelle Monaghan. This Boston-set drama follows street-smart P.I. Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) as he conducts his own investigation, occasionally sharing his information with the police. He gets closer and closer to the truth about the missing little girl's whereabouts through his, often dodgy, contacts. His ability to talk to people on their level, without sounding condescending or too much like a cop, means he manages to get a lot more information from locals, criminals and other suspects. The plot is set into motion when the missing girl's mother makes an emotional plea for someone to find her daughter on television and the child's aunt soon hires Patrick, despite his initial reluctance to take on the case. The deeper he gets into this story, the more secrets he discovers le

IS JUSTICE LEAGUE THE WORST FILM OF 2017?

Image
Some moustache-twirling thoughts on Justice League .

JUSTICE LEAGUE - VLOG REVIEW

Image
I talk about Justice League over a well-deserved glass of wine.

IS BATMAN V SUPERMAN A GOOD MOVIE?

Image
Day versus night, question versus answer...

JUSTICE LEAGUE - REVIEW

Image
Plagued with a last minute change in director as Joss Whedon took over from Zack Snyder after a tragic event, significant reshoots and a pesky, unshavable super-moustache, Justice League finally gets its official release and the reviews, so far, have been rather mixed, to say the least. Marvel certainly made it look easy when they introduced us to a whole bunch of newly portrayed superheroes on the big screen then skilfully made them interact with each other. The Avengers , it turns out, was something of a mini-miracle. DC's approach to crossovers had proven shaky prior to Justice League with Wonder Woman being shoehorned into Batman V Superman before the character even got her own movie. This new film promised epic action sequences, an entertaining dynamic between all the characters and several surprises like the glorious return of Superman. On their own, there's not too much wrong with these characters: Ben Affleck makes a good Batman, Gal Gadot does a decent job as Wo

GOTHAMIZED: MOUSTACHEGATE - PODCAST

Image
Gothamized  is a completely unofficial guide to new series  Gotham  and a debate arena for all things Batman. DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE HERE In this 35th episode, I discuss episodes 7, 8 and 9 of  Gotham  Season 3 and review The Batman Vs Dracula . (for my written review of the Gotham Pilot,  click here! ) Hope you enjoy it! You can also find us on podcast  The Big Rewind  (available on  Soundcloud , iTunes, Stitcher and Player FM) and send us emails with your Bat-questions, Six Degrees challenges and riddles here:  gothamized@gmail.com (for the pilot episode  CLICK HERE )

GOTHAMIZED: GARGAMEL'S CAT - PODCAST

Image
Gothamized  is a completely unofficial guide to new series  Gotham  and a debate arena for all things Batman. DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE HERE In this 30th episode, I discuss episodes 17, 18 and 19 of  Gotham  Season 2, talk Ben Affleck and Powerless plus review The LEGO Batman Movie . (for my written review of the Gotham Pilot,  click here! ) Hope you enjoy it! You can also find us on podcast  The Big Rewind  (available on Soundcloud , iTunes, Stitcher and Player FM) and send us emails with your Bat-questions, Six Degrees challenges and riddles here:  gothamized@gmail.com (for the pilot episode  CLICK HERE )

BATMAN V SUPERMAN - VLOG 30/03/16

Image
I talk about DC's latest blockbuster Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice . The spoilers are coming...  

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE - REVIEW

Image
The SPOILERS are coming... The SPOILERS are coming! Finally, DC comics and director Zack Snyder deliver their big, expensive, world-building clash of titans as the son of Krypton and the bat of Gotham face-off for the very first time on the big screen. Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice not only promised one heck of a one-on-one battle but also the start of even bigger things. This should have been a no-brainer: Batman and Superman, the two biggest superheroes out there, in a movie together fighting it out. The words "screw you, take my money!" come to mind. And yet from the casting of Ben Affleck as the Dark Knight to the mixed response Man Of Steel received upon its release, Snyder's patchy track-record, the confusion around whether this would be a Justice League movie or not, the casting of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, the much too generous (and spoilery) marketing and, ultimately, the many unkind early reviews, this increasingly looked set to be much less

10 COOL THINGS ABOUT... DAREDEVIL (2003)

Image
I try to find 10 cool things about Marvel's first attempt at a Daredevil movie. It wasn't easy...

DAREDEVIL - REVIEW

Image
As we celebrate the release of Netflix's second season of the Daredevil series, I look back at the Marvel character's first and only movie outing to date: the 2003 film starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. The film did well at the box-office upon its release but audiences and critics alike weren't too thrilled about it. Not that it was universally hated or anything, it just failed to bring the same level of excitement as the X-Men or Spider-Man movies of the time and was destined to a Hulk -style mass shunning. Daredevil did receive something of a cult following on DVD, especially after the release of the superior Director's Cut which wisely expanded the actual story thereby giving the film a more balanced pace and emphasising the mostly silly action sequences a little less. Ben Affleck pulls off that red leather costume more than people give him credit for and it's a bit unfair of those who make fun of it to also praise the new series since I would ar

GONE GIRL - REVIEW

Image
Director David Fincher is back with a new, reliably strange thriller and, mercifully, it's not another "Girl With The...", not yet anyway. Based on Gillian Flynn's novel, Gone Girl sees Ben Affleck play a husband who finds out that his wife has gone missing all of a sudden. If there is one movie that's nearly impossible to review without spoiling anything it's this one, but I'll give it a go. The trailer for the film, which was pretty clever, turns out to be way more clever than we thought as nothing, we soon realise, is as it seems. The movie's plot sort of reinvents itself as the story develops so whatever you're expecting, it's very likely it's not that. There's a good bunch of effective twists and turns throughout the film and seeing as it is by Fincher, the M. Night Shyamalan of dark "realistic" thrillers, they're handled brilliantly and should keep you hooked from start to finish. And Gone Girl isn't a sh

THE BIG REWIND: EPISODE 43 - PODCAST

Image
In this 43rd episode, Adam (aka The RetroCritic) and fellow film buff Jamie discuss movie news, review Gone Girl  and talk retro stuff. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE Email us here if you have any questions, requests or contributions:  bigrewindpodcast@gmail.com Or simply comment below :) Oh and you can also find us on  iTunes  where you can subscribe to the podcast and download every episode thusfar! @TheRetroCritic #TheBigRewind retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula

GOOD WILL HUNTING - REVIEW

Image
Taking a break in between Kevin Smith movies, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting , the film which not only earned them an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay but put them on the map as actors to look out for. Of course, they would both go on to star in "Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season" (see Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back ) and one of them is now Batman but that's another story. The film sees a brainy yet volatile janitor solve a complicated equation on an MIT chalkboard before a professor notices his impressive capabilities and encourages him to become his protégé. Unfortunately, young Will Hunting (Matt Damon) has just been arrested for assault and he's showing no improvements in his personality. Therefore, Stellan Skarsgård's professor makes him see a therapist in order to stay out of jail and perhaps live up to his full potential eventually. After going through a bunch of ineffectual doctors, Hunting meets Dr. Sean Mag

GOTHAMIZED: SIX DEGREES OF BATMAN - PODCAST

Image
Gothamized  is a completely unofficial guide to new series  Gotham  and a debate arena for all things Batman. CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE EPISODE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE In this second episode, we discuss Comic Con reveals, Penguin's origins, Teen Wolves, Batman's relation to circles and we end with a riddle. Hope you enjoy it! You can also find us on podcast  The Big Rewind  (available on iTunes) and send us emails with your Bat-questions, Six Degrees challenges and riddles here:  gothamized@gmail.com (for the pilot episode CLICK HERE )

THE BATFLECK RISES - FIRST PICTURES

Image
So the internet exploded yesterday when director Zack Snyder posted pictures showing off not only the brilliant-looking new Batmobile but also Mr Ben Affleck himself in the bat-suit on Twitter. The day before we got but a glimpse of the car I already really want a toy version of: Then we got the car's driver as well: Zack Snyder may not be the best, deepest filmmaker around but his stuff looks damn good. Can't deny that.

CHASING AMY - REVIEW

Image
After Mallrats failed to impress at the box office, Kevin Smith and his View Askew universe enjoyed a little more success with Chasing Amy , a film following the doomed relationship between a jealous straight guy and a gay woman. The film opens on a lighter note with Ben Affleck's Holden, a comic book artist, living with his pal Banky (played by View Askew regular Jason Lee) and dying to get together with Joey Lauren Adams' Alyssa until he learns that she is not, in fact, into guys. Still hoping for something to eventually happen between them, Holden forms a friendship with Alyssa and the inevitable happens: his true feelings for her finally come out into the open. The film then goes in an unexpected direction and ultimately ends on a bittersweet note. For many, this is the best Kevin Smith film out there and it's easy to see why: it tackles a relationship you've never seen develop quite like that in a movie before and it dares to be somewhat more intense and seri

PEARL HARBOR - REVIEW

Image
Oh boy, where to start... Ok, basic structure of the film: Act I - Everyone's Happy, Act II - Everything Blows Up, Act III - Everyone's Sad. This is literally it guys, if you're expecting anything deeper or more complex than that...then you obviously don't know who's directing this masterpiece of patriotic, macho cheese. Michael Bay's film actually taught me many things about the war: apparently all women were sexy, retarded nurses back then, all black men were cooks and Franklin D Roosevelt had no less than four chins. Yes, this is one history lesson I'll never forget. Every cliché in the book is thrown at us full throttle as every shot sports a giant American flag, every line is peppered with Parmesan and people walk in slo-mo whenever things get dramatic (read: all the time). Historical inaccuracies aside, at the heart of the film is a love triangle so irrelevant and predictable that it makes you wonder how the script could have possibly been more