TheRetroCritic

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

Taking a break from over-budgeted blockbusters, a Bonnie And Clyde -style Casey Affleck indie flick sounded like a safe bet. Especially after the likes of The Assassination Of Jesse James and The Killer Inside Me, with Affleck proving himself to be one of the most interesting and promising actors working today. Taking a somewhat more romantic approach, Ain't Them Bodies Saints starts off feeling a lot like a Terrence Malik film, Badlands meets Tree Of Life , something like that. Then we go into the more straight-forward story of woman (Rooney Mara) waiting for her locked-up dude (Affleck) to come back to her. The situation is made slightly more complicated as Bob (Affleck) is only in jail to cover for Ruth (Mara) shooting a cop back when they were both outlaws, a cop who now seems to be interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with Ruth. Yes, it's basically a love triangle movie but unlike, say, Twilight , this is held together very well through terrific performan