There was a time in Hollywood mythology that Ben Affleck was headed to the pyres of the “has beens”: Forces of Nature, Reindeer Games, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Daredevil, Gigli, etc. From 1998 to 2006, Ben was being laughed at by Richard Roeper for crying too much in movies to 2002’s crown jewel of "Sexiest Man Alive" by People Magazine. For any other joe, this might seem like he was living the dream. Everyone other than Ben Affleck, who will be forever be matched with his Good Will Hunting buddy, Matt Damon. While Affleck was kicking it with J.Lo, Damon was on his way to a very impressive Hollywood resume. While both were credited for co-writing Good Will Hunting, in 2006 it was almost self-evident that Affleck had ridden the coattails of Damon and would be forever cast in his shadow. That all changed with Affleck’s directorial debut, “Gone Baby Gone” in 2007. Out of nowhere, Affleck has gone on to produce “Gone Baby Gone”, “The Town” in 2010, and this year’s “Argo”, three solid, technically superb films. Currently, Argo is the by far the favorite to win this year’s Academy Award for Best Picture. I recall an interview I read with Beck, who was describing his new album at the time, "Midnite Vultures". To paraphrase, he described the album as a tank. And that if any critics tried to find any weaknesses in it they couldn’t. He spent the time looking at it from all angles and there were no soft spots. Affleck’s films are tanks. There are no soft spots. But they are still tanks.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Argo
There was a time in Hollywood mythology that Ben Affleck was headed to the pyres of the “has beens”: Forces of Nature, Reindeer Games, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Daredevil, Gigli, etc. From 1998 to 2006, Ben was being laughed at by Richard Roeper for crying too much in movies to 2002’s crown jewel of "Sexiest Man Alive" by People Magazine. For any other joe, this might seem like he was living the dream. Everyone other than Ben Affleck, who will be forever be matched with his Good Will Hunting buddy, Matt Damon. While Affleck was kicking it with J.Lo, Damon was on his way to a very impressive Hollywood resume. While both were credited for co-writing Good Will Hunting, in 2006 it was almost self-evident that Affleck had ridden the coattails of Damon and would be forever cast in his shadow. That all changed with Affleck’s directorial debut, “Gone Baby Gone” in 2007. Out of nowhere, Affleck has gone on to produce “Gone Baby Gone”, “The Town” in 2010, and this year’s “Argo”, three solid, technically superb films. Currently, Argo is the by far the favorite to win this year’s Academy Award for Best Picture. I recall an interview I read with Beck, who was describing his new album at the time, "Midnite Vultures". To paraphrase, he described the album as a tank. And that if any critics tried to find any weaknesses in it they couldn’t. He spent the time looking at it from all angles and there were no soft spots. Affleck’s films are tanks. There are no soft spots. But they are still tanks.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment