The Company Men (2010)

Most of us, maybe all of us, know somebody who is represented by the main characters in this movie.  That makes it a little more real, a little too real, and a little painful to watch.

Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, and Tommy Lee Jones are guys in the way upper middle class who lose their jobs. There has been a ton of that going around in the last half decade.  If we have not experienced that ourselves, who know someone who has.

The painful process of losing one's job and making the necessary life-adjustments is only vaguely familiar many of us.  There but for the grace of some higher power go we?  Several scenes in this movie are painfully real.

Watch this with someone who has not lost their job recently.

The Town (2010)

This may be the best thing Ben Affleck has done since Good Will Hunting. Once again he is acting his own material, but this time he directs too. This is also one of the smarter bank heist movies in a while, but not as smart as Inside Man.

Rebecca Hall definately adds a touch of class to what would otherwise be a pretty grim, gritty, tale. Jeremy Renner is once again great as the guy who skates the fine line between sanity and psyho-killer. Jon Hamm is very smart the FBI agent going after all of them.

No spoilers here, but I love the bittersweet ending.

This was Pete Postlethwaite's next to last move, and while his role was small, it WAS pivotal. I have been a fan of Pete's work in the Sharpe series on BBC. Pete will be missed.

Watch this movie with someone who has a strong tolerance of Boston accents, rough language, and car chase scenes.

State of Play

While some similarities exist, not much other than the character names and the title are carried over from the brilliant BBC series to this very smart movie. You don't need to have seen the series to enjoy this movie. In fact, you may enjoy it more if you are not distracted by the differences.

In the extra features a producer makes the statement to the effect that everyone in Hollywood wanted to be part of this project. And there are huge names aplenty to be sure. Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck turn in very different roles than their norm, and both are great. Helen Mirren continues to be one of the best actors from any country. Robin Wright Penn and Rachel McAdams are both very strong and sexy characters here. Jason Bateman does his best acting to date and was a very pleasant surprise for me.

Set in DC this political murder thriller is good a keeping the audience guessing. The pace is brisk and one has to keep up with plot twists as they happen.

Watch this with someone who like to guess who did what to whom and watch them react at the end when all is revealed.

Gone Baby Gone

No this is absolutely not a Dr. Seuss story. That would be something more like "Spitzer Hires A Ho". But I digress.

In his first directorial outing, Ben Affleck (Good Will Hunting, Shakespeare In Love, and Sum of All Fears), shows that he can write AND direct, and on occasion, act. In this movie however, he just writes and directs. He is not yet a Streisand or Eastwood.

Ben's baby brother Casey (Oceans 11,12, and 13) does an outstanding job here. Acting opposite Michelle Monaghan (Bourne Supremacy, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith), how could you not do your best? The two play a couple of underestimated private investigators hired by a family to find a lost girl. Of course I can't tell you WHAT they find, but it's way more than one might expect.

Morgan Freeman plays a totally different kind of character than I expected. And I loved it. Another favorite of mine, Ed Harris (The Right Stuff, The Abyss, China Moon, and on an on) proves he can still howl with the big dogs.

There are a few other very worthy supporting actors, but I fear if I get into them all, I will by default, give away too much of the plot, which is by no means, predictable. This is much more of a "Who Done What?", than a "Who Done It?"

Watch it with someone who enjoys guessing what will happen next.