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The Town , a review by Dragonfire

The Town

I'm going to start off by saying I'm very much aware of how much some people dislike Ben Affleck and think he is a horrible, talentless actor.  While I do agree that he's made some ...questionable movie choices, I don't think he is that horrible of an actor.  He did make a lot of movies in a short time and then his personal life went crazy and he was tabloid fodder while involved in Jennifer Lopez.  That didn't help what people thought of him either.  But he has changed.  After he and Lopez broke up, he's managed to pretty much avoid the tabloids.  He has been more selective with his projects and he's turned up in some good acting.  He was really good in Hollywoodland, a more understated role.  He also directed an amazing movie in Gone Baby Gone, a movie I still think is one of the best of 2007.  I know people were skeptical about him directing, but as far as I'm concerned, he showed real talent with that movie.  With his new movie, The Town, he shows it wasn't just a fluke.  He's a very talented director and if he keeps making movies like these two, he'll win an Oscar for directing some day.  The Town is definitely one of the best movies of the year and it deserves to be seen.

The story, focused on a group of bank robbers living in Charlestown, a neighborhood of Boston, isn't the most original, but it is still highly entertaining.  It is handled really well to make an engaging and complex movie.  Doug and his crew rob armored cars and banks without leaving behind any evidence for the police and FBI.  James, or Gem as he's sometimes called, is more violent and unpredictable, which is why they end up taking a hostage at one point.  Things get more complicated when Doug begins a relationship with Claire and then decides that he wants out.

While some of what happens in the movie is predictable, there are several surprises that keep things from being predictable overall.  Several things happen that I didn't expect.  Those unexpected things work very well for what is going on.  A few of the robberies that Doug and his crew pull off are shown.  The first one is shown at the very beginning of the movie.  The way they pull off the robbery is a bit different and helps to keep things interesting.  The men wear masks that completely cover their faces.  One time they wear skeleton masks and later they wear really creepy looking nun masks.  There is something really freaky looking about those nun masks. 

The action scenes are very well done and include one of the more impressive car chases that I've seen in a while.  There are fights and shootings as well and people do get hurt.  A few characters do get rather brutal at times, though there really isn't tons of violence in the movie.  It just happens every so often in spurts.

The main characters are criminals.  They, especially Doug, are complex and interesting and they manage to be likable at times.  James is harder to like, but I did start feeling compassion for him at one point.  The motivations for those characters is believable.  Ben Affleck does a really good job with Doug.  I think he's more talented than he's been given credit for.  He also is one of the screenwriters for the movie.  Jeremy Renner also does a really good job as James.  Those two really have the most to do and their characters have a complicated relationship.  All the acting is really well done.  Blake Lively turns up in a few scenes as James's druggie sister.  It isn't a ...pretty part, but she is really good in it. 

The Town is a wonderfully well done crime thriller that definitely deserves to be seen.  I think this one really makes it clear that Affleck has talent.

 

I did get a review posted on Epinions.

The Town 

By the way, anyone who hasn't seen Gone Baby Gone yet really should watch it.  It isn't a happy or even pleasant movie to watch, but it is very well done.

(From The Town on September 23rd, 2010)

Final Destination, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Final Destination
Movie Count: 54
TV Ep Count: 17
Time Started: 6am
Plot:
His entire high-school class is going to Paris, but Alex Browning (Devon Sawa, 'Idle Hands') can't seem to shake his fear of flying. Once aboard the plane, he has a violently disruptive premonition which gets him and five of his classmates including Clear Rivers (Ali Larter, 'Varsity Blues', 'House On Haunted Hill') and Carter Horton (Kerr Smith, TV's "Dawson's Creek") kicked off the plane. As the students watch the plane depart, they witness the horrifying disaster that proves the deadly premonition true. Now having dodged death once, the terror begins in full as fate hunts them down one-by-one. Soon the five survivors will discover you can't cheat death in this bone-chillingly-suspenseful film that critics call "A first class edge of your seat thriller!" -Paul Wunder, WBAI

My Thoughts:
This is a movie I haven't watched in years... but one I have always enjoyed. It is a good, strong horror. I completely forgot that Tony Todd had a small role in this movie as the mortician. That was pretty cool to see. Anyway... this is a good horror on a great dvd release with lots of extras.

(From Month-Long Horror/Halloween Marathon on October 19th, 2007)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Fullmetal Alchemist: Season One: Part One (2003/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia FUNimation Productions (United States) Length: 420 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English

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Plot:
What are you willing to sacrifice ?

Under stormy skies, Eward and Alphonse Elric exploited the
clandestine science of Alchemy in attempt of the forbidden - To
resurrect their dearly departed mother. But every art form has its taboos
and every science its laws not to be broken. The tragic failure of
the young brothers unleashed and unholy reaction that ripped their
bodies apart and their innocense asunder.

Four years later, an evil lurks behind the false face of freedom, its
growth unchecked. A lone State Alchemist combs the countryside
in search of a mythological stone. If found, the stone could amplify
natural talents and harness a power equal to the restoration of
things once held precious, now lost. If found, the stone would also
allow the State Military to senselessly obliterate countless more in
the ongoing struggle. The youngest State Alcehmist in history is
soon faced with harsh truth: The power to create is but a breath
away from the power to destroy.


Hagane no Renkinjutsushi
1.01 Taiyo- ni Idomu Mono (2003-10-04)
Writer: Hiromu Arakawa (Original Material By), Sho Aikawa (Screenwriter)
Director: Seiji Mizushima
Cast

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 20th, 2011)