Before the Cards completely take over my day and I go deep into World Series analysis, here are a couple movies I had the chance to watch in the past week.   Captain Phillips and Escape Plan.   Two films that couldn’t be any different or swim towards a more diverse audience.  One is a true story Oscar contender about the hijacking of a boat(or the soul of a few men for their lives) and the other involves two heavies from the action blood drunk 80’s finally sharing the screen for an entire film.   Which one did I love and which one can I easily say can wait for the DVD racks?   Find out next.

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

Directed by Paul Greengrass

Starring Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi

Quick Setup-Captain Phillips is a multi-layered examination of the 2009 hijacking of the U.S. container ship Maersk Alabama by a crew of Somali pirates.

Buffa’s Blunt Take-This is a superb thriller for many reasons and a movie that won’t soon leave your memory.   A lot of movies, even the good ones, quickly leave you memory once you leave the theater or watch something else.  Captain Phillips hasn’t left my head just yet.

One of the things this movie does so well is maintain a frenetic pace for its entire 134 minute running time and it keeps you engaged and on the edge of your seat.  All it takes is a google search to find out what happened to Captain Phillips and his crew aboard the Maerska, Alabama, a U.S. container ship, when Somali Pirates tried to overthrow it for money.  Director Paul  Greengrass has the ability to keep you guessing whereas to the conclusion of this horrifically tragic story.  He directed the last two Bourne films and this movie has the same level of intensity and forward thinking of Greengrass’ 9/11 film, United 93.

Dealing with a true event that placed a lot of innocent men in danger, Greengrass doesn’t shy away from the perspective of the Somali Pirates here.    They aren’t cardboard cutout villains but portrayed as real people with an unfortunate agenda and that is one based in robbery.

The arrival of new actor Abdi is key here because his face could tell a thousand words about desperation and depravity.   Hanks is phenomenal here but he has key scenes with Abdi that resonate because of how great the men play together.  One man comes from entitlement and the other from a source of criminal livelihood yet both are determined and hard working.   Whose will will break fist is the heart and soul of these tale?

Hanks once again is just marvelous here and it’s what he holds back behind those quietly heroic eyes that keeps you enthralled.  Don’t be mistaken, this is the Tom Hanks show and we are all the better for it.  The rookie actor who specialized in comedies has developed into a powerhouse name that can easily slip into any role and dominate.  Hanks saves his best for last in the movie’s final scene.  Sitting cold and shaken on a medic table, paralyzed by traumatic occurrence, Phillips slowly breaks down after holding it together for days and it’s so penetrating and emotional that you feel as wounded as he does.  Credit Hanks with taking us there.  It’s an Oscar worthy performance.  Saying that with a Hanks role is like saying when you step near an ocean your feet will get wet.

See this movie.  Forget about what really happened.  The movie is adapted from Phillips’ account in his book, and sitting there running through the details isn’t worth your effort.  This is a cinematic adaptation of a true story.  Expect a little push and give here and there in the telling of the tale.  Ride the wave with Hanks here and when you step off this ship Greengrass’ film will stay with you.   A great movie is like a virus.  It infects your system for days.

ESCAPE PLAN

Directed by Mikael Hafstrom

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Amy Ryan, Vinnie Jones and Vincent D’ Onofrio

Quick Setup-Stallone plays Ray Breslin, a prison security specialist who finds himself locked inside one of his own facilities and must team up with a mysterious fellow prisoner in Emil(Schwarzenegger) to find a way out.

Buffa’s Blunt Take-Save this one for DVD.  While the thrill of seeing two action legends tangle on the big screen and share some scenes together is a good site and makes for a light entertaining guilty pleasure, there’s no way I will tell you pencil this in for a theater visit.  It’s best served at home on your television, where you can pause it, take a break, get some dinner going, and come back to it.   Seen at once, the plot becomes too complex for its own good and takes away from the fun of watching Sly and Arnold exchange macho dialogue and funny one liners.   One scene in particular reins as the finest moment and that is when FINALLY, these two guys exchange punches.  Hearing Arnold tell Sly, “You hit like a vegetarian” is something I won’t forget but the rest of the movie is quite amateur.  This movie would have been killer in the late 1980’s when these two were at the top of their game.  Now, it’s like watching a couple of old lions put on the same tired uniform and after 45 minutes, it gets a little dull.

That’s all for now.  Two Film-Addict specials here on A Dose of Buffa.  Come back next week for my take on Last Vegas.  Until then, stay tuned for more Cardinals blogging leading up to Game 1 of the 2013 World Series between the Cards and the Red Sox.

-Dan L. Buffa

@buffa82 on Twitter

QUICK SETUP-Sandra Bullock is Ryan Stone, a medical engineer working on a space shuttle captained by Matt Kowalski(George Clooney) who is one of those just about to retire easygoing storytellers that one would require while up in the stars working on machinery.   When a shattered Russian satellite collides with their shuttle, destroying everything and sending Stone and Kowalski into space attached to one another, they have to rely on his experience and her will to make it to safety.   In other words, to make it home.

MY TAKE-There are few things scarier than being lost in space.  Suspended without hope and a leaking supply of oxygen while holding the best view of earth anyone will ever lay claim to.  Alfonso Cuaron’s stunning new film, Gravity, puts two people in the worst possible situation up in space.   Stranded without contact.   For 90 tightly wound minutes with a natural born suspense, the movie holds you in its grasp like a hostage to beautiful cinema.   You won’t see a more visually breathtaking movie this year and Cuaron’s film(which he co-wrote with his son Jonas), ranks as one of the year’s best by keeping things simple, moving and alert.

Bullock has never been better and puts in better work here than she did for her Oscar winning performance in The Blind Side.  It’s a personal, remarkably sound and heartfelt performance that sets Sandra up in Castaway mode for most of the film.   Clooney hasn’t been this good in years, creating this calm, comforting, and charming personality that doesn’t just keep Bullock’s Stone calm for the duration of his role, but he also puts the audience at ease.   From the beginning of his career, especially his work on ER, Clooney has the ability to be commanding and comforting with only a few lines of dialogue.  He makes you feel safe in the middle of this scary journey.  There is a scene near the end of the film between the two stars that hits home in every possible facet.  The writing, the contact between them and the length each have gone in this predicament.  It’s one of the best scenes of Clooney’s career and one that he can hold up as a wonderful work of art.  You will know it when you see it.

However, the film belongs to Bullock.  It’s her odyssey.  From the moment the movie starts and we see her wounded face carry more robot than blood flow, something is wrong there is a thorn sticking out of her side.  When we finally learn her backstory and why she is broken hearted, the story kicks up another notch.   The Cuaron’s know they don’t have to reinvent the way you develop character and plot threads here and add just enough punch to the story to make the situation carry a little drama as well as suspense.   Gravity is all about the predicament and how you manage to get out of it alive but by placing two well known movie stars in the situation, they give us faces that we identify with and can relate to.   This is a film where you need movie stars to carry the action but more importantly, you need actors who have skill and can act.   Bullock and Clooney deliver in a huge way.

Cuaron’s direction is flawless.   The film opens with a 13 minute uncut tracking shot that sets up the action and it’s a mesmerizing sequence.  Cuaron shot the film in separate rigs and used a wide range of technology but you always see his hand on the trigger during every shot of the film.   Used famously in Children of Men, Cuaron likes to set the camera up and let it go for a long uncut shot, making the experience all the more invigorating and spellbinding.  Here, it works to perfection also dare I say for the first time the use of 3D glasses actually enhances the film and doesn’t distract from it.

Gravity is worth anyone’s time.  For the casual film fan to the film-addict, this movie will grip you and not let go for hours after the film.   12 hours later, I am still thinking about it and it won’t leave anytime soon.   This is while playoff baseball fills my senses.  The movie is haunting, beautiful and poignant.  It is one of the year’s best and so tightly edited and told that if you never get a chance to actually go up in space, Cuaron’s movie will get you close enough to feel the adrenaline and despair.  It is the best movie about life in space that I have ever seen.

-Dan Buffa

Film-Addict Co-Creator and Staff Writer

@buffa82 on Twitter

 

Since a colleague of mine wrote an official review for the film on my site, film-addict.com, I get to come here and dish my take on the film.   There will be no rating, info or trailer.  Just the plot and my take on a new film.  A Dose of Buffa movie special if you will.   My review of Don Jon.   

QUICK SETUP-Jon(writer/director Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is the ultimate bachelor who holds certain things dear.  His home, car, family and church.   He is also a supreme Lothario and addicted to porn.   The entire film is based around his obsession with and need for porn.  He gets more escape out of it than he does with real women.  So when he meets the girl of his dreams in Barbara(Scarlett Johansson), everything he knows and abides to is suddenly put into question.   

BUFFA’S TAKE-It is hard to not admire the skill developed by Gordon-Levitt here as filmmaker and star.   With this fresh new comedy, he puts a microscope on what many men and women go through in their young lives.   An obsession with sex and a need to have it when they want it.  If they can’t have that, they replace it with pornography.   Framing it inside a very funny film is a credit to the filmmaker’s skill in structure.  

Gordon-Levitt’s protagonist, Jon, isn’t a bad man or evil by any means.   He loves his life, and that consists of areas where he holds the highest amount of control and doesn’t let many close enough to see his true dilemma.  Finding the passion he gets out of his porn in real women and making a life.  His friends think he is a killer ladies man.   Women find him irresistible.   His family is proud of him but also wants to see more stability.  Jon drives a muscle car, curses in traffic, sings in his car, dresses like he is auditioning for a role in Staying Alive and makes it all work because of his CONFIDENCE.  When he meets this beautiful yet controlling woman, his entire world is thrown to the wood chipper and he has to figure out if this is good for him.  Throw in Julianne Moore’s unexpected reality check for Jon and his world is suddenly activated with possibility.  

JGL’s film has a heavy amount of confidence and like its central character, is crafty enough to work in the filthy subplot of porn and testosterone lining of the story without turning off viewers.  If anything, Gordon-Levitt is mocking the people that rely on video strangers to make them happy while revealing that this is a very real ordeal.    That brand of filmmaking makes for an involving comedy that won’t reshape the ways movies are made but entertains you and shows you something honest inside 90 minutes.   The film doesn’t wear you down and made me laugh out loud a number of times.   From 3rd Rock From the Sun to Brick to Inception to 50/50 to this triple threat feature, Joseph Gordon-Levitt puts Hollywood on notice for inventive fresh filmmaking.   If you are tired of sequels, comic book films and far too serious theater tales, watch Don Jon and relax and revel in its simplicity and dirty intent.  You won’t find many movies whose protagonist curses at 3 people in traffic, masturbates 30 times in a week, and kisses his mother with that mouth that you want to root for so take advantage here.   There’s also funny bits where Jon mocks the intent of romantic comedies(found in Barbara’s obsession with them) and the cameos with well known movie stars creates laughs that aren’t expected.  

Tony Danza does some truly great work here as Jon’s dad, an older version of the young lady killer and there are hilarious scenes at the family dinner table.   Johansson is very good as the woman who cracks the ice in Jon’s world and adds attitude to the killer curves.   Scarlett doesn’t need to do a lot of acting but it’s a good thing she can pull it off.  Rob Brown, Brie Larson and Glenne Headly are fine in their supporting roles but this is Gordon-Levitt’s show after all.

Don Jon is 90 minutes full of finely tuned comedy.  I approve of this movie’s message.  

For more movie news, reviews and sophisticated take on the world of cinema, head over to my site, film-addict.com.  I hope you enjoyed this Dose of Buffa special movie review.

-Dan Buffa

@buffa82 on Twitter

This is another film I didn’t see in theaters.   A film-addict colleague, Landon Burris, snapped it up but Danny Boyle’s latest film seemed promising and quite intriguing.  A thriller involving hypnosis and a stolen painting with a fine cast.  Well, it came out on Blu Ray/DVD this past week and I picked it up.  Here is my review.

Film-Trance

Rating-R

Directed by Danny Boyle

Starring James McAvoy, Vincent Cassell and Rosario Dawson.

Buffa’s Take

Twisty thrillers always employ a few rugs.  In order to keep you off balance and from using your vast movie knowledge, the twists must happen abruptly and intelligently.  Think of the viewer as the bull and the movie’s script, director and cast as the mariachi holding the ever moving sash.  We get really close and the rug is pulled out from beneath our feet.  The sash is whipped up into the sky and the bull runs through.  Well, let’s just say Danny Boyle employed a lot of rugs in his latest, Trance.

What does that word mean?  An infinite case of limbo or confusion would be my guess.  I’m not looking it up.  Where’s the fun in that?  Don’t do it before you watch the movie.  Boyle and writers Joe Aherne and John Hodge cooked up a fine acid trip of a movie here and one that you will never figure out where it’s really going before the very end.  Go ahead and try as you watch it.  Piece together the puzzle.

A seemingly regular joe art auctioneer(McAvoy) tries to make a play during a robbery of very expensive painting, thus getting a shot to the head from the butt of a shotgun, held by Franck(Cassell).   The only problem is when the criminal leave the bleeding man on the floor and runs away with his partners, he later finds out the painting isn’t in the case.  Only Simon knows where it is and he kind of has memory issues.   So comes into play a hypnotist named Elizabeth(Dawson).   The three people go through a series of dreams, states of mind and several aggressive interventions before we even have an idea of where the plot is taking its root from.   That is the genius of this movie.  You may have think I spoiled the film but I have only told you about the first 20 minutes.  Everything from the point of these three characters coming into connection with another as we see in the movie is all mind games and poker faced storytelling.  It’s also very very bloody well done.

Right when you think Franck is pure bad and not just a criminal, he softens up.  Right when we think Simon is all innocent, he shows a shade of gray.   Right when Elizabeth seems to be the damsel in distress, she spins around with her own tricks.   Then they revert back to their original spot.   Boyle throws so many twists and screen shots coded in red at your face you may need a drink at the middle.   Dawson bares more than just her soul and the movie spends the majority of its time soaked in dark black and red colors to keep your eyes coated in oxidation and lust.   Filmmakers aren’t stupid.   They know we have seen it all before and have to take extra measures to keep us hooked.  Trance’s genius is we care about every character and not just one.  We feel sympathy for lowly people because throughout the entire film, all we see is chess pieces being moved around.

Imagine a sandbox and feeling like the confused one each time you step on either side of the line in the sand.  Right when you think you figured out the plot, the rug gets pulled out from beneath you.  Are the characters playing each other or is this movie playing you?    With 20 minutes left, I tweeted that Boyle has only a few twists left to convince me this trip is worth it and that this is a good movie.   Well, when the end credits finally do roll after 101 well spent minutes building tension and a bit of romance, you will know its a great movie.  At least I did.  I didn’t feel tired.  I felt empowered.  I took a 20 minute drive after I returned this movie.  I blasted music like Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men and Baba O’Riley from the Who.    Great movies or hours of television make you create a need to think and decompress what was digested.   Good films can be enjoyed and discarded.    Movies like Trance require an introspection of why you got into the racket of film to begin with.  As a movie critic, this one is all pleasure and no work.

Trance reminded me of Inception and Vanilla Sky(one of Tom Cruise’s most underrated films).  A combination of those two doozies.   It’s a real trip that is redeemed by an unexpected romance at the heart of the story.   Right when you think it’s all thriller and no love, it flips a switch.   Credit Boyle and the writers with that one.  I feel like buying them a steak and drowning their minds in red wine so I can see what’s in there next.

Boyle can hop genres like a jungle cat.  He won an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire but also created the weirdest drug addiction film in Trainspotting and one the best zombie stories from the past 20 years in 28 Days Later.   He directed the underrated “Save the Earth by Unlocking the Sun” sci-fi gem, Sunshine.  He combines all those different pieces here for in my eyes, his finest work yet.  Trance.  He drains the film in ultraviolet light, inserts some gangster swagger and goes heavy on the gruesome blood shots.  In the end, this is Boyle unplugged.  His cinema flair running on full blast.

The cast is aces.   McAvoy is becoming the latest ultra reliable Everyman in film by taking on a host of different characters.  He plays Simon as a tortured soul that has more to him than we think.  We just don’t know what causes him so much pain.   Cassell is one of those mastermind character actors that will get a Film-Addict spotlight soon enough.   His snake eyes looks and dirty ways are so good that he LOOKS every part without effort.   The real star making performance here comes from Dawson.  Without her performance, the film falls apart at the end.   She must convince us to follow until the end because her character is the moral compass of the story.   She bares her entire body in the film but more important bares her soul in the performance.  She makes it all work.

See this movie.  Rent it.  No bonus features on the disc because none are needed and would only spoil the feeling you get afterwards.   What great magician wants to come back on stage and explain their trick?   Boyle doesn’t and I don’t blame him at all.  Trance is one of the better movies of 2013.

Read Film-Addict critic Landon Burris’ take right here.

http://film-addict.com/news-and-reviews/a-dose-of-buffa/item/1577-trance

Thanks for reading and enjoy your next trip to the movies.

-DLB

These are two of the better films I’ve seen in 2013.  Here is your Buffa review write up.

The Spectacular Now

Rating-R

Running Time-95 minutes

Directed by James Ponsoldt

Cast-Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Andre Royo, Kyle Chandler and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Plot-This is the tale of Sutter Keely (Miles Teller), a high school senior and effortless charmer, and of how he unexpectedly falls in love with “the good girl” Aimee Finecky (Shailene Woodley). 

Buffa’s Take-Remember the name Miles Teller.  The young actor gives a breakout performance in this sly touching and deeply revealing tale of young love found in the midst of the transformation from teenager to the land of isolated aduts.  Teller’s Sutter Keely is the center of the story, the high school party animal who carries an antique set of hidden demons behind his easy going charm and outgoing personality.  Sutter talks fast and thinks in a reality based only out of the NOW and has little regard for his future.  In a nutshell, he is off the ground.  Only when he meets the sweet, smart, strong and grounded Amy(Woodley, effortless feeling flowing from her pores) does Sutter began to slow down.

Director James Ponsoldt teamed up with the writers of the superb 500 Days of Summer(Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber) to adapt Tim Thorp’s novel and the result is an engaging blend of true end of innocence romance and misery that never tugs too hard on your heartstrings and doesn’t dwell into sentimental manipulation.  This material lives and dies on the abilities of the two central young actors to pull off tough roles.  The good news is they are both sensational.  They don’t just play a part.  Great actors lend a piece of themselves to a role and that happens here.

Teller will instantly remind you of a taller stockier Shia Laboeuf until the final third of the film when he has to really transcend and give a performance that stretches outside the land of gimmicky facial expressions and energy.  Woodley wooed us in The Descendants but will have her coming out party in 2013 and this is the perfect start.  Amy is exactly what Sutter needs and the final act of the film reminds you how tough that is to make work even in the land of make believe.  Sutter parties and is a legit alcoholic who lives under a disguise of carelessness that slowly gets broken down.  The matter in which his defense becomes undone isn’t exactly how you’d think and that comes from the true work of the actors.  Leigh and Chandler lend their versatile talents to smaller roles, The Wire’s Royo has a few good scenes but this is a two act show.

The Spectacular Now is fully embodied raw pride on display while carrying a few surprises and swimming in the same heartfelt storytelling sea as 2012’s gem Perks of Being a Wallflower.  The similarity is the central character’s dilemma and their rise/fall tale isn’t sent through the smooth Hollywood washer machine and instead left out in the cold air for the audience to take at their own expense.  Sutter doesn’t cry out for help and Teller doesn’t simply work a job.  He steps into the shoes of a teenager who lives like a young man but has the cynicism of an older man.  He knows what he is and tries to keep people at a distance.  When this film gets close to being sentimental and edges towards familiarity, it wields its heartbreak city dialogue and imagery at your throat.

Miles Teller doesn’t just act in the third act.  He breaks your heart with his deft ability to underplay explosive dialogue and does it effortlessly.  I’m not saying the kid will win awards one day, but as Sutter Keely, he carves a spot in your heart the same way Michael B. Jordan does with Oscar Grant in Fruitvale Station.  Sutter has a real problem and the saddest thing is, he knows what it is and can’t win.  Woodley is great as well.  She is a gifted actress who comes off here as sweet natured and fragile but Amy knows what exactly what she wants and how to get it.  When things get dark in the third act, Woodley steps up her game and matches Teller scene for scene.

This movie is the kind of flick The Way Way Back wanted to be and failed (at least to this film-addict).  The Spectacular Now will leave you thinking about what went through your mind after high school and where your life has led you to.  It’s not award worthy material but instead a genre film that is done with originality and a blunt force conviction.  You may think you know where it’s going but it has a few “gotcha” moments along the way.  I’d see it again and may just join the advertising campaign.

Buffa Rating-5/5

 

Drinking Buddies

Rating-R

Running Time-90 minutes

Written, Directed and Edited by Joe Swanberg

Cast-Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnston, Anna Kendrick and Ron Livingston

Plot-Long time co-workers/best friends are faced with change and battle attraction when their spouses happen to meet.

Buffa’s Take-Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson are so good as Kate and Luke that you nearly forget you are merely watching actors play best friends.  As the sentence finishing and lingo infused duo of a brewing company who have been drowning a burning attraction for years with laughs, food and a LOT of beer, the actors are pure revelations.  The material is simple enough.   They are friends and their spouses and co-workers are simply waiting for the dynamite stick of romance to drop.  Whether it does or not is writer/director Joe Swanberg’s magic trick that will keep you looking until the final pin drop.  This isn’t your normal romantic comedy people.  Please don’t write it off as just another “they will get together in the end and the latest coolest pop ballad will fill the background with a smooth digestive flavor”.  Drinking Buddies moves in mysterious ways and the reason  it works so well is the top flight acting crew assembled, anchored by the new kids on the block to real drama and that’s Wilde and Johnson.

You may know the two.  Wilde is the drop dead gorgeous beauty who battled aliens with Daniel Craig and romanced Ryan Reynolds while Jason Bateman was stuck inside his body.  Johnson spins bottles with Zooey Deschanel on Fox’s New Girl and has dabbled in supporting roles in films such as 2012’s Safety Guaranteed.   Here, the two are joined by the always reliable Kendrick and Livingston (so cool on screen that he appears to be floating through air while making his lines up as he goes).   This is a four part play set inside a movie.

For the first time in a fair stretch of attempts, the heavy parts of this comedy are handled with care and never reach sentimentality.  The bar scenes are realistic.  The awkward moments of sexuality are strangled by conviction.  The actors feel like they know and love the parts they play.   When a genre is treated right, magic can happen.  Drinking Buddies surprised the crap out of me.  This is due to a nail hitting script from Swanberg and his ability to let two unproven actors take on difficult roles.

Wilde has never been this good and I can’t say I am surprised.  She was the beauty with talent, something that separated her from Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba and Megan Fox.  She barely wears any makeup in the role, drinks convincingly like a fish and plays a strong flawed woman who never shows you every one of her cards.  She is a mystery even to herself.  Johnson has never been better and puts his easy going charm to good use here and doesn’t let it hide his sudden moments of self-confliction.   When he stands still and just stares into the character’s eyes through the camouflage of his beard and Old Style baseball cap, it penetrates your senses and the screen.   This isn’t high art kids, but for a movie with this name and expectation, it comes damn near close.

Drinking Buddies is a movie I didn’t want to see end.  You think you know where it’s going in the first third of the film only to be led down a different road as the brilliantly paced 90 minute running time comes to a close.   It doesn’t run towards its conclusion but slowly walks to it.  This is as honest of a romantic drama as you will see in a long time.  I haven’t seen a genre film done so effortlessly heartfelt with a heavy dose of reality.  This movie has soul to spare.  Every romantically involved script feels like a decision is being handed down at the end on the fates of make believe characters.  In Drinking Buddies, whether you like the end or not, you must admire the authenticity.

Buffa Rating-4/5

 

Find more fresh views and reviews on the movies at http://www.film-addict.com.

 

Imagine Matt Damon picking up his phone tonight.  He looks at a text from Ben Affleck.  “How about them apples!”  A fictional thought for sure but the news from Warner Brothers tonight is that Affleck is the new Batman for the 2015 team up with Superman and Batman and the sequel to Man of Steel which will be directed by Zach Snyder and also star Henry Cavill.   This move carries a bold flavor and Warner Brothers is surely banking on an actor that has scored them three hits in a row, including a best picture and director Oscar with last year’s Argo.  Affleck has been a home run hitter for the studio and this makes the move easier to understand on many levels.  The box office prediction for this movie in the opening weekend just bumped up around 50 million.  There isn’t a career in Hollywood that’s hotter than Affleck, and that’s whether or not Runner, Runner with Justin Timberlake scores high or not.  In five quick points, I will tell you why I like this move yet understand the risk at stake and the bold flavor on the table.

*It’s been a long time since Daredevil folks.  Give him a break on the past that he has done more than enough to bury.  Since he got married and took a break, Affleck has rarely swung and missed.  He said he never would return to tights, but he also didn’t think he would have this kind of comeback either.  Comic book geeks will hate almost every single move.  They didn’t like Michael Keaton or Christian Bale and look at their work.  Give Affleck peace of mind.

*Affleck is a true box office monster these days and will help ensure the movie backs up the proposed budget of 200 million plus.  He is a big name and will throw Cavill on his shoulders if the young Brit does little to separate himself from Clark Kent in the meantime.  This is Warner Brothers ensuring that this movie will reach a ton of fans and not just the comic crowd.

*Affleck will pull off a perfect Bruce Wayne.  The bigger question is his interpretation of Batman.  Judging from the Town, he will pull off the body and suave attitude easily.  The bigger deal is the voice of Affleck’s Batman.  It has to distinguish itself from his Wayne but can’t be as baritone as Bale or simple as Keaton.  The voice of Batman will be the juiciest factor of Ben Affleck’s portrayal.

* The age factor isn’t an issue.  Affleck will be 43 years old when the film comes out and has proven to keep in great shape.  There are men that can’t play a superhero past the age of 40 and others that can make it work when they hit 50 years old.  Robert Downey Jr. will play Iron Man until he is 50.  Downey Jr. was 43 years old when he first portrayed Tony Stark in 2008.

*Remember this.  Affleck has earned this.  He came back from the dead.  Rose from the ashes of Daredevil, Reindeer Games and Gigli.  He has earned the right to put his face on a summer blockbuster franchise and definitely makes the anticipation for the movie sky rocket.  For anybody who questions the move, remember Hollywood respects a comeback.  Warner Brothers gave Affleck a chance to revive his career with Gone, Baby, Gone and watched him make back to back box office hits with The Town and Argo, while all three were critically acclaimed.  If any actor in Hollywood deserves to take batting practice with a huge role, it’s Ben Affleck.  I respect the boldness of the move and think with Snyder, Nolan and a fine supporting cast involved, this will work out just fine.

Forget about the rest of the main players.  Bryan Cranston would make a great Lex Luthor.  Jim Broadbent would pull off a fine Alfred.  Jon Hamm could do a certain District Attorney in his sleep or the mayor.   Hopefully the Joker stays at rest.  The big news right now is Ben Affleck will play Batman in Warner Brothers’ upcoming DC team up Superman/Batman film.  It surprised me at first but at the ground floor of this news is a compelling new element to the film that was missing before.  Check back here for more updates and check out my column on Affleck’s comeback below.  Thanks for reading addicts!

Feed your fix at http://www.film-addict.com 

 

Thanks for reading,

Dan Buffa

 

 

*Since I didn’t publish my review for this movie on my website, I will come here and dish it out blunt and straight.  A Buffa Film-Addict special.  Enjoy.  I won’t bore you with cast listing, director spots, running times or anything else.  Just a dose of my thoughts on the film.  Straight, like black coffee or whiskey.  Also no official rating.  That is hard enough when I need to publish my review.  Here, all words.  No thumbs, number count or rating.  I will include a brief plot description.**

Plot-Gerry Lane(Pitt) is a former UN investigator who is called in by the government when a virus is unleashed and zombies take over North America.   With his family held safely on a  US Navy ship only if he helps find a cure, Lane must travel the globe and find an end to the madness before the world is completely under siege.  He has 90 days.

World War Z works because its brain is larger than its gore count.  Brad Pitt rightfully intervened in the editing process and brought in Lost Creator Damon Lindelof to do a rewrite of the script and added a pulse pounding 40 minute suspense filled finale that wraps the film up perfectly.  Pitt plays the lead character very well, spinning an everyman vibe on this leading character and making him one of us.  A man with a family trying desperately to figure out an end to the madness. The Zombies aren’t your normal undead foes here.  They sprint instead of walk and take just 10 seconds to turn into a monster. The best parts of this film are the tension filled moments. When Pitt and a few soldiers are riding bikes across a downpour of rain in the dark trying to board an airplane. Pitt aboard an airplane where a zombie has gotten on board and there is only one way to smoke him out. A finale that includes a chase for a cure and a puzzle house full of deadly turns and moments where nobody is safe. The end works because the twist in the story isn’t revealed too early and the script, direction and cast all work well together.  What I thought was going to be a CGI inflated mess of a film plagued by re-shoots is instead a very well done thriller.  In every sense of the word, this movie shakes, rattles and shocks you. It’s a highly entertaining summer treat.  I think Pitt needs to keep his hand in the producing chair as well as the acting gig because I can only imagine what that dreadful first cut looked like before he took the gloves off and cut it into this 115 minute adrenaline blast. I also really like the casting of True Blood and The Killing TV alum Mireille Enos as Pitt’s wife and mother of two daughters. They make a very believable couple and instead of hiring a hot bland actress, the filmmakers hired a woman with poignancy, depth and beauty.  Nice one make believers!

Here is the trailer-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EC7P5WdUko

For my colleague Chris McHugh’s take, visit http://www.film-addict.com and feed your fix on all things movies.