My First Assignment: “Gone Baby Gone”
by Andrew BreitbartI promised in my earlier post that I would watch more movies.
Well, tonight I watched a doozie on Starz, and I must say, I have to give Benjamin Geza Affleck props. I have made fun of him publicly (it’s easy!) but this guy picked good material and directed it wonderfully. His brother Casey is phenomenal.
It’s like nothing I expected with a name like “Gone Baby Gone.” I thought Susie had me watching a chick flick. It was anything but. Ed Harris and his wife Amy Madigan, the douchebags that crossed their arms when Elia Kazan was awarded a lifetime Oscar, co-starred. So does Morgan Freeman who was injured in a mysterious car crash in Mississippi last year. But Casey Affleck really emerges the savior of this creepy and gritty missing child crime mystery tale.
Whoever cast the Boston grotesques that littered the film, my hat’s off to you. These profoundly ugly people really created a backdrop that made you want to root for the kid not to be found and brought back to her natural origins.
If Ben is willing to rethink his love of Marxism and former neighbor, pal and history revisionist Howard Zinn, perhaps there is redemption for him. After seeing this film, I can’t help thinking he’s gotten a bum steer in this impossible town. He certainly has talent.
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35 Comments
Couldn’t agree more about Ben’s talent in the directing realm. Hope he picks a project as impressive as Gone Baby Gone if he does get behind the camera again. More credit also deserves to be thrown his direction for his ardent support of and hands-on involvement with Operation Gratitude.
He did a decent turn as George Reeves in Hollywoodland.
It’s Ed Harris not Ed O’Neill. As for the movie, thought it was garbage and the “grotesques” that litter the opening seemed to me an elitist view of poor/working class neighborhoods. We’ve gone from Bogart, to Casey Afflek, Eastwood’s lasting appeal has proven audiences are not down with sensitive tough guys.
Casey “I swalled a bug” Affleck is indeed very well-cast in this film. I agree with the weak title, but there are a lot of weird movie titles for great films. I love discovering films like this and think if Big Hollywood (which is what everyone in this town means when they say “Hollywood” anyway), should spend their money on a bunch of films like this employing a lot of not-very-well-known actors and quietly make millions a few films at a time instead of losing your backlot real estate gambling on blockbusters that hit less often than they miss. But then again, I couldn’t care less about the international market.
Ed Harris is hot.
Walter Prz, I take your point on the grotesques. I just come from the John Waters school. If you’re going to cast fast, cast obese. If you’re going to cast ugly, cast putrid. And the effect was vivid. The obese molester woman with the coke problem was my fave. A keeper,
I have to respectfully disagree Andrew.
If you’ve read Lehane’s Kenzi and Gennaro series, the first problem is how horribly miscast the leads are.
Sorry, but Affleck was a total lightweight and utterly UNCONVINCING in the role. Must be the first time ever I’ve been embarrassed for an Affleck.
I can think of five actors who would have been superior, starting with the sensational actor who plays Sylar in Heroes. Affleck just does not have the chops for the really tough guy slash world weary Kenzie.
I expected Affleck to wince at a paper cut.
I know it’s boring and slightly silly to also say ‘well the book is better than the movie.’ Different mediums require different tellings.
But the female lead of Gennaro, as played Monaghan, is also unconvincing. Way too young. Like a child really.
I found Affleck Snr’s direction to be typical of many a first time directors effort. Too big on being fussy, intrusive, and irritating.
Amy Ryan was AMAZING though. Superb actress.
Jack, this is why I leave the reviewing to the pros!
Ha Andrew — thanks man, classy put down! It’s only opinion, and I did slide into pomposity.
You’re a pro putting a great site together though, you sir are NOT worse than Hitler
Can’t you get the small but perfectly formed Gutfeld to seat you in the RE studio, instead of remote where most of your subtle humor and asides fly straight over his largish head?
[...] Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » My First Assignment: “Gone Baby Gone” [...]
Jack,
Are you over here being naughty to my fantasy man, Greggy? I have to say, I was not terribly impressed with C. Affleck in this, either. I know, just as you said, Jack, there is a difference in the mediums, but after the book, it was not what I was expecting. I thought the “grotesques” as Andrew so named them, were great. I think I would have enjoyed it more, if I didn’t have the characters I had imagined in the roles replaced with a different vision. Or else I am just talking out of my ass.
Andrew,
Love the site! All of it. I have been a fan of the B-cast from day one, and this is a neat addition. Thanks.
Di — Greg is my GOD.
I am but a camp follower — no no, not Bill Shultz “camp.” All hail the Gut.
Of course, I hate Afflecks on principle, even so, I honestly think Casey (wow, I even hate the name) sucks in this role.
Have you (or anyone) noticed that the trashier, lessd revered the book, usually the better the movie?
Case NOT in point though.
L.A. Confidential — if you’ve read the books, IMHO the movie very nearly matched the muscular brilliance of the two Ellroy novels on which they were based?
Jack,
I hadn’t really thought of that. I do know several books that upset me when made into movies. First, the Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver. Love, love, love Deaver. Hated having Angelina,Denzel, and Queen Latifah in the the main roles. Second, Hannibal. Julianna Moore? Are you kidding me? Not the right move. When they did the remake of Red Dragon, which had been done years earlier, and better, with William Peterson in the lead, I liked it. But was disappointed in Red Dragon. I could go on forever, I pretty much cringe when I see a book is being adapted. If it is one of my favorites, I now just ignore it. I’d rather have the writer’s, and my view of the story.
BTW-Always a good idea to stay away from anything that marries the words Shulz and camp.
Don’t want to hijack Mr B’s thread here but..
1. Agreed — The Michael Mann directed TV movie MANHUNTER is fantasic, Brian Cox is creepy, and added bonus, check out Peterson’s humungously bowed legs.
2. Just got into Deaver via his excellent Location Scout trilogy. But then read his BIG BLUE and thought it sucked typeprint. Like stuffing the Internet Guide For Dummies into a Michael Crighton novel.
3. Saw the Bone Collector when it came out, was so-so. Now I’ve got all the related crime series books to read in sequence.
That movie freaked me out. My hubby had to walk out after the first half hour. Living in Boston but never seeing that part of it, the part that Affleck filmed was new to me. Dingy, creepy (my new fav. word) and foul was a word I could have never given, even to Southy, however this is Boston at its worse. I felt after having seen this one that a shower in bleach would be appropriate. GUUHHHH! But great flick. Casey Affleck has something. Good actor. And let me say I tried not to see this one. I didn’t want to, avoided it but I had to. Curiosity.
Well, I’m pretty unsophisticated, but I liked the movie and was actually impressed with Ben Afleck’s direction. The whole feel of the movie was of the Eastwood flick about child abduction and murder, Mystic River. I liked it as well. Both had a creepy, realistic, gritty feel to them.
BTW, one of my all-time favorites is LA Confidential. Great picture in so many ways. I have it and will watch it about once a year, and I still find new stuff in it each time.
[hijacking:]
Are my 2 media dissent posts (teen pathology tv threads) gone by coincidental glitch, or falsely censored by the Big Tent Monster and covered over with strawmen of triple-Prig personal vitriol and insinuated censorship charges??
The latter would be an boggling disgrace of reputation-extinguishing magnitude in Kosher Net. Way to answer “shoot the bottom of your own boat on day 1″.
“This week we stopped a little bit of the totalitarianism.”
I’m bowled over with impressed?
Ben married up. Of course he’s going to improve. Let’s just hope it sticks.
Jack,
To keep from hijacking thread here at BH,you can always PM me on Newsbusters, if you want to discuss books. I like talking to someone who has actually READ a book. What do you generally read? Anything genre in particular, or just whatever hits you at the time?
Loved Casey Affleck in this and the Assissination of Jesse James. Good year for him. Weird he didn’t strike while the iron was hot; looking at his IMDb page, he’s made only one film since then and it’s currently filming.
I think the reason this movie sticks to the ribs is because it ably presents a couple of moral conundrums, where good people get punished for doing good-hearted deeds and bad people don’t always getting their just deserts.
I loved LA Confidential. Its on my top ten list. First movie that gave Russell Crowe his introduction to the world…and what an introduction. This ladys reaction? Um who is he? Heh. It was brilliant and probably the best noirish movie to be made in decades.
There are grotesques across class spectrum to be sure, but the poorer classes don’t have the gym memberships, plastic surgery, and other tools to gloss over them. To pretend that there aren’t grotesques — or to take someone to task for pointing out the obvious is a bit obtuse. Nicole Kidman could not play that kids mother — no matter how many Jimmy Durante noses you put on her. That mom was real — too real.
Casey was perfect I thought. He wasn’t supposed to be an indomitable tough guy he was supposed to be a bit squeamish, which makes his doggedness all the better.
I saw “Gone, Baby, Gone” a few months ago, and I felt the same way. I hope Affleck sticks with directing.
BTW, I especially concur with the comments about Harris & Madigan, as to their disrespect of Kazan, the way many in the crowd behaved is one reason I have not watched a second of the Oscars since, nor do I have any plans to watch in the future.
I don’t watch any of the awards shows anymore. Can’t stomach the self-aggrandizement and political grand-standing. I’ll just read the results the next day.
First time commenting on the site. Great site as is Breitbart.com. Anyway, I too am not a big fan of Mr. Jen Garner, but this movie was awesome. Being a father of a very young daughter myself, and I risk losing my man card by saying this, it was an emotional rollercaoster (I can hear the laughs now) as I found myself arguing with a couple of the characters, as well as tearing up a few times. Kacey Affleck was awesome. It’s kind of hard to beleive it’s the same Affleck that has normally played a goof in films like “Good Will Hunting” and the “Oceans 11″ trilogy. Ed Harris was great as well. If you have a buck you can get it at a Redbox machine or they do show it pretty regularly on the cable/satellite movie channels as well as of late. In my opinion you’re missing out if you don’t see this movie.
Excellent movie and book. All of Dennis Lehane’s Kenzi and Gennaro books are very good, One of my favorite series. As far as John Waters is concerned, Serial Mom is a minor masterpiece. The first time Serial Mom talks to Dottie Hinkle on the phone is at least side-splitting. You Tube has a lot of clips from the movie. Later on.
Andrew, are you a professional film critic?
Rusty. The answer is no. You just read my first one. But i will use this new platform from time to time to show off how effortless the brilliance comes. In all sincerity, I am excited to start thinking about and writing about the pop culture I intake. Hopefully writing about it is effortless. For now it’s kind of forced.
Di, is that you?! My Say Anything GA friend!! Happy New Year!
I just wanted to let everyone know that they need to see the clip of BEN AFFLECK doing KEITH OLBERMANN on SNL (I know, I know) … BUT, it’s hilarious & makes perfectly clear that no one with a single working brain cell should take msnbc or keith olbermann seriously.
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/countdown-with-keith-olbermann/805561/
Sorry I’m not talking about GONE BABY GONE, but at least Affleck, whom I’d counted out and labeled an absolute buffoon a long time ago, is the topic. Off to put GONE BABY GONE in my queue.
Thanks for the recommendation and congratulations on your new site. Best wishes, Andrew.
Thanks for the recommendation and congratulations on your new site. Look forward to reading. Now when are you going to talk about Gran Torino?
Best wishes, Andrew.
[...] after Beethoven, Shakespeare and Bogart. Admittedly, some of the revelations are old hat, as with Breitbart’s confession of how certain conservatives really feel about the working poor: Whoever cast the Boston grotesques [...]
http://actionman-nickspix.blogspot.com/2007/11/review-gone-baby-gone.html
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