Susan Hated Literature

Jun 10 2008

Gone Baby Gone

Published by Fence under Moving Pictures

Dir: Ben Affleck
Writ: Ben Affleck, Aaron Stockard. Based on book by Dennis Lehane Casey Affleck in Gone Baby Gone

Casey Affleck … Patrick Kenzie
Michelle Monaghan … Angie Gennaro
Morgan Freeman … Capt. Jack Doyle
Ed Harris … Det. Remy Bressant
John Ashton … Det. Nick Poole
Amy Ryan … Helene McCready
Amy Madigan … Beatrice ‘Bea’ McCready
Titus Welliver … Lionel McCready

This film’s release here and in Britain was delayed for a considerable time due to the supposed similarities between the plot and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. I can see what it happened, but in reality there aren’t that many similarities. The film is about Patrick Kenzie and his “associate” Angie Gennaro who have been hired to track down a missing child, Amanda McCready. Almost at once they find out that the media story isn’t quite the truth.

Tags: 9 Stars, Aaron Stockard, abduction, Amy Madigan, Amy Ryan, based on book, Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, child abuse, crime, Dennis Lehane, Ed Harris, Gone Baby Gone, John Ashton, kidnapping, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, murder, police, R16, Titus Welliver

9 responses so far

Jan 19 2007

Smokin’ Aces

Published by Fence under Moving Pictures

Writ & Dir: Joe Carnahan

Jeremy Piven - Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel
Ryan Reynolds - Richard Messner
Ray Liotta - Donald Carruthers
Ben Affleck - Jack Dupree
Andy Garcia - Stanley Locke
Alicia Keys - Georgia Sykes

You know I really wanted to enjoy this film. The trailer promised gunfights and bullets and blood and gore, but all in a flashy, enjoyable way. The film didn’t deliver.

It was far too much of a muddle, and it seemed as though it wasn’t really sure what sort of a film it wanted to be. Was it a serious crime film? A buddy-cop film? A flashy film heaving with comedy and violence? It tried to be all of them, and failed, ending up as a mess of a wannabe stylish flick.

Don’t get me wrong, it had some good scenes, some laughs and some style, it just didn’t work as a whole. If only it had decided whether it wanted to go dark and serious or violence and fun.

The Aces of the title is Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel, who knows a hell of a lot about the workings of a crime family that the FBI would love to put away, so when they hear about a hit on him they go to work in an attempt to protect him and get him to give evidence. But agents Messener and Caruthers aren’t the only ones after Aces. There are the bail bondsmen determined to track him down, and then there is a whole host of assassins out to collect the bounty on his head. We all know this won’t end without a lot of bloodshed.

Blood there is in bucketloads, but very little else.

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