Tag: Zoe Saldana

Film Review: Live by Night

Affleck’s gangster pic falls flat

As gangster Joe Coughlin, Ben Affleck perfects the art of stoicism.

The best thing that can be said about Live by Night, Ben Affleck’s third writing/directing attempt (after the infinitely better Gone Baby Gone and The Town) is that Affleck definitely looks great in an overcoat and a fedora. Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, Affleck’s newest picture is a run-of-the-mill 1920s gangster piece that offers nothing new to the genre, and nothing worth watching on screen, save, of course, for that fedora, which sure suits Affleck’s square-jawed face well.
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Film Review: Out of the Furnace

I see the world / Feel the chill . . .

Woody Harrelson proves lollipops aren't just for kids as he menaces Casey Affleck in Out of the Furance.
Woody Harrelson sucking on a lollipop in Out of the Furnace just might be the most frightening thing you’ll see on screen this year.

With both the holidays and the cold weather upon us, now is a great time to go to the movies, but director Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace may not be the film to see on a family outing. A bleak, gritty look at life in rural Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the picture blends elements of Winter’s Bone and The Fighter, with dashes of The Deer Hunter and Fight Club tossed in for good measure. Although the film boasts some terrific performances, it feels recycled at best, and derivative at worst.  Continue reading “Film Review: Out of the Furnace”