Ben Affleck shocked the world by going from J. Lo’s dorky boyfriend with baby teeth to respected director with Gone Baby Gone and The Town in the space of a few years. And for his next project, according to Vulture, he’s going all Blue Valentine method on us.  You see what a few good reviews will do to you? His next film, Argo, is about people hiding out in a safehouse during the Iranian revolution.  Naturally, he plans to make his actors actually live in a safehouse together.

Vulture has learned that Affleck intends to have the ensemble cast actually live together in a single “safe-house” for half a month prior to the start of production, to better re-create the claustrophobic and tense conditions of the six American diplomats unlucky enough to be inside the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the Islamic revolution in November 1979.

The film is based on this 2007 Wired article, “How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran”,
about the true story of how a CIA agent helped six diplomats who’d managed to escape capture and hide out during the revolution flee the country by smuggling them out of the country passed off as a Canadian film crew.  The fake film was called “Argo.”  Prior to that, the diplomats spent 84 days in a house together.  The article describes the experience thusly:

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a guy rapping about Con Air.  It seemed like something you’d want to know exists. |via CinemaBlend|

Ben Affleck and George Clooney will wag your dog. Clooney is producing Argo, with Ben Affleck in negotiations to direct, based on a Wired article about how the CIA invented a fake sci-fi movie to rescue six diplomats taken hostage during the Iranian takeover of the American embassy in Tehran in 1979.  Wait, it’s not about Bawston?  Lame.  Did you get the hawstages, cawksuckah?  I’m puttin this whole embassy in my reahview. |THR|

Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem in Bond 23??? Earlier this week it was Bardem who’d been offered a role in Bond 23, and then late yesterday the news was that Ralph Fiennes had been offered one (a different part than Bardem, reportedly).   This is of course assuming that MGM has their sh*t together enough to actually make a movie, which seems anything but certain at this point.  I’ll tell you this, though, I will tongue kiss an old man’s balls before I ever pronounce Ralph Fiennes’ name “Rafe.”  Rafe?  Your name’s Ralph, dude.

Fonzi’s kid directed a movie:

Read the rest of this entry »

More like Ben Abs Flex, amirite?

On this week’s Filmdrunk Frotcast:

• We discuss Ben’s charity softball game against the Jonas Brothers. Their charity? Raising awareness about not texting while you drive. Sadly, this is all 100% true.
• Brendan shows up drunk and interrupts everybody. Also, he wore an argyle sweater vest.
• We play one of the most epic Old Dirty Bastard clips in history, sent to us once again by Danger Guerrero (you can watch it below).
• I try unsuccessfully to convey why I think Project Runway is still must-see television.
• We play “Meet the Drunkards” with ChinoMoreno (surprise! she’s a girl).  The best part is when I ask her an idiotic question and she says “….Ugh.”  Priceless. Oh yes, expect that sound bite to get re-used. (34:30)
• Finally, we review The Town with Ryan Kearney, movie editor for TBD.com and Masshole. (an hour in)

BONUS FROTCAST DRINKING GAME: Take a drink every time someone says “reahview.”  DISCLAIMER: You might die.

Stream

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download

Subscribe (on iTunes, on our non-iTunes Feed)

Read the rest of this entry »

Ben Affleck’s blue-collah, sophomore directawrial effit The Town landed in the tawp spawt at the bawx awfice this weekend, earning an estimated $23.8 million on 3,500 screens.  That’s more than Gone Baby Gone‘s entire run and only three million less than the opening of The Departed.  How ya like them apples?  Maybe not as much as that daygo Scoahsese’s, but still pretty good fer some hahd on from Southie.  GO SAWX.

Meanwhile, Easy A skated to a respectable second place with $18.2 million on the strength of largely positive word of mouth (thereby proving a female-led teen movie can be successful, provided it’s, you know… good).  Industry analysts say Emma Stone is poised to become the next big thing, but caution her against “pulling a Lohan.”  (*pantomimes BJ, chugs invisible wine*)

In a shocking turn of events, Devil was kind of disappointing.  Its $12.6 million opening was the lowest yet for “an M.Night Shyamalan-branded horror movie.”  Which I guess means it did worse than The Happening.  It’s strange that the film didn’t do well, because the marketing plan seemed fool proof:

Step 1: Present film featuring no stars and a concept worthy of a six-minute sketch.

Step 2: Mention that it comes “from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan”, America’s favorite filmmaker.

Step 3: ???

Step 4: Profit.

Don’t blame yourselves, guys, no one could’ve possibly seen this coming.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ben Affleck is fast becoming one of my favorite directors in Hollywood.  The Town is no Gone Baby Gone — it doesn’t really break any new ground — it’s just a sawlid blue collah directawrial effit.  Ben Affleck’s gawt a jawb ta do: make a Bawstonsploitation cawps and rawbahs movie that’s as ennahtainin as that daygo Scoahsayzee did wit the Depahted.  I’m heah ta tell you queahs that when Affleck punches the time clawk, he goes in theah an’ gives a gritty pahfahmance, leaves it all on the screen, an’ then goes home ta watch the Sawx like a good union slawb.

The film follows a pretty well-worn blueprint (though in this case, you might call it “tried and true”).  Ben Affleck plays a big, tough bank rawbah by da name a Dougy MacRay.  MacRay is a real blue-cawllah guy, who grew up in Chahlestown, where (as the beginning title card tells us) robbing banks is a trade passed down from father to son.  MacRay isn’t your average bank rawbah though — da kid’s gawt smahts, an’ a good haht.  But that won’t stop him from doin’ what needs ta be done ta go fahwahd in this dawg eat dawg enviyahment.  Jeremy Renner from The Hurt Lockah plays the Pesci to Affleck’s Liotta, the Mickey Rourke to his Eric Roberts, the ‘Worm’ to his Matt Damon, the Pesci to his DeNiro — the crazy best friend who’s always taking it one step too far and getting him “jammed up.”  Togethah they lead a rag-tag crew of no-screwin-around professional bank rawbahs from da old neighbahhood, guys like Gloansy Magloan, Mikey High Tawps, and Boogah Lips O’Shea.

Read the rest of this entry »