THE TOWN: A Family That Prays Together...Aint This One

4 out of 5 Popcorn Kernals

Click Here For The Trailer

I went into seeing this movie without much expectations, and truthfully, the pace of it had me wondering when things were going to pick up, but little did I know that that pacing was to get me ready for what turns out to be quite the adult, quite the professional, quite the unexpected, and quite possibly one of the best movies to come this season.

The town is about a family in Boston - in the city of Charlestown - where the skill of robbing banks is handed down from each generation to the next. Doug MacRay is played by Ben Affleck, who is also directing this thriller. He has directed before in the movie Gone Baby Gone and it shows that he not only has an eye for the camera, but he has really learned from a few good men (no pun intended). Doug's father Stephen (Chris Cooper) is serving multiple life sencences (which he describes in one of the most funniest and clever lines in the movie) for murders caused by his robberies, which Doug is trying NOT to duplicate. It is something that becomes hard when working with the crew he has been commissioned with which include, James (Jeremy Renner) a loose cannon who aches for action and has a loose trigger finger, Gloansy (Slaine), and Desmond (Owen Burke).

The Town of Charlestown feels like its own character at times, as we are introduced to what looks like a town used to secrets. It is very clean, with common people who seem to know each other, but like any live body, there are parasites that run through it that it just can't seem to get rid of, so the town continues to survive while a disease runs its course. Doug is caught up in this in the opening scene when they rob a bank, and he meets with the female bank manager Claire (Rebecca Hall), a woman that represents the cleanliness of the town, and when James decides to take her as hostage, you can tell even the parasites have their own diseases. Taking a hostage could mean a shoot-out, or having to eventually kill them for your own safety. Even with their masks on, and the manager eventually released, you can tell that James is still not sure if he has made the right decision in keeping her alive.

But that little robbery has sparked a match under the ass of their local FBI agency, and the investigator Adam (Jon Hamm) who knows who is doing these robberies, but hasn't the evidence to catch them. It has also sparked something in James - which shows the Hurt Locker star as one we are going to have to watch out for - who wants to perform another job as soon as possible. It has also sparked a little saliva from their overall boss Fergie (Pete Postelthwaite) who runs this operation from a florist shop he runs. Even behind the flowers the bugs still lurke. Everyone wants something from Doug - but Doug only wants Claire, and these forces soon realize his attachment for her, and use that leverage to their advantage in keeping Doug in the racket.

The performances are stellar, with Doug playing the "cool within" as he struggles with feelings of a different life while struggling with the decisions of the old. James and Claire are opposite coins in Doug's life, both actors have truly captured the eventual betrayal of Doug as well as a suffused love for him. I have to give it to Jon Hamm as the FBI agent, his years on Mad Men have shown he can delve into characters that are forced to change their nature from the one that everyone perceives him to be.

On a side note, The Town becomes a little white-washed in its tone. Are there any minorities in Boston anymore. I have been to Charlestown, and it didn't seem this non-progressive, but then again, it seems to be the way of Hollywood. It is forgiven once the performances build, and the choices have to be made by each one based upon Doug's wanting to get out, and James wanting to stay in. Their convictions remain all the way to the final moments in the movie. Everyone has to sacrifice something in this movie, and it is usually the thing they love the most.

I am reminded of many formulas this movie emulates, from Good Fellows, to The God Father, to even Bonnie and Clyde and Mystic River. There is action, but nothing that will blast your eardrums and blind your eyes. It's an energy of danger that lurks underneath, like an itch under the skin that you can't quite can't reach. But when you reach it...it feels pretty good.

DEVIL: Did he really make them do it?

2 out of  5  Popcorn Kernels.

See The Trailer Here

I knew from the opening scene of an aerial view of Philidelphia, that I really would have to be standing on my head to enjoy this latest from the mind, and only the mind of M.Night Shymalan's mind. That's right. There is so much going on in that head of his that ideas are just oooozing out his ears, ready for his young leages to swoop up and direct; namely John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine), and Brian Nelson (30 Days of Night) as screenwriter. They have been saddled with starting off what M.Night calls his "The Night Chronicles", so get ready, there may be two more of these movies heading your way.

Now I have to admit, the movie is watchable, in a B-Movie sort of way where as you walk in thinking this is going to be horror, but as soon as I saw the first victim, I realized this was turning into a comedy. The victim: a suicide who seemingly jumped from a high-story window many blocks away - not only landed with all body parts in-tact, but seemingly with little or no blood in sight. From that distance I would think in reality (even movie-reality) there wouldn't have been enough body mass for even Sponge Bob to have sucked up.

This is like the Lost episode of Survivor where five strangers are pulled together on an elevator, all having commited some sin in their lives, who must now deal with the greatest sin of all, and that is to have acting credits in this film. There is the Old Woman (Jenny O'Hara) who never stops nagging, the young woman (Bojana Novakovic) who never stops leering, the mattress salesman (Geoffrey Arend) who never stops...you guessed it...selling, the security guard (Bokeem Woodbine) a claustrophbic who never stops sweating, the mystery guest (Logan Marshall-Green) who never stops being...well a mystery. And of course, as our main guest, The Devil Himself, who may be among them, or who may be one of them, who actually needs to turn off the lights every time he actually has to kill someone. He's the Devil...can't he do one of those Darth Vadar mind-kills or something? Is he trying to kill the whole audience too by making us wade through this plot?

Well there is of course that suicide back in the beginning of our story, which is being investigated by a recovering drunk of a my-family-was-killed-and-i'll-be-dragging-that-along-with-my-film-career Police Detective (Chris Messina) who comes to the building in question only to find these strangers are trapped on an elevator. Why he didn't just take the other working elevators up to the floor in question, where the woman allegedly jumped in question, is my real question...but wait, that was NOT in the mind of M.Night was it? An actual cohesive plotline, imagine that. Well, he ends up watching this movie too, because he sits with the security guards as they watch the elevator passengers, and has deemed that THIS is more important than the previous dead body out there with no-blood on it. And wouldn't you know it, the building is lucky enough to have close circuit monitors to watch the elevators but the Devil has caused a malfunction in the speakers so the elevator victims can't hear.How lame is the Devil? But luckily the detective is blessed to be with the only security guard who received an advanced copy of the screenplay as recites all he knows about the devil, his grandmother, up-side jelly toast, the devil's purpose, how to appease him, when to get him some more jellyed toast, bla, bla, bla...

I like this idea, as I am sure the actors did too, but the execution is not the Twilight-Zone/Hitchcock feel I was hoping for. Each take the material too seriously, as if they were trying to Out-Act each other, and we are suppose to be thrown off the trail of the Devil with each body count...I just lost interest. I figured the real Devil was M.Night, because only the Devil would send out his minions to do his dirty work, and still claim credit.

But as always, one doth have to wait for that M.Night's final moment in the end of any film, when a plot twist doth reveal itself...and it doth...and I was twisted...wringing my hands at the fact that I WAITED for THAT! The Devil is a little pissed too. The audience is pissed as well. The concession stand is a little happy though. Oh well, see it if you must...or rent a good Hitchcock movie, and REALLY have a good time. Or see this one...and have a good laugh.