I have to admit that this is not an original topic. My favorite movie podcast came up with the topic, but their pics were so off that I felt obliged to do my own post about it. What I find most unique about the movies that made my list is that I would consider them all to be A or A+ movies. Without doing any research, I would venture to say that there is no other city in the world that would have six movies that would have that I would grade as an A or A+. My list here doesn’t even include terrific movies like The Departed, Patriots Day, Stronger, Spotlight, or the underrated Live by Night. Also, some would consider two phenomenal movies (The Social Network, Shutter Island) to be Boston-based. For the purposes of my six pack, I did not. Also, I am aware of the influences of the Affleck brothers, Matt Damon, and Mark Wahlberg on their home cities. Every movie I referenced on my list as well as in this opening paragraph should be seen.

• The Town – This is probably my favorite movie of all-time. I go back and forth between The Town and The Revenant. Each unseated The Shawshank Redemption, which had been my favorite movie for over a decade and still sits in my #3 spot. It also made me realize that lucked out with Ben Affleck deciding to try the other side of the camera. With his acting skills in question, mostly due to the numerous terrible films (Gigli, Armageddon, Boiler Room, Reindeer Games, Bounce, Pearl Harbor, Daredevil, Paycheck, Jersey Girl, Surviving Christmas) he had been starring in such a short period of time, Affleck realized he needed to reinvent himself. And boy did. His first directorial effort (Gone Baby Gone) was an instant classic and started the debate of whether he should spend his time in front of the camera or behind it. He did both with his second (The Town) and third (Argo) films and started drawing early comparisons to Clint Eastwood. When there was talk of Affleck switching careers and getting into politics, I remember thinking of how deprived we would be without this, sudden, all-around Hollywood icon. The Town lives and breathes Boston crime. Affleck shines as the leader of a four-man gang who just can’t say no to one last payday. Jeremy Renner, fresh off his breakout performance in The Hurt Locker, earned his second Oscar nomination in as many years as the uncontrollable loose cannon Jem, the right-hand man to Affleck’s Doug. Add a dose of Rebecca Hall as Doug’s love interest Claire who was extremely effective in making Doug’s decision to turn straight all the more agonizing and you have a film that you’ll want to watch again and again. Oh, and did I mention that Affleck got the green light to shoot the film’s climax in the bowels of Fenway Park? Well, he did, and it was amazing!
• Good Will Hunting – I remember sitting in the movie theatre with two of my best friends just days after having ACL surgery on my right knee in utter awe of what I had just witnessed on screen. It was December 1997 and there was all of this buzz around this movie where Robin Williams and some new guy named Matt Damon starred. I was in a trance from the opening credits to the end about the mathematical prodigy Will (Damon) who had convinced himself that, despite the genius that could earn him more money than most of us could only ever dream of, working as a minimum wage blue-collar worker was much more honorable. The self-hate possessed by Will as a result of abandonment, abuse of foster parents, emotional detachment from anyone significant really struck me hard. Damon’s breakout performance was so unique that you, often, didn’t know if you should love him or hate him…feelings not unknown to Will himself. Williams earned a Best Supporting Academy Award win as Will’s tough but genuine court-mandated therapist. The pacing of this film was so well done that you felt like you were growing with these characters over the course of at least a few months. Just as raw was Ben Affleck as Will’s best friend Chucky and Minnie Driver as Will’s scholarly love interest Minnie. Driver. Driver earned an Oscar nomination for the woman who stood by Will’s side despite him hurting her over and over again. To top it off, Damon and Affleck won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and told the old folks in Hollywood that the new kids had arrived.
• Manchester by the Sea – Almost perfect. That’s how I often describe the role Casey Affleck was born to play. A man driven by self-hate, Affleck’s Lee Chandler thinks he’s nothing more than minimum wage jobs and a furniture one bedroom apartment who drinks too much and is willing to start a fight too often just so he can get the beatdown he deserves. This all comes after the most unforgivable of mistakes leaves Lee without the life he once entertained. When his older brother dies, he gives custody of his high school son (Lucas Hedges) to Lee, despite the agreement that Lee and his brother had to the contrary. The weight carried on his shoulders by Lee as he returns to his hometown to care for his nephew makes it feel like we aren’t just a major character in Lee’s life, but we are Lee ourselves. The scene near the end with his ex-wife Michelle Williams does a couple of things. First, it earned her an Academy Award nomination despite having less than 15 minutes of total screentime. And second, it showed how an Academy Award winner can be completely outacted by another actor in the same movie that said actor won the Oscar for. Williams dominated the single best movie scene of 2016. And, worse, it wasn’t even really close. If you get a chance after watching this movie, watch the scene I’m talking about again. Or a third time. Manchester by the Sea screams the hardworking, blue-collar life that defines Boston. It emphasizes the drinking and release from a hard day’s work. And it exemplifies how Bostonians take care of each other, for better or for worse. There is nothing that others won’t forgive, but there is plenty to offer in terms of inability to self-forgive.
• Mystic River – There is SO much here. Sean Penn and Tim Robbins each winning his first Oscar nomination win for lifelong pals whose friendship is tested when the unthinkable happens to Jimmy’s (Penn) teenage daughter. With all due respect to all of his other fine films, THIS is Clint Eastwood’s crown jewel when it comes to directing. To have this much talent around him (the aforementioned plus Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurence Fishburne, Laura Linney) and being able to direct EACH of them to Oscar-deserving recognition (had there been a few more nomination slots to go around…Harden did receive a nod). The scene alone where ***spoiler***Jimmy is told that his daughter is dead won him each much-deserved Oscar right there. The film tests the bonds of family and friendship and what those with power are both capable of and capable of getting away with in this small Boston suburb feels so real even when you don’t want it to be. It’s hard to say a ton without spoiling this, but my God, what an ensemble Eastwood gathered. Each brought a career-changing performance in this popular-favorite novelist Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River, a film that is absolute must watch, my second favorite film of 2003 (Cold Mountain).
• The Fighter – The backdrop of David O’Russell’s true story boxing movie is the streets of Lowell, Massachusetts, a blue collar, rundown town where everybody is interested in everyone else’s  business and addiction is rampant. Mickey (Mark Whalberg) and Dickie (Christian Bale) star as polar opposite brothers. Mickey is still fresh in his career while Dickie, his older brother of nine years, is far from the peak of his career. Dickie taught Mickey all that he knew about boxing, but is not a person he can rely on due to his battle with cocaine. The accents are thick and the family dynamics deep. The performances are rich with Bale (win), Melissa Leo (win), and Amy Adams (nominee) all being recognized during Oscar season. And while all three, as well as Whalberg, are fantastic it’s Bale’s enigmatic Dickie who rises and shines in this career-defining role.
• Gone Baby Gone – Another gem starring the Affleck brothers, this one with Ben behind the camera and Casey (in really his first starring role) in front of it. Casey and Michelle Monaghan star as a pair of detectives who are on the hunt for a missing little girl. Hired by the little girl’s aunt and uncle because of their connections to the neighborhood and their potential ability to gather facts that the Boston Police Department might not be able to, Gone Baby Gone shows a neighborhood where everyone knows everyone and generations after generations live on the same block and how people help their own. So why not get one of your own to get in there and do the dirty work of gathering clues that might not otherwise be accessible? One of Boston’s very own (Ben Affleck) directed this hidden gem of a movie as his debut. This film wouldn’t have worked as well with any other director behind the camera.