Ben Affleck continues to prove that he is the closest person, past or present, with a chance (however slight) to unthrone Clint Eastwood as the greatest actor/director combo ever. It will take a herculean effort to unseat Eastwood’s five Oscar nominations for directing (wins for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby) to go along with over 35 other directing credits, as well as nearly 60 acting credits. Affleck, at just 50 years of age, very well could surpass Eastwood’s acting credits, but another 35 directing credits seems like a stretch. Air is Affleck’s fifth feature-length film. Three of his previous four (Gone Baby Gone, The Town, Argo) have resonated strongly with critics and audiences, while his fourth (Live By Night) wasn’t that far of a drop-off. What’s great about Affleck as a director is his drive and creativity. The staples of his directed movies are taut scripts, formidable, seasoned casts, and expert artisans (cinematographers, sound engineers, production designers) who he allows the freedom to shine. Air delivers on all fronts. It’s a movie that would be difficult not to enjoy.
Category Archives: Viola Davis
The Woman King (2022)
Living Legend Viola Davis (Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom ) captivates each scene she’s in, regardless of the movie. With as much range as anyone in Hollywood, Davis has earned her share of accolades, amassing four Academy Award nominations in the last 13 years. But she’s never had the opportunity to headline a big-budget movie on her name alone. In Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball, Beyond the Lights), The Woman King, Davis gets the opportunity to do just that. Davis’s performance well could earn her a sixth Oscar nomination (in a very competitive year). The film, filled with epic battle scenes, told an important true story. Ultimately, though, The Woman King failed to live up to my expectations.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)
As I write this post today, it has been just hours since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named its nominees for The 93rd Academy Awards, recognizing the best of what may have been its most unique year. 2020 was a pretty dreadful year all around. It was my most challenging, trying, and somber year. I’ve mentioned quite a few times in other reviews that most of the big blockbusters that were initially scheduled to be released were delayed to 2021 in hopes that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic would signal a return of moviegoers to the theaters. The jury is still out on each of these. Indeed, some theaters that closed their doors back in March of 2020 will never open their doors again. Others will see far less patronage because many movies have Video on Demand releases on the same day or shortly after their theatrical release.
Widows (2018)
After watching Widows, the best movie of 2018 that has been released before Thanksgiving) I can very confidently say that if you team up director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, Shame) and writer Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl, HBO’s Sharp Objects), I’m going to have my butt in a theatre opening weekend. I’ve heard about Widows for months now but never actually saw the trailer until the day before I saw the movie. And I still haven’t seen the whole trailer. I needly only watch the first half of it to know that it was a movie that I wanted to see and that it was a movie I wanted to see right away. With all due respect to A Star Is Born, I think that its parade walk to 2018’s Best Picture just hit a major roadblock in McQueen’s masterpiece of a movie. The man who was narrowly beaten out for Best Director (Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity) hardly seemed upset when half an hour later, his 12 Years a Slave won topped Gravity (and others) for the Best Picture of 2013. He’s been off the grid for the last five years (save for a few shorts), but he is back with a movie that might be better than any of his previous three masterpieces (12 Years a Slave, Shame, Hunger Strike). The only thing missing is an appearance by Michael Fassbender, but you won’t even notice. Not only has McQueen delivered the best movie of 2018 (so far), but he’s brought the best ensemble of the year, one that will likely garner awards for a couple of people and a surefire one for the film’s protagonist Veronica (Viola Davis – Fences, The Help). And while some might think I’m crazy to suggest that her performance in Widows is better than her performances in Fences, The Help, or Doubt, I would counter that she led a star-studded cast in this movie. In contrast, while she was fantastic in her other three films, she wasn’t the center character. AND, I am still upset that she was put up for Best Supporting Actress in 2016 Fences, an award that she won) because that was a leading performance and would have won Best Lead Actress. She was not anymore a supporting character than Denzel Washington was. But I digress…
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Fences (2016)
We all know about Alonzo Harris (Training Day). Most of us know about Frank Lucas (American Gangster). Some of us even know Tobin Frost (Safe House). Add Troy Maxson to that list of vile characters portrayed by Denzel Washington. Okay, so the character he portrays in Fences (a movie he also directed) isn’t AS bad as the characters portrayed in those aforementioned films. He’s a different kind of bad. There is some good in Troy. I think he means well. But he is a complete hypocrite. He talks about doing right by others, providing for his family, and teaching them the importance of right over wrong. But in the end, Troy does only things that fill his massive ego. And in doing so, he hurts every single person who has ever cared for him.
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