A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, the much-anticipated biopic about Mister Rogers and his television show, isn’t so much about the man as it is about a story about a man coming to terms with the life he has, letting go of the anger he carries, and becoming the husband and father that he knows he can and wants to be. It’s an interesting take on a trailer that makes you think that this film will be all about Fred Rogers’ (Tom Hanks – Cast Away, Captain Phillips) life on and off the camera. And to an extent, that’s true, but that is not the focal point of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
Category Archives: Chris Cooper
The Town (2010)
Ben Affleck’s (Gone Baby Gone, Live By Night) The Town was my favorite movie a few years ago. The Revenant has since replaced it, while The Shawshank Redemption will constantly vie for a top spot, but it’ll be a long time before The Town falls out of my Top 10. I’ve watched it three times (once in the theater), and I’ve enjoyed it just a little less with each viewing while appreciating it a little more with those watches. The Town also contains one of my all-time favorite scenes, the finale in Fenway Park depths.
Live by Night (2016)
For the last three or four years, I hope Ben Affleck can be our generation’s Clint Eastwood. Affleck has completely transformed himself into a Hollywood A-lister. With a career that began with Kevin Smith movies like Mallrats and Chasing Amy, Affleck became a household name when he won an Academy Award (best original screenplay) for Good Will Hunting, a film in which he co-starred with Matt Damon. Affleck then stars in big-budget blockbusters such as Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, and The Sum of All Fears. But after he started dating Jennifer Lopez and co-starred with her in both the forgettable Jersey Girl and Gigli, a movie that many people have called one of the worst movies ever made, his perception as an actor began taking a turn for the worse. Forgettable money grabbers like Daredevil, Paycheck, and Surviving Christmas accompanied tabloid fodder, and seemingly, in the blink of an eye, Affleck became sort of a joke in Hollywood circles.
August: Osage County (2013)
Primarily known for his work as executive director of some of the best television shows of the last 20 years (ER, The West Wing, Third Watch, Southland), John Wells is a newcomer in directing a feature film. Before August: Osage County, he has just one movie credit to his name (2010’s slightly disappointing The Company Men…a movie whose trailer made it seem like it was going to be a contender for movie of the year). But when it comes to assembling casts, I’m not sure a director can do any better. For his first film, he reeled in Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Mario Bello, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Craig T. Nelson. Not bad. But even the cast of The Company Men has nothing on August: Osage County. For this effort, with apologies to American Hustle, Wells has assembled the best cast ensemble you will see in all of 2013. American Hustle got five of the best actors and actresses on the planet, but August: Osage County got eight or nine great ones.
Continue reading August: Osage County (2013)
The Company Men (2010)
In August of 2010, I made a list of the movies I had to see before the end of the year after reading Entertainment Weekly’s Fall/Winter movie preview edition. I ranked 15 films in order. #1 was Ben Affleck’s The Town, which has turned out to be my favorite movie (as of 2011). #2 was Buried, which starred Ryan Reynolds. This movie, which I did not see in the theatre, was one of the biggest wastes of two hours of my life. And #3 was The Company Men, which starred 4 Academy Award winners. The release date of The Company Men kept getting pushed back further and further, and while its limited release date was in very late December, the vast majority didn’t have a chance to see it until 2011. By then, my list had changed based on the Oscar Buzz and the lukewarm reviews of The Company Men. I finally was able to check the movie out on Netflix. Based on the film I had seen since my initial list, The Company Men would have still made the top 15, but it would have been closer to the 12-15 range rather than the 1-3 range. To further digress into my poor list, Little Fockers was #4, Unstoppable #5, and The American #6. The movies I liked most were The Social Network (initially #7) and Blue Valentine (initially #8). The Fighter (initially #10), 127 Hours (initially #11), Love & Other Drugs (initially #13), as well as True Grit, Rabbit Hole, Black Swan, and The King’s Speech (both of which I did not even rank).