Juneathon 11 - Day #6
Oakbourne Park (pics to follow)
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Todays movie recommendation:
Boston bank robber Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) falls for a woman his gang had previously taken hostage after feigning a chance meeting with her to ensure that she can't identify them in Affleck's adaptation of author Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves. The son of a tough Charlestown, MA thief, Doug passed on his chance to walk the straight and narrow in favor of becoming a career bank robber. Not only is Doug's crew one of the most ruthless in Boston, but they're also one of the best; they never leave a trace of evidence, and always make a clean break. Over the years, Doug's fearless partners in crime have become something of a surrogate family to him; Jem (Jeremy Renner), the most dangerous of the bunch, is the closest thing Doug has ever had to a brother. But a divide begins to open between the two career criminals when Jem takes bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) hostage during a particularly tense heist, and the group subsequently discovers that she hails from their own tight-knit suburb. When Jem proposes that the gang make an effort to find out just how much Claire recalls about the crime, Doug fears that his volatile partner may do more harm than good and volunteers himself for the job. Later, Doug turns on the charm while pretending to bump into Claire by chance, and becomes convinced that she doesn't suspect him of being the same man who just robbed her bank. As the feds turn up the heat on the gang, Doug finds himself falling for Claire, and searching desperately for a means of cutting his ties to his criminal past. But with each passing day, Jem grows increasingly suspicious of Doug's true motivations. Now caught between two worlds with no chance of turning back, Doug realizes that his only hope for finding a happy future is to betray the only family he's ever known
I always thought Ben Affleck was a decent actor. Not saying he is DiCaprio or Bale, but a decent actor with a fine career. 10 years ago, he became a huge celebrity, but then people got tired of hearing about him and Jennifer Lopez, and he had a couple bad movies, and everyone kind of wrote him off. That always made me sad, cause I thought he was a likable actor.
Well, he directed and starred in this flick, and it was fantastic. Reminded me a lot of the movie HEAT. The story was an original concept, which is hard to come across these days.
Coming off "The Hurt Locker" was Jeremy Renner. He was nominated in this role as well (best supporting). It was a good character, and I thought Renner nailed it.
and of course, this was the last movie for Pete Postlethwaite (In the Name of the Father, The Usual Suspects). Interesting role in this flick, and a good one to go out on.
Loved the ending of this movie. Well done, Mr. Affleck. With this movie and Gone Baby Gone, Affleck needs to be taken seriously as a director. Who knew?
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