Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone
2007 Dir. Ben Affleck

Originally I was planning to write about Good will hunting this week being that it is my favorite
“Boston in the fall” movie. However Last night I watched a film that forced me to change that plan, Gone Baby Gone Is a movie that impressed me so much that I couldn’t wait to write about it, and being the some of the people behind Good Will Hunting are also responsible for this flick I have decided that this is a reasonably justified  swap.
Gone Baby Gone is Ben Affleck’s (a man who apparently loves Boston more than any other city as of the three movies that he has written or directed so far all of them have been set in the Boston area) directorial debut and it features the All-star cast of:
Casey Affleck (Ben’s younger brother and frequent collaborator), Morgan Freeman (a Man who has literally played God), and Ed Harris (frequent action movie villain and occasional fictional astronaut).

Gone Baby Gone is a Boston crime film that focuses on a missing child case. Casey Affleck plays a private investigator, Patrick Kenzie, hired by the family of this missing girl to take a deeper look into the case. Patrick is a private investigator so he works outside of law and has a lot of connections in the sketchier sides of Boston, the drug dealers and the dive bars; Patrick knows that the people he has access to would never talk to the police even to help find a missing child. The plot thickens as missing money is introduced and then the film takes off on a complex series of twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat trying to guess what might happen next.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes either a good suspenseful crime thriller full of twists, or the city of Boston, Affleck can’t go three scenes without reminding the audience where the film is set with some sort of iconic landmark. 

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Directed by: Steven Spielberg 1981

I recently had the opportunity to catch a screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark in IMAX and I must admit that it was probably the most fun i have ever had at the movie theater almost ever.  Raiders of the Lost Ark is among my favorite films of all time (and has been on that list ever since i was five years old). Spielberg crafted this action adventure classic that manages to fit in  several moments of Tenderness between characters, Comedy, and even a number of genuinely frightening parts.

From the very first scene of the film one can tell that they are in for a non-stop action packed ride of a film. Indiana Jones is trekking through the jungle where he finds an ancient temple that contains a golden treasure as well as countless booby traps and pitfalls. The first fifteen minutes of the film set up the rest of the film perfectly. The Hero, Indiana Jones, is set us as an intelligent explorer who is collecting artifacts for reasons of science and research. the first sequence of the film also sets up on of the main Villains of the film. Rene Belloq is a rival Archaeologist who allies himself with the Nazis in an effort to find artifacts for reasons of money and power.

Indy is hired by the US government to track down an artifact that they believe the Nazis are after. they claim that Hitler is looking for the Ark of the Covenant because legend says that whoever carries the ark in front of their army will be unstoppable. If that wasn't enough Indiana also learns that his former mentor has gone missing and he is the only man who knew would it would take to locate the Ark. The film then takes off on a series oh mini adventures that span the globe and introduce new and interesting characters for Indiana to interact with.

One of the most effective pieces of Raiders is it's powerful score. Every time i hear John Williams amazing "Raiders March" I almost want to jump out of my seat and go off to find an adventure of my own.