The Town is the dramatic story of a man born into a life of crime in Charlestown, Boston. Following in his father’s footsteps, Doug MacRay is a member of a gang of thieves. Fresh from their latest heist, MacRay begins to develop feelings for one of the victims and decides he wants out of the gang, and Charlestown. But getting out of “The Town” is never easy.

The Plot

A small group of robbers, disguised in ghoulish masks, pull off an almost perfect armed bank robbery in Charlestown, but not before taking the bank manager, Clare (Rebecca Hall), hostage. Once safely away, the gang set Clare free, however gang leader Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) volunteers to keep a closer eye on her.

What starts off as a plan to keep their hostage quiet quickly turns to friendship and more, and before long Doug finds himself falling for Clare.
Doug’s new found love spurs a need for change, and a desire to get out of the robbery business and Charlestown altogether. The only problem is that local crime boss (Pete Postlethwaite) as well as fellow gang member and best friend (Jeremy Renner) don’t see Doug leaving as a viable option.

The Town also stars fashionista Blake Lively, famous for her glamorous roles in hit US TV show Gossip Girl and one of few films she’s starred in The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants; The Town sees her in a dark and serious film role for the first time.

The Thoughts

The Town is Ben Affleck’s second outing as a director. It sees Affleck return home to Massachusetts, the State in which he grew up. Based on the novel Prince of Thieves by crime thriller writer Chuck Hogan (currently writing the horrific Strain trilogy with none other than Spanish Director Guillermo Del Toro), Affleck’s knowledge of the area and his experiences growing up successfully manage to give Hogan’s work an authentic, home grown feel. Much like with his first feature, Gone Baby Gone, you cannot help but admire Affleck’s directorial eye and knack for building tension.

But it’s not only his directing that you enjoy. Believe it or not, you will actually come to appreciate his acting. Affleck has long suffered in the public eye since his relationship with Jennifer Lopez and the greatest mistake in his career, Gigli. In fact, I still find myself trying to convince friends to watch a Ben Affleck movie. To be fair, Pearl Harbour didn’t help things, but since 2006 he has been carefully selecting projects to portray his talents. From a small roles in films such as Clerks II and State of Play to leading man in George Reeves biopic Hollywoodland, Affleck has proven himself time and again as an actor who can hold his own. Let’s not forget his better times in the late 90’s with Chasing Amy, Armageddon, Dogma, and the brilliant Good Will Hunting. He may have lost his way a little since then, but now he’s back, and better than ever.

Other impressive performances included Pete Postlethwaite (The Constant Gardener; Inception) as menacing Irish crime boss Fergus Colm, and a rather surprising performance from Blake Lively as MacRay’s ex-lover Krista. It’s a role that has perfectly set up Lively to portray more serious adult characters and move away from teen roles.

The dialogue felt very real and is testament to Affleck’s writing ability. As with Gone Baby Gone and Good Will Hunting, Affleck co-wrote the screenplay for The Town, and once again his talents shine through. The script is both serious and funny in just the right places. Building tension and gripping the audience, with a gradual release of anxiety. Toward the end of the film however, it feels as though the pace reduces drastically, but it’s certainly no bad thing.

What does feel rushed in the story though, is the flowering love between Doug and Clare. From the first encounter to their declarations of love takes very little time. But in the films defence, it does take a while before Doug manages to find his way into Clare’s bed. It is only a small flaw in an otherwise brilliant film.

The Town really is a rare find in cinema today. This story of a nice guy born into the wrong neighbourhood provides a great balance of thrill and drama. With well thought out dialogue, gripping tension, and enjoyable acting to boot, it’s certainly an enjoyable watch, and who knows, you might even begin to like Ben Affleck again.

The Film Buzz Official Rating: ********~~ (8/10)

UK Release Date: 24 September 2010

Director: Ben Affleck

Writers: Peter Craig, Ben Affleck, & Aaron Stockard (screenplay); Chuck Hogan (novel Prince of Thieves)

From left to right we have Robert Downey Jnr as Iron Man, Clark Gregg as S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Phil Coulson, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Chris Hemsorth will continue to play Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America,  Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury,  Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Mark Ruffalo will be the third actor of recent times to portray The Hulk. The balding man is Director and writer Joss Whedon, and the guy on the end is Zak Penn who along with Whedon will be penning The Avengers screenplay.

The Avengers was originally a Marvel comic that started back in the early 1960′s by writer and creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The Avengers were some of Marvel’s greatest superheroes all combined in one comic. Many different heroes have overtime appeared in The Avengers comic such as: Iron Man, Thor and Ant Man, the team was also sometimes made up of Gods, Robots, humans and aliens, somewhat  a diverse group. Since then The Avengers have been turned into films, animated TV series and video games.

Well we can’t wait for this latest Marvel incarnation of The Avengers, we’ll keep you in the know, but if you want it straight from the source you can check out  The Avengers Teaser Site.

The Baftas will be broadcasted on Sunday the 21st February.

BEST FILM:

AVATAR – James Cameron, Jon Landau

AN EDUCATION – Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey

THE HURT LOCKER

PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE – Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness

UP IN THE AIR - Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman, Daniel Dubiecki

Avatar

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM:

AN EDUCATION – Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey, Lone Scherfig, Nick Hornby

FISH TANK – Kees Kasander, Nick Laws, Andrea Arnold

IN THE LOOP – Kevin Loader, Adam Tandy, Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche

MOON – Stuart Fenegan, Trudie Styler, Duncan Jones, Nathan Parker

NOWHERE BOY – Robert Bernstein, Douglas Rae, Kevin Loader, Sam Taylor-Wood, Matt Greenhalgh

An Eduation

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER:

LUCY BAILEY, ANDREW THOMPSON, ELIZABETH MORGAN HEMLOCK, DAVID PEARSON - Directors, Producers – Mugabe and the White African

ERAN CREEVY – Writer/Director – Shifty

STUART HAZELDINE – Writer/Director – Exam

DUNCAN JONES - Director – Moon

SAM TAYLOR-WOOD – Director – Nowhere Boy

Sam Taylor Wood

DIRECTOR:

AVATAR – James Cameron

DISTRICT 9 – Neill Blomkamp

AN EDUCATION – Lone Scherfig

THE HURT LOCKER – Kathryn Bigelow

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS – Quentin Tarantino

James Cameron

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

THE HANGOVER – Jon Lucas, Scott Moore

THE HURT LOCKER – Mark Boal

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS – Quentin Tarantino

A SERIOUS MAN – Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

UP – Pete Docter, Bob Peterson

Up

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

DISTRICT 9 - Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell

AN EDUCATION – Nick Hornby

IN THE LOOP - Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche

PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE – Geoffrey Fletcher

UP IN THE AIR – Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

District 9

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE:

BROKEN EMBRACES – Agustín Almodóvar, Pedro Almodóvar

COCO BEFORE CHANEL – Carole Scotta, Caroline Benjo, Philippe Carcassonne, Anne Fontaine

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN – Carl Molinder, John Nordling, Tomas Alfredson

A PROPHET – Pascal Caucheteux, Marco Cherqui, Alix Raynaud, Jacques Audiard

THE WHITE RIBBON – Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka, Margaret Menegoz, Michael Haneke

Coco Before Chanel

ANIMATED FILM:

CORALINE – Henry Selick

FANTASTIC MR FOX – Wes Anderson

UP – Pete Docter

Fantastic Mr Fox

LEADING ACTOR:

JEFF BRIDGES – Crazy Heart

GEORGE CLOONEY – Up in the Air

COLIN FIRTH – A Single Man

JEREMY RENNER – The Hurt Locker

ANDY SERKIS – Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

Colin Firth

LEADING ACTRESS:

CAREY MULLIGAN - An Education

SAOIRSE RONAN - The Lovely Bones

GABOUREY SIDIBE - Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

MERYL STREEP – Julie & Julia

AUDREY TAUTOU – Coco Before Chanel

Carey Mulligan

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

ALEC BALDWIN – It’s Complicated

CHRISTIAN McKAY – Me and Orson Welles

ALFRED MOLINA – An Education

STANLEY TUCCI – The Lovely Bones

CHRISTOPH WALTZ – Inglourious Basterds

Christain Mckay

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

ANNE-MARIE DUFF – Nowhere Boy

VERA FARMIGA – Up in the Air

ANNA KENDRICK – Up in the Air

MO’NIQUE – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS – Nowhere Boy

Kristin Scott Thomas

MUSIC:

AVATAR – James Horner

CRAZY HEART - T-Bone Burnett, Stephen Bruton

FANTASTIC MR FOX – Alexandre Desplat

SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL – Chaz Jankel

UP – Michael Giacchino

Crazy Heart

CINEMATOGRAPHY

AVATAR – Mauro Fiore

DISTRICT 9 – Trent Opaloch

THE HURT LOCKER - Barry Ackroyd

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS – Robert Richardson

THE ROAD – Javier Aguirresarobe

The Hurt Locker

EDITING

AVATAR - Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron

DISTRICT 9 – Julian Clarke

THE HURT LOCKER - Bob Murawski, Chris Innis

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS - Sally Menke

UP IN THE AIR - Dana E. Glauberman

Up in the Air

PRODUCTION DESIGN

AVATAR – Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, Kim Sinclair

DISTRICT 9 – Philip Ivey, Guy Potgieter

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE – Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan

THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS – Dave Warren, Anastasia Masaro, Caroline Smith

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS – David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds Wasco

The Young Victoria

COSTUME DESIGN

BRIGHT STAR – Janet Patterson

COCO BEFORE CHANEL – Catherine Leterrier

AN EDUCATION – Odile Dicks-Mireaux

A SINGLE MAN – Arianne Phillips

THE YOUNG VICTORIA – Sandy Powell

SOUND

AVATAR - Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, Tony Johnson, Addison Teague

DISTRICT 9 – Brent Burge, Chris Ward, Dave Whitehead, Michael Hedges, Ken Saville

THE HURT LOCKER – Ray Beckett, Paul N. J. Ottosson

STAR TREK – Peter J. Devlin, Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Mark Stoeckinger, Ben Burtt

UP – Tom Myers, Michael Silvers, Michael Semanick

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

AVATAR – Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andrew R. Jones

DISTRICT 9 – Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros, Matt Aitken

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE – John Richardson, Tim Burke, Tim Alexander, Nicolas Aithadi

THE HURT LOCKER – Richard Stutsman

STAR TREK – Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh, Burt Dalton

Star Trek

MAKE UP & HAIR

COCO BEFORE CHANEL – Thi Thanh Tu Nguyen, Jane Milon

AN EDUCATION – Lizzie Yianni Georgiou

THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS - Sarah Monzani

NINE – Peter ‘Swords’ King

THE YOUNG VICTORIA – Jenny Shircore

SHORT ANIMATION

THE GRUFFALO – Michael Rose, Martin Pope, Jakob Schuh, Max Lang

THE HAPPY DUCKLING – Gili Dolev

MOTHER OF MANY – Sally Arthur, Emma Lazenby

The Gruffalo

SHORT FILM

14 – Asitha Ameresekere

I DO AIR – James Bolton, Martina Amati

JADE – Samm Haillay, Daniel Elliott

MIXTAPE – Luti Fagbenle, Luke Snellin

OFF SEASON - Jacob Jaffke, Jonathan van Tulleken

ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD

JESSE EISENBERG

NICHOLAS HOULT

CAREY MULLIGAN

TAHAR RAHIM

KRISTEN STEWART

Jesse Eisenberg, Nicholas Hoult, Carey Mulligan, Tahar Rahim & Kristen Stewart

So The Baftas 2010 looks set to be an interesting ceremony, we’re hoping Carey Mulligan get’s the Rising Star Award, An Education wins Outstanding British Film. We think most definitely Avatar will win something and we’re liking The Gruffalo to win Short Animation. So who’s your choice? Let us know below.

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