CHICAGO – It wasn’t that long ago when Ben Affleck was an unknown. Fortune eventually smiled upon him and along came quality performances in independents and an Academy Award for screenwriting.
Then came “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and a series of nauseating tabloid stories involving something called “Bennifer”. Affleck’s public image as either a true filmmaker or a hack is riding heavily on his directorial debut of “Gone Baby Gone”.
Without fail, he falls easily into the category of true talent. Following the path that fellow actor-turned-director Clint Eastwood did with “Mystic River,” Affleck elevated a crime thriller by author Dennis Lehane to the big screen.
Click here to read the full review by Dustin Levell…
This film premiered as part of the Chicago International Film Festival on Oct. 10, 2007.
The Chicago International Film Festival on Oct. 14 announced its 2007 award winners.
Mexico, China, Brazil, the United Kingdom and the United States took top honors in the festival’s 43rd iteration.
Chicago audiences selected from 102 feature films, 14 documentaries and 33 shorts and student films spanning 43 countries. Films showcased both well-known and promising new filmmakers.
The festival’s highest honor is the Gold Hugo, which was coined after the mythological god of discovery. When perusing the awardees, notice “Chicago 10” and “America the Beautiful,” which I mentioned back on Sept. 19.
Click here for the full list of awardees…
Michael Clayton shows on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. at AMC River East as part of the 2007 Chicago International Film Festival. This review was first published on HollywoodChicago.com.
CHICAGO – Don’t be fooled by its formulaic, Hollywoodspeak tagline.
“The truth can be adjusted” is the Michael Clayton way of saying this film has rammed in a whole hell of a lot more than you might first presume and is about to blindside you with everything a picture-perfect Hollywood product should be.
George Clooney in Michael Clayton.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
An opulent, all-star cast as in The Departed sometimes yields the film of the year. At other times, the failure of that resolve can make financiers suicidal.
In the case of Michael Clayton, writer/director Tony Gilroy weaves the commanding George Clooney, flawlessly fanatical (and sometimes streaking) Tom Wilkinson, tautly corporate Tilda Swinton and the always-on-top-of-his-game Sydney Pollack into a film that pays its weight in gold.
…Read more
The Chicago International Film Festival begins today, and we’re excited to announce that we’ll have coverage here on SpoutBlog courtesy of Adam Fendelman and the crew from HollywoodChicago.com. Check back tomorrow morning for a report from the opening night gala for Marc Forster’s The Kite Runner, and much more.
