Review of The Town: Nearly as Good as Heat

Continuing my reviews of some of the good movies of 2010, in this brief time of little on television,  I saw The Town last night, and thought it was good indeed.  Almost as good as Heat, which is among my top 20 favorite movies of all time, sometimes higher.

Ben Affleck delivers one of his best performances in years as Doug MacRay of Charlestown, Boston.  Doug is fearless and smart, and like De Niro's Neil McCauley in Heat, is into one last-jobism.  Indeed, I felt so strong a kinship between Affleck in this movie and De Niro in Heat that I said to my wife that Affleck in The Town is like an Irish De Niro (and in fact, MacRay and McCauley would both have ancestors in the Emerald Isle).

Like McCauley in Heat, who matches wits with Al Pacino's Lt. Hanna, MacRay attracts the obsessive interest of  FBI agent Frawley played by Jon Hamm of Mad Men.  Hamm is no Pacino - no one is - but puts in a fine, intense performance in The Town.

My favorite scene in Heat - and this is easily among my top 10 favorites scenes in any movie - is when Val Kilmer's Chris drives up to see Ashley Judd's Charlene, who has been soft-talked by Mykelti Williamson's Sgt. Drucker to give Chris up to the cops - or so we think.  Because in an incandescent moment, Charlene gives Chris a subtle warning sign from the window, and he drives away to safety.  I still wanna be like Val Kilmer in Heat when I grow up.

Now The Town has a scene that's so parallel to the above in Heat that it can be considered an homage.  MacRay calls Claire (well played by Rebecca Hall) with Frawley standing right beside her, urging Claire to turn MacRay in.   (Claire was bank manager and kidnapped in an earlier job by MacRay and the gang.  MacRay released her, went to see her - she didn't know then who he was - and the two just about fell in love.  Then Frawley told her who MacRay was.)   With every incentive to give up MacRay, Claire gives him a subtle heads-up.   It's a sweet moment.  MacRay was looking at Claire and Frawley through binoculars, so he knew what was up, but his smile when Claire came through for him was priceless.

Like Chris in Heat, but unlike McCauley in Heat, MacRay makes it to safety and out of The Town.   And this greatly improves on the one thing I never liked about Heat:  McCauley fell too easily to Hanna.   I was glad to see MacRay do much better against Frawley.

Note added January 4, 2011:  I didn't get a chance to mention the searing supporting role played by Pete Postlethwaite.  Like all his acting, what Postlethwaite did in The Town was unforgettable.  He passed away yesterday, but his memorable work will live on.

---

                 Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, eHarmony, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle

---

---

The Plot to Save Socrates


"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

24 Season 8 Hours 1 and 2: Stop-Watch, Heartbeat Perfect

Another superb 24 2-hour premiere tonight - 24's been making a good habit of that.

Here's the set-up.   Remember the protests in Iran last June, over a good-guy being robbed of his election win?  Well, let's say he hadn't been robbed - let's say the good guy had won, wants peace, and is now at the U.N., negotiating the nuke disarmament of his country with President Allison Taylor, in return for  a bushel of American aid.   The bad guys would want to kill him.

Meanwhile, Jack's also in NYC, about to leave for L.A. with Kim, her husband Stephen, and their sweet little daughter, Terry (named after Jack's wife, stunningly killed at in the finale of the very first Season or day of 24).  You know that Jack's not going to get to L.A. just yet.   But the way he's delayed is, so far, about as stop-watch and stop-heartbeat perfect as a TV show can get.

In the first hour, Benito Martinez (played Captain to Mayor just right in The Shield) comes to Jack with a story about an assassin's plot against Iranian President Hassan.  He's wounded, Jack believes him.   But Jack's attempt to bring him in is blown up - literally - when the helicopter that CTU (re-established and now in NYC) sends is taken out on the roof, right before its pick-up of Jack and the informant, who dies.   The last thing he tells Jack is that the assassin is on the inside, and close to Hassan.

On to Hour 2.   In addition to who the assassin is, a question immediately arises about why the roof extraction team had no protection.   Freddie Prinze, Jr plays Agent Cole, who presses Director Hastings about this back at CTU.  (Hastings is played Mykelti Williamson - who had one of the best minor roles in one of my all-time favorite movies, Heat.)   I think Hastings is someone to watch - it's hard to believe that a Director could be a bad guy, but on 24 you can't rule anything out.

Also back at CTU is Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackoff - looking good and pretty high up on the team - playing Dana Walsh (she's actually Jenny, but that's another story which hasn't fully kicked in yet).  She's supposed to marry Cole, and is supervising Chloe, who's having a bit a trouble learning all the latest computer programs - she just came back to CTU - but Chloe's sharp enough to realize that Hastings' pick for the assassin (an American reporter that Hassan is having an affair with) may not be the culprit, even though lots of evidences points at her.

In one of the best scenes of the evening, Jack wants to leave CTU and get to the airport to fly to L.A. with Kim and family.  Chloe pleads with him, saying that she's always helped him when he'd called on her over the years (that's exactly what I thought she should tell him).  But Jack says no.   Kim comes to the rescue - she'd called Chloe to find out what was going on - and tells her father it's alright if he needs to come to L.A. a day later in order to save the world.   It was probably Kim's best scene in the series - she's finally grown up (she was on her to doing this last season), and Jack and Chloe were letter perfect in their responses.

24, against all odds, looks to be well in the way to re-inventing itself for another season of fresh, smart, adrenalin-pumping television.   It has been one of my top five television favorites since Day One - often my favorite - and it's going to be another contender this year, too.

Fortunately, we'll get the next two hours tomorrow night! And I'll be back within 24 minutes of the show's conclusion with my review.



6-min podcast review of 24


See also Season 8 reviews: Hours 3 and 4

And also Season 7 reviews: Hours 1 and 2 ... Hours 3 and 4 ... Hour 5 ... Hour 6 ... Hour 7 ... Hour 8 ... Hour 9 ... Hour 10 ... Hours 11-12 ... Hour 13 ... Hour 14 ... Hour 15 ... Hour 16 ... Hour 17 ... Hour 18 ... Hour 19 ... Hour 20 ... Hour 21 ... Hour 22  ... Hours 23-24 

---