Toronto - Ben Affleck. Rarely is anything good associated with that name. Lets be honest now, since Ben Affleck and Matt Damon came from nowhere, Mass. to become large stars their paths have greatly diverged. While Matt Damon was making kickass Bourne Identity movies, The Departed .. Euro Trip, Ben has consistently been in mediocre movies (Daredevil, err.. Armageddon). Perhaps realizing acting or script choosin isn’t really a great skill of his, Ben Affleck decided to do what most mediocre actors do …direct. For his first full featured directorial debut, he picked someone close to heart (his favorite book) and some place he knows well - BASSSSSSSSSTOn.

Well, I applaud his decision. Gone Baby Gone is a pretty good movie. It starts his brother Casey (nepotism…), Ed Harris, the girl from MI3, Amy Ryan and of course, Morgan Freeman. I think Morgan Freeman plays the wise black man/senior police officer/respected politician role in at least 10 movies a year. I mean he’s awesome and all, but show some range man. Ed Harris plays a hard boiled cop (surprise surprise). I guess for an unexperienced director, casting actors in roles you know they can nail in their sleep is a smart thing. The acting was solid in this movie.

Whats the plot you say? Its about some child kidnapping. Of course, nothing is as simple as it seems and shit gets mangled. I won’t really unveil much more then that. The movie is pretty interesting and kept me interested after a slow start. I’ll have to say, the BASSSSSSSTON accent is a bit heavy in here, but I guess it adds to the character of the movie. It is also not that long, also a good sign.

3.5/5

I kept on telling everyone I saw “Gone Daddy Gone”, which is a Violent Femmes tune