Ben Affleck has had a number of phases to his career in the 25 years plus he’s been in Hollywood. Starting out, Affleck and a number of young actors first gained notoriety in a number of Kevin Smith’s films (Mallrats, Chasing Amy, etc.) back when Kevin Smith actually made movies. Then he and his best friend Matt Damon had their Hollywood dream come true when their indie film, Good Will Hunting, in which they both wrote and starred, became one of the most critically acclaimed pictures of 1997 and the duo’s Oscar acceptance is one of the best of all-time. From there, Affleck entered a blockbuster phase that didn’t take. The scripts kept getting worse until he hit rock-bottom with Gigli, one of the most mocked films in recent memory.
Affleck, though, didn’t burn out. He started out as a writer, and he started picking quality scripts again. He also began directing, and he showed tremendous talent with Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo. Currently, his career is intertwined with being the current Batman (at least for the moment), and while I may not be a huge fan of any of the films he’s been Batman in (funnily enough he played Superman first in 2006’s Hollywoodland), I like his take on the character, but I’m not certain where the DCEU goes with a Batman in his mid-to-late 40s. Whatever’s next, I think Affleck should get back behind the camera, pick projects that highlight his strengths as an actor (he’s not the strongest, but his overall knowledge of the process gives him an edge), and make the movies he wants to make. Getting sucked into commercial Hollywood blockbusters is what broke his career the first time; I’d hate to see it happen again.
Ben Affleck’s Best 10
1. Argo (2012) Tony Mendez
2. Good Will Hunting (1997) Chuckie
3. The Town (2010) Doug MacRay
4. Gone Girl (2014) Nick Dunne
5. Shakespeare in Love (1998) Ned Alleyn
6. Hollywoodland (2006) George Reeves
7. State of Play (2009) Stephen Collins
8. The Company Men (2010) Bobby Walker
9. Boiler Room (2000) Jim Young
10. Chasing Amy (1997) Holden McNeil
Honorable Mention: Dogma (1999) Bartleby
Oscars, Golden Globes & Emmys
Oscar Wins (2): Good Will Hunting (1998-Screenplay), Argo (2013-Producer)
Oscar Nominations (2): Good Will Hunting (1998-Screenplay), Argo (2013-Producer)
Golden Globe Wins (2): Good Will Hunting (1998-Screenplay), Argo (2013-Producer)
Golden Globe Nominations (3): Good Will Hunting (1998-Screenplay), Hollywoodland (2007), Argo (2013-Director)
Emmy Wins (0): None
Emmy Nominations (4): Project Greenlight (2003-2005, 2016-Producer)
My Favorite Affleck Scene:
“The Best Part of My Day” from Good Will Hunting (1997)
Next Film: Affleck’s turn as The Caped Crusader appears to be over though his replacement has yet to be named. He has two films on the schedule for 2019: Triple Frontier for Netflix with Oscar Isaac and Charlie Hunan and The Last Thing He Wanted with Anne Hathaway and Willem Dafoe.
The Town is one of my favourite movies and favourite Ben Affleck roles.
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It’s a great film!
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I haven’t seen many Ben Affleck movies, but I do agree with your top two. He was great in Good Will Hunting, and (from what I remember, I saw it a while ago) Argo.
Although, I have to say I have a soft spot for his role in The Accountant; as someone on the autism spectrum, I can say that the movie did a good job at autism representation, and Affleck was surprisingly good in his portrayal as well. (The plot twist at the end concerning his “handler” on the phone is one of my favorite twists in recent memory, I didn’t see it coming).
As much as I liked the movie though, I’m worried about the sequel. I hope it doesn’t fall into the classic “bad sequel” syndrome and is good.
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I grew up with him in the Kevin Smith films even before Good Will Hunting, and he’s a solid actor, but he knows the whole craft well. The Accountant ended up at #12. I wasn’t as crazy about it as some people, but I know it has a following. Thanks for commenting!
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I’ve never even heard of Kevin Smith films. I’ve have to look them up. And I wasn’t even aware that The Accountant had a following. And no problem!
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When you watch Smith’s movies avoid Tusk like the plague. It’s his version of the Human Centipede, except that the centipede is a walrus. I wish I was making a surreal joke right now, but no.
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I gave up on Smith after Clerks 2
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He’s very, very limited, and whenever he tries something different it shows all the more. Back in the day I attended a screening of the first Clerks, before the film actually came out, before I had even heard the name Kevin Smith. I thought it was a little overrated even back then (everyone else in the theater went nuts) but man it was fun and entertaining and I expected Smith to have a way better career than he did. At least he is on the short list to direct every big geek property that gets announced in Hollywood. In his mind.
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He’s done a little comic book writing and he wrote a DD story called Guardian Devil that if you haven’t read, it’s one of my favorite graphic novels. He also wrote a killer Green Arrow run called Quiver. The best parts of his films are the best parts of Dogma and the Good Will Hunting II bit in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back …..oh, and Silent Bob’s Chasing Amy monologue.
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I was aware that he had dabbled in writing comic books, but I haven’t read any of his work. I will make it a priority.
Are you aware of his feud with Tim Burton, going back to Superman Lives, when Burton came on board and rejected Smith’s work up until that point? My favorite part of that saga is when Burton’s POTA ended with Thade’s head on the Lincoln memorial, mirroring a Jay and Silent Bob comic once written by Smith, which had the head of Dr. Zaius on the memorial. Burton deflected the plagiarism accusation, saying he didn’t read comic books and especially nothing written by Kevin Smith. Now compare the theatrical posters for Tusk and Nightmare Before Christmas. The similarity is too pronounced to not be wholly intentional. Methinks Kevin still holds a grudge. But I have to say that when Jon Peters insisted that Superman not be shown flying, and Smith came up with the idea of just making Superman turn into a supersonic blur, like in Frank Miller’s masterpiece… that was some damn good thinking.
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I would HIGHLY recommend both those GNs, and they’re popular enough that the library might have them. The Virginia Beach system does thanks to me and submitting orders for 500 GNs to jumpstart our YA readers (the purchasing department was displeased, but it worked). I just had to get them to shelve Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman with adult fiction before we had a protest after I found Watchmen labeled YA and shelved there.
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Sigh.
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I’ve heard Tusk isn’t good, but oh gosh your description just makes it sound worse. The Human Centipede already sounded like a big no to me, but this one is even worse sounding…
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I’m not going there lol
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Neither am I. I think that’s smart 😂
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I’ve been meaning to see Hollywoodland. Also The Accountant. Subject matter of both films grabs me. Affleck is generally really good as an actor. Not great. Where he really shines is as a director. Imagine if the reigns of the Bat had gone to him as planned. He’s no Nolan but they would have passed the character to a solid filmmaker. Arrrgghhh imagine if they had continued the DK trilogy tradition, if they had hired quality filmmakers.
I did not go see JL tonight, I was sitting and discussing the state of the DCEU with the person I was going to see the film with, and suddenly we looked at each other and realized no, not on a bet. I could have written your review of it, and I have not even seen the movie.
Next year imagination and love gets packed into Incredibles 2. It’s been like over a decade. I am stoked. I don’t need to turn to the DCEU to get my fix, it would be nice if I could get my fix through the very first superheroes ever created, but superheroes have now entered the culture to such a degree that there’s an actual glut of other stewards who actually care. No more settling for nothing in the hopes it leads to something down the line. Life is too short. Maybe I’ll take the money I would have spent, and go see Lady Bird.
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People are lunatics about JL. I’m having to have to try to figure out how to ban people on the FB site for profane insults at me and I’ve never had that in the history of the site. It’s pissing me off and this is becoming wearying. The DCEU is broken. If you want to believe that all the films were great and huge financial successes, you can, but you’re wrong. The films have had such huge budgets, that Get Out will make more of a profit that JL. They just look at numbers, well, here’s a number: they couldn’t get a Justice League film to open at $100 million. Yes, it knocked evil Thor 3 off the top of the box office in its THIRD week, and while it did that, it retained a good percentage and passed $700 million globally. It’s like a delusional cult. Thank God for the MCU, not because it’s Marvel, because I LIKE DC BETTER, but because it’s made with love by people who respect the characters. I hated writing the JL review, but at this point I can’t just ignore films that huge. Plus I still WANTED it to be good. I’m alone on Thanksgiving, so I’m seeing four movies that day to get through the holiday. Maybe I review ’em, maybe I don’t. Thank God SW is coming, because this stopped being fun awhile ago and I wish my theater had Ladybird. My four for Thanksgiving are Roman J. Israel, Monster, Coco, and The Man Who Invented Christmas. Best I could do around here.
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Dave PLEASE take my advice and start only reviewing films that you enjoy, like I did on my old blog. Even if it’s just for a while. If you need to produce content, find other ways.
I’m looking forward to Coco like you cannot believe. It looks like the people who invented the Man Who Invented Christmas tried to make Charles Dickens wacky and quirky, and I can’t figure out who would want to do that, but it’s refreshing to see a family-oriented Christmas movie that is not an umpteenth adaptation of A Christmas Carol, but only deals with that book in meta territory. I’m seeing it without question.
In terms of anticipation, the Shape of Water is second only to SW in my mind, maybe when it comes to this entire year. I love GDT that much. I love Pan’s Labyrinth that much. I don’t expect this to top Pan’s Labyrinth in quality or magic, but it’s about time he made a highly personal fairy tale again.
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This was not a fun day or weekend. I need to make this a haven again because that’s what it used to be, but I can’t remember the last thing I had fun writing. Appreciate the pep talk man.
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Anytime.
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S’more love here for The Accountant 😀
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It was 12th. It’s ok but not really astounding.
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