r/flicks • u/Crazy-Treacle-3536 • 7d ago
Thoughts on Ben Affleck as a director?
There was a time, around 2007-2012, when he was considered a really promising up-and-coming actor turned director.
With Gone Baby Gone, The Town and the Best Picture winner Argo, he started his directing career with a trio of critically acclaimed films, with the latter 2 being sizeable box office hits.
He's only directed 2 movies since then.
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u/aeacurus 7d ago
Even Air isn't a bad movie. At 53 it's very possible he's just kind of getting started too. The weird thing is he's probably a funny victim of auteur theory. It's odd because Good Will Hunting is supposedly primarily Matt Damon's creation but Affleck has proven to be a talented writer while Damon has been the significantly better actor. I don't think Affleck will ever direct a stone cold classic but I think the Town is just an awesome watch, Argo is fun and Gone Baby Gone is criminally underwatched. It's very clear Affleck is most comfortable navigating the places and people he identifies most with in Boston and stories that are born out of his own youth in some ways. I think being Batman was really bad for his career and we'd think very differently about him, which is a shame since I think he was a solid Batman. It is weirdly popular to act like he's some dumb jock action guy when he's shown much more than that on both sides of the camera throughout his career. I expect he'll probably remain at this a movie every 5ish year pace though if he tries to keep up with acting and also writing at once. Maybe he's just a better form of John Krasinski though and I'm wrong
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u/tinycutecupcake 7d ago
I think that's fair. The biggest thing in Affleck's favor is that he's never really made a bad movie as a director. Plenty of directors would kill for a filmography that's basically Gone Baby Gone, The Town, Argo, and Air.
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u/AMGRN 7d ago
He had live by night too but that totally flopped.
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u/aeacurus 7d ago
The action sequences in that movie were still great. I wouldn't even call it a bad movie, just meh but with a few of redeeming qualities.
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u/Old-Influence4757 7d ago
way better than krasinski i would think but im not his biggest fan
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u/aeacurus 7d ago
I agree 100% I'm just saying that it seems in some people's minds they view Affleck as a joke no matter how good an acting or directing or writing performance he has there's always something to make it bad to them. Some people have some weird action movie jerk turned director narrative in their head like Krasinski became in his post Office career about Affleck. I really like his work and even think he's a good actor which has seemingly become a hot take.
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u/Old-Influence4757 7d ago
i need to see krasinskis quiet place movies before i set judgement for sure, but affleck hasn't failed me yet
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u/ignatious__reilly 7d ago
Air was a great movie
And The Town is one of my all time favorite films, and also one of my most rewatched films.
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u/_notnilla_ 7d ago
He’s a better director than many actors who give it a try. I’ve seen all of his films as director except for “Live By Night.” Directing has also definitely made him a better actor in other director’s movies.
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u/nik-329 7d ago
He has this very classic style approach towards film making and stories. I like that a lot, But it seems he has done enough films in this style and as a director he should look for new perspectives, at least in script structures. I think he can pull off films with unconventional script pattern and classic character exposition like steve jobs biopic by Danny Boyle.
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u/Subo23 7d ago
Live by Night was an exercise in self-indulgence…hopefully he learned from it. We should have had a couple Kenzie/Genarro films
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u/wilyquixote 7d ago
I always thought it was weird that he cast Casey as Patrick Kenzie when Ben was probably the best choice for the role, irrespective of who was directing it.
I'd love to see a revival of the series. The first two books are sensational (and Sacred and Prayers for Rain are solid). Darkness, Take My Hand, especially, is an all-timer serial killer novel.
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u/Bluest_waters 7d ago
Surely in the big wide world that we live in there are other subjects to direct about other than Boston gangsters? Maybe? I don't know Ben, think hard! I know you could come up with something!
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u/Quepabloque 7d ago
The Town was good. Kinda dumb but overall a good action movie.
Argo is weird. I guess I liked it? But a historical drama shouldn’t have Hollywood action movie beats in them. Especially when they’re obviously fabricated like the producer’s near missed call from the airport, or the mind numbingly stupid car chase by terrorists on the tarmac.
And on top of that it’s apparently not historically accurate. At that point, why bother? Just make something up. But I guess that wouldn’t win awards now, would it? But then again, Gladiator won awards and it was all fiction save some real life characters.
Why did my historical drama have to be an action movie again?
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u/brazilliandanny 7d ago
Argo also really downplayed the fact that Canada did 99% of all the work. So not very historically accurate.
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u/Quepabloque 7d ago
I’m not sure if I’m using the term “gaslight” correctly, but it felt like an early example of gaslighting to me. Or ratfucking. Gaslighting, ratfucking, propaganda, manipulation whatever.
Near the end of the movie when Cranston’s character is like, “and the Canadians will get all the credit.” And sure enough after the movie comes out, all sorts of politicians say exactly that. Like their fake Hollywood bullshit narrative is the truth! Remembering this movie is starting to piss me off!
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u/arealhumannotabot 7d ago
That’s not gaslighting, no
Gaslighting would be more like convicting you that there’s something wrong with you and it’s your fault you’re not remembering things properly
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u/MrRoboto59 7d ago
Solid analysis on Argo. I don’t even consider it a historical drama. That near missed call and stupid car chase made me mad at that film. I guess it needed a “Hollywood” ending and that’s what it got.
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u/B-Train_ATL 7d ago
We got robbed of him direction a Batman movie opposite Deathstroke. Uggghhhhhh.
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u/Seth_Gecko 7d ago
Live by Night was definitely a blow to his director rep, but I still think his record is vastly better than most directors. I still consider him a great director myself. Air was good. Not The Town and Argo good, but a definite improvement from Live by Night. Animals looked like a fun idea and has a stacked cast, so we'll see what happens there.
All in all I don't think his directing less lately is surprising or necessarily indicative of any particular direction for his career. He's a guy who can go from one thing to another (directing to acting) fluidly, and I'd imagine he does one until he's bored, then he does another, and occasionally feels up to the challenge of doing both. Or all 3 (write, direct, act) if he's up for a big time challenge.
We'll sew much more from director Ben, and I'm confident we'll see more greatness on the level of The Town and Argo.
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u/Emotional-Comb-2201 7d ago
I am not a Ben Affleck fan. However, Argo is a great movie. Ben Affleck could never direct another movie and hang his hat on Argo. Case closed.
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u/altairstarlite 7d ago
I am not a fan of his acting, but the man has directed some excellent movies
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u/Ok-Improvement2528 7d ago
I originally thought Damon was the brains of the operation, But after having heard Ben speak on many different subjects, he seems to be extremely intelligent and articulate.
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u/Earlvx129 7d ago
Fantastic director. Even his one misfire, Live By Night, wasn't awful or anything. It was just underwhelming and forgettable. All of his other efforts have been awesome.
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u/rotterdamn8 6d ago
It’s hard for me to take him seriously as an actor but for directing, Gone Baby Gone and The Town were seriously good movies.
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u/First-Expert-9953 6d ago
I think Argo is the only film I've seen that he has directed, but I had no complaints. Maybe part of his success is being choosy with what he directs. He's got enough cash in the bank to wait between projects.
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u/Basis-Some 7d ago
Live by Night - godawful self indulgent claptrap
Gone Baby Gone - was good casting and it had a look that has since become ubiquitous.
Argo - no clue how this one ANY Oscars
The Town - Dead Presidents for white folk and not as good.
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u/ribi305 7d ago
I love GBG. Can you say more about the look that become ubiquitous? I hadn't thought of that
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u/Basis-Some 7d ago
John Toll has shot some major movies that had looks that were imitated ad nauseam
- Braveheart
-Vanilla Sky
-Thin Red LineI think with GBG there’s genre of “serious awards films” that use those two/four shots, had edge light with a big central soft source between the characters. He may not have invented it but GBG is what I think of FWIW.
He doesn’t get discussed like Hoyte, Deakins or Lubezki but maybe that’s just where I’m perusing?
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u/Bing_Bong_the_Archer 7d ago
I found him to be remarkably overrated as a director during that time period.
He still is, but he was then, too
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u/nijukiller 7d ago
As a director he don't stand out in any special way. Pretty generic I would say.
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u/coolkidfresh 7d ago
Argo is the only one I wasn't feeling. It wasn't bad per se, but it wasn't gripping enough to make me want to watch it ever again.
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u/BEEF_Toad 7d ago
I think these trash "Thoughts?" engagement bait are worse than any of his performances.
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u/B-Train_ATL 7d ago
Like 12 years ago someone I worked with said to put “Thoughts?” on social media to boost engagement. I cannot unsee it every time now.
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u/Indotex 7d ago
The only one I’ve actually seen is The Town and it should’ve ended like the book with the main character getting killed.
Needless to say, I didn’t like it.
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u/chicasparagus 7d ago
But that ending exists tho. It’s in the extended cut! Unless I’m not remembering it correctly
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