Showing posts with label The Town. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Town. Show all posts

Saturday, 31 December 2016

Birthday's to share this week : 1st - 7th January 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Jeremy Renner does on 7th January - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 46, at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 1st January
  • Frank Langella - Born 1938, turns 79 - Actor
  • Verne Troyer - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor  
Monday 2nd January
  • Todd Haynes - Born 1961, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Writer
  • Cuba Gooding Jnr. - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actor | Producer
  • Tia Carrere - Born 1967, turns 50 - Actress | Producer 
  • Paz Vega - Born 1976, turns 41 - Actress  
  • Kate Bosworth - Born 1983, turns 34 - Actress 
Tuesday 3rd January
  • Victoria Principal - Born 1950, turns 67 - Actress | Producer
  • Mel Gibson - Born 1956, turns 61 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer  
Wednesday 4th January
  • Julian Sands - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actor 
  • Dyan Cannon - Born 1937, turns 80 - Actress | Writer | Director
  • Julia Ormond - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actress    
Thursday 5th January
  • Diane Keaton - Born 1946, turns 71 - Actress | Producer | Director
  • Robert Duvall - Born 1931, turns 85 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
  • Hayao Miyazaki - Born 1941, turns 75 - Animator | Director | Producer | Writer | Editor
  • Roger Spottiswoode - Born 1945, turns 72 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor
  • Clancy Brown - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Producer
  • Vinnie Jones - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actor
  • Bradley Cooper - Born  1975, turns 42 - Actor | Producer | Director
Friday 6th January
  • Rowan Atkinson - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actor | Writer 
  • Norman Reedus - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Writer | Director
  • Eddie Redmayne - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actor  
  • Sylvia Syms - Born 1934, turns 82 - Actress
  • Kate McKinnon - Born 1984, turns 33 - Actress | Writer
Saturday 7th January
  • Linda Kozlowski - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actress  
  • David Caruso - Born 1956, turns 61 - Actor | Producer
  • Nicolas Cage - Born 1964, turns 53 - Actor | Producer
  • Irrfan Khan - Born 1967, turns 50 - Actor | Producer | Director
  • Jeremy Renner - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Singer | Songwriter
Jeremy Lee Renner was born in Modesto, California, USA to mother Valerie Tague and father Lee Renner who managed the the local bowling alley in Modesto during the 1980's. His parents were married as teenagers and divorced when the young Jeremy was just ten years of age. He attended the Fred C. Beyer High School in Modesto and then Modesto Junior College where he studies criminology, computer science and psychology before being drawn to acting through an elective. Bitten by the acting bug, he decided to relocate himself to San Francisco to study at the American Conservatory Theatre, then moving to Hawaii and then onto Los Angeles in 1993. 

Upon his arrival in L.A. Renner dedicated much of his time to theatre productions with the highlight coming in 'Search and Destroy' which he starred in and Co-Directed to critical acclaim. In 1995 he secured his first big screen break in 'National Lampoon's Senior Trip'. From here he secured single episode appearances on televisions series 'Deadly Games', 'Strange Luck', 'To Have & to Hold', 'The Net', 'Time of Your Life' and 'Angel'. In the meantime there were a number of made for television films and features that included 'Paper Dragons' and 'A Friend's Betrayal' all seeing out the '90's.

In 2002 he secured his first starring role in 'Dahmer' playing serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer - a complex role for which he was highly acclaimed. This in turn led to 'S.W.A.T.' with Colin Farrell and Samuel L. Jackson - his first commercially successful action film. This led to 'The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things', then 'A Little Trip to Heaven' with Forest Whitaker, 'North Country' with Charlize Theron, '12 and Holding', 'Neo Ned', an uncredited turn in 'Lords of Dogtown' and 'Love Comes to the Executioner'.

2007 saw 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' with Brad Pitt, then the British zombie horror sequel offering'28 Weeks Later' with Robert Carlyle, then 'Take' with Minnie Driver before Kathryn Bigelow's highly acclaimed and six times Academy Award winning 'The Hurt Locker' in which Renner was nominated for Best Actor in a Lead Role for his performance as maverick bomb disposal expert Staff Sergeant William James. The film picked up 120 award wins and another 121 nominations around the circuit including the Oscar for Best Film and Best Director. 

'Ingenious' came next with another critically acclaimed turn in the Ben Affleck Directed, Co-Written and starring crime drama 'The Town'. Renner was again nominated for an Academy Award for his role as James Coughlin in the Best Supporting Actor category. The film picked up nine award wins and a further 45 nominations in all.

The following years saw Renner embark on a series of hugely successful franchise offerings that started off with his uncredited role and first appearance as Clint Barton/Hawkeye in 2011's Avengers offering of 'Thor'. He would reprise his role in 2012's 'The Avengers', 2015's 'Avengers : Age of Ultron', 2016's 'Captain America : Civil War', the currently filming and due in 2018 'Avengers : Infinity War' and the recently announced 'Ant Man and the Wasp' also due in 2018.

The next franchise saw Renner star as intelligence analyst William Brandt opposite Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in the fourth instalment in the ever popular and successful 'Mission : Impossible' series of films with 2011's 'Ghost Protocol'. Again, he reprised his role in 2015's 'Rogue Nation' and is set to do so in 'M:I 6 - Mission Impossible' currently in pre-production for a 2018 release. Finally, Renner starred in a spin off of the acclaimed fast paced action Jason Bourne franchise but without Matt Damon. Renner played Alex Cross in 'The Bourne Legacy' for Director and Writer Tony Gilroy - a role he is set to reprise again in a recently announced Bourne sequel that may or may not see him playing alongside Matt Damon.

In between 'The Avengers', 'Mission:Impossible' and 'Bourne' franchise films he starred in a modern take on the German folklore fairy tale of Hansel & Gretel, in the fantasy action comedy outing of 'Hansel & Gretel : Witch Hunters' in which Renner starred as Hansel alongside Gemma Arterton's Gretel - siblings who now grown up work as a pair of witch exterminators for hire. The film made US$226M off its US$50M budget outlay. This was followed up by the James Gray Directed period piece 'The Immigrant' with Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix which was nominated for the Palme D'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Next up was the David O. Russell Directed criminal comedy drama film 'American Hustle' in 2013 which was nominated for ten Academy Awards, won  a total of 66 awards and was nominated a further 202 times. With an ensemble cast including Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams and Michael Pena the film was a commercial success too bringing home US$252M at the Global Box Office from its US$40M budget.




2014 brought the true story of investigative journalist Gary Webb in 'Kill the Messenger' which saw Renner starring as Gary Webb and also taking his first Producer credit. With an all star cast that included Ray Liota, Oliver Platt, Michael Sheen, Andy Garcia, Barry Pepper, Robert Patrick, Rosemarie DeWitt and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, the film was well received critically, albeit it failed to make back its budget outlay.

'Avengers : Age of Ultron', 'Mission:Impossible - Rogue Nation' and 'Captain America : Civil War' as mentioned previously bring us up to his most recent release at the end of 2016, 'Arrival' for Director Denis Villeneuve and starring Amy Adams, and Forest Whitaker. The film has so far made US$145M off its US$47M budget cost and has already picked up eighteen award wins and 111 nominations.





Next up for Renner is 'Avengers : Infinity War' due in 2018 and currently filming, the animated 'Arctic Justice : Thunder Squad' also due in 2018 to which Renner is lending his voice talents together with James Franco, Alec Baldwin, John Cleese, Michael Madsen, Omar Sy, Anjelica Huston and Heidi Klum. 'M:I 6 - Mission Impossible' is in pre-production for later in 2018, recently announced are a Bourne sequel and Marvel's 'Ant Man and the Wasp', with 'Wind River' in post-production for an early 2017 release and starring also Martin Sensmeier, Jon Bernthal, and Elizabeth Olson.

All up Renner has 54 Acting credits to his name so far, and four as Producer. He has two Academy Award nominations for his performances in 'The Town' and 'The Hurt Locker', one Golden Globe nomination for 'The Town' and one BAFTA nomination for 'The Hurt Locker'. So far he has garnered thirty award wins and a further 51 nominations along the way. As well as an active career as an Actor in demand, he is a singer/songwriter, guitarist, drummer and keyboard player, and has written and preformed songs for a number of films he has appeared in. Renner married Canadian model Sonni Pacheco in January 2014 and within a year she had filed for divorce. They have a daughter together, Ava Berlin, born in 2013.

Jeremy Renner - runs a house renovating business in his spare time restoring rundown iconic Hollywood homes; is a UN Goodwill Peace Ambassador helping raise awareness of mine-clearing efforts in Afghanistan; has studied both Filipino and Thai martial arts; often plays intense, emotional character driven roles, frequently tinged with violence or unstable traits; is a bona fide action star having played such recurring roles in three major film franchises to date; put also plays flawed, often complicated grounded roles that bring him acclaim critically to match his commercial success from the blockbusters he is perhaps better known for. Very watchable and keeping it real in front of the camera and away from it - Happy Birthday to you Jeremy, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Thursday, 23 July 2015

'THE TOWN' : archive from 29th October 2010.

I saw 'THE TOWN' earlier this week and really enjoyed this latest Ben Affleck Directed heist film, that after his success with 'Gone Baby Gone' is proving that Mr. Affleck is a talent to be reckoned with as much behind the camera as in front of it. As well as being Directed by Affleck, he co-wrote and stars in this adaptation of the novel 'Prince of Thieves' by Chuck Hogan and does so with an intense gritty realism that sets it apart from other such films of the crime drama genre. The film was made for US$37M and grossed US$154M, and it garnered co-star Jeremy Renner an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

The opening voiceover tells us 'The Town', which is set in the one square mile of Charlestown in Boston, has the highest robbery rate in the USA with over 300 every year. If you do your research you'll find there is some poetic license in this statement, but nonetheless it serves to set the tone for the film you are about to see as four lifelong friends from the Charlestown neighbourhood rob a bank. These friends are Douglas 'Doug' MacRay (Ben Affleck), James 'Jem' Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), Albert 'Gloansy' Magloan (George Carroll aka Slaine), and Desmond 'Dez' Elden (Owen Burke), and in robbing this bank they take the Manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) hostage but release her soon afterwards, unharmed.

A short while later they learn that Keesey lives in their own neighbourhood, and so Doug follows her in an attempt to learn how much she has told the local Boston Police Department, and to protect her from Jem who would likely silence her as a material witness. Doug approaches her, they connect and in time a romance starts to blossom, but he keeps this from the other gang members.

As they get closer to each other Doug confides to Keesey that he continues to search for his long lost mother whom he believes is in Florida, that he gave up a lucrative career as a hockey player to pursue a life of crime and in doing so has followed in his fathers footsteps - father Stephen MacRay (Chris Copper) who is banged up in jail. Keesey advises Doug that she glimpsed a tattoo on one of the robbers during the raid on her bank, and would recognise it again should she see it. Knowing that the tattoo belongs to Jem and he would kill her to prevent her from revealing his identity, Doug persuades Keesey that the Police would not be able to protect her, so she should not step forward and reveal what she knows for her own safety. She heeds his advice.

Meanwhile Special Agent Adam Frawley (John Hamm) has the gang under surveillance because of their ties to a local crime boss Fergus 'Fergie' Colm (Pete Postlethwaite) who has another job for them in the Boston neighbourhood of North End. This robbery does not go according to plan, and the gang barely escape. Despite being interrogated by Frawley, the gang are released due to the lack of any evidence or a confession, and so Doug asks Keesey if she will leave with him to seek a better life, and track down his mother - she agrees, and quits her job. This raises the suspicions of Frawley who smelling a rat, wiretaps her phone and then reveals the truth about Doug and his associates to her. Reeling from the truth she is forced to co-operate and breaks it off with Doug.

With the next job pending Fergie threatens to kill Keesey if Doug does not proceed with a robbery on Fenway Park - the home of the Boston Red Sox - where there is a $3.5M haul to be had. With Frawley tipped off by Doug's ex-girlfriend Krista (Blake Lively) that there is a robbery going down at Fenway Park, the FBI surround the ground before the gang can get away. There is an intense firefight in which Gloansy, Dez and Jem are killed. Knowing that Keesey is still in danger and that his chances of escaping the life of crime are limited as long as Fergie is still calling the shots, Doug takes out Fergie and his bodyguard. Having escaped the firefight at the park Doug flees undercover leaving the money behind for Keesey to find and make better use of than he could.

I liked this film . . . a lot, for its gritty subject matter, its fast paced and well choreographed robbery sequences and subsequent fall-out, the performances which are strong and real, and for the deft touch in Direction which Affleck is displaying here once again. 'The Town' is up there with Michael Mann's 'Heat' and the other Boston set films of the same genre 'The Boondocks Saints', Scorsese's 'The Departed' and Eastwood's 'Mystic River'. The film picked up two award wins and another thirteen nominations around the traps and was hailed a critical and commercial success.

If you missed this at the movies catch it now on DVD, Bluray or download - you won't be disappointed - 'The Town' delivers on all levels.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Saturday, 9 August 2014

Birthdays to share this week : 10th - 16th August.

Is it your Birthday this week?

Do you share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer or Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Check out too the spotlight on this weeks Birthday Boy on 15th August, Ben Affleckat the end of this feature.

Sunday 10th August
  • Antonio Banderas - Born 1960, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Singer
  • Rosanna Arquette - Born 1959, turns 55 - Actress
Monday 11th August
  • Chris Hemsworth - Born 1983, turns 31 - Actor
  • Viola Davis - Born 1965, turns 49 - Actress | Producer
  • Ian McDiarmid - Born 1944, turns 70 - Actor
  • Hulk Hogan - Born 1953, turns 61 - WWF Wrestler | Actor | Producer
Tuesday 12th August
  • Casey Affleck - Born 1975, turns 39 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
  • Bruce Greenwood - Born 1956, turns 58 - Actor
  • George Hamilton - born 1939, turns 75 - Actor | Producer
  • William Goldman - Born 1931, turns 83 - Writer
Wednesday 13th August
  • Paul Greengrass - Born 1955, turns 59 - Director | Producer | Writer
  • John Slattery - Born 1962, turns 52 - Actor | Director
Thursday 14th August
  • Mila Kunis - Born 1983, turns 31 - Actress
  • Halle Berry - Born 1966, turns 48 - Actress | Producer
  • Steve Martin - Born 1945, turns 69 - Actor | Producer | Writer
  • Wim Wenders - Born 1945, turns 69 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
  • Antonio Fargas - Born 1946, turns 68 - Actor
  • James Horner - Born 1953, turns 61 - Composer
Friday 15th August
  • Jennifer Lawrence - Born 1990, turns 24 - Actress
  • Ben Affleck - Born 1972, turns 42 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
  • Natasha Hentsridge - Born 1974, turns 40 - Actress
  • Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Born 1963, turns 51 - Director | Writer | Producer
  • Nicolas Roeg - Born 1928, turns 86 - Director | Cinematographer
Saturday 16th August
  • Steve Carell - Born 1962, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Writer
  • James Cameron - Born 1954, turns 60 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor | Explorer
  • Madonna - Born 1958, turns 56 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress | Producer
  • Angela Bassett - Born 1958, turns 56 - Actress
  • Bruce Beresford - Born 1940, turns 74 - Director | Producer | Writer
  • Rumer Willis - Born 1988, turns 26 - Actress
It's going to be a busy time this week ahead in the Affleck household as young Casey turns 39 on Tuesday and older brother Ben turns 42 on Friday. Born Benjamin Geza Affleck-Boldt in Berkeley, California and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts the young Ben had aspirations to be an actor from his earliest years on. He scored his first job on a Burger King commercial in 1984 aged 12. It was just a few short years before, that he met his lifelong friend and collaborator Matt Damon who lived just a few blocks away. In their early teen years they took acting classes together, and also secured small roles in TV movies and series including 'Hands of a Stranger' in 1987 and 'The Second Voyage of the Mimi' in 1988 having played also in 'The Voyage of the Mimi' four years earlier.

His introduction to feature length films cakes in 1993 with the acclaimed 'Dazed and Confused' and other small independent offerings such as 'Mallrats' in 1995 and 'Chasing Amy' in 1997 for which he was garnering some critical acclaim.

However, already Affleck was getting restless with not securing more significant roles in bigger films. Sharing an apartment with brother Casey, and friend Damon who was experiencing similar challenges in his quest for movie stardom, the two decided to take their destiny into their own hands and take control of the process by writing their own script . . . and so 'Good Will Hunting' was released in 1997 through Miramax Studios who paid US$600K for the piece, whilst agreeing to give Affleck and Damon the control they wanted over the movie's production. The rest, as they say, is history and the stuff of legend as the film went on to gain nine Academy Award nominations and winning two including Best Screenplay for Affleck and Damon - with Affleck, at 25 years of age, being the youngest person ever to win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

With this big breakthrough, Affleck and Damon had the film making world at their feet. For Affleck this led to big budget epic fare including 'Armageddon' and 'Shakespeare in Love' in 1998 and 'Pearl Harbour' in 2001.











As the new decade broke Affleck made some 'interesting' choices including the critically panned 'Gigli'  'Jersey Girl' and 'Daredevil' which he has subsequently  has said that it's "the only movie I actually regret . . . it just kills me!" There were others too in that sickly schmaltzy RomCom genre that did him no favours. At the same time he had high profile relationships with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lopez having been engaged to the latter for a short while at a cost of US$3.5M for the engagement ring alone and maybe this is why he was admitted for alcohol rehab. too. But sometimes you just gotta hit the bottom before you can rise up, and rise up Ben certainly has!

In 2005 he married co-star actress Jennifer Garner and now has three children with her - Violet Anne, Seraphina Rose and Samuel Garner. He continues to write and has Directed three films to much critical acclaim. He has appeared in four films nominated for Best Picture Academy Awards - 'Field of Dreams', 'Good Will Hunting', 'Shakespeare in Love' and 'Argo'. He wrote the Screenplays for 'Good Will Hunting', 'The Town' and 'Gone Baby Gone', and Directed 'Argo', 'The Town' and 'Gone Baby Gone' and  has numerous Production credits to his name, and 58 acting credits so far.


His filmography other than those already mentioned include : 'Forces of Nature', 'Dogma', 'Boiler Room', 'Bounce', 'Reindeer Games',' Changing Lanes', 'The Sum of all Fears', 'Paycheck', 'Hollywoodland', 'Smokin' Aces', 'State of Play', 'The Company Men', 'Runner Runner' and the late 2014 release 'Gone Girl'. Currently filming for a 2016 release is 'Batman vs Superman : Dawn of Justice' and recently announced for release sometime thereafter is 'Justice League' when Affleck will again reprise his role as the Batman/Bruce Wayne caped crusader. For release in 2016 also will be the Affleck screen scripted and Directed 'Live By Night' - described as a 'big sweeping gangster-epic morality story'.

When Affleck was announced to play Batman/Bruce Wayne last year it caused much uproar and gnashing of teeth given his earlier outing in the panned 'Daredevil'. At 40+ years of age he will be the oldest actor to play the character - but that shouldn't deter us given that he will have played two Frank Miller created characters on the big screen - 'Daredevil' being the other. Bearing in mind that he has also played 'Superman' in the telling of the story surrounding the mysterious death of George Reeves - the first actor to play the original superhero in the TV series of the 50's - he is clearly drawn to the super hero types battling crime and injustice at every turn. He will though be the third Oscar winning actor to play the caped crusader after George Clooney and Christian Bale, so he is in esteemed company!

Ben Affleck is an avid Poker player but does so always within his limits. In 2004 he won the California State Poker Championship with a winning purse of US$356K. He has an active interest in Politics and is vocal and transparent about where his allegiances lie. He is charitable and support humanitarian projects, having founded in 2010 the 'Eastern Congo Initiative' to support relief efforts to the humanitarian crisis there.


He won the Best Picture Academy Award for 'Argo' and Best Screenplay Award for 'Good Will Hunting'. He won the Golden Globe for Best Director for 'Argo' and Best Screenplay for 'Good Will Hunting' and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for 'Hollywoodland', and he won the BAFTA for Best Film and Best Director for 'Argo' and nominated for Best Lead Actor for that same film. He has a total haul of 56 award wins and 75 other award nominations globally.

Ben Affleck - acclaimed Actor, Director, Writer; charitable humanitarian; a man who has made some questionable choices but like a Phoenix that has risen from the ashes; multi-talented and with your achievements going from strength to strength - Happy Birthday from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-