Movie #239 - Good Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting
1997 - Rated R - 2 hr 6 min
Director: Gus Van Sant
Starring: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, Stellan Skarsgard, Casey Affleck, Cole Hauser

The movie that made Matt and Ben household names.  And also help Robin Williams to be taken more seriously as an actor.  Who doesn't love this movie, honestly?

Matt is Will Hunting, a kid from Southie with a troubled past, a broken home, and a serious addiction to knowledge.  He's solving math problems while mopping the hallways at MIT and catches the attention of one professor who wants to help him out and set him straight.  Will he renounce his fist-fighting, f-bomb-dropping ways and go work somewhere as a genius? Or will he keep mopping floors until the day he dies?

There are lots of great things about this movie, including it's realistic account of what like would probably be like for someone like Will Hunting.  There isn't always a happy ending, the guy doesn't always get the girl, the main character isn't always changed by the plot... knowing these traditional constraints don't apply, this movie is enjoyable from beginning to end.

Movie #234 - Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone
2007 - Rated R - 1 hr 54 min
Director: Ben Affleck
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Casey Affleck, Ed Harris, Michelle Monaghan, John Ashton, Amy Ryan, Amy Madigan

Between the Godfather trilogy and this movie, I needed a time out. So many heavy plotlines! I'm begging for a comedy right now, folks.  This isn't it.

I do like this movie though and I got to be reminded of how much.  Nepotism in casting aside, Casey Affleck carries the movie well.  And as always, you gotta love Ed Harris. 

The movie starts out with a missing girl, taken from the home in the middle of the night.  The first hour is spent looking for her. The second hour isn't... but we end up learning so much more about what happened, all the same.  I can't give away much more than that, without ruining the ending.  Disguised as a crime drama, this movie really asks you to consider your own morals.  Is it right? Wrong?  Can you shoot a child molester in the head at point blank range and live with it? And then ending will probably piss you off. Maybe.  It all depends on your own moral code, I guess.