Maybe what Ben Affleck really wanted to do was direct.
asserted
wanted → want → what
That might explain why the actor who’s played Batman and starred in everything from Dazed and Confused and Chasing Amy to Armageddon and The Accountant is, arguably, better behind the camera than in front of it.
uncertain
everything → explain → it
And that’s why we greet any new Affleck-as-director effort with significant expectations; his early track record as a filmmaker is extraordinary, yielding Oscar winners in both writing (Good Will Hunting, alongside lifelong pal Matt Damon) and best picture (Argo).
asserted
record → ’ → Damon
And he’s returned with another directing and co-writing effort with Netflix thriller Animals, the very serious follow-up to his very unserious 2023 dramedy Air.
asserted
he → return → Air
Whether he’s scripting or running the show, Affleck has shown considerable acumen as a storyteller with purpose, thus prompting us to rank his eight filmmaking efforts from worst to best:
-
Here we have the Affleck movie that time forgot, the follow-up to the gilded Argo that’s further evidence of the fabled post-Oscar slump.
asserted
that → script → slump
Set in Florida in the 1920s, this gangster thriller saw a heavily fedora’d Affleck gently fumble a Dennis Lehane adaptation — and lose tens of millions when few bothered to see it in theaters.
asserted
few → Set → theaters
It seemed like a Perfectly Fine genre exercise at the time, but the years have compelled no one to revisit it, if they ever visited in the first place.
asserted
they → seem → place
This is destined to be Affleck’s most-watched directorial effort simply due to it being a Netflix original — and many will therefore see his most tonally muddled and visually generic filmmaking effort.
asserted
many → destine → effort
The film’s thematic ambition is admirable, Affleck playing a Los Angeles mayoral candidate besieged by financial challenges, his son being kidnapped, his wife’s infidelity and the troublesome optics and political spin lurking like vultures as he tries to handle it all.
asserted
he → play → it
Gillian Anderson enlivens the proceedings as an icy-flinty fixer, but the film feels too, well, Netflix for its own good.
asserted
film → enliven → good
-
Amazon is a superior streamer when it comes to financing movies, taking a relative quality-over-quantity approach — not to mention respect for the theatrical experience — compared to Netflix.
asserted
it → come → Netflix
And it shows in this bio-comedy, which manages to get us rooting for gigantocorp Nike, then a perennial third-stringer behind Converse and Adidas, as it scores a landmark endorsement deal with one Michael Jordan.
asserted
it → show → Jordan
Matt Damon plays the scout who chases him, Jason Bateman is a marketing dude, and Affleck has an amusing supporting role as mega-moneyed perm-wearing yoga-doing Nike CEO Phil Knight.
asserted
Affleck → play → Knight
Affleck takes the subject matter seriously enough so we feel the dramatic stakes, but ultimately nobody takes a story of rich people getting richer too terribly seriously, much to the movie’s benefit.
asserted
people → take → benefit
#MeToo riff on Rashomon found Affleck and Damon collaborating on their first screenplay — this time with contributions by Nicole Holofcener — since Good Will Hunting.
asserted
Affleck → find → Hunting
They piece together a saga set in the 1300s that’s simultaneously funny and serious as it tells three different perspectives on a traumatic episode of sexual assault.
asserted
it → piece → assault
Damon dons one hell of a mullet as he duels with Adam Driver over Jodie Comer’s honor, Affleck playing a foppish twat in what may be the most entertaining performance of his career.
uncertain
what → don → career
It’s also the best movie Ridley Scott directed in the last decade.
asserted
Scott → ’ → decade
Where to Stream the last duel
-
Affleck’s directorial debut — notably the only film he directed that he doesn’t also act in — seems to draw influence from Clint Eastwood’s directorial efforts, in terms of dramatic intensity and classic-Hollywood storytelling sensibilities.
asserted
he → stream → intensity
Of course, a few years prior, Eastwood had also helmed a Lehane adaptation, Mystic River, and Affleck may have been drafting on its success to a degree.
uncertain
Affleck → helm → degree
But on its own terms, Gone Baby Gone is a riveting drama that shows how Affleck’s work as an actor informs his work as a director, earning Amy Ryan an Oscar nomination for playing a fraught single mother whose daughter has been kidnapped.
asserted
daughter → show → mother
This also finds Casey Affleck truly coming into his own as an actor of considerable merit.
asserted
Affleck → find → merit
And here’s the point in our list where Affleck’s work feels truly vital, his youthful passion and energy channeled into this one-last-score action-thriller about Masshole townies staging a heist of Fenway freakin’ Park.
asserted
passion → ’ → Park
He directs himself, surrounded by one hell of a cast, including Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, and Chris Cooper, and the result is rich with urban atmosphere and tightly wound tension.
asserted
result → direct → atmosphere
It’s as rewatchable as movies get.
asserted
movies → ’ → ?
So what’s better, the surprising debut Oscar winner or the big rousing accomplished Oscar winner?
asserted
what → ’ → winner
Coin flip, then, and we land on Affleck and Damon, the Hollywood wunderkinds who penned a script about a rough-around-the-edges janitor-slash-math-genius who forges a warm relationship with college professor Robin Williams and pursues love with Minnie Driver.
asserted
who → land → Driver
The dynamic duo’s screenplay is a warm, funny winner, marking their emergence as generational talents.
asserted
screenplay → mark → talents
They’re delicious.
asserted
They → ’re → ?
A mark of a true filmmaker is an ability to hold audiences in suspense even when they know how the story ends.
asserted
story → hold → suspense
And that’s what Affleck does with remarkable skill and precision, dramatizing this BOATS (Based On A True Story) thriller about a CIA operative who staged the filming of a sci-fi movie as cover to extract Americans from Iran during the hostage crisis.
asserted
who → ’ → crisis
Weirdly, Affleck didn’t get an Oscar nod for best director, but Argo won best picture, and his producer credit means he got to deliver a speech anyway, tinged as it was with a little Argo-f-yourself energy.
asserted
it → get → energy
Werner Herzog hugged him once.
asserted
Herzog → hug → him
The Aporia
