Day 31- Movie 31. The Town (2010)

This still feels weird to say, but Ben Affleck is a terrific director. With Gone Baby Gone, and now The Town, he has proven he is a competent, intelligent director. When I see "directed by Ben Affleck," that movie now becomes a must-see. That is crazy to me, but I've been a huge fan of his first two films.

I'm not suggesting that The Town is a perfect movie. Affleck's first cut of the film came in at 4 hours long, and he managed to cut it down to just over 2 hours. This oftentimes feels like a movie that has been cut down. The scenes that were cut were obviously character development scenes, as I often wished the movie would have given us more time with each of the characters. This is a movie that probably would have worked with an additional 15-20 minutes of time. That's rare for me to say. Affleck is a good director, but he's still relatively inexperienced behind the camera. If he continues to stay focused, I am greatly anticipating the moment when everything clicks- Affleck is capable of directing a true, lasting classic. I promise you he hasn't directed his best film yet.

While not perfect, The Town is still a great movie. It is exciting, features gritty realism, superb performances, accurate Boston area accents, and overall, is very entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Affleck is very good at filming the quick-paced action scenes and the emotionally charged arguments, but he has an equal talent at filming the quiet, small moments that allow us to really connect with the characters. That is hard to do, but with both of his films, he's managed to achieve that wonderfully.

I really believe The Town is one of the best movies I've seen in 2010. I know many "Top 10" lists will probably leave this film off. I am always updating my own personal Top 10 list, but currently, this film is definitely there. I very much enjoyed this movie, and would give it an 8/10.

On a different note, today marks the end of the first month of my challenge- 31 days done, and somehow, I managed to get back on track. I thought I'd show you visually how the last month looked:

My goal was to build up my numbers so that if I lost a week (which will happen), I won't be horribly behind schedule. Besides a very small advantage in the beginning, I've spent most of the first month trying to just stay on pace. While I didn't achieve the buffer I wanted, I am exactly on pace after the first 31 days. I'm going to take that as a win. Now, I've got 69 days to watch 69 movies. Happy 2011 everyone!