This is the not-fucking-around crew

I don't know quite why I did not see The Town when it was in the theaters--it got great reviews, and several people recommended it to me. But for some reason, I did not see it.

But now I have, and I am very glad I have. The Town is a taut, exciting bank robber movie, and an intriguing, intense character study. The film is exceptionally well acted, with Ben Affleck giving his best performance in a long time as the conflicted and haunted lead, and Jeremy Renner delivering another Oscar-worthy role as a twisted and disturbed bank robber/thug.

The Town provides some well-made action sequences, but the interplay between the characters (the screenplay is co-written by Affleck) really gives the film its soul. And as a director, Affleck shows once again (after his excellent debut Gone Baby Gone) that he gets it. He makes excellent directorial choices, from the angles of the fight scenes to the exceptionally well-chosen Charlestown, MA location shoots. Affleck will continue to get better and better as a director, but he shows with The Town that he already possesses great skill.

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Elsewhere, I'm several days into my break, and I'm enjoying it so far. Today my mom came to the city, and we went out to lunch and then met my cousin Megan and her boyfriend for a drink at the 96th floor of the Hancock Building. Though it's a pretty touristy thing to do, the views of both the city and the lake are amazing.

Tomorrow I head down to Indiana for Christmas with my brother and my nephews. I'm looking forward to it, and I plan to knock out a few more movies, so I'll try to blog from there.