Ben Affleck Archives

There are two new dramas this year about the birth of very different products, but they make a perfect double feature. You've probably heard more about Ben Affleck's 'Air.' Matt Damon stars as Sonny Vaccaro, a talent scout at Nike in the early 80s who was tasked with finding basketball players who would boost the company's profile. Despite being told that a promising young guy named Michael Jordan is only interested in Adidas, Vaccaro trusts his gut and fights to win over Jordan and his family to an endorsement deal. The high stakes journey from 'no way' to Air Jordan shoes dominating the marketplace is a surprising crowd pleaser. On the flipside, IFC Films has released Canadian actor/director Matt Johnson's third feature film. It focuses on the origin story of a group of...

With his eighth feature film as a director, George Clooney has taken on J.R. Moehringer's acclaimed memoir of the same name. Unfortunately, as with his last several films in the director's chair, 'The Tender Bar' is inherently quite watchable, but failed to connect with me on almost any genuine level. For the film, J.R. is played by talented newcomer Daniel Ranieri as a young boy raised by his single mother (Lily Rabe) who really never gets to know his father, a disc jockey who exists in his life almost exclusively as a voice on the radio dial. They end up moving in with his grandparents (Sondra James, who gets almost no dialogue, and Christopher Lloyd, who does little else except for grunt and fart) on Long Island. J.R. falls under the spell of his uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck), a ...

Tag: Ben Affleck

Creation Stories: ‘Air’ and ‘Blackberry’ (Review)

Clooney Fails to Connect With ‘The Tender Bar’ (Review)