Ben Affleck Confirms Live By Night as His Next Feature

[Rjones1325]

Has anyone else here seen this?

I saw it several weeks back and procrastinated typing about it, but I finally did review it.

When you have a period piece set in the 20s the number one thing that should take into account is production design. One of the things I love about this movie is the production design. Through the entire film, you feel as if you’re in the 1920s. One thing I just kept thinking while watching this film was how beautiful it looked from the landscapes of the houses to the interior of the different buildings Coughlin walks into. The costumes were nice as well. There was even a point I wanted to search up the actual designs of the clothes just to see the art.

The worst thing Live By Night has going. is it's story and plotting which results the film being generic as hell. The first 30 minutes begins as a run of the mill mob movie that is barely interesting but then drastically shifts to another location that doesn’t connect to the first 30 which is completely unnecessary to a point you predict it’s going to be forced into the last act. Everything about the story is so predictable that it gets to a Shut In level of lazy. As much Shut In was Thriller 101, Live By Night is Gangster Flick 101. It constantly takes bits and pieces of other films that were revolutionary and iconic. One moment it’s Goodfellas, then Godfather, then finally Gangster Squad. There is nothing there that makes this original. It’s bloody and violent, but by the end, you realize you saw it all.

FULL REVIEW: https://rendyreviews.com/movies//live-by-night-review

 

[Rowsdower!]

I'm kinda glad this turned out to be terrible. The trailers did nothing for me and between Affleck's lackluster performance as Batman and his stupid DURR HOW DARE ANYONE QUESTION THE BRILLIANCE OF TOM BRADY comments, I've really grown sour on the guy. I still think he's a good actor and director but he really annoyed me this past year.

 

[NotNickFury]

Still gonna see it, really. Like the vibe of the trailers and always in for a period piece with an interesting premise.

 

[Arachnerd]

I'm kinda glad this turned out to be terrible. The trailers did nothing for me and between Affleck's lackluster performance as Batman and his stupid DURR HOW DARE ANYONE QUESTION THE BRILLIANCE OF TOM BRADY comments, I've really grown sour on the guy. I still think he's a good actor and director but he really annoyed me this past year.

"I'm glad this guy's career was in a rut the previous year just because I'm not able to distinguish his work from his personal life and opinions."

Makes sense to me. Just because his performance as Batman wasn't good for you, doesn't mean that it's a fact either.

 

[Gold Samurai]

He's well aware no one cares about "Live By Night"

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“I’m gonna direct the next Batman, we’re working on it,” Affleck confirmed. “It’s one of those things that’s really frustrating because with ‘Live By Night’ it took me a year-and-a-half to write it and get it ready and I worked really hard. It’s just no one gave a s**t. No one was like, ‘WHERE’S ‘LIVE BY NIGHT?’ But with Batman I keep getting the,

“WHERE’S THE F**KING BATMAN?” I’m like, “Whoa, I’m working! Give me a second!”

 

[terry78]

He's not a stupid man. He reads the comments.

 

[Bats123]

So i just saw this and uh, i thought it was pretty boring tbh, as in, its visually good looking but boring, so, pretty boring, well, the beginning and the end were pretty good but theres a big chunk in the middle where i was thinking to myself, "ok, where is all this going?". The performances were pretty solid though specially Chris Cooper, and is it just me or this movie refused to end? i swear there are like 3 different fade outs in the last 10 minutes. Anyway, yeah its absolutely Affleck's weakest film, wouldnt really recommend it, wont see it again.

Side note: My favorite Affleck movie this year was The Accountant, so you might as well watch that instead.

 

[dude stannis]

Wishing career failure on people is so ****ing *****ey.

That being said, I'm a sucker for slow moving gangster epics, so I might end up liking this, but it sounds like it adds nothing new and the pacing is more laborious than deliberate.

 

[weezerspider]

This wasn't as bad as some of the critics are making it out to be. It adds nothing new to the genre, but it wasn't offensively bad or anything. It was just kind of there. I wasn't completely engaged, but I also wasn't really bored in the traditional sense. I guess I'd give it like a 6/10. It was fine, but I doubt I'll ever bother to watch it again.

 

[scarlet-witch]

I kind of feel bad that Affleck was passionate about making this and no one cared.

 

[MurkeNyou]

I hear bad critic reviews, good average filmgoer reviews. I don't know what to think after the Accountant was sandbagged.

 

[TheVileOne]

Failure is a part of life, and Affleck should be used to it at this point.

That's not mean to an insult. If anything, it's a compliment. Think about it this way, Affleck's career has had the highest of highs and some pretty low lows. But he still manages to find his way back.

You can't hit a homerun every time you are at bat. And sometimes for filmmakers, their so called passion projects turn out to be their weakest efforts.

Ron Clements and Don Musker, you know the guys who did The Little Mermaid and Aladdin and were huge parts of the Disney Renaissance? You know what their passion project was that Disney constantly put off for years until they finally relented and let them make it? Treasure Planet. Treasure Planet was the movie they wanted to make for years. Know what their last movie was? Moana, currently sitting on $228 million domestic and counting.

There was a time in Ben Affleck's career where he seemed like the lesser guy of the Good Will Hunting duo. He was making bomb after bomb. His attempts at becoming a franchise player didn't pan out. There was a time where this joke seemed shockingly accurate.

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And eventually, Affleck was able to rebuild himself. He also took some risks on himself and decided to get into directing. It was a gamble, and it paid off big time for him. He brought his career back from a complete and utter down-spiral. No matter who you know in Hollywood, what Affleck did takes clear talent.

And you know what? After everything he went through and how he had pretty much seen it all and done it all. How he brought his career back from the brink and ruin and established himself as a legitimate Award winning filmmaker -- why would he want to throw himself into a comic book superhero franchise after all that? To me it's not even about risk or fear. Like he had done the superhero thing before. He didn't really like it and said he said he wouldn't do it again. I get that he loves comics and genuinely loves Batman. I understand that. But I mean you can still do that and not play Batman. Because when you do these movies you aren't just beholden to your own vision. You are beholden to the vision of millions of fickle fans. You are beholden to the studio executives. You are beholden to bean counters and stockholders. I just don't know why Affleck put himself in that position. He didn't need to anymore. After he got his career back into a healthy place where he's not just a top acting talent but also a top award winning filmmaker, why do the comic book thing again? I don't get it, but whatever. He's his own man.

But my point is, yeah this movie failed, but Affleck has faced failure before and come out of it OK. This doesn't really have to be any different.

Maybe Live By Night got caught up in Post-Dawn of Justice hysteria. But, that's on Affleck's shoulders. He signed up to be the Dark Knight, and that's not like signing up for a movie no one's going to see co-starring Justin Timberlake. This is the type of role that can be the albatross on the neck of your career. Again, just don't get why after Affleck had reached that place he could've just stuck with being an avante garde dramatic filmmaker. And every now and again, Affleck could do "safe picture" then do the art picture without ever having to hitch his wagon to a "franchise" ever again. But oh well.

 

[TheVileOne]

I kind of feel bad that Affleck was passionate about making this and no one cared.

The man has two Academy Awards, untold wealth and he used to be married to Jennifer Garner. You shouldn't feel bad for the guy. He'll be OK.

 

[Reek]

 

[titansupes]

 

[TheVileOne]

 

[Reek]

 

[TheVileOne]

 

[Boom]

I honestly didn't find the film as bad people are making it out to be. It's a bit meandering at times, but I liked it well enough.

 

[scarlet-witch]

The man has two Academy Awards, untold wealth and he used to be married to Jennifer Garner. You shouldn't feel bad for the guy. He'll be OK.

 

[Fallen Angel]

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/ben-affleck-live-by-night-flop-1201971025/

“Live By Night” mostly fired blanks when it debuted in theaters last December, and its failure has resulted in a lot of financial carnage.


The expensive gangster picture was a passion project for Ben Affleck, who directed, wrote, produced, and starred in the story of a Florida rum runner. But critics ripped the picture, calling it dramatically inert and a muddle. That’s left Warner Bros., the studio behind the film flop, looking at a $75 million loss, according to insiders with knowledge of its financing and rival studio executives.


“Live By Night” has made $16.5 million globally, and is not expected to have international appeal despite Affleck’s star power. Talky period pictures don’t tend to play well overseas, particularly when they don’t come loaded with Oscars (“Live by Night” was shut out). The film cost $65 million to produce and tens of millions more to distribute and market.

 

[Boom]

Ouch.

 

[Da-Scribe]

That's too bad. I really enjoyed the movie. I saw an advanced screening of it a few months out, so I'm not sure how much changed. I just remember thinking the editing was a little wonky in certain spots. Other than that, it was a good experience.

Ah well.

 

[Gold Samurai]

So on to "Justice League" and his untitled Batman movie?



He knew no one cared about "Live by Night"

 

[kguillou]

I feel bad for Ben, but he'll be ok. He'll still be WB's golden boy, the guy who made The Town and Argo. Everyone's allowed one or two swings and misses.