Today I saw both "The Town" and "Easy A".
"The Town" is Ben Affleck's second turn at directing, after "Gone Baby Gone". I have to say, it's an order of magnitude better. While "Gone Baby.." was well done. "The Town" has superb pacing from the start. You are immersed in seconds in the gang, and the nature of the two principles is made clear within the first two minutes. From there on, while it follows a fairly standard plotline for Action/Romance, it's still handled deftly enough that, well, you don't care. The moments of humor are inserted right where they are needed, even during, oh, say, a robbery. When the scene calls for action, you get it in spades.
The funny moments include a short written note near the end that is as funny as the wonderful "how do ya like THEM apples?" from "Good Will Hunting" and felt like a nod to that moment. Sure, lots of the story has already been told in the trailers; you know that Ben's character "Wants out of this life of crime and villainy". So he's the classic whore with a heart of gold Hollywood adores. Again, who cares? Rebecca Hall as the female lead has that same girl-next-door unaffected beauty that Minnie Driver had; and it works just as well. A solid four wombats.
"Easy A" looks like a fairly typical teen-romance-comedy-angst-recovery movie. It is. But that's like saying "Juno" is about a pregnant 16 year old. While true, that's not even the cherry on he top of the sundae; it's the bowl it gets served in. The narrative POV works perfectly for this film, and it's as funny and as full of memorable quotes as "Juno" was. "What, do I have a gnome down there?" By the time that line was delivered, I was already laughing as hard a I did over the "Mr. Burrito" bit from "Toy Story 3". OK, maybe not QUITE that hard. Close though.
Emma Stone is pretty, and at 22 (yes, I looked) still can play a high school senior convincingly. Amanda Bynes as her nemesis is PERFECT, and if you don't want to clip her with a guitar 30 minutes in, you are a zombie. Stanley Tucci as Emma's dad is spot-on, and the dialogue is not only well written, it's flawlessly executed by the cast and the director. Five good fat wombats for this one; it goes in my library once it's out.
