The Town vs. Devil

[Greenwood]

Re: The Town vs. Devil

I actually think the poster was very effective. The bad poster version would have been showing Affleck and the rest of the crew in some generic way. Instead they chose to show a bank robbery in progress with the characters dressed in scary John McCain masks. Pretty frightening stuff.

John McCain masks, lol!

I agree, pretty creepy.

[Greenwood]

Re: The Town vs. Devil

Big fan of Elba as Stringer Bell (part of a great ensemble cast) but since seeing him in the Losers, I don't think the guy can carry a movie. We'll see.

Yeah, it may be an HBO curse, 'cause I can't think of a HBO star that has transitioned into a movie-star. James Gandolfini has had the same luck in choosing parts.

And let me take this moment to humbly eat my plate of crow regarding my prediction for this past weekend (was hoping that no one would dig this thread up )

Oh well, I will say that Devil has received MUCH better reviews than I thought it would. It's even withstood the expected M. Night-hate/envy/obsession that seems to dog his every move since Unbreakable.

[loopdesign]

Re: The Town vs. Devil

Can't wait to see him take the reigns as "Alex Cross" from Morgan Freeman (Kiss the Girls, Along came a Spider). He still hasn't gotten the opportunity to carry a flick as the clear-cut protag. And the closest he's had (Obsessed) made a hefty profit despite getting poor reviews.

Big fan of Elba as Stringer Bell (part of a great ensemble cast) but since seeing him in the Losers, I don't think the guy can carry a movie. We'll see.

[omovie]

Re: The Town vs. Devil

I actually think the poster was very effective. The bad poster version would have been showing Affleck and the rest of the crew in some generic way. Instead they chose to show a bank robbery in progress with the characters dressed in scary John McCain masks. Pretty frightening stuff.

[thatcomedian]

Re: The Town vs. Devil

I just saw the trailer for "The Town". It looked like it might be good and Rebecca Hall is in it and she is hot.

In the trailer, they said from the director of "Gone Baby Gone" which is reasonable. Then they said from the studio that brought you "The Departed". I don't think I've seen that before. Using the fact that it is the same studio as cred. The same director yes, the same producers yes, the same studio?

No one responded to this, got wrapped up in the THE TOWN VS TAKERS debate, I guess.

I just read this on Boxofficemojo

"Upon closer inspection, The Town's marketing campaign sizzled more than its Departed references and the movie's nondescript title and poster would imply."

I didn't mention it here but I was also surprised how lame that poster/billboard was for a movie with Ben Affleck in it.

[tinman01]

Re: The Town vs. Devil

No freaking way....

The Town's acting blows Takers out of the water and it's a joke to think otherwise. Hamm, Cooper, Renner, and even Affleck run circles around those you mentioned.

No one from Takers has ever come close to these guys in this field.

You said it.

[Greenwood]

Re: The Town vs. Devil

the ads for the town are way too telling. we practically know the entire story. but ben affleck and the romance element will be a draw for the average movie-goer.

the ads for devil leave you guessing... a bit more mystery but without a big named actor attached it might have a problem.

my personal preference is for devil but i think the town will win in a box office face off.

Agree about the trailers. I can already tell that Affleck is our "sympathetic" southy wannabe-reformed dirtbag who falls for the girl, yadda, yadda in between watching a Red Sox and Patriot games. lol

Devil has me genuinely intrigued as to what the fvck is happening.

I honestly doubt either will have a disappointing opening. But Afleck's star power is questionable. As for Hamm or whatever his name is, Idris Elba and James Gandolfini proved before him (and from much better shows, btw) that the best cable tv stars don't always translate the same level performances or popularity on the silver screen.

[Terrance Mulloy]

Re: The Town vs. Devil



http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1940892

[NikeeGoddess]

Re: The Town vs. Devil

the ads for the town are way too telling. we practically know the entire story. but ben affleck and the romance element will be a draw for the average movie-goer.

the ads for devil leave you guessing... a bit more mystery but without a big named actor attached it might have a problem.

my personal preference is for devil but i think the town will win in a box office face off.

[Ravenlocks]

Re: The Town vs. Devil

Can't wait to see him take the reigns as "Alex Cross" from Morgan Freeman (Kiss the Girls, Along came a Spider). He still hasn't gotten the opportunity to carry a flick as the clear-cut protag. And the closest he's had (Obsessed) made a hefty profit despite getting poor reviews.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to him as Alex Cross, too.

[Greenwood]

Re: The Town vs. Devil

In terms of my interest, I'd take The Town over Devil, and yes, M. Knight's involvement is a turnoff. I'm not a huge Ben Affleck fan, but that movie sounds like it has a shot to be decent.

I wanted Takers to be decent too--I mean, Idris Elba is in it!--but I've heard so many bad things about it that I've chosen to wait for DVD. Same may happen with The Town. We shall see.

Can't wait to see him take the reigns as "Alex Cross" from Morgan Freeman (Kiss the Girls, Along came a Spider). He still hasn't gotten the opportunity to carry a flick as the clear-cut protag. And the closest he's had (Obsessed) made a hefty profit despite getting poor reviews.

[Greenwood]

Re: The Town vs. Devil

The Town is already getting some early buzz. Affleck is a solid director. Plus the trailer is hot.

I also agree regarding Takers - which looks like a lot of fun, but I mean how serious can you take Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen and T.I., as opposed to Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner and Chris Cooper? Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Devil seems quite interesting and intense, but I doubt it will do any good because of the producer name attached to it. Really pains me to say that because I wish the guy would land another hit movie. He needs one badly. I hope it does well though - I really dig the concept.

Last Airbender is a bonafide hit thanks mostly to its current performance overseas. Haven't seen it, nor do I care to, but something tells me Shaymalan isn't losing any sleep at night like the internet'ers that seem to be kicking their kids and cats every time he releases a film.

His films are like the opposite of internet-faves like Scott Pilgrim and Machete -- They get plenty of love on the net, but underperform at the box office, whereas Shaymalan gets burned in virtual effigy every time a project with his name on it comes out, BUT he cleans up at the B.O.

Go figure.

[Greenwood]

Re: The Town vs. Devil

THE TOWN's problem is - weak antagonist means nothing is driving the story. Ends up a great drama with some exciting heists... but not as involving as GONE BABY. The culprit - John Hamm. He takes the cop and makes him *nice* and *reasonable* and that takes the pressure off the heist guys. Rimer steals the show as the loose canon. This might be the movie that makes Affleck a star again, though, since he gets to use those puppy dog eyes of his.

The reason why THE TOWN is not TAKERS: TOWN has no scenes directly lifted from other movies, TAKERS is like a cut and paste job. Heck, the hook in any heist movie is the heist itself... and TAKERS *steals* the heist from ITALIAN JOB instead of coming up with something original... but all of the other scenes are stolen from other movies, so it fits right in. Oh, and TOWN is really character based instead of some sort of external label that seems pasted on in a rewrite like "Sister Is An Addict". And none of the robberies in TOWN depend on a news chopper as an escape (what it there had been a brush fire near the 405?). So, I expect RT to have better than a 27 for TOWN.

TOWN could have been a conetender if Hamm had just played the cop as written, but all of his anger is in the trailer, and the rest of the time he's so nice you expect Affleck to give himself up so that he can get a hug from Hamm.

DEVIL - well, they took Night's name off some of the adverts... but I think the film will play well to those damned kids.

- Bill

No doubt about that. Then again, I'm not one to worship RT's numbers.

I just happen to be someone that judges a film (especially when comparing) after I see it.

I actually think Devil will mop up the floor with Town. And regardless of the B.O. numbers, will be more profitable in the long run.

Seems like Affleck scraped the cutting room floor of the first-draft of Good Will Hunting (where it was an action/thriller and Will was apparently more like Jason Bourne) and spit this out.

It'll probably good, but I can't stand that exaggerated Boston accent unless the story REALLY intrigues me (i.e. Mystic River, where Penn did a realistic sounding Boston accent and not that "look, I'm from Boston and I like the Red Sox" sh!t that Affleck loves to do.)

And while both seem like cut & paste hiest/robbery flicks IMO, I doubt Town will do better than takers in the first weekend.

[Terrance Mulloy]

Re: The Town vs. Devil

The Town is already getting some early buzz. Affleck is a solid director. Plus the trailer is hot.

I also agree regarding Takers - which looks like a lot of fun, but I mean how serious can you take Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen and T.I., as opposed to Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner and Chris Cooper? Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Devil seems quite interesting and intense, but I doubt it will do any good because of the producer name attached to it. Really pains me to say that because I wish the guy would land another hit movie. He needs one badly. I hope it does well though - I really dig the concept.

[Greenwood]

Re: The Town vs. Devil

No freaking way....

The Town's acting blows Takers out of the water and it's a joke to think otherwise. Hamm, Cooper, Renner, and even Affleck run circles around those you mentioned.

No one from Takers has ever come close to these guys in this field.

So you've seen both?