Ben Affleck in The Town
The Town is a 2010 action-crime-thriller film that stars Ben Affleck, who has co-written and directed the movie as well.
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Pete Postlethwaite, as Fergie the Florist, is the crime boss in the town. Previously, he has played the mysterious lawyer "Kobayashi" in The Usual Suspects and his most recent appearances includes his stint as the ailing tycoon in Christopher Nolan's Inception.
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A sober introductory text informs us that one particular area of the city — Charlestown, where tourists can follow the Freedom Trail to the Bunker Hill Monument — is home to more armored car and bank robbers than anywhere else in America. (Review by AO Scott, New York Times)
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One of them is Doug MacRay (Affleck), whose crew is first seen knocking over a bank in Cambridge. That sequence, like most of the other action set pieces in the film, is lean, brutal and efficient, and evidence of Mr. Affleck's skill and self-confidence as a director.(Review by AO Scott, New York Times)
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Instead, Doug says he'll deal with Claire, but starts dating her, a development that is perhaps meant to heighten the emotional intensity of his predicament but instead disrupts the film's tough mood with sentimental preposterousness. (Review by AO Scott, New York Times)
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Claire and Doug's romance has a hint of class tension — she's what the locals call a “toonie,” meaning a gentrifying interloper into their tightly-knit bastion — but the film is too cool and procedural to give their relationship any depth of feeling. (Review by AO Scott, New York Times)
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A climactic caper at Fenway Park blows holes in the film's narrative and emotional credibility, but it is fast and exciting all the same, perhaps especially for Yankees fans. Otherwise, the main attraction is the blaring music of those accents. It's a lark, a spark, a walk in the park. (Review by AO Scott, New York Times)
