Normdog Entertainment

Just like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” the high school comedy “Easy A” has a random musical number with no real connection to the plot. There’s a lot of borrowing from other coming-of-age movies too, from “Say Anything” and “Sixteen Candles” to “Clueless” and even “Mean Girls.”

The theft pays off because of “Superbad” alum Emma Stone in a breakout role. Fast, funny and devoid of the plastic Hollywood glamour that defines so many in her age group, Stone could be the younger, prettier reincarnation of 80s-era John Cusack.

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Ben Affleck knows how to make gritty crime dramas about Boston. And how to pull fine performances out of established actors and newcomers with Boston accents.

Maybe it’s just Boston, or maybe the star of “Gigli” really is an excellent filmmaker.

After a sensational debut in 2007 with “Gone Baby Gone,” Affleck is back in the director’s chair for “The Town,” a wonderfully acted heist thriller about desperate men born out of a neighborhood that produces more bank robbers than any other city in the country.

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Former laughing stock Ben Affleck is receiving some of the best reviews of his career for the leading role in this week’s crime drama, “The Town.” Affleck also co-wrote and directed the film, a follow-up to his stellar directorial debut, “Gone Baby Gone.”

While his reputation behind-the-scenes remains perfect (he also won an Oscar for co-writing “Good Will Hunting”), Affleck’s onscreen career has been, well, inconsistent at best. For every respectable entry, there seems to be a couple really embarrassing ones.

But even Affleck’s once pitiful acting career has rebounded in recent years. Which performances stand out as his best? Here are 16 of his most noteworthy (and notorious) films thrown at each other NCAA tournament style.

Behold the Sweet 16 of Ben Affleck!

Bracket 1

Good Will Hunting (1) vs. Gigli (16)

To be fair, not enough people even saw Affleck’s debacle with Jennifer Lopez to rank “Gigli” as one of Hollywood’s biggest disasters. I, however, have seen the film, in its entirety, and it’s definitely as terrible as you heard. Winner: ”Good Will Hunting”

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Labor Day’s gone, the nights are chilly and football has regained its inexplicable hold on the general public. It also means a worthy bunch of quality films will be trickling into local theaters soon. Based on early reviews and overall buzz, here are 10 movies worth getting excited about:

The Town (Sept. 17)
Ben Affleck’s second directorial effort after 2007’s acclaimed “Gone Baby Gone” is another Boston set crime saga about a thief (Affleck) who builds a relationship with one of his former victims. Affleck proved his chops with “Gone Baby Gone,” and another success will cement his status as a Hollywood hyphen power player (actor/writer/director). Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner co-star.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Sept. 24)
More than 20 years after the original film, Michael Douglas returns to the big screen as Gordon Gekko in another tale of Wall Street corruption. Is greed still good? Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan co-star.

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Somewhere around mid-June, movie critics around the country started grumbling about the disappointing slate of summer movies. “Iron Man 2” wasn’t as good as the first “Iron Man” everybody hated “Sex and the City 2,” and nobody bothered to see “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.”

Some started to call it the worst summer movie season in more than a decade.

Of course all this complaining happened well before anybody saw “Toy Story 3” or “Inception,” two films that, in terms of pure spectacle and narrative craftsmanship, are some of the most satisfying blockbusters in a long while.

Funny how it all evens out sometimes.

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The indie drama “Winter’s Bone” could induce chills in 100 degree heat.

In an Oscar-worthy performance, newcomer Jennifer Lawrence stars as Ree, a desperate, hardworking teen living in the back-country and struggling to take care of her young siblings and mentally-disturbed mother. One day a police officer knocks on the door inquiring about her absent father, who has a history of drug trafficking in the area.

Turns out dear Dad put the house up as collateral for his bail, and the powers-that-be are now threatening to take the home if he doesn’t show up for his court date. Relatives and neighbors all believe Daddy to be dead, but Ree needs proof to keep her family from losing the house.

Directed by Debra Granik, “Winter’s Bone” is a gripping mystery told from a unique perspective in Ree, a brave, mature-beyond-her-age young woman who refuses to accept her circumstances, even when violence escalates around her. So willful and driven, her intelligence serves as her only real risk of failure. In this drug-riddled community, being too smart is good enough reason to get killed.

The final minutes offer some truly disturbing revelations, and Lawrence’s performance keeps the dreary story emotionally accessible. Airtight in its scripting and atmosphere, “Winter’s Bone” caps an excellent summer of independent film offerings.

Grade: A-

A romantic comedy like “The Switch” needs a fresh spin to survive the doldrums of late August. Accidental sperm donation, sadly, just isn’t enough.

Jason Bateman stars as Wally, a likable hypochondriac who has long felt romantic feelings for best friend Kassie, played by Jennifer Aniston. Unlucky-in-love Kassie decides to have a baby by way of sperm donor, and Wally isn’t too thrilled with the idea.

At at sperm donation party (odd), Wally gets drunk and, by means too absurd to describe, ends up switching the specimen. The next morning, he doesn’t remember a single thing about the incident.

Kassie moves away and seven years later returns to the city with the child in tow. Wally and the kid share some intense similarities, and Wally begins to remember details of the ol’ switcheroo.

Despite this sitcom-like setup, “The Switch” falls into the typical romantic comedy traps. The voice-over narration is abysmal, and the final act struggles through the same inane “misunderstandings” that cripple so many in this genre. (more…)

The gore. Oh my God, the gore.

“Piranha 3D” is one of the bloodiest, most disgusting horror films ever made, and that’s saying something in the age of “Saw,” “Hostel” and the numerous other exploitative 80s-era remakes. “Piranha” is also, of course, presented in 3D, with various severed body parts constantly being tossed at the screen. (more…)

Get to know the name Edgar Wright. He’s a cinema genius, and not enough people are seeing his movies.

The British director has brilliantly skewered the zombie and buddy-cop genres with 2004’s “Shaun of the Dead” and 2007’s “Hot Fuzz,” respectively. His latest, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” is a wildly inventive, funny and action-packed adventure based on the cult graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley. It blends anime, video games and a slew of other obscure pop culture references into a fast, colorful sensory explosion.

You haven’t seen any other movie quite like it.

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Stuff blows up real good.

Little else needs to be said about “The Expendables,” an old-school throwback to 80s-era action movies, written, directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone. Assembling the greatest (and cheesiest) action stars of the last 30 years, “The Expendables” wastes little time on plot or character development.

What we have here instead are blood, bullets and bone-crushing fight sequences. Knife throwing and tough talking. Explosions and double-crosses. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis join the fun for a few minutes.

Fact is, you already know if you’re going to like this movie or not.

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