Ben Affleck

I just don’t get how this guy is such a famous popular actor.He can’t act?His performances are horrible,I bet the average person on the street could act better then him.He also really hasn’t been in that many good movies either.I seriously just don’t get how this guy is a famous movies star?

His association with Kevin Smith has been a tremendous bonus for his career. Also, maybe, just maybe, that little gold statuette named Oscar that he rec’d for a little movie called Good Will Hunting has helpd also.

And while most of his acting does border on the stiff side of cardboard, the acting in "Shakespeare in Love", "Good Will Hunting", "Chasing Amy" - were strong performances. He has it in him to be a "better than decent" actor. The clips I saw in San Diego show promise.

My feelings exactly on Kevin Costner. But, every actor appeals to a different crowd. Lots of folks love Costner. I am just not one of them. At least Ben Affleck is marginally attractive…he’s got that going for him.

My wife wants to be boned by him, that kind of power will get you faaarrr…

You’re a player-hater.

I don’t get it either, same with David Schwimmer. Anyway go to school with a girl who went out with Ben Affleck once when they were working in Vancouver. (only once)

Actually, some of the roles that Costner has been most panned for are the ones I enjoyed most – “The Postman” and “Waterworld.” I really liked those movies. Costner is the typpe of actor that really needs a certain type of role to shine. Personally, “Message in a Bottle” was the WRONG movie for him.

As for Ben Affliction, I haven’t seen enough of his stuff to make a decent call, but my sister-in-law fell in love with him after seeing “Sum of All Fears.”

Brider: I know a lot of folks dig Costner… To me, every single role he’s played has the same deadpan, monotone, physically stiff-as-a-board, barely able to remember lines and delivering them as smoothly as my 6 year old reads (sounding every other word out) character. Whether he’s some suicidal soldier sent to the armpit of hell, or a Mad Max wannabe, or a burned out golf pro it all seems like the same damn character to me. I know, I know, it’s probably all my skewed perception - but hey, it is my perception. :wink:

Oh, how soon people forget. sigh With a filmography that includes: Silverado, No Way Out, The Untouchables, Wyatt Earp (underappreciated, IMO), A Perfect World (clearly one of Clint Eastwood’s best as well as Costner’s), Fandango, Dances with Wolves, American Flyers. And just gotta remember one of THE best baseball flicks ever: Bull Durham. Costner was, early and into the the 90’s a sly, cool customer who occasionally displayed wonderful bits of goofy wit (witness: Silverado and Fandango). I’m not a HUGE Costner fan, but he has provided cinema with some very good stuff - a few of which can be regarded as classics.

He has stumbled upon late, only due to that "age thing". He's finding his way - trying to find his niche. Unlike Eastwood and Connery (and maybe Patrick Steward and Ian McKellen), who have used their age as an advantage in film, Costner has been fighting his. Bad call.

Ben Affleck…I think the biggest thing is his physical appearance. I know a bunch of women who take Ben VERY seriously. You can’t make jokes about Ben. Ben will be their future husband. I just can’t get the image of Ben as the big prick in the early Kevin Smith movies out of my head. He still looks like a big prick.

Good Will Hunting, of course, is what solidified his fame and hollywood power. The kind of fame he and Matt Damon received as the talented Golden Boys of young Hollywood is still propelling him along, I think. Even more so than Matt Damon, who I think has transcended that one fantastic year of publicity and established himself as a talent in his own right.

Ben’s association with Kevin Smith is small in comparison to his association with Harvey Weinstein, President of Miramax films. This became more evident when the Project Greenlight series came out on HBO. Less then a handful of people can directly speak with Harvey, and Ben is one of them. Like it or not, he is a powerful player in Hollywood.

Agree completely with Patricia on the early-versus-late Costner thing (although I didn’t particularly care for him in Silverado…).


Brider, you’ve GOT to be kidding. PLEASE tell me you’re kidding. You enjoyed The Postman??? That has got to be the single stupidest movie of all time. C’mon, you’re just pulling the Forum’s leg, right? Right…?

I can’t knock him or Matt Damon; they’re both Red Sox fans:)

I haven’t seen Pearl Harbour etc, but the Kevin Smith films he has been in I thought he was good. He seemed pretty natural in Chasing Amy, and Good Will Hunting he was great. Maybe this is a case of jealousy of his looks?

I think he’s a good actor. I think acting is in the eye of the beholder sometimes. Sometimes the role. Possibly even the director or the other actors present in the film.

orbital i am pretty confident in my looks and wouldn’t critize someone or dislike them becuase of their looks.I’m a fan of many male actors who would be considered good looking by the opposite sex such as goerge clooney and brad pitt becuase i think their good actors.Ben affleck is not really that good of an actor i don’t understand the hype.He is bad in boiler room,no horrible in boiler room,bad in pearl harbor,bad in dogma,bad in armageddon,i think he is good in chasing amy,and i havn’t seen a couple of his movies,was alright in good will hunting,damon was much better,but i don’t get why he is so famous?he is a mediocre actor

T is right. He sucks. aside from Chasing Amy, I can’t think of a goog performance. And CA ia all Kevin Smith. Interesting that he was good at playing maybe the biggest prick ever. Actually, I am not impressed with many in Hwood at all as people. I am always amazed that others take them seriously.

Yeah, I like “The Postman.” What of it? Huh? Huh? Wanna take it outside?

Just bustin’. Yeah, I like some off-the-wall stuff. “Brazil” was great, I liked “House 2,” and a lot of others. I thought “Traffic” was wierd, just couldn’t get into it at all. Apparently a lot of critics liked it. What do I know?

Well, I actually walked out of “Brazil”, so I guess that explains things a bit.


Okay, but before I let this go, just tell me one thing. There’s that scene in the Postman where a kid is writing to someone. He almost finishes the letter, but then KC rides by, so he’s missed the Postman, right? Nah, of course not! KC gets about 50 yards down the road, then “senses” that there might be a kid plaintively holding up a doomed-never-to-be-sent letter behind him. He reins in, turns around, and (after an appropriate build-up, of course) goes charging back down the lane to snatch the letter from the kid’s hand in a triumph of slo-mo orchestral grandeur. Cue heroic background music, cue tears that the letter will now reach whomever. And Costner goes riding off into the distance - in the opposite direction!!! Bwah hah hah hah haa!


And you really liked this movie?!? Ahh, Brider, you’ll never be the same in my eyes again… (sniff!)

And I suppose the fact that “Blackhawk Down” showed a pair of Oakley Juliet sunglasses (that had not even been made at the time the events took place) totally ruined that movie for you.

Yeah, I do a lot of picking apart of movies too. Some things that I spot are just miniscule (like the rotating 7-Up can in “The Client”). But I try not to let that get in the way of my enjoyment of the movie or the story. I remember the scene you’re talking about, and I did think it was funny that he was going in the opposite direction, but I think I remember something that alerted him to the kid standing there (and the whole hand-off thing was important to the final scene where they unveiled that sculpture – sorry if that’s a spoiler for any one). If I remember right, the kid actually came through the front door right as Costner’'s character was passing, and he may have actually noticed it (peripheral vision) and felt guilty about continuing on. Okay, maybe that’s a stretch. I STILL liked the story, and the premise. Maybe not the best executed, but I liked it.