The Town: Double duty done right by Affleck.

Doug MacRay heads a successful bank robbery crew in Charlestown, Massachusetts. But after he kidnaps and subsequently falls for a bank manager named Claire during their most recent heist, he begins to rethink his life and plans on getting out of the bank robbing business.

While certainly drawing its inspiration from one of the better action/crime dramas made in the past 20 years (the visually stunning and thematically complex Heat with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino), The Town falls short of surpassing it. However this does not mean the film was a vapid waste of time, quite the opposite. Ben Affleck not only showed a great deal of emotion and depth as Doug, but proved himself to be a more polished director as well. He let the cast (including an explosive Jeremy Renner and stoic Jon Hamm) evolve into richly, complex characters that helped to bring the story of a bank robbing crew from Charlestown to life. Affleck also took the time to properly craft the love story between Doug and Claire, which was central to the film. If that part of the film failed to reach the audience then the entire story would appear vacuous for the main plot device was Doug's desire to get out of the game and start something more with Claire. Thankfully their interaction on screen felt real, which made it easier for the audience to root for them in their attempt to get away from a town which was a breeding ground for armed robbers and criminals in general.

Where The Town fell short was in its action sequences (which were gripping but reminded one a little too much of the ones in Heat) and time spent (or a lack thereof) developing the relationships within Doug’s crew, but those drawbacks should not dissuade you from checking out The Town for it is an emotionally thrilling crime drama.

Grade: B

Heat: Pacino vs. De Niro, what more do you need?

The lives of two men, at the opposite sides of the law, intersect when one, Neil McCauley, pulls off a heist which catches the attention of Lt. Vincent Hanna. Each one becomes obsessed with defeating the other while trying to maintain a semblance of a normal life.

The joy in watching a film like Heat comes from witnessing a pair of actors and a director at the top of their respective individual games. Though top heavy in characters, depth of story and plot, director Michael Mann masterfully orchestrated every facet of the film and unleashed an impressive crime thriller. A prime example of this was the bank robbery shootout sequence, which was set in downtown Los Angeles, between the cops and Neil’s crew. Not only was it epic in its scale, intensity and realism but it was an integral part of the plot and moved the story forward rather than serving as a useless action piece (which seems to be a normal occurrence in most recently released crime thrillers). For their parts, Pacino and De Niro elevated the film, turning it into an almost mythical showdown between good and evil. Pacino’s Lt. Vincent Hanna snarled and stomped his way through his scenes, never apologizing for what he was, a man on a mission to stop the bad guy no matter what the cost. De Niro’s Neil McCauley was just as intense as Hanna, but never let that intensity get the best of him because he was a professional. True film scholars could spend pages upon pages pontificating upon the scene where Hanna and McCauley chat in a diner but it is easiest just to say that it was incredible to witness two actors take a simple scene and turn it into something more, a pseudo - showdown in which both confess respect for the other but promise to show no quarter when the time comes for a final confrontation.

Both Pacino and De Niro could have carried the movie on their own, their individual performances were that good, but together they combined to make Heat something more than the typical crime thriller.

Grade: B