ben affleck new movie review

There’s a lot of empty space in “ Hypnotic ,” a doofy, though never boring sci-fi thriller about a Texas cop, played by Ben Affleck , who stumbles upon a conspiracy of mind-controlling crooks. Or he seems to stumble upon them. Reality buckles and warps around our troubled hero, whose daughter has already gone missing before the movie starts.

Now Detective Daniel Rourke (Affleck) alternates between chasing after and running away from an elusive mind-controlling “hypnotic,” played by William Fichtner . Fichtner’s baddy is the prime (and only) suspect in a weird bank heist that leaves Rourke dazed and clutching at a Polaroid of his daughter Minnie ( Hala Finley ). Some mysterious handwriting on the photo tells Rourke to “Find Lev Dell Rayne.”

Wide-angle photography also helps viewers to distinguish between “reality” as Rourke knows it and the “ Inception ”-style delirium that warps his (and our) perspective, often shot with spherical camera lenses. If you squint hard enough at “Hypnotic,” past the obvious twists and embarrassing dialogue, you might see flashes of a deeper story, though only if you’re a fan of multihyphenate filmmaker Robert Rodriguez .

Rodriguez (“ Alita: Battle Angel ,” “ Four Rooms ”) directed, scripted, and edited “Hypnotic” in Austin, Texas, after three production breaks and an insurance lawsuit. Austin was not Rodriguez or his production’s first choice of location (Los Angeles), nor was it their second (Toronto). Still, it’s hard to imagine how Rodriguez could have shot “Hypnotic” anywhere but Austin, especially because he’s filmed most of his projects in Austin during his 30 years as a filmmaker. Moreover, when “Hypnotic” is more about ambiance than story, it seems to reflect a crisis of imagination: what happened to the weird and vibrant Austin of Rodriguez’s memory? Did it ever really exist?

I don’t mean to over-sell the personal qualities that often skirt the periphery of Rourke’s quest for answers, but “Hypnotic” does try to lull viewers into a suggestive frame of mind, primarily by over-stating the facts of Rourke’s investigation. He teams up with Diana Cruz ( Alice Braga ), a “dime store psychic” (his words) who ferries Rourke around Austin’s shadier corners. Rodriguez’s fans might recognize a few key locations, like the Bone Shack barbecue spot from “Planet Terror,” where truckers and Texas Rangers refuel with breakfast tacos. Other Austin locations are only familiar because of the character actors lurking inside, like Jeff Fahey and Jackie Earle Haley . There’s also an Alex Jones-type paranoiac ( Dayo Okeniyi ) hiding in a lavishly decorated bunker. He can see fine, but still wears an eyepatch that he shifts from eye to eye to avoid detection by security cameras, because of their facial recognition technology, right?

The prefab weird-ness of this secret Austin, the city that Rourke never thought to investigate, inevitably proves to be as substantial as the movie’s canned and by-now-stale remixing of the genre tics and tropes that Christopher Nolan previously claimed in signature movies like “ Memento ,” “Inception,” and “ Tenet .” “Hypnotic” isn’t as polished nor as thoughtful as Nolan’s trendsetters. It’s also often distractingly stiff in its over-inflated visual compositions and robotic dialogue. A game cast, led by the thanklessly charming Affleck, does not add much value to this bald caper.

Still, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy watching Rodriguez clumsily apply his signature fetishes to “Hypnotic,” a movie where Alice Braga offers Ben Affleck a glass of clear moonshine whiskey and an unnamed Texas Ranger, with a white cowboy hat and matching suit, takes his coffee “black ‘n sludgy.” If you’re a Rodriguez fan, you might be charmed by these clumsy and perhaps over-confident personal touches. His humor is certainly corny enough to be an acquired taste, like when River, Okeniyi’s paranoid hacker, offers Rourke some “homemade Mountain Dew” after showing him his disturbed mind corkboard, which connects everything to hypnotics, from Brexit to the Pope. “My own brew, all organic,” River boasts about his DIY Dew. Rourke still declines.

Fans will recognize and appreciate the well-worn pleasures of this lightly seasoned genre exercise. Others will understandably laugh at Ben Affleck when he says things like, “Hypnotics did all this?!” Rodriguez also tends to linger on shots and story beats a little too long, presumably to ensure distracted viewers cannot miss overt cues. It’s hard, though not impossible, to be seduced given these trying conditions.

Look, the dramatic stakes could be higher, but that’s part of the fun with “Hypnotic,” a bombastic, pseudo-mindbending chase movie where A-listers mosey into an underwhelming twist. Your enjoyment depends on how badly you want to watch Rodriguez and the gang struggle to pull a well-beaten rug out from under you. “Hypnotic” may not be clever or energetic enough to keep your mind from wandering, but it is charming in its own stumbling way.

In theaters now .

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in  The New York Times ,  Vanity Fair ,  The Village Voice,  and elsewhere.

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‘The Tender Bar’ Review: Where Everybody Knows His Name

Ben Affleck serves up whiskey and wisdom in George Clooney’s adaptation of the best-selling memoir by J.R. Moehringer.

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By A.O. Scott

Every kid should have an Uncle Charlie. That’s the sentiment voiced by J.R. Maguire early in “The Tender Bar,” and it’s hard to disagree. By the end of the movie, directed by George Clooney and adapted from J.R. Moehringer’s 2005 memoir , it’s clear that what J.R. means, most simply, is that every child should have an adult who loves them unconditionally: someone who listens, gives good advice and answers hard questions as truthfully as possible.

In movie terms, it doesn’t hurt if that person is also Ben Affleck. Uncle Charlie, a Long Island bartender who is loyal to his friends and family and devoted to his car (a beautiful blue-green Cadillac convertible), is like an older, 1980s-vintage version of Chuckie Sullivan , Affleck’s character in “Good Will Hunting.” He likes to drink, smoke, crack wise and philosophize, but his calling in life is to be there for a vulnerable, promising young man when no one else will.

Affleck is very good at this. He doesn’t oversell either Charlie’s cool or his warmth, and doesn’t let the audience or J.R. in on all of Charlie’s secrets. We see him mostly through the boy’s eyes, as a heroic, benevolent, somewhat mysterious figure, but Affleck’s weary, stoical demeanor suggests dimensions beyond what a child might comprehend. (The young J.R. is played by Daniel Ranieri; grown-up, retrospective narration is provided by the voice of Ron Livingston.) The nuances of Affleck’s performance help ground the movie in small, specific emotions. Its understatement, though, can be a limitation as well as a virtue.

The obvious thing to say about Charlie is that he’s a surrogate father. J.R.’s real dad (Max Martini) is an unreliable, largely absent, self-absorbed disc jockey. He sometimes calls, rarely shows up and lives mainly as a voice on the radio. (“The Voice” is his professional alias.) “The Tender Bar” begins when J.R. and his mother, Dorothy (Lily Rabe), move into her parents’ rambling house in Manhasset. Dorothy’s brother Charlie lives there too, as do a bunch of other cousins and siblings.

We don’t learn too much about them. The focus is on J.R.’s relationships with Dorothy and Charlie, and on his search for The Voice. Grandpa, in the splendidly cranky person of Christopher Lloyd, shows up now and again to swear or break wind, and once in a while to show a little tenderness.

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Where to Watch

Watch Hypnotic with a subscription on Peacock, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

Although Hypnotic isn't without glimmers of inspiration, the ultimate effect of this often clunky crime caper will be to leave you feeling rather sleepy.

Sure, Hypnotic is predictable, but it's still a fairly fun thriller with plenty of twists and turns.

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‘Air’ Review: Ben Affleck Directs A-List Ensemble In Film About How Air Jordan Sneakers Came To Be – SXSW

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Editors note: This review was originally published March 19 after its world premiere at SXSW .

Did you know that Michael Jordan makes $400 million a year in passive income due to the percentage he gets from the sale of Air Jordans? To understand how this came to be, we must travel back to the 1980s and the campus of famed sneaker label Nike. The story is the subject of Ben Affleck ’s newest film Air . Written by Alex Convery, the movie stars Affleck, Matt Damon , Viola Davis , Chris Messina, Chris Tucker, Jason Bateman and Julius Tennon.

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Every castmember gives an award-worthy performance; it’s hard to choose one, and it’s a rarity to watch such good acting across the board. I’ve seen two Affleck performances at SXSW, and you can just tell when he’s enthusiastic about a project and when he’s phoning it in. Convery’s script has all the elements to invoke the energy needed to pull this off. 

One thing the film makes clear: Delores Jordan is responsible for the career her son has today. Despite resistance from Nike, she was able to negotiate a deal where Michael gets a global percentage from every Air Jordan shoe sold. Her stance was that she knows her son’s worth, and that “A shoe is just a shoe…until my son steps into it.” The goal was to create footwear that reflected his persona and give fans something that will make them feel closer to the soon-to-be NBA legend.

RELATED:  SXSW 2023: All Of Deadline’s Movie Reviews

Seeing Air , and how the world’s most popular sneaker came into existence, makes me think about the fact that people are now stealing, killing and dying for a pair. It’s crazy to think about this trajectory: It started off innocently and eventually tured customers into rabid consumers. Of course that’s not Jordan’s problem, but this story puts things in perspective. So many white men were in control of his career, I am glad to see some type of on-screen advocacy for athletes like Mike and others like him as this deal with Nike has changed the sneaker and basketball industry in monumental ways.

Title: Air Studio: Amazon Studios Release date: April 5, 2023 (March 19 SXSW premiere) Director: Ben Affleck Screenwriter: Alex Convery Cast: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Matthew Maher, Marlon Wayans, Chris Tucker, Viola Davis, Gustaf Skarsgård, Julius Tennon Rating: PG-13 Running time: 1 hr 52 mins

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Ben Affleck Returns for 'The Accountant 2': Here's What We Know

Affleck and a host of other actors from the original film -- including J.K. Simmons and Jon Bernthal -- will return for the sequel.

Ben Affleck is working to bring fans a sequel to The Accountant , nearly 10 years after the original was released. 

On Tuesday, ET confirmed that the 51-year-old Gone Girl  star will reunite cast members from the first film including Jon Bernthal , J.K. Simmons and Cynthia Addai-Robinson for a sequel from Amazon MGM and Affleck's Artists Equity.

A sequel to the 2016 film was previously announced back in 2017 and was in the works at Warner Bros. until the project was put on the back burner after David Zaslav took over at WBD in 2022. 

In honor of Affleck and Matt Damon 's production company acquiring the rights to the sequel, ET has compiled a list of answers to some of the biggest questions regarding the 2016 hit film and the highly anticipated sequel. 

Who will star in The Accountant 2 ? 

Ben Affleck, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal and Cynthia Addai-Robinson will all return for the sequel. Anna Kendrick , who starred as accountant Dana Cummings in the first film, will not reprise her role. It's currently unclear if other stars including Jean Smart, John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor will appear in the sequel. 

What is The Accountant about? 

The first film follows Christian Wolff (Affleck), a math savant and certified public accountant who uses his unique skillset to act as a CPA for illicit businesses and criminal organizations. As Wolff is tasked with uncorking the books for a robotics company with a massive ledger discrepancy, the Treasury Department’s Crime Enforcement Division, run by Ray King (Simmons), starts to close in on him and his dealings. Addai-Robinson stars as a Treasury agent tasked with discovering Wolff's real identity while Bernthal plays the brother of Affleck's character. 

Watch a trailer for the original film in the player below:

What will The Accountant 2 be about? 

According to a logline for the movie, Affleck's character is still up to no good when he is contacted by Addai-Robinson's character to help solve the murder of her former boss, who was killed by unknown assassins. 

"With the help of his estranged but highly lethal brother Brax (Bernthal), Chris applies his brilliant mind and less-than-legal methods to piece together the unsolved puzzle," the description reads. "As they get closer to the truth, the trio draw the attention of some of the most ruthless killers alive—all intent on putting a stop to their search."

Who will write and direct the sequel? 

Gavin O’Connor and Bill Dubuque, the original director and writer, respectively, are both slated to return for the sequel, according to Amazon MGM. 

How was the first film received? 

On Rotten Tomatoes , The Accountant scored a 52 percent from 287 critics and a 76 percent audience score from more than 25,000 reviews. At the box office, the movie made $86 million domestically and $155 million globally. Following its theatrical release, it became the most rented film of 2017, according to Amazon MGM . 

When will The Accountant 2  film and release?

It's currently unclear when exactly the project will be filmed or released, however, The Hollywood Reporter states that the movie is listed on the California Film Commission list of 2024 projects to be awarded tax credits -- specifically stating the movie is receiving $10 million in credits.

Where can I watch The Accountant ?

The movie is currently available to subscribers of Apple TV+ and available for purchase on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play and YouTube for $3.99. 

Where can I watch The Accountant 2 once it is released?

The Accountant 2  will be available to stream on Prime Video. It's unknown if the sequel will also receive a theatrical release. 

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The Accountant 2 Star Shared An Exciting Update About The Ben Affleck-Led Sequel With Me, And I'm Getting Even More Pumped

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When it comes to upcoming Ben Affleck movies , the next one to anticipate is the sequel to 2016’s The Accountant , which is absolutely on the way . When I recently interviewed one of the stars of both movies, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, she offered a great update on the action thriller that director Gavin O’Connor has been talking about making since the first movie came out.

The Accountant 2 Has Wrapped Filming Already

I spoke to Cynthia Addai-Robinson ahead of her return to Lord of the Rings: The Rings Of Power Season 2 premiere on Thursday. In addition to the actress telling CinemaBlend about moving out of New Zealand this time around and approaching the newly blind queen , she talked about The Accountant 2 . In her words:

I will give you some insights. So, we wrapped in June. It’s in the can. It is percolating. I'm very, very excited for fans and new fans to see the sequel. I'm really proud of it. I'm really excited about it.

The sequel was announced in March, with Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, J.K. Simmons and Addai-Robinson all reprising their characters (Anna Kendrick is notably not involved). But how amazing is it that it’s already in the post-production phase?

I’m Really Excited Cynthia Addai-Robinson Will Have An Expanded Role

That’s only the tip of the iceberg of what Cynthia Addai-Robinson shared about what’s to come, even though she was understandably a bit tight-lipped. I had recently watched The Accountant when I spoke to the actress on the phone and mentioned how her character, Marybeth Medina, actually never shares a single scene with Ben Affleck’s autistic accountant, Christian Wolff. That won’t be the case in the sequel. As she shared:

And you are correct, I did not get to work with Ben in the first one. I just got to examine photos of him and even in terms of meeting him, I would've met him at the table read in the first film and passed him here and there. But yeah, I had hoped when they announced the sequel, I’d get to work with him and get some scenes with him, and I do.

As you may recall, Addai-Robinson plays a young Treasury agent who is tasked with finding the Accountant’s real identity alongside J.K. Simmons’ Director of the Treasury Department, Ray King. By the end of the movie, they are successful, but Christian is back on the road, surely ready to claim a new identity elsewhere. Addai-Robinson also said this:

We have so many people returning that were involved in the first film, including our writer, Bill Dubuque, our director, Gavin O'Connor. Obviously, our cast. And, I love the dynamic that they have set up for my character, Marybeth and all of the other characters that are floating around so, I don't wanna give too much away.

Per the official synopsis for The Accountant 2 , Marybeth will be forced to contact Christian Wolff in order to solve a murder, and both Christian and his brother Brax (once again played by Jon Bernthal) will work together to piece together the puzzle of the mystery. As Marybeth, Christian and Brax get closer to solving things, they apparently draw attention from some of the “most ruthless killers alive.”

The Accountant had a rich character backstory for Marybeth that I’m excited will be fleshed out more with her being a central character in The Accountant 2 . She was introduced as a woman with a criminal record as a juvenile who was set to take over the job of Simmons’ King after his retirement kicks in. I want to know more about Marybeth and how she will mesh with Affleck’s character after she learned so much about him in her search in the first movie.

No release date has been named for The Accountant 2 , but I have a hunch it will be among the 2025 movies .

Ben Affleck: All New Movies Coming Out in 2024 and 2025

Ben Affleck, the multifaceted talent of Hollywood, embarked on his illustrious career by appearing in ‘The Dark End of the Street.’ Born on August 15, 1972, in Berkeley, California, Affleck’s cinematic journey has been marked by a remarkable evolution from a promising actor to a critically acclaimed filmmaker. His early acting roles paved the way for a prolific career that includes a series of memorable appearances in major films.

Affleck had his breakthrough with the 1997 film ‘Good Will Hunting,’ in which he not only starred alongside his close friend Matt Damon but also co-wrote the screenplay, earning them both an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. This triumph catapulted Affleck into the Hollywood spotlight, leading to iconic roles in movies like ‘Armageddon,’ ‘Pearl Harbor,’ and ‘The Town,’ in which his versatility and charismatic presence shone through. His directorial debut, ‘Gone Baby Gone’ (2007), and subsequent directorial efforts like ‘Argo’ (2012), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, further solidified his reputation as a filmmaker of exceptional talent.

Affleck’s career has been a journey of resilience, innovation, and artistic excellence, leaving an indelible mark on the entertainment industry. His most recent appearance saw him donning the iconic cape and cowl, reprising his role as Batman in ‘The Flash.’ If you are eagerly awaiting his upcoming projects, here’s everything you need to know about them!

1. Untitled Accountant Sequel (TBA)

The sequel to the 2016 thriller film ‘The Accountant’ is officially in the works. Gavin O’Connor will return to direct the film, with Affleck and Jon Bernthal reprising their roles as Christian Wolff and Brax, respectively. The sequel will follow Wolff, who teams up with his strange brother Brax to solve the complex case of Marybeth Medina (Addai-Robinson)’s boss while being hunted by bad guys who don’t want the truth to come out. The cast also includes J.K. Simmons, Daniella Pineda, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, and Grant Harvey. The project is currently in its filming stage, and no release date has been set yet. Reportedly, O’Connor plans for a trilogy.

2. Animals (TBA)

Affleck will be both directing and producing the upcoming Netflix thriller ‘Animals.’ As per the reports, the film will center on the kidnapping of the son of an L.A. mayoral candidate and show how he and his wife handle the situation as the deadline for the ransom gets nearer. Matt Damon will play the role of the mayor while Jennifer Garner is in talks to play the role of the wife. The rest of the cast is yet undisclosed. Connor O. McIntyre has written the story that has been revised by Billy Ray. Currently in its pre-production stage, ‘Animals’ is expected to drop on Netflix towards the end of 2024 or early 2025. A release date is awaited.

3. Keeper of the Lost Cities (TBA)

An exciting live-action movie adaptation of the bestselling book series ‘Keeper of the Lost Cities’ by Shannon Messenger is currently in development at Disney with Affleck on board as both director and producer. The story revolves around a telepathic girl named Sophie, who embarks on a journey to unravel the mysteries of her newfound world, realizing that she holds the key to its future, all while racing against time to prevent the wrong person from discovering the truth. The actor-director is also writing the film with Kate Gritmon. Although the project was announced in 2021, information concerning its production is yet to be revealed.

Read More: ‘Good Will Hunting’: Inspirational and Life-Affirming

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‘hypnotic’ review: ben affleck gets twisted up in robert rodriguez’s wannabe christopher nolan brain-bender.

Alice Braga and William Fichtner also star in the thriller about a detective grieving his abducted daughter in a world of warped reality constructs.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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Cate blanchett and a giant brain star in trailer for guy maddin's horror-comedy 'rumours', 'megalopolis' star laurence fishburne was busy watching the dnc when trailer drama unfolded.

The movie screened at South by Southwest earlier this year as a work-in-progress and opens in U.S. theaters May 12, ahead of its international premiere in a Midnight slot at the Cannes Film Festival .

Affleck plays Detective Danny Rourke, introduced zoning out during a therapy session as he broods over the unsolved abduction of his 7-year-old daughter, Minnie. While the perpetrator was apprehended, he pleaded not guilty by reason of mental incapacity and claims to have no memory of the incident. But Danny remains convinced Minnie is alive and being held somewhere, a suspicion heightened while Rourke and his partner Nicks (JD Pardo) are investigating a series of bank heists and discover a possible link to the missing girl.

Accompanied by an eerie, shuddering score by the director’s son, Rebel Rodriguez, those opening scenes unfold briskly, with some viscerally staged action and plenty of intrigue planted around the enigmatic figure of Dellrayne. The mystery man gives Fichtner a welcome opportunity to show what a commanding villain he can be — suave, composed and soft-spoken, taking a wry hint of pleasure in the chaos and violence he creates around him and making unwitting strangers his pawns.

Clues point Rourke toward Diana Cruz ( Alice Braga ), a storefront psychic who fills the detective in on the phenomenon of hypnotics. Unlike telepaths, who can read minds, hypnotics have the power to control them, reshaping a person’s reality and redirecting their impulses. She explains that Dellrayne was the star recruit of a clandestine government operation known as The Division, designed to exploit the abilities of hypnotics as a defense tool. But Dellrayne went rogue, and Diana herself fled the program.

At the advance New York screening this reviewer attended, a recorded announcement from Rodriguez urged us not to spoil the surprises for future audiences, and rightly so. Suffice it to say that the Division has mechanisms to reset hypnotics’ minds, which means the narrative rug keeps getting pulled out from under the audience as the story’s reality keeps shifting and people are revealed to be not what they seem. Not that it’s particularly difficult to follow, even with the frequent lapses in logic.

The real problem is that the more Rodriguez and Borenstein’s screenplay pieces the puzzle together, the more pedestrian it becomes, leaving you with more bandwidth to notice the lackluster dialogue. By the time an elusive character finally appears and the emotional stakes in theory should be raised, the central idea of malleable reality that can be bent at will dilutes our investment in anyone’s fate. The conclusion feels rushed, soft and unpersuasive.

Affleck gets the job done with stoical focus and a heavy pall of sorrow. But even beyond the understandably burdened nature of a man broken by loss, there’s a torpid quality to his performance, though he’s less lethargic than in snoozes like Live by Night or Deep Water .

Shot by Pablo Berron and Rodriguez on location in Austin and on the backlot at the director’s Troublemaker Studios, Hypnotic features some cool VFX sequences, notably when Dellrayne disorients Rourke with elaborate constructs that turn his visual field into a maze. But the movie’s look is otherwise unexceptional, with a bland gloss barely distinguishable from the average made-for-streaming feature. It’s watchable enough, but ultimately has the counterfeit feel of a filmmaker dabbling in a genre that’s not a natural fit and finding little joy in it.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Hypnotic’ on Peacock, in Which Poor Ben Affleck is Trapped in a Miserable Sci-Fi Thriller

Where to stream:.

• Hypnotic (2023)
• Ben Affleck

“Actually Frightening”: True Crime Fans Stunned By Physical Resemblance Between Scott Peterson And ‘Gone Girl’s Ben Affleck

‘the greatest love story never told’ hits different now that jennifer lopez has filed for divorce from ben affleck, ‘the instigators’ ending explained: why are matt damon and casey affleck freed from jail, where was ‘the instigators’ filmed discover the boston filming locations for matt damon and casey affleck’s movie.

Ben Affleck is in full mope-and-mutter mode in Hypnotic ( now streaming on Peacock ), a sci-fi thriller about high-powered mind-control agents who are part of a conspiracy to, I believe, make Affleck even more glum. The film is from director Robert Rodriguez, whose stock has been on a general decline since he jumped the Sharkboy 18 years ago, although he remains fairly prolific, perhaps because he doesn’t vet the pile of screenplays in his drawer for quality. Case in point, this ridiculous thing, which functions better as an Affleck meme factory than a comprehensible story. 

HYPNOTIC : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: It’s notable that the Wikipedia entry for Hypnotic warns us that its plot summary may be “too long or excessively detailed,” but that seems necessary considering how absurdly twist-riddled and overcomplicated this story is. I hereby pledge to do my best not to spoil anything or make it sound more interesting than it really is. We open in the midst of a therapy session where Austin Police Detective Danny Rourke (Affleck) goes over with the shrink how traumatized he is by that one fateful day when he briefly looked away from his daughter Minnie (Ionie Olivia) while she played in the park, and then never saw her again. He blames himself, and his marriage fell apart in the wake of the apparent abduction and likely murder. A suspect was lassoed but no body was ever found. The girl has been gone for a few years, and now Rourke never ever ever ever ever ever smiles – or poops, it seems.

The only thing Rourke does is throw himself into his work, and much to my dismay, we never get to see his apartment, which I imagine adheres to the Depressed Movie Detective Template and is therefore furniture-deficient but cluttered with Chinese-takeout boxes and half-empty beer bottles. All the more reason to just put in a zillion hours of work every week, I guess. He and his partner Nicks (J.D. Pardo) get a tip that a safe deposit box is about to get stolen, so they pile into a surveillance truck and stake out the bank. Rourke spots a gentleman outside the bank and immediately identifies him as suspicious, likely because he’s played by notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face (and here I’d assert that it doesn’t take a big-shot cop to assume that notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face is a suspicious gent). Rourke makes his way into the bank and beats notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face to the safe deposit box, which contains only a polaroid of Minnie in it. The plot, it thicks!

Also notable about notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face? He has the crazy ability to look at a person and manipulate their perception of reality. For example: He looks at a woman and says it’s really hot out here when it’s not really hot out here, and the next thing you know, she’s pulling off her top and cracking open a hydrant to cool off. As you’d imagine, this complicates things a bit. Rourke gets to investigatin’, and his investigatin’ leads him to a psychic-readings storefront where he meets Diana (Alice Braga), a Person Of Interest, and they barely introduce themselves to each other before notable character actor William Fichtner with a big scar running down his face mind-controls a dude to crash through the building on a motorcycle, which is just a terrible way to attempted-murder someone. This sets off a series of events that I won’t get into, because NO SPOILERS and all that, but I will say, after a while, it makes you feel like you’re trying to capture every member of a flock of wild geese as they flap and squawk and scatter in all directions.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Nothing like ripping off Inception 13 years after Inception , possibly with the hope that it’s been so long, nobody will notice that it’s a ripoff of Inception . But I noticed! I also noticed that it kinda rips off The Game , too!

Performance Worth Watching: If you watch Affleck closely while he’s being deadly serious, you might see him trying really hard not to laugh.  

Memorable Dialogue: Diana crafts a metaphor to describe where Rourke’s emotions exist in his brain: “Yours are locked inside a vault buried in a bunker 10 feet deep.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Hypnotic is a classic cheater plot where the concept can be used to explain away whatever chintzy-ass lame-o random sorry excuse for a twist Rodriguez dreams up. See, this is a movie where Nothing Is As It Seems, where sometimes what a character sees is All inside His Head, narrative chicanery that’s sub-It Was All A Dream dreck. Give it to the movie for being unpredictable; take it away for being nonsensical and arbitrary, as if Rodriguez is making up the internal “rules” of this world as he goes along.

All this would be less maddening if the movie gave us more than a few nifty shots – Rodriguez’s directorial style seems to emphasize visual efficiency over crafting any memorable sequences, whether they’re rooted in action or character development. It doesn’t even lean into its absurdity, blowing an opportunity to pitch a tent in Campville and inspire a few hoots. And Affleck – well, he looks profoundly uncomfortable with the material, donning a mean mug that’s possibly the funniest in Hollywood, intentionally or otherwise. The film’s visual effects look incredibly cheap, especially considering its reported $65 million budget; for some sequences where the mind-controllers eff with reality, the edges of the screen warp and distort like we’re watching high-school a/v interns gussy up a public-access television broadcast. There’s a low-angle shot where Affleck concentrates really really hard in an attempt to use some super brain powers, and his forehead balloons until he looks like a bulb-headed Karloff Frankenstein. It was the only time Hypnotic inspired a response other than restless indifference – I laughed my ass off.

Our Call: I’m afraid Ben Affleck is more meme than man now. SKIP IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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AIR: streaming date, reviews, trailer, cast and everything we know about the Ben Affleck, Matt Damon Nike movie

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon reunite to tell the story of Nike.

Nike is getting the big screen treatment as the legendary sports apparel company's story is being told with the new 2023 movie AIR , with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon two of the driving forces behind it.

Affleck and Damon have a long history together going all the way back to when they were kids in Boston, but their professional career has been highlighted by their Oscar win for the Good Will Hunting s creenplay and appearing together in movies (in addition to Good Will Hunting ) like Dogma , the Jay and Silent Bob movies, School Ties and, most recently, The Last Duel . However, this is the first time that Affleck is directing Damon in a movie.

Find out everything you need to know about AIR , including when it is coming to streaming, who else is in the movie and more right here.

AIR streaming date

Though the movie was produced by Amazon Studios, AIR released exclusively in movie theaters on April 5 instead of having an immediate release on Prime Video. But we now know when it is going to have its streaming debut, May 12, announced by Prime Video's Twitter account:

From director Ben Affleck comes the story behind the greatest deal of all time. Inspired by true events, #AIRMovie is now playing in theaters and streaming exclusively on Prime Video May 12. pic.twitter.com/8VZm9Lw03N May 2, 2023

AIR will focus on one of the most important events in Nike's history, which would help them become the globally recognized brand they are today: their pursuit of Michael Jordan as a spokesperson and the creation of the Air Jordan sneaker line.

Here is the movie's official synopsis:

"From award-winning director Ben Affleck, AIR reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between a then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike's fledgling basketball division, which revolutionized the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand. This moving story follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional team with everything on the line, the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son's immense talent and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time."

Alex Convery wrote the script for AIR .

Damon is going to take the lead role of Vaccaro in AIR , while Affleck's turn as Knight is described to be more of a supporting performance. Damon and Affleck have been two of the biggest stars in Hollywood over the last 25 years or so. Some of Damon's most memorable roles came in The Martian , The Departed and Saving Private Ryan , while Affleck is best known for his turns in The Tender Bar , The Way Back , as Batman in The Justice League and Gone Girl .

Joining Affleck and Damon in AIR are Jason Bateman ( Ozark , Arrested Development ), Chris Messina ( Gaslit , The Mindy Project ), Viola Davis ( The Woman King , Fences ), Matthew Maher ( Outer Range , Our Flag Means Death ), Marlon Wayans ( The Curse of Bridge Hollow , White Chicks ), Chris Tucker ( Rush Hour , Silver Lining's Playbook ), Gustaf Skarsgård ( Vikings , Cursed ) and Julis Tennon ( The Woman King , Get on Up ).

Many of you may notice that there isn't an actor identified as playing Michael Jordan. That is purposeful, as according to Ben Affleck, Michael Jordan is barely in the movie (only shown from behind, where he is portrayed by Damian Young). IndieWire reports that at a special screening in New York, Affleck said that "The only person who could play Michael Jordan, as I’ve said to him, is too old now to  play  Michael Jordan;" believing that trying to pass someone else off as the basketball legend would immediately be called out as fake.

AIR trailer

Get that '80s vibe with the official AIR trailer right here:

AIR reviews

AIR had its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival, so the first reviews are starting to trickle in, with many critics saying the same thing — the movie is a "slam dunk." Our very own WTW team raved about the film in our Air review , specifically calling attention to the performances of Matt Damon and Viola Davis. 

As of May 2, AIR had 92% "Certified Fresh" score on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and a positive audience score of 98%.

Ben Affleck directed movies

While Affleck got his break as an actor, he has also become quite the acclaimed director. Here are the movies that he has directed in addition to AIR : 

• Gone Baby Gone (2007)
• The Town (2010)
• Argo (2012)
• Live by Night (2016)

More Air relalted stories

• Fact vs Fiction: AIR — did Michael Jordan prefer Adidas to Nike?
• Who plays Michael Jordan in AIR?

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The latest updates, reviews and unmissable series to watch and more!

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca , Moulin Rouge! , Silence of the Lambs , Children of Men , One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars . On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd .

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Batman star Ben Affleck's new movie The Tender Bar gets first reviews

"It's alive with messy, loving clashes and bursts of joy."

The Tender Bar , starring Ben Affleck and Tye Sheridan, has divided critics in its first reviews.

Directed by Hollywood royalty George Clooney – his eighth movie behind the camera – this one finds Oscar-winning screenwriter William Monahan adapting JR Moehringer's 2005 memoir.

It follows the young JR ( Ready Player One 's Sheridan) as he seeks a parental replacement after his father disappears, and the bonds he forges with his Uncle Charlie (Affleck) and the regulars at a bar.

Related: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon reveal an on-screen kiss between them was cut from new movie

Scanning through the reviews, you'll find a collective appreciation for the Worlds of DC actor's performance and the sharp script. However, some were also slightly underwhelmed by the overall experience.

Check out the early word from critics below:

The Independent

"What Clooney, and screenwriter William Monahan, conjure so magnificently is the look, sound, and feel of a household that can only survive by sweeping trauma under the rug, busying itself with small trivialities. The Tender Bar is uneventful. But its performances have such an easy, lived-in quality that it wouldn't be fair to call it inauthentic – just a little rosy in its outlook, perhaps.

"Affleck, if anything, is the film's great revelation, not because he has anything to prove as an actor, but because it's been such a long time since he's been handed a role not defined by sullen misery (DC's Batman included, of course). Here, that brow finally unfurrows. The shoulders relax. He wears the part like an old, beaten-up jacket, utterly believable as a man who’s accepted his destiny with noble resignation."

The Hollywood Reporter

"There are no big, aha moments in The Tender Bar . Episodic and intimately scaled, the coming-of-age story takes George Clooney as far from high concept as he's gone as a director. His eighth feature is also the warmest movie he's made, the polar opposite of his previous outing, the sci-fi saga The Midnight Sky , which was spun from stark set pieces and an icy palette.

"In its focus on a working class neighbourhood in the Long Island town of Manhasset, the new film favours '70s earth tones, the more faded and smoke-stained the better, and it's alive with messy, loving clashes and bursts of joy."

Related: The Flash 's Ben Affleck talks returning as Batman after "difficult" Justice League

The Telegraph

"A salty script by The Departed 's William Monahan is often Clooney's salvation, and Affleck's way in. His dispensing of hard-knock advice has a rueful assurance, even when the film's man-to-man philosophising and literary quips raise serious concerns that someone's going to start quoting Hemingway.

"There's an awful lot that shouldn't work and plenty of things that don't. Many of the needle-drops, from the likes of Steely Dan and Paul Simon, are an easy pleasure; when you get four of them in the space of 10 minutes, you feel like Clooney's just buttering you up. Visually, it's a bit of a nothing. If the chronic establishing shots of Charlie's Long Island bar (The Dickens) transport us anywhere, it's right back to the comfort zone of Cheers ."

"As a bar owner with keen intellect, Affleck traverses some choice dialogue and monologues to deliver an unforgettable portrait of the uncle you wish you had. Max Casella, Michael Braun and Matthew Delamater are wonderful as the bar regulars who dispense life advice to JR. Martini is imposing as the unlikeable father, and a special shout-out to the inimitable Sondra James, who died last month.

"She manages to steal her all-too-few moments as grandma with the skill she always showed in a long and fruitful acting career. Clooney's choice of songs on the soundtrack also deserves star billing."

"When [Clooney] first tried his hand at directing, he set his sights high, first with the ambitious but awful Confessions of a Dangerous Mind , and later, far more successfully, in Good Night, and Good Luck . But Clooney's filmmaking has been hit-and-mostly-miss ever since: polished enough, but lacking much of a personality.

"There's a certain blandness to The Tender Bar as well, à la Tuesdays with Morrie or any number of ostensibly inspirational memoirs, though perhaps the maturity comes in the willingness to get out of the movie's way and let the material speak for itself."

The Tender Bar premiered at this month's London Film Festival, and will receive a limited theatrical release in December before streaming on Amazon Prime Video early next year.

Reporter, Digital Spy 

Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy , NME and Yahoo Entertainment . 

In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.

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‘Air’ Trailer: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Reunite and Recreate Nike’s Mission to Land Michael Jordan

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“There’s nothing cool about Nike ,” Marlon Wayans says as George Raveling in the trailer for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon ‘s new movie “ Air .” And while that might have been the case in 1984, everything changed once Sonny Vaccaro courted rookie Michael Jordan for an exclusive shoe line.

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Collaborators and longtime friends Affleck and Damon reunite as Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro and Nike co-founder Phil Knight, respectively. The duo are joined by Viola Davis as Michael Jordan’s mother and fierce supporter, Deloris Jordan.

“Air” also stars Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser, Chris Messina as David Falk, Chris Tucker as Howard White, Matthew Maher as Peter Moore, Gustaf Skarsgård as Horst Dassler and Julius Tennon as James Jordan. “Air” was produced by Peter Guber, Jason Michael Berman, Jeff Robinov, Madison Ainley, Damon and Affleck. David Ellison, Jesse Sisgold, and Jon Weinbach produced the film for Skydance Sports.

The production marks Affleck’s return to directing following 2016’s “Live by Night” and 2012’s best picture-winning “Argo.”

“Air” will premiere April 5 on more than 3,000 movie theater screens throughout the U.S., followed by streaming accessibility in more than 240 countries. Watch the trailer below.

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Review: Ben Affleck Goes to Town

B en Affleck has a good brain for filmmaking — he’s clearly a smart and avid student of the medium — but the elements that make his second outing as a director, The Town , such an enjoyable and exciting movie have more to do with what’s in his heart. There is his love for his hometown of Boston, where the story is set, shot here with an insider’s appreciation for its past both noble and ignoble. Then there is his love for his first profession, acting: it’s rare to see an ensemble movie like this, so loaded with talented actors, in which virtually all of them get an opportunity to make an impression. Affleck is the boss and the star, but he knows how to share.

He plays bank robber Doug MacRay, a native of Charlestown, the Irish-influenced, working class neighborhood just to the north of Boston proper which, the movie tells us, has the dubious distinction of producing more bank robbers per capita than anywhere else in the city. Doug has gone into the family business; his dad (Chris Cooper) is in prison for killing two men during a robbery. His mother vanished when he was six. He is a type, the star athlete who was going to get out of the ‘hood, and trouble, by playing professional sports (hockey in this case) but who ends up blowing his chance and back where he started. After battles with Oxycontin and booze, Doug has cleaned up chemically (there’s a great sea of ravaged Boston-Irish faces at his AA meeting) but not professionally.

(Video: 10 Questions for Ben Affleck.)

The most notable member of his team is Jim (Jeremy Renner). Jim also goes by Jem, a nickname he earned in grade school for being “a real gem” — sarcasm intended. It’s fair to say he’s a real gem when it comes to bank robberies. He’s as cocky as Renner’s ace bomb defuser in the The Hurt Locker was, but otherwise the exact opposite — trigger happy, violent and careless. It’s Jem’s wicked smaht idea to take a hostage — bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) — letting her go afterward with the caution that he’ll find her, rape her and kill her if she helps the FBI. Locally, that’s Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) and Dino (Titus Welliver, also known as Lost ‘s Man in Black).

When it turns out Claire also lives in Charlestown, sadistic Jem drools at the prospect of keeping her on edge, but Doug intervenes. In the name of seeing what she knows, he befriends Claire in a laundromat. Claire is another stereotype — the vulnerable do-gooder who works in the community garden and volunteers with the neighborhood children — and in the hands of a more conventional actress, she would have been a drip. Hall is luminous, with Snow White coloring, but she’s also one of those very special oddball types for whom freckles, a gummy smile and a coltish physical awkwardness are assets. You have to keep checking back on her to see why she’s so attractive. Doug does the same. We watch as his eyes scan her for any signs she recognizes him from the bank robbery, and get distracted by the pleasure of looking at her.

Their courtship is filled with delicious moments for us as an audience-in-the-know. “What’s the worst that could happen?” Doug says when he asks her out. Claire quickly confides in her new beau about being held hostage: “I’m sure I’d recognize their voices if I heard them again,” she says, with confidence, getting a laugh. Affleck’s direction and the screenplay (Affleck, Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard all get credits for the adaptation of Chuck Hogan’s book Prince of Thieves ) never over-sentimentalize this attraction. It’s vivid, and we like it, but there’s too much obvious reality, violence and grittiness going on in other parts of the story for us to start mooning over the idea of the two of them riding off into the sunset together. The Catch-22 of their romance — for Doug, whether to tell or not tell Claire the truth — feels like an actual dilemma, not a gimmick.

(See TIME’s fall entertainment guide.)

For the most part, Affleck the director succeeds in holding a lot of threads together, and manages to keep us in our seats for the full 130-min running time — no small feat. A couple story lines get short shrift, however, including one involving Fergie the Florist (Pete Postlethewaite), the Irish mob leader who controls Charlestown (think Jack Nicholson in The Departed ) and another involving Doug’s ex-girlfriend (and Jem’s sister), the perennially wasted single mom Krista, played by Gossip Girl ‘s Blake Lively. Lively isn’t up to the standards of Amy Ryan’s single mom in Affleck’s debut, 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, but she’s not half bad.

Renner is convincing, even if the part is standard stuff, and in his few scenes Postlethewaite is quietly terrifying, even just slicing thorns off a rose. But it’s Hamm that gets the juiciest, most nuanced supporting role. Agent Frawley is not a complete jerk, but he’s willing to play dirty if he has to — as he does with Krista, hoping to force her into informing on her brother’s gang. Krista’s daughter is named Shine (what could be sadder?) and Adam plays that card like an ace. “This could be a big moment for Shine,” he says. He’s contemptuous and sexy, a lot like his Mad Men character Don Draper, but there’s a meanness there that feels entirely modern.

(Video: 10 Questions for Jon Hamm.)

In the film’s third act, where the conventions of this kind of thriller take over, some improbable twists steal some of The Town ‘s power. (Example: would Fergie really order his boys to “take down the cathedral of Boston” — i.e., rob Fenway Park — with the FBI watching their every move?) But we’ll forgive a lot because between the lively car chases, the moments of levity that temper the violence (nun’s masks are used to fine effect) and the strong performances, including his own restrained, mature work, Affleck keeps showing us a good time. The Town is a thriller that manages to be pleasingly familiar, yet fresh. It’s perverse to say this about something so bloody, but it goes down like cinematic comfort food.

Read Ben Affleck’s TIME dispatch from the Democratic Republic of Congo

See TIME’s review of Gone Baby Gone

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