Manchester By The Sea

I seriously doubt Casey will win an Oscar, especially given all the troubling sexual harassment allegations/suits.

He's sweeping the critics' awards. Nobody else has emerged as a front runner.

As Trump's victory tells us...nobody cares, R1

PR shill

If I were a PR shill, I'd get maybe $2.00 plus a free fry coupon at In-N-Out Burger for promoting this movie at DataLounge, which has literally 10's of readers.

(Big fucking eyeroll)

[quote] That climactic scene between the two of them at the end of the film...how can an actor portray such wrenching emotions as Michelle Williams did and still remain functional?

Mary!

Just saw it today. I agree with OP, Casey was phenomenal. I wanted more of Michelle, but this is all about Casey, and knowing that he's a horndog makes me love him even more.

His character is deeply closeted, am I right?

Good to know, R3.

Didn't work so well for us, though, r8

I can't stand Michelle Williams.

r10 = Katie Holmes

How the hell did Casey get all the acting talent and Ben got nothing. Didn't he already get a nomination for that assassination movie?

I saw it too. Phenomenal performances.

In her complaint, White claimed that Affleck constantly discussed his “sexual exploits” during filming, and that at one point, he directed another crew member to show her his penis, despite her objections. White also alleged that Affleck once attempted to get her to stay in a hotel room with him, and when she said no, he “grabbed her in a hostile manner in an effort to intimidate her into complying.” Gorka described similar behavior in her complaint, including a disturbing incident in which Affleck allegedly crawled into bed with her while she was sleeping. The crew was staying at Affleck’s apartment in New York after a long night of shooting, Gorka said, and Affleck told her she could sleep in his bedroom, while he slept on the couch. According to her complaint, Gorka woke up that night to find Affleck “lying in bed next to her.” He had entered the room while she was sleeping, she said, and when she woke up, “he had his arm around her, was caressing her back, his face was within inches of hers and his breath reeked of alcohol.” When she asked him to leave the room, he got angry. Gorka called her treatment on set “the most traumatizing of her career.”

Luckiest for Affleck, he is the brother of a major movie star and the childhood friend of another. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have championed and protected Casey throughout his career, sending a message to the media that they are a united front. Lainey Lui of Lainey Gossip noted earlier this month that Ben and Matt have been particularly present throughout Casey’s Oscar campaign, showing up smiling to premieres and posing for photos as a trio. Matt, who himself produced Manchester by the Sea, sang Casey’s praises to both the Times and Variety. This brotherly posing makes prestige outlets hesitant to ask the younger Affleck tough questions, for fear of losing access to all three stars. His cruise to the Oscars continues undeterred because of his privileged position in Hollywood.

R13 where did Gorka file this alleged complaint? Link & source, or it didnt happen.

Waking up and finding Casey Affleck in bed with me: my idea of heaven (unless he's wearing Axe).

Matt was originally supposed to star in Manchester, but had a conflict, so he gave it to Casey. A Kenneth Lonergan movie. Not bad.

Does Matt really work in these types of roles?

r16, click on r15 link for info

Maybe that was the real reason for giving it to Casey, r18.

How's Lucas Hedges in this film? He's apparently very talented. And getting hotter by the day.

This is what minimizes positions against rape and sexual assault in the conversation. This will make the conversation even more about race than it previously was, with people dismissing the severity of Parker's crimes in favor of critiquing the disparity in public reaction. Casey Affleck is getting a free pass for this. The crimes are not equal, but he used his position of authority to sexually harass women on the payroll. That cannot be the first time it has happened.

I saw it last week. I guess this movie will win a lot of awards, particularly for the performances ... but it will not attract a big box office or good word of mouth because the story is depressing and dull.

I wonder why Lonergan didn't give this role to Ruffalo, a far superior actor, and someone whose career he made?

R24 Mark Ruffalo is highly overrated. I think he's transparently overacting in every role Ive ever seen him.

Yeah, R7. I also got the impression that one of Lee Chandler's many demons is that he's a closeted (self-loathing) man. He's a great guy, but he's broken.

I'd eagerly give it a go at trying to fix him.

Hedges is very good, but his character is pretty snotty and unsympathetic much of the time. Part of the issue is that the kid barely seems to grieve, which I guess you could chalk up to emotional denial. Only near the end does he behave in a manner that doesn't reek of selfishness. I guess this is a fairly accurate portrait of a teen.

Affleck is excellent. Ruffalo I think might have been better, but he's too old to be paired with Williams. I can't imagine Matt Damon in the part.

Who will win the Oscar, Michelle Williams or Viola Davis?

I'm guessing Viola Davis just because she's BLACK.

Casey Affleck is a better actor than Ruffalo, in my opinion.

Casey and Ben look very different. Casey is small and Ben is well, hulking and manly.

Having seen both MANCHESTER and FENCES (preview screening), Davis SHOULD win, asswipe at R28. William's role is not that big and she only has one short scene where she has a meltdown. Davis burns up the screen in FENCES, particularly in the latter half.

Odd film... Wasnt what i was expecting, dreary too.

Some scenes made no sense to me and i was getting the charcters relationships confused.

The scene with Michelle and the baby stroller and friend- i was thinking "oh, shes a lesbian now"

[quote]Ruffalo, a far superior actor,

Ruffalo isn't that great really. He can't do no holds barred. Affleck and Williams can.

Affleck was excellent, as was Williams in her cameo. I wasn't as impressed with Hedges although it was kind of nice to see such an unapologetic male teenage slut onscreen.

Am i the only one who actually felt White Michelle Williams' big Oscar scene was a misfire. Based on her awards buzz, I was expecting her to nail it, but it felt half baked and underwhelming.

Overall good movie. Affleck was good and Hedges nailed his role.

Left the movie early. It was awful. So overwrought and overacted. There's nothing interesting or subtle about Affleck. Williams was barely in it. So many pointless, throwaway scenes. Yes, yes, I get it, his life is a useless throwaway. This is a sophisticated movie for unsophisticated people.

I appreciated the fact that the music was essentially one long elegy and thought most of the acting was natural and grounded in realism. The score was great too.

Is Lucas hung? I felt like that wasn't properly addressed in the condom scene.

Meatheads (or Massholes) by the Sea. Morose, repetitive weepy bro-fest where nobody had any emotional intelligence or ever learned anything. The movie had no use for women -- they were there either to make men feel good or get the hell out of the way. I went with a lesbian who said, "Wow, we've got our issues, but that made me so glad I don't have to deal with any of the men in that movie at any level, ever." Casey Affleck and Kyle C are attractive but I had to agree with her.

[quote]Left the movie early.

Oh, was that you, R36? No wonder the odor of rancid asshole suddenly dissipated.

R35, how many times a day do you use the word "nail" as a verb?

What I find distracting are the horrible "Boston" accents. People in Manchester by the Sea do not speak like South Boston cartoons. People in South Boston don't even sound like that. Just stop.

R41, as many as possible hopefully.

[quote]Am i the only one who actually felt White Michelle Williams' big Oscar scene was a misfire

All that time working with Beyonce has skewed your perspective.

Now, somebody give me the spoilers, please. Why has Affleck's character avoided his hometown? Why does Williams' character breakdown?

Go see the movie, asswipe at R44

What r45 said. It's the best movie I've seen in years.

Like R39, I also saw the movie with a lesbian who had a similar reaction. It's definitely the kind of movie that appeals to male critics.

Is Michelle Williams going to deny Annette Bening the Academy Award for her performance in “20th Century Women?”

R48, different categories.

R48, no because Annette is in Lead, not Supporting. And Bening seems to be an afterthought on her own.

Is Michelle a supporting actress in Manchester By The Sea? I haven't seen it; I thought she was the lead.

R51, she's supporting. She's probably only in the movie for 15 minutes total.

R51, she's barely in it. Think Beatrice Straight in Network.

Agree with the poster upthread, NO ONE in Manchester (we don't call it "Manchester-by-the-Sea") speaks with that kind of exaggerated accent unless they've transplanted from Southie. And even those in Southie these day increasingly don't speak like that.

Lynn is probably the most blue collar town on the North Shore, which is tony overall (Marblehead etc). Manchester veers more towards middle class than working class imo. Singing Beach is one of the unsung jewels of Northeast beaches.

If America can elect a rapist for president I'm sure giving one an Oscar is no big deal.

R55, I agree.

Michele Williams only gets jobs because every set needs a drug dealer.

Michelle Williams is incredibly versatile and talented. Her roles in Blue Valentine, My Week with Marilyn and The Station Agent couldn't have been any more different. Too bad that casting couch hookers like Jennifer Lawrence get all the plum roles.

Oh good, it's Annette Bening's year.

Then Glenn, one of these days.

I didn't find the film dreary at all - there's enough off-handed humor to prevent that from happening. I will say that Affleck's standard hang-dog expression gets old after a while, but he delivers the emotional punch when needed. I thought the nephew was a total jerk, but so many teen guys are like that.

Did Matt Damon produce this?

R61, yes it's co-produced by Matt and Ben's company Pearl Street Films.

I would not have gone to see it if Ruffalo had been in it. He's, like, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jr.

Just saw it today. Casey Affleck was amazing. I can't think of any other performance this year that can beat him.

Although I loved this movie, a woman, who came alone & sat one seat away from me, got up an hour & a half in &, with a frenzied gaze, looked at me & said "this was the worst movie I've ever seen." She did not return.

R65 I bet she has not seen Sum of All Fears.

R65 - She sounds like she'd be more of a 'Why Him?' fan.

I'm seriously wondering what Nate Parker is thinking about Casey. Nate must be furious.

Manchester's box office stands at $17 million today. That's not even a hit for an indie film. Looks like nobody cares about this film or Casey Affleck. Probably why "executive producer Matt Damon" has to show up in TV commercials.

R68 Nate is wondering why Casey's bitch did not kill herself.

Why does Matt Damon look like Robert Osborne in that picture?

Will he disappear without a trace as well?

Matt Damion is all over the commercials - who cares about the producer. He needs to be the center of attention.

[quote]Manchester by the Sea received universal acclaim, with praise going to Lonergan's direction and screenplay, and the performances of Affleck, Williams and Hedges. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 97%, based on 170 reviews, with an average rating of 8.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Manchester by the Sea delivers affecting drama populated by full-bodied characters, marking another strong step forward for writer-director Kenneth Lonergan."[28] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 96 out of 100, based on 49 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

It has earned twice its original budget so far. It's not a blockbuster, but it is a beautiful film.

I hate blockbusters. Have, ever since JASW.

Michelle's performance was flat. A very overrated motion picture.

Amazing movie. Hope Casey wins.

Nobody gives a fuck what rapist Nate Parker thinks about anything R68.

What movies is JASW?

R78 JAWS, with a tyop.

What's a tyop?

Oh, fukc off.

[quote]fukc

Oh, deer.

No, asswipe. It would be "oh, dera."

Do you lick your mom's clit with that filthy mouth, R83?

This is a shitty movie about shitty people made with by and for shitty people.

And R85 knows from shitty people.

R86 Ya got that right. (said Baretta style)

Brokeback Mountain By The Sea

Oh God, that's so sexy, R88.

I agree with the comments above that Affleck's character is in the closet. In the scene in which he's seated across the two guys in the bar, he's drunk and clearly flirting with them. But then something in him snaps and he walks over to them and starts his homophobic shit with them. Also, we later learn that his substance abuse started well before the fire incident. He apparently was at his happiest surrounded by a bunch of guys, drinking and drugging and making bromosexual innuendos, and when the parties were over, he'd have to face his dreary reality of being a father and a husband to a shrewish wife (did he set the fire on purpose after all?!). After his divorce, he has no interest in other women whatsoever. Lastly, he tells his ex (who is clearly still in love with him) that he has no interest in her either.

I wonder if there was more to this aspect of the story that ultimately remained on the cutting room floor.

If only they hadn't been playing brothers, R88.

I figured this was some sort of working class epic, but didn't get the Manchester connection, I grew up going to Singing Beach, which is surrounded by mansions, and Manchester is one of the prettiest towns on the North Shore, there probably are some working class people there, but I wouldn't think many.

Is the movie entertaining at all? I read (thank you Movie Spoilers) the whole plot and it just sounds fucking depressing and very manipulative.

Yes, it's worth seeing for the stellar acting and the script, which doesn't not flinch from the thought that some things can never be mended. You know, like life.

Take a chance. You can always walk out R92.

It's worth seeing for the uncle-nephew shower scene.

R54 thank you nephew troll.

Casey is a brilliant actor and I thought I could watch anything with him in it, but then tried to sit through "Tower Heist". Fucking painful!

Nice to hear this film is supposed to be great.

I'm starting seeing more of the R88 picture in recent reviews and articles about the movie. Somebody likes that picture.

There is a Wahlberg in it -- not sure if it is from Marky Mark's family, but who knows.

Do Casey and Ben dye their hair black? I saw some pictures of them when they were teens and they had light brown hair.

Ben had very light blond hair as a child and it got progressively darker over the years. Not sure sure if he dyes it now... probably.

Looks like Casey was the same:

I'm pretty sure Gorka and Casey settled off court. I wonder if the law suit had a negative effect on her career. It's not easy being a female DP as it is.

No, R100. Many people are blond as kids and end up with dark hair by their early 20's. Most blond adults are not natural blonds. My husband was a towhead as a child...even had white eyebrows and lashes. Now his hair is medium brown.

R10 THANK YOU! After seeing her wreck Brokeback Mountain, I'm really hesitant to see this movie. She was as good as a soap actor. She and Anne Hathaway ruined that movie.

R103 I meant he probably dyes it to cover the gray, but yeah... I had naturally blond hair as a kid too and it's dark now.

R89, you're projecting a lot of your own issues onto the film. Lee wasn't obviously flirting. Maybe checking them out, but not "clearly" flirting. When he attacked them, you didn't know if it was because they were gossiping about him (like everyone else in the damn town had been for years) or because of homophobia or both.

The only time his wife was a "shrew" was when 15 guys were drinking and doing coke and yelling at 3AM just a few feet from her bedroom, and laughing at her when she told them to leave so she could get some sleep in her own home. They were jerks to her, but we in the audience choose how to see that scene. Why would anyone in the audience think she was being unreasonable? Wouldn't you think the guys were the ones being assholes?

That said, the girlfriend of his nephew, the one played by the Moonrise Kingdom girl, SHE was a complete asshole, and the other girlfriend was a big nothing. Her mother was a flaky frau, and that one woman where Lee applied for a job was a bitch. The sister-in-law had a couple of hints to her character that her drinking came about because of the poor treatment she received from men around her, but overall, the female characters were negative stereotypes. I still don't think the wife was supposed to be a shrew, though.

Oscar Wahlberg is Mark's nephew, R98. His dad is Mark's brother Robert Wahlberg.

Agree with r106. This:

[quote]and making bromosexual innuendos,

... was the read-in of the century. Believe me we are all radar-up for those signs in a movie and if that had been there we would have heard it.

He doesn't have relationships with other women for glaringly obvious reasons.

The one thing I agree with r89 on is the opening bar scene. That did have a whiff of homosexual denial.

I love all the women who are angry that this movie -- about a divorced guy whose divorced brother dies and leaves him in charge of a teenaged son -- doesn't have a lot of "empowered sisters doing for themselves!" in it.

(As if the guys in the picture are anything other than a shambles themselves.)

Please, enough with the needy identity programming already. We already have Disney to cynically fill in all the PC slots. Small movies might be just about a few guys, just like they might just be about a few women. Grow up already. Every movie doesn't have to be a social justice platform.

[quote]Lee wasn't obviously flirting. Maybe checking them out, but not "clearly" flirting.

Yeah, this is why most straight women can't pick up on their men flirting with other men under their very noses. They think they're being "friendly", but a few hours later, she's curled up in bed while her guy and his new "friend" are fucking each other senseless in a hotel room or in the back of a car. Women have no clue the signals men give to each other that they're DTF.

You haven't seen the movie, have you? It's not about just a few guys.

Speaking of needy identity politics, R109 and R110, if you're so needy that you have to see men clearly DTF then this movie is not for you. The guy is drunk, the situation is ambiguous and there's more going on than his internalized homophobia. If a complicated, possibly closeted character bothers you, maybe you should go check out those Disney movies you mentioned.

I've this this flick a few times already, it's so good. Casey's character was a closet case for sure. One of the reasons he didn't stick around with his nephew is that he was shifting his love for his brother to his nephew. He wasn't only closeted; he was holding back some heavy incestuous feelings. He had developed romantic feelings for his brother as captured beautifully in the scene depicted at R88. He could never have that with his wife, or any other woman for that matter. As much as he wanted to be with his nephew, he knew this wasn't the best thing for the kid, so he let him go. He was a tragic figure, but he was also noble.

You're insane, R112.

1/10 R112

Amazon studios?????????????? I'm shocked. That's it. It's happening. They are taking over the world

My favorite scene was when Lee Chandler was drunkenly masturbating at the door - which was slightly ajar - of his sleeping nephew's bedroom as tears gently rolled down his face.

Fabulous

I have to see it again, as I missed the movie R116 and R112 were looking at.

I had a moment, however, in the "gets in a fight with two guys in a bar" scene where I assumed it was a gay bar.

Viola Davis being in the supporting category is extreme category fraud. Fuck her for doing that.

Viola Davis was in Manchester?

Viola Davis was the maid who took the nephew's virginity before uncle Casey got to plunder his bunghole.

Casey wins the Golden Globe. Michelle does not.

I recently saw it and thought it was good, but flawed. It felt like pulling teeth to get information on the back story. I also thought Lee and Randi's relationship should have been fleshed out more. Same with Joe's wife. She suddenly went from ok to a passed out alcoholic to seemingly mentally imbalanced. I thought there would be some dark secret when the nephew's friends mentioned something not being true about Lee and the way the woman at the job he applied reacted, but there wasn't. I didn't get the hostility towards Lee from the town. Yes, he was under the influence and drunk when he forgot to put the gate around the fireplace, but they seemed to underplay that aspect in the film. Yet, the hostility just seemed OTT, especially when Randi forgave him. He did lose 3 kids and was living in his own hell. I was shocked that MW was barely in the film. I read she was in it all of 11 minutes. They needed more of her IMO and I don't think she was a shrew at all, but we really didn't get to know her all that much.

I watched it last night. Very predictable. Agree with r123's assessment. Parts of the movie were confusing, especially the nephew's mom. They didn't spend enough time letting the audience know why she was too unfit to keep the kid. And MW was by far the best actor in the movie, despite only being in it for a hot minute.

I agree with r123 and r124. I thought Moonlight did a better job of giving us minimal details but still enough information we could flesh out the story.

I got no sense of the relationship between Lee's brother and his son. He has a panic attack but he barely mourns his father's death.

I also thought the use of music in a crucial scene was unnecessary. It detracted from the power of the scene.

R39 was correct as well as well as r124.

Ultimately it was an overly long actor's movie showcasing great actor acting.

I could nor believe that the actual fucking plot started at the 50 min mark.

Too much background. Too much brooding. Too much Masshole self loathing.

It needed a cameo from Viggo Mortenson's cock.

Saw it last night. Lucky the EMT's arrived in time to bandage my wrists before I lost consciousness.

Overrated tripe. Like most Oscar movies.

When Lee grabbed the gun at the police station, I thought "wtf just happened and why?".

[quote] This is a shitty movie about shitty people made with by and for shitty people.

I partially agree.

An okay/good movie about shitty people, etc.

I actually like movies about shitty people. Can't tell if the makers of MBTS expected us to like their Masshole protagonist, though. He seems a slight variant of the typical dude-bro stinking up the planet, no matter the locale.