The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

5 out of 5 Stars

I've seen this before, several times, on DVD and Blu-Ray, but I got a chance to go to a special screening of the film with director Andrew Dominik and Cinematographer Roger Deakins in attendance. They had a fantastic Q&A after the film. This movie is absolutely amazing. I can't recommend it highly enough.

DVD - The Killer Inside Of Me

Serial Killers are something that the film industry rarely does right. They are, often times, the driving force behind B-grade horror movies, cheap, poorly written pieces that studios or independents churn out to make a buck. Because of that, it's not often we, as an audience, get the chance to take a movie with this kind of subject seriously. The Killer Inside Of Me, however, is none of these things, and you WILL take it seriously. It doesn't allow you to do anything otherwise.

Centering around Sheriff's Deputy Lou Ford (Casey Affleck), Killer starts out simple enough. Ford gets sent to run off a prostitute (played by Jessica Alba), operating out of a shack on the outskirts of town. They become entangled, and begin a side relationship, even though Ford has a girl, Amy (played by Kate Hudson), at home. When things get complicated between Joyce (Alba) and Chester Conway, the father of a young man obsessed with Joyce, Ford works to broker a deal between the two which would get his son and the prostitute out of town with ten thousand dollars to start a new life. But Ford isn't having it. He hatches a plan to kill the both of them, and, eventually, make off with the money. His plan, however, begins falling apart almost immediately, and he finds himself killing more and more to try and cover his tracks.

Michael Winterbottom does a great job of directing this thriller, based on a 1950's cult novel. Casey Affleck delivers, probably, the performance of his career, making you FEAR this small, understated man who is willing to do ANYTHING to cover himself. Winterbottom allows Affleck to go to wherever he needs to go, and does not hesitate to put every moment on the screen. The murder of Joyce is particularly graphic and disconcerting. I very rarely ever get sick, but this scene did nauseate me. Alba delivers, for once, an on par performance, but this isn't surprising, seeing as how the Joyce character doesn't really have too much to her. Alba's job is to, basically, wear practically nothing, look sexy, and make you want her. Like I said, not much of a stretch. A series of great acting in smaller roles also rounds out the film with Elias Koteas as a blackmailing Union rep, Tom Bower as the Sheriff of the little town, and Simon Baker as a Fed who is absolutely sure Ford is the killer, but has to find the evidence to prove it.

Casey Affleck Nearly Broke After 'I'm Still Here' Disaster

Casey Affleck Nearly Broke After 'I'm Still Here' Disaster

Article By Will Leitch

The fiasco that is "I'm Still Here," the mock-documentary aboutJoaquin Phoenix's apparently fake meltdown over the last two years, has been all-encompassing. The film was a box-office flop: It has earned only $259,000 to date after months of pre-release hype. It's been eviscerated by critics and has been generally received as a smug movie-star kiss-off to a gossip-obsessed public.

Phoenix has taken his fair share of hits -- and he'll surely take more when he returns to David Letterman's show tonight -- but the film's true casualty might be its director, fellow actor Casey Affleck.

Affleck, also Phoenix's brother-in-law, tells The Daily Telegraphthat the two-year odyssey of making the film nearly bankrupted him and left his own career in ruins.

"Having something at stake is a great motivator and once this thing became public for me that was very helpful because there was no question: I had to see it through, no matter how long it took. I went broke. I hadn't worked for more than a year, and I was pouring money into the movie. I had to stop for a month to do The Killer Inside Me. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to finish the film - I was out of money. There was a lot at stake financially and, if we had left [the hoax] there, it would have been very damaging to Joaquin's career."

If Phoenix can survive Letterman's interrogation tonight, Hollywood seems eager to welcome him back. He has already been attached to several upcoming plum roles, including a potential Oscar-bait turn as J. Edgar Hoover's lover Clyde Tolson in Clint Eastwood's biopic "Hoover." (Leonardo DiCapriois expected to play Hoover.)

Affleck has been less fortunate. Despite receiving excellent notices for his roles in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (starring opposite Brad Pitt) and "Gone Baby Gone"(directed by his brother Ben), Affleck doesn't have quite the cache that Phoenix has. He's acted in only one film since 2007 and is currently in production on Ridley Scott's "The Kind One," about an amnesiac mob soldier. But if you saw his appearance on Jay Leno last night, it's obvious Casey is deep into damage control.

At least matters are going well for one member of Casey's family: Brother Ben is bathing in the good notices and big opening grosses for his movie "The Town," and some are even whispering that the film could be an Oscar contender. If Casey needs a career boost in the next year or two, he doesn't have to look far for help.