Movie Marathon: Ben Affleck

I said that I would do Ben Affleck movie marathon right after Matt Damon's. Well, here is it, I keep my promise really well, right? *talking to the mirror*

Before I start my review, I want to say CONGRATULATIONS to Ben Affleck for winning Best Director (again), this time at Golden Globe Awards 2013! He beat four other top directors; Steven Spielberg, Kathryn Bigelow, Ang Lee, and Quentin Tarantino, which was a great achievement because it's only his third movie as director. Not only Best Director, but Argo won Best Picture - Drama (again) as well! I'm sorry, Academy what~~? :p

Haha I'm too excited to talk about Affleck's win. Let's back to the topic: Ben Affleck movie marathon.

Benjamin Geza Affleck-Boldt or known simply as Ben Affleck is, yes, one of my favorite actors all the time. Do I really have to say that every time I post about movie marathon? Yes, I think so. I can't think about anything cleverer to write as opening :p
By the way, yes, he has a younger brother, Casey Affleck. Yes, he's also an actor, and yes, he's as handsome as his elder brother. Oh, and yes yes yes Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are best friends since childhood. Together, they won an Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Golden Globe Awards for Best Screenplay following their work in Good Will Hunting. Even though they have their own families now, they still hang out together, sometimes with their family too. Is there any of you girls/boys can beat the loyal and long last friendship like Affleck and Damon's? Well, congratulations.
Affleck married to the actress Jennifer Garner and they have four three children; me, Violet, Seraphina, and Samuel. I don't know why do I even talk about his family here haha whatever. By the way, I really, really love Affleck's chin and I want a chin like that. Or at least a husband with chin like that haha kidding. Um, not really kidding actually :p

So, what makes you decided to do Ben Affleck movie marathon?
Same reason with Matt Damon movie marathon. Yeah, it's because of that Jimmy Kimmel video hahaha. It's really funny. The video features many of actors and actresses. Watch it, I say, watch it!

Here's the list of his movies, according to the time I watched them:
1. Good Will Hunting (from Matt Damon movie marathon)
2. School Ties (from Matt Damon movie marathon)
3. The Sum of All Fears
4. Man About Town
5. He's Just Not That Into You
6. Smokin' Aces
7. Bounce
8. Hollywoodland
9. Daredevil
10. State of Play
11. Surviving Christmas
12. Jersey Girl
13. Gigli
14. Forces of Nature
15. Boiler Room
16. Paycheck
17. The Company Men
18. Changing Lanes
19. Shakespeare In Love
20. Pearl Harbor
21. Gone Baby Gone (director, writer, and producer)
22. The Town (also director and writer)
23. Dogma
24. Chasing Amy
25. Armageddon
26. Argo (also director and producer)

After watching all of them, do you have any specific movies that you've been into?
Of course! But it's not just 4 or 5 out of 26 movies I've watched. There are more than it I suppose. Although Affleck had a bad time of his career in 2002-2004 (especially when he was still dating J-Lo) and his movies which were released that time didn't get so much attention (box office bomb, yes) I still love some of them. Listing time!

The first is Armageddon. Maybe some of you say that this movie is not good or whatever, but I LOVE IT. In fact, this is the first movie that made me cry :p Please don't judge me, I watched this movie for the first time when I was in 9th grade, so yeah I was a little bit overreacted to it. Affleck is sooo freakin handsome in here, playing a deep core driller A.J. Frost who, along with his boss Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) and others, is recruited by NASA to drill the asteroid which will hit Earth in less than a month. When I first watched this I really didn't care about the storyline because all in my head was Affleck. Well, it apparently made me cry, so yeah I love it :)

The second is Argo, the third movie that Affleck directed. The Argo-hype hit me in October 2012 when some of the celebrities I follow on Twitter tweeted about how amazing this movie was. I was really curious, but Argo wasn't released at the local cinemas so I was losing hope to see this movie. But then, it was announced that Argo got many nominations in many award events, so did Affleck, and apparently they won several awards. I wanted to wait for the DVD or Bluray to come out but it's still long so I decided to watch the copy instead. And you know what, Argo, f*ck yourself! Fantastic and brilliant movie, it got me chills! Set in 1979 when the American embassy in Iran was invaded by Iranian revolutionaries, Tony Mendez (played by Affleck), an ex-filtration specialist manages to save six Americans who escape from them and hide in Canadian Ambassador's residence, by making a phony film project. Well done, Affleck, well done. I bit my t-shirt and hit my brother with a pillow when watching this because it was so thrilling. Try to watch it guys, best Affleck movie so far.

The third is The Town, the second movie that Affleck directed. Yes, Jeremy Renner was in this movie and his role as Jem Coughlin earned him Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards nominations for Best Supporting Actor. But we're not talking about Renner here (yes, I will do his movie marathon later, promise!). Affleck played Doug MacRay, a professional bank robber who falls in love with a bank manager (Rebecca Hall) whose bank, yes, was robbed by him and his 3 friends before, while trying to hide this relationship from them. The Town is recommended for you guys who love heist/robbery movies.

The fourth is Gone Baby Gone, the first movie that Affleck directed, but he wasn't playing any roles in this. The lead role, Patrick Kenzie, was played by Affleck's younger brother Casey. Patrick and his girlfriend/partner Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) investigate a little girl's kidnapping which ultimately risks everything including their lives. Well, I first watched this movie when I was 8th/9th grader and I really really loved it. Affleck brothers really did good job working together in this movie. I hope there's more collaboration between them like this :)

The fifth is State of Play, starring Affleck and Russell Crowe. The story follows a team of reporters (played by Crowe and Rachel McAdams) who work with a police detective to solve the murder of a congressman, Stephen Collins' (Affleck) assistant. One thing that I love from this movie is the investigation. Ya know I love detective thingy, but reporters can do the same! I thought this movie is a heavy political drama and blah, but actually it has some mysteries that makes me sit sweetly for 2 hours to watch this.

The sixth is The Sum of All Fears. Jack Ryan was previously played by Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford. In this movie, Affleck took the role. This time Jack must find out about the terrorist plan that threatens to induce a conflict between US and Russia's newly elected president. FYI: Jack Ryan will be played by Chris Pine in the 2013 movie.

The seventh is Paycheck, where Affleck played Michael Jennings, an engineer who is offered a job but his memory must be wiped afterwards. After deciding to take the job and gets his memory wiped, he discovers that he's being chased--and he has to find out why. I love this movie, but when watching it, my mind was a little distracted by, uh, I forgot. I didn't watch it seriously, but I did watch the ending. Maybe I should watch it again? Yeah~

The eight is Pearl Harbor. Ben Affleck and Josh Harnett? Who can't say no to them? Hahaha. Anyway, yes, this movie is telling about the Pearl Harbor attack that happened on December 7th 1941, but with more love story. Rafe McCawley (Affleck) and Danny Walker (Harnett) are two best friends who become Army Air Corps pilots. Rafe falls in love with a nurse (Kate Beckinsale). Who knows that Rafe's decision to go fight in Britain affects his relationships with both his best friend and girlfriend? Don't worry, the love story is fictional, but I can say that it dominates the whole film than the Pearl Harbor incident itself. It's just me, maybe you have different thoughts. Cool effects though.

Actually, I love some other films like Jersey Girl and Changing Lanes, but this post is too long already haha. I'm kinda lazy to use jump break so this is it. And I watched 3 episodes of Saturday Night Live in which he was the host. It was sooooo funny! My favorite episode was S29E15 when the prologue was about his relationship with J-Lo. Couldn't stop laughing =))
By the way, Affleck is confirmed to direct and star in an adaptation of Live By Night, a novel by Dennis Lehane, who also wrote Gone Baby Gone novel. I also can't wait for his next movies To the Wonder and Runner, Runner.

"As an actor, you can steer a scene in another direction by playing it a little differently. And honestly? I like being an actor, and I want to keep having a career."

-Ben Affleck

That's it from me, see you in the next movie marathon post! Gotta think about who's next! ;)

Pics were taken from Google, then were made into a collage by me.

I'm Coming Back Home...

PULANG PULANG PULAAAANGGG!!!

*guling-guling di tempat tidur*

Alhamdulillah, akhirnya perkuliahan semester satu selesai.
Akhirnya bebas dari tugas dan deadline.
Akhirnya UAS selesai.
Akhirnya Pameran Semesta Nusantara selesai (dan sukses berat).
Akhirnya saya berjumpa lagi dengan Bogor!

Sebelum mengungkapkan kebahagiaan ini, saya mau cerita tentang hal lain yang membahagiakan.

PAMERAN SEMESTA NUSANTARA 2012

Di sini kami para mahasiswa Arsitektur Universitas Brawijaya 2012 memamerkan (bukan pamer yang pamer gimana gitu ya) hasil karya dan tugas kami selama semester satu. Lima hari, tapi rasanya sebentar banget. Oh iya, selama 5 hari itu kita dapet 1216 pengunjung loh! Semesta Nusantara sukses sukses sukses!!!

Karya dwimatra dari kelompok saya, 3B. Juara 3 dari voting pengunjung breh!!! :')

Karya trimatra dari kelompok 3B :')

Itu siapa sih? Merusak nilai estetika trimatra 3B aja deh.

Hari terakhir pameran juga merupakan deadline tugas besar Gambar Teknik. Sebelas gambar breh! Memang sih dikasih waktunya 6 minggu, tapi yakaliantahusayakerjaannyamoviemarathonmelulu. Bahkan, minggu-minggu UAS saya nggak belajar sama sekali. Habisnya yang di UAS cuma matkul umum dan open book semua (kecuali matematika, tapi suksesjugadongkarenayagitudeh haha). Malahan saya malah lanjut Ben Affleck movie marathon haha.

Ngomong-ngomong tentang Ben Affleck, pas saya lagi seru-serunya ngerjain GT, saya buka twitter dan menemukan berita bahwa aktor ganteng itu nggak dapet nominasi Academy Awards atau Oscar untuk Best Director.

Reaksi pertama pas liat tweetnya Rotten Tomatoes: cengo.
Ben Affleck tuh dijagoin banget loh karena film ketiga yang disutradarainya, Argo, mendapat positive reviews. Saya emang belum nonton film itu (gubrak prang klontang klontang meooww, belum nonton aja udah kecewa banget loh daddy ku yang satu itu gak masuk nominasi), tapi saya yakin banget filmnya bagussss, bisa dilihat dari dua film Affleck sebelumnya, Gone Baby Gone dan The Town. Mantap! Yang belum nonton dua film itu sok ditonton! Ben Affleck is not just another actor-turned-director!

Karena saking keselnya, GT sempet tertunda beberapa menit, mendadak nggak napsu gitu lihat potongan, perspektif, denah, cuma gara-gara hal sekecil itu doang. Padahal siangnya, saya dapat berita menggembirakan: Robert Downey Jr, Jason Mraz, dan Chris Hemsworth menang People's Choice Awards! Congratulations guuuyysss! Itu artinya, sebagai fans kalian saya nggak gagal! :')

Daddy RDJ and his award. Keren seperti biasa.

 Tapi, kekesalan saya hilang waktu liat berita kalau Ben Affleck akhirnya menang Best Director di Critics' Choice Awards! Bukan hanya Affleck, tapi Argo juga menang Best Picture! Wohooowwww congrats Daddy Ben!!! Yang lebih bikin seneng (ketawa, lebih tepatnya), acceptance speech-nya Affleck pas nerima award Best Director.

"I would like to thank The Academy."

Hahaha walaupun setelah itu dia bilang kidding, tapi saya yakin di dalam lubuk hatinya yang paling dalam, dia beneran nyindir Academy. Habisnya, Ben Affleck jadi salah satu 'the most shocking Oscar snub' sih, ditambah Argo masuk nominasi Best Picture (tapi Affleck nya kagak masuk Best Director) dan bagus banget kan filmnya, ya pantas aja sih menurut saya kalo dia nyindir-nyindir The Academy =))

Brought to you by Roti Maryam (random pic--ceritanya sponsor posting ini)

And finally, I'M COMING BACK HOOOME! Kangen sekali dengan kamar tercintah yang ternyata telah diambil alih oleh adik saya yang paling kecil. Tapi sekarang saya sudah sampai rumah, jadi mau nggak mau ya adik saya harus mau didepak hahaha *evil laugh*

Lha, orang ini muncul lagi. Merusak suasana.

I really, really need vacation. Kalau kata Jason Mraz mah "You don't need a vacation when there's nothing to escape from" (Everything Is Sound) dan itu tidak berlaku untuk saya because I want to escape from college thingy!

Dan saya setuju banget dengan Mbak Taylor Swift: "Tonight's the night when we forget about the deadlines." (22)

Wah, yang tadinya cuma pengen ngomongin first homecoming saya, jadi ngalor ngidul ke Ben Affleck dan roti maryam gini ya haha. Oke deh, cukup sekian dan sampai jumpa lagi! :*

Movie Marathon: Matt Damon

Forget the tasks, I'm doing movie marathon again wohooo! This time is Matt Damon movie marathon.

Matthew Paige Damon, one of my favorite actors of all time. He is like the man that women dream of--I think I don't have to mention his physical appearance, well, who doesn't know Matt freakin Damon?
He was studying in Harvard (damn!) but he dropped out (DAMN!) to pursue his acting career because he thought that his film Geronimo: An American Legend would become a big success (which was not...). Yeah, yeah, when you read this story, you think that he had made a wrong decision--but look at him now. He's one of the famous actors now, he won Academy Awards, he was one of the highest grossing actor of all time, he was named Sexiest Man Alive (around 2007 I think?), and his movies are great. If you're a Harvard student and thinking about dropping out, I suggest you to think twice, unless you think you can beat Damon in this case :p

So, what makes you decided to do Matt Damon movie marathon?
It's all started when I watched Jimmy Kimmel's video "I'm F-@#ing Ben Affleck". Kimmel made this video as the response of his girlfriend at the time Sarah Silverman made a video entitled "I'm F-@#ing Matt Damon". The video that Silverman made was for a joke because Kimmel had to cut Damon's appearance (he's the last guest) in his show (Jimmy Kimmel Live!) due to time constrains. Both of the videos made me laugh so hard--and the hardest part was holding the laugh because I could disturb my housemates with my laugh. (They were all crazy, that's pure funny, watch it--I guarantee you a good laugh!) So, then I decided I would do Matt Damon or Ben Affleck movie marathon, with Damon being the first and would be followed by Affleck :D

Here's the list of his movies, according to the time I watched them:
1. Rounders (from Edward Norton movie marathon)
2. We Bought a Zoo
3. Good Will Hunting
4. Green Zone
5. The Brothers Grimm
6. The Departed
7. School Ties
8. True Grit
9. Contagion
10. The Adjustment Bureau
11. Gerry
12. The Talented Mr. Ripley
13. The Informant!
14. Saving Private Ryan
15. Hereafter
16. The Good Shepherd
17. Courage Under Fire
18. Ocean's Eleven
19. Ocean's Twelve
20. Ocean's Thirteen
21. The Bourne Identity
22. The Bourne Supremacy
23. The Bourne Ultimatum

I just downloaded three other Matt Damon movies (Happy Feet 2, Margaret, and Invictus) which I will watch later. I feel like the Bourne trilogy is the right closing for the movie marathon hehe :)

After watching all of them, do you have any specific movies that you've been into?
Hard question, really. Matt Damon is a great actor who's also smart in choosing movies. I do have favorites, but I don't know how many. Ok, let's just list them.

The first is Bourne Trilogy. MY FAVORITE TRILOGY EVER. Well, they don't call it 'trilogy' anymore because of the fourth installment The Bourne Legacy (which I love very much too). Other than that, this is the first Matt Damon movie I've seen. Damon played the main character Jason Bourne, a CIA assassin who suffers from memory loss and is trying to find out what happened to him, but his actions make the CIA think that he might be a dangerous threat. Oh, I love Jason Bourne soooo much. Guys, I suggest you to watch this movie. It is the best spy movie I've ever seen.

The second is The Adjustment Bureau. You know, I've already had this movie since 12th grader but I was kind of ignoring it because I had to study and blah blah. So, when the right time came, which was this Matt Damon marathon, I finally watched this movie........ and turned out I love it, love love love it. I also love Emily Blunt who is Damon's love interest in this movie. I first recognized her when she was still in relationship with Michael Buble (yeah, that's why I love her) but they broke up. The Adjustment Bureau follows a politician, David Norris (Damon) who falls in love with a ballerina, Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt), but a mysterious group of men is trying to keep them apart. Why? Just watch it~

The third is Ocean's Trilogy. I love heist movie, and Ocean's Trilogy are my favorites. Danny Ocean (George Clooney) recruits some people to work with him to do a robbery in some casinos. Damon plays Linus Caldwell, one of the members of Ocean's. And not only there are Damon and Clooney, but Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck as well!

The fourth is The Departed. Can you imagine watching Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Mark Wahlberg in one movie? Then watch The Departed, you won't feel bored hahaha. Damon plays Colin Sullivan, a young criminal who is a member of an Irish Mafia led by Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Colin infiltrates Massachusetts State Police as an informant for the syndicate, while an undercover cop Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) is assigned to infiltrate the syndicate. They must race to uncover the identity of the 'informant' from opposite sides in order to save themselves. See? The plot sounds promising, right? Of course, The Departed won four Academy Awards, two of them being Best Picture and Best Director for Martin Scorsese. What are you waiting for? Three handsome men plus a good storyline? Watch it now!

The fifth is The Talented Mr. Ripley. Oh yeah Matt Damon and Jude Law! I knew this movie from my brother, who watched it on TV and told me that it was a good movie. Besides, he said, it had Matt Damon and Jude Law, and he was pretty sure that I would love this movie. And in fact, I do! The 'talented' Tom Ripley (Damon) is sent to Italy to bring home a rich and spoiled millionaire playboy Dickie Greenleaf (Law), but when they become close and Dickie suddenly dismiss him, Tom takes extreme actions. This movie is totally unexpected. I thought it was some kind of drama (in 90's Damon's movies are mostly drama!) plus a little bit of romance, but whoa, I did not see that coming!

The Sixth is Saving Private Ryan, definitely one of the best movies I've ever seen. The war looks real, the storyline is great, and the actors are amazing. Damon appears from the middle of the movie as Private James Ryan, a soldier whose brother are killed in action, and the group of soldiers led by Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) is assigned to find him and bring him back home. I love this movie, I love the cast, I love the director, I love everything about it. It won five Academy Awards, including Best Director for Steven Spielberg.

The seventh is Good Will Hunting, where Matt Damon and Ben Affleck got their first Oscar (for Best Original Screenplay)! The story follows Will Hunting (Damon) who works at a janitor at MIT, but he doesn't realize that he has gift for mathematics. He is helped by a psychologist (Robin Williams) to find the right direction in life. Damon and Affleck, those two are the point of interest in this movie (at least for me :p), and I really love their friendship until now xD

Wow, it's seven! Yeah, if I could write about all 23 movies of his I watched, I would. He's so damn great, you know. I'm looking forward for his new movies Promised Land, Elysium, and others :))

"I never wanted to do the same kind of movies over and over anyway, so my theory on it all is I'm just gonna try and dodge the label and keep doing what I am doing."

-Matt Damon

Okay, see you in the next Movie Marathon post (Ben Affleck, I hope)! :)

Pics were taken from Google, then were made into a collage by me.