Movie Review: Live By Night

Ben Affleck's latest triple threat effort as writer, producer and director of "Live By Night" is unfortunately no "Argo"  but it was still an enjoyable gangster-historical film with a lot to offer. 

Set in Boston in the roaring 20's, during the Prohibition era, a budding bandit, Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck), - as a small town robber, gets on the wrong side of the head of the Irish mob, Albert White (Robert Glenister) when he falls in love with Siena Miller's-Emma Gould (who was absolutely gorgeous in  those '20's costumes and headpieces) -Albert wasn't so happy about their relationship, since Emma is supposed to be with him. 

After surviving a near-death beating when a bank heist goes wrong (the aftermath of an intense Model T car chase, I know, who would have thought right?) Joe stayed for a short stint in prison, thanks to the intervention of his father, who was the Boston Police Deputy Superintendent (yes I know its complicated and it makes for more drama). 

Joe swears to get back at Albert and is given the opportunity when he allies himself with the Italian mob, headed by Don Maso Pescatore. 

Joe is sent to Tampa, Florida to manage the illegal rum production and distribution and to make sure that Pescatore's business flourishes and because Albert White is Pescatore's rival, all he has to do it to make sure is business is good and Albert is sure to hurt. So, Joe sets out to warm sands and beautiful beaches of Tampa Florida, a welcome change to most mobster films, which are usually set in Boston, New York, or Chicago. 

What follows are different challenges in how Joe manages the business, by first gaining himself some new allies, in the form of Graciela (Zoe Saldana) and her brother who are Cubans living in Ybor Florida, they control the supply of molasses, which is integral to the production of rum. Ybor is a multi-ethnic, multi-racial community of hardworking immigrants, which is why a little social commentary on the racial hierarchy, care of Joe's trusted comrade, Dion Bartolo (Chris Messina) was rather hilarious. 

Joe becomes friendly with the local law enforcement in the form of Chief Figgis, played by Chris Cooper, at their first meeting Joe meets Figgis' daughter, Loretta, played by Ellie Fanning, whose fate, in a strange way becomes intertwined with Joe. 

Now, its not easy running a mobster's affairs, Joe meets different challenges while in Tampa, such as the KKK, religion, all the while, trying to get a casino built. 

Joe has been running away from the mob, only to run full in its embrace, especially when ghosts from his past start coming back. 



Aside from all these happening (yes, there is a lot) we still have all out guns-a-blazing (gun) fight and chess moves that will keep you in shock. I enjoyed "Live By Night" I guess, mostly because I'm a fan of history and mobster movies. There is a lot of dialogue, in think heavy accents (Irish, Boston etc) which may be a bit overwhelming, especially if you don't have the ear for it, or you know, you're not used to it. There are some conversations that could be a bit boring. 

7/10 Despite the richness in the story, maybe it was too rich, there is a lot of things happening, that its hard to pull everything in. Nevertheless it is still a movie with a lot to offer. There are bits of little gems that you will enjoy here and there. 

"Live By Night" is now showing in cinemas. 

MOVIES: LEONARDO DiCAPRIO PRODUCES GANGSTER EPIC “LIVE BY NIGHT”

For his latest trick, Oscar Best Actor winner Leonardo DiCaprio turns his attention behind the camera as he produces Ben Affleck's new directorial project, Live by Night under the Appian Way banner.

While Affleck himself had to wear many hats on this film -- he was an actor, writer, director and producer -- he gave credit to his team who made things easier for him. "I had Leonardo DiCaprio to rely on as a producer," the Batman v Superman star said. "I know him pretty well. He's a very good guy. He's a friend of mine and a really smart guy and somebody who really understands a lot about movies."

MOVIES: BEN AFFLECK, A GANGSTER WITH A CONSCIENCE IN “LIVE BY NIGHT”

Two-time Academy Award-winner Ben Affleck – most recently seen in the critically praised The Accountant and in early 2016 playing crime fighting icon Batman/Bruce Wayne in the global blockbuster Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – now directs and stars in Warner Bros. Pictures' new gangster film Live by Night.

Affleck plays Joe Coughlin who went overseas to fight valiantly for his country, but quickly found himself utterly disillusioned by the war. He ultimately finds himself back home in, as he tells us, a life he didn’t expect…paying the price for the American dream.

“Joe fully acknowledges that he’s chosen to be an outlaw in a town run by gangsters, with the Irish and Italian mobs at war,” offers Affleck. “What I find most intriguing about him though is that, while he breaks the law and makes his own rules, it’s his own morality that prevents him from considering himself one of them, a gangster.”

Movies: SIENNA MILLER, MARRIED TO THE MOB IN “LIVE BY NIGHT”

Most recently seen in Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper, Sienna Miller plays the tempestous mobster mistress Emma Gould, in Warner Bros. Pictures' new gangster film Live by Night.

Starring and directed by Ben Affleck, Live by Night tells the story of Joe Coughlin (Affleck), a WWI vet who’s a self-proclaimed anti-establishment outlaw, despite being the son of the Boston Police Deputy Superintendent. Joe’s not all bad, though; in fact, he’s not really bad enough for the life he’s chosen. Unlike the gangsters he refuses to work for, he has a sense of justice and an open heart, and both work against him, leaving him vulnerable time and again—in business and in love.

When we first meet Joe, Affleck offers, “He’s already in a bit of hot water. He’s involved in a secret affair with Emma Gould, the girlfriend of Irish mobster Albert White.” Like Joe, Emma flaunts her independence, precarious as it may be. “She’s controlled by Albert, so she’s thrilled by her relationship with Joe, the danger of it is exciting,” he adds.

Sienna Miller says she shares Affleck’s enthusiasm for the genre. “I’m obsessed with the Prohibition era, so to be in this film is a dream realized, but more important to me was the fact that Ben had written the script and would star and direct in it. Having seen his previous work, I would have dropped anything to be a part of this and to play such an exquisite role.

“Emma’s the quintessential gangster’s moll,” Miller continues, “serving drinks in a speakeasy where illegal poker games go on, being squired about on the arm of her married boss and sleeping with the enemy behind his back. She has a steely center that serves her in navigating a world that is dark and murderous and misogynistic, and that leads her to embark on a romance with Joe that is beautiful and transient and ultimately tragic. It’s very clear from the outset that she’s a strong, no-nonsense Irish lass doing what she must to survive.”

Miller crafted a lovely County Cork-inspired lilt to play the feisty flapper from Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, who serves as a catalyst for Joe’s resentful side to emerge. “Sienna was just perfect for the part, it’s like she was born to it,” Affleck relates. “She got me speaking with an Irish accent all the time, she was just so good, so nuanced. Everything she did in the movie was purposeful and delicate, textured.”

Opening across the Philippines on January 18, 2017, Live By Night is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Movies: ZOE SALDANA CAPTURES THE HEART OF BEN AFFLECK IN “LIVE BY NIGHT”

Known to global audiences as Gamora and Uhura in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Trekfranchises, respectively, Zoe Saldana now portrays the exotic Graciela in Warner Bros. Pictures' new gangster film Live by Night.

Directed by Ben Affleck, Live by Night tells the story of Joe Coughlin (Affleck), a WWI vet who’s a self-proclaimed anti-establishment outlaw, despite being the son of the Boston Police Deputy Superintendent. Joe’s not all bad, though; in fact, he’s not really bad enough for the life he’s chosen. Unlike the gangsters he refuses to work for, he has a sense of justice and an open heart, and both work against him, leaving him vulnerable time and again—in business and in love.

Joe signs on with the Italian mob and is dispatched to Tampa, Florida where he almost immediately encounters Graciela. He is instantly intrigued, even more so when he learns that she and her brother control something integral to the success of the rum business: molasses.

Saldana's Graciela is a Cuban living in Ybor, a multi-ethnic, multi-racial community of hardworking immigrants, known for the production of cigars. “Joe’s been working with barbaric, violent criminals his whole life, so there’s an integrity to the people, Graciela’s people, that Joe finds appealing,” she suggests. “And Graciela is unlike other women he’s known. She’s educated, she’s traveled and studied music and art. She’s very cultured and also very smart when it comes to her family’s business.”

Perhaps what sets Graciela apart from the women in Joe's past is what she really wants out of life. “I don’t think Graciela woke up in Cuba and said to herself, ‘I want to date gangsters, I want to live on the dark side,’” Saldana adds. “I think she wants a full life with a good man, a home, children. The more time she spends with Joe, the more she realizes that she could have all that with this man. She sees who he really is, who he could be, if he could wash away all the bad that he does at night by doing good during the day. She sees his redemption.”

Affleck states, “Zoe was amazing. She was able to convey all the strength and confidence and elusiveness of the character that draw Joe in, but it’s Graciela’s expectations of him that give him something to strive for, which Zoe played so quietly yet powerfully.”

Producer Jennifer Todd concurs, “We were lucky to get Zoe because she has all these beautiful qualities, a lightness and grace, that suit Graciela so well, and she already speaks Spanish, but she applied an exquisite Cuban accent to her dialogue.”

Opening across the Philippines on January 18, 2017, Live By Night is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Movie News: ELLE FANNING SPARKLES AS A COUNTRY GIRL IN “LIVE BY NIGHT”

Coming a long way from playing Sleeping Beauty in the smash hit Maleficent, Elle Fanning now stars opposite Ben Affleck in Warner Bros. Pictures’ gangster film Live by Night, as Loretta, the sweet and naïve daughter of the Tampa police chief.

It was the many facets of Loretta’s journey that would prove an exciting challenge for the young actress. “At first, Loretta has such sparkle, this girl with a twinkle inside her who is looking for adventure in life, she’s so excited to follow her dreams. Oddly, it’s when she loses that sparkle, loses that twinkle that she had, that she discovers her real purpose in this world,” Fanning reveals.

Live by Night tells the story of Joe Coughlin (Affleck), a WWI vet who’s a self-proclaimed anti-establishment outlaw, despite being the son of the Boston Police Deputy Superintendent. Joe’s not all bad, though; in fact, he’s not really bad enough for the life he’s chosen. Unlike the gangsters he refuses to work for, he has a sense of justice and an open heart, and both work against him, leaving him vulnerable time and again—in business and in love.

Loretta’s initial meeting with Joe is very brief. The next time they come in contact, the tables have definitely turned. Both the children of policemen, the comparison ends there; their paths have taken them in very different directions. Still, Joe can’t help but have a measure of respect for the slip of a girl who could, with just a few words, bring his world crashing down around him.

The script called for Fanning to master a couple of lengthy monologues, one of which took place in front of a large crowd, Joe included. With Affleck’s blessing, Fanning took the opportunity to speak her lines aloud for the first time when cameras were rolling. “I just wanted to go for it, to feel that energy, and Ben was so helpful and so giving—both as a director and as an actor in the scene.”

“Elle gave Loretta such an angelic presence and, at the same time, a broken innocence,” observes producer Jennifer Davisson. “It’s trickier than it sounds to do that, but it was important for the character and she got it.”

“Elle’s an extremely gifted actress,” Affleck states. “In the book, the character starts out at 13, but in the script I wrote her to be closer to the cusp of womanhood, someone who was straddling that line of being a girl and being grown up. I thought it would make Loretta’s storyline even more heartbreaking.”

Fanning was just 17 during production, yet, Affleck adds, “Despite being so young, she completely relaxes into the part; she doesn’t push, so it’s very natural, very real. She really does break your heart in the film.”

Opening across the Philippines on January 18, 2017, Live By Night is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Movies: AWARD-WINNING NOVEL “LIVE BY NIGHT” COMES TO LIFE IN THE BIG SCREEN

Based on Dennis Lehane’s bestselling novel, Warner Bros. Pictures’ Live by Night was a true passion project for Ben Affleck, who says, “As a filmmaker, this was a chance to pay homage to the classic Warner Bros. gangster movies of the 1930s through the `70s.  I grew up watching them and they had an epic, sprawling feel that really took you into a different world, a different era.”

Affleck adapted the screenplay from Lehane’s novel of the same name; the two first collaborated when Affleck made his acclaimed directorial debut with his screen adaptation of Lehane’s crime thriller Gone, Baby, Gone.  Lehane served as an executive producer on Live by Night.

“Creatively speaking, Ben and I are a unique fit—and it’s not just the Boston thing, though the Boston thing is big,” Lehane smiles.  “There’s something special about Ben’s aesthetic.  His first time in the director’s chair was with ‘Gone Baby Gone,’ and he did such a beautiful job, I love that film.  So when I heard he was going to adapt Live by Night, I was happy to be working with him again.  And like before, watching this book transmogrify in Ben’s hands, from the screenplay on, was a special thing.”

As a lifelong film buff, Affleck posits that the story has all the tropes that made him a fan of the gangster genre in particular: beautiful women, dangerous men, cops, the mob, shootouts, car chases…the whole fiery, combustible mix.  “As soon as I read Dennis’s book I knew that there was something there for anyone who just really likes to have a great time at the movies.”

 

Leonardo DiCaprio’s production banner, Appian Way, held the rights to the book, which Affleck read at the suggestion of DiCaprio’s producing partner, Jennifer Davisson.  “Our company is constantly looking for stories about great men—which doesn’t necessarily mean good men, just that they have greatness in them in one way or another—and what they sacrifice for that,” she explains.  “One of the things Dennis does so well is dissect the male ego in a really complex and interesting way, and that’s something I think Ben does equally well.  We had the property, but when Ben was reading the book, it was clear how much he liked it and that it was right for him.  When we read Ben’s beautiful script, the same Lehane sensibility jumped off the page.”

Producer Jennifer Todd agrees.  “Ben is attracted to Dennis’s stories, and this one in particular really excited him: the time period, the characters, going from Boston to Florida.  It all felt like nothing else we had looked at.  Add to that the central character Joe, who is not quite a bad guy and not quite a good guy but caught somewhere in between the two, so he makes his choices, but he feels the consequences.  Where does he really belong?”

Live by Night tells the story of Joe Coughlin (Affleck), a WWI vet who’s a self-proclaimed anti-establishment outlaw, despite being the son of the Boston Police Deputy Superintendent. Joe’s not all bad, though; in fact, he’s not really bad enough for the life he’s chosen. Unlike the gangsters he refuses to work for, he has a sense of justice and an open heart, and both work against him, leaving him vulnerable time and again—in business and in love. Driven by a need to right the wrongs committed against him and those close to him, Joe heads down a risky path that goes against his upbringing and his own moral code. Leaving the cold Boston winter behind, he and his reckless crew turn up the heat in Tampa. And while revenge may taste sweeter than the molasses that infuses every drop of illegal rum he runs, Joe will learn that it comes at a price.

Starring with Affleck are Elle Fanning, Brendan Gleeson, Chris Messina, Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldana, and Oscar winner Chris Cooper.

Opening across the Philippines on January 18, 2017, “Live By Night” is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Movies: THE MOB WILL NOT BE THREATENED IN THE NEW “LIVE BY NIGHT” TRAILER

The final trailer for Ben Affleck's new crime thriller “Live by Night” has just been released by Warner Bros. Pictures and may be viewed at https://youtu.be/R47EN1WSKd0.

Oscar winner Ben Affleck (“Argo”) directed and stars in the dramatic crime thriller “Live by Night.” Affleck also wrote the screenplay, based on the award-winning best-seller by Dennis Lehane; it marks the second collaboration for the fellow Boston natives, following the acclaimed drama “Gone Baby Gone.”

What you put out into this world will always come back to you, but it never comes back how you predict. Taking fatherly advice is not in Joe Coughlin’s nature. Instead, the WWI vet is a self-proclaimed anti-establishment outlaw, despite being the son of the Boston Police Deputy Superintendent. Joe’s not all bad, though; in fact, he’s not really bad enough for the life he’s chosen. Unlike the gangsters he refuses to work for, he has a sense of justice and an open heart, and both work against him, leaving him vulnerable time and again—in business and in love. Driven by a need to right the wrongs committed against him and those close to him, Joe heads down a risky path that goes against his upbringing and his own moral code. Leaving the cold Boston winter behind, he and his reckless crew turn up the heat in Tampa. And while revenge may taste sweeter than the molasses that infuses every drop of illegal rum he runs, Joe will learn that it comes at a price.

Starring with Affleck are Elle Fanning (“Maleficent”), Brendan Gleeson (the “Harry Potter” films), Chris Messina (“Argo”), Sienna Miller (“American Sniper”), Zoe Saldana (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Avatar”), and Oscar winner Chris Cooper (“The Town”).

Opening across the Philippines on Jan. 18, 2017, “Live By Night” is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Movies: FIRST TRAILER OF BEN AFFLECK'S “LIVE BY NIGHT” ARRIVES ONLINE

Warner Bros. Pictures has just revealed the first trailer of Ben Affleck's latest directorial effort, the dramatic crime thriller “Live by Night.” View the trailer at https://youtu.be/_mbod4QirDc.

Affleck also stars in the film and wrote the screenplay, based on the award-winning best-seller by Dennis Lehane; it marks the second collaboration for the fellow Boston natives, following the acclaimed drama “Gone Baby Gone.”

“Live by Night” is set in the roaring `20s when Prohibition hasn’t stopped the flow of booze in an underground network of gangster-run speakeasies. The opportunity to gain power and money is there for any man with enough ambition and nerve and Joe Coughlin (Affleck), the son of the Boston Police Superintendent, long ago turned his back on his strict upbringing for the spoils of being an outlaw. But even among criminals there are rules and Joe breaks a big one: crossing a powerful mob boss by stealing his money and his moll. The fiery affair ends in tragedy, setting Joe on a path of revenge, ambition, romance and betrayal that propels him out of Boston and up the ladder of Tampa’s steamy rum-running underworld.

“Live by Night” is produced by Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Wolf of Wall Street”) and Jennifer Davisson (“Orphan”), under the Appian Way banner; and Ben Affleck and Jennifer Todd (“Alice in Wonderland”) for Pearl Street Films. Chris Brigham, Dennis Lehane and Chay Carter are serving as executive producers.

Starring with Affleck are Elle Fanning (“Maleficent”), Brendan Gleeson (the “Harry Potter” films), Chris Messina (“Argo”), Sienna Miller (“American Sniper”), Zoe Saldana (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Avatar”), and Oscar winner Chris Cooper (“The Town”).

Behind the scenes, Affleck collaborated with three-time Oscar-winning director of photography Robert Richardson (“JFK,” “The Aviator,” “Hugo”), Oscar-nominated production designer Jess Gonchor (“True Grit”), Oscar-winning editor William Goldenberg (“Argo”), and Oscar-nominated costume designer Jacqueline West (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”). The score is composed by Harry Gregson-Williams (“The Martian,” “Gone Baby Gone”).

A Warner Bros. Pictures presentation, an Appian Way/Pearl Street production, “Live By Night” is slated for release in the Philippines in 2017, and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.