It's easy to finger Amy Ryan's performance in Gone Baby Gone as one of the best of the year, however I'm surprised more notice hasn't been given to the entire cast. After all, this is an ensemble film, with fantastic performances from Casey Affleck, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, Amy Madigan and a host of Boston locals plucked from obscurity; all of whom were, essentially, asked to play themselves. Gone Baby Gone is a tough film to review, because there are so many plot twists, and criticisms of said plot twists, that it's hard to discuss without giving away some major spoilers. I will say that Gone Baby Gone is a good film; a solid film -- and one that will definitely leave you debating the outcome with whomever you choose to watch it with.

Set and filmed entirely in the Boston area known as Dorchester, Gone Baby Gone revolves around the kidnapping of a little girl and the subsequent investigation into her disappearance. Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan play a pair of local private investigators/lovers who are hired by the missing girl's aunt and uncle in an attempt to solve the case by going through the folks who won't talk to the cops. Ed Harris and John Ashton play the main detectives on the case, Morgan Freeman plays the police captain heading the entire investigation and Amy Ryan plays the little girl's delinquent, drug-addicted mother. Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River), Gone Baby Gone will certainly hit you emotionally, but how much depends upon whether you buy into the story as it unravels.

It's often the first few sentences of a novel that define the rest of the story, and in the case of Gone Baby Gone, it's Patrick Kenzie's (Casey Affleck) opening lines that tell you everything you need to know about his character, his mindset and the choices he'll make throughout the film: "It's what you don't choose in life that make you who you are." He goes on to give examples like family, or where you were born, while the camera sweeps across the hardened blue-collar streets of Dorchester, Mass., eventually landing smack in the middle of a community grieving the disappearance of a little girl who was kidnapped from her bed. Those of us on the outside looking in would describe these people as "white trash" -- the kind of folks that made Jerry Springer a household name -- but to Patrick, this is home. These are the people he grew up with, these are the people he'll grow old with, and these are the people he'll go out of his way to protect.

Patrick knows Helene McCready (Amy Ryan) from high school (he was a freshman when she was a slutty senior), and when her daughter Amanda is kidnapped in the middle of the night, Dorchester is thrown into a frenzy: Cops, news reporters, cameras and crowds of people camp outside Helene's small, unkempt apartment complex. Helene isn't some white, middle-class stay-at-home mom, she's a single woman with an abusive boyfriend and a coke habit. The cops, led by police captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman), begin to do what they do best -- but for Helene's sister-in-law (Amy Madigan), that's not enough. And so she, along with her reluctant husband Lionel (Titus Welliver) seek out the services of Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro (Michele Monaghan); two fairly young private investigators who know the neighborhood, know its people and know how to find someone. And while Kenzie and Gennaro are extremely hesitant at first (after all, every cop in the city is looking for that little girl), they eventually decide to take the case. It would wind up being the single best -- and worst -- decision they would ever make.

I've just returned home from seeing Gone, Baby, Gone, and since I'm itching to write about it (but can't give you my review until later this week), I shall point you toward Moviefone's Unscripted with director Ben Affleck (you might know him) and the film's star Casey Affleck (Ben's little brother). Let's get this out of the way first: The film is flippin' fantastic, and if you're thinking about heading to the movies this weekend, there's no reason why you shouldn't be seeing this flick (unless, of course, you have a child and need to see something a little more PG rated). Yes, Ben Affleck had some fantastic material to work with, that being the novel written by Dennis Lehane, but he's certainly proven here that stepping behind the camera for this film was probably the best career choice the guy ever made.

All that being said, the Unscripted is definitely an interesting watch. In it, both Afflecks ask one another some of your questions (that you left as comments on this blog), as well as their own. Because the film's climax presents its main character with a gigantic moral question (one you're sure to argue over with whomever you choose to see the movie with), I was interested in the question Ben asked Casey about whether he, as an actor, feels obligated to give his own opinion on the ending, or if he'd rather leave it up to the audience to figure out. You'll have to watch the interview for his answer, or wait until after you see the movie yourself, but I like the way in which Casey goes about responding. And speaking of Casey, get this kid some more roles! Even though I felt Amy Ryan stole this film away from top-notch actors like Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman, Casey Affleck hung in there with the best of them and delivered one heckuva performance. So watch the Unscripted, go see the movie this weekend, and you can thank me later for the recommendation.

Unfortunately, those of you living in the UK and really looking forward to the much buzzed-about directorial debut of Ben Affleck, Gone, Baby, Gone, will have to wait some time before seeing the film. That's because Buena Vista International UK has suspended the release of the film indefinitely due to similarities between the flick and the real-life case of Madeline McCann, the British girl who's been missing since early May. Though the case is a fairly popular topic here in the States, I gather it's a much bigger deal in Britain -- especially now that the two parents have become official suspects in their daughter's disappearance from a Portuguese apartment.

Based on a book by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River), Gone, Baby, Gone follows two detectives tracking the case of a missing four year-old girl, and how it subsequently affects them both professionally and personally. It stars Casey Affleck, Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman, among others. By total coincidence, the name of the actress portraying the missing girl in the film is Madeleine O'Brien, which I'm sure would just add fuel to the fire across the pond. Affleck, who is totally behind the decision to pull the film, had this to say while at the Deauville Film Festival: "We are acutely aware of the situation. We have a greater concern for that than the release of our film, which is just a commercial matter, whereas this is a matter of life and death." Gone, Baby, Gone was also scheduled to have, what Variety calls, a "splashy" Oct. 26 Times London Film Festival gala screening, but it's since been pulled from the lineup. No word on when the film will arrive in the UK; I imagine it will depend on where the McCann case goes from here. Gone, Baby, Gone will arrive in US theaters on October 19.

It might just be me, but Viggo Mortensen always struck me as the kind of actor who was just better suited for dark and heavy material. I'm sure he's nowhere near that tortured in his day-to-day life, but for me, the man is built for drama. MTV Movies Blog spoke with the actor about his latest collaboration with Canadian director David Cronenberg, Eastern Promises, (you can catch James' TIFF interview with the director here) and Mortensen clued them in to what his next role might be. He tells MTV that he's close to signing to star in the film version of the Pulitzer prize-winning novel The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. According to the actor, "They're going to make a movie of that and the people making [it] have expressed interest [in me]. Visually, it's going to be a very beautiful movie. It's a very good story". News of the adaptation surfaced last November, when Nick Wechsler purchased the rights to the novel and hired The Proposition's John Hillcoat to presumably direct.

The novel centers on a father and son who are survivors of a "doomsday" scenario, traveling towards the coast while battling other survivors who have turned cannibal. Released in 2006, the book was an Oprah book club selection (but try not to hold that against it) and spent some time on the best-seller list. Back in April Joe Penhall was hired to adapt the book, which will the be the latest in a series of adaptations of the authors work with The Coen's No Country for Old Men, followed by Ridley Scott's Blood Meridian in 2009. Having read the book, I can speak from experience that it's a harrowing story that does a spectacular job of showing you the nobility and the depravity we are all capable of in the name of survival. Mortensen is still working on the period drama Good, and will also appear in the Ed Harris Western drama, Appaloosa. So while nothing is official, I would assume that if Mortensen is already spilling the beans to MTV, then it would seem all that's left to do is sign on the dotted line.

A potentially compelling film noir story delivered in an irritatingly bright and overzealous package, Cleaner has two very excellent things going for it -- and their names are Samuel L. Jackson and Ed Harris. If you're a serious fan of either actor (and if you're not, you should be), then you'll definitely want to rent Cleaner once it (eventually) pops up in your local theater video store. Beyond the contributions from Jackson and Harris, however, there's very little worth talking about where Cleaner is concerned.

We start off with a potentially juicy concept: Sam Jackson plays a 'hazardous waste cleaner' who gets framed for a murder he (probably) didn't commit. And when I say 'hazardous waste cleaner' I mean that this is the guy who'd come to your house to eliminate the gore if someone happened to have their brains blown out in your living room. So things look pretty promising at the outset: We've got a great actor playing a strange role and doing a fine job of it -- and then the plot kicks in.

Seems that our "cleaner" has just cleaned up a murder that the police know nothing about. And even if they DID have a clue, they'd probably be thrilled about it because the victim was a stool pigeon who was about to blow the lid off some serious police corruption charges. So when Cleaner guy realizes that he forgot to return the house key, he's distressed to learn that The Wife (Eva Mendes) knows nothing about any bloodshed in her living room. But, oddly enough, her husband has just gone missing. (dun dun dunnnnn)

Variety is reporting that Ed Harris will make his return to the director's chair with Appaloosa, a western he will star in with Viggo Mortensen and Renee Zellweger. The film starts filming in New Mexico on October 1st. This must be a real passion project for Harris, in addition to acting and directing, he's co-producing the film and co-wrote the script with Robert Knott. The story is an adaptation of Robert B. Parker's novel of the same name, and is "centered on a pair of friends hired to protect a lawless town suffering at the hands of a renegade rancher." But...wait for it..."the arrival of an attractive widow disrupts their plans." Harris will play Virgil Cole, the new marshal of the mining and ranching town of Appaloosa. Mortensen plays his deputy, Everett Hitch. Together they take on the corrupt rancher who ordered the previous marshal and deputy killed. No word on who will play the corrupt rancher, but let me suggest Rip Taylor?

This will be Harris' second time directing a feature. His first was the pretty solid Pollock, in which he directed Marcia Gay Harden to a Best Supporting Actress Oscar and himself to a Best Actor nomination. Harris and Mortensen were great together in the excellent A History of Violence, and I do love westerns, but I would be a lot more excited about this project if it weren't for Zellweger. Diane Lane originally had the role of the "attractive widow," and that's a choice I'd be much happier about. It's just a matter of taste, but Zellweger's acting drives me insane. And I particularly can't stand her in period roles -- how she won an Academy Award for her supremely annoying work in Cold Mountain, I'll never know. I still remember that scene, used in the trailer, with her bellowing that ridiculous line, something like -- "They say this war is cloudy, but then they tell us to go and stand in the rain, and then we go and stand in the rain, and then they tell us it's raining!" Her hamtastic performance still haunts my dreams. But hey, maybe this'll be different.

I just about lost my breakfast trying not to laugh when Harvey Keitel brought out the President's Book of Secrets -- a book that holds all the answers to this country's most puzzling questions, like who really killed J.F.K. and what's really going on at Area 51. Dun. Dun. Dun. And guess who's job it is to steal it? That's right, Nicolas Cage is back hunting treasures, but this time there's a lot more at stake -- like clearing his family's name. When a piece of John Wilkes Booth's super secret diary is found, not only does it tell us who his top five crushes were, but it also implicates Cage's (or his character Ben Gates, that is) great great grandfather in the conspiracy to murder Abraham Lincoln. And since our man Gates doesn't want to be known as the great great grandson of the guy who conspired to kill one of our greatest Presidents, he sets out on an adventure to clear his family's name. Little did he know the secrets he'd uncover in the process.

This new full-length trailer looks similar to the first film in that Gates needs to keep following clues -- breaking into protected buildings, utilizing a number of one-liners, and even kidnapping the President -- until he gets what he needs. Of course, like with any sequel, the stakes are higher, the missions are harder and the wisecracks are that much funnier. Cage, Keitel, Jon Voight and Diane Kruger all return for part two, with pretty nifty additions like Ed Harris and Helen Mirren. While I'll joke about the film, I kind of dug the first flick. It's no Indiana Jones, but it's light, fluffy and fun to watch Cage figure out a way to pull off a stunt that seems utterly impossible. Kind of like Mission Impossible ... but, ya know, for kids. National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets hits theaters on December 21.

While it can't be hard to get your best friend to say good things about your work, those of you wondering whether Ben Affleck's directorial debut, Gone, Baby, Gone, is any good should look no further -- Kevin Smith digs it. Yes, Smith claims to have seen the film twice already and says it's "awesome." In fact, he also goes on to call it a "total awards contender." Hmm, Affleck's first script earned him an Oscar; wouldn't it be wild if his first directorial effort scored him one too? Let's not get crazy here; while the trailer for Gone, Baby, Gone certainly showed potential, there's still a lot of competition (from some of Hollywood's great filmmakers) heading our way this fall. Smith later went on to add: "It's one of those movies where you watch and you're like [groan] First time out? He made a better movie than I've ever made. That jerk! And he's easier to look at, richer, I hate him so much! But it's a really great flick."

Of course he's kidding about all the hatin' -- Smith and Affleck are good friends, so much so that Affleck has shown up in a number of Smith's films. (I'm still kind of pissed that Affleck and Jason Lee didn't resurrect their Chasing Amy characters for Clerks 2, but that's just me going off on a random tangent.) Based on a Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) novel, Gone, Baby, Gone takes place in Boston and revolves around the police investigation (that may or may not be corrupt) of a missing girl. The film stars Affleck's baby brother Casey, as well as Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman and Smith ... as a computer hacker named Warlock! Wait, wrong movie. On second thought, I wonder if Smith will show up in a small cameo. I mean, the least Affleck can do is give the guy a chance to appear in a film that actually does well at the box office. Kidding. Totally kidding. I love ya Kev! And I seriously can't wait to see what you do with Zack and Miri Make a Porno. And that other one. The horror thing. Good luck!

The most fascinating part of this newly-released trailer for Gone, Baby, Gone is that at no point do they advertise the fact that Ben Affleck directed. Yup, Ben Affleck. And for those of you wondering where the hell Affleck has disappeared to, well, he's been off piecing together what looks to be a gem of a film. Based on a Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) novel, Gone, Baby, Gone tells the story of a little girl who goes missing and the intense (but possibly corrupt) police investigation that follows. Affleck seems right at home with this flick (literally), as it's shot in Boston and stars his kid brother, Casey (in a role that will either make or break his career as a lead actor). I guess you can say I came away with a Good Will Hunting meets The Departed vibe, and if the film excels in one particular area, it's in the acting.

Right off the bat, Ed Harris looks phenomenal (as always) in the role of Detective Remy Broussard. Morgan Freeman also shows up hoping to deliver another solid performance. I love Freeman just as much as the next guy, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that he's beginning to bore me just a bit. Michelle Monaghan stars as the worried girlfriend who's there to cough out lines like, "I think you're getting in a little too over your head." Amy Madigan plays the missing girl's mother in a supporting role that's about as juicy as they come. Also showing up in one way, shape or form are John "Taggart" Ashton and Robert "The Other, Other Brother" Wahlberg. I have to say the film looks pretty damn good, and not what I would expect from Affleck's first directorial effort (he also co-wrote the script along with Aaron Stockard). Let us know what you think; Gone, Baby, Gone hits theaters on October 19.