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    ‘The Instigators’ Review: A Star-Studded Boston Heist Movie

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    Casey Affleck and Matt Damon star in a Boston heist that goes sideways.The best joke in “The Instigators” is a crack about the public school curriculum in Quincy, the suburb just south of Boston that outsiders never pronounce correctly. (It’s closer to a “z” than an “s.”) It feels like an inside joke, as do later affectionate jabs at other Greater Boston locales, lingo and corrupt politicians. This is sort of a heist movie, but it is first and foremost a Boston movie, full of Boston guys and Boston accents and (South) Boston places and Boston humor. Heck, “The Instigators” is practically Boston: The Immersive Experience.It will surprise no one to learn that it’s produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, and co-stars Damon alongside the movie’s co-writer, Casey Affleck. Its other writer is Chuck MacLean, the creator and executive producer of “City on a Hill,” the three-season Showtime drama about, you guessed it, Boston.The director of “The Instigators,” Doug Liman, is a born and raised New Yorker. But both he and Damon found collaborative success in 2002 with “The Bourne Identity.” This is their first project together since that hit, and it’s studded with stars: Alongside Affleck and Damon, there’s Hong Chau, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alfred Molina, Ving Rhames, Paul Walter Hauser, Toby Jones, Ron Perlman and the rapper Jack Harlow (in his second feature film role).Somehow, in 2024, all that wattage still only merits a one-week limited theatrical release in the August dead zone and a quick hop to streaming. Given a few weeks in theaters to pick up steam, I can imagine it doing well, mostly because it’s so easygoing. “The Instigators” starts out like an “Ocean’s 11” riff, with a group of petty thieves gathered by a stormy crime boss, Mr. Besegai (Stuhlbarg), to pull off a big job and then never speak of it again. It seems the sitting governor (Perlman, ideally cast) is a crook, which all but guarantees his re-election — and the cash bribes that will be brought to his victory ball make it an ideal job.Some of the group, like Rory (Damon), really need the money; he’s depressed and desperate and late on his child support, and his therapist (Chau) is worried about him. Others, like Cobby (Casey Affleck) and Scalvo (Harlow), are just the kind of guys who do this kind of thing. But Mr. Besegai is not Mr. Ocean, having snagged none of his breezy luck. Everything goes wrong right from the start, and Cobby and Rory find themselves thrown together in a comedy of blunders.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Dreamin’ Wild’ Review: Casey Affleck’s Overlooked Musician Gets His Due

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      A new film dramatizes the true story of two brothers thrust into the spotlight 30 years after the album they recorded as teenagers is discovered.The story of Donnie and Joe Emerson is the kind of miracle that starry-eyed musicians dream of: In the late 1970s, the teenage brothers record an album on their father’s Washington farm. It goes nowhere, until a collector stumbles across the LP in a Spokane antiques shop some 30-odd years later. Soon, word gets around about the brilliance of their passion project and, with the help of a vinyl reissue and a New York Times profile, the Emersons are suddenly thrown into the spotlight they were chasing all those years ago.Bill Pohlad’s “Dreamin’ Wild,” in theaters on Friday, is named after Donnie and Joe’s album and dramatizes its rediscovery by the general public and its impact on the greater Emerson family. “Dreamin’ Wild” doesn’t shrink from the fact that Donnie (portrayed as an adult by Casey Affleck, who’s also a co-producer of the film) was the album’s true brainchild — the chief songwriter, singer, instrumentalist and producer, complemented by Joe’s inexperienced drumming. That much was clear after the initial album release, when Donnie was offered a solo record deal. But he struggled to make it in Hollywood, draining his family’s finances in the process. Renewed interest in the LP reignites his guilt, even as his desire for recognition fuels an unhealthy perfectionism that extends to those around him, particularly Joe.Affleck’s performance is the emotional crux of the film, but the supporting cast, including Zooey Deschanel (as Donnie’s wife, Nancy) and Beau Bridges (as the brothers’ self-sacrificing father, Don Sr.), rounds out Pohlad’s pensive vision of familial drama. It’s Walton Goggins, however, who shines, delivering a quiet, melancholic portrayal of the ever-supportive Joe, who stayed behind in Fruitland, Wash. Adding to the mood is the soundtrack, which features not only Donnie’s otherworldly, genre-fluid “Dreamin’ Wild” compositions, but also a selection of deep cuts from folk-rock greats like The Band and Linda Ronstadt.While it can occasionally seem as though Pohlad is eking out conflict to support a narrative, the film’s restraint ultimately works in its favor, offering a thoughtful meditation on music, creativity and what it really means for talent to be “overlooked.”Dreamin’ WildRated PG. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘The World to Come’ Review: Cold Comfort

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCritic’s Pick‘The World to Come’ Review: Cold ComfortKatherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby play two women who share a gradually recognized love in upstate New York in 1856.Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby in “The World to Come.”Credit…Vlad Cioplea/Bleecker StreetFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETThe World to ComeNYT Critic’s PickDirected by Mona FastvoldDramaR1h 38mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.Though shot in Romania, “The World to Come,” directed by Mona Fastvold, conjures an almost artisanal feeling of life in rural upstate New York in 1856. Generically, it plays like a western — a romance in untamed territory where snowy landscapes foster isolation, not explorative possibilities. When her young daughter dies of diphtheria, Abigail (Katherine Waterston) does not anticipate “a better world to come.”Still, the shy Abigail’s life improves when she meets a new neighbor, Tallie (Vanessa Kirby), who becomes her brash and effusive foil. Abigail can’t decipher Tallie’s relationship with her husband, Finney (Christopher Abbott), whose outward civility masks an abusive streak. Abigail’s husband, Dyer (Casey Affleck), a farmer with a fondness for mechanical tools, initially seems like the less polished of the men.[embedded content]Despite pervasive voice-over supplied by Abigail’s writerly diary entries, “The World to Come” leaves much unsaid. When Tallie asks Abigail what she thinks about the two of them together, Abigail says she does not “know how to put it into words.” (The screenplay is by Ron Hansen, of “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” and Jim Shepard, from a story by Shepard.)Waterston and Kirby are both superb at creating characters whose attraction must be shown to grow by degrees, without overt admission. Affleck and Abbott, too, navigate a tricky dynamic, playing men who perhaps lack an understanding of their own compassion or brutishness. The use of film stock, natural light, narrow compositions and an offbeat, clarinet-heavy score by Daniel Blumberg all contribute to the sense of a story dusted off from the past.The World to ComeRated R. Discreet sex; animal slaughter. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes. In theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More