FRIDAYFRIDAY 05 AUGUST,JULY, 2016 2016 GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997)

efore you even opened this list, you Williams, Good Will Hunting was the kind of probably knew we’d end up here. And film that played equally well to the arthouse Bfor good reason: Good Will Hunting is and cineplex crowds - and the kind of story not only the massive left-field success that that makes you feel good about loving launched Damon and his pal/co-writer Ben movies. As Margaret McGurk of the Cincinnati Affleck into the Hollywood stratosphere, it’s a Enquirer put it, “Good Will Hunting is another smart, tenderly written tale of the ways love auspicious sign that the best of Young and friendship can help build a bridge Hollywood is not only bringing back respect between the memories that haunt us and the for the craft of acting, but for the cogent futures we dream of. With empathetic direc- telling of tales as well.” - (www.rottentoma- tion from Gus Van Sant, beautiful music from toes.com) Danny Elfman and Elliott Smith, and an Oscar- TRUE GRIT (2010) winning supporting performance from Robin

f you’re going to remake a movie as well- expect from the Coens, with Bridges and known (and critically beloved) as John Damon affecting entertainingly outrageous IWayne’s True Grit, you’ll need a few things frontier accents in their characters’ pursuit of to make it work, including tons of chutzpah the scumbag (Brolin) who murdered the and a whole bunch of talent on the set. father of a feisty young girl (Steinfeld), and Fortunately for filmgoers, the 2010 version of picked up an impressive 10 Oscar nomina- the movie not only satisfied all of the above tions. While it didn’t win any, it did earn plen- requirements - with the Coen brothers ty of accolades from critics like Salon’s behind the cameras and an outstanding cast Andrew O’Hehir, who wrote, “Some people that included Damon, Jeff Bridges, Josh are expressing amazement that Joel and Brolin, and (making her unforgettable debut) Ethan Coen would set out to make a classic Hailee Steinfeld - but it brought something western in the first place, and then that new to the table in the bargain, focusing on they’d accomplish it. All I can say is that those the story as told in Charles Portis’ novel rather folks haven’t been paying attention.” than trying to out-Duke the Duke. The result was as charmingly idiosyncratic as you’d

THE MARTIAN (2015)

ith a name like The Martian, a person could be forgiven for the storm - and for his fellow astronauts to mount their own daring rescue assuming this Ridley Scott sci-fi thriller took filmgoers to the Red attempt. In adapting Andy Weir’s bestselling novel, Scott and screenwriter WPlanet for cool-looking alien creatures and awesome space bat- Drew Goddard deftly blend a futuristic premise with immediately relatable tles. Instead, we got Matt Damon and a bunch of potatoes - as well as one human stakes, while The Martian’s star made the most of a rare opportuni- of the most engaging outer-space dramas in Hollywood history. Damon ty to shoulder a blockbuster hit virtually unassisted. “Damon is terrific,” plays Mark Watney, a member of a Mars expedition who’s presumed dead wrote Richard Roeper for the Chicago Sun-Times. “The movie lives and and abandoned when a freak storm forces his crew to evacuate the planet; breathes on his performance, and he comes through in every scene.” faced with all-but-certain death, he relies on science and old-fashioned ingenuity to stay alive long enough for NASA to realize he didn’t perish in