Good Will Hunting (1999, DVD)

Almost any movie, no matter how far away from serious it may be, has at least one good profound moment. The great thing about Good Will Hunting is that the entire thing feels like one big long profound moment. I may be ahead of myself in saying this is the best screenplay ever written, but it's definitely one of the best I've read/seen in my life. Matt Damon plays Will Hunting, a mathematical wizard who doesn't wholly grasp the magnitude of his own power. He is a kid from the streets who drinks with the fellas and maybe picks up a few girls along the way. Now and then, he has found himself...

In the film industry, it's always hard to get discovered and sometimes it can take years. Two examples in recent years have been the case for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Two young struggling actors trying to get acting gigs when in 1992, Matt Damon seemed to hit pay dirt when he landed a huge role in the film School Ties with Brendan Fraser. While his friend Affleck also received a small supporting role in the film, the movie did nothing for Damon and Affleck. Between 1992 and 1996, the two decided to work on a screenplay about a young janitor with a high IQ whose potential is in question by..

Think back to the times of Good Will Hunting. It was 1997. Matt Damon hadn't yet achieved the title of World's Cutest Boy (Other than Brad Pitt). Ben Affleck was almost a respected actor. There was even a connotation of achievement with Robin Williams' name. But the culture has changed. Matt Damon is a household name. Your faithful reviewer is probably the only person on Planet Earth who gives Ben Affleck credit, and Robin Williams' career is a joke. But both then and now, it's still pretty amazing that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon of all people wrote Good Will Hunting's script. By now, you've..

Elliott Smith, folk-rock singer/songwriter wrote the brilliant song Miss Misery for Good Will Hunting which was nominated for an Academy Award (though "My Heart Will Go On" won. How f*cked up is that?). This all happened when Gus van Sant put in some of Smith's songs (including No Name #3, Between The Bars, and Say Yes) and Smith was flattered when he was notified. "He liked the fact that his mother, Bunny, would be able to tell her friends that her son was working on Good Will Hunting rather than living in Portland and recording 'lo-fi albums'." (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0808129/bio) Now...