"The Town"

We just got back from an afternoon showing of the new Ben Affleck movie, "The Town." WOW, what a movie!

Affleck plays a guy who makes his living robbing banks and armored cars in Charlestown, Mass. During the heist that opens the movie, they take a bank manager, played by Rebecca Hall, hostage and then release her, only to learn later that she lives in The Town (that's Charlestown). In tracking her down to see what she knows and what she might have told the cops, Affleck, of course, falls for her. He tries to break away from his life of crime, but can he? That's part of the movie, but the bigger part is the three set pieces of the movie, three separate capers pulled off by Ben and his gang.

The action is unbelievable. An amazing car chase through Charlestown, and another caper filmed at Fenway Park.

For fans of "Mad Men," Jon Hamm as the FBI agent proves that he is more than slick 1960's ad man Don Draper. He's very good in it, and so is Ben Affleck, who seems to take a beating from critics as an actor. Affleck also directed the movie, and when you couple this one with "Gone Baby Gone" of a few years back, well, you need to know that you should go see anything that is directed by Ben Affleck.

Go see this one. Four stars from The Grandstander - and Mrs. Grandstander as well! - for "The Town."