A week or two ago, I wrote a piece about the final films of the 2016 Oscar season that had yet to debut. In the time since, many of those films have finally shown their cards. Allied premiered to a group of journalists in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Fences received a rapturous reception last weekend, the embargo finally broke on Moana, and Rules Don't Apply and Miss Sloane both debuted at AFI Fest. That leaves us with only a few films, chief among them Martin Scorsese's Silence and Ben Affleck's Live by Night. And while Paramount is taking their sweet time with the former, Warner Bros. is gearing up for a big push for Ben Affleck's prohibition drama. The film is expected to screen for critics on November 16, and I have a feeling that the floodgates will open very quickly after that. And while the brunt of Hollywood's expectations seem to be falling on the aforementioned Scorsese film as well as Theo Melfi's Hidden Figures and Peter Berg's Patriots Day, I have a feeling that Affleck is going to come out of left field and take the Oscar race by storm. Having read the book, I know how good this source material is and I can't wait to see what Affleck does with it. As the film's limited Christmas release gets closer, Warner Bros. has released a final trailer. Check it out below!
The first trailer for Live by Night was good, but it didn't sell the film quite like this one. This is an excellent trailer, as it perfectly highlights the violence, the beauty, and even the dark humor of the film (I laughed out loud at Elle Fanning's "We're all going to hell," line). Affleck proved his directorial chops with Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo, improving each and every time. With Live by Night, Affleck has the chance to firmly establish himself as a master, a filmmaker who deserves our attention whenever he steps behind the camera. Dennis Lehane's book is a gripping read, a crime epic that is very difficult to put down. It is also a sprawling novel, filled with a daunting amount of characters and told on a massive scale. It's an inherently cinematic novel, but it's still challenging. If Affleck manages to pull this off and deliver the gangster masterpiece that I'm firmly expecting, it will be a true feat. Judging by this trailer, he's on the right track. There are some downright jaw-dropping shots in this trailer, which makes a point to highlight Robert Richardson's gorgeous-looking cinematography. I simply can't wait to unpack Live by Night for myself, which looks like a violent, decadent, and downright fascinating crime film. I'm ready for Affleck to knock this one out of the park.
Live by Night will debut in limited release on Christmas Day before opening in wide release on January 13.
Image Credit: IMDB
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