Top 4 Casey Affleck Movies

by Helen Earnshaw | 18 February 2016

If you are a Casey Affleck fan, you are in for a treat this week as he has two movies that are set to hit the big screen.

Casey Affleck in Triple 9

Yes, Affleck is back in both ensemble crime drama Triple 9 and The Finest Hours, which is based on an incredible true story and daring mission by the U.S. coast guard.

Triple 9 sees Affleck team up with filmmaker John Hillcoat for the first time, while Craig Gillespie is at the helm of The Finest Hours. To celebrate the release of the both movies, we take a look back at some of Affleck's best movies and performances so far.

- Gone Baby Gone (2008)

For me, the best performance that Casey Affleck has given so far came in Gone Baby Gone, which was released in the U.S. in 2007 but in the UK a year later. The movie was an adaptation of Dennis Lehane and was the feature film directorial debut of Ben Affleck.

Affleck took on the central role of Patrick Kenzie, a private investigator who, along with his partner/girlfriend, embark on the search for an abducted four-year-old girl. It is a case that would affect him both professionally and personally as he struggles to cope with events that unfold.

Gone Baby Gone was one of the best crime dramas to hit the big screen in 2007/8 and is it suspenseful and truly gripping from start to finish.

This is a morality tale about broken families and corrupt cops and showed off the working class of Boston. It really is a terrific watch with some wonderful performances from an incredibly talented cast.

Casey Affleck leads that cast and is the film's backbone - an essentially good man whose moral compass is compromised by this case, which leads him to make difficult and dangerous choices. For him, the waters become grey and muddy as he struggles to decide what is right and wrong. It is a wonderful performance that will leave you questioning his actions.

Gone Baby Gone was met with critical acclaim upon release. This was a film that cemented Casey Affleck as a great leading man and Ben Affleck as a talent to watch out for behind the camera. It really does remain one of Casey's best big screen performances.

- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

So far, Affleck has one Oscar nomination under his belt and it was a Best Supporting Actor nod for his performance in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Affleck took on the role of Robert Ford in the film alongside Brad Pitt, Andrew Dominik was in the director's chair and the film was based on the novel by Ron Hansen.

In 1881 Ford, a younger member of the notorious James gang, becomes so inextricably drawn to and frightened of his mentor that his own delusions of grandeur force him to consider doing the unthinkable.

It is the stunning central performances from Pitt and Affleck and James and Ford that truly elevate this movie and make it a wonderfully engrossing and character driven Western. However, it is Affleck who truly shines.

Affleck truly gets under the skin of his character as he struggles with the admiration and the hate that he feels for him. Affleck and Pitt make a fantastic acting team and it is these performances that really make this a fascinating watch.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was another of Affleck's movie that was met well upon release but it was Affleck's performance that came in for major praise.

Affleck picked up Best Supporting Actor nominations at the likes of the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild and at the Oscars; he lost out on the Academy Award to Javier Bardem for his performance in No Country for Old Men.

- Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013)

Crime/drama is a genre that we have seen Affleck tackle many times over the years and he returned to it in 2013 with Ain't Them Bodies Saints.

Ain't Them Bodies Saints was written and directed by David Lowery and the movie saw Affleck team up with the filmmaker for the first time. Rooney Mara, Ben Foster, and Keith Carradine completed a great cast list.

The movie sees Affleck take on the role of Bob Muldoon, who has taken the blame for the criminal activities of him and his wife and is sent to prison. Four years later, Bob escapes from jail and sets out to reunite with his wife and the daughter that he has never met.

Ain't Them Bodies Saints is one of the best outlaw movies of recent years and is a great mix of beautiful imagery and some wonderfully created characters. There's a sad tone to this film from the very start and it is a story that is driven by this central love story.

Affleck and Mara are terrific as lovers Bob and Ruth. She is a strong woman who wants a better life for herself but he is a man who cannot give her the life that she wants - that does not stop her loving him, however. There is a wonderful chemistry between the pair and it is this relationship that will truly hook you and draw you in.

Sadly, Ain't Them Bodies Saints was not a box office success but it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. It went on to play at the Cannes Film Festival that same year.

- Ocean's Eleven (2002)

Triple 9 is set to be one of the biggest ensemble movies of this month as Affleck joins an all-star cast... however, he is no stranger to this kind of movie, having starred in Ocean's Eleven and the films that followed.

Hard to believe it was back in 2002 when Ocean's Eleven hit the big screen. Steven Soderbergh was in the director's chair and Affleck was starring alongside George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, and Bernie Mac.

The movie was a remake of the sixties film of the same name and followed a group of small-time crooks - led by Danny Ocean - as they play to rob three Las Vegas casinos on the same night; something that has never been achieved.

It is not very often that you can say that a remake is better than the original... with Ocean's Eleven, that just happens to be the case. Ocean's Eleven is a fast-paced and entertaining film that is packed with likeable characters that you root from right from the very start.

It is a wonderful ensemble cast and group of criminals all of whom play a vital running in pulling the heist and the movie off; it really wouldn't work if just one of them was missing. Affleck and Scott Caan do deliver some of the comic relief as the squabbling Malloy brothers.

Ocean's Eleven was both a critical and commercial hit as the film went on to gross in excess of $450 million at the global box office. Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen followed but the first was by far the best.