Category: Uncategorized

The story of a police officer with a trick knee is the centerpiece of this much larger tale about the Boston Marathon Bombings. It’s a fitting focal point because he’s a larger than life star and it helps us scan through this horrific event.

Patriots Day (2016)
R | 2h 13min | Crime, Drama, History | 13 January 2017 (USA)

The story of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the aftermath, which includes the city-wide manhunt to find the terrorists responsible.
Director: Peter Berg
Writers: Peter Berg (screenplay), Matt Cook (screenplay) | 5 more credits »
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, J.K. Simmons

If you don’t have characters and their personal stories to see the story through, it’s less a movie and more a documentary. This film does a good job in its script of showing the day’s events through the story of Wahlberg’s character. True story films really come alive when they use this method. This one is done very well and keeps you intrigued from beginning to end.

As the marathon went on, the early finishers crossed the finish line. No one would know that soon, two terrorists with backpacks would lay their dirty bombs down and remotely detonate them causing shards of nails, scrap metal shrapnel, and other weapons of harm to wound and kill both participants and spectators.

This film also tells a side-story of the two brothers who did the bombing. We learn they were of a splinter group related to an American hating organization. It does a good job of showing their manner and mindset through the tragedy they caused. They also show shadows of the older brother’s wife and what her role may or may have not been in this.

As a true story film, this one is best at telling the events that led up and transpired throughout the event. It’s a bit documentary in it’s framework but there is plenty of story in the script that fuels powerful acting. It falls short of focusing on the recovery of these people but it doesn’t really mean to be that type of film. To learn the details of the story, this one is great. For the human aftermath and effect on drama for the survivors, “Stronger” does a great job at that. I give this film a 10/10 for what it sets out to do.

Pretty good, not bad, skip the spaghetti and meatballs because we got IRISH mob kills this time. So what shall we eat? Corned beef and cabbage with green beer? Sure why the hell not. Johnny Depp plays another Johnny. He’s a killer. This one’s a true story too. (I love those)

Black Mass (2015)
R | 2h 3min | Biography, Crime, Drama | 18 September 2015 (USA)

The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
Director: Scott Cooper
Writers: Mark Mallouk (screenplay), Jez Butterworth (screenplay) | 2 more credits »
Stars: Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson

Scott Cooper is the director. He did ‘Out of the Furnace’ starring Christian Bale and I have to tell you I loved that movie. He apparently picks the stories from the city streets. This one is really gritty like Furnace. The characters are grounded and they cuss as well as they handle guns in execution style mob killings. This is not a study in what happened, it’s more a display of what this whacked out killer did when he was alive. Some of the stuff goes way beyond cold hearted. It’s a good mob film, it has an amazing cast as well. It was a little slow in telling thhe story I thought but I got beyond it. I give it an 8.5/10.

Just about anything Melanie Lynskey is in is great. She’s part of a group of actors that includes Mark Duplass and others who are making their way through a career and developing a particular style of character. She’s the star of this one and it’s a really great thing to see.

I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore. (2017)
TV-MA | 1h 33min | Comedy, Crime, Drama | 24 February 2017 (USA)

When a depressed woman is burglarized, she finds a new sense of purpose by tracking down the thieves alongside her obnoxious neighbor. But they soon find themselves dangerously out of their depth against a pack of degenerate criminals.
Director: Macon Blair
Writer: Macon Blair
Stars: Melanie Lynskey, Chris Doubek, Marilyn Faith Hickey

Macon Blair is the director here, he did a truly good job in ‘Blue Ruin’ which was a vengeance movie made on a shoestring budget. He’s in the director’s chair this time and I’m happy to report this film is great.

Elijah Wood plays the neighbor DIY mercenary. When the two team up to get her stolen property back it works like clockwork. In these unsure times, it’s comforting and entertaining to see regular people take charge of their situation. The humble ways of these characters are just plain fun to watch. I recommend this one and it’s on Netflix. 8/10.

Short review here. My score: 4/10. A wooden, poorly edited (which is very distracting), under-developed biopic of the Bloody Sunday event so well know by the Irish and members of the world audience.

Bloody Sunday (2002)
R | 1h 47min | Drama, History, War | 19 April 2002 (Portugal)

A dramatization of the Irish civil rights protest march and subsequent massacre by British troops on January 30, 1972.
Director: Paul Greengrass
Writer: Paul Greengrass
Stars: James Nesbitt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nicholas Farrell

There could have been better backstory and illustration of why this happened. They use handhelds as an excuse to not engage through other means. Director Paul Greengrass went on to direct some truly awesome films like Jason Bourne, Captain Phillips, The Bourne Ultimatum, United 93, & The Bourne Supremacy.

Too many shaky camera closeups that don’t serve a central theme. “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” Not sure what he was going for with Bloody Sunday but whatever it was, I missed it. I wanted to like it as an Irishman myself, but I couldn’t get into it.