Mystic River

Yes, I would rather sit in a theatre than sit on my couch watching the Stupid Bowl. I’ve never really understood the appeal of football. Movies are much more entertaining to me than a bunch of steroid addicts running up and down a field. Got a couple of previews, but this is an “old” movie, so they’ve cut a lot of them off.

WALKING TALL–The Rock is at it again and, you know, after The Rundown I actually kind of want to see this one.

It’s based on actual events (or, more accurately, inspired by them) and is a remake of a Joe Don Baker movie from the 70s. The sheriff’s name was changed (his real name and the character in the original were Buford Pusser…I bet The Rock didn’t want that kind of name), but the story is about the same. Small town guy comes back to small town, finds out it’s been corrupted by an old high school friend and he goes after said friend with a big 4×4 piece of wood. Hero becomes sheriff and legitimately takes the town back.

Looks like a lot of explosions and action. I might check it out. I’m still stuck on that stigma of The Rock, though. Can’t like him.

FOG OF WAR–Yeah, I’ve already reviewed this movie, but I think it should be required viewing for all Americans. Excellent documentary about William McNamara, one of the most prominent Secretaries of Defense in our nation’s history. Go see it.

Now, let’s get to the last Best Picture nominee that I had to see.

Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn) is a small-time thug in Boston. He grew up on the streets and he stayed in the streets. He’s gone clean now that he’s got a wife (Laura Linney) and three daughters, but he still associates with his past in ways that even his wife doesn’t really know about.

Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins) is still shattered. His life took a turn when he was a kid and his two friends watched as he was taken off by strangers to be held for four days in a basement while the two men repeatedly raped him. He’s got a wife (Marcia Gay Harden) and kid, but he is not the man he could have been.

Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon) is a decent cop. His wife left him while she was pregnant with their daughter, but she still calls him all the time, not saying a word. Just listening for the right words to come out of his mouth.

These three guys were best friends when they were kids, but Dave’s abduction split them apart. Now, 25 years later, Jimmy’s 19 year old daughter’s murder has brought them back together.

Clint Eastwood has been directing these kinds of movies for about a decade now. True Crime, Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, Blood Work: they’re all murder mysteries the focus on a man’s past coming back to haunt him in some way or another. They all feature good acting and good direction, but something was always missing.

This time he’s hit the mark, though. Yeah, it’s just a murder mystery, but it seems to be something more than that because the acting is absolutely amazing. We feel the torture, heartache and torment of a parent who has lost a child in a horrible, violent way. We feel the inner turmoil of a man whose life has passed him by because of a terrible event in his past. And we feel the earth-shattering conflict of a wife who thinks that he husband killed his friend’s daughter and doesn’t know what to do about it.

Then again, what do you expect when you get four of the best actors we have going right now together? (The fourth is Laurence Fishburne who plays Sean’s partner.) This is a powerhouse of a cast putting in some of their best performances.

But the story, while very good, has some holes in it. Sean and Whitey (Fishburne…how ironic) don’t exactly seem to be very good cops. They let one piece of evidence go until the last minute that we as the audience (if we’re paying attention) can pick up on earlier than they ever do.

And what’s up with Laura Linney’s character at the end? She has a reaction to something that actually pissed me off. It’s not how you want someone like her to act at all and she really doesn’t have any indication that she ever would act like that. It’s just weird and seems contrary to her entire character, what little of that there is. (She’s one of the few characters that doesn’t get a lot of screentime or development.)

The end also seemed a little too out of nowhere. A little too easy on the writers.

But, really, the acting is why people like this movie. It deserves all of the acting nominations that it got, although I’m still for Bill Murray for Best Actor.