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Mystic River (2003)
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast overview: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins
Running time: 138 minutes
This had all the makings of a film I would like - one of my favourite film figures, Clint Eastwood, behind the camera, alongside a strong cast, an intriguing-sounding mystery from the work of a writer who has had work successfully adapted to the screen elsewhere. Yet I didn't like it. Where do I start?
OK, I found the bit at the very start featuring the kidnapping to be an excellent, chilling, and angering scene. I thought I was in for a great, yet depressing, film. Well, I was half-right. It's depressing, all right, but unfortunately that tends to veer towards the depressingly dull.
Firstly, the acting wasn't fantastic - Robbins aside, who has been excellent in everything I've seen him in, I thought it was all very amateurish, TV-movie sort of level. Sean Penn, who won an Oscar for this - God knows how, gives an overacting masterclass, playing a character that's neither likeable nor particularly dynamic. Perhaps the intention was to create his character as an antihero - unfortunately, I felt nothing towards him, neither positive nor negative. Likewise Bacon's character. Dull as dishwater. There was nothing emotional for me to latch onto, and it seemed Eastwood had to shoehorn and signpost the emotional scenes from overblown direction.
The story is predictable - normally I love mystery films, but here I just wanted the whole thing to be over. It has the feel of a film that tries to be better than it is; the material wasn't there so they tried to ham up the whole thing and try to garner some praise. Well, they got the praise but I don't think it was deserved.
Coming from a fan of Eastwood's work - both acting and directing - I thought this was poor. Not recommended, though others seemed to enjoy it.
Quotes
Dave Boyle: Maybe some day you forget what it's like to be human and maybe then, it's ok.
Sean Devine: So Jimmy, when was the last time you saw Dave?
Jimmy Markum: The last time I saw Dave...
Sean Devine: Yeah, Dave Boyle.
Jimmy Markum: Dave Boyle...
Sean Devine: Yeah Jimmy, Dave Boyle.
Jimmy Markum: That was twenty-five years ago, going up this street, in the back of that car.
Jimmy: We bury our sins here, Dave. We wash them clean.
Trivia
During the scene where Sean Penn's character steps into the morgue where his daughter Katie (Emmy Rossum) is lying on the slate dead, and when he is emotionally promising revenge, Rossum burst into tears, saying that "the scene was so powerful and moving and Sean Penn was so amazing".
In the beginning of the movie when a young Dave is thrown into the backseat of the car, a man in the front seat turns around and flashes his ring - a bishop's ring. The book never indicates that the character was a priest, but it was added to the film since the filming was right in the middle of the priest scandal in the Boston Archdiocese.
The situation at the opening of the movie is based on an incident when, as a child, author Dennis Lehane's mother castigated him for getting into a car with men who claimed to be plainclothes policemen.
Trailer
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast overview: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins
Running time: 138 minutes
This had all the makings of a film I would like - one of my favourite film figures, Clint Eastwood, behind the camera, alongside a strong cast, an intriguing-sounding mystery from the work of a writer who has had work successfully adapted to the screen elsewhere. Yet I didn't like it. Where do I start?
OK, I found the bit at the very start featuring the kidnapping to be an excellent, chilling, and angering scene. I thought I was in for a great, yet depressing, film. Well, I was half-right. It's depressing, all right, but unfortunately that tends to veer towards the depressingly dull.
Firstly, the acting wasn't fantastic - Robbins aside, who has been excellent in everything I've seen him in, I thought it was all very amateurish, TV-movie sort of level. Sean Penn, who won an Oscar for this - God knows how, gives an overacting masterclass, playing a character that's neither likeable nor particularly dynamic. Perhaps the intention was to create his character as an antihero - unfortunately, I felt nothing towards him, neither positive nor negative. Likewise Bacon's character. Dull as dishwater. There was nothing emotional for me to latch onto, and it seemed Eastwood had to shoehorn and signpost the emotional scenes from overblown direction.
The story is predictable - normally I love mystery films, but here I just wanted the whole thing to be over. It has the feel of a film that tries to be better than it is; the material wasn't there so they tried to ham up the whole thing and try to garner some praise. Well, they got the praise but I don't think it was deserved.
Coming from a fan of Eastwood's work - both acting and directing - I thought this was poor. Not recommended, though others seemed to enjoy it.
Quotes
Dave Boyle: Maybe some day you forget what it's like to be human and maybe then, it's ok.
Sean Devine: So Jimmy, when was the last time you saw Dave?
Jimmy Markum: The last time I saw Dave...
Sean Devine: Yeah, Dave Boyle.
Jimmy Markum: Dave Boyle...
Sean Devine: Yeah Jimmy, Dave Boyle.
Jimmy Markum: That was twenty-five years ago, going up this street, in the back of that car.
Jimmy: We bury our sins here, Dave. We wash them clean.
Trivia
During the scene where Sean Penn's character steps into the morgue where his daughter Katie (Emmy Rossum) is lying on the slate dead, and when he is emotionally promising revenge, Rossum burst into tears, saying that "the scene was so powerful and moving and Sean Penn was so amazing".
In the beginning of the movie when a young Dave is thrown into the backseat of the car, a man in the front seat turns around and flashes his ring - a bishop's ring. The book never indicates that the character was a priest, but it was added to the film since the filming was right in the middle of the priest scandal in the Boston Archdiocese.
The situation at the opening of the movie is based on an incident when, as a child, author Dennis Lehane's mother castigated him for getting into a car with men who claimed to be plainclothes policemen.
Trailer
Last edited by Jack1; 09-05-14 at 02:54 PM.
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I love the movie; of course everyone won't, but it's the acting I'd have to disagree with. From my viewpoint, it was exceptional all the way around. As far as Sean Penn overacting, well, I live in Boston and people act like that here. It's too bad you didn't like it, but you're not alone on this site.
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I love the movie; of course everyone won't, but it's the acting I'd have to disagree with. From my viewpoint, it was exceptional all the way around. As far as Sean Penn overacting, well, I live in Boston and people act like that here. It's too bad you didn't like it, but you're not alone on this site.
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I forget but I have heard negative remarks. It didn't make the Millenium list, and it's a pretty big movie not to.
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I remember liking Mystic River quite a bit when it came out, but it's been several years since I watched it.
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is an excellent movie, yet I can't help but think it's a bit overrated when so many people claim it's the greatest western of all-time. Morricone's musical score is amazing, like you said, and the climactic showdown is one of the best scenes in all of cinema. But I think the movie has major pacing issues. Unlike you, I do feel the movie's length, and that keeps me from revisiting it as often as I'd like.
If you haven't seen Once Upon a Time in the West, do so, because that's my pick for greatest western of all-time. I also prefer For a Few Dollars More to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, since it features a tighter pace, a more villainous villain, and more Van Cleef, who shares several excellent scenes with Eastwood--- particularly the hat-shooting scene.
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is an excellent movie, yet I can't help but think it's a bit overrated when so many people claim it's the greatest western of all-time. Morricone's musical score is amazing, like you said, and the climactic showdown is one of the best scenes in all of cinema. But I think the movie has major pacing issues. Unlike you, I do feel the movie's length, and that keeps me from revisiting it as often as I'd like.
If you haven't seen Once Upon a Time in the West, do so, because that's my pick for greatest western of all-time. I also prefer For a Few Dollars More to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, since it features a tighter pace, a more villainous villain, and more Van Cleef, who shares several excellent scenes with Eastwood--- particularly the hat-shooting scene.
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I remember liking Mystic River quite a bit when it came out, but it's been several years since I watched it.
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is an excellent movie, yet I can't help but think it's a bit overrated when so many people claim it's the greatest western of all-time. Morricone's musical score is amazing, like you said, and the climactic showdown is one of the best scenes in all of cinema. But I think the movie has major pacing issues. Unlike you, I do feel the movie's length, and that keeps me from revisiting it as often as I'd like.
If you haven't seen Once Upon a Time in the West, do so, because that's my pick for greatest western of all-time. I also prefer For a Few Dollars More to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, since it features a tighter pace, a more villainous villain, and more Van Cleef, who shares several excellent scenes with Eastwood--- particularly the hat-shooting scene.
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is an excellent movie, yet I can't help but think it's a bit overrated when so many people claim it's the greatest western of all-time. Morricone's musical score is amazing, like you said, and the climactic showdown is one of the best scenes in all of cinema. But I think the movie has major pacing issues. Unlike you, I do feel the movie's length, and that keeps me from revisiting it as often as I'd like.
If you haven't seen Once Upon a Time in the West, do so, because that's my pick for greatest western of all-time. I also prefer For a Few Dollars More to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, since it features a tighter pace, a more villainous villain, and more Van Cleef, who shares several excellent scenes with Eastwood--- particularly the hat-shooting scene.
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Been through all my reviews and spruced them up a bit (edited the posters and made them all the same size, basically).
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Fair enough. Who else here doesn't like it?
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5-time MoFo Award winner.
5-time MoFo Award winner.
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Nice. 
Really like the clean, consistent format you're using.
Really like the clean, consistent format you're using.
I'll give ya three guesses, but one should be enough.
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Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Director: Bob Rafelson
Cast overview: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black
Running time: 98 minutes
Bob Rafelson's 1970 film stars Jack Nicholson as Robert Eroica Dupea, an upper-class drop-out who becomes a drifter working on oil rigs. It's a fairly bleak film, and one without a clear message, perhaps, but it's still one that I found to be reasonably successful. Dupea himself is a confused, conflicted character - he doesn't have a stable job (apart from the itinerant work he does on the rigs), he doesn't seem to much like his family or his girlfriend, and he's one of cinema's confused characters, I've no doubt about that. But perhaps that's so interesting about the film. He tends to walk away from his problems rather than confront them head-on.
Nicholson gives a solid performance; Black and the others aren't anything special but they're still reasonably competent. Of course, the diner scene is the most famous, and it's terrific, but the piano-playing on the truck scene is also great. This film is full of memorable scenes.
This isn't a 'happy' film - Nicholson's character is essentially a self-hating misogynist, and he's not the sort of character you automatically like. However, I think that's part of the film's appeal in some ways. I reckon it's one that you get more from with multiple watches. I also think there's some well-positioned humour throughout, and not just in the obvious diner scene.
Overall, Rafelson does a solid job with the film. It's well-made, and reasonably enjoyable, but I'm not convinced yet that it's great rather than just good. It's certainly the latter, but I think it may become a favourite of mine if I give it another concentrated watch or two. An interesting character study.
Quotes
[Bobby wants plain toast, which isn't on the menu]
Bobby: I'd like an omelet, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce. And a cup of coffee.
Waitress: A #2, chicken salad sand. Hold the butter, the lettuce, the mayonnaise, and a cup of coffee. Anything else?
Bobby: Yeah, now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules.
Waitress: You want me to hold the chicken, huh?
Bobby: I want you to hold it between your knees.
Catherine: You're a strange person, Robert. I mean, what will you come to? If a person has no love for himself, no respect for himself, no love of his friends, family, work, something - how can he ask for love in return? I mean, why should he ask for it?
Palm Apodaca: People. Animals are not like that. They're always cleaning themselves. Did you ever see, umm... pigeons? Well, he's always picking on himself and his friends. They're always picking bugs out of their hair all the time. Monkeys too. Except they do something out in the open that I don't go for.
Trivia
Jack Nicholson wrote some of his own lines for the monologue Bobby says to his father.
"Five Easy Pieces" refers to a book of piano lessons for beginners.
The traffic jam on the freeway was shot on a new and unopened section of Interstate 5 near Bakersfield, Ca.
Trailer
Director: Bob Rafelson
Cast overview: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black
Running time: 98 minutes
Bob Rafelson's 1970 film stars Jack Nicholson as Robert Eroica Dupea, an upper-class drop-out who becomes a drifter working on oil rigs. It's a fairly bleak film, and one without a clear message, perhaps, but it's still one that I found to be reasonably successful. Dupea himself is a confused, conflicted character - he doesn't have a stable job (apart from the itinerant work he does on the rigs), he doesn't seem to much like his family or his girlfriend, and he's one of cinema's confused characters, I've no doubt about that. But perhaps that's so interesting about the film. He tends to walk away from his problems rather than confront them head-on.
Nicholson gives a solid performance; Black and the others aren't anything special but they're still reasonably competent. Of course, the diner scene is the most famous, and it's terrific, but the piano-playing on the truck scene is also great. This film is full of memorable scenes.
This isn't a 'happy' film - Nicholson's character is essentially a self-hating misogynist, and he's not the sort of character you automatically like. However, I think that's part of the film's appeal in some ways. I reckon it's one that you get more from with multiple watches. I also think there's some well-positioned humour throughout, and not just in the obvious diner scene.
Overall, Rafelson does a solid job with the film. It's well-made, and reasonably enjoyable, but I'm not convinced yet that it's great rather than just good. It's certainly the latter, but I think it may become a favourite of mine if I give it another concentrated watch or two. An interesting character study.
Quotes
[Bobby wants plain toast, which isn't on the menu]
Bobby: I'd like an omelet, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce. And a cup of coffee.
Waitress: A #2, chicken salad sand. Hold the butter, the lettuce, the mayonnaise, and a cup of coffee. Anything else?
Bobby: Yeah, now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules.
Waitress: You want me to hold the chicken, huh?
Bobby: I want you to hold it between your knees.
Catherine: You're a strange person, Robert. I mean, what will you come to? If a person has no love for himself, no respect for himself, no love of his friends, family, work, something - how can he ask for love in return? I mean, why should he ask for it?
Palm Apodaca: People. Animals are not like that. They're always cleaning themselves. Did you ever see, umm... pigeons? Well, he's always picking on himself and his friends. They're always picking bugs out of their hair all the time. Monkeys too. Except they do something out in the open that I don't go for.
Trivia
Jack Nicholson wrote some of his own lines for the monologue Bobby says to his father.
"Five Easy Pieces" refers to a book of piano lessons for beginners.
The traffic jam on the freeway was shot on a new and unopened section of Interstate 5 near Bakersfield, Ca.
Trailer
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I've never quite loved that movie the way I want to, but I'm itching to see it again. I have hope.
How did you like The Seven Samurai?
How did you like The Seven Samurai?
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I've never quite loved that movie the way I want to, but I'm itching to see it again. I have hope.
How did you like The Seven Samurai?
How did you like The Seven Samurai?
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Seven Samurai (1954)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast overview: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura
Running time: 207 minutes
This is the first Kurosawa film I've watched, and, as Japan's arguable most famous director, perhaps I should've got round to him far sooner. The film itself is essentially a Japanese precursor to the US blockbuster The Magnificent Seven. It centres around a small village who hire seven samurai to defend themselves from attacking, violent bandits. Nice, simple story on paper.
There are a few complaints I have with the film. Firstly, the running time. It's well over three hours, and it really did get excessive for me. The length of the film actually diluted the quality of the film, for me - I suppose you could argue that it's an epic but it didn't even have that power for me as it's a fairly ordinary story that doesn't require such a running time. I found my attention wavering on more than one occasion, though that's not that unusual for me. Not to mention that I found it such slow, difficult going. The characters seemed fairly one-dimensional, the plot was predictable (though it was a decent story, I just don't think it was well-done), and I thought the acting was really poor, often boring on the hammy and the melodramatic.
I find these Japanese films really difficult to sit through in general - I have found Kurosawa's High and Low, which I'm planning to watch and think that will be more to my liking, being a detective thriller and all. If I don't like that, I think I'll give up hope of liking Japanese cinema. It's not foreign cinema - the French Army of Shadows, for example, is an excellent film. I guess perhaps Japanese is a lot more inaccessible.
So, apologies if I've offended anyone, but I just didn't much enjoy this. Maybe I should stick to those low-grade American films! I think perhaps these are best watched as stylistic pieces and artefacts - films rather than movies is perhaps the best way of describing them, I think. They may be found entertaining by some, but not by me. At least, not this one. I think Kurosawa is overrated from what I've seen so far.
Quotes
Kikuchiyo: What do you think of farmers? You think they're saints? Hah! They're foxy beasts! They say, "We've got no rice, we've no wheat. We've got nothing!" But they have! They have everything! Dig under the floors! Or search the barns! You'll find plenty! Beans, salt, rice, sake! Look in the valleys, they've got hidden warehouses! They pose as saints but are full of lies! If they smell a battle, they hunt the defeated! They're nothing but stingy, greedy, blubbering, foxy, and mean! God damn it all! But then who made them such beasts? You did! You samurai did it! You burn their villages! Destroy their farms! Steal their food! Force them to labour! Take their women! And kill them if they resist! So what should farmers do?
[sits and weeps in the corner]
Kambei Shimada: [after a long pause] You were the son of a farmer, weren't you?
Kambei Shimada: So. Again we are defeated.
[Shichiroji looks puzzled at Kambei]
Kambei Shimada: The farmers have won. Not us.
Kambei Shimada: Go to the north. The decisive battle will be fought there.
Gorobei Katayama: Why didn't you build a fence there?
Kambei Shimada: A good fort needs a gap. The enemy must be lured in. So we can attack them. If we only defend, we lose the war.
Trivia
Akira Kurosawa's original idea for the film was to make it about a day in the life of a samurai, beginning with him rising from bed and ending with him making some mistake that required him to kill himself to save face. Despite a good deal of research, he did not feel he had enough solid factual information to make the movie, but came across an anecdote about a village hiring samurai to protect them and decided to use that idea. Kurosawa wrote a complete dossier for each character with a speaking role. In it were details about what they wore, their favorite foods, their past history, their speaking habits and every other detail he could think of about them. No other Japanese director had ever done this before.
Kurosawa designed a registry of all 101 residents of the village, creating a family tree to help his extras build their characters and relationships to each other.
After months of research, all of the seven major characters in the film wound up being based on historical samurai who once existed.
Trailer
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast overview: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura
Running time: 207 minutes
This is the first Kurosawa film I've watched, and, as Japan's arguable most famous director, perhaps I should've got round to him far sooner. The film itself is essentially a Japanese precursor to the US blockbuster The Magnificent Seven. It centres around a small village who hire seven samurai to defend themselves from attacking, violent bandits. Nice, simple story on paper.
There are a few complaints I have with the film. Firstly, the running time. It's well over three hours, and it really did get excessive for me. The length of the film actually diluted the quality of the film, for me - I suppose you could argue that it's an epic but it didn't even have that power for me as it's a fairly ordinary story that doesn't require such a running time. I found my attention wavering on more than one occasion, though that's not that unusual for me. Not to mention that I found it such slow, difficult going. The characters seemed fairly one-dimensional, the plot was predictable (though it was a decent story, I just don't think it was well-done), and I thought the acting was really poor, often boring on the hammy and the melodramatic.
I find these Japanese films really difficult to sit through in general - I have found Kurosawa's High and Low, which I'm planning to watch and think that will be more to my liking, being a detective thriller and all. If I don't like that, I think I'll give up hope of liking Japanese cinema. It's not foreign cinema - the French Army of Shadows, for example, is an excellent film. I guess perhaps Japanese is a lot more inaccessible.
So, apologies if I've offended anyone, but I just didn't much enjoy this. Maybe I should stick to those low-grade American films! I think perhaps these are best watched as stylistic pieces and artefacts - films rather than movies is perhaps the best way of describing them, I think. They may be found entertaining by some, but not by me. At least, not this one. I think Kurosawa is overrated from what I've seen so far.
Quotes
Kikuchiyo: What do you think of farmers? You think they're saints? Hah! They're foxy beasts! They say, "We've got no rice, we've no wheat. We've got nothing!" But they have! They have everything! Dig under the floors! Or search the barns! You'll find plenty! Beans, salt, rice, sake! Look in the valleys, they've got hidden warehouses! They pose as saints but are full of lies! If they smell a battle, they hunt the defeated! They're nothing but stingy, greedy, blubbering, foxy, and mean! God damn it all! But then who made them such beasts? You did! You samurai did it! You burn their villages! Destroy their farms! Steal their food! Force them to labour! Take their women! And kill them if they resist! So what should farmers do?
[sits and weeps in the corner]
Kambei Shimada: [after a long pause] You were the son of a farmer, weren't you?
Kambei Shimada: So. Again we are defeated.
[Shichiroji looks puzzled at Kambei]
Kambei Shimada: The farmers have won. Not us.
Kambei Shimada: Go to the north. The decisive battle will be fought there.
Gorobei Katayama: Why didn't you build a fence there?
Kambei Shimada: A good fort needs a gap. The enemy must be lured in. So we can attack them. If we only defend, we lose the war.
Trivia
Akira Kurosawa's original idea for the film was to make it about a day in the life of a samurai, beginning with him rising from bed and ending with him making some mistake that required him to kill himself to save face. Despite a good deal of research, he did not feel he had enough solid factual information to make the movie, but came across an anecdote about a village hiring samurai to protect them and decided to use that idea. Kurosawa wrote a complete dossier for each character with a speaking role. In it were details about what they wore, their favorite foods, their past history, their speaking habits and every other detail he could think of about them. No other Japanese director had ever done this before.
Kurosawa designed a registry of all 101 residents of the village, creating a family tree to help his extras build their characters and relationships to each other.
After months of research, all of the seven major characters in the film wound up being based on historical samurai who once existed.
Trailer
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I expected that reaction. Oh well.
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