Mystic River

[nicky g]

I didn't think this was very good - OK, but nothing special. Nicely shot, and a great cast, but no outstanding performances neverthless. Sean Penn's pretty good (overdoes it a bit) but has some bad lines, and looks silly. Tim Robbins has been described as hammy and trite in it, which I initially agreed with, but actually quite liked his performance by the end. There's some shaky dialogue and a really annoying subplot about Kevin Bacon's wife, which is resolved in an unbelievably trite fashion. The course of the film is fairly predictable early on, though final scene is unexpected and a little unsettling. But what really annoyed me about this film was the music, and the use it was put to. For a start it was just crap, which is explained by the fact that Clint Eastwood and Kyle Eastwood (his son?) seem to have scored the film. Worse still, the main theme, which was horribly corny, kept butting in at totally inappopriate tragic moments; imagine playing "On the Wings of Love" to the death scene in Romeo and Juliet. I think Clark said that Kill Bill stands out for its amazing use of music - well Mystic River is particlularly noteable for its appalling use of music. As I said to my wife afterwards, they should really consult me before releasing these films. Change the music, knock out a couple of subplots, and it could have been just fine /images/graemlins/tongue.gif.

[adios]

It's quite obvious you're a very intelligent person. You wrote:

"As I said to my wife afterwards, they should really consult me before releasing these films. Change the music, knock out a couple of subplots, and it could have been just fine."

Go for it it's the capitalist way.

[nicky g]

"Go for it it's the capitalist way."

What is, consulting me? Good music? Not that intelligent, cos I don't understand /images/graemlins/confused.gif. Did you see/like the film?

[adios]

"What is, consulting me?"

Yeah go for a lucrative career as guru in the movie industry. I can see your entrepenuerial spirit coming through /images/graemlins/cool.gif.

Haven't seen it yet. I am going to see it this weekend.

[blueboles]

This movie was far and away one of the Worst movies I had ever seen. It seemed to drag on until the end of days. The plot was sooooo predictable, about halfway into the movie I turned to my fiancee and and told her everything that would happen and lo and behold it did. And the Kevin Bacon/Estranged wife subplot made absolutely no sense. Save your money and do not go see this flop.
Kelley

[Ulysses]

I agree. I'm quite surprised that it has received uniformly glowing reviews across the board. In addition to everything you and blueboles said, I'd add that it just seemed overly and unnecessarily heavy-handed.

[Roy Hobbs]

You really must be joking (not just you, but most all of the people responding to your post). Sean Penn gives the performance of his career. The plot may be predictable, but it is not addressed in a predictable way -- the issue here is not really who killed the girl, but how people deal with loss -- and lost youth in particular. I was surprised by how good Kevin Bacon was, and was astounded by Marcia Gay Harden.

I'll agree on the music front. It was composed by Clint Eastwood, and I think he should stick to directing. But this was not nearly enough to detract from what I thought was a gripping, intensely poignant film.

RH

[blueboles]

Sean Penn gives the performance of his career.

Uh... I hate to break it to you, but Sean Penn gave the preformance of his career in the early 80's. I'll give you a clue.
"That was my skull. I'm so wasted!"
Kelley