Quick Reviews

I still watch newer movies, even though the focus here is on older ones.  So I give quick reviews for movies made in the last ten years or so.

Black Mass (2015) – The story of Boston crime legend James “Whitey” Bulger who cooperated with the FBI to attack a rival crime organization that was pushing in on his territory.

The Bulger case became a source of great embarrassment for the FBI and other law enforcement agencies when reports came out that members of those agencies were involved in corrupt practices.  Johnny Depp does a great job bringing Bulger to life on the screen.  At the same time, it never felt like the movie really took off for me.  Depp makes it more than watchable, however.  Gritty, and violent.

Rating – *** 1/2 

Bridge of Spies (2015) – Tom Hanks plays an attorney hired to offer the appearance of a defense for a Soviet spy in 1962.  Based on the true story of James B. Donovan, who not only represented Col. Rudolph Abel but worked out an exchange, through unofficial channels, of Abel for American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers.  The exchanges between the professional spy (played by Mark Rylance) and his American attorney are almost enough for the price of admission.  This is very much Hanks movie and he does a wonderful job of it.  I wouldn’t put it in the top tier of Cold War movies, but it doesn’t miss by much.

Rating – *** 1/2

Seabiscuit (2003) – In the 1930s, at the depth of the Depression, an undersized thoroughbred horse inspired the nation as he took on the best of his time and won.

Call this the final installment of movies that came up just short.  It begins with the feeling of a documentary, right down to veteran documentary narrator David McCollough opening the movie.  Then it decides to be something else.  I kept thinking of  2010’s Secretariat, because the story lines are very close.  A horse everyone thinks is a loser, an owner who’s too “dumb” to know better, a trainer nobody believes in.  But the later film does a much better job of stringing the story together.  Again, a miss, but not by much.

Rating – *** 1/2