lesterlong

Mystic River is a movie that should not be hailed by critics across the country. It is not Oscar material. I enjoyed the film but it could of been better. A lot better. I will not give any details away but should you be deciding whether or not to go see it, just realize that is not the first Oscar movie of the year. It is good not great.

Sunday Morning

It's great, not good.

I didn't believe the critics. I hate movies that have "buzz".
They usually turn out to be piles of shit with flies hovering around them.

But, in the case of Mystic, I truly think it's a great film. Right up there in eastwood's cannon with unforgiven.
They have similiar themes, work both as genre films and dramatic
tour-de-forces and sport great performances.
In the case of mystic, it has 3 truly great ones.
Each one different, but all supporting the film so well.

Eastwood is not only at the top of his game, he has out-scored everyone playing.
Speaking of score, terrific music by the clintman as well.

I don't this is an oscar bait type of film.
Eastwood has crafted a genuine drama and genre picture.
He has utilized the tools he's been using for years in the thriller/cop genre and raised them on a whole different level by adding real emotion and tragedy. The film has big dramatic moments, but they are always grounded. The film is truly tied to it's enviorement and stays true to the characters and their motivations. That to me is the best compliment a hollywood film can have.

My pick for best film of the year (so far)

DonnachaOne

Beautiful film.

Mr. Salty

Except, of course, by people who have an opinion that is different from yours. But perish the thought.

I for one thought it was great.

immortal_zeus

I'm very much looking forward to watching Mystic River this weekend. It'll be the first time that I've read the book before seeing the movie. Yay me.

Keyser_Soze2

My thoughts exactly, lester. Certainly a worthwhile experience, but hardly the "film to beat for 2003." I can name about 25 better films that have come out so far this year, and I still have 50 already released that I want to see, plus whatever else comes out during the remainder of the year. It had strong performances, certainly, but in the end, was it really anything more than a well-constructed police procedural? I fail to see what others believe to be so profound about this movie.

***/****

Frank TJ Mackey

It may not be a "great" film.

But it's a very good one.

Sean Penn and Tim Robbins were just outstanding. There aren't
really any other words to describe their performances.

This film has twists and turns and everything in between. It's
solid all the way around.

Go see it. You won't be disappointed.
*** 1/2 out of ****

marty888

Critics, like you, are entitled to their opinions.

Makes no difference if the majority of them (along with movie-goers like me) disagree with you. Too bad you didn't have the same experience we all had.

Giles

surprisingly the music, also composed by Eastwood I thought was below par, and slightly overindulgent

movielib

I agree with you word for word and star for star.

cloudburst

Wow. Surprised to see this thread with only 10 posts and the movie has been out 3 days now. I saw it last night and really liked it. Definitely number 2 movie of the year behind Kill Bill. Great performances from everyone involved especially Penn (he should get an oscar nod) It was a bit slow paced, but the performances make it much better. Go see it!

jasonbird

The trailer has a Sleepers feel to it. For those of you that
have seen it, does it compare to that film?

movielib

I think Mystic River is much, much better. But I thought Sleepers sucked.

jasonbird

I mean themed, not quality. (sorry)

Geofferson

Saw it last night and liked it a lot! During the parade, if you look fast, you can spot the author, Dennis Lehane, waving on a float.

f1shf00d

why can't I remember how to use spoiler tags?
I agree with so anyway, great acting--Sean Penn was better than I thought he could be, and Robbins was great, too. But don't think about the story too much....

drunkrob

Why does every other movie have to have a twist coming that you can see a mile off? I can see why they made it to being a movie. It was good but it was like watching one of the better episodes of Law and Order. It was very well made and the actors were great but it lacked something to take it to the next level. Even my g/f saw the end coming and she was probably surprised by the Titanic sinking in that awful Leo movie.

Supreme Sean

BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR.

Saw it. Lived it. Loved it. Engrossing story, tight direction, great performances, and that haunting theme music all come together perfectly.


Grade: A

Keyser_Soze2

Actually, I didn't anticipate the ending. This could be because I kept hearing how amazing the conclusion was, and I kept expecting the identity of the killer(s) to be an astounding revelation. I was pretty disappointed with the lackluster outcome.

I do have a question regarding something else about the ending, though.

Any help would be appreciated.

Caliking

I thought this movie was great! It lived up to the hype for me.

immortal_zeus

WARNING, POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOLLOW. I DID NOT PUT SPOILER TAGS IN MY POST, SO IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE MOVIE OR READ THE BOOK AND DON'T WANT ANYTHING SPOILED, DO NOT READ MY POST.

Well, I watched it tonight...and I thought it was pretty good. Not great. Much like after reading the book, I felt a little underwhelmed. In fact, if I hadn't read the book prior to seeing the movie, I get the feeling that I might not have liked the movie as much as I did (~3.5 stars out of 5...I gave the book 4 stars in an Amazon review).

I thought Sean Penn's performance was pretty good. I'm not totally sure it's Oscar worthy, but given some past winners and nominees, I guess I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a nomination and/or win. Tim Robbins was pretty good as well. Kevin Bacon didn't have any real material to display any acting chops (except for the scene where he's interrogating Brendan about the gun), so I'd rate his performance as okay.

I was really surprised at how much the movie stayed faithful to the book. Sure, the movie left out some stuff from the book, but it was essentially the same as the book. I didn't notice any major deviations. I was expecting some changes (which are usually inevitable), but didn't get any.

Those of you who say that this movie is supposed to be a mystery or a police procedural are off base. This movie (and the book) is an analysis of the relationship of the three main characters. Unfortunately for those who haven't read the book, you don't get all of the backstory on their relationship. I wish the movie would have developed the characters a little more, but I think if it did that, the movie would've dragged a little more than it did.

The climax of the book was not the unveiling of the killers. That right there tells you that the book is not a mystery. The climax of the book was the scene where Jimmy kills Dave. Clint Eastwood did a great job of putting the two scenes together in the movie moving back and forth between the two.

Dave is weak. He goes through his whole life wanting to be accepted. As a child, he was the third wheel to Sean and Jimmy (though in the movie, you really don't get that sense as you do in the book). After Dave was molested, there was no way he would ever be accepted. He was ridiculed at school and Sean and Jimmy never really hung out with him after that. When Dave speaks to Jimmy at Katie's wake, he is delighted that Jimmy asks him to keep him company because Dave wants so much to be accepted by Jimmy. When the Savage brothers pick up Dave to go to the bar, Dave is happy because he thinks they want him to be part of their group. So when Jimmy tells Dave to confess to Katie's murder, Dave truly believes that Jimmy will let him live because he thinks he may have finally been accepted by Jimmy. Dave thinks that confessing (and lying) about Katie's murder will allow him to eventually go back to his wife Celeste and his son Michael (after jailtime) and that Jimmy will eventually forgive him (since they're pals once again). Dave is weak and timid; he's not necessarily dumb.

Also, in regards to the end....Sean shoots Jimmy with his finger to show Jimmy that he knows that he was the one that killed Dave. Hence Jimmy's reaction by putting up his hands in an "I don't know" fashion. Moreover, that's why Sean remarked to Jimmy, "What, are you going to send Celeste $500 a month too, now?" Remember, Jimmy sends $500 a month to the Harris family after he killed Just Ray Harris.

As far as a sequel goes, I honestly don't think there would be a sequel to the movie or the book. At the end of the book, I think (I can't remember for sure) that Sean thinks to himself that even though he knows Jimmy killed Dave, there would be no way that he could prove it. Dave's body will never be found in the Mystic because it's weighted down and I believe Jimmy threw the gun into the Mystic as well. No evidence. Besides, Sean wouldn't even know where to look to begin with.

Anyway, I didn't expect to write as much as I did. Hopefully some of you will find what I wrote somewhat useful....or at least fodder to spark some more discussion.

I really wanted to like this movie, but I truly don't think it's "great". Good yes. Very good, maybe. Maybe I'm being too critical of it, though, since I read the book.

Oh yeah, one last thing. This has to be one of the quietest movies I've ever seen. I barely even noticed the musical score. There weren't any loud noises in the film. A lot of the dialogue was spoken quietly. I felt bad when I was unwrapping a candy bar to eat.

marty888

For me, this was one more example of Eastwood's ability as a film-maker. While we all love those over-the-top pulse-racing scores of Williams, Elfman et al, Eastwood understands underscoring in the true sense of the word - the music almost works on a subliminal level to enhance the screen images. Great stuff!

Spooky

I think

DealMan

I thought the movie was OK, but I'm shocked that anyone could consider the score to be subtle. I thought it was over-played and very distracting.

Acting was good for the most part, but this movie (IMHO) was really too unbelievable to stand out more than any other muder/drama of the past few years

**1/2 out of *****

rushmore223

I just wanna know, what was up with Laura Linneys reaction at the end of this movie. Cant help but feel a little disturbed by it.

Loved the performances liked the movie

By the way, I just wanna add...


...Was anybody really surprised by that ending, I mean I saw it coming down the road before the movie neared it's halfway point.