Reviews

First, the good stuff. The cinematography is spectacular. Angles , color , longshots…..brilliant. Casting: excellent. Emily Blunt cast against type and it works. A female in a man's work, she is very credible as the do right agent looking for justice. Del Toro is the best bad man in film. Think No Country for Old Men - part 2. Just great. Not a big fan of Brolin but he was good. Audio a little difficult to hear at times…especially his. The story is current and eye opening. Nothing makes you sit up straight like headless bodies hanging from street lights. Its quite unbelievable. The two stars I didn't give the film were because the plot was hazy. It was unclear what the mission was and what the relationships were between some characters. It would have made the film more enjoyable if the viewer had a clearer understanding of the background of the Juarez situation in real life and the working relationship between some of the federal governments agencies. The director may have assumed the viewer had more knowledge of the Mexican -USA drug problem than he/she does. Much of this info did come together later in the movie but I think earlier would have been more helpful. A very good movie

I'm Irish and I live in a Boston suburb. Here is what I would have done to make a better movie. Start the film in the projects when Connolly and the Bulgers were young. Show the environment they were raised in.The cops. the Catholic Church. All were relevant in their upbringing. How being a "rat" was considered more serious than being a murderer. How loyalty was considered the most worthy quality. Tell us something about the growth of Howie Winter and the Winter Hill Gang and how Bulger grew within that gang . Describe the relationship between the Irish gangsters of Southie and the Mafia in the North End. Take the first 30 minutes of the movie as background and then tell the Connolly- Bulger story. I didn't like the way that the Connolly angle shared equal screen with the Whitey angle. As for the Whitey Bulger portrayal, forget the drivel of the tragedies of his son and mother's deaths. The guy was a bad guy. The viewer doesn't need to be reminded that even bad guys have a heart once in a while. I never got the feeling that the whole film was nothing more than the story of a local hood.A little know gangster outside of South Boston. As for the Angiulo family, pure hogwash . My friends and i used to go over the the North End for pizza after a Bruins game and we knew where Angiulo lived so how could the FBI not know. The actors' make up was horrible. Boston accents were pretty good and Depp was good . An o.k. movie but could have been so much better

Brian Wilson's story is worthy of a movie. Neither his creative genius or his mental illness were appreciated until years after the fact. His childhood, as was Michael Jackson's 15 years later , shaped the adult life he inherited. His creative genius allowed and encouraged him to be used by others, including the other "Beach Boys". Mike Love is finally exposed in this film. The story is very interesting. The casting very good, the acting excellent. John Cusack hasn't been this good …maybe never. Elizabeth Banks will be a feature actor after this film. Dano did a very good job. Giamarti might have been a little over the top but to someone who appreciates the Beach Boys and music in general, the scenes from the recording studio are priceless. My fault finding with this movie are the direction and editing. Too long, too dry in spots. A better director would have won an Academy Award with this story