Mystic River (DVD, 2004, Widescreen)

Again, I haven't read the book however the Movie does it all. I am sure there are things we all wish to forget. Moments in time in which our lives and the lives of others are altered by one singular movement, one phrase, or that one hockey shot that was just out of reach. Nothing is more true when it comes to the lives of Jimmy (Sean Penn), Sean (Kevin Bacon) and Dave (Tim Robbins). Mystic River is an emotional and amazing film about the reconciliation of three friends and their wives by the tragic murder of Jimmy's eldest daughter, Katie Markum (Emmy Rossum). This rough Boston suburb that lies on the bank of the Mystic River is thrown into sorrow and misery over the loss. Jimmy (Penn) makes a vow to find the killer of his daughter and end him and throw him into the Mystic.

The story is superb. Twists and turns and changing plot lines makes this story brilliantly unpredictable. It proves nothing is what it seems. Dealing with issues of child abduction and the effects it has on the future, Mystic River watches and deals with the change n the course of someone life. What something would be like if Dave hadn't gotten into that strangers car? Katie Markum would never had been born to be murdered.

The acting is bar none and has been recognized by the Academy by awarding Sean Penn and Tim Robbins best actor and best supporting role at the Oscars. Sean Penn was incredible in this film. He was so into his character. An angry gangster trying to move on with his life, and get out of his life of crime and deceit. To love his children and to be the best father he can be. Strong and determined, hard and angry he tries to deal with the grief of the loss of his last real memory of his late first wife. Penn is perfect in performing this role. Tim Robbins is also and incredible actor. A man who had been abused neglected. Finally admitting to himself of the abuse he felt. He kept himself bottled and up. An angry and almost psychopathic man, who is doing his best to try and overcome the terrors he experienced by hopping in the car. An ensemble cast also included: Laura Linney, Marcia Gay Haden, Laurence Fishburn.

Mystic River is truly amazing. Clint Eastwood is an incredible director. If you like Million Dollar Baby then you will simply love "Mystic River." Not to be missed.

Well, this movie directed by Clint Eastwood came out three years ago, why does it seem longer than that? It won Academy awards for Best Actor - Sean Penn, and Best Supporting Actor - Tim Robbins and was nominated for everything else you can think of.

As I watched this movie for the second time ever, I thought back to the first time I watched it when it first came out in Dan's apartment in Marquette. I remember being able to sit most of the time and concentrate on the movie. This time, I couldn't. I was all over the place, making jello, surfing the internet, playing with cats, making tea, whatever. Even the first time, I wondered to myself, when is it going to be over? It's a good movie, really. It's just feels slow on pacing and action.

I'm a big fan of Tim Robbins, mostly because of The Shawshank Redemption. He just always finds a way to look so.......haunted. He plays a quiet, kinda crazy guy who was sexually abused as child when he was kidnapped and held prisoner in a cellar for four days. Now he's grown with a wife and child and comes home at 3 a.m. one night with blood on his hands. His facial expressions and tone of voice are so eerie. Then we find out that Sean Penn's daughter, Emmy Rossum (who is beautiful and innocent as always, this was her first notable role in a big film) has been murdered. He does a great job screaming over and over again, "Is that my daughter in there?" Honestly, he gets it in about ten times and has to be restrained by like seven guys to avoid going to see her body where they found it. Naturally since Tim Robbins keeps telling different stories about how he hurt his hand, he ends up as a suspect. Their other childhood friend, Kevin Bacon is one of the investigating cops along with Laurence Fishburne and they (of course) try to piece together the puzzle and find out what happened. Marcia Gay Harden plays Tim Robbins's wife and stays in the background looking worried and scared the whole movie until she finally turns on her husband and confesses to Sean Penn that she believes that her husband might be the killer. Laura Linney plays a great grieving stepmother and makes a big character turn that comes out of left field at the end of the movie as the woman wearing the pants in the family. To avoid any spoilers for those who haven't seen it, the movie really could have ended after the main action when Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon were talking in the street. But no, it continues to show more aftermath conversations and a parade. Completely unnecessary.

This movie is good....but it just isn't THAT good. This movie just doesn't keep you glued to your seat as much as it should. It gets a B from me. I guess the Academy and I have different standards......then again, it didn't win Best Picture now did it?

Twenty years ago, the boys Jimmy Markun, Sean Devine and Dave Boyle are neighbors and pals, playing hockey on the street. One day, Dave is kidnapped by two men, being sexually abused, but escapes from them four days later. In the present days, each one of them followed one way in their lives: Jimmy (Sean Penn) is married with Annabeth Markum (Laura Linney), has three daughters and has a small business. Sean (Kevin Bacon) is a detective, and his pregnant wife left him six months ago. His colleague is the detective Whitey Powers (Laurence Fishburne). And Dave (Tim Robbins) is a traumatized man, married with Celeste Boyle (Marcia Gay Harden) and having a young son. When the nineteen years old daughter of Jimmy, Katie Markum (Emmy Rossum), is found dead in the neighborhood, the three friends in childhood meet each other again, in the investigation of the murder. A tragic event happens in the conclusion of this investigation. This movie is excellent. Yesterday, I saw it on DVD and I was impressed with the direction of Clint Eastwood and the performance of the cast. It is almost impossible to highlight one actor or actress, but I was stunned with the performance of Sean Penn. It is a film based on the acting, and not on special effects, shootings or race of cars. I was very impressed, since the tragic story of the loss of the youth is very real, full of human flaws, disturbances, prejudice and judgements. The destiny of this movie in the future may be to be considered a contemporary classic.

Superior acting, writing and direction are on impressive display in the Oscar-winning Mystic River, Clint Eastwood's 24th directorial outing and one of the finest films of 2003. Sharply adapted by Oscar-winner Brian Helgeland from the novel by Dennis Lehane, this chilling mystery revolves around three boyhood friends in working-class Boston--played as adults by Tim Robbins, Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon. They're drawn together by a crime from the past and a murder (of the Penn character's 19-year-old daughter) in the present. These dual tragedies arouse a vicious cycle of suspicion, guilt and repressed anxieties, primed to explode with devastating and unpredictable results. Eastwood is perfectly in tune with this brooding material, giving his flawless cast (including Laura Linney, Marcia Gay Harden and Laurence Fishburne) ample opportunity to plumb the depths of a resonant human tragedy, leading to an ambiguous ending that qualifies Mystic River for contemporary classic status. --Jeff Shannon

Where to begin with a review of an amazing film?!

For starters, the performances. Sean Penn will be up for an Oscar for this movie, and I'd be surprised if Tim Robbins wasn't nominated as well. Imagine a group of the best actors of a generation, getting together to work for one of the best actors of any generation, and that's this movie. The performances are absolutely fantastic all around, from the leads, to the supporting, to even all the kids in the film.

As for the story? I loved it. The main plotline involves the murder of Sean Penn's daughter, though we never actually see it happen. What we see is the absolutely devastating emotional aftermath of the heinous crime, and all of those effected by it. Robbins, Bacon, and Penn play boyhood friends who had drifted apart, as boyhood friends often do. The movie actually opens with a young version of Robbins's character being abducted by men pretending to be cops, and taken, as we learn later, to be essentially used as a child prostitute for four days until he escaped.

The character (Dave) was obviously scarred after that, and as was often said by the three leads "Dave went away in a car 25 years ago, I don't know who's here now." (something like that)

On the night of Katie's (Penn's daughter) murder, Dave returns from a bar very late at night with blood on his hands and a stab wound to the chest. He tells his wife that he was attacked by a mugger, but that he beat the man to what was probably his death.

But as clues open up, and the murder is discovered, Dave becomes a lead suspect in Katie's death. But why would he kill Katie? Did he kill her at all? He's still in contact with the family, his wife is cousins with Penn's wife. Why would he do that to a girl who is family? And if he didn't do it, what really happened to him that night?

These questions are uncovered by a heartbroken Kevin Bacon (the third friend, who grew up to be an FBI detective) who at first refuses to believe the truth, and is never completely convinced one way or the other until the movie's tragic ending.

This is an emotional powerhouse of a movie, which, I can only imagine, gives a lifelike portrait of what murder does to a family, and what lengths those involved will go to in order to solve it.

Easily one of the year's best films, and unquestionably among the best performances you will see this, or any, year.