Not Interested..."Manchester By The Sea"

Manchester By The Sea (2016)

Rated R

Starring Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, Kyle Chandler, Michelle Williams, C.J. Williams

Written and Directed by Kenneth Lonergan

The Story:

Lee (Affleck) is a bitter handyman that nobody really likes. When he gets the news that his brother (Chandler) has passed away, he goes back to Manchester By The Sea to pay his respects and learns that his brother has named him as guardian.

Ugh.

These are the times when I consider giving movies the grade of incomplete when I give up on watching them.

There's nothing inherently wrong or bad with the movie... it's just not my cup of tea.

Affleck's character is not someone I want to watch for over 2 hours.

He's a bitter, angry man, and while he has his reasons, quite frankly, I didn't care to want to invest anymore time or energy as each of the flashbacks revealed a new layer to the story.

I get it, but I just wasn't that interested.

I invested 30 minutes into the film, 10 more than I normally give, but I just wasn't absorbed or interested in the story.

Bravo for Amazon Studios for making a film that received Golden Globes, Oscars and other awards.

But nope, this one wasn't for me.

If I want to see an angry Affleck brother punch something, I'll go watch Batman vs. Superman again.

:)

Final Grade:   D

Nothing a Band-Aid Won't Fix... "Broken City"

Based on a true story.

Well no, but with political corruption... yes... yes, it is.

: )

The Story:

Billy (Mark Wahlberg) is a former cop who lost his job seven years ago to protect the department and the Mayor (Russell Crowe) from a scandal.  Now, as the race for Mayor is heating up, Billy is called in to find out who the Mayor's wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is sleeping with before the rival camp does.  However things get really shady when the man that Billy is following turns out to be the campaign manager for the candidate trying to unseat the Mayor!

While interesting, there was a lot to do about nothing.

A very talented cast, also including Barry Pepper, Kyle Chandler and Griffin Dunne are more or less wasted on bit parts that could have easily been fleshed out more.

Considering the amount of movies that I've watched recently that have crossed the 2 hour mark, this one certainly could have spiced up the drama surrounding the infidelity... or really shown the animosity between the two mayoral candidates.

Instead, the movie starts off in the middle of some action, and then 7 years slip by.  With a week to go in the campaign, suddenly the Mayor brings Billy in as a private investigator.

Too rushed.  Too predictable.

Neither is a good situation for a political drama.

For what it is though, everyone does a great job.

No complaints with what they gave the audience, other than I wished it had been more.

Final Grade: C+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Not going to happen.