"Mystic River," nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture, tells the emotional and heart-breaking story of three childhood friends reunited later in life under very grizzly circumstances. Jimmy (Sean Penn), Sean (Kevin Bacon) and Dave (Tim Robbins), all involved for very different reasons, are pulled into a murder investigation, in which Jimmy's daughter was the innocent victim.
As the story unfolds, remarkable twists and wrenching details surface, leaving who is to blame and who will take action in question.
No other 2003 film is so rich in tour-de-force acting or blessed with such a cast. Penn gives the performance of his career, earning him his fourth nomination for Best Actor in a Lead Role. Tim Robbins' performance, as the confused man who was sexually abused as a child, rightfully earned him an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor. Marcia Gay Harden, who plays Dave's wife, is also up for gold in the Best Supporting Actress category.
The story and the directing are both flawless. Clint Eastwood, who directed the film, has been deservingly nominated for Best Director.
This intriguing study of human nature, with its desire for revenge at all costs, is wonderful and certainly deserving of the Best Picture nod. No other movie this year had my head spinning and in as deep of thought as did "Mystic River."
But "Mystic River" is going head-to-head with the Goliath of the 2004 Oscar race, "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King." "Mystic River" will not likely beat Peter Jackson's epic because of "Return of the King's" critical acclaim and immense success at the box office.
I think that there is no film that can match "Mystic River's" individual performances when summed together. On Oscar Sunday, the winners in the male acting categories will probably prove it. However, if you weigh in that the "LOTR" trilogy was one of the greatest undertakings in film history and has been royally snubbed for the past two years, no one can deny that Peter Jackson and the hobbits are due.
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
