If nothing else, Black Mass has made people excited to see a Johnny Depp movie again. It's still up in the air whether Black Mass will restore Depp's commercial standing, but his work here is a critical success for him in reestablishing himself as a serious actor and not the world's highest-paid birthday party clown or a live-action cartoon character. While his makeup sometimes draws too much attention to itself, especially those mesmerizing blue contacts, it nevertheless allows Depp to fully immerse himself in the most understated performance he's given since Donnie Brasco. Coiled, magnetic, frightening and seductive, Depp's Whitey Bulger is more like the serpent Kaa from The Jungle Book than he is your usual screen gangster. But this is a character study and performance piece first and foremost, with Cooper (himself an actor) drawing out of Depp his best performance in years. The film wisely avoids cliche Boston locations and establishing shots, and is at times insular and claustrophobic.
Black Mass is.Ĭooper and his cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi capture the grit and feel not only of blue collar Boston (I'm a native), but also the aesthetic of the late '70s/early '80s films that are clearly inspiring them. It should be noted that while Jack Nicholson's gangster was modeled after Bulger, the film itself is a remake of the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs and not a straightforward chronicling of the Bulger/FBI saga. Speaking of Scorsese, much has been made (arguably too much so) of his film The Departed basically being the Whitey Bulger tale. While the film indulges in a few Scorsese-esque flourishes at times (seriously, there needs to be a moratorium on the use of Rolling Stones songs in non-Scorsese gangster movies), Black Mass is closer in spirit, look, and feel to a Sidney Lumet film (particularly the late director's corrupt cop films Prince of the City, Q&A, and Night Falls on Manhattan). As directed by Scott Cooper (Out of the Furnace), Black Mass - adapted from the book by two Boston Globe reporters who helped expose the Bureau's devil's deal with Bulger - is a grim, tense character study that would be a requiem were it any darker and serious. However the deal worked, Bulger admits to being in bed with the FBI, who via Connolly and his colleague, Agent John Morris (David Harbour), allowed Whitey to run amok in Boston for twenty years, getting away with drug trafficking, extortion, and murders along the way. To this day, Bulger claims he only paid the FBI for information and that it was a one-sided relationship. And for two decades, from roughly 1975-95, the plan worked, especially in Whitey's favor as he rises to become the crime boss of Boston with the FBI having eliminated his Italian rivals. But Bulger, with Connolly's prodding, comes to view it as a business arrangement rather than informing, a chance for him to have the FBI eliminate his competition while simultaneously protecting him from law enforcement. The Little Mermaid, directed by Rob Marshall, opens in theaters nationwide on May 26, 2023.For Bulger and other mobsters, being a rat is the lowest of the low and the penalty is a gruesome death (which we see Whitey mete out). She makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, which gives her a chance to experience life on land, but ultimately places her life – and her father’s crown – in jeopardy. While mermaids are forbidden to interact with humans, Ariel must follow her heart. The youngest of King Triton’s daughters, and the most defiant, Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea, and while visiting the surface, falls for the dashing Prince Eric. The Little Mermaid is the beloved story of Ariel, a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. The film stars Halle Bailey as Ariel, Daveed Diggs as the voice of Sebastian, Jacob Tremblay as the voice of Flounder, Awkwafina as the voice of Scuttle, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Art Malik as Sir Grimsby, Noma Dumezweni as Queen Selina, Javier Bardem as King Triton, and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula. Check out the teaser trailer for The Little Mermaid, the upcoming live-action reimagining of the animated musical classic.
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