Celluloid Heroes

My priest says shame is God telling you what you did was wrong.

All of the reflexive Ben Affleck haters reading this will probably take heart that he appears nowhere on screen during this movie and should be further gratified that he seems to have a real future behind the camera. As a director, he seems to have a sure but almost unnoticeable hand while filming this adaptation of the novel by Mystic River author Dennis Lehane.

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If you piss in your pants, you only stay warm for so long.

Despite the “One Degree of Marky-Mark,” this film is not quite the rip-off of The Departed that it appears to be on the surface, but it’s not different enough to make it worth almost two hours of your time. The first-rate cast gives it an illusion of substance that is slightly deceptive, but great performances do not compensate for the run-of-the-mill cop story with a weak villain.

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