I’m very fond of Boston, but no one will ever be able to make me watch Fever Pitch. There may not be as many movies set in Boston as there are in New York City or Paris or certain other cinematic destinations, but hey, we’ve got a lot of gangster movies! And then there are also one or two Harvard movies (Harvard Sucks).
The Best:
- Spotlight
- The Departed: Excellent excellent movie with Pogues music (hence the post title). Angry bagpipes. Great actors (Jack Nicholson of “Here’s Johnny!” fame, Leo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Mark Wahlberg). Beautiful. I would have had an easier time understanding if I hadn’t kept confusing Damon and DiCaprio for the first half hour, wondering how this single character kept regrowing and shaving his facial hair.
- The Thomas Crown Affair (1968): I had no idea this was set in Boston but Wikipedia tells me it is. And it’s good. Windmills of Your Mind is a beautiful song and my Pop Pop was so happy when he realized I knew it. Thanks to this film.
- Mystic River: Ahhh, so good. A nice dose of cold hard truth and bleak reality.
The Mediocre-But-Charming:
- Ted: This is stupidly amusing. Particularly the Thunder Buddies rendition of the ‘F*ck you, Thunder!’ song. Very seedy. Some filmed in my neighborhood, accurately described my community. I still think the parsnip part is funny. I’m a sicko.
- Good Will Hunting: Oscar bait. But Matt Damon and Robin Williams are nice enough.
- The Social Network: Ewww, Harvard. But I like Joseph Gordon-Levitt well enough.
The Regrettable:
- The Town: Those nun masks! *shudder*. I like that this showed Boston Sand and Gravel Co., a glorious landmark. But there’s not much else in its favor than the familiar scenery.
- Shutter Island: This is on an island in Boston Harbor so there’s essentially no Boston scenery. And the horror-suspense isn’t that good.
- Legally Blonde: No.
The Unseen:
- Black Mass: I remember seeing the sets up for this. And because they didn’t want to move to Florida for the Florida parts, they put palm trees up on Revere Beach (where palm trees should not, under any circumstance, be).
- The Boondocks Saints
- Portrait of Jennie
- The Fighter
- The Verdict
- Gone Baby Gone
- The Friends of Eddie Coyle
- The Heat
Let’s go Red Sox!
List Mimsy 