Category: Reviews

I love Isaac Asimov.  Eric got me hooked on this writings.  I enjoy the flow and the subject matter he portrays in his science fiction writings.  I ended up reading I, Robot which explored the creation of robots in our society and what the outcomes of that would be for us.  It was a collection of short stories which had some characters overlapping into others.

Essentially, the novel is based on scenarios that involve the Three Laws of Robotics which are:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

The short stories deal with the consequences of these laws in how they can be interpreted by a robot.  They were very interesting reads as no one really thinks about all the different interpretations or scenarios that robots can be put into.

If you’re a science fiction buff, this is a great read.  You can even see a lot of the material talked about in this novel which has trickled down into our modern thinking of robots in general.  Two robotic appendages up.

iplaying: Where The River Goes – Stone Temple Pilots (Core)

I finished up Run of the Town (Terrence West) which was a collection of short stories which took place in Hearst, Ontario.  Fiction but based on non-fiction elements…stories of POW Camps and construction of hockey arenas and use of real names made this an entertaining read considering I am from the North also.  The story takes place through the 50s – Present time and focuses mainly on a child named R.J. Martin and the book progresses through pinpoints of his life.

I found the book entertaining to read and I marveled at some of the story locations as I felt like I knew what they were talking about.  For example, they have a part where they talk about Kapuskasing and driving by the airport at night with the beacon of white light turning every so often.  I’m sure if I knew more of Hearst I would enjoy the book even more as he makes constant references to landmarks and influential people in town.

But this book is great for those not from the North either.  It is a snapshot of time…stories of a child who grows up in a small town and finds things to do.  He grows up and moves out of town to get some education.  He returns to town only to realize that he is destined for something else.  And in a very thought provoking final story, he talks about working in the government and going on a road trip with old buddies from back home and realizing that while there are so many differences between them now, there’s still something that has created a solid foundation; growing up together in a small town.  I really reflected on my own life after reading this final chapter as it reflected much of my own life up until this point.

I really enjoyed the characters and the nostalgic feeling of the book even though it took part in a different time period than I.  But it’s all the same in the end…while they sang church hymns in the backseat of the car because of a lack of radio, I sang along to Dire Straits knowing only the word “Microwave Oven” on the album.

Highly recommended reading.  Makes for a light entertaining read that you can pick up whenever you wish as they are short stories.

iplaying: Crackerman – Stone Temple Pilots (Core)

Last night I went to La Nouvelle Scene to see a reading of two plays. I don’t even know if this is the correct theater term in English. In French, it was a lecture. Essentially a lecture was a play being read out with the actual text in front of the readers but there are very few stage props or interactions on part of the actors other than the act of conversation.

These readings are the first crack at a new play which has been written. If the reading is a hit, theoretically a theater may opt to make it into an actual play (much like how the mythical Battle of the Bands works with the winning band getting a record deal).

The greatest part about this particular night of readings was the fact that our friend Marie-Claude had one the Concours Provincial D’Ecriture competition and I guess one of the prizes was the opportunity for having it read out to an audience (I think? I was a little fuzzy on the actual details of this. It had something to do with a Theater Company actually holding the rights to go forth with this particular play and if it gets a good response and the Theater company wishes to make it into a play, then they have the rights to it for a few years and then it goes back into the creator’s hands. It’s all a business out there people!)

Anyhow, back onto the story, we were all excited to see what the mind of Marie-Claude had to offer. I enjoy going to La Nouvelle Scene. The theater community is a small one (and perhaps the Francophone one is even smaller) so you get to see familiar faces in this community. We arrived with a few minutes to spare and managed to get a seat right in front of the stage due to Vero and Chantal saving us a seat up front.

The head of Theatre Catapulte came out and introduced the first piece which was written by Marie-Claude which was called Papillone (or something to do with a butterfly…I’m sure Vero will read this and correct me). It had four characters to the play…two women and two men who do not interact on the stage. The women are sharing a hospital room and the men are sharing a jail cell. The dialogue bounces back between these two scenes and you start to understand who these characters are and why they are in their respective rooms.

There was some good humour in the first half of the play but as it moves along, you find out a little more about the characters and realize there is a little more serious undertones to why they are in their respective places. At the point of writing about this play, I find it hard to think of either spoiling some key traits in the characters or not but at the same time, I realize that this isn’t a play you can actually go see (yet!). Ah what the heck….don’t read the next paragraph if you don’t want to be spoiled.

***spoiler***
The two women in the hospital room have cancer while the men sitting in the same jail cell have two different reasons altogether. Gerry gets in trouble with the law to get a room and food to eat during the winter months as he is a lumberjack and cannot get work year round. However, he finds out later that he is sharing his cell with a pedophile which (understandably) disgusts him. The entire play has them forming a friendship but then this revelation comes out and it’s quite moving. Near the end of the play, we all understand how some characters are connected and are shocked at the revelations.
***end spoiler, if you actually think that was a spoiler. I haven’t even brought up the numerous plot twists!***

My brain was operating at 100% capacity for this play. All cylinders firing. This play was in French and usually I catch about 80% of a play because sometimes my brain is starting to hurt after 1-2 hours of intensely listening to the language. But I knew I couldn’t miss one part of this. It paid off in spades.

I truly loved this play and I’m not saying it because it was written by a friend. It had me laughing, it had me on the edge of my seat…I really enjoyed the character development and I would say I felt connected to three out of four of them (the older woman with the cancer..not so much…). I wanted to see what would happen with them next. I thought this was an interesting feeling as there aren’t many characters in plays/movies that I would feel I connect with. I really enjoyed the actual performances these actors put into it. I really felt like they captured the essence of the characters (of course, there’s only one person out there that would actually know how the character is supposed to be!). The storyline was very moving and thought-provoking and kept me interested the entire time. I really feel that Marie-Claude has a gift that is to be shared with the world if she can write this kind of stuff…I let her know that also but I must admit it’s hard to find the words to compliment a person when you really mean it. Most of the time I’m sure it all sounds contrived…”Good job!” “I loved it!” “Way to go!”. But I really liked this play. Bravo Marie-Claude!

After the break, I found out that Jean-Francois would be reading in the next reading so I was excited to see him in action. Unfortunately for me, my brain had reached its maximum operating capacity and shut down. I found the play hard to follow and I couldn’t tell if it was the subject matter or not. Either way, I ended up staring at this one shadow on the wall when one of the actor’s talked and Vero and I had a fit of laughter because the shadow made him look like Gollum on the search for the ring. Ah…fun times. The play was actually written by someone from Hearst (cannot remember the name) and had some pretty abstract parts in it, with dancing and musical rhythm beats coming and going. I felt kind of bad for not really paying attention but a reading is definitely different than a play, whereas if you don’t understand a word of the play, you can probably still be interested from what is actually taking place on stage. Jean-Francois was quite animated in his delivery of his reading which I enjoyed. I was actually disappointed that I didn’t pay much more attention as the head of Theatre Catapulte compared some of it to George Orwell’s 1984 which is definitely one of my favourite novels.

My only beef with La Nouvelle Scene is the fact that it’s on King Edward Street and the readings were taking part in the front of the building so you could feel and hear all the traffic going by. At one point a fire engine went by and they had to pause the reading. It’s an odd spot for the theatre and I think it would be nicer if it was out of the way somewhere.

I would hope that Marie-Claude’s play actually gets fleshed out and becomes the real thing some day. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see on that one. Either way, it was a fun night of Francophone theatre. The only other theatre date I have coming up is Vero’s play which I’ll be treating myself to a second helping of on Saturday night. They are all loving every moment of it and it is getting good reviews from all.

Here’s a recap on some albums I’ve picked up over the past while:

Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed: This year may be the year of the Rolling Stones for me.  One of the bands I’ve been meaning to get into over the years…I decided to take a look at some of the top picks from the Stones and time and time again 1969’s ‘Let it Bleed’ made it onto the list.  So far, so good.  I’ve listened to it a few times and I must say that the classic rock universe is an interesting one in that there seems to be less killer albums from front to back (with smash hits and whatnot) but they form a more cohesive package, hence an album.  That’s the way I feel with Let It Bleed (a play on The Beatles Let It Be of that year)…there’s a few songs that are really hard hitting but the rest are fairly lowkey to me but the whole album has a great feel to it.  That’s what I want to accomplish when creating an album.  Back in the day, you had more albums coming out faster also…one a year (if not two a year like Zeppelin!).

Nine Inch Nails: Ghosts I-IV: Trent Reznor and company have released an instrumental album.  After hearing a preview of Ghosts I (the two disc set is split into four mini-albums entitled Ghosts but really, it’s just a hodge-podge of instrumental noise), I realized that the album would not have full out instrumental tracks like A Warm Place from The Downward Spiral.  Instead, it’s a bunch of instrumentals strung together that are erratic and really don’t form an entire piece of art.  But in that, he may have accomplished a piece of art which resembles our daydreams (a comparison he was trying to do) considering daydreams stray from one thought to the other.  While I am not turned off by the album, I realize that I won’t actively want to listen to Track X off of Disc 2.  It will be more of a ‘I want some background music while I study one night.”  Interestingly enough, he probably cleared a million bucks off of making instrumental noise and laying it on in album form.  Man, I wish I could do that.

Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend: Maren suggested this one as a killer album that her and Allan-Paul listened to the entire time they down in Florida.  I downloaded it to give it a try before picking it up (a process I seem to be doing more and more over time after getting burned from mediocre purchases) and I would have to say that it is some catchy music but hasn’t caught me in a stranglehold yet.  It’s got this indie/reggae flair to it and it definitely something that can be deemed summer music.  I enjoy the different song structures and instrumentation on the album but we’ll have to see if it stands the test of time on the iPod.  I would recommend that everyone give it a listen though…some people may end up loving it!

Theory of a Deadman – Scars and Souvenirs: All right!  New Theory album!  Highly anticipated after their great sophomore effort Gasoline.  However, after a few listens, I am on the fence with their third album.  They have followed the same formula as their last (hard rock coupled with ballads, which is definitely a good rock formula) and the music is great but it’s the lyrics that have put a sour look on my face.  They really harp on points like having girlfriends who cheat on them (at least three songs on the album) and then there’s this one song called I Hate My Life which is cringe-worthy just because it talks about how much his job is awful or his wife’s nagging is getting on his nerves and then there’s this one line about lifting your middle finger to the world and I’m thinking was put in there just to have a great rock and roll concert moment with the entire crowd lifting that one appendage in unison.  It just seems…contrived.  But I really like the music and I would say 65% of the album has decent lyrics.  It’s just a shame that 35% put a bad taste in my mouth.  Theory – Get out of the working man lyrics and bring us some old gems.

The National – Boxer: I’ve saved the best for last.  I was reading an extensive interview with Raine Maida and they brought up this one band called The National and how Boxer was a beautiful album.  Intrigued to get into some new music, I downloaded it and fell in love.  The baritone vocals, the piano, horns and guitars bring you to this other level.  The drumming is an amazing part of the album…it just brings the songs up a level.  I really fell in love with this album and went out to pick it up in physical form the week after.  It is a worthwhile purchase.  There’s something moving about the music….it’s not rocking in the guitar rock kind of sense.  I can’t even think of a comparison…Wikipedia says they are indie rock but that term is getting WAY overused.  When I think of indie rock I think of guys who can’t really play their guitars well but know how to write a good riff and they drink Labatt 50.  I wouldn’t say they are indie rock….they are on tour with R.E.M. this summer so I recommend you give them a listen.

Up next on deck to listen to a little more before a proper review: Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street, Wintersleep – Welcome To The Night Sky, Boys Like Girls – Boys Like Girls, Ashes dIVIDE – Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright

Saturday Vero, Mike and I headed out to a fund raising breakfast event called “Breakfast for Joleen”. Turns out that Joleen has a brain tumor and while the parents prospective workplaces have been nice enough to extend some compassionate leave for awhile, I guess it is running out so there was a fund raiser to help out the parents during this time of need. Mike and Mel (I believe?) know these two parents personally, hence how we found out about this.

In the end, we pretty well missed the entire breakfast/silent auction hoopla considering we rolled into there around 11:30 in the morning and the thing started at 9:00. We still paid for our breakfast and helped ourselves to some pancakes, eggs and a sausage. We took a look at some items that Mike, Mel and Duncan got at the silent auction including a computer (!) and a nice box of brownies which we took a gander at.

There was also a blood bank on hand which had information on how to give blood but they also tested what type you were! I had never done so and I now know that I am O+. I guess I will start donating blood when they come to work as they usually do every once in awhile.

We then chatted outside for awhile about Véro’s play and other randomness and then headed to Véro’s for a beer and then we headed home to get a quick bite to eat to hold us over before the night of fun. It was Karilee’s birthday party (although I think her birthday is actually on…Monday, April 7?) down at Fratelli’s in New Edinburgh.

After having a beer back at Véro’s again that evening and watching Wedding Crashers (as Duncan had never seen it before), we hopped in a quick cabride to go to Fratelli’s which had just opened recently in New Edinburgh. Supposedly there are a few Fratelli’s in town but this was the first time I had been to one. Mike and I headed upstairs above the restaurant to say hello to his friend whom he actually helped move into that apartment a few weeks back. It was a slick apartment. I like the apartments with the high ceilings and the long hallway connecting all the rooms together.

We then headed into Fratelli’s, took our seat, said hello to Matt, Karilee and company and settled in for the ride. I quickly noticed that Duncan wasn’t in the restaurant (and he had come with us) and I found him outside chatting with an old work friend. When I headed back inside I noticed that no one had ordered drinks yet so I went to bar, ordered some drinks and was about to take them away when they said “Oh no, we can bring them to your table!”. I have a feeling that as soon as I was about to walk away, their manager walked by and was wondering why I was picking up my own beer. Hey, that’s what you get when you’ve been sitting around the table for a good fifteen minutes! In the end, I put the beers back on the bar and said they could drop them off to me and that still took five minutes.

That would have to be my only minor complaint about Fratelli’s. Every new restaurant has some growing pains so I won’t hold it against them. The food was superb, their bread was superb and the ambiance was great. I had some great conversation around me (and found a fellow comic book fan and we chatted for a few moments) and I think all had a good time. Vero ended up showing up after 10 o’clock since her play was done. I can’t wait to share a picture of how crazy her hair is for her play. It is quite zany!

We ended up leaving Fratelli’s around 11:30 and I personally didn’t feel like heading downtown to a line-up at the Heart and Crown so a few of us headed to the New Edinburgh pub which was down one block and we said goodbye to Matt, Karilee and…Sophie-Lynn? Can’t remember her name…it looked like Karilee had a great time but I heard she hurt her ankle afterwards so that sucks.

The New Edinburgh Pub was in full force with a band playing in the other side of the bar. We ordered a beer, sat down and listened to Trish’s story about her trip to the Dominican Republic. She had some great stories to tell and I encourage you to ask her about it the next time you see her. The Dominican Republic sure saw it’s fair share of people I know this year; myself, Vero and her family, Ferda & James, Trish, Krista and Jill…I think there were a few people from work also that I knew headed down there. It’s quite the hot spot (pun intended!) for Canadians I guess.

“these eyes have never seen a more beautiful sight. these ears have never heard a more beautiful sound. these taste buds have never tasted a more beautiful sandwich.” – me, after going to Gooney with Maren.

This morning on my way to school, I decided to drop by to see Maren and get a bite to eat at lunch. She suggested a place on Laurier and O’Connor called Gooneys. She mentioned getting a salad.

While leery of a salad bar kind of place, she mentioned there were sandwiches and knowing that this was the key to my heart (and stomach!) we headed there in the wet, wet snow that has appeared over Ottawa. What the heck? First they are calling for a warm weekend, now it’s sloppy wet snow.

Upon entering, this place put a smile on my face. In the corner, there was this guy playing the blues on his sweet, sweet electric guitar an mini-amp. What the heck? Isn’t this a sandwich shop?

Well yes it is, but that doesn’t mean it can’t have some atmosphere! Maren warned me that the lineups get pretty large around noon so we hurried with five minutes to spare. The menu was awesome. Not awesome like I usually say awesome, more like a jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring kind of menu. Tons of different sandwiches with soup combos, salad combos, you name it, they got it.

I followed Maren’s suit and ordered the roast beef and decided to get the Works. I can’t even remember what consisted of the works other than some eggplant and ten other toppings. They wrapped it up in a nice shell of wax paper, sliced it, pased it over in a nice tray and voila!

We grabbed a seat right in front of this guy playing his blues guitar.  I was in heaven.  He even threw in some Georgia by Ray Charles.  Unbelievable.

The sandwich was so amazing…I don’t know what they put into it but it reminded me of my favourite sauce from New York Subway in Toronto on Queen Street West.  I couldn’t get enough of it.  I was loving every moment of it.

Coupled with amazing company of Maren (always good conversation…mainly dealing with her upcoming trip to Mexico next week!), amazing eats and amazing treats for the ears, I will definitely return to Gooneys for a bite to eat.  Go early and beat the rush!

iplaying: Apartment Story – The National (Boxer) – this is a fabulous, fabulous album.  Palmer approved.  Will write more later.

Last night Mike and I scored free tickets (courtesy of Véro, HEY, I can do accented characters through this website software now! Great!) to see the play she is in – Lavalléville.

Véro has been preparing for this for about six months so I was quite excited to see what they had come up with. Lavalléville is a play written by André Paiement
who is some big playwright from Sudbury who spearheaded some Northern Ontario theatre scene. Clearly I am not well versed in this subject matter so we could also ask Véro for a chat about why this guy was a big deal.

This play was deemed the ‘quintessential’ Northern-Ontario play…it takes place in Lavalléville where there is no real outside contact with the rest of the world so they dress a little strange, their mannerisms are a little odd and if they do get word from the outside of the town, they are either scared or in awe of it. For example, Véro’s character plans to leave Lavalléville to a place called Montreal, Canada where she has heard that women can get paid to sleep with men; all you have to do is wear short skirts and high boots. This is quite the revelation for all those that hear this.

The story really revolves around Diane’s (Véro’s character) wishes to leave the town and the hopes that a big-wig from Toronto, Canada will come and like what he sees in the town and invest in it (or buy it? I didn’t really catch the difference…).

This play was over the top hilarity. The characters are in caricature mode, meaning that this is not a serious play whatsoever. The outfits/costumes were quite out of the ordinary. Véro’s hair probably stood a foot off of her head. One gentleman dressed as Napoleon while another woman dressed like Madonna (circa 80s). The energy on the stage was incredible. It was such a energetic play…usually I’ve seen plays which are introspective and subdued…this one was like watching a full-out comedy ten feet in front of you.

Mike and I both thoroughly enjoyed the play. It was highly entertaining and it was great to see Véro (and all the others!) hard work pay off into a spectacular spectacle (please note my spectacular vernacular). Véro over-acted her part (which was planned) so she is quite the crazy person on stage. Plus we got to see her sing a solo number, dance a little around the stage and *gasp* kiss another guy. Mike nudged me during that part of the play. Heck, I knew it would happen and that’s what actors do…right? 😉

Go show some support to Véro and the others and see Lavalléville! Tickets are $12 each ($10 for students/seniors) and it’s playing Thursday, Friday and Saturday, each week until the final showing on April 19 (which I will be at). You can find more information here:

http://www.theatretremplin.com/

I just finished reading Life of Pi upon Eric’s suggestion.  Unfortunately for myself, I thought I had more to read this morning so I only brought the one book with me on the bus and it turned out that I only had three pages left.  Woops?

Life of Pi is written by Canadian author Yann Martel.  It is mainly a novel about the life of Piscine “Pi” Molitor Patel who is a boy from India whose father is a zookeeper.  At one point, they all pick up and move to Canada but along their way the ship they are on sinks and Pi is left along in a lifeboat along with a Bengal Tiger.

The majority of the novel revolves around how Pi survived his voyage at sea with this tiger for 227 days which is insane when you think about it.  He had to figure out how to live off the sea and not disturb the tiger who was in the boat with him.  You know he survived because in the beginning of the novel the author talks with a ‘future Pi’ who is living in Toronto.

I found the beginnings of his journey very interesting in that he explained what happened in the first days (it’s all told from a first-person perspective) and how he dealt with the huge tiger in his boat and how he took care of himself during the time.  The rest of the novel gets a little tiresome as you KNOW he survived the ordeal so when you read about his thoughts of life at sea and the pain and hardship he went through, it got a little boring knowing that the biggest event of all (someone saving him) was right around the corner.  I definitely found myself speed reading through some aspects of the book (like when he spoke about the skies and the seas…come on, get to the good stuff!)

However, I must admit that I am pretty upset right now as I had thought this book was non-fiction!  The tale was very gripping thinking that this actually happened to someone!  It was quite the page-turner at some points.  For those of you who have read the book, I am hoping you can see how easy it was to feel that it was real, considering the author interviews Pi in Toronto!  Now that I know it’s fiction…meh.  I don’t know…I guess it’s still a good read.  The ending is quite amazing actually.

In the end, I did enjoy this book.  It had a very interesting section regarding religion and how Pi took it upon himself to be a practicing Christian, Mulsim and Hindu, reasoning that he loves God in all forms.  It was interesting to see how the figureheads of the religions came down on this 8 year old boy and told him he couldn’t that but in the end they left bewildered and wondering if they had it all wrong.  I’ll have to reflect on it some more I suppose…it was a page turner but I am wondering if I would felt differently if I knew it was fiction.

After all the hoopla of getting this album into my hands, I finally downloaded it last week knowing that I would pick it up the next time I was in the store.

Can I just say that it’s interesting to download an album when someone did some further mixing to it?  Plus he merged the tracks so they overlapped with one another when they were playing.  I thought “Huh, that’s kind of a strange way to create the album.  But I guess the Trews were just messing around.”  Then once I bought the album the other night I realized that the guy who uploaded the album had done that.  I guess he doesn’t care for two second gaps between songs!

This album is pretty great in a rocking kind of way.  They have really honed their songwriting craft to the point where they are telling stories in their songs along with some killer melodies, great riffs and all around good tunes.  I really can’t say if any tune stands out for me.  They are all good.  I envision this being a great summer time album as it’s a constant stream of hit after hit after hit.  You know those albums with not one bad song on it?  That’s the case with this one.

What else can I say?  If you are into the classic rock vibe (as compared to old Aerosmith) then The Trews are for you.  They also throw in some other musically themed tunes like one that is reminiscent of a rocked out cover version of a maritime song (Can’t Stop Laughing) or the classic ballad where men contemplate how they can love two women at the same time (always a classic scenario in rock circles; Man With Two Minds).

Give this album a try!  You know what…scratch that.  I am declaring this as the must have album for good music brought by some boys from Antigonish (but now based in Niagara Falls).  They are also hitting up Ottawa in May so you are more than welcome to join us when we go all out for that night.

Bonus Mini-Review:  Maren had the following to say about some band I have not heard of yet, but is making big news in the indie music world:

Have you heard of my new favourite band, Vampire Weekend?

I think it’s the perfect outside album…as in, we bought it in Miami and listened to it while cruising down the streets with the windows down.

So that’s that.  Take a listen.  Maren is known in some circles to be a fan of old school hip-hop, old school Michael Jackson and music with an edge to it.  Her sister and brother tend to introduce her to some great indie stuff which she falls in love with and then passes onto me.  Let’s just say that everytime I go over, there’s something exciting playing on their excellent soundsystem (whereas if you come to my place, chances are, you will hear classic rock.  Which ain’t a bad thing.  But it isn’t fresh like daisies on a spring day, which, for all you Ottawans, you won’t see until July.)

iplaying: Headstrong – Trapt (Trapt)

After listening to the morning Entertainment Update on Chez 106 last week, they mentioned a new film release called Gone Baby Gone which was Ben Affleck’s first directorial debut and had great comments.

I tend to stray away from new releases in the rental market nowadays…I prefer picking the films up in the Previously Viewed bin and if I don’t care for it, I can sell them back to Blockbuster and come out paying $2 to watch the film.

But I figured I should take a look at to what all the fuss was about so I rented Gone Baby Gone last night for Vero, Mike and I to watch.

Gone Baby Gone deals with the disappearance of a four-year old girl who is assumed to have been abducted.  The story follows two private investigators (played by Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan) while they search for the girl through their neighbourhood connections.  They team up with two police detectives in their search for the girl which brings them to the seedy underworld of drugs in search for her.

The story also takes place in Boston and was filmed there along with residents of Boston placed in the film instead of hired actors.  This was pretty neat as I thought I was actually there in some scenes (ala there weren’t some pretty actors strewn about the local tavern).  Ben Affleck took great care in filming in this manner as he hails from Boston and wanted to capture the feel of the neighbourhood.

In the end, I can’t really get much more into the plot as it will ruin it for you.  Let it be said that this was an excellent film and it had quite a few twists along the way which will have you sitting up in your couch and taking more and more notice of what’s going on.

The film is based on the novel written by Dennis Lehane who also wrote Mystic River.

I really can’t find anything wrong with this film and I thought it was one of the better films I’ve seen in awhile.  It made you think about some things and wonder what you would do in certain situations.

Go rent it.  Worthwhile.

iplaying: All Apologies – Nirvana (In Utero)