Live by Night: Directed by Ben Affleck
Joe Coughlin, played by Ben Affleck, lived the life of a mobster. The problem is that he let a girl get in the way which almost cost him his life. He was later given a chance to start over which entailed moving to Miami and working for another mobster, who happened to be the enemy of the man he was previously working for. His goal was to make his new boss profitable and Joe was good at what he did. He developed a life in Miami and even fell in love again, but things got more complicated when he realized a group known as the KKK were heavily prominent in this area and did not like having Casinos and shady business occurring in the same area as their strong, Christian values. Their goal was to shut him down, but what happens to a mobster who gets shut down when he has an even tougher mobster to report to?
Patriots Day: Starring Mark Wahlberg
Tommy is a Boston police officer who is assigned to work the Boston Marathon. He'd rather be at home with his wife as he considers this security patrol verses true police work, but is trying to prove himself after a temporary suspension. The day seems so be going as planned until a series of explosions occur at the race injuring many and even killing several- including an 8 year old boy. The entire city is in devastation and Tommy is left to help pick up the pieces and try to figure out who did this to his city. Naturally, once this event is labeled as terrorism, the FBI show up and take over. Tommy and the FBI director don't always see eye to eye, but he won't rest until they find the two responsible for this. The FBI doesn't want to admit this, but they need Tommy in this investigation as he knows this city inside and out. Will his help be enough and will they be able to find the suspects before another explosion occurs?
Who Did it Best?
Live by Night scored a whopping 34% on Rotten Tomatoes which is awful since they seem to have been more kind recently in their rating to most movies. IMDB gave it a 6.8/10. I think a 6/10 would be fair. It was good for what it was, but tended to drag a bit. They could have easily cut out 30 minutes and cut out some unnecessary scenes, then would have had a better film.
Patriots Day rated a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.8/10 on IMDB. I would have given it an 8/10. It's not really a fair comparison, just because we have so much more interest and compassion for this movie since it was based on the true events of the bombings at the Boston Marathon. Tommy was a fictional character, but this film showed how they found photos of the suspects, the poor MIT student that was taken by them and how he escaped, the intense scenes where many Boston PD and FBI agents were getting bombs thrown at them while trying to corner the suspects, and how they finally caught them. It also showed several real images throughout the movie in a way that was smooth and didn't seem odd or draw attention. I also loved the last 20 minutes when they showed interviews with some victims and police officers from that day. It was suspenseful even though you knew what happened and it was heartfelt. I am usually not a Wahlberg fan as some of his roles can be quite cheesy, but his acting was well done in this film.
If you need more support for why Patriots Day wins this competition, then take it from my Dad who sent me this text this morning, " I saw Live by Night yesterday. Pretty good! But I think the Patriot was better." So there you have it folks- now you know which action film you need to see this week. Enjoy!
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