Movie/film suggestions.

I think we are obsessed with this.

It would be an epic, @gano .

(Would you consider Alec Baldwin for Hank Brennan?)

No mention of Thief with James Caan. Great soundtrack and vastly underrated movie. 

Also Sharky's Machine. Henry Silva, brilliant. Doc Severnson score.

But Fantasia rules them all for marriage of film and music closely followed by 2001 and Blade Runner.

Flashback scenes of course! That’s a must. Smoke filled bars with with the townies, weird New England locals that Casey Affleck would hang out with.

I think we are obsessed with this.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/movies/best-movies-21st-century.html the Departed is highly ranked

I was just kind of joking about Dylan.  Actually, I am not sure I see/hear much of a soundtrack for the movie.  I think that I recall from one of the documentaries (probably dateline) that she said that she thought that she had the stereo blasting as she pulled away from 34 Fairview.  Aerosmith would probably be a good choice.

A lot of those Boston cops and Ma state troopers appear as if they have the extra Y chromosome (the Navy SEAL look).  I was kind of thinking about an actor who looks as if he could meet that criteria.

I guess I'll give you Affleck for director, Eastwood would be my idea of a hard no.

I see the movie as happening in flashback scenes.
 

we need to audition for the Michael Proctor role some unknown locals too. It’s role that could jump start anyone’s career.

Dylan is an interesting choice. I imagined Aerosmith. Bostonians are proud of their local musicians just like everything local, their sports, their food, their beaches, etc. (The food sucks)

That is one more than I thought you would be agreeable with, @gano ; but actually I want to load it up with Bob Dylan.  Jeremy Renner might work in that role . . . I am not sure as of yet.  However, I have been thinking about Michael Proctor, and how about Cole Hauser for his part?

Yes, but you will be limited to ONE Bruce song, sorry @immatthewj 

And you would let me pick one song (Aimee Mann of course)

It would be hard not pick Ben Affleck to be the director. Or Clint Eastwood? 

John O'Keefe = Jeremy Renner?

If you leave the casting to me @immatthewj you can be in charge of the script 

You might have to throw in me putting the soundtrack together, @gano .

If you leave the casting to me @immatthewj you can be in charge of the script 

You are killing me, @gano .  I guess this means that George Clooney doesn't work for Alan Jackson?

@immatthewj I like Amy Ryan - otherwise. First I was a hard no for this role for her. I almost pulled my sponsors and my 2 million I put aside because of this. I wasn't screaming but definitely raised my voice and the director asked for a 10 minutes break. On a second thought, Amy would be good, but she wasn't my idea. So, still a "no".

On Michael Keaton, semi-seriously, he is brilliant in everything. I don't know how he pulled off Dopesick. It is amazing.

Overall, we need to get good actors and actresses, not famous ones. Damon, Keaton are out.

Is the movie being cast already?

Probably only in my mind, @gano . 

I agree with you that Matt Damon plays a good warm and fuzzy lawyer, and I did think of him in that role, but definitely not for the Hank Brennan role.  Damon's past performances as a lawyer also strike me as a bit too warm and fuzzy for Alan Jackson, but I also think that he is a skilled enough actor to pull off whatever they hand him.  Maybe Michael Keaton for Hank Brennan?  For some reason, Karen Read made me think of Amy Ryan.

it's not a bad suggestion. I also thought of Cobie Smulders. But I'd probably go with Amanda Peet. 

Look no further than Aubrey Plaza

All the best,
Nonoise

@immathewj I think he would be good as a lawyer. He excelled in those roles. For Karen Read: Robin Wright, Natalie Portman, Jessica Alba, maybe Amanda Peet.

The actress has to have a wacky image. Also an evil smile. It's a tricky role, scary and vulnerable at the same time.

Is the movie being cast already?

@gano , I remember you explaining the reasons that you did not like The Departed, and after I googled it and discovered that a lot of it was not actually filmed in Boston, that did knock it down a notch on my list.

But, I really enjoyed the actors, including Matt Damon as the corrupt Ma state trooper.  What I appreciate about Matt Damon is how he can portray an actor that gives everyone the warm and fuzzies (Will Hunting or Private Ryan . . . and this kind of role is not at all my favorite) or a quite despicable character (such as Mr. Ripley or the corrupt trooper in Departed) or just some type of character who comes off as not extraordinarily good or bad but just flawed to some extent and believable.  His character in Syriana worked for me on that level.

Based on your opinion of his performance in The Departed, I take you would not cast him to play Michael Proctor in the Karen read movie? I don't think I would either.  Maybe Amy Ryan as Karen Read. . . .

One movie I like a lot starred Damon: Hereafter, directed by Clint Eastwood. A great story.

I would say Matt Damon doesn't have a huge range. You either like him or you don't. I think he is getting much better with age. Oppenheimer, Ford vs Ferrari, the Instigators were all stellar performances. I think he struggled with the Departed. 

I also know his classmate from Harvard who said he was a jerk with a giant ego. I don't trust her 110%, she also has a big ego, but sounds about right. Overall, with his activism, Jason Bourne dark charm, I take him any day over Vincent Vaughn.

BTW, was WHM’ wife, the female in the Seinfeld episode when she was attractive in the light but very unattractive in the dark?

@slaw , I could not remember whether I had seen Edmond or not (it turned out I have) so I watched the first couple of scenes, and I did recognize Macy’s wife as actress and female vocalist Rebecca Pidgeon.  I haven’t seen many of the movies she has been in, but she did play a consultant for the defense team in Phil Spector (which I thought was an excellent movie) and she had an instrumental role in State And Main which was an okay (basically a comedy of sorts) movie.  I do remember the episode of Seinfeld you are alluding to; however I did a google and she was not credited with acting in any Seinfeld episodes.  I own her Chesky CD, The Raven (1994) which is a well produced/recorded CD and she does a beautiful cover of Spanish Harlem on that disc.

In my opinion, Matt Damon is a talented and versatile actor, and although I do not like all of the movies he has been in, I have thoroughly enjoyed some of them.

One that I thought he did an excellent job in was The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) which also featured  Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and some musicians (trumpet player Guy Barker, Perico Sambeat/alto sax, Byron Wallen/cornet).

Syriana (2005) was a Matt Damon movie that I enjoyed even more than The Talented Mr. Ripley; Wiki says that the movie "was  loosely based on CIA agent Robert Baer's memoir, See No Evil." George Clooney played the CIA agent, Bob Barnes (who was apparently intended to represent the real life CIA agent Robert Baer) and also featured Chris Cooper, Christopher Plummer and Amanda Peet who plays the role Of Matt Damon's wife.

BTW, was WHM’ wife, the female in the Seinfeld episode when she was attractive in the light but very unattractive in the dark?

"Edmund". A really interesting film. See William H Macy as never before, brilliantly portraying a middle aged, unhappily married man, disrupting his and other's lives, based on a fortune teller' reading. Many well-know actors.

the uncut version of "Reanimator."

Kentucky fried movie, and mature rated version of Caligula.

Outstanding classics.

you are back to the Departed @immatthewj. Nice. I am listening to the interview now.

One other weird, or not so weird connection: Roy Cohn and the Rosenberg trial. 

@gano , connecting all of this back to the movie thread, and alluding back to Al Pacino’s performance in Phil Spector, I just discovered (via youtube) that Karen Read’s lead attorney, Alan Jackson, was the prosecutor in the Phil Spector murder trial.  

And, as we had been discussing Black Mass (and crime in Boston), here is an interesting youtube from 2013 of Hank Brennan when he was talking about his defense of Whitey Bulger.  Just some interesting trivia is all.

Hank Brennan/Whitey Bulger

@immatthewj well it's a more than a novel. It's a masterpiece. It's a study in human nature, the big bang of how we process guilt. I am reminded of it all the time.

@gano , and back to The Brutalist and my comparison to a Russian novel and me saying I had only read one (Russian novel) from start to finish, I wonder if it is a coincidence that the novel was Crime And Punishment?

@immatthewj I would say take a break from the court channel. It could be aggravating. Half of the world lies and they would do it on the stand too.

Yeah, @gano , you are right; I am not going to follow this one.  But for some reason it just cracked me up hearing this spoiled looking/sounding kid say, "I do not recall," so many times.  The kid’s first name is Tanner, not that this is relevant to anything at all.

Okay, NOW I won’t say anything else about it.  But Jesus!  He just said "I do not recall" at least six more times!  He just said it two more times when I was typing that last sentence! Ha ha!

@immatthewj I would say take a break from the court channel. It could be aggravating. Half of the world lies and they would do it on the stand too.

@gano I am not going to divert this thread to another trial after this post (the KR trial discussion evolved from a discussion about crime movies that were supposed to be set in Boston) but after the verdict, Court TV panned over to the Laurel Glen murder trial, aka "the preppy murder trial", which I don't know anything about and have no intention of following, but the prosecutor is questioning this preppy kid who was filming the altercation that evidently resulted in a murder, and this kid must have answered "I do not recall," about 20 or 30 times in the ten minutes or so I have been listening to it.  I don't know why that struck me as amusing or worth mentioning, but it did.  Okay, I will type no more about this.

 I am not a huge fan of all lawyers but I won’t politicize it

I understand that, @gano , but if you need one . . . well, you need one.  I am thinking that for the last few years Alan Jackson may have been Karen Read’s best friend.

Personally, I thought she had an uphill climb in front of her.

they looked decent and savvy for sure, aiming - if not high but - the middle. I am not a huge fan of all lawyers but I won't politicize it @immatthewj 

I am watching NBC Boston, the defense team was graceful to say the least. 

She was represented by professionals, @gano .  She was fortunate for that.

I am watching NBC Boston, the defense team was graceful to say the least. 

Also, you can hit a large person in the snow from 15 foot with an SUV, 4 out 5 time he would survive - especially with the alleged injuries

. . . people have slipped and fell and sustained a brain injury that was serious enough to result in an intercranial hemorrhage that ultimately caused their death.  However, the commonwealth's own witness, the ME, would not testify that she thought the injuries were consistent with a mv/pedestrian accident.  Which, in my mind, was huge.  I don't have any experience in emergency medicine, but I would have expected there to be soft tissue trauma at the least, and quite possibly fractures.  Regardless of how I feel about the 3rd party theory, the way the evidence was theoretically found at the scene seemed suspicious, and although two things can be true at the same time, I did feel that there was reasonable doubt. 

As I typed, @gano , I believe that there was reasonable doubt.  Apparently the jury did as well.

I am not convinced that she is innocent

I can list 10 reasons why it’s very unlikely she did it. Yes, that’s a possibility but very little compelling evidence was presented. The prosecution was about what the police provided, she is a crazy b%tch. Also, you can hit a large person in the snow from 15 foot with an SUV, 4 out 5 times he would survive - especially with the alleged injuries

so she's guilty of drunk driving?

Court TV is calling that "a throw away."  She received the standard first time OUI conviction sentence--a years probation.

I am not convinced that she is innocent, but I believe that reasonable doubt exists.  I guess the jury did also.  When I first started watching this retrial I would have put my money on a deadlock being the best she would get.  I would think that she is experiencing an incredible relief.

so she's guilty of drunk driving?

Canton cops will be vicious tonight. 

oh boy.

. . . verdict is in!

I can't freaking wait, just acquit her already!

There was the false alarm a while ago, but now Vinnie P. from Court TV is saying that "the word on the street" is that a verdict is in. . . .

I can't freaking wait, just acquit her already!

@immatthewj on the OUI charges: she was drinking with cops, driving a cop to a another cop’s house with a drunken party, maybe it should have been their job to not let her drive?

This has been discussed by some of the analysts, @gano , and they have surmised that this may be why the jury may be having problems reaching consensus on the OUI.  Of course, this is all conjecture on their part, including on what actual charge the jury is having problems with.  All the analysts are going by is the questions that the jury has submitted to the judge.

On Ma. and specifically on this trial:  at least they have allowed cameras.  I have too much time on my hands and I do not use it productively so therefore I have been watching podcasts of coverages of trials that I find interesting.  Prior to the Karen Read trial, I was following the trial of Richard Allen (down the hill murders) in Delphi, In., and in that one the judge allowed NO cameras.  Therefore, all that was available there were the reports from the podcasters who were able to get in and take notes, and Judge Gull designed the rules pertaining to them getting in to be extremely rough/draconian.  There were podcasters who seemed to feel that a miscarriage of justice was going on, and without getting into all the details, that may or may not have occurred, but the thing is--no cameras so all we have to go on is the opinions and notes of the podcasters.  (And Nancy Grace, of course, but I find no value to her obnoxious bellowing.)

So as I typed, at least cameras are allowed in this trial.   And I will also say that the more of this stuff I watch, the happier I am that I personally have never been seriously entangled with the legal system.

@immatthewj on the OUI charges: she was drinking with cops, driving a cop to a another cop's house with a drunken party, maybe it should have been their job to not let her drive?

@immatthewj If it's a hung jury and another trial will happen, that's not good for her. There seem to be some jurors who can't acquit her so there may be a conviction and the judge can come up with a harsh sentence. That's what I mean by not looking good for her. 

Well, what the analysts were saying yesterday, @gano , is that the questions the jury sent to the judge seemed to make them (the analysts) feel that the charge that they were hung on was the DUI (or OUI as they apparently call it in Ma), and that's why they felt it was looking good for her.  As in:  it's not perfectly ideal, but she can live with OUI a lot easier than with 2cond or 3rd degree murder.

But this is the wrinkle I do not understand, and I am not going to spend too much time attempting to understand it, they are also saying that the way the verdict form is constructed they cannot hang on OUI without hanging on manslaughter.  Which I agree is not good, but, still better than guilty of manslaughter and bond revoked and do not pass go and go directly. . . .

With that typed, they have been discussing a revamped verdict form today, so I am not sure whether they have rectified that problem.  The analysts are saying that the verdict form is confusing and that this is not the jury's fault, and being confused myself, I tend to agree.  I will repeat that I do not have a legal mind, nor have I ever served on a jury, but I would think that it should be possible to just have each charge stand by itself and each charge could be answered with a guilty or not guilty or undecided (meaning hung).  But from what some of the legal minds are saying, is that Ma. does certain things differently.

@immatthewj If it's a hung jury and another trial will happen, that's not good for her. There seem to be some jurors who can't acquit her so there may be a conviction and the judge can come up with a harsh sentence. That's what I mean by not looking good for her. 

It's also not looking good for the truth. She is on trial when the sleazy Canton cops should be. 

MA is a racist, good old boy's privileges open all doors state. Despite the liberal image. As they say it's all different outside 128.

I’ve been watching quite a bit of the retrial as it has been live-streamed, @gano , and Judge Cannone does seem to be prosecution friendly.  At least going by the number of objections for each side that she sustains and over rules.  But with that typed, I do not have a legal mind and I do not understand what forms the legal basis for these rulings that she makes.  The pod-casters seemed to be overwhelmingly biased for Read and against Cannone’s rulings, but I think their biases may make them an unreliable source.

As far as whether it looks good or bad for Ms. Read, yesterday near the close of deliberations the analysts were mostly saying it was looking way good for her, and they were basing that upon the questions that the jury had sent to the judge.  As deliberations continue today, the analysts seem to be hedging their bets by a little bit.

Personally, until yesterday, the best I thought she was going to get was a ng on 2cond degree murder and another hung jury on manslaughter (and I wasn’t giving DUI any thought until yesterday), but the way it sounds is as if Ma. defines 2cond degree murder  (and I am going to paraphrase based on my possibly flawed understanding) as any intentional act that is reckless enough that a reasonable person should understand could result in death.  Meaning, to me, that if one was hauling ass down a two-lane highway at 120 mph and a fatal accident resulted, this would meet that criteria for 2cond degree murder.  If I am understanding the definition in Ma. correctly.

Regardless of that, I still think 2cond degree murder was a deliberate over charge by the commonwealth with the strategy being to make it more palatable for the jury to find her guilty of manslaughter.  But I could be mistaken about that as well.