Movie Reviews

In City by the Sea, Robert DeNiro plays Vincent La Marca, a detective who has just be assigned to investigate the murder of a small-time drug dealer. It turns out, however, that the prime suspect happens to be his estranged son Joey (James Franco). Joey's also the prime suspect of "Spyder" (William Forsythe), the drug dealer's sleazy boss, and throughout the movie Joey is pursued by his father, the rest of the police force, and Spyder.

City by the Sea is slightly more interesting than your standard police thriller. I think that's probably because the film places just as much attention -- if not more -- on the strange circumstance that the father and son find themselves in, rather than on the actual 'police investigation' itself. In other words, the movie's not so much about the investigation as it is about the characters involved, which is nice.

Speaking of the characters, Robert DeNiro and Frances McDormand (as DeNiro's girlfriend) are as good here as they generally always are, though I didn't feel as though their characters were likely all that difficult to play, and I wonder what made them take these roles.

It's a pretty good film, though nothing totally spectacular.