Boston Streets

I had no knowledge of the existence of this movie until the day I saw it, so when I started it I was pretty blown away by it. The gritty drama and really well told story of these 2 boys/men is fascinating, very well acted and initially very interesting. The score is beautiful, as is the initial pacing and storytelling. I was thinking this is one of the best movies I've seen for months, and then something odd happened.. the pacing shifted, suddenly long beautifully acted scenes were becoming clips of a few minutes here a sentence there, the character development that was so successful early on suddenly seemed to be redundant as stories become pointless and predictable. It's almost as though the movie changed to a different director and editor half-way through.

I found myself caring less and less about the characters as they became victims of over-editing. The only 2 scenes that lasted more than a couple of minutes in the last third that had any 'substance' were overly dramatic if not soppy father-son scenes where all other members of the family become low priority.

It's really quite a shame, I was enjoying the film so much during the first half, I was willing to give this film a 9 if only a little more of the plot would begin to unravel itself, but instead I got less plot, less character focus and more "this is bad" and "this is good" moments... It's a true pity as I shan't be recommending this movie due to it's second half.

...normally indicates that the film you are about to watch is almost unbelievable - this film is an exception to the rule.

Like The Departed and Gone Baby Gone, What Doesn't Kill You is an engrossing, gritty, sharply written and well-acted drama set on the mean streets of South Boston, which, by the number of movies being set there, is fast becoming as notorious as the bronx.

What Doesn't Kill You has to be the film that will catapult Mark Ruffalo into the big time, his performance is sublime, he plays a character that stirs a number of emotions from inside - easily the star of this gritty, intense tale of two dysfunctional friends.

I had not seen any promos or hear about this movie movie from anyone. I picked up the DVD for one reason that it had Ethan Hawke & Mark Ruffalo in it. And boy I'll tell they have done great justice to the characters.

I expected a little too much out of the movie, but I wasn't too disappointed either. Movie runs at a very decent and a balanced pace Acting, writing & directing - Yes Brian Goodman has done a good job.

What impressed me the most was the acting of Ethan & Mark. The chemistry is fantastic through out the movie.

I wasn't too impressed with Amanda Peet's acting. She wasn't strong enough for the character she played.

The best thing out of the movie was the music score. Great work!!! All in all, a good watch. Not a great movie but still good enough..

I started watching this film with no idea what it was about. I had added it to my Netflix queue a while back, and forgotten why. Right from the first scene, though, I knew I had found a hidden gem. According to Wikipedia, the movie premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released on a very small scale in December 2008 due to the collapse of its distributor, Yari Film Group. It is a straight- forward crime drama, showcasing the struggle of gangsters who want to change their lives. It is set apart, however, by the fact that it is based on Goodman's real life until the mid-1990s. Some guys deal with their demons with telling their story in a meeting…Goodman made a bad-ass movie about his…and Ruffalo, Hawke, and the rest of the cast (including Goodman) played the hell out of their roles.

This is a very underrated film. I think its a shame it never has gotten publicity. I randomly picked it up on the fly for free a local library on DVD and was amazed that I never even have heard of it. There are no gimmicks or high wire stunts this was true to life. We need more of these films to rejuvenate what the cinema has become lately. I was thoroughly impressed on all levels with this film. This could of done very well in the box office if it had marketing at the time. Sadly CGI and fake acting has trumped modern cinema lately. This gritty true to life story beats them all hands down. I give it an 8/10, simply based upon the rehashing of older story-lines together. It still holds its own charm. Rent this movie and you will be surprised how well it was done.