Joel Edgerton
There is a right way and a wrong way to tell a gangster story. Some of the very best have utilized inventive camera techniques, are fueled by impressive acting talent, and are backed by an engaging, well-written screenplay. Black Mass attempts to be something great; yet, when thinking back to it, it’s likely only the acting that will be remembered.
A great director can elevate a movie that is nothing short of trash cinema into something masterful. Throughout his career, Orson Welles repeatedly chose projects (most notably Touch of Evil) as a challenge to see whether he could make a good movie out of source material that was far closer to the gutter than the stars. A cursory glance at some of the best directors of all time, from Welles and Alfred Hitchc*ck to David Fincher and Steven Soderbergh more recently, reads like a list of directors who enjoy cinema at its silliest, yet are such technically skilled filmmakers with a clear love for genre filmmaking that their movies are only ever laughable in a knowing way.
Bullying is a smorgasbord of crazy stupidity. He could be sociopathic or simply be a jerk. Parents get in on the action and believe their little devil is a little angel.