"Black Mass"

Right now I'm pretty excited. Why? The new Johnny Depp film that no one seems to know about called Black Mass. I first caught wind of this movie several months ago when looking up the upcoming projects for Benedict Cumberbatch. The title in and of itself doesn't tell us anything about what it's going to be about, so I have done some research...

On IMDB you'll find that this is the true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf. Now, there's nothing better than a biopic filled with a superstar cast including: Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson, Kevin Bacon, Corey Stoll, Adam Scott, and more.

So who is this Whitey Bulger? Most of my generation would not recognize this name, or his story. However, it's a great one to be told. By now, we know he was a straight up gangster but what makes him so interesting is that he lived his ENTIRE life as one. Born in 1929 he became a criminal by age 14 and never got any better, socially that is. Criminally, he became a master. At the opposite end of the Bulger family table, his little brother William Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch) went on to serve as the President of the Massachusetts Senate with the longest term in U.S. history, and President of the University of Massachusetts. From 1975-1990 Whitey served as an FBI informant all the while building up his own criminal regime. If you have ever seen The Black List with James Spader, it's just like that. Crime boss, FBI's most wanted list, FBI informant, all the while committing and planning five steps ahead of everyone else. Criminal geniuses! But they shouldn't be praised. Guys like Whitey and Raymond Reddington are ruthless killers, only Whitey is not fictional. He lived a life on the run and in August 2013, he was found guilty of federal racketeering, extortion, conspiracy and 11 murders. He was charged for 19 murders but only convicted of the 11 in court. His brother William had to resign his seat in the Senate because he would not testify in court that he had contacted the then fugitive and #2 most wanted man on the FBI's Most Wanted Man in 1999 just below #1 Osama bin Laden.

Directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart and Out of the Furnace) this film is slated to appear September 18th of this year but with all the events that he encountered, I'm still trying to find out what crimes the story will be centered around. Maybe it will give us a glimpse of everything or possibly just the time that he was a fleeing fugitive and William resigned from office. There family was Irish-Roman catholic and I'm still trying to figure out the relevance of the title. The word Mass makes me refer to their catholic origins, but Black is throwing me off. I'm sure the film will explain but I'm very curious to see what all is in store for this movie.

Check out the trailer HERE

Enjoy