It’s showtime, Boston!

Crime novelist Dennis Lehane has an op-ed piece on his hometown of Boston in today's Globe.

Speaking of Lehane...I saw Clint Eastwood's film version of Mystic River a couple weeks back. Well-directed, as you'd expect from an Eastwood project, and very well acted. The cast is probably the best thing about the movie, with Sean Penn and Tim Robbins giving powerful performances.

The plot still suffers from the same problems as it did in the book -- namely a fairly small, under-developed story and unsympathetic characters -- but good filmmaking and acting can over that, as it has here.

I don't recommend the novel, but the film is definitely worth watching.