The Mediocre Shepherd

Holiday weekend, three days off, two movies. Struck out with both, too. Okay, "The Good Shepherd" isn't as mediocre as "Bobby," but it's still not very good. It tries to be too much: the story of the development of the CIA, a spy thriller centered on the Bay of Pigs invasion, and a family drama. That's not to say that a compelling movie couldn't be made with all of these elements, or that they need to be isolated, but something didn't work with the pacing and progression of the storylines. I personally would have cut all of the CIA history stuff; the individual spy missions that are detailed are generally isolated from other actions and somewhat confusing. If it were just the one big spy mystery? With a little bit of family thrown in? That might have been a great movie. And it wouldn't have been over 3 hours. (Trust me, I didn't know that going in or I'd have thought twice about it.)

IMDB describes the plot as this:

Edward Wilson, the only witness to his father's suicide and member of the Skull and Bones Society while a student at Yale, is a morally upright young man who values honor and discretion, qualities that help him to be recruited for a career in the newly founded Central Intelligence Agency. While working there, his ideals gradually turn to suspicion influenced by the Cold War paranoia present within the office. Eventually, he becomes an influential veteran operative, while his distrust of everyone around him increases to no end. His dedication to his work does not come without a price though, leading him to sacrifice his ideals and eventually his family.

That sounds like a really interesting film. Unfortunately, it's not this one.

[A flock of seagulls just swooped past my window. This is not a joke. They joined a pile of pigeons eating at something spilled onto the street (garbage? I think I see a pizza crust.) I know that seagulls are scavengers like pigeons and rats, and that I live fairly close to the ocean, but I've never seen so many outside my window.]