Vick’s November flick picks

 - by Vick Silkenpen
   Movie Critic

Task: Mark Ruffalo is at a point in his career where he can pretty much select scripts and projects that make social statements, in addition to being entertaining.

In this HBO series, his character, Tom Brandis, is vastly complex as an alcoholic ex-priest and FBI agent assigned to head up a special task force in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, to locate a missing child taken from a drug distribution house run by a motorcycle gang, which was robbed for cash. He has to stay focused on grasping at vague clues as to who is pulling these jobs while also navigating his wrecked family life caused by the murder of his wife by their adopted son.

The storyline pulls us in deeper as the robbers lose control of their plan and become murderers and unintentional kidnappers. The ripples of their actions spread outward into their families, and we become sympathetic with not only the task force agents but also the robbery perps hiding from not just the FBI but also the motorcycle gang.

Actor Tom Phelphry as the head of the rogue crew hitting the drug houses is simply incredible. Brad Ingelsby excels at weaving subplots throughout this story, which keep us coming back for more. He did the same with Mare of Easttown, starring Kate Winslet, which won numerous Emmys and other awards in 2021. I do not doubt that this miniseries will also, at the very least, receive lots of nominations soon.

Just as the “Mare” production had a remarkable supporting cast whose performances make the whole experience rewarding, with no wasted roles, so does this recent production, providing a spectrum of characters you remember. There is always the possibility that doing this well in a crime drama could lead to a Season 2, but Ingelsby may not want that.

Black Rabbit: To begin with, it is hard to believe you could not watch a crime thriller series with star power like Jude Law and Jason Bateman. Curiosity alone lured me in to see if they could keep up with each other.

As two brothers in New York opening a restaurant (title name), they differ in their approach to keep it successful. The weight of the baggage on board both of them makes a descent almost guaranteed, in a truly tragic form. They both have the required flaws to allow gravity to keep a constant pull downward, but you keep rooting for them to pull out of the tailspin in time.

Sure, there are scenes when it seems a bit Ozark-ish mixed with touches of The Bear, but that doesn’t detract from the heartfelt momentum. 

Bateman turns in a performance you won’t soon forget as the prodigal brother, Vince, who seems like a hustling hot mess. He returns to his younger brother, Jake, with pockets full of troubles, apparently to leech off of Jake’s highly successful restaurant operation.

The surface impression, early in the series, gradually takes a deep, dark dive to reveal a dysfunctional family and secret events that led to the present. The character development is full of moral ambiguity dips, keeping the ride bumpy with the required tension to keep us invested in this Cain and Abel saga.

It appears that viewing Jake as the “good” brother and Vince as the chaotic “bad” brother is too simplistic a view, especially as this narrative begins to incorporate toxic elements of resentment and codependency. Are loyalty and brotherly love enough to fuel these two above and beyond their own questionable actions and even betrayals? 

The Gayly online. 11/13/2025 @ 4:46 p.m. CST.