The Drop

A Brooklyn bartender (Tom Hardy), who seems none too bright, works in a bar that's a money-laundering drop for Chechen gangsters. Behind his back, his boss (James Gandolfini) plans to rip the gang off on Super Bowl Sunday, when the jackpot will be extra high. Meanwhile, the bartender rescues the abused dog and warms to the abused ex-girlfriend (Noomi Rapace) of a neighborhood psycho (Matthias Schoenaerts). Written by Dennis Lehane (adapting his own short story) and tautly directed by Michaël R. Roskam, the movie is interestingly unpleasant. It's a tense and unsettling, but extremely well-acted and compelling, picture of down-and-almost-outers trying to get by, honestly or otherwise. As a cop investigating an earlier robbery at the bar, John Ortiz has the best line in the movie (which I wouldn't dare spoil).