The Drop (2014)

"The filmmakers had me at “Tom Hardy with a puppy”. If you need more convincing, read on. Following in the a tradition of gritty underbelly, anti-Godfather-glamour, street crime movies in the Mean Streets mould, The Drop is penned by Dennis (Gone Baby Gone) Lehane, directed by Belgian Michaël (Bullhead) Roskam, and features the late James Gandolfini in his final role, alongside Noomi Rapace, Tom Hardy, and the cutest pit bull puppy in Brooklyn."

"Tom Hardy gives another terrific performance as a Brooklyn bartender in writer Dennis Lehane's adaptation of his own short story."

"The Drop putters along in a dozy register, less a simmering pot than a cooling one."

"A tough, tense, and entirely absorbing thriller."

"The entire film vibrates with understated tension, but almost never raises its voice above a hissed threat or a discomfited mutter."

"Gives us one more chance to salute the formidable talent of a remarkable actor [James Gandolfini] who died in June 2013 at age 51."

"The picture belongs to Tom Hardy, whose astonishingly sensitive performance even the great James Gandolfini steps gently around."

"The cute puppy almost steals the show but Hardy is ace and quite the watchable chameleon in his surprising switch from lovable dumb ox to cannier-than-we-thought."