Gangs of New York represents the kind of old school cinematic excess such as Ben Hur and the Ten Commandments, with massive sets and thousands of extras, but with a modern arsenal of special effects to give it a little extra oomph. Daniel Day Lewis plays Bill the Butcher, the old school gangster kingpin of New York in the 1860s. Lewis plays Bill as a … Continue reading Gangs of New York Review
Ben is a divorced screenwriter, recently fired, who has given up on life altogether. A chronic alcoholic, he has decided to take what money he has left and go to Vegas where he plans on drinking himself into an oblivion. Along the way he meets a Vegas hooker named Sera (Elizabeth Shoe) who takes pity on him, and he on her, and they begin a … Continue reading Leaving Las Vegas Review
Cop Land is a film that could have easily been a long mini-series with all its got going on in the plot. Garrison, New Jersey in this movie is a town populated entirely by NY city cops. It’s a nice quiet little community, as you would expect, and mortgages are quite reasonable; plus it sure as hell beats living in the same dump they all … Continue reading Cop Land Review
David Wagner (Tobey Maquire) seems like the kind of teenager I used to be back in the 90s, that being a teenager obsessed with the past and especially the culture of bygone eras, in his case the 1950s, opting to spend hours in front of the TV watching old reruns instead of engaging in the shallow culture he finds outside. Only instead of Andy Griffith … Continue reading Pleasantville Review
What a strange and wonderful movie! And also, a movie that is sadly quite overlooked in the careers of both lead actors. Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges), is a self-centered, Manhattan shock jock in the vein of Howard Stern mixed in with a little bit of Rush Limbaugh. At least that’s the persona he puts on when on the air; at home in his luxurious high … Continue reading The Fisher King Review
The worst thing about The Color of Money is that it is a sequel to The Hustler (for trivia buffs, also the first movie I ever reviewed on this site) and of course, it does not live up the heights set by that level of a classic. Almost no film could. That said, if one can view this movie without thinking of the former, which … Continue reading The Color of Money Review
Barton Fink is one of my favorite lesser known Coen brothers movie. In it John Turturro plays a brilliant stage writer for Broadway (from whom the movie gets its name) who gets lured to Hollywood in the 1940s to write screenplays for big studios. Turturro is perfectly at home as the naïve, paranoid stereotypical writer caricature who would prefer to write reality based social commentary … Continue reading Barton Fink Review
I literally cannot fathom how it took me so long to finally getting around to seeing this. Clint Eastwood has been on my Mt. Rushmore of actors since I was a fetus, and Jeff Bridges is also on that list. This movie sees them in different points of their career, Bridges is a young cocky little hippy named Lightfoot who opens the movie by stealing … Continue reading Thunderbolt and Lightfoot Review
The Untouchables is a near perfect mix of cinematic ingredients. Even though it was filmed in the late 80s this is not a modern gangster movie like Goodfellas, or even the Godfather. This is basically a “Hayes Code” era film that somehow escaped in a time machine and wound up where it did. That said it is beautiful movie, wonderfully shot by Brian De Palma, … Continue reading The Untouchables Review
Johnny Depp will star as Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger in the upcoming movie “Black Mass” this month. I am quite anxious to see it. So with that in mind I went back and watched Johnny Depp’s other famous gangster movie in which he played real life undercover agent “Donnie Brasco” who infiltrated a crew in one of the five families during the 1970s. This … Continue reading Donnie Brasco Review
Titanquisitor 