American Gangster

Heineken Helen

Who else has seen this? I went to see it last night and I reckon it's one of the best films I've seen in a long long time. I've never been much of a fan of Russell Crowe but he was absolutely fantastic and Denzel Washington was brilliant as always... I think when the two of them finally got in the room together, it was better than Pacino and DeNiro in Heat. The acting was just brilliant.

Hitch-Hiker

Russel Crowe is a frikkin legend!!! Never speak ill of him, or else he'll throw a phone at your head. Anyways, I'm going to see it tonight. Can't wait.

urbanhippie

:cool:
Been looking at the reviews of this and quite liking what I see...

I love going to the cinema anyway and need very few excuses

May even go alone

Heineken Helen

Hitch-Hiker wrote:

Russel Crowe is a frikkin legend!!! Never speak ill of him, or else he'll throw a phone at your head. Anyways, I'm going to see it tonight. Can't wait.

Ooohh... have fun hitch

I'll probably even go and see it again in a week or two... it was THAT good! I was just so excited at the end probably woulda been shouting at the screen at the acting stand off if I wasn't in a room full of people

Heineken Helen

urbanhippie wrote:

:cool:
Been looking at the reviews of this and quite liking what I see...

I love going to the cinema anyway and need very few excuses

May even go alone

well I was kinda thinking of going to rendition but then I thought this one would be good and my housemate came along with me... go alone it's engaging enough to go alone... I didn't even notice if there WERE people on their own there it was so engaging

catefrances

Heineken Helen wrote:

Who else has seen this? I went to see it last night and I reckon it's one of the best films I've seen in a long long time. I've never been much of a fan of Russell Crowe but he was absolutely fantastic and Denzel Washington was brilliant as always... I think when the two of them finally got in the room together, it was better than Pacino and DeNiro in Heat. The acting was just brilliant.

okay first up...that scene in heat with pacino and de niro was, imo crap and too staged. not to mention ridiculous within the arc of the story. i heard it was done only to appease the studio bosses who couldnt fathom those two men being in a film and not sharing a scene.

and secondly. you do realise crowe and washington have worked together before, yeah? virtuosity(1995)

Heineken Helen

catefrances wrote:

okay first up...that scene in heat with pacino and de niro was, imo crap and too staged. not to mention ridiculous within the arc of the story. i heard it was done only to appease the studio bosses who couldnt fathom those two men being in a film and not sharing a scene.

and secondly. you do realise crowe and washington have worked together before, yeah? virtuosity(1995)

I didn't know that... and I don't care cos well I'm not quite sure why but I've suddenly got pretty giddy

Anyway, I agree... watching that scene last night was pretty much saying 'in your fucking FACE, this is how it SHOULD be done' and it was FANTASTIC. Now shuddup and go see the film

catefrances

Heineken Helen wrote:

I didn't know that... and I don't care cos well I'm not quite sure why but I've suddenly got pretty giddy

Anyway, I agree... watching that scene last night was pretty much saying 'in your fucking FACE, this is how it SHOULD be done' and it was FANTASTIC. Now shuddup and go see the film

hasn't been released here yet. :(

Heineken Helen

catefrances wrote:

hasn't been released here yet. :(

Ooops, oh ok then :( when ya getting it?

catefrances

Heineken Helen wrote:

Ooops, oh ok then :( when ya getting it?

hang on i'll just consult my crystal ball. ..... i have no idea.
we havent even got into the wild yet. :(

Heineken Helen

catefrances wrote:

hang on i'll just consult my crystal ball. ..... i have no idea.
we havent even got into the wild yet. :(

oh dear... well look at it this way though, you've a LOT to look forward to

catefrances

Heineken Helen wrote:

oh dear... well look at it this way though, you've a LOT to look forward to

so tell me...who's the good guy and who's the baddie?

Heineken Helen

catefrances wrote:

so tell me...who's the good guy and who's the baddie?

Before I say anything... just know that I'm not giving anything away at all. It's based on a true story which is probably well known in the states anyway. And any info I give will be in most reviews... so if you're gonna be one of those fussy people who go 'why the fuck did you have to go and say that? I didn't know that', don't bother even READING the thread cos there may or may not be some discussion about the film :rolleyes: (sorry Cate, not you, but there's always ONE)

So yeh Denzel's the bad guy... the biggest heroin dealer in the states in the 70s. Russell's the narc. It IS slightly overglamourised... but in a goodfellas kinda way.

*kinda spoiler alert*





I like the way, having got to like BOTH guys in the film, they get to work together at the end... BRILLIANT ending!

The Champ

http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=262609&highlight=american+gangster

Heineken Helen

The Champ wrote:

http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=262609&highlight=american+gangster

Ooops sorry!

The Champ

Heineken Helen wrote:

Ooops sorry!

In the other thread it was also discussed that this was not their first movie together..as I thought it was too...They made 'Virtuosity' back in 1995, which I fucking hated..

catefrances

Heineken Helen wrote:

Before I say anything... just know that I'm not giving anything away at all. It's based on a true story which is probably well known in the states anyway. And any info I give will be in most reviews... so if you're gonna be one of those fussy people who go 'why the fuck did you have to go and say that? I didn't know that', don't bother even READING the thread cos there may or may not be some discussion about the film :rolleyes: (sorry Cate, not you, but there's always ONE)

So yeh Denzel's the bad guy... the biggest heroin dealer in the states in the 70s. Russell's the narc. It IS slightly overglamourised... but in a goodfellas kinda way.

*kinda spoiler alert*





I like the way, having got to like BOTH guys in the film, they get to work together at the end... BRILLIANT ending!

oh yeah! denzel as a baddie. he does that so well. well why wouldn't he be? he's a superb actor.
if denzel's deep undercover, i dont want to know about it.

Heineken Helen

I never saw virtuosity but best to leave this thread now and go back to the other one

catefrances

The Champ wrote:

In the other thread it was also discussed that this was not their first movie together..as I thought it was too...They made 'Virtuosity' back in 1995, which I fucking hated..

i did mention that on page 1.

what? you didnt like sid 6.7?

The Champ

Heineken Helen wrote:

I never saw virtuosity but best to leave this thread now and go back to the other one

Why? I only pasted the thread here in case some were interested in reading that as well..Like you, many thought it was their first time working together....

The Champ

catefrances wrote:

i did mention that on page 1.

what? you didnt like sid 6.7?

I think I turned that shit off after about thirty minutes or so...

lalalalaaaaaaaa

*SPOILER WARNING*

I thought it was OK, but not great. Denzel is excellent in it, but the story wasn't all that interesting...especially the end where he and the cops suddenly chum up together. That seemed cheesy to me. The Frank Lucas character was great, but the movie didn't let him fully shine.

I dunno...I give it a 6 out of 10 or so. If you wanna see Denzel play a bad guy in a great movie, see Training Day.

Heineken Helen

The Champ wrote:

Why? I only pasted the thread here in case some were interested in reading that as well..Like you, many thought it was their first time working together....

ah ok, no probs

and saturnal, I thought of course Denzel was great in training day (as he always did) but the film did nothing for me

*spoiler alert*


did the teaming up together thing not REALLY happen? Who's side did the story come from? The lawyer or the dealer?

and the story wasn't interesting?

lalalalaaaaaaaa

Heineken Helen wrote:

ah ok, no probs

and saturnal, I thought of course Denzel was great in training day (as he always did) but the film did nothing for me

*spoiler alert*


did the teaming up together thing not REALLY happen? Who's side did the story come from? The lawyer or the dealer?

and the story wasn't interesting?

I dunno if they really teamed up, but seeing them laughing together and shit just seemed silly.

But your questions are exactly right...who's side did the story come from? That's the whole reason why I didn't like it. This should've been a character piece about Frank Lucas, but it wasn't. They had to make half the story about the cop, which was not interesting to me at all. The history, brutality, intelligence, innovativeness, etc. of Lucas should've been developed way more than they were, which would've made his downfall more dramatic and spectacular. But there wasn't enough time to do this because someone decided that the cop's story should be told as well.

Heineken Helen

Saturnal wrote:

I dunno if they really teamed up, but seeing them laughing together and shit just seemed silly.

But your questions are exactly right...who's side did the story come from? That's the whole reason why I didn't like it. This should've been a character piece about Frank Lucas, but it wasn't. They had to make half the story about the cop, which was not interesting to me at all. The history, brutality, intelligence, innovativeness, etc. of Lucas should've been developed way more than they were, which would've made his downfall more dramatic and spectacular. But there wasn't enough time to do this because someone decided that the cop's story should be told as well.

I dunno... seeing them teamed up made perfect sense to me... cos I was rooting for both of them. It was a bit silly cos, to have done what Lucas did, he must have been some fucker so to come away from the film actually liking him and glad he only served 15 years was quite an achievement I suppose :eek: . Of course they were trying to make it as much about the cop, in a kinda 'heat' way and I did find it interesting cos it all wrapped together in the end. It showed how some of the cops were maybe worse than the bad guys and the two of them worked together to bring them down.

catefrances

Saturnal wrote:

I dunno...I give it a 6 out of 10 or so. If you wanna see Denzel play a bad guy in a great movie, see Training Day.

oh i did.. and he was most excellent.

lalalalaaaaaaaa

catefrances wrote:

oh i did.. and he was most excellent.

mhmmm...Alonzo is by far the best villain I've seen in a long long time. The best villains are people who are as seductive as they are evil, so you can't tell they're evil until it's almost too late.