Why anticipate AMERICAN GANGSTER because it look interesting

the first time i saw this trailer was in theatres and when 'heart of the city' started playing i got goosebumps.

Maybe the trailers vary by country, but the one showing in UK cinemas is in no way encouraging or interesting-looking. It comes across, like the title, as really try-hard Goodfellas crime epic. Lame in the same way the start of The Departed is lame, actually, right down to "Oi, you can't use that song to set the scene, find another" problem (here, it's Across 110th Street, which Jackie Brown owns too completely).

When did Ridley Scott last make a good film?

deej shook.

(that is not rhetorical quesiton, as I haven't seen any of his films since Thelma & Louise)

Across 110th Street, which Jackie Brown owns too completely

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6b/Across_110th_Street.jpg/200px-Across_110th_Street.jpg

i thought the uk trailer was good. 'goodfellas' came out 17 years ago -- it's closer to 'the godfather pt ii' than it is to us. and gangster epics were not uncommon in the 70s. i think at this juncture it's acceptable to make a film about gangsters in new york without getting too worried that scorsese has done it: and anyway, the subject of 'goodfellas' was a footsoldier and there weren't cany cop characters. this is about frank lucas and his flat-footed nemesis.

cuba gooding jr as nicky barnes was kind of o_O

-- deej, Tuesday, November 6, 2007 11:29 PM (Tuesday, November 6, 2007 11:29 PM) Bookmark Link

WAHT?!

No no, it's not that I think it's going to be too similar to Goodfellas. It's just that straining for that kind of epicness that bothered me, If a film/trailer pulls it off, I've got no problem. But here, there's a real creakiness to it. Epitomised by that "bribery, extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking, murder" anatomising line of Crowe's. It's just felt a bit cringeworthy to me.

jordan sargent i just think that neither one did terribly and its a weird thing to come to a film w/ expectations that its going to be bad based on either actor's presence. t.i. got decent reviews for ATL and Crowe isn't a standout but hes not nicholas cage-level bad or anything either.

cuba gooding jr as nicky barnes was kind of o_O

-- deej, Tuesday, November 6, 2007 11:29 PM (Tuesday, November 6, 2007 11:29 PM) Bookmark Link

WAHT?!

-- The Reverend, Wednesday, November 7, 2007 3:28 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark Link

http://www.avclub.com/content/files/images/mr-untouchable-leroy-barnes.article.jpg

can u see it?

Epitomised by that "bribery, extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking, murder" anatomising line of Crowe's. It's just felt a bit cringeworthy to me.

oh thats totally tacky, i just thought it was kind of awesomely tacky. so much cliche! really good looking film too.

on that note jordan s. once again on that note u were kind of off ... it wasn't a played out jay-z song that made the trailer. you were much closer with this:

they tried to KILL my wife.

-- Jordan Sargent, Friday, October 12, 2007 8:20 AM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Link

:D

wow wtf Nicky Barnes looks JUST like Bobby Womack

maybe its just the glasses
http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/%A5Artist%20GIF%20Images/Bobby-Womack-Funny.jpg

i know that people say that it's just as lame to defend a movie by saying "it's a genre piece" as it is to tear down a movie by saying "it's just a genre piece" ... except it's not

is russell crowe any than roy scheider? is this a better movie than "the seven-ups"? who gives a shit, "the seven-ups" is the bomb.

ok another best part of the trailer is:

"who's house is this!?"
"this is your house!"
"this is my house!? THIS IS MY HOUSE!"

apologies to ppl who want to talk about the movie instead of the trailer but i haven't seen it. i still hold my hopes high.

George Will: 'more mature' than The Godfather.

This film sucked.

i think a large part of my enjoyment is the energy @ my workplace about it. everybody likes the story + denzel more than the movie tho

hey i liked this movie. good scuzzy nyc stuff going on here. josh brolin makes for a good asshole cop. russell crowe is really good but i noticed he has the weirdest "fast walk" in this movie than anyone since william peterson in "to live and die in l.a.". i forgot until i saw it how much armand assante loves to chew the scenery.

generally awful, obvious soundtrack choices though. and i don't think we needed a single minute of lucas' relationship w/his "beauty queen". AND i realize that while denzel is generally a good actor (and for this film it's not necessarily a drawback), he's turned into a really unlikeable screen presence.

he's turned into such a... nothing.

Mario Puzo's "The Godfather" -- one of the best-selling novels in the four centuries since Cervantes essentially invented the genre

does anybody know wtf Will is alluding to here? Cervantes wrote a gangster novel?

or is he saying novels are a "genre"?

this could have been great but it's not, it's shit. a big helping of blame lies with squidgefaced crowe doing his usual best at ruining films. the whole thing felt pompous too, esp with how both guys end up as flawed but basically heroic figures. just another great story turned into hollywood bullshit.

armand assante is a motherfucker

emm the movie wasn't shit. Crowe did a bangup job in both Yuma, this movie, and of course The Insider several years ago.

NOt as good as the Scorcese adaptations of Pileggi's screenplays but what the hell is?

get real, bo. this whole film seemed like a half-arsed vehicle for crowe to get an oscar - the thin boring backstory (he's an honest cop, yay! but a bad husband, boo. *such* a complex character.). he has this really off-putting way of rushing and stumbling through a film, huffing and puffing like the odds are stacked against him - someone just stick a t shirt on him saying "i am the downtrodden GOOD GUY" and be done with it.

you know how pacino in dog day afternoon was vaguely the bad guy because he was robbing a bank but once you learn his motivations you start to root for him? well in this film crowe is like that but in some parallel universe where earth is known as 'turd'

brolin is the best thing in this film, he owns crowe and washington both

you know how pacino in dog day afternoon was vaguely the bad guy because he was robbing a bank but once you learn his motivations you start to root for him? well in this film crowe is like that but in some parallel universe where earth is known as 'turd'

I love how this builds like it's moving towards something interesting then ends with "earth is known as 'turd'"

what a disappointment, this movie. so unexciting in every way. and annoyingly one of those movies like unbreakable that ends with a title card that says something like "and afterwards, lots more stuff that is way interesting than what you've seen here happened. THE END"

brolin and assante, actually. love those guys.

crap movie

This sucked hugely. I could've definitely watched two hours of naked chicks counting dough though.

wow this sucked pretty comprehensively.

i liked it well enough. not as good as it should've been but i wouldn't say it sucks.

It's pretty weak. Good score though.

brolin turned in the one intersting performance. denzel w on autopilot for the -- what? -- tenth year running. russell crowe wasn't always this bad at playing american cops convincingly.

REALLY odd structure -- they withhold the details of the smuggling operation till two hours in. and the trial at the end, which looks like it's going to be a frame for a bunch of stuff, ie how crowe used washington to take down corrupt cops, er... disappears! perhaps the extended cut does that better.

am i right in thinking, based on the end cards, that crowe actually defends washington in the trial? not clear enough, and would have been more interesting that, say, crowe's divorce proceedings, or the zillion inserts of news from vietnam.

there were some pretty shots by harris savides.

i'm anticipating we own the night.

-- lauren, Friday, October 19, 2007 7:25 PM (5 months ago) Bookmark Link

^^ much better film

we own the night is ridiculous but sort of...entertaining...

i think i liked this film better right after i saw it because i usually enjoy nyc 70s flicks like this as a rule and brolin was genuinely awesome. not sure i can stand by any other praise i had upthread, though it doesn't seem like i could think of anything to praise even then.

I can't believe this tripe began the Oscar season as a contender.

we own the night was kinda ridic but so much better.

i mean AG didn't even try to do anything as cool as the car chase in WOTN

we own the night was kind of a piece of shit and so badly paced and the dumbest story/ending i've seen in ages but yeah there was some cool stuff and i wasn't ever bored

Just saw this, finally. Not on a par with the movies it wants to be ranked with, but I liked it a lot, don't regret the time spent.

^one for the sticker

this kind of sucks

we own the night was kind of a piece of shit and so badly paced and the dumbest story/ending i've seen in ages but yeah there was some cool stuff and i wasn't ever bored
― omar little, Friday, March 28, 2008 8:42 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

heh I remember being underwhelmed as hell by WOtN

yet We Own the Night is the better film

"and afterwards, lots more stuff that is way interesting than what you've seen here happened. THE END"

I miss slocki