I understand why this film won Oscars. Great story, great acting, well paced, visually interesting. I cared about these people. I didn’t want the ending I knew was coming to happen.
Penn was understated and really inspiring in this part. But then he is a really great actor.
And after vowing to never watch another Van Sant film after Last Days, I am glad we gave this one a watch.
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The story of Harvey Milk, and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California’s first openly gay elected official.
Very long film about Hell’s Kitchen Irish Gangs in the late 80s and their relationship with the Italian organized crime groups of lower Manhattan.
Much scene chewing. Ed Harris’ character puts money over family – not the best way to run your gang. And if you believed this film was based on any truth you would have found a dead bartender at every bar in Hell’s Kitchen throughout the 80s.
And seriously guys, the slow motion shoot out as closing scene hasn’t been effective or edgy since Bonnie and Clyde. And you sir, are no Peckinpah.
I did learn that Hell’s Kitchen was called Clinton way back then. I thought it was some newer thing from around 1995. But no matter how long they try to call it that, I doubt it will stick.
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Terry Noonan returns home to New York’s Hells Kitchen after a ten year absence. He soon hooks up with childhood pal Jackie who is involved in the Irish mob run by his brother Frankie. Terry also rekindles an old flame with Jackie’s sister Kathleen. Soon, however, Terry is torn between his loyalty to his friends and his loyalties to others.
Four unlikeable guys are friends. They are either violent, womanizers, drug addicts, cads, assholes or a mixture of all of the above. Half of them don’t like at least one of them in the foursome. And yet they stay together as friends.
Great conversations. You never really like these guys, but you at least see where a couple of them might be coming from.
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Hollywood movers and shakers dissect their own personal lives when everything seems to clash together.
The lightest film we watched this weekend and someone still most likely dies. This Woody Allen film stars Sean Penn as guitarist Emmet Ray. Though there was nothing really likeable about Emmet, he was a womanizer, drug user, pimp and thief, you still sort of liked him in a way.
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In the 1930s, fictional jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute.
Pacino as a Puerto Rican. Come on, the guys in the film even mention that he looks like an Italian. Not as interesting a guy as one would hope. Just a dirt bag trying to stay out of prison. Sean Penn had a great wig on. Penn was probably the most complex of the characters in this film. He wanted to be a lawyer, but still wanted the ‘exciting’ life his clients led. Leguizamo played a complete dirt bag, but the costumer must have had a great time finding all of those excessively tacky tiny little suits. An ok film, but way too long. And of course, De Palma starts near the end and then tells the story of how Carlito got there. I believe he uses that tired technique in every film he does.
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A Puerto-Rican ex-con, just released from prison, pledges to stay away from drugs and violence despite the pressure around him and lead on to a better life outside of NYC.
Jude Law’s accent slips between southern, cajun, and something from the UK area of the world. Sean Penn dives in to the part. If someone gets shot point blank 5 times in the chest, is there really time for a pondering death scene?
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Based on the Robert Penn Warren novel. The life of populist Southerner Willie Stark, a political creature loosely based on Governor Huey Long of Louisiana.
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Political intrigue and deception unfold inside the United Nations, where a US Secret Service agent (Penn) is assigned to investigate an interpreter (Kidman) who overhears an assassination plot.
As a friend that had a heart transplant said “No one can do that crap after having a heart transplant, but I guess reality wasn’t sexy enough.”
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A freak accident brings together a critically ill mathematician (Penn), a grieving mother (Watts) and a born-again ex-con (Del Toro).
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