Gangster Movie Fan Site

Review : Reservoir Dogs

2008-02-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

"Reservoir Dogs" is a supremely confident debut feature by writer and director Quentin Tarantino. And just like his follow up "Pulp Fiction", it generated the type of hype that it should struggle to justify. But it remains as shocking, perversely funny, and stylish as upon original release.

The movie has earned itself a reputation as a violent picture and provided a convenient platform for some hysterical media reaction. As is often the case, viewing reveals a different truth. And the classic and sadly underused technique of implied action suggests a more powerful horror than you can actually see.

Many modern directors are too weak and feeble to explore suggested violence. Instead they employ effects-loaded frames of brutality to make their point. Tarantino exploits audience savvy, preferring to build anticipation, mesmerise, and then cut away at the climax, as in the infamous ear-severing scene. Somehow it's horribly effective and lingers far longer than the usual point blank bloodshed that seems compulsory in other movies.

The film essentially revolves around a robbery that has gone wrong. Abandoning the conventional format of natural chronological storytelling, Tarantino creates a tapestry of flashbacks that cleverly build to a conclusion. This allows separate scenes to be showcased as individual vignettes that the cast exploit to the full.

Clearly sure of his chosen format, Tarantino inserts some bravura highlights. These include the dissection of a scene where a shifty Tim Roth goes into a mens room where a gaggle of cops happen to be having a conversation. It's a beautiful example of the film's clever balance of humour and tension.

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Writer: Quentin Tarantino

Stars: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Quentin Tarantino, Edward Bunker

Review : Snatch

2008-02-03T11:57:00.000-08:00

A diamond heist gone helter-skelter, the rough and tumble world of bare knuckle boxing, a colorful Irish gypsy and...a dog. Writer-director Guy Ritchie’s highly anticipated Snatch is a rollicking ride through London’s gangster world, the bustling diamond district and a rowdy gypsy camp.

Diamond thief and courier Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro) arrives in London en route to New York to deliver a huge diamond to boss Avi (Dennis Farina). In his mission to offload smaller stones to Avi’s cousin, Doug 'The Head' (Mike Reid) and other local Hatton Garden jewellers, he is tempted into placing a bet on an illegal boxing bout by Boris 'The Blade' (Rade Sherbedgia). Little does he know that Boris has set him up - and local pawnshop owners Vinny (Robbie Gee) and Sol (Lennie James), along with their rather plump getaway driver, Tyrone (Ade) are to rob him at the bookies.

Meanwhile, novice unlicensed boxing promoters Turkish (Jason Statham) and his business partner Tommy (Stephen Graham) move into the 'big time' through a fight with local kingpin villain, boxing promoter and pig farm owner, Brick Top (Alan Ford). But when the novice’s fighter is knocked out by Mickey O’Neil (Brad Pitt), a wildcard Irish gypsy boxer, the boys convince him to fight in their boxer’s place in Brick Top’s rigged match.

Unfortunately, Mickey proves to be highly unreliable and the duo find themselves in trouble as the fearless fighter refuses to "go down in the fourth" as planned. Luckily, the gypsy’s prowess and technique impress Brick Top -- saving all three from the fate of his pig farm. The catch is Mickey has to fight again -- and has to get it right this time -- since Brick Top more than happy to use brutality and bloodshed to make his point.

In New York, news that Franky has been waylaid by the bookies sends Avi into a tailspin and he and his henchman hop on a plane to London. They hire local legend, 'Bullet Tooth' Tony (Vinnie Jones) to find Franky and the diamond. The sorry fate of the diamond courier is soon discovered and the hunt for the missing stone launches everyone into a madcap spiral which threatens to spin out of control...

Double-crossing, double bluffing and double-dealing abound as various parties pursue personal agendas -- all of them illegal, some of them farcical and most of them destined to end in blood, pain and retribution. As plans go haywire and tempers fray, dogs, diamonds, caravans, boxers and assorted weaponry get swept up into a chaotic free-for all...

Review | Carlito's Way

2008-02-02T01:36:00.000-08:00

Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino) is released from a thirty-year prison sentence after five years when his lawyer David Kleinfeld (Sean Penn) takes advantage of a legal loophole. Carlito is glad to be out and is set up by his connections as the owner of a nightclub; but life has changed since he's been inside, and although he reunites with Gail (Penelope Ann Miller), an old flame, things start to go badly wrong...

This conventional, occasionally inspired, gangster movie was scripted by David Koepp from two novels by real-life judge Edwin Torres. We see Carlito getting shot while boarding a train at the beginning of the story, so the rest of the action is devoted to detailing his downfall in flashback. Since we know how he ends up, Carlito's Way is more about the journey than the destination.

The trouble is, it is made clear early on that Carlito is a man whose code of honour is out of step with the times, in this case the mid-seventies. He apparently comes from an era where gangsters had nothing but respect for each other and the young punks rising up to take his place are nothing but thugs, living by a code of violence and arrogance, fueled by drugs and alcohol. Pacino supplies us with an introspective voiceover in case we haven't picked up on this theme, which is pretty much reiterated throughout the film, making for a one-note experience.

While Brian De Palma has been accused of misogyny in the past, here he goes too far the other way with the character of Gail. She represents all that Carlito wants to aspire to: settling down with a good, honest woman, having a family and giving up on the criminal life. This means that Gail is put up on a pedestal from which she never descends; although the romance is sweet and shows us an admirable side of Carlito, it's too saccharine for a thriller like this.

Pacino stylishly imbues his hero with a mixture of grace and steel, but it's Sean Penn who impresses the most. Kleinfeld is a crooked lawyer, sick of being pushed around by the crooks who are his bread and butter, but growing too coke-addled to make sensible decisions. So he becomes foolhardy, which leads to an act of spectacular stupidity during a jailbreak he has reluctantly taken part in. Penn's slimy perfomance manages to paper over the cracks of his role's less believable excesses.

As the whole thing is fairly predictable, you can just sit back and enjoy De Palma's talent with the camera and his way with a setpiece. The climactic chase is superbly handled, with Carlito pursued by hoodlums through the subway as he tries to reach the station. Incidentally, this film must hold the record for the frequency that people say the main character's name - even though Gail calls him "Charlie" for a variation, "Carlito" must be spoken over fifty times. Music by Patrick Doyle.

Graeme Clark

Review | Once Upon A Time in America

2008-02-02T01:12:00.000-08:00

Sergio Leone's final film is also one of his finest, a kaleidoscopic epic that creatively interweaves several different eras. While Leone remains best known as a Spaghetti Westerns specialist, this landmark gangster picture - every bit as ambitious and colossal as its title suggests - shows how his talents transcended genre boundaries.

It's as if the director took the classic crime films of Mervyn LeRoy and Raoul Walsh (both of whom he worked with in his early days as an assistant) and decided to boost the formula and expand the format. Eschewing the economy and knockabout pace of such pictures, he stretches this meditation on male relationships and the price of violence over almost four long, long hours. The end result is an intricate and carefully paced chronicle of a group of Jewish hoodlums and of a nation itself.

The film centres on the criminal career of Noodles, a "two-bit punk" on New York's Lower East Side who forms an alliance with Max, another of the neighbourhood's young hell-raisers. The pair aim to get rich quick but soon fall foul of local kingpin Bugsy, resulting in the death of a friend and a long stint inside for Noodles. On his release, Noodles wants out of the game for good but Max, who has grown evermore arrogant and ambitious, urges him to pursue new business with Joe Pesci's fearsome mobster Frankie Minaldi.

Leone's picture veers between scenes of elegiac old-world nostalgia - such as the young boy arguing the toss between a cream dessert and the opportunity to lose his virginity - and moments of savage, often misogynistic violence. There's not one but two rape sequences here, as well as a few gruesome tortures. Stick with it and you'll be rewarded with a clutch of plum performances (Woods, in particular, has never been better), some handsome cinematography and a memorable score from (who else?) Ennio Morricone.

Chris Wiegand

The best gangster film ever

2008-02-02T00:26:00.000-08:00

For me...

1. Goodfellas
Goodfellas is the best has famous movie stars like Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, and Robert Deniro. It has a lot of blood and shootings during wackings which the godfather did not. Joe Pesci also has a oscar performance. While Robert Deniro is just as amazing in a supporting role. And that guy from Romeo and Juliet’s dad is in there.

2. Godfather Trilogy
The Godfather is the most popular of the gangster genres. Lot of star people like Marlon Brando, Al Paccino, John Cazale. The movie really started the careers of Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton and many others. This movie is very long somewhat boring but has a really good story line. Godfather 2 is actually better than the first one. This movie has not enough blood and shooting. But John Cazale is amazing he has a great performance as Fredo.

3. Scarface
Actor Al Pacino in the role of Tony Montana a miami gangster drug dealer. He is a tough gangster who kills everyone he meets and says fuck all the time. He stars off as a poor dishwasher former criminal who just came to America Florida from Fidel Castro’s communist Cuba. Montana in America dreams the American dream. Montana similar to Jimmy Cagney in White Heat wants the world and everythings thats coming to him. The movie contains the famous lines such as “Say Hello to my little friend” and “In American first you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women”. The movie is wonderfully done and shows the legend of an actor Al Pacino is. The movie is very bloody and contains lots of bad language especially fuck. This is probably one of the best gangster movies ever made I highly recommend it.

4. The Untouchables
Is about Eliot Ness played by Kevin Costner as a cop along with his many partners trying to catch Al Capone played by Robert Deniro. A lot of people say this is one of the best gangster films. But I thought the story was boring and done before. The movie is basically about the side of the cop. The only good part of the movie is Robert Deniro as Al Capone but Deniro’s scenes are cut to short. Sean Connery as Jim Malone also has an Oscar winning performance. The movie has many nice shootings and nice costuming of gangster suits. But I would not recommend this movie it is too boring.

5. Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction is one of the best films ever made in my generation in 90’s. It has many famous stars like Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Uma Turman, Sam L. Jackson. The film is very weird and funny. It has one of the best diagolues which is so funny. And John Travolta revived his career because of this film.

6. Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels
Director Guy Ritchie expertly concocted an amusing crime thriller replete with crosses and double crosses among various criminal groups in London's underworld. The plot surrounds a group of 4 low level criminals played by Jason Statham, Nick Moran, Jason Flemyng and Dexter Fletcher who pool their resources to sit in at a high stakes card game with a 100,000 pound admission. Nick Moran playing Eddie is a card shark but the game run by porn king Harry "Hatchet" Lonsdale played by P.J. Moriarty is fixed. He loses the 100,000 and an aditional 500,000 which must be paid within a week or else.
The band of 4 friends contrive to recoup the stolen funds by ripping off a marijuana growing cartel that conveniently live next door. That group had already been targeted by other group of robbers and things as a result get predictably muddled.
Meanwhile The "Hatchet" has commissioned the theft of a pair of antique shotguns worth a small fortune that bizarrely wind up in the hands of Moran and his friends. The various groups begin exchanging both the money and the shotguns among them leaving behind a trail of bloodied corpses in this farcical romp.
Ritchie concludes this well contrived comedic thriller, which includes a plethora of tough looking British thugs, with a touch of irony that effectively caps this winning film.

7. Reservoir Dogs
The first film by Quentin Tarantino. About 7 strangers that come together to pull a bank robbery. But everything goes wrong, some of them are killed. And the rest come together in a warehouse, screaming at each other trying to find a rat in the group. Reservoir Dogs has lots of blood. It contains some scenes that are really nasty like the earing cuting scene. It has lot of great killing cops scences. It is a great little movie. It changes scences like pulp fiction it also resembles pulp fiction. You can really see that Tarantino was experimenting in his first film. Reservoir Dog feels like a little movie not a big one like the godfather or scarface but its one of the best gangster movies ever created.

8. Snatch
Movie that takes a little patience to get into. The first 15-20 minutes are a bit confusing. There are a lot of characters to introduce, and Ritchie's fitful editing style - reminiscent of music video-style flash - is something the viewer will have to get used to. But once it settles down and we get into the flow of it, it is a very entertaining, even hilarious, movie.Brad Pitt does a superb job and shows once more why he is not only a big star but a fine actor. All the actors in this are excellent. It's a film about confusion, dumb plots, and drastic mistakes made by people who think they're smart when really they are all dumb as lamposts.

9. Carlito's Way
In one of his best performances ever, Al Pacino is the engine that keeps "Carlito's Way" moving from beginning to end. Recently-released from prison, Carlos Brigante (played marvelously by Pacino) is a former Puerto Rican drug lord who ruled New York City's drug world during the 1960's and 1970's. Assisted by his lawyer (Sean Penn) Pacino is determined to stay out of the trade that landed him in prison in the first place. However, as usual trouble always lurks in every corner.
Deciding to buy and operate a Latin nightclub from an owner who is seriously in debt (played by the famous Argentine comedian Jorge Porcel, who had a cult following throughout Latin America due to his sexually-charged comedy skit show "A La Cama Con Porcel; he is know as the Latin-version of "Benny Hill"). Yet as old faces reemerge onto the scene, newer faces have also started to take a foothold in Brigante's former empire, especially Benny Blanco (played by the ever-wonderful John Leguizamo).
Directed by Brian de Palma ("Carrie"), this is one of the most realistic, and historic accurate pictures of life in New York City's urban jungle during the late 1970's/early 1980's. Penelope Ann Miller ("Adventures in Babysitting" is great as Brigante's love interest, and Luis Guzman always is a scene-stealer playing Pacino's right-hand man.

10. Once Upon A Time In America
Please do not get bogged down when you see that the running time in 229 minutes. You will understand the whole work only after you watch the full movie. Its a gangster movie, but of a different kind. It just does not concentrate on the brutal activities, but explores the characters over several decades which passes by at a moderate pace. It observes the proceeding in great detail, which runs with the risk of being termed slow, but, its not really slow. It develops the characters and the life they will live gradually through a series of incidents at different points of their life - through a brilliant set of flash-backs and flash-forwards. Its difficult to say exactly whether this was first of its kind of story telling in 1982, but definitely smart and intelligent. Yes, it makes the job to assimilate the story more difficult .