Reviews

Everything about this movie is superb. I don't want to give away anything about the plot. What really remains with you in its visual and sonic beauty as well as people that touch your very spirit. Here is a film which is epic, armies charging across the desert, intrigue, politics, and at the same time deeply personal moving story of a troubled but extra-ordinary man. Few films have affected me like this one. It is both cerebral, thought provoking and also wildly exuberantly entertaining. The more times you see it, the more you understand about lawrence and the nature of mankind. It shows everything a man can be, full of integrity, hypocritical, bold, cowardly, brave, foolhardy. IT must be experienced. It is moving and completely unforgettable.

This movie is a shameless piece of entertainment. It doesn't succeed as a drama and it isn't even the best action movie I've ever seen. However its still good. There are some great scenes. My favorite scene in the film is when Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner)confronts the evil AL Capone(Robert Deniro)in the hotel lobby. It is one of my all time favorites. "You got nuttin, ya hear, nuttin'" Classic. There are plenty of other good lines. Mainly this is a comic look at gangsters. It was based on a kids show for crying out loud. The characters are little more then characatures. So what! Unlike other gangster flicks, we identify with the good honest Ness instead of the Deniro character. At the end however he sacrifices his moral integrity by commiting murder. You know, when he throws the guy of the building. Oh well, you weren't expecting it were you? Uneccessary maybe but its just a movie. we pay to see the bad guy get it in the end. Freudian catharsis and all that. HOwever, I think some of the violence was completely unnecessary. Forget the historical innacuricies. What you have is some of the greatest actors having a field day with their material. Don't take it too seriously. It has its faults but its still a lot of fun.

All right the chick that played shawn's girlfriend is hot. That's the only good thing about this movie. All the actors look like they're terribly embarassed in they're poorly developed characters. Too much crass humor for a PG-13. I don't mind vulgarity if the jokes are actually funny. But this movie runs and hides behind all the worn out cliches of the teen/runaway genre. Shawn's disfunctioal family is played for laughs that never elicited a smile from me. Drunkeness, drugs, neglecting children, and so on is a serious issue and too many movies seem determined to erode even basic family values. My dad is a recovering alcoholic and there is nothing funny about it in the least. I have a great sense of humore but not for worn out tedium such as this.

Robert Deniro as Jake La Motta in Raging bull is a boxer who's violence in the ring spills out into his home life. This not a boxing movie per se but a character study of a near pshcotic pugilist. THis guy is just overflowing with testosterone and has a severly unbalanced mental state. Any thing that gets in his way he promptly smashes. Raging bull is a study of male rage which knows no bounds. Jake La Motta has a massive inferiority complex which drives him to the heights of brutality. IN the ring, Jake is the pride of his neighborhood. Outside the ring however he hurts his family and friends. He wants to maintain control over his wife and does so through bullying and phsical abuse. He realizes she is the better person and feels she must be having an affair whenever he is away. His performance in the ring takes away from his sex life with her. HE cannot lose control of the things he feels he has a right to. In the end who loses everything; his wife his brother's support, and his status as a boxer. WIth age his violent passions subdued in part by his great weight he becomes a mere shadow of his former self. In closing this is a brilliant picture that should have swept the 1980 academy awards. One of my alltime top ten.

People say that NBK inspires killers. For me it gave me a headache and I found myself wanting to fastforward the whole rotten thing. Only my desire to comment on this film kept me going. I'm open minded to things that make sense but this film is just utter oppressive crap. I haven't had this much fun since I watched part of the execrable Deathwish 3, worst movie I've seen by far. Oh sure Rodney Dangerfield gets a laugh. In every freakin' hollywood film I've seen they have to portray American families as drunken slobby perverts. Hollywood directors think they're god at times and make this drivel. This whole movie is full of sh$t and so are you if you find a grain of intelligence in this tedious monstosity. THe whole thing resembles an 80's music video dragged out for almost 2 hours. Yes we make celebrities out of serial killers and other perverts. Yes we are interested in bad behavior. Is this movie a clever take on this subject hell no! I'm not asking Stone and others to be responsible for their work. I hope Stone can't sleep at night when he thinks about this utter trash. I merely want to say that drugs are bad and this movie is far worse.

Goodfellas is an amazing gritty colorful and often darkly amusing look at a group of gangsters over a thirty year period. Robert Deniro is perfect as Jimmy the Gent, the more stable pro in the group. Joe Pesci is well Joe Pesci except in this particular film he gets to act out all his most violent fantasies. Ray Liotta is also great as the seemingly detached gangster whose amoral decisions and lifestyle never seem to register on his conscience. The movie is morally ambiguous but I still find myself loathing pesci's character for his insanely cruel behavior. The film is very stylish and engaging which is good. At the same time you see how really rotten they are in the end. Lost word is its fantastic and an absolute mustsee!!! Martin Scorseses is one of my favorite directors Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, are also among my all time favorite movies. See this film right away!!