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Moriarty’s Movie Marathon Continues! A Double-Feature of AMERICAN GANGSTER And MR. UNTOUCHABLE!
Hey, everyone. “Moriarty” here.
I wanna be Capone when I grow up.
And not Al Capone, the gangster. I mean Capone, our movie reviewer here at AICN. He’s the hardest working man in rock and roll. He’s always got his reviews ready for Friday. He’s a machine. He’s a sex god. His sheer productivity shames me. But since we’re talking about Al Capone, gangster, I want to weigh in on this fall’s two big contributions to gangster cinema. One is a documentary that includes many iconic images, and the other is a fiction film that draws specifically upon those real iconic images. Seeing both of them sets off some fascinating echoes, in ways that the filmmakers couldn’t have intended.
MR. UNTOUCHABLE
AMERICAN GANGSTER
If you’ve seen Ridley Scott’s AMERICAN GANGSTER, then you have Cuba Gooding Jr fresh in your head as Nicky Barnes, a proud black gangster from the ‘70s, competition to Frank Lucas, played by Denzel Washington. By coincidence, Marc Levin (PROTOCOLS OF ZION, SOLDIERS IN THE ARMY OF GOD) made a documentary about the real Nicky Barnes at the same time that Ridley Scott made his film. I like some of Levin’s earlier work, and I’ve written about him here and on my blog. I think he’s got balls. I think he’s a fearless interviewer. I don’t think he’s a great interviewer in terms of pushing the subject... but he knows how to get someone to sit down and talk to the camera. He can get them comfortable. That’s not a small skill for a documentary filmmaker to have in the toolbox. I think Levin’s problem here is that his narrator... his main interview... is an unreliable subject. I think Nicky Barnes is a man in love with the image of Nicky Barnes. The moment that gives the film its title is a key piece of Levin’s film. It’s maybe the pivotal moment for Barnes as a character. And it’s one of the few inarguably true moments in the film. A lot of this movie played to me like someone self-mythologizing. Henry Hill did a fair amount of this, but I don’t care because Martin Scorsese rocked GOOD FELLAS something fierce.
The real reason to see Levin’s film is if you see Ridley Scott’s movie and enjoy it and you want to see just how right he got all the production design. These two men moved in the same circles, dealt with the same people, and even crossed paths on occasion. As a result, I get a feeling that Ridley Scott and his production designer Arthur Max must have seen a fair amount of reference material that looked just like Levin’s documentary. They may have seen some of the same exact stuff that Levin did. There are images that show up in both movies, like the rooms full of topless or even nude black woman working in drug processing houses, or the handing out of turkeys. Steven Zallian, in fine form, must have seen that same reference material himself, and lots of it. If MR. UNTOUCHABLE establishes what reality was like, then AMERICAN GANGSTER takes full advantage of that, and it plays everything real but magnified.
I think Ridley Scott’s at the top of his form lately. I think he has always been a populist filmmaker first, a visual artist second. He makes slick entertainment. He is almost surgical about it. And I admire the hell out of him for the way he has slowly evolved a really wide visual vocabulary over the years. AMERICAN GANSTER doesn’t look a thing like KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. It’s not cut like KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. It’s not paced like KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. And neither of them feels a thing like BLACK HAWK DOWN. I’m baffled by anyone who compares Ridley Scott’s work to Tony Scott’s work. Ever. Tony Scott has one style he takes from project to project to project. It’s evolved over the years. Slowly. But MAN ON FIRE looks just like DOMINO looks just like DÉJÀ VU. And back in the day, THE HUNGER, BEVERLY HILLS COP 2, and TOP GUN all looked exactly alike. Which is, frankly, insane.
I don’t know the full history of how AMERICAN GANGSTER was developed. I know some other directors were attached to it at various points, including Antoine Fuqua. Was he directing a Zallian script? Or was someone else writing it for Fuqua? Because if so, where are they in that screenplay credit? I do know that the real-life figures who the film is based on are starting to complain that the movie isn’t quite like real life. Duh. Zallian’s script is simply too well-structured and thematically consistent to be real life. It’s a movie. It’s a great big old-fashioned movie. And as such, it’s really entertaining and satisfying.
When Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington appeared in VIRTUOSITY together, one of the reasons it irritated me is because I already believed these were two of the best guys in their age range, heavy hitters, and I wanted to see them really go head to head. The way Zallian’s built the journey here, the way he intercuts these stories, the particular ways he emphasizes who these men are, how they love their families, what they believe in... it’s rich. The film takes its time. It’s one of the most languid films that Ridley Scott’s ever made, and it’s especially nice to see that in a post-GOODFELLAS world, where it seems like everybody’s stylistically chased that film when doing the mob. THE SOPRANOS would never have existed without GOODFELLAS specifically. There are, of course, other heavy hitting gangster cinema titles that have been equally imitated, like SCARFACE or THE GODFATHER films, but AMERICAN GANGSTER doesn’t feel like it’s imitating any of those films, and that alone is an accomplishment not to be underestimated. I would compare this to Michael Mann’s HEAT in some ways, but Mann always does his best to write in haiku, suggesting more than he ever makes explicit. Zallian, on the other hand, is a fairly traditional writer, and his screenplays always feel to me like classic studio system screenplays... smart and carefully constructed and built to entertain. AMERICAN GANGSTER’s first image lets you know exactly how cold-blooded Frank Lucas is capable of being, important when you’ve got someone as innately likable as Denzel playing the part. You’ve got to tell the audience that Denzel is genuinely dangerous here, and you’ve got to make them believe it. And Russell Crowe’s playing a much nicer, more decent and even garrulous guy than he normally plays. By casting both the stars against type, Scott makes you pay attention to them. You’re waiting to see if they can pull it off, and they do, in fairly impressive fashion.
They’re given great support by a sprawling supporting cast. Ruby Dee plays Frank’s mom, and she steals every moment she’s onscreen. I love her in the film, and she gives her final moment a gravity that is impossible to deny. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays one of Frank’s brothers, and he’s a great match for Denzel. Josh Brolin continues his winning streak this year with a slimy appearance as Detective Trupo, the most corrupt cop in New York, a photo negative of the hyper-honest Richie Roberts (Crowe).
Lymari Nadal and Carla Gugino do strong work as the women in the lives of Lucas and Roberts, and Zallian’s script actually gives them something to do and doesn’t just marginalize them. Roger Gueneveur Smith, John Hawkes, RZA, Armand Assante, Common, Kevin Corrigan, Joe Morton, and the great John Ortiz all make something memorable of their brief onscreen time.
Technically, AMERICAN GANGSTER is as slick as big-studio money can buy. Harris Savides is a damn good D.P., and he gives the film a look we really haven’t seen from Scott before. Pietro Scalia’s work keeps the entire 2 hour and 40 minute film feeling electric, always moving forward, anything but boring. And as I noted before, the production design is something else, well-observed period that never overwhelms the film. It’s easy for period movies to feel like people playing dress-up, but this feels like a ‘70s film. It’s everything... the look, the filmmaking, the approach of the actors.
I wouldn’t call AMERICAN GANGSTER one of the best films of the year, but I would call it tremendously entertaining, and well worth seeing theatrically. MR. UNTOUCHABLE, while interesting, is sort of a rough draft of a movie, and it really only makes an interesting footnote to the other better film. Still, if you find yourself intrigued by the world and wanting to learn more, you’ve got an option.
I’m leaving LA on Thursday, so I need to finish up some more reviews that are backlogged before I go. Better get to it...
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
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I've only heard positive things from anyone who has seen American Gangster.
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It's a detective story in which there is very little and not very interesting detective work and the main detective character is very flawed to say the least and the main interest of the film is the atmosphere and the crimminals. Granted, 1970s Harlem isn't as groundbreaking a setting as the world of Blade Runner, but I found the setting to be a huge part of the entertainment in this film. I think Crowe and Ford did great jobs in terms of acting in those films, but their characters were Dickens style windows to more interesting worlds. I agree with Mori that Ridley doesn't film any two movies alike, but the way AG and BR played out and the genre and overall appeal of the films felt very similiar to me.
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Deja Vu was more like a McG movie than a Tony Scott movie. It was shockingly devoid of rapid-fire editing and ultra shakey-cam. But it did have other elements of Tony Scott movies, like a nonsensical plot and a plot device that was totally left-field and supremely stupid. I actually kinda liked it until Denzel steps in the microwave oven and transports back in time. If I was in the theater I would probably have left at that moment.
But as for big brother, Ridley fucking rules. I just got the Kingdom of Heaven 4 disc set and plan a day of watching it. The trailer for American Gangster they've been playing for months really killed my enthusiasm for it, but since the word is good about the movie, I'm aiming to catch it. So far Mori, you haven't let me down in any of your assessments.
I did see Levin's Protocols of Zion, and I agree with your point about his docs. He's lacking in many respects as a documentarian, because he oversimplifies his subjects instead of deconstructing and examining them in great detail. He's kinda like a first-year film school student who finds a subject and goes around the street talking to people about it. Not worth the time. -
I haven't been that blown away by his films recently and i know not why exactly!? He made two of my all time favourit movies - Bladerunner and Alien and some other interesting stuff like Legend so maybee i just dig his vision more when it's sci0fi or fantasy because his realistic drama stuff ever since the shit Thelma and Louise and recently Black Hawk Down, Matchstickmen and Kingdom of Heaven and even gladiator didn't do much for me and if I didn't know were all his movies I'd never guess!This does look like a solidly entertaining gangster flick though in the vein of Donnie Brasco or more recently the Departed which if not exactly classic like Scarface or Godfather are at least great cinema!
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You're in for a treat with the Kingdom of Heaven boxset, phenomenal viewing.
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It is about time Scott made another sci-fi/fantasy movie.
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Nov 07, 2007 8:28:21 AM CST
I Get All My History From The Movies and Those who make them . .
by guy gaduois
Yes, I Get All My History From The Movies and Those People Who make movies . . . as well as my politics, parenting skills, science and knowledge of medicine. I thought I had understood that Harlem and BedStuy were a flourishing utopic paradise of philosophy, humanitarianism, inventiveness and a hothouse for human kindnesses, a melting pot of tolerance and a generally swell place to live and exist UNTIL the CIA invented, marketed, sold and enslaved the once hopeful denizens of the area to the evil that is Crack Cocaine (not to mention the heretofore unseen method of smoking it with a Crack Pipe) But if "American Gangster" is to be believed, heroin isn't much of a fun, recreational drug, and its distribution leads to violence, death and mayhem. Didn't seem to be a problem for the folks at Woodstock, but I digress. Did the scene where Frank Lucas is actually a white dude working for the CIA end up on the editing room floor? Next thing you'll tell me is that some politicians might not be good at what they do - that some of them aren't just spunky and misunderstood, they're just dumber than broom handles. What's next? Bob Woodward doesn't look like Robert Redford? Damnable. Where are you, Spike Lee - won't you point us toward the light? -
Had that movie come out a year later and not chopped to pieces, it might have been remembered more fondly by the masses. But alas, I'm looking forward to seeing the whole thing, especially the documentary.
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and you're married to Diane Lane, how could you possibly be broke?!? Dude, I'd be asking for an allowance from both of them.
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That was meant for the WGA Strike talkback.
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...BELONGS to Jackie Brown. Why Ridley couldn't find his own cool-70s-song. And don't tell me that was homage to tarantino because his movie was already homage...
But in general I agree with Mori, It was good movie...mostly because of Denzel. Every time when Brolin came to screen it was great movie. But Crowes character bored me to death. -
. . . not groundbreaking, but a solid, entertaining movie. But I wouldn't say Lymari Nadal was given crap to do. She was like a pretty, mostly concerned or upset prop. Gugino was barely given anything to do. And how old is Armand Assante? He just keeps on going and going and going . . .
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What a great great movie... and a great great documentary! I also enjoyed AG...
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What do you think, mo?
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Nov 07, 2007 9:59:06 AM CST
Why do I feel it was the same kind of "coincidence"...
by stalin vs predator
...that makes Asylum release movies like "Transmorphers", "The da Vinci Treasure" and "Pirates of Treasure Island"? Sure, it's probably a good documentary and I will certainly see it, but come on... try to say that its timing was a coincidence while keeping a serious face...
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and Nude Women processing drugs, sounds like New Jack City to me. Looks like Mario Van Peebles did the research first.
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If not, it's not authentic.
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saw it last night. total let down. all the rappers in this film took me right out of it. RZA's wu tang tattoo? cmon cover it up...this is supposed to be the 70s.casting sucked. and they could have cut like an hour off the movie. and the guy with the moustache? haha. was that chappelle drssed up like a white guy? so stupid.
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I needs me a good popcorn crime flick! Nice reviews Mori!
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It seemed like Ridley, being a Brit, didn't really understand what America was like in the 60s. Because, other than the bad Spencer gift mustaches, fake afros and thrift store clothes, he did nothing to capture that time and place. Besides that, Russell Crowe didn't impress me all that much and Denzel was just playing Denzel. He even managed to fit in his trademark "My man" followed by a menacing smile. And it got more annoying and took me out of the movie more every time he did it. I disagree about the rappers, though. Common was fine and I liked the RZA (Wu Tang tattoo and all). But TI sucked. He was so intent on trying to look hard, but it just seemed like he was constipated the whole movie.
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Have you lost your freakin mind! This might just be a masterpiece after I see a couple more times. This contains some of the best work from all involved in making this film. Big kudos to Scott, Crowe, Washington, and the RZA.
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The movie was okay, but lacks the cultural authenticity of a Goodfellas or Godfather, a quality which elevated those genre pics to the level of greatness. Funny how Ridley's futuristic movies seem more "real" than this by the numbers flick. Wasn't crazy about the cinematography either. Taken on its own it was slick work, but it didn't seem to fit the time period.
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Where's the South Park talkback?? Are you guys on strike too?? And Star Trek begins filming today, you guys have given us no tidbits on this film, nothing. Herc told us Shatner would be in then Shatner said he was not in the film. What is going on with this project??? A set photo, picture of the new Enterprise, anything. Wake the fuck up, we don't need 10 fucking American Gangster talkbacks. Great film but what the fuck!! South Park has been on fire for the past few weeks. I liked this place alot more when there wasn't so much star - fucking. most of us don't give a shit about an interview with Robert Redford. very cool and I loved The Candidate and The Natural but interview William Shatner, interview Roy Scheider, interview Mark Hammil and Harrison Ford, get the idea???
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With or without Simon Pegg...
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Across 110th Street started playing in AG. Booby Womack and Anthony Quinn for the win!
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I thought he him coming across as an idiot was intentional. I mean the guy ditches a career in baseball to be a drug dealer. I thought he actually played a stupid short-sighted overly cocky idiot very well. I didn't think any of Frank's family were actually supposed to be harcore. He brought them into his business because he could trust them, not because they were ruthless. Frank was only true blue gangsta.
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in the same way that the lead singer of the Police and the english lord currently recording minstrel ballads under the name of Sting cannot possibly be the same man, so too can the man who directed Blade Runner and today's version of "Ridley Scott" not possibly be the same man, either.trust me when i say that American Gangster is a bloodless pile of horseshit.
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is good as fucking hell
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in a good way, i mean
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Moriarty, I am really letdown as many seem to be that you A) totally loved American Gangster and B) failed to discuss what the film does wrong and why it's not the masterpiece IT should have BEEN. Of course, you are entitled to your opinion and the freedom to write waht you want. But still, American Gangster is not even in the top 20 best films for 2007 and it looked like a sureshot. The entire film uses the environment of Harlem to lush up the generic performances of so many characters/actors in this film, notably Frank Lucas/Denzel and Richie Roberts/Crowe. Even for the crime genre, where story archs and language are so oft-repeated, American Gangster does nothing original or new with its cardboard characters. Your review fails to get into this and yet you act as if American Gangster deserves such merit. Thank you for at least not stating that American Gangster belongs up there with Scarface, Goodfellas, Casino, Bugsy, Sopranos, Serpico, Heat and The Departed. For you to say that Michael Mann's Heat carries less depth than American Gangster is a huge oversight and mistake. Mann's Heat is not only the blueprint for Zallian's AG script, but it is exponentially better. Compare the minor characters in Heat, like Natalie Portman as Pacino's daughter or Val Kilmer as De Niro's righthand man to the roles of Carla Gugino and Lucas's brother. Hell even Val Kilmer's wife played by Ashley Judd had a more memorable subplot and meatier material in Heat compared to Ruby Dee as Lucas's mom (a far more important character). And yet you have the audacity to compare Heat to a haiku? If anything, it's vice versa. Heat was epic, as it showed the tenets, detail, stress and intensity of both the good cop and the good criminal. American Gangster allows Denzel to say "My Man" four times and expects the audience to be surprised at the character's depth, intelligence and deadliness. BULLSHIT. Heat is a masterpiece and the most thorough, complex film about crime ever made by Hollywood. De Niro and Pacino both delivered performances that played to their strengths and yet made the characters stand out, which is what you claim Denzel and Crowe did here. Denzel Washington is truly the most overrated actor of his generation. There is not a moment on screen where he's not DENZEL TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL. Nothing resonates and Ridley Scott has to use the grandiose of the house he buys his mother and have him shoot a guy in broad daylight for us to realize how successful Lucas is supposed to be. Otherwise, we're watching Denzel make $40 million for doing nothing. When he goes overseas to eliminate the middleman, we don't feel like he's going into dangerous, uncharted territory, especially for a black man. That trip into the jungle gave Lucas his success and advantage, but it's a footnote, most due to Denzel, but Scott could have focused far more. You know what film did American Gangster far better than AG?? Abel Ferrara's King of New York, which has almost the exact same plotline, even more so than Heat, and captures its lone uncorrupt cop's loneliness, desertion and stress with far greater finesse, depth and originality. Christopher Walken's epononymous drug kingpin, Frank White, gives just as much back to his community as Frank Lucas, except Ferrara never veers off from White's inherent sociopathic nature and the toll his drugs are taking on the community. Ridley Scott chooses a montage to show a baby crying beside its dead heroin-junkie mother, but it doesn't really hit home. It's presented a fashion where it's "that's the brakes." Same thing with Lucas shipping heroin back to the USA in the coffins of dead Vietnam soldiers. It doesn't resonate. Honestly, this film makes Frank Lucas to be some sort of darkhorse hero - the first hugely successful black gangster - but he's nothing but a smart, savvy piece of shit, just like Tony Montana or Pesci in Goodfellas. It's as if Scott wants to immortalize Lucas while stealthy removing the actual dirt in his soul. Which is fine, if he wants to forever immortalize Lucas, that's his goal as a director. But he fails. Denzel fails. And thus, the entire film fails, not as entertainment, but as an important film with a moderately unethical goal. We've all seen the rags-to-riches story before and Blow did with far more kinetic, fresh and depraved glee. We felt George Jung's success in it, even while we knew he was a bad guy. With American Gangster, Scott keeps the audience at a distance, never allowing us to fully know these guys, just the archetypes of their characters: cop with heart of gold and drugdealer with heart of coal who gives away turkeys to the families he's killing at Christmas. Ridley Scott dropped the ball. I don't care how much the film looks like '70s Harlem, sets and costumes and decor only matter so much. Anyone who doubts me, go watch AG, then go watch Heat.
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... hard to tell if you're kidding or not, but I discussed my work at AICN with my strike captain, and we agreed that the ongoing promotion of the work of writers and directors and actors is important, and that I'll be able to use the AICN platform to help with the WGA's cause. I am far from a scab. I've been on the picket lines twice already, and plan to keep going. I believe in the underlying reasons for this strike, and I am doing my part to help my Guild resolve this in the best possible way.
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For that, you are awesome. AICN should march on, I agree.
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Ridley, please make a NEW Sci-Fi Film!
The time is now! These other genres are all great, lets go back to gritty, scary, balls to the wall action sci-fi!
Have Crowe play in it as well. -
It was so contrived, rushed, and pretentious within those first 5 scenes... I just couldn't bare it... Denzel was being all "Denzel" and Russell Crowe was (dare I say) cheezy...
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it was an alright movie, not nearly as chewy and interesting as The Departed. Yes, different angles, but gangster movies are gangster movies. frankly i felt like i waited 2 hours and 20 minutes to get to a 5 minute action sequence, and then another 20 minutes for it to end. Few surprises, just a lot of character work and frankly useless scenes. Scott seemingly just spent the whole budget on extras and set dressing. Meh.
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how many times are they going to wheel out the tired premise of rise/fall ending in death/jail, we get it pals, it was done already numerous times, enough, pretty please? this is approaching hamlet-filmed numbers.
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I have to agree with everything that has already been said about American (whatever) - this film was totally by-the-numbers and borderline yawnfest. You kept waiting for it to do something that hadn't already been done before and that moment never came. The script was completely pedestrian. The acting didn't suck (say what you will about Crowe's private life but the man delivers on-screen) but you didn't care about any of these characters. Heat totally shits all over this. Somebody mentioned The Departed, which (apart from a dodgy ending) was far superior. I think I enjoyed New Jack City more than this film.
It's not a *BAD* film, just... not great. Unfortunately you come to expect more from the heavyweight names attached to this project and it doesn't meet those expectations... -
Overlong and padded out for performance in the middle; but kicked in beautifully the last 25 minutes.
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The fact that American Gangster will probably receive Oscars Noms (Best Picture = that's insane and lame) is testament to its box office as well as critics like Moriarty who have overlooked the film's excruitating faults and bland characters in their undying love for Ridley Scott. The fact that Moriarty subtlety refutes a writer at Movie City News who wrote an essay comparing Tony Scott to Ridley (albeit a somewhat poorly written essay), is testament that Moriarty would rather defend Ridley than get into a discussion of the film itself. Unless you are a blind Ridley Scott fan or a blind fan of hip hop tie-ins and mythology, American Gangster is a huge disappointment. If American Gangster gets a Best Pic nom over Eastern Promises, that is ridiculous. If Denzel gets a nom over Viggo, that is ridiculous. Or Brad Pitt in Jesse James. On the bright side, how siked is the RZA right now? Wu-Tang is now "more forever" with his tattoo on display and immortalized in a blockbuster.
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most of you are SERIOUSLY... and i mean SERIOUSLY over-critical of this movie American Gangster, and most answering the simply 'why' is because you've all been hearing the accolades this movie is receiving and most believe in this notion that no movie made in "today's" society can ever be considered on a 'greatest' list.. now am i saying that about AG? not exactly (i'll let time reveal), but this movie was great and deserves all the credit in the world with tremendous performances by virtually the entire cast and crew...
p.s. RZA was already established as a decent actor in Derailed and Common & T.I. played their parts great.. both seemingly understanding that their roles were what they were... supporting
stop hating and give credit where its due.. -
(talking to you dohdoh..)
..that your favorite movie of 07, (insert title here), isn't getting received as much...
Eastern Promises was great, but don't go bashing other great titles of the year simply out of hatred.. it's easy to spot
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Nov 08, 2007 6:58:27 PM CST
FAVORITE MOVIE OF 07 / AMERICAN GANGSTER BEST PIC OF 2007? FUCK
by thedohdoh
@Restless. Hah. I'm not championing Eastern Promises as the best film of 2007 asshole. It is a better film than American Gangster, and Viggo's performance is classic - original, intense and unpredictable. There are countless films that are better than American Gangster this year, however, including Michael Clayton, Jesse James, Gony Baby Gone, Juno, Rescue Dawn, Lars&Real Girl, Sweeney Todd, There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, and about five more. My argument is, is that if Moriarty is supporting American Gangster as one of the best films of the year, that is a travesty. 2007 has been a fantastic year for films, and a competent but painfully by-the-numbers film like AG does not deserve a slot. Morever, are you seriously arguing about RZA? I love the RZA, and yes, he was in Derailed, but he's never been in a blockbuster. As a fan of Wu-Tang, I am happy for the dude.
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Anyone who says that American Gangster fulfilled its potential is truly a sucker. When are critics going to call Denzel out on his bullshit? The guy does the same thing in all of his movies, which is fine in action drek, but when it comes to Oscar-caliber stuff like AG, he ruins it. There are plenty of other black actors who'd do a far better job as Frank Lucas. Morever, b/c of Denzel's tired, play-it-cool MO, American Gangster falls into one of the more ridiculous ethical dilemmas of any film I have seen recently. This is something that's been brought up by critics at the New Yorker and the Baltimore Sun as well: Ridley Scott and Denzel use American Gangster to draw sympathy for the real life Frank Lucas, while cutting away from the real evil that this guy had to committ to succeed. FUCK THAT. I mean, there are so many artists and contributors to society who need their biopics before a "pioneering drug dealer" like Lucas it's sickening. The Ramones, for instance. But, if Denzel had portrayed the character with a certain honesty and at least made him interesting in the way that Johnny Depp's George Jung was interesting, then my criticism would be moot. But fuck immortalizing a guy who isn't an interesting character on film. The motherfucker is still alive and Denzel bought Lucas a $500,000 house for letting him make his story. Bullshit. So, we have a film that could have been great, but is a HUGE disappointment, and a film that immortalizes a drug dealer just for the sake of it. More critics should begin to examine the ethics involved with this film, but they won't because they are overly sensitive to offending certain readers. I have a serious problems with these critics, who hold up American Gangster as a great film from Ridley Scott, and nothing less. It's poor criticism, laziness and brown nosing at its worst.
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Well, Mori. It's simple. Get a lobotomy. Oh, and make sure that every movie review you give is devoid of logic and blatantly biased, spending more time bashing Bush than assessing the merits of the story. Make sure you clap like a retard with a sugar-high anytime Al Gore makes a propoganda piece. Make sure you give these insular idiots oscars and ignore any semblance of intellectual honesty. Pin up pictures of Karl Marx and Stalin and jack off in your basement, then complain about the "poor" terrorists that are only "fighting for their freedoms", rather than forcing their oppression on others. In other words, be a myopic moron and you'll have it covered!
I look forward to your next review of the Scooby Doo movie and how it's an indictment of conservative policies in the Middle East! Go watch that oscar-winning powerpoint presentation again. Oooh and awe! "Look, it's Al. Gore!"..... wow! "He got a D in science!" "He's SO smart!"
Yeah, it's pathetic, I know. But you gotta have goals, bud. -
Didn't New Jack City have some of the same images? The nude drug workers and handing out the turkeys? Didn't it also have the gangster conducting his drug production/business from a housing project?
American Gangster is a better film to say the least, but I suppose since it is based on "fact" that New Jack City could have borrowed elements of the Frank Lucas story earlier. -
before posting.
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The new trailer is Denzel walking into a room in shadow and then the critical accolades are piled on with shit like "A Modern Classic." This is what I'm talking about. The standards for a masterpiece/classic film are continuously being lowered. And that's how it'll be remembered until smarter critics start taking a fucking stand. Remember when Heat came out? The reviews weren't giving it a fucking blow job. It was overlooked until people caught it on DVD - this was 1995 pre-Internet. This type of bullshit shouldn't happen anymore. If you read websites, most of the critics love AG b/c they are phonies without real opinions - just pundits for certain directors - while the readers do the intelligent discourse in the comments sections. American Gangster needs to be ripped a new asshole.
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Sithlid, yes, the "girls must be naked" thing has been done in a few crime films before American Gangster - I believe Fresh or Rebound did the same imagery. But it's another example of critics latching on to imagery from American Gangster and calling it original to justify its weak script/characters. The point is, even those "real street life" enlightening details, to any film literate audience member, will recall another film or the tropes of the genre all together. Ask somebody what part of American Gangster stands out and you'll get a blank face. Or some moron will say "Frank Lucas was the shit" or you get Moriarty praising the "atmosphere" and what not. That's because the movie is a gallon of champagne poured in a thin paper bag.
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