Kudos Ridley, glad to see you've gotten past the throw-up cam.
Tonight I went to my favorite theater and saw American Gangster, which stars Denzen Washington, Russel Crowe, Josh Brolin, Ted Levine (Rusty Nail) and Cuba Gooding Jr.
Now I partially blame myself for being about 5 minutes late and seeing the tail end of the Ramblo preview, as well as another movie that looks good but must not be that great because I can't remember it. Anyway, I didn't miss any of the actual film.
SPOILER ALERT
American Gangster is based on a true story of Frank Lucas, a huge drug dealer living in the New York area in the early 1970s. He was so good at doing what he was doing, he was even considered above the mafia. This guy could buy his way out of anything.
American Gangster chronicles not only his life, but from the other side as well, the cop(s) who want to bring him down, and whom are waiting for him to slip up just once. Russel Crowe stars as the badass cop who is hot on Denzen's trail, can he catch the biggest man in town?
END SPOILERS.
I'm sure when Stu sees this movie, he'll have a longer description of the story, but that's pretty much it. I'm not even sure I need the spoiler warning because I do not want to give away too much.
As I said before, director Ridley Scott finally uses a tripod for this film, and the shots look good, albeit a bit dark, and contrasty. I suppose this was done on purpose, but I'm not exactly sure. The film overall could have used a little more lighting, but then again, thats just how I would do it, and then again, this could be what the filmmakers wanted to do. Oh well.
The story doesn't suffer from lack of lighting or cinematography. Its very interesting in fact. I had no idea this all had happened, as it was not in any history book I have ever read.
Denzen is good at almost every role he is given. That's also the case here, and he does shine with the lead role as Frank Lucas. His quirks and little actions really stand out compared to past roles. Denzen knows how to do these kind of things though, he is the Kaing of African American actors.
Fuighten 'Round the World Russel Crowe makes for an excellent cop, and he's still pretty good at action intense stuff too. I've actually come to like him more and more, since I first saw him in Nadiator, which was terrible btw. I hate Jaquine Phoenix, but thats another story.
Look for Josh Brolin (who was in "The Goonies"), Ted Levine (you'll recognize his voice), Cuba Gooding in a small part, and a few other familiar faces.
Also look out for a few errors in continuity.
The pacing of the movie has its slow points, but again, what film doesn't have its slow moments. This is all very short though, as the action very quickly heats up, especially towards the end.
I enjoyed the film overall, and it was a good way to spend a Saturday night in a packed theater with a girl who was sick and sneezing sitting right next to me.
Now i'm back in my room forced to live with shitty roommates, one of which is in love with himself, and another that doesn't wear deodorant. God!
You ever see that movie The Siege Tank?
So thats what a tripod feels like. Now I know why I didn't use them before, they're bloody heavy!
Two dorky guys posing for a picture. Both of them look dead. (That's Brian Grazer on the left, the producer).
