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 American Gangster 

What grade would you give this film?
A 36%  36%  [ 13 ]
B 50%  50%  [ 18 ]
C 11%  11%  [ 4 ]
D 3%  3%  [ 1 ]
F 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Total votes : 36

 American Gangster 
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Post Re: American Gangster
Magnus wrote:
However...I do hope Ridley gets an Oscar even though this film is probably not even in his top 5 of all time. He just deserves one for his whole career.

I, for one, hope this does not happen. We don't need every Oscar turning into a "lifetime achievement" award. As idealistic as it might be, I hope the best of the best are given Oscars every year for that year's work.

Besides, Ridley's still got lot's of great movies left in him...


Sat Nov 10, 2007 3:37 pm
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Post Re: American Gangster
didn't live up to its full potential, but lived up to my expectations. this could've been so much worse, and i'm glad to know that Scott is still on top of his game. Denzel plays mean Denzel very well, but Russell Crowe gives the film's really great performance. I also liked Ruby Dee as Denzel's mom, for whatever her part was worth. Zaillian's script was great; I liked the use of Denzel's "My man" over and over, but people began to laugh at it, especially when he says it to Cuba Gooding. It doesn't steal from films like "The Godfather" like I expected it to, but the spirit of the film truly does live within its veins.

A-

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Sun Nov 11, 2007 2:09 am
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Post Re: American Gangster
billybobwashere wrote:
didn't live up to its full potential, but lived up to my expectations. this could've been so much worse, and i'm glad to know that Scott is still on top of his game. Denzel plays mean Denzel very well, but Russell Crowe gives the film's really great performance. I also liked Ruby Dee as Denzel's mom, for whatever her part was worth. Zaillian's script was great; I liked the use of Denzel's "My man" over and over, but people began to laugh at it, especially when he says it to Cuba Gooding. It doesn't steal from films like "The Godfather" like I expected it to, but the spirit of the film truly does live within its veins.

A-


Except for the blatant rip off in the amazing grace scene.


Sun Nov 11, 2007 2:31 am
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Post Re: American Gangster
I went in with pretty low expectations and came out happy. The movie never did anything for me. Everyone played there part great and the story was interesting, but it felt as if i had seen this plot before. As others have mentioned, it doesn't bring anything new to the table and doesn't seem to have anything great about it. Nowhere near a top 10 movie of the year for me, but enjoyable. Personally this and Rendition are on the same level. Both told there stories, made their points, and they were done. Lions for Lambs is still my favorite of the fall season so far! :D
I give this a solid B


Sun Nov 11, 2007 2:42 am
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Post Re: American Gangster
Timayd wrote:
billybobwashere wrote:
didn't live up to its full potential, but lived up to my expectations. this could've been so much worse, and i'm glad to know that Scott is still on top of his game. Denzel plays mean Denzel very well, but Russell Crowe gives the film's really great performance. I also liked Ruby Dee as Denzel's mom, for whatever her part was worth. Zaillian's script was great; I liked the use of Denzel's "My man" over and over, but people began to laugh at it, especially when he says it to Cuba Gooding. It doesn't steal from films like "The Godfather" like I expected it to, but the spirit of the film truly does live within its veins.

A-


Except for the blatant rip off in the amazing grace scene.
yeah, but that was really the only part, and the style of the scene was completely different from that of The Godfather.

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Sun Nov 11, 2007 3:07 am
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Post Re: American Gangster
I know length often seems like a copout excuse for not liking a movie, but if it had say an hour shaved off it would have been much better. Nearing 3 hours (that felt more like 5), I just can't recommend it. I didn't find the story or the characters captivating enough for it to be as long as it was. And the ending was more unsettling than satisfying. So - C+


Sun Nov 11, 2007 10:45 pm
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Post Re: American Gangster
MovieDude wrote:
About a week later, I think I've decided that this would've been more interesting if Ridley Scott hadn't been trying so hard to make an award winner. Scorsese finally hit it big when he just went for entertainment rather than self importance and prestige. Maybe if it wasn't trying so hard for perfect realism and historical fact/production design...


It is pretty interesting how The Departed and American Gangster, despite being gangster genre films released in back to back years, are actually polar opposites:

The Departed
Entertainment, popcorn fun
Intentionally surface-heavy, black and white, characters.
Cinematic and surreal style over realism

American Gangster
Cold hard drama.
Character depth, moral dilemmas, shades of grey
Realism

Nevertheless I love them both. AG a little bit more mind you, but anyways. I think it's a bit unfair to criticize one for not being like the other, because really, they started a similar place and just went opposite directions, and both succeeded as much as I could expect them to.

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Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:35 am
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Post Re: American Gangster
is that shot of the dark fig walking up the camera and shooting past it in th efilm? t was heavily featured in the tv spots; its in the trailer the one that plays right as jayzssong begins.

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Mon Nov 12, 2007 1:08 pm
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Post Re: American Gangster
it's not in the film.

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Post Re: American Gangster
Denzel was perfect, I really like him playing characters with a dark side. He's much better at it then Tom Hanks.


Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:28 pm
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Post Re: American Gangster
Excel wrote:
is that shot of the dark fig walking up the camera and shooting past it in th efilm? t was heavily featured in the tv spots; its in the trailer the one that plays right as jayzssong begins.


After the credits : )

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Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:18 pm
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Post Re: American Gangster
Shack wrote:
MovieDude wrote:
About a week later, I think I've decided that this would've been more interesting if Ridley Scott hadn't been trying so hard to make an award winner. Scorsese finally hit it big when he just went for entertainment rather than self importance and prestige. Maybe if it wasn't trying so hard for perfect realism and historical fact/production design...


It is pretty interesting how The Departed and American Gangster, despite being gangster genre films released in back to back years, are actually polar opposites:

The Departed
Entertainment, popcorn fun
Intentionally surface-heavy, black and white, characters.
Cinematic and surreal style over realism

American Gangster
Cold hard drama.
Character depth, moral dilemmas, shades of grey
Realism

Nevertheless I love them both. AG a little bit more mind you, but anyways. I think it's a bit unfair to criticize one for not being like the other, because really, they started a similar place and just went opposite directions, and both succeeded as much as I could expect them to.


All right, lets relax with the Departed. Popcorn Entertainment. I think not. and its hardly Surrealism, meaning theres no continuity and things just happen without explanation. And its not like it was short, its runtime was 151 minutes where as American Gangster was 157 minutes. I dont think you can say that The Departed was that much different. Dicaprio's character was nothing but grey and moral dillemas throughout.

I think there is actually much more similiarities between the two. Both have the major theme that there is good and bad on both sides of every spectre. And thats why both do so well the molding and expression of this idea. Not getting at you of course Shack, I just think it hard to say that they arent both very similiar films deep down.

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Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:58 pm
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Post Re: American Gangster
My limited review of American Gangster. It was good.

***1/2

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Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:06 pm
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Post Re: American Gangster
AG was missing its mark wahlberg esque character who lighrned the mood; i thought nicky barnes was unintentionally/intentionally hilarious but they needed more scenes of him.

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Mon Nov 12, 2007 8:02 pm
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Post Re: American Gangster
One of the best movies of the year

A-


Thu Nov 15, 2007 10:55 pm
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Post Re: American Gangster
Not that great. More I think of it, less I like it.

B+


Sun Nov 18, 2007 2:39 am
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Post Re: American Gangster
I'm way out in left field on this one, apparently.

It actually, for the most part, bored me.

I was just not invested in either storyline, and I can't really explain why. Maybe it's because the film did exactly what I thought it would do with these characters and nothing more. Am I the only one who found it excessively predictable and unexpectedly conventional?


Sat Dec 01, 2007 3:50 am
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Post Re: American Gangster
Very disapointing movie. While it's not bad, I expected waaay more. They should have cut about 20 minutes of it. I thought the film was at it's best during the first third, the middle part felt too drawn out. But I really loved the scene at the end when Washington (who gives an amazing performance) comes out of the church and Crowe (very solid too) is waiting for him. I need to see it again tough, because I was a bit tired. B- for now.


Sat Dec 01, 2007 8:31 am
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Post Re: American Gangster
Dkmuto wrote:
I'm way out in left field on this one, apparently.

It actually, for the most part, bored me.

I was just not invested in either storyline, and I can't really explain why. Maybe it's because the film did exactly what I thought it would do with these characters and nothing more. Am I the only one who found it excessively predictable and unexpectedly conventional?


I'm feeling the same vibe.


Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:13 am
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Post Re: American Gangster
This is yet another one of those threads that comes surfing out of the gate on top of the tidal wave of studio hyperbole with a whole slew of A+ reviews, and then as the frenzied waters subside, the thread comes back to sea level with a bunch of reviews saying, "Hey, this thing's really not very great after all!"

Ahhhh... the miracle of marketing hype-notism!

:zonks:


{Then there's the opposite phenomena - - those movies that the mass media tells us we should hate, or better still not watch at all, which after time passes end up getting very good reviews from people who watch them unfettered by pre-digested thought patterns - - q.v.: page 3 of the Aeon Flux thread...}


Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:19 am
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Post Re: American Gangster
I actually am beginning to hate American Gangster; for all that hype, and the fact it was one of the movies I looked most forward to at the start of the year, it wasn't that good at all...My grade's going down to a
B-


Sat Dec 01, 2007 12:10 pm
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Post Re: American Gangster
Positive* Jon wrote:
I'm with Libs/MovieDude/Xia, though I'd give it about ***.5, mainly because there's no genuine flaw, just a lack of something truly amazing. The final 30 minutes were pretty excellent though, which I didn't expect.


That pretty much sums up my thoughts as well. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but the film seemed to lack emotional depth. I thought both Crowe and Washington were great, but I didn't care too much for their characters or for anyone else in the film except for Lucas' mother and wife. It's a very good film, but it's just kind of standard.

B+

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Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:58 pm
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B+/A-


Yeah, after having seen this, I can see why it's not making so much noise during this year's awards race. I mean, it IS a good movie, but it had the potential to be better and ends up being "just good". It's simply the standard for this kind of a film, elevated by some great performances, but on the whole, it doesn't amaze like, say, The Departed.

One thing that surprised me was that the film was much rather in the vein of Lord of War and Blow than of The Departed. It's obviously more of a biopic thing. I'd put it on around the same level as Lord of War and a tad below Blow. Its running time didn't bother me at all, as I was intrigued by the proceedings throughout the film and the performances carried it. Denzel Washington is expectedly good, but honestly, I'd say that I liked Russell Crowe's performance just as much and he was just as much the lead of the movie as Washington was. Crowe's turn is more low-key, more understated...and more real. Man, he's had a really great year with this and 3:10 to Yuma. Too bad he's not getting enough awards attention for these! :mad: I liked how the storylines of Crowe's character and of Frank Lucas kept developing parallelly with opposing the characters constantly. Their final face-off is good, especially when at the end you feel a slight touch of friendship developing between the two.

Speaking of the supporting actors, Josh Brolin did a decent, though generic bad guy here and Ruby Dee had a really good scene with Washington when she stops him from going to kill the guy who attacked him. But is it enough to warrant a SAG nom? I doubt that.

On the technical level it's alright with some nice cinematography and editing, but really nothing outstanding. I think in some parts, the movie proceeds just too fast as I barely got a taste of how Lucas finaly rose to his throne and then fell. The time period in which he reigned just seemd so short! It was like: Okay, he rose up and came out big and then, the next second, it all comes crashing down for him.

Overall, I think the movie did a solid portrayal of its time period and of Harlem during that time. I think amyn things could have been fixed in this film and I could have been better if it sometimes didn't try too hard to encompass so many things into itself (think the scenes of the junkies shooting up heroin, obviously to show the poor state of Harlem in that time). Some more suspense could have done the film good. To call this generic comes across too negatively, as it is generic in a sense that it's just what you'd expect from a good director like Scott and elevated by great lead performances...but it just doesn't stun and amaze like it could have. This is just not another big American Crime Epic, but it also is a pretty good movie which should have garnered more attention in the awards race for its leads.

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Sun Dec 23, 2007 9:27 pm
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Post Re: American Gangster
I have yet to see the movie, but "Do You Feel Me" from the soundtrack is a fucking good song. Hope it gets some Oscar love.


Sat Dec 29, 2007 12:38 am
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Post Re: American Gangster
this hasn't aged too well with me. Considering the talent involved, this could have and should have been a lot better. I still really liked that ending, though, and Russell Crowe was terrific [and Denzel was Denzel].

I've lowered my grade to a B / B+

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