American Gangster

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

I thought the best acting in that episode was actually from James Avery (Uncle Phil). Dramatically, he was by far the strongest of the main cast (outside of Will occasionally).

 

I think it would be a tie between James Avery and Janet Hubert-Whitten (the first Vivian Banks). Janet did a great job playing Vivian as a strong, pround, smart black woman and Avery and Hubert had great chemistry together.

 

Then they had to replace her with Daphne Reid (who I thought was white when she first showed up) and Vivian acted like a stock housewife and background character and her and Avery had hardly any chemistry together.

[Ripper 0]

You know, I hated fresh prince of bel-air at first because it was so goddamn insulting.

 

Because, see, will was from the ghetto, therefore he didn't know how to properly put on a suit or that playing music on glasses at the dinner table wasn't okay. A person tries to shake your hand? Nigga, we don't know nothing about that hand shakin shit in the ghetto. We slap yo hand!

 

Luckily they got away from that crap after a few eps into season one.

[Black Lushus 0]

That one line was funny from either the first or second episode when Phil introduces Will to his law firm:

 

"Will, I'd like you to meet my colleagues Hurst, Lynn and Myer"

 

"Hey, Earth, Wind and Fire, wassup?"

 

(I might have got the names wrong, it was something like that)

[Nighthawk 0]

Firth, Wynn and Myer.

[Black Lushus 0]

thank you Milky...that line always gets a chuckle out of me.

[Just call me Dan 0]

Fallen? Please explain. I thoroughly enjoyed that movie if memory serves me right. This was many years ago, but tell me what I didn't see that I should have shit on.

 

how can I tell YOU what to like and not like about a movie? I didn't care for the movie, it's concept. It bored me. If it didn't bore YOU, fantastic!

 

 

Well thank you so much for going out of your way to humor me..... I really just wanted to hear you point out some of the things you didn't like about it. I haven't seen it in a long time, which was a time in which I was much younger and couldn't critique it too well. It would have been nice for you to just answer the question instead of answering me like I was 8 years old.

 

Anyway, saw this movie this weekend due to a buddy of mine having a copy of the screening DVD. Rather long, and the movie goes about 2 hours before Crowe/Washington's characters even meet. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I hated the ending.

I'm not a big fan of someone committing horrendous crimes, but getting a very light sentence for ratting out other criminals. The fact that Lucas gets about 15 years to me is a travesty.

 

Worth a viewing for sure.

[Brett Favre 0]

Just saw it. Good movie, but long ass movie. Worth the $10.75 though, if it's that long.

[Epic Reine 0]

I tried seeing this last night but all the showings for the night were souled out so I saw 30 days of Night instead. Fuck the College Point theater.

[Brett Favre 0]

The one in Astoria is pretty good because they add showings during the day. You should also order off fandango.

[cd213 0]

I tried seeing this last night but all the showings for the night were souled out so I saw 30 days of Night instead. Fuck the College Point theater.

 

I live 5 minutes from the College Point theater and I refuse to go there to watch anything. The seats are uncomfortable, and the crowds don't shut the hell up.

 

Back to the topic at hand, I have no interest in seeing this movie. I am not a fan of anyone involved and would rather see Saw IV for a third time, in fact I think I will do that later this week.

[The Niggardly King 0]

This movie fucking ruled.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Excellent acting, but the movie isn't Oscar material. I never felt it was too long in the sense I wasn't hoping it would end. Still, this could've been trimmed here and there and not suffered as a result.

 

Considering the source material, there's a lot more they could've done with Frank Lucas' character. And for the slow build the movie's got, the last portion really feels rushed.

[Black Lushus 0]

how were Denzel and Crowe? Oscar nods for both?

[Mecha Mummy 0]

how were Denzel and Crowe? Oscar nods for both?

 

Denzel, possibly. Crowe, I doubt it. Honestly, he was much better in 3:10 to Yuma and if there's anything he deserves a nomination for, it's that.

[boobshaw 0]

The acting was solid from both as per usual with them. But, for me, I though it was more of the same old Denzel we've seen time and time again. I'm not saying it was bad acting or that it even felt recycled, but that it was nothing that stood out from any of his other performances. It is one of those, he met the high standards he is held to, but didn't go above and beyond it.

 

For me, I thought Crowe did excellent, played his character to a T and may be a sleeper for an Oscar nod. It looks like this season there will be too many movies with better performances, but on a weaker season Crowe would get the nod.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I'd give Crowe the nod over Denzel. Frank Lucas is portrayed as a refined cat with a stoic demeanor and habitual bursts of violence. That's fine and all, but it really just meant a lot of Denzel mean-mugging in snappy suits.

[devo 0]

My goodness. What a poorly-executed, crudely-edited, overlong piece of junk this was. Outside of Crowe's admirable performance and some decent cinematography, there wasn't a single thing to like about American Gangster. Richie was the only likeable character in the entire film, and it was maddening to see the movie try and portray Lucas as sympathetic one second and showing graphic shots of injections and overdoses that he caused the next.

 

It became downright insulting when they showed Lucas and Richie

collaborating at the end of the film, joking around like good buddies, as though the last two and half hours never freaking happened.

It doesn't help that Washington has almost reached Morgan Freeman's level in terms of repeating performances. His entire act was nothing more than a bunch of vaguely menacing monotone small talk with a "My Man!" or "Huh?" thrown in whenever he found an empty spot in the dialogue. I'm pretty sure "My Man!" was uttered a dozen times before the end of the film, well beyond the point of self-parody.

 

I'm normally not one to bitch about long running times, but this film needed to have thirty to forty-five minutes hacked off in the worst way. The movie just meandered along from plot point to plot point with no sense of urgency or even a clear destination in mind, seemingly relying on the mere presence of Crowe and Washington to carry the entire film. The shot with Richie and Lucas

meeting in front of the church is a great example of this, as the scene was portrayed as this big moment but in reality had nearly no signifigance as the two characters had never met before that. Richie could have been another greaseball cop shaking Lucas down for a cut of the profit - Lucas couldn't have known that Richie was there to bring him down once and for all.

 

Speaking of which, none of the supporting cast made an impact on me in the slightest. Every character besides Richie and Lucas was either a cliche, a ridiculous caricature, or some goofy cameo that distracted from the film (see: Cuba Gooding Jr. trying to act hard or Joe Morton galavanting around in a bizarre fake mustache).

 

Just...ugh. Complete waste of time. Haven't been this disappointed in a film in a good long while.

[LooseCannon25 0]

I thought the movie was pretty good, but I also thinkt hey could have trimmed at least 30 minutes from it. There was no reason this should have been 2 hours and 40 minutes. Especially since a lot of it is just wasting time, and not building towards anything at all.

[Black Lushus 0]

Amazingly, Denzel and Morgan Freeman both are compelling regardless of the fact hat they "act the same in every movie." I think it's a credit to their skill. No matter what you're watching, you can at least enjoy THEM in it.

[migoli 0]

hmm weird, someone wrote 2+ paragraphs of shitting on a movie.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

I'm gonna have to disagree with some of the negative people here. I am not so much upset about authenticity, as every "true" story made in hollywood has timelines changes, events altered, and additions to the plot to make it more interesting and palatable to the audience (and to make more money of course) Most lifestories, no matter how interesting, can be improved by a screenwriter in some way, and in Hollywood, that's exactly what almost always happens. No problems there really, for me anyway.

 

The film was highly entertaining. The art direction, acting, and directing of the actors was excellent. Denzel and Crowe definitely played their roles dead-on and do not disappoint. The story had a natural flow and rhythm that only a master director could achieve with such a broad scope. It is definitely an above average film and absolutely worth seeing.

[King Kamala 0]

I liked it well enough but not as much as some other people. Even though it was two and a half hours plus- parts of it seemed somewhat rushed and parts of it seemed extraneous. Nevertheless, the last half hour or so was excellent and Washington and Crowe both gave good performances (Don't know about Oscar worthy for either). I think it was a good movie but I'm not sure if it's Oscar worth.

[Guest False Alarm!]

I really thought it was overlong, and not very interesting. To me, it felt like a case of having a poor script and story, that’s been given a big budget and a good cast. At times it’s a predictable by numbers affair, and does come across like superior films you’ll have seen before (Heat, or Obviously, The Godfather to name two) spliced together. Josh Brolin turned in a great (yet intimidating imo) supporting role. The film doesn’t every really get above average, and it is instantly forgettable.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

The film will be released on DVD and HD DVD February 19, 2008. The DVD release of American Gangster will include a 2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition with 18 minutes of unseen footage this includes an extended ending. A 3-Disc Collector's Edition will also be released which includes the 2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition with a bonus disc and a supplemental collectable 32-page booklet chronicling the production period of the film. The bonus disc mainly contains rap or hip-hop featurettes and various programs seen on TV about the film.

[Jericholic82 0]

Damn work is going to suck tommorrow with the release of this dvd. I hate obsseisive shoppers who must be there on release day as we open even though we have like 20 boxes of the dvd.

 

and cuz of hour shortages, Ill be there all alone

 

Pray for me guys.

[Guest suref142]

sounds great

[Jericholic82 0]

3 days later, we indeed have sold a TON of copies. Funny how alot of people are just asking for "the new denzel movie".

 

The best part is having to explain the difference between the regular and collector's edition to customers, when even I can't figure out the big deal