Amazon.com

When a shark accidentally clobbers himself, a small fish named Oscar (voiced by Will Smith, I, Robot) just happens to be around, prompting everyone to believe that he killed the shark himself. This lie soon makes Oscar a celebrity, worshipped by the general mass of fish, wooed by a glittering golddigger (Angelina Jolie, Girl, Interrupted), missed by his best friend (Renee Zellweger, Cold Mountain)--and hunted by the godfather of great whites (Robert De Niro, Goodfellas). Can a vegetarian shark named Lenny (Jack Black, School of Rock) get Oscar out of this mess? The formulaic story of Shark Tale never reaches the giddy heights of Pixar's output (Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Toy Story) or the freewheeling comedy of Shrek, but it's capably told and impeccably animated--the sheer technical skill is stunning. Kids won't get the mobster jokes or the other pop-culture references, but they'll enjoy it nonetheless. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (145)

Rotten fish........
Now a days, when you see a computer animated film (especially from Dreamworks), you expect it to please not only the kiddies, but the adults as well. You assume there will be humorous references that some children won't be able to catch, but that the grown-ups will understand and find entertaining as well.

You count on a little something in there for everybody (i.e. Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Shrek, Toy Story).

More importantly, you hope the movie will strike the funny bone of both generations so that the film can be appreciated and enjoyed by both genres.

Shark Tale has very little of this, and what it does manage to muster up, is surprisingly unfunny. In fact, Shark Tale is a pretty horrible film altogether. Not all the star power in the world could make this film less than the dreadful bore that it is.

These fish live in a very adult-like society (think of New York underwater), but there is just no good adult humor in this film!!

Maybe kids will like it. But this is not an enjoyable film for us grown-ups. In fact, this movie is so bad, I won't bother to review its lousy story any further. There are plenty of other reviews that do that.

Be warned:

This fish STINKS......badly

The best thing for this reviewer about Shark Tale was the fact that I rented it and didn't buy it. Returning a movie never felt so good!

the commercials seem great, but the movie is boring
this seems like a good movie when you see the commercials. the animation is great, but this is definitley not Dreamworks Animation's greatest film. the movie is very boring.

Great animation and voice talents, but weak plot
Oscar (Will Smith) is in the wrong place at the right time when great white shark Frankie accidentally runs into an anchor and dies.Oscar, a very small fish and with a lowly job as a tongue scrubber, takes the credit for Frankie's demise and becomes famous as The Shark Killer.

Only Frankie's brother, vegetarian great white Lenny (Jack Black) knows the truth behind Frankie's accidental death, but has enough problems of his own trying to please his `Godfather' type father, Skyes (Robert De Niro).

When Oscar was a nobody, he could always count on best friend Angie (Renee Zellweger) to help him.Angie even gave Oscar her grandmother's pearl to help him out of his debts, but when he becomes famous he is sought after by gold-digger temptress Lola (Angelina Jolie).Oscar cannot hold onto his lies forever, and eventually must find out that friends can't be bought with fame and money.

`Shark Tale' barely deserves four stars, earning that simply on the beauty of the animation and the plethora of screen talents gathered together for the voices.The plot was rather weak, and at times even boring.While some of the jokes were funny, most were pretty lame, and the subversive advertising got to me in a negative way.Still, it's a pretty movie, and one that your kids will probably like better than you do.Enjoy!

Funny, but I'm not a very big Zellweger fan
This was pretty funny up until a few days ago, especially considering I use to be huge fan of Renee Zellweger, but that all changed, (I may not be a fan but congratulations Renee if you ever read this, tell your new love that the Make A Wish girl says hey).Anyway, like I said, the story's alright, I lovedthe storyline.My favorite part was actually when the shark was killed.In real life I can't imagine any person's last word being "Moron!!"so I pretty much cracked up at that.Overall, it was funny, but I only gave it 4 stars because of the recent Renee Zellweger thing.

Funny
A funny movie kind of like finding nemo.Good and funny.I didnt get to see in the movie.But i bought the dvd and well worth it. Renée Zellweger and Angelina Jolie are hot. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Perhaps only Spike Lee could make a dignified yet extremely funny comedy-drama about phone sex. Theresa Randle (Bad Boys) is the title character, a hard-working actress who becomes addicted to this peculiar form of safe sex (the movie is verbal, not physical, in that department) at a high-class New York agency. Throughout the film, Girl 6 (she's unnamed beyond this) sports a dazzling array of new looks, hairstyles, and clothes. Randle radiates every step of the way. Lee even delivers on fantasy elements when Girl 6 finds herself in a send-up of blaxploitation films and a keen lampoon of The Jeffersons (the three-minute sequence is better than any planned TV-to-movie film that may come along). Revelations about Girl 6's life are brought out through her ex-husband (Isaiah Washington), who, in his very flawed but honest way, plans to reunite with her. Better yet are conversations with the next-door neighbor (Spike Lee, doing some of his best work). Solitary, experimental, with plenty of delicious cameos (including Madonna), Girl 6 is playwright Suzan-Lori Parks's first screenplay. Similar in tone to Lee's debut, She's Gotta Have It, Girl 6 also boasts an energetic mix of old and new songs by Prince and, as always with Lee, colorful camerawork. An alleyway kiss near the end is a great romantic image. --Doug Thomas ... Read more

Reviews (15)

One of my favorite films
I really liked this movie so much that I want to buy my own copy. I'd heard about the film when it first came out in 1996, but like so many smaller films, if you don't see it right away you miss your chance. Right away, the Prince soundtrack is wonderful and sets the tone and you hear so many great songs throughout the film. This movie has great dialogue and is very well written. If that isn't what you like, you will be bored and should go see some mindless action flick. I can't imagine how anyone would not like this film. It is my favorite Spike Lee film without a doubt. There is definitely an ethereal and dreamy quality to the film that I liked very much. The main character, Lovely or Girl 6, played by Theresa Randle, is stressed and and overworked from too many part time jobs. The movie is set in and around Manhattan. Lovely is working all the jobs so that she can be free to go on acting auditions. Her agent gets her a great audition for a film and she believes she is doing fine until the director says he needs her to take off her top so he can look at her breasts. She is so disgusted by this treatment that she walks out on the audition and she becomes increasingly frustrated at what it seems it will take for her to get a break in the acting field. While looking at want ads while riding the subway (we see her sick, coughing and exhausted from overwork and stress) she sees an ad that promises great money doing phone sex and she interviews for the job. The whole process of her inquiring about the job, training for the job and the people she encounters, not to mention the whole "business" of phone sex is so entertaining. There are some great cameos in this film, including Madonna (who is terrific), Naomi Campbell, Richard Belzer and Quentin Tarantino. Debi Mazor is another phone girl who warns Lovely (Theresa) not to take it all too seriously. Spike Lee is wonderful as Lovely's neighbor- a dreamer just like her. He chastises her for doing the "phone bone" when she ought to be pursing her acting career, but as Lovely points out, her job actually is acting on a certain level. There are some touching moments, too such as when Lovely hopes to meet one of her clients in Coney Island and she's waiting for hours and looking for him. There is also a very frightening scene when a sicko (snuff fantasy) client finds out where Lovely lives and wants to make his fantasy a reality. There is a funny side plot about Lovely's ex-husband who steals from local merchants such as fruit vendors. This ex-husband wants Lovely back and never stops trying. I won't give the rest of the plot away, but if any of this sounds remotely interesting, check out this film. I think that this film was well done in all aspects and I consider it one of my all time favorite films.

A Serious Comedy From Spike Lee
1996: Spike Lee directed this movie believe it or not. He wrote the screenplay and performed in the role of the wise, comforting and dreamer neighboor in Lovely's apartment. Theresa Randle of the Bad Boys film, stars as Lovely, or the eponymous Girl 6. When I saw this film, I could not believe it was a Spike Lee film, but his presence in the movie and his signature urban themes are distinctly marked in this movie. The film deals with an aspiring actress who is coaxed into working as a phone sex operator. Despite the good money it pays, it becomes messy and dangerous for her after a client becomes insanely obscessed with her. Her relationship with her (boyfriend ? husband ?) is in jeopardy due to her choice of work. Although clearly this movie attempts to be serious, there are many comic features written into many of the scenes, particularily the sordid, bizarre and outrageous sexual fantasies of the clients. The phone sex scenes that play out between the operators and their clients are hilarious! The "fantasy sequences" in which Lovely acts out various roles from television and film are also hilarious. These roles are: Lovely as Dorothy Dandridge in Carmen Jones, as the daughter in the old sitcom The Jeffersons, as Pam Grier's Foxy Brown in 70's exploitation movies and as a 30's or 40's Hollywood Golden Age diva towards the end of the film shot in black and white.Guest stars abound in this witty urban comic drama. Among them Madonna, as a phone sex operator instructor who is giving the girls tips and advice via a monitor, Halle Barry in a brief interview scene, and even Quentin Terentino shows up in the film. I don't know whether to laugh non stop at one of the silliest films ever made by Spike Lee or to wonder at the subtle signficance of its theme. Spike Lee seems to be portraying a strong black woman who undergoes terrible misfortune in a dark and risky business only to give it up in a beautiful scene towards the end when she and her boyfriend/husband kiss and telephones start falling from the sky in slow motion. In Hollywood, she does not give up her morals or dignity and refuses to do a nude sex scene that might be featured in pornpgraphy. It's really a look at Hollywood's love for sex, its classless tastes and its exploitation of women. It might be Spike Lee's greatest film. Just try to look beyond the comedy.

This is in my top 10
One of my favourite films of all time. There's something about Spike Lee's *Girl 6* that's particularly stuck with me. In short, it's about a phone-sex agency and the people that work there. Theresa Randle plays Girl 6 brilliantly as a woman of great strength and tenderness. Like the film itself, very funny, yet painfully gritty. A surprisingly good performance from Naomi Campbell as Girl 75. An excellent cameo from Madonna playing the aging scarlet-woman with too much makeup spouting sexual profanitys - typecast or what! And the cherry-moon on the cake is the ace use of Prince music running through the film... *How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore* (which was a rare track back then), *HouseQuake*, *17 Days* and *Hot Thing* (which plays during Madge's monologue) being the musical highlights, for me. Oh, and Mr Lee himself is pretty good in it too... I really hope he gets around to releasing this on DVD... soon?!

A Spike Lee Surprise
Spike Lee's "Girl6" proves to be a fantastic exploration into the urban american dream. Although it took me more than one viewing, i find this movie to be on the same level as "Do the Right Thing" and "Crooklyn." What does it take to strike out on your own? What is the difference between reality and imagined reality? These are questions that Theresa Randle encounters as she executes a steller performance as an aspiring actress new to the Big Apple in "Girl6". Lee's unique use of composition and setting create tangible texture with potent imagery. Originally a play, "Girl6" maintains theatrical dialogue and pacing. At first, subtleties are difficult to tap into, but through a more aware viewing "Girl6" blooms into a cinematic gem.

Uneven and Inaccurate
The film had uneven humor throughout and little accuracy in it's portrayal of the phone sex industry. I am in the phone fantasy business and "Girl 6" is largely fantasy. While callers do indeed have a racial bias and many quirks; offices never are even half that nice and working from home isn't scary. Although I suppose there are girls who give their personal number out to callers and obsess over their work; most of us are well adjusted educated women with normal homes and families in suburbia who keep a safe distance from our clientel. ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Pompous, fitfully interesting vamp psychodrama
One of Abel Ferrara's interesting failures -- a philosophical art-house vampire movie, shot in stark b&w, with Lili Taylor as a philosophy student who gets bitten by Annabella Sciorra and tailspins into the madness of hunger. How could it miss? Well, there's a reason that "Bad Lieutenant" is Ferrara's best film: It wasn't written by Nicholas St. John, whose scripts for Ferrara have been pretentious at best, ham-handed at worst. This one is both. When we're not watching the humorless Taylor shooting up blood or blathering about deep stuff, we're wincing at death-camp footage. One can almost justify the images of real-life atrocity as Ferrara's usual outrageousness, but after a while the gallery of Holocaust horror just seems like a cheap, unearned way for St. John to beef up his themes of collective guilt and evil in modern society. Taylor is compelling, Ken Kelsch's photography is riveting, and Christopher Walken is amusing in a small role as some sort of vicious vamp guru.

You'll watch it more than once
The Addiction is an artsy vampire movie that strays from what most movie goers see in vampire films. It is shot entirely in black and white-which adds to the dark setting. Vampirism is portrayed in much the same way as drug addiction here.

Lili Taylor turns in an excellent performance as Kathleen, a philosophy student who is plunged into the dark world of the vampire. As she is transformed gradually in the movie the fact that she is a philosophy student plays a large role. She is forced to reconcile her new life with the existentialism that is the focus of her studies. As she becomes more sure of herself in her new life, an elder vampire Peina (played by the creepy Christopher Walken) throws a wrench in the works. Lili Taylor's voice is marvelous in the dark settings where her character contemplates her new existence with philosophy. Where will her journey into darkness take her...?

This movie is well written, visually appealing, and the main charcters are deep. You will want to watch it more than once to be sure.

Interesting, But Not Too Addictive
Abel Ferrara gave a shot at the vampire genre and the result is "The Addiction", an interesting but flawed movie that fails to convice. Lili Taylor plays a NY philosophy student who gets bitten by a vampire woman. That experience will change her life and the way she views the world, offering new perspectives and goals. While this is a somewhat promising idea, the plot never sems to surprise all that much, so it gets a point where it keeps repeating and moving nowhere new.
The movie touches a few points like existencialism, fate, guilt, sin, faith, nihlism and of course addiction, but the development could be better and it ends up seeming like unfullfilled potential. Still there are some intriguing elements, like the black and white cinematography, the moody atmosphere and some compelling, well written dialogue. But even considering these good ingredients, the movie doesn`t step above average material. "The Addiction" just lacks bite.

Sorry but doesn't miss something somewhere ?!!!!
I will not say that Abel Ferrara is not creative in his own way to make movies. This work proves that there is someone behind the camera full of ideas and a great thinker, No doubt about it. The problem is just the story.It could have been a great one but dunno what happened. It becomes easily boring and it's a pity. Acting is okay. Walken's got a little role in it, 10 minutes maximum.If you are curious about Abel Ferrara, well It's still worth few bux.

Movie About Sin Nature
I really enjoyed this movie. It's set in a very intellectual environment, with a dark side. When the main character becomes bitten by a vampire she gets pulled into the life of a vampire, a very addicted one. She's addicted to the life-style of a vampire but hates it. The movie is about her struggle with her sinfull life-style.
It's not a movie comparing vampirism to aids and drugs so much, but rather to human sin nature. Sin nature as presented in the movie though, is as addictive as drugs and contagious and incurable as aids. The movie did an excellent job of displaying the nature of sin to the audience. Notice first that the sin had to be chosen, victims were never forced. After they chose sin, they became addicted and couldn't, by their own means, be released from their addicted lifestyle. In this movie, it's not until you are saved can you finally find release from sin. Her nature had to be changed, not her environment, not her psyche. I think the theme of the movie is embodied in the quote from R.C. Sproul(A famous calvinist minister and speaker) at the end of the film, "We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners." It was a movie about human nature, and the anatomy of sin the Biblical idea of sin (intended or not). Vampire stories in general are a study of sin. Concider their hate for all things Christian, the love of death and destruction, their opposite lifestyle(sleeping upside down, night dwellers ect) So I found this movie a great one to add to the list of vampire movies that I love!
I highly recomend this movie. You'll have a lot of fun examining it and picking out the details that hold the secrets to the overall meaning of the film. Very philosophical! ... Read more

Amazon.com

The pre-Titanic Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jim Carroll, the poet and musician who spent much of his adolescence addicted to heroin and shooting hoops with fellow Catholic high school kids. As a biography, the film doesn't amount to more than the sum of its gritty scenes of smack use, violence, perversions (poor Bruno Kirby plays a lecherous coach who comes on to young Jim), and the usual scream-and-puke dramas that go along with a cold-turkey session. Director Scott Kalvert doesn't seem to realize that most people don't know who Carroll is and therefore can't possibly understand why they should care about his gutterball youth. DiCaprio, having nowhere to go with his performance but maintain Carroll's tailspin, is boring and redundant. Some kind of allusion to the literary and rock & roll life that follows the mess we're watching might have been helpful.--Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (86)

A gritty, realistic film with wonderful acting performances.
"The Basketball Diaries" is a gritty, uncompromising look at a basically good guy's decent into heroin hell. The cast, headed by Leonardo DiCaprio, is superb; the screenplay doesn't pull any punches. Realistic, shocking, eye-opening, the film gives DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg the chance to display their true talents and really ACT -- these fellows do a terrific job because it all looks so REAL. What a great film with an ending I guarantee you won't expect -- connoisseurs of fine films and DiCaprio fans should check it out -- this is a real movie with a real script and real acting, and the characters and storyline aren't larger than life. They're real as life, and that's not something you see on TV every day. END

Gritty, Powerful And Well-Acted
The name Jim Carroll may not be familiar to mainstream, radio-friendly listeners, but to those who know about rock poetry and Punk Carroll is one of the genre's greatest word-players along with Patti Smith and has recorded two especially noteworthy works, "Catholic Boy" and "The People Who Died," which sound like wonderfully gritty hybrids of beat poetry and Punk rock. "The Basketball Diaries" is based on Carroll's novel of the same name which is a testament of his days living in the streets of New York during which he became addicted to heroin, saw friends either die or spiral down into self-destruction and eventually found his talent for words as an exit out of the hell he was trapped in. As a movie, the story comes alive with a powerful impact. Director Scott Kalvert does not make the movie into an obvious anti-drug message, instead the story of Carroll's teen years is simply just...told. There is almost a documentary-like realism in how scenes are put together, nothing feels false but instead chillingly real. Anyone who has lived in an environment like this or attended high school in the more gritty, violent sections of a city can instantly relate to the people and events. The actors bring these characters to live with great believability, Leonardo DiCaprio broke through with this role, but even his recent work in films like "Titanic" and "Gangs Of New York" seems more tame compared to his brilliant, effective performance here. The scenes where Carroll is addicted to heroin and lives in the junkie underworld are performed by DiCaprio with a vivid realism that is disturbing. One reviewer here complained about the movie missing a plot, plot is not something central here, the story is central and it is the story of a very talented young man gripped by addiction in a world where vices and the darker side of life can easily suck you in. And of course, there is some great music here by Soundgarden, The Doors, The Cult and a great highlight which is Carroll performing "Catholic Boy" with Pearl Jam. In the history of rock music there are many popular stories of addiction from Iggy Pop to Scott Weiland, Carroll's is brought to life in a movie that breathes and doesn't need to throw the message in your face, the message is right there in the story itself.

Those are the people who died.......
Jim Carroll's autobiographical life story is the basis for this cult classic of the early 90's. Leonardio DiCaprio plays Jim Carroll a poet writing basketball star at a Catholic prep school in Manhatten who's future comes tumbling down when he gets addicted from glue sniffing to heroin. Mark Wahlberg co stars as Mickey his partner in crime as they skip school and do drugs, Jim realizes his future of becoming a pro basketball player are gone when he sees a local kid that he used to run with that decided to stay clean makes it to college ball. Eventually his mother kicks him out and he is saved by a black preacher an ex drug user from the streets takes him in. A powerful story about addiction and the negative affects it has on one's dreams. Leonardo DiCaprio's performance was amazing & makes you wonder how accurate it was of Carroll. The soundtrack also is amazing, essential to collection & a must see film.

well done
This is the most accurate depiction of dope addiction I've seen (drugstore cowboy too). From sticking a cutoff straw in a bag for a toot in the highschool bathroom or lockerroom, to the sick daydreams, to the fiending, the pure exileration of copping bags, to the allure of the needle. I started doing dope at 15 (1994)and stopped at 19, 6 years ago in 3 days. I saw this movie in 97 and I havent seen it since. Definitly not a movie you will want to watch over and over.

Like a drug, film has very high highs and very low lows
Don't take my middle of the road three star rating as a sign of apathy. This movie is one you will either love or hate, and in my case I very much enjoyed certain things and very strongly disliked others.

Obivously the big draw in this movie is Leonardo DiCaprio. I have to say, he does an outstanding job with this role. In the true story of drugged-out high schooler Jim Carroll, he thrives on the type of script Academy Awards are made out of: tons of opportunities for him to be high, low, enraged, in sorrow. There are a lot of opportunities to use his physicality in the role, and he seizes every one. In particular I think of his drug withdrawal sequence and he and his friends' mourning the death of a close friend by getting drunk and playing basketball in the rain.

The plot has a sixteen year old Jim Carroll playing high school basketball. Three of his teammates are his best friends, and when not on the basketball court, they tend to find all kinds of "innocent" trouble around New York (knocking over food vendor carts, for instance). Another outlet of energy for Jim alone is his diary where he records sensations he feels in his young life.

His search for sensation and his friends' desire to find trouble coalesces in experiments with drugs like cocaine and herione. As Jim notes in the monologue of the movie, there is no such thing as a part-time addict. They fall further and further into the downward spiral in an effort to evade pressures from school teachers, coaches, and parents.

Some of the scenes in this movie are very gripping and visceral. However, the links between these scenes tend to be bogged down in poor directing. I realize this movie was a lower budgeted one, but there really is no excuse for having a movie made in 1995 that looks like it was made in 1985. While the performance by DiCaprio is extraordinary, the directing is lackluster. Poor camera angles, helpless lighting, bit part actors who look and sound amateur; those should all be blamed on the director.

However, this movie is worthwhile if you are one who has a particular interest in either Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg (he stars as a main character and one of Jim Carroll's best friends), or the subject matter. I have to say I thought "Trainspotting" handled the subject of drug use extremely well, but this movie is right up there in the ability to depict the sensations felt by those addicted. ... Read more

Description

A mid-level Wall Street executive, lured by the quick, easy money available from selling crack, becomes entangled in a downward spiral of addiction and faces losing his wife, his children and even his own life as he struggles to free himself of the drug and the desperate society of crackheads, dealers and users. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A must see for all young adults
If anyone ever wanted a reason no to do drugs, this is the movie. More powerful than any lecture or discussion could ever dream of being, this film shows so clearly what crack addiction is like. This movie should be shown to every high school senior.

LIFE OF SWEET NOTHINGNESS
Sweet Nothing is a fantastic movie portraying the lives of a young couple struggling to have a life in NYC.A young Michael Imperioli,and Mira Sorvino lend credence to a story of drugs,love,and loss! A MUST SEE!

Amazing!!
This movie is not just about drugs but its about a family's struggle to get out of an endless ditch that is drugs. Amazing acting, storyline and directing. I think its a must see for anybody, it really shows you the meaning of true survival. I loved it and i want to thank everybody that made this movie possible for me to watch. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Mob Hit!
If you loved GOODFELLAS and THE SOPRANOS, this should be on your Christmas list. Vincent Pastore (Big Pussy), Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltasanti) and Kathrine Narducci (Charmine Bucco) all appear in this film along with Nicholas Turturro, the first cousin of Aida Turturro (Janice Soprano). As with most mob films the story tends to be cliche but well acted. The only disappointment, aside from the incrediably long wait for this movie's release, is that the film isn't available on DVD. Let's hope the DVD version isn't far behind and that Kathrine Narducci won't be lost in the transfer.

Good alright, almost as good as Gotti
This is a good picture alright, Although I would have preferedto have done the casting my self, However I disagree with Michael Cellio regarding Abe Vigoda from the godfather who's playing Big Paul Castellano, I think he's the perfect guy for the role. But Tom Sizemore and Nicholas Turturro could have a number of replacers though. But I am a big fan of mob movies and cant judge this picture to hard, my final words are: "It was good but not as good as Gotti with Armand Assante". And Michael take a look at the real Paul Castellano and maybe you'll see that Abe Vigoda is pretty similar...

Excellent film--Not to be missed by fans of "mob" films
This film is an excellent adaptation of the story told in "Sammy the Bull" Gravano's book, *Underboss*, the reading of which would actually enhance this film for any viewer. Nicholas Turturro does with his acting the same magic Gravano performs with the written word--taking you directly into the mind and the world of a real gangster with few excuses offered.

Gravano was raised to revere and respect "the mob" the same way other kids in the U.S. learn to idolize sports heros and financial wizards today. To get into the mob was to "make it", and Sammy Gravano did just that as few others have, ultimately rising to be second-in-command of one of the country's most powerful mobs.

This is the story of the decline in power of the Gambino crime "family" following the death of its formidable founder, the low-key but lethal Carlo Gambino. His replacement, "Big Paul" Castillano proved not as devoted to "the family" or to his own family his forerunner, both colossal faux pas for a crime boss. His being replaced with the flashy, all-too-public "Teflon Don" John Gotti dealt the Gambino organization a blow from which it has yet to recover (it may be supposed; who knows what underground operations may yet be going on?).

Gravano's hands somehow appear much bloodier in the movie than in the book--perhaps because the book allows more time for the protagonist to tell his side of the story and come up, if not smelling like a rose, at least not smelling quite as much like stinkweed. In Witness for the Mob, his true status is more clearly spelled out as that of a serial killer who was granted immunity in exchange for the testimony that put John Gotti, among others, away for life. Gravano entered the witness protection program and, the film tells us, is now "doing business somewhere in the United States."

This film makes it appear that at least as late as the 1980's, before the fall of Gotti, members of "the mob" enjoyed the same sort of glory and hero-worship as the bankrobbers of the American Old West and Depression-era. Every little boy dreamed of growing up to be a gangster, and every woman of marriageable age wanted to marry into the lavish lifestyle such a life afforded. In fact, one of the most interesting aspects of this story is the way the mob wives lived in luxury while turning a very practiced blind eye to the means by which the money rolled in.

"Sammy the Bull" employs a candor in his book that spills over into this movie. At no time does he claim to be a hero of any sort and freely admits that saving his own skin was his primary motivation in becoming a federal witness against his former partners. That candor becomes a reason to believe, if not admire, him.

Nicholas Turturro is outstanding in this roll, portraying Sammy the Bull in the way that Gravano himself would probably have preferred, judging from his book. Tom Sizemore is totally believable as the "Dapper/Teflon Don" whose love of being in the public eye began to tighten the snare set for him. And it is great to see Abe Vigoda again, this time as "Big Paul" at the end of his reign, too smug and self-satisfied to think that the new "up and coming" members of his own gang might break long-standing Cosa Nostra taboos to get rid of a leader they came to regard as ineffective at best. And it is amusing to see Gotti, as portrayed by Sizemore, make the same mistake of thinking that once you are "the boss", no one can take you down, even though he was very actively involved in the assassination of his predecessor.

There are no heros in this film, which adds to the veracity of its story. What the viewer gets is a far above average look into the world of the mob, a world that is confusing, horrific, and occasionalliy amusing in a dark, sardonic sort of way. For three hours, you see it all through the eyes of "underboss" Salvatore Gravano. And that is about as close an observation as you can get and still live to tell about it.

Mob Madness
This movie is about the rise of mobster Sam Gravano, whose testimony put John Gotti and others in jail. Some may find this movie too long. I thought the nearly three-hour length allowed the story to develop more fully. The story drew me in. The film raises the question of what is ethical. According to this movie, it depends upon one's point of reference. The mob has its own code of ethics. Gravano is depicted as striving to live according to that code. It is a code that jusifies murder. This film has plenty of executions but I did not think the violence was overdone. This movie draws the viewer into the mad world of the mob. We are enticed to see Gravano, who murdered 19 people, as an honorable hero. This view is questioned at the end, however, when we begin to emerge from the darkness of the crime world and see the cost of crime to all of us.

government rat
What do you rate a good mob movie on. Maybe how it compares to Godfather or Goodfellas. No, you rank them based on the material in the movie and in this case I would have to say that they used alot of useless parts of this story and put it in the movie. They(mafia rats) all tell stories to make them selves look like the victim. But the truth about Sam gravano is that he was a stone cold killer and the movie gives you the idea that he was just doing what he was told. Not true, instead of puttng the courting of his wife, who left him because he was a rat and killed her brother, the movie should have focused on why he became a killer. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Is it just me...
or do the "girls" in this movie look a bit old to be girls.

UNITY
This is One of my Favoirte movies, next to just another girl, the players club, and eves bayou... It shows that we women are strong, and we ain't gonna take no stuff from no man... No disrespect...

Great Movie!
This is one of the best movies I've ever seen! It is so true in its depiction of young women today. The actresses and the dialogue perfectly capture the issues and limitations facing many young women. Bravo!!!

This movie is excellent!
I love this movie, but the fact of the matter is that I couldn't find it anywhere in stores. It took me forever to find it and I'm glad I did. Now I can enjoy it with friends and family. Thanks Amazon! ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Spike Lee's 1991 story about an interracial relationship and its consequences on the lives and communities of the lovers (Wesley Snipes, Annabella Sciorra) is one of his most captivating and focused films. Snipes and Sciorra are very good as individuals trying to reach beyond the limits imposed upon them for reasons of race, tradition, sexism, and such. Lee makes an interesting and subtle case that they are driven to one another out of frustration with social obstacles as well as pure attraction--but is that enough for love to survive? John Turturro is featured in a subplot as an Italian American who grows attracted to a black woman and takes heat from his numbskull buddies.--Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (23)

How things have changed...
I think Do the Right Thing is Spike Lee's best movie, and the early 1990s was a time where Spike was making his movies with a message. Do the Right Thing is a movie that stands the test of time in my opinion, because so much of it rings so true, it's incredibly funny, and heartbreaking at the same time. Lee received a lot of flak for that movie while making it. When it came out, it shut everybody up.
About one year after that, Jungle Fever was released. It was definitely a big deal at the time - a movie about a black man and an Italian woman in a relationship in NYC, a city at the time still basically reeling from the well-known racist killings of two black men at the hands of Italians in their neighborhoods. So this whole interracial thing and the ramifications of it seemed groundbreaking at the time.

I watched this movie the other day and marveled in terms of the interracial aspect of it how much of it is just not the case anymore in 2003 America. It was a big deal for a black man to be seen with a white woman. Now, it's totally taboo, and desired, and nobody really cares. I mean, I actually found myself giggling during the movie and saying to myself, "Come on, now. It's not even like that!"

Okay. A quick review of the movie: Wesley Snipes stars as Flipper, who starts an affair (for no damn good reason) with a white temp worker, Angie, played by Annabella Sciorra, and then has to deal with the repercussions of it. In the midst of this are storylines with Flipper's brother and his drug use, his strict bible-thumping father, and other storylines with Angie's folks, part-time boyfriend, etc. Spike Lee's ensemble cast is featured, and they do not disappoint. Samuel L. Jackson is absolutely fantastic as the crack addcited brother. His performance is both hilarious and pitiful, Ossie Davis is wonderful in his role (hated the actions of his character at the end, though, did he go to the slammer? He should've), John Turturro is excellent (when is he not? Absolutely phenomenal in Do the Right Thing, btw), and the list goes on and on. Fortunately, these actors all balance out Wesley Snipes who is basically ineffective in his performance. In my opinion, he just can't act. You feel so sympathy for him as he has to deal with his wife and all her anger about the affair, you don't care about him and his issues with his job, and everything else he goes through. And I think we're SUPPOSED to care and sympathize with this guy, I just think Snipes was just unable to pull off the role. BTW, Annabella Sciorra is excellent.

On another note: much has been made of Halle Berry's performance in this movie, how groundbreaking it was, etc. Not! She is totally overrated in this movie. All she does is act crazy, fire off expletives and the like to the point of annoyance. She has proven herself to be a good actress in movies following this, but in this one, give me a break. It's Samuel L. Jackson who makes that storyline, let me tell you.

The bottom line is if you watch this movie around Wesley Snipes, you can actually enjoy it. It gets a little long-winded at points, but the performances are pretty good. Some other performance notes, the little girl who plays Snipes and McKee's daughter Ming (someone explain the chinese name for this black child to me, please?), annoying! I know she was young, but she was totally not cute, though she tries very hard to be. Totally irrelevant to my review of the movie, I just wanted to say that I found her incredibly annoying and not cute.

BEST SPIKE MOVIE EVER!!
I'm a Spike Lee fan and i have to admit that this is his best work ever! I'm a teenager and ever since this movie came out I had always wanted to see it. I finally saw it 2 hours ago and I thought it was excellent. I'm a big fan of Sam Jackson and I think in a way he stole the show. Everybody played their part accordingly specially Anthony Quinn and Lonette McKeen. This actors did a great job and I do think this is an "underrated masterpiece." This movie has been overlooked by some people and I think it deserves way more reviews than it has received. The issue of white/black dating was discussed throughout this movie and I loved the scene where the "girls" were talking in the living room about why they thought black men dated white women. Go rent this movie now if you haven't seen it and if you don't liek it then you're crazy!

One of Spike's Most ambitious films
But he apparently was still having some trouble with balance. The story is , well, you know. And it's a great thing that Spike had the guts to do something like this. And while there was some balance, the scale was a shade racist. Just a shade. Still, one of his absolute best and a must, although he really did have trouble with ending this one.

Spike Showed Truth With This Film
First of all, I am a black female who could care less if someone dates out their race. And I don't know if Spike is a racist or not (because he has dated white women and his father is married to a white woman). But one thing is clear; SOME black people do get offended when they see a black man with a white woman. I have personally seen black women confront black men for dating white women and I have seen black men act crazy when they see a black woman with a white man. In my opinion, Spike showed reality in this film, whether you agree with it or not. However, I don't like this film because it was so unfocused to me. There were too many things going on and in the end, it all seemed useless. I guess Spike wanted to get people talking about race and if that was his goal, then he achieved it. Personally, what I find most offensive and racist is the person who is playing the lead character. He (Snipes) made nasty comments about black women to a black magazine, which explains why his popularity has gone down.

Spike Lee ought to be banned from filmmaking
This is one of the absolute worst movies I have ever seen. Spike Lee is not a brilliant filmmaker. He clearly has racist views that he feels the need to display on film. Jungle Fever is the story of a black man who has an affair with an Italian woman. When their affair is found out, everyone is up in arms. The woman is accused of stealing the Black Man. Black women sit around dissing her when Flipper's (Snipes) wife needs to be questioning her husband. Last I checked, the ring was on Flipper's finger. The very idea that these women can sit around dogging white people and it be deemed ok is deplorable to me. As a young black female, I was disgusted at this image. Queen Latifah's portrayal of that waitress was even worse.

This movie is disgusting and it is a very good example of irresponsible filmmaking. This does not promote racial unity or racial tolerance.

Avoid it at all cost. ... Read more

Description

Truth, conscience and revenge collide in a life and death struggle in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Elegant dialogue transcends time itself as it rolls from the lips of a superb cast, touching the hearts and minds of our own lives today. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

BEST ADAPTATION...
No one is a bigger Kenneth Brangah fan than I am, but this version of Hamlet (which aired on the Odyssey channel a year ago) far surpasses his grandiose attempt, and is simply the best I have seen, better than Oliver and Gibson and all those others (but still watch 'Discovering Hamlet' if you have a chance...great behind the scenes of a young Kenneth's stage version). But back to this film....it is a wonderful adaptation of the greatest play about modern man ever written, a good solid cutting which, unlike Kenneth's film version, keeps the story moving along and doesn't drag out every line which may have been necessary for the story to be told properly in Shakespeare's time, but isn't as neccessary for the film world of today. But the cutting still keeps everything important and wonderful about the play. Campbell Scott is PERFECT as Hamlet; the makers of this film did not try too hard to update it, but they certainly showed how even more relevant Hamlet is today as the complete and utter picture of modern man. The other actors are great; the actress who played Ophelia (a black woman--another great twist and angle to Ophelia and Hamlet's complex relationship)is brilliant in the scenes when she goes crazy...with the lewd and disturbing songs Shakespeare wrote, she really takes things to another level. The three most memorable scenes....the scene that Hamlet sees his father's ghost (the ghost comes out of the sand with some great special effects); a wonderful staging of the scene where Ophelia helps her father spy on Hamlet; and a stunning adaptation of Hamlet's famous monologue. Such a wonderful version. So worth the extra money if you really want to own a fantastic version of Hamlet. Especially great for teachers who want their English/drama classes how revolutionary Shakespeare really was. And hey! It was on the Odyssey channel so it's completely school appropriate...

Disappointing
Wait for the Kenneth Branaugh version of Hamlet. Although the Campbell Scott version has its good moments, generally it lacks energy. The sword play is so reserved that it gives the impression that the actors didn't want to hurt each other. If you're really interested in buying this version of Hamlet, borrow it from the library first. You may find my copy there soon.

a successful updated Hamlet
Updated to a late 19th century era, this Hallmark Hall of Fame TV production often succeeds where others have failed. It keeps the language of old, although it is spoken unpretentiously with American accents, and the cadence has a flatness to it that takes getting used to. The racially mixed all-American cast in on the whole good, with only a few weak links.
It's filmed in and around an elegant Long Island, N.Y. manor house, and the soundtrack by Gary DeMichele is effective, using mostly solo piano, and occasionally some percussion instruments and horn, and manages to sound medieval and modern almost simultaneously. The piercing sound that accompanies the ghostly image of Hamlet's father is a little loud for my liking and sensitive ears, but a similar sound is often heard by people who are about to faint, so perhaps it is appropriate.

Campbell Scott, who also co-directed with Eric Simonson, gives a bravura, fascinating performance as Hamlet, and it has subtleties that make his Dane interesting for several viewings. John Benjamin Hickey as Horatio is also impressive, Jamey Sheridan makes an excellent calculating, smooth Claudius, Blair Brown a believable Gertrude, and Lisa Gay Hamilton is a lovely Ophelia.
Though my first choice for Hamlet on film is the Gibson/Zeffirelli version, followed closely by the beautiful Olivier one, this is surprising and innovative without leaving the spirit of the play behind, and definitely worth watching for anyone who appreciates this glorious work, and my favorite of all of Shakespeare's plays.
It's one of the better versions available, and total running time is 3 hours.

very disappointing
Ok, first off, what in the world is up with the bongos and other crappy background music? It just doesn't fit in with the Shakespearian play at all. I can understand perhaps using a little rock music if you want a bit of a modern twist, but the slow jazz music and cheap-sounding piano really downplay all the emotional scenes. The movie wasn't affecting at all. And some of the acting was really crappy. I couldn't feel any sparks between Hamlet and Ophelia and the last scene was so anti-climatic. The swordfight was made too light of a matter - it just seemed as though they were just practicing or entertaining the court. This was the first time I ever saw Hamlet acted out (I had to watch this for a class) and I really like the play, so I was highly disappointed. I swear, you could find more entertainment in just reading the orginal Shakepeare script than watching this.

I'm choosy about my Hamlets...
...and I choose this one. I'm another "Hamlet collector." When a friend brought this to me from a yard sale, I read the blurb & thought "Well, have you ever seen a bad Hamlet?" I sat down to watch, & was soon entranced by the production. At three hours, it's a good length - not overly gutted like so many 2 hour productions, not rump-numbing like some "eternity" uncut versions. The casting is imaginative and effective. Finally - a Gertrude old enough to be Hamlet's mother, & an Ophelia old enough not to be jail bait! The "to be or not to be" soliloquy is given a powerful set up - possibly the best I've ever seen. When I began to describe it to a friend, she stopped me because the intense emotion of the scene bothered her. Throughout there are wonderfully original (yet not disrupting) bits of stage action. Most carry an element of surprise, so I won't mention those here, but a striking example comes soon after Polonius' death, when Hamlet is pursued, surrounded and captured by various guards. One guard pulls out a long cord and lashes the Prince's hands together.
I do have one quibble, which is at odds with another review here. I really dislike the musical score. It reminded me of nothing so much as a saloon piano. ... Read more

Reviews (24)

FINE OFF-BEAT DRAMA.....
Amazon.com's Tom Keogh's remarks aside, this is a fine chronicle of the events leading up to the shooting of Andy Warhol by deranged fringe-dweller Valarie Solanas. Having grown up in the Warhol era, I thought the film rather accurately captured the essence and feel of the Factory and Warhol's groupies. As to Solanas' psychological deterioration--who's the expert? Keogh? I don't think there's anyone who can explain in gratuitous detail what the woman was actually going through and why she shot Warhol. The film only gives an account of what could have happened based on the information available. And it did a great job. Casting was perfect--specifically Lili Taylor as Solanas and Stephen Dorff as Candy Darling. Jared Harris was OK as Warhol. But truthfully, I don't think anyone could actually play Warhol but Warhol. He was that unique. I recommend this film to anyone who remembers that era and anyone even interested in it. The film is fine and stands it's own ground exceedingly well. If anything, just see the film for the performances. You'll still learn something.

Revealing the S.C.U.M. manifesto

Excellent indy pic with outstanding performances especially by Dorf, Harris and Taylor, all excellent small-budget mainstays. I liked Harris' portrayal of Warhol, because he's usually represented by someone who just acts aloof and goofy, but here he actually works as a person. Stephen Dorf as Candy Darling and Lili Taylor as Valerie Solanas are entirely convincing. This movie started director Mary Harron's reputation for skillful storytelling, and it was later cemented by her work 'American Psycho.' I greatly anticipate her next film.

The Amazon critic here criticized Harron for not taking a stand on Solanos and the S.C.U.M. manifesto. Why? The movie's not about the manifesto, but Solanos' bizarre character and the story of how she shot Warhol. This is done to a T.

Great flick!

Award Worthy Biography!
I don't know if I Shot Andy Warhol won or was nominated for any film awards but it certainly deserved some. Lili Taylor ( the princess of offbeat roles ) and Stephen Dorff were at their best. If Hollywood was smart enough to recognize talent over looks then Taylor should have won an Oscar. Taylor once again delivered a wonderful performance showing she can make any role her own. Dorff not only played a convincing drag queen but was so realistic you'd actually think he was a woman. The film is a todrey, strange look into the life of writer Valerie Salinos ( sp? ) a feminist, man-hating butch that took feminism to the highest level. This film may be uncomfortable and at times socially disturbing but it gets the job done by telling Valerie's life realistically. It's nothing short of entertaining as well. Highly recommended especially for fans of Lili Taylor.

Excellent film
This film wisely makes no value judgements about its subjects. It just portrays, as best as it can, the late '60s icon that
was known as Andy Warhol. Some things are unfortunately left out, such as the fact that the insane Solanis considered Warhol a vampire and spraypainted her bullets silver. She tried to wrap them in foil, but it made her gun jam. It jammed anyway, which
is why she was unable to shoot the third man. An excellent
portrayal of a bunch of nuts, even though the movie never explicitly says they are.

Alternative film hits alternative bull's-eye
I suppose "I Shot Andy Warhol" is different things to different people. I have argued vehemently with friends whose opinion I respect about the extraordinary merits of this film. I think "I Shot Andy Warhol" was one of the finest films of 1998. I also think this film is blessed with one of the most intense performances of any era by Lili Taylor, unforgettable in the lead role of lesbian-prostitute-feminist-deranged-Warhol-groupie Valerie Solanas. Hers is a brave, utterly believable portrayal, wrought with desperation, loneliness and a creative need chained by conventions of American society.

To expect a by-the-numbers retelling/recreation of the true events portrayed in this film - Solanas' assault of Andy Warhol - is entirely missing the point. I believe film director/writer Mary Harron was trying to reveal a type of exploitation of women that existed during this time, and certainly hovered in the shadows of the pseudo alternative arts culture of Andy Warhol's Factory - a dream-like warehouse littered with black-clad artists/writers/filmmakers instinctively creating against-the-grain works while rebelling against the conservative conventions of 1950s-1960s American culture.

Harron's version of Solanas, who would go on to publish the frightening though fascinating work "SCUM Manifesto," is a lonely, out-of-place soul. She initially appears to have found a comrade haven in Warhol's Factory. But her rage, plus her radical feminist views, eventually causes her "excommunication," leading to her assualt of Andy. The shooting itself essentially ended Warhol's artistic career, leaving wounds which would never entirely heal.

I like the contrast Harron makes several times throughout the film between Warhol (well played by Jared Harris) and Solanas - with Warhol as the effeminate introverted male and Solanas as the masculine extroverted female. These two are definitely opposite sides of the coin. I was also impressed by Harron's pointed observation of the women-hating exploitation that existed in much of the Factory's art. It has always been cool to admire Warhol and the legend of his Factory. Harron's recreation of several of the warehouse parties, including a memorable Velvet Underground concert, are some of the many highlights of this film.

But eventually in Harron's film, Solanas' radical views are too counter culture for even Warhol and company. And once again Solanas is an outcast, lonely and adrift within the confines of the New York art scene of the 1960s. "I Shot Andy Warhol" is such a sad film in many ways, detailing lost souls void of acceptable identity. Solanas' rage is the angst of all struggling outcasts, cursed by a need to create, but unable to find the proper forum or audience. That she took her rage to the ultimate extreme should not be applauded. But to place her into the conventional (and safe) category of demented psycho is not entirely accurate. It's a brave stance "I Shot Andy Warhol" makes, and perhaps it is just another form of the emotional truth of this story.

Harron's "I Shot Andy Warhol" is an alternative examination of alternative lifestyles. It's stance is disturbingly unique, with a creative style undeniable. ... Read more

Reviews (25)

An Average Joint
This crime drama about a troubled, confused teen boy has some well-done elements but the overall result isn`t too exciting or innovative. Strike is a young dealer living in a dangerous and claustrophobic neighborhood, and as he becomes more involved with some bad influences his problems start to increase and leaving him in a difficult situation.
Director Spike Lee uses a typical murder mystery to offer some insight into this NY community, showcasing their connections and relations. There are some stylish and edgy camera angles, the acting is generally convincent and the characters complex enough (even if a bit stereotyped), but the movie is ultimately too long, the pacing slow, the plot unsurprising, the score melodramatic and the ending a bit weak and forced.
So, despite some good moments, "Clockers" could have been more developed and edgier, since most of the picture offers nothing that hasn`t been shown in some TV series out there. Passable entertainment.

ALEXS CAPSULE MOVIE REVIEWS
Highlights: Harvey Keitel's, Mekhi Phifer's and Delroy Lindo's amazing performances; the tightest script ever written by Spike Lee; philosophical themes well-developed; candidly brutal depictions of the projects, with all their crack dealers and lack of aspiration.

Lowpoints: The musical score at times gets a little too overwhelming; Clockers' pace falters, but that's to be expected from a Spike Lee joint, and Clockers is the most successful venue on his resume yet.

Conclusion: A fine, powerful drama that deals with the life of a young man, born in the projects and trying to make a living from dealing crack cocaine. The acting is exceptional, particularly Harvey Keitel's, who always mesmerizes and here delivers a performance that, in terms of intensity, could only be compared to his work in Abel Ferrarra's Bad Lieutenant. The characters are spot-on, the script sizzles, and there are scnes that will make viewers choke on tears of compassion.

SEE THIS IF YOU LIKED: Do the Right Thing, Menace II Society, Baby Boy.
DON'T SEE THIS IF YOU LIKED: O, Save the Last Dance, Monkey Trouble.

Classic Gangsta Cinema from the hardest of hardcore Spike
Yo, you gotta buy this yo. This is where it all comes from. This is the movie that in the future will be viewed as the end all be all of gangsta movies. It chronicles the trials and tribulations of a smart teenage drug dealer as he grows up in Brooklyn and tries to gain a lucrative spot in the drug game off the benches. It shows with flashbacks and good storytelling how black on black crime is created and perpetuated in the hood: too many men dealing crack son. This teenage hardcore is called Strike and he must choose his path in life and one thing the movie makes abundantly clear: Strike can stop dealing anytime he wants. Strike has money and trains. Strike has people in the community including two understanding cops and a mother and a brother and a sister in law who would like to see him change his ways and the script shows that he can chance anytime. He can go into witness protection. He can just up and move and take his money elsewhere. He's smart. he can do alot of things, but he chooses to stay and be a dealer. Why? because the most father-like influence on him is a hard-boiled dealer played by Delroy Lindo who permeates the film with rationale evil and avarice that make bad leutenant look like good family fun. So in short, Spike is showing through Strike how all the black youth just need a good father figure to set them straight, stop dealing and raise a family like Strikes brother who is honorable and sympathetic to the extreme. The soundtrack is brilliantly wrought to effect sympathy and compassion from the audience while the shocking visual elements cause us to question our own society.

Fair to middlin'
I'd probably like this movie a lot better if I didn't feel it was such a disservice to the novel it's based on.

Delroy Lindo does give a standout performance as Rodney, but I just wasn't that impressed with Keitel. I guess it's a testament to Price when I say that the Rocco Klein of his novel felt more lifelike, more deeply conflicted, and more rounded than Keitel's Klein seemed on screen.

I found it irritating that there were certain surreal elements added to the script which seemed to compromise the grittiness of the story. The additions didn't make the movie funnier, they just made it strange.

As a side note, less than ten years old, the soundtrack already seems incredibly dated.

Don't even rent this one, go read it. If you're dead set on spending your loot, buy two copies of "Do the Right Thing."

VERY NOSTALGIC
This film is probably the most emotionally compelling film I've ever seen. I feel like the ghosts of my past are reaching into me as I watch this. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

THIS MOVIE IS AWFUL!
I rented this movie on .99 cents night and it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth the drive to the video store. Ugh!

Beyond Dreadful!!!!
I blindly picked up this turkey (without knowing anything about it) from the used rack of a Blockbuster store several months ago. I brought the DVD home and proceeded to get information on it via the internet. Amazon was my first stop and I must admit to nearly crying after reading the terrible reviews of others who had already seen the film - I hate casting money to the wind!!! But, I decided to watch the film anyway and form my own opinion about its quality. Well, this has to be one of the worst scripted, worst edited, worst scored and most poorly acted horrors I've ever seen. Richard Chamberlain's acting was so bad that I couldn't help wonder if he had taken laxatives throughout the production and was overacting because he really, really had to get to a bathroom!! He was abyssmal!! I recommend you rent this dreadful film if you're really intent on seeing it. Please, please don't waste your money buying it.

Love, sex and death in the 90's
For reasons unknown to me, director James Merendino signed this film as Allen Smithee, a usual sign of discomfort with the final product, or meaning a clash between producers and director. Although producer Jon Powell appears twice in an important role, it is still strange because `River Made To Drown In' is a very good film that in its own way conveys the same feeling of despair and love for youth-as-art found in `Death in Venice' but in the 90s. Written by Paul Marius (who plays the owner of a sex club), it is a perceptive look at the relationship between young male prostitutes and their much older clients (`johns'). These are usually men beyond their 60s who still seek quick and impersonal sex among young guys who could care less for their old-age anguish. Richard Chamberlain plays Thaddeus MacKenzie, an old lawyer with AIDS, who wants to spend his last days with the only two persons he loved, two young hustlers. Allen Hayden (Michael Imperioli) has changed his life style and has become an artist. He is having an affair with Eva (Ute Lemper), a wealthy gallery owner who knows nothing about his past. The other one is even younger, Jaime (James Duval), the son of an ex model and a Buddhist monk, who wants to raise enough money to go visit his father. It is interesting that a young man like Marius, has come with an incisive story and some keen dialogues that could have been written by someone older and perhaps `wiser'. What makes the Allen Smithee credit more intriguing is that Merendino is a filmmaker with real talent for directing actors, for composition, and with a good eye for expressing the inherent affective dislocation of the story. He receives good help from cinematographer Thomas Callaway, whose angles, use of cranes, hand-held camera or play with depth of field, convey the distortion of these people's lives. On the other hand, editor Esther P. Russell has made a very good job to suggest the fragmentation of the daily experience of these persons. Her cross-cutting between different scenes transforms dialogues to an extent that they have greater meaning because of her editing: take, for example, the dialogue between Thaddeus and Eva on a bench, while both Allen and Jaime are involved in different places, in unpleasant situations with clients. There is no place for silly sentimentality or gratuitous sex scenes here (unless they have been cut), although the story is about love and sex between men: it is an almost heartless film, as most of the characters are. But even then, Merendino and Marius show real affection for these people, and have made a very rewarding and intelligent feature on the hustler scene.

The Absolute Worst!!!
The pits! Cast as dying attorney in the final throes of AIDS, a way-over-the-top Richard Chamberlain decides to use his last days to make peace (so to speak) with two young male hustlers whom he'd hired ten years earlier. (Never mind that the younger of the two would have been a child at the time!) Needless to say, neither of the hustlers is particularly eager to see this former client agent--and who can blame them? As portrayed by Chamberlain, this annoying old queen (supposedly a top lawyer!) would give Truman Capote a run for his money in the flamboyance department.

Talky, with little action, this truly awful movie seems like a feature-length death watch that seems to go on forever. And when Chamberlain finally does expire, the movie takes a turn for the weird, treating audiences to a softcore post-death epilogue--a fast montage of the two hustlers (one of whom has been retired for years) plying their trade in group sex interludes with variety of skanky old geezers. HUH??? (If this sounds interesting, it isn't).

No wonder director James Merendino (hiding here under the name "Alan Smithee," a pseudonym synonymous for screen stinkeroos) demanded to have his name removed from the film. If the cast was smart, they'd have demanded the same privilege--and insisted upon having their images digitally erased, to boot.

Wonderful
Very well done. Loved every minute of it. However it is a matter of taste as to whether on not you will like it. More than one of the characters really hit home with me. Certainly much better than many of the movies out there which are full of the same old boring young straight predicable characters. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Love this film.......but all my friends hate it!
Must say that this is one of the most memorable films that i've seen. To describe it in a few words: original and quirky film about some guy who knows he's going to die, so what does he do about it? The film stars Takeshi Kaneshiro (really cool Japanese actor/model dude)as a less-than-motivated foreign student in New York City, and Mira Sorvino as Death herself. It even includes director Wong Suk Chin in an amusing cameo appearance as a Chinatown Hitman.

Well, based on the characters and rough plot, you kinda get the idea that this could turn out to be an absolute waste of time. But if you're patient enough to sit through what can appear to be a pointless film, this can be a rewarding experience. Mostly, this is due to clever snippets of random dialogue throughout the film; less so for content and more so because of delivery. This is where the random characters come in. Among other things, I enjoyed Mira Sorvino trying out 2 different chinese dialects, Italian guy getting sarcastic about the Japanese anatomical inferiority, 12-year old girl describing how pointless manogamy can be, and a hilarious discussion about why its good to take a book into a cafe even if you're not going to be reading it.

Mira Sorvino is brilliant as a charming and strangely compassionate Death. But the most memorable character of the lot is Takeshi's. While the man himself is not a particularly good actor, he more than makes up for this deficiency by just looking so much the part; the part of a character who hardly seems as if he is able to do anything significant for the film. He seems to just laze through the film, even after having been told by death that he faces a premature end. But it is this sort of pace, and Takeshi's encounters with the various random people, that makes this film enjoyable. The tone of the film darkens and gets more profound towards the end. The finale is predictable in terms of the result, but how it happens is less so.

To examine this film any further would be to take it too seriously. The production of the film smacks of deliberate lack of effort, and this is reflected in the many simple and shallow character developments. Yet, it seemed to strike a lot of chords with me, especially since at the time of watching i was a similarly lackadaisical overseas student struggling to get in gear.

Don't expect the film to portray a theme of any kind, but bear in mind the way it takes a superficial look at many disjointed issues. Check this film out only if you're in the mood, or if you're "too tired" to do anything else. ... Read more

Description

1999 THEATRICAL RELEASE A "feel good" New York slice-of-life with an ensemble cast of favorites, "The Deli", tells the engaging tale of Johnny Amico (Dumb & Dumber's Mike Starr), a lovable but incorrigibly bad gambler who has a tough time paying the bills at his Italian-American delicatessen.

With one week to make good on his debts, Johnny rides a comic roller-coaster as her desperately tries to save "The Deli" while battling a crazy bunch of bookies, gangsters and neighborhood nut jobs.

"The Deli" features a soundtrack with songs by David Bowie, Marvin Gaye, The Posies, Davis Johansen and Craig Mack"

A MUST FOR ALL SOPRANOS FANS!!!

SEE ALL OF THEM IN ACTION IN "THE DELI" ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A gambler's comedy
Where's the DVD? This is a sport gambler's comedy GEM...waiting to add to my DVD collection upon release! Highly recommend busting a gut viewing this with the beer buddy's following a football game.

A pre-Sopranos classic.
From the first surreal scene, the dialogue in The Deli is funny and original. With too many stars and cameos to mention, this movie will remind you of The Sopranos (it features three members of the Soprano cast), and if you like that show, you will love The Deli.

A waste of talent
This movie has an all star cast but is so horrid. It is so funny to watch how horrible the movie is. Do not buy it, please save your money and buy shaft! This movie is so corny it is like you woke up in a comedy of Goodfellas.

MICHAEL IMPERIOLI - SOPRANOS - CHRISTOPHER MULTISANTI
An absolute GEM! This movie encompasses every possible situation that a small gambler can influence his friends and family in a big city (NYC). Iman, Davis Johansan, Frant Vincent, Jerry Stiller and countless other stars made this an enjoyable film to watch! Highly recommend! ... Read more

Reviews (9)

It's not for the Pope....it's for God.
This is one of my favorite top 10 movies. My favorite character is the superstitious Santangelo Gramma who once picked clam shells out of the garbage and made a delicious soup. Household Saints reminds me of friends and relatives that were all around me growing up.

wow
This movie is amazing. it's about hope, superstition and the desire to find ones own true happiness. You do not have to be religious or have a basic understandi