doug1717 Reviews

Butch Patterson: Private Dick (1999– )

Brilliant Film Noir Naive Parody

[10/10 · 14 February 2011]

You'll hate it or love it. Entirely self effacing main character with no scruples beyond getting drunk and getting laid. Lawrence's dialogue is brilliantly obscene and the main focus of a show with the most threadbare of plots. Whenever you start to empathize with Butchy, Lawrence takes it away by plumbing even greater depths of debasement and depravity. The other characters are cartoonish except perhaps Blanche, but the show works. Don't expect great season enders, as the entire series is a merely vehicle for Lawrence's brilliant humour. Show ran for three seasons with at least a dozen episodes each. Pretty good for Canadian fare, you'll walk away or laugh and pour yourself a drink.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)

A One Trick Pony That's Actually Pretty Funny

[6/10 · 12 July 2009]

The film's a parody of Johnny Cash and the film "Walk The Line". It makes no bones about being clever, and it really isn't. You can see the jokes coming, but they are pretty funny. The whole film is predictable but it is also enjoyable. The best parts are the songs, which are full of pregnant pauses and innuendo, especially the parody of "Jackson". Jenna Fischer is gorgeous and easy on the eye compared to the befuddled and eternally confused character of Dewey Cox. There are only a few letdowns in the film. The final song, the summation of the character's life "Hell of a Ride" was unlike the rest of the film in that it was bland and totally unmemorable and a real let down. The other is the casting of the obese Jack Black as a young Paul McCartney. The film isn't worth owning, but if you can borrow a copy it is worth a watch. 6 out of 10.

Casino Royale (2006)

This Ain't Bond, More Like New Coke

[2/10 · 12 July 2009]

2 out of 10. A stupid film with bad acting and horrible effects that have nothing to do with any past Bond films. Totally forgettable random effects and no story line. The film opens with a chase scene that would have done Spiderman proud, replete with exploding gas tanks, and out of control bulldozers and skyscraper fist fights. It was a cartoon, not an action film. This "Bond" kills innocent bystanders. We see Bond's first kill - a badly choreographed wrestling match in a filthy men's washroom where he tried to drown the bad guy in a fetid sink. The opening credits are cartoons with bad graphics of "Bond" killing bad guys with card symbols. The song is forgettable and poor and there are no Bond girls. Dame Judy Dench is the new M who is just a rough pig who swears incessantly and walks fast. Whatever this is, it ain't James Bond. No style, no panache, no irony. It's like a porno, straight action and no story. Unwatchable and a huge disappointment. 2 out of 10.

Smokin' Aces (2006)

Smokin' Garbage

[1/10 · 17 May 2009]

What a stupid movie. An epileptic cinematic outing that makes you nauseous and feel twisty-twisty like a contortionist having a Grand Mal seizure on a hay ride gone wrong. Bad acting, no script, just a series of disjointed ugly images and clichéd responses to monosyllabic dialog and lousy music. A real waste of acting talent. Ray Liota was there just for the check as I hope was Ben Affleck, but he seemed to be enjoying this farce. This film was pure garbage and a waste of my time and money. Only entertainment for those with micro attention spans, it is an absolutely wasteful cinematic outing. No story or direction and certainly no editing. Pure trash.

Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal (2007 TV Movie)

Androgynous Shaven Headed Male Lectures Parents In Front Of Their Kids.

[1/10 · 16 May 2009]

What a buzz kill. This "guy" is the worst host and most off putting sort that I've seen for a while. His voice is shrill. His manner is demeaning. He is obviously battling personal demons far more menacing than kids being afraid of the dark. The show features parents with phobias of their own, and this "man" takes advantage of their vulnerability and insults and berates the parents for showing weakness in front of the kids. He blames the kids for picking up on this fear and feeding off of it with their own imagination. He pushes the selffulfilling prophesy idea. What sort of message "he" is sending to families I cannot say, except that on the surface at least, he lectures and treats parents like they are truant children in front of their kids. An abysmal show with an atrocious host. 1 out of 10.

Joe (1970)

Archie Bunker Gets High

[7/10 · 2 April 2009]

Unusual film about a man who befriends his social opposite out of fear of blackmail. Peter Boyle makes this film with his foul mouthed boorish portrayal of a working class stiff "Joe" in love with the past and fearful of the future and worried about the present. The first half hour of the show features the film debut of a young Susan Sarrandon as Melissa Compton, a weak willed rich girl who slums with her loser boyfriend, replete with a full nude scene. Her boyfriend is the film's weak spot, a poorly portrayed drug addict and dealer who meets his demise following Sarrandon's overdose. We meet Boyle's Joe in a bar as he spouts off and rants about minorities, crime, hippies and drugs, and it is easy to see that the later Norman Lear television character of Archie Bunker is based on a cleaned up version of Joe. The comparison even carries over into Joe's wife and personal life and pastimes. Joe insinuates himself into the life of Bill Compton, Melissa's father, and the two make an unlikely pair as they search for Melissa who has run away from drug treatment and back to the drug addicts she calls friends. Their search leads them to an "oar-gee" as Joe calls it, a free love fest fueled by drugs a lot of nudity and surprisingly, uptight Bill Compton and Ultra Conservative Joe both join in. They get robbed and this leads to a violent and murderous ending that foreshadows the stark and chilling ending to Taxi Driver six years later. Joe is a funny film that on the surface at least, is anti violence and anti racist. Yet the film's main character, Joe, becomes the very instrument of the upheaval he fears when he enters and joins in the illegal and unbridled sexual excesses he rants against. So in that respect, the film falls short of being a powerful message and leaves you wondering what the final outcome really was all about.

Heaven and Earth (1990)

Beautiful Vistas But a Lousy War Film

[3/10 · 13 November 2008]

This is primarily a film for hardcore Samurai film buffs. But that's it. About a half hour into the movie you sort of just realize that NOTHING IS HAPPENING. They build up to battles and NOTHING HAPPENS. Nami dies but they don't tell you why because NOTHING HAPPENS. The battle scenes are oversold by the write ups I've seen. The sword play is lacking in skill and excitement and the battles are just skirmishes. When the big battle finally happens, it is handled clumsily and slow. Takeda sends in reinforcements and they turn out to be a bunch of chicks beating a huge drum, on a platform carried by unarmed dudes who march past some riflemen who gun them down. Some attack! This film is NOT Braveheart or Last Samurai. If you want to see Samurai fighting watch "The Seven Samurai" or "Throne of Blood" or "Ran". Disappointing for all but the most eager Samurai fans. 3 out of 10.

Juno (2007)

Ellen Page took a page from "Trailer Park Boys"

[1/10 · 25 June 2008]

Don't get me wrong, I hated the film. But Ellen Page was good. She took her entire performance and attitude from Mike Clattenberg's "The Trailer Park Boys", a Showcase series from Nova Scotia Canada. On this show, she was just a kid who played "Trina", the daughter of Jim Leahy. She slowly begins to adopt the ways, mannerisms and language of Ricky, a reprobate semi literate drug dealer and marijuana grower. She copied and played Ricki as Juno in the film. Other than that, the film sucked. It was dull and slow paced. The film had some nice moments when they let the viewer discover what was happening by providing mere snippets of what was really going on. Clever, but not enough to sustain the film. Juno's lover was played weakly by the same semi retarded kid from "Superbad". Just a dull film about a smart ass kid who got knocked up because she was bored and wanted "just to see". Pure crap.

Signs (2002)

What the Hell Was This Story About?

[6/10 · 15 June 2008]

The film is moderately suspenseful and clever. But it isn't about aliens at all. The film is about a man who lost faith when his wife died and he lost courage. His family then fell victim to the usual depredations of fear and paranoia. In this case, an irrational fear of aliens. The "uncle" character played by Joachim Phoenix was someone who tried to be a big league ball player. He made some memorable plays but he was know as the strike out king because he gave up on himself. Mel Gibson spends the film refuting his old position as a father - a minister, and as a dad to his kids. It takes the aliens to make him come to terms with his wife's death and become the father for his kids, and his community. Having said all this, M. Knight Shamalan is a pussy. He uses suspense and horror genres to convey Normal Rockwell ideals of family and societal values. What a jerk!

The Hitcher (1986)

Hauer Film's Only Redeeming Quality

[4/10 · 4 June 2008]

This film starts out well, but quickly goes bad. I thought that the twist would be that the kid was nuts and imagining it all and that he was the killer, or that Hauer's character would somehow transfer to him. But no, this wasn't a Twilight Zone episode. It's just a good premise ruined by a lack of writing. Jennifer Jason Lee is wasted with a silly character, and the police are just clowns in this farce. The stunts are laughable and over the top. The car crashes and Hauer's character shooting down a helicopter with a pistol from a moving vehicle are a joke. The final scene should never have been shot. The film should have ended with Hauer's arrest and leaving the audience wondering what it was all about. Instead we go through another silly chase scene and the kid stretching far beyond his limited abilities as an actor to hunt down and kill the Hitcher. You'll laugh as Hauer jumps from the bus and through the police truck's windshield, and you'll howl when he flies out again. An unsatisfying end to a short story premise with a lot of crap in between. 4 out of 10. 1 out of 10 without Rutger Hauer.

Rocket Robin Hood (1966–1969)

I Grew Up With This Show

[7/10 · 23 May 2008]

I really loved the earlier episodes, done by Shamus Culhane. They were stories, the animation was pretty good, and they made "sense" in that the story resolved itself by the end of the episode. Later when Ralph Bakshi took over, he did the same hack job he did on Spiderman, Cheap acid inspired ink stain on paper backdrops, and missing cells on scenes that often left a character without a mouth, and stories didn't always get resolved or make sense. Also voices changed between characters during a scene. That having been said, some of his stories were good, like the "Minutae", "Space Ghosts" and Dimentia 5". I loved Dr. Nocturn, he was just creepy. The episode that has him encased in liquid mercury was actually a kinda scary. The show had the best score and music since Spiderman and was truly unique among the Saturday morning cartoons.

The Bourne Identity (2002)

The Irredeemability of The Sweetly Retarded Matt Damon

[1/10 · 20 May 2008]

I laughed so hard at the ridiculous fight scenes that I had to shut the film off for a while. Totally unbelievable characters and film. Absolute suspension of intelligence and belief are required to watch the "Bourne Identity". The only positive feature of this flick is the genuine attempt of Matt Damon to be a serious actor. You really feel sorry for him, he is so obviously out of his depth. Damon is no spy. American Intelligence is a true oxymoron as Chris Cooper and Brian Cox are portrayed as two faced bumblers. Clive Owen should have been the main character instead of the struggling Damon, Owen and his craft are wasted and he has all of 3 or 4 lines in the film. It was nice to see Simon Adebisi from "Oz" in a film, even a lame one such as this. The fight scenes are mere cartoons and hilarious, and their pathetic execution are the highlights of this film. The one scene where a wild haired blonde guy with swimming goggles flies through the window firing a machine gun is the best. The fight continues in super fast and slow mode and once beaten and killed, the bad guy rises up like Nosferatu. It was a direct rip off of Jim Carey's fantasy fight scene in "Dumb and Dumber". You'll wet your pants. Poor Matt Damon. 1 out of 10

I Am Legend (2007)

I was Rooting For The Zombies

[1/10 · 20 April 2008]

An absolute waste of time. This film is slow. It has a stupid story and a spoiled main character who's redemption comes from his finding a cure for the disease he created that killed most of the planet. For a character who should be tortured for killing off the rest of humanity, he seems to be having a good time. Way to go. Smith gives a dry performance that is unconvincing and not endearing in any way. His dog costar outshines him in every scene. The film makes up for its slow pacing by blasting its raised sound effects to highlight supposed scenes of surprise and "horror". A very cheap trick for a very bad film. Do something else with your 2 hours and enjoy your life. You won't enjoy this film.

Ursus in the Land of Fire (1963)

A Fun Film That Has Some Laughable Moments

[6/10 · 18 April 2008]

I found this film in a collection of old films on eBay. I certainly wasn't expecting "Spartacus" , just some matinée fun like the old Sinbad features. Ursus is the sort of predictable film you could add your own smart-alec dialog to and still have fun. Well the film doesn't have a cast of thousands, but it really isn't that bad. The film revolved around Ed Fury's pre-steroid abuse hulking frame and his diminutive little brother. They end up on a quest to help a princess Ursus had a romantic history with. During the first battle scene, Ursis kicks butt bare handed until he reaches into a cart and finds a conveniently placed 5 foot long club replete with spikes that looks like it came from the Flintstones. The bad guy looks amazingly like "Lost!" actor Terry O'Quinn, and is reminiscent of Ming The Merciless. The women are all buxom and tightly clad, and there are Herculean challenges and evil plots for Ursus to surmount. I always wondered why these sort of films gave these strong men feats of strength to prove their innocence. In Ursus's case, he might have defeated an elephant, but I bet a math test would have laid him low.

The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)

Good War Film, But Bad History

[7/10 · 16 April 2008]

The film is largely Trevor Howard's. The entire film revolves around his character and his fascinating if inaccurate portrayal. David Hemming's Nolan is just Howard's contrast who is just as equally inaccurate and watchable. However, the film does work, and as such is entertaining and has a Dickensian period feel. The Richard Williams animations are entertaining but run counter to the flow of the film. The first time I saw the movie I was taken aback by their sudden intrusion into the story. The subplot with a young and attractive Vanessa Redgrave does lend a "homefront" setting to contrast the aspects of military life, but it is merely fantasy as others here have pointed out the inaccuracy of the Nolan character's portrayal. The actual battles are fun to watch, and again, largely inaccurate, as are the uniforms and equipment. Military buffs will be miffed at the glossing over of important details of The Alma and Balaclava, but it still is a decent war film. Overall I still can't say what the film really was. Yes, it is anti war and anti military. There are several quotes by Nolan and Raglan on how war is changing in the industrial age as the old Napoleonic (Waterloo) order is surpassed - "soldiers shouldn't know too well their business. It smacks of murder", etc. Certainly the charge itself is bloody and must have killed or injured many tripped horses during the filming. The last image of the film is a slaughtered horse. But the film also tries some social commentary, with the poor who take the Queen's shilling, the pompous officer barracks and fancy dress balls, contrasting with the life of the other ranks and NCO's. This is effective to some degree, but there isn't a lot of time or detail to make the effort rise above the level of a caricature. And that leaves us with the Richard Williams animation interludes again. They are unusual, they portray the political situation but lend a strangeness to the film. What to make of this film? It is an inaccurate but entertaining glimpse into a period of history that was on the cusp of great social and military change. Highly inaccurate but entertaining, this film is a light buffet for history buffs, and not a full course meal.

Wrong Turn (I) (2003)

Wrong Turn? Wrong Movie!

[2/10 · 15 April 2008]

This is a garbage film. It offers the hope of sexy co-eds at the beginning but there is no nudity to redeem this flick. The bad guys are "Lord of The Rings" orc rip offs who refuse to die. There is no character development or story line. It is just a slasher chase film that goes no where. The hot chicks and the only surviving male turn out to be athletes who can jump from limb to limb on 100 foot trees in the dark. The lawmen are stupider than the hillbillies, but not as stupid as you or me for watching this celluloid snooze. The film is just a carbon copy of the slasher genre that offers nothing new and demands an unusually high suspension of belief from the viewer. Just a waste of time and rental cash.

Häxan (1922)

A Must See With The Sound Off

[8/10 · 15 April 2008]

For a film made in 1922, it is quite good. Gone are the WW1 shaky frames. The film itself without sound is a must see for film buffs or those interested in witchcraft. The film has many touches that are seen in many later films in the occult genre. Even "The Blair Witch Project" stole the idea of wrapping body parts in twig packages. The devil and his Gene Simmons tongue wagging has been copied both on and off film since. The only drawback is the 1956 US version's music. It is horrible and completely dissonant with the film itself. The work of a self absorbed hack, it is merely elevator music pasted over a visually fascinating film. I would suggest you watch most of it with the sound muted. The film has great Faustian imagery and a scene of witches flying over houses that were filmed from a moving train. The orgies feature nudity and baby sacrifices by original looking demons. The film is a must see in spite of the music.

Black Hawk Down (2001)

Poor Film That Could Have Been A Zombie Epic

[2/10 · 15 April 2008]

Ridley Scott has made a mess. Much like his later effort "American Gangster", Scott throws the viewer into a world with no introduction and you are left to pick up the pieces and catch up. Either that or he assumed the audience knew it all before going in. That might explain his use of tiny illegible subtitles to convey information, just like in "American Gangster". The actors were almost all wasted. You couldn't tell who was who. They all looked the same. You don't care about them at all. To drive this home, Scott portrays the interchangeable soldiers as arrogant, ignorant cry babies who run when the going gets tough. The American command is portrayed as an electronic age Custer, and the Somali and the Mujahadeen who came to fight the Americans are portrayed as Indians in a 60's western. The whole film is whites vs. black stereotypes with sunglasses and guns. What a terrible film that goes on way too long. Just wasted effort.

Salem's Lot (1979)

Dated Horror Film with Small Budget

[4/10 · 17 March 2008]

When this film first came out it was considered scary. I remember watching it and liking the "master" vampire. Mind you, I wasn't aware of Nosferatu (and the degree Tobe Hooper ripped off that film) at the time. The film had poor effects (like Marjorie Glick's resurrection in the morgue - with wires that pulled over the tables), and the story was not well thought out. David Soul, the main character, is strangely absent during Mark and Susan's foray into the house. While there, there is a minute long embarrassing scene where Mark and Susan turn their heads in unison from left to right several times as they flinch from the "terror' they are experiencing. Bad acting abounds. The Glick kids really stunk as actors and were just comical in the vampire scenes. Geoffrey Lewis made a bad vampire, and an even worse confused victim in transition. Lew Ayers came off as an old gay teacher by readily offering a drugged or sick Mike a place to sleep and not only tucking him in, but cleaning him up and getting him pajamas. Hmmmmm? James Mason was wasted in his role, and his death scene on the stairs was like the movie itself, not well thought out and executed far too slowly to be anything but laughable. This movie is an unedited 1 hour program, as a film it is an overly long 3 hours. There are some characters, like Barabara Babcock, that are not used at all. I think she had less than five lines. The same for Elisha Cook Jr. Kenneth McMillan was nice to see, and is memorable as Count Vladimir Harkonen from David Lynch's "Dune". He had been built up as a crooked town cop, but he was never used in the story to any degree. The farcical production is capped off with an overly long ending scene , with a camera panning over a hut, bushes, the hut's roof, the trees, the clouds then the moon, and then the final insult, a skull image on the face of the moon. This had nothing to do with the film! So all in all a poor production and I rated it as a 4.

It (1990)

Very Poor Film That Has "It"'s Moments

[3/10 · 10 March 2008]

Sad to say that the children are far better actors than the adults, save for Tim Reid and John Ritter. Curry was a good Pennywise, but where King fails in almost all his books (and in his oft poorly adapted films) is the conversations between characters. When there is a lull in the action, the characters fall upon poorly thought out and badly executed conversation. It is as if King himself has no idea how to sew up his short vignettes, and he gets lazy and throws in some soap opera banter. This film would have been a good film about the children. With the adults, it is too long and King had to add many scenes of remembrance that really don't add to the story, for instance the boyscout Stan is added in as an afterthought. The film's climactic scene is really just stupid, with the survivors holding the spider's heart aloft like a baby. Just a sappy film that was an easy paycheck for someone. The first episode is the best, and if you walked away, you'd have scene an OK film. But added to the second half, it just gets dragged down.

Patriot Games (1992)

What a Bad Film

[2/10 · 9 March 2008]

Harrison Ford is dry and stiff as an actor in this film. Han Solo just can't cut it here. His over the top anger, his blank "it's not my fault!" emotion and even his raised finger to Richard Harris aren't enough to make him watchable or acceptable as Jack Ryan. Also Anne Archer comes off as a pompous snob. Thora Birch is cute as the daughter. The only good actors who do well here are James Earl Jones, and Alan Armstrong, and it was nice to see "Shameless"'s Frank Gallagher (David Threfall). I don't know if Alec Baldwin and Gates McFadden would have been better, but I suspect so. Ford and Archer were purely names to help sell a film franchise. Sean Bean once again reprises his lunatic killer role and the film's plot makes about as much sense as his character does. Miller takes care of his compatriots just to take a shot at a fleeing Jack Ryan. A very poorly executed film that had a lot of potential and a ready following from the books. The action is watchable, and the satellite assassination was cool, but that's all you will get from this film, aside from a sore butt from watching the overly long ending.

DEFCON-4 (1985)

This Film Really Stunk, Even For a Canadian Movie, And I'm From Canada

[1/10 · 6 March 2008]

I bought this film at a used movie sale. I remembered the title and the poster from way back, and for some reason I had it mixed up with another apocalyptic flick called "Twilight's Last Gleaming". Also I saw the name Tim Choate. I recalled he was "Zathrus" on the show "Babylon 5". I should have saved my money. Very poor production values, although the orbital weapons platform parts looked pretty good for a bad film, the rest of the film is hazy and crappy, and poorly lit. There is no real dialog, it is just bad. The film was made with Canadian Government tax dollars and they put in several things to show the flag, like the weirdo in the kilt who made booby traps with Canadian Government issued Social Insurance cards. Go figure! The characters are terrible, the acting is laughably bad, this film just stinks. You can't even say that it is so bad it's good, it is a lazy effort that makes no sense at all. And Tim Choate's best work was on "Babylon 5" under all that make up.

Miller's Crossing (1990)

An Interesting Film That Goes....Nowhere?

[6/10 · 6 March 2008]

You can't really find fault with the acting, the dialog, the story or cinematography of this film. Some of the violent gun deaths are over the top, but is never on a par with other gangster films for blood and gore. The film does lack however, in setting the mood for the era and for the feel of the ethnic gangs. "Gangs of New York", "The Molly MacGuires" and "Godfather" do a tremendous job of this. This film is more like a stage play. "Miller's Crossing" is all pretty much good or excellent. But this is a film that is ultimately unsatisfying. That's because it carries you along and slowly builds up a double cross and hope for redemption in a very suspenseful and rewarding way, but there is no payoff in the end. All the potential that the film builds is just tossed away when Gabriel Byrne walks away from his life and everything he lied, cheated and killed for. So you are left wondering what it all meant. We get the foreshadowing of this very boring and unsatisfying ending when the Verna character off handedly said that the hat dream was a metaphor, how pursuing it would lead to a payoff, and Byrne cut her off and said there was nothing there, just a hat. Well, that's the movie in a nutshell. Just a gangster movie. It's not "The Sting", it's not "Goodfellas", it's just a lot of good acting in an ugly and violent world that leads to absolutely nothing. So I give the film a 6 out of ten. It is watchable, but why? It doesn't make you think. You just walk away feeling like you were cheated.

Vampires (1998)

A Real Stinker

[3/10 · 6 March 2008]

A very poor movie from a hit and miss director. Over the top acting, poor story line, and unconvincing evil make for a poor excuse for a vampire film. Profanity makes up for bad dialog. There is a lot of action, and the vampires burn up nicely, but even a nude Sheryl Lee can't make up for a poor movie experience. This film adds nothing to the Vampire genre and in fact does a disservice to it, if that's possible. The head vampire is a Gene Simmons knock off and he has no lines or opportunity to present the audience with an interesting or sympathetic character. He just cuts off heads with his bare hands. The Balwin second banana character is a flop. He goes from abusing Sheryl Lee verbally, sexually and physically to being protective of her (and she of course responds) after she bites him. Real misogynistic stuff. James Woods' character is a comic book bully who bitch slaps priests and cuts them to make them tell him the truth. He also beats up Sheryl Lee's character at will, and passes her off as "just a hooker" to anyone who asks, even though he needs her to find the head vampire. Of course the Catholic Church and its Bishops and Priests are all OK with Woods and his tough guy ways. They even paid for Woods and his buddies to party with hookers as a reward for vampire hunting. Pure garbage. Just a real stinker of a film.

American Gangster (2007)

Sparse Entertainment That is Watchable, But Barely

[4/10 · 28 February 2008]

I was so surprised that Ridley Scott did this film. I almost walked out in the first 20 minutes. There is no narration, and no readily accessible plot. There are place names and dates printed on the screen to tell you where the film is set, but they are so small as to be almost unreadable. Later, these subtitles are noticeably brief on screen, so you can pretty much ignore them. It won't matter anyway. The film is lost in its own lack of direction. Ridley Scott presents a series of images and scenes with no real flow. You have to piece together enough to figure out what is going on. It's as if you are an unwelcome voyeur to his film and if you don't give up early, you eventually find enough of a plot to follow by default. Acting wise, Denzel Washington plays it flat. He isn't scary. He isn't intimidating, and he isn't gentle or endearing, even though Scott tries to make his character human via his family relations. You will not find Frank Lucas approachable or sympathetic like you do with Henry Hill in Goodfellas. Frank Lucas is boring. You won't care about about him. Russel Crowe also brings little into his performance. He's a good cop who sacrificed his family to do the right thing. He is a mere shadow of a Serpico, in fact he is little more than a caricature or sketch of a character who likes to bully noisy kids and who is litigious with his shrew wife. This is a sparse film that isn't very interesting. The time period is the 60's but aside from the cars, the hair styles and clothes are not late 60's and the only things that sets it in that time period are the ever present black and white TV's with iconic images of Nixon, Tet, Trang Bang, and the fall of Saigon. I think I only saw 2 Afro's, and one was a disguise. Clothes, hair, music and feel of the 60's and early 70's in America are all missing from this film. Overall, it can be watchable, but not entertaining or engrossing. There is very brief nudity featuring lovely young women, but that's the only memorable part of this movie. There is little use of music to set the scene or enhance the acting. A very poor and lazy production from an otherwise brilliant director.