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Reviews
Fargo (1996)
Solid, but overhyped
"Fargo" came out in 1996. I saw it for the first time in November of 2003. Those seven-odd years during which the film was hyped to death as one of the best movies ever caused a noticeable ascension in my expectations. And unfortunately, as we all know, the more a film is touted before you see it, the more likely it is to disappoint. Such was probably the case here.
Here are a couple of main items that prevented me from liking it as much as the general American public:
1. The plot of the film was solid, but I thought that it was a bit underdeveloped. The film's runtime was just over an hour and a half, which may not seem too short, but in this case forced the main conflict to resolve itself a tad quickly. In doing so, the writers (the Coen Brothers) failed to progress it to a truly noticeable climax or capture the type of characterization that is necessary in order for this sort of "comic crime-caper" to work.
2. To be fair, though, the characters were very cleverly created, and very well cast (as is the case in most Coen Brothers movies). However, only Jerry Lundegaard's character (played by William H. Macy) is given enough screentime to truly develop. His massive amount of screentime allows the audience to eventually notice his visible inner conflict and come to grips with him as the sort of desperate, fidgety person that he is. Frances McDormand, who won an Oscar for her role as Marge Gunderson, on the other hand, seems to just appear on the screen at one point and then disappear a little later. She just really doesn't bring a whole lot to the table in terms of the linear plot, as she seems to go off more on tangents and rely on a thick Canadian-esque accent (one that loses its novelty very quickly) for laughs more than anything else. Her time on screen was apparently sufficient enough to warrant her nomination in the category of "Best Actress" and not "Best Supporting Actress," but, in my opinion, it wasn't enough to present her for much more than surface value. Although McDormand played the part as well as anyone could have, her character was weakly written and should not have won her a nomination, let alone an Academy Award.
All in all, "Fargo" is simply a good, watchable movie that was probably, in my case, just a victim of self-imposed over-scrutiny caused by more than half a decade of hype. But I have the feeling that even if I had seen it when it first came out, I wouldn't be placing it in any upper-echelon categories anyway. On a scale of 1-to-5, I'd give this one about 3.5.
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Start to finish, one of the best movies I've ever seen.
Featuring an overflow of tremendous performances, a well-written screenplay and an exciting turn of events, "L.A. Confidential" may very well be the best detective/crime film of all time.
1950s Los Angeles is a city gripped by organized crime. And when reputed mob boss Mickey Cohen is imprisoned, a dangerous and mysterious battle begins amongst those who vie to replace him. Detective Lieutenant Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce), a rising (yet unpopular) young star in the L.A. police force, volunteers to investigate a grizzly multiple homicide at a local café, and ends up right smack in the middle of the crime war. With the aid of fellow officers like wise guy Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) and brutish Bud White (Russell Crowe), Exley sets a course to unravel the truth behind the mystery and settle the score...even if it means not playing by the rules.
Director Curtis Hanson ("Eight Mile") and writer Brian Helgeland ("Conspiracy Theory") combined their talents wonderfully to create a movie that is very fun and riveting, yet they avoided the rampant sensationalism that usually characterizes films of this genre. So the final product is realistic and believable, but at the same time, surprisingly exclusive of dull scenes and useless, boring chatter. Its success in this matter qualifies "L.A. Confidential" as an excellent "start-to-finish" film because it is enjoyable all the way through.
Despite its commendable writing, commanding performances given by a great group of actors (most of whom were just hitting their stride) make the film. Spacey plays the self-sustaining "Hollywood Cop" to perfection and Pearce is incredible in the lead (his performance in this movie rivals the one he gave in "Memento"). I consider this movie to be Russell Crowe's breakout performance--his thuggish yet sensitive role as Bud White was probably the film's most powerful, and may have set the course for some of his future casting. Kim Basinger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as primo prostitute Lynn Bracken, and was quite deserving. Other strong performances were given by James Cromwell, Danny DeVito and David Strathairn.
"L.A. Confidential" is a classic in its time and a must-see for all movie fans who can expect to have a great time watching a great film.
Dead Presidents (1995)
An abridged, urbanized version of "The Deer Hunter"
The Hughes Brothers tried to play up the same angle with "Dead Presidents" as Micheal Cimino and Louis Garfinkle did with "The Deer Hunter" by portraying the social effects that the Vietnam war had on its young veterans. And for a while, it seemed as though they were quite successful. But in the end, it became apparent why "The Dead Presidents" fell short of the Academy recognition that "The Deer Hunter" won.
Set in the late 60s and early 70s, the plotline of "Dead Presidents" follows a promising and popular inner-city high school graduate, Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate), who decides to forego college and enter the Vietnam War as a member of the Marine Corps. Anthony survives a graphic and arduous three-plus-year stint in the jungle, but upon his homecoming, he realizes that the "real world" can be just as trying as war. His low-paying job provides little support for his new family and he becomes desperate to make ends meet. He enlists the help of some old friends and plans a daring armored car heist which, if successful, could serve to amend his past and brighten his future...
The first seventy-five minutes of this movie were really well done. Character traits and relationships were well-established and the mood was properly set as suspense built for the anticipated war scenes--a perfect "epic-caliber" introduction.
But instead of continuing with a detailed flow, the directing crew tried to cram about ninety minutes worth of material into the final forty-five minutes, and consequently did not leave themselves enough time to totally develop any strong climactic progression or aptly characterize any of the cast members into their sudden postwar "criminal complex." Thus, the "heist scene," which based on advertising was probably supposed to be one of the more memorable and authoritative parts of the film, seemed to be almost too "spur-of-the-moment" and lacked motivation and definition.
All in all, the film's running time, which was approximately 119 minutes, was simply far too short for the storyline. The postwar segment of the film (the last forty-five minutes) was indeed key in separating a decent movie like "Dead Presidents" from a epic masterpiece like "The Deer Hunter."
Besides the first seventy-five minutes, a couple of notably good performances given by Chris Tucker as Skip (Anthony's best friend) and Rose Jackson as Juanita (Anthony's girlfriend) do make "Dead Presidents" a movie worth seeing at least once. That said, I would warn not to create a preconception based on the title, tagline or any publicity images that you might have seen, because they apply only to a small portion of the action.