| (07.26) | Lady in the Water  |
| (05.21) | Da Vinci Code, The  |
| (05.06) | United 93  |
| (02.05) | King Kong  |
| (01.29) | Syriana |
| (01.24) | Walk the Line |
| (01.05) | Chronicles of Narnia, The: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe  |
| (01.02) | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire |
| (12.30) | Jarhead |
| (12.27) | Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit |
| (12.05) | randy: Polar Express, The |
| (12.02) | Geoff: Polar Express, The |
| (07.27) | Jen: Lady in the Water |
| (07.27) | Justin: Lady in the Water |
| (07.12) | Sarah: Da Vinci Code, The |
| (05.25) | Chris: Da Vinci Code, The |
| (05.25) | Acceler8: Da Vinci Code, The |
| (05.21) | Mr Plow: Da Vinci Code, The |
| (05.11) | Sarah: United 93 |
| (05.11) | Bread: United 93 |
I'm not entirely certain how I feel about Gangs of New York. I mean, it was definitely a good movie, and I did enjoy it. It's an extremely well-made movie (with great cinematography and production/set/costume design), and Scorsese shows some excellent direction.
Moreover, Daniel Day-Lewis steals the show as the leader of the gang that has managed to win control of New York's central "Five Points" area. He successfully manages to create a very realistic and, at times, frightening character despite his somewhat silly-looking tall hat, big moustache, and striped pants (that's not a knock against the costumes... I'm sure they were very true to the times, and Day-Lewis's performance makes it totally convincing and acceptable). Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz fit into their roles very well, too.
I think somehow I was expecting just a little more from this, though. It seemed to be primarily just a well-made revenge-story, set in a very interesting era. Though I'll admit that a large number of other issues and subjects were introduced, such as: religious conflict, slavery, conscription, crooked politicians, and various groups such as policemen and firemen from different jurisdictions fighting each other for the right to operate in the Five Points area. One of the most interesting scenes involved a burning building, and the two fire-brigades that arrived to fight the fire ended up literally fighting each other, instead.
Knowing a little about the various troubles and delays that plagued Scorsese in trying to get this movie released (there was a near-finished cut of the film produced for test-screenings in October of 2001), I can't help but wonder how much better the film could have been. I'd bet that there were bits of the film cut out that would've made me care a little more for DiCaprio's character and that would've made the DiCaprio-Diaz love-story more significant to the plot.
This is definitely a film that I'd like to see again, if only to allow me to firmly make up my mind regarding how I feel about it.
I thought this wasn't very good. The best scene would probably be the first one, leading up to and including the fight. The rest of the story was too long. It was drawn out and could have ended much quicker. Daniel Day-Lweis played his part very well, but I thought Leonardo wasn't very good and Cameron Diaz just didnt seem to fit. I feel it would have been better if it had just been 1 disc (DVD version) and not 2.
Thanks for the comment, Pete. I said right off the bat that I wasn't completely confident with how I felt about the movie. I couldn't deny (and still can't) that I'm pretty sure it's an extremely well-made film (would you agree?), but I didn't connect with it as much as I think I wanted to.
It's high up on my list of "to-watch-again-real-soon" movies, as I think it might very well be one of those movies that demands a second viewing.
Meh.
Right on-this helped me sort thgins right out.
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