L.A. Confidential

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding recreation !
Review: This extraordinary adaptation which illuminates as a few , the sordid atmosphere behind the opulence and gorgeousness of those fifties make of this work the masterpiece of Curtis Hanson.
The script is deeply immersed in the best noir style and thanks to a perfect script with fine dialogues and a superb cast in which Kim Bassinger shines a radiant star in the best role of his career inspired for that neglected but unforgettable Veronica Lake. There were two raising promising actors such Russell Crowe and Kevin Spacey make a remarkable role in one of the top ten films of the nineties in U.SA.


Rating:
Summary: Terrific tale of heaven's justice meted out by men
Review: Amazon Reviewer Dennis Littrell (SoCal) (scroll down to read his review) - called L.A. Confidential >>> a "guy thing,"<<<<, and hey, I am a woman, for sure ;-)and I like it too....

I enjoyed this terrifically noir tale tremendously. Of course Kevin Spacey as Jack Vincennes is smooth, solid, and believable (I think I am falling in love with his craggy face), and same goes for Russell Crow. And yes the story is a la Chinatown, focuses on crime and corruption, neon-tainted glamour and "moral disillusionment as only the City of Angels could play it."

Ah, but in the end, there is heaven's justice, meted out by men! Yes, this one is one helluva feel-good movie, recommended to all couch-potatoes along with Diet Coke, hot-buttered popcorn, and a sweetheart to cuddle up to. And if you don't have the sweetheart ... have faith in that you will, one day soon.

Rating:
Summary: Spacey Da, Ellroy Nyet!
Review: I think the guy who wrote the book for this movie is an idiot. But the cast and director of this wonderful movie compensate beautifully.

Kevin Spacey is at his brilliant best as a souped-up inside Jack Webb character, sailing through his self-created glamorous role as the "special advisor" to a TV crime series in the early 50s. A great moment: when he arrives at a night club driving up in a cream-colored Studebaker Starliner. It doesn't get any better.

So, it's a great and rare thing we have here: a movie that outshines its source material. Great cast, great acting. If you've not bought this movie, you should.

Rating:
Summary: Uniformly good
Review: Sun Tzu once said that "strength everywhere is strong nowhere." That's a good way to describe this movie. It is strong everywhere; you cannot point to casting, or directing, or acting, or writing, or cinematography, and say "that's not as good as the rest." It's therefore difficult to make a standout performance or a note a standout scene, when it's all so uniformly good. But I'll try. Guy Pearce was fantastic in a definite breakout performance; Kevin Spacey was dead on and Russell Crowe was completely convincing as the musclehead with he heart of gold. See, there I go -- I can't criticize any of the actors relative to the others, they were all outstanding.

Anyhow, buy this movie for your collection and you won't be disappointed. The DVD transfer on my copy was excellent, although I wish it had additional features. Well worth full price. The movie even has a surprisingly high body count for you action fans!

Rating:
Summary: Noir by Sunlight
Review: LA Confidential is still a fantastic balls to the wall movie that many of its participants will be hard pressed to equal the rest of their careers.

This was the first movie I ever saw Russell Crowe or Guy Pearce in. Kevin Spacey as Jack Vincennes is the epitome of 50's cool without a conscience. The adaptation is fantastic, even though having read and loved the book I pine for even more Ellroyesque details.

Most of all, taking a classic Noir story and telling it by the natural light of So Cal in the 50s creates a contrast that is intoxicating. Movies like this remind me how much I love movies.

The extras are okay, but I would so love a commentary track on this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Classy film noir with atmosphere
Review: L.A. Confidential is a "guy thing," a well-directed, fast-paced thriller with a Los Angeles atmospheric feel comparable to say "Chinatown" or "Sunset Boulevard." Director Curtis Hanson brings the fifties L.A. milieu to life with music, authentic appearing sets and a story that focuses on crime and corruption, false glamour and moral disillusionment as only the City of Angels could play it. Things get a little bit comic book toward the end, but the characters and story and the rapid-fire one-liners will keep you glued to the screen. There's a lot of Raymond Chandler's L.A. here.

"Confidential" was the name of an "exposé" magazine published in the fifties in the L.A. area. I recall seeing it as a kid in liquor stores at some distance from the comic books. It used green lettering on its first page (the only page I ever saw). In this film the magazine is called "Hush-Hush," and Danny DeVito is appropriately cast as its sleazy editor and publisher.

Kim Basinger appears as a Veronica Lake look-a-like prostitute and plays it like Lauren Bacall from a Bogey film, but without comparable wit or grace. James Cromwell is the personification of evil as the morally sick Capt Dudley Smith. Russell Crowe as Bud White, the justice-dispensing cop with a brutal temper and a soft heart for battered dames, gives an excellent performance. Guy Pearce as Ed Exley, the cop with glasses who doesn't care what the other cops think is also very good. Kevin Spacey as Jack Vincennes, the cop whose thrill is to be part of the TV production "Badge of Honor" (that's the old "Dragnet" series with Jack Webb from the fifties), is also good.

In short, the cast is excellent and is probably the main reason this classy "shoot 'em up" is so highly-rated. It was number 49 on IMDb's top 250 last time I looked.

A question to ask while watching this is, was the LAPD really this corrupt? Quick answer: yes. Next question, why? Answer, because all police departments, like all governments eventually become infested with corruption and must to cleaned out or overthrown. Why? Quick, but non-illuminating answer: human nature. Even you and I, if we had to deal with criminals on the one hand and the bureaucracy of the justice system on the other, day after frustrating and cynical day, might very well take on the values and persona of our surroundings.

Some authentic period piece phrases heard in the movie: "Just the facts, Jack"; "taco bender"; "just another Hollywood homocide"; "maybe that's why he's under a house in Elysian Park and don't smell too good" and of course the "confidential" tabloid blurb: "Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush."

One last thought for Director Hanson: Here's a lyric from a fifties tune that should have made the sound track: "Confidential as a church at twilight/Secret and moving as a lover's prayer/My love for you will always be confidential to me." They used to moon over that one in the barrios, circa 1955.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best crime dramas
Review: L.A. Confidential is a taut, gripping, gut-wrenching movie. The acting is superb... each character is strikingly drawn and flawlessly brought to life by the cast. In the seedy Los Angeles of the 1950s, we meet Officer Bud White (Russell Crowe), used as a bully and strongman for the police department. He gets drawn into an investigation of a cafe shootout that killed his partner; he also grows powerfully attracted to a high-class call-girl (played by Kim Basinger), whose boss may be involved in the murder. There's also Officer Ed Exley (Guy Pearce), the boy scout of the police force; he does everything by the book, and for most of the movie has faith in his police department. And then there's Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), a washed-up, burned out cop who has forgotten why he's in the force.

These characters will live in your mind for days after the movie (that's how strong the performances are). It's amazing to watch the three officers change their perceptions of each other and their police force when confronted with increasingly strong evidence that there's something really rotten going on in the upper ranks of law enforcement. The three work together in strange ways, but each meets his own fate. Incidentally, the climactic scene of the movie is really powerful, but there are moments that precede it that are equally powerful (moments that amount to a single action or even a single word). Really a fantastic movie...