Rating: 
Summary: (Should be) A welcomed addition to any DVD collection
Review: !!SOME SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW!!
Well, it's been almost two years since I've seen this fine film, so forgive the rusty review. I'm very pleased to see it's available on DVD; I will buy a copy ASAP.The story is set in Hell's Kitchen, NY and follows two best friends, who have just been re-united after many years away from each other. At the same time, Harris & Oldman are two Irish brothers/gangsters trying to form an alliance with an Italian crime family. But Oldman's character, being a bit tempermental, inadvertantly screws it up...twice. Where does Penn's character fit into all this? Well, he's in the Irish gang--but he's also an undercover cop, so he's pretty much stabbing his best friend in the back, and also putting everyone in danger of Harris. The best action scenes in the movie are the final Harris/Penn showdown, and when the Italian mobster invited Oldman to sit with his friends and eat. By the way, there's a lot of cursing, which I loved.
Rating: 
Summary: Bloody Irish-American Tale
Review: "State of Grace" is very loosely based on an actual gang of Irish-American criminals called the Westies who terrorized Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood from the 70's to the mid-80's. In "State of Grace" Terry Noonan (Sean Penn) returns to his old neighborhood after an absence of twelve years. There he is reunited with his best friend, Jackie Flannery (Gary Oldman), an alcoholic and extremely violent member of an organized criminal gang led by Jackie's older brother, Frankie (Ed Harris.) Noonan is also reunited with his first love, Kathleen Flannery (Robin Wright), who is the younger sister of Jackie and Frankie. Although the Flannery brothers are puzzled by Noonan's 12 year disappearance, they are satisfied that he is now currently on the run from the law due to a botched drug sale which they believe resulted in two murders, and allow him to join in their criminal enterprise. Of course, infiltrating Frankie's gang is the purpose of Noonan's return to NYC because he is actually a Boston cop who has volunteered to help bring down this criminal organization. However, Noonan finds himself conflicted by old loyalties to his neighborhood's code against informants, his rekindled love for Kathleen, and his friendship with Jackie. Noonan's conflict between his loyalty to his past and his present duty is just one of several conflicts presented in the movie. Frankie Flannery is shown as a ruthless criminal without one shred of loyalty to anyone. Frankie lives in a squeeky clean suburb in New Jersey while making a living extorting the working people of the grungy Hell's Kitchen. Frankie also is anxious to make an alliance with an Italian crime family in order to really make a move into the upper echelons of organized crime. Frankie will allow NOTHING to interfere with this alliance. Jackie, on the other hand, is all about loyalty to his family and the neighborhood. Jackie sees himself as a sort of Robin Hood protecting the old neighborhood from the incursions of yuppies and other various outsiders. Jackie's loyalty to old friends and his older brother's ruthlessness eventually come into conflict. Also drawn into the maelstrom is Kathleen who ran away from the old neighborhood to escape its squalor and her brothers' criminal lives. However, she finds herself drawn back into it by her old love for Noonan, and she is not sure if that is what she wants. Of course, Noonan finds himself in the center of all these conflicts and eventually it all leads to disaster. "State of Grace" screams IRISH. From the moment Noonan walks into a bar to the strains of The Pogues' "White City" to the final shootout, which is filmed to the song "O Wearing of the Green" and juxtaposed with shots of the NYC St. Patrick's Day parade, the film is one Irish cliche after the other. Also look out for "homages" to the classic Irish-American gangster film- Jimmy Cagney's "The Public Enemy." The scene in which Jackie walks behind the bar and starts breaking stuff is just one of several scenes taken from Cagney's classic Irish gangster film.
Rating:
Summary: Bloody Irish-American Tale
Review: "State of Grace" is very loosely based on an actual gang of Irish-American criminals called the Westies who terrorized Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood from the 70's to the mid-80's. In "State of Grace" Terry Noonan (Sean Penn) returns to his old neighborhood after an absence of twelve years. There he is reunited with his best friend, Jackie Flannery (Gary Oldman), an alcoholic and extremely violent member of an organized criminal gang led by Jackie's older brother, Frankie (Ed Harris.) Noonan is also reunited with his first love, Kathleen Flannery (Robin Wright), who is the younger sister of Jackie and Frankie. Although the Flannery brothers are puzzled by Noonan's 12 year disappearance, they are satisfied that he is now currently on the run from the law due to a botched drug sale which they believe resulted in two murders, and allow him to join in their criminal enterprise. Of course, infiltrating Frankie's gang is the purpose of Noonan's return to NYC because he is actually a Boston cop who has volunteered to help bring down this criminal organization. However, Noonan finds himself conflicted by old loyalties to his neighborhood's code against informants, his rekindled love for Kathleen, and his friendship with Jackie. Noonan's conflict between his loyalty to his past and his present duty is just one of several conflicts presented in the movie. Frankie Flannery is shown as a ruthless criminal without one shred of loyalty to anyone. Frankie lives in a squeeky clean suburb in New Jersey while making a living extorting the working people of the grungy Hell's Kitchen. Frankie also is anxious to make an alliance with an Italian crime family in order to really make a move into the upper echelons of organized crime. Frankie will allow NOTHING to interfere with this alliance. Jackie, on the other hand, is all about loyalty to his family and the neighborhood. Jackie sees himself as a sort of Robin Hood protecting the old neighborhood from the incursions of yuppies and other various outsiders. Jackie's loyalty to old friends and his older brother's ruthlessness eventually come into conflict. Also drawn into the maelstrom is Kathleen who ran away from the old neighborhood to escape its squalor and her brothers' criminal lives. However, she finds herself drawn back into it by her old love for Noonan, and she is not sure if that is what she wants. Of course, Noonan finds himself in the center of all these conflicts and eventually it all leads to disaster. "State of Grace" screams IRISH. From the moment Noonan walks into a bar to the strains of The Pogues' "White City" to the final shootout, which is filmed to the song "O Wearing of the Green" and juxtaposed with shots of the NYC St. Patrick's Day parade, the film is one Irish cliche after the other. Also look out for "homages" to the classic Irish-American gangster film- Jimmy Cagney's "The Public Enemy." The scene in which Jackie walks behind the bar and starts breaking stuff is just one of several scenes taken from Cagney's classic Irish gangster film.
Rating: 
Summary: A GANGSTER FILM WITH A UNIQUE AND ORIGINAL STYLE.
Review: *** 1/2 stars rating for this film. "State Of Grace" is not a copy of "The Godfather" or "GoodFellas", it's a story about a second-rated group of gangsters that are trying to gain respect and territory in New York. The first thing that you can notice in "State Of Grace" is the cast: Sean Penn, Gary Oldman, Ed Harris, Robin Wright, John C. Reilly and John Turturro, among others.
In Hollywood there are three actors that can portray over-the-top villains, and still be believable and threatening. One of them is Gary Oldman, in a very convincing performance. The other two guys are Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper, but the role in "State Of Grace" was perfect for Gary Oldman.
"State Of Grace" is a movie that never is boring, these anti-heroes are so well portrayed by the cast, that the characters have a very human quality, they are very complex and multidimensional characters, and as a result, the audience is always interested in them. The biggest selling point of "State Of Grace" is the fact that the film never tries to imitate "The Godfather", and that originality is welcome.
Rating:
Summary: A GANGSTER FILM WITH A UNIQUE AND ORIGINAL STYLE.
Review: *** ½ stars rating for this film. "State Of Grace" is not a copy of "The Godfather" or "GoodFellas", it's a story about a second-rated group of gangsters that are trying to gain respect and territory in New York. The first thing that you can notice in "State Of Grace" is the cast: Sean Penn, Gary Oldman, Ed Harris, Robin Wright, John C. Reilly and John Turturro, among others. In Hollywood there are three actors that can portray over-the-top villains, and still be believable and threatening. One of them is Gary Oldman, in a very convincing performance. The other two guys are Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper, but the role in "State Of Grace" was perfect for Gary Oldman. "State Of Grace" is a movie that never is boring, these anti-heroes are so well portrayed by the cast, that the characters have a very human quality, they are very complex and multidimensional characters, and as a result, the audience is always interested in them. The biggest selling point of "State Of Grace" is the fact that the film never tries to imitate "The Godfather", and that originality is welcome.
Rating:
Summary: A GANGSTER FILM WITH A UNIQUE AND ORIGINAL STYLE.
Review: *** ½ stars rating for this film. "State Of Grace" is not a copy of "The Godfather" or "GoodFellas", it's a story about a second-rated group of gangsters that are trying to gain respect and territory in New York. The first thing that you can notice in "State Of Grace" is the cast: Sean Penn, Gary Oldman, Ed Harris, Robin Wright, John C. Reilly and John Turturro, among others. In Hollywood there are three actors that can portray over-the-top villains, and still be believable and threatening. One of them is Gary Oldman, in a very convincing performance. The other two guys are Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper, but the role in "State Of Grace" was perfect for Gary Oldman. "State Of Grace" is a movie that never is boring, these anti-heroes are so well portrayed by the cast, that the characters have a very human quality, they are very complex and multidimensional characters, and as a result, the audience is always interested in them. The biggest selling point of "State Of Grace" is the fact that the film never tries to imitate "The Godfather", and that originality is welcome.
Rating:
Summary: Is there ANYTHING Gary Oldman can't do?
Review: ...up to and maybe including walk on water? Oldman is so utterly and completely Jackie Flannery in this film, you might be tempted to dismiss his performance as 'playing to type'. Until you see this inspired chameleon's other work, where he IS Lee Harvey Oswald or TRUE ROMANCE's Drexl or Joe Orton or - tell you what, YOU pick the role: Oldman inhales, and the character he's portraying exhales. (And this is not to shortshrift the fine work offered by Penn, Harris, Wright, Reilly and the rest of this film's ensemble.) It's disgraceful that Hollywood can't think of anything better to do with this brilliant and courageous actor these days than 'villain roles' in big-budget comic books like LOST IN SPACE & THE CONTENDER, but when he's working with material commensurate to his skill, he's without peer. When an actor pushes himself like this, takes risks like this, you become aware that there can be no nobler profession. Gary Oldman may not be 'box office', and now and then he may even crash and burn...but when he flies, he soars higher than any performer presently working. For Pete's sake, see this movie and everything else he's done.
Rating:
Summary: i avoided viewing this movie for months
Review: and then there was nothing else to watch and i took a chance. well i dont like the gangster movies that much BONNIE AND CLYDE AND TOMBSTONE... well ok...i do like some crime and dare i say punishment? but even tho this movie has no panoramic views of the wild west or countryside it does manage to capture the new york habitat of hells kitchen back in the days...and it did grab and hold my attention all the way thru. i get claustrophobic in big citys and if they dont take you to central park or lincoln park along the way to give u a little break from the inner city it takes off 1 star... on my rating scale... they did take you to the pier for some waterfront ship view scenes and i was thankful for those eventho ... well i wanted to hate it and i didnt.. nuff said
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT MOVIE!
Review: Awesome movie loosely based on true accounts of the lives of Mickey Featherstone and Jimmy Coonan, the guys who ran the Westies gang in the early 70s to 80s. If anyone is interested there is a true crime book called THE WESTIES. Picked it up with Amazon and it was an amazing story. Check it out!
Rating:
Summary: A Must For Movie-lovers, Oldman Is Incomparable !
Review: Best gangster movie that I've ever seen. Yes, the BEST ! so real, great acting, great plot, good music. There are scenes that you will never forget. The whole cast is wonderful, especially Gary Oldman, you will feel wild Jackie's feelings, violence and love, a brilliant and over the top performance, Gary is a born actor and incomparable. Don't miss this, a must have for movie-lover.
|
