State of Grace

Rating:
Summary: STATE OF GRACE
Review: WHERE IS THE DVD? WHY IS THIS ONLY ON VHS? THIS IS A GREAT FILM, VERY REALISTIC ABOUT THE IRISH MOB IN NYC. OUTSTANDING ACTING THROUGHOUT. SEAN PENN AT HIS BEST, WHICH IS USUALLY VERY GOOD.

Rating:
Summary: Hell's Kitchen Burns!
Review: With a fine screenplay, a great musical score by Ennio Morricone, artful direction by Spielberg protege' Phil Joanou, and a truly awesome cast, State of Grace is one of the best gangster films ever for a number of reasons. Mainly, we have a plot that is captivating with characters that truly radiate off the screen. It revolves around the life of Terry Noonan (brilliantly played by Sean Penn), a true Irishman who returns from God knows where to his old neighborhood, the New York area that the primarily Irish inhabitants have affectionately named "Hell's Kitchen". He comes back to his best friends, the good-natured but hopelessly crazy Jackie Flannery (The great Gary Oldman in what is possibly his best performance) and the sweet but dumb Stevie (The also excellent John C. Reilly), his old hot/cold love Kate Flannery (Robin Wright, before she was Robin Wright-Penn), and the Irish mob that he left behind, now led by Frankie Flannery, brother to Jackie and Kate (played in a icy and explosive performance by Ed Harris). Frankie is trying to make a deal with the nearby Italian mob (led by Paul Vitterelli, before he became a more comedic mobster), and the tensions are running high when Frankie is called upon to betray his own people for the Italians, and Terry is forced to betray his people for an entirely different reason. Make no mistake: This is a VERY Irish tale. They drink, fight, scream, smoke, beat, shoot, stab, cry, puke, lust, kill and they do it all like it's going out of style. Do yourself a favor and continue to watch "The Quiet Man" on St. Patty's Day, but check this film out regardless. It will blow you away.