Rating: 
Summary: Below Average Gangster Picture!
Review: I was greatly disappointed by this unfocused gangster epic. It had a lot of talent involved; Laurence Fishburne, Tim Roth, Andy Garcia and Vanessa Angel. But the film was simply badly staged and had awful direction. Even the talented cast was underappreciated. Laurence Fishburne, who is a very talented actor as he has shown is in films like 'Boyz N' The Hood' and 'What's Love Got To Do With It?' and had just recently scored big in as Morpheus in 'The Matrix'. But in all those films he was in the hands of good directors and the material was good. In this film he plainly delivers a bad performance that seems all the worse with all that awful dialogue they make him say. Tim Roth is also a very talented actor but boldly ventures into shameless overacting in this film, a very uneven performance but he has a screen presence that is hard to ignore and is really good in some scenes but awful in others. Vanessa Angel is the only person who seems to know that the screenplay is ludicrous and delivers a so-so performance. On the other hand, Andy Garcia delivers a good performance as Lucky Luciano, a bit derivative of his character in 'The Godfather Part III' but still he delivers the best performance in the cast and makes the film tolerable. The scenes involving Andy Garcia are the only good ones and the rest of the film is laughable. 'Hoodlum' is ambitious but falls short of its ambitions. Basically a Godfather wannabe but set in Harlem, it portrays the rise of 'Bumpy' Johnson. Probably the film's biggest flaws are the direction and screenplay, they seem to fake, the dialogue is plain dumb and the direction is awful. Probably the reason I took it like this is because I expected a lot from the film, I saw all the talent involved and expected a good film but instead got mediocre excuse for a gangster film with a dragging pace. If you don't expect much from the film you may find it a tolerable film but I found myself gravely disappointed. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film a 4!
Rating: 
Summary: Hoodlum: Disapointing From Start to Finish
Review: If the title of the article doesn't give away my sentiments towards this movie, than allow me to elaborate. Hoodlum, judging by it's cast and theatrical trailer had potential galore. All that changes when you realize that by deciding to watch Hoodlum,you have done yourself a great disfavor. Without going into too many details (consider that a favor!)the movie depicts the gangster world of Chicago in the 30's and the infamous 'lottery' system that those gangsters helped finance. The movie is not only over acted but it's epic length may induce commas or nausea for those with weak stomachs. Stars Lawrence Fichburn and Venessa Williams only lend so much credibility to this otherwhise cliched mess. An 'end of the world' story line was all that was missing to make this the ULTIMATE disasater movie of the 90's.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Gangster Flick!!!
Review: It may not be Goodfellas or The Godfather, but Hoodlum surely holds its own as a great gangster movie. Not much is known about Bumpy Johhnson, perhaps the most powerful black gangster of his time, and this movie brought his story to light. This film is time spent very, VERY well.
Rating: 
Summary: Full Action
Review: Larry Fishburne came out very professional in this movie.Its like the Godfather being thrown in the slums of the Black Mafia.A good buy for your money.
Rating:
Summary: Let's Sing the Praises of these "Sopranos"
Review: Not a box office smash, but certainly worthy of bigger receipts than it got. Entertaining gangster story with stellar performances from Fishburne, Clarence Williams III, Tim Roth, Andy Garcia, Vanessa L. Williams, and the always outstanding Cicely Tyson. Set in the days of Lucky Luciano and the rest of history's gangster elite, the movie introduces the filmgoing audience to a black numbers runner who, although shortlived in his stature in the game, played an important part in the criminal activity of pre-World War II America.
Rating:
Summary: Let's Sing the Praises of these "Sopranos"
Review: Not a box office smash, but certainly worthy of bigger receipts than it got. Entertaining gangster story with stellar performances from Fishburne, Clarence Williams III, Tim Roth, Andy Garcia, Vanessa L. Williams, and the always outstanding Cicely Tyson. Set in the days of Lucky Luciano and the rest of history's gangster elite, the movie introduces the filmgoing audience to a black numbers runner who, although shortlived in his stature in the game, played an important part in the criminal activity of pre-World War II America.
Rating: 
Summary: Do you feel Lucky?
Review: Okay, too much Laurence Fishburne and not enough Andy Garcia. The best part of the movie is when Andy's character "Lucky" sings. Very depressing and it drags at times. Fishburne's character "Bumpy" is too bitter and angry to sit through for two hours. Although, it's worth a watch if you like Andy Garcia. Once again, some fine acting by him. (And check out the lazy eye)
Rating:
Summary: great!!
Review: one of my favorite gangster flicks.at least in my top twent
Rating:
Summary: Could have been great... but fell short.
Review: This had the makings of a great mob movie. Set in the 1930's, depression era, the local boss of number-running, the Queen, is up against an insane competitor. Laurence Fishburn's character, "Bumpy," is recently let out of Sing Sing prison, and comes to help her.
This movie has all the makings of a modern-classic mob-movie; great shoot-outs, a very good plot, character-human analysis (if you get what I mean with that one, cause I don't know how else to put it), and a reason behind the chaos. The one thing that holds it back is the director. It may be his ego, it may just be his peronal taste, but the director kind of blurs plot-links at times with flashy scene-transitions, which annoy and confuse. Many a time he forgot that we were viewing the story through what he was giving us, and didn't already know everything to come, so he jumps around, and things happen that I don't really understand. It's not that I am stupid when it comes to movies, I even understood P.T. Anderson's "Magnolia," which confused many people (man, I seem arrogant there, but it's not that, I am just trying to show that it is a personal-retardation that is holding me back from understanding the movie). I could tell it wasn't the screen-writing, because the scenes not smudged by the director's ego were very good, and very well written.
The acting was powerful, everyone did a very good job in this category, yet Tim Roth (Dutch Schultz in this movie, the rival of The Queen of the numbers) has the same character every time, even if he is good in some, bad in others, but, still very well done. You could feel the emotions potrayed by the characters, and grew to either like or hate them. The special effects in this are awesome, as well. The main explosion in the movie truly had to be the best I have ever seen.Watch this if you are a fan of mob-movies, otherwise steer clear and go for better ones like "Goodfellas" and "The Godfather."
Rating:
Summary: Could have been great... but fell short.
Review: This had the makings of a great mob movie. Set in the 1930's, depression era, the local boss of number-running, the Queen, is up against an insane competitor. Laurence Fishburn's character, "Bumpy," is recently let out of Sing Sing prison, and comes to help her.
This movie has all the makings of a modern-classic mob-movie; great shoot-outs, a very good plot, character-human analysis (if you get what I mean with that one, cause I don't know how else to put it), and a reason behind the chaos. The one thing that holds it back is the director. It may be his ego, it may just be his peronal taste, but the director kind of blurs plot-links at times with flashy scene-transitions, which annoy and confuse. Many a time he forgot that we were viewing the story through what he was giving us, and didn't already know everything to come, so he jumps around, and things happen that I don't really understand. It's not that I am stupid when it comes to movies, I even understood P.T. Anderson's "Magnolia," which confused many people (man, I seem arrogant there, but it's not that, I am just trying to show that it is a personal-retardation that is holding me back from understanding the movie). I could tell it wasn't the screen-writing, because the scenes not smudged by the director's ego were very good, and very well written.
The acting was powerful, everyone did a very good job in this category, yet Tim Roth (Dutch Schultz in this movie, the rival of The Queen of the numbers) has the same character every time, even if he is good in some, bad in others, but, still very well done. You could feel the emotions potrayed by the characters, and grew to either like or hate them. The special effects in this are awesome, as well. The main explosion in the movie truly had to be the best I have ever seen. Watch this if you are a fan of mob-movies, otherwise steer clear and go for better ones like "Goodfellas" and "The Godfather."
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