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Summary: A Mobster Masterpiece Worth Watching Over and Over Again
Review: Based on a true story that is so amazing and shocking, "Donnie Brasco" is a fantastic film that hooks you from start to finish. With stars like Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, and many more, this is a movie that should be seen by all.FBI Joseph D. Pistone is an undercover agent who's goal is to get into the violent and unpredictable mob world. He goes the by name of Donnie Brasco. Soon he is discovered by Lefty Ruggiero, who sees potential in the kid, not aware of who Brasco really is. He brings him into the family and the world of the Mafia. It doesn't take long for Joseph to get so deep into the action that he starts to become one of them. This unforgettable picture shows us that sometimes you can become what you chase if you're in too long, and that in order to catch a monster you may become one yourself in the process. I became addicted to this film in no time. It's one of my favorites that I have seen over and over again, and it hasn't gotten old yet. The acting and directing is all fantastic. Al Pacino really shines, as always, and Johnny Depp gives an Academy Award performance as the FBI agent. He actually spent time with the real Joseph Pistone to get his character down, as he did when he was working on "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Michael Madsen is also terrific and can once again send chills down our spines just as he did in "Reservoir Dogs." This new special edition of the DVD is much, MUCH better than the original. First off, the sound and picture quality has really improved. Especially the picture; it looks a lot better than the first version that came out. There are also a lot of extras, including features such as director's commentary, and exclusive featurette, the original featurette, deleted scenes, trailers, and more. The featurettes are very interesting and makes the DVD that much more special. A very high quality special edition, if you ask me. All in all, "Donnie Brasco" is an outstanding picture on all fronts. Filled with drama and suspense, this is a film that will take you deep into the world of the Mafia. The only question is how far would you go? And would you risk becoming one of them when it's all said and done? Excellent all the way!
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Summary: Based on a true story....
Review: Working undercover as a jewel dealer Joe Pistone (Johnny Depp) earns the trust of Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino). Lefty vouches for Joe and brings him into his mob family. What was supposed to be a three-month assignment for Joe turns into several years. Joe begins to drift away from his own family and deep into the mob. He and Lefty form a strong bond and a father son relationship. When the investigation is coming to an end Joe realizes that his only way out of the mob is to betray his friend. The film is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. It is a very nice transfer the only flaw I noticed was a hint of grain occasionally. A Dolby Digital 5.0 audio track is provided. The surround speakers are hardly used. When they are its mostly only for music. With a movie like this that is mostly dialogue its understandable. This special edition DVD has several extras. The highlights are a director's commentary, two featurettes, deleted scenes and trailers. The featurette titled "Donnie Brasco: Out of the Shadows" was excellent. It gives a lot of background on the film and contains several interviews with the cast and crew. The deleted scenes are nice to see but I can understand why they were cut from the film. For those of you thinking this is just another mob movie, you are wrong. Instead of showing the top of the crime family tree like many other films this one shows the bottom. It shows soldiers that are scraping at the bottom of the barrel and are just trying to make ends meet. This is a film that stands on its own on many levels. It was perfectly cast with Johnny Depp, Al Pacino, Michael Madsen and Anne Heche. If you like mob movies or just fine acting this is one film you need to see.
Rating: 
Summary: Doonie Brasco
Review: Donnie Brasco is a modern classic. The script is realistic, the direction is focused and the sets are atmospheric. Is Donnie Brasco a good movie, Fuhget about it.
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Summary: Excellent Johnny Depp
Review: Absoluetly worth seeing and owning. Depp and Pacino are fantastic in this true story of Joseph D. Pistone, special agent for the FBI. It is a chilling and moving performance. Children should not see this movie. The language and violance reflect the true lives of the NY mob.
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Summary: Donnie Brasco: Based On A True Story...
Review: A good actor is one who we forget is on the screen seeing the character rather than the performer. Johnny Depp seems to achieve this often in his career and once again we are treated to an outstanding performance in Donnie Brasco. Depp plays FBI Agent Joe Pistone who goes undercover to infiltrate a New York Mafia family. Hollywood has been there done that with this subject matter many times over but this film has a feel that is different than most of those over the top productions. Joe Pistone becomes his alter ego Donnie Brasco, blurring the line between his job and reality. This is an intricate character study, not a film full of flying bullets and cheesy bravado. Depp and Al Pacino both give Oscar worthy efforts as you see the fondness develop between their characters over the course of the story making the inevitable ending that much tougher for Pistone to deal with.
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Summary: IN TOO DEEP
Review: Based on a true story, DONNIE BRASCO, is a powerful drama. Undercover FBI Agent Joe Pistone (Jonny Depp) forms a friendship with aging mob hitman, Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino). While undercover, Pistone's personal and proffessional life, begin to collide, he puts his life on the line. As things heat up, Pistone finds himself respecting the man he has sworn to put away. Depp gives an outstanding performance here as a man who risks everything. This is some of his finest work. Pacino puts his past work as a "Godfather" to good use. The 2 lead actors have excellent chemistry together and really help to make everything flow evenly The supporting cast is terriffic too. Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby, James Russo, and Anne Heche give it their all for Director Mike Newell. Newell does a fine job, everything paces well, and has a gangter movie feel, while at the same time being very atypical for a mob film The special edition is a vast improved DVD over the movie only version. The highlights include the interviews with the real life agents who worked the case and the actors who played them in the film. The deleted scenes were nice to see. Finally the Director's commentary track offers keen insight into how the movie was made. I highly recommend this DVD.
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Summary: DEPP'S OPUS
Review: How many actors say their prayers for a role like this? DONNIE BRASCO is Johnny Depp's bright light moment...when you upstage Pacino, in yet another of his own moments of greatness, you tend to wonder what's next. This is where Depp shed his "youth star" label and became an actor. The real crime here is that Depp and Pacino were hijacked at Oscar time (the film was released early in 1997). Mike Newell's direction again makes the point that Eurpoean's have a fresh view of American film and it's most stalwart genres. DONNIE BRASCO could serve as an FBI training film and why protocol should dictate that married men are forbidden to undertake deep cover assignments. The only flaw I caught was the reference to John Wayne's death: The Duke died June, 1979 and the film shows 6 inches of snow in New Jersey. Fatal, forget-about-it!
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Summary: Good but unfair
Review: Great performances throughout and a solid story make this film very entertaining. However, I feel it's very cheap to end a nonfictional story with ambiguity. If this were a work of fiction, not describing exactly what happens to each character after the fade out is acceptable, but since these were real people whose subsequent lives are known--there really should have been information on the screen as to what happened to each after the movie's story ends. Otherwise, it's a good film, and Al Pacino shouts less than usual.
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Summary: Donnie aka Joseph
Review: According to Joseph Pistone, this movie is about 95% true. This movie is based on the experience of Joseph D. Pistone. In this movie he is played by Jonny Depp. Joseph worked undercover in the Mafia for 4 years, for job in the FBI. He was actually told to "whack" a guy, which is basically getting in the mob. He gets into the mob, by telling "Lefty", who is played by Al Pacino, that a ring he was giving is a fake. The scene in the basement, where they are cutting up the bodies of some of the bosses, they just "whacked." It is really hard to describe this book. You have to see it. In the end, you see "Lefty" going to get "whacked." In real life, "Lefty" was picked up by the police before that happened. I recently met Joseph D. Pistone, at a book signing for his book, The Way Of The Wiseguy. He is very nice person.
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Summary: Superb mafia drama. Deeper, and rings truer than most.
Review: First rate mafia drama connects on a deeper level than most. Its cinematography may not have the moody, noirish atmosphere that makes The Godfather so appealing, but despite its slick Hollywood look, it seems to attain such penetrating truth (this, perhaps, has a little to do with its being based on a book by the real life main character). The central situation of the aging mafia man taking under his confidence and vouching for an undercover FBI agent, and that a bond forms between the two men is a great one. The performances are absolutely superb. Particularly the two men who the story centres on, Joe Pistone, a.k.a Donnie Brasco (Johnny Depp, going for realism in this role, is incredible. It begins and ends with a closeup of his eyes - this movie would be nothing without him) and mafia man "Lefty" (Pacino, who gives us one of his finest characterisations - best bit, his close-up after Donnie is asked to shake hands by a certain character on a certain boat). The vividness of the characters in this movie seems to owe a great deal to the superb screenplay (again, credit to the real-life source material). Recurring catch-phrases make it easy for us to get to know characters, a wonderful little touches give the story such a resonance, and make it ring true: like Lefty's smoking inside the car when driving with Brasco and accusing Brasco of trying to kill him with the draft when he opens a window to let some smoke out, and the portrait of Lefty, the opposite of how we imagine a mafia veteran, as a vulnerable, often emotional man. Deserves at least four stars. Recommended to anyone (except, obviously kids, for a few scenes unsuitable to them).
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