Rating: 
Summary: Sleepers is an excellent, haunting tale
Review: Rare is a movie that completely holds your attention for 2 1/2 hours but Sleepers is that movie. Played out by an exceptional ensemble cast (Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Renfro), it tells the tale of four young Hell's Kitchen boys who after pulling a seamingly harmless prank, are sent to a juvenile facility where they face unspeakable horrors at the hands of ther wardens. This trauma follows 2 of the boys into adulthood where they enter a life of crime. When they take their revenge on a particularly sadistic guard, it's up to the other boys, along with a childhood gal pal and a loving priest to save them. Every performance in this movie makes an indelible impression but the standouts are Deniro as Father Bobby, Frank Medrano as neighborhhod shopowner Fatman, Minnie Driver as Carol and Geoffrey Wigdor as young John. I watch this movie every November(it feels like a Fall time movie) and it never fails to amaze me. It is tense, heartwrenching, touching and at times funny. However the final 5 minutes always hit me where it hurts. When I think of how those kids were robbed of a normal life it sickens me. Sleepers is a phenomenal film that will leave a deep impression.
Rating:
Summary: Facing the Past
Review: You may find "Sleepers" to be just be a well-acted, provocative legal/psychological drama. However, beware. This purportedly true story just might sneak past your guard.
Robert De Niro is, well, Robert De Niro - always worth watching. But this is not a Robert De Niro film. With "Sleepers" you won't just HEAR about past rapes of boys by slimy prison guards. "Sleepers" makes you experience (no male nudity shown, thank you) the Hell's Kitchen of childhood mental and sexual devastation. (I think that Joseph Perrino, the young "Shakes," deserves an Oscar.) When the movie does a 15 year jump ahead, you are still feeling what they thought they had been able to leave in their past. Major message of the movie - you don't get past your past by trying to avoid it!!!! (That's an exclamation point for each "boy.") The next scene, when John (Ron Eldard) bumps into scumbag rapist former-guard (Kevin Bacon) in a dive diner, shocked me as much as it shocked John. John looking at himself in the bathroom mirror may be the most powerful single event in the movie. A close second is when narrator "Shakes" gathers up the courage to go visit his father in desperate hopes of telling his own dad what was done to him while in the juvenile prison. His father is just not on the same page, and Shakes closes back up without telling him. Wow. If that scene doesn't move you....... As an attorney, I particularly liked Dustin Hoffman's defensed attorney come-back (required by awesome character, King Benny). Hoffman's unassuming cross-examination of the only unmurdered rapist guard is one of my favorite courtroom scenes of any movie. The movie's ending is either a flaw or a masterful choice by director Barry Levinson. "Sleepers" takes you from tragic childhood to tragic adulthood, but the very final scene is a flashback to pre-trauma childhood. Perhaps this ending is an offer of hope that innocence can be regained. Perhaps it's a thrown gauntlet, to challenge those who need to restart from the beginning - if we can.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful
Review: This is a very dramatic and gripping film. The cast is great for the movie, though Brad Pitt is underused, and Dustin Hoffman may seem miscast. But overall a very good and extremely underrated movie.
Rating:
Summary: Sensational
Review: This is a film that will stick in the mind of anyone who see's it. Jason Patric gives an excelent performance as Lorenzo, the main character and narrator, and Brad Pitt shows his usual class as Michael, the brains behind the manipulation of the law. Robert De Niro's flawless portrayal of Father Bobby is simply brilliant, and is one of the key's to this film's excellence. The young actors are every bit as good as their adult counterparts, with gripping performances from Joseph Perrino, Brad Renfro, Geoffrey Wigdor, and Jonathan Tucker. This film will shock you with its insight of boys' institution's amd the horror that these young boys were subjected too. If this story is indeed true, which we will never know for sure, then it shows us the brutality hiden deep in the concience of the guards, and in the fear of the victims. The story revolves around four friends from the town of Hells Kitchen, who pull a prank on a street vendor which goes wrong and they end up killing a man. The four are sentenced to time in "The Wilkinson Home For Boys" where they are subjected to routine sexual assaults by the very people supposed to look after them (Kevin Bacon, Terry Kinney). Two of the boys become hardened criminals, and upon seein 'Nokes'(Bacon) in their local bar they shoot him dead. From here the film becomes a legal drama, whereby the other two of the boys work to help their friends get away with their act of revenge. This hardhitting drama is one which you will not forget, and will want to watch again and again.
Rating:
Summary: One of THE best movies that you will ever see
Review: I have seen this movie so many times since it first came out, i hvae no idea what the number is. This is an amazingly depressing yet wonderful story based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's experiences with his 3 friends from childhood to adulthood. Like I said, I have seen this movie countless times and it never fails to make me cry. It's such a sensitive subject that is dealt with very well. These boys (the ones still living are around 40+ years old) went through SO much being abused, sexually and physically by sadistic, sick guards. Kevin Bacon plays the main guard who later gets what he deserves by John and Tommy. Joe Perrino and Jason Patric as Lorenzo "Shakes" Carcaterra were both wonderful as the younger and older Shakes. Joe Perrino did exceptionally well, beyond what most child actors perform. He made you feel the pain that Shakes had to go through, as did Jason Patric. Jason Patric was also chilling with the narraration. Brad Renfro and Brad Pitt play Michael Sullivan, the ringleader, who later becomes an attorney. He, along with Shakes who is a reporter, rig the trial of John Reilly (Geoffrey Wigdor and Ron Eldard) and Tommy Marcano (Jonathan Tucker and Billy Crudup). The movie is about their horrific childhood experiences at the prison for boys and how they get revenge on the guards who tortured and raped them when they were little boys. It's a very moving story, and theres controversy as to whether or not it's true. I believe this story, but it doesn't matter if it's true or not..It's still a beautifully chilling movie and everyone should see it. The book is extremely good, well written and like the movie, will make you cry. Again, I've seen this movie countless times, own it on dvd and vhs and I watch it every time it comes on TV. It is that good...
Rating: 
Summary: NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH, BUT A GRIPPING FILM
Review: Making a movie of such a controversial account that is told in the stunning book (with the same name) must have been a daunting task, especially when you fill it with A-list movie stars, some of which are not known for their sentimental sides. However, Levinson has created a masterpiece, and a film that everyone should watch. Sleepers might've not been the most eloquent courtroom drama, and the tactics used might be unrefined, but I absolutely loved it. It showed the consequences of prison guards' sadism, which affected the boys for the rest of their lives. All the actors give mindblowing performances, with no conceivable weak link. This includes the four child actors, who dominate half of the movie, but obviously don't receive as much press as their older counterparts. These four kids were outstanding in roles that must have been truly harrowing to play, especially the young boy who played John. Even Brad Pitt shows that under the right direction he can be more than a candy face. Add to this a great score from John Williams, and you will come back to this film time and time again. The DVD has great features too so in all a very worthy purchase.
Rating:
Summary: Sleepers
Review: Sleepers is a phenominal movie that shows a group of boys growing up and the loyalty they have for each other. All they have is each other and their neighborhood. They protect each other and witness the protection of their neighborhood. The book is one of the best written and the movie follows suit with the spectacular word for word narration of Jason Patric which seems pull the movie into the classic realm. Pay particular attention to the acting job done by Robert Deniro. This is quite possibly his best acting job to date. A good movie with great acting in a well presented package. A+
Rating:
Summary: chilling story with a great cast
Review: The cast of this film is an all-star team and they all deliver with Robert DeNiro being the most believable as a tough Hell's kitchen priest that befriends the neighborhood boys. The scenes of abuse at a boys refomatory are absolutely chilling and Kevin Bacon as an abusive guard gives an amazing portrayal of evil. Overall this is a very interesting film with good to great performances. I know that some have questioned the veracity of the story but as someone who grew up in the neighborhood depicted during the same era I found it all too believable.
Rating:
Summary: Sleepers
Review: Good movie. While the exact story is not true, or, we would have seen the real story on American Justice, can anyone say that the events never took place in some form in this world?
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: With a gripping story, augmented by the moral and ethical dilemmas of a lawyer, a journalist, and a priest, Barry Levinson's SLEEPERS is heart-pounding drama at its finest. Set in New York's Hell's Kitchen--with all of its subsequent turbulence and socioeconomic dysfunction--this film tells the story of four boys, four lifelong pals, who are sadistically brutalized in a reform school and carry the scars into their adult lives. It comes as no surprise that two of the four embark on a problematic life of crime; it comes as even less of a surprise that when a former reform school guard is seen eating in a diner the two men extract a brutal and bloody revenge. At this point SLEEPERS embarks on a breathless course of twists and turns, with one underlying, consistent theme: the unbroken bond of friendship. With their friends on trial for murder, the other two men, a prosecuting attorney (Brad Pitt) and a journalist (Jason Patric) put their careers and reputations on the line to exonerate the defendants--who are indeed guilty of murder--and to malign the former guard who was killed. The stage is set for courtroom drama that is literally spellbinding. Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, and Minnie Driver are exceptional in this film, but the cast is trumped by two "oldtimers," Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. Hoffman plays an alcoholic defense attorney in over his head for the trial, while De Niro--as a loving priest who has been a father figure to all four of the boys--faces a titanic decision as he is called to testify as an important witness. The acting is compelling and absorbing, and so is the story. SLEEPERS is about as good as a drama can get.
--D. Mikels
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