Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: This is a pretty good movie that has a different plot then what I've seen in the past! Robert Deniro stars as a policeman, whose son is a suspect for a murder. His son's girlfriend(Eliza Dushku, who does a fine job at it) comes by to see his dad and drop of the baby, then she takes off, I guess she didn't want to see her boyfriend again!! Anyways, it's a great movie and it sure was interesting how he(Deniro) would solve it!! Great performances, I like the ocean shots and it's a great movie, watch it!!
Rating: 
Summary: Just kinda there
Review: ...this isn't the caliber of movie you're accustomed to seeing DeNiro in. Neither is it appropriate for a powerhouse like Frances McDormand, whose role is dimensionless.Contrived drama about a cop who, having walked out on his family, gets a last chance to help his son by safely apprehending him for grim drug murders that are presumed to have been done with malice. The film has a broad appeal in that it doesn't offend or challenge its viewers; rather, its just an OK day at the cinema. Maybe DeNiro owed a family friend a favor by starring here.Who knows?
Rating:
Summary: CITY BY THE SEA, similar in theme to ROAD TO PERDITION.
Review: CITY BY THE SEA stars Robert DeNiro as a tough, sharp New York City cop who becomes caught up in a murder case in which his son (brilliantly played by future Oscar winner James Franco from SPIDER-MAN fame) is the main suspect. Not to mention, that murder runs in the family. DeNiro's character's father was convicted of murder.
This is the stuff compelling dramas are made of and for the most part, the film works. While the two films are very different in plot, ROAD TO PERDITION and this film both boil down to being about the relationships between a father and a son. All of the performances are great except for William Forsythe who seems out of place as a comic book like villain who rides through drive thrus menacing young girls at the window. I recommend checking this out. It's not great but you will be entertained. Directed by: Michael Caton-Jones (ROB ROY) Cast: Robert DeNiro (TAXI DRIVER), James Franco (SPIDER-MAN), Eliza Dushku (THE NEW GUY), William Forsythe (HARD CASH), and Frances McDormand (FARGO).
Rating:
Summary: The ugly parts of Long Island...
Review: In a sentence, the plot of this movie: Vincent La Marca, whose father was executed for a 1950s kidnapping of a child, grew up to become a police officer, only to see his own son become a murderer. The events leading up to this are a bit more dramatic. The elder La Marca divorces his wife and leaves his kid behind in Long Beach to start a new life in New York City after a domestic violence charge was brought against him by his wife. Things seem to be going well for La Marca in NYC; he found a new girlfriend and is well-liked by his police department. That is until the floating corpse of a drug dealer lands in his jurisdiction. He decides to investigate this further which leads him back to his hometown of Long Beach and the prime suspect turns out to be Joey, his son. Joey still despises his father but attempts to contact him and tell him what really happened. The Long Beach police department also suspects Joey of killing Vincent's partner, so they're willing to shoot first and ask questions later. Vincent wants him to turn himself in before things get any worse. You can pretty much guess the rest of it. This movie just dragged on and on. I wasn't too impressed with De Niro either. And when Joey says the magic three words to his father from the back of a squad car, I just gave up on this movie. It tries to be emotional. It begs for attention and understanding. But to patronize it would be to encourage mediocrity. I cannot recommend this film because it is neither a drama nor action film but it tries to be both. LEAP rating (each out of 5):
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L (Language) - 3.5 (nothing striking, lacks humor, non-passionate acting)
E (Erotica) - 0 (n/a)
A (Action) - 2 (final confrontation between Joey, Spider and Vincent in a warehouse, shots fired)
P (Plot) - 3 (cop father wants his estranged drug-addicted son to turn himself in for a murder, but the son is still bitter about the father leaving him years ago and refuses his help)
Rating:
Summary: Definitely not DeNiro's best
Review: I was really hoping this would be a great movie since Robert DeNiro is such a great actor. It turned out I was wrong. I would call "City by the Sea" a so-so movie. The concept was (I guess) ok and the ending was far FAR from spectacular. All-in-all I probably won't see it again. I don't know, maybe 3 out of 5 is being too kind. Other than "City by the Sea" I recommend "The Score", a great DeNiro movie.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Touching and Moving Feature Film!
Review: City by the Sea is a cop drama starring Robert DeNiro and James Franco.Surprisly this movie is really good because it was real. The storyline of this movie was based on a true story.I think that is why the movie is good.Because it is not a big fake movie that Hollywood wrote to make money but a real movie that Hollywood wrote to make money.But why the 4 star rating and now a five.City by the Sea started off strange.The theme music in the backround at the very beginning made it look like a comendy when it really is a strong drama.Anthor reason why I gave the movie 4 stars was because of the amount of profanity that is used in it.I thought that that amount was way to hign and they could have definalty killed at least half of the times they used major profanity.If those two things were adjusted to the movie this definalty would get a five star rating.the plot was good,the acting was good especially but Robert De Niro who gives one of the best preformances yet in this.James Franco playing a junkie was very into his character and didn't drift away from it at times.The movie is fast paced and all and all is just a good movie.Now let's get into the plot... Joey(James Franco) is a drug addict who is trying to cut down while living inside an abondand casino in Long Beach Long Island(or the city by the sea) untill he could afford traveling money to move to Key West in Florida.One night he gets hign and goes to get drugs from a man named Picosso with his junkie friend.Picosso pulls a knife on Joey and they fight ending with Joey the winner.Joey and his friend throw the body in the river where Picosso and the 4 grand he has inside of his pocket washes up onto the shore.Vicent LaMarca(Robert De Niro) is a New York detective who left Long Beach years ago to get away from the trama of his father who was charged with killing a baby and then getting executed.When he and his parterner investagate a body washed up on shore his parterner takes the four grand out of the mans pocket.This causes Spyder who is a drug lord to think that Joey stole the money and now he wants his money back because that four grand was going to go to him.Vicent lives in an apartment where he lives upstairs from his girlfriend Michelle.When Vicent learns that the prime suspect of the murder case is Joey is tries to protect him and get his relationship back with his only son. City by the Sea is very touching and a very emotinal film that I think everybody should see.This is probally the first Oscar contender for the 2003 Oscar year.See it now!
Rating: 
Summary: city by the sea
Review: Hits home if you lived or know someone on drugs and wants to stop and had a broken home life
Rating: 
Summary: A Movie Without and Ending
Review: I was really looking forward to this. De Niro usually does good pictures and refuses the stinkers. But I was really let down by film's ending. It needed to wrap up 4-5 of the storylines that it started. The viewer is left to make up his/her own ending and guess what happened to all of the rest of the characters. An episode of Law and Order tells as good of a story and does a better job of dealing with the details.
Rating:
Summary: The Sins of the Father
Review: "City by the Sea" is an earnest, sometimes, empty headed, well-acted film about the age-old sociological/religious theory that a father's sins are passed down to his son.
Vincent La Marca (Robert De Niro) is a veteran NYC policeman who's past life comes to haunt him once again when his son, Joey Nova (James Franco) is suspected of murder. You see, La Marca's father was also suspected and convicted of murder. The tabloids proclaim that the La Marca's have a "Murder Gene" and Vincent's life is thrown into a tailspin; also upsetting his love affair with his neighbor, Michelle (Frances McDormand).
Michael Caton-Jones has directed without much wit, humor or style, which is very much needed in the scene, for example in which Vincent decides to open-up and reveal his past and present to Michelle. Vincent reveals a past and present so filled with pain, despair, murder, drug addiction, etc., etc that it is laughable. A good dose of humor is needed to bring this very real but preposterous scene to life. But Caton-Jones directs it very earnestly and the scene falls so flat that many in the audience of the showing I attended laughed out loud.
On the plus side there is of course De Niro and McDormand who command the screen and their scenes together are believable (except the one mentioned above) and touching. De Niro's last scene in the film is some of his best, most emotionally open and available work that he has ever done on film. Not to be missed.
But the real news here is James Franco who literally glows as if he were lit from within: the sign of a true star. His Joey Nova is a tortured, spoiled, drug-addled loser and even though you hate his actions, you like him. His part is not fleshed out in the script as well as it should be, but he makes up for this lack with "it": that unknown quality sometimes called, among other things...charisma and talent.
"City by the Sea" is by no means a perfect film but any film with De Niro and McDormand is not to be missed. And if you can ignore some of the Caton-Jones turgid pacing and mise en scene there are several scenes that are gems. But the real reason for seeing this film would be to witness the emergence of a new star, James Franco who seems not one bit afraid to go head-to-head with De Niro and emerge unscathed and un-singed.
Rating:
Summary: Your editorial review has the wrong facts about location!
Review: I saw City by the Sea, and in general it was very well-acted. It was a good story. At times it was a little slow. But unlike what your editorial review says, it was set in Long Beach, NY, on Long Island, but filmed in Asbury Park, NJ. Vincent Lamarca was a cop in New YOrk city in the movie, and in real life he was a cop in Long Beach. I live in the town over from Asbury, Ocean Grove, and it was cool to see both in the film. -Heather Ronovech, Ocean Grove, NJ
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