Cop Land (released in 1997) - Starring Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro

The film is based on the town of Garrison, New Jersey. It is known for most of its local population being that of auxiliary transit cops - this gives the town the nickname of ‘Cop Land.’ The Sherriff of Garrison is Freddy Heflin (Sylvester Stallone); he was also a police force aspirant, but his chances of joining were ruined as he is hearing impaired due to an injury from his childhood. Sometime in the past, he had saved Liz Randone (Annabella Sciorra) from the car which she was trapped inside. However, life has moved on, many of his friends and peers serve on the force, including Liz’s husband, Joey Randone (Peter Berg). Freddy has secretly loved Liz since they were kids, but now she is trapped in an abusive and violent marriage to Joey.
Freddy leads a lonely life, few friends, one loyal - the bottle. One night as he returns from the local pub, his car crashes into a clump of trees as he avoids running over a deer. Elsewhere a young cop Murray Babitch (Michael Rapaport) is driving back home after a night out, as he drives through to the George Washington Bridge, his car is side scraped by another car. He attempts to get the car to pull over, flashing his badge. The man in the co driver’s seat pulls out a weapon, Murray ducks to avoid getting shot, just then he hears a shot fired – the red car speeds ahead of him, the cop has had enough! Murray fires shots at the car, which spins to a halt on the bridge, his own car screeches to a halt as it rams into the other vehicle.




Under the bridge, sits Freddy, oblivious of the chaos that has ensued. Cops line the Bridge, as Lt. Ray Donlan, incidentally Babitch’s uncle, comes to his rescue. The young officer is inconsolable, as he tells Ray that he was only doing his duty and that he shot in self defense. Officer Jack Rucker (Robert Patrick) tells Ray that the men in the car had no weapon, they’d only been pointing a steering wheel lock at Murray.
The detective present Leo Crasky (John Spencer) tells Murray that his foolhardiness is going to cost Lt. Ray Donlan his reputation and career; he convinces the man that if he doesn’t let Leo help, Murray will land up in prison. Babitch is convinced that they don’t have to do this, and it is wrong. Meanwhile, Jack plants a weapon in the dead men’s car. However, a paramedic on police duty tells him that he saw him do that - and a scuffle takes place. Ray, meanwhile goes over to where Murray was standing - he isn’t there anymore. The man has jumped off the bridge. But was this really the end ?
The film was about the corruption in the police force, as cops try and save themselves from being blamed for fraudulent practices; Heflin is shown as the man who is up against the corrupt biggies, he is the underdog, who is treated with disdain and met with rancor. Directed by James Mangold, Cop Land was released in 1997. Stallone’s performance is unlike any of his past acts; he displays the quieter, sensitive side of a man most people reject and mock due to his physical shortcomings, he even donned a ‘non glam’ look, putting on pounds to look the part. His performance won him praise from both critics and audiences alike.

Nighthawks - Starring Sylvester Stallone, Billy Dee Williams, Rutger Hauer and Lindsay Wagner - Released in 1981

This 1981 film was directed by Bruce Malmuth, and is about two hardworking cops, who don’t always believe in playing by the rules but are dedicated to law enforcement. Detective Sergeants Deke DeSilva (Sylvester Stallone) and Matthew Fox (Billy Dee Williams) are Men Friday for the LAPD - assault team, sniper team – they’re always in demand!

Across the globe, Heymar Reinhardt, a noted terrorist also known as Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer) carries out the heinous bombing of a departmental store in London. Few days later, DeSilva and Fox carry out a raid on an alleged drug cartel’s kiosk. They have already been compromised, unbeknownst to them, by two members of the LAPD, shedding light on the rot within the system.

Wulfgar’s financer and handler - Mercer, is upset with him because a number of women and children were killed in the attack, and as a result, he withholds the payment to be made to Heymar. This upsets the terrorist, and in a bid to flee police, ends up murdering his contact - Kenna. He travels to Paris, to meet Shakka Holland (Persis Khambatta), who comments that killing Kenna was a bad move - for Wulfgar’s passport was found on his body, infact, Kenna was a willing associate and killing him has served no purpose other than creating problems.

The murder has alienated Wulfgar from his own peers as well, who see him as a traitor. In a desperate bid to flee the authorities and avoid arrest, the terrorist undergoes surgery to alter his appearance - predictably, he murders the surgeon, post the operation. After this he escapes to New York City. Meanwhile, DeSilva and Fox are reassigned to serve in a special task unit - ATAC, an anti terrorist outfit put together by an Interpol officer Peter Hartman (Nigel Davenport). Opposing Hartman’s shoot at sight and shoot to kill policies, DeSilva voices his opposition, stating he is a policeman, not a hired assassin.

Wulfgar, feeling safe in the US, starts planning his next move. He finds a safe house with Pam, a flight attendant. He discloses to her his true identity although withholding his name, ironically, she thinks he’s joking. The terrorist decides to make his presence felt by bombing locations near Wall Street. While he is away, Pam uncovers the cache of weapons in their apartment. Wulfgar murders Pam - her death is the first clue he leaves behind for Hartman and DeSilva.

Unable to identify him after his surgery, police are incapable of arresting Wulfgar, who plans a hostage crisis, and escapes narrowly, but not before he slashes Fox’s face - this infuriates DeSilva who vows to kill him no matter what. Shakka, now in the USA, keeps Wulfgar informed of every move made by the NYPD & US authorities, and tells him that the UN delegation has given a description of him as well. She also tells him his allies back in Europe are still miffed with him, to the extent that they do not wish to hire him again. Upset, the two plan their move to deal with the police and ATAC.

A UN Conference at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is target for the terrorist; Shakka attends the meet in disguise, cornering Hartman and killing him, she then teams with Wulfgar to hijack the UN reps - Wulfgar even kills the French ambassador’s wife in full view of the police chopper and DeSilva. On their way to escape the police and the detectives, Shakka makes a run for it, but is gunned down - Wulfgar escapes once more - and makes his way to Irene’s house (Lindsay Wagner) – DeSilva’s ex wife. As luck would have it, the cop is already there, and he shoots Wulfgar dead.

A tiresome and long winded story, with forgettable performances, the film wasn’t well received by audiences either.

Witness (released in 1985) - Starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis, protecting a young witness

A thriller directed by Peter Weir starring Harrison Ford, Kelly Macgillis and Lukas Haas, it was released in 1985 to critical and box office acclaim.
The plot involves a young Amish widow Rachel Lapp who is taking her son Samuel for a trip to Baltimore to see the outside world. Samuel in the rest room witness a murder of a police officer Zenovich. Samuel sees only one of the murderers who happens to be a tall black man. Rachel and Samuel are taken by the police as witnesses and are introduced to captain John Book and Sergeant Carter. Samuel as the principal witness has to identify the killer and fails to find the right man in the police line-up. As he saunters around in the police head quarters he sees a newspaper clipping of a police officer Mcfee and recognizes him as the killer.
Book reports this development to his superior, Captain Paul Schaffer and is asked to investigate further. He informs Book, that Mcfee had raided a drug hideout and did not report his findings. Zenovich was killed for investigating Mcfee's drug offenses. Schaffer advices Book to keep the report a secret, till they can find some clinching evidence.



Book escorts Rachel and Samuel to a safe hotel where they are ambushed by Mcfee. Book shoots Mcfee and realizes that Schaffer would be the traitor. Book seriously wounded decides to go in to hiding with the Lapps. He calls up Carter and asks him to remove all the files relating to the Lapp's and his investigations. Book informs Rachel about the situation and escorts them to their home in Lancaster city.
A severely wounded Book, tries to leave the Amish colony after he ha safely escorted the Lapps. But he faints having lost a lot of blood and Rachel's father in-law reluctantly agrees to keep him there. As he recovers he helps Eli, Rachel's father-in-law around the house doing small carpentry and other odd jobs. He finds it difficult to adjust to the Amish way of life, but soon it grows on him. He takes Samuel under his wing and bond starts to develop between them.
Various culture clashes happens as Book adjusts himself to the Amish way. He is forced to surrender his fire arm as the Amish believe in non violence. He does the community jobs like building towers for residents and Samuel helps him to work the machines like a silo. Book enjoys his life with the Amish and also develops a soft corner for Rachel. He also fights others who mock the Amish. Rachel and Book are attracted to each other to the discomfiture of her suiter Hockleitner. Eli and other residents also disapprove of this alliance.
Book in the mean time telephones Carter for information and the villains kill him. Realizing that the game has gone too far, he calls up Schaffer and challenges him. Soon Schaffer and Co reach Lancaster and both Mcfee and Fergie are killed. Schaffer holds Rachel hostage, but the arrival of all residents, make him realize that his game is up. Book arrests and hands him to the Sheriff. But he also comes to the understanding that he cannot be part of the Amish for ever, and returns to the world with his love for Rachel.
Witness was a box office winner and was also nominated for 8 academy awards wining two for the best screen play and editing. It was also a toast at the BAFTA Awards. A good simple movie.

Casino (1995) - Directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Sharon Stone

Casino was a movie released in 1995, and ranked to be one of the best movies made by Martin Scorsese. The movie was somewhat of a departure from the traditional New York setting of many of his other movies, although the use of mafia, violence, and rough language was still common (in fact, the movie was somewhat controversial because of the use of the word 'fuck' for almost 400 uses in one movie). The movie was based on a book by Nicholas Pileggi, with the screenplay for the movie written by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese. The movie was based on a some real incidents, including the fight between a mob guy named Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal (a real life person based from the 1970's and early 80's who used to oversee multiple casinos for the mob) and his wife Geri McGee, a former topless dancer).
This concept was the idea of Nicholas Pileggi, who approached Martin Scorsese for the movie, and Scorsese was an eager supported of this thought, and decided to make a movie. When the movie was released, Martin Scorsese also have a tremendous reception, and this movie continued the trend, with the movie having got an overall positive acclaim. However, the movie did not do anything great at the Academy Awards, with a single nomination for Sharon Stone.



Robert De Niro stars as Sam "Ace" Rothstein, called in by the mob to oversee the operations of the Tangiers (non-existent in real life) casino in Las Vegas. In addition, Nicky Santoro (played by Joe Pesci) is a mob enforcer sent in to ensure that money keeps on coming to the mob, and that the mob's investments in the casinos are kept safe. Sharon Stone plays the role of Ginger, a devious lady who is also the wife of Ace (the skillful portrayal of a woman on the edge did get her a Golden Globe award for Best Actress).
The movie starts with an explosion in the car of Sam 'Ace', but he survives, and then the movie starts in flashback, moving back to the time in 1973 when Ace is brought in to run the Casino Tangiers. Ace is good at his job, and in a short period of time, he doubles the profits of the casino; however, the mob takes its cut before reporting to the tax authorities. Nicky is sent in to ensure that Sam has protection as he does his work. However, not everything works as intended; since Nicky works out to be nuisance with his attitude, and is banned from many casinos. Sam meets Ginger McKenna, and marries her after they have a baby girl.
Their is a difference that starts growing between Sam and Nick, and he also draws public attention when he gets into a dispute with the County Commissioner, and getting public attention is something that is bad for the mob. Things reach a boil pretty quickly after that, when Sam gets into a dispute with Ginger, and soon after, also begins a sexual affair with Nicky (something very severely frowned upon in the mob). This dispute between Sam and Nicky gets the FBI involved when some loose comments are overhead, and things quickly reach a stage where the entire business starts to unravel. And then the mob bosses, who are now in trouble themselves, have to decide whom to silence to ensure their safety. What happens to Sam, Ginger and Nicky ?

Fugitive: A tight story of being one step ahead of the law

A fast paced action movie, with a fair amount of drama, a wrong court decision, and the need to get revenge (and clear his name) were some of the parts that made The Fugitive a very famous and commercially successful movie. The movie was nominated for a clutch of Oscars, and also earned more than $500 million worldwide. It helped that it starred 2 famous actors in the person of Harrison Ford (very famous for Star Wars and Indiana Jones), and Tommy Lee Jones. The movie also got good reviews from critics, making it really successful (it is not always seen for a movie to be both commercially successful and earn praise from critics).
The movie was released in 1993, and was based on a television series that aired on ABC between 1963 and 1967. The series ran for 4 years (interestingly, the first 3 seasons were in black and white, and the fourth season was in color). The movie has the same premise, where a doctor is charged for the murder of his wife, and escapes in order to prove his innocence.



The movie has principally 2 characters - Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble, and Tommy Lee Jones as Deputy United States Marshal Samuel Gerard. Dr. Kimble has been charged for the murder of his wife, based on the fact that his wife made a call to 911 which apparently led to Dr. Kimble being blamed for the murder. In addition, there was no evidence to back the claim of Dr. Kimble that a man with an artificial hand was responsible for the murder (there were no signs of somebody breaking into the house, there were no other fingerprints on the gun). Dr. Kimble was charged for murder, and convicted by a jury, sentenced to die.
However, on the way to prison in a bus (along with other convicts), there is a disturbance inside the bus that causes the bus to fall onto the path of an oncoming train. In the disturbance. Dr. Kimble manages to run away and is now being pursued by the United States Marshal service, led by officer Samuel Gerard. Kimble manages to change out of his prison uniform, shave, and alter his appearance, but Gerard is soon on the chase, and manages to corner him inside a storm drain inside a dam. The only option for Kimble to survive is by jumping into the flow of water falling from the dam, and he does so in a fairly spectacular shot.
Now, Kimble is on a mission to find people who have received a prosthetic arm, while striving to be hidden from the police who is chasing him. In the middle of this, while hidden in a hospital, he even saves a boy by altering the diagnosis and sending him to emergency surgery. Kimble even heads to the jail to try to find the one-armed man, but is not able to find him. He eventually gets into the home of a former police office called Frederick Sykes (Katsulas). Sykes was there in Kimble's list since he had received a prosthetic arm. It is in Sykes's home that Kimble finds evidence of what could have caused the attacks at Kimble's home, as well as the involvement of somebody close to Kimble. Can Kimble save himself from the police, and expose the involvement of others ?

The Fugitive was nominated for 7 Oscars:
Won: Best Supporting Actor - Tommy Lee Jones
Best Picture (lost to Schindler's List)
Best Cinematography (lost to Schindler's List)
Best Sound Effects Editing (lost to Jurassic Park)
Best Film Editing (lost to Schindler's List)
Best Original Music Score (lost to Schindler's List)
Best Sound (lost to Jurassic Park)

Fargo (1996)

Fargo was a very interesting movie to watch, a movie that conveys the darker side of humanity. Released in 1996, the movie was directed and produced by the Coen Brothers. The movie stars Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, and Harve Presnell in significant roles. Given the plot where a husband is willing to get his wife kidnapped for money, the movie showcases how such situations can quickly go out of control and lead to consequences that are harmful for all involved. Very quickly, you reach a situation where people are willing to murder for money (something that is weirdly seen as a normal happening), willing to murder because somebody annoys you; such situations give a chance to let the psychopaths live upto their dreams.
Why call a movie Fargo ? Well, there is an actual city called Fargo in North Dakota, and it appears in the movie for a very short time. But in reality as the Coen Brothers, admitted, Fargo as a name for a movie looks interesting (and the play on words of 'Far' 'Go' seem apt to a story where money plays a setting role in what people do).



The movie was well received by critics, and went onto win 2 Oscars (Best original screenplay and Best Actress in a Leading Role for Frances McDormand). The movie also did well at other Film Festivals such as BAFTA, Cannes. The movie also got nominations for 5 other Oscars:
# Academy Award for Best Picture
# Academy Award for Directing (Joel Coen)
# Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (William H. Macy)
# Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins)
# Academy Award for Film Editing (Ethan Coen & Joel Coen)
The movie went further to increase the reputation of the Coen Brothers (whose other films include O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy, Miller's Crossing, Blood Simple, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country For Old Men, The Big Lebowski, and Barton Fink). One interesting tidbit is that the lead female role in Fargo, Frances McDormand is married to Joel Coen since 1984.
Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) is a salesman in an Oldsmobile dealership, with the dealership being owned by his father-in-law Wade. Wade is rich, but Jerry does not get to see the money, and is financial difficulties. The solution ? He contacts an ex-convict named Shep Proudfoot, and through him, Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare) and Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi). In a bar in the city of Fargo, they concot a plan to kidnap Jerry's wife Jean for a total amount of $ 1 million that he will get from Wade. In the meantime, Jerry almost comes to an agreement with his father-in-law for financing for a business plan (and Jerry attempts to call off the kidnapping but fails). However, the business plan soon falls through with Wade deciding to do the financing independently, and not through Jerry.
The kidnapping proceeds, and Wade is duly informed by Jerry about this. However, by that night, the kidnapping is in serious trouble, with a license plate problem causing the intervention of a policeman. The kidnappers kill the trooper, and then kill 2 witnesses to the scene (in the neighboring state of Minnesota). These murders bring in the local police chief, 7 month pregnant Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand). She gives a look of being simple, but is very competent and versed in police procedures. She is soon on the trail, first finding the link to Shep Proudfoot, and then deciding to travel to Minneapolis to investigate further.
In the meantime, the case takes a more deadly turn with Shep going after Carl and humiliating him. And in the taking of money for ransom, Carl has a shootout with Wade who has come to deliver the money himself. Wade dies, and Carl is wounded. While returning to his place back, Carl hides most of the money; however, when he returns to his cabin, he finds that his partner has murdered the hostage Jean. They have a dispute, and Carl is killed with an axe. By this time, Marge is very close to resolving the case, and is finally able to nail Jerry, and then arrest Grimsrud.

The Usual Suspects (1995)

What an unusual name, you might wonder. After all, how easy is it for a movie to get named something like 'The usual suspects' ? Well, if you have seen Casablanca, then you should stop wondering. In the end, when the policeman wants to save the resistance fighter (Humphrey Bogart), he instead tells his men to round up 'the usual suspects' (actually the name of the movie is based on a column in Spy magazine called 'The Usual Suspects'). Besides the unusual name, the movie is also regarded as a neo-noir film. To add to the myth around this movie, it was shot on a $6 million budget and released in 1995 in a few theatres, but gained publicity through word of mouth and good reviews, and was then released in a much wider way. The movie also picked up 2 academy awards, further adding to the fame of the movie. As always while making of such iconic movies, the making of the movie went through many twists and turns in terms of getting the budget, getting the actors, and so on. But it did get made, and turned out to earn $24 million.


The movie was nominated for 2 Oscars, and won both. The awards were:
* Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Kevin Spacey
* Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen - Christopher McQuarrie
It was nominated and won other awards such as BAFTA. Get the list here.
The movie had a good line up, with the following line-up:
* Kevin Pollak (played Todd Hockney)
* Kevin Spacey (Roger 'Verbal' Kint) - An award winning role
* Benicio Del Toro (Fred Fenster)
* Gabriel Byrne (Dean Keaton)
* Stephen Baldwin (Michael McManus)
These were the 5 members of the gang, seemingly being manipulated behind the scenes by a mega-criminal, a ruthless man. But is the truth what it seems like ? The movie works at different levels, with story being told in flashes; with so many twists and turns. You start with a story, being told cleverly, but are never very sure about what is true or not. Miss parts of the movie, and you may not be able to identify what is going on in the movie when you get back ! The Usual Suspects is a gripping story, very cleverly told (although you will find critics who are dismissive of a movie that seems too clever). There is a good chance that you will start reading every gesture, every glance, and the dialogues to figure out where the story is going. And then the ending. What a story !
The central theme of the movie is one of detection: Who is the criminal mastermind Kyser Söze ? This is the character who is the mover behind the scenes, who manipulates a group of criminals like puppets on a chain, and about whom nobody really knows as to who he is.
Imagine a squad of policemen who reach a boat on a pier, and find a mini-battle has happened, with 27 people dead and a massive amount of heroin found. The only 2 wounded survivors are a Hungarian who fears a mass-killing master criminal known as "Keyser Söze", who was in the boat killing people. And the other survivor is Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey), who agrees to cooperate with the police in return for immunity. And this is the guts of the movie !
Kint and 4 others were earlier arrested and taken to a police line-up (with 'the usual suspects' being arrested); incensed over this arrest, they decide to strike back and plan a major robbery that will also implicate the corrupt police officers in the NYPD. The reluctant members are convinced, and the robbery happens without a hitch, and they travel to California to peddle the goods to a fence called Redfoot.
There, they are persuaded to commit another robbery that goes wrong, and they are forced to kill Saul Berg, a purported jewel smuggler and his bodyguards. And what do they end up with ? Not the reported cash and jewelery, instead heroin. When they confront Redfoot, they realize that the orders came from a lawyer called Kobayashi (Postlethwaite), who is in turn working for "Keyser Söze", something that scares them because of his background and supposed ruthless nature.
The lawyer has proof of their activities, and blackmails them into doing another job for Keyser Söze, the destruction of cargo of a rival coming into the port. And then Kint starts to explain to the police who exactly Keyser Söze is (as explained to him by his fellow criminals); a superman of the criminal world, a man so ruthless that when his family is threatened, he first kills his family and then carries on a vicious vendetta against his rivals and all their known people; this done, he vanishes and now only works through henchmen. They try to fight back after one of their own is killed, but back down when facing the ruthless nature of the lawyer and his apparent boss.
The criminals attack the boat of Keyser's rivals, and a major battle starts; Kint is held back to be able to escape and report in case the others do not survive; but things start to go haywire. There is no cocaine on the boat, people are killed who the criminals have not yet attacked, and then the remaining gang members are seemingly killed by Keyser Söze. The police seem to believe that Keaton was actually Keyser Söze, and Kint supports this theory. He gets bail, leaves; leaving behind policemen who slowly start to discover that the story that they have been told is actually bull. The police sketch of Keyser Söze is very close to Kint, but it is too late. He has disappeared in front of their eyes.

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Quentin Tarantino is extremely famous for his 1994 picture 'Pulp Fiction' starring John Travolta, but he had made a name for himself right from the first picture he did called 'Reservoir Dogs', released in 1992. It was an independent picture, but boasted of a pretty good cast and made a lot of name for itself, and continues to make a name for itself on the DVD circuit. It shook audiences all over with its pace, scenes incorporating flashbacks from the past, and the sheer poetry of the action (mostly in a warehouse).
The tagline for the movie was a good indicator of how the movie would be like: "Seven Total Strangers Team Up For The Perfect Crime. They Don't Know Each Other's Name. But They've Got Each Other's Color". The movie was a good indicator of how Tarantino's movies would turn out - lots of references to pop culture, violent crime, great dialogues, and a story that moves back and forth between the past and the present.



The movie stars an impressive cast of people in the main roles of the perpetrators of a jewelery heist, but without disclosing their names (they are named after colors - Blue, White, Pink, Orange, Brown, Blonde). The cast of the movie is:

# Harvey Keitel as Mr. White / Larry Dimmick
# Tim Roth as Mr. Orange / Freddy Newandyke
# Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde / Vic Vega
# Chris Penn as "Nice Guy" Eddie Cabot
# Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink
# Quentin Tarantino as Mr. Brown
# Lawrence Tierney as Joe Cabot
# Edward Bunker as Mr. Blue
# Randy Brooks as Holdaway
# Kirk Baltz as Marvin Nash

And that is the main cast of characters. There is no female speaking role in the movie, truly making this a man's movie - guns, violence, action, shootouts, and so on. Surprisingly, for a movie that is seen as such as a landmark and the first film of an accomplished film-maker, the origin of the movie was on a very small scale. Tarantino (working as a store clerk) was going to shoot it on the overall budget of $30,000 with a very limited cast. However, Harvey Keitel got to see the script, and wanted to get involved, including putting in 1.2 million dollars of his own money for financing, and appearing as one of the pivotal characters.
The movie does not have a complex story, primarily focusing on the aftermath of a jewelery heist that goes bad (police get involved and hostages get shot). There is no footage of the actual heist, the story is more focused on the going-ons when the robbers reach their pre-arranged meeting point (a warehouse). There is an incredible amount of suspicion that the whole plan had been leaked to the police, growing to the point that there is a firm belief that one of them is an undercover policeman.
Joe Cabot along with his son, 'Nice Guy' Eddie hires 6 people for a heist (the 6 don't know each other) - revealed in a flashback (the hiring is done separately for Mr. Blonde, with the others being made the offer in a group session).
The heist is a disaster, with 2 of them (Mr. Brown and Mr. Blue) getting killed while making their getaway, and Mr. Orange getting shot in the abdomen. The robbers reach the warehouse in different groups (with Mr. Blonde having also brought along a captured police officer Marvin Nash). There is an increasing amount of suspicion about one of them being involved in the cops, and (in an iconic scene), Mr. Blonde tortures the police officer with a knife, finally cutting his ear off. However, as he is about to burn the police officer, he gets shot (by the undercover police officer).
This is when the identity of the undercover police officer is revealed to the audience, but the others do not know. As more of them reach the warehouse, there is an immense amount of suspicion and tension, culminating in a Mexican stand-off where they all point their guns at each other, and then.., shoot each other. At the end, the undercover police officer (Mr. Color !) is left, but he reveals his identity (to the person who led the mission and who refused to believe in his guilt) and finally gets shot.
The movie is worth watching, just for the scenes at the warehouse interspersed with scenes of flashback; it makes for a taut storyline, and you can really see the suspicion and tension in everyone's face. If you have not seen the movie, see it and figure out why Tarantino has the reputation that he has gained.

Payback: A dark anti-hero character

Payback (both the original (released in 1995) and the new released version (released in 2005)) are dark movies. The new released version portrays a character whose characterization is even colder and darker than in the 1999 movie. The tagline for the movie says it all: "Get ready to root for the bad guy". This is quite literally true as you see a guy, who deceived his wife, and in turn was deceived by her and his partner during a robbery and for good measure, gets shot by them and left for dead, coming back to get his share of money.
The interesting part of this movie was how the original movie by director 'Brian Helgeland' was rejected as too dark, brutal and anti-hero by the distributors and the studio, Paramount and Warner Brothers, and 30% of the movie was re-shot by John Myhre who re-shot 30% of the movie with the aim to make Mel Gibson more palatable to the audience in a funnier and more likable role. The original portrayal was deemed such that it would turn off audiences from the character. Eventually, the director was allowed to re-make the movie the way he wanted and it was re-released in 2007 in the way that the director intended.



The movie was never that popular, but it is a great movie. The story-telling is incredible, and even though you know the lead character of Mel Gibson is essentially a bad guy in addition to being tough and brutal, you follow the character and his adventures, and you may end up rooting for him to be successful. The new release improves the movie to some extent by removing Mel Gibson's voice-over, forcing more emphasis on the screen play and the evolution of the character and the story.
The movie is all about revenge, and the determination of a guy who has been wronged. He will withstand torture, use his base cleverness and ruthlessness to get out of tricky situations and continue moving on, with hardly a redeeming feature. The only time when you get to see much of humanity is when he is with his former lover where he shows some emotions and feelings (but not that many). The only other time he shows emotion is when he is being tortured to reveal information, and even in that, he takes a huge risk.
Now, about the original movie storyline (since I saw that first). (If you feel that your suspense about the movie will get affected, stop reading whenever you feel). The movie is about this character called Porter (played by Mel Gibson). You never get any other name, just Porter. Porter at one time was a driver to a call girl called Rosie (Maria Bello) and developed an intimate relationship with her; something that his wife Lynn (played by Deborah Kara Unger) discovered later and which led to his downfall.
In order to earn some money, Porter plans a holdup of a Chinese mafia related operation (an extraordinary dangerous thing to hold up another mafia operation since they would not take kindly to it) with his friend Val Resnick (played by Gregg Henry). The operation is simple, ram their car, beat the shit out of them and take the money. Unfortunately for Porter, both his friend and his wife betray him and shoot him twice (and leave him for dead).
However, they should have confirmed his death. He survived, but does not remember too much except for his identity and the fact that money was stolen from him. And from this point on, the story is incredible as he battles his former partner who has already accepted him as dead and used the payoff money to join an organization called The Outfit. Porter teams up with Rosie again (since she is close to The Outfit), and starts an onward movement to get his money back (it seems almost comical as he is trying to explain how he just wants his $70,000 back and not particularly looking for revenge). He also battles 2 crooked detectives and gets them caught in an internal investigation. The movie carries on with him working his way up the chain (typically by killing people whom he meets), including an encounter with the Chinese mafia whom he manages to defeat and run away from on. The first movie has a bloody scene where he is being tortured by a sociopath with a hammer so as to get him to reveal the location of the son of the chief of the outfit.
Overall, this is a great movie, very engrossing and very enjoyable. It has a fair amount of violence though.

My Cousin Vinny (1992)

What a delightful movie. Could there be a person who has seen it and forgotten about it ? I just could not believe it the first time I saw it; how can you have the imagination to take a movie about 2 young guys caught up in small-town America for a crime they did not commit, get in a cousin who is a lawyer without experience along with his girlfriend, and an old grouchy judge, and come up with a movie that has you laughing away at many points. By the end of the movie, in the discussion about the right car, you are positively at the edge of the seat as the tension shoots up, and you know that something big is going to happen that will turn the case, and it does so happen. More about that later.
The movie was directed by Jonathan Lynn, and did not have a big cast at all, with the 3 most prominent people being Joe Pesci in the role of a struggling lawyer, Vincent LaGuardia Gambini; the late Fred Gwynne playing the hard and grouchy judge Chamberlain Haller, and Marisa Tomei in the award winning role of Mona Lisa Vito (she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role). So you start off with these 2 young men from yankee land who while traveling through an Alabama town indulge in some petty shop-lifting.

In a twist of how guilty conscience can get you into deep trouble, they land into massive trouble. Picked up by the police after the clerk of the shop is shot and killed, they assume that they have been picked up for shop-lifting (they are a bit surprised that shop-lifting is a major crime, but this is Alabama, so ..). In this surprise, when told / asked that they shot the clerk, they are astonished and only managed to ask the same thing. However, the person recording their statement does not read the question and astonishment in the reply and soon they are now being booked for murder. Hardly a good feeling to be booked for murder in a far-off city, and to be told that they have actually confessed.
And this brings their cousin Vinny into the picture. Billy's mom gets their cousin Vinny to take the case (a bit surprising that, after all, if your son was arrested for murder, you would want a first rate defense lawyer, not a person who has spent 6 years getting into the bar and has no trail experience). And this brings Joe Pesci along with his fiancee Marisa Tomei.
Joe Pesci has very little experience as a trail lawyer, and manages to rub the judge the wrong way right in the beginning (and the judge is even more conscious, after all, a lawyer from Yankee land must be made to appreciate the way justice happens in Alabama). Fighting with the judge over his appearance, over the way to speak in court, and over his experience (he has to show the judge that he has trial experience while he does not, and he eventually manages to fool the judge on this point); the scenes with the judge and Joe Pesci are first-rate.
Some of his other cultural experiences are also great, you get to see the distaste when he had to eat grits every day because the motel serves only that for breakfast, about not getting enough sleep because of the thunderous noise made by trains in the night near the motel (affecting his sleep and his preparedness to the extent that he finally welcomes the contempt notice issued to him since that allows him to get a good nights sleep in the jail).
He gets better and better in the courtroom, being able to challenge witnesses, and slowly move towards proving his story that it was a different car, and not his cousins car. This leads up to the great finale where he gets his angry fiancee (angry at him for ignoring her and refusing to take help from her) through her incredible knowledge of cars in order to try and discredit the testimony of the FBI Agent. You have to watch this scene to believe it. Overall, a must-watch movie.

L.A Confidential: A very slick movie

This movie was made in 1997, and was a very slick movie. The movie was based on a 1990 book of the same name by James Ellroy, and was at one time considered very difficult to base a book on. But, finally the book was converted into a screenplay by Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland, and turned into this movie that won 2 Oscars (Best Supporting Acress for Kim Basinger and Best Adapted Screenplay (a vindication of the efforts by Curtis and Brian)). The movie is considered a good effect of a new-generation noir movie, with a great direction by Curtis.
The movie was acclaimed by most critics, although it earned only around $30 million profit in the US (costing 35 mil and making 65 mil), but it must have also been earning a lot more from the DVD market and from the international market. The movie primarily stars 5 characters (Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pierce as 3 cops in the LAPD; Kim Basigner in an award winning role; and James Cromwell in the pivotal role of Capt Dudley Smith as the Police Captain who wants to build the crime system lorded over by himself.


The movie is set in the 1950's Los Angeles, and for the people who did not know what the city was like at that time, it presented not a very clean picture. There was a lot of cop violence, corruption in the police force, sleaze in Hollywood, a lot of buzz about call girls who were styled to look like top movie actresses, drug addiction, tabloid journalism out to expose corruption and crime so as to sell more (although that does not seem to have changed). The movie focuses on the intersection of all these, and tries to end at a positive end with some of the forces of corruption reduced and the police administration wanting to make a clean sweep of the police force so that it can be a respected force.
The roles of these 3 cops is the most pivotal, since it is they who drive the various scenes and acts of the movie. The youngest and freshest to the Police Force is Detective Lieutenant Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce), the son of a legend from whom much is expected. He is a change from the brutality and corruption in the police force and is basically honest, although he is shown to be manipulative in the end. However, these attributes set him aside from the other policemen, especially when he testifies in a jailhouse brutality trial in which a long-serving member of the police force is implicated and has to retire.
The next is Officer Wendell "Bud" White (Russell Crowe), who is a man who uses force a lot, and is much feared. He has no love lost for Exley, especially when his partner is removed from the police force based on Exley's testimony. However, when his former police partner is killed in the 'Nite Owl' massacre, he becomes much more involved in the case. He does not take kindly to women beaters, and is tender to the victims. He is also being used by the Captain to take down rival mafia leaders.
The third cop is Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), a very slick cop, who is in the limelight. He serves as the technical advisor to a crime television show, and also funnels a lot of information to Danny DeVito (who is connected with Hush-Hush magazine), including making arrests almost in front of the camera of the magazine.
The main event of the movie is the massacre of the patrons of an all-night diner, called the Nite Owl massacre. The investigation of this leads to a call-girl racket in which Kim Basinger is involved, and Russell Crowe starts having an affair with her. The others also get involved during investigation, and eventually the trail leads to a small cabin in the middle of nowhere where the actual person behind everything is revealed, and then Guy Pearce kills him, and then manipulates the police command by playing on their need to have a hero emerge from all this, this hero being Guy Pearce.
The movie had some casting difficulties, after all, there are 2 Australian stars in key points of the movie, but after seeing the movie, one can appreciate all the performances. If you want to admire the film art, and also appreciate a fast movie, then buy this movie.

Rambo: Not just a violent movie

The first version of the Rambo series, called First Blood (Rambo) was released in 1982, and is now considered a good hit. It is a pretty violent movie, with one killing, gun shots, other ways of hurting people, and so on, and is fairly raw in the way that emotions are presented, but the movie overall is pretty impressive. It was also a big hit, costing around $14 million to make, and earning more than $125 million. The movie spawned 2 sequels, and made Stallone into a big star.
First Blood was based on a novel written by David Morrell in 1972 about a Vietnam veteran who has the war imprinted into his psyche, and has developed a number of skills not suitable for living in society. A war veteran of a war that was not liked by a significant section of society would face a lot of hatred, and coupled with the pain and emotional distress suffered during the war, could easily turn back into a killer even in a normal society.
The story of the movie has certain twists and warts, for example, the mistreatment of a detainee in a police station is not all that common. However, this is a fairly simple story. John Rambo is a Green Beret, a special soldier dedicated to special operations, and also part of a team with a low survival ratio because of their nature of missions. They are trained to be elite soldiers, being able to survive in the wild, kill using different ways, and so on.
John is now back in the US, searching for a friend in Washington state. He finds out that this friend, the last surviving member of his unit, died of cancer. He enters a town of Hope, but the sheriff, Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy) is not impressed by his looks and wants to run him out of the town, saying that they do not like drifters. He drops him out of the city limits. John returns to the town, and is immediately arrested by Teasle for vagrancy and for carrying a concealed weapon.
In the jail, John has a bad time. He is traumatised by one of the sheriff's deputies, and they they want to clean him up for the judge. The overall treatment reminds John of his treatment at the hands of the North Vietnamese, and the sight of a razor pushes him over the edge. He manages to make his way out of the jail after beating up a lot of the officers, and is then chased by Teasle. This chase extends the full length of the movie. He first steals a motor cycle, and is pursued by Teasle in a car. Eventually, they get inside the jungle, and he is being chased by dogs.
Trying to elude them, he is spotted on a cliff drop, and is being threatened by the deputy with rifle on a helicopter. He drops of the cliff, into trees, but eventually manages to throw a rock at the copter, causing the deputy to fall down to his death. The sheriff is mad, and takes his team into the woods to chase Rambo, but this is where Rambo is able to exhibit his special skills, as he disables them one by one. The sheriff calls in the National Guard, and this also brings in Rambo's former colonel, who advises the sheriff to let it be, they will be able to catch Rambo later much more easily; good advice, not accepted
The National Guard find Rambo in a case face, and they fire at him with a rocket launcher. He is assumed to be dead, but is not. He is now going to take the fight back to the sheriff. Stealing a army truck from the National Guard, he re-enters the town, and proceeds to blow up a number of things. He finally corners the sheriff, but is stopped from killing him by his colonel (Richard Crenna). After a dialog where there is an outpouring of emotions from Rambo at his unit's death, the condemnation of the soldiers by society, and so on, he surrenders.