Who's going to see Gangs of New York this week?

Who's going to see Gangs of New York this week? I know i will... glad i got those free cinema tickets for my birthday.

I'm definitely going to catch it.

I plan to see it as well. Working for a school, I will have the next two weeks off, so that's one thing I have on my agenda!!!! It's getting really good reviews so far by the critics. We'll see!!!

TIS

Im also goin. It actually looks pretty good. When I heard that is wasnt a mafia movie and it had Leo Dicaprio in it I thought it would suck, but all the previews and specials on TV make it look really good.

Yep, I'm going. But mainly for Scorsese. I don't care for DiCaprio, and I can't really see him in a Scorsese movie, but hey, anything can happen. It's getting some rave reviews and Scorsese never fails to disappoint.

Haha, oops. I meant he never fails to deliver...whoops.

It isn't Italian but it still is a mafia movie.

I've been anticipating this movie for about a year. I'll be first in line.

i will definitely see the movie because of Martin Scorsese. . .

GoodFella

Im going, thats for sure.

It isnt showing here till the 10th of January, but, I'll see it. Also Star Trek Nemesis, looks great

FH

Yes January over here for this release. Very looking forward to it after seeing the trailers and now that we've got a new cinema built (just been today to see The Two Towers) i'll probably have more motivation than ever to visit. Our old Cinema was falling apart and you lose your sanity sat in those crappy seats.

I loved the two towers. How was Gangs of New York? any good?

Not one of Scorsese's best but still one of the best pictures of the year. Incredible performance by Daniel Day-Lewis.

Daniel Day-Lewis made it all worth while. He was awesome. DiCaprio was completely overshadowed. There were the classic Scorsese touches, but it trails behind his other masterpieces.

I would go and see it. It looks good, but i'd probably watch "The Hot Chick" instead. It looks hella funny.

Do yourself a favor and go see GONY.

A gigantic, sprawling, teeming saga! Like an urban "Spartacus," but without the hokiness and tedium. Daniel Day-Lewis is worth the price of admission alone. Very fine film!

Ahh!! I was waiting for Turnbull's "review". And Mr. T, what about DiCaprio???? There's been so much talk/criticism, I am curious of your opinion. Did he do well????

TIS

DiCaprio was just fine as Amsterdam Vallon, son of the murdered leader of an Irish gang, who's out for vengeance (and political clout). However: one of the virtues of the film is that it doesn't have any cheap sentimentality. A consequence is that it constricts Leo's two opportunities to raise the emotional level--his affair with Pickpocket Jennie (Cameron Diaz) and his near-adoption by the "nativist" gang leader and arch-villain Butcher Bill (Day-Lewis). It's not a shortcoming of his, it's built into Scorsese's approach to the film.

Gangs of new York is a beautiful epic. Just to see NYC in the civil war era alone makes the film worthwhile. Da Butcher was very handy with the knife, I wonder if he could have beat the Turk?

I agree, Leo was clearly overshallowed by Daniel Day Lewis. however, Lewis is perhaps the finest actor in films today so it would be very hard to compete with Lewis. Leo did an o.k. job. I could have swown he lost his irish accent in a couple of the sequences.
Leo reached his peak in Gilbert grape, and I vote thumbs down on him playing the young sonny.

However, all that 'comedy' Mike and Kay was playing before marriage. Perhaps he can play a son that Kay had while Micheal was in Sicily. Kay had written letters to tell him of the pregancy, but was never delivered, thanks to Tom Hagan. Therefore, Kay went to the commune to deliver the child (like most unwed mothers in that era).

I plan to see the film again and again! its much more than a band of gangs trying to muscle into each other territories. It shows how the gov't unfairly treats the poor and immigrants. The two tier class structure of New York. And what happens to persons who try to rise against the establish government.

Hey godfather fans, this film is worth everyone attention and should be considered for discussion.

I just saw it today and was definitely impressed. The opening fight scene is one of the best I've seen in any movie! Daniel Day-Lewis was superb as Nativist leader Bill "The Butcher" Cutting and Leonardo Di Caprio was adequate as Amsterdam Vallon altough like deathkiss I had problems with his accent attempt. Day-Lewis will surely capture the Golden Globe and should be given some serious Oscar consideration for his work in this film. The love story of the film did not suffocate the plot and complimented the action quite nicely.

I agree the love story is rather weak.

***do not read any further, if you plan to see the movie soon***

In a way, the love story in the movie became the 'standard' hollywood conventional one that we are use to seeing in movies. Amsterdam was attracted to a very beautiful theiving whore, that has strong ties with Butcher Bill. This makes him very uncofortable around her(who can blame him?).

But the love story plot became soapy Amsterdam heart opened up toward her because she nursed him to back health and offered to share her life's saving with him. In other words, her character turned into the good-girl, help-mate role with the heart of gold. Now she is transformed as the love-able, but theiving girlfriend of Amsterdam.

opps! I pushed the button too soon

****Again, don't read if you plan to see the movie soon****

The interactions b/w Butcher Bill and Ansterdam reminded me of the apprenticeship of the Al Pacino/Johnny Depp characters in Donnie Brasco. I want to watch the movie again because I am not sure of Ansterdam's had intentions of killing Bill from the start; or because Ansterdam had a promenant place with Bill, did he try to forget his past and wanted to blend into Bill's world.

This piece is quite impressive.

He wanted to kill Bill from the start.

At first I did believe that, but I am not sure. I recall how tormented Amsterdam looked when men from his fathers gang came to talk about why he is shielding his old identity. Again he looked tormented if he should remain somewhat prosper in Bill's world or was it a deep seeded plot.

What makes you believe that Amsterdam motives was a deep seated plot? I am not sure

I believe that Amsterdam did have the intention of killing Cutting from the beginning for the reason of avenging his father's honour. However, it does appear that Amsterdam was conflicted in whacking The Butcher (at least until the end) because of how close they got. The Donnie Brasco parallel is an interesting way of looking at it but I think in D.B. it was taken even further as Donnie was so wrapped up in Lefty's world that the emotional attachment was very strong. On a completely unrelated note, director Martin Scorcese makes a cameo in G.O.N.Y. In the scene where Jenny Everdean (Cameron Diaz) dresses up as a maid to rob a house the father of the family eating at the table is Scorcese.

Yeah, I am not too sure if a more sutdle Donnie Brasco senerio came into play or not.
i did not know MS made a cameo. He is a terrific actor as well. Did you know that MS was hired strictly for his acting ability in a movie called "Quiz Show".

People of the British Empire
Gangs were released this Month. I am cuious about your views.

Deathkiss

I'm going to see it next friday, the 17th I think it'll be. I can't go till then cos I'm going with my son and he doesn't have time off college until then. I'll report back though. I cant wait to see it now, yet 12 month ago I wasn't keen

Wiseguy where are ya??? Have you seen it yet??

I just caught it last night and am still in awe. Fantastic film - Daniel Day Lewis stole the show. I came out of the cinema really wanting to watch it again. The only real problem I had with it was the music on the opening battle scene, not quite what I expected.

Scorsese did a great job with the film and added his own creative license to it instead of sticking to facts too much. He even said himself it is a work of fiction. I also read somewhere alot is based on newspapers of the time (that naturally exaggerate everything). This was another great opportunity to add Scorsese's touch to.

A book I now plan on getting is by Herbet Asbury - The Gangs of New York. A key material to Scorsese's research.

I've got to say that I agree perfectly with Corleonechick, having seen gangs of new york last week. There were many good points about it, especially Daniel Day Lewis, and some of the scenes were fantastic, but i did feel it trailed behind some of his other films. Also, I was looking out for Scorcese in the film, did anyone else notice that when jenny went in the rich house he was at the head of the dinner table. Also he was sat next to Bill every now and again.

Excellent review, Turi--I agree with everything you said. And you'll enjoy Asbury's book, which is well worth reading. Can you get it in the UK? I got mine from Amazon.com here.

Excellent, you've read Astbury's book. I checked the UK site of Amazon and it has it. But mustn't be readily available "usually dispatched within 3 to 5 weeks."

Hopefully it should be worth the wait. I read reviews on it somewhere and it has some good praise. I think Astbury's research was mostly from newspapers too. The fact that it was wrote in the 20's shouldn't be too much of a factor should it?

I wasn't as impressed with this movie as most of the people who have posted. I didn't think it had a New York "feel" - it obviously was filmed on a set and I thought it really looked it. I also thought the plot had no real direction and tried to fit too much in. I also would have liked it better with less gratutitous violence, but that's more of a personal preference. But Daniel Day-Lewis was great and I enjoyed his performance.

It is a factor, Turi. One of the biggest problems in trying to do research on gangsters and organized crime is that these fellows seldom write dusty books of memoirs, or leave their collected papers to universities, to be perused by the likes of you or me. In fact, most of them were illiterate, and those who could write, didn't, for fear of breaking omerta, or otherwise divulging grist for prosecutors. So, contemporary journalistic accounts are just about the only sources that authors can rely on. That said, Asbury's book is pretty much the only semi-authoritative source on that period of time in NYC's history. And at least some of what he wrote has been verified by other authors.

i know im not. i dislike leonardo decapreo

It's a good film Drex, you shouldn't let the fact that you dislike Dicaprio be a stand on why you wont watch the film. Personally I'm not a fan of him. He isn't an amazing actor, but he plays his part fairly well in GONY. Not outstanding though, but he's believable and watchable. Infact just watch it for Daniel Day Lewis's performance.

I saw the making of G.O.N.Y. on Showcase yesterday. It was only 30 mins. but it was pretty cool to see a lot of the behind the scenes stuff. Did you guys know the movie was shot in Rome?