brooklyn rules

Looks like this is going to be a new mob movie set during the time of john Gotti. Alec baldwin will be playing Gotti.

BROOKLYN RULES .





Movie Review: Brooklyn Rules
Written by Tony Woolstencroft

1985. The most powerful of the five New York Mafia families, the Gambino family, is filled with unrest. Following the appointment by Carlo Gambino of his cousin and brother-in-law Paul Castellano as his successor in the late 1970s, the family has split into two camps. The Manhattan faction remains loyal to Aniello Dellacroce, an old time underboss they think should have become the new Don. The Brooklyn faction sides with Castellano. One of the premiere movers and shakers in the Manhattan camp is John Gotti, soon to become possibly the most well-known Mafioso since Al Capone, after organising the assassination of Castellano.

This is the backdrop against which Brooklyn Rules is set, but it is most definitely not a mob picture. It’s a story about friendship. Specifically it's about the friendship between Michael, Carmine, and Bobby, who are first introduced in 1975 sitting in church, where Michael steals from the collection plate, before the boys sneak out, for their first encounter with the violent side of Brooklyn life. They discover the corpse of an executed wiseguy sitting in his car, shot twice in the head. Michael keeps his gun, Carmine takes his cigarette lighter, and Bobby takes home a puppy they find in the back seat.

Flash forward ten years. Michael has scammed his way into Columbia University hoping to become a lawyer (his self-confessed lack of a conscience makes this profession a perfect fit, he says), Carmine is looking for respect, money, and power by working for the local Mafia capo Caesar Manganaro, and Bobby just wants to get a job with the post office, marry his girlfriend and settle down. But the fallout from the Gambino family war is destined to affect all three of them.

Director Michael Corrente gets wonderful performances from his cast. Freddie Prinze Jr. is a revelation as Michael, giving the performance of his career. I hope this marks the start of a career revival – he proves here that he has far too much acting talent to be wasted in roles like Scooby Doo’s Fred. Scott Caan plays the vain wiseguy-wannabe Carmine to perfection and it’s impossible to watch him without being reminded (in a good way) of his father's Sonny Corleone. Jerry Ferrara (in a complete departure from his Entourage role) is totally convincing as Bobby, the sweet-natured, unambitious heart of the group.


Alec Baldwin is as good here as he was in The Departed (for me, he very nearly stole that film). By turns charming, charismatic, and psychotic, he makes every second of his limited time on screen count. Mena Suvari struggles to make much of an impact in the under-written role of Michael’s high society girlfriend, and there’s a brief but extremely funny turn from Robert Turano as Bobby’s father.

Sopranos writer/producer Terence Winter has filled his screenplay with marvelous scenes. All of the dialogue is top notch — funny, touching, and always convincing. The relationship of the three friends is portrayed in such a believable and uncontrived way that you are sucked into their story. This sense of reality is another of the film's many strengths. The pacing is pretty near perfect. There are some very funny moments, some very violent moments (mostly shown offscreen), and more than anything else, there are lots of moments which make you wish you had three friends like these.

This is the kind of film that comes along very rarely nowadays. Character driven, shot on location with none of what’s come to be known as the MTV style of hyperkinetic quick cuts and goofy camera angles, it remains true to its characters throughout. Kudos to all concerned for producing the most entertaining film I’ve seen this year. I urge you to go and see it.

Have yoy seen this flick yet DC?

Not yet Mig.

Speaking of Brooklyn, anyone of yoos live there. What's it like? Is is crime-ridden, etc. or a nice place to live? Or just some parts of it?

Now this looks great!
Trailer is fantastic!
Thanks DC.

This does look great when is it released?

Who knows in the UK Chopper?
Soon as poss i hope!

yea i have it in my netflix list, ill let u guys know as soon as it goes from saved to avaliable. Netflix is great for anyone who can have it but hasnt tried yet.

Just a heads up, BROOKLYN RULES will be released on dvd next Tuesday, September 18th.

i have it and will give a little review when i have done watching it

My neighbor just saw it and told me that it was a pretty good movie and that I would enjoy it. Like many of us here he is into gangster stuff and he pretty much has the same tastes as I do when it comes to gangster movies and books. Now I really want to see it! He's going to lend it to me tomorrow.

Saw it last night, DC. Alec Baldwin was shockingly very good, but Freddie Prinze Jr. almost ruined it for me. He was just sooo out of place. I did enjoy it, though, and I'm sure you will, too. God, I wish it was 1985 again . After you view it, we can discuss it.

I watched it today. It was enjoyable. Nothing great, nothing fantastic, just enjoyable. A bit on the predictable side.

I must agree with Pizzaboy about Alec Baldwin. He plays the role of a Brooklyn mobster shockingly well.

Freddie Prince Jr. is ok. At times he tries a bit too hard with his Brooklynese. It seems to come and go throughout the movie. He wasn't horrible, but just ok.

For me Scott Caan steals the show. He does an excellent job portraying the typical Brooklyn wannabe gangster. His motions, his accent and his style are right on the money. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree acting wise.

As for the writing, well I thought that so much more could have been done with the movie. It had a lot of potential and at certain points it's as though it seems that something interesting is about to happen, but it doesn't. And growing up in Brooklyn myself, I can honestly say that there are things in the movie that are dead on about the people, the neighborhood and the borough itself. But there are other things that while maybe not important to the average viewer, were a bit misrepresented to a Brooklynite such as myself; The Hamilton House is portrayed as being a Diner in this movie, but in truth it was one of the top notch restaurants of it's era back then. And what's with them having the boys go to L&B Spumoni Gardens to eat only to show them sitting there eating hot dogs? Again not really a big deal, but bothersome to me.

Overall the movie is enjoyable as it's basically a good story about good friends. For anyone into gangster movies it's definitely worth a viewing. But it doesn't live up to it's potential. It kind of just misses being a very good movie and instead winds up being an OK movie.

With a little bit more imagination, it coulda been a contender.

worth watching good story about friendship, it has a little bit of everything in it happiness sadness and action too....so im glad i watched it. but i agree with DC with a bit more work it could definitely been up there with the rest of them....

bobby was my favourite character and yes Alec Baldwin did a great job being a wise guy....Scott Caan too the vain wannabe was fun to watch....

Just looked on HMV and it comes out on 11/8/08, so I don't know what you Region 2 people were saying - unless you got it on pirate DVD!

hmmm... so is this movie out on DVD or not? I remember anticipating it a while back, but never saw it released.

I've got this one and I have to say it was on the lines of 10th and Wolf: not very good. Why can't they make mob movies like they used to, like Goodfellas style? As I remember, even American Gangster was slated.

A question: is the nightclub, Pastels real?

Who is the Bonanno whackjob based on?

Finally just watched this today. I thought it was good,nothing ground breaking as such but for what it is it is good!

Baldwin is great,he just seems to get better as he gets older!

Well, sounds like another movie I need to see.

Most definitely worth a watch LN.

Its miles better then that 10th and Wolf.

Still not seen that!

10th and Wolf is about the Stanfa Merlino thing.

It misses the mark completely. GF 3 is better!

I'll not go out of my way to see it then.

If its on i will watch it though. I will give anything a chance once.

I saw this movie not so long ago. It was relatively enjoyable, but only because I tried to ignore some of what I thought were bad points. I thought it quite contrived and obvious, and a little bland. However, if you can watch it and not expect it to be a goodfellas or a godfather, then you should enjoy it!