Gangs of New York Movie Review

Historical films can be really interesting when they show you an obscure bit of history that typically isn’t covered in the usual history class. These films are especially interesting when the historical events are still affecting modern society. Gangs of New York (2002) showed us how gang warfare was prevalent even in mid-1800 and how even in those days Americans were leery and unwelcoming of immigrants.

In 1846, as waves of Irish immigrants poured into the New York neighborhood of Five Points, a number of citizens of British and Dutch heritage who were born in the United States began making an open display of their resentment toward the new arrivals. William Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), better known as “Bill the Butcher” for his deadly skill with a knife, bands his fellow “Native Americans” into a gang to take on the Irish immigrants. The immigrants in turn form a gang of their own, “The Dead Rabbits,” organized by Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson). After an especially bloody clash between the Natives and the Rabbits which leaves Vallon dead, his son goes missing; the boy ends up in a brutal reform school before returning to the Five Points in 1862 by the name Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio). Now a strapping adult who has learned how to fight, Amsterdam has come to seek vengeance against Bill the Butcher, whose underworld control of the Five Points through violence and intimidation has merged with the open corruption of New York politician William “Boss” Tweed (Jim Broadbent). Amsterdam gradually penetrates Bill the Butcher’s inner circle, and soon becomes his trusted assistant. Amsterdam also finds himself falling for Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz), a beautiful street-smart thief who was once involved with Bill. Amsterdam learns a great deal from Bill, but before he can turn the tables on the man who killed his father, his true identity is exposed even though he has concealed it from nearly everyone, including Jenny. With more Irish immigrants pouring in by the day, Amsterdam soon has an army to overthrow the rival gang. Before long, an all out turf war breaks out in all areas of New York City.

Honestly, I didn’t realize that gangs and street warfare were around in the mid-1800’s. I guess I (and presumably others) have this idea of relatively quaint and peaceful times until the Civil War broke out. That’s probably because history classes talk about politics and wars and less about social issues, culture, and other interesting things. No wonder these true events tend to fall through the cracks in our history books.

Gangs of New York is an interesting crime drama. Usually crime dramas are reserved for gangsters of the prohibition era of the 1920’s or modern underworld dealings. The fact that Gangs of New York challenges our notion of a crime drama makes it all the more interesting. It still has all the basic components that a crime story would have; gangs fighting, backstabbing one another, gaining power through intimidation and murder, and loose women as part of their spoils after victory. It will still remind you of modern underworld dealings that you see in contemporary movies or even in the news.

As a film, I wasn’t all that impressed with it. The movie makes some great political statements and commentary on the culture of its day that is still applicable to our day, such as how we treat immigrants. We might welcome them to our country but only give them the worst that our country has to offer; Irish immigrants were promised citizenship on the condition that they sign up to fight in the Civil War on the front lines.

One of the better parts of Gangs of New York was the colorful characters, which included a hired club named Monk (Brendan Gleeson) and a shopkeeper named Happy Jack (John C. Reilly). But easily the best character was Bill the Butcher, one of the best villains in modern film. He has strangely elaborate diction, a choked accent, and a tendency to combine ruthlessness with philosophy. He is disturbing with this uncanny use of blades and meat cleavers. While the cast was impressive, Daniel Day-Lewis really stole the show and made the movie worth seeing.

Gangs of New York is not one of Martin Scorsese’s greatest films, but even so it’s a good movie. There are a couple of scenes that are truly impressive and the tension is palpable. There’s amazing camera work with long moving camera shots. The sets and costumes are amazingly convincing. The movie seems longer than what I thought was necessary; there were a few times I was starting to get bored, but you will not be disappointed if you stick with the film. I recommend seeing it, but I personally wasn’t so taken with the movie as to go out and get my own copy to watch again and again. It’s an above average renter that I think should be watched at least once.

Is there an obscure bit of history that you would love to see made into a movie? I think a movie about the story of Alan Turing would be fascinating, but tragic. Comment below and tell me what kind of obscure historical event or figure you'd like to see a movie made about.

Wreck-It Ralph Movie Review

Video games have been around for about three decades. There have been movies made that feature video games, such as The Last Starfighter and The Wizard. There’ve been some dreadful movies based on video games themselves. But I think having a movie that’s actually about video games, such as Wreck-It Ralph (2012), has not been done before.

Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) longs to be as loved and accepted as his games’ perfect Good Guy, Felix Fix-It (Jack McBrayer). The problem is, nobody loves a Bad Guy. So when a modern, first-person shooter game called Hero’s Duty arrives at the arcade featuring tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun (Jane Lynch), Ralph sees it as his ticket to heroism and happiness. He sneaks into the game with a simple plan. Win a medal. But he soon wrecks everything, and accidently unleashes the alien threat from Hero’s Duty upon the other video games in the arcade. It turns out Ralph’s best chance is Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman), a young troublemaking “Glitch” from a candy-themed cart racing game called Sugar Rush; she may be the one to teach Ralph what it means to be a Good Guy. Will Ralph understand what it takes to be a hero before it's “Game Over” for the entire arcade?

Wreck-It Ralph was remarkably creative. I’ve never seen a movie that is about video games in their own video-game-style setting. Because there are so many video games featured in Wreck-It Ralph, there’s a lot of opportunity for a diverse art style. Sometimes it looks simple and plain, like it does in the “retro” Felix Fix-It, Jr. game, other times it looks dark and gritty like in the Hero’s Duty game, and still other times it looks bright and colorful like in the Sugar Rush game. The often bizarre contrasts are what make Wreck-It Ralph so fun! For example when Calhoun is using her sci-fi gadgetry to find the aliens that have infested Sugar Rush, all the sugar and candy in the atmosphere interfere with the sensors.

Ralph at the Bad Guy support group.

There’s another fantastic scene early on in the movie when several video game Bad Guys meet together as a support group. In attendance are Bowser from the Mario series, Dr. Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog, Kano from Mortal Kombat, Clyde the ghost from Pac-Man, and M. Bison from Street Fighter to name a few. There are lots of other classic video game cameos strewn throughout the movie, including a brief speaking part from Sonic the Hedgehog, and Mario mentioned in dialogue. This was important to make the movie relatable. For main characters and settings, Disney obviously had to make their own video games to keep from making copyright infringements, but if there were no actual video game references it would have made the games created specifically for this movie seem out of sorts. But because Pac-Man attends a party, Q*Bert helps Felix, Ryu uses his Hadouken move, and they all go to the video game root beer bar Tapper after the arcade closes for the night, the made up games seem more believable. They even use the Konami Code in Wreck-It Ralph, hilarious.

Even the made up games use obvious references to actual video games. Fix-It Felix, Jr. is based off of Donkey Kong and Rampage, Hero’s Duty is similar to Halo, and it’s hard to ignore Sugar Rush’s blatant similarity to Mario Kart. It’s almost like Who Framed Roger Rabbit of video games. So many cameos and references that watching for them makes Wreck-It Ralph even more fun to watch.

So, video game junkies will love all the references, but how does it stand as a movie? I was expecting a simple, typical Disney story. But unlike half-baked stories about being yourself, Wreck-It Ralph did a great job of telling a story with good characters who are overcoming their past, reinventing themselves, accepting weaknesses as part of what makes them unique, and learning to see the world from the perspective of the downtrodden. The characters are so well written, fun, and lovable that you can’t help but care about them. There are so many jokes and groaner puns the movie will keep you laughing, but there’s also some dramatic moments that you may get choked up over. I did, anyway.

Wreck-It Ralph might be the best animated movie I’ve seen this year, it certainly gives Brave a run for its money. I was worried that with a Halo-like game referenced, it might get a bit too scary or violent for very young viewers, but that was not so. This is a great movie to watch as a family. You don’t need to have been a gamer from the Pong-era to appreciate this movie. Small children who’ve never played a video game will love it, and adults who have been helping Mario save The Princess since 1985 will probably get the biggest kick out of this movie. It’s almost like the Toy Story for this generation; kids are growing up with video games more than toys, so I think Wreck-It Ralph will be much loved for years to come. I highly recommend this movie to anyone of any age. I really want to get a copy of this on Blu-Ray when it becomes available. Catch this in theaters if you can, it’s worth the ticket price.

What is your favorite video game you played as a kid? Mine has to be Super Mario Bros. 3 or possibly Bubble Bobble on the NES. Comment below and tell me all about it!

Dark Water Movie Review

I don’t like categorizing films according to genre. It’s an oversimplified way of describing a film and it tends to besmirch any movie that doesn’t have a solid absolute category into which it fits. Horror movies seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from the viewers by playing on their fears. Psychological horror movies rely on character's fears, guilt, beliefs, and emotional instability to build tension. Dark Water (2005), directed by Walter Salles, definitely pulls this off. Dark Water is an American remake of Japanese film by Hideo Nakata, who also inspired the Ring (1998) movie, which also has an American remake.

Dahlia Williams (Jennifer Connelly) and her daughter Cecelia (Ariel Gade) move into a rundown apartment on New York's Roosevelt Island. She is currently in midst of divorce proceedings with her husband Kyle (Dougray Scott). The apartment, though near an excellent school for her daughter, is all she can afford. From the time she arrives, there are mysterious occurrences and there is a constant drip of dark water from the ceiling in her daughter's bedroom. There are also the noises coming from the apartment directly above hers, though it appears to be vacant. The manager Mr. Murray (John C. Reilly) seems blissfully oblivious to the strange things going on in his building, and the superintendant Mr. Veeck (Pete Postlethwaite) seems to want to ignore or evade the problem. Is the apartment haunted, or is Dahlia’s emotional distress getting to her?

Horror movies often have a female protagonist who ends up being the last one alive to confront the antagonist. This “Final Girl” is a horror movie trope can be seen in many horror movies; Friday the 13^th (1980), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Alien (1979) , and The Ring (2002) to name a few. Interestingly, Dark Water doesn’t have this character. Dahlia is just a simple woman who still struggles to overcome some childhood trauma wrought by an alcoholic mother. Dahlia tries to make ends meet, and support her daughter, and live within her means. She is a very natural character that anyone could relate to who, by some fluke, is confronted with the supernatural. Given Dahlia’s weaknesses and fear of abandonment, we are left to wonder if she will allow her daughter to be endangered. I couldn’t help but care about Jennifer Connelly’s character.

A dark, gloomy visual style is permeated throughout the film; most everything seems grimy, dank, and dreary. It reflects Dahlia’s depression and hopelessness very well. The ominous leak in the ceiling looks like some kind of evil infestation rather than common water damage. The black water seeps throughout the apartment building, is gross and seems to have a life of its own. In fact, it’s really not clear for most of the movie whether or not the dark water is imbued with the supernatural or just a manifestation of Dahlia’s depression. Her psychological state is so well illustrated and incorporated as a meaningful plot development, that as Dahlia begins to question her own sanity, we, the viewers, begin to question our own sanity. The conclusion is certainly over-the-top, and doesn’t quite show us how everything ultimately fit together; but it complements the theme of uncertainty and mystery in the movie.

If you’re the squeamish type, it’s good to know that while there are some scary images, this isn’t a “blood and guts” sort of horror movie; it is suitably PG-13 material. Dark Water was disturbing, creepy, kind of gross, and impinges on ones sanity; which is exactly what the movie was trying to do! That’s the ambiance for which good horror movies strive. Therefore, I have to say that Dark Water was very well directed, beautifully written, splendidly acted, and skillfully filmed. I think Horror Movies are an acquired taste, one which I have not yet acquired. Having said that, Dark Water probably isn’t something I’d go out of my way to see again. But it’s a really well executed movie that achieves what it sets out to do. If you like horror movies or psychological thrillers, I’m certain you’d enjoy Dark Water.