film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
The performances are terrific, the evocation of the period striking, but it feels redundant, more GoodFellas-lite than The Sopranos, and with several TV seasons’ worth of story crammed in.
Though based on copious interviews mob killer Richard Kuklinski gave from prison, this barely broaches the great mystery of his life…
Mine? GoodFellas, a film that rocked me when I first saw and has stuck with me ever since, and one that I never fail to thoroughly enjoy on re-viewings.
Turns a dark mirror on crime mythology to reflect a startling, unflattering image of America.
A mealy, wan attempt at a black comedy.
I’m gonna hope that perhaps the fantastic cast here will make yet one more tale of a man fucking up endurable.
Does ”Soylent green is people!” or chilled monkey brains put you off your food?
I think my very favorite is the prison cooking scene in GoodFellas: “He had this wonderful system for doing the garlic. He used a razor and he used to slice it so thin that it used to liquefy in the pan with just a little oil…”
I’ve never been much impressed with Stuart Townsend as an actor, but with *Battle in Seattle,* his first film as writer-director-producer, I have enormous new respect for him as an artist and storyteller.
I tell ya, if ‘reality TV’ was like this, I’d actually watch it. Let’s put some real bite into *Survivor.* If some unknown, untalented schmuck wants to be an instant celebrity *and* take home a million bucks, he should have to gnaw his own foot off and put a bullet in some other fame-whore first.
