I think it's mainly because Curtis Hanson never did anything that good again.
Possibly. Just weird. Had two Oscar wins, multiple other nominations including Best Picture, boasts an all-star cast, dabbles in just enough controversy to all Hollywood to pat itself on the back for acclaim, yet it's like most washed their hands of the film within a few years of its make.
I seriously can't remember it having any sort of cable life, despite being a film that helped launch Crowe and Pearce, and has infinitely cable-friendly sorts of DeVito and Spacey.
Just odd.
Oh it was in heavy rotation on TNT for a few years.
They tried to make a series out of it a few years later.
Come to think of it, no one has really been able to do much of anything with James Ellroy's stuff since then either -- or 50s style or influenced west coast crime anymore. LA Confidential seem like the culmination of the revival of that genre that started around 1970.
What has come out since? Gangster Squad?
I must have missed it on TNT. Weird, because I remember seeing many ty flicks on the channel.
Maybe it's just me. But I follow films very closely and save for an initial burst onto the scene, I don't recall any lasting appreciation of the film.
It's never mentioned as an Oscar darling, not even during the month of February when every film seems to be celebrated.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
^I'll tell you:::it (Confidential) was propped up and jammed down "our" throats. And of course this fool fell for it and paid his money to sit thru it. Overrated pablum and a set up.
Yeah, the whole film genre seemed to be put in the deep freeze after that.
I guess I'll check out Gangster Squad and maybe Mob City (I think cable might be the place to revive the genre), but I haven't been super excited about what I've hear about either.
A Bronx Tale
Agreed, though I have some issues with this motion picture:
One, the mother disappears about 2/3 of the way thru without explanation.
Two, "Sonny" would not have condoned "C's" relationship with the black girl. No ing way!
Three, it's too damn convenient at the end when Pesci shows up at the funeral parlor and assures "C" that he will not lose his meal ticket.
I only agree with point #2, Cub...the other 2 I have no issue with but old school guineas HATE black people. My favorite scene of that movie is the biker gang getting their asses beat by Sonny and his guys. "Now yous can't leave"
But, even that scene is eyed, Deads. It looks bad on the screen. It evokes no response, no emotion, no catharsis. "Sonny" looks a little pussy confronting these clowns AFTER they've humiliated the neighborhood by just entering it AND squirting the beer everywhere, making a spectacle of the bartender. I wished they'd have cut that scene, or, redid it another way. Contrast it with the way "Sonny" admonishes "C" for chasing that kid down for a few bucks. It's brilliant.I only agree with point #2, Cub...the other 2 I have no issue with but old school guineas HATE black people. My favorite scene of that movie is the biker gang getting their asses beat by Sonny and his guys. "Now yous can't leave"
& the way the movie concocts "Sonny's" involvement & condemnation (out of hand) with "C's" gang. It's topsy turvy again. "Sonny" is all over the map with his sermonizing. In total it does not add up and frustrates a viewer.
It's important that the mother be accounted for. There is a line there twixt the couple when he won't take the money for running numbers on his bus route and she will. She wants that money. That is a rift there, a large void in the marriage and it's never touched again. Why show us this calamity if you're not going to expand on it, not settle it, but, have everyone put there cards on the table. He went first. She went second. And it laid there until she went MIA. I wonder if a part got cut. And it may have been just me, but, there seemed to be a dissatisfaction in the marriage from her, even before DeNiro turned down the money. She looked unhappy, unsettled, whereas he was in the exact place he wanted to be, going from home to Yankee Stadium 5 days a week on his bus.
What do you think, Deads?
I never gave it much thought till now, tbh. Maybe that was De Niro's graceful way of saying women are money-grubbing s--by just having the audience assume she left. Still doesn't make sense though since she chastises C earlier for hanging out at Sonny's bar, and makes sure to keep his ass on the stoop and not in the street
Khartoum - Heston was decent, but Olivier as the Mahdist leader was surprisingly good (and a little scary).
Couple more...
Salvador
Hamburger Hill
Salvador is a weird flick for me. I think had Stone directed it later in his career it would've been better, but it's an oddity, I just chalk it up to inexperience and probably copious drug usage (per the par for Stone) that made it not work for me. It's not a bad movie, and I'd agree it's underappreciated, I just think the tone is wonky.
a seriously underappreciated film is David Fincher's Zodiac. I own it and saw it twice in theaters so I'd say it's my favorite Fincher film and I think his best work, but I think it was too subdued to be appreciated like Fight Club or Social Network. It was really Fincher's warped love letter to the Bay Area of his youth, and I just love the atmosphere of that movie, something he can do in his sleep.
It was also a big part of Robert Downey Jr.'s comeback, along with Kiss, Kiss, Bang Bang and A Scanner Darkley. I also loved the use of CGI in Zodiac, I didn't even realize how much of it was used but was shocked to see entire neighborhoods in Frisco recreated via CGI.
Major props to the Harris Savides cinematography (rest in peace) and David Shire's excellent score.
btw I still need to see all of Hamburger Hill. I also think you could easily add Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Scanner Darkley to this list.
The remake of Judge Dredd.
Pretty etertaining movie. I decided to watch this movie thinking it was going to suck majorly but got pleasantly surprised at how good it actually was.
The chick in your sig has tranny-face, tbh
They had "Quest For Fire" on today from '82 about the cavemen. I wouldn't say that was underrated, but, it was a fine production and a uva lot of work went into it. My God, the language alone must have been a life achievement. It's held up nice 30 years in.
Same from this vid, dont know if you seen it but tranny or not I'd . lol
You should put that vid as your sig instead...she's much hotter in that. The pic you have now screams TS Abbey Diaz imo
I may.
Only thing is the fairy getting in the way.
Zodiac...
Not even close, really. Wonder Boys is solid, but LA Confidential stands out so far from everything else on Hanson's resume it's almost funny.
Over the course of a decade, he went from The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, to The River Wild, to LA Confidential, to Wonder Boys, to 8 Mile. One of these things is not like the other, indeed.
Gangster Squad was a mess.
Only thing I can think of that's done a good job of the period west coast crime thing since LA Confidential would actually be LA Noire, which sold terribly.
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