Saturday, November 3, 2007
They say Frank Lucas is a Bad..Shut your mouth
One's well-executed buffet means going to the movies in a theater maybe once per week or when something is of great interest. American Gangster is a big film. Big exposure and a big cast. The contrapuntal movements of the Crowe cop/lawyer and the Denzel drug distributer/gangster/businessman are bridged by bad cops and the rise of the Soul Power era.
Reviews glimpsed before hand struggled with whether or not it was ultimately the great film it strived to become or just a really good one. No matter. So much is right here, especially with the performances. If I have a complaint, it is in aspects of the cinematography. The shadowy evening scenes have a weird olive-green cast to them. To me it felt unnecessarily murky, but I remember how Gordon Willis style of deep shadows seemed first quite jarring in the classic Woody Allen and Godfathers. American Gangster's Harris Savides also did the lighting for Zodiac and some recent Van Sants. I make notice of him now and will watch for him in credits to see if future and past work of his makes an impact on me.
Another quick note--major thanks to Pam Rentz,a digital goddess, for updating my blog template and directing the Well-Executed buffet to the homepage of the robertLhughes domain.
posted by well-executed buffet at 11:17 PM
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