L.A. Confidential [VHS]

L.A. Confidential [VHS]
by Curtis Hanson

List Price: ~~$12.98~~
Category: VHS Video
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Product details

Actor: Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger, Russell Crowe
Director: Curtis Hanson
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Special Edition
Running Time: 156 minutes
Release Date: 1998-10-13
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Studio: Warner Home Video

VHS Movie Reviews of L.A. Confidential [VHS]

Movie Review: L.A. Confidential
Summary: 5 Stars

I picked up a copy of the book at a used book sale. It was hard to put down once I started reading. When I finished, I wanted to see the movie - Kevin Spacey is one of my favorite actors. Amazon had it, and in two days I received it. The setting was in the 1940s and '50s; I lived through those years and remembered reading about some of the "gangsters", i.e. Lana Turner's daughtered killed Stompanato; the cars, the scenes were great. The movie followed the story line very well, not deviating too much. This set also has a CD with the pilot of the television series that followed - I don't remember that. The musical score was wonderful and that was also included in the 2-disc set. I'll be watching this again and again; you can't see everything the first time. Good movie - Guy Pearce was great, too!

Movie Review: Very Happy
Summary: 5 Stars

Shipped quickly and the item was in the condition described, which matches my criteria for an excellent transaction. Thank you.

Movie Review: Too Much Violence Against Women
Summary: 1 Stars

How much violence against women is too much? Rita Hayworth lookalike Susan Lefferts (Amber Smith) gets murdered. Veronica Lake lookalike Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger) gets knocked around. A young girl gets raped and you have to watch her emotional pain afterwards as she's lying in a bed, bound and gagged, in silent agony, and a black man in another room is laughing.

But all this is forgiven because the cops hate women-beaters and they're out to get the bad guys?

Movie Review: Old Hollywood Revealed
Summary: 5 Stars

This movie is a fascinating look into old Hollywood and yellow journalism. Danny Devito was at his best, playing a tabloid journalist that was willing to "get the scoop" at all cost. A classic!!!

Reviewed by Kardia Williams

Movie Review: Review: L.A. Confidential (1997)
Summary: 5 Stars

Director: Curtis Hanson
Writer: James Ellroy, Brian Helgeland, Curtis Hanson
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, James Cromwell

This is a fantastic movie featuring great performances from everyone involved. And not only great performances, but some of the best work in the whole careers of many of the actors. Basinger won an Oscar for best supporting actress, and the movie also took home the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay. It was nominated in seven other categories, not the least of which were best director and best picture.

It is the mid 1950's. In the wake of a violent multiple homicide at a local diner, three L.A. cops investigate the truth in their own, very different ways. Their quest for justice requires them to rethink their morals and motivations as it leads them into the darkest and highest levels of corruption in the city.

This is one of my favorite movies. It doesn't quite crack my top ten, but it's up there. It's a very intriguing story told through masterful performances from the whole cast. Everything about this movie keeps you engaged in the evolution of the three main cops involved. The ensemble works together so well to draw you in and keep you on the edge of your seat until the thrilling conclusion. The stark contrast in their characters is perfectly complimented by the all-too believable portrayal of 1950's Los Angeles. Set design and art direction are spot on (another Oscar nomination), and the original music by Jerry Goldsmith evokes the classic gritty detective story without becoming stereotypical or cliche.

This is neo-film noir at its absolute finest.

Final Score: 10/10

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Summary of L.A. Confidential [VHS]

In a time when it seems that every other movie makes some claim to being a film noir, L.A. Confidential is the real thing--a gritty, sordid tale of sex, scandal, betrayal, and corruption of all sorts (police, political, press--and, of course, very personal) in 1940s Hollywood. The Oscar-winning screenplay is actually based on several titles in James Ellroy's series of chronological thriller novels (including the title volume, The Big Nowhere, and White Jazz)--a compelling blend of L.A. history and pulp fiction that has earned it comparisons to the greatest of all Technicolor noir films, Chinatown. Kim Basinger richly deserved her Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of a conflicted femme fatale; unfortunately, her male costars are so uniformly fine that they may have canceled each other out with the Academy voters: Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, and James Cromwell play LAPD officers of varying stripes. Pearce's character is a particularly intriguing study in Hollywood amorality and ambition, a strait-laced "hero" (and son of a departmental legend) whose career goals outweigh all other moral, ethical, and legal considerations. If he's a good guy, it's only because he sees it as the quickest route to a promotion. --Jim Emerson

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