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One of the most incompetent productions imaginable. Dutch angles throughout make the film look as though its falling off the screen and the transitions- if one may call them such- make it look like it was cut with a meat cleaver. And the titles- uncle Bob's 10 year old tourist videos look snappier. Some people have complained the sequences were stolen shot by shot from far better films, but I can hardly use the word "stolen" in good faith. They're just plain pathetic, bearing a closer resemblance to Saturday Night Live than anything approaching Independence Day or Bladerunner. If this weren't enough, the storyline and screenwriting are cataclysmically bad- To get "leverage" (repeated relentlessly throughout) the evil Psychlos deviously decide to use their superior technology of video cameras to "watch the man-animals choose their favorite food..

One of the worst pieces of drivel I have seen. Can a concept get cheesier than a motor cycle riding attorney trying to save a retarded man on death row? It's as though the filmmakers have no concept that drama should explore shades of grey rather than limiting its portrayal to these black and white, outdated conceptions of morality.

This was a much darker than I expected but it was solely Downey's tortured and magnetic performance that lent the film its edge. Much of the writing was trite and obvious- his favorite song is "Nobody Knows Me" and Wagner responds, "No wonder that's his favorite song!" and the set decoration (e.g. the poster of "Jules et Jim" on the wall) was a silly allusion to a masterpiece with which shares little else beside the genre.

The acting ran the gamut from Downey's tour-de-force performance to Graham's complex portrayal of an intelligent modern woman who shields her heart yet allows us to see glimpses of that pain, while Wagner's was a horror show of one dimensional acting which made me want to leave after the first fifteen minutes. To be fair, Wagner did get a little better once Downey came on the scene, but never rose to the level of her peers and petered out well before the end. Downey and Graham plowed full steam ahead, giving us great performances. Downey still overshadowed Graham, but this seemed to be a result more from the script than lack of her acting ability, and I look forward to seeing her in another project. And hopefully Downey can resolve his personal problems, because we would love to watch his performances for a long time to come.

Overall 2/4 stars

A week ago I had the displeasure of seeing Adrian Lynn's version of Lolita, which renewed my respect for Kubrick's genius as an artist and a social commentator. He had the vision to use the story for issues that were relevant to his time, rather than allowing himself to be constrained by the world as presented in the novel. Now this is not to say that the novel was lacking in any regard whatsoever, but that Kubrick's directing made it apparent that Nabokov wrote timeless, almost archetypal characters and a story which could resonate in any place or time. His directing is nothing short of genius as we can see in the pacing, the effectiveness of each and every scene, the superb portrayals of every character, and the way he nails the tragic-comedic tone of the novel. The worst that can be said is that he uses the novel as an excuse for social commentary, but Lynne's Lolita draws the opposite conclusion- he blatantly ignores the tone and socio-political aspects, using the novel solely as an excuse for pornography. Lynne's direction is of the poorest standard as the scenes drag on for minutes beyond the "point" has (or in this case, has not) been made, and the performances are all substandard. It is a shame so many ferverently believe that Lynne's adaptation is truer to the novel, because this view devalues Nabokov's artistry and contribution to literature. Besides which Nabokov wrote the screenplay for Kubrick's Lolita, and even though he felt the film differed from his novel, he was quite pleased with the result. Certainly the same dare not be said for Lynne's version.

The main virtue of this movie is the cinematography and the languorous mood it creates. The plot on the other hand was nonsensical and boring. The Joey character was good for a young man experiencing his first love, but I found the Sissel character convoluted and hard to follow. There were a lot of parts where Sissel's character was overacted and boring at the same time, and this especially made me not like the movie. I don't recommend this movie.

A classic film with top notch performances and great directing, L.A. Confidential will withstand the test of time. I haven't seen a film this great in years. It is a MUST see.