My Movie Journal is Better Than Yours

Notes History

Date Viewed	Venue	Note
12.12.09	Netflix	I wonder how many people thought this movie was named after the Beastie Boys lyric? Hopefully more people than not realize that this is a remake of a pretty great 70s NYC gem, given the Tony Scott treatment of course. Instead of calm cool ultra-professional Robert Shaw we have loony bin grudge-crazy John Travolta with a fu-manchu stache and full-on neck tattoo to show he's tough. Jay-Z's 99 Problems playing during his introduction doesn't hurt either. And instead of everyday schlub Walter Matthau we have actually-head-of-the-department-but-embroiled-in-controversy Denzel Washington trying to act like he's an everyday schlub. BUT, it's not as bad as it could be. I personally don't think this particular story suits Scott's scattershot coverage approach at all but it's kind of like blaming Paula Dean for saying "Hey Y'all! Butter!" It is what it is and we should know what to expect by now and if I have a problem with it it's not Tony's fault. The supporting cast is pretty good here. John Turturro, Luis Guzman, James Gandolfini... they all make watching pretty interesting. Mostly though, I felt like all the soul-baring conversation that goes on is needless and leads to some incredibly vomit-worthy beats (which I obviously credit to Brian Helgeland - that hack!) and all that puke-worthy stuff just makes me want to watch the original again.