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Blackmail, Murder & Mayhem

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Cop Land

Cop Land

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Stallone's attempt at drama was successful
Review: Sly Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liota, and Bobby DeNiro deliver oscar worthy performances in this intense film about an honest cop trapped in a crooked city. Similar to the film Serpico, the performances in this film are gripping and intense.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: How could you go wrong with this cast?
Review: Finally, a reunion with all of the Scorsese greats, substituting Stallone for Pesci. A group of New York City transit cops have stablished a haven in a small town across the GWB, Garrison, New Jersey. De Niro, an Internal Affairs officer, realizes what is going on and consults the local police chief(Stallone). This slow, overweight cop, begins to realize this conspiracy, but has already turned down the Internal Affairs offer. With a bloody conclusion, Stallone ends this haven for New York City transit cops, and overcomes his own boundaries. Incredible performances, especially Keitel's intensity. De Niro and Keitel are incredible together, and Ray Liotta is as good as ever.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: COOL
Review: De niro is great, Kietel is great, Stallone is great, And this movie is cool. the guy who says tell me how it ends is a nerd

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Simply Outstanding
Review: This is a simply outstanding, finely-acted film with an impressive cast, including Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta and Sylvester Stallone. Perhaps the simplest compliment that can be given to Stallone is that in this cast, not only is he not forgotten but he stands out. Not since De Niro in "Raging Bull" has an actor gone through a more drastic physical transformation to play a role -- Stallone looks like he gained fifty pounds to pay Freddie Heflin, a slow-moving small-town sheriff with a lifetime of regrets. The rest of the cast is good and adds a dose of realism to a gripping drama. Highly recommended!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Tell me how it ends...
Review: This movie had a frightfully boring plot that shouldn't find its way into a below-average TV Cop Show, let alone a major motion picture. Stallone could have been a 2X4 without being any less wooden. The plot was boring, the characters were boring, I fidgeted in my seat for over an hour and couldn't take it anymore. Tell me how it ends...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Sylvester deserves an Oscar
Review: I was blown away. Sylvester Stalone is an excellent actor in Cop Land. He is the one that makes this whole movie work. It's just a shame there was so much bad language in this movie. Overusing the F word too much gets really old. Cursing really doesn't bother me, it only does when it's used more than the rest of our words in a dictionary. Otherwise, this movie was well-written, and it's that kind of movie that makes you feel sorry for Sylvester because of the way he's treated.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A TRULY GREAT MOVIE
Review: For those of you who don't think Sly can act, take a look at this movie. The two Bruce Springsteen songs used work really well also! END

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A solid cop thriller in the tradition of Sidney Lumet
Review: Cop Land is a homage to police corruption films like Sidney Lumet's Serpico and Prince of the City. In many respects, Cop Land is also a modern western, complete with a High Noon-style showdown. Miramax previously released this film on a movie-only DVD. This new version is a huge improvement but is it worth the upgrade?

Definitely.

"Cop Land: The Making of an Urban Western" is an excellent retrospective featurette. Stallone to be interested in the role but the actor wanted to something different, to go back to his starving actor roots. After him, came De Niro and then everyone else followed.

Next, there is a "Storyboard Comparison" that allows one to watch part of the film's climatic shoot-out simultaneously with the storyboards for it.

There are two deleted scenes with optional commentary.

Rounding out the extras is a solid audio commentary with director James Mangold, producer Cathy Konrad and actors Sylvester Stallone and Robert Patrick. Not surprisingly, Mangold and Stallone dominate this track. Stallone comes across as a very humble and gracious guy. Mangold keeps everyone talking, acting as an informal moderator and asking everyone questions. This is a really good track and definitely worth a listen if you're a fan of this movie.

Cop Land features a killer cast and allows them to flex their acting chops with a top-notch screenplay. This DVD is a definite improvement over the previous bare bones edition and is worth the upgrade. Miramax has finally done this film justice with an excellent special edition.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Underrated
Review: Great little movie. Amazing cast, great performances. Nicely underplayed. Will be curiuos to see the directors cut with 11 extra minutes added.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: ALMOST a triumph, but....
Review: When I first saw this flick I was pretty disappointed, but upon a second viewing it feels like the star power involved with the film lead people to expect too much from it. It was intended as Sylvester Stallone's return to serious films but, as it wasn't well received at the box office, Stallone's career has floundered in other lacklustre efforts. It reminded me of when Stallone did his most interesting work in the 70's, in F.I.S.T., Victory, Rocky (which many people don't realize he wrote) and even First Blood. He's almost unrecognizable here as Freddy Heflin, the Sheriff of a small Jersey town that's populated by New York City cops. Overweight and weary-looking, the Sheriff always wanted to be an NYC cop but an injury that left him partially deaf, while saving the life of Annabella Sciorra, prevents that. Harvey Keitel is a corrupt cop who makes Garisson NJ a safe haven for his fellow police officers. When his nephew 'Superboy', played by Michael Rappaport, gets involved in the shooting of two young black teenagers, there is a cover up by Kietel to avoid a possible racial incident. Robert DeNiro is the Internal Affairs officer investigating the scenario and Ray Liotta is a former colleague of Kietel's, who acts as Stallone's confidante. Stallone is really likeable here, as a lumpy, wishy-washy sheriff whose authority is never taken seriously because he never displays any backbone. This is the Stallone that I liked from the first Rocky movie; humble and easy-going, not the testosterone-pumped megastar of the 80s. There's a sense of sadness and loneliness that reveals as much about the actor as the character he's playing. The scene where he's in his room alone, listening to a sad Bruce Springsteen song, reveals in Stallone a talent that has been sadly neglected in the various blockbusters he's starred in. Ray Liotta, however, steals the film from everyone else. He takes a despicable character and makes him the most out of him. He's so good at playing unwashed, ill-natured characters that you can almost smell the grease coming off him. Unkempt, overweight and quick-tempered he's entirely believeable in his portayal of a cynical cop who has had enough of the corruption. His is the most human and complex of all the movie's characters. Liotta should be a star. Kietel is suitably menacing as the ringleader of the crooked police crew. Everything he does is to protect his own interests and he mercilessly rids himself of anyone who stands in his way. Unfortunately, a lot of the parts in the film are minor and DeNiro, Sciorra, Rappaport, Robert Patrick and Jeneane Garofolo are woefully underutilized. It's precisely because of the overabundance of talented cast members that the film gets hampered by it's own ambition and audience expectations. It would have worked better with more unknowns. The story in itself is well crafted and the revelations of the extent of police corruption smacks of truth. The ending is somewhat unsatisfying, but the film was truly a lot better than the reviews it got at the time suggest. Poor Sly. This really could have been a wonderful rebirth for him.


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