L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential
R | 19 September 1997 (USA)
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Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.

Reviews
Hellen

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

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Ensofter

Overrated and overhyped

Kien Navarro

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

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Juana

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

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FairlyAnonymous

I want to say that L.A. Confidential is a movie that I (somehow) had never heard of nor had any interest in seeing. I'm pretty sure I had seen the poster before, but that was all I knew of it. So even though I am reviewing this movie 20 years after its release, I have not had the plot spoiled to me (though I'm sure I've seen movie that were influenced by it). I'm going to try and avoid spending too much time on the positives of this film because I think there are some pretty glaring issues with this film that have gone unnoticed.That being said, the vast majority of this film is a blast to watch. Most of the characters are very interesting, unique, and well thought out which was probably the most important aspect of the film to get right (next to the story). Exley was my personal favorite because you could tell he genuinely cared about justice and keeping the law in order. He wins his fights by being smarter than everyone else and this makes him an interesting character. The main mystery of the movie is a little incoherent at times, but it was still rather engaging for me and I was invested in seeing where it would go. The strongest elements of this movie have to be the action and the character interaction. Almost all of the dialogue is sharp and entertaining to watch. Now, onto the aspects of this film that I thought almost broke it: Bud White... my goodness is this character hard to watch. Russel Crowe does a great job portraying him, so it is not the fault of the actor, but the character himself is insufferable. Granted, my view on this is probably different than those who saw this movie in the 90s because the whole political climate as of late is different, but this guy is just an awful "white knight". Essentially, he is a ball of murderous rage 24/7 and is constantly looking for an excuse to save women who don't need saving. Oh, there is a woman with several men, how about I go over there and beat them up and then figure out if there is an issue. What makes him even worse is that he breaks the law and even plants evidence/lies on multiple occasions just to satisfy himself. For example, why didn't he tell the woman that there was a dead body under he house? It turns out that his reason for being a murderous killing machine against anyone who mistreats women is because his mom was abused to the point of death and he had to watch. Great, that kind of makes sense, but it doesn't excuse him pulling guns on people, starting fights, and grabbing people's crotches to torture them.Now, this is just one character, but unfortunately his "romantic subplot" is another big issue with this film.The romance in this movie sucks. It just does. It doesn't feel natural and it is entirely forced. Bud White somehow falls in love with a prostitute, but it is never explained WHY they fall in love. For instance, the prostitute says really cliche stupid stuff like, "You're special" or "you're different" but the only thing different about him is that "he doesn't hide his emotions" which is an incredibly stupid line because she HAS NEVER INTERACTED WITH HIM OUTSIDE OF HER HOUSE (except for them going to the movie on an occasion). Their romance is so forced that I was legitimately surprised when they started to make out, because there was no build-up to it.Fine, one bad romantic relationship, but this movie has TWO! WITH THE SAME GIRL!Exley goes to the prostitutes house to investigate her because he thinks the relationship between her and Bud White is false and that she was paid off to do it... and then he rapes/has sex with her?!?!?! It's really confusing because he has been established to be the brains of the team and is vastly smarter than everyone else, yet when he is prying for information from someone who he think is manipulating them he then decides to have sex with that said person and assumes that he is not being manipulated... by a prostitute.Really. A prostitute manipulating someone into sex? THAT IS LITERALLY THE FIRST THING THAT SHOULD COME INTO HIS MIND! What makes this plot point even worse is that it was a set-up and now Bud White tries to murder Exley in an attempt to get back at him for having sex with HIS prostitute (again, she is a prostitute. She is having sex with tons of people. Chillax). What makes things really odd is that the other cops in station don't seem to mind the fact that Bud White is murdering Exley? Someone walks into the room, Bud White pushes them out, and then no other cops investigate. Seriously? Long story short, all of this was the bad guy's plan (who was quite obviously the bad guy from the moment we saw him, so it wasn't really a plot-twist). The final action sequence was fantastic and really well set-up, and it was nice to see Exley and Bud White work together instead of at each other's throats. While I did enjoy the villain, his plan was super contrived and required a myriad of coincidences to actually work. Again, it's just a movie, but it is a little troublesome.The main theme of this movie seems to be that following the law completely doesn't always work but breaking the law constantly for the sake of justice isn't the best either. It's a compromise movie. However, the issue with this is that Exley pretty much got everything he wanted through brains and I don't think that he ever really needed Bud White... at all. I honestly can't think of a situation where Bud White's viciousness got him something that he couldn't have gotten himself. On the other end, I don't think Bud White ever learned to not be vicious. The only thing he possibly learned was to maybe not let his emotions get the best of him because he nearly killed Exley (and he hits the prostitute which makes him like his father), but then he goes back to being a psychopath right after that so I don't think he learned anything. This is a fairly big issue with the movie's message, because it doesn't really work. None of the characters (who are alive by the end of the movie) really change except for Exley, who allows more illegal activity to happen... yay?While I think the vast majority of this film is great, I think the biggest issue this movie has is the character drama and the movie's message. The character drama feels so forced and fake that I almost stopped watching the movie because I realized that the established traits of the characters didn't ultimately matter. Anyone could break character to make the plot go in a certain direction, which then cuts out any real sense of tension.Good movie, great acting, great action, okay mystery, bad drama, awful romance. That's my take on it, at least.

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The Movie Diorama

Well, I wasn't expecting that! I went in thinking it would be an overlong stylised drama with one or two scenes of detective work. Quite the reverse actually, it's entirety was an unsolved case. Three separate officers, each with their own motives, investigate separate aspects to a case which eventually interlink with each other. Let me just whip out the old crime checklist: Shootouts? Check. Detective work? Check. Corruption? Check. A plethora of twists and turns? Most definitely. The latter is what truly separates this from other similar crime stories, there are so many twists that are naturally executed. There isn't one moment where I thought "Oh, that was a coincidence!". All of these characters are fleshed out, each with a contrasting personality, where any decisions that are made just feel right. A serious straight rookie quickly climbing the ranks utilising his intellect. A tempered brute using his physicality to progress with the case. Then you have the suave experienced officer who uses his connections to get answers. Individually they work excellently, but as a unit? Even better. It plays out brilliantly because of Hanson's direction. Refreshingly switching between these officers and showcasing the 1950's L.A. lifestyle, he managed to create an environment that lives and breathes crime. One of the best casts I've seen from a 90's film. Crowe, Spacey, Cromwell and Pearce (arguably my favourite role of his) all brought grit and emotional captivation to their roles. The script is densely compact with development and taut pacing, although occasionally does dip. I did find Strathairn's character underused and didn't add much to the story. However, the focus is on the case, naturally including character development and thrills to make an outstanding crime thriller. I suspect this will eventually gain the perfect rating.

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prustage95

I am going to concur with the other glowing reviews here and say that this is an excellent film that deserves the high reputation its has. Except for one aspect - sound design and management. Much has been said about the recent trend to balance dialogue with other sound tracks badly but this film really is the worst I have come across. Dialogue and music are fairly well balanced and work well together but any on-screen violence causes the volume to be cranked up to ear splitting and totally unnatural levels. Gunshots, fist fights and even door slams are unacceptably louder than the dialogue and music levels and in a domestic viewing environment this means the finger has to be constantly on the volume control to compensate. I see no reason for this other than shock value. Unfortunately the shock effect wears out very quickly and we are left with something that is crude, annoying and badly thought out. Pity, because everything else about this film is brilliant.

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Andres-Camara

For me one of the few good films of the last twenty years. He went to see the movie. I've seen her at home several times. And I always remember that when I was in the cinema watching the thought, what woman, but what a bad actress is, but ... my mother, you can be a woman, you are going to give the Oscar. The film is huge in all sections. It gets you into it to the bone. It gets you in those days. You believe everything you are seeing.Everything is real and seems to be happening at that moment. The film has an absolute truth.The actors are all incredible. But Kim Basinger is above all others. It is like the goddess made woman who is, but also has sold her soul to the devil and asked, give me a good interpretation in my life and stay the rest. And he has granted it. Her presentation is very good, little by little, and there it is, beautiful with a touch of love and glamour.The picture is great. It has a beautiful color, even in the street.The management is great. It has staging, movement of characters, composition, beautiful plans. They are very well composed. But also, it is well worn, is well mounted.The costumes are great as the makeup and the hairdresser.I do not think you could ask for more of a movie, well yes, come back to see the.

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