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Ok so I'm WAAYYY behind. But I just bought Gangs of New York the other day, and loved it. I heard a couple of not-so good things about it, so my expectations were a little lower and it far exceeded them.
Daniel Day Lewis as Bill "The Butcher" is probably one of the best villains in movie history. And even though I've never seen The Pianist I have a hard time beleivng that Brody deserved an Oscar over Lewis. I mean he lit up the screen every time, I haven't been that impressed with a performance in a long time. Liam Neeson was great in a very small role. Dicaprio was pretty good, but Diaz was maybe mis-cast, her accent came and went. I think Brendan Gleeson was rather annoying as 'The Monk' and hasn't had a good role since Braveheart.
And while Scorsese has obviously done better, he doesn't really disapoint here. Am I the only one that was very impressed by the continuous shot that shows irish men getting off a boat, joining the army, boarding another ship, and then you see caskets coming in. I thought that spoke volumes for what things were like for poor people/immigrants in the time of the Civil War.
The whole city erupting in chaos was a pretty cool climax, and has a couple of messages behind it. But like others said I think there should have been a little more with Amsterdam and The Butcher going 1 on 1. And that voice-over with the guy typing telegrams was pretty annoying.
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Early morning moments, a glimpse of joy. But soon it's over and I return to dust. As I try to be, everything everyone. I shrivel up and, waste away.