L.A. Confidential

Buy This Item L.A. Confidential by Warner Home Video  Available from Amazon  $12.99  on 11-14-2008     In a time when it seems that every other movie makes some claim to being a <I>film noir</I>, <I>L.A. Confidential</I> is the real thing--a gritty, sordid tale of sex, scandal, betrayal, and corruption of all sorts (police, political, press--and, of course, very personal) in 1940s Hollywood. The Oscar-winning screenplay is actually based on several titles in James Ellroy's series of chronological thriller novels (including the title volume, <I>The Big Nowhere</I>, and <I>White Jazz</I>)--a compelling blend of L.A. history and pulp fiction that has earned it comparisons to the greatest of all Technicolor <I>noir</I> films, <I>Chinatown</I>. Kim Basinger richly deserved her Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of a conflicted femme fatale; unfortunately, her male costars are so uniformly fine that they may have canceled each other out with the Academy voters: Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, and James Cromwell play LAPD officers of varying stripes. Pearce's character is a particularly intriguing study in Hollywood amorality and ambition, a strait-laced "hero" (and son of a departmental legend) whose career goals outweigh all other moral, ethical, and legal considerations. If he's a good guy, it's only because he sees it as the quickest route to a promotion. <I>--Jim Emerson</I> Reader Reviews This latter-day descendant of film noir may be the most perfect movie to come out of Hollywood in my lifetime. Great story, excellent cast, show-stealing performance by a then little known Russell Crowe, classy soundtrack, violence that still manages to shock jaded modern sensibilities, and above all enough twists and turns in the masterful plot to surprise the innocent and smug alike. A fabulous achievement in filmmaking, and a rare example of a movie that is every bit as downright good as it is monumentally great. I could see LA Confidential fifty more times and never grow tired of it.

L.A. Confidential Available from Amazon Price: $12.99 Updated on 11-14-2008.

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