Gangs Of New York
— Vast epic on the lowly origins of the skyscraper city.”
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- United States, 2002
Gangs Of New York follows the fortunes of Amsterdam Vallon, orphaned as a young boy by the mercurial leader of a rival gang in 19th century lower Manhattan.
The film marks the return of Leonardo DiCaprio who had given a string of pin-up roles the slip and DiCaprio’s protagonist Amsterdam Vallon is backed by a fine cast of Irish players.
Daniel Day-Lewis was persuaded by Martin Scorsese to quit his apprenticeship as a Florentine cobbler – a job he’d been doing since his self-imposed retirement from acting five years previous – and join the cast of Gangs. His picaresque performance as the formidable object of Vallon’s vengeance dominates Scorsese’s most successful period drama to date.
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See also:
Mean Streets
A sparklingly childish De Niro and some very mature directing.
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The Illusionist
All is not what it seems: The Illusionist conjures little enthusiasm
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The Last King of Scotland
A masterclass in biopic acting from Forest Whitaker.
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The Departed
The older generation still runs things round these parts.
- Originally published: 26 Feb 2007 in Film
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Hello you, I'm Mike Padgett. I'm not a Princeton curator, Knoxville mayoral candidate, Kentuckian pastor or Arizona journalist, I just share the same name. In fact, I am a consultant working in user experience and information design.
I also enjoy travel, concerts, films and walking.
I'm originally from Yorkshire, England but nowadays I live in Belgium. My current favourite Belgian beer is Black Albert.
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Over a year in the making, Dopeology.org is my latest personal project: a topology of doping in thirty years of European pro road cycling.
I collected information from thousands of sources, then I modelled and published it via a lightweight user interface.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:00
[...] Hawkins brings a pleasant, consistently light touch to her character, but she’s the proverbial Milky Way: she won’t ruin your appetite before dinner. And those scenes with Scott are filling – you find yourself expectant for every driving lesson, to the absolute detriment of the film’s main thread. Marsan’s brooding, powerful presence has made for interesting cinéma everywhere he’s popped up, including The Illusionist, 21 Grams and Gangs Of New York. [...]