Movie Review: (Most of) Gangs of New York
Well, I was going to reload bunches of ammo today for the IDPA match tomorrow, but there's a primer stuck in the machine, thereby keeping any primers from being loaded, rendering quite a few cartidges I've just made completely useless (as the primer is a fairly necessary component). So instead, I'll write a post and perhaps clean my gun later, though the gun itself is useless for a match without bullets.
So, Gangs of New York came on TV yesterday. I missed the very beginning and bits and pieces in the middle due to my current unwillingness to watch commercials, but I believe I got a general grasp of the overall plot.
Overall impression: Pretty good, actually. I didn't quite get what was going on in the ending, but my knowledge of what was happening in NY during the Civil War is rather rusty.
From what I understand, Leonardo DiCaprio's father was killed by the big crime boss guy who pretty much runs the city ("The Butcher"). He grows up, and plans to take him down by infiltrating his organization. He quickly gains The Butcher's trust, and becomes something like a right-hand man/son to him.
That's most of the movie. Naturally, there are many other things going on, including an affair of sorts with Cameron Diaz (Oddly enough, during one commercial, I turned to Vh1 where they were talking about her trip to Peru with the commie bag), but I'll not yammer on about every little detail. What follows is probably spoilers.
Eventually, Leonardo's character, Amsterdam (thank you, IMDB!), is betrayed to The Butcher by his friend, Johnny, the only character whose name I can really remember. A big, awesome, dramatic scene follows, and the whole battle between the two grows and comes out in the open. I'll not give away what exactly happens in the end--made easier by the fact that I'm not entirely sure about it (though I did completely understand the resolution of the primary conflict), but it was nice--dramatic.
So, here's the song that came on during the credits. I'm no fan of U2, but I'll not deny that I enjoy quite a few of their songs. So, here are the credits. The Hands that Built America begins at 26 sec. after the Spanish dub stops talking, followed by what seems very much like nothing. Oh well:
I recommend the movie, though I really need to see it all the way through real soon. Perhaps I can convince my mom to rent it, since she wanted to see it as well...
So, Gangs of New York came on TV yesterday. I missed the very beginning and bits and pieces in the middle due to my current unwillingness to watch commercials, but I believe I got a general grasp of the overall plot.
Overall impression: Pretty good, actually. I didn't quite get what was going on in the ending, but my knowledge of what was happening in NY during the Civil War is rather rusty.
From what I understand, Leonardo DiCaprio's father was killed by the big crime boss guy who pretty much runs the city ("The Butcher"). He grows up, and plans to take him down by infiltrating his organization. He quickly gains The Butcher's trust, and becomes something like a right-hand man/son to him.
That's most of the movie. Naturally, there are many other things going on, including an affair of sorts with Cameron Diaz (Oddly enough, during one commercial, I turned to Vh1 where they were talking about her trip to Peru with the commie bag), but I'll not yammer on about every little detail. What follows is probably spoilers.
Eventually, Leonardo's character, Amsterdam (thank you, IMDB!), is betrayed to The Butcher by his friend, Johnny, the only character whose name I can really remember. A big, awesome, dramatic scene follows, and the whole battle between the two grows and comes out in the open. I'll not give away what exactly happens in the end--made easier by the fact that I'm not entirely sure about it (though I did completely understand the resolution of the primary conflict), but it was nice--dramatic.
So, here's the song that came on during the credits. I'm no fan of U2, but I'll not deny that I enjoy quite a few of their songs. So, here are the credits. The Hands that Built America begins at 26 sec. after the Spanish dub stops talking, followed by what seems very much like nothing. Oh well:
I recommend the movie, though I really need to see it all the way through real soon. Perhaps I can convince my mom to rent it, since she wanted to see it as well...
