Sean-Penn Movie Reviews

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VHS movie reviews for "Sean-Penn" sorted by average review score:
Colors
Released in VHS Tape by Orion Home Video (22 June, 1994)
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Starring: Sean Penn
Robert Duvall plays a veteran street cop assigned to a Los Angeles gang unit. He takes a headstrong young cop (Sean Penn) under his wing as a partner and shows him the ropes on Watts's mean streets. Penn soon realizes that his testosterone-fueled ways and hair-trigger temper won't get him very far when dealing with the gang-ridden neighborhoods of L.A. Colors is a landmark movie in several respects: it helped bring director Dennis Hopper back into the spotlight after years of self-induced obscurity. Its success at the box office forced Los Angeles's gang problems into the public consciousness and prefigured the next wave of "hood" movies (Boyz N the Hood, Menace II Society, New Jack City) by several years. Though the late-'80s milieu is a bit dated, Colors is still a vivid, absorbing film. Hopper and screenwriter Michael Schiffer give all the characters a very human dimension and go to great lengths to show gang life from both the cops' and the gangsters' points of view. Wisely, they stir in elements of the cop drama, buddy movie, and action genres, leavened with a bit of humor here and there, while keeping a social conscience. Duvall is excellent as always, as the sympathetic cop, and Penn brings a great deal of depth to what could be an unlikable character. Violent, unsettling, and highly recommended. --Jerry Renshaw
Average review score:

From the side streets to the smokin grounds of LA's Gangsta'
I remember first seeing this movie on one of my favourite t.v. channels and was glued to the tube until the ending which I thought was justified. It's about a hot shot cop ( Sean Penn ) partnered up with a soon-to-be retiree (Robert Duvall). The film shows the two generation splits of the same career held in the same town and how it can have great advantages and disafvantages. They chase thugs around and the hot shot cop falls in love with one of the Chicano's ladies. Anyways this movie displays the fast pace of action and dialogue any underrated movie can offer with two talented actors.

Respect
I'm giving it a 4 because Sean Penn is in it although he does play the perfect rookie cop. Young dumb and full of .... This was directed by Dennis Hopper of all people and it's a great film. The more I watch it the more I see the detail of the streets that was put into it. No wonder the cops always had to shake down the theaters when this movie was playing. If you don't know anything about gangs cause you've been living in a cave this movie will help you out. Ice T did the sound track-word

AN UNDERRATED MASTERPIECE
Before Dennis Hopper's "Colors" was released in 1988, no major motion picture had ever really attempted to accurately portray the gritty reality of Los Angeles gang-life. The film comes on fast and furious; the performances are mesmerizing, the violence is unrelenting. Kudos to Penn and Duvall for giving such commanding performance. Ranks among the best films of 1988, and, along with Spike Lee's "Clockers" and John Singleton's excellent if overrated "Boyz N the Hood," "Colors" ranks among the best of the genre.

Colors
Released in VHS Tape by Mgm/Ua Studios (05 October, 1999)
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Director: Dennis Hopper
Starring: Sean Penn and Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall plays a veteran street cop assigned to a Los Angeles gang unit. He takes a headstrong young cop (Sean Penn) under his wing as a partner and shows him the ropes on Watts's mean streets. Penn soon realizes that his testosterone-fueled ways and hair-trigger temper won't get him very far when dealing with the gang-ridden neighborhoods of L.A. Colors is a landmark movie in several respects: it helped bring director Dennis Hopper back into the spotlight after years of self-induced obscurity. Its success at the box office forced Los Angeles's gang problems into the public consciousness and prefigured the next wave of "hood" movies (Boyz N the Hood, Menace II Society, New Jack City) by several years. Though the late-'80s milieu is a bit dated, Colors is still a vivid, absorbing film. Hopper and screenwriter Michael Schiffer give all the characters a very human dimension and go to great lengths to show gang life from both the cops' and the gangsters' points of view. Wisely, they stir in elements of the cop drama, buddy movie, and action genres, leavened with a bit of humor here and there, while keeping a social conscience. Duvall is excellent as always, as the sympathetic cop, and Penn brings a great deal of depth to what could be an unlikable character. Violent, unsettling, and highly recommended. --Jerry Renshaw
Average review score:

From the side streets to the smokin grounds of LA's Gangsta'
I remember first seeing this movie on one of my favourite t.v. channels and was glued to the tube until the ending which I thought was justified. It's about a hot shot cop ( Sean Penn ) partnered up with a soon-to-be retiree (Robert Duvall). The film shows the two generation splits of the same career held in the same town and how it can have great advantages and disafvantages. They chase thugs around and the hot shot cop falls in love with one of the Chicano's ladies. Anyways this movie displays the fast pace of action and dialogue any underrated movie can offer with two talented actors.

Respect
I'm giving it a 4 because Sean Penn is in it although he does play the perfect rookie cop. Young dumb and full of .... This was directed by Dennis Hopper of all people and it's a great film. The more I watch it the more I see the detail of the streets that was put into it. No wonder the cops always had to shake down the theaters when this movie was playing. If you don't know anything about gangs cause you've been living in a cave this movie will help you out. Ice T did the sound track-word

AN UNDERRATED MASTERPIECE
Before Dennis Hopper's "Colors" was released in 1988, no major motion picture had ever really attempted to accurately portray the gritty reality of Los Angeles gang-life. The film comes on fast and furious; the performances are mesmerizing, the violence is unrelenting. Kudos to Penn and Duvall for giving such commanding performance. Ranks among the best films of 1988, and, along with Spike Lee's "Clockers" and John Singleton's excellent if overrated "Boyz N the Hood," "Colors" ranks among the best of the genre.

Bad Boys
Released in VHS Tape by Republic Studios (23 March, 1999)
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Director: Rick Rosenthal
Starring: Sean Penn and Reni Santoni
Sean Penn delivered a star-making one-two punch in the early '80s, debuting as stoner Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and turning up only a few months later, all but unrecognizable, as a steel-nerved teenage convict in this raw, powerful prison drama--and both performances hold up remarkably well. While the story line of Bad Boys has the familiar contours of classic jailhouse melodrama (Penn's fearless Mick stands tall against a bullying Latino gang boss played by Esai Morales), the sense of tightly wound raw force the actor conveys is so convincing that it's actually a little scary. It goes way beyond the blunt-force impact of a standard action star; Mick's acts of violence are expressions of personality, practically eruptions of his life force. The authenticity of this portrayal is reinforced by the closely observed production design: the youth-prison set is so cunningly textured that many moviegoers took it for the real thing. Ally Sheedy also made her film debut in Bad Boys, as the girl Mick leaves behind on the outside. --David Chute
Average review score:

Why has this movie been edited?
One of my all-time favorites; saw it many times on HBO in the early 80's. However, the DVD that I recently purchased from a big retail store was strangely edited. I can recall at least 3 scenes that were completely omitted, for no apparent reason: 1) when Mick's girlfriend is picking out Paco Moreno from the police line-up; 2) when Tweety is released and picked-up by a vanload of his thug friends; and 3) when Mick gets to assign "sh-thouse" duties to Paco and Paco subsequently spits soda on the floor in front of him. There could be more scenes missing that I can't recall; it's been 15 years since I've seen it. However, all of those scenes add to the greatness of this film and I can't think of ANY reason for them to be cut. One of the great features of DVD is that you usually get MORE movie, not LESS. This DVD has absolutely NO extra features. But, I guess you get what you pay for...still a fantastic movie, with great performances by Sean Penn, Esai Morales, Clancy Brown, Reni Santoni and several others. Although the edits are disappointing, this is still well worth watching.

Finally-the Uncut Bad Boys!!!
This is fantastic! Now we can finally see the uncut version of Rick Rosenthal's gritty classic(in my opinion). When I think of Bad Boys, I always think of Sean Penn and Esai Morales. It's too bad that you have to clarify which film your speaking about when you mention it and lots of people have only seen Michael Bay's crappy movie of the same title. I have been waiting a long time for a nice special edition of this film. Now we get the film uncut(it was previously only available uncut on laserdisc) and a commentary! And cheap too! I love Anchor Bay!!!!!

1983 BAD BAOYS
THIS IS SEAN PENN'S GREATEST MOVIE.HIS PRFORMANCE WAS TREMONDOUS SO YOUNG IN HIS CAREER,THIS MOVIE DEFINED WHAT KIND OF ACTOR HE WAS GOING TO BE.THE NEW BAD BOY MOVIES WITH WILL SMITH,MARTIN LAWRENCE IS AN INSULT TO USING THE SAME NAME.

SEAN PENN'S BAD BOYS IS DEFFINETALY HIS BEST WOK EVER

Bad Boys
Released in VHS Tape by Anchor Bay Entertainment (09 October, 2001)
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Director: Rick Rosenthal
Starring: Sean Penn and Reni Santoni
Prior to starring in the hard-edged 1983 drama Bad Boys, Sean Penn had proven his early promise in the TV movie The Killing of Randy Webster, played a memorable supporting role in Taps (with fellow newcomer Tom Cruise), and created the definitive California surfer dude as the perpetually stoned Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. But it was Bad Boys that cemented Penn's reputation as a rare talent--an actor whose skill transcended his youth, revealing a depth and maturity that the majority of his acting peers could only aspire to. That gravity and emotional dimension is evident throughout Penn's performance here as Mick O'Brien, a chronic offender whose path to a Chicago juvenile corrections facility seems utterly preordained. The institution is hardly conducive to reformation--it's a jail for problem kids, and a cauldron for all the societal ills that sent kids there in the first place. Mick's there because he was involved in a shootout during a botched robbery of drugs from rival street gangster Paco Moreno (Esai Morales), whose little brother was killed when Mick accidentally ran him over with his getaway car.

Overcrowding results in Mick and Paco's being sent to the same facility (one of the film's few stretches of credibility), and this leads to a rather predictable showdown that will take the juvie prison's violence to its inevitable extreme. It's a shame this conclusion ultimately doesn't live up to the film's superior first hour, but Bad Boys remains a remarkably authentic, even touching portrait of troubled youth whose torment is conveyed through thoughtful and richly emotional development of characters. Director Rick Rosenthal (who had previously helmed Halloween II) maintains a vivid sense of setting within the correctional facility's cold walls, and through the performances of Penn and a superb supporting cast (including Ally Sheedy in her film debut as Mick's girlfriend), Bad Boys emerges as one of the best films of its kind, forcing the viewer to ask difficult questions about at-risk youth and the proper way to improve or at least preserve their endangered lives. --Jeff Shannon

Average review score:

Why has this movie been edited?
One of my all-time favorites; saw it many times on HBO in the early 80's. However, the DVD that I recently purchased from a big retail store was strangely edited. I can recall at least 3 scenes that were completely omitted, for no apparent reason: 1) when Mick's girlfriend is picking out Paco Moreno from the police line-up; 2) when Tweety is released and picked-up by a vanload of his thug friends; and 3) when Mick gets to assign "sh-thouse" duties to Paco and Paco subsequently spits soda on the floor in front of him. There could be more scenes missing that I can't recall; it's been 15 years since I've seen it. However, all of those scenes add to the greatness of this film and I can't think of ANY reason for them to be cut. One of the great features of DVD is that you usually get MORE movie, not LESS. This DVD has absolutely NO extra features. But, I guess you get what you pay for...still a fantastic movie, with great performances by Sean Penn, Esai Morales, Clancy Brown, Reni Santoni and several others. Although the edits are disappointing, this is still well worth watching.

Finally-the Uncut Bad Boys!!!
This is fantastic! Now we can finally see the uncut version of Rick Rosenthal's gritty classic(in my opinion). When I think of Bad Boys, I always think of Sean Penn and Esai Morales. It's too bad that you have to clarify which film your speaking about when you mention it and lots of people have only seen Michael Bay's crappy movie of the same title. I have been waiting a long time for a nice special edition of this film. Now we get the film uncut(it was previously only available uncut on laserdisc) and a commentary! And cheap too! I love Anchor Bay!!!!!

1983 BAD BAOYS
THIS IS SEAN PENN'S GREATEST MOVIE.HIS PRFORMANCE WAS TREMONDOUS SO YOUNG IN HIS CAREER,THIS MOVIE DEFINED WHAT KIND OF ACTOR HE WAS GOING TO BE.THE NEW BAD BOY MOVIES WITH WILL SMITH,MARTIN LAWRENCE IS AN INSULT TO USING THE SAME NAME.

SEAN PENN'S BAD BOYS IS DEFFINETALY HIS BEST WOK EVER

Before Night Falls
Released in VHS Tape by New Line Studios (02 October, 2001)
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Javier Bardem and Johnny Depp
Based on the posthumously published memoir by Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, Before Night Falls is artist-director Julian Schnabel's second exercise in artist biography, but where Schnabel's earlier film Basquiat was relatively conventional, this film is bolder in both style and execution. Schnabel is perhaps too enamored of his subject as a noble martyr, lending the film a somewhat inflated sense of importance. Still, it's rare to see an artist's life and work so elegantly interwoven, and Before Night Falls uses all of Arenas's life as its canvas, from impoverished youth to lively gay freedom in mid-1950's Cuba; imprisonment during Castro's antigay regime; and to New York City in 1980, followed by Arenas's battle with AIDS and subsequent suicide (depicted here as assisted) in 1990.

Through these extreme rises and falls, Arenas is always writing, his typewriter his most faithful lover and weapon (by way of smuggled manuscripts) against the dark forces that surround him. As Time magazine's Richard Corliss wrote, Arenas is "a serious actor's dream role: to be a gay Jesus in a modern Passion Play," and Javier Bardem--the first Spanish actor to receive an Oscar nomination--inhabits the role with subtle ferocity, charting this emotional odyssey with outer reserve but blazing infernos of internal passion. And while Schnabel suffers from a hyperactive camera, there's poetry here--visual, dramatic, and literal--and vibrant humor to temper the deep tragedy of Arenas's life. Schnabel also uses his actor friends to good advantage: a nearly unrecognizable Sean Penn adds an ironic touch to his brief appearance as a peasant, and Johnny Depp is both funny and fearsome in dual roles as a drag queen and vicious army interrogator. --Jeff Shannon

Average review score:

Cant understand what hes saying
The story line is good, but im not going to bore you with what its about as all the reviews seem to tell you. If you want to know what its like then read this review!
First let me start by saying if your a Johnny Depp fan and thats the only reason you want to watch this, dont bother, he only gets like 10 minutes of screen time somewhere near the end.
I liked the idea of this film but there were just too many problems with it that made it very hard to like.
Firstly the narrator has such a strong accent and doesnt open his mouth at all when he speaks that its almost impossible to hear or interpret what is being said. I, like many other people I know who have seen this film, was forced to watch it with subtitles. Dont get me wrong im not "dissing" subtitles, but i just didnt excpect it and its so fustrating.I dont mean to complain and be negative, because I like to try and be optimistic about films, but this is clearly a big problem.
Secondly there are so many pointless scenes which just have no relation to the story and after a while it just gets really boring and confusing.
Also some scenes are quite disturbing so not for the faint hearted!

Very Powerful Filmmaking
Based on the memoirs of the late gay Cuban poet/author Reinaldo Arenas, "Before Night Falls" is a lengthy, depressing, yet brutally realistic film on the life Arenas before, during, and after the Cuban Revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power. Starting with his childhood in rural Holguin, Cuba, the film covers every aspect of Arenas' upbringing, his attraction to men, and his run-ins with revolutionary agents as he became one of the island nation's most prominent writers.

Arenas, portrayed excellently by Spanish actor Javier Bardem, sees his life change dramatically, first from what he believes will become a promising age of development after the ruthless Batista regime is toppled by Castro's forces, to later a life of living in fear and hiding as he is blacklisted due to his writings and homosexuality by the new regime's ideological police.

As the film progresses, we see how Arenas deals with the repression of the regime in it's early days, and his persecution for his writings, many that were smuggled out of Cuba by French sympathizers of Arenas's work. Later arrested for a crime that he didn't commit, Arenas finds himself a fugitive living in Cuba, until he is arrested and sent to a Cuban prison before his eventual departure from the island in the Mariel Boatlift of the late 1970's

The film, which is one of the most powerful pieces of filmmaking I have seen in recent years, was directed with style and respect by Julian Schnabel. The film, which is a pioneer to the sense of the many visuals of the male anatomy/body used to illustrate this story of growing up gay in Castro's Cuba might disturb some people who are not accustomed in seeing this on the silver screen and/or gay sexuality. However, this shouldn't be a reason in not seeing this film.

Many excellent actors lend their talent to this, most notably Johnny Depp ("Edward Scissorhands") in a dual role as a prison manager and as a drag queen entertainer at the prison. Also contributing his immense talent is Sean Penn ("U-Turn") in a small role as a wagon driver who picks up a young Arenas on his way to fight in the Revolution. Also many fans of Latin telenovelas will recognize Cuban actor Francisco Gattorno ("Strawberry and Chocolate") in a rare English-language role as a French sympathizer who helps Arenas get his work published abroad in France.

Simply one of the best films of 2000, this is a must-see film for anyone interested in Cuba, it's people, or human rights. While many might see the Castro regime as a very repressive one, in fact the previous Batista regime was equally as ruthless with homosexuals, especially those in Cuba's high society. In the past decade, Castro has allowed greater freedom for homosexuals, so much that the Cuban government funded the Academy-Award nominated for Best Foreign Film, "Strawberry & Chocolate") back in the early 1990's.

One of the best films of 2000! I highly recommend it.

An amazing piece of work by Schnabel & Bardem
Julian Schnabel's astounding growth as a filmmaker is fully in evidence in this spectacular work. "Basquiat" was, well, interesting but, let's face it, the title character was really not someone you felt like rooting for. In contrast "Before Night Falls" is light-years ahead of it in terms of narrative, character development and vision.

And Schnabel's #1 triumph is in chossing Javier Bardem to play Reinaldo Arenas. This role was an amazing stretch for Bardem. He essentially needed to learn two languages to play Arenas: Cuban-accented Spanish & Cuban-accented English. A background tip on Bardem: Go rent "Live Flesh" (a.k.a. "Carne Tremula"). Watch him in that movie and note the amazing contrast in...*everything* between these two roles. This, my friends, is acting. If anyone besides Bardem walks away with tonight's (3/25/2001) Oscar for Best Actor, it'll be a crime.

As a good complement to the film, I strongly recommend that you read Phillip Weiss' piece about Schnabel in the 03/25/2001 New York Times Sunday Magazine. Schnabel is the very definition of a larger-than-life character. In the Independent Spirit Film awards yesterday, Bardem said of Schnabel "I've never met anyone like you, my friend. Your heart is as big as your body...and that's very big." A very touching and well-deserved tribute to a man of uncompromising drive and vision.

Before Night Falls
Released in VHS Tape by Warner Home Video (02 October, 2001)
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Javier Bardem and Johnny Depp
Based on the posthumously published memoir by Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, Before Night Falls is artist-director Julian Schnabel's second exercise in artist biography, but where Schnabel's earlier film Basquiat was relatively conventional, this film is bolder in both style and execution. Schnabel is perhaps too enamored of his subject as a noble martyr, lending the film a somewhat inflated sense of importance. Still, it's rare to see an artist's life and work so elegantly interwoven, and Before Night Falls uses all of Arenas's life as its canvas, from impoverished youth to lively gay freedom in mid-1950's Cuba; imprisonment during Castro's antigay regime; and to New York City in 1980, followed by Arenas's battle with AIDS and subsequent suicide (depicted here as assisted) in 1990.

Through these extreme rises and falls, Arenas is always writing, his typewriter his most faithful lover and weapon (by way of smuggled manuscripts) against the dark forces that surround him. As Time magazine's Richard Corliss wrote, Arenas is "a serious actor's dream role: to be a gay Jesus in a modern Passion Play," and Javier Bardem--the first Spanish actor to receive an Oscar nomination--inhabits the role with subtle ferocity, charting this emotional odyssey with outer reserve but blazing infernos of internal passion. And while Schnabel suffers from a hyperactive camera, there's poetry here--visual, dramatic, and literal--and vibrant humor to temper the deep tragedy of Arenas's life. Schnabel also uses his actor friends to good advantage: a nearly unrecognizable Sean Penn adds an ironic touch to his brief appearance as a peasant, and Johnny Depp is both funny and fearsome in dual roles as a drag queen and vicious army interrogator. --Jeff Shannon

Average review score:

Cant understand what hes saying
The story line is good, but im not going to bore you with what its about as all the reviews seem to tell you. If you want to know what its like then read this review!
First let me start by saying if your a Johnny Depp fan and thats the only reason you want to watch this, dont bother, he only gets like 10 minutes of screen time somewhere near the end.
I liked the idea of this film but there were just too many problems with it that made it very hard to like.
Firstly the narrator has such a strong accent and doesnt open his mouth at all when he speaks that its almost impossible to hear or interpret what is being said. I, like many other people I know who have seen this film, was forced to watch it with subtitles. Dont get me wrong im not "dissing" subtitles, but i just didnt excpect it and its so fustrating.I dont mean to complain and be negative, because I like to try and be optimistic about films, but this is clearly a big problem.
Secondly there are so many pointless scenes which just have no relation to the story and after a while it just gets really boring and confusing.
Also some scenes are quite disturbing so not for the faint hearted!

Very Powerful Filmmaking
Based on the memoirs of the late gay Cuban poet/author Reinaldo Arenas, "Before Night Falls" is a lengthy, depressing, yet brutally realistic film on the life Arenas before, during, and after the Cuban Revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power. Starting with his childhood in rural Holguin, Cuba, the film covers every aspect of Arenas' upbringing, his attraction to men, and his run-ins with revolutionary agents as he became one of the island nation's most prominent writers.

Arenas, portrayed excellently by Spanish actor Javier Bardem, sees his life change dramatically, first from what he believes will become a promising age of development after the ruthless Batista regime is toppled by Castro's forces, to later a life of living in fear and hiding as he is blacklisted due to his writings and homosexuality by the new regime's ideological police.

As the film progresses, we see how Arenas deals with the repression of the regime in it's early days, and his persecution for his writings, many that were smuggled out of Cuba by French sympathizers of Arenas's work. Later arrested for a crime that he didn't commit, Arenas finds himself a fugitive living in Cuba, until he is arrested and sent to a Cuban prison before his eventual departure from the island in the Mariel Boatlift of the late 1970's

The film, which is one of the most powerful pieces of filmmaking I have seen in recent years, was directed with style and respect by Julian Schnabel. The film, which is a pioneer to the sense of the many visuals of the male anatomy/body used to illustrate this story of growing up gay in Castro's Cuba might disturb some people who are not accustomed in seeing this on the silver screen and/or gay sexuality. However, this shouldn't be a reason in not seeing this film.

Many excellent actors lend their talent to this, most notably Johnny Depp ("Edward Scissorhands") in a dual role as a prison manager and as a drag queen entertainer at the prison. Also contributing his immense talent is Sean Penn ("U-Turn") in a small role as a wagon driver who picks up a young Arenas on his way to fight in the Revolution. Also many fans of Latin telenovelas will recognize Cuban actor Francisco Gattorno ("Strawberry and Chocolate") in a rare English-language role as a French sympathizer who helps Arenas get his work published abroad in France.

Simply one of the best films of 2000, this is a must-see film for anyone interested in Cuba, it's people, or human rights. While many might see the Castro regime as a very repressive one, in fact the previous Batista regime was equally as ruthless with homosexuals, especially those in Cuba's high society. In the past decade, Castro has allowed greater freedom for homosexuals, so much that the Cuban government funded the Academy-Award nominated for Best Foreign Film, "Strawberry & Chocolate") back in the early 1990's.

One of the best films of 2000! I highly recommend it.

An amazing piece of work by Schnabel & Bardem
Julian Schnabel's astounding growth as a filmmaker is fully in evidence in this spectacular work. "Basquiat" was, well, interesting but, let's face it, the title character was really not someone you felt like rooting for. In contrast "Before Night Falls" is light-years ahead of it in terms of narrative, character development and vision.

And Schnabel's #1 triumph is in chossing Javier Bardem to play Reinaldo Arenas. This role was an amazing stretch for Bardem. He essentially needed to learn two languages to play Arenas: Cuban-accented Spanish & Cuban-accented English. A background tip on Bardem: Go rent "Live Flesh" (a.k.a. "Carne Tremula"). Watch him in that movie and note the amazing contrast in...*everything* between these two roles. This, my friends, is acting. If anyone besides Bardem walks away with tonight's (3/25/2001) Oscar for Best Actor, it'll be a crime.

As a good complement to the film, I strongly recommend that you read Phillip Weiss' piece about Schnabel in the 03/25/2001 New York Times Sunday Magazine. Schnabel is the very definition of a larger-than-life character. In the Independent Spirit Film awards yesterday, Bardem said of Schnabel "I've never met anyone like you, my friend. Your heart is as big as your body...and that's very big." A very touching and well-deserved tribute to a man of uncompromising drive and vision.

Before Night Falls
Released in VHS Tape by New Line Studios (02 October, 2001)
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Javier Bardem and Johnny Depp
Based on the posthumously published memoir by Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, Before Night Falls is artist-director Julian Schnabel's second exercise in artist biography, but where Schnabel's earlier film Basquiat was relatively conventional, this film is bolder in both style and execution. Schnabel is perhaps too enamored of his subject as a noble martyr, lending the film a somewhat inflated sense of importance. Still, it's rare to see an artist's life and work so elegantly interwoven, and Before Night Falls uses all of Arenas's life as its canvas, from impoverished youth to lively gay freedom in mid-1950's Cuba; imprisonment during Castro's antigay regime; and to New York City in 1980, followed by Arenas's battle with AIDS and subsequent suicide (depicted here as assisted) in 1990.

Through these extreme rises and falls, Arenas is always writing, his typewriter his most faithful lover and weapon (by way of smuggled manuscripts) against the dark forces that surround him. As Time magazine's Richard Corliss wrote, Arenas is "a serious actor's dream role: to be a gay Jesus in a modern Passion Play," and Javier Bardem--the first Spanish actor to receive an Oscar nomination--inhabits the role with subtle ferocity, charting this emotional odyssey with outer reserve but blazing infernos of internal passion. And while Schnabel suffers from a hyperactive camera, there's poetry here--visual, dramatic, and literal--and vibrant humor to temper the deep tragedy of Arenas's life. Schnabel also uses his actor friends to good advantage: a nearly unrecognizable Sean Penn adds an ironic touch to his brief appearance as a peasant, and Johnny Depp is both funny and fearsome in dual roles as a drag queen and vicious army interrogator. --Jeff Shannon

Average review score:

Cant understand what hes saying
The story line is good, but im not going to bore you with what its about as all the reviews seem to tell you. If you want to know what its like then read this review!
First let me start by saying if your a Johnny Depp fan and thats the only reason you want to watch this, dont bother, he only gets like 10 minutes of screen time somewhere near the end.
I liked the idea of this film but there were just too many problems with it that made it very hard to like.
Firstly the narrator has such a strong accent and doesnt open his mouth at all when he speaks that its almost impossible to hear or interpret what is being said. I, like many other people I know who have seen this film, was forced to watch it with subtitles. Dont get me wrong im not "dissing" subtitles, but i just didnt excpect it and its so fustrating.I dont mean to complain and be negative, because I like to try and be optimistic about films, but this is clearly a big problem.
Secondly there are so many pointless scenes which just have no relation to the story and after a while it just gets really boring and confusing.
Also some scenes are quite disturbing so not for the faint hearted!

Very Powerful Filmmaking
Based on the memoirs of the late gay Cuban poet/author Reinaldo Arenas, "Before Night Falls" is a lengthy, depressing, yet brutally realistic film on the life Arenas before, during, and after the Cuban Revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power. Starting with his childhood in rural Holguin, Cuba, the film covers every aspect of Arenas' upbringing, his attraction to men, and his run-ins with revolutionary agents as he became one of the island nation's most prominent writers.

Arenas, portrayed excellently by Spanish actor Javier Bardem, sees his life change dramatically, first from what he believes will become a promising age of development after the ruthless Batista regime is toppled by Castro's forces, to later a life of living in fear and hiding as he is blacklisted due to his writings and homosexuality by the new regime's ideological police.

As the film progresses, we see how Arenas deals with the repression of the regime in it's early days, and his persecution for his writings, many that were smuggled out of Cuba by French sympathizers of Arenas's work. Later arrested for a crime that he didn't commit, Arenas finds himself a fugitive living in Cuba, until he is arrested and sent to a Cuban prison before his eventual departure from the island in the Mariel Boatlift of the late 1970's

The film, which is one of the most powerful pieces of filmmaking I have seen in recent years, was directed with style and respect by Julian Schnabel. The film, which is a pioneer to the sense of the many visuals of the male anatomy/body used to illustrate this story of growing up gay in Castro's Cuba might disturb some people who are not accustomed in seeing this on the silver screen and/or gay sexuality. However, this shouldn't be a reason in not seeing this film.

Many excellent actors lend their talent to this, most notably Johnny Depp ("Edward Scissorhands") in a dual role as a prison manager and as a drag queen entertainer at the prison. Also contributing his immense talent is Sean Penn ("U-Turn") in a small role as a wagon driver who picks up a young Arenas on his way to fight in the Revolution. Also many fans of Latin telenovelas will recognize Cuban actor Francisco Gattorno ("Strawberry and Chocolate") in a rare English-language role as a French sympathizer who helps Arenas get his work published abroad in France.

Simply one of the best films of 2000, this is a must-see film for anyone interested in Cuba, it's people, or human rights. While many might see the Castro regime as a very repressive one, in fact the previous Batista regime was equally as ruthless with homosexuals, especially those in Cuba's high society. In the past decade, Castro has allowed greater freedom for homosexuals, so much that the Cuban government funded the Academy-Award nominated for Best Foreign Film, "Strawberry & Chocolate") back in the early 1990's.

One of the best films of 2000! I highly recommend it.

An amazing piece of work by Schnabel & Bardem
Julian Schnabel's astounding growth as a filmmaker is fully in evidence in this spectacular work. "Basquiat" was, well, interesting but, let's face it, the title character was really not someone you felt like rooting for. In contrast "Before Night Falls" is light-years ahead of it in terms of narrative, character development and vision.

And Schnabel's #1 triumph is in chossing Javier Bardem to play Reinaldo Arenas. This role was an amazing stretch for Bardem. He essentially needed to learn two languages to play Arenas: Cuban-accented Spanish & Cuban-accented English. A background tip on Bardem: Go rent "Live Flesh" (a.k.a. "Carne Tremula"). Watch him in that movie and note the amazing contrast in...*everything* between these two roles. This, my friends, is acting. If anyone besides Bardem walks away with tonight's (3/25/2001) Oscar for Best Actor, it'll be a crime.

As a good complement to the film, I strongly recommend that you read Phillip Weiss' piece about Schnabel in the 03/25/2001 New York Times Sunday Magazine. Schnabel is the very definition of a larger-than-life character. In the Independent Spirit Film awards yesterday, Bardem said of Schnabel "I've never met anyone like you, my friend. Your heart is as big as your body...and that's very big." A very touching and well-deserved tribute to a man of uncompromising drive and vision.

Hugo Pool
Released in VHS Tape by Fox Lorber (28 September, 1999)
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Director: Robert Downey Sr.
There's a fine line between quirky and gimmicky; at times Hugo Pool can't decide whether to be a cute comedy or a mawkish melodrama. Alyssa Milano is Hugo, the owner-operator of a pool company. She has a staggering 44 pools to service in one day, so she shanghais her gambling-addicted mom (Cathy Moriarty), a drug-whacked director (Robert Downey Jr.), and a new client, who happens to be an ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) sufferer (Patrick Dempsey), to help her. Hugo's under an or-else deadline to fill a mobster's (Richard Lewis) pool, so she dispatches her alcoholic junkie dad (Malcolm McDowell) to fetch Colorado River water in a tank truck and bring it back. He picks up a strange hitchhiker (Sean Penn) and becomes obsessed with his shoes; meanwhile, a romance blooms between Hugo and the new client. Of course, Milano is the only sane one in this melange of weirdoes. McDowell channels both Jimmy Durante and Wallace Beery in a bizarre role, Sean Penn is inexplicable, and a rough-looking Downey Jr. sports an indeterminate accent (imagine if Inspector Clouseau was from, say, Romania). Fans of eccentric comedies and offbeat characters (and Alyssa Milano) may enjoy this, while others may find it a little contrived and tedious. --Jerry Renshaw
Average review score:

Quirky Movie with an All Star Cast.
It's a shame that you can get an all star cast like Sean Penn, Robert Downey Jr, Patrick Dempsey, and Malcolm Mcdowell, and many others and get such a slow paced, corny, movie. The movie is about a pool cleaner named Hugo, played by the charming Alyssa Milano, and her eccentric clients as well as her crazy parents(Mcdowell and Cathy Moriarty). The movie is cute and quirky but moves wat too slow. I never cared about any of the characters except Alyssa Milano's and Patrick Dempsey, who plays a parapalegic who falls in love with Hugo. Whenever there was a scene without Alyssa Milano the movie bore me too tears. Thank God she is in most of the movie. Sean Penn is terrible a guy who wears blue suede shoes and Robert Downey Jr is way over the top as a eccentric dutch alchoholic. Instead of caring about these characters I felt sorry for them. i highly recommend this film for Alyssa Milano fans. She is a revelation in this movie. Too bad the rest of the talented cast is wasted.

Full Screen???
I really liked this movie and I will buy it, but why in the name of all-that-is-holy is this DVD in Full Screen only?!? I don't even like to buy non-anamorphic DVDs, but to not even have a widescreen version is insane!

Addictive
"Hugo Pool" is a comedy/drama with a addictive quality. On first viewing it seems uneven and uninteresting, but a balanced and talented cast help you climb inside the characters heads. The film follows a day in the life of pool cleaner Hugo. She has 40 clients -including a mob boss who doesn't want disapointing - and one pair of hands. So she asks her gambling mother and father to help her through the day. All in all "Hugo Pool" is a cleverly written and enjoyable film.

Hugo Pool
Released in VHS Tape by Bmg Video (26 May, 1998)
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Director: Robert Downey Sr.
There's a fine line between quirky and gimmicky; at times Hugo Pool can't decide whether to be a cute comedy or a mawkish melodrama. Alyssa Milano is Hugo, the owner-operator of a pool company. She has a staggering 44 pools to service in one day, so she shanghais her gambling-addicted mom (Cathy Moriarty), a drug-whacked director (Robert Downey Jr.), and a new client, who happens to be an ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) sufferer (Patrick Dempsey), to help her. Hugo's under an or-else deadline to fill a mobster's (Richard Lewis) pool, so she dispatches her alcoholic junkie dad (Malcolm McDowell) to fetch Colorado River water in a tank truck and bring it back. He picks up a strange hitchhiker (Sean Penn) and becomes obsessed with his shoes; meanwhile, a romance blooms between Hugo and the new client. Of course, Milano is the only sane one in this melange of weirdoes. McDowell channels both Jimmy Durante and Wallace Beery in a bizarre role, Sean Penn is inexplicable, and a rough-looking Downey Jr. sports an indeterminate accent (imagine if Inspector Clouseau was from, say, Romania). Fans of eccentric comedies and offbeat characters (and Alyssa Milano) may enjoy this, while others may find it a little contrived and tedious. --Jerry Renshaw
Average review score:

Quirky Movie with an All Star Cast.
It's a shame that you can get an all star cast like Sean Penn, Robert Downey Jr, Patrick Dempsey, and Malcolm Mcdowell, and many others and get such a slow paced, corny, movie. The movie is about a pool cleaner named Hugo, played by the charming Alyssa Milano, and her eccentric clients as well as her crazy parents(Mcdowell and Cathy Moriarty). The movie is cute and quirky but moves wat too slow. I never cared about any of the characters except Alyssa Milano's and Patrick Dempsey, who plays a parapalegic who falls in love with Hugo. Whenever there was a scene without Alyssa Milano the movie bore me too tears. Thank God she is in most of the movie. Sean Penn is terrible a guy who wears blue suede shoes and Robert Downey Jr is way over the top as a eccentric dutch alchoholic. Instead of caring about these characters I felt sorry for them. i highly recommend this film for Alyssa Milano fans. She is a revelation in this movie. Too bad the rest of the talented cast is wasted.

Full Screen???
I really liked this movie and I will buy it, but why in the name of all-that-is-holy is this DVD in Full Screen only?!? I don't even like to buy non-anamorphic DVDs, but to not even have a widescreen version is insane!

Addictive
"Hugo Pool" is a comedy/drama with a addictive quality. On first viewing it seems uneven and uninteresting, but a balanced and talented cast help you climb inside the characters heads. The film follows a day in the life of pool cleaner Hugo. She has 40 clients -including a mob boss who doesn't want disapointing - and one pair of hands. So she asks her gambling mother and father to help her through the day. All in all "Hugo Pool" is a cleverly written and enjoyable film.

Casualties of War
Released in VHS Tape by Columbia/Tristar Studios (20 May, 1997)
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Director: Brian De Palma
Starring: Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn
Based on a true story, this Brian De Palma film casts Michael J. Fox as a soldier in Vietnam in a squad led by Sean Penn. While on patrol, in the wake of an ambush that has left friends dead, they kidnap and rape a Vietnamese woman--then murder her. But Fox, one of the soldiers who refused to participate in the rape, is so appalled by the killing that he reports it--and finds himself being treated as the villain. Penn is scarily tough as the vindictive soldier and De Palma does a solid job of re-creating the crime, making it a thing of horror. Yet this film never quite connects, despite a strong performance by Fox and a supporting cast that includes John C. Reilly and John Leguizamo. --Marshall Fine
Average review score:

It Sucked
This movie stinks. It was so bad that I hope I never have to watch it again for the rest of my life.

Flawed...but worth the watch
I give credit to De Palma, because I doubt anyone could do a movie based on the same material any better. I don't know how fast the film was made, but the visuals seem to suggest to me that it was thrown quickly together. The actors are all believable, but not even Fox is all that likable. Penn is good as always, and Fox makes you sympathize for him. But there is something about this film that is missing,it's not as effective as it could've been. Ving Rhames does well, watch for him in a smaller role as Fox's commanding officer.

Disturbing war movie packs an emotional wallop
CASUALTIES OF WAR (USA 1989): During a routine field trip at the height of the Vietnam War, a young soldier (Michael J. Fox) rebels against his commanding officer (Sean Penn) and other members of his patrol when they kidnap a defenceless Vietnamese girl (Thuy Thu Le) and subject her to a terrifying physical ordeal.

Unfairly overshadowed by the simultaneous theatrical release of Oliver Stone's pompous (but still impressive) BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (1989), Brian DePalma's CASUALTIES OF WAR recreates a harrowing incident from the Vietnam conflict - first reported in 'New Yorker' magazine in 1969 - in which a group of otherwise decent men succumbed to their own worst impulses and committed a terrible crime. Filmed with typical cinematic bravado by master craftsman DePalma, the movie uses every inch of the scope frame to convey both the duality of the landscape (vast swathes of breathtaking countryside, where sudden death lurks around every corner) and the moral vacuum which stretches the two central characters (Fox and Penn) to breaking point. Crafted with blistering simplicity by screenwriter David Rabe (himself a Vietnam veteran and author of the acclaimed stageplay 'Streamers'), the soldiers are depicted as brave individuals whose principles have been shattered by their traumatic combat experiences, leaving Fox to essay the role of peacemaker in a world where all the rules have been turned upside down. Thu Le - a model with no prior acting experience - is truly heartbreaking as the soldiers' terrified prisoner, and her ultimate fate is so horrific (arguably the most disturbing set-piece of this director's entire career), many viewers will be too appalled to see the film through to its inevitable conclusion. All in all, this uncompromising gaze into the abyss of human depravity packs a tremendous emotional wallop, and emerges as one of DePalma's strongest films to date.

The movie runs 113m 25s on Columbia TriStar's region 1 DVD, which letterboxes the wide Panavision frame at 2.35:1, anamorphically enhanced - try to see it on a 16:9 monitor. Released to most theaters in standard Dolby Stereo (reproduced here in 2.0 surround), the film was also given a 6-channel discrete mix for selected venues (in 70mm, blown-up from 35mm), and that version is recreated here in a vivid Dolby 5.1 presentation. Extras include a number of deleted scenes and a series of recently-filmed interviews with key personnel (including DePalma and Fox), many of which contain major spoilers, so be warned. A trailer is included, along with English captions and subtitles.

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