L.A. Confidential (Two-Disc Special Edition)

This is my first glimpse of Russell Crowe, and omg, what a hunk o' man. Does he have any brothers? I haven't seen a leading man in decades that looked and acted all man like him. I will see any movie he is in, no matter how crummy. Just to drool at him. Bring back the real leading men like him, not the whiney, ugly, wimps we've been enduring since the eighties.

To call this movie superb...is an understatement.
A spectacular film that should have taken home every major Academy Award.
Proof that the Academy has truly lost touch with what making a film is all about

Best Actor: Russel Crowe
Best Supporting Actor: Kevin Spacey Or Guy Pierce (pick one)
Best Picture (titanic.???? really???)
Best Actress: Kim Basinger (which she received)
Best Director: Curtis Hanson
The great thing about this film is the 3 protaganist theme.
Officer Bud White (Russel Crowe), the brutal police officer who hands out his own brand of justice and has a thing for helping women in distress . Ed Exley (Guy Pierce), the strait laced, by the book ladder climber and Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), the hollywood bigger than life cop who is caught up in the underworld of lurid payoffs and sleazy tabloid journalists.

It is a work of art how the Director, Curtis Hanson weaves all three into the frey at a breakneck pace until The film's exposive climax. A shootout at a rundown hotel that will go down in history as one of the most exciting and taught gunfights in the history of movies.

Hanson, by using two relatively unkowns to play the Parts of Bud White and Ed Exley, makes this movie a Character driven plot instad of a star driven vehicle.

And the plot, deftly adapted from James Ellroy's novel is just a work of art. Believable, Not too big for its britches, intricate in its subtlety and incredibly acted. The ensemble cast is truly remarkable with thier chemistry and dedication to thier craft.

If you enjoy crime drama, if you enjoy film noire or if you just want to see what real film making is all about, this is a movie that will Knock your socks off. Should not be missed.

The Blu Ray disc in 1080P is a real treat.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: From the Secret Files of Harry Pennypacker
Shadow Watcher
Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake


I don't care if TITANIC did win the Oscar. For my money, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL was the best film of 1997.

Scratch That! It's the best picture to come out of Hollywood in the last 20 years.

L.A. CONFIDENTIAL is prime film noir. It ranks right up there with the great ones, such as DOUBLE INDEMNITY, OUT OF THE PAST and THE BIG SLEEP. And, as much as I admire and consistently enjoy those classic movies, I think that L.A. CONFIDENTIAL is the finest of the lot.

Adapting James Ellroy's intricately-plotted, sometimes confusing, novel was certainly a monumental task for writer/director Curtis Hanson and his screenwriting collaborator, Brian Helgeland. Not only did they have to bring to life more than a half-dozen key characters, but there were also several intertwined plot lines to juggle.

Hanson and Helgeland did an admirable job. Their characters are real and, although the story is complicated, by the end credits, everything is explained. There are no loose ends. Truly, the movie is better than the book.

Set in a superbly re-created 1950's Los Angeles, the film's primary storyline concerns the real reasons behind a mass murder in the Night Owl Cafe. Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce and Kevin Spacey, three police detectives of widely different backgrounds and agendas, ultimately join together to battle police corruption, the Mob and, at times, each other. Along the way, they interact with some fascinating folk, including a hooker who looks like Veronica Lake (Oscar winner Kim Basinger), her rich pimp (David Strathairn) and the editor of a nasty scandal magazine (Danny DeVito).

The plot of L.A. CONFIDENTIAL may be a bit more complex than your average film, but that's part of what makes it so memorable.

© Michael B. Druxman, author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD

Version: U.S.A / Warner Brothers / Region A, B, C
VC-1 BD-50 / 1080p / 23.976fps / Advanced Profile 3
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Running time: 2:17:53
Movie size: 34,02 GB
Disc size: 42,31 GB
Average video bit rate: 22.91 Mbps

Dolby TrueHD Audio English 1464 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 16-bit / 1464kbps (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps)
Dolby Digital Audio English 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps
Dolby Digital Audio French 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps
Dolby Digital Audio French 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps
Dolby Digital Audio German 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Italian 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48kHz / 192kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 192 kbps 2.0 / 48kHz / 192kbps

Subtitles: English SDH / Chinese (traditional and simplified) / Danish / Dutch / Finnish / German / Italian / Norwegian / Portuguese / Spanish / Swedish

Number of chapters: 40

Disc 1:

#Audio commentary
#Trailer gallery and TV spots
#Music-only track - Jerry Goldsmith's score
#Whatever You Desire: Making LA Confidential (29m:30s)
#Sunlight and Shadow: The Visual Style of LA Confidential (21m:03s)
#A True Ensemble: The Cast of LA Confidential (24m:24s)
#LA Confidential: From Book to Screen (21m:07s)
#Off the Record: Vintage cast/creator interviews (18m:50s)
#Director Curtis Henson's Photo Pitch (8m:25s)
#The LA of LA Confidential Map Tour (15 locales / 25 seconds per locale)
#LA Confidential TV Pilot (45m:00s)

Disc 2 - CD Sampler - six songs from the movie

Rather than review this amazing modern Noir...I just want to say..BUY this new version...it looks fabulous and the bonus features are PLENTIFUL and very meaty with content and the good news is they ALSO have brought over the features from the first release allowing all of us to dump that one and that isn't always the case. They also have a nearly 1 hr TV movie/pilot called LA CONFIDENTIAL starring Keifer Sutherland which is fun. There is also a bonus CD disc of music which is icing on the cake. I just spent a few hours watching all the bonus features and will absolutely watch them again ( a rarity) and as I said..the movie never looked better..I've only checked out a bit of the commentary which has a staggering number of contributors and should make another viewing of the movie with it running a fun trip indeed. WB does it well when they re-issue and not just with the sexy new cover image ..this baby got a complete overhaul...

enjoy!