I know what you are going to say, yes L.A. Confidential is not your typical Christmas movie but here is the surprise the film itself starts on Christmas Eve so if you all are complaining about my latest monthly recommendation not being a Christmas movie well jokes on you because it is a Christmas movie for the Holiday's. But here's the thing we all have our fair share of personal Christmas films that our favorites like It's a Wonderful Life and Christmas Vacation, then you have the cartoons too as well as the Christmas family films that get a little on the annoying side mainly because they already remind you of your dysfunctional family, so if there's a film that starts at the beginning of Christmas Holidays with no snow then I'm making an acceptation. L.A. Confidential is a mid-90's film that was in a sense a forgotten movie because it was unmatched by the success of Titanic, granted it has been a while since I have watched it but once I saw a preview of first act of the movie I just simply could not resist.
Three policemen, each with his own motives and obsessions, tackle the corruption surrounding an unsolved murder at a downtown L.A. coffee shop in the early 1950's. Lieutenant Exley (Guy Pearce), the son of a murdered detective, is out to avenge his father’s killing. The ex-partner of Officer White (Russell Crowe), implicated in a scandal rooted out by Exley, was one of the victims. Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) feeds classified information to a tabloid magnate (Danny DeVito).
I have to confess this has been quite a long time since I've watched L.A. Confidential, but I previewed it on YouTube and once I saw the first clip of the entire film the jokes really write themselves, to explain the Christmas part of the movie the first act of the entire film begins on the Christmas Eve of nights, and what starts off somewhat shocking but yet mildly entertaining is that the cops start assaulting the Mexican inmates that just been booked into custody aka Bloody Christmas (Actually happen, Google it) and what makes it funny is yes this was reminding me of cops today, I mean George Floyd anyone? But the way it was directed and shot it bizarrely felt like it was like a high school football team preparing to beat up the opponent's team and then gets out of hand and everyone is excited there's one nerd or goodie too shoes wanting to put a stop or threaten the team then gets locked up somewhere for interfering, then the school paper comes in and exposes the entire football team, which is funny to me because I don't quite understand why it’s necessary or was it really needed in all honesty it's something I can't really find answers too. And it is not just that but will get to the other funny moments and Russell Crowe really owns that portion if you know what I mean. All jokes a side this was a surprisingly good movie and it really has all the elements in what makes a great detective story from the detectives you really get to know as the three important ones as each of them try to battle their way through corruption, and what also is great in terms of the story is you slowly through the course of the movie get to understand their motives and why they became cops as with battling their personal flaws. The other thing in what makes this great is that the structure and direction to the film, really starts off like a detective story from the 1950's films with the beginning of the first act you get to know your characters then you start off with the main murder and through the course of the film you slowly began to realize that nothing is what it seems, and that's what makes it so great is that it pays great tribute to all of the detective/film noir's from the 1940's and 50's. The other thing in what makes this film great, is that you have a great list of actors and all of them do a fantastic job in making this film work. Now calm down, when I say this yes Kevin Spacey is in the movie but that was before we all found the skeleton's in his closest and when you see his earlier work you as an audience can't deny how great of an actor he was despite being a not so good of a person, Kim Basinger who won in Oscar for her performance in this film does a great job playing a femme fatale whose a survivor but also becomes a love interest towards Russell Crowe's character who begins to understand his pain and his potential/support of being a great cop. You also get to see the rise of two great actors who were unknowns in the mid-nineties but this I believe was the most important movie to their success, Guy Pearce who I freakishly looks so young does great work playing the main protagonist who you’re not sure if you can like this guy because he's all to goodie too shoes and only cares about his image but through the course of the movie you slowly understand his motives and knows that he needs allies if he's to survive a case that may ruin his career. Now we've finally get to Russell Crowe, who is no question a great actor in the movie who you also like once you first see him moreover does a great job playing the so-called anti-hero of the film, but the fact is that this movie alone was the great treasure of jokes that Trey Parker and Matt Stone did on South Park decades ago with fighting around the world with Russell Crowe, and I don't want to cast a stone on the guy but the man literally beats up everyone in the movie, some of them are female beaters and rapists? Though yes, it is part of his character but in all honesty, it is somewhat to ridiculous that he assaults everyone in the movie especially one where he's going over the top bad cop on a black guy, granted I won't go into details, but this was one of those things where if Crowe's character existed in today's era, he wouldn't last at least a month on the force mainly because of social media existing. To be honest, it was really nice to see Danny DeVito in a movie for once and some people forget that he was once a good actor that stared in movies long before he was sucked into the world of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, for which you also get to see some great chemistry work between him and Kevin Spacey and deep down it was nice to see that before these two overstayed their welcome in Hollywood. I must give some compliments towards James Cromwell who plays the captain in the movie, mainly because he does a great job as the mentor of the movie where you think he is a good cop but once you get to the third act that there is something different about him and he does it in the best way possible. The other Academy Award this film won in the Oscars was Best Adapted Screenplay and both Curtis Hanson Brian Helgeland do a great job in adapting James Elroy's book, and after finishing the movie they truly deserved their award furthermore this is one of the rare few times the Academy gets right. Both men actually have done some great notable works after L.A. Confidential Helgeland for example written and directed one of my favorite Mel Gibson movies Payback and a personal favorite A Knight's Tale, though helped launch of career of the late Chadwick Boseman in the biopic of Jackie Robinson, 42. Hanson has some notable works some of which I've never seen but I was surprise that one of them was 8 Mile, for which I was like mildly surprised because it's Eminem trying to act, but in fairness it’s going to be a while when I start to watch the movie. L.A. Confidential is a great movie from start to finish pays a great homage to the crime films of the forties and fifties, with a kiss of some humorous scenes (Fighting around the World with Russell Crowe) helped launch the careers of Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe moreover a forgotten film that needs to be seen by everyone. So, to all of you I would highly recommend watching this great detective story this Christmas season and if anyone nags you about this movie not being a joyful Christmas movie just wish them a Bloody Christmas. So, Merry Christmas everybody and a Happy New Year.
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