L.A. Confidential DVD > Reviews

Advantages: The acting, and the way it all locks together is fantastic.
Disadvantages: There’s almost a serene pace to the proceedings....

Out there in the city of Los Angeles lie a million untold stories AND this film is no different. The film starts off through a cynical and eager voiceover by Danny De Vito’s character Sid Hutchins, who publishes Hush-Hush magazine, (a celebrity tittle-tattle publication) who gives a brief resume of proceedings about the falsehood portrayed about Los Angeles and the crime that centres it, particularly Mickey Cohen’s, LA’s premier ... Read review

Advantages: Sterling Cast,Plot
Disadvantages: May take a couple of watches to fully grasp it.

Wow. I'm lost for words with this film. It really is one of the best films of the nineties. Maybe the best but I haven't seen them all(Yet.) This film is hard to tell the plot of without giving too much away but I'll try. It is basically a period piece from the 1950's which centres around the lives (but more the careers) of three very different Police men and there different investigative techniques. All performances are extremly well done but Russell ... Read review

Advantages: Awesome Cast, Amazing Storyline
Disadvantages: Very Few

Storyline: Set in 1950's LA, the film opens with the city trying to give itself an image of being a clean place free of crime. The film goes on to follow the investigation of a masacre in an all night dinner by three cops. Each have their own motive for finding the killers and their own methods for finding the truth. Each route to the truth takes them through a world of prostitution, drugs and corruption. Characters: Russell Crowe - plays Bud ... Read review

Advantages: Very good acting.
Disadvantages: Shallow characters.

I had read a number of great reviews about this film so I was quite keen to watch it, but I was very disappointed. The first half of the film tries to weave a thread of organised crime, police corruption, violence and police in-fighting. In my mind the film fails miserably with this plot and it is only in the second half of the film when the plot thins out and concentrates on the particular corruption of one senior police officer that film starts ... Read review

Advantages: Gripping plot
Disadvantages: None

L.A. Confidential has an impressive cast and certainly I found it to be an enjoyable crime thriller with a good storyline and some excellent performances. Set in 1940's Los Angeles and focusing on Hollywood it is a story about a number of police officers in the force charged with quelling a viscious gang war following the jailing of the head of the mafia in Los Angeles. It is a dark film with a lot of violence and some strong performances. ... Read review

Advantages: fifties, more twists than a helterskelter
Disadvantages: bassinger not as good as expected

There are very few films I would give the honour of being compared to the Usual Suspects but this is one of them. From the outset, the film conformed to everything I look for in a movie: complexity, unpredictability and originality. I am a great fan of this genre of movies, but even in this light, the film is outstanding. The actors are superb - absolutely superb - especially Spacey, who plays the 'celebrity policeman' Jack. If you love classic ... Read review

Advantages: One for the collection, memorable performances. Russell Crowe shines.
Disadvantages: Fairly violent so not one for the kids.

LA Confidential is the best film to have come out of Hollywood in recent years. The acting is first rate, the script brilliant and the setting memorable. The three leads Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce and the ever impressive Russell Crowe shine in this tale of police corruption, sleaze and integrity. Supported by the lovely Kim Basinger who won an Academy Award for the film [Best Supporting actress], the film has no flaws. Crowe is particularly good and ... Read review

Advantages: Gets you thinking.
Disadvantages: Needs a lot of concentration.

One of my favourite films. It has to be a future classic. Top of the bill is Russell Crowe's and his outstanding performance as wronged cop Bud White. He hates all wife and women beaters and is out to right the wrongs of the world. A complicated character Crowe flawlessly pulls him off and makes you love Bud. Kim Basinger plays the fantastic leading lady and Crowe's love interest. She certainly deserved the Oscar she won for playing this part. ... Read review

Advantages: Great Story, Action, Suspense, Everything
Disadvantages: Some good guys get shot

...best of all is the L.A. Confidential Map which allows you to select locations from the movie - a short piece of film is played with a voiceover telling you about that location - where it really is, and which other films it's featured in. Great fun if you're planning a visit to Hollywood. If you've not seen it then go out and buy it. If you have seen it, but haven't got the DVD then get it anyway. If you haven't got a DVD player then buy one - this ... Read review

Advantages: great cast, fine script, good 'feel'
Disadvantages: none - destined to be a 'great'

LA Confidential was definately one of the best films that I saw in the past decade. As a period piece it was excellent, taking it's setting as Los Angeles during the 1950s. Kim Basinger plays a typical femme fatale in the movie business who is into a few things she should be. The LAPD appears to be riddled with corruption and we see it from both sides with two thrusting young cops in competition with each other. Great performances too from ... Read review

Advantages: Fantastic, action packed story
Disadvantages: A sometimes over predicatble plot

...movie. However, despite my misapprehensions, L.A. Confidential turned out to be an enormously enjoyable film. As the new cop on the block, Guy Pierce plays the straight, all American, who, starting in the LAPD at the beginning of the movie, discovers the real 50's LA with the viewer.Current top Hollywood heartthrob Russell Crowe, puts in his usual admirable performance, as the strong silent type with a weakness for damsels in distress. With Kevin ... Read review

Advantages: GOOD MOVIE
Disadvantages: NONE

Set in the 1950’s, this cop story has a great cast line up. After a mob boss gets jailed, a street war starts between the rival mobs, which results in a shooting spree killing six people in a night café. The police start investigations lead by Bud White, (Russell Crowe), who plays the part of a temperamental cop that you really don’t want to be on the bad side of. Then Kevin Spacey plays the part of Jack Vincennes, who loves the media ... Read review